Times 26812 – throw your relatives in the air!

Author   glhPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time : 10:38, but about two minutes of that was on the crafty clue at 24 down, which is just begging for you to biff in APSES but that just does not work with the rest of the clue. The other spelling of the word did not come to me immediately so I had to umm and aah a bit before I got it. There’s clear wordplay for an obscure country at 17 down – in fact apart from one CD, the wordplay here is very good, maybe a little tricky.

I’ve been working in Washington DC the last week so I haven’t been around the forums much, hope I haven’t missed anything important.

Away we go…

Across
1 BISECTED: BID(make an offer) holding SECT E (the fifth sect)
5 LEGION: LEG(on, think cricket), IO(satellite, moon),
then the center of chaNnel
10 BERMUDA TRIANGLE: anagram of BURGER,AND,MEAL,IT
11 AWKWARD: WK in A WARD
12 CAPITAL: I think this is CAP IT ALL (as in “to cap it all off, I got a parking ticket!”) missing one L(left)
13 EPHEMERA: HEM(border) inside EP(record), ERA
15 ELVIS: VIS(power) with EL
18 JOYCE: JOY(success) then CRIME with RIM removed
20 IRRITANT: RITA(reference to Educating Rita) inside IR, NT
23 BRAILLE: cryptic definition
25 CHEVRON: CHE(revolutionary), V(facing), RON(little man)
26 UNSOPHISTICATED: a rather neat anagram of DEPICTION,AS,THUS
27 INSTEP: remove the outer letters of mINSTEr and then P(parking)
28 ADDENDUM: EDDA(old poetry) reversed and then NUM(national union of mineworkers) containing D(day)
 
Down
1 BOBCAT: BC inside BOAT
2 STRIKE PAY: STRIKE(hit) then PLAY(show) missing the L
3 CRUSADE: CRU(the pressing is of grapes), then SA(South African), and ED reversed
4 ELAND: remove NG from ENGLAND
6 EXAMPLE: EXAM(test) then alternative letters in aPpLiEd
7 INGOT: hidden in actING OTherwise
8 NEEDLESS: NEEDLE(provocation) and SS(ship)
9 ARMCHAIR: ARM(member), CHAIR(seat)
14 EPIDEMIC: remove the last two letters from DEMIse(death) and insert in EPIC
16 VENERATED: anagram of TV,EDNA,(h)ERE
17 DJIBOUTI: DJ(club entertainer) and I,I(singles) with BOUT(fit) inside
19 ELLIPSE: ELSE(different) surrounding LIP
21 TREACLE: A CL(centilitre) inside TREE
22 ANADEM: anagram of MAENAD
24 APSIS: SIS and PA reversed
25 CITED: CD(recording) with ITEM missing the M inside

61 comments on “Times 26812 – throw your relatives in the air!”

  1. Biffed a few: had no idea whatever how CAPITAL worked, and am grateful to George for showing a way out; DNK VIS; and was blind to DEMI, so thanks, George. Also DNK ANADEM, but ‘diadem’ suggested how to distribute the vowels. DJIBOUTI mainly because what ends in I? Has ‘Oxford’ ever appeared in a clue not relating to shoes? Just asking.
  2. This one presented me with a few problems and required some guesswork which paid off in all but one case, 19dn where instead of ELLIPSE I settled for ‘eclipse’ although being somewhat vague about both wordplay and definition.

    I didn’t know VIS for ‘power’ but biffed the answer from ‘The King’ and EL for ‘the Spanish’. ANADEM was a guess based (like Kevin) on the known ‘diadem’ but the clue still falls into the category of using-an-anagram-to-clue-an-obscure-word, which I generally frown upon.

    I thought of BRAILLE as clued by a cryptic definition quite early on but waited until I had checkers as ‘By it’ didn’t seem quite right.

    APSIS was another unkown.

    Edited at 2017-08-24 04:31 am (UTC)

  3. 40:52 … including the 5-minute break I needed to get past total blocks in the NE and SW, so I found this really hard but in the end very satisfying.

    ‘vis’ meaning power felt new to me, and APSIS definitely was.

