Times 25754* – Children of the Universe?

Posted on Categories Daily Cryptic
After possibly the oddest clue to appear in the modern era in Dean Mayer’s offering yesterday, this puzzle, my blind-spot at 11 ac notwithstanding, offers a very pleasant start to the week. 44 minutes. * The Times online (Crossword Club version at any rate) currently has 25574. I think we can allow them the odd mistake…

Across

1 HANDS-OFF – HANDS (workers) OFF (on holiday) for a dying breed of supervisor…
5 PASCAL – very topical; PASCHAL (wihtout its H[ard] here) means relating to Passover (originally) or by extension Easter.
8 MAT – your PC and your Dr Seuss murine both sit on this. Thanks to Keriothe for pointing out that while Dr Seuss’s cat did many things, he didn’t waste his time sitting about on mats; the reference is to the ‘proto-sentence’ used in teaching kids to speak and also in linguistic analysis ‘The cat sat on the mat’.
9 VERSIFYING – VERIFYING around S[econd].
10 LIBERIAN – the literal is ‘African’; L[eft] + IBERIAN (‘from West of Europe’).
11 COPPER – I reckon this is the answer (policeman – ‘part of force’) but need enlightenment on the parsing…and I have it from McT; half of CUBA is CU, which even I know is the chemical symbol for copper. One to please the 25s!
12 YO-YO – the last letters of daY tO daY + O (naught).
14 DESIDERATA – the literal is ‘what are needed’; DATA around E + SIDE + R.
17 SUBJECTIVE – SUBJECT (not a ruler) + IVE (when you see ‘I have’, look out for IVE); literal ‘judged personally’.
20 DEFY – ‘brave’ as in ‘defy the elements’; it’s one of the ‘modern’ Welsh counties (DYFED) reversed and missing its initial D.
23 FULCRA – hidden; for once, the hidden was not my last in. Today it was second last, as the Cuban clue was defying me. Did you know that the word fulcrum comes from the Latin verb fulcire meaning ‘to prop up’? The Internet’s a wonderful thing…
24 ORGANISM – defintion ‘being’; wordplay ORGANIST with M(ass) for final T.
25 PHILISTINE – Goliath (who was KOed by David son of Jesse with a stone slung from his sling) was the most famous representative of this ancient people. A Philistine is one of those words that can be used to smear your enemies. Someone doesn’t like your pile of bricks at the Tate and (s)he’s a Philistine.
26 ILL – the literal is ‘bad’; the rest is the wordplay (since the ‘way to start announcing my intention’ is to say ‘I’ll’).
27 BRANDY – if you remove the vessel (EWER – found in most cruciverbal kitchens) from ‘brewery’ you are left with BR AND Y.
28 INFANTRY – IN FAN is the ‘home supporter’ + TRY = the ‘fighting group’.

Down

1 HIMALAYAS – [Bahasa] MALAY is the language; add an A, wrap in HIS (‘that man’s’), and stir for 5 minutes for a nice big range. Alternatively, just bung it in and move on to the next clue.
2 NOTABLY – this word does sterling service in Crosswordland without getting the credit it deserves – a bit like James Milner at Man City. If you do something ‘without skill’ (we’ve moved a few miles west now to Marouane Fellaini) you do it ‘not ably’. Well, you do if you’re still learning the language…
3 SEVERN – there must be plenty of jokes Glos. way about the Severn bore (it’s sort of like a mini tidal wave that brings out the surfing dudes); EVER in S+N (bridge partners – South and North).
4 FIRMAMENT – an evocative word for the heavens – the two words are used together in perhaps the best known chorus from Haydn’s Creation, ‘The Heavens are Telling’. Here it is being taken along at a good lick by Christopher Hogwood et al; FIRM + AMEN (‘announced ratification’) + T[ime].
5 PO-FACED – PACED around (O + F [‘fighter’ initially]).
6 SKIPPERED – I liked this clue, since it sends you down the garden path (looking for a RD etc); it’s simply S[ociety] + KIPPERED (‘preserved, in a way’).
7 AUGMENT – AUG[US]T with MEN.
13 OBJECTION – simply I inside (OBJECT + ON).
15 INVERSION – anagram (we’ve not had many of these) of OVER + IN in INN; the literal is ‘turning over’.
16 ABYSMALLY – the literal is ‘in appalling way’; the wordplay BY (times) + SMALL (reduced in size) in A Y[ear].
18 USURPER – the literal is ‘replacing person’ (as in a person who replaces someone else); we have a USURER (‘type taking interest’) around (pinching) P (penny).
19 CHARITY – another clever one; the wordplay is CHARY (cautious) around IT, the literal ‘behaviour of the kind [people]’.
21 ELITIST – another nice definition, since ‘discriminating’ is meant in the sense of prejudicial rather than discerning; it’s IT in (E + LIST).
22 CAMERA – I wasted time delving into the dried-up well that is my artistic knowledge for words like tempera, when it’s just CAME (‘turned up’) before (‘first’) RA (an artist recognised by the Royal Academy, who moved en masse from Burlington House to Crosswordland some years ago as the rent is lower).

