Times 25800

Posted on Categories Daily Cryptic
My solving time was off the scale so I’m not planning to reveal it as I suspect it was heavily influenced by blogger’s nerves. Having said that, I note that two of the top five times currently on the leader board are over an hour so I don’t think it was an easy puzzle by most people’s standards. I shall be interested to read what others made of it

Across

1 DOWNTOWN – Wooing inside DON’T OWN (aren’t proprietors of). I thought for a moment we had a reference to a popular TV drama here but I was looking at the wrong W.
5 BREWED – Sounds like “brood” (litter)
10 PUT ONE’S FOOT DOWN – PUT ON (assume), E’S (European’s), FOOT (pay, as in bill), DOWN (reduced)
11 REAPPLY – RE (soldiers), APPLY (rather like cider). Definition: exercise again
12 PROOFED – PRO (for), then F (folio) inside OED (Oxford English Dictionary)
13 SURGICAL – SURe (confident), then IC (in charge) inside GAL (female)
15 END-ON hEND-ON (London suburb)
18 OPPOS cOrPs, SOP (inducement) reversed
20 MARYLAND – RY (railway) + LAN (network) inside MAD (furious)
23 ORBISON – OR (men), BIS (for playing twice), ON (performing). The definition refers to Roy aka “The Big O”.
25 PROVOST – PRO (hooker), V (versus), OST (East German)
26 KNOW A THING OR TWO – Anagram of 0 (love) + WORKING NOW THAT
27 ROMANY – ROM (memory), ANY (no matter what)
28 WHODUNIT – Cryptic definition – Ha-ha!

Down
1 DEPORT – Double definition, the second one is archaic but survives in the word ‘deportment’.
2 WITH A BUMP – Double definition of sorts
3 TENT PEG – TENT (sweet red – type of wine), PEG (female). I think ‘headed’ here simply indicates ‘in front of’ though I did wonder if it might be a further wine reference.
4 WISPY – Whippet, I-SPY (spotting game)
6 RATHOLE – Anagram of HER A LOT
7 WOOLF – L (left) inside WOOF (something setter goes) – Ho-ho!
8 DING-DONG – NG (no good) + DON (fellow) inside DIG (like). Definition: close, as in a close contest or ding-dong match.
9 COMPILER – COMPLIER (observer, as of laws, rules etc) with its ‘I’ moved up (promoted)
14 COMANCHE – MA (old woman) inside CONCHIE (peacenik) with its ‘I’ removed (left). Definition: Language of US
16 DINE OUT ON – Anagram of TO ONE IN + UzhgoroD. I really don’t think that ‘get lunch invites’ defines this phrase adequately. And nor does it, but ‘get lunch invites through‘ does, so thanks to koro for pointing that out. If that’s my only misunderstanding in this lot then I’m well pleased!
17 CO-WORKER – OW (pained cry) inside CORKER (smashing something)
19 SUSTAIN – Anagram of SAS UNIT
21 LEOPOLD – LEO (stars), P (quietly, OLD (getting on). All the King Leopolds in Wiki were of Belgium but I have a feeling the setter may have had someone else in mind.
22 AT MOST – AT MOSphere (air), T (temperature)
24 BROOM – BedROOM (crash site)
25 PUNCH – Double definition. I liked the second one which may be taken to refer to Constable’s ‘The Hay Wain’ set in Suffolk where the horses that pulled it may well have been Suffolk Punches.

41 comments on “Times 25800”

  1. Jack, regards, coming in early to confirm that this was a hard but, in my opinion, brilliant puzzle. Thanks to you for confirming my par sings, and I hadn’t known of ‘conchie’, but otherwise a helluva puzzle. I echo your comments for WOOLF and the WHODUNIT clues, wonderful. Took me most of an hour. I imagine other reactions will be in that vein, and thanks again. Regards to all, in advance.
  2. … my view. Took me a fair chunk of the morning but utterly entertaining. I took the Leopold to be Leopold I of Belgium, an uncle of Queen Victoria. But Jack’s right, there a few to choose from, including a Holy Roman Emperor.
  3. Hard to compare puzzles, as I usually don’t remember them from one day to another, but I don’t recall ever enjoying one this much.
    “something setter goes without” – brilliant.
  4. Oh, and well blogged Jack. But to be fair to 16D, I think the definition is “get lunch invites through”.
  5. I’m with Kevin, and indeed all our early correspondents. Too many penny dropping moments to mention.

