Times 25877 – looking for a miracle

48 comments on “Times 25877 – looking for a miracle”

1. Yeh, pretty sure it’s SPILL.
   For HEADBOARD, ODO has “a board on the front of a train bearing the name of the route or service for which it is being used”.

   Lots to enjoy today, particularly the shades of Peter Ustinov at 6ac. Was unsure what was happening at 18ac and went for TALI (ankles) as a guess. No doubt the trap was intended. So a technical DNF.

2. I think it’s SPILL. One of those taper things used for lighting cigarettes etc directly from an open fire (so “match substitute”). It also means to fall off or over, so “coming off”.

   I think in 8dn “serve briefly” is DISH U{p} and that leaves “capital” available as part of the definition.

   I’m having a tough week of it. This one took 70 minutes with more than one hiatus along the way. The main hold-up was at the very end in the NW corner where I had written DOWNTIME at 4dn although I wasn’t fully able to justify it.

   The only sort of HEADBOARD I can think of is part of a bed and I can’t imagine what sort of sign might go on it other than perhaps “nil by mouth” in a hospital.

   I haven’t checked any books but I think the expression “handbags at dawn” was in existence long before, and without reference to, Mrs Thatcher, though of course she was famous for so-called “handbagging” and that may be what Chambers has in mind.

   Edited at 2014-08-28 01:28 am (UTC)

   1. Okay, I’ve looked it up now and this article (http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/handbags-at-ten-paces.html) explains it has its origins on the football pitch, but this was during the Thatcher era so that reference is possibly also valid. If it goes back any further then it may have connections with a Monty Python sketch from 1969.
      1. There was a moment in the late 60s when I was standing on the Kop during a Liverpool-Everton derby. Before the start of the match, someone came out of the crowd and presented the Everton goalkeeper, Gordon West, with a huge (papier mâché?) handbag.

         Of course this was typical of the stupid homophobia of the day in those parts. Especially when accompanied by the song (to the tune of “Georgie Girl”): Hey there, Gordon West, you’re a bigger **** than Georgie Best.

         I am pleased to say that I did not join in.

   2. Can you enlighten me as to why the ‘pub’ is mentioned? It would have worked without it?? Sorry!
      1. I mean 10 ac….
         1. I’d say it’s just there for the surface reading but who knows? I wondered why punch-up is in quotes, as it’s a perfectly normal expression.

            Edited at 2014-08-28 09:41 am (UTC)

            1. These days, anyway, handbags in footy parlance is a bit of shoving. Definitely no punches involved. Hence, if there’s a minor bit of shoving and players get either sent off or not, afterwards the manager might say it was just a bit of handbags. Obviously these days there are few English managers in the premiership so you don’t hear it as much as in former times. ‘arry is a major user of the phrase though.
3. About 42 minutes to get all but 23dn, then half an hour of pondering. Didn’t know SPILL as a lighter, and ended up going with SKILL on the basis that to “off” someone is to kill them, with no idea how the rest of it worked. Which it didn’t.

   Had already gone for SARI at 18ac, but saw MAXI immediately post-solve.

   So officially crashed and burned, which is a shame because it was another excellent puzzle. It’s just that they’re more fun when you get there in the end.

   Thanks setter and blogger.

4. A similar experience to thers who have checked in, with last in SPILL after twigging it was a double. Of the many gardens paths trodden today I will give my COD to IN FOAL, which I so wanted to be ‘at heel’. Another fine puzzle. Tomorrow should be fun.
5. My first sub-20 for quite a while, I think, at 18.18, though with plenty of strolls though the garden on the way. I couldn’t get rubber=eraser out of my mind at 1ac, so FRICTION went in with a “well, I suppose so” rather than thinking of the masseur or somesuch. I didn’t get all of MOGADISHU (though once I remembered the cat connection, the capital was obvious) or LEA.
   ‘ANDBAGS from watching too much cricket, where minor spats between players are sometimes described that way, usually in a Lancashire accent. I’d question the Thatcher connection. If she handbagged you, it was anything but “pathetic”: I assumed it came from what we used to call a catfight, and would therefore be applied to men fighting in a girly or effeminate way. I think I’d better stop before I offend everyone.
   Good, devious puzzle, compliments to setter and thanks (and commiserations) to George. We should all expect a SPILL from time to time.
   1. My recollection of “handbags” is the same as yours. I recall at board meetings in the 1970s the chairman of an all male assembly would remonstrate with two rowing members “time to put the handbags away girls”. Nothing to do with Thatcher that I’m aware of – just a male sexist put-down
      1. I think she famously hand bagged john sergeant outside number 10 once, didn’t she. Or at least, he described it thus. I don’t think she actually walloped him with her reticule.
   2. Yes Z, I thought of Bumble immediately as well.
      1. I tried to find a recording of our finest cricket commentator to illustrate, but ran out of time. Well spotted!
6. Another great puzzle that was tough but really enjoyable. Some of the wordplay here really is first class – take 25D “I should add” for PS and “out of bounds” for a deletion indicator. And some great definitions – “one to bat” for EYELID has to take the biscuit. Another 35 minute struggle.

