Times 25984 – another year, same occasional lack of solving ability

Author   glhPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time : 14:14 – but with one error and I don’t see any typos so I may have been defeated here. I started off pretty well and got stuck in the top right corner near the end so maybe I’ve made some sort of silly mistake up there. Frustrating, because I thought I had everything sorted out.

I wonder if there could be two answers at 8 across or 16 across?

If I don’t sort it out in the writing, the hive mind will surely come to the rescue soon, right?

Away we go…

Across
1 EXCHANGE(trade),BLOWS(winds)
8 SAVE: two definitions
9 UN(one),SPORTING(wearing)
10 MONROVIA: I(van) in (ROMANOV)* – capital of Liberia
11 MOPISH: MO(second) then SIP reersed, H
13 BACKSTITCH: BACK and S are seconds, then TITCH
16 KNOT: TONK reversed. This was my error, but I think my entry (KNOB: BONK reversed for a small group of wildfowl) is equally justified. Thanks kororareka for confirming
17 MIRO: RIM reversed, O
18 EFFEMINATE: EFFETE(wasted) around MIN(half a minute),A
20 S,NAKED
22 A,F(oo)L,UTTER
24 APPOSITELY: (TIP,POLE,SAY)*
26 RULE: RUE containing L(abour)
27 MONEY-SPINNING: MY(gracious) containing ONE, then SPINNING(revolution)
 
Down
1 E,LAB,ORATION
2 CLEAR: double definition
3 AQUA VITAE: alternating letters of In TrAy in A QUAVE(r)
4 GESTALT: GUEST without the U and ALT(PC keyboard key)
5 BLOOM: LOO(game) with B(irmingha)M around the outside
6 OUTSPOKEN: OUTS PEN containing OK
7 SIN(k)
12 SHOW THE FLAG: (WHO,HAS,LEFT)* then G(uild)
14 KNOCK-DOWN: double definition, one referring to price
15 HIMALAYAN: anagram of MAINLY,A,H(hot),A(area)
19 FLARE UP: sounds like FLAIR(feeling, knack for), then UP(revolting)
21 DAILY: double definition
23 TARSI: hidden in sTAR SIgns
25 POM: MOP reversed

29 comments on “Times 25984 – another year, same occasional lack of solving ability”

  1. Well I had KNOT and it was marked correct, but I would say you had grounds for appeal with KNOB. Chambers is in complete agreement with you. Fortunately, I didn’t know about a knob of wildfowl (you really do too many Mephistos, George).
    1. Probably, as KNOT didn’t cross my mind until after starting to write up the blog. Thanks for the confirm though!
      2. Must be a Mephisto thing George. I also knew KNOB as a small group of wildfowl but thought KNOT/TONK more likely in the daily than KNOB/BONK.
      3. I went with KNOT rather than KNOB, but only because I didn’t know the specialist ornithological meaning of the latter. I think you’ve definitely got a case for an appeal, George. It’d be interesting to know whether the setter would allow it.
  2. 27 minutes so within my target of 30. A promising start to 2015, though I came here with two unparsed (AQUA VITAE and the UN- part of UNSPORTING)) so that was less promising. I have been caught out by UN for ‘one’ before but it failed to register. I also didn’t know (or had forgotten) the painter MIRO. Spotting an owl in the unches I looked for other words and found ‘tun’ ‘hoses’ and ‘crap’.
  3. 19:43 .. I had everything done in 12 minutes save SAVE, which involved running through the alphabet twice.

    Brilliant puzzle. Nicely done, the setter. I love the deceptive use of both “wound” and “engineer” in 20a and 12d respectively. Promising start to the year, speaking of which …

    Happy new year, all. May 2015 bring you what you need

  4. 15.58, so easier than it looked at first sight: BLOOM my FOI, feeling slightly desperate.
    Sympathies on KNOB, George: if I’d thought of it first, it would have gone in. It even “feels” right.
    Don’t recall seeing UN for one all that often outside of Mephistos, though it’s perfectly fine, of course.
    I cheerfully echo Sotira’s Happy New Year. May 2015 brings an election.
  5. A very pleasant 25 minute solve for a good all round puzzle. My only query would be the definition of GESTALT

    All the best for 2015 everybody

  6. Held up at the end by snaked and daily but otherwise got away well in the New Year Stakes. 15.18. Gestalt is one of those words, like cybernetics, that I tread warily round, hoping it doesn’t jump out and require a meaning. Thanks glh for starting off the year and may it be the clue to good times for all.
  7. Describes my effort at this, around 40 minutes to crawl to the end and slightly surprised to find it was correct, as several went unparsed. 4d and 9a my LOI as the NE segment took almost half the time. I MUST remember the key = Alt thing, time and again it eludes me. Now the Club Monthly is waiting for me to stare blankly at it and fall asleep.
  8. 16 mins. I was held up at the end by SAVE and then the GESTALT/UNSPORTING crossers, the latter of which I was convinced was a CD until the penny dropped once all the checkers were in place. I didn’t even consider “knob” for 16ac.

    A Happy New Year to you all.

  9. Excellent and enjoyable New Year’s Day puzzle. My LOI was SAVE, a clever double def.

    Compliments of the season to all.

  10. In general, I am not a fan of 3 and 4 letter answers given occasional uncertainties but I appreciate that they are sometimes necessary. No problems here though. KNOB never occurred to me.

    Happy New Year all.

  11. I had just 8 answers after an hour, 6 of which were words new to me. It was while I was composing a letter of outrage to the editor that I discovered I had printed out the Club Monthly.

    Happy new year to all.

  12. Twelve and a half minutes which seemed a lot longer when solving it. I toyed with knob but didn’t know the ornithological meaning so fortunately/eventually remembered the meaning of TONK.

    1. “I toyed with knob…”

      I think you might want to rephrase that Sue! 😀

      A sluggish 18 mins for me, but there’s so much booze to get through in my house at the moment…I took a long time to get going with this one, only 4 or 5 answers after the first 5 minutes, but steady progress after that until my LOI, BACKSTITCH took me ages to justify.

  13. 11:51, slowed down considerably at the end by SAVE, which required more than a couple of runs through the alphabet. Fortunately I didn’t know KNOB, which seems the better answer to me.
    Happy New Year everyone.
    1. Your runs through the alphabet must be a lot faster than mine! Be easier if I had 26 fingers and toes.
      1. I suspect that when we say we’re doing a ‘run through the alphabet’ we may actually be engaging in completely different mental activities.
        I have in the past had to resort to writing every possibility for one of the required letters out on a piece of paper (BA_E, CA_E, DA_E etc) and then running through the alphabet for each of those possibilities (BABE, BACE, BADE… BAZE, CABE, CACE, etc), pausing to consider each one. I didn’t have to go quite that far today.
  14. Before running through the alphabet to find SAVE, I pencilled in CAKE, which seems to me an equally valid answer. If mud cakes your face, it hangs on, and you might need a bar or cake of soap to wash it off.
  15. Had no problem with knot or save but spent a ridiculous amount of time on flutter and daily. Win some, lose some. Took ages but happy to complete a 15×15.
    1. I had never heard of Carl Gustaf Pilo, but I agree that Pilo is an acceptable alternative answer even though Miro is by far the more well known artist.

      Edited at 2015-01-02 12:00 pm (UTC)

  17. 10:51 here for another enjoyable puzzle.

    Fortunately I didn’t think of KNOB – but even if I had, I’d still have gone for KNOT as I’m not familiar with the “small group of wildfowl” meaning. I think there’s little doubt that the editor would have had accept KNOB if the clue had come up in the Championship.

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