Times 26,357: A Watched Odyssey Never Boils

Author   VerlainePosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
It seems like an age since I’ve solved the Friday puzzle in the manner that God intended for me, that is, rolling home around midnight after a heavy alcohol-fuelled night at one of London’s premier music venues. Last night was Kurt Vile (& The Violators) at the Roundhouse, supported by some roving Tuareg troubadours called Imarhan, and by the way I simply must take objection to the cruel implication on ulaca‘s Monday blog that the bands I see have silly names. “Kurt Vile & The Violators” sounds so classical it could practically be a string quartet. Kurt obviously used to be in The War on Drugs, as compared to the band I saw the other week, LNZNDRF, comprised of members of The National and Beirut, not to be confused with EL VY who also toured recently, comprised of (other) members of The National and Menomena. And the week before that was, um, Car Seat Headrest. Okay, maybe some of the names are a little bit silly.

Anyway I’d actually only imbibed a single pint and so I was well equipped to solve this somewhat thought-intensive puzzle in 12m22, not exactly a time to write home about but at least within 2 Magoos today. Somewhat controversially if the grumblings on the Club Forum is anything to go by I thought this was a super duper puzzle. 1ac went straight in so this wasn’t a hard one to get started on, but boy there were a lot of speed bumps thereafter. I see in my parsings at least three clues that I couldn’t just write up in a terse algebraic style, which may well be a sign of above average deviousness going on. 4dn and 6dn looked like they could easily trap unwary biffers: myself, I almost put TONE in at 4dn before forcing myself to actually make proper sense of the clue.

Two clues which appear to have attracted some brickbats in the Forum are the rather unusual-looking answer at 21ac, where personally I think the definition works okay – “with this, she left the room” – “at that, she left…”; and 17dn, which admittedly slowed me down a lot as having seen it was an anagram I threw in RELIGION, to work out why later. This made 28ac much harder than it should have been, but once the penny dropped there REOILING became obvious (and was presumably my LOI). Anyway I quite liked it in the end – if OILING is “smoothing things”, and metaphorically why wouldn’t it be, then REOILING is “smoothing things over (again)”, which is the kind of deviousness above and beyond the call of cryptic duty that I don’t mind admitting gives me little stabs of happiness inside.

Lots of other great clues too, exhibiting a playfulness and commitment to pushing the boundaries that reminded me a lot of the much-beloved Spider Lady back in the days when I used to do the Guardian. 12ac, 15ac, 19ac, 23ac (always enjoy that Sat = Saturday concealed definition), 7dn, 8dn, 20dn, and oh there are more. But my Clue Of The Day award goes to 22dn which I thought was very clever indeed. Thank you setter and don’t let the Club Forum mutterings get you down, I loved it. Libertarianism is the future!

