Times 26799 – when it comes to money

Author   piquetPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
This is one of those puzzles where a good few of the answers seem to have some kind of vague theme running through, but you can’t quite say it’s thematic. I’m thinking of, for example, 25a, 23a, 3d, 20a, 16a, 8d, 3d, for a start. One wet day I’m going to take all the answers from a 15 x 15 grid and see what is the shortest short story I can produce using all the words and still making some kind of sense. This one would be a good example to choose. Anybody else fancy the challenge?
I did have to check 4d afterwards as I put it in from wordplay and hadn’t heard of the chap, but there was nothing obscure about the rest. 25 minutes in a smooth solve from 1a to the aforementioned 4d.

Across
1 Grit attributed to the solver once – that’s grand (8)
THOUSAND – THOU = you, the solver, once; SAND = grit.
6 Currency put out, the first to go (6)
ROUBLE – TROUBLE = put out, delete the T (first of the).
9 A Hindu came somehow to welcome the other god brought into play (4, 2, 7)
DEUS EX MACHINA – (A HINDU CAME)*, then insert SEX = “(a bit of) the other”.
10 Pot to taste in food store (6)
PANTRY – PAN = pot, TRY = to taste.
11 Asian born without boundaries (8)
NEPALESE – NEE = born, outside PALES = boundaries, as in ‘beyond the pale’.
13 Hard stuff for one saddled with Chaucer primarily – bone up about it (7, 3)
STIRRUP CUP – The stirrup is a bone in your ear; insert C(haucer) into it and UP.
15 One accepting concentration ultimately is a problem for teenagers (4)
ACNE – Insert N (end of concentration) into ACE (one).
16 Payment method rejected, one working while others don’t (4)
SCAB – BACS = payment method, originally Bankers’ Automated Clearing Service. Reverse it.
18 Film rounding on leading Cavalier, perhaps? (10)
MONARCHIST – MIST = film, insert ON ARCH = on leading.
21 Message spread, allowed to be written about (8)
TELEGRAM – MARGE (spread), LET (allowed), all reversed.
22 Bug say inspiring war, I suspect (6)
EARWIG – Insert (WAR I)* into EG = say.
23 Drag peacenik off grasping ordinal (4, 2, 3, 4)
PAIN IN THE NECK – Insert NINTH (an ordinal) into (PEACENIK)*.
25 Intimate goal on day five (6)
FRIEND – FRI(day) = day five, END = goal.
26 Pound adopted by leaders, obselete european money (8)
GUILDERS – GUIDERS are leaders, insert L = pound. Left over from a peripatetic job I had for a few years BEE (before the euro era)) I have a wallet stuffed with various obselete European banknotes, including some Dutch guilders, and a Yugoslavian 500,000 dinar note, worth 4p then I think. Any offers?

