Times 26660

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
This took me 25 minutes so I have achieved my target half-hour at both opportunities so far this week.  We have some brand names today, that of a magazine at 9ac and a well-known high-street chemist at 1dn; both a little unusual in a daily Times puzzle. I think this is nearly all straightforward, but we shall see.


As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]

Across
1 Add space for tribal symbol (5)
TOTEM – TOT (add), EM (space – printing)
4 Opponents welcome old man to first course (9)
ANTIPASTO – ANTIS (opponents) contain [welcome] PA (old man), TO
9 Put to sea without a periodical break (9)
LUNCHTIME – L{a}UNCH (put to sea) [without a], TIME (periodical)
10 Steer clear of woman screening commercial (5)
EVADE – EVE (woman) containing [screening] AD (commercial)
11 Inconsolable, destitute? Then read novel (13)
BROKENHEARTED – BROKE (destitute), anagram [novel] of THEN READ. Chambers and COED have a hyphen but Collins permits it without.
14 Bring down set of books to entertain me and my family? (4)
OUST – OT (set of books – Old Testament) containing [entertain] US (me and my family?).
15 Ruffian prepared to collar school urchin (10)
RAGAMUFFIN – Anagram [prepared] of RUFFIAN containing [to collar] GAM (school – of whales etc)
18 Odd bits of fossils collected by top kinswoman (4-6)
HALF-SISTER – F{o}S{s}I{l}S contained [collected] by HALTER (top – a type of blouse). Another slightly odd definition.
19 Invent noun with German cases (4)
MINT – MIT (with,  German) contains [cases] N (noun). Figuratively to invent a word, phrase or idea, cf “coin a phrase”.
21 Miss beginning to scoff her chocolate spread (13)
SCHOOLTEACHER –  S{coff} [beginning], anagram [spread] of HER CHOCOLATE
24 Editor brings in people to do his work (5)
EMEND – ED (editor) contains [brings in] MEN (people). The definition refers back to the editor.
25 Bottle hard water in Scotland (9)
TOUGHNESS – TOUGH (hard), NESS (water in Scotland – legendary home of the Monster). “Bottle” is slang for courage, fortitude etc.
27 Mike and others handle casting perhaps (9)
METALWORK – M (mike – NATO alphabet), ET AL (and others), WORK (handle)
28 Party’s hosting last of rhythm and blues (5)
DUMPS – DUP’S (party’s – Democratic Unionist Party’s), containing [hosting] {rhyth}M [last]
Down
1 Ring chemists about hospital charging points (10)
TOLLBOOTHS – TOLL (ring), BOOTS (chemists) containing [about] H (hospital)
2 VAT has group of teachers upset (3)
TUN – NUT (group of teachers – National Union of Teachers) reversed [upset]. Tuns and vats are used for storing liquids often of the alcoholic variety. Many an Olde English pub was called “The Three Tuns”.
3 Man Ray originally capturing hotel barman (6)
MAHLER – MALE (man) containing [capturing] H (hotel – NATO alphabet again), R{ay} [originally]. A devious definition here that misled me so that this was my LOI.
4 A police department controls drug users (9)
ACIDHEADS – A, CID (police department), HEADS (controls). It’s a little disturbing how much drug jargon we are required to know.
5 Character in Greek article volunteers (5)
THETA – THE (article – definite),  TA (volunteers – Territorial Army as was)
6 Pick brief lecture arranged during afternoon (8)
PLECTRUM – Anagram [arranged] of LECTUR{e} [brief] contained by [during] PM (afternoon). Picking guitars rather than flowers or fruit.
7 Cold stall in Billingsgate? (11)
STANDOFFISH – STAND (stall) OF FISH as one would find in Billingsgate, London’s premier fish market. In 1982 it moved from its historic site in the City to near Canary Wharf but it retains its name.
8 Completed / deliveries at Old Trafford (4)
OVER – A double definition that might have wandered across from the Quick Cryptic. The second meaning refers to the Emirates Old Trafford where they play cricket as opposed to the other OT where soccer reigns supreme.
12 Wobbly cobblestones bishop avoided on the way out (11)
OBSOLESCENT – Anagram [wobbly] of COB{b}LESTONES [bishop avoided]
13 College Times tarnishes investment agencies (4,6)
UNIT TRUSTS – UNI (college),  T T (times), RUSTS (tarnishes)
16 Terrified heading into a fight (9)
AWESTRUCK – A, WEST (heading), RUCK (fight). In navigation a heading is relative to the direction of travel  so presumably could be any point of the compass.
17 A brick-carrier cuts short period in plant (8)
ASPHODEL – A, then HOD (brick-carrier) is contained by [cuts] SPEL{l} (period) [short]. A type of lily.
20 Lawyer discarded shot (6)
DASHED – DA (lawyer – USA), SHED (discarded)
22 Top in the Open, or missing the cut (5)
OUTDO – OUTDO{or} (in the open) [missing the cut – is eliminated]
23 Hilary’s one / expression (4)
TERM – Two meanings. Hilary as an academic term came up very recently in one of my blogs
26 Wood essential to barrel-maker (3)
ELM – Hidden in [essential to] {barr}EL M{aker}

44 comments on “Times 26660”

  1. Felt like yesterday’s to begin with, but there were a few red herrings to slow things down a little.

    Fortunate that the plant was well clued, and that Hilary came up recently, as Jack said.

