Times 26,246

Author   topicaltimPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
I officially pronounce myself uncertain how to assess this puzzle. I started slowly, so I thought it was going to be tricky, then I had a bit of a sprint in the middle, and changed my mind, then I struggled horribly in the SW corner, and went back the other way. Some clues seemed terribly simple and went in without any thought, others took a lot of thinking about; though with most of those ones, on subsequent reflection I couldn’t see why it had taken me so long. So whether it was difficult or not, I have no idea, but I can at least say that it took me 16 minutes and I mostly enjoyed it.

Across
1 MANIPULATE – NIP(=squeeze) in MAUL, AT {gam}E. In the actual game of rugby, a maul isn’t the same thing as a scrum, of course, but like their close relative the ruck, the word outside the game of rugby has much the same meaning.
6 EROS – {H}ERO, S{ucceeded}.
9 CHIMERA – CHIME(=correspond with), RA, Egyptian god of the sun.
10 AMNESIA – (NAMEAS1)*. Recollected meaning both to be remembered and to be re-collected i.e. distributed as an anagram.
12 FORESHADOW – R{iver} in FOE, SHADOW(=in opposition).
13 TOE – T{hesis} O{n} E{lectronics}.
15 EDISON – (SIDE)rev. (=”reflective view”), ON. Thomas Alva was an extremely inventive inventor.
16 CREOSOTE – [O{ld}, SO(=indeed)] in CRETE. Shield for the wood rather than made of it, nicely deceptive definition.
18 EPIDEMIC – DEMI{se} in EPIC.
20 STIGMA – T{ime} in SIGMA.
23 INN – chaIN Nabs.
24 GREENSWARD – i.e. GREENS’ WARD.
26 LETITIA – [TIT I] in LEA.
27 TILLAGE – LAG(=convict) in TILE(=flat block).
28 DODO – 2 DOs combine to give the famously extinct bird, from which metaphorically comes the meaning of someone old-fashioned or reactionary.
29 AIR HOSTESS – (ISASOTHERS)*. Cabin crew, obviously.
 
Down
1 MUCH – double def., one of them being a Merry Man of Robin Hood’s band.
2 NAIROBI – AIR(=appearance) in N{ew} OBI.
3 PIECES OF EIGHT – Arrr. The old Spanish dollar beloved of pirates, while 8 could be made up of “pieces” 2 and 6 added together.
4 LOATHE – 0 in LATHE.
5 TO AND FRO – AN(=article) in TOD(=old word for a fox), (FOR)*.
7 RISOTTO – [IS O.T.T.] in R{hin}O.
8 SIAMESE CAT – (ASEATSMICE)* &lit.
11 NEW SOUTH WALES – (USESWEALTHWON)*.
14 BEDEVILLED – BEDE(=scholarly monk), VILLE(=French town), D{eparts}.
17 LITERATI – L{arge} ITERATI{ON} minus the ON.
19 IGNITED – BIG UNITED minus first letters.
21 GERMANE – GERMAN (Edward, composer of Merrie England), and the key of E.
22 SNATCH – S{ons}, NATCH.
25 TEES – sThElEnS. “Runner” worth noting as a lateral definition of “river” for people who’ve only just got used to “flower”.

46 comments on “Times 26,246”

  1. 17:43. I spent much of today crossing the Atlantic, so it’s still yesterday for me, hence my unsociable posting hour and a feeling that I was attempting this with something of an addled brain. Perhaps that’s why it felt like a bit of an odd mix, with lots of biffing but also some particularly puzzling clues (which I suppose is the idea). I spent a few minutes at the end on my last in, GERMANE. I had forgotten the composer and thought the key was going to be G.

    Edited at 2015-11-03 02:42 am (UTC)

    1. Welcome to the early-birds K. Not an unsociable hour at all, though you do get some dodgy characters hanging around.
  2. Can’t help you as to whether it was easy or hard Tim. Somewhere in the middle I guess.

    STIGMA was one of the easier clues, but I had decided early on that time must be AGE, so I wrapped a Greek letter around it and will now have to live with the ETAGEA of my failure.

    COD to CREOSOTE. Thanks setter and Tim.

