Times 26395 – Seven years a blogger!

Author   vinyl1Posted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time: 26 minutes

Music: Tchaikovsky, Symphony #6, Fricsay/Berlin Philharmonic

Yes, my first blog was just about seven years ago, April 20, 2009. I was both surprised and thrilled to get the email from our then leader, Peter Biddlecombe, that began: “Thanks to Russel and Jonathan for both volunteering for the Monday slot. I propose to share it between you, with Russel going in to bat first on Monday 13 April, and Jonathan’s first posting on the 20th.” So it happened that ‘kororareka’ and ‘vinyl1’ stepped up to the plate for the Monday slot, replacing ‘foggyweb’, who has vanished without a trace. Of the weekly puzzle bloggers from that era, it seems like only George Heard and Andy Wallace remain at original posts.

You would think that with all this experience solving and blogging would become routine, but you never know what you’re going to get. I well remember the sickness-weakened two-hour solve that eventually sent me to reference books, as well as the sweltering ordeal in my brother’s house with no openable windows and a malfunctioning fire alarm. Not to mention all the embarrassing mistakes – pooh sticks, shanks’s mare, etc.

Fortunately, all was clear in the present puzzle, and I can promise that my answers are totally correct. At first I thought it was going to be difficult, as I couldn’t get anything in the top half, but as I got a few answers in the bottom, I started to pick up a little speed. It proved surprising amenable to biffing in the end, with a few answers entered unparsed.

Across
1 BLANKET STITCH, BLANKET + STITCH in different senses, my LOI.
9 CHINO, CHIN + O.
10 LORD MAYOR, LORD! (MAY) O.R, where ‘gracious’ indicates a surprised exclamation.
11 SAUSAGE DOG, SAUSAGE + DOG in different senses.
12 IRIS, IRIS[h], a chestnut. Experienced solvers will see ‘flag’ and think ‘iris’ immediately.
14 ACCOUNT, [e]AC[h] + COUNT, i.e. ‘matter’ as a verb.
16 TRANSIT, TRA(N,S)IT.
17 DESIRED, DE(SIR)ED.
19 PADRONE, P[lan] + A DRONE.
20 IRON, I[n] R[apture] O[ver] N[ewspaper].
21 MARTINIQUE, MAR(TI,NI)QUE, i.e. IN, IT backwards in the middle. A write-in if you get the crossing ‘q’.
24 EMILE ZOLA, anagram of MEAL, I containing LE(Z)O.
25 ADEPT, A DEPT.
26 NON-ATTENDANCE, [vacatio]N = anagram of AT ONCE, TANNED. I suppose this sort of terminology has been banned by the EU.
 
Down
1 BACK-SEAT DRIVER, BACKS + EAT + DRIVER in a different sense.
2 ADIEU, AD + I.E. + U (the film rating).
3 KOOKABURRA, KOOK + A BURR + A.
4 TALLEST, TA(SELL upside-down)T.
5 TURNOUT, TURN + OUT, used by metonymy for the assembly itself.
6 TIME, double definition.
7 HEY, PRESTO, anagram of TYPOS HERE. Rather archaic, the kind of formula a magician in an 18th-century comedy would use.
8 GRASP THE NETTLE, double definition.
13 HAND IN HAND, another laborious double defintion.
15 CUSTODIAN, anagram of A DISCOUNT.
18 DRAG OUT, D[uck] + RAGOUT. For once, duck!=0.
19 POTTAGE, P(O.T.T.)AGE, although technically speaking a ‘page’ is an attempt to contact someone, originally done by sending a page into the room calling out the fellow’s name.
22 QUEEN, double definition, since a queen is a chess piece.
23 KERN, hidden in [stri]KER N[aturally]. That would be Jerome Kern, songwriter and composer.

46 comments on “Times 26395 – Seven years a blogger!”

  1. Not too difficult, and I finished in under an hour – a blistering pace for me. I liked the creatures at 11a and 3d and the QUEEN clue. Held up by 9a – I was convinced that ‘ochin’ just had to be right.

    Congrats to blogger for your 7 years. You can count me as one humble, newbie poster who is very grateful for the efforts of you and your fellow bloggers.

    Thanks also to setter.

  3. 24 minutes, so something of a Monday stroll. Never heard of a BLANKET STITCH, but then I’ve never done much sewing. Liked the simplicity (and therefore trickiness) of TURNOUT.

    Congratulations to my Monday confrere across the lake. Well, the Pacific is bigger than the Atlantic.

    Edited at 2016-04-25 02:33 am (UTC)

  4. … and blog. ‘Grats to Vinyl on his seven-year hitch.

