Times 26,915: It’s Beginning To Feel A Lot Like Cryptics

56 comments on “Times 26,915: It’s Beginning To Feel A Lot Like Cryptics”

1. Very easy today, only a one-cup, but struggled a little with 18ac and failed to parse 5dn. I wasn’t all that sure about study = report, either, the report is the outcome of the study not the study itself isn’t it? but hey, it’s Christmas ..
   1. You got further than me – I didn’t even try.
      1. It’s important to try, Ulaca. Where would we be, if nobody tried?!
2. 35 mins with a Fat Rascal (hoorah) – an uplifting breakfast treat and what a fun and adaptable avatar.
   I enjoyed this – but struggled for 5 mins at the end to construct 18ac from wordplay. The ‘if a U, try a Q’ worked – but the ‘it’ took some spotting to account for the final A.
   Mostly I liked: Adlestrop reminder, Backstory (COD), Tirade (tricky). Andy Capp, Elf Posse and ‘singers’.
   Merry Christmas setter, V and all. God bless us, every one.
   1. Was the cut off midnight?
3. 46 minutes of my life but, hey, it was worth it. Lovely, lovely puzzle – even though some of the subtleties eluded me until I came here e.g. 15d (incidentally named after another old general in Ambrose Burnside).
   V: shouldn’t the parsing of 2d be wagon/train official?

   Edited at 2017-12-22 09:20 am (UTC)

   1. I defer to your less-hungover parsing of this clue 🙂
4. Lovely puzzle! I particularly enjoyed QUADRAGESIMA, MALADJUSTMENT and SELF-POSSESSED. 35m 48s. Mery Christmas to all from sunny EnZed.
5. I couldn’t get the ridiculously easy REVS to make a start, decided this was a Tricky, and struggled throughout. Never did untangle TIRADE, simply didn’t put in TEREDO instead (at least that had shells in it)on a hunch. I should know that where the words of clue don’t really connect in a cryptic way, it’s going to be either a hidden or a variation on the theme.
   My knowledge of Andy Capp is limited to knowing his wife is Flo, so A CAPPELLA went in on definition. Is the strip still running?
   I get the DOUBLE TOP thing, but what’s “assisted” doing in the clue? Doesn’t seem to help either the cryptic or the surface.
   Not as much fun as yesterday’s, I thought but thanks to V for persevering through the pain.
   1. I don’t think “Forty on board a single flight” would make sense in describing what DOUBLE TOP oi. The flight of the dart assists it: how much it does so is arguable, hence the question mark

      FGBP

      1. Agreed, but “Forty on board for a single flight” would make perfect surface and cryptic sense.
         1. The clue reads “Forty on board a single flight …”
            there is no “for”
            Adding “for” would not make any sense: the flight attached to the dart is what assists it to fly.

            1. I’m well aware there’s no “for” in the original clue: that was my suggestion. Does a dart’s trajectory not count as flight?

   2. Yes, the strip continues but he gave up smoking some years ago.
      1. Unlike his creator Reg Smythe, who died as long ago as 1998 .. of lung cancer
6. Just over 30′ for this Friday offering, some very nice clues e.g. BACKSTORY, QUADRAGESIMA, MALADJUSTMENT. Nearly misspelled GADDAFI. And I do remember Adlestrop. Thanks v and setter.

