Times 25830 – Won’t Get Rawed Again

Author   VerlainePosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
A perforce abbreviated blog from me this morning – am flying out to New York later today, and it wouldn’t do to forget to pack my passport due to spending too much time pontificating over crossword clues. Anyone got any tips on what to do in the Big Apple? Are the local crossword puzzles of interest, or rough and barbarous things?

Fortunately for me this seemed like a pretty easy puzzle, at least for a Friday. I hit the ground running in the bottom right-hand corner, and further answers came thick and fast – by my highly scientific measurement system this took no more than one demi-commute to finish.

Well, with some provisos. I am unfortunately unable to claim that this was a 10-minuter for me as I had three clues that broke off from the pack in the final stretch and gave me a run for my money. 13A: CRAZE seems to fit the cryptic part but I had trouble justifying it meaning “thing” – the latest thing, the in thing? Not sure. 19A has to be BLOOP if only from the letters, but I wasn’t entirely confident of “pool” to mean “group” and isn’t a mistake a blooper, not a bloop? Please put me straight on these two clues, friends, and save me from wretched aporia.

22D also outwitted me, though I’ve made my mental peace with this one already: I got tunnel vision about the answer being SWARM, and convinced myself that, until I could get to a dictionary to check, “raws” could somehow mean “fools”, either in a greenhorn, “raw recruits” kind of sense or perhaps just as a verb. How raw I felt when it became clear that there was a much better answer.

In overall review, I found this crossword rather straightforward, except for the parts that weren’t, and mostly forgettable. My clue of the day is 2D for the nice surface, which I think says something true about the preponderance of men of a certain age in the ranks of our hobby!

Across
1 MAIDEN VOYAGE – “for Titanic a disaster”: (ANY VIDEO GAME)*
8 POLEMIC – “attack”: POLE [staff] + MICe [most of “timid people”]
9 RUBELLA – “illness”: RUB [problem] + E [drug] + LLA [ALL “recalled”]
11 RETINOL – a vitamin (and indeed vitamin A): N [first letter of “noticed”] in RETIOL [“rejected loaf” = LOITER reversed]
12 EXIGENT – demanding: EXIT [flight] “about” GEN [information]
13 CRAZE – thing: C [speed of light “constant”] + RAZE [level]
14 PITCH INTO – set upon: PINTO [horse] “suppressing” ITCH [irritation]
16 AQUITAINE – European region: AA [drivers] “going across” QUIT [desert] IN E [eastern]
19 BLOOP – mistake: B [British] + LOOP [POOL’s “comeback”]
21 ISTHMUS – “e.g. Central America”: IS + THUS [in this way] “investing” M [millions]
23 ERRATIC – unpredictable: (CRITERIA – I)*
24 NIGELLA – girl: ALLEGINg [endlessly making claims] “about”
25 PRIVATE – double def [enlisted man, off the record]
27 STAGE-MANAGED – (SMETANA)* about G [first letter of “grow”] + AGED [old]

Down
1 MILITIA – “group of civilians fighting”: MIA [“end up” = AIM reversed] “protecting” I LIT [one burning]
2 IMMENSE – jumbo: I SEt [“I set mostly”] “impressing” M MEN [married guys]
3 EUCALYPTI – “oil producers”: (LIE + CUT PAY)*
4 VERVE – spirit: V [volume] “penned” by VERNE – N [“unnamed” French writer]
5 YOBBISH – ill-bred: YOB [BOY = son “pulled up”] + BIS [twice] + H [husband]
6 GALLEON – ship: GALL ON [acrimony over] having E [drug] “aboard”
7 APPRECIATION – double def [thanks, review]
10 ACTION-PACKED – very eventful: ACTION [fighting] + PACK [rugby players] + EnglanD [England’s “wingers”]
15 THEREUPON – immediately: HER [woman’s] “seen in” (ONE + PUT)*
17 UPTIGHT – anxious: UP [cheerful] + TIGHT [merry]
18 TIME LAG – delay: TIME [sentence] + LAG [convicted person]
19 BARKING – crazy: BAR [counter] + KING [playing card]
20 OUTWARD – apparent: OUT [in the shops] + WARD [charge]
24 SPASM – attack: SPAS [SAPS = fools “going over”] + M [first letter of “major”]

34 comments on “Times 25830 – Won’t Get Rawed Again”

  1. 22.53, but feeling as if I was struggling almost as much as with the last two. Apart from RUBELLA, I couldn’t make any impression at the top, and in desperation went to the long one at the bottom, which thankfully fell quickly. Bottom up solves are rarely quick, though that may have tto do with the exigencies of not being able to solve anything before getting there.
    Chambers doesn’t rate BLOOP without the -ER as a mistake, but I reckoned POOL for group, as in “England is in pool E for the World Cup” gave enough justification. CRAZE was my last one in: an easy substitute test pass in “the latest craze/thing”, but a lot of riffling through the alphabet deck (?A?E – arrgh!) to get there.
    The setter’s cunning ploy to get us to try variations on KKK or Klan in 1d worked on me, as did many other cunning ploys. Good stuff – TTS and T and bon voyage to B.