    COD to SCHOOLTEACHER for my money.

    Thanks setter and Jack.

  2. Not that more difficult than yesterday’s puzzle but this took me 3 over par – to 33 minutes – mainly due to cow-corner – where 3dn Gustav MAHLER lurked in 1dn TOLLBOOTHS at 9ac LUNCHTIME with the latter my COD and LOI.

    FOI 1ac TOTEM. WOD 15ac RAGAMUFFIN

    I note The Foxes are firing on all cylinders again! Clippety-Klopp!

  3. … to yesterday’s sub-15, with a few hiccups in the lower half. Main problem there was equating ‘tarnish’ with RUST. Are they the same? Close enough for crosswords I guess. (Cf “Near enough for folk”.)

    Horryd: As for the one-man Leicester, I wish them well. But they surely picked the worst possible moment to wake up.

    1. That is if one is a Liverpool fan with just 70% possession, Henderson and without Lucas it was hard work. Klopp could go!
  4. I found this much harder than yesterday. Not really convinced by the definition in 3dn, but nothing else fit. 7dn my COD – I liked the surface read as well as the wordplay.

    David

  5. I gave up on 22d, as nature was calling rather insistently and I saw nothing likely. It took the penny a while to drop at 3d, and it was the unlikely H that finally drove me to comprehension; nice to see something other than ‘scorer’. I think I’ll join galspray in giving SCHOOLTEACHER the COD.
  6. 35 minutes for me, but a DNF with ‘demos’ not DUMPS for 28. I always forget about the DUP as a ‘party’. My COD was also STANDOFFISH and I liked the surface for 12 – reminded me (probably for the first time in decades) of “All Gas and Gaiters”.

    Thanks to setter and blogger.

  7. I must have been well on the wavelength of the setter tonight, as my 6:15 I think is my personal best on the club timer. I think all of the downs went in on a first viewing.
  9. Back to my 30 usual minutes. STANDOFFISH, SCHOOLTEACHER and OUTDO were very good.

    Was 16d aimed at Eddie Jones?

    Edited at 2017-02-28 08:07 am (UTC)

  10. Harder than yesterday’s, but that’s a bit like saying a teddy bear is more terrifying than a My Little Pony. Six and a half minutes after coming back from a Spoon gig. Obviously that feels like an incredibly clumsy and ponderous time now!
  11. Found this much harder than yesterday and needed to cheat on three clues to finish. Asphodel, tollbooths and awestruck.

    Dnk gam for school of whales, or ness = water, I thought it was headland.

    COD 7d for the fishy word play.

        1. It’s merely the name of the Loch. In this case Ness in others Lomond etc etc…so water in Scotland = Ness
        2. Hopefully to clarify: There’s a lake in Scotland called Loch Ness which feeds the River Ness. Both the loch and the river qualify as “water” so to clue NESS as “water” is perfectly okay.

  12. Yep, just under my target of 30mins too, with 28’38 on the clock. Lost time at the end with OUTDO, and only got the cryptic from Jack, thanks.

  13. Liked PLECTRUM. Like others thought it was another flyer today, but slowed down, forgetting Mike for M. Dnk GAM, but RAGAMUFFIN comes up quite often. <17 minutes, thanks jack and setter.
  14. 43 minutes, the last five or ten spent searching for the plant. Luckily I managed to cast the right spell at it in the end. It didn’t help that I wasted time assuming that “AHOD” was all together in the middle of the clue; luckily I reconsidered.

    Like others, I was also slowed by the crossers of MAHLER and LUNCHTIME, needing to get the latter to see the former.

    Enjoyable, I thought. FOI 1a; COD 7d.

  15. Back to a poorish time, at just over the half hour today. I’m still the hod carrier, not ready to be the brickie. I was determined for too long that 25a was CAITHNESS with cait an invented sort of bottle. Took a long time to see WORK as the end to METAL too, and I didn’t get AWESTRUCK until then. In the real north west, not the top left of the grid, with our excellent Waitrose of the north Booths, we don’t need a hospital in Boots. The number of drugs related clues in the Crossword always perturbs me. Do the setters have us all down as ACIDHEADS? The rest of you, maybe. Torn whether to give COD to STANDOFFISH or SCHOOLTEACHER. I’ll write both down and let PWC select the winner.

