Times 25892 – OK, your majesty, now where’s my cheque?

Author   vinyl1Posted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time: 58 minutes

Music: Prokofiev, Sonata No. 6, Pogorelich

This was a rather strange solving experience. I put in a few long ones in the first few minutes, thinking it was going to be easy, and then got totally stuck. After 20 minutes with nearly no progress, I wrote in the whole left side in about three minutes. This was followed by another 20 minutes of frustration, and then another burst of solutions. I was still stuck with the last 3 clues in the SE, but after five minutes they became obvious as well.

Now for a personal announcement, which I do not often do. Tomorrow will be my last day as a working man, henceforward I will be blogging as a not-so-voluntary retiree. I do have plenty of money, but I had intended to work for another year or two.

Across
1 ON THE BALL, double definition, one allusive. My first in.
6 ETHOS, last letters of [troubl]E [caugh]T [wit]H [n]O [pant]S. A very deceptive clue with so many possibilities – ‘c’ plus an anagram of ‘on’, anyone? – that the actual cryptic is a bit disappointing.
9 GOLDEN HANDSHAKE, double definition. I wish!
10 NIPPER, double definition.
11 FLETCHER, double definition; Fletcher Christian of HMS Bounty, and an arrow-maker.
13 FRONT BENCH, FR(ON + T[o] B[ring])ENCH. Few will trouble with the cryptic.
14 BOZO, BOZ + O. Dickens’ early pen-name, used for only the first few works.
16 OVER, double definition.
17 CAMELOPARD, anagram of PALACE DORM. I was beating my brains out to think of a synonym for ‘giraffe’ when I remembered the constellation, which is mostly an empty space in the sky anyway.
19 EQUALITY, E + QUALITY.
20 G FORCE, hidden in [stron]G FOR CE[rtain].
23 PUBLIC RELATIONS, double definition, one rather contrived.
24 TURIN, TUR(I)N.
25 SEX KITTEN, jocular cryptic definition. I wasted a lot of time trying to put ‘H’ in various furs.
 
Down
1 ORGAN, double definition.
2 TELEPHONE NUMBER, anagram of HELP, TEN (plus) ONE, followed by UMBER. Most solvers will get the answer without the rather convoluted cryptic.
3 ELEVENTH, EL(EVENT)H, where ELH is E[ng]L[is}H.
4 ASHY, AS + H[air]Y.
5 LANDLOCKED, like OMAN in R(OMAN)IA. only a ‘ria’ is a coastal inlet, not a land area.
6 ERSATZ, anagram of TEARS + [walt]Z, i.e. without Walt D.
7 HEATHROW AIRPORT, anagram of E[ngland] + WHAT HORROR! A TIP?. An amusing &lit – but isn’t Gatwick worse?
8 SWEAR WORD, SWEAR + WORD, each in the sense of ‘promise’.
12 DEPARTURES, anagram of READERS PUT.
13 FLOWERPOT, FLOWER + PO + T[hames]. Usually a ‘flower’ indicates a river, but today a river indicates a flower.
15 CONFETTI, probably a cryptic definition, although it does contain C + ON. Early commenters can say yea or nay.
18 ALBION, A L(B[acks])ION. The British and Irish Lions, formerly the British Lions, are the national rugby team that competes in international matches.
21 ESSEN, NESS + [verd]E inverted.
22 FLAX, F(L)AX, my last in.

38 comments on “Times 25892 – OK, your majesty, now where’s my cheque?”

  1. Bit of park strolling this morning. With the long answers in early, the rest more or less fell into place. The HEATHROW clue was a cracker for my 2¢.

    Didn’t take 23ac as a double def. Rather as two (rough) synonyms and a literal.

  2. Just when I was getting the hang of some of Dickens’ characters’ names, I find I also have to learn all of his own names. Are there any more? Thought Dod was as likely a Victorian author as Boz, but apparently not. And yeah, a dodo’s not really a twit, but who knows with these sort of words.

    Slowed down by thinking the giraffe must be some sort of ——DERM, then maybe a ——-POD, but with all the checkers in place CAMELOPARD emerged as the least unlikely (though still very unlikely) option.

    Thought it was a fun puzzle with some great surfaces. For some reason 11ac stood out for me.

    Thanks setter and blogger.

  3. I agree that this was a pleasant puzzle, just the ticket for a Monday.

    Congratulations on your retirement vinyl! Mine won’t be long, but not having plenty of money I’m waiting for a little incentive in the form of a 9ac.