Across
1 CONGRATULATIONS – well done: (SALUTING CARTOON) [“awfully”]
9 SNOWDONIA – Welsh region: SNOW I A [spots on TV | one | a] (which) DON [lecturer] “fills”
10 ROCKY – a rock is “a firm foundation” and ROCK-Y might be like a rock; but that which is ROCKY has “anything but” a firm foundation. Oh, English…
11 ANYHOW – carelessly: Y{out}H [“tips for…”] opening A NOW [a | present]
12 BUDDLEIA – shrub: LEI [garland] “for” (i.e. replacing) BUDDHA’s H [religious teacher’s | husband]
13 DURHAM – university: reverse of [“backing”] HR [human rights] “in case of” MAUD [girl]
15 STRUTTED – supported: ST RUTTED is a “brief suggestion” that the street is rutted, i.e. “thoroughfare needs repairing”
18 SIMMERED – was about to lose it: SIM MERE D [computer game | uncomplicated | daughter]
19 ITHACA – old island: “insides of” {p}IT{s} {t}HA{t} {s}CA{r}
21 WITH THIS – at that: W.I. [Women’s Institute] + I’S [one’s] “appearing on” TH TH [Thursdays]
23 SUNDAY – Sat before this (this being Sun): UND [Bavarian and] (which) SAY [state] “guards”]
26 OVERT – public: O VERT [round | green]
27 ISOTHERMS – lines on maps: I [one] + (SMOTHERS*) [“clumsily”]
28 FITTING-OUT DOCKS – parts of shipyards: FITTING OUT DOCKS [appropriate | to expose | cuts]
Down
1 COSTARD – apple: C O STAR [century | old | hero] + {bagge}D [“finally”]
2 NOOKY – the other: NOOK Y [corner | unknown]
3 RADIO WAVE – carrier of sound: RAD I.O.W. AVE [excellent | rock festival venue | welcome]
4 TINT – colour: S [singular] “leaves” {s}TINT [spell]
5 LEAD UP TO – approach: UP TO [capable of] “supporting” LEAD [principal]
6 TYRED – with rubber rings: homophone of TIRED [worn “on the ears”]
7 ORCHESTRA – band: OR [gold] + CHE’S [red’s] + reverse of ART [“elevated” painting]
8 SKYWARD – from the ground: KY [state of bluegrass (i.e. Kentucky)] in SWARD [turf]
14 REMITTENT – description of fever: E.N.T. [hospital department], RE MITT [on | hand] “first”
16 UNTOUCHED – left: something loony may be touched, ergo that which is “not a bit loony” is UN-TOUCHED
17 REOILING – smoothing things over: (GIRL ONE I*) [“fancy”]
18 SAWN-OFF – sort of gun: SAW OFF [chased away] “clutching” N [new]
20 ABYSSES – gorges, maybe: {barn}ABY’S SES{same} “sandwiches”
22 TUTTI – for all of 7 (7dn, orchestra): “seconds in” {s}T{upor}, {b}U{t} {s}T{irring} {a}T {e}I{ght}
24 DORIC – order: DO [to carry out] + RIC{h} [elaborate “briefly”]
25 TOFU – food: (OUT*) [“crashed”] “after eating” F [fine]

66 comments on “Times 26,357: A Watched Odyssey Never Boils”

  1. I found this difficult. I too put 1A straight in and thought I was off on a stroll but it didn’t work out quite like that.

    Unusually for me completed the NE and SE corners with very little else filled in. Finally lost my mental block with COSTARD which enabled me to do the NW and finished with the difficult 21A and 22D crossing.

    Not convinced by definition at 17D – it had to be an anagram and nothing else fitted – or at 21A but thought 22D very clever. But overall a fine puzzle

    1. I took the reoiling to be another attempt at smoothing troubled waters – perhaps a bit fanciful but at least feasible.

      Edited at 2016-03-11 10:16 am (UTC)

      1. You pour oil on troubled waters, don’t you? You don’t oil them. And neither do you smooth them, as far as I’m aware.
        1. I agree. Also, if you “oil the wheels” people understand you to be assisting a process but if you “reoil the wheels” I suspect they see you with an oil can
          1. http://www.dictionary.com/browse/oil suggests this as a definition for “oil”:

            10.
            to make unctuous or smooth:
            to oil his words.

            But yes I think you’re right Jimbo about any metaphorical sense of oiling being a stretch to locate in “reoiling”. Still I quite like stretches in my crosswords!

            Edited at 2016-03-11 11:17 am (UTC)

            1. Even without the ‘re’ question I’m not sure you can stretch this meaning from the idiom ‘oil his words’ to ‘oil things’.
              To be clear though I’m not blaming this for my failure to get the answer: that was just a basic inability to solve a simple anagram.

              Edited at 2016-03-11 11:32 am (UTC)

          2. Indeed. And even at the first time of oiling the meaning is dependent on the wheels. To ‘oil things’ doesn’t mean the same.
  2. Quite right too, this was an entertaining, rather left of centre offering witch kept me interested for 23.23. WITH THIS does look a rather odd entry, but it’s in Chambers (Can I start the “restore Chambers as the authority on the Times” campaign? It only changed because Collins paid for the Championship for a while.) directly referenced as “at that”.
    My first take on 18 was SIMPERED, since a daughter so acting might well lose “it” to a bit of NOOKY, but I actually remembered my vow to check it before submission and followed the wordplay. Perhaps my version was a more racy, ST sort, but hey, it was marked as 18.
    Varieties of clever devices throughout, of which 22 takes my “yay” too.