7. All done bar QUADRAGESIMA in about 40mins. What an odd word that is!

8. 12:22.Very nice puzzle: I had to use wordplay more than average, which always makes for a more enjoyable solve. When I did bung things in it cost me: MALADROITNESS was so obviously the answer at 10dn.
   No problem with REPORT/STUDY: the latter can be ‘a product of studying, such as a written paper or book’, as Collins puts it.
   1. I was with you on MALADROITNESS, MALADEPTNESS also considered until reason prevailed and I noticed it was a letter short.
9. Raced through this until I hit the brick wall of the unknown 18a, the religious calendar being a complete black hole in my knowledge base. Never did see the quad bit and threw in the towel as I have lots to do this morning. The pedant in me says that someone on a quad cannot be a bike rider because it has four wheels and a bicycle – by definition – only two but I won’t get bitter and twisted about it.
   1. This is very true! Obviously I remembered there was such a thing as a “quad bike”, but looking at a picture of one now, it should *definitely* be called a “quike” or something.
10. 19:45 … with a major hold-up over Quadrathingummy, which I sort of know but can’t really be bothered to remember. I’m very appreciative of the “Chicago gangster”, which seems far less controversial than a simple ‘gangster’ these days. And I share V’s enthusiasm for the weird barbers clue.

    In case you missed it, the TfTT Christmas Turkey is now published. See sticky post on the front page of this site. On which note, Merry Christmas to all.

11. Tough but enjoyable. Spent far too long thinking 18ac might be an anagram of BIKE RIDERS containing I’M. I didn’t know the Capp neighbours but guessed that’s who C & R White had to be. Further confusion on that one becase of R White being a very famous brand of lemonade and ‘neighbour of C’ might have meant B or D. Now for the Turkey!

    Edited at 2017-12-22 10:17 am (UTC)

12. I thought from the NW that this was going to be easier, but in the end it took 38 minutes. A cradle Anglican like me wouldn’t be fazed by QUADRAGESIMA. Mind you. an entire career in electricity supply and a degree in Physics should have meant that KILOWATT wasn’t LOI, but I’d misspelt GADDAFI. COD to SIDEBURNS although we usually called them SIDEBOARDS. I think I’m the only person left on this planet who sounds HARASSMENT the old way, without the stress on the second A. To be harassed means a creased forehead, to be har-assed seems to mean stress and anger. I’m too old for that. Thank you V and setter. Time for Turkey.
13. Misspelled QUADRATHING, I forget how. I was solving in the dark half the time: could make no sense of 12ac, and dithered over tap/tip/top, had no idea who the Whites were, and simply BIFD, never got TIRADE, or SIDEBURNS, that sort of thing. Several others–6d, 10d–biffed and solved post hoc. So all in all, a good time to misspell.
14. What fun! 30 minutes of PDMs ending with BUGBEAR. Put in the QUAD… answer while wondering if Quad was a bike, but not worth a dispute. So many good clues it’s hard to find a CoD but I’ll go for AVAST.

    Envy you in NZ Martin, not so warm or sunny in Normandy or indeed Aquitaine at present.

    Edited at 2017-12-22 11:10 am (UTC)

    1. Yes, how did he manage to end up there? Given Aquitaine, you can guess what Kent is like. Think drizzle..
15. ….but that includes about 10 minutes I spent cleaning a record that turned out to be much too noisy. Of course, when I went back to the puzzle, I immediately saw several answers I hadn’t been able to get before.

    I don’t think 12 is a very fair clue for those who know nothing about darts, but I did manage to biff the evident answer.

16. Inevitably, the biggest struggle involved the crossing QUADRAGESIMA and A CAPPELLA, not helped by initially spelling it QUADRIGESIMA before going back and doing it properly. In the days before this site, I could have spent all day trying to explain how A CAPELLA was parsed and never got close. Elsewhere, lots of good things which I actually understood while solving, and the poetic anagram was worth the price of admission alone.
17. 56.10 with a lot of help from my friends. Was never going to get QUADRAGESIMA, and didn’t get the SA bit till I got here. Well, I’ve got my stocking all ready and waiting for the ELF POSSES – I wonder how many Santa has?
18. I’m another who didn’t remember Andy Capp’s neighbours, although they did ring a faint bell once pointed out. I got the ELLA bit and knew the definition though. QUADRAGESIMA came eventually, although like Myrtilus I pondered for some time over where the final A came from. Once LADYBIRD confirmed it, the penny dropped….knock at the door…Christmas is here!! Another Cross pen from The Times! For Sunday puzzle 4774 runner up this time. ROUND UPS was my FOI and AVAST my last. Took ages to see it, taking my time to 43:21. PARADISE seems to be the buzzword this week. Very enjoyable puzzle. Thanks setter and V. A Happy Christmas, and Prosperous and Healthy New Year to all.
    1. Trust you northerners to be Mirror readers…
       1. It’s a good 30 years since I read it, and only coz it woz lying round in a dentist’s waiting room or a staff canteen somewhere…
          1. I used to find the Sun and the Mirror lying around in a railway carriage, but somehow I never got around to the Mirror.
             1. 🙂
             2. Stuck on Page 3 eh?
       2. In our house, we used to have the News Chronicle, I’ll have you know, a fine Liberal paper, which is probably why it went under. I’ve never forgiven the Grauniad for moving to London though. Their social outlook could be much improved with Ena Sharples’ inputs.

