Times 25946 – I Guess That’s Why they Call it the Blues

Author   ulacaPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
I found this a little chewy for a Monday, though by no means difficult. If difficult is what you are looking for, try Picaroon’s excellent Guardian prize puzzle. (Saturday’s Times was pretty decent too.) 34 minutes.

ACROSS

1. MACERATED – I wanted to spell the coat with a ‘k’, which didn’t help, especially as this is not a well known word, except to foodies, I guess, as it means to soften by soaking; the wordplay is MAC + [hurricane]E + RATED and the literal therefore ‘completely soaked’ .
6. MUMPS – I don’t have my physical Chambers to hand so don’t know if that or any of the other usual sources give ‘old woman’ as a meaning of ‘mum’, which seems a bit odd to me; anyway, it’s MUM’S around P (‘quiet’), and nothing to do with ‘mum = quiet’, apart from misdirection.
9. GUEST – sounds like ‘guessed’.
10. ISLINGTON – my feeling is that you’d have to be a pretty unstylish character to go round saying that you ‘sling ton’ (crosswordese for fashion), but what do I know about denizens of N1?
11. PRIOR ENGAGEMENT – well, what can one say? A prior (these days, at any rate) is not permitted to marry (if he’s RC, at any rate) so you’d be unlikely to read his engagement notice in The Times. Then, if one’s not ‘here’ (meaning where you’ve been invited – we must take the perspective of the person making the invitation) it is on account of ‘it’, AKA the ‘prior engagement’. Alternatively, a prior isn’t ‘here’ (in the sense of being placed on this earth) for ‘it’ (AKA nooky). Time for a lie-down.
13. BUD+A+PEST – this clue seems to sprout forth every six weeks or so. Are we hungary for more or should it be nipped in the weak and watery American beer?
14. CAREER – quite cunning this; CARE (‘job in nursing’ – when not filling in survey questionnaires or ‘implementing health service solutions’ for the latest manifestation of the NHS as dreamt up by fat-cat management in tandem with consultants from McKinsey) + ER (emergency room = A&E) .
16. CAFARD – a new one on me, but reasonably easy to get if you stick with the instructions and don’t panic; A + FAR in CD; French for melancholy.
18. CHINA TEA – mmm; the literal is ‘leaves’, and the wordplay C (‘about’) + [matc]H + IN (‘at home’) + A TEA[m] (most of 1st XI’).
21. PARTICLE PHYSICS – anagram* of CRITIC LESS HAPPY.
23. CONSERVER – CON (‘no [not] pro’) + SERVER (think Andy Murray).
25. AMEND – NAME* + D; ‘of’ is the link word, the literal ‘change’.
26. SIGHT – sounds like [web]site.
27. [t]AUNTS + ALLY for the game played virtually in crosswords and virtually nowhere else.

DOWN

1. MUG UP – do Americans/Australians use this expression, which I like to consider, like ‘swat up’ as inalienably British?
2. CHEMIN DE FER – hands up who just bunged this in? It’s another charade (word or letter piling upon word or letter): C (‘clubs’) + HEM+IN (‘limit’) + DEFER (‘yield’).
3. RAT TRAP – besides being a slightly oversized mousetrap, this can refer to an unpleasant situation, a squalid building or a bicycle pedal with serrated steel foot pads and a toe clip. Just the thing to go with the drop-handlebars and the trouser clips in the good old days before lycra-warriors.
4.THINNEST – I made a bit of a horlicks of this by insisting first on skinniest (which didn’t fit) and then on scrawniest (which didn’t fit even more, and broke the rules of crossword setting, to boot); the cunning thing here is that the setter has transferred THE ST[reet] en bloc from clue to solution, with just enough room left for a modest INN.
5. DELIAN – ‘nailed’ reversed for the person from Delos, or, at a pinch, I suppose, the supporter of Norwich City.
6. MANDELA – it’s reverse hidden in conceALED NAMe, appropriately enough. Nice clue, but perhaps more effective if the first letter was not given and solvers had to work a bit harder.
7. MOT – initial letters of Master Of The.
8. SANATORIA – TRAIN+AS+ [physic]O*; a semi-&lit, says he confidently….
12. ELECTRIC EEL – being the only type of eel I know, apart from the common eely eel, this was a write-in; the wordplay is ELECT (‘choose’ – for starters, ie shove it at the front) + RICE (the staple of paella) + EL (‘the Spanish’).
13. BACKPACKS – GK Chesterton didn’t think much of the practice, writing that ‘the globe-trotter lives in a smaller world than the peasant’, while the person who is ‘rooted in a place’ lives ‘like a tree with the whole strength of the universe’. But, ‘the parsing?’ you say. BACK + PACKS (sounds like ‘pax’ – what I used to say to my prep school mates when I wanted a break from fighting in order to do a little mugging up).
15. CH+A+PERON.
17. R(AIM)ENT.
19. NAYSAYS – Two Ys (mathematical unknowns) in NASA’S.
20. OLIVIA – the setter is probably alluding to the one in Twelfth Night, but there is of course a very literate one Stateside (though, possibly, she would have been clued as ‘Heyerian’); the wordplay is LIVI[d] in (‘eclipsed by’) the middle letters of [s]OA[p].
22. SADLY – alternate letters of uSuAl DeLaY; ‘Worse luck!’ is the kind of thing I said to my prep school mate when his conker disintegrated. He probably replied, ‘What a swizz!’, or, if he was an inchoate crossword compiler, ‘What a swiz!’
24. NOG – a three-quarter reversal of GONE for the drink invariably associated with egg, Christmas and undrinkability.

