Times 26084

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
26 minutes, so another straightforward solve and the second within my 30 minute target this week, including all the parsing. There’s nothing more to say really so I’ll get straight on with the blog…

* = anagram, { } = deletions

Across
1 TEASER – Hidden inside {qui}TE A SER{ies}
5 MARMOSET – Odd letters of S{e}E{n} inside MARMOT (rodent)
9 SCAREDY-CAT – SC (Special Constable), READY*, CAT (whip). The anagram’s indicated by ‘crack’. Definition: ‘one may fear’. Not sure if this expression is known outside the UK.
10 TOPE – TO, PE (exercise)
11 PLUMBAGO – P{ersistent}, LUMBAGO (back pain). Definition: ‘found in certain writers’. I only remembered this as a shrub so I was puzzled by the definition until I looked it up and found that ‘plumbago’ is another name for graphite as used in pencils.
12 EXODUS – ED (editor) encloses OX (neat) reversed, US (American)
13 OSSA – ASS (donkey) + O (over) all reversed. In Greece or Tasmania – take your pick!
15 ANTECEDE – ANTE (bet), CEDE (surrender)
18 PRIE-DIEU – Anagram of I (one) RUPEE I’D. This is a prayer seat, stool or desk for kneeling at.
19 PARK – Double definition
21 VIZIER – VIZ (namely), I (one), ER (monarch). My heart sank on seeing the definition here in case it was something I didn’t know, but fortunately the wordplay was helpful and I recognised the title.
23 HOOLIGAN – HOGAN (old golfer – Ben) encloses I + LO (see) reversed. I’m not hot on golfers’ names but even I knew this one.
25 MILL – Double definition
26 TRENDINESS – TRESS (lock) encloses {boatme}N + DINE (eat)
27 ENORMOUS – E (English), NOUS (intelligence) encloses O (old) + RM (marines)
28 RIDING – Double definition. ‘Up’ can mean mounted on a horse and is ‘riding’ definition number one. The second refers to the ancient sub-divisions of Yorkshire which may have been changed or abolished as far as civil administration is concerned but are still very much a part of the culture and traditions of the wider county so it’s probably not necessary for the clue to specify ‘once’. On the other hand some would probably complain if it didn’t.

Down
2 EXCEL – EX (former), CE (church), L{eader}
3 SCRUMMAGE – CR (credit) inside SUM (problem), GAME*. Anyone who biffed ‘scrimmage’ will be disappointed. I’m puzzled by the vagueness of the definition ‘arrangement’ and wonder if there’s something I’m missing. If it’s technical sporty thing I’m very unlikely to know of it. Edit later, since from the comments (including one from an experienced rugby player) it appears I was not missing anything, it now seems unlikely that anyone would have biffed SCRIMMAGE, as how can one biff without a proper definition? One needs all the wordplay to find the word and the wordplay can only lead to SCRUMMAGE.
4 REDCAP – D (duke) + C (caught) inside REAP (harvest). Definition: MP (military policeman)
5 MUCH OF A MUCHNESS – (SON SAFE CHUM CHUM)*
6 RETREATS – RE (about), TREATS (entertainments)
7 OUTDO – OUT (unelected), DO (party). I’m saying nothing…
8 EXPOUNDER – {bibl}E, X-POUNDER (one of unknown weight). Definition: ‘person interpreting’.
14 SARDINIAN – SIAN (girl in Wales) encloses A+R (right) +DIN (racket)
16 CAPTIONED – CAPONE (gangster) encloses TI (note), D (daughter). Definition: ‘provided with heading’.
17 LIBRETTO – LIB (politician), OTTER (strong swimmer) reversed. Definition: ‘book’ e.g. the words of an opera or oratorio.
20 FODDER – FE (iron) encloses ODD (unusual), R (monarch)
22 IDLER – ID (papers), LE (the, French), R (resistance)
24 ARSON – A,R (run), SON (family member)

39 comments on “Times 26084”

