Times 25629 – Meaty Monday

Author   ulacaPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
A very nice, if somewhat challenging, pangramatic puzzle with a distinctly retro feel. I tip my titfer to the setter.

Across

1 LEVIATHAN – alive* + THAN[e].
6 LARGE – spotlight is GLARE and we must move the final letter of [cleanin]G to get our ‘bumper’ harvest.
9 PARQUET – PAR (mean as in average) + QUEST without the ‘s’.
10 CUBICLE – CUB (novice – nice) + middle letter of saiLors in ICE. My COD.
11 LAIRD – I reckon it’s the fourth letter of neeDing following LAIR. Is the question mark in lieu of a signpost of any other kind? No, the question mark merely reinforces the cleverness of the clue, in which, as keef_lawrence and Nonnie point out, a putative keeper of the animal enclosures might label them A-Z, whereby the fourth one would be ‘Lair D’.
12 OVEREXERT – OVER + EXE + RT. Cunning.
13 FAIRNESS – AIR in F + NESS.
14 OSLO – reversed ‘staggered’ hidden in nOiSuLlOc.
17 EACH – [t]EACH.
18 SEDATIVE – last letter of unlockS + E + DATIVE (the Latin case denoting ‘to’ or ‘for’).
21 GRENADIER – ERG reversed + E (little energy) in NADIR.
22 OWNER – [d]OWNER.
24 IMPLORE – IMP + LORE.
24 EZEKIEL – MEZE (Greek/Turkish ‘tapas’) minus M + like* for the Biblical book with the wheels and dem dry bones.
26 GORSE – G + a cockney ‘ORSE.
27 ABERNETHY – ABE + RN + the* + [holida]Y for the original ‘digestive’ biscuit invented by a surgeon of that name. I’d never heard of him – or the biscuit – so needed to attend closely to the wordplay to avoid ‘Abernathy’.

Down

1 LAPEL – LAP + middle leters (I’m sure I’ve said that before) of [fi]EL[ds] for a part of the coat worn by dudes in the 60s.
2 VIRGINIA CREEPER – VIRGIN (‘untested’ – um, moving on quickly…) + a recipe* + E[ige]R for a vine I’d never heard of.
3 ABUNDANT – BUN in ADA + NT.
4 HOTHOUSE – THOU in HOSE.
5 NICKER – double definition; ‘nicker’ takes me back to the 60s and shows like ‘On the Buses’, where people were always talking about ‘twenty nicker’ (always singular). Research suggests that the etymology is shrouded in the mists of time, a connection with ‘nickel’ being about the best they can come up with.
6 LUBBER – if you’re a landlubber (or plain old luubber), you don’t like the sea – hence ‘no salt’; ‘fat wanted ruling out starter’ gives [b]LUBBER. A definite COD candidate.
7 ROCKET SCIENTIST – cryptic definition.
8 ELECTRODE – ELECT + ROD + [rehears]E. A write-in for Jimbo, but not for me, who was trying to reverse ‘rod’.
13 FLEDGLING – LEDG[er] in FLING. Very apt for the day after the successors to Fergie’s Fledglings put Wenger’s Continentals in their place.
15 REPRIEVE – REP + [RI (‘Religious Instruction’) in EVE]. Another fine clue.
16 NAPOLEON – OLE in NAP + ON; nap here as ‘best bet’. Ole! and Napoleon are cropping up a lot at the moment.
19 CAJOLE – CA + JO[u]LE (James Joule combined the trades of brewer and physicist – my type of scientist – studied with Dalton of these parts and was responsible for the First Law of Thermodynamics, as popularised by Flanders and Swann. He even had a unit of energy named after him). Cajole is a nice word, which thud’n’blunder will be looking forward to working into his diagnoses this evening.
20 CINEMA – IN + [br]EM[EN] in CA (about) (I’ve never used so many square brackets!) for the very 60s (50s?) definition, ‘I’m going to the pictures’. Another top clue.
23 RALLY – R + ALLY.

50 comments on “Times 25629 – Meaty Monday”

  1. An easy, but well constructed puzzle. A bit of trouble in the NE and, at the very end, with SEDATIVE where, no matter how I tried, I was always a letter short. Now I reckon we need the last letters of both “unlockS” and “executivE”. No other explanation for the first E that I can find.

    Equally unsure as our blogger about LAIRD. Is the D from “lanDowner” or from “neeDing”? And what tells us to put it where we need to. Very confused by this. There is no doubt a simple explanation and I shall have to kick myself.

