Times 25,920: Destroy All Monsters

Author   VerlainePosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
I stayed up till midnight to get this one polished off – thankfully it was a nice easy one, clocking in at under 7 minutes. I think our esteemed editor is just trying to give us a glimmer of hope, and/or lull us into a false sense of security… for the fateful weekend is upon us!

No real stumbling blocks to report for a 7-minuter. Some quaint vocab at 6A/6D, and I hesitated for a few seconds over the “reaping-machine”, but all seemed logical enough given a moment’s thought. 4D the LOI for me (due to having a lot of bits to put together), and COD, oh I don’t know, possibly 18D for its tricksy “to put up”, or 16 just because it’s a lovely word.

11A + 12A made me think happily of Godzilla, lest the title of this post seem too perplexing.

An uncharacteristic lack of verbiage by my standards, this! I guess I need to keep some energy in reserve for tomorrow, probably by getting some sleep, stat. Moriturus te saluto, and all that… see some of you there I expect!

Across
1 PUFF ADDER – dangerous reptile: A DD [a theologian] “encountered in” PUFFER [steam engine]
6 GALOP – lively dance: GAL [young woman] + OP [work “briefly”]
9 LAURELS – distinction: LAUREL [Hardy’s partner] + S [Tess “ultimately”]
10 BEMOANS – lament: MOA [“bird that once lived”, i.e. extinct bird] “amidst” BENS [Scottish mountains]
11 TOKYO – capital: K [king] “invested in” TOY [play] + O [26 “to begin with”, i.e. first letter of solution to 26A]
12 LEVIATHAN – sea monster: LEVI [Jacob’s son] AT HAN{d} [observed close by, “briefly”]
14 WHY – question: homophone of “y” [unknown to a mathematician, “say”]
15 DOUBLE FIRST – degree: DOUBLE [lookalike] + FIRST [before anyone else]
17 SPELLBINDER – enchanting person: SPELL [period] + BINDER [reaping machine]
19 AIL – worry: homophone of “ale” [porter possibly “talked of”]
20 INORGANIC – lacking carbon: IN ORGAN [popular publication] + I C [one, carbon]
22 YONKS – ages: YONKERS [American city] – ER [retired engineers, i.e. RE reversed, “quitting”]
24 HERRING – “something fishy”: a prospective spouse may show off HER RING
26 OTHELLO – Moor: T [boat “finally”] in O HELLO [ring, “that’s a surprise”]
27 YAPPY – “like a little dog”: HAPPY [content] “to change lead”
28 PAYMASTER – “he distributes”: P [pounds “at first”] + (RATES MAY*) [“vary”] &lit

Down
1 PILOT – TV try-out: PI LOT [sanctimonious crew]
2 FLUNKEY – minion: FUN KEY [sport vital] “to accommodate” L [Liberal]
3 ADENOIDAL – “with nasal twang”: (IDOL A DEAN*) [“unexpected”]
4 DISILLUSION – “free from false ideas”: DON [teacher] “outside” IS ILL US I [is seedy American, one]
5 ROB – mug: R [“head of” Rugby] + OB [former pupil, i.e. old boy]
6 GAMBA – old stringed instrument: GAMBIA – I [one “stolen from” African country]
7 LEATHER – kid, perhaps: LATHER [state of agitation] “overwhelming” E [English]
8 POSTNATAL – “after delivery”: NATAL [old African province] “holding up” POST [mail]
13 VALEDICTORY – saying farewell: VICTORY [win] “involves” ALED [Welshman]
14 WASPISHLY – “in irritable way”: (WHY A SLIP’S*) [“misrepresented”]
16 FORSYTHIA – shrub: (HISTORY*) [“strange”] in F A [“borders of” Florida]
18 EGO TRIP -“self promoting activity”: EG [say] + OT [to “put up”] + R.I.P. [inscription on tomb]
19 ANNULET – ring: ANN LET [girl allowed] “to go round” U [university]
21 GRIMY – dirty: G [key] + RIMY [covered with frost]
23 SPOOR – track: S [small] + POOR [substandard]
25 GAP – disparity: prospective students may enjoy a GAP year

39 comments on “Times 25,920: Destroy All Monsters”

  1. No typos today! I can even spell “binder”. But the Moor was my last in, I have to confess. Great clue though.

    To our esteemed blogger (whose Friday job I don’t usually fancy):
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ave_Imperator,_morituri_te_salutant
    The great A. Christie prefers: “Ave Caesar. Nos morituri te salutamus”.

    Morituri was, of course, a Japanese Ensign of literary fame.

