Times 25706 – One from the Nursery Slopes

66 comments on “Times 25706 – One from the Nursery Slopes”

1. As said, a very easy solve with most of the defs standing out like the proverbial.

   Took the verb in 7dn as intransitive*: “Biggles had the controls and decided to put down despite the fog”. (From “Biggles Flies Undone”.)

   And hey … lay off the Taswegians eh? What have they ever done to you? Try a holiday there some time and you’ll change your mind.

   * On edit … oops!

   Edited at 2014-02-10 08:48 am (UTC)

2. 32 minutes with 1dn and 12 delaying me at the end. Nice to have a tennis reference – the only sport I follow – instead of cricket. For some unknown reason I failed to spot that an anagram was involved at 11dn; I just wrote the answer straight in.
3. Nice way to start the week, although I wouldn’t want too many more of these in one week; definitely lacking chewiness. Several of these went in on checkers & def, or checkers alone, including 1d, which I didn’t even know.But the surfaces were wonderfully smooth.
4. ….coming in a 31 minutes due to being unable to see the obvious. I was determined that 3 down would start with [d]EN, which made it very difficult to clean up that corner. I also had trouble with ‘repartee’, putting it in and then erasing it, thinking is was supposed to have S[pli]T in it.

   “Now she gets her kicks in Stepney,
   Not in Knightsbridge any more….”

5. Quite easy, well within 30 minutes. Rufus in The Guardian today has He’s likely to look out for inexpensive fish (10) to keep 13Down company. Thank you, ulaca for your very readable and amusing blog.
   1. Amusing? I assume you mean the dubious references to Tasmanians? What else?

      Edited at 2014-02-10 09:05 am (UTC)

6. 13:02 … initially threw in a stop volley, which made untangling the NW tricky. Otherwise, fairly routine.

   COD .. REPARTEE – lovely surface and construction.

   Seems chrisw91’s young feller is in the sport du jour, with Slopestyle going down a storm in Sochii. Great to see all these rad, gnarly youngsters putting the fun back into sport. Awesome!

   1. It would be more enjoyable if the commentaries weren’t incomprehensible. Whatever happened to explaining what’s going on?
7. 
   All in 30mins, but another few for REPARTEE. I too was trying to fit S(pli)T in.

   And I missed the anagram at 11dn, as I agree the definitions were for the most part easy to spot (hence didn’t trouble to parse RHODE ISLAND).

   Rooting for Woodsy on Thursday…funny how I feel a virtual frisson now every time I see/hear him mentioned in the media…

8. 8m, but with REPARTIE. It didn’t occur to me for a second that the spelling might have been anglicised. C’est la vie, as they don’t say.
9. Pleasant enough but I agree with Kevin that I would not want the whole week to be like this.

   Go Woodsy.

10. Isn’t any commenter so far as bothered by Ulaca’s negative references to Tasmania and Tasmanians as I am?
    I find the whole thing highly offensive. Rather in the manner of Irish jokes that some people tell.
    Please … let’s not have such negative discrimination on this site.

    mctext

11. Just over 10 minutes, but looking at the on-line leaderboard, I feel positively pedestrian. I felt a bit aggrieved that STOP VOLLEY, which went in very early, then turned out to be wrong, obviously meaning it took me some time to work out what on earth 1ac could be. Not sure whether the setter was being extra devious, having a clue with two entirely correct alternative answers, or simply didn’t realise the possible confusion. Given the gentle nature of the puzzle overall, I’m guessing the latter.
    1. I think you’re right to feel a bit aggrieved, Tim, what with ‘stop volley’ being a complete anagram of ‘spot lovely’ instead of the partial one required for the given answer. If I hadn’t written in DIATRIBE so early in the proceedings I’d have gone for ‘stop’ too and would have been livid to find out it was wrong. As it was, with the D in place, I never even thought of it until coming here. I’m not sure that deliberate bear traps like this are entirely fair and I wonder if it simply slipped through unnoticed.