    Oh, and ditto on the inclusion of “through” in 16’s definition. That makes it a technically correct definition of the phrase, but perhaps still leaves some depths unplumbed.

    No need to apologise for your time, Jack; you seem to have a knack of landing the tough ones.

  6. 35:38 .. wow, that woke me up!

    I’ll just join in the general chorus of praise for a great puzzle. Thanks, setter (and jackkt, who hooked a corker and landed it safely).

  7. Another stinker that took well over the hour and I got a couple wrong …
    sheesh, I am truly a masochist to be voluntarily tortured this way.
  8. Yes, I agree, great puzzle even if it did take me well over an hour, but I never felt like giving up. Very clever cluing and lots of misdirection. A couple went in only partly parsed, so thanks Jack for sorting those out.

    I’ll add my vote to WOOLF for cod

    Janie (trouble logging in)

  9. Cracking puzzle, Grommit! My last in, WHODUNIT took me past the 30 minute mark on its own, and is in the category of “very fine clue once you get it but completely opaque until you do”. Even the checkers don’t help much: there aren’t that many letters that go in front of an H and W didn’t spring instantly – or even glacially – to mind.
    I wrote MARYLAND in twice, the first time just guessing, the second time determined to shove that penny over the edge and giving up on BR for the railway network.
    WOLF for “setter” I was going to be cross about, and DING-DONG for “near”, but then the dawn came up like thunder for both. “What setter goes” is just sublime. This setter knows how to hide where the breaks come.
    I like the fine detail, too: The Suffolk Punch horses for the haywain are just right (though it’s hard to tell from the picture) for Flatford Mill.
    Well disentangled, Jack!
    1. A stinker but mostly fair, with plenty of wit; I second most of the admiration, but ‘ding-dong’ is a stretch too far – it means ‘intense/vigorous’, not ‘close’
      1. Yeah, I thought “ding-dong battle” and thought it was a close run thing. Near enough for engineering, anyway.
      2. Chambers has ‘keenly contested with rapid alternations of success’, which seems close enough to close to me.
  10. Just missed the 30 mins but this was so enjoyable it would have been a pity to rush it. Thanks for the blog Jack but no thanks for the throwaway comment on the QC that the same device is used in both puzzles today. This is driving me mad!
  11. 37 minutes. I join in the general hymn of praise and there are too many excellent touches to mention but I did like the classy CD at 28ac.
    1. Actually, I don’t think I really understand WHODUNIT… what’s the bit about bodywork all about?

      Edited at 2014-05-30 10:09 am (UTC)

      1. It’s a literary work featuring a body Janie. The surface with bodywork and bumper also appeals to me.
  12. 41 mins, and I echo the sentiment that this was a difficult but fine puzzle. I finished the top half in a reasonable time, but I ground to a halt completely in the bottom half after I had solved 18ac, 23ac, 25ac, 17dn, 19dn and 22dn. I must have spent about 15 mins without solving another clue before KNOW A THING OR TWO finally fell into place, and that gave me enough checkers to solve the rest of the puzzle. PUNCH was my LOI after WHODUNIT, and I should have seen it sooner, but the same could be said of a few in the bottom half, such as BROOM, ROMANY and MARYLAND.

    Edited at 2014-05-30 11:42 am (UTC)

  13. 63min: with much help from aids to find possibles from checkers found. Thanks for parsing 10ac where I only could think of nothing else that fitted.
    LOI was 9dn where I was trying to make it COMPOSER, as I was sure 13ac had to be plural. COD to 7dn.
  14. This was way out of my league, but it has been a great learning experience going through Jack’s blog and also absorbing the nuggets in the comments.

    Lost in admiration for all those of you who can complete such a puzzle. This serves to confirm my Novice status, just as a few kind souls were querying whether I should be “upgrading” my handle!

    But, tomorrow is another day and I will tackle the Saturday puzzle with the confidence of a man who has knocked over the last 6 of them – bring it on!