    Suffering from crossword poisoning after a weekend of Club Times puzzles (both difficult), a couple of Champ Prelims, a Guardian and The Stickler. But it’s true: the more you do, the easier they get — or seem to get!

    1. E simply as in EMBA, methinks. Sometimes I think our Dean needs an outrider to keep him from going ‘off the bridle’…
      1. Never heard of it. Seems they’re chucking away degrees in all sorts of … “stuff” … these days. Never fond of clues where you have to know one letter of an abbrev/acronym. If that’s what it is. Next we’ll have “economic”, “Edinburgh”, “Elks” and “Erin” for the missing E, as per the other obscure EMBAs:
        Economic Modelling Bureau of Australia
        Edinburgh & Midlothian Beekeepers Association
        Elks Mutual Benefit Association
        Erin Mills Baseball Association

        As for Deano: the outrider is PB! Tighter reins perhaps?

        Edited at 2013-11-11 03:50 am (UTC)

        1. I thought it was shaping up to be a terrific puzzle yesterday, but two of the clues were so ‘out there’ that it never quite fulfilled its potential, IMHO.
  2. Thanks Ulaca. Yes, I hadn’t realised that “the pictures” was so dated until my kids laughed at my usage of it. In retaliation I’ve regressed further to the vernacular of my childhood, “I’m going to the flicks”.
  3. Yes a bit of a challenge for a Monday! I found the left side went in easily enough but I took a long time over the right side.

    I had a question mark against some clues. I thought a definitive feature of an Afghan coat was that it didn’t have lapels. I agree with ulaca’s parsing of LAIRD but the clue seems to have the LAIR and the D in the wrong order. Is a SEDATIVE an anaesthetic? And FLING = venture seems a bit of a stretch.

    Edited at 2013-11-11 03:29 am (UTC)

    1. A Google image search suggests that, a bit like a modern DJ/tuxedo, an Afghan could come with or without lapels. The trim was invariably hairy on either model.
  4. Off topic perhaps … but you can find BB here:
    http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/nov/08/celebrating-100-years-crossword
    Along with an interesting article that will suit cryptic neophytes and old hands alike.

    The anniversary is sparked by the first crossword … and it was written by a Scouser. I also found out that Sir Macca’s cousin compiled for (inter alia) The Guardian. Wish I’d know this because it turns out he lived in the suburb where I grew up. It would have been fab to have met him.

  5. I flung in ‘pursuit’ at 9ac, I have no idea why; just simply ignored the clue is what it is. Someone on the forum pointed out something else I didn’t notice: this is a pangram.
  6. my thanks to ulaca for the explanations

    lairD – went for a, b, c, D for “fourth”, but agree the clue is in wrong order.

    DNK meze, guessed Ezekiel from check letters & “Old Book”.

    couldn’t get my head away from Ketamine as being the number, although I couldn’t parse it, then a check letter typo completely ruined my morning’s labours.

    1. Yep, I like that reading. Well spotted. And ditto to Keef.

      Edited at 2013-11-11 06:36 am (UTC)

  8. 48 minutes with all the time past 30 spent on 3dn, 9ac,16dn and 25ac. The only unknown was MEZE which I have heard of but always thought it was spelt with double Z.

    Anon @ 05:14 has explained LAIRD correctly although I think that was what Lawrence meant in his earlier comment.

  10. 25 minutes, a fair proportion of them getting started with (eventually) 17ac. Fairly steady after that until winding up on Tyneside, which proved as obdurate as Newcastle’s goalie was yesterday, dammit.
    Is glare at 6ac really a spotlight? I suppose it could be a spot of light reflecting from a screen or somesuch, but I think it’s a bit of a liberty.
    SEDATIVE was nearly RELATIVE, which is a case (I looked it up post solve) and would be (numbe)R + ELATIVE which might stretch to “executive” via “puffed up with success” (Chambers). No, thought not.
    I liked the LAIRD clue – Chambers does give “an enclosure for beasts” for lair (and, entirely beside the point but QI, “the ground for one grave in a graveyard” (Scottish)). And yes, I did see the lair number four parsing before turning up here, and made it my CoD
    ABERNETHY constructed from crumbs of memory and wordplay, Joule in 19 a physicist I can name because he’s been unitised.
    If only I’d spotted the pangram, 12ac would have been easier because I needed the X, and the reminder that “runner” can mean river and not just ski or Coe.
    1. I read Glare = spotlight as in ‘the glare of publicity’. Admit to writing in LAIRD without any idea why.

