Times 25,624

Author   topicaltimPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Something of a wake-up call after yesterday’s cakewalk; this puzzle was a proper challenge, with concise elegant surfaces, and requiring much more thought. Anyway, timed at 18:45, and with an error to boot; either my mistake will become clear as I work my way through the blog, or I’ll need someone to point it out to me. Let’s see which (answer: it’s become clear).

Across
1 HIPPO – HIP(=”in”) PO(=Italian river beloved of setters).
4 ALDIS LAMP – (LAD IS)*, LAM(=”hit”) Painful.
9 REVIEWERS – (SEVEREWRITER)* &lit.
10 AESOP – A (POSE)rev.
11 BETRAY – BET(=”lay”) + RAY(=”fellow”).
12 DORDOGNE – [SUMMER, DOG] in DONE(=”visited”).
14 CONVALESCENT – [ALES, COLD] in CONVENT.
17 FOSTER MOTHER – FINE, (SO)rev., TERM(=”session”), OTHER(=”different”).
20 AARDWOLF – AA (the motoring club here, rather than 12-steppers), ROAD (FLOW)rev. Not as common as the aardvark, and not related except in the derivation of the names from Dutch.
21 DALTON – (NOT LAD)rev., as one who is not a lad is presumably a lass. Dalton was a pioneering scientist, whose presence here will doubtless please my Tuesday co-tenant.
23 HIDER – HIDE(=”skin”), RIGHT.
24 TERMINATE – VERMIN in TATE.
25 TREASURED – ToRiEs AS U RED.
26 NATAL – NATURAL minus the old city of UR.
 
Down
1 HARDBACK – HARD(=”aggressive”) BACK(=”player”).
2 PIVOTING – PI(=”constant”) + VOTING(=”polling”).
3 OPEN A CAN OF WORMS – playful double def. I’ve never seen the attraction in angling myself. As comedian Norm Macdonald says, there’s a fine line between fishing and just standing near a river.
4 AMEN – AMEND is de-tailed (geddit?) to give the answer.
5 DISCONCERT – DISCO(=”party”), NOON, CERT. Lift and separate required to find the definition here.
6 STANDING OVATION – [AN DINGO] in STATION.
7 ASSIGN =”A SIGN”.
8 PUPPET – PUP(=”youngster”) PET(=”favourite”). And there’s the mistake (I assume): I went with POPPET, thinking that “youngster” was the definition, and the entertainer was a popular musician. Now I re-examine it, I can see that PUPPET is clearly “more right”, but I don’t think my effort was irredeemably ignorant; I wonder if the editor would accept my challenge (answer: probably not)…
13 VENTILATOR – (INTERVALTOO)*.
15 WHITE ANT – WITH, [TEA in HINT].
16 BRANWELL – BRAN, WELL. Nice clue, even if the Bronte name is a bit of a giveaway without reading any further.
18 SACHET – GENEROUS, HE in ACT.
19 BRIDGE – ABRIDGE minus the ACE.
22 FRED – reverse hidden in orDER Form.

48 comments on “Times 25,624”

  1. 40 minutes but with one wrong, Martin as my scientist (Martine without her ‘e’ – repulsed? no, harrdly). Actually, I felt rather pleased with myself when I discovered that a scientist who ticked the boxes of that name (Charlie) did actually exist. So no challenge here, but a nice glow…

    Liked BRIDGE.

  3. Struggled a bit to finish this off where a forgotten type of ant crossed with a scientist who I wanted all along to be Darwin. Didn’t know the AARDWOLF but the wordplay was clear. No problem deciding the right answer at 8dn though.
  4. 28:08 .. I struggled throughout. Problems with PIVOTING / BETRAY and WHITE ANT, and I decided early on, for some unaccountable reason, that it had to be DOCTOR FOSTER. Some days I sits and thinks, and some days I just sits …

    COD the hyena’s cute cousin, the AARDWOLF. According to St Wiki, “one aardwolf can eat about 200,000 termites during a single night”, which explains why there are more than a few Aardwolf Pest Control Services in the USA, but not why they don’t just get an actual aardwolf.

