Solving time: 40 minutes, somewhat interrupted
If you are an experienced solver, this puzzle will be right up your alley – you’re the kind of Pavlov’s dog that sees ‘former police force’ and barks out ‘R.U.C’. If you are just a beginner, however, it may not be so easy.
Music: None, The Player’s on TV due to rain delay
Across | |
---|---|
1 | OXLIP, O(XLI)P. Careless solvers (like me!) will put in ‘tulip’ from the definition and try to make the cryptic fit. |
4 | DOMINICAN, DOMINI[e] + CAN, I needed the cryptic for this one. |
9 | FORESIGHT, double definition, just banged in by me, since I didn’t have a clue about ‘Bisley contestant’. Research reveals that Bisley is the home of shooting contests, which require a rifle with a sight at the front. |
10 | MANIC, MAN + I.C., a refugee from the Quickie. |
11 | RELATE, LE backwards in RATE, not terribly difficult either. |
12 | QUIETUDE, QUI + ETUDE, and not an anagram of ‘musical’ + ‘something’ at all. |
14 | NON-RESIDENCE, Anagram of ONE [feature]D IN SCREEN, which takes a bit of working-out. |
17 | CARICATURIST, CARI[o]CA + T[o]URIST. I didn’t know the Brazilian dance, but the answer should be obvious from the second half. |
20 | IMPERIAL, I(MP)E + LAIR backwards, which I entered quickly from the literal. |
21 | ACTIVE, ACT I + V[ery] E[nglish]. The grammatical voices are active, passive, and in classical Greek, middle. |
23 | ADIEU, A + DIE + U, an &lit clue. |
24 | INSTIGATE, IN[v[ery]e[asy]STIGATE, a letter-removal clue, and a good one with a smooth surface. |
25 | ABANDONED, A(BAND ONE)D. Band Two is hot on their heels, I suppose. |
25 | GOTHA, GOT + H + A, best known in the UK through Prince Albert’s title. |
Down | |
1 | OFFPRINT, OFF + P[roportional] R[epresentation] + IN T. While the track announcer shouts “they’re off”, the word ‘off’ is not a very accurate synonym for ‘start’. |
2 | LORDLING, LO + RD + LING, a compendium of cryptic cliches. |
3 | PASS THE HAT ROUND, double definition, and not a very cryptic one. |
4 | DIGS, double definition, a much better one where there are a lot of way to go wrong, paticularly with ‘turns up’. |
5 | METHUSELAH, ME + THUS + HALE upside down. |
6 | NUMBER CRUNCHING, NUMBER ‘superior to’ CRUNCHING in different senses. One hopes that ‘dental work’ refers to biting into something hard, and not the actual work of a dentist. |
7 | CONCUR, CON + R.U.C. upside down. |
8 | NICKER, NIC(K)ER, a bit of a struggle since I only vaguely knew the word. This is definitely different from the ‘nicker’ you find will in Beowulf and such. |
13 | VISITATION, VISI(TATI)ON, another one where you have to be a hardened solver in order to automatically substitute ‘Tati’ for ‘film director’. |
15 | VIGILANT, VI[r]GIL + A NT. |
16 | ET CETERA, [b]ET(CE)TER + A. About 99% of solvers will put this in from the definition and enumeration, and move on. |
18 | CICADA, CI(C[orps](A)D[iplomatique])A. Once again, few will trouble with the cryptic. |
19 | OPTIMA, hidden backwards in [Coldtr]AM IT PO[stulates], and only up in the actual entry into the grid. |
22 | USED, U.S. ED, another one from the Quickie. |
Not too difficult; but more so than some are claiming. Struggled for the last (VISITATION) forgetting that old chestnut TATI. And there’s quite a few words that fit the pattern, DIVINATION being the most likely other candidate.
Of course, I woudl have been sub-10 with Kevin had I not misspelt 17 as ‘caracaturist’ and bunged in ‘tulip’ at 1a when I had **l*p.
Edited at 2014-05-12 04:29 am (UTC)
Oh well, guess I’m just getting dumber.
Enjoyable puzzle. Thanks setter, thanks blogger.
There’s no way this is in the easiest category – I could see a newish solver labouring for hours over 1a alone – but if you’ve been doing these long enough the wordplay was all crystal clear, which makes it a great puzzle for warming up the solving muscles.