      Edited at 2013-11-11 09:58 am (UTC)


  11. All ok in the LHS, but had to leave a couple of blanks on the R, among them EZEKIEL. Had I twigged it was a pangram, that may have helped, or then again it may not have.

  12. An interesting mix of relatively easy and some tough nuts. I also thought a lair was for wild animals so looked it up to check and found the “enclosure for beasts”. Likewise meze which I must have met before but had forgotten. Luckily a biscuit in 9 beginning A can’t be much else other than ABERNETHY, which crops up from time to time and yes, ELECTRODE was a write-in

    25 minutes in all and a promising start to the week. Please, please don’t anybody say they’ve never heard of James Joule

      1. …or that his middle name was Prescott. Physics was really poorly taught at my high-reputation school, and I’ve found I know next to nothing about Joule except the unit named for him. Why didn’t they tell us that he was a brewer? That he was British, for goodness sake (I’d assumed French and have never had occasion to question). If Physics is taught without life and colour (Chemistry was worse, trying to learn the Periodic Table by rote, and not by, say Lehrer), the bug doesn’t bite. That’s my excuse, Jim – perhaps you were inspired by some more visionary educator as I was in other subjects.

        Edited at 2013-11-11 11:32 am (UTC)

        1. I don’t think inspired teaching was much in evidence at Battersea Grammar in the 1950s! I was primarily a mathematician and so obliged under the then rigid structures to take Chemistry and Physics. I won a prize and used the book token to purchase a history of science which sparked off a life long interest. As a result I read the history of railways and that led directly to a history of associated social developments and so on. It was however an English teacher who suggested that I try the Times Crossword to try to broaden my knowledge base!
          1. My grandfather had one of those partwork books (bound into 2 volumes, actually) entitled 1001 Wonders of the Modern World, which included such things as why a double decker bus doesn’t fall over, and how sailors can see out of the widow in a storm (centrifugal force played a part). Technology, which is at least the application of physics, has always been an interest, possibly as a result. We live in an astonishing age, and I freely acknowledge that my knowledge of the giants on whose shoulders we stand is patchy. At least it’s enough (usually) to complete the crossword!
  13. Poor clue- never saw a coat of that type with a lapel, as someone has noted. Got it anyway, but nevertheless. E for Executive- CEO? Never heard of Abernethy and to check had to add ‘biscuit’ as otherwise just comes up with the town.
  14. Not the usual Monday breeze. I started off at a run but soon slowed to a leisurely walk, taking 40 minutes in all, but I had to confirm the biscuit at the end. I thought the clues constituted a very good set. 25 was lovely. I couldn’t see anything wrong with the word order of 11- the question mark clearly indicates some jiggery-pokery, and the first E of SEDATIVE is obviously indicated by the last letter of ‘executive’, not some obscure abbreviation.
    An unexpectedly refreshing start to the week. Thanks to the setter.
  15. I had been hoping for an easyish Monday puzzle after Dean Mayer’s fiendish ST cryptic yesterday. The left-hand side fell quickly enough but then I came to serious grief in the NE corner, not helped for a long time by having GLARE at 6A, which seems to fit the parsing just as well (bot not of course the cross-checkers).
  16. A 37 min struggle for me. The LHS went in easily enough with the exception of FLEDGLING, but it took me quite a while to unlock the RHS. If I had seen ROCKET SCIENTIST and EZEKIEL quicker it would have made a huge difference. ELECTRODE was my LOI.
  17. National holiday here today, Armistice, so not a typical Monday – nor was this puzzle! Finished all but 4 clues in SE corner in 20 minutes, then took an age getting EZEKIEL (after endless searching for an adjective meaning ‘like nuts’) and eventually had to resort to online aid to fill in my LOI NAPOLEON which I did not know was a card game (same as NAP?). Great puzzle and jolly nice biscuits.
  18. As Dorsetjimbo says, a mix of easy and more difficult. 15 mins for me. Has anyone ever actually eaten an Abernethy biscuit?
    1. Actually I think we all have in a way Sue. When I was small we always had “wheatens” or digestives for tea. They came after the bread and butter (and fish paste) and before the cake. The best was when the digestives appeared on the tea table coated with chocolate. McVities I think but exactly how they beat out old Dr. Abernethy is beyond my ken.
  19. A bit of a challenge, not helped by border terrier pestering.
    I agree with dyste on parsing of ‘sedative’ and Anonymous on ‘laird’.
    As Tottenham born and bred, I also empathise with z8, but now that I live north of Newcastle upon Tyne, the hurt is a little ameliorated by the fact that it was the Magpies that beat Spurs, and only through an inspired performance by the Dutch keeper. Hurry back Lloris.
  20. A steady solve on and off throughout the morning. Pleased to bounce back after getting beaten up by Dean Mayer’s puzzle yesterday.
    FOI Oslo. My last few were all in the SE corner: Sedative, Napoleon, Ezekiel and LOI Reprieve.
    I’d heard of Joule but didn’t know he was an Englishman!