    Threefold COD to the combination of JOYCE, DJIBOUTI and BRAILLE. Bravo

  4. 16:15. Quite tricky this one, but enjoyable. The SW corner caused me particular problems. I also got the unknown ANADEM via DIADEM. I’m glad the two vowels left over once you’d worked that out were the same. APSIS was a wordplay job too.
    I didn’t understand the wordplay for 14dn EPIDEMIC so thanks for clearing that one up George.
  5. 30 mins for all but the SW, but then 30 more cracking Djibouti. All with a Fat Rascal (hoorah).
    I did write a long, insightful, witty piece using Safari and it just got ‘ERROR’ so have reverted to old phone. Is it just me?
    Raised an eyebrow at IT won’t last. Wouldn’t it be an Ephemeron?
    Thanks Djibouti-licious setter and George.
    1. Collins and Chambers both have it as a singular noun, plural EPHEMERAs. ODO only has it as a plural noun.
  6. For the second time this week I got off to a blazing fast start and then got bogged down in one corner, in this case the SE. I couldn’t see JOYCE for ages, fixating instead on crime writers (SAYERS, mostly). But once that came, DJIBOUTI was a write-in and BRAILLE, INSTEP (where, again, I’d gotten fixated on TOECAP as the Oxford part) etc fell into place. LOI was 5ac though – I know from experience that “on” clues LEG and that it’s something to do with cricket, but I still have no idea why, none at all.

    Edited at 2017-08-24 07:28 am (UTC)

    1. I thought of SAYERS, too. Then I cleverly thought, “but what about non-crime writers?” and thought of Hoyle (both Fred and Edmond), then that reminded me of Doyle and I was sunk.

      I’d normally have at least tried to parse it, but in a crossword where I’d already tried parsing a couple of things and couldn’t (ELVIS, for example) I was just happy to have found something that fit the definition and a couple of crossers…

      Edited at 2017-08-24 08:05 am (UTC)

    2. As a batsman faces the bowler everything to his right is called the “off side” of the pitch. Everything to his left is called the “on side”. Thus the stump that is behind his legs “the leg stump” is on the “on side” and thus the “on side” becomes synonymous with the “leg side”
          1. The best explanation I’ve found online suggests it’s from near/offside in horse-drawn carriages (now cars) as applied to a right-handed batsman. Whether or not that’s right I have no idea!
  7. 13ac: I’d always assumed the word “ephemera” was plural: things that won’t last. Always happy to be corrected.
    1. See above. Collins and Chambers both have it as a singular noun. I confess this surprised me a bit.
  8. Made a mess of this one. I was still trying to figure out why it was or wasn’t APSES when my hour bell went off, but I wouldn’t have finished as, like Vinyl, I’d put in DOYLE for the writer, but unlike Vinyl probably wouldn’t have fixed it. Not sure I’d have got DJIBOUTI with the right crossers, anyway.

    Part of the problem was knowing that I only had a one-in-three chance of having 22d right anyway, though as it turned out I’d guessed correctly. Also didn’t know “vis”, and had yet again forgotten “edda”.

  9. In exalted company today George – that’s a great time for this one. I found it a rather disconnected solve, with to many clues being beaten into submission without the help of checkers.
    I very nearly had BABOON for the animal, since what else starts B?B, though the lack of cryptic support worried me enough to go back to check why it had messed up the crossing AWKWARD.
    Speaking of AWKWARD, is there a word for a word that looks like what it is?
    The Cornish section took almost as long as all the rest, and even when I twigged DJIBOUTI I couldn’t remember whether it was really a country or just a city. It is of course both, and it doesn’t begin with C for club as I thought it must. No Google Street View either. Yet.

    Edited at 2017-08-24 08:11 am (UTC)

  10. 26 minutes but with two letters wrong. An old boss once told me that 95% right in good time was always better than 100% but late so he would have been proud of me today.
  11. I found everything below the equator rather more difficult that the northern hemisphere and the SW particularly tough. One I realised it was JOYCE and not DOYLE the J gave me the country and the rest fell into place. Some very good clues scattered throughout this puzzle

    Thank you setter and well done George

  12. 45 minutes for me. VIS for power was new to me but there was only one king, at least until the jester stole his thorny crown. Also toyed with DOYLE for a while before JOYCE fell into place. Nobody told the joist/ girder joke yet? I toured Oxford twice before remembering that it is usually the Brogue in crosswordland, which then gave APSIS too. I thought EPHEMERA was plural so a bit thrown by ‘it’ but my Greek not good enough for me to worry. DNK ANADEM but got the anagram right via DIADEM. LOI DJIBOUTI. COD ELVIS. Tricky but enjoyable. Thank you George and setter.
    1. Brogues and Oxfords are not the same. Brogues are patterned shoes which may or may not be Oxfords. Oxfords are shoes of a certain style which may or may not be Brogues.
  13. as lot as the batsman is right handed..if he or she is left-handed it’s the other way round…
  14. Just seeing if I can now post from Safari. If this works – whatever was the issue is fixed. I saw that gothick_matt had had the issue yesterday – but no-one else has mentioned it.

    PS – seems to have worked – and ok from Internet Explorer.

    Had I not been hampered earlier, I would have said that I mostly liked: ‘On satellite channel’, Vergers and ‘No active role’. I don’t remember seeing Vergers used like that before.