    Edited at 2014-07-04 07:37 am (UTC)

    1. COED has BLOOP as an alternative to ‘blooper’ and also as a verb meaning to make a mistake.
  2. My experience was rather like Z’s, with 13ac my LOI, a result of prolonged alphabet sifting. I spent some time thinking that 6d would be S…..S (aboard ship). And I spent some time thinking that ‘for Titanic a’ was the anagrist (numbers aren’t my strong suit). I think my COD is 12ac; nice surface, and ‘quite the opposite’ clues always give me trouble.
  3. 15.30 with the NE falling quickly and steady progress thereafter. For once I re-read the clues after solving and thought that overall the surfaces were very smooth. Wouldn’t have thought there was much room for controversy today but who knows?
  4. Thought this was quite straightforward, though it certainly helped that all the long answers yielded quickly. Wasn’t 100% sure about BLOOP and I can’t categorically state that I knew that RETINOL was a vitamin.
  5. A late tee off time today so able to tackle this whilst fully alert and as a result home in 20 minutes with nothing of particular note along the way. In this grid getting 1A straight off (“for Titanic a disaster” in 6,6 could hardly be easier) makes for a quick time. Overall, entertaining but not taxing.
    1. For once you were less damp than us… my tee time was aborted owing to severe thunderstorm and torrential rain for 2 hours early this morning, so was also solving earlier than usual.
  6. Somehow managed a sub-20, and an almost unheard-of sub-z8b8d8k. Would love to be able to explain why, but I refuse to use the ‘w’ word.

    I googled Central America post-solve to confirm that it IS an isthmus as opposed to being ON an isthmus, and was treated to my new word for the day, ISTHMIAN. Try saying that after a few pints.

    1. In Ancient Greece, the Isthmian Games formed part of the cycle of tournaments along with the Olympic Games; I reckon you’re right, and sports broadcasters are hugely grateful that they don’t have to say Isthmian in every other sentence on a regular basis.
  7. Messed up with ‘crate’ for CRAZE. Well, it is a thing, but so for that matter is everything else. 34′, so not hard – unless you make it so. Last in OUTWARD, which was sort of cunning.

    And I always start at the bottom (after looking at the “multi-word clues”), for what it’s worth.

    Reviews of today’s Guardian by Tramp are mixed, but it entertained me royally over my set lunch at the local cha chaan teng.

    Edited at 2014-07-04 07:56 am (UTC)

    1. I do like Tramp’s puzzles – they’re not usually difficult but there’s always some humour (often Paul-ish) and he makes an effort to come up with good surfaces.
    2. Now Wiki has explained what a cha chaan teng is, I am envious and hungry!
    3. Saving the Tramp for the trip to Heathrow. I’m a fan – seeing Tramp’s name by a puzzle is usually a guarantee there’ll be lots of jokes in store.

      Perhaps the fact that I cut my teeth on the Guardian is why I was more lukewarm about this (perfectly good) Times puzzle than most. I crave silliness and anarchy!

  8. 13 mins so back on some kind of form. Probably a wavelength thing, Galspray! I’d have been even quicker had I seen MAIDEN VOYAGE as quickly as Jimbo did because of its helpful checkers. My first thought for 22dn was “swarm” but because I couldn’t parse it I didn’t enter it, and thought of the correct SPASM shortly after. CRAZE didn’t hold me up at all, but AQUITAINE took much longer than it should have done because I was initially trying to think of an Eastern European region that began and ended with an A. It was only once I’d solve it that THEREUPON clicked, which led me to PRIVATE (where I’d been thinking the answer started with OR) and OUTWARD. I then went back and entered my LOI, NIGELLA, which I only parsed after I’d entered it.
  9. A very enjoyable solve lasting 39 minutes, but on first reading I thought it was going to be another stinker as I got as far as EUCALYPTI at 3dn before finding something to write in. No specialist knowledge required, I think, and only one less than familiar word (BLOOP). I had no problems with understanding CRAZE as I immediately thought of the substitution as referenced by z8 above.

    If that’s a truncated blog, v, I’ll set aside a whole morning for next time you’re on duty with time on your hands!

