Times 26,018

Author   topicaltimPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
17:17, so the second tricky-ish one in a row on blogging day. As I wrote the last one in, having filled it in with an unlikely ‘Z’, I thought “Bah, I should have spotted the pangram, it might have helped”, but then checked the letters and realised it was actually one short of a full set. Having managed to fit in that ‘Z’, 2 ‘J’s and a ‘Q’ as well as all the rest of them, I was slightly surprised the setter couldn’t find room for a ‘B’, but as usual this is just something I noticed afterwards. Enjoyable challenge, anyway, which is clearly more important.

Across
1 DELILAH – [{gent}L{eman} in HAILED]rev.
5 STAFFA – STAFF(=human resources) + A gives the small island in the Hebrides which inspired Mendelssohn. I spent a long time trying to introduce “HR” into something else, but it’s the actual people that are required, not the department which nominally looks after them.
8 UTTERANCE – UTTER(=absolute), [N{ewton} in ACE(=expert)].
9 GENUS – GENIUS is the exceptional talent, minus the I.
11 MOONY – MOO(=low), N{ew} Y{ork}.
12 EXPENSIVE – EX(=old wife), PEN(=writer), S{on}, I’VE. The ‘s at the end is, as is often the case, short for “has” rather than possessive.
13 JUNCTION – J{oint} {f}UNCTION.
15 DIVERT – DIVERS being the Shakespearean term for “some” or “assorted”, replace the S{econd} with T{ime}.
17 RESEAT – (ASTREE)*.
19 SARAJEVO – A J{udge} in [OVER,AS]rev.
22 TRACKSUIT – (CUT,RISK,A{res}T)*. Nice definition in “it’s assumed when exercising”.
23 GRAPH – G.R.(King George, for one), A{nswer}, P{opis}H. Lift and separate the popish plot to reveal that only “plot” is the definition, and Titus Oates doesn’t come into it.
24 EIDER – bEhInDdEeR.
25 MANNEQUIN – (Thomas) MANN, EQUIN{e}. The temptation with “like an ass” is towards asinine, or mule, both of which end with the requisite E; “equine” usually applies to horses, of course, but is just as applicable to close relatives like asses or zebras.
26 PLAY ON – PLAY(=”tolerance”), ON(“cricket side”).
27 YANKEES – (SEEK NAY)rev. A yankee is a combination bet involving four predictions, and all the possible permutations of them.
 
Down
1 DRUM MAJORETTE – MAJOR (key) IN (MUTTERED)*.
2 LET DOWN – double def., referencing both disappointment and tailoring, as in the letting down of a skirt or trouser bottoms to make them longer. Edit: as per comments below, I’m prepared to raise this to a triple definition. Any advance on three? Going once, going twice…
3 LORDY – R{oa}d in {p}LOY. Another lift and separate to get the simple definition “My!”.
4 HANGER ON – (REGAN)* in (NOH)rev. Not an actual &lit., but the surface reference to King Lear is beautifully created.
5 STEPPE – STEP(=part of dance) + P.E.
6 ARGENTINA – (RATINGANE)*.
7 FANZINE – A N{ew} Z{ealand} in FINE(=thin), which leaves another well-concealed definition in “buff periodical”. Last one in, with a satisfying penny-drop moment.
10 SWEET NOTHINGS – NOTHING(=”somebody without importance”) in SWEETS(=”fools”).
14 THACKERAY – HACKER in [T{alk}, A{nimatedl}Y] gives the author of Vanity Fair. Another lift and separate, as the writer pre-dates the cyberpunk movement by a couple of centuries; this one was pretty easy to spot, though, as there really aren’t any cyberpunk writers notable enough (and no longer alive) to be used as fodder in a daily Times puzzle. This was also my one raised eyebrow, as I’m not really sure that “hacker” and “cyberpunk” are synonymous – protagonists in cyberpunk novels are often hackers, but that isn’t really the same thing.
16 WANTONLY – WANT(=need), ONLY(=just).
18 SCANDAL – C{onservative} in SANDAL. Thanks to Conan Doyle, I had to give at least some thought to the game which might be afoot, though the real answer was more literal.
20 ERASURE – (U.S.A.)rev inside [E.R.(=monarch), R.E.(=troops)].
21 SUMMON – SUM(=problem) + MON{day}.
23 GLEAN – G{ood} LEAN(=tip).