       Edited at 2014-02-10 10:37 am (UTC)

12. 12 minutes (or a smidge under), though it felt a notch or two above a nursery slope. I would have opted for STOP VOLLEY if I’d thought of it; as it was, it was my SOI after ADD and gave significant impetus to the solve. After that, the ripples spread outwards, exactly as they don’t when you throw a stone into a bucket of three toed sloths.
    My hold up in the SE was caused by the conviction that 14 was a clever &lit with an anagram of “clones are”, only abandoned when the T of BLAST made it impossible.
    Currently living in Essex, I can understand Mct’s botheration with toponymic stereotyping. Like Jewish jokes, they’re usually ok when offered by the people themselves. Essex has learned to trade on it (cf TOWIE, Stacey Solomon), but I have no idea where Tasmanians stand on that. Offended, or celebrated as an astute marketing ploy?

    Edited at 2014-02-10 09:45 am (UTC)

13. Thought I’d have a quick look between the porridge and the eggs n bacon, and ended up completing it in 15 minutes! Not exactly solid fare.

    Had to look up the Urban Dictionary to try to grasp the Tasmanian references. Still really none the wiser. But sadder.

    1. … Ulaca should retract?
14. Why do Tasmanians end sentences with “but”?
    1. Um, they don’t.
       1. I assumed, perhaps carelessly, McT was a Tasmanian.
          1. You haven’t been paying attention. McT seems to be a Liverpudlian Scouser living in the fictional wilds of Minginup (sp?) south of Perth WA. My favourite WA placename was always Uligugulup.

             A slowish 22 min – that’s usually quick for me, but today the words wouldn’t come.

             Rob

15. Even as a newcomer to this exquisite torment, I found this one pretty straightforward. Like others, 26 held me up as I was looking for the ends of split, but eventually the penny dropped.

    As a big fan of Tasmania and its great people, I was delighted to see the Apple Isle get a good airing in Ulaca’s blog. For anyone who has not had the good fortune to visit and fall in love with the place, it’s a bit like Devon – where (at least when I was a kid growing up in Somerset) the locals’ proud boast was “I’m a west countryman, born and bred – strong in the arm and weak in the head”. Their call, not mine.

    At least we were spared any cartographic references (probably best let that rest with the Antipodean contingent)- let’s be thankful for quite significant mercies…

    1. I get it Nick. Hard to explain on a civilised site such as this though.
    2. Nowadays down here in Somerset we say “Oi carn’t read and oi carn’t write, but that don’ really matta, ‘cos I comes from Zummerset and oi can drive a tratta”.

       Except being able to drive a DUKW is more appropriate at the moment…

16. 12min – would have been even quicker, but was looking at puzzle while having my cornflakes.
    LOI was 1dn (from wordplay and checkers), as had never heard of either sort of volley, which from foregoing comments is apparently something in tennis – a sport I find particularly boring.
    I’d not come across Tasmanian jokes before, and would be happy to never do again – there are too many of these quasi-racist themes already.
17. Much too easy – almost just an exercise in read the definition and write in the answer.

    I’m very glad I got 1A straight off and so was not led into STOP VOLLEY. I did wonder if DIATRIBE was wrong but with 2,3 and 4D in place I reasoned 1D was something else; then the V at 12A gave it to me. Inadvertent cluing I’m guessing rather than deliberate

    I thought 11D a good if very easy anagram

18. Not being a tennis fan I took ages with 1d, but the rest made for a very pleasant puzzle; particularly after the horrors of the weekend.
    1. The above was my effort having forgotten to sign in.

       As with others, I am a little disappointed with Ulaca’s Tasmanian Jokes (I presume). There were no less than five such references without any explanation as to why hy was making them.
       Where I gather he lives,(HK), I imagine the he has been called ‘Gweilo’ many times. Some westerners take offence at this, but most don’t. Personally when I lived there I didn’t but I do know that HK is one of the few successful multi-cultural societies because people are very sensitive to racial issues, thus I am surprised at Ulaca’s remarks and perhaps Ulaca as Mctext says should either retract or explain.
       I am quite a newcomer to the site so if I have missed some underlying banter then I apologise, but having regard to the comments of others I gather that is not the case.

       1. To be fair to Ulaca, these aren’t racial issues we’re talking about. There is no Tasmanian race (I know, I know, but for the sake of this discussion….).

