Times 26,027: Griththini

Author   VerlainePosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Hello friends! I’m continuing to be well off the boil solving-time wise – nothing probably that a good night’s sleep wouldn’t fix, but who has time to sleep when there are crosswords to do? – but hopefully my parsing brain is still in working order for blogging purposes.

I found this crossword very intricately, I’d probably go so far as virtuosically, constructed, while perhaps not quite having some ineffable spark that would put it in my very top tier of puzzles. Oh, I don’t know, it’s very likely to be a case of “it’s not you, it’s me”, as I felt much the same way about yesterday’s puzzle and may well still be feeling grumpy! The surfaces are all immaculate here, and while *I* generally like a bit more obscure vocabulary and GK to keep me on my toes, I expect the majority will feel the opposite.

COD to 17dn, as obviously I’m always up for a bit of Mail-bashing. Some great technical cluing here, too: “first son being cross”, “deliver sermon without church’s backing”, a solid &lit at 16dn… there’s so much here that’s so clever. The solution to 6dn looked wrong to my eyes, I think my instinct would have been to spell it CHOCKA, but I’m sure that’s just me…

Almost certainly an A grade puzzle then, any withholding of a coveted A+ can only be down to the marker’s curmudgeonliness. Many many thanks to the brilliant setter!

Across
1 BREADTH – sweep: BREAD [money] + TH{is} [“is” lost by “this”]
5 TICKS – sound made by, say, grandfather (i.e. clock): STICK [cane “heading for the back”, i.e. moving the first letter to the end]
9 ROOST – sleeping place: ROOT [ferret] “has gone across” S [singular]
10 JUXTAPOSE – to stand side by side: JUST A POSE [a mere sham] with “first son being cross”, i.e. the first S being replaced by an X
11 ALSO-RAN – it’s not among the top few: {jour}ALS OR AN{nnuals} “to display”
12 MEERKAT – carnivore: (ARK*) [“beaten”] in MEET [sporting contest]
13 INDELICATE – immodest: {b}E{l}L{e} [“appearing regularly”] in INDICATE [show]
15 CREW – double def: party / was triumphant
18 ELMS – source of timber: SMILE [beam] “I overlooked | in recess”, i.e. losing the I and being reversed
20 CAERPHILLY – Welsh town: PREA{ch} [deliver sermon “without church’s | backing”, i.e. missing CH, and reversed] in CHILLY [unfriendly]
23 TANTRUM – paddy: TT [abstainer] “imbibing” AN, + RUM [alcoholic drink]
24 PERSONA – character: N [name] in (OPERAS*) [“comic”]
25 SAY CHEESE – “I’m about to take a photo”: SAY [roughly] + CHEESE [20, maybe, referring to Caerphilly, the solution to 20ac]
26 SEIZE – appropriate: homophone of SEES [witnesses “heard”]
27 RUDDY – florid: D{ad}DY [father “out of puff”, i.e. minus AD] after R.U. [game]
28 SHEBANG – business: BANG [report] on S.E. [Home Counties] “nursing” H [hospital]

Down
1 BROWSED – casually inspected: ROWS [ranks] in BED [base]
2 ENTIRELY – in every respect: ELY [see] “about” N TIRE [new | flag]
3 DIJON – somewhere in France: D [daughters] + (JOIN*) [“frolics”]
4 HEXAMETER – six-footer: H EXAM {d}ETER [height | test | put off “capital unavailable”, i.e. missing its first letter]
5 TEAMED – matched: TEA MED [light meal | vast amount of water]
6 CHOCKER – packed: {s}HOCKER [sensational tale “apart from second”, i.e. minus an S] “supporting” C [chapter]
7 SPELT – was likely to produce: S PELT [small | coat]
8 CREATIVE – original: C [hundred] + RE{l}ATIVE [“pounds squandered by” (i.e. minus an L) one of the family]
14 CHARMLESS – unattractive: M [male] in CHARLES [Dickens possibly] + S [succeeded]
16 WAYFARER – (WEARY*) [“vagrant”] “that’s got around” FAR [a great deal], &lit
17 CHARISMA – appeal: CHAR [daily] + (MAI{l}’S*) [“unorthodox”, “line lacking” i.e. minus an L]
19 MONEYED – flush: ONE-{e}YED [like cyclops “disheartened”] after M [maiden]
21 LOOMING – menacing: {b}LOOMING [“bishop leaves” in fine fettle]
22 ARCHLY – with cunning: ARCH [crook] + LY [“emptied” L{ibrar}Y]
23 TASER – stunner: reverse of RESAT [struck another pose, “looking up”]
24 PIECE – part: homophone of PEACE [“the Sound of” Silence]