          Edited at 2017-12-22 02:02 pm (UTC)

          1. I used to get the Daily Mail, God help me, but there was a reason behind that choice. When I was ill in the late 70s, I spent 3 months on the same hospital ward. The Ward Sister was really nice, and used to sit with me on an afternoon, and she taught me to do the Mail cryptic. I stuck with it for years after that, but eventually tired of my daughter asking me when I was going to stop getting “that fascist rag!”
          2. The News Chronicle brings back fond childhood memories for me too. I still have the “News Chronicle Song Book” (2 copies – one inherited from an uncle), “News Chronicle Music for the Home” (Parlour songs, Opera lollipops etc), “News Chronicle Book of Music Hall Songs” (still still enjoyed by my U3A singalong group) So at least part of that respected newspaper lives on…
             1. Lovely. Not at the more distinguished end of their output, but do you remember Lobby Lud?
                1. Indeed I do. This was my grandparents’ preferred paper. We lived with them during the war. After the war I was limited to my father’s choice which was The Daily Worker. Not half as much fun as the News Chronicle!
19. Thanks for the parse on this V. Like Vinyl I know nothing about darts. I thought it might be a stock market term on the Big Board (Dow) and I don’t know much about that either. The setter was generous with getting us through the awkward spellings of QUADRAGESIMA and GADDAFI (never could spell that so-and-so). Merry Christmas to all, and now to finish the Turkey – still stumped by one clue. 20.56
20. Top stuff, again. Had never heard of Adlestrop (village or poem), but am a fan of Milton’s greatest work, never quite understanding those who fret themselves about the prominent role Satan gets. The villain is always sexier than the hero; just ask Bruce Willis.

    Edited at 2017-12-22 02:41 pm (UTC)

21. 12:55 for all but Quad whatsit and I lost the will to live trying to figure that one out.

    Merry Christmas all.

22. 35 mins with 18ac remaining. Couldn’t work out the wordplay so looked up the answer – have shopping to do …
23. I thought DOUBLE TOP might be unknown Bingo slang; unknown dart’s slang didn’t occur to me. And I know Andy Capp but not well enough to know the neighbors especially in a backwards reference. I figured, very loosely, A CAPE (for the C), and P as an alphabetical neighbour of R. It wasn’t remotely satisfying, but it did get me on to the important task of pouring a glass of something. Now to the Turkey, for which thank you, Sotira
24. I DNK, never heard of, QUADRAGESIMA, but I’m not likely to forget it. I took a wild stab, or fling, with DOUBLE TIP (oops!)—I don’t know from darts, either. I am glad to see my hunch was right about A CAPP, I was far from confident. HARASSMENT is all too timely, seems it’s been happening ALL OVER (which is what some dudes’ careers are). I enjoyed the “exotic striptease,” but of course I would. I was out every night this week and finished a few puzzles too late to post. Next year I hope to contribute to the turkey, which I am going to dig into shortly. Off work until January 8, so I may work a Jumbo or two. It’s great that the Times provides so many of these things.