    2. I considered Doctor Foster as well, on the basis that you’d have to be “different” to want to go to Gloucester when it’s raining.
      1. Speaking as a Gloucestershire gal, I entirely agree. Actually, the cathedral area aside, I’ve never had much love for the place even when it isn’t raining.
  5. Just a bit slower than what I guess is average for me; a fair bit of checking needed to be sure I wasn’t jumping the gun on the basis of apparent definitions. So a steady solve which I didn’t find too difficult. Strangely, LOI was FRED. Couldn’t see for looking.

    Note to the French: please invent a region called the Cardogme.

  6. 19m, which suggests average difficulty, but this felt a bit harder than that. Looking back there were some easy clues, including the long down ones, which got me off to a reasonably quick start before getting bogged down with the trickier stuff.
    Quite a few unknowns that needed constructing from wordplay: the lamp, the hyena, the scientist, the ant. I like clues like that, so I enjoyed this.

  7. Hmmm… tricky one today, with a couple of blanks: (AARDWOLF, BETRAY and VENTILATOR). Should have got the last two, but AARDWOLF? Who’d have thought…
  8. like ulaca, I got the scientist wrong.
    However, I got mentally bogged down with using GAL for Lass, leading me to recall the multi-faceted Francis GALTON, creator of the word “eugenics”.

    Among Galton’s many achievements, was the expansion of W. J. (not the Uranus one) Herschel’s theory, formed when serving in the Raj civil service, of the uniqueness of fingerprints.
    Galton is attributed with having published, in the 1880’s, the initial fingerprint classification system used by forensic science.

  9. 40 minutes, tricky today, and had BETRAY wrong… silly really, there were lots of harder clues. AARDWOLF a new animal for me but obviously the answer once WERE- had been discounted. LOI ALDIS LAMP and PUPPET.
  10. Nice and chewy this, with 22 minutes for all but the scientist. 4 minutes to resolve that, once I’d remembered that the tentative light biro I’d used to write in Newton did not actually contribute the answer. Finally entered DALTON more because it fitted the wordplay than because of my limited (but now improved, thanks TT) knowledge (sorry Jim!). Once reminded, and because there’s colour-blindness in my family, I did remember at least that aspect of his work.
    Some very satisfying clues here, not least 3 of the long ‘uns (3d was a light appetiser), all requiring a proper chew. One of those where there was a compulsion to untangle the wordplay even if you’d managed to guess the definition: AARDWOLF, WHITE ANT and TREASURED prime examples.
    CoD CONVALESCENT for taking me down the blind alley of looking for a C(old) replacing an S(ister) somewhere in the route. As if.
  11. 25 minutes for an excellent puzzle that I really enjoyed after yesterday’s feeble offering

    I’m always saddened by how many well educated people seem to be so completely unaware of the great men and women who have so changed the lives of the common man. John DALTON is our latest example.

    His law of partial pressures should be known to some but his work on atomic theory and on colour blindness really should be known to all. What does it say when BRANWELL is better known to this community?

    1. In my case I think it just says that I did a degree in English Literature. I quite accept your point though and I appreciate the role of this blog in chipping away at my ignorance of matters scientific.
      Half my kids are colourblind so I’m particularly ashamed I hadn’t heard of Dalton.
    2. That we all have different areas where our knowledge is more eclectic. Perhaps that we missed out somewhere along the line in our education. I’m not sure it demonstrates some form of moral deficiency or wilful negligence. My tertiary education was (quite broadly, I think) in the field of philosophy, sociology and theology, and I have a strong interest in astronomy and cosmology, so in clues relating to those fields I have an advantage of sorts.
      Reading up on Dalton, courtesy of TT’s link, I have learned (never too late) that Dalton, a lifelong Quaker, took up his first post at the New College, Oxford a Dissenting Academy (now Harris Manchester College). “He lived for more than a quarter of a century with his friend the Rev. W. Johns (1771–1845)”. Perhaps he can act as a soothing bridge between many of our circumscribed worlds.
    3. Surely the reason that BRANWELL is easier to see than DALTON is that the former is clued by “Bronte” and the latter “scientist”. Tho’ I suspect there will be at least as many who’ve never heard of the former.
  12. 21 mins but another “poppet”. I should really have given it some more thought.