    Edited at 2013-11-11 02:18 pm (UTC)

  21. Long time lurker, first time poster in this excellent place.

    Very nice puzzle, 45min until stuck with that book in the SE!

  22. An unusual day – I’m surprised at some of the comments from some of the ‘experienced worthies’ as I found this relatively easy – which means around 40 minutes for me!
    Helped, I think, as I knew Ezekiel – not through standard religion but through a life-long devotion to the works of PG Wodehouse. In one of the Jeeves and Wooster episodes (where betting was banned) the clergyman mentions Ezekiel in his sermon.
  23. Whoa! This wasn’t easy for me, about 45 minutes, ending with NAPOLEON, which I didn’t know as a card game (nor did I know the wager). It fit the checkers. ABERNETHY was also a new one to me, so thanks to the setter for the clear wordplay. A very clever puzzle altogether (as was yesterday’s ST). Regards to all.
  24. Another lurker since March when I retired back to Blighty after 20 years abroad. I really enjoy the daily comments. Was going well until I hit the SE corner. Went to Sainsbury’s and all became clear on my return.
    1. As one newly signed-up, it’s good to welcome another. Now I know where I’ve been going wrong, will have to change my allegiance from ASDA to Sainsbury’s.
  25. 17m. Helped by knowing everything except the biscuit. 14ac was neat because that’s where I was when I solved this.
    I’m afraid I would have thrown Dean’s puzzle across the room yesterday if I hadn’t been solving it online. I’m sure there’ll be a lively debate here on Sunday.
  26. A nice one with some tough clues, not at all the typical Monday ramble, at least not for me. LAIRD raised a puzzled eyebrow as I put it in (and I’m not convinced by the possible parsing explanations), but EZEKIEL definitely raised a smile!

    Not even the therapeutic qualities of the 77 Bus Stop assisted the end-game: the last four went in, Sangiovese assisted, while Djokovic was thrashing Nadal. The NAPOLEON / SEDATIVE (LOI) crosser kept me going for ages.

  27. 12:19 for me – not a disaster, but, looking back over the clues, I feel I should have been a lot faster, particularly in the NE corner which I found hard to break into (for no good reason). Nice puzzle.
    1. Thrown by Abernethy, alas, so FTF. (I note that this forum’s spell-checker denies all knowledge of “Abernethy”, but suggests “Absinthe”, which is nice of it.) Also, I had no idea that “nap” was a betting term, and spent a long time trying to shoehorn “wager” in before giving up and going for an unparsed Napoleon.

      Tonight’s game of “use all the answers in casual conversation with patients” was made somewhat easier by “cubicle”, “sedative” and “electrode”, but then fell foul of “Virginia creeper”. I did manage to use it with one patient, but the fact that they were unconscious at the time it took the fun out of it.

      It looks like tonight’s award for Most Original Injury or Illness will go to a young man who was bitten by his pet tarantula, which he brought in with him. He had heard that, if you’re bitten by anything, you should try to bring it with you so that it can be identified*. The fact that he (alone) knew what species it was made this somewhat unnecessary, but it did liven things up for a while. What made his case particularly interesting is that he was bitten in a very unusual place (Bury St. Edmunds).

      *(We’d prefer you ignore this rule if you’ve been bitten by a pit-bull or a fellow drinker.)

      1. It was asserted on a recent QI that there is not a single recorded case of death by tarantula. I wonder if you have any info on this? I don’t think they specified whether in the UK or worldwide.
        1. By and large, tarantula bites aren’t that much worse than bee stings. However, there’s always the chance that some smart-alec patient will decide to go into anaphylactic shock, I suppose.

  29. I came seriously adrift in the SE corner. I managed to drag ABERNETHY from some long-lost part of my memory, but am still a bit worried about EZEKIEL. The meze they serve up in our local Greek restaurants is a meal in itself (normally for a minimum of two); certainly more substantial than appetisers!

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