Times 26116 – a beetle of a crossword?

Author   glhPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time : Well… 10:31, but the club timer is telling me I have one incorrect entry. Aaaaah – I see it is the obvious typo at 2 down.

Not a lot to be said about this one, pretty steady solve, with a little bit of head-scratching and a few answers put in from wordplay – no “biffing” this time around.

I was rather stunned by the numbers of V’s and W’s in the grid, and am now convinced the setter drives a Volkswagen. Feel free to correct me if you are checking in. I also wonder if it is a US-based setter as there are two timely references for this part of the globe.

Away we go!

Across
1 POWWOW: BOW-WOW with a new first letter
4 LEFT BANK: if you have gotten your Euros, you might leave the bank
10 UNDERVEST: anagram (BULL) of VET,NURSED
11 ETHAN: first letters of Every Test Has Academic Nous. This is the week of final exams for most high schools in the southeastern US
12 PREDICTABLY: nice wordplay spot here – BAT(knock),CIDER all reversed in PLY
14 REF: hidden in motheR EFfective
15 SITWELL: IT in SWELL – take your pick of Edith, Osbert or Sachervell
17 EVOKES: E, KES(film) containing V,O – yes, for once the film isn’t E.T.
19 CAMPUS: UP(at University),MA(scholar) all reversed inside C(lasse)S
21 POP STAR: or P,OP,STAR(t)
23 (s)ARK
24 DELIVERY VAN: a rather stunning reversal of NAVY REVILED
26 SLOPE: (POLES)*
27 MOTH-EATEN: take the (docto)R out of THEATER inside MON(day)
29 MO,NO,TONY: the TONY awards for Broadway shows are being presented this weekend
30 HARLOW: (WARHOL)* – I know it’s legit, but if I was Ximenes, I’d have a chapter on why one shouldn’t clue a proper name as an anagram
 
Down
1 PLUMPISH: PLUM, then SIP reversed, H
2 WODGE: DG(Director General of the BBC) in WOE – this was my downfall as I ended up overtyping in the middle and changed it to WEDGE
3 O(round),A,R
5 EA,TABLE
6 TEENY-BOPPER: spoonerism of BEANIE TOPPER
7 ABHORRENT: (c)HOR(e) in A, BRENT
8 KUNG FU: F,GNU in UK, all reversed
9 MENTAL: NT in MEAL
13 INEXPEDIENT: IN,EX,PE then DIET around N
16 the way back from the summit would be the TRACK DOWN
18 BRAND NEW: BREW containing AND,(Bourbo)N
20 SOLO(singer),M,ON
21 PIVOTS: STO(p),VIP all reversed
22 RANSOM: (MANORS)*
25 V,ITAL(y)
28 ETA: reversed alternating letters in pArTnEr

41 comments on “Times 26116 – a beetle of a crossword?”

  1. I almost made George’s mistake and put in ‘wedge’, but ‘wee’ didn’t look right, so went for DNK WODGE. Couldn’t make sense of UNDERVEST (how is it different from a vest?), not thinking of ‘bull’ as anagrind, but finally twigged to ‘top’ as the def and BIFD. It hadn’t occurred to me to think of teenyboppers as fashionable, even among teenagers (who are none of them fashionable among me). And not knowing ‘Kes’, I wasted a lot of time not putting in EVOKES and trying to fit either PIC or ET into the word. I also wasted a lot of time trying to make ‘London borough’ the definition–not a good idea when, like me, one doesn’t know the names of any London boroughs. In short, I wasted a lot of time.
    1. A VEST was originally an outer garment or waistcoat, hence the corresponding undergarment was an UNDERVEST, although VEST is generally now used for the underwear.

      Same process with PANTS and UNDERPANTS where PANTS is now generally the underwear (at least in British English).

      I used to have a Murcan friend who referred to “u-trow” which I took to mean “undertrousers”, but whether he was in jest or serious I never found out.

      Dereklam

      1. Thanks. For Murcan me, of course, a vest is the 3d part of a 3-piece suit, and I’d assumed that it was an undershirt in the UK, hence that ‘undervest’ would be superfluous.
  2. What Kevin said. Nearly fell for WEDGE, didn’t know KES, went through my non-existent mental list of London boroughs, but got there unscathed in the end.

    My main interest was checking Verlaine’s progress towards his goal of a sub-10 average for the week. He’s well and truly on track, but I think I need to get a life.

    Thanks setter and blogger.

  3. … the WODGE, having just looked at today’s Paul in the Groan and contemplating the word “woeful” re a certain footballer. Isn’t “wodge” a horrible word even if it is a variant on “wedge”? Liked the Kes clue (17ac); that’s in my top ten list of Brit. films.
  5. Spent ages at the end on EVOKES, trying, like Kevin, to fit in pic or et. Nearly gave up and threw in the momble elopet to mean something very old… Just realised I biffed BRAND NEW without parsing, but all others straightforward. 35mins

  6. A steady 47 minutes of solving with time lost at the end still pondering WEDGE and UNDERVEST. I was eventually able to resolve 2dn by spotting the alternative WODGE which fits the wordplay though I still think ‘wedge’ goes better with ‘piece’ as the definition.

    Edited at 2015-06-04 05:46 am (UTC)

  7. Well one does get “a wee spot of trouble…” (that was my excuse).
    I was about to misspell 30a thinking of course that “the ‘T’ was silent…”
    Par 30 minutes.
  8. 14:38. With more than the usual amount of biffing,
    Sachervell, George? Didn’t he write a Canon?

