Times 26359 – A barrel with only one monkey

Author   vinyl1Posted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time: 31 minutes

Music: Clannad, Crann Ull

Having spent the day working on my US income tax return, preparing my Unrecaptured Section 1250 Gain worksheet among other things, I was ready for a change. At first glance, this puzzle appeared more difficult than usual, as some of the clues seemed rather obscure at first reading. Usually, on a Monday, there are some easy starter clues you can just bung in, but it took me a while to get going on this one.

While there were no really obscure words, I had no idea how to spell ‘taoiseach’ and ‘macaque’, and had to wait for helpful crossing letters to clarify how the cryptics work. On the other hand, I had never heard of ‘orthoptera’, but as a classicist the spelling was quite obvious.

I suspect the consensus will be that this was a puzzle of but mild difficulty, with a few feeble attempts at humor…but I have been wrong before.

Across
1 NUDIST CAMP, anagram of STUPID MAN + C[old].
6 A FEW, hidden in [c}AFE W[ith], my FOI.
10 MOUSE, M(O)USE.
11 ACCEPTING, AC(CEP)TING. I’m not surprised that ‘cep’ is the setter’s favorite mushroom, as it occurs in hundreds of English words.
12 FLYING SQUIRREL, some sort of jocular cryptic definition as far as I can tell – comments invited.
14 RIDDLER, double definition, with ‘see’ in the sense of ‘understand’.
15 ELECTOR, E + LECTOR.
17 HOPEFUL, anagram of OF HELP around U.
19 PRO BONO, PROB[e] + O[r] N[earest] O[ffer]. Yoko Ono is still alive and can’t be used.
20 POWDER ONE’S NOSE, double definition, one jocular.
23 EMPATHISE, [d]EM(PATH)ISE.
24 ABASH, A + BASH.
25 AIRE, AIR + E.
26 GET THE CHOP, double definition. Here in the US, the expression is ‘get a pink slip’.
 
Down
1 NUMB, NU(M)B.
2 DOUBLE DIP, DOUBLE + DIP.
3 SPECIAL EFFECTS, anagram of PLACE IS + EFFECTS.
4 CHARGER, double definition.
5 MACAQUE, MAC + A QU[it]E.
7 FLIER, the last letters of [tou]R [wher]E [Saud]I [jewe]L [thie]F backwards.
8 WIGGLE ROOM, double definition, one jocular.
9 UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE, cryptic definition.
13 ORTHOPTERA, anagram of HOTPOT, RARE. No, it’s not ‘correct wings’ in Greek; in this instance, ‘orthos’ means ‘straight’.
16 TAOISEACH, T(A[thlone] O[ff] + IS)EACH. Many solvers will vaguely know the word, but rely on the cryptic for help.
18 LIONISE, LI(ONIS)E, where the contents are ‘Sino-‘ upside-down.
19 PRESENT, P + RESENT.
21 WIPER, first letters of W[ith] I[ce-cream] P[leasing] E[veryone], R[eplacing]. I was thinking at first that ‘replacing’ might indicate an anagram of first letters, which is not often seen.
22 SHIP, S(H)IP.

51 comments on “Times 26359 – A barrel with only one monkey”

  1. I read this as a basic charade: “doing well” = FLYING; “to hide” = SQUIRREL (as in “away”).

    Edited at 2016-03-14 02:39 am (UTC)

  2. A pretty gentle start for the week. Held up by the RIDDLER / ‘sphinx’ clue (in my ignorance, didn’t know the connection), and took a while to get the ‘doing well’ bit of FLYING SQUIRREL. Liked the def and word play for POWDER ONE’S NOSE, MACAQUE and the idea of a ‘Possible place for worms…’ in WRIGGLE ROOM. Thank goodness for crossers – I would never have been able to spell TAOISEACH otherwise.

    Thank you to setter and blogger.

  3. … a park stroll, but a moderately easy (and quite fun) puzzle.
    Took a while to see the ultimate-letter device in 7dn. But after the fact, “ends up” is pretty good going.

    Yes, Yoko is still vertical; and so is Bono. Even if, according to the story of the dead rocker who’s introduced to all his heroes in heaven, said rocker is surprised to see Bono preening himself in a mirror. “No”, says St Peter, “that’s God. He just thinks he’s Bono”.

    Edited at 2016-03-14 03:32 am (UTC)

  4. Meant to mention. I briefly filled in for the bass player in The P45s — somewhere between UB40 and The B52s. It wasn’t (a) rock … more a labour of love.
  5. I was delayed over my target over 30 by two or three tricky clues that took me to 38 minutes. MACAQUE and ORTHOPTERA were unknown so needed careful construction from wordplay as did 15dn which I knew but can never remember how to spell it.

    I’m still in two minds how I would classify 14ac. ‘One straining’ is one definition and ‘the Sphinx’ is another. If one takes ‘see’ as understand then we also have &lit, I think.

    Edited at 2016-03-14 06:11 am (UTC)

    1. Don’t think we need “see” as “understand”. “To see” is just a link-word (x to see y). A riddler strains (with her riddle) and the Sphinx is the protypical asker of riddles. That’s all.

