Times 26919 – TCC Final, puzzle #2 – count me out!

Author   piquetPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Well last week’s puzzle took me 20 minutes, so I’d have had 40 remaining to crack this one and the one yet to come. Fat chance! In spite of a fast start, I crept over the line with this one in something approaching an hour. The top half seemed easier than below. I think all correct but with a few not fully understood (not an ideal start for a blogger). My Santa hat is off to those 17 who got this one all right in a competitive time. Maybe I just wasn’t on song, overdosed on foie gras and prawns and various forms of expensive drink. There again, maybe I just need to go into training to keep up with Verlaine!

Feel free to sort out any below where I haven’t fully grasped the nettle.
Definitions underlined, Anagram fodder ()*, anagram indicators bold italics; DD = double definition.

Across
1 Aspect is strangely unrealistic (8)
ESCAPIST – (ASPECT IS)*.
5 Dancer pulled this trick endlessly (6)
SLEIGH – SLEIGHT = trick.
9 Twosome united in act (3)
DUO – U(nited) inside DO = act.
10 Bible teachings given to Polish faithful (4-7)
WORD-PERFECT – I think; (The) Word = Bible teachings, Polish = PERFECT, as a verb; faithful as in true to the original.
12 Beastly physician confuses artery with vein (10)
VETERINARY – (ARTERY VEIN)*
13 Soldier dropped in standard initially achieved (4)
PARA – PAR = standard, A(chieved).
15 Green part in smoke that rolls over tongue (6)
GAELIC – CIG = smoke, rolled over = GIC, insert LEA = green part.
16 Lethargy from one in Cheers, after popular hospital series (7)
INERTIA – IN, ER the TV series, TA, = cheers, insert I.
18 Regular couple from Delft provide current address (7)
EFFENDI – E F = regular 2 letters of Delft, FEND = provide, as in fend for yourself; I = current. A title of respect, originally Turkish.
20 Approach position, await and intercept (6)
WAYLAY – I can’t decide if this is an &lit. definition of WAYLAY or made up of two parts.
23 Given coaching in voice that’s showing strain (4)
TAUT – Sounds like TAUGHT. Memories of Alice homophones; the Tortoise taught us.
24 Fighter’s awful risk near person holding horse (10)
SKIRMISHER – (RISK)*, then H for horse inside MISER. Is MISER a person holding or just a person? A miser certainly holds on to the money, but then HOLDING would have to do double duty.
26 Editor turned author appears opening pink newspaper (11)
INDEPENDENT – Of course we start by messing with the FT, wrong paper. Then we see ED and PEN = author. Reverse the ED and put it in, see what’s left, IN (DE PEN) DENT. Why does INDENT = pink though? Have I missed the point? EDIT following jackkt’s suggestion below, Mrs Pip has shown me her “pinking shears” and assures me the result is an INDENT, as a toothed pattern. I should have asked earlier!
27 Timber carried back in Noah’s Ark (3)
ASH – Hidden reversed in NOA(H’S A)RK.
28 Time to race along — hard going for distance swimmer (6)
TURTLE – T = time, HURTLE = race along, drop the H.
29 Poet retaining English structure as basis (8)
SKELETON – John SKELTON was a poet who allegedly taught Henry VIII stuff (didn’t think H8 was much of a poetry sort of chap). Insert E for English. I didn’t know him (poets, me?) but the wordplay was obvious.