   Thank you setter and well done George. Our bloggers are having to work hard this week.

7. We’ve had some first rate puzzles recently and I’ve been sorry not to have had time to comment. Must make the effort to do so with this, though, as it was one of the best: clever, witty, a real challenge.

   I thought I was not going to finish as after 10minutes I had solved miserably few answers. The rest came steadily and I finished in three-quarters of an hour; a struggle, but well worth the effort.

   I always imagined that I would start to find the puzzle impossible when the names of people I’d never heard of started to appear, but what I’m finding difficult to adjust to is the gradual change in English usage. I’m aware of BALL PARK and ADWARE but they don’t form part of my everyday vocabulary. Not complaining, that’s the way it is with an evolving language such as ours; must keep up!

   I considered USSR early on, but dismissed it in the mistaken belief that abbreviations were not permitted. I suppose it did evolve into a word and is correctly treated as such.

   1. There isn’t any other kind, unless you count dead ones!
8. I can’t recall a previous run of four exceptional puzzles. My LOI were SPILL and EYELID (both very good clues I thought) whereupon I reactivated my iPad only to find that I had not started the stopwatch. Very annoying. Judging elapsed time when struggling to solve is difficult but I would guess 30 – 40 minutes, probably nearer the latter.
   1. So starting the stopwatch wasn’t the only thing I forgot to do.
      1. >I can’t recall a previous run of four exceptional puzzles.

         Nor can I, and I’ve been solving the Times crossword pretty well every day for over 50 years.

9. 42 min: LOI LEA, which I couldn’t parse, but there’s no other word to fit. NW corner gave problems, as didn’t see how definitions worked ( “brush” = quarrel -> RUN-IN, “steal” = move gradually -> INCH).
   Also enumeration of (4) for USSR put me off for a bit, whilst “bat” at 26ac convinced that IN had to be there, which gave EMETIN which made no sense whatever.
10. Very enjoyable. I appreciate that ‘andbags now means pathetic fighting but the use of it to describe Maggie T came from her resolute performance when renegotiating Britain’s rebate from the EU. Anything but pathetic!

    Edited at 2014-08-28 10:48 am (UTC)

11. Completed in bits and pieces collecting son at Heathrow then back at home so no time but pretty slow; amusing though. (Not him, not him.) 26 reminded me of one of my favourite howlers as an English teacher, in a child’s story… ‘without battering an eyelid’.
12. Same as Jack on this. I had “billboard” at first thinking the chairman might bill for a per diem or something. The only sign I might think of for a headboard is “you’re snoring” in flashing neon. Same as others with “spill”, which was silly because I keep a basket of them next to the fireplace, but the “process of coming off” had me floundering for several minutes at the end so it was a what-the-hell. Very good one, 3rd this week, but I did a little better this time. 27.44
13. 21 mins. I thought it had taken me longer and I was surprised when I looked at my watch. I echo the “excellent puzzle” sentiments. With the exception of FORAGE, which was my LOI, I found the RHS trickier than the LHS.
14. Three really good, stretching puzzles in a row – what a great week! Thanks to the setter and to the blogger for a very clear analysis. I struggled to get any sort of foothold in this and, even when I’d got a few in. it still felt like a (very enjoyable) arm wrestle to get it out. My LOI was SPILL, on which I spent several minutes. I finally came to the same conclusion as Jack as to answer and parsing, but can’t claim to be entirely happy with SPILL = PROCESS OF COMING OFF. With this relatively minor caveat, I thought the puzzle was top rate, with some cracking, well-disguised clues: I particularly like PIECE OF BOARD as a definition for CHESSMAN and ONE TO BAT for EYELID. Just under 23 mins to finish, fully parsed.
15. 37m of solving time, with a bit of an interruption in the middle for a three-hour meeting.
    It’s all been said: another very tough but superb puzzle, with lots of clues that looked impossible but then revealed themselves to be very simple once you worked out the right way to look at them. It doesn’t get better than that.
    I didn’t understand RUN-IN or HEADBOARD, but they had to be. And I’ve never come across ALB, but it was clear once I had the B, which admittedly took a very long time indeed. ODO has the requisite definition of HANDBAGS: ‘a confrontation that does not lead to serious fighting, especially among soccer players’.
    We had MAXIm very recently: it wasn’t going to catch me out twice in such quick succession!
16. 20 mins with Tippex – the NW corner putting up more of a fight than the rest. I did like the ‘one to bat’ in 26a.
17. 
    After a run of dnfs, I was determined to have a good go at this one, and I managed to complete it all correctly today, albeit with a couple unparsed (NOT AT ALL, HARD LEFT).