          The ribbing of Tasmanians would be (I imagine) akin to the rivalry which exists between say Yorkshire and Lancashire. It may cause offense to some, and I’m not criticising those that are offended, but it’s a bit of a stretch to label it as racially insensitive.

          Anyway that’s my two bobs’ worth. Can’t believe I’m defending Ulaca.

19. 9 mins, although I’m glad DIATRIBE was my FOI because I’d almost certainly have gone for “stop volley” at 1dn. REASONS was my LOI after ORDNANCE, mainly because I had been trying to fit (D)EN into the answer somewhere until I had all the checkers. An extremely vanilla puzzle.
20. I am sorry if I have offended any Tasmanians (or anyone else, certainly McT), but I saw the opportunity for a mini-theme arising from 22 and ran with it to try and perk up an otherwise vanilla offering (mine not the setter’s). It was all meant in good part.
21. Yes, easy.. but just raising a small flag for 11dn, which is a very neat clue indeed.
    1. Each to his/her own I guess. To me, a clue that is so blindingly obvious from the surface that parsing is unnecessary is not a good one.

       Edited at 2014-02-10 11:53 am (UTC)

       1. To me all clues are easy, Bigtone. So all that is left for me is style, surface, a neat construction…

          Ha ha, did that sound convincing? 🙂

22. I didn’t fall into the trap, because I’d never heard of a stop volley. I didn’t know the hat – though it was easily gettable the several possibilities slowed me down, and I choked for a while when the more-familiar-to-me back stretch didn’t fit. I was pleased to see Sparta added to the recent list of ancient cities. Soon enough we’ll have a complete BCE atlas.
23. Nothing particularly taxing in this one – 7:56 – might have been a bit quicker but Mr CS and No 2 son were rambling on about football in the background. The only good thing about back to work tomorrow is that I will be able to do the Times crossword in the peace and quiet of my lunch hour.
24. I’m not sure any Tasmanians could or would be offended. Merely pointing out that there are two artists from Tasmania must, surely, be considered high praise indeed.

    Tasmania brings to mind the Tasmanian Tiger (aka marsupial wolf or thylacine), one of my favourite animals. Dog-like yet, being less related to dogs than we are to wallabies, beguilingly alien. Also extinct, since the 1930s – there are movies available online of the last sorry specimen in a Hobart zoo. Great shame, but with luck we’ll get them back one day.

    But I digress and diverge. At 20min, I was pretty pleased with this one, easy or no.

25. Well, I’m glad he cleared that up, but you can see what he was trying to do to spice the blog up, on a very dull day, it has to be said. I hope mctext is all right about it, but of course there is a sort of Irish joke mentality directed towards the Tazziwazzies, that’s pretty dull too.
26. Easy enough today (15m) but I have been ploughing through a Times Crossword book and there is a clue I just cannot justify.
    It is ‘Many an Anglo-Saxon runner initially needed a drink’
    The answer is Manhattan and I have absolutely no idea why. Is there anybody out there who could put me out of my misery?
    1. M(any) + ‘an’ + Hatta + N(eeded)

       Hatta is one of the Anglo-Saxon messengers (runners) in Through The Looking Glass, the same character in essence as The (Mad) Hatter elsewhere in Carroll.

       1. Thank you so much Sotira. I am indebted to you.
          1. You’re welcome. It’s always nice when a bit of accumulated trivia turns into ‘useful’ knowledge!
27. And that was after a few birthday beers (“Cheers Galspray”), so must have been an easy one.

    Poor old Ulaca. After being beaten up by Aussies all Summer he decides to have a crack at the smaller softer target of Tasmania and now everyone wants a piece of him.

    I thought his main crime was referring to them as Tazzies. That’s just wrong. They’re either Taswegians, as McText says, or Maps, as Nick the Novice delicately avoids saying.

    And they’re not stupid, just inbred. I’M KIDDING!!!

    1. I’d like to to say the same about minor public school boys who went to Reading and post anonymous blogs about HK ex-pats and their gripes. But I can’t.
    2. Thanks for reminding me of Maps in that context galspray. When I first heard it in its longer form I thought it was hilarious, and it was actually an ex-girlfriend who first told me about it.

