Times 26332 – I guess it’s easier than dancing to hardcore

Author   glhPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time : 24:20 on the club timer, which is my slowest time in a very very long time. This is a bit of a beast, and I can’t quite put my finger on what made it so difficult to me, since I think everything is above board, I was just a million miles away from the wavelength of the setter and some of the phrases and one reference are not in my addled little brain.

Some very odd phrasing in the clues, I should single out the clue that ends in a preposition but I’m not going to.

Away we go…

Across
1 OF RIGHT: O(old), FRIGHT(person looking very unkempt)
5 CAMELOT: CAME(turned up), LOT(chance)
9 STATIONER: TI(note),ONE(I) in STAR
10 SPASM: SPAM containing S
11 DRYAD: DRY(quietly witty),AD(notice)
12 HAD BETTER: BETTER(gambler) after HAD(cheated)
13 AIRS AND GRACES: SAND(grit) in an anagram of CARRIAGES
17 THE BLUE DANUBE: TUBE(train) containing HE, BLUE(sounds like BLEW), DAN(anagram of AND)
21 ALL BLACKS: New Zealand rugby team, and if you had the maximum break in a game of snooker/pool, you would pot the black each time between potting reds
24 BAKER: double definition, the more obscure one being in the RAF phonetic alphabet, BAKER is the word for B, while Charlie is the word for C
25 GHANA: H with A,NAG reversed around it
26 SPUN A YARN: S, and then PUNY,RN each of which contains an A
27 TUESDAY: anagram of UNSTEADY missing N
28 SADNESS: hidden reversed in captiveS SEND A Signal
 
Down
1 ONSIDE: my take on the first part is it is ON(willing), SIDE(play ball) but it might just be a longer definition for ON SIDE. The second one refers to the legal position in soccer, hockey etc
2 READY-MADE: READY(cash), MADE(earned)
3 GUILDER: GUIDER(captain in the Girl Guides) containing L
4 TENTH-RATE: (holidaymake)R in TENT HATE
5 CORED: dispensed with the centre – CO,RED
6 MASSEUR: (ERASMUS)*
7 LEAPT: P in LEAT
8 TAMARISK: TASK surrounding MAR,1
14 DEAD SOULS: a book by Gogol – D,SOU(small bit) in DEALS
15 CHECKMATE: HECK,MAT in CE and a crafty definition, excellent clue!
16 STRAIGHT: SIGHT surrounding ART reversed
18 LOLLARD: LOL(laughing out loud), LARD. Something rang a bell here – it turns out I blogged an almost identical clue in 2010 (I’m amused by fat follower of Wycliffe)
19 UPBRAID: anagram of PUB, then RAID
20 PRUNUS: sounds like PRUNE US!
22 L,EASE
23 CUSHY: anagram of SUCH,Y

54 comments on “Times 26332 – I guess it’s easier than dancing to hardcore”

  1. Isn’t it such a wonderful co-incidence that Paul in the Gruaniard had this clue for 7Down Rugby team, seven of whom tackling fifty (3,6) Thank you, George for the blog and the anonymous setter for the challenge
    1. I haven’t tried it yet, wonder if that is more than a coincidence as I believe Paul is in the setter’s rotation for the Times. And greetings former co-holder of the Thursday rotation!
    2. Yes I noticed that too (haven’t finished it yet). Thanks to George for the snooker explanation – which was completely lost on me.
  2. All but PRUNUS done after 25 minutes. Didn’t like this clue for two reasons.

    1. I don’t think the clue quite works (shouldn’t it be “prune me”?).

    2. I failed to solve it.

    I won’t chunter on about obscure plant names as it’ll probably turn out that I’m the only one who’s never heard of it.

    Enjoyed the rest of the puzzle, which did seem to have a slightly quirky feel about it. Thanks setter and George.

    BTW George, for 1dn I had ONSIDE as “willing to play ball”, without the need to separate the parts.

  3. Also wondered about this, Galspray. But figured the family PRUNUS (plum tree) contains many varieties, let alone individuals. Haven’t you been eating your plums lately? They’re so good at this time of year. Great with plain Greek yoghurt.

    Serious struggle this morning. Didn’t understand the banter at 24 ac. (“Bally Jerry, pranged his kite right in the how’s-your-father …”). And assumed the promotions at 14dn were ADS; so a parsing failure there. And that’s just a couple of em. Ta to George for the untangling.

    There’ll be someone on later with a dig about 21ac. Now who could that be?

    Edited at 2016-02-11 03:54 am (UTC)

  4. A mere 102 minutes for me, but at least I finished all correct. A lot of blind alleys stumbled down (‘Mr Right’, ‘oh right’, ‘third rate’, ‘did better’, ‘span a tale’ [yes, it isn’t even a phrase]), as I meandered towards the finishing line like a member of the GB ski team.

    I thought 1a and 12a were very good, and my penultimate PRUNUS quite fair, as the question mark provides the necessary leeway to include the colloquial (and common) use of the plural (‘Lend us a quid, mate’). Sorry, Gallers. (Great time by the way.)