51 comments on “Times 25946 – I Guess That’s Why they Call it the Blues”

  1. Helped a great deal by PARTICLE PHYSICS having turned up but ten days ago (25938). Though, despite having used them (once) for ages, didn’t know that the pedals in question in 3dn were called rat-traps. 18ac is interesting in that A teams (in international cricket at least) are second XIs: as in Australia A. As for 16ac, every schoolboy knows that j’avais un coup de cafard means “I had to squash a cockroach”.

    COD to MANDELLA … excellent clue.

    Nice to see Ulaca inventing a new profession: the “physico” at 8dn!

    Edited at 2014-11-17 03:38 am (UTC)

  2. Like vinyl, almost done in 15mins but then held up by MANDELA, DELIAN and CAREER.

    ISLINGTON is a bit desperate!

    On MUMPS, ODO clears up something that I have never quite understood but never bothered to check – “old man” / “old woman” can mean either father or husband / mother or wife. So that seems fine.

  3. The best-known breakfast cereal in Australia is made by Sanitarium, which has always played havoc with my spelling of sanatorium and sanatoria. Should have checked the anagrist more closely.

    Knew there was chem la de something meaning a card game, but had to look it up.

    DELIAN was a bit of a guess and I took ages to see how Mandela worked, even after entering it. Very clever (the clue, not me).

    Thanks setter and blogger. And to answer your question re 1dn, no.

  4. But it felt much slower for some reason, perhaps my not getting the wordplay often. DNK CAFARD or AUNT SALLY or RAT TRAP, and CNB (could not believe) ISLINGTON. Isn’t macerating marinating, except for fruit?
  5. 40 minutes of quite hard brainwork after writing in 1dn and 1ac immediately. I also didn’t know DELIAN, CAFARD or the RAT-TRAP bicycle – though I have a feeling I may have met that last one here on a previous occasion. MANDELA went in easily enough when I got to it but I completely missed that it was hidden. I also failed to spot the correct (but somewhat desperate) device at 10 where I thought the setter was expecting us to read it as I SLING ‘T ON, which actually is not that much worse than what was intended. That not being a sound-alike as I had thought still leaves us with 3 homophones which is at least 2 too many in my book.

    Edited at 2014-11-17 06:33 am (UTC)

    1. There are only three anagrams, so you do feel a bit of sympathy for the compiler with 27 other ‘lights’ to clue.

      That said, the homophones at 9 and 26 are not the strongest of their type, while the one at 13d relies on a (delete as appropriate):

      a) chestnut
      b) obscurity
      c) direct translation from Latin
      d) all of the above.

      For all that, I thought this a very nice number with the ‘right’ amount of quirkiness and difficulty for a Monday.

      1. BTW, you’d better fix the number in your heading or there’s going to be some awful confusion some time late in the 28th century.
  6. 15:13 … I spent a while scribbling on paper in search of a ‘better’ answer than DELIAN. Not sure I’ve ever encountered ‘nail’ for ‘arrest’ outside a crossword.

    RAT-TRAP pedals used with shoe cleats, which effectively glued the rider’s feet to the bicycle, were surely an example of mankind’s determination to provide ever more evidence in support of Darwin.

  7. Mostly done in 30mins, but took another 20 to finish the top half.

    LOI MANDELA, which I failed to parse (not the first time I’ve missed a hidden). Also failed to parse NAYSAYS (thinking ‘space centre’ had to be A). Dnk RAT-TRAP as a pedal. Thought ISLINGTON was from ‘I sling it on’.

    Thanks for comprehensive blog. Found it tricky (in a good way) this morning.