  3. Very odd: I posted a message, or so I thought, only to be told that my log-in cookie had disappeared. Let’s hope they’ve found it.
    In any case, I did some biffing–and now that I’ve seen Tim’s blog, I’m glad I did, as I never would have parsed MANIPULATE or TO-AND-FRO, not knowing MAUL or TOD. Some very easy clues (TOE, AMNESIA), but I was held up by 29ac (‘crew’ plus the enumeration suggested OAR **** to me), 28ac (lovely surface), and of course CREOSOTE, my COD. Enjoyable puzzle all in all.

    Edited at 2015-11-03 03:11 am (UTC)

  4. The NW corner was my problem, with Much the Miller’s Son unknown and an unwarranted conviction that the definition of 9a was to be found at the end of the clue.
  5. … with (as already noted) a fair mix of difficulty. With Tim, most probs in the SW. Forgetting BEDE at 14dn was the major problem there.

    Also didn’t know Edward German. Did he do MUCH that’s important. (Vinyl?) Said MUCH known from the TV series. The one with Lily Allen’s dad as the wonderfully evil Sheriff.

    And yep, I noted the preponderance of inclusion types, with the word “in” carrying most of the burden.

    Looks like I was massively wrong about the four-legged race. But congrats to Michelle Payne and anyone who had a punt at $126.

    Edited at 2015-11-03 05:29 am (UTC)

    1. Yes, Much in that series was played by Doctor Who #2’s grandson, Sam Troughton. I had forgotten, if I ever knew, that he was a miller’s son, though ‘Much the Miller’ had a familiar ring to it.

      Edited at 2015-11-03 05:40 am (UTC)

      1. Are you sure you’re not thinking of Mick the Miller, the greyhound?

        Incidentally is “Much the miller’s son” Much, the son of an unnamed miller or is he the unnamed son of Much the miller? If the former it’s not terribly likely that his Dad is also called Much which would mean you must have imagined “Much the Miller”.

        1. Who knows the working of my ageing brain? I’m probably confusing a number of associated thoughts including Glen and Mitch Miller and Guy Mitchell!
    2. Lanfranco Dettori put paid to half a dozen chances and has been rewarded with a month in the sin bin.
  6. An excellent puzzle that I was very pleased to complete without resorting to aids as I had thought 16ac and 20ac were going to be words I didn’t know beyond as they eluded me until the bitter end.

    I had trouble parsing 16ac until I realised I was using the wrong I to make EPIC, and at 5dn I knew TOD = fox but ‘without progress’ was a shade of meaning I have not met before.

  7. Could not get CREOSOTE and did not parse TO AND FRO (Thanks Tim). So not a great day but I enjoyed 3d and 22d.
  8. 21.19, with CREOSOTE proving (almost) impervious, as is appropriate. That and AIR HOSTESS hid their definitions rather well, though it would have helped in the latter if I could have added up the number of letters in the probable anagram and made 10.
    Like others, I had the note at the wrong end of GERMANE for ages, and was playing with something to do with garnering. I also biffed MONOPOLISE at 1ac with no hope of parsing – if it’s 1ac, you just assume the construction is really tricky in a tricky puzzle and hope for enlightenment later.
    I (and Chambers) associate endless arguments with toing and froing, but there was no room for the ings, so heigh ho.

    Edited at 2015-11-03 08:38 am (UTC)

  9. 17:30 .. convinced for a while I was heading for a DNF thanks to my limited knowledge of medieval shields, but thinking about historic islands eventually got me to Crete and thence to CREOSOTE. I didn’t know I knew Much the Miller’s son, but I did. Much enjoyed.
  10. 23:35. Another here who hadn’t heard of TOD as a fox. I was puzzled by the view at 15a… my LOI and also wondered about wooden shields in 16a for a while. Anybody else get stuck with 29a thinking the second word must be SISTERS?… 22d set me right though. 3d my COD.
  11. Same experience as Tim and others – odd mixture indeed but a very enjoyable puzzle

    Couldn’t remember names of Mick the Miller’s sons (it’s a matter of background and upbringing) but once I saw great deal=MUCH realised I was barking up the wrong dog

    1. Is that the greyhound you’re talking about? Me, I was wondering what Dusty’s progeny might be called.
  12. I got side-tracked by this thinking it was a character in Chaucer, or something to do with the piper’s son. But then – aha. Angela Air Hostess from my ancient Girl comics helped, taking me back to that era when Richard Green was riding through the glen looking for his men. We didn’t have a tv then but I always turned up on the neighbours’ doorstep in time for the beginning of the theme tune. 19.13

    Edited at 2015-11-03 12:11 pm (UTC)

  13. Liked this though missed MUCH and CHIMERA. I didn’t recall Much Miller, but the reference to Robin Hood brought back plenty of 1960’s after school B&W TV memories – Robin Hood, Robin Hood riding through the glen etc. etc. Lots of good clues including CREOSOTE and BEDEVILLED, but as a Southern Hemisphere Mexican my favourite was the clue for NEW SOUTH WALES.