    There was some excellent wordplay in this puzzle, and BETRAY was my LOI after I finally realised “grass” as a verb.

    With regard to Jimbo’s Dalton comments, spoken like a true science lover, but not everybody is.

  13. 32:34, with at least 15mins on the last 6 SE and NW. Did not help myself by banging in BALLAD (lay) and I was also pondering the good DOCTOR FOSTER. Was not diverted by POPPET and knew DALTON (although LYI). Certainly more enjoyable than yesterday.
  14. I forgot to say that I think I may have been caught out by puppet/poppet before, possibly because I have a blind spot as far as puppet defined as “entertainer” is concerned. The puppeteer is the entertainer, although it can be argued that in a puppet show it is the puppet that entertains the audience so the definition works in a looser way.
  15. Echo Jim’s comments, both about this fine crossword and about that fine scientist. I made steady progress, held up only by also putting in ballad to start with, which meant 2d became my loi…

    For a species as exquisitely dependent on science and technology as we are, we do sometimes demonstrate an alarming ignorance thereof..

  16. Excellent puzzle. I must have been on the setter’s wavelength because I didn’t finds this markedly harder – though certainly more enjoyable – than yesterday’s. I went with AARDVARK at first at 20A even though the second half couldn’t be parsed satisfactorily, and had to check the dictionary to verify the existence of AARDWOLF, a beast previously unknown to me.
  18. Back down to earth after yesterday’s PB of 6:36. 23:54 for this one.

    Although I’m not going to get all “Jimbo” about it I’m surprised at aardwolf being unknown to some. Nothing to do with its existence in the natural world, more to do with its location in the dictionary.

    LOI the unknown Dalton once I’d figured out that with gave a W to start the ant.

  19. Perhaps I am in danger of embarking on a crusade unwanted around here, hope not natch, but as I have said before I like a bit of chewy GK. Back in the day we had to have a least a smattering of same under the old bonnet AND be good a cracking the various codes, and – while today’s trendy veerings towards wordplay, not so many CDs etc, is still very nice – I miss that era.

    So, appreciated this one, and recent others like it.

    1. Seconded. Of course, the argument often put is that GK is impossible to define – witness the frequent arguments in these parts about what should fall under that banner. But GK clues often make for good talking points, without which there would be little need for a comments section on this blog (it’s why I often nominate ‘marmite’ clues for COD).
      1. definition of GK: any word or fact I know
        definition of unfairly/ridiculously obscure: any word or fact I don’t know

        🙂

  20. Liked this much more than yesterday’s. 21.54. Dalton was a hero of my late father-in-law, a meteorologist with the US Weather Service. Branwell, along with Currer, Acton and Ellis, I got from remembering an old Girl Annual (along with gems like Angela Air Hostess). Aardwolf, as Sotira points out, is indeed a popular name for an exterminating business in this neck of the woods. I don’t think the actual critter eats cockroaches though so would be of limited use. My mother worked one of those lamps in the Wrens and I only recently learned it wasn’t spelled “Aldous”. Yes I had “ballad” for a while too.
  21. 66 mins, so about average for me. Much tougher than my 24 mins yesterday.
    Shouldn’t 26 be “ancient city forsakes native”, or am I missing something?

