Times 26176 – a little light relief

Author   glhPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time : 8:12 on the club timer, which currently has me in the lead spot, mere seconds ahead of some of our esteemed regular contributors. A relief, since I’m coming to this a little later than I usually do, so it’s a late dinner and drinks once this gets written up. Mmmm, drinks.

Not a great deal to be said about this one, the only answer that held me up for any appreciable amount of time was 17 across, where I wasn’t quite sure between YOU’RE ON, YOU’RE IN or anything else you might be that ends in N. I think I understand the wordplay.

Away we go…

Across
1 MODUS OPERANDI: (IMPOSED, AROUND)*
9 TAMIL: hidden in junTA MILitia
10 WHIRLPOOL: cryptic definition
11 ROBING ROOM: or ROB IN GROOM
12 (c)OWLS
14 INSTEAD: (DETAINS)*
16 SAMURAI: IS containing A, RUM, A all reversed
17 YOU’RE ON: YON(that) containing OUR,E
19 GLASSES: (GALES)* containing SS
20 EXAM: MAX reversed after E
21 STAND UP FOR: STAND UP(comedian) then FOR(m)
24 VOICE-OVER: VICE(flawed act) containing 0, then OVER(extra)
25 ACUTE: ATE surrounding CU
26 HOME SECRETARY: ME, SECRET(quiet) in HOARY(old)
 
Down
1 MATERNITY LEAVE: cryptic definition
2 DEMO(exhibit),B
3 SPLINTERED: L in (PRESIDENT)*
4 POWERED: WE’RE in POD
5 RUINOUS: 1 in RUN,O(over),US
6 NULL: U(seless), L(ecturer) in N(ove)L
7 IRONWORKS: ROW,NO all reversed in IRKS
8 PLASTIC SURGERY: PICS surrounding LAST, then URGE, RY
13 IMMACULATE: anagram of MIME containing an anagram of ACTUAL – don’t see a lot of anagram container clues, rather nice this one
15 SQUEAMISH: EA,M in SQUISH
18 NATIVES: TAN reversed, then Charles IVES
19 GENERIC: GEN then the middle of amERICan
22 FAUNA: FAN,A containing U
23 HELM: L in HEM

49 comments on “Times 26176 – a little light relief”

  1. Felt like it should have been quicker, as there was nothing here to scare the horses. Was surprised that Burl Ives was a composer, glad George cleared that up.

    I never think of owls as birds of prey, they always look like they’d be above that sort of behaviour. Still, a bird’s gotta eat I guess.

    Thanks setter and blogger.

  2. 30 minutes, with WHIRLPOOL last in after IRONWORKS. Liked those two and also PLASTIC SURGERY, where I was looking for something poetic.

    I didn’t know the ‘corrosively eat away’ meaning of ‘etch’, recorded here in case anyone else be in the same boat.

  3. 18.24: like Galspray, thought it was/should have been quicker, though maybe not as quick as George – stellar time, Sir. Spent time not getting the parsing of IRONWORKS right: once I was unshakably convinced that upsets were ROWS, all of which letters appeared in the answer, it became one of those where I believed I knew roughly how it worked, so the fine detail could wait for a week when I’m blogging.
    Relieved to find in the end that it was LEAVE in 1d: in a crossword that usually equates “support” with lingeristic architecture, I thought my knowledge of such things was about to be stretched.
  4. 31 minutes. Would have hit my target but for 17a which required revisiting each time a new checker was added.
  5. 15:31 … which I thought was a pretty good time until I saw the leaderboard. A humbling experience, as so often. Whenever the Times uses this kind of grid, with the long 1a and 1d, those clues are among my last in. No change today. I may need to see a sports psychologist about this.

    Galspray — you’re so right about the owls. At the very least, I’m sure they use cutlery and napkins.

    PLASTIC SURGERY is brilliantly constructed.