Down
1 Leaves tip — fiver’s inside (6)
ENDIVE – END = tip, IVE = inside of fIVEr.
2 Viewed from South Island, a killer whale finds land (7)
CROATIA – I’m trying to view this ‘from the South’ i.e. bottom up. We get AIT A ORC.  AIT = island. ORCA is a killer whale, so it must be somehow a contortion of ORCA to A ORC to get to the ‘land’.
3 Mountain climbing in Newport ruined juice producer (5,5)
POWER PLANT – ALP reversed inside (NEWPORT)*. Juice as in electricity.
4 Help coward to escape youngster (6,7)
SPRING CHICKEN – Cryptic definition, very droll.
6 Fat vicar’s bottom pinched by groom (4)
LARD – LAD = groom, insert R being the bottom of vicar.
7 One following account breaks out (7)
INEXACT – I = one, NEXT = following, insert AC for account. OUT as in not accurate addition.
8 Wife left bed, getting out after hours at hotel (8)
HATHAWAY – H(ours), AT, H(otel), AWAY = out. It was Shakespeare who left the marital bed, I thought, not Mrs S. So I’ve highlighted ‘wife left’, not ‘wife left bed’. So why is bed there?
11 Pretender by stream gets to grips with family feud (6,7)
PERKIN WARBECK – A bit of history I actually knew. PER = by, BECK = stream, insert KIN = family, WAR = feud. But was Mr Warbeck a pretender, or really the Duke of York? We shall never know.
14 Night signaller’s extremely irrational, and frequently upset (4,6)
VERY PISTOL –  VERY = extremely, PI = irrational number, LOTS = frequently, reversed = STOL.
17 Limit soldiers enforced stringently (8)
RESTRICT – RE = Royal Engineers, STRICT = enforced stringently.
19 One beginning to fail (7)
FOUNDER – DD.
21 Basically that’s worked to hold attention (2,5)
AT HEART – Insert EAR = attention, into (THAT)*.
22 Lonely type getting up behind Chinese people (6)
ORPHAN – PRO = behind, get it up = ORP, HAN are Chinese. Are orphans particularly lonely? EDIT see first 2 comments below!
25 Old secretary put on pounds or stone (4)
OPAL – O (old), PA = secretary, L = pounds.

41 comments on “Times 26919 – TCC Final, puzzle #2 – count me out!”

  1. In SKIRMISHER ‘near person’ accounts for MISER.

    At 20 I had WAY (approach), LAY (position) with ‘await and intercept’ as the definition, but I can’t say I’m sure about it.

    At 26 I wonder if ‘pink’ is referring to the process of cutting a zig-zag pattern on the edge of fabric which might be termed an INDENT?

    ORC for ‘whale’ is fine as it stands.

    I think the definition at 22 (lonely type) is a reference to the printing term ‘widows and orphans’ for bits of text / type separated from the main body of the text, and perhaps in a figurative sense ‘lonely’.

    Very hard work apart from the NW corner, and I used aids more than once to get myself restarted.

    Edited at 2017-12-27 07:11 am (UTC)

  2. HATHAWAY was a wife left (a) bed by her famous husband; I didn’t see any problem there.
    My official title at the mag for a couple decades was “typographer,” and I am sure that Jack is right about “lonely type.” He’s right about WAYLAY too.
    I hadn’t a clue about the “pink” part of 26, so the explanation illustrated by the shears is certainly better than my nonexistent one.
    My last two in were the not-so-great pretender and the VERY PISTOL, neither of which I had ever heard of before, so I had to resort to aids.
    I’ve been working all the recent puzzles, but haven’t found time to post here till now. (Haven’t finished the Boxing Day Jumbo.)

    Edited at 2017-12-27 08:10 am (UTC)

  3. That was hard work, but I got there all correct without aids. I’d heard of “very lghts” so the pistol to put them up wasn’t too much of a stretch, but it was my LOI even so. I assumed the pretender must be WARWICK (ok, wick isn’t a stream but it’s a more likely name that the right answer) but then I got INDEPENDENT. I wondered about the PINK bit despite knowing what pinking shears are.

    I’m in awe that people can do this in 20 minutes.

  4. 20 minutes would seem to be incredibly fast for this one. But with the quota of subtle definitions, and in being beautifully put together generally, viewed retrospectively it’s wonderful.

    4 dn I think is not a CD, but SPRING CHICKEN paraphrased as the wordplay.