    19ac kept me in mind of perhaps the most boring film ever made (Traviani & Traviani, 1977). DRONE seems appropriate.
    12ac: when I read “flag”, I assume TIRE rather than IRIS. That didn’t help at all.
    Still, in the end, after about 20m, I grasped the bullet and bit the nettle.
    Then moved on to Rufus and his totally unTimes-ish clues. If you’re interested, have a look at 31ac.
    On second thoughts … don’t!

  5. Congrats on your longevity, Jonathan! I know you specified “weekly” bloggers but I’ve been around since 23 November 2007 alternating Fridays originally with Sabine for a few months and then, until 2014, with Dave Perry. Jimbo joined the same week as I did, blogging alternate Tuesdays and I took over his slot when he “retired” in 2014, though he’s still very much around both as a contributor and Mephisto blogger. More recently I’ve been doing every Tuesday. It’s frightening how the time has flown!

    As to this puzzle, I nearly had it all done and dusted in 24 minutes but then became stuck on 3dn and the first word of 1ac. I knew BLANKET STITCH but had a mental block on it. I also knew at 3dn I was looking for the name of an Australian bird, but without the first letter in place I couldn’t bring it to mind. I needed another 8 minutes finish it off.

  6. Wow! 15 minutes – it must be all that fish I’ve been eating. Thanks for parsing 14a.
    And congratulations Vinyl on your copper anniversary. I would have thought Tchaikovsky’s Pathetique a little too downbeat for such an occasion – his 4th would be more like it.
    1. Nah – third movement would have been about when he started speeding up, triumphantly banging in the last entry on the da da da dum. Then all that languid stuff for the post coit…er crossword cigarette, reflecting on a glorious career. Tell me I’m not right!
      1. Interesting interpretation. For me the 3rd movement is triumphal and exuberant. Then it all comes crashing down in the 4th movement with despair and utter despondency. Bit like my crossword solving really.
  7. Easy one today.. only a one-cup.
    Many congratulations Vinyl, on what I think is your woollen anniversary, this side of the pond. Try not to think about all those hours spent…
  8. Congrats Vinyl. As a veteran now of two Jumbo blogs I certainly appreciate the commitment of all our fellow bloggers, especially those of you who have been at it for so long.

    It’s a holiday here today (presumably to mark the new Game of Thrones season) and this was a very pleasant way to start the day.

    Held up at the end by the unknown BLANKET STITCH and, embarrassingly, by KOOKABURRA.

    Thanks setter and blogger.

  9. 11m. A steady solve until the end, when I was held up a little bit working out the unknown BLANKET STITCH.
    Congratulations on the seven years, vinyl. Here’s to the next seven.
  10. 12:20 … the long 1s were almost my last in (save KOOKABURRA). All very enjoyable.

    Congratulations, Vinyl, on your long playing record.

  11. Well under 30 mins, with LHS going in quicker than RHS today.

    dnk KERN (assumed it was some sort of knife…oops!).

    I’ll add my congrats and thanks to Vinyl, and to all bloggers and setters past and present.

  12. Yes, KOOKABURRA LOI. 19′, did it from right to left, no inspiration on NW at start. Biffed kern, took a while to parse. Congrats on the anniversary!
  13. Congratulations on the seven years. You and other bloggers have undoubtedly helped to improve my solving.

    I found this a traditional ‘Monday offering’, finishing in 17:47 with nothing too taxing.

  14. As a late arrival at the ball, congratulations on your 7 years. Vinyl. Nothing can beat that lush sound. 25 minutes today, with the north west corner finished last. I can’t sew though I had vaguely heard of BLANKET STITCH and when I wear CHINOS they always lose their shape too quickly. if God had wanted me to get with it, he wouldn’t have invented BBC4. I’m one half of Darby and Joan who used to be Jack and Jill but the other half won’t admit it.
  15. First time ever under an hour one sitting, either it was on the easy side or I’m getting better, I suspect the former but hope for the latter. Like others had to solve from SE to NW. Thanks to blogger for explaining 10a, 2d and 23d couldn’t see the OR or the U until explained and never thought of the composer then a groan and a slap of the head.
    Thanks to all the bloggers for getting me this far and thanks to the setter for a good but fair test, thought 20a very clever but oh so simple when I saw it.
  16. Congratulations on the anniversary, vinyl – blogging looks like very hard work to me unlike this puzzle which fell into place in 15 mins after a slow start.
  17. Yes, quite easy, 6 minutes for me, with quite a few things going in from crossers only semi-parsed – BACK SEAT DRIVER, MARTINIQUE, LORD MAYOR, NON-ATTENDANCE.

