Times 26601 – 20 minutes? Yer ‘avin a larf.

Author   piquetPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Well, it was the final, and you’d expect a move to the black runs, and last week’s (the first of the three) wasn’t so bad, was it? But this one; had I started it first at Murdoch towers, there would have been five minutes left of the alloted hour to solve the next two. Even then, I had to resort to a Google or two to convince myself I’d plumped correctly, notably at 25a and 26a where some GK was arguably required to drop in the right non-crossing letters.

The hardest puzzle I’ve done for a while, and even then, I think a couple of clues are too Mephisto-like to be fair. Hats off to the 12 brainboxes who ticked all the boxes on the day. What will next week bring us? Merry Christmas Everybody.

Across
1 DINGBAT – DIN is one sort of racket, and BAT is (kind of) another, insert G being a note; D eccentric. Another meaning of the word, apart from those annoying ‘keep pressin’ and guessin’ puzzles.
5 MAILER – A DD I suppose, where Norman Mailer the US writer is also a chap who mails letters.
8 PANTRYMAN – I’ve been watching too many episodes of Masterchef and initially put in PASTRYMAN, but was unable to parse it, I then arrived at PAN = roast, criticise, TRY = taste, MAN(Y) = lots, cut; D job in store for cook.
9 TEPEE – T = close to street, EPEE is a fencing sword; D simple dwelling.
11 OPENS – A penny-drop clue, mine took a while. O PENS would mean the end of writing; D OPENS are competitions e.g. in tennis or golf.
12 HOUSEWIFE – HOUSE = put up, host; W(ith) I Fe = iron; D &lit.
13 ATOM BOMB – A TOMB = a grave, O MB = old doctor; D means to be destructive. For no particular reason, my FOI.
15 KLUDGE – Another time-eater; reversed in b E i G e D r U m L i K e, indicated by ‘wheels’, it’s the word which means a makeshift machine or bodge-up, so perhaps in poor repair. I’d heard of the word in the context of software but didn’t really know what it meant.
17 IF ONLY – I FLY = one escape, insert ON; D would that.
19 BARBADOS – If you accept just good, you BAR BAD, then OS for rating, seaman; D holiday destination.
22 BOMBAY MIX – (BMX BOY I AM)*, D hot stuff.
23 PAGAN – I put this in from P*G*N before seeing why; NAG = harry, reversed after PA = loudspeakers, D one outside church?
24 GONZO – GOO is sticky sentimental stuff, insert NZ a distant land (well, distant from London); D crazy. I thought he was a muppet, but I’m an innocent.
25 EXANTHEMA – Medical dudes will have liked this one, I didn’t; EX = once, ANTHEM A is the first hymn in a service; D fevered eruption, a skin rash when you have a fever, not to be confused with ENANTHEMA which seems to be the same but different.
26 JINGLE – I’ve never read Pickwick Papers but given *I*G*E and the idea of a radio jingle being played, I assumed he was a chatty bloke in said book, I was right.
27 FREESIA – (IE SAFER)* D plant. I asked Mrs K how to spell this having thought it had one E but we were both wrong, it has two.

Down
1 DIPLOMATIC BAG – DIPLOMA = qualification, TIC = jerk, BAG = appropriate; D one for official post. Nice surface.
2 NON-HERO – D far from typical star, hidden in (odeo)N ON HER O(wn).
3 BORIS – BIS means twice in Latin, so ‘again’, insert OR for soldiers, D Russian, or blonde bloke on bike.
4 TOM THUMB – TO THUMB would be intention to hitchhike, insert M for motorway; D general. A famous dwarf in Barnham’s circus.
5 MANQUE – MAN = crew, verb; QUE = French for ‘that’, D failed. Well, sort of, it means lacking, or missed, with an acute accent?
6 IN THE CLUB – DD, one popular slang for pregnant.
7 EMPTIED – E, MP, TIED = on fast; D exhausted.
10 EYELESS IN GAZA – Make anagram of SEEING A SLEAZY, think of a book title with a Z in it; Aldous Huxley’s novel about the aimless upper classes, which I read once and found tedious. Title more interesting than book, as often happens.
14 BILLABONG – Clue says ‘Australian pool’, what springs to mind? Decide why afterwards. We have LAB for party, inside B(achelor), I LONG for one going on a bit.
16 FAUX NAIF – I saw this was an anagram early on, of (AFFIX A NU), the nut being short; we have ‘naif’ as the masculine of naive, ‘faux’ meaning wrong, and the definition meaning not as easy as it looks.
18 OSMANLI – If you knew the word, it’s obviously an anagram (ON ISLAM)*, and it means an Ottoman Turk; I dimly remembered it probably from an old crossword.
20 DAGGERS – DD one being looking angrily at someone, one being printer’s marks.
21 IMPEDE – I’M = the writer’s, EDE(N) = garden not closing, insert a P initial letter of picnicker; D hamper.
23 PATHE – PATH = way, E(nglish), D film pioneer.

47 comments on “Times 26601 – 20 minutes? Yer ‘avin a larf.”

  1. Yes, I know I’m late on parade, but I just had to say that I finished this excellent stinker without aids and errors. Problem? It took me long enough to watch two halves of football – 91 minutes!
    Many thanks to setter and brave blogger.
  2. Unless I have missed it above, if ‘opens’ had been ovens’ we would have had a pangram. As it was, thinking I needed a ‘J’ as well gave me ‘jingle’in a doh! moment.

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