    Edited at 2014-10-17 01:04 am (UTC)

  2. Yes, a nice straightforward one – probably the easiest Friday puzzle for a long time. I took a while to get the two long Downs and needed most of the checkers before they would come to mind.

    Did anyone else try the 1942 Bletchley Park puzzle reproduced in the Telegraph last week? I’m glad we don’t have puzzles like that any more. I got through it with all correct answers but it involved too much guesswork for my liking.

    Edited at 2014-10-17 12:09 am (UTC)

  3. 20 minutes. but all in vain as I flung in ‘years’ (for YONKS), which left with me no choice but to invent an ‘adaulet’ ring. Nice to have an ‘easy’ one after yesterday’s travails.

    Best wishes to all our folk who are putting themselves through the wringer tomorrow. (Zed, just pretend you are a Gooner for the day!)

  4. Just in case it bamboozled anyone else, ODO has ‘(In a medical direction or prescription) immediately: “I want you tucked up in bed, stat”.’

    Don’t those lexicographers realise one can never read anything a doctor writes?

    Edited at 2014-10-17 01:09 am (UTC)

    1. There must have been a long, tragic age when doctors shouted things like “get this man into the operating theatre, immediately!” only for the patient to expire in the space of those final four syllables…

      Edited at 2014-10-17 06:47 am (UTC)

  5. I hastily typed in ‘yuppy’ (from ‘puppy’) without giving it any thought, in my hurry to beat the 10′ mark, and paid the price. On the other hand, I put in OTHELLO from ‘Moor’, and worked it out later on. As Mctext says, it’s a lovely clue. I think we’ve had YONKS before; but I remember it from a posting of Olivia’s. And evidently people were constantly shouting ‘Stat!’ in the TV series (which I never saw) ‘ER’.
  6. A stark contrast to yesterday, finishing in 12 minutes. Ended with the unknowns GALOP and GAMBA which weren’t helped by having put BROTHER in 7D thinking bother as a state of agitation and kid brother. I hadn’t taken time to see that the rest of the clue didn’t fit. Taking my mistaken entries as gospel is a bit of an achilles heel for me, but fortunately not today.

  7. Happy end to the week, as all done (correctly) in 26:59 on the timer. I even took time to parse LEVIATHAN (the second A would have otherwise been an O). Phew.

    Good luck (and respect) to all brave souls competing tomorrow.

  8. Whoo hoo! 14 minutes! Almost a PB. Something of a relief after yesterday’s circa 60 minute effort.

    In a bizarre piece of synchronicity, I had a dream about meeting Stan Laurel last night. Spooky or what?

    Very best of luck to all of you pitting your enormous wits against the clock tomorrow.

  9. That’s fast by my standards, but could have been much faster if I wasn’t shovelling food into my mouth at the same time.

    I usually work my way methodically through the clues once, and then again, then pick a corner to work with. On this occasion there were only a couple to throw in after the second pass (GAMBA and GALOP I think), so definitely on the easy side. If I was working hands-free I think it could have been a PB.

    A far cry from yesterday’s challenge, but much appreciated given that I have other things I should be getting on with.

    Thanks setter and blogger. Good luck to everyone participating at the weekend. Would love to be keeping seats warm at the pub while you all slug it out.

  10. First puzzle back after a very relaxing holiday and a nice easy reintroduction. Not at all helpful to those masochists about to compete who will meet far sterner challenges.

    1. Welcome back, Jimbo. I was afraid you had taken umbrage over all those rude comments about your favourite hat that got put in the wash with the blue jeans…
      1. Umbrage is not something I indulge myself in – I prefer to take revenge in my own good time!
        1. Absolutely! Don’t sulk or get mad, get even! Very good to have you back. I had begun to fear that you had lost patience with us all and disappeared for good.
  11. Happy to get this done in under 20 mins while fighting the iPad, which I find a handicap to swift solving. No unknowns but only knew GAMBA from the viola da gamba organstop.

    Welcome back Jimbo and best wishes to all for tomorrow.

    Edited at 2014-10-17 08:38 am (UTC)

  12. 8m. False sense of security I expect.
    BINDER was the only out-and-out unknown for me today, although the instrument isn’t exactly top of mind. To my surprise and relief I did know the plant, presumably from crosswords past.
  13. 11.46, about my third or fourth best ever. And that’s a long ever. Good luck to all those on their rafts across the Pacific this weekend.
  14. The simplest offering for, well, yonks, on the eve of the competition, which I think shows a slightly sadistic streak in the editor’s character 🙂

    In the days before online leaderboards, my time of 7 minutes might have left me with a glow of smugness for the rest of the day. As it is, I feel modestly pleased but well aware of my place in the grand order of things (for those who don’t solve via the Club, Magoo knocked this off in an astonishing 3’22”, so I didn’t even beat my regular daily target of double his time).

