Times 26,054

Author   topicaltimPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
My run of tricky puzzles on alternate Tuesdays continues; oddly, this one didn’t feel like too arduous a struggle as I solved it, but the clock tells a different story with a time of 26:45 (I guess that’s a sign of a good puzzle). At least as much difficulty lay in the required knowledge as the wordplay, with the result that I was guessing at some points; as always, I expect everyone’s mileage will vary. My own view, of course, is that everything I happen to know is standard general knowledge – the sort of things that every educated person should be expected to know – while things I don’t happen to know are ridiculously obscure and arcane, and it’s a diabolical liberty on the setter’s part to use such trivia in a respectable crossword.

Anyway, there were lots of good things here, and I thought the long outside clues were especially inventive.

Across
1 PATERNITY SUITS – (PARTYINSTITUTES)* minus the T{ime} makes a very nicely phrased anagram clue.
9 TOADSTOOL – in other words, a TOAD’S TOOL; I did not know of the existence of the midwife toad, but it couldn’t really be anything else once all the checkers were in place.
10 ABODE – to abide = to bear; if you use its rather affected irregular perfect tense, abide becomes “ABODE” rather than “abided”. In days gone by, you could have abode in your abode.
11 NAIAD – A1 in (DAN)rev.; as a water nymph, a naiad could inhabit a spring, as she might a river or waterfall.
12 DROP SCONE – DROPS (as in eye- or ear-), + CONE (an example of a solid geometric form). Just to confirm for non-UK solvers or non-food experts, a drop scone is in fact a sort of pancake. Food always seems to throw up these potential confusions – see also: muffins.
13 METHINKS – INK (fluid for printers) in METHS.
15 PREFAB – REP with the P{iano} brought to the front + FAB(=superb). Lift-and-separate, as most prefabs are not superb dwellings. I became slightly fixated on “palace”, though I was understandably unable to make the “pal” bit work.
17 DISPEL – (PSI=the Greek letter, in LED=”was first”)all rev.
19 VENDETTA – [END(=scrap) in VET] + TA(=”Cheers!”).
22 CERVANTES – VAN in CERTES (archaic expression for “surely”). This popped into my head quite readily, as it was announced last week that Spanish archaeologists claimed to have unearthed his long-lost remains, possibly feeling that they were being outshone by the reburial of Richard III.
23 CUBIC – CUB(reporter) I/C; we are back in the realm of geometric solids…
24 NO END – …and a spot of topology, I think this would be called, as rings literally have no end.
25 CHILDHOOD – where “HOOD” is a gangster; for those unfamiliar with the film, Bugsy Malone is based on the conceit of having child actors play the adult parts in an archetypal Prohibition-based crime story.
26 SHORT SIGHTEDLY – [SIGH(=lament), TED(Heath)] in SHORTLY.
 
Down
1 PATENT MEDICINE – PATIENT(=doctor’s “case”, minus the 1), and an Oriental doctor might be described as a MEDIC IN E{ast}.
2 TSARIST – SARIS in T.T.; the letters stand for Tourist Trophy (singular) but these days the term encompasses an entire series of events on the Isle of Man.
3 RASED – {b}RAS{s} {b}ED{s}.
4 IRON DUKE – IRON(=press), U.K. in D{erisiv}E. In the real world, there are obviously technical differences between the terms “British” and “UK”, but in Crosswordland, we know what the setter means.
5 YELLOW – the shot is a VOLLEY, reversed and with the V{ery} removed, + W{ide}. A lot of sport in there all round.
6 UNASSURED – (US)reversed in (DANSEUR)*.
7 TOOK OFF – double def.
8 REMEMBRANCE DAY – (CAMERAMEN,DERBY)*.
14 ICELANDER – CELAND{IN}E without the IN, inside IR{ish}.
16 PERSHING – PERISHING minus I (electrical current in scientific notation); anyone old enough to remember the Greenham Common protests will no doubt also remember the controversial missile, which was named after the US general of WWI.
18 SCREECH – CREE(native North American tribe popular in crosswords) in SCH{ool}.
20 TABLOID – TAB(=account) + (IDOL)*. I don’t think I’ve seen “pop” as an anagram indicator before, or at least not often; but obviously it works especially well with this surface.
21 STOCKS – double def.; I couldn’t pick a stock out of a line-up at Chelsea Flower Show, but it’s one of those plants that has clearly sunk in over the years.
23 CADET – JADE minus the J{udge} inside C{our}T; another which went in on trust; as well as the more obvious definitions, a “jade” can be a hack as in “an old or worn-out horse”, a meaning I have known ever since I looked it up five minutes ago.