    Edited at 2016-03-11 10:10 am (UTC)

  3. Hmm, okay.

    SIM = computer game (not ‘simulation?)

    Hmmmm, okaaay

    Very clever puzzle, so maybe I’m just irritated to be DNF.

    1. Nowt wrong with “sim” for computer game I don’t think: not only are there lots of flight sims, it reached the stage where somerhing like Populous could be referred to as a “god sim”. This setter is a bit down with the kids methinks.
      1. My immediate thought was The Sims, which my kids play from time to time. I didn’t think it quite worked until it occurred to me that it was probably a reference to flight simulators and the like.

        Edited at 2016-03-11 10:48 am (UTC)

  4. 32:28. Like others when 1A went in I thought this was going to be easy but it proved not to be the case. Recently I’ve often taken to breaking off to read the ‘paper’ (Can I call the electronic edition that? Is there a suitable alternative?) then return refreshed to finish the crossword. This worked today, so having read about a ‘new’ Jeff Buckley album and Spurs capitulation against Borussia Dortmund I returned to mop up the stragglers finishing with SKYWARD.
  5. I couldn’t get 17dn, having failed to see anything from what appeared to be the anagram fodder that matched what appeared to be the definition and wasting ages trying to find alternative approaches to the clue. My brain still can’t make ‘oil’ mean ‘smooth’ in a way that makes sense, but I’m sure that if I had constructed REOILED from the fodder I’d have bunged it in anyway.
  6. …and that One Error was at 1dn, where I had custard (General Custar (sic) + d). Think I’ve done something similar with the apple before…

    Other than that, I’m with V thinking its a great crossie. 45 mins with all parsed but TUTTI, which was biffed as LOI.

    Janie (on phone)

  7. A very untidy solve for me with missing answers in every quarter almost to the end of my 63 minutes. That looks very bad but a good half-an-hour was spent on the 6 remaining answers. I wasn’t helped in the SE by putting FITTING-OUT SHEDS at 28 which fits the wordplay just as well as the correct answer. I’m not familiar enough with shipyards to know whether the parts in question are covered in which case “sheds” would have been appropriate.

    I didn’t like 17dn and have never ever come across RAD meaning excellent which according to SOED is North American slang but without explanation of its origins.

    Count me out on the restore Chambers campaign. It’s my least favourite of all the usual sources mainly because it hides words or definitions where I don’t expect to find them. Collins in the printed version is beautifully set out and has some lovely quirky definitions often not found elsewhere which add the spice of crossword life. I’m not a fan of their on-line version though as new words seem to go in on a whim and without regard to longevity.

    Edited at 2016-03-11 10:55 am (UTC)

    1. Jack my family’s much younger generation tell me RAD is internet slang for “radical” meaning “cool”
      1. As for its origin, it certainly precedes the internet as I remember it being used in the 80s. I would have thought it unfashionable now but guess it must have come round again.
        1. I’m looking forward to the inevitable return of “gear” and “groovy”, myself.
          1. I can imagine TftT’s adopted winter sports star Woodsy and his chums getting stoked performing rad 540s and the like.
      2. Thanks for that info, Jim. I learnt RAD for ‘radical’ here only a couple of weeks ago but there was no suggestion in the clue then, nor in comments at the time, that suggested it also could mean ‘excellent’.

        Edited at 2016-03-11 02:46 pm (UTC)

  8. A real struggle even with the aid of the iPad.
    Couldn’t get 22D at all so thanks for the explanation.
  9. DNF. Didn’t have a clue on the shrub, which I was never going to work out as I’d confidently shoved LEAD IN TO instead of LEAD UP TO. Didn’t manage to work out the parsing for RADIO WAVE but biffed it confidently. Thanks V for the enlightenment. Took me a while to see TYRED. 1ac was my FOI with no hesitation, which gave me NOOKY RADIO WAVE TINT and ORCHESTRA in short order but then things slowed right down. Eventually remembered COSTARD and dragged SKYWARD from the clue. Spotted TUTTI quickly and didn’t have much trouble with WITH THIS. A very enjoyable workout but took me exactly an hour before I gave up on the shrub and came here. John
  10. 31:03 of unenjoyable solving. Too many strange answers and iffy clues for my taste. Over at the Club, the Crossword Editor says that ‘I would never have allowed 17dn’ which makes you wonder who did. This one has the feel of a new setter behind the scenes.