    Edited at 2013-11-05 03:14 pm (UTC)

    1. I think that the parsing of this clue is ‘natural’ for native, deducting ‘Ur’ for ancient city, leaving ‘Natal’ as the former province. As ever, I stand to be corrected.
      George Clements
  22. Oh well couldn’t come up with the French place and went for GORDOGNE thinking it must be somewhere
    1. I won’t forget the Dordogne river. Some 30 years ago, future wife and I went on an Explore holiday on the Dordogne. The idea was floating down the river on 2-person dinghies with our gear, trailing fingers in the water and sipping local wine, stopping off at interesting places and camping at night. In fact the river was very low and slow that summer, so the day consisted of 20 mins on/20mins off rowing to get anywhere and sometimes having to climb out to drag the dinghy through shallows. I wont forget the Dordogne!
  23. 24/28 today with Aldis Lamp, Betray, Amen and Assign missing.
    Thought Dalton, Hippo, Reviewers and Puppet were all excellent.
  24. Very enjoyable. 27 minutes. I struggled to fit NEWTON into the scientific slot before I remembered DALTON. I think lots of us know both DALTON and BRANWELL – both reasonably famous though, unlike DALTON, BRANWELL shines only by reflected glory. Btw, Sotira, although I agree Gloucester is rather drab, the magnificent cathedral more than makes up for it. I went through in the train a couple of weeks ago because the Severn Tunnel was closed for maintenance. The view of the cathedral was some compensation for the hour delay! Ann
    1. Well, I did say “the cathedral area aside”. It really is a wonderful cathedral and well worth a visit. It has a lot of stories to tell. There are also a few other gems hidden away within the city. Unfortunately some of the finest Tudor (and earlier) structures are pretty much encased in more modern buildings, some right in the centre of town.
  25. Like many others, I enjoyed this puzzle rather more than yesterday’s, as it provided a greater challenge, but an achievable one. I was not familiar with ‘aardwolf’ and actually entered ‘aardwols ‘ provisionally until I reviewed the answer and realised that ‘aardwolf’ was much more likely.
    I really wish I had more aptitude for matters scientific and technical, but I was prevented from pursuing a science stream during secondary schooling because I couldn’t handle the maths required for the mechanics element of the Physics course. Consequently, I followed the Arts stream. Most of my science knowledge, such as it is, has been picked up by being prompted by crosswords. I suspect that the reason crosswords tend to lean towards Arts knowledge is that setters have, predominantly, a love of words and their usage, which has lead to them gaining a wider appreciation of literature and ‘word based’ disciplines than scientific ones.
    I am still totally duff at maths, but am quite happy to tackle the literary clues, provided they do not stray too often beyond the beginning of the twentieth century.
    George Clements
    1. George,
      You are a regular contributer. Any reason why you dont sign up with us as a name?
      Regards Tony
      1. Thanks for the message Tony. I enjoy contributing to the blog and, especially, reading the comments of the other solvers, but is there any advantage in signing up? While some folk have good reasons for requiring anonymity (like thud n blunder, who would probably attract the attention of the General Medical Council for his (?) gallows humour, which I really enjoy, and is probably essential to maintain sanity in his (?) job) I have no particular need to adopt a sobriquet. The opinions I express are just that, my personal views, and I don’t expect everyone to agree with them, but I am prepared to be identified with them. I was also concerned that registering with livejournal might leave me vulnerable to spam, but ulaca said that this was unlikely to happen. So, if there are any advantages in signing up of which I am not aware, I would be quite prepared to reconsider my position.
        Regards and thanks for your interest.
        George
        2. George, No big deal. As ulaca has recently mentioned to another Anonymous, the group is sometimes a bit less patient with comments posted anonymously but this cannot apply to you since you identify yourself. You are better than I was since before I joined I used to identify my anonymous posts simply with TonyW.
          I guess that the prime advantage of joining is that it enables you to have sidebar discussions with members that would probably be of no interest to the wider group (perhaps you can do this anyway). The discussion on the LAMPLIGHTER solution a few days ago has revealed that not only does one of the members come from almost the same village as me some 60 years ago but that our mothers still know each other well. It adds a personal touch I guess.
          Regards, Tony
  26. Much more difficult than yesterday for me, about 45 minutes, ending with BETRAY. To highlight my ignorance of both science and literature, I had to decipher both BRANWELL and DALTON from the wordplay, as well as AARDWOLF. Being a dope in both worlds allows me to politely decline the opportunity to comment on why these puzzles have so many more literature than science mentions. But I will offer the comment (not a complaint) that when either are mentioned, they’re more often than not English (not surprisingly). Overall, though, I really liked this puzzle, so thanks to the setter and to Tim for the blog. Regards to all.
  27. Well, this is what I really needed yesterday – a fine puzzle, which did not reveal its treasures easily. Six or seven went in straight away , and then each of the others required teasing out. Poor old BRANWELL raised the smile of the day as I was pulling in to Victoria! DORDOGNE was tricky to get to as I persisted in trying, unsuccessfully, to parse Bordeaux, until PUPPET put the kibosh on that. Quite a bit to finish off over a post-supper Armagnac. AARDWOLF and VENTILATOR last in.

