Times 26529 – one poet too many

Author   piquetPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Bushy tailed this morning, I sped through most of this in fifteen minutes, thanks to some write-ins and chunky anagrams. However the last few eluded me for a while longer, ending with 1d and 12a, even now I’m not sure why 12a is what it is.
I see some blog-readers are asking for more clarity in explanations (I do try to spell them out without being patronising) and the blog repeating each clue before the analysis. This latter idea would need a change of template for me, away from my simple HTML effort, and I’m not keen to copy and paste clues individually from the online puzzle into the draft blog. If someone sends me an easy solution to this, without my having to write java script, I’ll give it a go.
That aside, I think it would be boring if every blogger followed the same style and syntax. Below, D = definition.

Across
1 ELDEST – An easy starter; hidden word in ISRA(EL DEST)INED; D firstborn.
4 PLACATES – Insert CA (accountant) into PLATES (sheets); D calms down.
10 CONFIDANT – Anagram of O from DUO, with CAN’T FIND; D intimate, as a noun.
11 AMBER – Reverse RA (artist), insert MBE (award), D golden.
12 DOE – An animal D-E, so I wrote in DOE. My poetry knowledge is as minimal as I’ve always wanted it to be, I dislike all poetry except Lewis Carroll’s, so now I can’t explain which poem is being evoked here. Or have I missed the point? EDIT yes I missed the point, as explained below by our Noddy friend; ODE is the poem, with the D promoted (died too soon). Doh!
13 GODCHILDREN – Cryptic D. Well, not very cryptic.
14 SIMIAN – Means ape-like, sounds like a Hebrew tribe SIMEON.
16 SANDPIT – No need to conjure up names of Polish politicians with too many Ws and Zs. SAND = polish, PIT sounds like PITT, elder or younger. D play area fit for toddlers.
19 CONICAL – COAL = solid fuel, insert NIC(K) = short chip, D of regular shape.
20 DUENNA – DUE = anticipated, NNA = ANN reversed; D escort.
22 BODYBUILDER – (BURIED BY OLD)*; D muscleman.
25 TUX – TU = workers collectively, X = vote; D DJ, dinner jacket, short for tuxedo.
26 UNCUT – UN = French for ‘a’, CUT = hack; D missing none of the action.
27 TOWNSCAPE – Insert OWNS C (allows, clubs) into TAPE = record; D urban development. I wonder how much longer ‘tape’ will survive as a synonym for ‘record’?
28 DESERVED – DE = case of D(ELEGAT)E, SERVED = did job; D earned.
29 STREET – Insert TREE (something like plane) into ST (stone); D the way.

Down
1 ESCUDO – ESC = key, U = university, DO = study, read, “I’m doing Maths”; D former capital, old currency of Portugal. In spite of having E*C*** this held me up to too long, I kept thinking of cities not cash. And the old ‘key’ = esc, alt, del idea I find easy to forget.
2 DANDELION – DON = academic, insert AN, DELI (outlet); D plant. My second one in after 1a.
3 SWING – Cryptic D, genre of music.
5 LET THE SIDE DOWN – If you let the side down you’ve disappointed your colleagues, and a literal meaning for unloading a truck.
6 CHALLENGE – CHARGE would be custody, replace the R (king) in that word with NELL reversed; D dispute.
7 TABOR – ABORT = stop, move the T to the top; D drum.
8 SERENITY – Anagram of EYESTRAIN without the letter A, (EYESTRIN)*; D a sense of calm.
9 CARDINAL VIRTUE – (LUCID NARRATIVE)*; D a very good thing. A fine anagram too.
15 INCUBATOR – IN, CUBA (island), TOR = ROT (corruption) mounting; D one brooding.
17 PENETRATE – PENT = shut up, insert E (European) > PENET, RATE = levy; D bore.
18 ICEBOUND – ICE = finish off, slang for kill, BOUND = jump; D fast (stuck) in Arctic conditions.
21 EXCEPT – EXCERPT = selection, remove the R (run); D bar, as in ‘all bar three’.
23 DOCKS – I liked this, simple but elegant. DOCK = moor, as in boat; S = first letter of spread (minimally) D weeds.
24 RESET – RE = note, as in Doh Re Mi, SET = firm; D fresh start.