  1. didn’t know the mountain so went with ESSA. Was also confused by the plumbago definition only knowing it as a plant. Only took about 18 minutes but with one wrong so the time doesn’t really count
    1. I hadn’t realised the wordplay could quite easily work for ESSA if one didn’t know the name of the mountain, but fortunately OSSA has turned up here before so I recognised it. A quick search suggests the last time was in 2013 but I’ve an idea I’ve seen it within the past couple of weeks. Perhaps it was in another of the puzzles I do.
  2. I plumped for Essa too, and finally gave up on vizier having too quickly assumed that namely one was an ie i, not a viz i. Live and learn. Thanks for the clear blog.
  3. I knew OSSA anyway, but I thought it had appeared a number of times here; I guess it was the NYT. SCAREDY-CAT is in American dialects as well, as is ‘fraidy-cat’. 18ac went in on definition before I parsed it–rather odd surface–and 5d went in on the M and C + definition (and enumeration). Like Jack, I had a bad feeling at first about 21ac, but the ‘namely’–>VIZ brought back the Grand Vizier who always seemed to be in Arabian Nights stories I read as a boy.
  5. I did enjoy this crossword, easy but neatly done, with some beautiful surface readings

    Ossa is a regular.. about a dozen appearances in tfft. In fact it was mentioned only a few days ago, as being next door to Tempe..

    Plumbago is latin for lead ore and hence the graphite (“black lead” so called) and also the plant, which apparently has lead-coloured blotches, plumb-lines etc.

  6. 13.43, with the top half much quicker than the bottom, and agonising before pressing the button over VIZIER. I was certain of the viz bit until I had one of those annoying false mental popups that suggested vis and visier. It doesn’t look right, but… After solve, I see my Chambers doesn’t have viz either as a separate entry. Presumably the rude comic couldn’t be used in wordplay as it’s still (just) alive.
  7. 16:55 … same experience — a few unknowns/unsures but the wordplay was clearly enough to shore up half-remembered old encounters.
  8. 12:17 – which must be a PB with an iPad, with no hold-ups and stuff just flowing in. Only slight hesitation was SCRIMMAGE/SCRUMMAGE and why either would be an ‘arrangement’ is not clear to me, even after (or perhaps because of) 35 years of playing in the front row of the pack.

  9. Could have been a pb if I’d got VIZIER. As it was, I gave up with it blank, but managed all others in about 20mins. dnk OSSA, but guessed correctly. Maybe it was lurking somewhere in my sub conscience. Also dnk that meaning of PLUMBAGO. Only one I biffed was TRENDINESS (didn’t get the ‘dine’ bit).
  10. 11:32 but erred by stupidly putting in ‘part’ instead of ‘park’ for 19ac. Though still not clear why park = leave temporarily?
    Also I know what biffed means I think in the context of crosswords but now understand it to be an acronym ie BIFD? Could somebody please enlighten me?
    1. Bunged In From Definition, an acronym that has caught on in a remarkably short space of time, initiated by Grestyman on 9/1/15. Does anyone know if it’s migrated from this pre-eminent assembly?
    2. ‘She parked the car on the yellow line while she dashed into Tesco (to try and prop up the share price.’

      Re the neologism/acronym issue, to ‘bung in from definition’ is to ‘bif”/BIF, the activity is ‘biffing’, and the action in the past (as perhaps most commonly used) BIFD or, rather more elegantly, ‘biffed’.

    3. ‘Park’ also has a figurative meaning with a perhaps clearer notion of temporariness: it’s something normally done with ‘issues’ in sentences also likely to contain the words ‘going forward’.
  12. 13:40. Very quick for much of this until I was slowed down in the SW corner, not knowing PRIE DIEU and not seeing VIZIER until the last. I’d been trying to fit KING into the answer until my penultimate LIBRETTO went in.
  13. MARMOCET / MARMOSET, VISIER / VIZIER, you say tomato…

    Bit of a disaster really for what was a pretty straightforward puzzle.

    Oh well, there’ll probably be another one tomorrow. Thanks setter and blogger.

