Times 26024

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
65 minutes. An excellent puzzle, somewhat on the tough side I thought, and once again on my blogging day I started apprehensively because the first thing I noted was the complete absence of the 3- and 4-letter answers that usually get me started. Having spent the best part of 5 minutes without finding a single write-in I returned to the NW corner and gave myself time to really think through some clues in detail and it was there eventually I found a foothold, starting with 1dn. From then on my progress was slow and steady but very tidy as I was able to complete each segment of the grid in turn. There were no unknown words or unfamiliar meanings today but some of the definitions were rather hard to spot and this may have contributed to my initial difficulties. For this reason I’ve included a few more definitions in the blog than I usually would. I found this very satisfying to complete as I had begun so badly.

Definitions, {deletions}, [indicators]

Across
1 BATHROBE – B (bachelor), ATHROB (buzzing), E (energy)
5 OBSESS – BSE (deadly disease) inside OS (huge), {dose}S. My last one in. Definition: think only
9 DREAMBOAT – Anagram [rotten] of MEAT BAD OR. Definition: hunk
11 GO FAR – Double definition
12 LET IN ON – NIT ( fool) inside NOEL (Christmas) all reversed. Definition: make a party to
13 ABDOMEN – A, B (black), DO (cook), MEN (people). Definition: pot, as in “pot belly”
14 GRAVEYARD SLOT – GRAVE (alarming), YARD’S (of detectives), LOT (fate). Definition: when few are listening, as in through-the-night radio
16 TRANSPORT CAFE – TRANSPORT (entrance), CA (about), FE{e}
20 PUMPKIN – PUMP (grill), KIN (stock)
21 IBRAHIM – {l}IBRA (heavenly sign), HIM (that male)
23 VAULT – Double definition
24 SCOURGING – CO (pacifist – conscientious objector) inside SURGING (seething)
25 REHASH – EH (what) inside RASH (ill-considered)
26 OFF-WHITE – OFF (start, as in a race), anagram [crackers] of WITH, {th}E

Down
1 BODILY – LID (hat) reversed inside BOY (lad). Defintion: corporal
2 THEFT – TH{re}E FT (yard, as in 3 feet with Royal Engineers removed). Definition: taking offence
3 ROMANIA – R (king), O (old), MANIA (obsession)
4 BROWNIE POINTS – BRIE (cheese) encloses [sandwiches] OWN (have), POINTS (trains). Definition: notional awards
6 BAGHDAD – BAG (appropriate), HD (type of TV), AD (commercial)
7 EN FAMILLE – Anagram [for devouring] of FINE MEAL L (left). Definition: informally
8 STRENGTH – Last letters of {thi}S {ra}T {o}R {mous}E {i}N {ba}G {no}T {peris}H. Definition: might
10 TEAR A STRIP OFF – EAR (attention) inside TA (volunteers), STRIP OFF (go much further – than dress down). Definition: dress down, as in tell off.
14 GOAL MOUTH – GOAL (design), MOUTH (brass, as in boastful talk). Definition: patch often worn on pitch
15 STOPOVER – OP (work) inside anagram [pants] of OR VEST
17 ST KITTS – Sounds like “sent” (despatched) “kits” (lots of equipment). Not in RP it doesn’t!
18 AIR CREW – CREW (boasted) with AIR (feeling) above it [superior]. Definition: hostesses etc
19 EMIGRE – MIG (fighter – plane) inside ERE (before)
22 HAITI – A inside HIT 1 (initial success)

29 comments on “Times 26024”

  1. Like Jack, most difficulty with OBSESS where the def. completely got away from me. Then: not spotting all the ending letters for STRENGTH — which made the NE a bit tricky. Elsewhere, I found GOALMOUTH hard to parse; but had all the crossing letters and there was nothing else to fit.

    COD to THEFT for the neat use of “yard” and the interesting definition.

    After yesterday’s contretemps, I’m going to say nought about the homophone at 17dn; but at least the setter (today) includes “by some”. Wonder who they are?

  2. Very chewy puzzle with its extended definitions (‘patch often worn on pitch’) and tricky cluing (THREE FT for ‘yard’, BSE for foreign solvers). 88 minutes in all for me, and a nod to Jack for unravelling THEFT, OBSESS and STRENGTH.

    I think we may have finally found a homophone (17d) where no one will own up to the setter’s suggested pronunciation.

    2. We agree almost completely!

      (BTW: I’ve remembered where I’ve heard DEELAY and DEELAYED. It was the announcer at Liverpool Lime Street station. He had plenty of opportunity to use those words!)

  3. Half an hour online, 25′ off, plus however the hell long it took me to come up with GOALMOUTH, a word I’d never come across, and which took endless running through the alphabet (GLAM…GRAM…etc.) Had no idea how ST.KITTS worked until I got here; perhaps those (mythical?) Brits who refer to young women as gels would refer to Sent Kitts? Especially after yesterday’s walk in the proverbial, I found this one all kinds of tough, but enjoyable, he said masochistically.
  4. Aargh … 29 minutes of hard concentration and a silly mistake. I went for GO FOR, which sort of almost works but not really. Pretty sure I perceived this as one of the easier clues while solving and didn’t give it much attention. There’s probably a lesson there, and I probably won’t learn it.