    I finished with DEAD SOULS, which really is unfair, given a) the parsing is quite sophisticated and b) I’m familiar with Dostoevsky and Tolstoy’s works, but not Gogol’s.

    Apart from that glaring inequity, a very fine puzzle and a tip of the hat to the setter, and thanks to G for the full parsing of AIRS AND GRACES, where I missed the anagram.

    Edited at 2016-02-11 04:09 am (UTC)

    1. Seems I was wrong. Still, it’s pretty easy to win a Sevens comp. with 8 men on the field. No?
      1. On the bright side McT, surely they can now stop banging on about under-arm after 35 years. But they won’t, will they?
        1. The NZers pinched the idea from England, who confounded critics who said they only played 10-man rugby by experimenting with 16 players at the RWC in 2003.

          Didn’t NZ beat the Aussies again in the final – with 7 on the pitch?

    2. Yes, I came to the same conclusion after posting. So now my list of objections is reduced to:

      2. I failed to solve it.

        1. Yes indeed. I like that place in Minilya St.

          I think I’ve volunteered to blog a Jumbo some time in the near future. Might pick your brains over coffee to add what will be some much-needed erudition to the blog.

  5. A few minutes over the hour for me but at least the last 15 minutes of these were spent pondering 4dn. Unfortunately I had shot myself in the foot there by biffing DID BETTER at 12ac which would have limited me to THIRD RATE for 4dn which would neither parse nor fit in with the N checker supplied by 9ac.

    Didn’t know BAKER as an alternative to ‘Bravo’, nor DEAD SOULS nor LEAT (despite not knowing it before in November 2012 and July 2013). No problem with the grammar at 20dn as many parts of England use ‘us’ for ‘me’ in local dialect.

  7. 23.41, which apparently is not too bad. DEAD SOULS was a serious push since I can’t normally name any Gogol novel and only one play. Apparently Gogol himself forgot that he was writing it and finished it mid sentence (and missed parts 2 and three of the trilogy). “You can’t win, Darth. If you strike me down, I shall become more….um….”
    I pretty much began with GOT BETTER with a distinct queasiness about the grammar.
    “Unconventional”? – yup, that’s about right.
  8. Was determined to finish (and understand!) this one, and did, but it took me over an hour… dnk the novel, or that Baker stood for B before Bravo, or LOLLARD, but they all seemed feasible, and the parsing worked. Good challenge for a Thursday morning.
  9. Finally put the last one in on 55 minutes having really struggled. Yippee, thinks I.
    But horror – I find that my BY RIGHT/BESIDE is incorrect.
    Thanks for parsing 17a.
    I’m taking my cue from Vinyl and going off to listen to some Watersons to cheer myself up.

    Edited at 2016-02-11 08:30 am (UTC)

    1. There’s an unwritten rule (or perhaps it’s just good manners) that if one is going to correct an error by the blogger, one should have read the previous comments to ensure the error hasn’t already been pointed out.
  11. DNF … eventually giving it up with PRUNUS not solved and never likely to be. Now I learn the answer, I’m glad I didn’t spend any more time on it. Not for me, this puzzle.
  12. DNF and ran out of time. If I had more time I would contemplate why I gained no pleasure from this setter’s approach.
  13. Once I grasped that this was a sort of cross between the Guardian and the weekly TLS I was able to get going and apparently my 22.12 was quite ok. This doesn’t seem to have been a very popular offering but I enjoyed it.
  14. A great crossword with something of an unusual feel to it, and made better by being done with pen and paper after a couple of days online. Surprised some posters took such a dislike to it. Many fine clues of which OF RIGHT is best, very neat.
    1. This seems to be a marmite puzzle — you either love it or you hate it (totally unnecessary explication especially for Dave Gorman)
      1. I have reflected ( after a bottle of fermented French grape juice) that this was a good crossword but in the wrong newspaper.
  15. Started off by thinking this was easier than I expected for a Thursday puzzle, then slowed to a steady amble, but completely stumped at the end by 14dn. Stupid really, since I have heard of the play, but the wordplay was tough. Nearly entered TAMARIND but stopped myself in time, ditto BY RIGHT.
    On the whole I rather liked the clues.
  16. 18:46 which I thought was a bit ropy but apparently not.

    I’m going to ruin Sotira’s theory on this puzzle and state that I neither loved nor hated it. I enjoyed a lot of the originality but overall didn’t find it as much fun as other quirky puzzles of yore.

    I agree that 1a was a lovely clue and I also ticked checkmate. I biffed the two long acrosses and had to piece the Gogol thingy together from wordplay and trust to luck. LOI stationer, probably because I’m used to seeing one for I but not t’other way round.

    Leat, lollard and tamarisk (attorneys at law) are all words I’ve picked up along the way doing these puzzles.

  17. Didn’t enjoy this.

    A puzzle with a DEAD SOUL!