54 comments on “Times 26529 – one poet too many”

  1. Pip,
    I think 12a is ODE (poem)with the D promoted (too soon).
    But thanks for explaining some of the others (e.g. 23d)!

    Edited at 2016-09-28 08:07 am (UTC)

  2. I agree re DOE. The puzzle required some very careful parsing, e.g 7d, 23d, 1d. Really liked 14ac, but didn’t know SIMEON as a tribe, only as the inspiration for the Nunc Dimittis. 18d was good, I have a book with original photographs about Shackleton’s expedition. 30′, thanks pip and setter.

    Edited at 2016-09-28 08:34 am (UTC)

  3. Spent about an hour on this one, with a few holding me up, including TABOR which I couldn’t parse and ESCUDO – I put in ‘ode’ till the penny dropped. I thought GODCHILDREN was OK as a cd, and I liked PENETRATE, but my favourite was DUENNA. Appears a few times every year in various puzzles around the traps, though I’ve never come across it out there in the real world. Don’t know why, but I like words like that.

    Thanks to setter and blogger


  4. I’m not sure of a couple of bits:
    27a: Why does OWNS = allows?
    29a: Why does TREE = plane?

    Thanks

    1. A plane is a type of tree, and you can say – please do – ‘I would never own [= allow > concede] that Galspray is right’..
    2. A plane is a sort of tree (e.g. London plane)
      own and allow are synonyms in the Thesaurus, under the sub heading of ‘acknowledge’.

      Edited at 2016-09-28 09:08 am (UTC)

  5. Solid par today, after thinking I was heading for disaster midway through the solve.

    TABOR, DUENNA and ESCUDO were prised reluctantly from the crossword-only section of my brain. Will attempt to use them in conversation in the hope that they’ll be in a more accessible place next time they’re required.

    Enjoyed both of the three-letter offerings today. Thanks setter and Pip.

    (Pip, I wouldn’t bother too much about changing your blogging style, unless of course they threaten to reduce our pay).

  6. Thanks to deezzaa for sorting out 12a, where fortunately I’d never heard of any animal called ‘dae’, ‘dee’, etc.

    45 minutes for this, with news from down under eagerly anticipated.

    Congratulations to Sotira for toppling the mighty V. A portent of things to come, perhaps?

    1. Pah! One swallow and all that. And the mighty V probably did this after a night at the Hammersmith Palais, as opposed to after an early night and 8 hours sleep.

      My Championship ambitions remain where they ought to be — trying to finish 3 puzzles in an hour without screwing up. Which is harder than it sounds when you’re in a room full of people who seem to know what they’re doing rather better than you do!

  7. 12ac is ODE with the D moved up front – not liking any poetry except Lear! I’d have kept that quiet! What about Milligan!?

    I did this in three sittings as I had to go for a check-up in Quackland. In the taxi for ten minutes – in the waiting room for a couple of minutes – and back home over a late breakfast.
    I reckon about 45 minutes in all.

    FOI 1ac ELDEST LOI 14ac SIMIAN

    WOD TUX – named after the TUXEDO COUNTRY CLUB, Chicago where it was first noted – yonks ago.

    COD 23dn DOCKS wickedly simples.

    horry Shanghai

    1. You’re right, he wasn’t bad; “’tis the pigeons that alight, on Nelson’s hat that make it white” for example.
  9. Got stuck in the SE corner for no obvious reason in retrospect and there never was going to be a Hebrew tribe called Gibbon.
    1. But there is a place called Gibeon, where God made the sun stand still – throwing in the moon for good measure – so Joshua could give the Amorites what not for.
  10. 11:38 on the club timer: all the cool kids are doing it in 11:38 today.
    Nice puzzle. Another where the setter somehow forces you to work with the wordplay without resorting to obscurity, even when including the dread word ‘plant’, or biblical references. Of course words like DUENNA or ESCUDO are obscure in the real world but in Crosswordland they’re commonplace.

