Times 26020 – do we have to do this three times daily?

Author   glhPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time : 11:06 – and hooray for wordplay! There were a number of entries in here that I had to piece together from the wordplay due to unusual words or crafty definitions. Thankfully the wordplay was tight in all of these examples.

Not sure this will be to everyone’s tastes, as we have slang, an obscure (to me) religious reference, a definition by example and even a chemistry term scattered throughout. In honor of the upcoming World Cup there are a few cricket references.

I suspect a few might fall to this one, and at the moment I have the only correct entry on the club timer. I also made a meal of being sure a clue was an anagram (8 down) only to find I’d missed the mark entirely.

Away we go…

Across
1 DIVISOR: mathematical definition, sounds like DEVISER. The O is unchecked, which may trap a few solvers
5 ANGELUS: A, then SUN(star) keeping LEG(cricket part 1) reversed. It’s a prayer you’re meant to do three times daily
9 FORTUNATE: FORTE containing TUNA
10 VISTA: V1’S are the bombs, then TA
11 STEER: double definition
12 SEWER RATS: (STARS,WERE)*
14 CROCODILE(predator), TEARS(gallops): I put ALLIGATOR TEARS in there originally
17 UNSATISFACTORY: SAT(Saturday) in UNI, S, FACTORY(works)
21 COLLAPSED: LAPSE in COLD
23 ANVIL: hidden in ItaliAN VILla
24 DUNNO: NN(two new, hence NEWS) in DUO
25 PROMINENT: PRONT(o) containing MINE
26 TUESDAY: (USED)* in TAY
27 DENTATE: ATE after (TEND)* – with a toothed pattern
 
Down
1 DEFUSE: (FEUDS)* then (patienc)E
2 VERMEER: REV reversed, M, EER – the painter JAN VERMEER
3 SQUARE CUT: more cricket! 4 is a perfect square so you can cut it to make 3, also the cricket stroke
4 RHAPSODISES: RISES containing HAP(chance) and SOD
5 A,CE
6 GIVER: RE,V,1,G all reversed
7 LA SCALA: LASCAR is the sailor, take the end off, and add L, A
8 SPARSEST: SPARS then (SET)*
13 WELL AND GOOD: double definition based on the the adverb and adjective in the phrase having the same meaning
15 TIT,RATION: and that degree in chemistry did not go begging
16 MUSCADET: SUM reversed, and a CADET may eventually become an officer – a white wine, particularly good with seafood
18 SILENCE: since Hamlet’s last words were “The rest is silence”
19 RIVIERA: RA containing IVIER
20 BLITHE: sounds like BLYTH
22 AVOID: 0 in AVID
25 PRY: take the A out of PRAY

55 comments on “Times 26020 – do we have to do this three times daily?”

  1. Thought I was heading for sub-30 but lost time in the SW and had 4dn outstanding until the very last moment of my 44 minute solve. Nothing unknown today. For the first time ever (I think) we have an identical clue and answer in the main puzzle and the Quickie.
  2. Became completely becalmed on my last three (4, 18 and 21), which doubled my solving time to 66 minutes.

    No degree in Chem for me, so was seriously considering ‘titbottle’ at 15 for a while.

  3. Stuck in the NW for a while, not helped by the unknown VERMEER. But another excellent puzzle I thought.

    COD to DUNNO.

    George, if you went for alligator ahead of crocodile you’ve obviously been away from your homeland for too long!

    Edited at 2015-02-12 01:39 am (UTC)

  4. 40mins, but with angelis (unparsed) and blythe. Didn’t know (a) how to spell BLITHE, or (b) the port.

    Other dnks: that VERMEER was called Jan, what Hamlet’s last words were, or that a lascar was a sailor. Did however get the O in DIVISOR correct.

  5. Went offline quickly and went to lunch, so I don’t know how long it took, but certainly well over the half-hour–I went offline not just because I was hungry but because I seemed to be getting nowhere. Like Vinyl, I put in ‘water rats’ at first, causing pointless delay over 13d. 5ac & 4d from checkers and definition, parsed much later–or in the case of 5ac, not at all. Some nice clues, like 2d and 16d (LOI). I remembered Lascar from ‘Moby Dick’, where Ahab sneaks a whole bunch of them on the Pequod to man his own boat.
  7. Snuck in under 20, feeling smug about the dodgy O/E in DIVISOR, as George highlighted. Took ages to discover where my one error was, and it turned out to be the other dodgy letter in DIVISOR, where I had not completely translated from the soundalike and invented the hybrid DEVISOR.
    Otherwise, I shrugged off the question of whether leaves have teeth, and corrected MUSCATEL for lack of an officer.
    IVIER is wonderful/terrible, and should be admitted to the dictionary forthwith.
    1. Zed, of course leaves have teeth – at least the female ones, as befitting the more deadly of the species.
  8. 18:43 … and feeling suitably smug at spelling DIVISOR correctly, mainly because it’s the sort of clue that usually sinks me. I was going to complain that water rats are hardly vermin until I realised that they’re also not the answer to 12a.