56 comments on “Times 25754* – Children of the Universe?”

  1. A very pleasant puzzle indeed after the troubles on Sunday. So agreed with Ulaca. Interesting mechanisms in play though: such as the reversed Welsh county and the “BR{ewer}Y thing. My last was also COPPER (see above) for what it’s worth.

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


  2. Top half much quicker than bottom for me, and I ended at about an hour, but with much time at the end spent on ORGANISM, convinced that the definition was ‘being church’ rather than just ‘being’. Also wasted some time early doors by putting in ‘himalayan’ without really thinking it through.

    Didn’t get the bit about ‘holding hands’ at 3dn, so thanks for pointing out the (now obvious!) bridge players…

    COD: BRANDY

  3. 20 minutes (just over) with DEFY the last in, changed from DENY, as I couldn’t remember which Welsh counties had double letters here and there.
    The PHILISTINEs had a bad press – history is written by the winners atc – their art and culture were miles ahead of the neighbouring Israelites, for whom “art” and “culture” were pretty grubby terms. Oh, and their technology was pretty good too, especially in metal-working and architecture. David’s victory over Goliath was the triumph of rural simplicity over urban and technological sophistication. It’s odd that the linguistic roles have been so absolutely swapped.
    CoD today? BRANDY. COPPER took too much head-scratching.

    Edited at 2014-04-07 07:06 am (UTC)

  4. Yes, this was a very pleasing puzzle that I came to after blogging the Quickie and wondering whether I would have the stamina to complete it before nodding off for the night.

    It took me 42 minutes of which the last 10 were spent trying to solve 11ac where I also had a blind-spot.

    Well said re 25ac,u. You might have mentioned people who don’t share one’s liking of a certain zany comedian!

    Edited at 2014-04-07 06:10 am (UTC)

  5. Enjoyable.. I’m off to the CC now to find out what all the fuss regarding yesterday’s crossword is about! I thought it on a much higher plane than this one is, good though it be
    1. I haven’t looked at the Crossword Club forum, so for all I know everyone else found the clue run-of-the-mill. But I doubt it.
      1. A lot of discussion at CC on a clue yesterday, largely centering on whether it is fair to have a GK clue without a secondary way of sorting it out.
        1. That’s the one I refer to in my intro. I would call it GK only for those over the age of 60.

          [Ducks and runs]

            1. what was the fuss about? which clue? I thought it was a doddle yesterday… enjoyable though.
  6. About an hour ten. Nice clues, and some good, just-on-the-edge-of-my-usage, vocabulary in the grid. For a reason I don’t want to deconstruct, I often confuse Derrida and desiderata in my mind.
  7. 12.45 so maybe there is something to this wavelength thing. Just right for a Monday morning. Quite a few in from definition of which I especially liked “behaviour of the kind” – simple but easily read another way.
  8. In the online paper the only Cryptic Crossword that came up was from the 4th of April. I had to access it via the Crossword club. Of course after June this option will no longer be available. I couldn’t open the quick cryptic at all, not for the first time. Very poor indeed.
    1. What happens in June, Mr anonymous? Didn’t Richard Rogan say the Crossword Club would continue?
  9. 17:27 .. middle of the road for difficulty and a very pleasant start to the week.