    Edited at 2016-03-11 12:08 pm (UTC)

  11. DNF. Clever crossword with some great clues like 11a, 13a, 23a, 16d and 22a. Even reading the discussion above, however, I regard REOILING as poor.
    1. I’m coming round to the idea that REOILING is iffy in multiple ways at once, any of which individually would probably be fine, but in combination are probably a bit much…
  12. These are the two I’ve missed as duty summons. I assumed it was SIMS which my children played briefly. Never called a simulator SIM, or is it Gareth Bale’s nickname?
    1. I think The Sims is a bit of a red herring. There are tons of games called things like Sim City, Sim Earth etc though.
  13. I enjoyed this but fell short not just on recoiling but also on the buddleia/tyres crossing, despite jotting down the flower on the piece of paper I keep next go the PC for anagrams, etc. Tutti is indeed very good even if I never got round to parsing it before the excitement of a day in public transport in Hong Kong took my begrudging attention.

    Is it just me, or is Verlaine beginning to sound more like the real thing since Monday?

    1. I think you (we) have been suckered. Verlaine clearly wrote Monday’s. In today’s he said he drank 1 glass (unbelievable) and referred to the nomadic Tuareg as roving.
      1. I reckon he’s written a program that writes the intros for him when he’s busy/sozzled/puked on, etc.

        Edited at 2016-03-11 01:44 pm (UTC)

          1. If he’s trying to call it Sim-ulaca, I’ll have Z8 slap a â„¢ order on him before he can say Ecstatic Treetops.
  14. I got 1a immediately, and some of the downs from it almost immediately (1d, 2d, 4, 5d) and thought I was in for an easy time, but then things got difficult. 55 minutes elapsed before I finally accepted 17 had to be RE-OILING and 21 WITH THIS, my last two entries. REOILING just doesn’t look right so I rejected it as soon as I sorted out the anagram, thinking it must be something else. I cannot imagine writing the word without a hyphen. 12,15,22,23 were all tough nuts, but I admired the clues when I solved them. Fortunately I had a Buddleia in the garden at one time (great for attracting butterflies) so recognized that all right.
  15. DNF 17dn being the culprit failed to spot the anagram

    I assumed it was SIM City – but past caring!

    28ac FITTING-OUT DOCKS was odd in that I had FITTING and DOCKS but OUT took a while!

    FOI 1 ac CONGRATULATIONS COD 22dn TUTTI

    Verlaine verbose!

    horryd Shanghai

  16. 17:24 … Well, I loved it. Gonna buy a dinghy, gonna call her Liberty.

    A fairly steady solve, with a couple of minutes wondering if WITH THAT really was right, before deciding that yes, it definitely was. Weirdly, I didn’t think twice about REOILING. Just seemed .. obvious?

    Lots of entertaining clues. Can’t really pick a winner, though I did enjoy SAWN-OFF. Thanks, setter and the mighty V.

  17. Put me down as thoroughly enjoying both puzzle and blog. I thought the former had a touch of Dean Mayer about it with NOOKY in there and devices like “sandwiches”. Tutti was very clever indeed.

    I raised a tiny bit of eyebrow at reoiled and “with this” but I wouldn’t go as far as to call them quibbles.

    Oh, 22:50 for the record so certainly tricky.

