Times 26044 – NETT vs NET

30 comments on “Times 26044 – NETT vs NET”

1. … this too difficult. Agree about 9ac: even though there’s a “net” in the answer too. “Butt” and “but” perhaps? And I think Liszt was ordained … no? Slight corection: no “as” in the fodder at 12ac.

   Sounds like a nightmare trip George. Well done indeed on getting a blog done at all then. I can remember an all-nighter TO Calgary. Canadian Customs were curious as to how my luggage got wet. No idea myself. Only got out of Toronto when a senior officer and I realised we had the same birthday and date.

2. Previously I only knew ‘noli me tangere’ as the words of Jesus to Mary of Magdala after his resurrection, but have learnt a little about plants that don’t like being touched. One such shriveller is featured here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEfXDQ20xTc

   I see Collins gives ‘united’ as the meaning of ‘in one’ (together with ‘all in one’), but I’m not sure I’ve come across that phrase as much as ‘as one’. Maybe I just can’t evoke the right context.

   I thought this plant-heavy offering was tricky but most rewarding, with my last in HOLMES still me favourite even now when I actually get the wordplay for BARONET. 53 minutes.

3. I seem to be struggling at the moment with most puzzles taking around an hour, and this was no exception. Also I had to give in eventually and look up the Latin phrase which if I have ever met before was in a religious context and not a botanical one, so technically a DNF for me.

   The BARONET and IN ONE clues were clever but both slightly tainted by having part of the answer so blatantly in the clue i.e. NET and ONE. But I thought HOLMES was both original and much more satisfactory.

   At 18 I wrote in STRING straight away but was stuck for ages on the second word until I remembered COURSE as a line of bricks which came up here within the past two weeks. I’d never heard of the answer but felt confident enough to go for it.

   Re 16dn, the dump on the lump came up in yesterday’s Quickie.

   Edited at 2015-03-12 07:00 am (UTC)

   1. I was the opposite, putting in “course” straight away (based on things like a damp proof course and courses of bricks) and only putting in “string” once I had all the checkers. I thought it might be something like bowing course for a while. Like you I’d never heard of the answer.
4. i’d call that a pretty impressive time george, given the conditions. i’m wide awake at 3a.m. thanks to the cast on my arm – puzzling beats churning around trying to find a comfortable prone position. 17.6 for me.

   hint of a theme perhaps from sherlock, the violin and the study. NOLI ME TANGERE i knew from thomas wyatt’s poem about anne boleyn.http://englishhistory.net/tudor/monarchs/boleyn-poems.html

   1. unspammed
      1. thanks jack
5. DNF. Thanks setter and blogger.
6. Nice 11a of religiously-themed flowers. I knew the phrase at 10d through paintings of the subject, but not as a plant.
   Franz Liszt was one of the first super-stars – Beatlemania is nothing new. He took holy orders later in life, hence becoming known as Abbé Liszt.
   7d for today’s obligatory cricket reference?
   I’m dead impressed by your dedication and persistence George. Thanks.
7. I took 30.49 over this one with far fewer distractions, so I’m glad it wasn’t my turn, George. The NE corner took the lion’s share of the time, and I had to write out and go through the alphabet before getting the brilliant HOLMES. I have no idea why the time flew so fast, as I don’t think the NE clues are any harder in retrospect, but then they never are in retrospect.
   N-M-T was a write in from the undeclared religious reference once N?L? turned up for the first four.
   Technical quibble. Do Prime Ministers rule? Isn’t that what we have sovereigns for?

   Edited at 2015-03-12 08:58 am (UTC)

   1. You’re correct. Prime Ministers are primus inter pares temporary holders of office. The sovereign rules.
8. Was heading for a (relatively) smooth solve until I hit the 1a, 2d and 9a intersections.

   Penny finally dropped with BARONET (thought that was superb) then 2d fell. Stuck in ABBE on the wordplay but had no idea about the Liszt connection.

   Fortunately knew NOLI etc. as a result of a (wildly non PC) uni skit regarding ladies from a certain college circa 1974. Good luck with the travels George and thanks for the blog.

   Edited at 2015-03-12 09:32 am (UTC)

9. 12:34 .. all went in fairly smoothly. I vaguely knew the NOLI-ME-TANGERE.

   Well done, George. Service above and beyond.