    Very satisfying solve, with several clues assembled from parts (the setter’s instructions are a lot better than Ikea’s). The puzzle also a paragon of concision..

    COD … DENTATE

  9. An enjoyable puzzle with a real mix of GK and well crafted clues. 25 minutes to solve.

    DIVISOR and TITRATION no problem and was pleased to remember both Jan VERMEER and Hamlet’s last words. Wonderful what nearly 60 years of these puzzles teaches one!

  10. Today, found this easier than recent offerings, done in 15 minutes with 1d my FOI, 4d my LOI and that not parsed. Knowledge of wine, cricket and a chemistry degree must have helped.
    I’ll never forget ANGELUS – I remember the culture shock, after moving to Ireland in 1975; driving the 100 miles to Dublin regularly with my boss, he would be doing 70 mph, suddenly stop mid road and observe the Angelus when those bells sounded on the car radio.
  11. Undone by 5A where I put ANGERIS, thinking of RE for on and SIGN for star. I didn’t notice that I’d overtyped the start letter of LA SCALA otherwise I might have thought again. Frustratingly I’d even thought of ANGELUS but passed on it thinking that leg side was the off side in cricket. If only I’d thought of leg spinners and off spinners I might have been able to rationalise it!
  12. A rare foray into a weekday offering, and managed to complete in just over an hour so feeling pretty chuffed – albeit a couple went in on a wing and a prayer (so to speak in the case of 5a).

    Thought 24a was most delightful, with 16d and 13d close on its heels as my COD.

    Can I also suggest with utmost respect that there is a bit more to 3d than stated in the blog. The cricket context for the solution is provided by the “well fielded” reference – as in the fielder cutting off a boundary to prevent a four (whilst the batsmen run three). Without that element, there’s not much to link the clue to the answer as I see it.

    1. You can read ‘four becoming three perhaps’ as a definition of ‘square cut’ without any reference to cricket. However you are right that the clue also refers to a fielder cutting off a boundary to prevent a four. The double meaning makes it a particularly fine clue IMO.
  13. 22 mins so definitely the trickiest of the week for me. I never felt that I was entirely on the setter’s wavelength. SILENCE was my LOI after UNSATISFACTORY and RHAPSODISES, both of which were parsed post-solve. DENTATE was solved from wordplay alone and I only got the “some leaves are” definition after the event. On the plus side I had no problem with the correct spelling of DIVISOR.
  14. 40 minutes, so apart from yesterday’s half hour, this seems to be my regular solving time this week. I was rather slow to break in to the puzzle and ended up looking at the last down clues to get me going. Steady progress after that. An excellent variety of clues, my main quibble being the DBE for 2 ( there are a number of famous JANs); I also wasn’t that keen on ‘arctic conditions’ (suggesting ICE) for mere COLD.
        1. To save interested people from following the link this turns out to be somebody called Jan Leeming who is still alive and with whom I am not familiar. I still can’t think of any famous JANs!
          1. Jan Hammer, who wrote the theme to Miami Vice (and was in the Mahavishnu Orchestra). Surely at least as famous as Jan Leeming?
            1. Jan Hammer occurred to me on reading Jimbo’s comment, as did Molby (footballer) and Akkerman (guitarist). They’re all still alive though.
              1. Yes, I was forgetting the dead requirement. Jan Berry from Jan and Dean of “Surf City” fame fits the bill from a no-longer-with-us point of view but might be pushing the definition of famous.
                1. Famous Netherlandish painters called Jan, 7 letters beginning with V? I would have gone for van Eyck but it wasn’t (3,4). Parsing would have been interesting too. 17 minutes for this after an enjoyable struggle.

                  Edited at 2015-02-12 05:03 pm (UTC)

                2. Pushing the boundary still further, the second name to spring to my mind (after Jan Hammer) was Jan Michael Vincent. The things the brain retains…
                  1. Ha ha – that’s really getting into Sunday Times territory, though he’d have to be clued as J MICHAEL VINCENT in order to fit into a standard grid.
          2. Raising the brow a little, I think historian and wonderful travel writer, Jan Morris, deserves a mention, though she too stubbornly refuses to be dead.

            More obliging in that respect, and more in your bailiwick, I would have thought, Jimbo, is Jan Janský, the first man to identify blood types. He also manages to be Jan twice, so clearly wins.

            1. Thanks Sotira – yes I think he qualifies and I had completely forgotten him. I’m feeling my age these days – need the spring to buck me up a bit. However, I think the overall struggle to come up with somebody who qualifies justifies the setter in his use of JAN in the clue.
              1. Welcome, Jimbo.

