Times 26845 – From Bach to Les Mis via Flanders

Author   ulacaPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Another very Mondayesque offering. If Tuesday is the new Friday, then assuredly Monday is the new Monday. Or should that be old? Lots of multi-word answers here, and since my speed-solving technique (don’t titter!) is based on doing these first, I was quids in.

Nothing much to unduly worry a seasoned solver – so long as he is fine with split infinitives and a splash of sexism – and, with no particularly tricky vocab or clueing approaches, I am going to stick my head out and recommend Quickie regulars have a go at this one, which I completed in 23 minutes.

ACROSS

1. TRAMP – T[ime] followed by RAMP.
4. DOG-EAT-DOG – EAT (work on chow) in DOG twice. Alun Armstrong hams it up in our first musical offering.
9. POLICEMAN – an anagram* of IN MALE COP and an &lit to boot (if you don’t think much of it).
10. TILDE – L in EDIT reversed.
11. EXODUS – double definition. The setter is being kind by eschewing Habakkuk, Nahum or Zechariah.
12. ALLERGIC – ERG in ALL and IC. Chambers has ‘reacting in an abnormally sensitive manner’ for allergic.
14. VALETUDINARY – an alternative to valetudinarian; here we have another anagrammatical &lit, with AN ADULT VERY* tossed about I (one) to give a person like the chap in Three Men in a Boat who got himself into a lather because the only ailment he didn’t have was Housemaid’s Knee.
17. WELL-TEMPERED – in music, to temper is to tune, so this clue is basically a bit of whimsy. You may like to listen to András Schiff strut his Bachian stuff at this year’s Proms.
20. REALISED – READ around S in LIE.
21. AFRICA – A + F (fine) + C (about) in reversal of AIR (atmosphere circulating around).
23. TOPIC – OP in TIC.
24. APATHETIC – A[ppalachian] + PATH + CITE reversed.
25. CROWS NEST – SNOW* in CREST. Winner of today’s MBC Award.
26. TOYED – TORY ED minus his or her R (Republican).

DOWN

1. TOP-HEAVY – OP in THE AV + Y. I had lop-sided at first and would be willing to bet I am not the only one, since I am far less unique than I aspire to be.
2. ALL SOULS – a bit of an in-joke feel to this, as All Souls College, Oxford, is arguably the most elite educational institution in the world. I had dinner there once and kept my mouth shut the whole time, fearful lest I should dispel any pretence of erudition I possessed on passing through its pinnacled portals.
3. PICK UP THE PIECES – I’m not convinced this works: while the musical part pretty much works, I think coming round and picking up the pieces a) don’t mean the same thing and b) involve a transitivity mismatch.
4. DAMP – MAD reversed + P (power).
5. GUNSLINGER – SNUG (a room sometimes found in a higgledy-piggledy style old English pub) reversed + LINGER. My last in as I was looking for a Hispanic word.
6. AT THE DROP OF A HAT – yes, another whimsical one…Moving swiftly along, savour the wit of Michael Flanders from the Flanders and Swann album of the same name.
7. DELUGE – LUG in DEE.
8. GREECE – GREE[n] + CE. I don’t know enough about Orthodoxy to challenge the proposition stated here, but it seems debatable.
13. ADULTERATE – ADULT + E + RATE.
15. ARTISTRY – [d]ART + IS + TRY.
16. ADVANCED – A + DANCED around V (volume).
18. ARCTIC – C in ARTIC.
19. SAPPHO – HAS reversed + O around PP. Sappho is currently poetess-in-residence at London Bridge.
22. PACT – P + ACT.

45 comments on “Times 26845 – From Bach to Les Mis via Flanders”

  1. Mondayish. I wasn’t sure about 3d either; I also thought that a valetudinarian was a hypochondriac, not a sickly person. My guess is the Greek Orthodox Church started in Greece, while the Russian Orthodox Church started in Russia
      1. Actually, my sole encounter with the word (-ian) is ‘Emma’; her father is a valetudinarian.
  2. apart from the unknown valetudinary, which is a stupid word I’ve decided. Sounds and looks like the complete opposite of what it actually means

    come round = regain consciousness = pick up the pieces
    I think that’s OK

    And if I make another typo (toady it was “arctoc”), I might just ragequit

    1. Ah, but that is part of its charm. You can insult someone with the word without them being able to prove a thing, since there is a slight chance that you mean they really are ill..
  3. 11 minutes for me, which I think is either a PB or very close to it. Only slight hold up was when I didn’t have either VALETUDINARY or ADULTERATE (which cross). Plus I was trying to remember (I live in the US) what letter is used for movies kids can’t go to in the UK (PG or R in the US) when I saw the obvious.
  4. Time 26mins so on board with the good Lord Ulaca.

    FOI 4ac DOG-EAT-DOG. LOI VALETUDINARY for no paricular reason.

    COD 5dn GUNSLINGER from Coronation Street!