    Thank you, setter, and more please!

  28. a brick.

    About an hour with two wrong – “POPPET” for 8d (in good company there), and an inexplicable “BETMAN” for 11ac. How I blew that one I have no idea – I can’t even construct an imaginative misparsing. I think I’ll have to seriously consider cutting back on my recreational use of anaesthetics.

    Felt very smug at getting “AARDWOLF”. “WHITE ANT” took a while – the “ANT” was obvious, but as far as I know “WHITE ANT” is an Australian term (which, in retrospect, was a mini-theme in the puzzle) which I wasn’t expecting.

    DALTON was no problem. He is far better known than Branwell Brontë, surely? If nothing else, “Daltonism” (colour blindness) should ring bells.

    It’s strange how, given the richness of the English language and the verbal gymnastics that setters employ, there is such a small well-used repertoire of clue words. Workers are invariably ants, ancient cities are invariably Ur, and any river that isn’t the Po is the Exe. Perhaps some American city would care to rename itself “Ation” and its river the “Ently” (flowing from the snowy summit of Mt. Ing and winding through the Ately Valley), to gain publicity.

    Quiet night so far (played 19; won 14; lost 2; 3 into extra time). Young gentleman arrived with part of his ear in a glass of Bacardi, reasoning* that the alcohol would keep it sterile until it could be reattached. Can’t fault the logic. (Top tip: if you find yourself in a similar situation, drink the Bacardi.)

    *sensu lato

    Edited at 2013-11-05 11:17 pm (UTC)

    1. I sometimes wonder if Messrs Webber and Rice chose to call their musical “Evita” because of the extra publicity they’d gain from crossword setters who used it as the reverse of ATIVE.
  29. 10:05 for me, tired after a busy day.

    I expect I’ve seen 1ac before as I thought of HIPPO immediately, but then took several seconds to confirm it from the wordplay. I then wasted ages trying to make an anagram of “lad is hit” + P at 4ac, getting me off to a horribly slow start.

    With all the checked letters in place when I reached 21ac, I bunged in GALTON as the first scientist to come to mind, but fortunately realised straight away that DALTON would fit as well – and satisfy the wordplay.

    A very fine puzzle with some excellent surface readings, 25ac being particularly impressive given the number of components in the wordplay.

    PS: Aha! There we are in No. 23,838 (16 February 2008): “Large mammal in river (5)”. And in No. 23,905 (5 May 2008): “Animal in river (5)”. [Tsk, tsk! Edmund Akenhead would never have allowed those two clues so close together!]

  30. A very enjoyable DNF – I agree with the comments above about good words and GK making a puzzle sizzle.

    My American comment for today: a youngster is certainly a PEEWEE, and anyone who has raised children in the US has been afflicted with Peewee Herman – perhaps the most annoying child’s entertainer ever. It makes a clever &lit, and it crossed a couple letters – just it didn’t seem right for the rest of this puzzle.

  31. Camargue for Dordogne
    Darwin for Dalton
    Poppet for Puppet
    Just about anything for Betray

    Clever little setter!

  32. Hello George
    There is no strong advantage to a membership, if all you wish to do is comment on a blog. All I can think of is..
    – can you edit your posts after submission? Members can
    – saves writing your name each time
    – other members can send you a private message
    Can’t think of much else.. I greatly dislike anonymous comments – but yours aren’t, of course, as long as you put your name in the message 🙂

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