Times 25626 – what’s the sound of one hand typing?

54 comments on “Times 25626 – what’s the sound of one hand typing?”

1. Welcome to the silly typo club, George; mine was an L for the final A in EPHEMERA. (You’ve got one above: ACCOMMODATION needs another C.) I saw the ‘dead’ of 27ac as in ‘dead wrong’, which I suspect is on both sides of the pond. DNK LEATHERJACKET, but it made sense. A bit surprised to see ONER, a NYTimes chestnut (and a word I’ve never encountered elsewhere).
   1. Ta, will fix. Mine was SENECHEL
2. A totally different experience for me, 90 minutes of hell including 7 to get my first answer! Never heard of PIP EMMA and had forgotten SENESCHAL if ever I knew it in the first place.
   1. It just came to me: Isn’t Sir Kay King Arthur’s seneschal? I suspect that’s where most of us came across the word, if we did. And if he is. (Just as I first met ‘vizier’ in The Arabian Nights.)
   2. Hi Jack. PIP EMMA military (airforce) slang. Has appeared here before I think.
      1. Thanks, Jim. Unfortunately that’s no guarantee of my remembering anything these days.
         1. I suspect others whose parents served in WWII will be familiar with military slang from that era. As Jimbo says, PIP EMMA is PM from the slang phonetic alphabet. Other examples that come to mind are ACK ACK (anti-aircraft fire), ACK EMMA ( AM), and TOC EMMA ( a trench mortar) .

            Edited at 2013-11-07 12:16 pm (UTC)

3. Done by the Biggles clue, essaying ‘pip thea’, with ‘hearing’ for my sense. Like Jack, found this no picnic, ‘finishing’ in 71 minutes. Last in and favourite CONGAS.

   Vaguely heard of the artist but had him down as the painter of the Fallen Madonna with the Big Boobs, who turns out to be Van Klomp.

4. …with ‘dodges’ instead of ‘congas’. It almost works as a double definition, but is just a bit….dodgy.

   I too struggled for well over an hour. However ‘pip emma’ was my first in, and I did the top fairly quickly. The bottom, however, proved very recalcitrant. I should have seen ‘pinafore’ and ‘speed limit’, and ‘uptight’ much more quickly, that would have opened it up.

   1. I started with ‘dodges’ myself; forget how (or if) I justified it.
5. I found this tough, too. I rushed to submit before the 30 min mark and hadn’t really thought through 15ac, where I had CONGOS, which is presumably neither a dance nor a country so I don’t know what I was thinking, but I’m sure ‘goss’ was somewhere in my head. There goes this week’s clean sheet ….
6. Struggled with this for over the hour on line. (A bloke came to paint my ceiling and I was confined to the spare room.) Don’t think I’d have been much better on paper but.

   ARRANGER was very hard to see. But AS-TON-I-SHED was truly great. (That is: about my degree of difficulty.)

7. 
   Happy to finish all correct within an hour (just), so found this tough but finishable.

   Managed to parse all but BASIC, and ROTATOR (hadn’t seen it was a palindrome). I agree ARRANGER took a long time to separate the ‘planning’ and ‘to wed’ bits. Was slowed up by having ‘basin’ (traditional dish?) in at 10ac. And ONER? Not sure I’ve come across this before. I’m definitely more in the arts camp, but am happy to say that I have heard of today’s mathematician…

   FOI: SENESCHAL; LOI: the unknown PIP EMMA

8. 100% after a steady, but enjoyable, plod.
   TA for explanation of 17. Having taken WRONG as indicating an anagram of CLUE (helpful sign), I couldn’t work out where the ID came from to result in the then obvious mathematician.

   ONER
   Going back many years, before H&S went mad in schools, a ONER was a remarkable conker that had demolished an opponent’s conker with one blow. Similarly you could also have “two-ers”, “three-ers” etc.
   Can also be a single punch to win a fight.

   SENESCHAL
   previously encountered once, but in its other meaning of governor or official, when it was a synonym for Aga.