    1. Nothing to be ashamed of, Nick. It took me years to reach the point where I could make a decent stab at this kind of thing – the sort of puzzle you’d meet in a Championship final. Press on, and nil desperandum!
      1. Thanks for the kind words of encouragement Tony. Certainly no desperandum here – I will tame this beast eventually (though I fear it will be a close run thing as to whether I do so before I go nuts in the process). Non sine pulvere palma!
  15. Agree this was a most enjoyable and challenging offering (37:24)
    Was for a short time concerned that the setter had ventured into ‘taboo slang’ with 2D; no, surely not? It can’t be ‘with a bang’!
    Sincere apologies to those out there of a sensitive disposition.
    Thanks to those who responded yesterday about what I now know are called ‘neutrinos’. No doubt some of them did this in about 2 minutes but I haven’t looked yet.
  16. 20:28. I seem to have been relatively on the wavelength for this. I’m on holiday this week, so solving online for a change, which gives me a rare shot at the Tonys. Last time this happened my attempt was scuppered by a puzzle from the 60s. This time a KINKAJOU has done for me.
    This was a super puzzle, for the reasons already mentioned, and WOOLF the best of a very good bunch.
    A very small point, Jack, but in 1ac I think it’s ‘aren’t proprietors of
  17. Like K I seem to have found the wavelength for this taking just a tad longer at 20:50.

    And what a fine puzzle, probably the best we’ve had for several months so bravo setter. A real object lesson in “lift & separate” and well-hidden definitions.

    So many highlights but in addition to woof and bodywork I’d like to give special mention to spotting game.

    I hadn’t come across conchie before but it struck me as likely shorthand for conscientious objector.

    Thanks for the blog too.

  18. Yes, the best puzzle for a long time. Took me an hour including a couple of breaks. More from this setter, please!
  19. 45 minutes while watching the tennis, somehow the tricky ones dawned on me when I wasn’t staring at them, an excellent puzzle, loved WOOLF and WHODUNIT and also BREWED once I saw the parsing. Well blogged Jack, sorry you lost sleep.
  20. Phew, what a scorcher. Just scraped in under the half hour and a ding-dong struggle it certainly was. I made a tough puzzle even harder by confidently entering BAGGED at 5ac, and then wondering if this meant there was a novelist called Geoff who I should have heard of. WHODUNIT the best of a very good bunch.
  21. I’m in the same boat as Nick – this was above my pay grade by a good margin. I very much enjoyed the third that I got, felt chuffed when I read the blog about the third where I figured out how the clue worked but then couldn’t put proper words to, and learned a lot from the third I didn’t get via the blog plus comments
  22. Definitely a game of two halves – the first 20 or so went in reasonably smoothly, but the remainder needed work and several returns to the grid! Overall about an hour, much enjoyed.

    FOI WITH A BUMP, LOI LEOPOLD (preceded by WHODUNIT and MARYLAND), which trio held me up more than somewhat … Oddly for such a delight, no stand-out clues, so not so much a COD today as a “Crossword of this and probably several Weeks”!

    Lots of wit and lateral inventiveness, GK within reason, no trivial descending to over-complex wordplay or obscure words, the archetypal “difficult (and enjoyable) ways of getting to simple words”. Well done setter, more please!

  23. Very hard for we beginners, but no complaints. Every clue very well hidden and a real pleasure when one popped into place. DNF but thanks for the blog. Whodunit definitely a brilliant clue!
  24. Excellent puzzle. So many clues to admire, including 7d, 10ac and 26,27,28 all across. True solving time was 1hr 45m 40s some of which was spent up a garden path with Paul ROBESON. Favourite clue though was 7d. Our “Alice” (on the left in the photo) loves to go woof. I found this such a challenge that I had to stop and go play ‘fetch’ with Alice in the garden in the hope of gaining some inspiration.

    Edited at 2014-05-30 09:07 pm (UTC)

  25. 17:29 for me. I raise my hat to the setter for a brilliant puzzle – a delight from start to finish. COD to 28ac, for me the best of a number of possible contenders.
  26. Absolute masterpiece from start to finish. Took me about an hour and a half with recourse to aids but well worth the effort.
  27. Away yesterday so had to catch up with this on the Saturday after mowing the lawn. What an absolute delight of a puzzle and brilliant work Jack solving and parsing this under blogging pressure
  28. Fantastic puzzle, enjoyed immensely here downunder.
    Do you still save links to extra-good puzzles such as this?
    Cheers,
    Rob

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