Times 26755 – Hare’s Heaven!

Author   vinyl1Posted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time: 22 minutes

Music: Mozart, Piano sonatas, Mitsuko Uchida

Well, with my fourth consecutive week on duty, we’re back to easy Monday. I was a little late getting started, as the US Open was on and I had to watch every shot. Congratulations to Brooks Koepka, who played a marvelous final nine holes.

Since I seem to be quite tired, I was pleased to have a nothing puzzle to solve, and I don’t think this will give any of the regulars much difficulty. My main problem was having ‘linonet’, which fits the cryptic well enough, instead of ‘linocut’, which is much more likely for the literal. ‘Morocco’ put paid to that, and I carried on until the end, when I had to think for a few minutes until coming up with ‘Alderney’. Other than that, I didn’t see much challenge, for while some of the clues were quite original, they were not at all hard.

Across
1 CLUELESS, double definition, with the second one containing a very broad hint indeed.
5 ARCHER, double definition, one of them using the old capital-letter-at-the-beginning trick, which shouldn’t fool anyone any more.
9 REPENTANT RE-PENT ANT, a clue we just had last week, with the same answer as well.
11 WARES, sounds like WEARS.
12 MOROCCO, MORO + C[ontrolling] + CO. Those who were around in the 70s will remember Aldo Moro.
13 RIOTOUS, RIO TO US, a good clue, but easy.
14 ANTICLOCKWISE, ANTI(C)-LOCK + WISE, which is always ‘counterclockwise’ here in the U.S.
16 SQUARE BASHING, double definition, one jocular.
20 ASPIRIN, ASPIRIN[g].
21 SEA WALL, SEA(LAW backwards)L.
23 GRAND, GRAN + D[uke].
24 THESAURUS, T(HE)SAR + U.S., where the enclosing letters are an anagram of A RUT.
25 T(H.E. IS)T, as apparently a governor as well as an ambassador can be styled His Excellency.
26 ALDERNEY, ALDER + NEY. A Channel Island.
 
Down
1 CHROME, C(H,R[ange])OME.
2 UPPER, double definition, parts of a shoe and a pill.
3 LINOCUT, L + I NO CUT, where ‘cut’ is not exactly synonymous with profit, but close enough.
4 SHADOW CABINET, S(HAD)OW + CABINET, just biffed by most solvers.
6 ROWLOCK, ROW + LOCK, which is usually an ‘oarlock’ here in the U.S.
7 HARROWING, double definition.
8 RESISTER, RES(IS)T + E.R.
10 TORTOISESHELL, anagram of HOTELIER’S LOST.
14 AQUAPLANE, A (QUA) P LANE.
15 ESCARGOT, ES(CARGO)T, a chestnut, sans doute.
17 REREDOS, RE(RED)OS, where the enclosing letters are an anagram of SORE. Just a biff for most solvers.
18 IMAMATE, I’M A MATE, another chestnut.
19 FLASHY, F[o]L[k] + A SHY.
22 APRON, double definition.

44 comments on “Times 26755 – Hare’s Heaven!”

  1. Mondayish, all right, but with a couple of nice clues, 4d and 14d being my favorites. I biffed 14ac and 14d, although parsing almost immediately after. LOI was WARES, where I failed to separate ‘sports’ from ‘merchandise’. Memory problems plagued me at 4d and 26ac, even though I had CABINET and NEY in; I needed the checkers to get the tree. ‘broadcast’ also slowed me down at 4d, since I was thinking either homophone or anagram.
  2. That is, I thought there were a few knotty patches in this one and needed to start in the NE to get a toe-hold. I agree with Kevin (above) that the AQUAPLANE clue was pretty good.

    Not in quite so much agreement with our blogger re REPENTANT. Indeed, we had something similar on 14th June:
    12 Behind bars again, worker’s full of regret (9)
    Still, I think there’s enough difference for this to pass. I certainly didn’t remember it at the time.

    Just to mention: the BATMAN device (along with his four grandmothers) we saw recently gets a mention in the Groan’s always-interesting roundup:
    https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/crossword-blog/2017/jun/12/crossword-roundup-who-do-cryptic-setters-want-as-new-prime-minister

  3. Only 20 minutes for me, so this had to be easy. “Press” for CABINET needed a little thought when it came to parsing but then I remembered the former as a rather old-fashioned word for “cupboard”.

    CUT for “profit” is fine with me bearing in mind partners sharing out the proceeds of a business deal or criminals dividing up the loot.

    With only M?R???? in place at 12ac I toyed with the idea of MARCONI as “old Italian”. Its CO might have accounted for “company” too, but I couldn’t make any more of the wordplay so I gave up on it and awaited more checkers. I have never heard of MORO.