42 comments on “Times 26,054”

  1. … this was a bit harder than some puzzles of late. But very well constructed and enjoyable to solve. Didn’t know the midwife TOAD and struggled with ABODE. Wonder if it was ever actually used as a past tense of “abide”? I’ll have a look at the big Oxford later on.

    At first, I thought the “in” in 14dn was doing double duty: deletion and inclusion. Then realised that “borders” can be a verb. Stupid mistake in retrospect.

    1. I am currently in a holiday cottage, where there are no dictionaries, but I had a quick Google when I was writing the blog to make sure I wasn’t totally wide of the mark; obviously “a quick Google” doesn’t carry the weight of the big OED, but it certainly suggested that both have been in use at different times (though abided is obviously the more common, or at least modern, version).
      1. Just checked the big OED (2009 update). It shows “abode” (and indeed “aboded”) in occasional use between 1573 and 1987.
      2. A quick Google is what the locum GP I saw yesterday did to find out what to prescribe. “Ah, that’s right,” he said, glancing at the search results. “I always get those two mixed up.”
        1. It’s reassuring they keep their insouciant sense of humour even in the Internet age…
          1. I wish I could report even a trace of tongue in cheek. None evident. I’m guessing thud_and_blunder will tell us that his A&E department grinds to a halt when they lose their wi-fi connection, but in his case I’m pretty sure (well, I like to believe) he’ll be joking!

            Edited at 2015-03-24 11:44 am (UTC)

  2. 34 minutes, with the missile dredged from the memory bank to conclude the set. Some very nice stuff here, with ABODE having a doubly pompous tinge to it, as it is the sort of word a Hyacinth Bucket would use to refer to her semi.

    Not sure I’ve ever come across RASE rather than ‘raze’.

  3. I was quite surprised to find only 30 minutes on the clock when I entered my final answer, especially as I had read every clue, and some more than once, before putting in my first.

    I knew the midwife TOAD from a previous puzzle but didn’t know CERTES or RASED with an S. I was unable to make sense of ABODE or VENDETTA where I remain unconvinced about END = scrap.

    Nice puzzle though as it was satisfying how it all came together after a very shaky start.

    2. If you “scrap” something, don’t you “end” it?
      45 minutes or so for what I thought was a deeply satisfying puzzle (i.e. one I complete without aids, with some smiles of recognition along the way).
  4. 31:14 .. like Tim, I was a bit surprised when I looked at the clock and saw how long it had taken me, but I enjoyed this one immensely.

    PATERNITY SUITS was almost my last one in, not long after PATENT MEDICINE and just before ABODE (which I’ll admit to giving up attempting to parse — thank you, Tim, I’d never have got there).