Down
2 Pipe a monster – not drained (7)
HYDRANT – HYDRA was the monster here, NT = NoT drained..
3 Helpless bagging total that’s too awful to describe (11)
UNUTTERABLE – UNABLE = helpless, insert UTTER = total, as in ‘utter disaster’.
4 A real American animator (5)
AVERY – A, VERY = real. Tex Avery, chap who directed such classics as Bugs Bunny, like Disney with irony.
5 Fiendish – half carrying on with crossword initially (7)
DEMONIC – DEMI = half, insert ON, add C(rossword).
6 Crepe wrongly associated wirh pair for macaroon base, say? (4, 5)
RICE PAPER – (CREPE PAIR)*.
7 Weapon held up by impi, Zulus (3)
UZI – Type of automatic weapon found reversed in IMP(I ZU)LUS.
8 I suffer upset over issue in affair (7)
LIAISON – I AIL = I suffer, reversed over SON = issue. Why is it that otherwise fairly literate people can’t spell this word? The Secretary of a committee I chair can’t, in spite of several polite ‘typo corrected’ comments; perhaps she is doing it on purpose to annoy me, successfully.
12 Hide personal computer in Surrey town (11)
LEATHERHEAD – Well, hide is LEATHER, so ‘personal computer’ must be HEAD, although it seems a bit of an odd train of thought, PC > brain > head.
14 Perfect to assume one is single ((9)
UNMARRIED – UNMARRED = perfect, insert I.
17 More vulgar, one impersonating a revolutionary? (7)
CHEAPER – a ‘Che aper’ would be someone impersonating Che Guevara, you see.
19 Guardian up for identifying marker (4, 3)
NAME TAG – GATE MAN = guardian, reversed.
20 Scoundrel – rotten egg, perhaps? (7)
STINKER – Double cryptic definition, one literal.
22 Resin in mine, evidently low, eventually at first rising (5)
ELEMI – Initial letters of In Mine Evidently Low Eventually = IMELE, reversed. Let me tell you all about it, as I’ve nearly finished. Elemi resin is a pale yellow substance, of honey-like consistency. Aromatic elemi oil is steam distilled from the resin. It is a fragrant resin with a sharp pine and lemon-like scent. Elemi resin is chiefly used commercially in varnishes and lacquers, and certain printing inks. It is used as a herbal medicine to treat bronchitis, catarrh, extreme coughing, mature skin, scars, stress, and wounds. The constituents include phellandrene, limonene, elemol, elemicin, terpineol, carvone, and terpinolene.
24 Diamonds or hearts in big deceit (3)
ICE – Central letter(s) in bIg deCEit.

53 comments on “Times 26799 – when it comes to money”

  1. Besides the name of a town in Surrey, I learned what “impi” is (fortunately, you didn’t have to know that to get the answer), and was reminded of the quintessentially British expression “the other”; that pots and pans are not necessarily different things; and what STIRRUP CUP (I’m sure I’ve seen that somewhere before) and BACS (here just a little while ago) signify. Somehow I never thought of a HYDRANT (short and squat, to my mind) as a “pipe” (long and cylindrical), but of course it is. I was glad I remembered ELEMI. The device for ICE is very nice. HEAD is genius for “personal computer,” and making you think of “PC” first is brilliant misdirection.

    Edited at 2017-08-09 05:50 am (UTC)

  2. Forty minutes for me, never quite feeling like I was into the swing of things. FOI 5d, LOI the barely-remembered STIRRUP CUP, going in without parsing. Rather more obscure to me than the man who animated Bugs Bunny; I suppose that’s either a sign of a misspent youth or a not-misspent adulthood. I’d temporarily forgotten about the bone, and was thinking I was looking for some kind of horse race/trial that I didn’t know.

    Loved 17d. WOD Leatherhead. Thanks setter and Pip.

  3. 32 minutes for this which held for me some disturbing moments of déjà vu.
    We had UZI in yesterday’s QC when I wasn’t sure of it because I don’t think it had come up before, but here it is again already! We had an almost identical clue to 16ac in a puzzle I blogged as recently as 25th July – only then it was “Revolutionary method of payment for strikebreaker (4)”. And not many weeks ago, again for a puzzle I blogged, we had a discussion about why Monday rather than Sunday was Day 1, and today at 25ac we have FRI(day) clued as Day 5.

    I liked HEAD as ‘personal computer’ very much. You might work out a calculation on your PC or do it in your head.

    Edited at 2017-08-09 09:12 am (UTC)

  4. 35 mins with pain au raisin. Just back from a long weekend in France and looking for something fun and teasing but not too tough – and this was it, so thanks clever setter – and Pip for elucidating.
    Mostly, I liked a bit of ‘the other’, the ‘personal computer’ and the Hydra. And ‘Deus ex..’ can’t have been easy to clue. COD to the Che Aper.