    Edited at 2017-08-24 09:50 am (UTC)

    1. I’m still seeing the problem intermittently. I’ve raised a support request, so maybe that’ll help.
  15. Long time for me, as bogged down in SW and stopped to continue clearing out the loft. ANADEM with crossed fingers. Thanks gl and setter.
  16. Same thoughts as above, re ephemera plural, ANADEM guessed from checkers, APSIS looked up afterwards. 45 minutes a good enjoyable test.
  17. Nearly an hour – technically DNF, as stuck on SW till a look in Bradford reminded me of 17dn when trying for a country starting C. (After deciding DOYLE wasn’t possible for 18ac.) I don’t see JOY as meaning ‘success’, and I’m not keen on 13ac as a singular, even though it’s in the books. and was surprised by 24dn as I only knew that spelling in its astronomical sense.
    I don’t get George’s explanation of 27ac (which I’d biffed) – how can ‘vergers’ give MINSTERS ? – bar a misreading of the definition.

    Edited at 2017-08-24 10:59 am (UTC)

    1. This meaning of JOY is in Collins: it gives the example ‘I went to the bank for a loan, but got no joy’.
      In 27ac MINSTER is indicated by ‘church’. You then remove the ‘vergers’ (i.e. the letters on the verge, the edge) to get INSTE.

      Edited at 2017-08-24 11:25 am (UTC)

      1. Sorry: I’d not gone back to look at the clue, and had forgotten that ‘church’ was in there
  18. 31:14 so a harder than usual one for me. Did not fall into the APSES trap but took a while over DJIBOUTI. Re the discussion above about Vergers v Verges, it struck me that there must be a connection between vergers and sidesmen. Will ponder further. Thanks setter and George.
  19. 27A should it be “verges” and not “vergeRs” which I thought was a church official?
    TTom
  20. 55m for this with a very fortunate correct answer for 22d. Pleased to get 24d from the wordplay. On first pass I thought I would fail but I am slowly starting to see some of the elegant tricks. Another correct puzzle that I would have found a hopeless task dix months ago. Shame 19d couldn’t have been Eclipse! Excellent blog and thanks all
  21. Stuck in the SW, as were others. Also given a stern reminder that biffing is good if you can then spot why that answer works; otherwise you end up having to go back and correct things like INSOLE and DIADEM and DOYLE, so the setter made me work for it today, and quite right too. Given that, I suppose it’s a bit of a surprise that I evaded the APSES elephant trap, but there you go – having just booked my hotel room for Finals weekend, it’s good to be reminded that if you can’t parse it, there’s a good chance you’ve got it wrong…
  22. Same DNK’s as many others but managed to guess correctly and all in by about 45 minutes. A reasonable challenge with some good misdirection including ‘crime writer’ and 24d, the first clue which caught my eye. I thought it just had to be ‘niche’ and spent about 5 minutes vainly wondering how ‘family’ fitted in. First appearance in crosswordland of DJIBOUTI for me – severe knowledge deficit here and I’m afraid the only thing I know about the country is how to spell it.

    I liked the cryptic def for BRAILLE, which fortunately I saw early on, and once explained, the parsing for EPIDEMIC.

    Thank you to setter and blogger.

  23. Nicely put together and with some fiendish misdirection in parts, I thought this a good challenge for a Thursday. As an example, JOYCE managed to be pretty tricky even though the definition part was, crazily, ‘writer’!

    Thanks both.

  24. 21:24. Some tricky clues and a couple I couldn’t parse (12a, 27a) – thanks George for the explanations. I was pleased to resist DOYLE for 18a, but I made things more difficult for myself by putting EMPATHY for 23a. This made the SW corner a problem until I realised I had the wrong meaning for ‘feeling’. VIS, APSIS and ANADEM new to me too.
    1. I am guessing here but an ellipse (and a circle) are conic sections that are closed, whereas a parabola and a hyberbola are not
  26. 72 minutes – just pleased to finish. The CHEVRON and ANADEM crossers were my last in. Can anyone explain why rugby league clubs are so in thrall to chevrons?
    1. I think this has heraldic roots from the coats of arms of various northern English towns and cities Hull, Wigan, Warrington, St Helens.
  27. Forty-nine minutes of hard going for me, but I am glad (in a schadenfreudian way) to see that some of you also found it tough.

    I was one of those who was hung up on “Doyle” at 18ac, and I think that clueing “ce” as “edge lost by crime” is slightly off: not only would it be “edges”, but “edges lost by crime” would suggest “rim”.

    ANADEM was a case of “spot the E”, but in the end I decided that “diadem” made ANADEM more likely than ENADAM or ANEDAM.

    Apart from those two (oh, and APSIS), I can’t see why I had so much difficulty with this one, but perhaps that just illustrates the setter’s art.