    Edited at 2015-06-04 08:15 am (UTC)

  9. 10:50. Rather a lot of biffing here, but fortunately I resisted the temptation to biff WEDGE at the end.
  11. 13:33 … there doesn’t seem to be much enthusiasm for what I thought was a terrific weekday puzzle. Lots of humour, lots of ingenuity, really nice surfaces, an above-average Spoonerism, and Whistler’s Mother, too.

    Only a couple of sub-10 times (guess who) on the leader board at nearly 10am, so not a walk in the park.

    Torn for COD between the cleverness of DELIVERY VAN, the corniness of LEFT BANK, and the all-round satisfactoriness of SITWELL.

    Thanks, setter. Much enjoyed.

    Edited at 2015-06-04 08:56 am (UTC)

    1. I loved it too – a cut above. I was enjoying it too much to manage a really ridiculous time (that’s my excuse anyway, that and the fact I was eating peanut butter toast with my non-typing hand) and clocked in at 12 and a half minutes. Comfortable inside two Magoos, that’s the important thing.
  12. 12:59 here, which got me on the first page of the leaderboard until Jason & Magoo showed up! No biffing here though, and definitely COD to 24ac.
  13. 26:20. Right-hand side went in first, ending top left. Toyed with WEDGE for 2d but wee surely wasn’t trouble. Liked both 12a and 24a. I knew of the film KES, but I’ve never watched it. Amazed to see it was made as long ago as 1969. Doesn’t time fly?
  14. My horrible habit of entering letters starting in the wrong square pushed my time to 20.36 for this cheerful number – I had TTRACKDON at it’s worst in 16, which meant the whole of that quarter was impossible until corrected. Can’t for the life of me see how TEENYBOPPER is fashionable, except in older dictionaries and possibly not even there. But it was a fine example of a Spooner clue. I also liked the extraordinary reverse at 24. Who knew?
    1. My 2003 Chambers has teeny-bopper n (inf) a young teenager, esp a girl, who follows enthusiastically the latest trends in pop music, clothes, etc.
    2. I sort of did the opposite, ending 1a too early (POWOW) which gave me the river Wor at 3d (somewhere near the Tyne, Wear and Tees) until the blank square caught my eye.
  15. 33 minutes for a relatively straightforward puzzle. I didn’t fall for WEDGE as I had WOE in mind anyway, but had TABLE as a tentative ending for 12, so was slow to see 6. I also wasted time trying to get WORM-EATEN out of the cryptic for 27.
  16. Vewy entertaining with some memorable clues. DELIVERY VAN of course and the whimsical HARLOW/Warhol anagram, despite the blogger’s misgivings. A satisfying 25 minutes or so after going back to pen on paper.
  17. 8:03 – a time which for two reasons makes me smile.

    no problems with WODGE as I know someone fond of using the word to describe a piece of something, usually cake.

      1. 14 mins. I did this much later in the day than I usually do after a busy morning and early afternoon, but I’m not sure I’d have done it much quicker at my normal time. I used to use WODGE a fair bit so I had no trouble with it. I was held up slightly by having biffed “predictable” and it was only when I finally saw TEENYBOPPER that I realised my mistake. I agree that the reversed “navy reviled” was a gem. I finished in the SW corner with RANSOM after SLOPE and MONOTONY.

        I think the point anon was making above is that George parsed SOLOMON but not the reason why it is the answer.

        Edited at 2015-06-04 03:05 pm (UTC)

  19. 12:36, slowed a bit by my powwow problems as described above.

    Nice to see “film” meaning something different for a change. Just the other day someone on another site I frequent posted a Youtube clip of the games lesson scene in Kes.

    1. Indeed, a very fine movie. The games lesson scene as shot probably could’t be made today, so far has Grundyism moved us.
    2. And a young David Bradley in the lead role as I recall; a child star who became and still is a terrific stage and film actor IMO.
      1. Agreed. I saw him in No Man’s Land a few years ago and he was great.
    3. Kes is spine number #561 in the Criterion Collection, which I am watching in order on Sunday evenings. Up to #40ish right now, so by my calculations I’ve got a date with Kes for June 2025. Can’t wait.
  20. 25 mins – I seem to be slowing with age. Kes was filmed in the town where I was born and nurtured. Birds flew backwards in Barnsley to keep the smoke out of their eyes.
  21. Heavens. I came here expecting to learn why ‘wee’ meant trouble in the UK, and I get WODGE instead. Never heard of a WODGE, nor Kes the film. I managed EVOKES, but WODGE, no. One wrong for me. Regards.
  22. Oh dear! 13:25 for me. I’d have enjoyed more and almost certainly solved it a lot faster if I hadn’t been feeling so darned tired. As it was my brain felt like candyfloss and I struggled with what in retrospect look a straightforward set of clues. (Deep sigh!)
  23. This is only the 3rd or 4th Times 15×15 I’ve completed successfully (I’ve managed many in the Graun (when the easy setters are on) and a couple in the FT)). So I loved it. It took me an hour but I finished it. And I got it right. So I’m very happy.
  25. I too fell victim to WEDGE at 2d, which is my own fault for not parsing. So, 29 minutes of my life wasted. Ah well.

    And to make it worse, I came here a day late and inadvertently went to Friday’s blog. I’d read half a dozen of the answers before realising that I was a day out of sync, so that’s blown my recreation for this evening. Complete disastrophe.

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