   1. My hazy memory of playing conkers is that the counting referred to the number of opponents’ conkers destroyed irrespective of the number of blows involved, so being a ‘oner’ was only the first step on the road to conker glory.

      Edited at 2013-11-07 06:59 am (UTC)

      1. ODO has:
         1 something denoted or characterized by the number one: I did the last drink in a oner.
         • one pound or one hundred pounds sterling. to reclaim my car is gonna cost a oner.
         2 archaic a remarkable person or thing.
      2. Hi Jack,

         no doubt there are as many “rules” for playing conkers, with associated verbiage/nomenclature, as there are dart boards around the UK.
         We kept our conkers in individual sweetshop paper bags in our satchels, their tallied their victories on the bags, along with notes like “oner”, and had cardinal counts for wins.
         Did you have these two rules:-
         “knuckles” – if your opponent hit your hand/knuckles you got two shots at his.
         “swingeing” – if your opponent was adjudged to not be holding his conker properly still you got two shots at his.
         Did you enjoy the fun side – climbing the trees to get to the bigger conkers that the kids throwing sticks couldn’t knock down. Followed by the process of hardening them by soaking in vinegar for at least 24 hours, then putting in the oven on the lowest gas for another couple of hours, before getting dad to make the smallest hole possible to feed the prescribed bootlace through (from the designated school outfitter), then making the securing knot as large as possible to spread the stress on the bottom on your conker.
         And the usual side-bet was for a Fruit Salad or a Blackjack, both of which were 3 for 1d in those days.

         God, I feel really old now!

         1. I guess that I go back further as the whole point of Fruit Salads and Blackjacks was that they were a farthing each.
            I was given 6d a week for sweets at school. I could have Fruit Salads/Blackjacks each day or could blow almost the lot on a 4d Waggonwheel. I never did and for years I wondered what a Waggonwheel tasted like. I was much older when I discovered that they taste revolting.

            On the puzzle, 38:24. Certainly not a stroll in the park for me.

            1. Blimey! I was diddled. I was a lad in the 60s and was given only a tanner then. Never saw a farthing, mind.

               Edited at 2013-11-07 09:16 am (UTC)

               1. Makes sense. The farthing ceased to be legal tender on 31 December 1960, I see.
                  1. That reminds me of when (ca.1933) I found a farthing on my way home from school, and tried to buy one Fruit Salad, but it was refused. In my fury at the unfairness, I hurled the coin at the shop door, which cracked a glass pane, so ran home, and lived in fear for a while that I might have been identified, so that the repair would need to be paid for.
            2. They’re much smaller than they used to be. You used to need “a smile a mile wide” to eat one. Now a wry grin will suffice.
         2. I was never into conkers that enthusiastically, Lawrence, but I do remember others giving them the vinegar and oven treatments you describe.
9. I worked through this reasonably well in 25 minutes with no major hold ups. A good quality puzzle I thought. Helped in the NE by knowing PIP EMMA immediately.

   Never heard of KLIMT (my LOI) but of course knew EUCLID

   1. You may not have heard his name but if you google him I’m sure you’ll recognise KLIMT’s work. More famous than Dalton, I’d say… 😉
      1. You mischief-maker, you.

         In my college era (as we’re doing nostalgia today), prints of The Kiss were considered almost as essential as, and probably a little cooler than, that Che Guevara poster.

         1. I guess, sotira, that the female tennisplayer scratching her bum did not have the same attraction to you.
            1. Now, that’s a terribly bourgeois assumption, bigtone!
               1. Apologies. In my world then (an all-male boarding school) Che and the tennisplayer were everywhere. Have never seen The Kiss before.