    Edited at 2017-06-19 05:16 am (UTC)

  4. Not so famous that he made it on to wikis disambiguation page ( a full one at that) but considering his demise (in 1978, year of the 3 popes)and career generally I’m surprised his name doesn’t seem to have been absorbed into my subconscious. That’s going to bug me for a while . . probly my best time on record but just means it’s easy peasy
    1. I would add it, but “Persons who have the ambiguous term as surname or given name should be listed in the body of the disambiguation page if they are frequently referred to simply by the single name (e.g., Elvis, Shakespeare)” according to the Manual of Style, so that’s probably why he’s not there already.
  5. Under my 30 par at 27 minutes so a decent test for tyros and a happy Monday, which usually bodes dodgy for Friday!

    COD and my LOI 14dn AQUAPLANE with runner-up
    10dn TORTOISESHELL so simple and elegant for an obvious anagram

    WOD Iac CLUELESS – my FOI and everyone else’s I imagine.

  7. Yes, very (too, maybe?) quick today, probs took me about 15 mins or so, ending with CHROME, as I didn’t like the fact that there’s nothing to indicate where the H actually comes. Only unknown today was MORO. Morocco is one of those words where I seem to have a block, and always want to spell it Marocco, but Moro seemed a more likely Italian than Maro.

    1. I think there’s a convention that words like “with” (in this case) and “by” can legitimately stand for “before” or “after” as far as placement is concerned.

      Edited at 2017-06-19 09:28 am (UTC)

  8. 8:26. Straightforward but fun, I thought. It helps if you’ve done enough of these things for words like REREDOS to seem commonplace. Like jackkt I had never heard of MORO and considered MARCONI.
    CUT for ‘profit’ struck me as a little bit loose too: if anything it’s a share of profit, but that’s close enough for me.
    Nice choice of music, vinyl. One of my favourite pianists.
  9. 12.54, so a welcome quickish time for once, even if it was an easy offering. My inner dimmer switch kicked in with my LOI SHADOW CABINET, just the first bit, where I was looking (listening?) for a homophone and the obvious didn’t occur.

    Edited at 2017-06-19 07:28 am (UTC)

  10. 35 minutes here, continuing a run of under-an-hour solves that I started last Monday and includes Saturday and Sunday, so feeling reasonably pleased with myself. If this carries on I’ll have to cut my target time down…

    Started with 1a, finished with IMAMATE, which might be a chestnut to some, but which I don’t remember seeing before. SHADOW CABINET took a long time to fall, too. Can’t quite believe I thought of CABINET early on but didn’t think to add the SHADOW.

    Count me as another who hadn’t heard of Moro.

    Thanks to setter and blogger.

  11. Should have been 11, but I had ROLLOCKS at 6dn, which caused me to stare at L_R_S for ages before retracing my steps.

    Pretty Mondayish I thought, which is no bad thing for a Monday.

    Thanks setter and Vinyl.

    1. My dear Lord Galspray! – Rollocks indeed! How very naughty! Whatever cuffing next!?

  12. 4 minutes dead, which I am very pleased with as it means I’ve beaten Jason’s time twice in a row, a rare occurrence indeed! Much biffing did occur but I was familiar with Moro to the extent of knowing his first name (Aldo), so perhaps that’s what sorted the sheep from the goats in this one!
  13. In 11a, is the definition verbal, as in a warning?

    In 14d, is as = qua used often in crosswordland?

    1. I’m pretty sure “verbal announcement” is just a homophone indicator in 11ac, though it does seem a long-winded way of doing that now I consider it. “Merchandise” being the definition?

      I think I’ve seen QUA on multiple occasions.

      Edited at 2017-06-19 09:52 am (UTC)

    2. 11a definition is ‘merchandise’, wordplay is ‘verbal announcement of’ (sounds like) sports = wears, as in sports a fine jacket…

      14d is QUA in A P (quiet) LANE

  14. 13 minutes, quick for me, agree with what keriothe and sotira say. Liked WARES once I’d realised how it worked.
  15. 6 mins. I took advantage of a flexi day and did the puzzle at a reasonable time. I didn’t get held up anywhere and I finished the SW quadrant last with ASPIRIN going in after AQUAPLANE.

    Now that the Wirral Line refurbishment has finally been completed I’m going to change my routine on working days. I’ve also decided that Rupert Murdoch is getting too much of my money so I’m going to limit myself to buying the paper on a Saturday and on a weekday when I’m taking a flexi day. Consequently I won’t be dropping in to the site on a daily basis for the foreseeable future. It will be interesting, to me at least, to see what sort of effect not doing the puzzle on a daily basis has on my times.

    1. which I enjoy almost everyday – work being the curse of the drinking classes – are to be recommended.
      But a day without the Times Crossword will be like a day without sunshine! You will wither on the vine and enter a new dystopia.

      Your Trexit is a folly, Sir!

      Render unto Murdoch that which is Murdoch’s unfortunately!