    Edited at 2017-08-09 07:20 am (UTC)

  5. Just over 40 minutes – printed from the Times main site because that rolled over well before the Club site did. The rollover time matters to the East Coast of theUS. I liked this for the combination of nicely-constructed clues and interesting vocabulary. I’m intrigued by Pip’s idea. I think I would struggle with stringing today’s deus ex machine, elemi, stirrup cup, and hydrant into anything coherent.
  6. 31 minutes including one small interruption. FOI DEUS EX MACHINA. LOI AVERY who I vaguely must have known, as I thought of Tex when the cryptic hit me from crossers. COD PAIN IN THE NECK. Salivator of the day RICE PAPER or more accurately the macaroon. Patisserie Valerie call them Macarons, but no self-respecting Lancashire cake shop would commit such a faux pas. Nice puzzle. Thank you Pip and setter.
  7. 9.30 UK and only six comments, what’s happening? Dnk ELEMI, now do. Liked UNUTTERABLE. How often will we now see ‘head’ as PC? – great idea, use sparingly. I used to think DEUS EX MACHINA meant ‘ghost in the machine’ as in the Police album, I was completely wrong. Thanks pip and setter.
  8. I had Agent for 4d for a while, which seemed to work, until the man who supplies my labels came a-knocking and the scales fell from my eyes.
  9. Reasonable middle of the road puzzle. Like Jack “day 5” registered with me as did BACS. Liked HEAD as “personal computer”. Surprised myself by knowing AVERY!
  10. I loved this – inside 30 minutes I think, but not accurately timed, asnd a couple of partial parsings to be honest. Thanks pip for clearing it all up.

    I’m going to have a pop at pip’s challenge – be right back…

  11. 4dn – sadly he was my LOI.

    Photo-shopped and enlarged from the Times site.

    FOI 5dn DEMONIC

    DNK HYDRANT as a pipe per se – but as a connecting point for a pipe.

    COD 19dn NAME TAG and my WOD ELEMI

    I failed to fully parse 12dn LEATHERHEAD however it was a write-in so that the ‘genius’ of HEAD as PC was entirely lost on me. Too clever by half.

  12. 13:08 … in the ‘not my cup of tea’ category — some very long, convoluted clues.

    Didn’t bother parsing STIRRUP CUP, MONARCHIST, UNUTTERABLE, among others.

    I look forward to reading Pip’s thematic short story. What with a THOUSAND ROUBLEs and an UZI, I’m assuming there’ll be a hitman from Omsk in there somewhere.

    1. He’ll be the one with the acne scabs, I expect.
      I agree with you on this crossword. It took me 20 minutes.
  13. Keriothe corner done me up like a kipper.Disastrous time I hope and pray it doesn’t happen at the championship.Back to the story, the deus ex machina will no doubt be a telegram from a nepalese with acne who is also a pain in the neck.
  14. …was perfect for 14 down. A few minutes sorting that out took me over 20 minutes, enjoying as others did HEAD, “the other,” also earwig, but not Uzi.
  15. A surprise when my ipad congratulated me on finishing in 18:33 because it felt much longer. Held up by ELEMI and had to trust the wordplay for AVERY. All a bit mechanical I thought.
  16. Sorry to see day 6 called day 5. Surprised by Avery – scarcely a household name. Otherwise nifty enough; but I do feel something lacklustre creeping into the bones of the genre. But the personal computer a gem. 23.13.
  18. Clearly more up my street than most people, so a pleasant and speedy solve. Tex A. was familiar from childhood (also, next time I talk to my mother, I will point out that watching cartoons clearly didn’t destroy my brain as she assured me would happen) and ELEMI is one of those words that I remembered as everyday vocabulary in Crosswordland, but which I’ve managed to get by without ever using in real life.
  19. This must have been on the easier end of the spectrum as it gave me my second consecutive time under 20 minutes at 18:18. I found it enjoyable with THOUSAND going straight in, then a merry romp through the clues ending with the half forgotten AVERY. Liked CHE-APER and HYDRANT. ELEMI remembered from a previous puzzle, before which I’d never heard of it. LEATHERHEAD elicited a chuckle. Thanks setter and Pip.
  20. 20 minutes exactly but with yet another typo. I will one day get used to entering on the Club site or perhaps finally realise it is worth spending a couple of minutes at the end to check.
  21. 5m26, a clear 23 seconds behind my pacesetter Jason, but I’ll take it. Lots of biffables, I never even saw the fun “personal computer” part of the LEATHERHEAD clue, like PAIN IN THE NECK went straight in from enumeration + “peacenik”, and once I had C_P + “hard stuff” I never even parsed, just put STIRRUP in front of it. I do like colourful vocabulary but it it does make it much easier just to put the answers in from a few checkers – a double-edged sword!
      1. I have bloggers to pick up these things for me, to allow me to enjoy them later…

        Of course, on Fridays you just can’t get the staff, have to do everything yourself!