  14. An undemanding crossword but entertaining just the same. The question mark at 28ac seems unnecessary but jackkt’s take on the matter might go some way towards explaining it. I thought PLUMBAGO was particularly well clued.
  15. 11 mins. LIBRETTO was my LOI after TRENDINESS. I knew OSSA so I wasn’t tempted by “Essa”, although I agree that the wordplay is ambiguous. I also knew VIZIER from its definition, and when I did my own post-solve check I found that my edition of Chambers does have “viz” as a separate entry. As far as “biffed” is concerned I have used it once or twice in fifteensquared, I think someone else did too, but it doesn’t appear to be in general usage there just yet. Give it time.
  16. 20 minutes, but at the end had to look up mountains to see if it was OSSA or ESSA. So cheated. Otherwise a pleasant 4 on Moh’s scale of hardness.
    Plumbago, an odd sort of word to have three meanings; a plant variety, a type pf butterfly and an old name for graphite. My Granddad used to complain about his plumbago, too.
  17. 8m. Straightforward but pleasant solve. I didn’t know PLUMBAGO, but remembered OSSA (vaguely) from past puzzles. SCRUMMAGE with a shrug.
  18. A gentle 15 mins with the bottom half taking much longer than the top. RIDING went in immediately! I believe it is derived from thirding i.e. a division into three which explains why there were W,N and E Ridings but no S. I still consider myself from the West Riding though my birthplace is now in South Yorkshire.
  19. 20 minutes, so a very straightforward puzzle with a few giveaways such as 10 and 25. I didn’t know the definition for 11, and OSSA was only vaguely familiar so wasn’t 100% sure of that; I didn’t consider ESSA, but that depends on a wordplay interpretation that doesn’t strike me as Times style.
  20. 10:54 with a bit of the white stuff on 3d where I had briefly gone for scrimmage before reading the clue very carefully and realising my mistake.
  21. Thanks to all of you for letting me into the secret of this splendid acronym which I will be hoping to use at every possible opportunity, and also for ‘park’. Definitely a D’Oh moment.
  22. 9:28. I was going to claim that I didn’t know either Mount Ossa but the comments here suggest I must do. I didn’t know plumbago in any of its forms so just hit and hoped.

    Prie-dieu last in based on dieu, the leftover letters and a vague recollection that we’ve had it before.

  23. Reasonably straightforward and about 35 minutes, but I slowed myself down by putting in ETNA for the mount, which was rather stupid. I think the proximity of ‘stake and surrender’ in the next across clue had planted a brain meme and I did wonder as I entered it if an ANTE was another name for a donkey, or maybe a donkey was a gambling term for a stake or ante. It wasn’t until I was looking for the Italian girl in Wales that I reconsidered it. I didn’t know OSSA, but it looked a good bet, so I bunged it in and hoped for the best.

    I didn’t know PRIE DIEU either, not being overly familiar with the paraphernalia of the non-secular world (is non-secular a double negative?).

    Nice puzzle though, and easier than yesterday despite the unknowns.

  24. Very enjoyable. Slightly hampered by entering one answer in the wrong place, but not much.
  25. My first Go at the Times Crossword today as I was asked not to fill in the Quickie. It was most enjoyable and I nearly got there. Di was my Welsh girl and so I could not find Sardinian and I did not recognise Mount Ossa. I recognised a scrum as a formation but nevertheless I do not recognise sums as problems and so I settled for Sim and Scrimmage.
    1. Congrats on your first attempt, anon. It will get easier with practice. Sums and problems are terms used in mathematics, or were when I was taught at school many decades ago. I don’t know so much about about now, but anyway one for the other is quite common in crosswordland so it’s worth remembering for the future.

      I hope you will contribute regularly; it would be nice if you could sign off with a name or nickname if you prefer, or better still get yourself a Live Journal ID which is free of charge and will allow you to have a user pic and edit messages immediately after posting if you wish.

      Edited at 2015-04-28 05:28 pm (UTC)

    2. You can set up an account at the ‘Create an Account’ button at the very top of this page. Welcome aboard.
  26. A pleasant puzzle which only held me up at the end with the crossing PRIE-DIEU and MUCH OF…. We certainly have SCAREDY-CAT in the US, as Kevin said above, but I don’t think we ever have the MUCHNESS phrase. No problem with OSSA. Between 15 and 20 minutes. Regards.
  27. Like [therotter], I took 35 minutes for this, and also had “Etna” for a long time at 13ac, one the vague and unsound basis that a “donkey” is slang for the ante in poker (which it isn’t). Finally twigged and finished with SARDINIAN and VIZIER.
  28. A scrummage is a very elaborate arrangement: a set piece of Rugby (Union anyway)with a number of rules to be followed at its start, despite the mayhem which may ensue.

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