Times 26,138

Author   topicaltimPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
After we were eased into the week with yesterday’s puzzle, today’s didn’t require any greater stretching of the little grey cells. I think most people would like a little more challenge in the daily cryptic, but there’s no reason why every puzzle should be a titanic struggle either – sometimes a brisk sprint can be very invigorating, even if less satisfying to complete than a marathon. Once more I managed to dash to the finish within 2(Magoo), although today it was Jason who set the neutrino-like pace at the top of the leaderboard.

Actually, I always maintain it’s actually harder to compile a good easy puzzle than a tough one, and this had appropriately concise clueing, and some very readable surfaces, even if the vocabulary was pretty standard (barring perhaps one French word, a slightly baroque synonym for “travel”, and a London location which non-UK solvers may not know). I also note quite a few people with one error, possibly the result of jumping to conclusions at 6dn or 12dn. Have I called these things correctly? Only one way to find out…

Across
1 DEMONIAC – DEMO(=march), (CAIN)rev. The Bible’s first murderer is always the first thought when you see the word “murderer”.
6 DIVEST – DIVE(=joint), S{ilen}T.
9 PETTICOAT LANE – (ETCAPOTENTIAL)*; location of an East End street market, appropriately enough specialising in clothes and fashion, and thus adding an &lit. element to the anagram indicator “for tailoring”.
10 COQUET – QUE(“that” in French) in COT. More commonly seen in the feminine version “coquette”.
11 TERRAPIN – ERR(=sin) in TAP-IN(=shot from close range).
13 STABLEMATE – cryptic def.
15 TIFF – STIFF=tough, knocking off the first letter (i.e.”wiping mouth”) gives the spat.
16 EWER – W{ater} in E’ER.
18 TALK TURKEY – two defs, one giving a literal explanation of the common metaphorical expression.
21 WOODLAND – (DOWNLOAD)*; for once, nothing to do with cricket, which was excellent misdirection for those of us who are eagerly awaiting the series which begins in a little over a week.
22 SNAPPY – NAP(=forty winks) in SPY(=look).
23 PEREGRINATION – lift and separate to reveal the definition “travel”; [R{wandan} + (TONIGERIA)*]in PEN(=writer).
25 LEGEND – EG(=say) in LEND(=advance).
26 ENDANGER – END(=death) + ANGER(=passion).
 
Down
2 EXPLOIT – LO(=look) in EX-PIT(=old mine).
3 OUTNUMBERED – OUT(=dismissed), then Her Majesty “E.R.” in NUMBED(=without feeling).
4 IDIOT – 1 in (1 DOT).
5 CROATIA – C{old}, [OAT in (AIR)rev.].
6 DETERRENT – {investmen}T in DEER RENT(=maybe does, payment). Doe, a deer, a female deer, can confuse the unwary when it’s pluralised.
7 VIA – V{isiting} I{talian} A{irport}.
8 SHERIFF – H{ickock} in (FIRES)rev., then {standof}F.
12 ALTERCATION – C(=Roman hundred) in ALTERATION(=switch).
14 ESTRANGED – (GARDENSET)*.
17 WHOOPEE – HOOP(=ring) in WEE(=minute).
19 LUDDITE – (DILUTED)*.
20 EXPANSE – PANS(=vessels) in EXE(river of Exeter and other parts of Devon, and beloved of crossword setters).
22 SHARD – S{ingular} HARD{demanding}.
24 RYE =”WRY”, as in a wry neck rather than a wry remark.

37 comments on “Times 26,138”

  1. The problem with these easy puzzles is that solving becomes a sort of mechanical process with minimal real involvement. This one is so bland that I can’t remember a single clue 3 hours after completing it.
    1. I would tend to agree, having just recovered from trudging around a muddy field all weekend I’m quite grateful for these trifling ones right now, but rather looking forward to something monstrously and memorably chewy to beef up the rest of the week…
  2. 17:55. Glad to hear that it’s not just me prone to jumping to conclusions. In fact in this instance I hesitated on one you mention, DETERRENT, and went back to parse before submitting. Which is when I saw the witty ‘does payment’.

    LOI was STABLEMATE which held me up briefly. When you’ve got all the crossers but can’t see a word that fits its always harder with a cryptic definition and no parsing to help. Fortunately I saw STABLE before too long which wasn’t too much of a leap to STABLEMATE.

  3. More on song today with 11.01, though ease of solving does not indicate trivial clues. On the contrary, a lot of elegance and smoothness here with some little believable vignettes of life that deserve to be worked up into short stories.
    Only got the well hidden DEER hen checking for typos.
    Is there any truth in the rumour that Petticoat Lane’s Victorian name change was a piece of Victorian prudery? The market itself sails on, maintaining a fine East End atmosphere despite the rather brutalist concrete of some of its surroundings. That and nearby Spitalfields indoor market well worth a visit.
  4. I don’t mind the easy ones, on the simple basis that the harder ones take me too long.