  5. Very pleasant puzzle, certainly a shade or two above last week’s rather gentle series. Just in under 18 minutes and a satisfying smörgåsbord. CERTE(S) from ancient Latin classes translating Beatles songs: ea te amat, certe, certe, certe. So much for scansion.
    I failed to decode SHORT SIGHTED properly, mostly because the requisite meaning of Heath didn’t occur, despite the capital letter. Thanks for the enlightenment.
    Particular appreciation for the other long ‘uns: the two anagrams were very smoothly presented. Medic in E must have been used before, but it raised an appreciative smile.
    IRON DUKE cropped up very recently in That Which Must Not Be Discussed. Celebrations for 18th June starting early?
  6. A little longer than usual today, with a couple unparsed (PATENT MEDECINE, ABODE and irelander, which I suspected as I wrote it in was incorrect, but didn’t go back to double check). dnk TOAD for midwife. Guessed Toad of Toad Hall may have delivered some little riverside beastie on one of his adventures…
  7. I thought this was quite difficult with a number of clues where one had to guess the answer from checkers and then reverse engineer the cryptic – using a dictionary for “certes” and “hack = jade”

    A PREFAB was actually a superb dwelling if the alternative was a bomb site. They were built all over common land for example to house those made homeless by bombing. Supposed to be temporary they lasted certainly until the 1960s

    1. Where I grew up, in Coventry, you could still see them in certain parts of the city well into the eighties (not a great surprise in a city where the connection with bomb damage is an easy one to make).
      1. I’ve just looked on Wiki and it says there are still some standing in Bristol and SE London (Lewisham) – amazing really.
        1. Yes, there are several Grade II listed prefab estates in both London and Birmingham.. if you google “listed prefabs” you find some fascinating reading!
    2. I remember going to attend a client’s stocktake when I was a trainee accountant in the early nineties. It was in a Bristol suburb. I parked just up the road in a cul-de-sac of prefabs. I had never seen them before. I was there reading my paper for about half an hour and I remember noticing that all the passers-by were in their seventies. They must have moved in as young married couples in the 1940s and never left.
  8. 40m. I appear to be in a minority of one in not having enjoyed this one much: I found it a bit of a grind. Perhaps I’m just in a bad mood, but much of the difficulty here is in the obscurities, which does tend to make me grumpy. For these purposes Tim’s definition of ‘obscurity’ is accurate, save for the strange idea that what he knows or doesn’t know has anything to do with it.
    I had a bit of a madeleine moment with some DROP SCONES recently. I used to love them when I was a kid, but I could never quite reproduce the taste I remembered. Then recently I had some in Scotland that hit the spot, and the chap who cooked them told me that you have to use plain flour, bicarbonate of soda and cream of tartar: self-raising flour and baking powder are no-nos. I’ve no idea why, but it works.
  9. 18 mins. It seems that I was more on the setter’s wavelength than some of you, although having quite a bit of the required GK certainly helped. Having said that, I confess to having biffed TOADSTOOL and ABODE. PERSHING was my LOI after CERVANTES.
  10. 25 minutes to complete, a few Biffed and not parsed, e.g. 1a, 1d, 10a, so was glad for the blog to reassure and explain. Rased with an S was also new to me.

    Knew Pershing having just finished reading ‘Command and Control’, by Eric Schlosser, possibly the scariest book I’ve ever read, about the history of US nuclear weapons (and accidents) since 1945.

  11. Highly enjoyable crossword with a bit of backbone to it… jade = hack would not be obscure to any member of the Heyer Brigade..
  12. Popping up from general lurking to second topicaltim’s remarks on GK. Indeed so.

    Spent ages on 10ac trying to parse “adobe” (I’m old enough to remember the words to Pat Boone’s Speedy Gonzales – how’s that for obscure GK), so missed the obvious. Hey ho!

  13. Agree with all here (except keriothe), especially tim’s views of GK. Enjoyed the puzzle, remember prefabs, like proper drop-scones. Thanks tim for explaining the BIFDs.
  14. I’ll sign up for Keriothe’s minority. I didn’t like it much, but I think that’s more a reflection on me than the setter. Couldn’t get PERSHING, so opted for BEESTING, and inexplicably had STICKS instead of STOCKS.

    Possibly distracted by SA v NZ, and what a magnificent distraction it was.

    Thanks setter, not your fault, and thanks Tim for your perfect definition of GK.