  4. I wrote in all the answers starting in the NW corner on first reading, including 5dn which I didn’t understand (and having now read the blog I see OMAN inside RIA, but still don’t get how it’s supposed to work), but then like the blogger I hit a wall. Eventually the rest of the LH side went in but I struggled to complete some of the RH side. I ended by looking up the giraffe and the author, which I should have known but I couldn’t think of a word for ‘twit’ that fitted (I has discounted ‘dodo’).

    We’re a J short of a pangram.

    Welcome to the retiree club, vinyl1! If it’s anything like my retirement, prepare yourself for time to start flying by.

    Edited at 2014-09-15 04:00 am (UTC)

      1. Right, that makes sense. Thanks. I was confused by mention of RIA in the blog. Anyway I wrote the answer straight in based on the first three words of the clue and the first checker.

        Edited at 2014-09-15 04:21 am (UTC)

  5. Ending with FLAX. SEX KITTEN brought up memories of Lesley-Ann Down in one of the Pink Panther remakes, fur coat and all.

  7. I always get a buzz when 1ac goes straight in, but sadly the rest didn’t follow. After an hour or so I had to look up the last couple, and a couple had gone in unparsed (ETHOS doh!, FRONT BENCH).

    Didn’t I mention last week that ESSEN had come up a couple of times recently?

    I’m sure you’ll find you’re soon busier than you’ve ever been, vinyl. Good luck!

    1. My experience too. Until recently … when they found a rule that says “Emeritus” = “works for free”. Orifices were mentioned in my reply.
  8. 13m. Very quick to begin with, then a bit slower.
    I thought 5dn was referring to a RIA, which according to Chambers is a ‘normal drowned valley’, which I suppose could qualify as ‘land’. But as has already been pointed out it’s not really needed. I wonder what an abnormal drowned valley is.
    Congratulations on your retirement, vinyl.
  9. Having been on the road for a few days, I’ve got a backlog of cryptics to clear away; I’m glad I started with this one. As Vinyl suggested, I put in a couple of these without bothering to work them out: ETHOS, for instance, and TELEPHONE NUMBER. I ‘knew’ CAMELOPARD, but couldn’t remember–not that it mattered–what sort of animal it was. Loved 7d. Mazel tov, Vinyl, on your retirement, not to mention on your having plenty of money. My retirement comes in 2017, after which I plan on leading a life of crime.
  10. A slow-feeling 17.50, but then as a not-quite-retired-but-not-actually-working bod myself I guess I’m almost entitled to pipe-and-slipper speed. Best of luck V with your new status. The queues for access to your infinite amount of time will already be forming.
    Almost nothing went in on first glance, and ETHOS (like ESSEN, a frequent visitor at present) went in and out several times before the penny dropped, which was after all the checkers were in.
    Neither LANDLOCKED nor T. NUMBER went in with full comprehension, but also without feeling the need. Contrariwise, I wasted time on SEX KITTEN and CONFETTI (there’s a confession) because I was looking for something more cryptic. I’m not even convinced the former works particularly well as a CD.
  11. I’ve been wondering about two unconnected matters.
    1. Given the cricket fascination in The Times, is “guard” ever used to clue LEG, MIDDLE, OFF or the bits in between?
    2. If Tony S’s latest userpic is genuine, why didn’t he grow up to look like Bob Dylan?

    Edited at 2014-09-15 08:41 am (UTC)

    1. >…
      >2. If Tony S’s latest userpic is genuine, why didn’t he grow up to look like Bob Dylan?

      Good grief – not a thought that had ever occurred to me! (Or perhaps to anyone else?) It is genuine, but maybe I ought to change it to a more fresh-faced one taken a few years earlier when Cutty Sark were sponsors of the Championship (with one of their posters in the background).

  12. 43′. Found this annoyingly resistant, but probably because up half the night playing cards. Cheered by the thought of Boris as frontbench bozo sometime now he’s on the way back to the Commons. German city: Essen like supporter: bra is a Struldbrugg (clue that simply refuses to die).
  13. Much same experience as those above. LHS went in quickly, then ten minutes of pondering before saw the HEATHROW anagram after which SEX KITTEN and FLAX were eventual LOI. 25 minutes, with a few not bothering to parse.