    Edited at 2016-09-28 08:42 am (UTC)

    1. Wonder how they resolve dead-heats at the Championships?

      I suggest a variation on our traditional game of “stumps”. Each competitor sculls a pint, puts his or her head down on a cricket stump, eyes closed, and circles the stump ten times without raising their head. Then they (attempt to) run towards the moderator with completed crossword in hand.

      That would bring the crowds back to crosswording.

  11. 30 minutes for all but 14ac where I decided after another 10 that enough was enough and looked it up. I knew I wouldn’t know the homophone tribe but I might have thought of SIMIAN if it had been clued as “ape-like”. I now understand that “ape” on its own is fine too, but I didn’t happen to know that when solving.
  12. Speaking as an enthusiastic amateur, I’m fine with all the bloggers and their different styles adding to the spice of life. Late off today, spending too much time defending Big Sam, a flawed but I think good man, in vain against the creeps from The Telegraph. He doesn’t seem to have committed any cardinal sins. Completed in 45 minutes with ESCUDO LOI. I was taught by my Headmaster at school in preparation for Oxford entrance to say I wanted to read Physics. Minor snobberies stay with you for life!
  13. 20 min, with SE corner taking what seemed a long time – thought of 27ac at once, but couldn’t see how it parsed. I’d biffed 7dn, so thanks for explaining that one.
  14. As I wrote elsewhere yesterday I think it’s fine that bloggers have their own individual styles and there should be no attempt to impose a standard format. I’d only mention that I don’t think it’s patronising to explain every detail of clues if one has the time and inclination, as since the introduction of the QC and newbies making the transition to the 15×15 every day, we are now catering for all levels of expertise. If there’s too much detail for experienced solvers they can always skip over it whilst remembering that others may appreciate it.
  15. My LOI was ESCUDO, tortuously derived from “study headed” S, “by key” C, “university” U, “in former capital” EDO (now Tokyo). Of course, this leaves no room for the definition … unless “former capital” does double duty … ah well!
  16. 14.37, so a gentle stroll, helped by the fact that the weed and the plant were both within my horticultural ken (come to that, both are also well within my horticultural plot). I now know what a DUENNA is other than a generic Spanish person.

    On style, ever since I discovered you can copy/paste the entire list of clues (not to mention right click/search Google) I’ve used that as the basis for producing a blog. Usually pasting via Notepad to avoid extraneous formatting, then editing in Word to take advantage of spellchecking etc. Copy the result, paste as plain text into LJ, and use LJ’s visual editor to format. Works for me, but might explain why it takes me a while. Avoids all that tedious mucking about in Hypertext.

  17. 35mins, but with ‘escada’ at 1dn (nope, me neither…).

    LOI was PENETRATE, which was very nearly chucked in as an unparsed ‘punctuate’.

    I really am not bothered by how the bloggers format their offerings, am just grateful that they do. Many thanks, Pip et al!

  18. As I have said previously I would prefer slightly more standardisation of the blogs – both 15 x 15 and QC.

    I love the idiosyncratic styles found in the notes and queries but the solution itself should be better disciplined – even formatted. Galspray for example is very easy to follow, as is The Rotter in the QC. We all love Verlaine!

    The setters have to follow a fairly complex regimen – why not Joe Blogs & Co.?

    All bloggers should give their time taken in solving – (however embarrasing)it helps the solvers gain an idea of what they are up against on any particular day. I know most do – but others do not.

    And last but not least anagram indicator and its ugly diminutive could easily looked after by a shorthand @.

    The rest of us have an annoying habit of referringin our comments to 2ac etc without giving the word. I am constantly having to scroll up to find what 6dn or 23ac actually is.

    meldrew Shanghai

    1. Oooh, you are a mischief maker, Horry, but (to quote Dick Emery) I like you! Well sort of, let’s not go OTT, FGS.

      Perhaps the time has come for you to set up your own Times crossword blog and run it according to your own particular rules and regulations and see how many takers you get to write the blogs and comment upon what’s been written. Then I shall be delighted to come along and pick holes. In the meantime we shall continue to muddle along here as best we can.