COD … INSTIGATE
The Great Cornish House Hunt (coming to BBC daytime television soon) is now over and I will soon have a fixed abode down in deepest Cornwall. It was quite a trial finding a suitable place, and we’re only renting! Damn all those fancy second home owners with their fancy London ways…
More time was lost considering NON-RESIDENCY at 14 which would have fitted the definition so I needed to be sure of the wordplay before moving on.
Didn’t know OFFPRINT, nor FORESIGHT as part of a gun though I knew ‘sight’ and the Bisley reference so it seemed a safe bet.
I enjoyed CARIOCA which reminded me of the song from the 1934 film ‘Flying Down To Rio’ which saw the birth of the Fred & Ginger era at RKO studios.
Edited at 2014-05-12 05:56 am (UTC)
About 30 mins, so on the easy side for me too today. Same unknowns at Keriothe above, and count me amongst those who chucked in tulip and divination before checkers proved otherwise. Couldn’t parse INSTIGATE, so thanks for that.
Lots to trip and hold up the less experienced solver, especially of the scientific persuasion, so definitely not easy per se.
23ac LOI – I agree this was a really crafty clue.
It happens often enough that it can’t just be that the lower clues are harder, and may explain why I’m never going to do better than 26th place at the Championship. I’d value tips from Magoo and/or Jason!
Personal character flaws aside, this was indeed an easy one – if you know the tricks of the trade or have mastered the art of instinctively knowing when something is right. I only worked out how good a clue CoD INSTIGATE is post solve. My loss, I think.
IMPERIAL caused the biggest hold up: I was expecting the less obvious use of beard in its confrontational sense (“beard the lion in his den”) and IMPORTUNE so nearly fitted the crossers I had.
VISITATION is a fine example of the ecclesiastical tendency never to use 2 syllables when 4 will do: what’s wrong with “visit”? For those of an eclectic frame of mind, the Feast of the Visitation (Mary to Elizabeth) is on July 2nd. Heaven knows how such dates are worked out with such precision.
Z, sorry to be a pest, can you interpret PB’s comment on the Forum re TLS 1024 for me? It’s driving me slightly nuts.
Edited at 2014-05-12 09:59 am (UTC)
Regards
j
Many thanks all.
Chris.
Particularly pleased to have learned of the IMPERIAL beard. As a man who has staked money on whether Hashim Amla, Mohammad Yusuf or Moeen Ali has the largest beard in international cricket over the last 5 years (the bets ultimately had to be voided as there was no feasible method of validation – but I reckon its Ali) I must confess to an unhealthy fascination with the things. This was a new one to me.
OXLIP tested my Roman numerals beyond breaking point (thought 41 was XXXXI which – even for the Times – seemed unfeasible as part of a solution). OFFPRINT was simply unknown (even with 3 of the 4 checkers). Etc.
COD for me was 6 down. Raised a laugh (which generally indicates my COD).
Edited at 2014-05-12 12:23 pm (UTC)
However, the “partial imperial” as depicted on google search (I hesitate to insert link as it may be spammed) is a potentially impressive offering for those with an eccentric bent (and, it would appear, a fair amount of time on their hands to keep the thing in order). Anyway, enjoy the beard you have!
Nairobi Wallah
At 1a I considered Roman numerals for 41, decided quite rightly that XXXXIX wouldn’t quite fit and went for tulip once the L and P were there. That meant I really struggled at the end with offprint and non-residence where I, too, thought it had to be a San- state.
Same unknowns as others, nothing else to add really except that I got my letter from David Levy on Friday and whilst he doesn’t want me to manage Spurs next season he has requested the pleasure of my company at the Tower Hotel in October.
Edited at 2014-05-12 02:11 pm (UTC)
In my case, the explanation can be summed up in one word: vocalophobia.
“IMPERIAL” stumped me for a while as well, and I spent some time trying to parse the clue with “beard” in its verbal sense (meaning “confront”). Still, got there in the end.
These last days have seen me in foreign parts, in both the geographical and anatomical senses of the word, hence my absence. Sadly, someone has figured out that I can do less damage back home, so it’s back to the land of rain and expensive drinks.