Times 26236 – in “good” company

55 comments on “Times 26236 – in “good” company”

1. 28Across: ID reversed AUTO(car)+ borde(R)
   1. whoops – why couldn’t I get past AUDI for car – I’ll amend, ta
2. another loafer here; not that I had any idea why. And of course there’s no lead in a pencil, it’s graphite, but since we call it ‘lead’, wotthehell. I spent some time staring hopelessly at the largely empty NW, when suddenly, and virtually simultaneously, NATURE, DECIMAL, LEAD (not), DEBUNK, & COASTER came to mind. Too much biffing to be a satisfactory solve, not to mention I didn’t solve.
3. … puzzle I’ve seen in a while. Also toyed with LOAF at 4dn, but it just couldn’t be right. Agree with George that there’s a singular/plural problem at 23ac. I was grateful (gladsome?) for the few easy answers (e.g., ROUND THE CLOCK and ASH come to mind). Wonder what we’ll get tomorrow.
4. ..experience to those above. I did like the puzzle.

   I didn’t manage to parse 4dn. I assumed that it was the name of a writer missing the first and last letters and on that basis thought LEAD was more likely to work than LOAF. As they say in golf “It’s not how, it’s how many”.

   Dereklam

5. 
   Yet another LOAFer!

   5ac could have been more cryptically clued.

   COD 2dn COASTER

   28 mins

   I agree tomorrow could be horrible!

   horryd Shanghai

6. I resorted to aids to finish this off after an hour had passed and still managed to end up with LOAF. I knew it was wrong but couldn’t think of anything else and I had really lost all interest by that stage. I think it’s a lousy clue, but then I would say that, I suppose. Didn’t know RIDE as an astronaut or PIETA to explain 23ac.

   I wasn’t in the best frame of mind from the beginning having just failed to finish the Quickie without resorting to a solver and I still have one unexplained there, at least if the given definition is valid it isn’t in any of the usual sources.

   Not my finest hour!

   Edited at 2015-10-22 04:35 am (UTC)

7. ‘Loaf’ seemed right but not quite right enough, so used my loaf a bit more to get the right answer. No problem with 23ac as I first came across the word in Italy where ‘Pineta’ is used as the singular. Does that make it acceptable?

   Andrew R

8. 22:40. A rare triumph over my biffing tendencies as I thought LOAF but wasn’t happy with it and eventually came up with LEAD.

   I could also have come unstuck in the SE as I also wasn’t happy about PINETA as a plural and like sawbill I was tempted by FACTOR. Once I saw MATTER I assumed it had to be PINETA though.

9. 17.50 working from the bottom up and like yesterday arriving at a blank quadrant, this time the NW. I became fixated, for no good reason, on the notion that the novelist was going to be Surtees which made the checkers for 5dn look challenging for a while. An enjoyable solve overall, though I’m not a fan of clues as simple as those for ASH and BAA and I share the puzzlement (though only post-solve) about PINETA.
10. 27 min – seeing I had one wrong made me think 20dn was FACTOR after all. I’d bunged in LOAF assuming it came from ‘of a’ with the L from the middle of some author who didn’t come to mind.
    8dn was LOI, as I needed aid to suggest a novelist to fit B-R-E–
11. 20 minutes for this, with the NW and that pesky LEAD falling last – never helps when the top left doesn’t open up.
    PINETA went in without a quibble, but in retrospect, here’s a question. How many pineta are there at, say, Westonbirt Arboretum?
    Got stuck on parsing SWAN LAKE, as lake is also a shade, so it was biffed until after solving.
    Good to see Sally Ride in the puzzle, except that it draws attention to the fact that she is now a celestianaut, entering the great unknown in 2012.
12. Another one wearing his loafers today and also confused by the plurality question but otherwise good stuff.
13. I don’t like clues that can’t be solved in isolation but demand checkers to find the correct answer. So at 5A Maclean (Alistair and Donald) would be just as good as BURGESS. If you don’t realise that you can go very wrong for a time.