      Edited at 2016-09-28 03:13 pm (UTC)

    2. Those who criticise volunteer efforts have a ready solution to hand: offering to do it themselves
  19. I’m personally very grateful that the bloggers blog, and would not presume to tell them how to do it! After yesterday’s success, today came failure. I struggled all the way with this one finishing in 2 minutes over the hour with an mombled GIDIAN at 14a. My scant knowledge of the biblical tribes has faded and the desire to get the puzzle over and done with overruled my nagging suspicion that there isn’t a gidian ape. Having said that, there were some clever clues in this puzzle, but I found it tricky. FOI, SERENITY. LOI DOE after finally untangling ESCUDO. I didn’t see how it worked until I came here so thanks to Pip and Deezzaa for enlightening me.

    Edited at 2016-09-28 12:47 pm (UTC)

  20. I’m glad that when I arrived here defeated this morning the blog was yet to arrive. I still had about half the grid blank.

    I tried again over lunch, adding perhaps twenty minutes to my existing hour, and polished the whole thing off without much problem (glad the ape wasn’t as unknown as the Hebrew tribe!)

    Funny how a few hours doing nothing more stimulating than your tax return can make all the difference. I’m thinking of moving my solving to lunchtimes and doing something else during my dozy just-woken-up hour…

    1. I’m a firm believer that your brain is beavering away solving the clues without you realising, during those few hours you are concentrating on something else. Over the years almost all the contributors have described the same scenario… start crossword, get insurmountably stuck, go off and do something else for a while, come back and whip thorough the remaining clues in no time. I’ve done it often and know it works, but I’m (almost) certain you need to have read the clues and have them there in your brain. I don’t believe your attempt to to solve at lunchtime will change things at all. If you do the experiment, I’d be interested in the results.
      Otherwise, found it slightly tricky especially the SE, 27:03 which is a bit slow.
      Rob
  21. I thought this puzzle was clunky compared with yesterday’s, yet it was a bit easier. There were quite a few answers I got without being able to parse the clue. But well done to the setter for some good misdirection. e.g. 23d I thought I was looking for a synonym of “clothes” since that’s an obscure meaning of “weeds”. And 21dn and 29ac caught me out completely, getting both clues the wrong way round…
  22. As a QCer happy to complete and had crossed fingers on the unknown 20a. I dedicate 5d to Big Sam Allardyce. Perhaps if he’d crossed his fingers he could have claimed the schoolboy’s excuse.
    Thanks blogger; different styles add variety.
    Alan
  23. Well I’m on a rotten run of form at the moment. 2 errors on Monday, a freeze yesterday and two more boo-boos today. The training for the champs isn’t going well either, with 4 errors strewn across 3 sets of 3 puzzles.

    Today I decided that there was probably a biblical tribe called the Gibbens, which led me to biff a faintly plausible BACKBITER. Hopefully I’m just doing the opposite of peaking too early (which is what, do we think?)

    Edited at 2016-09-28 02:19 pm (UTC)

  24. Considerably easier than the past few, don’t recall the exact time though.

    It makes me a little uneasy when bloggers post the entire clue with an explanation, to me that is tantamount to plagiarism. In the early days of the blog the paper requested we do not explain every single clue since they had a “dial an answer” service. I like to think that the readers of the blog are looking more to fill in the gaps and get some entertainment and chatter going.

    1. I’ve read your comment through a couple of times George and I don’t seem to get where the “plagiarism” comes in. For the daily puzzles it really doesn’t matter whether the blogger includes the clue because the puzzle itself is readily available in whatever form the solver uses.

      With the Saturday and Sunday puzzles it’s helpful but not essential. But the Jumbos have a 2 week hiatus and the TLS (which I’m currently blogging) a 3 week time lag and that makes the inclusion of the clues really useful because I for one have usually forgotten all about the clue(s) that I had trouble with and I don’t always get around to submitting those puzzles when I finish them.