      Edited at 2016-03-14 06:37 am (UTC)

  6. 11m. A nice gentle solve this morning, in spite of the requirement to construct ORTHOPTERA and TAOISEACH from wordplay. The latter came up a couple of years ago as TAOISm, EACH, and I commented that this helpful wordplay might help me to remember the spelling next time it came up. I remembered the thought but not the wordplay that had been so helpful, or how to spell it.
    I’m with mctext on the squirrel and the Sphinx. The fact that ‘riddle’ can mean ‘sieve’ (as noun or verb) is one of those things that sets a little alarm off in my head whenever I see the word, rather like ‘flower’.

    Edited at 2016-03-14 07:50 am (UTC)

  7. After a seemingly steady solve, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself with only 2 left after 25 minutes: 24a and the wretched Irish PM. I knew what the word was, but asking me to spell it so early on a Monday morning was asking just a bit too much. Thank goodness this is a cryptic crossword and not a straight one as there’d be no way I could have got it without working it out from the clue.
  8. 26mins, but a little cheat as I asked my OH how to spell TAOISEACH before confirming through wp. ORTHOPTERA too from wp, and MACAQUE and PRO BONO from def, so thanks for sorting those two out.
  9. For a Monday I enjoyed this as there appeared to be a bit more meat on the bone. 35 minutes.
    We did 13dn ORTHOPTERA in Biol. O levels – having to dissect a grasshopper in the practical. Smelly business.

    12ac FLYING no problem. LOI 8dn WIGGLE ROOM.

    COD 14ac RIDDLER from Erskine Childers.

    horryd Shanghai

  10. 31:00. Given my default mode is more solve by definition than cryptic I was pleased to piece together MACAQUE and TAOISEACH. I had to go to my recent solving mode again of taking a break and reading the ‘paper’ before returning to finish the last few. Having read about Spurs’ victory I was able to return and put the rest in the back of the net Harry Kane style (not sure the analogy works but I like to mention Spurs!).
  11. 29 minutes, but with a lot of head scratching over the spelling of the Irish guv’nor, as usual.
  12. Only 10 minutes, a record for me, and no look ups apart from checking orthoptera. It’s been sums before English for me since infant school but today I did the crossword after dog walk but before Killer. I’ll now fail dismally on that.
        1. Totally unable to parse that sentence, Verlaine! It sounds as if it ought to mean something, but in fact surely doesn’t given that maths > arithmetic
          1. My grammar may well have been off! I meant “surely logic just just as much maths as arithmetic [is maths]”, as opposed to “surely logic is just as much maths as [logic is] arithmetic”…
        2. I’m not quite sure what the bones of the argument are here but basic Sudoku puzzles use numbers which have no particular bearing on the logic, and they could just as effectively be colours or types of fruit or any other group of nine items. But Killer requires numbers to add up to specified totals – 45 per row and column and sector of the grid, and variable amounts for the inner cages, so calculation by any other name (maths, arithmetic, whatever) is most definitely involved.
          1. I admit that my starting point on a Saturday is the Deadly Killer Sudoku (usually classified as 55 minutes) before I turn to the crossword. The good news as far as the Dog is concerned is that on Saturdays, Mrs BT does the morning walk.
              1. Curiously, he does not shed much, and is happy to do it when he does by rolling in a field. The licky stuff is trying to stop my fingers from typing out answers on a Zagg keyboard connected to iPad when he feels that we should both be elsewhere
          2. Thanks, I had no idea. Sudokus have obviously moved on since I decided I couldn’t be bothered with them!
  13. 27:18 and glad that I reflected further before banging in PICKED ONES NOSE. TAOISEACH has come up periodically over the years and I can now spell it. I do the crossword before the dog gets his first of 3 walks a day which adds to the pressure as he gets very licky when he thinks that it is time to start!
  14. Took a minute or two to get going, with 13d anagram, then it flowed nicely until finished in 24 minutes; no problems with the Irish PM as I lived in said Republic for 14 years. 21d and 25a were my LOI, took me an age to see the ‘initial letters’ indicator.
    All this talk of sandwiches, ice cream, stew, apple turnovers and large drinks! Taste buds activated, time for an early lunch.
  15. You’re nearly right, but the first thing I did today was 17+5+19+7=48 from which I subtracted 45 to fill in 3. I took more than the par 11 minutes so the Crossword had tired me. Or the dog walk had.
    1. keriothe – there are some sudoku variants now which do involve maths! I’m presuming Killer is one of them.
  16. 7 minutes and change. Just to be a little bit different, I did this while drowsy on valerian, not tipsy on alcohol; normal inebriated service will resume on Friday though, as I’m seeing Bo Ningen and the mighty Savages at the Roundhouse Thursday evening.
  17. 15 minutes on the nose, powdered or otherwise, with the NW corner seemingly easier than the rest. LOI was EMPATHISE and like K I knew there was a way of remembering how to spell TAOISEACH but I’d forgotten it.
  18. Steady solve, nothing remarkable (which is fine for a Monday morning). Similar experiences as others with the Irish spelling. Thought the surface (and overall construction) at 23a was rather good. Thanks to Vinyl and setter.
  19. A rare dnfc (did not finish correctly) for me because it turns out I can’t spell the Irish politician, even though I thought I could. Some languages are sent to try us, and several of them are Gaelic in origin