    THE BLUE DANUBE !! tortuous.

    GUILDER! pathetically weak.

    45 unrewarding minutes

    horryd Shanghai

  18. Over an hour – came to a complete stop with NE completely blank, but after a while noticed that I’d unthinkingly started 11ac ‘did’, which prevented 4dn using the obvious ‘tent’. Also being unable to parse 9ac left me unable to get a foothold in that corner, until I realised that ‘quietly’ didn’t imply that 11ac started P.
    1. It seems okay to me used adjectivally, e.g. star players are famous players. Stardom is being famous so it would seem to follow on.
  21. Just over 30 mins for me. I like LOLLARD, as it reminds me that our beloved PM thought that LOL meant Lots Of Love. COD ALL BLACKS, not only from the clue but from the fact that my daughter and I were at Twickenham when we stuffed them a couple of years ago. Much celebration in the Cabbage Patch afterwards!
    1. Thanks for the reminder of the Cameron story Bigtone – I’d forgotten it but it’s a very welcome giggle.
  22. One of few I solved was 22d Left to progress =p the leftmost letter of progress, gradually =inch . Answer pinch. Sadly wrong.
    1. If it’s any consolation I considered both ledge and linch before getting to the correct answer once I had all the checkers.
  23. 23 mins, and I’m glad I didn’t take the knock mid-solve. I found this one a tricky blighter, and while there was some excellent clueing I didn’t enjoy all of it. I would have shaved a minute or two off my time if I hadn’t been another who had misbiffed “did better” and “third-rate” and it was only after I’d fixed them that STATIONER became my LOI.
  24. Took me 35 minutes, ending with PRUNUS. Perhaps I’m supposed to remember things like LEAT, but sadly I do not. I also forgot all about BRAVO succeeding BAKER, so I had to force myself to ignore the ‘once’ in the wordplay and hope for the best. Certainly an out of the ordinary offering from the setter today. Regards.
  25. I’m glad I’m not the only one to find this tricky. I finished all correct, but it took me over an hour. Didn’t time it accurately. The NE went in fairly quickly, apart from 5d, which I eventually got after 9ac so I had all the checkers. Knew LEAT from my visits to fix storage systems at Northumbrian Water in Washington, as they reside in Leat House. Didn’t know DEAD SOULS but got it from the word play. Familiar with snooker so ALL BLACKS went in without misgivings. LOLLARD appeared in a puzzle fairly recently if my memory serves me correctly. Took a while to figure 1ac and 1d, but got there towards the end. LOI PRUNUS, which I didn’t know, but a quick alphabet trawl put me on to it, and I didn’t have a problem with US for ME being a North Easterner. Give us a pint, bonny lad! Thought CHECKMATE was clever. Thanks for the Blog George. John
  26. 21dn, finishing with PRUNUS, which I thought for a while I wasn’t going to get. Even when I eventually did I was more like ‘if this is wrong I’ll be so like whevs’ than ‘LOL that is totes the right answer’.
    I enjoyed this a lot, although there was perhaps a bit more satisfaction at having faced down a stiff challenge than joy at the wit and inventiveness of the clues.
  27. I gave up timing shortly after switching from stopwatch to calendar. However, I got through this in something under an hour, and I’m consoled to see that others found it chewy too.

    PRUNUS was no problem, but if I hadn’t heard of it, there would be precious little chance of getting it from the wordplay. NHO LOLLARD (I’d have guessed it was someone who lolled, if I were given to guessing). Neither had I heard of DEAD SOULS (and was fairly smug when I worked it out) – who’d have guessed that the world’s most popular search engine also wrote books? Vaguely knew the “leat” of LEAPT, or perhaps I’m just retrospectively filling gaps in my memory.

    Apart from those, I can’t really see why I found it so difficult, and can only blame it on today’s being Thursday, yet again.

  28. 16:35 for me, after making a ridiculously slow start, and then dithering over PRUNUS at the end as the one in our garden is definitely a tree. No problem with DEAD SOULS (though I’ve never read it, I’m ashamed to say).

    Overall an interesting and enjoyable puzzle.

  29. Camelot went right in (and not only because I’m re-reading Sir Gawain and the Green Knight), and the crossers gave me all the NE. Then I fell asleep. Printed it off at work to try to finish, but I got called into a meeting. Finally read the blog. Boy oh boy am I glad I did fall asleep. and by comparison the meeting wasn’t that bad. Somewhat surprised that no one has quibbled with 21 March, and not 1 March, being the first day of Spring.
    1. I have no expert knowledge but a little research suggests the setter was thinking in terms of Northern Hemisphere general meteorological usage rather than solar patterns that define the equinox, and by that reasoning spring can simply consist of March, April and May. Differences of interpretation are covered by ‘spring perhaps’.
  30. I rather liked this one, especially 20d which actually made me laugh. DNK the novel however, and only writing out 15 or so words which fitted the checkers got me to souls as the most likely.
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