    I also suspect Cady would be rather better known than the slightly obscure Ride although the former is still with us. As puzzled as George by 23A and think “water traditionally” is DBE because traditionally there were also fire, air and earth.

    After all that I thought 17A was good and the rest forgettable

    1. I could claim the fact that there is a novelist called MACLEAN as mitigation, but the fact is I didn’t think of this one, although now you mention it I’m pretty sure I’ve heard of him.
       1. I’m guessing you’re aware his work, even if you don’t realise it, because of the film adaptations of Where Eagles Dare, The Guns of Navarone, Ice Station Zebra etc.
          1. Yes, I’ve heard of two of those films, although I’ve never seen them.
             1. “Broadsword calling Danny Boy” doesn’t resonate then? I loved the books as a teenager and whilst they are a long way from prizewinning literature they translate well to the big screen. Fear is the Key is another that springs immediately to mind.
                1. Not even the faintest tinkle on either count.
       2. Strange, I was thinking about Alistair MacLean just recently, wondering why it was that when I was growing up it was rare to visit a house and not see a Maclean paperback or two lying around yet nowadays he seems quite forgotten (except, as Tim points out, in the films of the books).
          1. I know exactly what you mean, although in my mind these are just ‘airport novels’ and don’t have specific authors. For such a muppet I’m a terrible snob.

             Edited at 2015-10-22 10:21 am (UTC)

          2. They are now clogging up the shelves in Charity shops, I think.
14. 45 mins. After Sotira’s single core graphite UI yesterday, I had no problem with LEAD. Dithered over FACTOR or MATTER. Great to see “lower” as not something bovine.
    1. Glad to be of service. It helped me, too.
       1. I get the feeling that after Morton’s fork and Occam’s razor, Sotira’s pencil will soon enter the pantheon of eponymous implements common in crossword land!
          1. Bless you, YG. I always knew I’d be famous (,Ma!).

             From the Wikipedia in my head: Sotira’s Pencil states that when faced with two equally implausible solutions, the one which doesn’t make you smile* may be eliminated.

             * some renderings have “wince”

15. Pleasant solve on the slightly harder than usual side of things, though I have to admit I followed the same logic as Derek for the troublesome L_A_ and concluded that the author whose name I couldn’t quite put my finger on was much more likely to be _LEAD_ than _LOAF_. The purists who insist a crossword isn’t “solved” until you can explain why you’ve got all the answers correct would fail me, but luckily the on-line submission system draws no such distinction.
    1. It’s an interesting one that LOAF/LEAD conflict

       Not being well versed in authors but of a scientific leaning I read the clue and immediately thought “It’s the graphite (carbon) in pencils unhelpfully called LEAD game” so never even thought of LOAF!!

16. Can’t say I enjoyed this one as much as usual – about 85% of it went straight in, in about 4 minutes, and then for some reason I got stuck in the NW corner and took another 5 minutes. But because I wasn’t really enjoying the style of cluing I didn’t feel much impelled to work out why FACTOR for 20dn’s double def didn’t seem right and just hit an over-optimistic submit button to try and get it in and over with under the 10 minute mark. Silly me! Apparently taking a little bit of extra time would over it would still have resulted in a modestly respectable time, for some reason I was angrily assuming lots of people would be on 5 minutes for this one…
17. A so-so offering that looked harder at first sight than it turned out to be. Like sawbill I thought of sotira’s pencil at 4dn, so LEAD it was. A special mention of the clue for ASH, small but perfectly formed.
    1. Really? If this wasn’t a Times cryptic that could be a clue from a primary school definition only puzzle. Or is it meant to be a cunning double bluff?
       1. Yes, really.
18. 15:35 …. which I thought was a bit slow until I came here. Apparently it’s okay.

    Like others, I came to a bit of a shuddering halt in the northwest, but solving on paper and being able to write out the suspected D….AL frame of 1a helped a lot.

    I did enjoy “A slight crawler” for a STICK INSECT, and there was a forehead-slapping moment when light dawned on COASTER. I liked this puzzle just fine.