       Edited at 2014-02-10 04:01 pm (UTC)

       1. Outside of atlases, Australia is often depicted minus Tasmania. Which gives Taswegians the hump. But I digress; when proud Taswegian Mary Donaldson married the future King of Denmark, there was talk of how to celebrate the fact. Since the future King of Denmark had probably never seen a full and unexpurgated map of Australia it was suggested that Mary should put him out of his misery and show him a map of Tasmania.
28. ‘peasy. At least it would have been, had I not fallen for the trap, and spent half an hour comimg up with ‘seatribe’. Don’t laugh at me, it parses! *groan*
29. Coincidence? The answer to 11 across in today’s Guardian cryptic is “cheapskate”.
    1. Maybe there’s a sale at the fish market?
30. Hi everyone,
    I have been away with work for the past two weeks with no time to comment here or read the blog. Have a lot of puzzles to catch up on…
    27/28 today with Vicious Circle eluding me. Made a hash too of Blast where initially I had Betal and then Brest.
    Remembered Biretta from a recentish Times or Sunday Times puzzle.
31. Not much to say. Top to bottom, left to right, ending with REPARTEE. Less than 15 minutes, so I thought it a very gentle puzzle. Regards.
32. As someone who is new to cryptic crosswords, I find the arrogance displayed in this forum distasteful, and today is the worst I have seen yet. I fail to see the point of spending time writing out the answers to clues if they are thought to be so easy that they merit no explanation. Why bother in the first place?
    24D for example … believe it or not a crossword novice may not yet know that time is often abbreviated to t and that ‘set up’ may mean backwards.
    Please, please write the explanations without the sneering insults to those less practiced. The comments provide sufficient room for those wishing to brag about how easy they found it.
    1. Newby99, welcome to the forum.

       A site called Times for The Times might be expected to mention how quickly people solve it. But more specifically, if you have a point to make about something, better not to make it at this time of night as very few are likely to check in to todays puzzle and see it now. Better to get in first thing tomorrow

    2. Hi there Newby99. I too am very new to this site and (as my handle implies) a relative novice in terms of expertise. My experience of the folk here has been that they are extremely generous in giving a helping hand to those of us less experienced – any specific questions I have raised have been answered rapidly and graciously, so my suggestion would be to ask away.
       You might also be interested in a book I recently read – “Two Girls, One on Each Knee” by Alan Connor. I personally found it an excellent primer on how to tackle cryptics generally. Kind Regards Nick
    3. Hi newby99, and welcome.

       I genuinely don’t think that’s a fair criticism in general. Many new arrivals at the blog say pretty much the opposite, commenting on the site’s unusual civility. But granted, today might have been a ‘wrong side of the bed’ day for some. It’s bound to happen occasionally on a daily blog site.

       You do make a good point, however, about the need to keep novice solvers in mind. When you’ve been doing something a long time, it’s easy to forget what it’s like to be starting out. We do need to keep reminding ourselves of that (or be reminded).

       For the bloggers it can become wearisome when they have a long run of very easy puzzles. Blogging a puzzle, regardless of its difficulty, takes much longer than you might think. Naturally bloggers find it much more motivating when they have something to get their teeth into.

       Do stick around and, as bigtone suggests, maybe post a bit earlier in the day, especially if you feel something has been taken for granted. It’s good for the site to have more perspectives from less experienced solvers. The site doesn’t belong to anyone. If you want to change the tone of it, well, dive in and do just that.

       Cheers.