  22. A very spotty youth wearing a post-office name tag delivered a telegram in Leatherhead. It read “Liaison at six. Tool up!”.

    At the appointed hour, an unmarried Nepalese paid a thousand roubles for elemi oil, hoping it would clear up his acne scabs, which had become an unutterable pain in the neck. His supplier said he could have had it cheaper had he paid in guilders, but toasted the deal with a ‘stirrup cup’.

    The monarchist stinker with the Uzi was earwigging behind the hydrant, then popped up like a Deus ex machina, and gunned down the friends whilst wearing a demonic smile.

    The oil remained on ice in the pantry, covered with rice paper, unused.

    Edited at 2017-08-09 10:33 am (UTC)

    2. Probably do. Impressive effort though. I think I can forgive A VERY for AVERY ! How long was your TftS?
      1. Seriously interrupted by work, but I think about the same as solving the crossword, about 30 minutes
  24. Total fail on the resin. Couldn’t see the wordplay, couldn’t think of anything to fit so just left it as E-E-I.

    Avery was one of my first in and I’m surprised he appears to be unknown by so many. For humour he was certainly the pick of animated film directors of his era. For those unfamiliar with his work do a bit of a YouTube search. You’ll thank me later.

    1. I’ve done enough crosswords (especially of the barred variety) that ELEMI is one of the first things that springs to mind when I see the word “resin”. What a warped brain…
    1. Ulaca, you’re certainly not bottom of the class. It took me a while to get a hold on this and I was very pleased just to complete it in about an hour. I would have had a big DNF about six months ago, so if I keep taking the drugs I should end up doing crosswords like an Ethiopian middle distance runner. I like our blogger’s idea for the best story, but I think a few glasses of red needed before attempting! Well done Rotter on this. Thanks all
  26. 9:50. I’m in the ‘liked it’ camp with this one. Some interesting words, and nothing unknown for me, including the cartoon director, the crosswordland resin and the gun, ordered specifically and memorably by Arnie in 9mm format in one of the early scenes of The Terminator. And some fun stuff, notably the personal computer and the Che aper.
    Good to see that the correct numbering of the days of the week appears to be established as a standard here.

    Edited at 2017-08-09 02:01 pm (UTC)

  27. I found a handful very hard and was well over the hour but breezed through the oil because I know Elemis as a brand of ‘luxury’ beauty lotions. They have not really worked. Loved Leatherhead and the sexy god. Caro
  28. Completed this on the iPad as the paper girl was late, so actually had a time for once, 24 mins, which from complete novice 18 months ago, I’ll take very happily.
    Roin
    1. Well done Roin, obviously you’ll be up with Verlaine and co soon at that rate. But some of us prefer to fill the half hour as we’re retired!
  29. A pretty standard 20 minutes or so for this one, ending with ELEMI. Yes, a pretty recognizable resin, in the crosswording world, if nowhere else. As a US person I confess to not knowing Mr. Avery at all. His characters, yes, Mel Blank, the voice artist, certainly, but I’d been unaware of Mr. Avery altogether. You who knew him right off leave me quite impressed. Regards.
  30. Not much entered during 18 and a half minutes this morning and I thought this one was going to give me trouble. However, full steam ahead at lunchtime and I polished it all off in another 20 mins. FOI 9ac. LOI 17dn. I liked 1ac, 18ac, 23ac and 24dn and of course it’s always nice to see a bit of the other as in 9ac. I paused a bit over the parsing of 17dn and 18ac but knew Tex Avery and the resin (the latter only from crosswords though). Nice puzzle.
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