45 comments on “Times 26,018”

  1. Bunged Santiago in at 19, which augmented the problems I was already having with what turned out to be ERASURE, where I was looking for a regicide-style crime. 48 minutes to sort everything out.

    No idea what a cyberpunk might be, but those who introduce computer viruses deserve the same fate as the aforementioned regicides.

  2. Gave up on exact timing as it sort of spoils the fun.

    Somewhat fooled by the “fools” in 10dn — perhaps because of the hint of DBE.

    As for “cyberpunk”, I’m not sure it quite equates to “hacker”. William Gibson certainly didn’t intend that when he coined the term (as an adjective describing a sub-genre of SF) all those years ago. Moreover (to Ulaca) by no means all hackers are malevolent. Most are, as ODO has it, “enthusiastic and skilful computer programmer(s) or user(s)”. In essence, all of the wonderful open-source apps available to us are hacks.

    Ended up in the North-East looking for the missing letter B. It could have been included by changing DIVERT (15ac) to BISECT … perhaps?

    Edited at 2015-02-10 04:34 am (UTC)

    2. Although Gibson is responsible for the early seminal work “Neuromancer”, I don’t think he actually coined the word “cyberpunk”. I’ve read quite a bit of cyberpunk stuff but it’s not my favourite SF genre.(I prefer space-opera) I couldn’t see HACKER as anything to do with cyberpunk as such. I’m another who had RESITE and so I ended up looking for a cyberpunk author with a very strange name! Ann
  3. Threw in ‘staffs’, all the more inexcusable in that I actually knew the island, although it wouldn’t have easily come to mind. DNK YANKEES–I KN at all about betting–but having the Y made it pretty inevitable. Like Ulaca, I started with Santiago, largely because of the -ago; once it occurred to me that Sarajevo has a J in it, it took me ages to see the wordplay.
  4. Yet again nodded off at one point (or maybe more) so I have no actual solving time to offer other than from start to finish this took me 75 minutes.

    I thought LORDY was rather good and I don’t recall seeing the word before in a crossword.

    Never heart of “sweet = fool”.

    I think “divers” was around long before Shakespeare.

  5. I too ended in the NE looking for a B, but got there in the end without it. Didn’t know STAFFA, and didn’t work out SWEET NOTHINGS. Took an age to see that TRACKSUIT was an anagram, and was successfully misdirected by the requisite meaning of plain at 5dn.
  6. 22:52 .. it would have been quite a bit quicker but I had confidently put RESITE in at 17a, which had me thinking that the writer at 14d must have a very strange name indeed. That sort of thing takes a lot of sorting out.

    Another very enjoyable one, though. FANZINE my favourite for the “buff periodical”.

      1. The one I was trying to fit in was H&E, looking for a pangram with ampersand, which would be a first.
  7. Some nice clues here, but nothing to scare the horses.

    COD to TRACKSUIT, thanks setter and blogger.

  8. A second really enjoyable effort in two days.

    Had some trouble parsing 19ac.. where does the “AS” spring from? [Oh OK, I see it now.. as = when]

  9. 14 mins. I think I must have been on the setter’s wavelength judging by the comments above. I don’t look for pangrams so I wasn’t diverted by trying to fit a B in somewhere. Even though they were nowhere near the hardest clues in the puzzle the EIDER/SCANDAL crossers were my last ones in. I needed the Y from THACKERAY before I got PLAY ON because I hadn’t been thinking of the right type of “tolerance”.
  10. No trouble with this one so on the wavelength for a 20 minute canter

    Can’t get my head round cyberpunk (a type of novel surely?)=hacker. Does not compute.

    I liked FANZINE

  11. Well off the pace today with 25.22, the last third of which on STAFFA, FANZINE and DIVERT, all rather complicated and muckupable clues. Do we have any Nzedders here? “Distant” is a matter of perspective, I suppose, though Czechoslovakia merited “faraway” once. “…but that’s peanuts to space.”.
    Likewise, uninhabited is a speciesist adjective with which the puffins would surely quibble if they could.
    1. ‘Likewise, uninhabited is a speciesist adjective with which the puffins would surely quibble if they could.’