  8. A lot of niggles in this undistinguished puzzle. Most have been mentioned already with ISLINGTON probably the worst of the bunch. I don’t much like 20D either – how about getting a bit up to date setter with say Fermat’s Room? 20 minutes for a very forgettable offering.
  9. 11m, but with SANITORIA. Sigh.
    I didn’t know RAT-TRAP or DELIAN, but the wordplay was clear enough.
  10. 25.45, low-key stuff. Not too keen on taunts for kids. Appreciated sotira’s view of the rat-trap pedal.
  11. Started quickly but slowed considerably about halfway through eventually finishing in 41 minutes.

    Thanks to ulaca for the pointer to The Guardian Saturday puzzle. I’ll add it to the to do list.

  12. Thanks for the shout-out ulaca. Unfortunately that woman is a drip. Quite agree about “nog” – I’d call it an alleged drink. Another DNK here for “rat trap”. 19.11.
  13. A stately 22.40, with most of the blame going to a mis-entered RATRAPP at 2d, which led to a very interesting and time knobbling struggle with 11. With P?I?A as the first component, how obvious is PR(iest) and I’M A for his confession? I was too stupid to find the hidden in MANDELA, and, like McT, not sure whether the great man was spelt with one L or two, so I didn’t have all the checkers for the mysterious second component – something PARENT perhaps? In the end, I looked up what I had, discovered nothing, and only then, 2 decades on, did I discover my weird RATRAPP. Didn’t help that I had no idea how RAT-TRAP connected to pedal (something to do with the Boom Town Rats and the lowest part of town? Sometimes I’m too ingenious for my own good).
    Also didn’t know CAFARD or DELIAN (where the Hades is Delia?), and had to trust the wordplay. I failed miserably to parse CHINA TEA, wondering how CATEA could signify an incomplete first XI.
    An undistinguished Monday, but not, alas, only in the sense that Jim used.
  14. I’ve always thought of “The Old Woman” as a disrespectful term for one’s mother and have never used it. Perversely, I have no objection to my son referring to me as “The Old Man”, but would be incensed if he called his mother “The Old Woman”, which, indeed, he never does.

    Were I one of those habitual meddlers and takers-of-offence-on-behalf-of-other-folk, I should campaign to have the term join the litany of new blasphemies that provoke outrage in ISLINGTON.

    The puzzle? Never heard of DELIAN other than in reference to cookery or CAFARD; so dithering over those two took me a little beyond my half-hour target.

  15. 16 minutes for a straightforward Monday puzzle that got my brain cells going again after a long, tedious technical rehearsal yesterday afternoon and evening. My reservation about 20dn is using ‘Shakespearean’ to indicate one of his characters. On that basis one might as well use it to indicate, say, Venice. Ah well, it’s probably just me.
    1. I’m guessing that at 20D the rest of the clue in some way points to this character so that the Shakespeare literate can have a chuckle. I don’t think that makes it any less of a crummy clue.
  16. Funny offering for a Monday, as has been observed above. I didn’t know that sort of RAT TRAP or the CAFARD, but thought they were perfectly fairly clued for unknowns. Stepped back from my initial attempt to make CONCEIVER fit 23ac, but wisely concluded it was unlikely that a Times setter would refer to procreation as “putting one into the net”.
    1. Wisely concluded indeed, but thank you for making me laugh.

      btw, I didn’t mind this puzzle at all, but then I seem to have drifted in recent years from Camp Grumpy to Camp Easily Pleased, especially since ‘editing’ last year’s community setting exercise.

      Talking of which …. I had the pleasure of meeting Jerrywh at the Championships last month and he unwisely offered to help me in a rerun of the Christmas Turkey. Plans are afoot! Watch this space for an announcement very soon.

      3. Woo hoo. As the latest winner of the Crossword club’s clue writing contest I look forward to being given another opportunity to flex my setting muscles.
        1. Pah! Winning the Crossword Club Competition is nothing to getting the nod from the Simon Cowell of the TFTT Turkey, Peter Biddlecombe.

          Edited at 2014-11-17 04:25 pm (UTC)

        2. I was going to say, you’re showing some good form there, Penfold. I think you may be ready for the step up to full international Turkey level.
  17. Whatever happened to nice’n’easy Mondays? I found this tough, with a lot not known (the usual suspects already listed above). I finally gave up with DELIAN and CAFARD incomplete.

    On another matter entirely, I spent a rare afternoon yesterday invested in the excellent “The Imitation Game” (at least in my humble opinion) (changed from the memory game on edit – says a lot about my memory, what!). The subject matter should interest a fair few of the regulars here, so if you haven’t seen it I recommend it. You can always come back here and tell me how shallow it was, but I thought the acting was excellent.