      1. Time to get reoiled? It will come as a relief to you that it is a headword (v.i.)
  18. “the Crossword Editor says that ‘I would never have allowed 17dn’ which makes you wonder who did.
    If you carry on reading to the end of the sentence, it says “but it is a headword in Collins” – actually I probably would have allowed it anyway, but the appearance of it in the dictionary was the clincher

    On the subject of dictionaries, Chambers most certainly IS an approved reference for the Times crossword, especially as it is very useful for common phrases such as “WITH THIS/AT THAT” We just don’t use some of the bizarre definitions and “Listener crossword” words, but then all dictionaries contain more obscure words

    RR

  19. I was going to add that I had Durham as an &Lit, with U and a reversal of HR in DAM (admittedly a bit loose for girl) on the basis that Durham Uni had at some time “famously” made a stand in defence of a girl’s human rights.
    1. I think that my college, Van Mildert was one of the first in Durham to accept women as well as men, although they did originally separate them by floor in the accommodation blocks.
  20. Perhaps people will be kinder to REOILING when they notice that it’s clearly in the service of a rather subtle Nina (hinted at by 1ac). Could someone called Ron Meredith may be celebrating a big birthday this weekend?
  21. 40m hard graft but I really enjoyed this. Like most folk a flying start with 1a turned into a stumble and then a halt. But each time I thought I was finally floored, another one bit the dust. Having spotted the anagram I put in REOILING without a quibble. Lots to admire with 8d my pick of a good bunch. Very enjoyable blog and discussion today; thanks Verlaine and followers.
  22. That took me a little over an hour. Some were straightforward biffs, but others like ‘WITH THIS’ had to be assembled letter by fiddly letter. It all left me feeling a bit tyred, to be honest. Still, I got there in the end.

    Congratulations on this blog, which I’ve been reading for a couple of months now. It’s often as entertaining as the puzzle itself.

  23. Yes, there are definite mutterings over in the Club Forum. Can’t see why, really. I got REOILING straight away but WITH THIS is a bit more difficult to accept. Verlaine, though, makes a good case for ‘with this/at that’. My favourite was STRUTTED. I initially was looking for the thoroughfare as being RD at the other end of the word.
    As for group names, I’ve always liked ‘My Friend The Chocolate Cake’. No idea what their music is like. Over here in France, a radio station in Normandy often plugs gigs by ‘Cats in Trees’. I really must go to one as the name is terrific
  24. I thought this was saved from the clever-but-uninspiring category only by the appearance of NOOKY, an all-time favourite word, but the Nina as pointed out by Verlaine carries it to another level. As they say. No problem with reoiling at any stage.
  25. 16:05 here for this interesting puzzle (slowed a little by bunging in TUFO at 25dn). It and your blog entry (with its excellent Nina spot) made an enjoyable twosome.

    I thought of REOILING first time through without any checked letters in place, but waited until I had them all before I dared bung it in – and even then I wasn’t completely convinced as I hadn’t twigged the use of “over” (thanks for explaining that).

    I came to the same conclusion as you about WITH THIS, with almost exactly the same example – perhaps influenced by one of my favourite quotations from all of literature: “I left the room with silent dignity, but caught my foot in the mat.”

    PS: Having had a quick peek ahead at some of the clues in tomorrow’s Listener puzzle, I don’t think I’m giving too much away if I advise dorsetjimbo to avoid it at all costs for fear of an apoplectic fit!

  26. I was feeling quite pleased with myself, until I discovered my error at 4d. I seem to be the only one who fell into the heffalump trap and had “tone”. I just thought “singular=one, so it must be right” – shoddy and slipshod parsing, as often, was my downfall.
    1. Like thud_n_blunder, also late, also lazy, & also incorrect on 4d & for exactly the same reason.

      Would suggest that we were brothers except I can trump that by also being incorrect on Custard.

  27. Mostly loved the puzzle, raced through all but three, but DNF as ran out of time and looked up REOILING, SIMMERED and REMITTENT. Hence the puzzle was not up to par 😉 That is to say: I had no quibbles with it, just too hard for me.

    Re: bands’ names – went to uni in 1978, in the time of Sex Pistols/Johhny Rotten/Sid Vicious et al. My favourite names (then) were Buster Hymen and the Penetrators, and Richard Hell and the Voidoids. With their hit song, “Love comes in spurts.”
    Rob

  28. Hi, new to cryptic crosswords and this blog is an invaluable source of info. Wasn’t able to figure out why “the other” indicated “nooky”? If anyone could explain would be much appreciated! Thanks

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