    Still, my breakfast egg was a double yolker, and if that isn’t a sign that the gods of crosswords are with me as I head to London, I don’t know what is.

  15. An exceptionally manageable Friday offering. Just under the the half hour for me -nowhere near Verlaine’s sub-7 mins or Magoo’s speed-of-light 3’22” – but very fast by my standards. I don’t think I’ve ever managed to do even the Concise in Magoo’s astonishing time.

    YONKS and EGO TRIP were both clever.

  16. 7 mins, which is definitely a PB. I finished in the NE with the GAMBA/BEMOANS crossers after GALOP. I either didn’t know or had forgotten the instrument and the wordplay definitely helped, although when I only had G???A I briefly considered Ghana and wondered if the wordplay was a little Yodaesque and I was being asked to take an I out of a six-letter instrument. You know the one, the Indian gihana ……

    Finally, I hope that all of you who are attending the championships and the festivities afterwards have an excellent time.

  17. 14 min – might have been PB, but was interrupted by postie with packet.
    Best wishes to all for tomorrow!
  18. A relatively rare finish today, particularly as I haven’t come across GALOP, GAMBA or ANNULET, though I do know annular, so not a hard guess really. As someone who had a happy spell living in Cardiff, COD definitely VALEDICTORY. Now there’s a word which rather captures my mood
  19. Finished just now after 4h 55m on and off.
    FOI Why, LOI Flunkey.
    Gamba and Annulet from wordplay.
    Didn’t understand the construction of Ego Trip so thanks Verlaine for the explanation.
  20. What a strange Friday I am having. All my jobs went quickly and smoothly and now I have finished a Friday crossword in under half an hour for the first time ever. Perhaps I should buy a lottery ticket for tonight.
  21. 11.40, apparently tortoise slow today with all those sub 10s around. I wondered briefly about the ZAMBA, but it turns out that’s a dance, not a musical instrument.
  22. First time I have finished both the Quick Cryptic and the Main Cryptic correctly in one afternoon. I am very encouraged with that, even if this one is considered easy by the boffins.
  23. Finished this inside a quarter of an hour.

    I am familiar with a viola da gamba, but have never heard it referred to as just a gamba, (assuming it’s the same instrument). I thought a gamba was a leg.

    Very enjoyable Friday puzzle. We’ve had quite a range this week, peaking in difficulty midweek: just like old times.

    1. 25min for me, though I’m not sure why. I was probably distracted by work, though it seems unlikely.

      GAMBA was a guess – I thought “viola da gamba” was Spanish for “look – a prawn”. GALOP was equally unknown (I’d heard of the dance, but assumed it was spelled with two Ls). However, the intersection of GAMBA and GALOP made them both clear enough.

      Nice to see FORSYTHIA, to see it nice. It is a shame that his later career in television so greatly overshadowed his early botanical work.

    2. It was news to me too but all the usual sources have it as “short for…” so it must be okay. I note Chambers also has “gambist” as a player of said instrument so it’s worth remembering that one too.
  24. Brilliant stuff! Now make sure you remember this achievement when you’re tempted to throw in the towel on a toughie. -:)
  25. Nowhere near 7 minutes, but for me still the best time ever at 28:35 and though easy, a very enjoyable puzzle. My COD might be EGO TRIP, too, for the unusual parsing. Didn’t quite understand the wordplay in GRIMY but fortunately I didn’t think too much about it and just submitted quickly to beat the clock. I rather liked the combination of YONKS (which is definitely only British) with YONKERS (which is definitely only US — when I was a little boy, the train to New York stopped there).
  26. Approx. 1 hour, 10 minutes for me so would have to agree an easy one; this on the basis it’s only my 4th one ever finished and (I think) best time.

    I might even have beaten an hour had I approached it more positively; I find Friday is usually an out of reach day for me, so it quite often goes in the recycle bin after 10 mins half hearted attention.

    Galop / Gamba, LOI’s, were educated guesses (both have also beaten this website’s spellchecker, I note!) but couldn’t be much else, so am pretty pleased with myself.

    Good luck for those in the championship. Am intrigued by this – didn’t realise there was one! Can I follow it anywhere tomorrow?

  27. A deeply depressing 8:52 for me. There was a time when I could rattle this sort of thing off in short order, but these days I seem to take ages to get going. I’m praying for something a bit tougher tomorrow where that doesn’t put me at quite such a disadvantage.

    See you there, guys.

  28. Couldn’t get here on time today, but in case anyone sees this, good luck to those participating. Regards.

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