    Annoying, because I really enjoyed the challenge of this puzzle. First rate clues all over the place, although …

    I might say “sent kits” … but only after that third glass of cooking sherry.

    2. Glad to see I’m not the only one kicking myself over GO FOR. I also took about half an hour which I felt quite pleased with given the level of difficulty. Some nicely hidden definitions found me piecing together many from the cryptic today which I find more satisfying than those which go in from definition. I particularly liked BATHROBE because when I thought of ATHROB it seemed so unlikely to be part of another word.
  5. Anything over the hour mark and I stop timing. I stopped timing today. Wow, what a toughie! There were oodles I couldn’t parse, so many thanks for Jackkt for enlightening me.
    GOALMOUTH is a fiendish clue – for Kevin the word is often encountered in connection with the word “scramble” to describe the ball pinging around the goal area with attackers desperately trying to score, defenders equally desperately trying to clear their lines (both in soccer and hockey).
  6. 20:47. A thoroughly enjoyable challenge. THEFT was my last in, and I didn’t have a clue how it worked, so thanks for the explanation.
    ‘Sent kits’ is a truly awful homophone but I rather prefer them that way.
  7. Very difficult puzzle that I was glad I wasn’t blogging – this would once have fallen to me. Well done Jack – I can imagine the slightly worried feeling you must have experienced until you got going.

    Hat off to the setter for a real tour de force – what a pity about 17D which slightly detracts from an otherwise brilliant piece of compiling.

  8. Just (21 seconds) over 30 for a thing of gruesome beauty. How good do you have to be as a setter to devise my LOI STRENGTH in such a way that every conceivable crossword manipulation is tried before you see the bleedin’ obvious at the end of your…words.
    3ft ingenious, “patch worn often on pitch” fiendishly concocted as a definition (Bradford, by the by) and (perfectly illustrating gruesome beauty) a soundalike to put your teeth on edge.
    Half the fun of this one was unravelling the wordplay even if you had somehow arrived at an answer without its benefit. Thanks to setter and Jack.

    Edited at 2015-02-17 10:25 am (UTC)

  9. Crew = boasted ?
    Grateful of some advice here re tense shifts

    boast … boasted
    crow … crowed

  10. 25 mins. As others have already said, this puzzle contained some excellent and devious cluing. IBRAHIM was my FOI and the very well disguised STRENGTH my LOI after OBSESS. Even with all the checkers it took me ages to see GOALMOUTH. I saw the dodgy homophone for ST KITTS fairly quickly but it then took me much longer than it should have done to get PUMPKIN despite already having the P checker.
  11. Battered and bruised and ultimately beaten, but not before I’d managed to nail about three quarters of it. Curiously, THEFT and STRENGTH (which the senior pros have deemed tricky) went in pretty much straight away: some of the more straightforward fare eluded me.

    Ah well, such is life as a contrarian. Nail the 12 foot putts and miss the two footers…

  12. Getting under the half hour felt like a real achievement, especially after staring at the NE corner blankly for what felt like about half that time. All good, though. Very good, even.

    Based on the many and varied accents I’ve heard in commentary on the Cricket World Cup in the last week, I’m pretty sure there’s some form of English pronunciation which tallies with Sent Kits. Besides, my usual test in these circumstances is “Did this stop me (or indeed anyone else) completing the puzzle?” rather than “Did this induce mass groaning?”, the latter being fine in my book.

  13. Wow, what an absolute cracker, 29:23.

    Last two in were the well-disguised strength and the nasty obsess.

    COD (from a really string bunch) to theft – clever wordplay and well-hidden definition squeezed into just 6 words.

    Well done Jack for grappling with this beastie and cap well and truly doffed to the setter.

  14. Some of the other times posted make me feel a little better about my 55 minute effort.
    Plodded my way round to the NE corner where my plod got even slower. Tried to work out how SERENITY could be matched to any part of the clue for 8dn before I saw that STRENGTH (my LOI) at least could be defined by “might” but still failed to parse it.

  15. Did this in several sittings but got there in the end…

    Didn’t parse THEFT or GOALMOUTH, some great well-hidden definitions… Fab crossword, never felt like giving up on this one… very satisfying to finish it all correct!

  16. Actual time about an hour, though gave up after 40 min with only about 1/3 done to go out. Much later returned and resorted to aids for a couple of words, and finished (but with GO FOR) in 20 min more. LOI THEFT, which I couldn’t parse – was also reluctant to accept mouth=boast.
  18. 18:31 for me, having great difficulty finding the setter’s wavelength. Nevertheless I join the chorus of approval for a very fine puzzle, including 17dn – I think penfold_61 could well be right in thinking HM might pronounce the island “Sent Kitts”.
  19. DNF, or two errors depending on your point of view. In desperation after an hour, I put in “ABCESS” (which is not only wrong, but wrongly spelled) at 5ac. I won’t embarrass myself further by saying that I put in “SERENITY” at 8d as the only thing I could think of that fit. I really should have spotted STRENGTH.

    One query: how does “points” = “trains” in 4d?

    This was indeed a very chewy one, at least for me. If I’d finished, I think I’d have felt quite a sense of accomplishment.

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