Times 26769 – crystal clear, it’s a Schottky barrier diode, mate.

Author   piquetPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
I thought this was a slightly off-beat puzzle, with mainly easy clues and a few less obvious ones (1d, 29a, 11a). It took me around 20 minutes so a medium 5 on my Richter scale of trickiness. I had to look up 1d afterwards to check it was correct, and also looked up 25a in Wikipedia so I could remind myself and bore you with the science. With no double unches in the grid, it should be easy enough to plump for answers once some checkers are in.

Definitions underlined.

Across
1 Peculiarity, having no name attached to grand idol (7)
GODDESS – ODDNESS = peculiarity, delete the N(ame), front with G(rand).
5 Day off? Graduates turn to wash (7)
SABBATH – BAS = graduates, turn -> SAB; BATH = wash.
9 Refusals to shorten feature (3)
NOS – NOS(E) shortened feature. There is some debate about the use of the apostrophe in plurals of numbers, and odd words like NO, it seems NOES is preferred over NO’S today but the latter was the norm some years ago.
10 Water fills empty butt, as always getting round problem (5-6)
BRAIN-TEASER – RAIN = water, inside B T = empty butt, then E’ER (always) around AS.
11 Given cat’s instinct, tucking into small fish (8)
SCOURGED – You need to lift and separate CAT from ‘s instinct here. CAT’S is short for cat is, in this case. URGE = instinct, inserted into S COD (small fish). Scourged, whipped, given the cat.
12 A noble fear is torn clothes (6
ARISTO – Hidden word in FE(AR IS TO)RN.
15 Where surgeon working, above all? (4)
ATOP – A surgeon would be working AT OP(ERATION). Perhaps there’s a small typo here; should be surgeon’s or surgeon is, for good sense.
16 Tuna scarce? Switch to crab, perhaps (10)
CRUSTACEAN – (TUNA SCARCE)*.
18 Endless fun in tent: magician’s beginning to bend small hat (10)
CIRCUMFLEX – CIRCU(S) = endless fun in tent; M(agician): FLEX = to bend. There was a move recently to abolish this accent in the French language as taught, which of course led to a backlash and millions of tweets to ‘#jesuiscirconflexe‘.
19 Gratified these rags become stylish clothes (4)
GLAD – Your glad rags are your best or party clothes; a phrase dating from 1896 apparently.
22 An Arabian vessel? Yes indeed (3,3)
AND HOW ! – AN, DHOW = Arabian vessel.
23 Who is going to eat these kitchen scraps? (8)
PIGSWILL – Who will? PIGS WILL.
25 Receiving wire “Rash wickets lost” (4,7)
CATS WHISKER – (RASH WICKETS)*. No cats were injured in the making of these instruments. A ‘receiving wire’ in an antique radio set, where a thin wire just touched a particular spot on a crystal of galena or a similar semiconducting mineral.The diode effect allowed the AC signal to become DC and the audible element could then be extracted from the carrier waveform.
27 Falling over, soldier died — make his grave? (3)
DIG – GI = soldier, D= dead. Fall over = reverse.
28 Considers what may lead to my signature (7)
REGARDS – You could end your note “regards, and your signature”.
29 Old philosopher turns to very left-wing papers (7)
DIDEROT – TO RED ID = to (very) left-wing papers. All reversed. I don’t see why ‘very’ is here. Diderot was a French philosopher, I’ve never read any of his stuff but there is a street named for him in many French towns (Agen for example).

Down
1 In Georgia, dread such aggressive music (7)
GANGSTA – ANGST = dread, inside GA for Georgia. A form of rap music originating in gangland culture, I gather. I guessed it from wordplay.
2 Shamed by defeat over Times leader (11)
DISHONOURED – DISH can mean defeat; then “on our Ed” = over Times leader.
3 Limbs (not head) — they glow (6)
EMBERS – (M)EMBERS.
4 Long-distance traveller accepts flying must include relevant service (10)
SPACECRAFT – Anagram of (ACCEPTS)* with RAF (relevant service to flying) inserted.
5 You must leave a cube smooth (4)
SAND – A THOUSAND is 10 cubed; delete the THOU = you must leave.
6 Broadcaster announced it will keep buzzers going (3,5)
BEE BREAD – Sounds like BEEB READ, where BEEB = the BBC.
7 Fool is half in agreement (3)
ASS – Half of ASSENT = agreement.
8 Keep talking about old weapon (7)
HARPOON – HARP ON = keep talking, insert O(ld).
13 One entrancing period of work on farm machinery (11)
SPELLBINDER – SPELL = period of work, BINDER = farm machinery.
14 A danger in horse being accompanied by pointer (10)
ASTERISKED – A STEED = a horse, insert RISK = danger.
17 Its winner most strongly backed (3,2,3)
TUG OF WAR – Cryptic definition.
18 Wide boy has change of heart, becoming poet (7)
CHAUCER – CHANCER changes the N for a U.
20 Darken joy? (7)
DELIGHT – Well, if you DE-LIGHT something, you could be making it darker.
21 Took huge interest in American university ball (6)
USURED – US = American, U = university, RED. Why does RED = ball? A red snooker ball, perhaps.
24 Be sorry to have split from girl (4)
MISS – If you have split from something, you might miss it, or her, and feel sorry.
26 Arose, it appears, showing a measure of warmth? (3)
TOG – A tog is a measure of warmth or insulation of e.g. a duvet, although here IKEA don’t seem to know that. GOT reversed = GOT UP = arose.