  5. 45 mins for this excellent offering. Held up for ages on 22d where I kept thinking of ‘urchin’ for some reason, but got there in the end.
    Like others, I would have been distressed indeed to find this just one of three to complete in the hour; hats off to those who did.
    I was also unable to parse the pink bit in 26ac but the answer was clear enough. I was thinking maybe of some sort of ledger which might have pink pages. Oh well, that’s one to remember.
  6. 21:46, which is well under my long-term average solving time. I was amazed to be able to keep steadily filling the answers in, although I was baffled by some parsing and didn’t know some of the words… PERKIN WARBECK constructed from wordplay, never heard of the poet at 29a and I hadn’t a clue what was happening with 8d or 26a. Thanks for explaining the INDENT bit! Several fun clues, like 5a, 15a, 18a and 14d. Thanks Pip and setter.
  7. I failed to read the rubric, so discovering this was a compy puzzle came as a shock, as I thought my 26 minutes was actually going some for a very devious piece of work.
    I gave up trying to understand how fend meant provide (thanks Pip!), and never even tried to understand “pink”. In my Chambers, it has 8 separate and distinct entries, but I think Jack’s pick is fine. I had no (typographic) idea about ORPHAN and couldn’t make do much to produce the ORP bit, but I knew the HAN bit so hit and hoped.
    The NE sector was my last, and I struggled with Dancer (clever disguised capital there) and only got it after getting HATHAWAY. For the latter, I gave up, put in ??T?A?A? into Electric Chambers and got zilch. Only then did I get the wife left bed (second best, I think) and chuck in the lady’s name. Why wasn’t she Mrs Shakespeare? And if cheating doesn’t work, is it still cheating?
    And I so nearly had an unparsed GALLIC at 15. Well done Pip, congratulations to the elite, and you B*stard to the setter (n an appreciative way).

    Edited at 2017-12-27 09:45 am (UTC)

  8. This puzzle was a mean trick to play on someone recovering from Christmas. DNF, not knowing or seeing EFFENDI nor VERY PISTOL, and I didn’t drink anything like that much. SKELETON biffed but poet also not known. And it all started so well with Dancer and SLEIGH. COD PERKIN WARBECK, forever twinned with Lambert Simnel. Thank you Pip and setter.
  9. Tough puzzle that took some working on. Top half easier than the bottom

    Struggled to understand “pink” but remembered Waggle-Dagger leaving his wife the bed. Its a mark of how the content of these grids has changed that solvers don’t know Perkin W. At one time he and a whole group of similar historic obscurities cropped up on a regular basis

    1. Is that a good or a bad thing Jimbo? I think I recall your being none too happy with mythological references a while ago.
      1. I think it a good thing. Do you remember the clue and solution analysis we did a few years ago that showed the extent to which The Times was living in the past with its old poets, old artists, and obscure historical figures?

        We have a far better balance these days, including some content from the scientific world, and I’m all for that

          1. I just remembered that the second clue analysis was placed in the memories section of this blog

            At the very top click on “memories” then “miscellaneous” then at 2008-12-01 you’ll find the clue analysis. Can’t believe it was 10 years ago!

  10. About 10m on the day with a lot of biffing that papered over various gaps in my knowledge – didn’t understand the “Wife left bed” definition (at least the “left bed” part), couldn’t have told you who PERKIN WARBECK was but the name floated up from somewhere once I had some checking letters, ditto John SKELTON, etc. Some really nice clues in this one, e.g. 12A, 4D, 6D. LOI INEXACT, where I could not get ITERANT out of my mind from the checking letters – left it empty in order to attempt puzzle 3 and then immediately saw the correct answer upon returning.
  11. Felt good about this puzzle, 28’18” , no biffing. PERKIN WARBECK used to be general knowledge. Henry VIII was very cultured and
    loved his music and poetry. Knew EFFENDI from Lawrence of Arabia and Midnight Express.Glad I did not biff MINORCA or MAJORCA for 2d. Thanks pip and setter.
    1. And OH EFFENDI was a track on 10cc’s 1st Album (Sheet Music)so one of the few I got.
      Phil R
  12. Clearly right up my street. I got off to a good start, though I suspect I wouldn’t have seen 5ac so quickly had I been solving a) under exam conditions, or b) some time before Christmas (I saw Comet used in a similar fashion in a more recent Christmassy puzzle, so it fired a synapse somewhere). A lot of my history knowledge derives from 1066 and All That, so Perkin Simnel (or was it Lambert Warmneck?) dropped straight in. I love a puzzle with twisty definitions, so especially liked the bed-inheriting wife, the juice producer, and the lonely type.
  14. Only 75 minutes for this. There was a distinctly TLS flavour to the Grand Final puzzles, what with Hathaway, Skelton and Warbeck today and whatever it was last week. Last in for me the distinctly weird looking Very pistol.
  15. I’ve always wondered who got the good bed. Like Tim I find Sellar & Yeatman easily the handiest primer for the history segment of these puzzles. A certain amount of whiplash here with the very easy ones (OPAL) and (ASH) leaving me with nose pressed against the glass when it came to EFFENDI and INDEPENDENT. I also spent far too long failing to see TAUT and trying for “tort” – can’t explain why. Henry VIII was quite keen on poetry while he was being strung along by Anne B. 25.33 so well off the pace.
  16. 1hr 2mins. I found this tough and was pleased to finish all correct even if just outside the hour. FOI 5ac, not sure it would have been such a write in were it not the festive period. Didn’t appreciate the “near person” Def of “miser” when solving 23ac. Didn’t get “pink” in 26ac. Wondered about “orc” rather than “orca” in 2dn. Knew the pretender in 11dn but still took a while to unravel the wp. Dnk 14dn so had to trust wp, particularly “extremely” for “very”. Some top cluing going on in this one as to be expected, a very satisfying one to complete.
  17. I rather enjoyed this Christmas Cracker which occupied me for just short of 50 mins.