    I see the great Jason posted a time of 4 minutes (though with one typo), which makes *me* feel bad about my 6 minutes! It’s the people who apparently don’t even have to waste valuable time thinking through the clues that impress and intimidate me.

  18. Same again, slow start, accelerating to a finish in 11.16. Checking for typos at the end, where I am becoming much more cautious, took around a full minute of that.
    I thought with Kookaburra and Zola we were on for a pangram, but bizarrely, as well as the usual suspects J and X, we’re missing W and F.
    I’ve never asked before, but on this 7th anniversary, I might as well: are they all on – um – vinyl?
  20. 8:30 so no real problems. LOI was drag out and I biffed Lord Mayor, Zola, Martinique and non-attendance.

    Congrats to V on the milestone.

  21. Congratulation Vinyl, and thanks to all the bloggers for their much appreciated help. I found this one reasonably easy, finishing in just over 30 minutes. FOI HAND IN HAND. LOI the first word of BLANKET STITCH. Tried to fit HISPANIOLA into 21ac before I got GRASP THE NETTLE. enjoyable puzzle with a few head scratching moments while pennies dropped.
  22. BLANKET STITCH was actually my FOI. “loopy joiner” was very explicit for this particular stitch because it can join fabric edge-to-edge. I think the name comes from the fact that it was used to edge blankets to stop the wool fraying. Getting 1a straight away was a great help. Finished in 18m, which is a good time for me. Ann
  23. Congratulations on the anniversary, v1, have a long-service medal. On the puzzle I have little to say, other than realising I was barking up entirely the wrong tree with KERN, being another who assumed it was a technical reference to the printing process. In my defence, the detail of exactly what a kern (sans capital letter) is had eluded me till now – luckily, the wordplay pointed to it pretty unambiguously, and it’s one of those buttons which I have seen on drop-down menus for 20 years without feeling the need to make use of, so I did at least know it was a real word.

    There must be a term for over-complicating solving by this sort of reverse Occam’s razor.

  24. Congratulations, Vinyl, on your baker’s half-dozen of blogging years!

    Thirty-two minutes here, with QUEEN and MARTINIQUE being my LOsI.

    My only unparsed (or at least mis-parsed) was KERN, where I followed much the same reasoning as topicaltim to arrive at the right answer for the wrong reasons.

  25. Congratulations to vinyl, and I’m glad today’s offering was a comparative walk in the park so we can all express our appreciation instead of, say, debating difficult clues. About 20 minutes, LOI being DRAG OUT. Regards.
  26. So busy today I didn’t start until 23.15 hours Shanghai time.

    I’m usually done before breakfast.

    All over by 23.30 FOI 12ac IRIS LOI 14ac ACCOUNT

    COD 23ac MARTINIQUE which was SOI

    No difficult words but had to double check 3dn KOOKABURRA’s

    witchcraft.

    horryd Shanghai

  27. Go, vinyl, go! I slogged my way through this in 17:02, not helped by banging in MOZAMBIQUE from the crossers that I had. It sorted itself out though so thanks setter and esteemed blogger.
  28. And congratulations from another one of the NY group! I made a stupid mistake with the Saturday (mixing up 2 American actors with rather similar names and failing to stop and parse) so I was extra careful this morning and clocked in at just over 15.
  29. A knock-free 14 mins, although some of the answers went in much more slowly than they should have done, such as EMILE ZOLA, SAUSAGE DOG (we had a couple when I was a boy) and POTTAGE. Like a few others BLANKET STITCH was my LOI, in my case after I finally got KOOKABURRA. I almost bunged in an idiotic “bracket stitch” before the penny dropped, and in similar brainless fashion I almost biffed “draw out” before I saw the correct DRAG OUT.
  31. 7:38 for me after another slow start. A pleasant, straightforward beginning to the week.

    Congrats on you first seven years. Here’s to the next seven.

  32. “Sausage dog” is a vulgar term for a dachshund, a long canine, but how is it “trouble with meat”?

    And what is a kook?

    1. If someone is dogged by problems, they are troubled, and sausage is (partially) meat: hence to trouble, DOG, with meat, SAUSAGE.
      Kook is a slang term for someone who is a bit weird

      Edited at 2016-04-26 12:13 am (UTC)

  33. Poppy & me managed to get this done in a couple of hours (we are normal people!). Of course Poppy did the bulk of the brain work, with me providing an occasional spark of inspiration and several cups of tea. For us this is a major achievement, actually finishing on the same day as publication!

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