                  Edited at 2013-11-07 01:30 pm (UTC)

                  1. Don’t forget Raquel Welsh in her doe-skin bikini in One Billion Years BC. Did anyone actually watch the film, I wonder?
                     1. ‘Twas I, ulaca.
                     2. I was not going to mention that,
10. Euclid’s fine, Jimbo – he’s Greek and ancient. It’s these modern boffins I can’t be doing with…
    1. Klimt was a magnificent painter and seriously annoyed Hitler. Well worth looking up.

       Edited at 2013-11-07 09:43 am (UTC)

       1. One of our main reasons for visiting Vienna last year was to see various Klimts in situ. Well worth the effort.
       2. Quite right Z. The heirs of the original owners finally prised the wonderful portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer out of the Austrian government (it had been Nazi loot) a few years ago and it was bought by the Lauder cosmetic family for a princely sum and is now in NY.
11. 19 minutes (same as yesterday) for this, so feeling a bit chuffed. One of those steady solves where nothing falls on first sight but yields, grudgingly, after a bit of concentration.
    For me the exception was in the SE, where, though I had LEATHERJACKET, I knew it only as the crane fly lava and not necessarily therefore a swimmer. That was enough to make the JACKET crossings unreliable and therefore unhelpful. I half expected the painter not to begin with K but perhaps T, and the DRUNK in UPTIGHT not to begin with a T.
    I migrated to the NE which fell rapidly: I knew PIP EMMA from cadet my days with the Royal Artillery, where it was still in use – 14-18 signaller’s code predating the RAF and NATO alphabets. Our Lee Enfield 303s were of the same vintage.
    DIGGING IN, with a clue that must have been irresistible for the setter seeing it written down, then opened up the missing entries. My CoD.
    A timely contribution to the GK debate, I thought, with a bird, fish, mathematician, artist, muscle, dance, religious term, dress and archaism (9) all vying for attention. No plant or cricket, though, for which relief much thanks

    Edited at 2013-11-07 09:46 am (UTC)

12. 26m. Phew! I found this a tough struggle. Good puzzle though. I’m sure PIP EMMA and SENESCHAL have come up before, or I’d never have heard of them. Nice range of references.
13. 15:25, and a very good puzzle. Just hard enough to be a toughie, if you know what I mean. Like others, I only knew the insect, so had to take LEATHERJACKET on trust, though it became increasingly obvious it was right. PIP EMMA has appeared before, I am fairly certain, along with ACK EMMA and TOC H from the same source.

    In fact, all the rest of today’s puzzle met my personal definition of general knowledge i.e. “Things I Happen to Know”. And while there’s no cricket per se, I only knew the muscle because a torn rotator cuff is a regular injury amongst fast bowlers and other sportsmen whose shoulders do a lot of work.

    1. Unlike others, I was entirely unburdened by any knowledge of what a LEATHERJACKET might be, other than something worn by Jeremy Clarkson.
       On the other hand I’ve only recently recovered from a rotator cuff injury, so I can confirm that the term is definitely general knowledge.
14. PIP EMMA: puzzle 24,612, 10 August 2010:

    Novel where Pip leaves in the afternoon? (4)

    SENESCHAL: puzzle 24,772, 14 February 2011:

    She cleans, working for steward (9)

15. 23 mins and I struggled to get on the setter’s wavelength for a while. I would have been quicker if I had seen the anagrams for CONTAIN and COAL TIT a little faster.

    After I finally remembered KLIMT and then saw the anagram for SPEED LIMIT I was able to get LEATHERJACKET, and that finally opened up the SW for me. PINAFORE was my LOI, and I agree that this was another good puzzle.

16. After two enjoyably tricky ones in a row, this was a pleasant, enjoyable stroll in the park. Too much Biggles in my youth meant that PIP EMMA was a write-in, followed by the obvious PALLOR and SENESCHAL (too much Walter Scott?), and the rest more or less quickly followed.

    Now in the olden days, 13ac would have been G&S themed. Infernal nonsense! Held up by the female from hell, and tried too hard to get the Erinyes into 16d, which in the end proved much simpler. LOI ROTATOR, nice clue.