    “I’d like to have worked another year or two”… you must have had a dream job, vinyl, or a vocation; personally I ‘retired’ as soon as I thought I had enough money, mid 40s, then went back twice briefly to different things or self employment to top up the pot; now 66, probably unemployable and never bored. Anyway you’ll soon have no regrets I hope.

    Edited at 2014-09-15 08:23 am (UTC)

  14. The problem for setters is that E-S-N doesn’t leave much choice (elsin, eosin or Elsan – none of which are much better) and the checkers usually won’t give much room for variation.
  15. Much the same experience as vinyl1 – a fast start followed by something of a void before the rest went in, taking me to 36 minutes.

    Surely the presence of 9A is fate given vinyl1’s retirement and your ex-employers will be correcting their oversight in due course. I actually hesitated over GOLDEN HANDSHAKE for a long time as I thought it was typically a bonus for joining a company.

  16. Like Vinyl, I put a cluster in immediately and then had a series of long pauses followed by several flying in. It took me over an hour but I really enjoyed this one and LOVED the Heathrow clue. Manchester is our closest airport and we do everything we can to avoid changing for international flights at Heathrow. Thanks to all involved.
  17. The pangram could be completed by changing BOZO to MOJO. Can anyone find a change that doesn’t involve a rather obscure word?
  18. 16 mins. I knew CAMELOPARD so I didn’t have to try and arrange the anagram fodder in the most likely-looking way. I agree that the clue for HEATHROW AIRPORT was a cracker and I’m annoyed it took me as long to solve as it did. Like a few others I finished in the SE with FLAX, SEX KITTEN and CONFETTI.
  19. I remembered CAMELOPARD but not how to spell it so there were several letters scribbled in there – I didn’t see the wordplay for FRONT BENCH so thanks for that, rest went in without too much trouble.
  20. After nearly a fortnight away (high-maintenance US house guests that left no time for, and would have had no appreciation of, puzzling) I found this easy, at first. Long ones all pretty much straight in, so I thought it would be a doddle, but then, like others, screamed to a stop.

    The giraffe was last in and new to me, so needed looking up.

    I hope tomorrow is gentler.

  21. Just over 18min to finish this, with steady progress from the outset. My only blemish was not to fully understand the parsing of 5d. 13d and 24a my last two in and COD to HEATHROW AIRPORT.
  22. pretty much a beginner but learning fast with all your help! Why Ness? 23a seems a bit stretched – familiar = public then err?
    1. From the Shorter Oxford Dictionary
      NESS: A promontory, a headland, a cape.

      One tells or relates a story so stories = relations.

      Welcome to the forum.

      Edited at 2014-09-15 05:16 pm (UTC)

  23. 35m for a slow and steady solve. Struggled with 3d and 13a for no obvious reason. Thanks for the blog and congrats on escaping the toad work.
  24. About 20 minutes, ending with BOZO. Congrats to vinyl on retiring, even if the timing leaves something to be desired. Lack time for further comment. Regards to all.
  25. To begin with, commiserations to Vinyl on your retirement. I hope you find something to fill the void. If and when I retire, I will be torn between a life of crime (which, it seems to me, is best embarked upon as a second career), an exploration of recreational drugs (wasted on the young) or the pursuit of some unnecessary and preferably nigh-on impossible goal. I suspect finances will rule out all but the first option.

    As for the puzzle, I despair of myself. Everything went in in about 20 minutes, apart from DEPARTURES, which I couldn’t see for the life of me. Got there eventually, but in a time which I suspect will be at least 12 Severs.

    I was lucky to know ‘Boz’ and ‘camelopard’ (though, if asked to spell it unconstrained, I’d have said ‘cameleopard’), and didn’t parse ELEVENTH even though it was my first in. COD was HEATHROW for me.

  26. No time recorded today as the crossword had to be done around other commitments, including a very good piano duet recital at the Newcastle Literary and Philosophical Society, which is one of my favourite haunts.
    An enjoyable puzzle with plenty of pauses for thought.
    Best wishes to vinyl on retirement: it was the best career move I ever made (just over 18 years’ ago), and it gave me the chance to do much more interesting and enjoyable things with my time. I hope you find the same.
  27. 11:12 for me, starting at a reasonable pace, but then tiring (after a busy day – including a rather depressing funeral) and making heavy weather of the last few clues.

    Good luck with your retirement. It’s 10 years now since I was made redundant, but as I’d reached 60 (which is getting on a bit in the IT business) I took the money gratefully and haven’t looked back – except to wonder how I ever found time to work!

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