    Thanks to blogger and setter.

  14. 18m. Unlike Tim I got off to a blistering start in the NW corner and then plodded along for the rest of it. Much was my first in.

    I had exactly the same experience as Sotira where creosote was concerned (more Monty Python?). It cost me a good 3 minutes at the end.

    I’ll add the the list of wrong assumptions at 29 and admit my first thought was that it had to be SEA something.

    COD to pieces of eight.

  15. Yep, I too found this a mixed bag… Same unknowns as others: Mr MUCH, TOD=fox, and the composer could have been either German or Ermane as far as I knew. DODO (LOI) only after IGNITED, which I failed to parse, and the letters of the anagram at 29ac fell into place as SEA ——- for far too long. All ok eventually. Good crossie.
  16. Too long (45 mins) for this enjoyable crossword. MUCH biffed on the strength of the crossers and great deal, with no thought for the merry men until I came here to see what I had missed. Similarly, I got TO AND FRO without remembering TOD – must have been suffering from 10, as now I see it, I’m sure I knew it. I also suffered a bit with EDISON but it couldn’t have been anything else, and distracted myself with GREENFIELD for a while. Having said all that, it was satisfying to complete it. Thanks setter and blogger.
    1. It occurred to me but the parsing as given took over. Failed on Much to my disgust otherwise seemed straightforward enough.
  18. Over an hour, with MUCH LOI, entered in desperation after reluctantly deciding on MANIPULATE, though couldn’t see how it could be parsed (end of game had to be MATE, but nothing else made sense.) Never having watched any of the relevant Robin Hood, the Miller’s son meant nothing to me – googling Windy Miller led nowhere.
  19. Ten minutes here, and I seem to recall I really quite liked all of it. COD to 3D which kept me nicely baffled for quite a while, for some reason, even though I had *lots* of the letters.
    1. I suspect we might make a strong doubles partnership: 1 thought of PIECES OF EIGHT straight away – though I think I may have had the E from FORESHADOW in place.
  20. About 20 mins with more biffing (or even seeing the word just from the crossers) than I like. Still, I have learned about Much, who I do not recall being part of Richard Greene’s team.
    On edit : Indeed he wasn’t so I feel better about this.

    Edited at 2015-11-03 04:41 pm (UTC)

    1. It seems he gets a bare mention as ‘Miller’ in Sir Walter Scott’s Inanhoe, which I read not too long back – the book which really kick-started the whole Richard Greene thing.
  21. Very tricky, though in the end the only unknowns were MUCH the character, the wordplay for TO-AND-FRO and the definition of CREOSOTE. Shouldn’t have labored over it as long as I did!
  22. A bit of a struggle, but all correct in the end due to biffing in LOI MUCH, TO AND FRO and GERMANE. Didn’t know the character, the ‘fox’ meaning or the composer, but the answers came quickly, and hesitation about entering them lengthened the solve to over 30 minutes or so while I struggled, unsuccessfully, to parse them. Regards.
  23. 17 mins, the last 3 of which were spent on the CREOSOTE/TO-AND-FRO crossers. I biffed the latter after I finally saw the former, although I did parse it shortly afterwards. I thought the “shield of wood” definition was a cracker, and the clue was made more difficult, for me at least, by Crete being defined as an historic island because I was trying to think of an island from antiquity that has a different modern name.
  25. 10:30 for me, feeling tired after a busy day and all too often missing the obvious – e.g. 14dn where I came up with VILLEBEDED from the wordplay but failed to follow it through. (Doh!)

    A straightforward, enjoyable puzzle.

  26. I forgot to say: like johninterred I’m puzzled by “view” = SIDE in 15ac. Am I missing something (else) obvious?
  27. Edward German (1862-1936)was an English composer best known for his G & S type operas. The most famous is ‘Merrie England’ which still gets the occasional outing from amateur groups. There is a lot of good music in it, but I agree he is a bit obscure for present purposes.

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