Times 25752 – Out of puff!

41 comments on “Times 25752 – Out of puff!”

1. 41 minutes and something (don’t have my copy here). And yes, this is something of a stinker. Like Jack, went out on WOOZIER still not sure it wasn’t WOOLIER and going with the “missing Z” idea rather than getting the full parsing. For which … many thanks. Nearly came a cropper on AUGUR to boot. Also very much liked the “one beaten by a whisker” device for EGG.
2. 53 minutes but with ‘woolier’. A consequence of my inability to spot pangrams unless I get an early Z – especially galling, as I had worked out the wordplay and was left wondering how ‘loo’ could mean ‘sort of park’. Is there a verbal sense of the word, I started to ask myself, meaning to park yourself on the throne?

   I also wondered how ‘disregarding’ could mean ‘surrounding’ until I realised – all of five minutes ago – that this was a deletion indicator.

   Fond as I am of cryptic definitions, I’m not sure that 11d quite works, as it’s a wind that picks up, not a weather vane.

   1. I think if the cryptic reading is the one intended then ‘pick up’ is being used to mean ‘detect’.

      Edited at 2014-04-04 07:00 am (UTC)

3. 
   Had a few left all over the place. Got WOOZIER, and should have thought, as ulaca may have done, “aha! this could be a pangram!”. This would maybe have helped me to see RADIX (unknown), WAXBILL (also unknown) and WEATHER VANE.
4. You’re right in saying it was tough, jack, but innovative, constantly surprising and delighting at the same time. I’m still chortling over DIM which gets my COD. Thanks to the setter.

   You’re also on the right track at 11d, I think. Doesn’t “whether vain” work?

   1. Good to see you here again.

      I still don’t quite get it, as what is there to clue ‘vain’? I could justify ‘puff’ as ‘vanity’ perhaps but I don’t think that helps.

      I agree it is an excellent puzzle (though I’d have preferred a slightly easier ride on my blogging duty). All the things you say plus no obscure words. Yesterday’s setter please note!

      Edited at 2014-04-04 06:00 am (UTC)

5. 23.30 and happy to agree wholeheartedly with Keriothe after yesterday’s difference of opinion. It was the superb definitions that struck me most. Only pity is that the setter chose not to feature a magnificent pianist at 12ac rather than a mundane scientist 😉
   1. I fear Jimbo’s relentless lobbying is wearing them down.
      1. I do hope so – why on earth would one prefer some tinkler on the ivories to a real innovator?
         1. Chemist docked well in front of silent pianist? (7)
6. 32m. In total contrast to yesterday, this was a puzzle that was difficult by dint of cunning and inventive clueing, with almost no obscurity. Arguably another case of Unerwarteteschwierigkeitendlichfertigfreude but much more rewarding.
7. 32m which is average for me, so I must have been “on the wavelength”.

   I always go for the three letter clues first so thought I was onto a good thing when I saw one in each corner, however I couldn’t do any straight off. Turned out this was because they were such good clues – loved EGG and DIM very good too.

8. I have to agree – what a contrast to yesterday. Some of this is brilliant, particularly DIM and EGG. Not sure Dear Florence would have approved of FLO and nearly wrote “for” in there as “familiar sound of course”

   Thank you setter and well done Jack – blogging them always makes them that bit harder!

   1. My grandparent’s house had a toilet at the back with no electric lighting and it was their practice every evening to burn a little oil lamp out there. It became common parlance in the household to pop out and “light Flo” or to ask if anybody had yet done so.
9. 41:13 … well, I preferred yesterday’s, but I can admire the cleverness in this one. Solving it with a headache probably wasn’t a great idea. AMISH is brilliant.

