Times 25,985: Ora & Labora

Author   VerlainePosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Not a particularly hard puzzle from my point of view to kick off 2015, with a reasonable amount of change left over from 15 minutes, but one that I did thoroughly enjoy. I like to think of myself as a people person and there were a good amount of historical personages turning up in this grid at e.g. 1A, 4D, 21D, 24D. Plus a noticeable theological subtheme passim, liable to produce a blissful state of hesychasm.

I began and ended in the SW corner, with 23A as my FOI and 16D as my last, the various vowels of _E_A_A_E never giving my tired brain much to latch onto until I forced the issue. Anyway there were funny bits and neat bits (trial by TV, party animals), just a hint of smut (2D) and a well-concealed definition or two (I liked 8D); I think everything came off, nothing felt laboured, and I know that’s a deceptively hard trick to pull off week in week out. Many thanks setter and Times team!

Across
1 NELSON – double def of “victorious flag officer” and “hold”
5 MUTE SWAN – creature: MU [Greek character] + SET [lay “back”] + WAN [whey-faced]
9 MOROCCAN – African: ROC C [bird of legend | caught] “tucking into” MOAN [beef]
10 NEGATE – deny: GATE [crowd] on NE [Tyneside]
11 SUN-GOD – Amen-Ra: DO GNUS [party | animals] “sent around”
12 TROMBONE – instrument: R [“close to” {robbe}R] in TOMB ONE [first grave]
14 SAMARITANISM – helping the desperate: MARI [French husband] “engaged in” SATANISM [evil practice]
17 DEMONSTRATED – shown up: DEMON [cruel person] + ST [very good one] + RATED [scolded]
20 CARDINAL – papal adviser: DI [policeman] “stops” CARNAL [lecherous]
22 MOCK-UP – model: UP [appearing in court] after MOCK [insult]
23 PAUNCH – corporation: PUNCH [strike] “to involve” A
25 PRODIGAL – PROD [motivate] + I [one] + LAG [convict “to return”]… like the Biblical son
26 TEST-TUBE – “birthplace of science”: TEST [trial] by TUBE [TV]
27 ELEVEN – number: EL [Lorca’s the] + EVEN [square]

Down
2 EXODUS – book: (DUO*) [“writhing”] seen in (SEX*) [“weird”]
3 SMORGASBORD – meal: in SS [ship], MORGA{n} [“nameless” pirate] + B OR D [bishop | or | duke]
4 NICODEMUS – saint: (CONSUMED I [one] *) [“tragically”]
5 MINSTER – cathedral: MIN{i}STER [cleric, “second one ousted”]
6 TANGO – musical piece: TAN [beat] + GO [suit]
7 SAG – fall: {Blanding}S A G{rand} “house”
8 ASTONISH – floor: TON IS [substantial weight | is] in ASH [wood]
13 BENEDICTINE – brother: (BEEN INCITED*) [“to riot”]
15 TOTEM-POLE – “brave staff perhaps”: TO TEMPO [to | rate] + LE [Nancy’s article]
16 DELAWARE – state: DARE [challenge] “to accept” E LAW [European | rule]
18 RELAPSE – backsliding: R [Republican] + (ASLEEP*) [“when squiffy”]
19 HUMANE – done so as to limit suffering: U MAN [chap “with” uranium] “packs” HE [explosive]
21 NEHRU – popular Indian: HEN [female “up”] on RU [sport]
24 NAT – King Cole: bea{T} Durnovari{A} ma{N} “all ends” “up”

38 comments on “Times 25,985: Ora & Labora”

  1. I laboured on this (and perhaps should have resorted to prayer), finally getting there in 38.46, the mute swan the last to sail in. Nehru was indeed a popular leader. He also wrote English like an angel. Neat clues throughout, today. I take it your daughter’s OK Verlaine: all good wishes.

    Edited at 2015-01-02 11:07 am (UTC)

  2. 37:40 for my first ipad solve. It’s certainly better than my Android experience though there are a couple of things I miss from Android – the ability to touch on the grid to bring up a clue and an adjacent page which shows all clues together.

    I’m not sure if this was fairly tough or if my solving skills have waned over the festive period. SAMARITANISM, NELSON, DELAWARE and DEMONSTRATED all held me up, as did my LOI, NICODEMUS. I’ve never heard of him so was pleased that my random vowel placing was successful.

  3. Amount of historical personages!!!!!

    Ye gods and little fishes! I thought people who did this sort of puzzle would have known better.

    2. I apologise unreservedly. If the amount won’t come to Muhammad, apparently Muhammad (and other historical figures) must go to amount, or someting.
    3. Always thought publicly criticizing a feller’s English was bad form, don’t yer know; like tellin’ him his wife’s ugly or his suit don’t fit. Especially true when done like a poltroon from behind a cloak of anonymity.
      1. “Poltroon” says the person posting from behind the cloak of anonymity “john from lancs”.
        anonymous (not the same one)
  4. 16.50, but I got fixated on the SAMARITAN being a person and not a modus operandi, so essayed SAMARITANIST, which works with the wordplay if you squint a bit. Sadly, no-one with any authority out there backs up my neologism.
    I liked TOMB ONE – that device is usually pleasing and often elusive.
    1. For some obscure reason I went forSAMARITANISH. doh! Any amount of people may have done likewise.
  5. 25 minutes taking time to parse and mark up the wordplay as I solved, so another good day for me. No doubt we’re in for weekend of toughies including an ST from Anax, I believe.
  6. 12 mins. If I had completed the rest of the puzzle at the same rate as I filled in the NW I would have been close to a PB but I slowed down a little after a lightning start. Count me as another who thought this puzzle contained some quality cluing, I echo Z8’s comment about TOMB ONE, and DELAWARE was my LOI after I finally saw the wordplay and realised what sort of “state” was required, ?E?A?A?E not being the most helpful of checkers.
    1. “Not the most helpful of checkers” – absolutely! It was going to be my last one in and I thought for a moment or two of panic that it might double my solving time.