    WOD 10ac TILDE

    I do miss Lord Galspray and Professor McText – readying themselves I hope for the Ashes series, after their Indian Summer.

    Edited at 2017-10-02 01:53 am (UTC)

  6. 34 minutes was not too bad for me at the moment. Most time lost on PICK UP THE PIECES which doesn’t fully convince me on either count, the V-word and GUNSLINGER, my last one in possibly because it really has nothing to do with being a cowboy. Even when cowboys carried guns it didn’t mean they were gunslingers who were specialist gunfighters. Still it presents an opportunity to post a link to Frankie Laine’s recording of the title song to the 1961 TV Western series GUNSLINGER which is little remembered these days as it only ran for 12 episodes. The song was by Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington who wrote many a big hit in this genre including ‘High Noon’ and ‘Rawhide’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jGoriL5NL4

    Edited at 2017-10-02 05:03 am (UTC)

  7. 11:06 … I ‘knew’ VALETUDINARY but it turns out I had no idea what it meant. PICK UP THE PIECES went in with a shrug — I’m glad I wasn’t alone in finding the definition odd
  8. Another in a string of DNFs for me. I didn’t give it the full hour, but after staring at 17a for ten solid minutes on top of the first forty, I just gave up. I really don’t seem to be doing very well at the moment… Shame, as I worked out the unknown VALETUDINARY and everything else well enough, including being confused by 3d like everyone else, it seems. At some point, hopefully, I’ll get to the end of a crossword again…
  9. A rather irritating experience today: I finished in 16.58 but entered a mispring during checking, which seems perverse. On the site, if you want to see the clue clearly after completion, you have to delete a random letter, which I did with VALETUDINARY, just to check I had the spelling/anagram fodder right. I did, but then replaced the deleted U with an I. Don’t know why, and didn’t know what a V thingy was, though I knew the word and I’ve read Emma.
    3d is weird. Chambers has an entry for it, and says “to restore (esp emotional) matters to their former equilibrium after they have been brought to disarray or collapse.” Come round hardly covers it either in the sense of recover consciousness or to reluctantly come to the same conclusion.
    I was also going to complain about 22d PACT where I read the clue as “One’s agreed plane performance” and plane doesn’t give P. And yes, I have been to Specsavers.
    I shall now be slightly ratty all day.

    Edited at 2017-10-02 07:07 am (UTC)

  10. 6:44. As a point of principle I have been making a concerted effort not to learn the names of books of the bible recently but even I know EXODUS. Unfortunately I also knew VALETUDINARY (from Emma initially) and therefore entered it with a misplaced confidence in my ability to spell it.
    1. Well, it’s easy to mix up your Zephaniah with your Zechariah.

      Um, that’s a bit quick, isn’t it?

      Edited at 2017-10-02 06:32 am (UTC)

      1. Quickish but some way off PB territory.
        I meant to mention that I share your doubts over PICK UP THE PIECES, which has also given me an Average White Band earworm.
  11. Spent longer listening to Flanders & Swann than it took to do the crossword. More fun too, no disrespect intended to the setter but they are one of my very favourite acts…

    No problem with valetudinary, thanks probably to Georgette H. It is an interesting word because it carries the unmistakeable air of being an insult, without being able to prove it is one; unlike (say) hypochondriac, which is unambiguous.

  12. I should have absolutely smashed my PB with this one, having finished in 21:18. Unfortunately pressing submit revealed that I had unaccountably transplanted the E and I in VALETUDINARY and hadn’t spotted it in my pre-submit check-through. O me miserum!
  13. Darn! Would have been a PB if I hadn’t needed to do an alphabet trawl for WELL TEMPERED. I, too, am hearing AWB tracks.
  14. 13:06 which is approaching PB territory on an iPad. PICK UP THE PIECES went in with a shrug but VALETUDINARY was known. Looks like the Dog can have a yet longer walk now.
  15. I made a meal of this, taking 35 minutes. I’ve got a friend in NZ who TRAMPs rather than hikes. I knew the word VALETUDINARY without being sure of the meaning. I think up to now I’ve mixed it up with valedictory. PICK UP THE PIECES was a long time coming, and when it did, I wasn’t totally convinced that’s what I’d done. WELL-TEMPERED needed all the crossers too with ‘welled’ for ‘supplied’ not obvious. COD AT THE DROP OF A HAT. Never did like the expression DOG-EAT-DOG and profoundly hope the chow being eaten was food intended for that purpose. In my three years at Oxford, I never was even sure if there was a way into All Souls, metaphorical or physical. But my eldest even had a lecture in there on his Masters. That was them opening up to the world! Thank you U and setter.
  16. 5 and a half minutes, so yeah, Mondayish. Quite a few seconds at the end spent wrinkling my nose distastefully at 3dn. Never seen VALETUDINARY per se, but I seem to recall a character in a novel (a Terry Pratchett perhaps?) saying with a smirk “I guess that would make you a… valetudinarian barbarian?” and that’s close enough for rock ‘n’ roll.
  17. I had most of this solved in double quick time but then got held up on ADULTERATE, WELL TEMPERED and VALETUDINARY. I didn’t understand WELL TEMPERED so thanks to ulaca for enlightening me.
  19. Fifteen minutes, making this a fast one for me.