    1. It’s a bit of personal in-joke for me that if I ever start a piece of writing with “time is short so I’d better keep this brief” I’ll end up vying with Samuel Richardson’s Clarissa in the wordcount stakes. The spirit is willing but the ability to avoid going off on new tangents is very, very weak…
  10. Enjoyed this a great deal. Can’t say much right now. I’m at Mrs McT’s in Fremantle on a Win box and being called to marinade a whole fish.

    Had lots of trouble on the LH side after an easier run on the RH.

    Anyone else notice the NINA in the middle column?

    1. If there are three things in this world that are certain, it’s death, taxes, and the absolute certainty that I won’t see the Nina in a crossword puzzle. Well spotted!
    2. Never imagined that a fish would be harder to marinade in one side than the other
  11. 27 minutes, steady with a few tricky ones, had CRAZE quickly because thought it might be a pangram. LOI was the clever OUTWARD – it took a while for me to stop thinking of charge as a monetary thing.
    I (and JIMBO no doubt) was pleased to see a little science today, with retinol, the vitamin essential to vision (although it’s a myth that consuming more of it in e.g. carrots can improve your night vision).
    Bon voyage, V, as always your intro was a delight (if not ‘abbreviated’).
  12. A shade under ten minutes, so clearly I was on the wavelength for this one. Or if you prefer, Galspray, I possessed the required knowledge and the clues appear to have been constructed using cryptic devices that I somehow find relatively easier to crack than most other solvers, but in a way that is difficult to identify analytically.
    24ac is bordering on a breach of the living people rule.
    Nice puzzle, I thought. Very smooth.

    Edited at 2014-07-04 09:31 am (UTC)

    1. Thanks keriothe, let’s hope it catches on!

      Good point on the living people rule. Surely there’s only one Nigella.

  13. 9:44 with the SPASM being the last one in – it fought so hard to be a SWARM (probably comes from having a husband who keeps bees!). And I spotted Nina too!
  14. 27m today, and glad to see I wasn’t the only one who put CRATE in 13A. I did briefly wonder how that fitted the definition of ‘a thing’ and then ignored my doubt. What did I say recently about more haste, less speed?
  15. Well I did fall into the swarm trap so the setter rawed me good and proper.

    18:51 otherwise with outward unparsed which made me extra nervous about bloop.

    Also delayed myself book-ending 16 with AA and only saw the light when I had thereupon. Annoying as my youngest is an Eleanor, a name closely associated with Aquitaine.

    Well it’s Le Grand Depart here in Yorkshire this weekend with the race passing within a few miles of us on both days. Here’s hoping for an action-packed couple of stages, with immense swarms of barking fans showing their appreciation for the cycling craze

  16. 45m here and another SWARM. Struggled with some of the cryptics: GALL ON for acrimony over for example so not an enjoyable time today. I also had PLOUGH INTO at 14a until I found the anagrist in 15d. I might generously concede that rather than me being dozy it was in fact the setter’s skill that foxed me! Thanks for the entertaining blog, V.
  18. No time as I was solving on the train and kept getting interrupted by both fellow passengers (Are you solving a crossword?”) and those very loud announcements – is it more or are there more of them and have the got louder? Or did I get older? Anyway, so much for the Quiet Carriage ….

    Nice puzzle and I liked the little traps. SPASM cropped up in another puzzle yesterday, which sure helped.

    Now, off out to paint that London red.

    1. The train is my usual solving location. As you can appreciate all my times would be under 10 minutes without the distractions the train provides.
  19. About 25 minutes, ending with CRAZE. I liked EUCALYPTI for the rare appearance of the plural and the clever surface. The Nina NINA is amusing, but not seen while solving. Bon voyage to our blogger, and I hope you arrive on time and safely, since our first hurricane of the season is passing up the US east coast today. Regards.
  20. 9:40 for me. I dithered a bit over BLOOP at the end, but otherwise found this a pleasant, staightforward solve.
  21. Only about 43 minutes for this one (well, at least for me that time deserves the “only”), but in the end DNF, OUTHAND being my mistake. I really enjoyed this puzzle — not too hard but with many clever clues and the wordplay needed often to set me right (for example, for RETINOL, a vitamin I have never been introduced to by name, at least). SPASM gave me a chuckle as an attack.

    The local crosswords in New York (or at least the ones I remember) are rough and barbarous things — not easy, but not cryptic. I was hooked on British ones the moment I first saw them in the airmail edition of the Times in the common room of the Graduate College at Princeton (well no, when I first saw them they were just very confusing. But then someone explained to me how to do them and I was hooked — one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century).

Comments are closed.