      Edited at 2015-01-02 01:57 pm (UTC)

  8. An enjoyable puzzle, agreed. I ended up taking 30 minutes, having prematurely written in _ _ TA SWAN, seeing ‘lay back’ as TAS, which held me up a bit. The other hold-up was caused by 9, where I’d inadvertently replicated the 4,4 division of 5a, so was looking for two words.
    It’s been a largely easy week.
  9. About 25 minutes for this enjoyable puzzle.

    Knew of NICODEMUS the Pharisee but wasn’t aware he was venerated as a saint. Also came across the name in the abolitionist song “Wake Nicodemus”, which provides a recurring theme in Charles Ives’s Symphony Number 2.

    My grandfather used to address any impish young lad as Nicodemus, so I always associate the name with street urchins rather than pharisees, saints or slaves.

  10. As Friday puzzles go, relatively straightforward. But clever and enjoyable. I thought SUN-GOD (11A) and TEST TUBE (26A) were very good. I also admired the smooth surface read of 25A (PRODIGAL), but wondered whether the setter didn’t give the game away too easily by using the word “son” rather than, say, “child”.
  11. 4 hours 30 minutes on and off with FOI Nelson and LOI Delaware. Liked Mute Swan and the definitions of Totem Pole and Test Tube.
  12. 39 minutes with the swan last in. The Biblical flavour made me wonder if this was one of Don Manley’s, speculation made all the more intriguing by the fact that his alter ego, Izetti, is setting the Quickie today.

    As for Nicodemus, I was surprised to find that he has been canonised. However, it was one of those local affairs lost in the mists of time before the Pope took charge of such appointments in the 17th century – “pre-Congregatio” in RC jargon.

    Those who have seen the fellow who used to annoyingly find his way into camera-shot at sporting events wearing the John 3:16 T-shirt may be interested to know that it was in conversation with the Jewish Councillor that Jesus uttered the words, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life”, memorialised thereon.

  13. 22 minutes, LOI DELAWARE once I began reciting states; thank you Verlaine for introducing me to ‘hesychasm’.
    1. Had to look that one up, the Greek not being what it once was. Not a large amount of people will know it, I’m sure…
  14. So after a long time lurking, I think 2015 will be the year I finally try to contribute something here in the comments.

    I thought there was some quite neat stuff here. I was all on track for 15 minutes, which would have been a *very* good time for me, but then I got completely held up by 1A, and lost patience and cheated. Oh well 🙁

    2. Welcome ‘out’, rrr. Definitely a more civilized resolution than a gym membership (and will probably last longer).
  15. Thanks! Truth be told, I can’t either. Like most aspects of internet personas, it’s something of a work of fiction.
  16. I found this really straighforward to solve (6:53) even allowing for time to groan at the reappearance of the ‘old friend’ at 1a.

  17. A smorgasbord of devices . Is it me or do the same words crop up in the Times crosswords on a regular basis?
    1. True I’m sure of all crosswords. If you were thinking of SMORGASBORD itself, you may recently have seen it in this site’s own Christmas Turkey puzzle, which was most definitely not a Times production (I produced the grid and was very pleased with myself for working smorgasbord into it!).
  18. It’s so long since I posted that I can’t recall my sign in details!
    Ages too since I have had time for crosswords as I have been very busy cruising, then helping with a new grand child and then with organising and hosting a family Christmas and New Year so it was very nice to sit in a sunny chair all alone and find that I could still do this in about an hour. Very enjoyable. Thanks .
  19. 14:32 … nice, concise cluing. EXODUS was worth the price of admission for the weird sex duo.
  20. I didn’t find this easy, perhaps due to distraction by watching football here, and, for crying out loud, I got one wrong besides. It took an hour or so, ending with HUMANE. I hadn’t known that SAMARITANISH was a word, so I was a bit puzzled when I entered it. Now I find it’s wrong altogether, so maybe I was right to be puzzled. Oops. Regards.
  21. Hi. Could anyone help please. I am going abroad soon and would like to carry on solving via the Times Crossword Club. I can access the site through my Android phone but there is no facility for me to type in the answers. I see some people say that they solve on the Ipad and was wondering if any Ipad will allow the answers to be typed in? Also would it be possible to use the Hudl from Tesco? Many thanks
    1. I use the iPad to solve but it only works with the Times app, so you need whatever level of subscription gives you access to that. The Crossword Club doesn’t work, which is absurd really. There is one browser called Puffin (I think) which does work, but I for one found it too cumbersome.
  22. 11m, the slight feeling of panic at the end contemplating _E_A_A_E proving unfounded. So quite gentle but very enjoyable at the end of a long day.
    I don’t think I knew anything at all about NICODEMUS.
  23. 8:04 here for an interesting and enjoyable puzzle.

    I nearly came to grief by bunging in SAMARITANISH at 14ac, but realised before I moved on that SATANISM fitted the wordplay better. And, immediately following that, the word “scolded” in 17ac nearly lured me into bunging in REMONSTRATED. (Phew!)

    Fortunately I switched back to the downs immediately after that so only had the first E of DELAWARE in place and went more or less straight to the answer from “challenge” = DARE. Otherwise vocalophobia would probably have reduced my brain to candyfloss.

  24. I always think that I’ll have a leg up when I see ‘state’, being good enough with world geography and a full 100% on the US States. But the ?E?A?A?E got me. Thanks, Verlaine. Nice blog to start the new year with.

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