    Edited at 2017-12-22 04:30 pm (UTC)

    1. 23:58… but had QUADRADECIMA for 18a. No wonder I couldn’t parse it! Adlestrop was unknown to me, but now I’ve read it…. Nice poem. Lots of lovely clues, although the wordplay at 5d completely passed me by. COD to 15d, but I loved the Elf posse too. 21a my LOI and good reminder that I’d better finish my blog for tomorrow!
       1. Not sure you meant this to be a reply to me personally, but I’m glad it was, as you have prompted me to read aforementioned poem. I like it, the minor-key epiphany, but some of the language seems a bit forced, for rhyme and rhythm. “An afternoon/ of heat”; “haycocks dry” (noun/adjective inversion that only occurs in–slightly stuffy–verse); “lonely fair” (not quite sure how that works); “cloudlets” (I might let that pass, but he’s got me going now); and, last but not least (especially since all the rhymes have been exact so far), can “Gloucestershire” be pronounced to chime with “mistier” (do only the unstressed syllables at the end sound similar)?
          1. You’re right, Guy. Sorry. I clicked “Reply” rather than “Leave a comment” by mistake, but just left it there as you referred to the Jumbos, of which I blog every 5th.
25. 40 mins while listening to the radio, so not trying to rush. LOI kilowatt, funnily enough – just a simple anagram, but I thought it was a CD for a while. Fun puzzle; great blog, V. Thanks!
26. I found this hard and couldn’t get any sort of rhythm going which meant that I didn’t really enjoy it as much as others did. I can see there are a lot of good clues but I was only solving them in fits and starts. A not quite parsed and incorrectly spelt Gaddafi meant kilowatt took ages. Finally saw kilowatt and corrected my spelling of Gaddafi so that it was slightly less incorrectly spelt but nonetheless still incorrect. 12ac took far too long to see despite being a fan of the tungsten titans. I think I would pronounce sued as sood and pseud as s-yood (sort of) but perhaps I’m just a pseud. Had no idea what was going on at 15dn or 5dn so grateful for the parsings there.
27. This took me far too long to complete, say 45-50 minutes, not knowing darts or having any idea how to parse A CAPPELLA, which I thought usually has only one “P”. But I biffed the latter, and eventually twigged the darts score, and guessed the ‘top’ part. Guessed also on the spelling of the Q Sunday. Also, we Americans persisted in spelling the old colonel at 25 as QUADDAFI for many years, so the new-fangled spelling took a while to appear.

    Thanks much to Sotira for her annual holiday rallying of the troops.

    Best regards to all.

28. A shame-faced DNF here with 18ac as above!
    Total Friday shambles but a fine puzzle with a slightly below par Lord Verlaine of Hanover.

    FOI 1ac REVS

    COD 13ad PSEUD to which I was somewhat honophobic.

    WOD 25ac GADDAFI – glory be and Heaven forfend!

    As for your AVATARS, the bar has fallen, with a couple of late efforts from ‘The Breakfasteer’ Mr. Myrtillus duly noted –
    but no more entries can be considered by your celebrity panel of five judges:-

    Dame Joan Collins, The Honourable Giles Keeble, Lady Annabelle Seymour-Cox, Mr. Anthony Scaramucci and yours truly Victor Carmichael Meldrew.
    Quite a line-up! Strictly no correspondence, please.

    I shall also be announcing the horryd WOY shortly.

    Joyeuse Noel and TTfN

29. DNF in 30 mins. Didn’t get A Cappella and had Quadrigesima for Quadragesima.
30. DNF due to QUADRAGESIMA. I was looking forward to finding the answer here, but disappointed at the use of SA for it, which was a tired cliche even when D.S.Macnutt (Ximenes/Everyman) deprecated it in “The Art of The Crossword” forty years ago. I really don’t like the crossword constructing its own reality, because it makes it inaccessible to newcomers. Shame on the setter for using “it”. As bad as TREE. Never again, please.

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