      Edited at 2017-06-19 10:11 am (UTC)

      1. Nice coinage Horryd. In all fairness it will be a soft Trexit rather than a hard one. Next week I’m not working on Thursday and Friday, nor the following Monday. Not all flexi days I hasten to add – I haven’t been working that hard. Two of them will be holiday days. On the Thursday evening I’m going to see Jackson Browne at the Liverpool Philharmonic with several friends and the night after is the leaving do of a very good friend who will be retiring from his bank.
    2. I reduced my outgoings on the paper by going digital, which reduced my monthly cost from £40(inc delivery 6 days a week) to £26. (There’s also a special offer at the moment which gives you the first 2 months for £8) It also gives me the Sunday paper which I didn’t used to get, as well as access to the Club site and lots more puzzles. And, no, I don’t work for The Times 🙂
  16. That’s how I know Aldo Moro. Spent a while parsing SHADOW CABINET, and didn’t really parse 11ac at the time, despite reply above. A relative used to live in ALDERNEY, worth keeping in mind HERM and SARK too. Tried 15d for the first time fairly recently, basically a ball of rubbery stuff and much garlic. They actually breed snails with nice looking shells so that the shells are used for the meat of other less attractive snails…..
    16 and a half minutes, despite the heat. Thanks vinyl and setter.
  17. As others have said, enjoyable, and nice to be able to throw in a sub-10 time for the first time in, quite possibly, forever. (Apologies for the Frozen insinuation for a) those who don’t have children of a certain age, and b) those who do but would rather chew their own leg off than hear one more juvenile rendition of “Let it Go”)

    Onviuosly nowhere near the Verlaines, Jasons and Magoos of the world but I’ll take what small crumbs of comfort I can, when and where I can..

  18. Another foray into sub 30 minute territory at 29:21, despite grinding to a halt in the SE where I had to tease out the island, the cat and the office. I knew Aldo, so no problems in the NW. FOI was CLUELESS with a smile. LOI was ALDERNEY. An enjoyable puzzle. I went to bed before the paper was issued, but hardly slept because of the heat, then did the 3 puzzles (concise, quicky and this one)after breakfast. (porridge, bananas, grapes and blueberries). Now sitting in my armchair with the doors and windows open and the fan blasting away. Don’t think I’ll bother with a session on the training bike today! Thanks setter and Vinyl.

    Edited at 2017-06-19 10:56 am (UTC)

  20. I was hoping for a sub-10 but was held up mainly by ALDERNEY and APRON which pushed my time up a bit. Well done on some of the great times above, particularly Andy Borrows’ 6 minutes and verlaine’s 4. I think it would be near impossible to manage that with my typing skills on the ipad, unless I can get the device offered to Homer in The Simpsons: “The fingers you have used to dial are too fat. To obtain a special dialing wand, please mash the keypad with your palm now.”
  21. In my attempt to beat my record time, I mistyped IMiMATE and SEiWALL and thus rendered my effort incorrect. Otherwise maybe 12 mins?
  22. It was too warm to sleep so watched the US Open. Great finish but I finally turned off the sound to avoid the loud “get in the hole” idiots. I had a great finish to this, storming the last few holes in the puzzle. Twenty minutes for me is worthy of an afternoon aperitif and a nap! First time I’ve seen Reredos but will remember. Yet again, sympathies for the dead and injured in Finsbury Park.
  23. 9:35.

    Easy, yes, but also light and enjoyable, just what’s needed in this blasted heat, Carruthers.

      1. Minus 33 degrees would have been a very pleasant day, for much of the year I spent working in Edmonton, AB…

  24. Heatwave not conducive to brainwork, so I was pleased with this relatively straightforward work-out.

    All correct in about 30 minutes in between dousing Danny the dog out in the garden.

    Thank you to setter and blogger.

  25. Having been away for a while (they don’t allow pencils or other sharp objects, you know), I was happy to find a very Mondayish puzzle, and happier still to have got through it in 21 minutes which, for me, is not bad.

    It was only by the narrowest of margins that I remembered Marshal Ney, but otherwise everything seemed quite straightforward.

    1. Welcome back! I was just wondering the other day whether you’d given up on crosswords 🙂
    2. We should all have Ney in the forefront of our memory as yesterday was the 202nd anniversary of Waterloo (Battle of, not ABBA song).
      1. I expect the setters are disappointed that history seems to have forgotten General Ing, Lieutenant Ently, and Field-Marshall Ise. On the other hand, when Ant and Dec finally pass away, unlimitless possibilities will be opened up.
  26. Pretty straightforward puzzle. Nothing else to say, really, so regards to all.
    1. “Archer” seems to be defined in my dictionaries as anyone who shoots with “a bow and arrows”, and “crossbow” as “a kind of bow…” so I think that covers things.
  28. A 21 mins solve for me which is about as quick as I’ve ever gone so I’ll claim it as a new PB. Easy and Mondayish but enjoyably diverting nonetheless. FOI 1ac (always good). LOI 7dn but no real holdups. I liked 16ac but COD to the nice surface and anagram at 10dn.

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