28 comments on “Times 26769 – crystal clear, it’s a Schottky barrier diode, mate.”

  1. I was munching a tiny oatcake as I approached 18ac when a front tooth snapped with a resounding noise! It made the answer appear to be KERFUFFLED (it was indeed CIRCUMFLEX). So my time and composure went awry – I estimate my time was around 40 minutes. Now I have to go to my lovely Chinese dentist for a couple of gum-numbing session. Ratz!

    FOI 5ac SABBATH LOI 21dn USURED LOU 1 TOOTH.

    On resumption COD 20ac DELIGHT-fully simple

    WOD 1dn GANGSTA Coolio – ‘Dangerous Minds’ 1995, mate!

    Edited at 2017-07-05 05:52 am (UTC)

  2. 22:09 … well, that had a sting or two in the tail, didn’t it.

    My wannabe inner cool kid is slightly ashamed that GANGSTA was last in. And I’ll confess to having no clue what was going on with SAND — unelaborated ‘squares’ and ‘cubes’ in clues just go straight over my head. Or through it.

    But I really enjoyed the quirks here, like ‘pigs will’, ‘and how’ and the little hat.

    Cheers, Pip. Thanks for the CIRCUMFLEX fun fact. There’s another one in Wikipedia about the circumflex in English — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circumflex#English — who knew?

    1. I refuse to acknowledge anything ever described as urban, but GANGSTA was my FOI. I’ve been around London too long.

      Edited at 2017-07-05 09:18 am (UTC)

  3. I struggled to complete this and as the hour approached I was on the point of resorting to aids when I suddenly thought of GANGSTA (which I thnk came up once before and caught me out) leaving me with only 18ac outstanding. 5 minutes later I gave up and used a solver to fill the gaps, convinced it had to be a word I didn’t know so I was very annoyed to find it wasn’t. I don’t think I would have got it, although when I saw the answer I remembered that one of my early French teachers used to refer to the circumflex as a ‘top hat’ which we as his pupils used to think was rather childish.

    ‘Farm machinery’ here and ‘farm machine’ in the QC is a bit of a coincidence, and not a tractor in sight in either is something of a surprise.

    Edited at 2017-07-05 06:16 am (UTC)

    1. He deprecates the machinery down on the olde plantation(9)has been around a long time!
  4. My Godness! I can’t read my own typing it seems. More ‘hard but fair’ fare today, I felt.
  5. Got GANGSTA quite early (always knew I was cooler than Sotira), but it was a battle after that. Was held up for ages by SCOURGED, which would be COD on most days, but had many strong rivals today.

    LOI was TOG. Didn’t know the unit of measure and took a while for the wordplay penny to drop.

    Superb puzzle, pleased to complete it. Thanks setter and Pip.

  6. 50 minutes, feeling like I was not only SCOURGED but platted with a crown of thorns. Totally biffed DISHONOURED, being nowhere near seeing either component part. Needed all the crossers for CHAUCER, but fortunately eventually received a signal via the CATS WHISKER (very impressive definition, Pip. All your own work?) Lingered a long time over USURED, You sure? Two great clues today though, CIRCUMFLEX and PIGSWILL. In an early job, the cost code had a Cash Received from Pigswill account which sadly I never managed to use, but that word wins my COD. Good puzzle. Thank you Pip and stter.

    Edited at 2017-07-05 08:36 am (UTC)

  7. 35 minutes with half spent over the last three, 11/14/29. Should have got ASTERISKED sooner but the philosophical Frenchman was unknown and SCOURGED a very good clue.
  8. I thought this was great stuff, but sadly just couldn’t come up with 11a, even though I pushed myself nearly 30 minutes over my hour, with most of the last 20 trying to come up with it. Didn’t help that I got fixed on the fish being an EEL… I always seem to miss “urge” for “instinct”. Damn.

    Enjoyed the rest a lot, though; too many good clues to choose a COD.