                I realised too late that I should have entitled my Jan Janský submission as

                A Jan to Be Reckoned With

                Don’t know about Dorset, but here in the deep dark west of Cornwall I detect a faint whiff of spring in the air. Our lawn has started growing appreciably.

      2. Jan Bussell, who with his wife Ann Hogarth created and pulled the strings for early television star: Muffin the Mule.
      3. I’ve only just seen your comment. Two I had in mind are Jan Smuts and Jan Van Eyck.
        On second thoughts it’s probably not a dbe. ‘Vemeer’ for ‘Jan’ would be a dbe; ‘Jan’ for ‘Vemeer’ is just a rather vague definition.
  16. An enjoyable 10.20 solve – agree with Dorsetjimbo about the educational value of solving cryptics, although I have a few years solving to go to catch up with him!
  17. 20:37 for yet another puzzle that managed both to entertain and provide a mental work-out so thanks to the setter.

    I’ve never got to the end of Hamlet (or the beginning if we’re being honest) so 18 was a bit of a guess and angelus was pieced together from the wordplay. At 15 for too long I was looking for a bird made by putting something like dose in something like test.

    COD to square cut.

  19. Angelus was easy for me as the Angelus Bell is broadcast on TV before the News at Six every evening, a left-over from when the Church controlled most aspects of Irish life, including what was broadcast on TV. There are moves to abolish the practice in the new multi-faith Ireland.
  20. 45m but all correct so pleased with that as I doubt I’d have completed this a year ago so thanks again to our team of bloggers and commentators from whom I have learned much. I liked the cleverness of the cricket reference in SQUARE CUT and was pleased to guess the right spelling of DIVISOR. I was also happy to see the Prince of Denmark make an appearance with his exit.
  21. Just under 30 mins today. The N half went in quite quickly but I had a bit of a struggle in the SW. LOI SILENCE.
  22. Trying to go through the blog to teach myself how to do the crossword. In 6d am I right in thinking on=RE and see=v. If so, why does see=v?

    Thanks in advance – always very instructive.

    Edited at 2015-02-12 06:21 pm (UTC)

    1. Hi gilesr,

      Yes, the V is a standard abbreviation for Vatican, which is the ‘Holy See’. It’s a bit of a cryptic standard so you will certainly see (sorry) it again before long.

      1. I always believed it was abbr. for vide, Latin for ‘see..’ as in vide infra.
        Nothing to do with vide grenier, our local bric a brac sales, literally empty attic. Or the Vatican?
        1. Oh, that’s right, too. I remember I got that in my head years ago then learned better, then obviously got things confused again. I’m too young for senior moments! (just)

          on edit: it occurs to me that that’s the problem with all the conventions that crop up in the crosswords. After a while you stop thinking about them at all (well, I do)

          Edited at 2015-02-12 07:53 pm (UTC)

    2. I’m with Pip on this. v = vide – the Latin imperative for “see” which is commonly seen in books to direct the reader to a reference elsewhere. Sotira’s suggestion re the Vatican is very clever but I must admit I have never come across it before.
  23. For anyone intersted you can find lots of Jan’s listed here. Type Jan * into the Search box.
  26. 46 minutes, with ANGELUS my LOI. I’d never heard of it, and was about to put in ANGELIS for no good reason when I spotted the reversed “sun”. But I never did parse the “leg” bit. Any combination of religion and cricket is likely to floor me.

    Overall, I thought this one was a bit patchy, with some rather weak clues and some much more tricky. Appreciated the nod to science in TITRATE.

  27. 8.55 for me.

    I followed:

    1) vinyl1 and others in carelessly bunging in WATER RATS at 12ac (fortunately WELL AND GOOD was sufficiently obvious that I spotted the error quite quickly);

    2) nick_the_novice in reckoning that 3dn refers to someone saving a boundary;

    3) pipkirby in reckoning that v stands for vide in 6dn.

    A very nice puzzle with some fine surface readings.

  28. My usual hour plus a minute or two, during which I groaned over some of the clues (13 dn, 14 ac) which were just too straightforward. And “ivier” is stretching things a bit, isn’t it (“ivy” is just a noun; it doesn’t have a superlative). But looking back on the hour, there really were some nice clues: DUNNO would be my COD, or VERMEER and PRY. I knew none of the sporting terms nor the rest of Hamlet (so my first guess for that clue was VILLAGE, but of course it didn’t last long). And there were a few clues which I was surprised to have been able to solve without the wordplay, although I was able to parse it afterwards, RHAPSODISED for one, a word not at the forefront of my thoughts usually. So upon reflection I’ll up my rating for this one (much as in ulaca’s video).
    1. Good spot re ‘ivier’. One can only fall back on the arbitrary and therefore somewhat weak defence that the expert language user is characterised by his ability to push the boundaries of the language!

      And I wish I could have got RHAPSODISED from the literal; as things stood, it took me ages.

      Edited at 2015-02-13 08:26 am (UTC)

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