    It’s just as well I (usually) check before submitting these days as I found 5 typos. I’m trying to adjust to mornings after years of late night puzzling but I don’t think I’ve yet determined the optimal pre-solve caffeine intake.

    Last in also the SKIPPERED / COPPER pair. SKIPPERED is a tricky clue — the sort of wordplay that invites you down several blind alleys. I never pass up an invitation like that.

    COD .. MAT. Simple, sweet, funny.

    1. Just drip feed the stuff Sotira – much easier. By the way you should invest in a “I’m not a Grockle” T-shirt before Easter
      1. I think I’d better make it an “I am not an emmet” T-shirt or they’ll think I’m from Devon and come for me in the night with pitchforks and flaming torches.
      2. When Z8 & I lived in Devon we went on holiday to Cornwall, with a sign in the rear window of the car reading: We may be Emmets but we’re not Grockles…
  10. Very pleasant 15 minutes, exactly what I want from a puzzle on a Monday morning. Held up by an attempt to justify CROW as the brave, even though that’s removing the end of Worcs, not the beginning; plus it didn’t fit with 6dn, which took a while to come to mind, but which I soon realised was going to be something like SCANNED (too short) or SPICKLED (doesn’t exist).
    1. Oh, I love SPICKLED. I reckon that’s another momble that we should adopt on this board. Maybe spickling can be heading down every blind alley going as alluded to by Sotira above.
  11. U, today’s puzzle number should be 25754 not 25574. It’s the Times’s mistake, not yours.

    Edited at 2014-04-07 07:50 am (UTC)

    1. Thanks, I did wonder why the number in my file ‘template’ was going backwards!
      1. For the record the link at the Times On-Line Cryptic (as opposed to the one in the Club) still takes you to 25752 – Friday’s puzzle.

        Edited at 2014-04-07 08:36 am (UTC)

  12. I struggled a bit with this rather clever crossword. Of course, being a 25A, I had no problem either with it or with Cu for COPPER but some of the subtle definitions gave me pause.

    Thank you setter for 25 minutes of fun and well blogged Ulaca. I suppose I shall have to now look into this Anax clue – can’t lose my inbuilt curiosity!

    1. You should do the crossword, Jimbo. A lot of fun, even if the boat gets pushed out a bit further than usual.
        1. Some of us young ‘uns had no clue about 3d.

          Edited at 2014-04-07 10:42 am (UTC)

          1. I think you’ll find that the rather dated phrase in question has appeared in another Times crossword within the last 12 months – possibly an Anax puzzle. I wrote it in from definition and word lengths – didn’t bother to parse it.
            1. I did that puzzle but the phrase in question doesn’t actually feature.
              I’d be interested to hear if you can parse it. I can’t, and in fact the only answer that I can construct from the wordplay is wrong.
                1. Yes, I’ve got it now (thanks to a little off-line help!) but there is an alternative wordplay construction that leads to another (wrong) answer. At this rate there’ll be nothing more to say on Sunday!
                  1. I could neither solve nor parse 3D from Sunday’s puzzle. If that makes me part of the younger generation, I’ll take it.
  13. 21m for this, of which I spent at least a third scratching my head over the SKIPPERED/COPPER pair. I can’t really see why I found them so difficult now.
    Incidentally ulaca I don’t think there is any reference to Dr Seuss in 8ac: I’m not aware that the cat in the hat sat on a mat.

    Edited at 2014-04-07 08:31 am (UTC)

  14. 25.43, hoping to get back to the occasional sub-20. Skippered done me like a kipper for too long, also the so-obvious-you-miss-it half of Cuba. An unshattering work-out with a bunch of neat touches.
  15. A “traditional” straightforward Monday morning solve, which flowed pleasantly enough from NW to SE -ish, getting progressively stickier, in about 20 minutes. FOI HANDS OFF, LOI SKIPPERED/COPPER.

    Odd how PHILISTINE has passed into the vocabulary. Archaeologists now tell us they were really quite cultured chaps, with links to Mycenae. And great drinkers!