10. Again a puzzle that’s easier for old stagers who have come across NOLI.. before and know about Liszt from being caught at some time and so on

    I thought HOLMES very good and I don’t recall seeing that construction before

    Well done George

11. 24 mins and not on the setter’s wavelength again. I struggled to see what in retrospect were some of the easier ones, such as THIRD WORLD, WORKING TO RULE and RIGHT-WING, and it was only once they were in that I was happy to enter the previously unknown STRING COURSE. ASBESTOS also took much longer to see than it should have done, and I finished with BARTERED after ABBE. I’d like to add my own tip of the hat for HOLMES.
12. 13:48. On the wavelength again today, and I enjoyed this one a lot. I didn’t know NOLI ME WHATSIT or STRING COURSE but got them from wordplay. Some very good clues in here: I liked 9ac and 20dn and I thought ‘coming from the sun the earth is’ was clever.
13. Another struggle for me today, missing BARONET, NOLI ME TANGERE and STRING COURSE.

    I was curious about Jimbo’s mention of NOLI ME TANGERE being easier for ‘old stagers’ so had a look to see when it last appeared, and it was 2010 (2012 if you include Mephisto). I daresay if it comes up again in 2020 I’ll have managed to forget it by then.

    By the way, are other people finding that the site doesn’t render properly on a PC currently (it’s OK on a tablet)? It could just be my connection from work.

    1. If “not rendering properly” is the correct term for what I get (no background colour, formatting all over the place) then I’ve had it on my work laptop/network for a couple of years.
    2. Yes I blogged it – Mephisto 2680. It was clued as an anagram of “alerting one” and “me”
    3. I get that at work sometimes: it comes and goes.
14. 23:55 so I think we’ve had a run of trickyish puzzles all week.

    I didn’t think I knew Noli-whatsit (either as a plant or in its religious context) but it appears I must have encountered it in 2010.

    The wordplay for tempera saved me from a careless tempura (well I did do this at lunchtime) and I biffed baronet so the clever wp was lost on me (I think I was put off by the “net” in the clue). In that case third world gets my COD nod.

15. Struggled with this after a time away reading Hilary Mantel’s excellent historical fictions about Thomas Cromwell. I’m only allowed a couple of hours a day between work, golf and family commitments, so had to sacrifice crosswords for reading. The result was that this was much harder than it should have been.

    Never heard of string course or noli me whatsit – either the aforementioned Hilary never mentioned it, or I missed the reference in the books.

    Nice to be back…

16. Pleased to finish in 21 mins today. My classical education gave me the NOLI phrase (twigging that it must also be a plant) and I biffed BARONET. My LOI was ARROGATE which I always thought was a town in Yorkshire.
17. 
    I found this tricky and took about 40 minutes in 2 stabs, ending with HOLMES and the variety of lily. I knew the ‘Noli..’ phrase but not as a plant.
    I agree about the PM not ruling as such, HM does, but I suppose lawmakers can be referred to as ‘our Rulers.’
    Some fine clues here, 9a, best in show today.
18. 30:04 with standard interruptions.
    Enjoyed this one, although slightly bemused by 9 + 13ac. HOLMES was of course a write-in given my surname (the good Dr John)
19. About 20 minutes, but would have been quicker save for appallingly misspelling APPAL as APALL. So my LOI at PREVAIL was held up until I sussed out the problem. High marks to BARONET, THIRD WORLD and HOLMES. Regards.
20. I really enjoyed this with some pleasing and inventive cluing with my rosette going to THIRD WORLD. 45m of enjoyable intellectual effort where I always felt the answers were just around the corner -, so a well crafted puzzle. Much praise to our indefatigable blogger too.
21. If the setter was working in ultra violet, I was on infra red, but I found it a very challenging and enjoyable puzzle. Bunged in ‘Third World’ on the basis that it really couldn’t be anything else (often a dangerous assumption, but o.k. in this instance), so I only discovered what a clever clue it was when I came here. I also agree that other clues, especially those for ‘Holmes’ and ‘Baronet’, were belters.
22. 14:19 for me, wasting far too much time hoping vainly that 17dn might be REVERTED. Another very fine puzzle.
23. DNF for me, yet again – I think my brain must be going soft. Beaten by HOLMES and ARROGATE (a word I’d never heard of or, to make my old English teacher happy, a word of which I’d never heard).

    It was a fine puzzle, though. I must say that I parsed BARONET differently – “differently” in this case being a synonym of “wrongly”.

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