    Given other comments, I should probably be slightly ashamed to admit that my FOI was GANGSTA…

  9. Something of a nadir today, with time so far off the scale I had to go way and come back later. Very little in the left half (apart from GANGSTA, first in) made sense and led me safely down all the wrong horticultural excursion modules.
    Feeling decidedly dished.
  10. Failed at the last hurdle, with SCOURGED looked up, as I couldn’t see it after at least 20 minutes of alphabet trawling. Failed to lift and separate correctly, so was looking for the wrong definition. To make a bad situation worse, my browser, or the club site, crashed on submission and I had to re-enter the grid 3 times before it was accepted. Actual time to almost finish was 76 minutes. I now feel battered and bruised. FOI was NOS. GANGSTA was an early entry. A CAT’S WHISKER and set of headphones was something I played with as a child, so no problems there; my Dad had a radio and TV shop. I think I’ll go and have a shower now, or perhaps a mug of tea first. Thanks setter(I think) and Pip.
    1. I don’t think it was you – the Club site was buggy when I tried.
      1. It’s amazing how these bugs hit you when you’re already in the wrong frame of mind to put up with them!Still, as the logo on my mug says, “Keep calm and carry on”.
  11. I had to do this off the main Times site rather than the Club because the gremlins had got into the loading mechanism there so it wouldn’t play. I found this quite difficult and never did find the wavelength – although that may just have been the result of having the morning routine upset. I got hung up on the wide boy and convinced myself it was Whitman – “chancer” not really being in my vocab. Not one of my better outings.
    1. It helped very much that over here, Clive Owen made his name in an ITV series called Chancer.

      Still lucky that I thought of him first rather than either David Jason or George Cole, my other two favourite on-screen wide boys 😀

  12. A fun puzzle with some great off-beat novelties like Pigswill, glad, and how, cats whisker etc. I had all but my LOI, 18ac, done in 46 mins but the clock kept ticking for another 9 mins until I finally got that one, all done in 55 mins 55 secs. FOI 9ac. No problems with gangsta, a bootleg copy of Straight outta Compton given to me by a pal when I was about 13 left a lasting impression. The authority, fury, power in Ice Cube’s voice was not something one encountered on Top of the Pops at that time (plus all the swearing and vulgarity). Most trouble in the SW with 17dn, a very nice CD, 18ac and 22ac where at first I was looking for a Yemeni to somehow be part of Aye Aye, then a Iraqi or a Iranian to be part of some sort of air vessel before the penny dropped. COD 17dn.
  13. I guess things like ‘endless fun in tent’ are pretty tough to decipher, even where that’s a fair enough def for CIRCU. Just one of the things that made this harder for me today.

    DNF 🙁

    Edited at 2017-07-05 12:59 pm (UTC)

  14. DNF. I gave up on this with three (CIRCUMFLEX, CHAUCER, AND HOW) unsolved. I’ll blame the distraction of being chucked off my train at Clapham Junction because of signal problems at Waterloo and the ensuing chaos, but I’m not sure I’d ever have got CIRCUMFLEX. The definition had me looking for a word for a hat, you see. No excuses for CHAUCER: I find he is not contained in my mental category of ‘poets’. I’m not sure what category he is in, and I don’t have time at the moment to search my entire mind.
    Ah well, tomorrow is another day.

    Edited at 2017-07-05 12:13 pm (UTC)

  15. I got 1a and then had to retire. Can I have my £35,000 please? Actually I had to go long into the fifth set to complete these -many answered without parsing unfortunately. So it was certainly a 10a, taking me just over an hour. Having a posh cat helped with the anagram and the bottom half. COD 17d which raised a chuckle. Thanks all
  16. Once I had looked up CIRCUMFLEX with the given letters (having seized my brain up altogether) all the rest of the clues fell into place in that section, leaving me with 3 clues in the SW to fill in. Inspiration when I GOT 26d allowed the rest to fall into place. Does anyone else hate certain grids which leave you with 3 separate holes to fill?
  17. Great puzzle, even though I was done like a kipper by Scourged, where I failed to lift and separate and had to look it up on Onelook, even though I had S COD. Notwithstanding the excellence of that, I liked AND HOW best.
  19. Well, I had to look up CIRCUMFLEX too. I was also thinking I needed a hat for the answer, which I apparently did, but I would never have referred to it as that, nor would I remember what it was called. Everything else was OK, and I liked AND HOW. Regards.
  20. I thought I’d have to give up on this. GANGSTA was my FIO and I finally clocked out after 59 minutes with SAND. (I had thought of THOUSAND but didn’t get the mathematical reference.) An uphill slog most of the way but with some rewarding eureka moments. Ann
  21. Travelling today so no brekker to help. Over an hour in two sittings and DNF as came here to see what Sand was. After trying cubes up to 125 I decided that the obvious parsing wouldn’t work… should have kept going. Some very odd cluing in this I thought – but fun. Dish for defeat? Chaucer just ‘cos the heart changed? Thanks setter and Pip.
  22. 16:14 for me, only sporadically on the setter’s wavelength, but nevertheless appreciating some clever clueing once I’d twigged what was going on. COD to 23ac (PIGSWILL).

Comments are closed.