    Thanks setter and blogger.

  5. I doubt the Victorian prudery. I used to visit the market regularly (its in Middlesex Street in the East End) and was told the name goes back at least 300 years.
    1. Yes, sure, the Petticoat Lane name goes back a long way, but was erased from the map in 1846 when Middlesex Street took over. The suggestion is that the Victorians didn’t like the reference to undergarments and engaged in verbal cleansing.
      1. The Victorians’ reputation for prudery is somewhat exaggerated. For example, the old tale that they found naked piano legs so scandalous that they clothed them in frilly drawers known as pantalets seems to be a myth. It is thought that it may have have its origins in a book, A Diary in America, written by Captain Frederick Marryat in the late 1830s, as a satirical comment on American rather British prissiness.
  6. Neat and entertaining, if only for a short while. Some smooth surfaces eg the two long lights 9 and 23ac, and smart wordplay with the female deer in 6dn. SHERIFF my COD, for the narrative.
  7. 12 mins. I started off slowly and didn’t get a single across clue until I got to PEREGRINATION. I picked up some speed after that, but there were way too many Dean Martin’s in my solve today, including ESTRANGED, ENDANGER, STABLEMATE and WOODLAND. COQUET was my LOI after OUTNUMBERED.
  8. 10m. Fortunately my ‘you can’t spell, check the wordplay’ alarm was working today so I narrowly avoided putting in PERIGRINATION.
    I wasted a couple of minutes at the end convinced that the ‘broadcast’ in 21ac was a homophone indicator.
  9. Don’t let’s knock the easier puzzles, which this certainly was. There should be tough challenges as well, of course, but this was lots of fun, with good clueing and excellent surface reads.
  10. 20 minutes. I don’t often finish in 20 minutes or below, and was surprised how easy this turned out to be after yesterday’s gentle offering. Coquet, rather than coquette, was unfamiliar, so I didn’t enter it until I had 3d. Even the long and rather formal 23 could be got from the definition, the P, the I and the final N in place.
  11. 13:53, so quite quick for me and without significant hold-ups. Bottom half went in easier. I enjoyed 9a and 21a and was glad the answer to the latter was not a sort of cremation urn.

    Edited at 2015-06-30 10:30 am (UTC)

  13. Quite hard enough for me given other on-going distractions at the moment. Biffed 6dn and forgot to take a second look at it.
  14. For those that haven’t seen it I thought it worth sharing this great clue from the Guardian today:

    One’s likely to drop off Eric Clapton after taking a spin (11).

    2. Yes, that was a keeper! Must admit I’d never heard of “locorestive” before. Does “Paul” set for the Times?
      1. Yes. ‘Paul’ is John Halpern, who also sets for the FT , Independent and Telegraph Toughie.
    3. That’s a brilliant spot.

      It’s also an anagram of “Clacton Pier” where I spent some of my mis-spent youth.

      Dereklam

    4. In fact “One likely to drop off Clacton Pier when drunk” would have been pretty accurate…
  15. 6:56 which I think is only my second ever foray into sub-7 territory.

    Yes it was “easy” but it was a precise and elegant enough puzzle to suit those making the step up from the quickie. There were some nice touches along the way like does payment and shot from close range.

  16. 9:46 … or 1.4 Penfolds (and less that two Magoos, which scans better). WOODLAND and TALK TURKEY both got a chuckle, and that alone makes a daily puzzle ok with me.

    Thanks for the Guardian share, Pootle. That one certainly gets the imagination racing.

  17. This isn’t as easy if you don’t know PETTICOAT LANE – the top half took a while of chipping away at. In the end all quite solid, apart from needing all the checking letters to get the market.
  18. As one trying to make the step up from QC this was a DNF after about 2 hours- about 8 off including 10a and 23a which are completely new words- and I was also shooting the wrong way with 21a and 5d- so big like the pleas on the qc comments don’t automatically assume it’s too easy if it is about encouraging and widening participation. I will try again tomorrow!
    Noel
  19. 4:59 – I may never beat the mighty Magoo’s time, but apparently I can sometimes bring it to a photo finish…
    1. Well done.

      I fear this rash of blistering times will further encourage the editor to make this year’s championship puzzles a lot tougher than last. That’s probably as it should be, but could spell curtains for my 2015 target (same as last year, minus the silly mistakes).

      1. It was generally deemed to be on the easy side last year, wasn’t it? I’m expecting them to overcompensate with a battery of real stinkers this time round.
  20. Not down in the single figures yet but an enjoyable stroll. Never heard of a COQUET before, just the female versions.
    1. Um – bigtone – do you think you could swivel a bit so we can see you?
      1. I am the one on the left (not in this one obviously, which involves Miss BT)
  21. Much the same as yesterday – another clean sweep, this time in 5:33 (6 seconds slower). I actually thought I’d taken rather longer than that, but there were only 28 clues today (as against yesterday’s 30), and I had fewer hold-ups so I suppose that must have made the difference.

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