    Edited at 2014-11-17 12:10 pm (UTC)

  18. Should have added – many thanks for an entertaining blog to brighten up a dull November Monday.
  19. I thought I was in for a quick solve after filling most of the NW quadrant in a few minutes, but then things got harder and it was 35 minutes before I entered the last one, MANDELA. Reverse hidden answers often catch me out. DELIAN and CAFARD were vaguely familiar so didn’t present great problems.

    I didn’t think this was as bad an offering as some above, but I agree that 10a was grim, one of those awful puns that seem to be a hallmark of The Times.

  21. The lesson I should have learned from the championships was to check crossing answers if a clue seems impossible to solve given the checking letters.

    Well I seem to have ignored that already. Faced with C-E-R- for the bluesy thing I eventually gave in, instead of sussing out that I’d hastily thrown in CHEMIN DE EFR.

    Nitwit.

  22. Tricky for a Monday, and a few put in correctly but unhappily… went to Delos many years ago (backpacking) but didn’t get DELIAN, methinks a made-up word for this puzzle? Not Greek for a resident of the island, anyway; and the Delian League was made up of Greek city-states not just islands. Enjoyed the blog (so far) more than the puzzle. CoD MANDELA for a well hidden hidden.
      1. Thanks, I see it is indeed in ODO but not Chambers OL. The 14 or so current residents should be flattered to have their own adjective!
        1. The Chambers entry says ‘relating to Delos, in the Aegean Sea, by tradition birthplace of Apollo and Artemis’. So I guess they’re going by past fame rather than current numbers!
    2. Couldn’t resist posting this after a short Googling session involving Keats and Delian. From the ode ‘On seeing a lock of Milton’s hair’ (I really want to dedicate it to Jimbo):

      ‘Lend thine ear
      To a young Delian oath — aye, by thy soul,
      By all that from thy mortal lips did roll,
      And by the kernel of thine earthly love,
      Beauty, in things on earth, and things above,
      I swear!’

      1. I’m flattered Ulaca being a lover of Keats work. For me too, poetry should be unobtrusive, a thing which enters into one’s soul, and does not startle or amaze it with itself, but rather with its subject.
  23. 13 minutes while doing laundry, so nothing too hold-uppy. CAFARD, RAT-TRAP and DELIAN from wordplay, figured the wordplay left no other possibility at CAFARD and looked it up post-solve. Not much on Google, though I now see it’s in Chambers
  24. About 25 minutes. Same story here: DNK CAFARD, RAT TRAP as a pedal and DELIAN from wordplay only. LOI was MANDELA, who early on had to be the answer, but it took me an extra few minutes at the end to see the hidden. Ulaca, no we don’t MUG UP over here. Regards.
  25. Yup, enjoyed this in a 23 minute session with distractions. DNK CAFARD but went in on the definition.
    Good to hear from sotira that the Turkey is happening again. Cannot wait to see who the eminent blogger will be this time (seeing as the last one slightly missed out!)
  26. 7:48 here for a pleasant, straightforward start to the week. Having been beaten hollow by crypticsue for the last few Mondays, I’m rather surprised to find myself apparently significantly faster than her today.

    I’m with wilransome in liking 20dn – a perfectly decent, standard Times crossword clue.

    1. I am always influenced by your view of a clue, Tony, putting my inexperience alongside your vast knowledge. But I didn’t like this clue either, I think because the adjective Shakespearean was used to indicate a proper noun. Had it begun with ‘A’ then I don’t think I would have objected to it. Somewhere or other I seemed to have learnt ‘the rule’ that the word being defined will be grammatically similar to its definition. Presumably this is a false impression I’ve got.
      1. I interpreted “Shakespearean” as a noun, with the indefinite article simply omitted, as is common – even usual – in crossword clues. I’m not sure if beginning the clue with “A” would have made any difference. Admittedly dictionary definitions normally (invariably?) refer to someone who studies or admires Shakespeare’s works or who imitates his style, but I reckon extending it to a Shakespearean character is legitimate in a crossword. At any rate I solved the clue straight off without even having to look to see if I had any checked letters in place.
  28. I tend to give up a bit when I think I’ve got the right answer but can’t understand why. There were too many obscure answers in this one. Islington? Rat Trap? (I get the desert rat bit, but am still struggling with the ‘pedal’ part).You start to lose confidence in the compiler. So I was heartened by the fact that your solver was a bit bamboozled by some of it too. Not a fair puzzle in my opinion.

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