  16. Really enjoyable 18:34 and I too was held up on the Cuba clue. But it really is rather good! I needed the explanation of Usurper, though, so thanks for that ulaca.
  17. 19 mins for an enjoyable puzzle. I was slowed down slightly by stupidly entering “Himalayan” at 1dn without parsing it properly, and “aim” at 26ac (don’t ask). Count me as another whose last entries were the COPPER/SKIPPERED crossers.
  18. 45 minutes. I made a slow start, then got PASCAL and DESIDERATA, which helped to get things flowing. Took ages to see 11, 22 and 24.
    Very elegant puzzle with a wealth of excellent and varied clues.
  19. Could the person who went off with my cryptic grey matter during the morning (all today’s other cryptics didn’t give me any trouble)please bring it back as I had a real struggle solving the Times today finishing in 29 minutes.
  20. 18:30 but I’m not really sure why it took me so long. I have to hold my hands up to the hidden being my LOI.

    Pascal was a bit of a guess (not knowing the philosopher and only being half sure that paschal was right) and whilst the word desiderata is one I know (presumably from the poem) I wouldn’t have been able to supply you with a meaning.

    I liked “couple holding hands” as an alternative to the hackneyed “partners” and I’m surprised I haven’t seen it before (feel free to tell me that I have and that my memory is fading).

  21. 34m here but 15 – yes that is fifteen! – on 6d and 11a, the latter when I guessed it not parsable by my tired brain. Wrote in pretty much all of the West side straight off in just under 5m but the smug thought ‘at last a sub 10’ soon evaporated. Most enjoyable puzzle and an amusing blog too. Thanks to setter and blogger!
  22. About 35m for all but SKIPPERED, PASCAL and COPPER which took several efforts throughout the day until they finally yielded.

    I was pleased that my newfound stubborn streak led to these three being cracked, and from the conversations above I look forward to applying it to 3D on the Sunday crossword, this being one of my remaining answers.

      1. Close but no cigar. Ended up with the penultimate letter wrong. Quite happy with that but I don’t like the clue!
  23. I could not finish this late last night, but a set of fresh red eyes this morning saw through the SKIPPERS, COPPERS and PHILISTINES (bit religiousy, eh?). 7 hours and 9 minutes, most of them asleepish.
  24. 24 minutes, eating sandwich for lunch, like Jim I twigged the Cu clue quickly being an ex chemist. A bit harder than the usual Monday effort but an excellent puzzle, no arguments.
  25. Very enjoyable, about 20 minutes, ending like many with COPPER. DEFY was a guess from the checkers, as I have absolutely no knowledge of Welsh counties other than that, like other Welsh things, they are spelled in unusual ways. Thanks to the setter. Regards to all.
  26. Thank you, ulaca for a very entertaining blog! My favourite today was copper. Very clever. I like art but, for me, a pile of bricks doesn’t pass the ice-skating test to qualify as art. As i ice-skating you can judge art on technical merit and artistic impression/imagination. I am therefore a 25ac. Oh, Marcel Duchamp’s urinal doesn’t pass that test either. 65-66mins for this.
  27. DNBF.

    Forty minutes gave me all but the troublesome COPPER, SKIPPERED and PASCAL, and another half hour saw me giving in.

    I doubt I’d ever have got PASCAL, since PASCHAL was unknown to me. Moreover, I had no idea he was a was a religious philosopher – I know him only as a mathematician, physicist and programming language. Still, it’s nice that he had a relaxing hobby for his spare time. I presume that, given philosophy’s excellent track record of success down the ages, all of the questions he philosophized over have long been answered satisfactorily.

    SKIPPERED was a great clue, now that I know the answer. I’d make it my COD if I’d got it, but I didn’t and I’m grumpy so I won’t. Thank gods for a steady supply of customers out on whom to take it.

  28. Excellent puzzle in my opinion.
    I like to think I could have been quicker had I not been listening to commentary on the Spurs/Sunderland match while I tackled the crossword. Good win for Tottenham, but sad for Poyet as an ‘old boy’ and also disappointed for Chris Hughton at Norwich who did sterling service at White Hart Lane.
  29. 12:22 for me, held up at the end (like others) by COPPER and SKIPPERED. A charming crossword, making a pleasant start to the week. And nice blogging, ulaca.

    Without wanting to give too much away, I think dorsetjimbo and other like-minded solvers may enjoy this month’s Guardian Genius crossword by Qaos.

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