   Last in: WOOZIER and EKING

   1. I forgot to acknowledge AMISH in my post – agreed it was a fantastic clue.
10. Very challenging but most enjoyable. A lengthy 55:50 for me, but ages spent on trying to justify ‘woosier’ (silly me, missing the obvious ‘z’).
    Can anyone update me on what the future holds for the Club and this excellent blog? I have rather lost track. In my view it would be a great shame if either or both were to be changed.
    Personally I would be prepared to ‘go private’ and get together with hundreds of other like-minded souls to commission new puzzles from the existing team of compilers if that could be in any way made possible.
    1. There is no threat to the blog, as it is independent of the Times and comprised of a nice but bolshie group of people who would not stand for it. Any questions about the Times Crossword Editor wanting to ban it should be addressed to Dorset Jimbo, who revealed the news on April 1st.
       As to the Crossword Club, the future is rather less clear. At the Championship, I was canvassed on my opinion, when it appeared that the Club would be subsumed into the Times itself. I made it clear that it would be a shame to lose the leaderboard and comments section, and access to the TLS (for all its endearing faults). At the same time, the usability of the site for those using tablets and such could be improved.
       If the introduction of the Quickie is any indication of how the new site might go, then I tremble, because it hasn’t yet, so far as I can see, had an error free day – my Mrs, who loves it, uses the paper version, so I may have missed the odd day when grid and clues matched, or clicking on the button took you to the actual crossword. I suppose it’s just watch these spaces.
       But TftT, far from losing contributors as Murdoch ups the price of accessing the jewel in the crown, has gained enormously, not least from people coming on board with the advent of the Quickie. It will close only with the ticking of the final second at the heat death of the universe. And so say all of us!
11. Also had an unparsed woolier. Spent ages with don(e) at Harvard. But very enjoyable, and very clever.
12. 28 mins, and I’m also of the opinion that although this was a tricky puzzle it was much more enjoyable than yesterday’s.

    I realised that it was probably going to be a pangram towards the end of the solve, but I didn’t need to try and fit the rarer letters into the puzzle because I had already seen the reversed “zoo” to get WOOZIER and had solved WAXBILL, and ODD-JOB MAN and ON THE QT had gone in much earlier.

    I didn’t know, or had forgotten, RADIX, but it was gettable from the wordplay. Count me as another who found the SW quadrant particularly tough, and GALLOPING was my LOI after REORDER, WEATHER VANE and AUGUR.

13. No time as had to go elsewhere before finishing, but for sure towards the 30 minute mark. For once the break didn’t help with the remaining clues in the SW that everyone else found a stretch.
    The other late finisher for me was the innocent BANDAGING, which I think is my CoD amongst an exceptional crowd. None of the constituent parts, such as the superannuated rockers seemed to lead to anything, perhaps because we’d already had the mods at the top to lead away from BAND.
    When the penny dropped, it was curiously like falling for Jimbo’s blog-banning Poisson D’avril, that sensation of being well and truly had and caught between admiration for the setter and wanting to stick pins in the his/her effigy. Or just him/her.
    Curiously, I did much better on yesterday’s, which either indicates the obscurities were not that obscure really, or I was lucky with the GK. Or the Latin.
    FORT WILLIAM my first in (this is going to be easy), REORDER my last (well, it wasn’t).
    1. Thanks z8b8d8k for a very helpful response.
14. 75min : about my slowest, but included break for a cuppa. WOOZIER LOI – although it seemed possible from definition, couldn’t see how to parse, so eventually decided to enter to complete pangram.
    SW gave most difficulty – even getting the brilliant EGG didn’t give helpful checkers, and while I thought of ‘recorder’ at 20, I wasted time trying to do something by removing RE for ‘about’ and adding M for ‘marshal’.
15. Agreed, a brilliant puzzle. AMISH (thanks for parsing it, Jack), EGG and DIM stood out among many clever clues. My only quibble was “marshal over”= REORDER at 20A. A bit absurd and far=fetched, I thought, if that indeed is what the setter intended.
16. Special mention for ‘beaten by a whisker’ in a pretty tough puzzle. Very good stuff though, and I had to work for 45 minutes to fill the grid.

    Many thanks all, nice stuff.

17. Definitely on the tricky side, taking me 55 minutes to complete. I realized a pangram was likely when I got RADIX, but the X wasn’t a lot of help to get 11a since I’ve never heard of the bird, but the pangram notion did help me get WOOZIER. I thought 27 was the best clue in an excellent bunch.
18. A brilliant puzzle, 90 minutes of sheer pleasure. I actually worked out Amish from the clue. Couldn’t parse augur at all, the rest were fine.

    Nairobi Wallah

19. This one took well over an hour, but it was hugely enjoyable. AMISH, which I couldn’t parse (“am” is “h” – brilliant!), must be the COD. EGG is another beauty. FOI FORT WILLIAM, LOI the SW corner, GALLOPING, AUGUR, REORDER, AMISH and 11dn.