    foi: OH DEAR; loi: SPILL/EYELID crossers; cod: IN FOAL

    Time taken: quite a bit over the hour…

18. Around an hour, but not unaided.I got really stuck in the NW corner and ended up using an anagram solver to get 3 and move me on.
    I’m not as enthusiastic as some about the puzzle. Some of the cryptic definitions seem quite strained or unnatural, such as “piece of board” for a chess piece, or “Peg’s place” for clothes line. The previous two puzzles were far more elegant in my view.
19. Spill is used instead of a match especially for lighting fires in days gone by,!
20. I thought this was a terrific puzzle and it pushed me to my limit. Thank you setter, and thanks George for explaining the two I put in without full understanding (Adware and Lea).
    Got there in the end with the NW corner last in. FOI Dear Me, LOI Run In. Loved Eyelid and In Foal.
    Ballpark: I remember Anax clueing this brilliantly not so long ago as ‘rough diamond’
21. Another very enjoyable workout. FOI DOWNTIME which completely knackered the NW corner for a long time, although it was only pencilled in lightly as I didn’t know where the ‘W’ came from, then forgot that it was only tentative. Strangely enough SPILL was one of few I got ‘first pass’.
22. Very difficult. I gave up having managed barely half of it. I could argue about several clues being awfully misleading, but I won’t. I managed yesterday’s without difficulty, but this was something else.
23. The week’s run of great puzzles continues, this being number four. Incredible stuff, they’ve all been really chewy and doing battle has been fun and rewarding. Nice work, Timesfolk!

    ‘Handbags at dawn’ is the version of the phrase I’ve heard most often, with the added duelling reference chucked in for extra fun.

24. Yes, me too, and I’m sure many others who didn’t notice the extra trill on the part of glh. Who nevertheless does sterling work at a crazy speed.
25. Almost an hour to get correct (with pauses or interruptions to be sociable with ‘er indoors, required after golf). Good puzzle, not as great as yesterday’s or Wednesday’s IMO, some like 16a and 15d were obviously right but somehow uncomfortable to accept. SPILL seemed a simple d.d. but U.S.S.R. as a 4 letter numeration? loved EYELID and LEA(PS).
26. I read “serve” in 8d as DISH UP, with “briefly” to remove the P.

    Patrick

    1. Indeed, and I posted that at 01:06am (above) but it appears nobody noticed.
27. I agree with those citing a fine run of challenging puzzles, of which I worked on this for 50 minutes, but I’m ending up with George in the confusion box due to SPILL. My guess was STILL, without any real good reason. So DNF. Too many good clues to single any out, and others have probably named them all already anyway. Thanks setter and George, and regards.
28. 15:12 for me, taking ages to get going, but eventually finding the setter’s wavelength.

    The week just gets better and better. I’d rate this one of the best crosswords I’ve ever come across – a delight from start to finish. That makes choosing a COD almost impossible, but I think I’ll go for 9ac (IN FOAL) – a model of brevity, with a first-rate surface reading.

    1. DNF for me, failing on IN FOAL, ADWARE and FORAGE. Relieved to see that even [tony_sever] took over the quarter hour to wrestle this one to the ground.

       I was about to be all grumpy over some of the clues (such as 12ac – “a lot to deal with” seems a bit contrived) but, as someone alluded to above, the difference between a cunning clue and an unfair one is whether you solve it or not.

       I am now back in the ample yet flat bosom of East Anglia, and am happy to say that today’s Accident of the Day ticked all the boxes: embarrassing, novel and ingenious*. I can report that (a) intimate waxing is best left to the professionals (b) duct tape is not an effective low-cost alternative and (c) the adhesive on duct tape can elicit a spectacular anaphylactic reaction.

       (*from the prefix “in-“: absent or lacking; and “genius”)

29. I join in the chorus of praise for this puzzle, and the other gems this week. As far as I can see, no-one has yet offered a pat on the back for the Times’s crossword editor. We solvers are quick to criticise when things go wrong, so I think it’s only fair to say ‘Thanks very much for some excellent entertainment and mental exercise’.
30. Just did this quickly after seeing the praise for it here – very good! I in LD for “one visiting Lord[‘s’]” foxed me the most.
31. I put it in because it fitted with the rest of the clue, but can anybody explain “A lot” or how “Tarot” is arrived at in 12 across?
    1. One’s lot in this context is one’s fate, or destiny, and tarot cards are purported to reveal one’s future. At least, that’s how I read it.
       1. Lot/Fate! THANK YOU! Drives me mad when I get an answer but don’t understand the reasoning.

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