    On the upside, I did get orthoptera without looking it up, worth a brownie point because the parsing was easy but I resisted just looking it up and went for getting all the checkers instead

  20. This was a remarkably straightforward ten-minute puzzle, which only took me 22 minutes to finish.

    Only the SW corner held me up for a while, with 20ac, 21d and 25ac bringing up the rear. I was slightly bepuzzled by 25ac (wondering how “to air” was equivalent “to look” – surely it means to display?), but then it clicked that both the verbs were being nouned.

  21. My experience exactly as our esteemed blogger’s, though in my less experienced state I half panicked thinking I was in for a gruelling, ultimately unfulfilling struggle. But no – all done in 34m though I didn’t get the parsing of FLIER which I would have spelt with a ‘Y’. Enjoyable a puzzle and blog! Thanks to both!
  22. 9:44 though a mistyped DOUBLE DOP is keeping me from the leaderboard. Nothing too scary here, though the wordplay for TAOISEACH is more helpful than the wordplay for OTHOPTERA
  23. Pretty Mondayish, even by Monday standards, but a slightly quirky feel which I enjoyed.

    Knew TAOISEACH, but wouldn’t want it to come up in a spelling bee.

    Thanks setter and Vinyl.

  24. 21 mins so back in the groove after a disappointing DNF on Friday (my excuse being the excitement of finally picking up my new car 10 days late as there had been a manufacturer’s recall before I ever got my hands on it). Nothing unknown today but, like many, I did require the cryptic to confirm the spelling of the Irish PM.
  25. Anyone remember the scene from “Drop the Dead Donkey” when Silly Sally gets very confused and doesn’t understand that the Irish Prime Minister is called the Taoiseach? It gets surreal and in the end she asks, “But why would the Irish Prime Minister open a teashop?”
    vinyl1 says that Yoko Ono is still alive and can’t be used. My question is: who would want to? Our blogger also says that in the US, to get a P45 is to get a pink slip. In Australia a pink slip is the roadworthiness certificate for your car.
    Pleasant puzzle and entertaining blog. 33m 33s. Last word: Drones sound as if they should be in the order of orthoptera…
    1. There was a cartoon in The Times a few years back when the Treasury forecasting unit was being downsized. Two guys at a desk in front of a Poster saying Treasury Forecasting Unit holding bits of paper saying P45. One says to the other ‘I suppose I should have seen this coming’.
      P60 on the other hand is a good thing, and don’t get me started on P11D.

      Edited at 2016-03-14 05:23 pm (UTC)

    2. Pink slip is also auto title in some US states – source of the old “race you for pink slip” among whatever you called the young punks in the 1950s. In the US, we also get the axe.
  26. A quick, by my standards, 25 minute romp, with one or two clues partially parsed (Sphinx for one), NUMB and NUDIST CAMP went straight in with most of the NW following quickly, including the monkey. Then a steady trip round the grid with FLIER LOI as it took me a while to spot the ends up device to confirm the biff. As with others, needed the cryptic to spell the Irish politician. OPTERA went straight in with the remaining letters rearranged to make most sense. Another enjoyable puzzle.
  27. I certainly didn’t know what a P45 is, so my LOI at GET THE CHOP went in on a bit of a wing and a prayer. I thought it might be a shortened reference to a helicopter(!). Good grief. But it’s right for the wrong reasons, all done in about 25 minutes. Same issue as others with the spelling of the Irish PM, needed wordplay to get it right. Regards.
  28. 15.22 interrupted. Having checked, I see there is much potential for controversy involving those of us who have always used and heard WRIGGLE ROOM for its alteration and sense, and the rest of the English speaking world, all the usual sources, and this puzzle that blithely insist on the linguistically inelegant WIGGLE. Wiggle for me is what Marilyn does in Some Like It Hot (“Will you look at that! Look how she moves! It’s like Jell-O on springs. Must have some sort of built-in motor or something. I tell you, it’s a whole different sex!”). Wriggle is what Harry Houdini does to get out of the straitjacket. Room for the latter would be more useful, if less entertaining. Consensus is apparently with wiggle. Consensus can go wiggle itself.
  29. I thought it was wriggle room.
    But I have just switched on Sky News (10:15pm) and a former Treasury man has said that George Osborne has a small amount of wiggle room in his budget ( I think I heard it correctly). David
  31. Not much to say, except that as a numb-skull I put in name. Couldn’t parse it, but it was all I could think of. Not much else. Thanks, Vinyl
  32. Here in Hong Kong, for today’s crossword, the hyphen was removed from 21 down, so the clue no longer works. (with ice cream pleasing everyone replacing starters gives you ‘wicper’ not ‘wiper’.) Luckily I guessed that the setters intention was ice-cream or icecream, and that an editor had accidentally changed it.

    Jezz in Hong Kong

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