      2. As an antipodean who was formerly (at £5 per month/£25 per year) a member of the Times crossword club, but who (at £300 per year) now isn’t; and who formerly every day bought & read “The Australian,” wherein the Times crossword is published, but who now doesn’t (because said newspaper has degenerated into a ludicrous right-wing rag – think Fox News defending the Donald), I can only agree with George. The intellectual property that is the Times crossword is valuable, and can be sold for a high price. Re-publishing it wholly, in whatever format, amounts to piracy – the word I’d use rather than plagiarism.
        As mentioned above, a tricky 27 minutes, SE most intractable.
        Rob
    2. This reply has NOT been cleared with our legal department, so they could have a different view. But for reasons stated below, I think this is unlikely. In short, I don’t think the newspapers involved mind about the blogs, or have a good reason to mind. A factual point: the omission of at least one answer from each report (particularly for reports on the day of publication) in earlier days at TftT was my idea as the person originally running it, rather than a requirement from the newspapers. I worried that a complete solution might cause irritation by reducing help line income, but the papers seem untroubled.

      All three of the daily cryptic solving blogs have been running reports with complete sets of clues for at least a few years, and as far as I know, none of the newspapers involved have asked them to do anything different. It would be rather odd if they did, when we remember that:

      • when I joined the Sunday Times, the people who recruited me were well aware of this blog, and they included the paper’s Managing Editor
      • I’m pretty sure that most of the broadsheet papers involved have by now mentioned the blog for their puzzles in print. The Independent’s (or rather, the i’s) Inquisitor puzzle mentions fifteensquared.net as a source of help every week
      • Books by people known to work on crosswords for at least the Sunday Times and The Guardian, some with the relevant newspaper’s logo on the front cover and/or in the title, have mentioned the blogs
      • When I encouraged people at TftT to restart coverage of the TLS crossword, I did so with the knowledge and consent of someone in the TLS management
      • The blogs are free publicity — I would expect the papers concerned to be pleased that some of their readers care enough about a bit of their content to spend a lot of time writing about it
      • What all the papers are selling, whether in print or on-line, is a puzzle that no-one has seen before and the chance to solve it without help from other people. That’s not what you get on the blogs

      As far as the style of reports goes, I’m 100% in favour of allowing the people who write them to make their own choice about the format. They are, after all, contributing a significant amount of their spare time with no monetary reward.

      Peter Biddlecombe, Sunday Times Crossword Editor

      Edited at 2016-11-11 11:12 am (UTC)

  25. Jack, I would not dream of setting up my own blog – your’s is far too interesting!

    meldrew Shanghai

  26. Thirty-two minutes for me, for what I thought was a tougher puzzle than the last couple. I completely failed to parse DOE, and had ESCUDO as my LOI. No major holdups, but then again very few that I found particularly easy.

    Regarding blogs and bloggers – I am in the camp that enjoys the varied blog styles, including Pip’s.

    I note also that “horryd Shanghai” has become “meldrew Shanghai”. Is this a sign of advancing years?

  27. 19 mins. I had a longer day at work than anticipated so consequently started this a fair bit later than I usually do on a work day. I struggled to see a few that I’d like to think I’d have got quicker if I’d been solving earlier, such as CARDINAL VIRTUE, DUENNA, PENETRATE and ICEBOUND. I finished back in the NW with ESCUDO after CONFIDANT.

    As far as blog formats are concerned I’m very firmly of the opinion that because the bloggers give their time for free it’s entirely up to them how they present each blog.

  28. The holding back of certain answers each day (referenced by George above) became a self-defeating exercise because almost every day somebody would query the omission and we’d end up a) having to explain the policy, and b) giving the answer and explaining it anyway. I think it was Jimbo who eventually broke new ground on this one and the other bloggers followed suit.

    I’ve no idea whether the Times helpline giving answers still exists but in any case it’s redundant for on-line users as on their new crossword platform it’s possible to click and reveal the answers at will for non competition puzzles.

    Edited at 2016-09-28 07:22 pm (UTC)

    1. Yes it’s still there, but I’m sure lightly used. Who honestly is prepared to pay 80 pence per min for a crossword answer?
      Chris London.

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