    1. Hi Sotira. You might enjoy a visit to the Devon Bird of Prey Centre at Newton Abbot. Owls are amongst the most efficient of hunters with special eyes and silent wings!
      1. For once I was kind of feigning the ignorance, Jim, being a bit of a closet birder. I’m pretty into owls! I haven’t been to the DBPC but it is on my list.
  6. About 40mins so a bit longer than some of late. But looking at it now, it shouldn’t have been…
  7. Easy one today with 1A biffed from definition and (5,8) and 1D from leading M and (9,5) which opened up the grid nicely. No hold ups or quibbles. No stand out clues – a very vanilla offering.
  8. 18 minutes but would have been a bit quicker had I not tried for too long to retrofit Aramis as the swordsman in 16ac when S-M appeared at the front. I thought ‘come to terms with issue’ and ‘work on lines’ were rather neat.
  9. 15:27… which is pretty quick for me. I wondered about MAELSTROM for 10a, but waited for checkers to see if it was WHIRLPOOL which I associate more with a posh bath than a marine hazard. I couldn’t see why 17a was YOU’RE ON… thanks for explaining it George.
  10. 23’06. All straightforward enough yet like some others found it difficult to gain traction. Not sure about the whirlpool causing concern; nor did I know a groom was a royal attendant. (Nor, come to that, that a robing room existed anywhere. Every house should have one.)
  11. Apologies from Macavity but his hospital visit is going to take him far longer than he thought and he hasn’t any wifi signal.

    Please could someone stand in for him and do the Quick blog.

    Thank you

  12. Just outside 40 minutes for me, and like others, it should have been quicker. I can’t think what held me up, as all the clues seemed fair and reasonable. I also biffed MO, only seeing the anagram after putting the answer in, and also wondered about whether it was you’re on or in. LOI was HELM after getting VOICE OVER.
  13. 20 minutes, easier than yesterday’s struggle, but enjoyable. Thought HELM for direct was a bit odd.
    I’ve been keen on owls since meeting WOL in WTP, they look intelligent and wise (even if they can’t spell) but are just perfectly equipped for their role. Silent but deadly.
  14. A leisurely 25 minutes for a straightforward and entertaining offering. I liked the four long lights even though the 1s were a little too obvious. I certainly think of owls as birds of prey so I’m not sure why 12ac was LOI.
  15. 22 mins on the dot. Was into CLASSIC SURGERY until the penny dropped and did a lot of biffing so thanks for the blog George.

    I like owls but deeply like red kites, which have appeared in the Thames Valley over the last 15 years and are now everywhere here. Very stylish and a very distinctive call. Its only when you see one on the ground that you appreciate how big they are.

    1. One of my most vivid memories of walking in Hong Kong (which is around 60% country park) was an early walk beside a culvert, where black-eared kites were roosting. As I approached, around 30 of these birds with a 5-foot wingspan rose like B 52 bombers up into the sky.
      1. I remember sitting in a restaurant on the Peak watching several black-eared kites circling in the thermals below. I was, as they say, blown away.
  16. 10 mins. I saw MODUS OPERANDI immediately and built out from there, but MATERNITY LEAVE was my LOI and I didn’t see it until I got the final checker from YOU’RE ON.
    1. Did you know that the mother of Mike Nesmith [from the Monkees] owned the patent for Tippex [or its US equivalent]?
  19. For 12 ac I couldn’t get Rook out of my mind: Hoods=Crooks keeping out C. (Thought there was a typo in the plural of bird in the clue)
  20. 1 down and 1 across were immediately apparent which made for an easy finish. Plastic surgery was fun but everything else a bit earnest and dull.
  21. Apropos of nothing. Does anyone have an idea how many people read these blogs – I have a feeling it’s not just our fine correspondents and bloggers. Also, although I’m sure it’s a closely guarded item, how many people worldwide do the puzzles. A UK family member asked me and was incredulous when I said I’d no idea. I’m by way of being the in-house expert because no one else can do the cryptics at all, but this doesn’t make me specially popular.
    1. Well, my blog, which I am very negligent of these days, gets about 150 visits a day, the relative unpopularity of blogs, as compared with other forms of social media, being partially offset by the increased number of people visiting via Google and other search engines, as one builds up a “critical mass” of posts. Searches for “best Inspector Morse” invariably end up at my site.

      What that means for a site like this, which is used by so many lurkers and advertised periodically on for example Times Crossword Club and The Answerbank, is that it probably receives, I would estimate, around 2,000 + visitors a day. Various tools such as Statcounter and Google Analytics – free in their more basic incarnations – count these things, so the site owner, PB, and his “lieutenant”, Linxit, may be able to help further, if they deem it admissible.