    Edited at 2017-02-28 09:47 am (UTC)

    1. I often used to pop into Booths at Ulverston when working in the area and I’ve still got some wine and port glasses I acquired on a visit to the Caithness Glass Factory years ago. I’ll have to give you an award for the PWC comment though!
      1. The Stan Laurel Custard Pie Award please, available every day from Booths in Ulverston.

        Edited at 2017-02-28 01:35 pm (UTC)

  16. Harder than yesterday but not by much. Fun to solve. Notable for the use of brand names in the clues. Common enough in Mephisto but unusual in the daily puzzle.
  17. A mere 16 days ago we had STANDOFFISH which in his blog vinyl referred to as “the well-known Billingsgate establishment.” to which I replied “I wonder if the setter will file that away for future use”. Little did I expect to see it so soon!
    1. Vinyl seems to attract this word:

      4/5/2006 24216 “Cold stall in Billingsgate”

      22/2/2010 24467 “Cold – a feature of Billingsgate”

      Both blogged by Vinyl.

  18. Reconnected to the ether.Currently 2.5V for the week, by Friday the smart money will be on >4V.Many biffed and unparsed.Didn’t spot gam,DUP etc. Had to google Spoon, initially thought that V was a washboard music fan.
  19. Many answers seem to be repeating currently; i think we’ve had Term, Ragamuffin and possibly others recently. Got there in the end after about 30m held up by putting Shade instead if Evade. Mahler also took some headscratching – Mr Monkman of Uni Challenge would have helped me. Slight cheat in that Mrs Norfolk’n’Good confirmed the plant as well as its mythology. I note my completion success rate seems to have gone from around 30% to about 75% over the past weeks. Are the puzzles getting a bit simpler (as The Times super fiendish sudokus have). Thanks blogger and setter.
  20. Was helped at 23d by the recent outing of the Term and also managed to lift and separate the NATO Mike for 27ac. Started in the NE with EVADE and then completed that corner before coming back to the NW where LUNCHTIME TOLLBOOTHS AND MAHLER took a lot of head scratching. LOI was OUTDO. I actually knew the plant, which was a write in once I had HOD. Loads of good clues and a few PD moments. Most enjoyable. Liked STANDOFFISH and SCHOOLTEACHER. Thanks setter and Jack. Oh! 33 minutes.
  21. 10:30, wasn’t totally convinced of the work/handle connection and had a vague recollection that we’ve seen the plant before.

    GAM tripped me up in the championships once so that’s one I won’t forget.

  22. 19 minutes, with last 5 spent on MAHLER and OUTDO. Must remember barman as well as scorer for a music-writing gent. The rest was straightforward. Liked TOLLBOOTHS although surprised to see the proprietary name.
  23. 9m 34s for me. I enjoyed STANDOFFISH even though I’d seen it before.

    If I’m being picky I’d say that the ‘tough’ in 25a was only the most plausible of a few alternatives – I wasn’t comfortable putting it in until I had 22d. I’m also trying to decide if 21a was definition by example, but I’ll give the setter the benefit of the doubt.

    Good puzzle, and ASPHODEL very fairly clued!

    1. I think technically it is, but for my money ‘miss’ leads at least as naturally to SCHOOLTEACHER as the other way round, whatever Ximenes said.
  24. 13:19, with a brief interruption from a colleague. I’m glad that didn’t happen yesterday. I started very slowly indeed on this, and only had five answers in the time it took me to finish yesterday. But then impenetrable clues suddenly became obvious on second look with a checker or two and I accelerated.
    I remembered the recent appearance of STANDOFFISH, and vinyl’s outing of this very clue, which helped a bit.
  25. 12 mins. Although SCHOOLTEACHER and STANDOFFISH were indeed very good it took me much longer than it should have done to get them, and MINT was my LOI after the latter.
  26. About 20 minutes, but should have been quicker. LOI was DASHED. Good thing the TERM appeared very recently, as I don’t think I knew it when it first showed up. By now, though, I can’t forget Billingsgate. Regards.
  27. Some old chestnuts viz ragamuffin ; hilary; theta . No original devices , so a very straightforward anodine puzzle . Yawn…15mins 45sec …
  28. 38:29, so slightly harder than yesterday’s, but no real problems. LOI was ASPHODEL from wordplay. I enjoyed the Billingsgate clue and couldn’t remember having seen it before (but I will now).

  29. My joy at zipping through this one in only 25 minutes is only slightly undermined by the fact that many of you clever people seem to have done it in half as long or less.

    My only NHO was the “gam” of 15ac, otherwise all quite straightforward.

  30. Another pleasant, straightforward puzzle, but one that left me feeling old and slow yet again as I struggled to 8:37.

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