    4. Hi Newby. I think we’re just being honest on how we found the puzzle. Once you’ve solved a fair number then you get sharper on how to spot the definition. Sometimes these definitions are more cryptic, better hidden, sometimes less so. Sometimes the answers are painfully obscure, sometimes less. And sometimes you just get the setter’s wavelength. I think that’s been the case for a few puzzles recently. Finishing is still a novelty for me, and I can’t help but yearn for the days when my brain hurt from sustained concentration and contortion. If they were all at this level I would be missing that.
       I started off doing the odd clue with my dad. I also read a couple of guides, the times themselves printed one a couple of years ago. Then it was about twelve years of infrequent finishes, until very recently. This site got me over the line, but it’s essential to know the standard abbreviations and conventions to be able to solve puzzles, and I think,that knowledge, being as it is the subject of other more focused sites, is assumed here.
    5. To be honest, 24d is the type of clue that used to be the ‘daily omission’ in the days when bloggers were asked to omit at least one clue so that the Times Crossword Hotline got some custom. I felt that simply by giving the solution, any solver who was good enough to tackle the Thunderer in the first place would be able to piece together the wordplay from that – if they had not already worked it out. (‘Reverse engineering’ of this type is practised to a greater or lesser degree by solvers of virtually all degrees of experience, ability and solving style.) The very fact that you for one ‘got’ the clue (excellent explanation, by the way!) is probably indicative of the experience of 99.9% of lurkers who visited today’s blog.

       Incidentally, from time to time, some bloggers do not spell out the literal, i.e. tell folks which part of the clue is the ‘answer’. Personally I don’t think this is such a bad thing, since a) you can ask and b) you can do a little research and find out for yourself. Such work tends in my experience to result in the answer being imprinted on the memory better than it might otherwise have been, as well as bringing benefits in terms of the development of solving skills.

       Edited at 2014-02-11 05:02 am (UTC)

33. Sorry to Newby99 (to whom welcome), but I found this fairly straightforward and I should have been able to claim it as a personal best. Unfortunately, someone ‘shot the fox’ for me by posting on another blog site the fact that the solution to 13d also appeared (virtually) in the Times as well as the puzzle being discussed. Therefore, I had an advantage, and I cannot be sure how long I would have needed to solve the puzzle.
    As bigtone has said, the recital of solving times is not to display arrogance, but to give contributors a yardstick by which to gauge their performance on a given day. I have been doing cryptic crosswords for donkey’s years, but I will never be as quick or adept as many solvers. Nevertheless, I do enjoy comparing my solving time with other regular contributors who tend to be at around my competence level: sometimes I’m quicker, but often slower, and I’m more prone to stupid errors, often due to trying to ‘beat the clock’ and not checking thoroughly.
    I harbour doubts about the Fast Lady, not because I suspect her solving times, which are awesome, but because she claims to make regular use of Tippex, and I don’t believe it would have time to dry before she has finished the grid!
    I know I get grumpy sometimes, but, on the whole, I endorse what sotira and nick_the_novice have said, and I find the contributors to this site are almost invariably friendly and helpful (just look at any of Eileen’s postings for instance)
    1. Perhaps the Fast Lady is using virtual tippex, as I do when I solve online at my PC. I use her as my yardstick: faster than her – a good day; a bit slower than her – a not so good day; a lot slower than her – a bad day.
34. 7:45 for me – which would have a reasonable start to the week, except that other solvers seem to have whistled through this puzzle (Jason of the Times Crossword Club in 3:03, for example).

    I’m relieved to see I wasn’t the only one to waste time on STOP VOLLEY.

    1. I hadn’t noticed that 3:03 – probably looked past it, assuming it to be a neutrino. That is simply stupendous.
35. 18.03 so easy by my standards at slightly under 6 x jason! Awe struck! But it is pleasant to have a Monday puzzle on a Monday!
36. Well this is the second time that I’ve finished a Times crossword and I come here to find everyone saying how easy it is. Harrumph.

    Anyway it took me about 45 minutes in my lunch break. It would have been quicker but I made a mess of 5 (literally – I’ve got scribble all over my paper). I was desperate to force Ur in as part of the solution but I figured it out in the end.

    1. Congratulations, Robert! Look forward to hearing more from you in future.
37. As a long-term Tasmanian solver – yes, it was an easy one, 20 mins for me – sorry, Ulaca, but your relentless Tassie-bashing was a tad unnecessary and a bit lame, IMHO. Especially as the two artists you mentioned are actually Luke Wagner and Roger Murphy, not the other way round! That’s Google for you – or was that you?

    Anyway, that said, I come here every day and usually much enjoy the banter. Cheers, Kate from Hobart.

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