      Edited at 2015-08-13 02:29 pm (UTC)

      1. Thanks Ulaca – that’s interesting. 2000 visitors a day is a lot more than I’d thought. I wouldn’t want to bother PB or Andy on something that’s just curiosity on my part and not of any real importance. Although as an occasional back-up blogger I have wondered about the readership more than once.
        1. As one of the lurkers, I enjoy this site immensely. Cannot compete with the times some of you take (in fact I enjoy the leisurely stroll of about an hour and a half which is my usual), but sometimes I need the reasons for my biffs. Thanks to one and all for the entertainment.
          David Conquest
  22. Hi Olivia. I am just one of what I suspect is a large number of regular readers who rarely contribute to the blog. I know 3 or 4 others personally. I used to submit the Saturday prize puzzle regularly but when I heard that some 5000 entries were submitted each week I gave up! The Monday FT prize puzzle was said to give the best chance of a win as weekday readers, mainly active businessmen, were less likely to spend time on solving than retired folk like myself. Also the FT is generally easier than The Times (but not I think today)!
    Barry J
    1. Don’t give up on the Saturday prizes Barry – I actually won twice within 18 months and I’m one of those people who never wins anything ever!
    2. I thought I’d register my daily lurking presence as well: Spookily, I am also a Barry J – but Welsh Parentage means I am generally known by my middle name as Mark. I have been known in other circles for many years as BaronJerkyArms – an anagram of my name. I’ll register properly later -am at work currently so shouldn’t really be posting this.
  23. 8:49. Lots of biffing today. My last in was 1dn where I thought ‘support’ was a bit of an odd definition.
    1. I thought it was &lit, ‘support after women come to terms with issue …’ meaning ‘after going full term carrying babies …’ not just support as def.
      1. Yes, I see that, but I don’t see maternity leave – as opposed to maternity pay, say – as a form of support. Not that I’m complaining, anyway: I was just looking for something a bit less oblique (I considered maternity nurse, for instance) so it took me a while and I needed the checking V.

        Edited at 2015-08-13 04:12 pm (UTC)

        1. I think the setter is recognising the &lit definition is as bit iffy by adding the question mark. “Leave” for “support” can work literally in a “by your leave/with your support” context which I felt added a bit of weight to it.
    2. In respect of ‘support’, the fact that ‘maternity leave’, in England at any rate, is a form of paid rather than non-paid leave makes it spot on. Like Pip, I enjoyed the play on words with ‘terms’.
      1. In England Maternity leave is a legal entitlement for a year. Maternity pay is a separate entitlement for a shorter period, and the pay (after the first 6 weeks) is so low that for all practical purposes it might as well be unpaid leave for most people.
        The really valuable support is the more generous pay provided by some employers, without which the right to maternity leave is about as much use as a chocolate teapot.
        But anyway, as I’ve already said I’m not really complaining. It just slowed me down because it’s a little bit oblique, and I’m a bit too literal-minded.

        Edited at 2015-08-15 02:37 am (UTC)

  24. Re 23D – HELM is a noun so how can it be mapped to DIRECT. OK so the person at the helm is directing but to equate helm to direct is stretching things a lot. It’s easy to see that HEM and L could make up HELM. I was hoping for a better answer.
        1. You’ve almost the making of a cryptic definition clue there: “Sailors refer to it as a matter of course (7)”
  25. Sorry to be so late, but they actually expect me to work around here. I also had trouble with MATERNITY…, needing all the checkers, so it was my LOI after I saw VOICE-OVER. Today I learned that the House of Lords has a ROBING ROOM. Do they actually wear robes when in session? Not much else to say about the rest of the puzzle, except that PLASTIC SURGERY was pretty good. 20 minutes all told. Regards to all.
  26. A pleasant ouzzle, I thought. Not too taxing, but not one where the answers flew in, so congratulations to all those who completed in less than 10 minutes. I’m never going to be seriously quick, but still get great satisfaction from solving correctly without using aids.
  27. 8:10 for me, held up finally by 8dn, which looked for a moment as if it was going to be CLASSIC SORCERY (the sort of thing that Circe and Medea went in for), and then CLASSIC SURGERY – before the penny finally dropped.

    A pleasant, straightforward solve.

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