    1. The edge is RIM. You remove it from CRIME to get CE.
      I always think (and often say) that a puzzle that is hard to solve but looks easy in retrospect is usually a good ‘un.

      Edited at 2017-08-24 04:04 pm (UTC)

  28. Y’all speak with a different lingo.
    I didn’t find this one very hard, but was slowed down the most by not knowing the “British, informal” definition of “joy” as “success.” If I had had DJIBOUTI already (a bit sluggish on that one too), I would have seen JOYCE sooner. I also didn’t remember ever seeing APSIS spelled like that.
  29. Well, I’ll quietly whisper that I had no problem with this, despite many having found it on the harder side, getting through in about 15 minutes. That doesn’t often occur, and maybe was due to my not thinking too much and tossing in APSIS, ANADEM, JOYCE, etc. from the wordplay right off. My LOI was LEGION, after remembering that ‘leg’ and ‘on’ were related in one of those unfamiliar UK sports, and has come up many times before. Regards.

    Edited at 2017-08-24 04:57 pm (UTC)

  30. I was getting on quite well with this until I came to the bottom half. BOBCAT went in at first glance. I then struggled with the SE for a while until a look at the clock told me it was time to hot foot it to Darlington to meet my brother at the Snooker Club. I paused the puzzle and returned to it quite some time ago, finding it a devilish task to complete. Spotted that 1a was incomplete and figured it out in between wrestling with 19d, 23a and 24d. I’d managed to chuck out DOYLE and replace him with JOYCE(which gave me DJIBOUTI) before going out, but those last three took me forever. I was determined not to give up, however, and submitted at 1:22:51 to find I had an all correct. A beast of a puzzle. APSIS was my LOI after BRAILLE, and after having rejected APSES due to wordplay. DNK APSIS, ANADEM or the power meaning of VIS, but wordplay and lucky guesses saved the day. Was puzzled by the Vergers bit of 27a, but it had to be. Thanks George and setter.
  31. 42:14 (distractedly so) with 3 errors, CATED for CITED (I knew the literal but was thinking something like (M)ATE instead of ITE(M) and figured CATE was a legal term I didn’t know), ECLIPSE for ELLIPSE and MEDIAN for LEGION (shots in the dark).

    Am I wrong in thinking that the interface on the iPad is truly dreadful? iPhone and web seem decent.

    EDIT: Although I can’t seem to figure out any way to view previous puzzles on the phone, or to get “Show demarcation” setting to stay…

    Edited at 2017-08-24 05:23 pm (UTC)

  32. The top half of this went in relatively smoothly in around 25mins this morning. The bottom half gave me a lot more trouble but I eventually found my way in with the anagram at 16dn and a couple of others. Had most of it tidied up in another 35mins at lunchtime but needed another 10mins after work to get Joyce, Djibouti and Instep. Was careful over the parsing of the unfamiliar apsis and took the same educated guess as others at anadem. I enjoyed this one. Loved the King, the CD at 23ac and the educated lady in 20ac.
    1. I had a very nice steak, kidney and red wine pie from Appleton the butchers in the Market Place at Ripon when I went to the Races last Saturday
      1. I was just referencing the unches going across the middle of the grid John, but thanks for the info. I hope you washed it down with a nice pint of something. Did you have enough room for pudding?
        1. Ah! I missed that. However I did wash it down after I got to the course, but relatively abstemiously, not in a Verlainesque manner:-)Pudding went by the board and I had a Hog Roast bun with stuffing and gravy.
  33. Thank you George for:
    – LEG in Legion. Shoulda spotted that.
    – VIS in Elvis.
    – CRU in Crusade
    – BOUT in Djibouti

    And thanks to a last minute change of mind, I avoided APSES!
    57M 23s

  34. Out all night so coming to this just before Verlaine (with his dreary new avatar!) comes on air.

    About the same Time as Lord Ulalaca – so pretty tardy!

    Done on i-pad -which is rubbish anyway!

    FIFO 9dn ARMCHAIR LILO 24dn APSIS

    COD 27ac INSTEP from Oxford! Although 15ac ELVIS was good and saved he saved me from 16dn as REVENATED!! 7dn INGOT was short and sweet!

    WOD BERMUDA TRIANGLE – I once had a bad fishing trip thereabouts – avoid if you’ll pardon the pun!

    Edited at 2017-08-25 06:13 am (UTC)

  35. This crossword survived the long sea passage and appeared in yesterday’s South China Morning Post.

    I really enjoyed the wordplay: “Split”, “satellite channel”, “record time”, “crime writer”, “Great Plague”, “Country club”, “keeping fit” and above all those “Vergers leaving church”.

    I learned ANADEM & APSIS, the latter also linking to ELLIPSE, but I think the composer was wise to keep us in church.

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