    And even if the sun is not quite over the yardarm, enjoyed the 26ac double gin. Cheers!

17. One of those that seemed really tricky while I was struggling but actually only took 15:51.
18. 22:22 but one error. Just like Vinyl I had dodges at 15. Completely and utterly unlike vinyl pip emma was not my first, but my last in.

    Like others I was unsure about leatherjacket. This summer when my lawn started turning brown I looked up causes and quickly went on a leatherjacket hunt as the little bastards nibble through the roots. In the end it was just dry weather to blame.

    Seneschal was unknown but whilst I might not know all the scientists, mathematicians, artists and composers who have ever lived my GK is sufficiently broad tat I knew both Euclid and Klimt.

    George, the term EP is still very much in use. Often a new band with insufficient material to make an album will put out an EP with a handful of songs on, albeit on CD or download.

    Top, top puzzle with some very inventive stuff. Thanks to the setter.

19. Thought I’d done alright with 23.52 but had rushed in upper limit, of which there’s none to my talent for getting simple things wrong. Liked 26’s letter-fall. Good to remember conkers and farthings. A oner for me was as Jack says at the bottom of the ladder. Doesn’t Molesworth somewhere display a peerless expertise in conker preparation? As for the farthing I rather miss the wren, or maybe it’s the simpler time it stood for.
20. ” Wonder how long EP will persist in crosswordland – when was the last one pressed?”

    I think EPs have made a comeback (if they ever went away). An EP is any recording midway between single and album.
    I’d like to think that the crossword puzzle was responsible for the retention/revival of the term .. 🙂

    Edited at 2013-11-07 05:03 pm (UTC)

21. I’m waiting for the first person to claim they only got a groat for pocket money!!

    The groat faded from use due to the lack of them in general circulation – they were last minted for UK use in the 1860’s – 4p (and 3p) coins are still legal tender.
    How so?? Although you’ll never get one in your change, the 4 coins in a set of Maundy Money are legal tender. and had to be updated from 1/2/3/4 Denari to 1/2/3/4 Pence when we went decimal in 1971.

22. What a good puzzle, as said above, hard enough to be satisfying but not so hard as to be frustrating. Knew all the GK for once, Mrs K helped with a PINAFORE being sleeveless, and my LOI oddly enough was FRIDAY. I must remember ID for papers more often. Recently read a history of the 100 Years War (which of course lasted 113 years…) so SENESCHAL was a shoe in.
23. In defence of pip emma, it is *not* slang. Until 1924 it was part of the official RAF Phonetic Alphabet. At that time ack and emma (but not pip) were changed because they were too identified with specific things (like ack-ack)… it’s all NATO now of course, alpha bravo charlie etc etc.
24. Put me down amongst those not knowing Leatherjacket or Pip Emma – annoying as I am reading my very first Biggles right now (more acclimation). But did know Seneschal Euclid, Klimt, and the others. Totally does indeed have the “completely” meaning in US Valley-speak, but “dead” doesn’t scan – so I knew the answer but couldn’t understand the question. Otherwise a long solve here, but one which yielded persistent results.
25. 11:46 here for an interesting and enjoyable puzzle. I made rather heavy weather of the NE corner, but it came out once I’d got CONGAS (I’d initially dismissed GAS as a possible ending because it looked so implausible for a word meaning “takes steps”).

    Plenty of Klimt on display in London’s National Gallery at the moment in their exhibition “Facing the Modern: The Portrait in Vienna 1900” (which I haven’t yet been to but will be sure to visit before it ends on 12 January).

26. Late solving again, but enjoyable. At 15a I nearly plumped for ‘foggas’, hoping there might by a dance so called, but thankfully took the time to run through the alphabet and spotted ‘co gas’, which was my last one in. Thought that 3d was an excellent clue.
    George Clements
27. A challenging, but enjoyable puzzle, with several clever surfaces. Needed a little help with 1 across, resulting in a “doh” moment. Bunged in “dodges” without much confidence, therein proved correct.

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