      Now that sounds like something from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy!

  12. This was the only one that held me up – never heard of the bet so I had to make sure it wasn’t Yonkers (there is a racetrack there). UK bookie terms are mostly a closed book to me but some years back husband was aghast to find I’d been making multiple visits to the Ladbrokes website. It was during a presidential election and it turned out their predictions were infinitely more accurate than any pre-election polling. Good puzzle. 18.21
    1. Too true, Olivia. My heart was likewise put at ease by William Hill on the eve of the Scottish independence vote.
  13. 40m but another DNF: ruined by my attempt at 7d was FUNSIZE with no justification at all beyond it fitting. I found this quite a challenge with quite a few BIFD such as UTTERANCE and TRACKSUIT so thanks for the blog and explanations.
  14. H&E? Wow, that takes me back. Surely it is still not around. Quite understand if you don’t know!

    1. Steppe steppe steppe steppe steppe
      Still around- I looked it up in the interests of pure research. Might now be subscription only, as I can’t recall spotting it on the shelves recently. 
      I have taken the precaution of posting this response in a plain wrapper
      Steppe steppe steppe steppe steppe

      1. I think I’ve mentioned it hereabouts before, but there was a huge scandal at my school when the head of modern languages was captured in H&E in all his glory (over several pages) as Mr. Sunshine.
        1. After researching the subject that made me splutter some of my elevenses onto the keyboard. Just as well he didn’t teach Nature Study or Phys Ed.
        2. Now you mention it, you did mention it before. But I had totally forgotten and am absolutely delighted to be reminded of Mr Sunshine! Bless his cotton socks.
  15. Much the same time as yesterday, 40 minutes. A few guesses here and there, though aided by wordplay (STAFFA, YANKEE). I also query the use of ‘cyberpunk’ for reasons given in the blog. I rather liked the surface of 23. ‘Fools’ for SWEETS is surely a DBE without any exemplifier, so I think we can safely assume that the setter is not the one who objected to unindicated DBE’s on another forum.
  16. A couple of clues tried my ability to get on the setter’s wavelength, but not as many as others appeared to have as I finished in 10 minutes.
  17. 31:59 for a fairly tough but enjoyable puzzle. It’s a slow process, but I’m gradually seeing hidden definitions quicker – I immediately looked at 3D and thought that “My” would be the definition. Having said that I’m sure to soon spend ages on another clue assuming “My” to be the definition when its not. But then isn’t that the beauty of the cryptic crossword?
  18. A steady solve today with no major (or even majorette) hold ups. No DNK’s unlike in today’s Quickie. LOI was GLEAN which I was pretty sure was right from my first glance at the clue but somehow missed the tip = lean connection.
  19. 17:27 with erasure as last in where I was sure I was looking for some unknown chess terminology.

    Sweet nothings and drum M biffed and parsed post-solve.

    At 2d Tim I think we might be in triple def territory with lengthened covering the tailoring angle and lowered more literal a la Rapunzel.

    I’ll join Sotira in naming fanzine as COD for the def.

  20. That was rather fun – did it in a break at work so didn’t get the time down. The Collins definition of “cyberpunk” includes hacker, but I’ll give the clue a pass for the surface and hiding the definition in plain sight. Excellent anagram for TRACKSUIT and no other quibbles.
  21. I remember when FANZINE was a word on “Call my Bluff”. At that time, mid-70s, I was doing my own fanzine – a common word in SF fandom but, at that time, virtually unknown elsewhere. Ann
  22. A fairly jolly romp. I thought that there might be a pangram, but I didn’t spend time looking for one as I was hoping to cross the line quicker than some of the fast mob. (Unsuccessfully of course).
  23. 19m. I felt I was making very heavy weather of this, so glad to hear others found it trickyish.
  24. 9:20 for me, pretty much on the setter’s wavelength, but a lot slower than I felt I should have been.

    An interesting and enjoyable solve.

  25. Utterly DNFd this one. STAFFA would never have occurred to me in a million years, and I failed to get GENUS (which I really should have got) or FANZINE.

    CoD (now that I know the answer) is FANZINE.

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