    I knew VALETUDINARY but, surprisingly, had no idea of its meaning. I shall endeavour to use it at every opportunity from now on.

  20. I am happy to be the first to confirm the blogger’s suspicion that he’s not the only person who biffed LOP-SIDED. Unsurprisingly, that made the NW corner quite resilient, as I spent a good deal of my solving time trying to find a book that fitted the wrong first letter (Book of Imogen, perhaps?), and untangle an anagram where I’d confidently put one letter in the wrong place. Got there in the end; I shall now write out 100 times “I will not confine my analysis of clues to ‘it’s got an OP in it and fits the spaces, that’s close enough'”.
  21. I agree with Kevin about the hypochondriac meaning. I had (a now mercifully ex) brother-in-law like that and we always described him as enjoying poor health. I’d like to be a fly on the wall when Dr. Thud applies it to some slacker he meets in the ER. 12.01
  22. Back under 30 minutes today with a 28:34, starting with DAMP as the NW resisted my initial contemplations. I proceeded in a clockwise direction until I was able to 3d having become 17a as the 11a of brain cells was reversed 6d. The V word gradually appeared, as I 20a I didn’t know it or its meanings, and I 26a with the remaining fodder to create what seemed to be a likely answer. SAPPHO brought up the rear as I 16d towards the submit button. Nice puzzle. Thanks setter and U.

    Edited at 2017-10-02 11:42 am (UTC)

  23. Prob about 30 mins but too many disruptions. SAPPHO unknown but VALETUDINARY couldn’t be anything else. Enjoyable puzzle with several aha moments
  24. 9:22. I was surprised to find I was all correct as I just bunged in guesses for VALETUDINARY and WELL-TEMPERED in order to duck under 10 minutes.
  25. Thank you Ulacaca. As a newbie to this lark (if 930 quickies counts as new) I found that the Quickie over breakfast took me for ever – 35 mins. So I took your suggestion and tried Big Brother over lunch. And I did it in the same time! If someone could explain why, I would be immensely grateful (and no, I didn’t overindulge last night!)
  26. Never heard of Valet… But lucky guess meaning I completed in about 25 mins. No jokes today, just heartfelt sympathies to our American friends. Thanks blogger
  27. A PB of 17:09 spoilt by failing to fill in the blanks in 1ac. Berm!
    For some unknown reason I have an image of J S Bach trying to take his Klavier on Ryanair as hand-luggage, being refused, and thus reduced to a state of being much less than well-tempered.
    I agree with Kevin Gregg on Orthodox Church.
  28. Thank you so much, ULACA, for directing me to Andras Schiff, SIR Andras Schiff indeed! The video is playing as I type. Mesmerising.
  29. For various reasons, I haven’t done this regularly for a while but the final is about a month away so thought I might lift the spirits with a Monday sprint and this provided it. LOI Tilde, COD Sappho
  30. This Monday puzzle was at the right level for me. Decided to just write in answers when I wasn’t sure and so got Pick Up The Pieces and Well Tempered; and finally Valetudinary as I seemed to have all the right letters.
    And it didn’t take me too long. David
  31. …in Brooklyn Heights at my favorite resto last night. I had just finished this puzzle, and then the QC, and was finishing last week’s Jumbo, when a huge group seated in front of me, among which I had detected some English accents, got up to leave, and as a couple of them passed my table, I said hello, and soon learned that the person who may have set one of the puzzles I was working on had been among their party but had already left. I’m afraid I don’t know the names of all the setters and am afraid to misremember or misspell the name I heard… but I think it started with a J…

    Edited at 2017-10-02 09:22 pm (UTC)

  32. 31 mins and 31 secs for me. A steady solve. 17ac entered on the basis of Bach’s Clavier without really seeing how it parsed. 3dn entered on the basis of one half of the clue and in hopes that if one squinted at the other half, that might also pass muster without wasting too much time trying the theory out. FOI 4ac. LOI 17ac.
  33. Well this quickie regular took your advice and had a go, and was very happy to finish – over an hour, but that’s fine! Thank-you.
    1. Well done! Don’t worry about the time. I regularly took 90 minutes or more when I first started the 15×15.
  34. I’m not a regular at doing the Times crossword, just give it a bash occasionally when I’m having trouble sleeping as doing it seems to break any chain of thought that was stopping me from nodding off. I don’t always complete it and I’m not up on many of the frequently used tricks that are a dead give-away for regular solvers; but I completed this one at 3 am in about 15 minutes, bang-bang-bang, one clue after another. I think it may have been the easiest Times crossword I have ever attempted.

    And I agree, the “pick up the pieces” clue is poor.

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