    Edited at 2015-10-22 10:16 am (UTC)

19. 21m. I managed to get LEAD (mostly because LOAF didn’t occur to me first), but I bunged in CHARTER (something a ship is under?) without really engaging the brain. I was feeling particularly dopey this morning, it has to be said: my first thought at 5ac was MACLEAN, on the basis that there was probably a novelist with that name. And on reading George’s comment on PINETA, I did some research and found that PIETA is given as a singular noun in various dictionaries. Fortunately I reread the comment and realised I had completely missed the point before posting.
    So all in all my alternate avatar feels particualrly appropriate this morning. I hope I am not called upon to make any important decisions, or to operate machinery.

    Edited at 2015-10-22 10:26 am (UTC)

    1. … read his oeuvre as a teenager: When Eight Bells Toll, Where Eagles Dare (film with Richard Burton to do the talking, Clint Eastwood to do the shooting), Guns of Navarone, Satan Bug etc. Fortunately I had the B before committing, even thinking A. Burgess was still alive.
       But same as everyone, beaten by the NW, aids to get decimal & coaster, then LOAF in with a shrug not knowing the 6-letter author ?LOAF?.
       Rob
       1. Sorry… just read the thread below saying all that
20. A very unbalanced solve for me. I completed the whole of the bottom half in about 15 minutes, with nothing in the top half at all apart from 10a. After another 15 minutes I had most of the rest, but was left with several gaps in the NW corner. After another 15 minutes, punctuated by bouts of nodding off, I cracked it, with 11a, 1d and 2d the last to fall in that order, just as I was about to give up.
    The clue to 5a was not at all helpful – a poor clue for a daily puzzle, especially when crossed by 6d with an astronaut that I’ve not heard of.
    I suppose one consolation was that I entered LEAD, not LOAF.
21. I fell into the FACTOR trap, but other than that found this one somewhat easier than usual – call me a contrarian if you will…

    Thought 12a was very cute, and 26a appealed to my love of a dire pun. All very enjoyable, so thanks to setter and to George.

22. Struggled finishing SE corner, and am still less than gruntled that FACTOR seems an acceptable alternate that fits with all other clues correct!

    Maclean had not occurred to me, but also makes perfect sense in isolation, although at least in this case Burgess could be parsed from checkers.

    I had never heard of Pineta, despite spending the first 22 years of my life living next door to Westonbirt Arboretum! As pointed out, it also seems untidy to have a -TA suffix as answer, when the clue itself has -TUM!

23. My 15:16 must be okay as well then.

    At 4 I did briefly consider loaf but I saw that LEAD would fit as well and immediately got the pencil “joke”.

    I hadn’t heard of PIETA but luckily the plural/singular issue with PINETA didn’t occur to me.

    I also struggled a bit with ADAMANTINE as the stupid half of my brain was convinced that “end of election” was “E”.

24. Rather like William, I knew the Westonbirt Arboretum well from my early teens when I used to swim in the school pool there in the summer but it didn’t help much and I agree with others about the misleading singular/plural thing. Also I confused it with a pinery which apparently is a sort of greenhouse where snobby types like the General in Northanger Abbey grew pineapples back when. [P.S. William I used to know a lot of Harfords in Glos. back then – are you one of that family?]

    Ok on LEAD fortunately, and I had BURGESS in mind because I’ve been dozing over an enormous tome by Max Hastings about WWII spies. Not exactly in prime solving condition at the moment after staying up long past my bedtime to watch the NY Mets very surprisingly get themselves into baseball’s World Series. 19.29

    1. Olivia/William

       Without wishing to start a love-in, I am a Wiltshire lad living but a maple leaf’s flutter from Westonbirt.
       In fact, they are flowing down the Avon outside my windoq as I mis-type.

    2. Very surprising, but gratifying to the long suffering faithful.(i.e. the Mets, and the long sufferer is me.)

       Edited at 2015-10-22 05:50 pm (UTC)

25. I enjoyed this puzzle more than most seem to have done. I thought STICK INSECT and COASTER were particularly good.

    But I do agree with George’s objections to 23A – it has to be “arboreta” to work.