32 comments on “Times 26,027: Griththini”

  1. “*I* generally like a bit more obscure vocabulary and GK to keep me on my toes, ” ….but , obviously , not when it comes to arcane sports like cricket , Verlaine. Nice blog , as always.
    1. I know, I was thinking of that arbitrary prejudice of mine on my way into the office! I suppose I’m with keriothe that all’s fair in love and war, but possibly not in cryptic definitions.
  2. What a ripper! Really enjoyed this one. Bottom half went in quite quickly, but the top half was a much tougher proposition.

    TICKS opened it up for me (which I, like Jack, parsed on the basis of the grandfather clock) and then eventually the rest fell into place.

    Many great clues – favourites 24dn and 10ac.

    As the R and H arrived in 22dn, and looking at CROOK as possibly being the definition, I started thinking of a certain former peer of the realm – but a) he’s not dead yet (as far as I know) and b) The Times would not want a libel suit on its hands and c) that’s possibly a bit uncharitable…

    Thanks to setter for a beauty, and to V for the usual entertainment.

    Edited at 2015-09-18 09:56 am (UTC)

  3. Same page on the leaderboard as Z8, Olivia and Sotira, so definitely punching above my weight.

    Thought this was brilliant, great surfaces, COD to SHEBANG.

    Thanks setter and great blog V. But come on, give it an A+. You know you want to.

  4. About an hour. Excellent crossword. One gripe about 3d – would have preferred “join frolics with daughter in France”. Spent most time trying to solve 8d with either STOAT or SCOUT in 9a this was proving difficult. Thanks to Verlaine as always.
  5. 5ac: Sounds that can be made by, say, grandfather (clock) surely? With ‘s (is) as a link to the wordplay.

    I thought this was going to be real trouble but it came together nicely after I had got started eventually in the bottom half, though working upwards through the grid is always something of a disadvantage. I clocked out in 37 minutes which is not too bad for me at the moment.

    Edited at 2015-09-18 09:24 am (UTC)

    1. Ooh yes, sounds much better than my somewhat tenuous completely spurious parsing! Told you I was not quite with it this week…

      Edited at 2015-09-18 11:15 am (UTC)

  6. 19.20. Another excellent puzzle. LOI was 5 across which had I skipped past without reading beyond the start of the clue because I feared there would be some fiendish device to distinguish TICKS from TOCKS, but it proved to be more straightforward.
  7. 33:42… so twice as hard as Tuesday. I thought I was going to get stuck but eventually got there. I had most trouble with the right hand side – I hadn’t realised it was an exception to the “I before E” rule so put SIEZE in for 26a originally, couldn’t parse CHOCKER and took ages to see WAYFARER. I nearly put in SOPRANO for 24a before spotting the e. I was held up most, though, by 8d, being sure “100 pounds squandered…” meant a relative without the C and L – e.g. …..ULE. Doh! Some great clues – the grandfather’s clock at 5a (I’m with Jack on this), 4d not being an insect and 10a for the nice wordplay.
  8. Loved this one, 19 minutes, no problems except couldn’t see the cheese = 20 link (caerphilly is a cheese); hard to pick a CoD, so many goodies, well done setter and Verlaine.
  9. 16m. I felt I was making unnecessarily heavy weather of this: there were lots of clues where I struggled, only for it to seem blindingly obvious once I’d spotted what was going on. I took this to be a sign that I was being thick today, but judging by the times on the leaderboard it seems it was just a very well-crafted puzzle.
    Like you, verlaine, I like a bit of arcane vocab to keep me on my toes (provided it’s fairly clued of course, so we won’t talk about OREADs and LEG-BYEs!) but I also admire a puzzle that manages to pose a challenge without resort to such obscurity. This was one of those, so thanks to the setter.