    Being a reader of the Aubrey-Maturin stories, I put WEATHER GAGE for that one, which fits just a well as weather vane – i.e. not very clearly.

    WAXBILL maybe a trifle obscure, but all is forgiven as the rest was so good: so I don’t HOLD OUT ON a GOLD MEDAL for the setter!

    A Good Week-End to All!

    Edited at 2014-04-04 03:28 pm (UTC)

20. Came to this late after blogging the quickie, took me over an hour in two sessions, with a DNF because put WOOLIER for 3dn (seems to me closer to the def. than the Z word is, and I didn’t spot the pangram).
    Unlike jackkt I once made the mistake of visiting Luton centre (shopping mall) during a long wait between EasyJet flights Bordeaux -> Aberdeen, I shall not be doing it twice.
21. Very enjoyable, witty puzzle though circumstances compelled me to solve it in several sittings. I too thought there was more to 11 dn than just a cryptic definition and read it to mean “Is one puffed up?” though, like Jackkt, I’m not convinced.
22. . . . of enjoyment. I particularly liked the pure simplicity of EGG, once I got beyond the surface so COD

    Edited at 2014-04-04 04:29 pm (UTC)

23. Relieved at completing it, though parsing a number was difficult – thanks Jack for putting me straight. Never heard of a waxbill.
    BTW I always wanted to know what QT stands for – all I know it comes up in the theme song for the cartoon Top Cat in one of those “what on earth is that line?” moments: “…Close friends get to call him TC, pro-vi-ding it’s strictly QT…”
24. About 35 minutes, for a bit of an extended solve due to bogging down in the SW like many others. COD to EGG, brilliant. LOI AUGUR. Thanks to the setter and Jack as well. Regards.
25. Nice to see King included as he was assassinated this day in 1968. Good puzzle I thought today, though it took me most of a day to complete.
    RogerC
    1. Nice spot , anon. Not many seem to have picked up on that fact.
26. 45min for me, with which I’m quite pleased. I didn’t think this was a particularly difficult one, although I wasn’t at all confident about DIM (failed to parse it) and WOOZIER (also failed to parse it, so it’s lucky I went for the Z rather than the S). I spent a lot of time, sans one checker, convinced that WYOMING was the only thing that would fit there.

    I liked MINOR PLANET, although I don’t like the expression. As far as I’m concerned, Pluto was and will always be a planet, whereas Ceres is clearly an asteroid.

    RICHTER was also appreciated, although his scale is no longer used to measure earthquake magnitudes, and hasn’t been for some time. The Moment Magnitude Scale replaced it in the 1970s and has been (or soon will have been) in use for a longer time than the Richter scale.

    No creative, amusing or ambitious injuries yet today, but I have high hopes for the later part of the night.

27. For once, I completed in one session in, by my standard, quite a respectable time. This was my sort of crossword – clever clues that didn’t demand any obscure GK. Obscure, by my definition, is something I don’ t know, or have forgotten.
    I much preferred this to yesterday’s offering. I’m with DJ, a scientist trumps a musician every time.
28. 19:11 for me, so I too found it tougher than yesterday’s.

    COD to 7ac (DIM): a first-rate &lit (and therefore a great rarity).

    Scientist or musician? As an apostle of C. P. Snow’s “two cultures” I’m very happy to accept either.

    This was another very fine puzzle, and I’m pleased that the Times continues to offer such a variety of styles. My compliments to today’s setter to add to yesterday’s.

29. There seem to be few comments today, but what a wonderful puzzle with many very witty clues. Hard to pick a favourite, AMISH, DIM, EGG, DEVON, PAPERWEIGHT (as “leaves controller”) all quite good, but I laughed most over BANDAGING. Took just over an hour to solve and had to be on my toes the whole time to catch all of the subtleties.
30. Sorry to be thick, but I still don’t get the cryptic bit of ‘amish’
    Please put me out of my misery.
    Geoffrey
    1. How? If AM IS H then “tAMe” becomes “tHe”

       Welcome, Geoffrey.

       Edited at 2014-04-05 09:07 am (UTC)

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