    1. No it doesn’t. At the risk of being repetitive, there is no particular reason why an arboretum shouldn’t be made up of several pineta. OK, it’s not a great excuse for what is probably a kind of slip, but it’s at least possible. And arboreta just looks silly. I’d write aboretums if ever I were anywhere where I could see more than one at a time.
       1. OK, I accept that your “excuse” is at least possible though in practice I very much doubt that any arboretum would contain more than one pinetum. I’m with you on preferring arboretums to arboreta.
26. 18 mins, helped immensely by not drowsing or nodding off. Like quite a few of you LEAD was my LOI after it finally occured to me. It took me a while to be convinced that “loaf” couldn’t possibly be right. The possible singular/plural issue with PINETA didn’t occur to me. I disagree with the comments about poor cluing for BURGESS because Maclean also satisfies the clue. There are checkers and it isn’t a quiz.

    Finally, congrats to Olivia and Kevin on the Mets sweeping the NLCS, although I suspect the WS against the Royals or Blue Jays will be a lot trickier.

27. No time, but not too bad. No problem with LEAD or MATTER, but had to squeeze BEHINDHAND out of the back of my mind. LOI, though, was ELEMENT. Most kettles over here sit on a gas burner, so while that part wasn’t totally unknown it didn’t leap to the fore either. And spelling NEITHER is apparently a challenge for me. Regards to all, and thanks to Andy for the good wishes on behalf of the pennant-winning NY Mets.
28. Ok puzzle , avoided the loaf/lead trap . Had a guardianesque feel to the clueing .
29. A Verlainesque* solving performance whilst on a brief holiday. Tossed up between LEAD and LOAF and made the wrong call, though I spotted the device after submitting.

    Totally fair clue, in fact COD for mine (along with STICK INSECT). Well played setter, and thanks George.

    *Not in terms of speed.

30. 11:40 for me – slow, but at least all correct.

    I had an early senior moment at 5ac, but eventually managed to come up with BURGESS before moving on to the next clue. I was so relieved that I didn’t even think of MACLEAN. (Is BURGESS more likely to appear in a Times crossword, I wonder?)

    Fortunately I thought of LEAD quickly enough, but I was tempted by FACTOR for a while. I’m not convinced that PINETA, as a singular Italian noun, really cuts the mustard.

31. Late solve but all correct at 40m so happy with that. No problems with LEAD or the spy as never thought of loaf or Maclean. Had same query with PINETA but entered with a shrug and had a HUM ( Held Up Myself) by entering OCRA which made the insect impossible. Finally light dawned and it fell into place. Good puzzle despite the multi-question marks and good blog too!
32. Utterly defeated. I was off school on the day they covered PIETA and PINETA (although, oddly, I’m OK with ‘pineal’), and hence had no hope of getting 23ac. All attempts to combine “pi”, “kew” (the only small, vaguely arboretal word I could think of) and “n” ended in disappointment and implausibility.

    Not helped by 20d, which I also failed utterly to get. I’m still not convinced that “matter” is synonymous with “content”, or at least not clearly enough to decide between that and “factor”. However, as I failed also to think of “matter”, I guess the point is moot.

    I should have got MINOR SUIT, even with my limited familiarity with bridge. I did, however, not. Nor can I find a convincing excuse for failing on DECIMAL, LEAD and DEBUNK, other than general dimth on my part.

33. 26:56. I quite enjoyed this, especially the double anagram at 12a and was pleased to get some pretty tricky clues. Luckily recognised ‘writer’ as being an implement in 4d; quite possibly a subliminal echo of Sotira’s pencil coming to my aid.

    Edited at 2015-10-22 10:24 pm (UTC)

34. Not timed but fairly slow. Managed to get ‘lead’ correct, but failed by entering ‘factor’, which I think is, actually, as valid an answer,as ‘matter’ – so there.

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