      1. LOL.

        Search “arsenic” on the BBC website and see what comes up under Leeds & West Yorkshire news.

        While you’re there you can read about the armed transvestites who robbed our village post office yesterday.

        1. All happens up north, doesn’t it! I notice a wheelchair was also involved. Sounds like the Post Office was knocked over by Little Britain.
  16. 21:17 so a rare excursion into sub-TT territory.

    DNK that use of abode, or the celandine. Certes, rased and naiad just felt right so I probably have some prior knowledge.

    At 16 I was looking for the wrong sort of missile (rollocking/hairdryer treatment) and even when I started thinking of ICBMs the correct one took a while to come to mind.

    I’m in the “enjoyed it” camp and I’ll give COD to the economical tabloid which was my last in.

  17. A lunchtime event today meant that I had only limited time to do the crossword and this would normally mean that I would get stuck and leave it unfinished.

    However, today I was definitely on the setter’s wavelength, and obviously had the required knowledge, as I finished in just over 2 mins more than a Magoo.

  18. 45m for all but the missile and after 60m I bunged in Beesting – not BIFD as I didn’t know the definition! And that was just wrong. I doubt even another hour would have taken me to perishing for on the way out so glad I threw in the towel. I did enjoy the struggle though
    and thanks for the blog which cleated up more than just the missile and perfectly defined GK though of course I can’t see what Tim or Keriothe know has got to do with it!

    Edited at 2015-03-24 03:17 pm (UTC)

  19. Alright, I know it wasn’t that difficult, but I wasn’t just doing the crossword. Honest.
  20. 46 minutes so I found this quite a challenge with much biffing. 9ac and 10ac held me up at the end with ABODE being LOI after much thought trying to justify “adobe”.
  21. Thanks for the midwife toad, Topical Tim. I should have known that as my cousin who lives further south in France, has some living on her property. And thanks for ABODE. That and the (v)OLLEY kept me guessing for a long time. I thought a LOB might come into it, but no. 1hr 4m 29s.

    Edited at 2015-03-24 08:44 pm (UTC)

  22. 16:59 for me, making extraordinarily heavy weather of the crossing pairs TOADSTOOL and YELLOW, and SHORT-SIGHTEDLY and PERSHING.

    I remember reading Arthur Koestler’s fascinating book The Case of the Midwife Toad many years ago, so ought to have thought of the first of these far quicker. And for the last of them I wasted time wondering if the “missile” could be a SLING, even though I could see perfectly well that it didn’t match the definition; while on the other hand I failed to see the answer to 26ac SHORT-SIGHTEDLY (my Tom Swifty for today).

    Fortunately I didn’t waste too much time wondering why the answer to 17ac should be LISPED.

  23. 52 minutes here, although to be fair I was slowed down quite significantly by not getting the answers faster.

    LOsI were PERSHING (I was convinced I was looking for a SLING) and RASED (which I’d’ve spelled with a Z).

    As I clicked “submit”, I realized with horror that I hadn’t gone back to correct “NAIAD”, which I had put in knowing it must be wrong and meant to return to. So, I was pleasantly surprised to find it correct. I’d half-heard of naiads (I’m sure they’ve come up here before), but completely failed to parse it. I also failed to parse ABODE. COD for me was TOADSTOOL, though I also liked the managra at 1ac.

    Regarding Sotira’s locum GP, professional courtesy prevents me from either confirming or confirming the suspicion that we rely heavily on the internet, or that one of my more tech-dependent colleagues is known, behind his back, as a “wikipaediatrician”.

    1. Your professional courtesy entirely appreciated (not least, I’m sure, by my locum GP). I hasten to add that he was a very nice chap, which counts for something.

      Edited at 2015-03-25 08:58 am (UTC)

  24. Finally got round to solving this late in the day. Just over half an hour. Nice to see Cervantes getting a mention. Pleasant puzzle.

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