    Edited at 2015-09-18 10:24 am (UTC)

  10. Not too good on Welsh towns so it was lucky it was a cheese. I also wasted time with a relation in 8d so was looking for a tree spelled n*m* which required a re-think. Not sure I’d call the Med a vast amount of water and I agree with Sawbill about 3d, but those are just quibbles in an excellent puzzle. I don’t really understand why “spelt” is likely to produce. And I thought choc-a-bloc was like bric-a-brac. No matter. 23.25
    2. I struggled with that definition for SPELT too. It surely couldn’t be the ancient wheat grain. But then I saw the usage. “The crop failure spelt disaster for many farmers”. (Including spelt farmers, I guess).
  11. Agree with Sawbill 3d is NQR- didn’t cut the mustard.

    About an hour – top half 1ac held me up.

    COD 10 ac

    horryd Shanghai

  12. I really enjoyed this – finishing in 13:41.

    In defence of the Welsh town, it was a rainy day when we were there several years ago now but the people were definitely friendly.

  13. Made heavy weather of this, but got there after an hour, an enjoyable hour, I have to say. Lots of excellent clues. Too may to single out any particular one.
  14. Really enjoyed this one, even though I slipped up on 8dn with CREATION rather than CREATIVE. Good, tough test, my COD was 20ac.
  15. 15:57. As I was was going through this there were times when I felt I was quickly spotting things that might hold others up and so it proved looking at the times of others.

    Lovely puzzle with some terrifically crafted clues so thanks all round.

  16. 40 minutes – loved CHOCKER (not really a word one spells).

    I’m always game for a bit of arcane vocab, so long as I know it.

    Edited at 2015-09-18 12:52 pm (UTC)

  17. Tee hee, I just spotted what your blog title is about V. We’re verging on Telegraph quick territory.
  18. About 20 minutes for me but I chortled at 1ac – the hiding of the straight was excelent, I thought. I always panic when 1ac looks difficult because I fear the setter has used their best clue where it will get most attention and, for some reason, I couldn’t see that only ‘t’ could fit between ‘d’ and ‘h’. Have never written ‘chocker’ before; if I had, that’s not how I’d have done it…
  19. 16 mins. I’m of the opinion that this was the second straight quality puzzle, although I felt more on the setter’s wavelength than I was yesterday. I thought I was in for a real struggle because TANTRUM was my FOI, but after I got it the rest of the bottom half came together in fairly quick time, with the exception of ELMS which was my LOI after CREATIVE. The top half only opened up after I got JUXTAPOSE and the X checker helped me see HEXAMETER. I’ve used CHOCKER for longer than I care to remember, and I’ve always mentally spelled it that way.
  20. 13:58 for me. I was pretty much on the setter’s wavelength when it came to parsing, but just couldn’t get my addled brain to think of the relevant words. And I was held up at the end by WAYFARER, having my usual difficulty with &lits.

    Nice puzzle.

  22. This really was a delightful puzzle, keeping the solver on his toes all the time. Actually, I’m surprised I finished it (in just under an hour), since there were many intricately constructed clues which needed careful parsing and a number of somewhat obscure usages which only came to mind with the help of a good prod from the wordplay (SPELT, for example, or SHEBANG as “business”).

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