    FOI 5ac SLEIGH was a festive start and 7dn INEXACT was my LOI

    8dn HATHAWAY was biffed, but who else than Mrs. S?

    26ac INDEPENDENTanother biff, had me wondering – as The Independent no longer exist as a newspaper – per se!

    29ac SKELETON was semi-biffed – but don’t ask me to name one of Skelton’s odes.

    My COD goes to 28ac TURTLE and my WOD is with 11dn PERKIN WARBECK, who is an old buddy from way back.

    I also smiled at 18ac EFFENDI, 22dn ORPHAN and 4dn SPRING CHICKEN.

    Too busy to attempt Monday’s puzzle which will have to wait until Sunday’s bottom half goes in.

    It’s all go hereabouts as the TFtT AVATAR panel convene tomorrow. Dame Joan Collins is in good spirits I assure you.

    Finally a curse upon M&S for closing all of their Shanghai stores last January – bastards!
    It turned the expat Christmas shopping expedition into an expedition.

    Mood Medrewvian on that score.

  18. DNF – either due to not doing it over breakfast or, more probably, ‘cos it was much too hard.
    DNK Very Pistol and can’t spell Vetinerary.
    Thanks champs.
    1. Hello Myrtilus, I’m enjoying your TLS puzzle 1206 at the moment, a bit more than the usual top line pun in this one? Very nice.
  19. 1:22 with gallic instead of Gaelic. I saw the reversed “ill” for green and in it went. Annoying but it didn’t spoil the pleasure of tackling this excellent puzzle. My brother tells me he threw in the towel with three left so I’ve got bragging rights today. On the subject of indentures you may be familiar with the legal term which is used for a document in two parts which historically was cut with a wavy line so the two parts could be matched cf a deed poll which was cut straight and is used when only one party is involved e.g. for a change of name

    Thanks setter and Pip.

  21. Did this on paper today, and rattled through it, chortling over the second best bed – unfortunately my wife didn’t get it – and seized up with 2 to go and had to go out. Came back to find WAYLAY and a VERY PISTOL which I DNK.
    I’ll have to recheck my will…
  23. I had to resort to aids to find out the identity of the unknown pretender. PERKIN WHO? News to me. And to confess further, I didn’t get EFFENDI either and looked that up too. FEND as provide went flying over my head, and I would never have thought of it, much less the actual answer. I got the rest, biffing where necessary. Hats off to those at the finals who got through this. Regards.
  24. Spent an hour this morning and was left with half a dozen to do. Stared for another hour this evening and still had half a dozen to do. Gave up.

    NHO PERKIN WARBECK, SKELTON or the VERY PISTOL, no clue about HATHAWAY’s bed, didn’t know TURTLEs were particularly distance swimmers, still can’t quite see what’s going on with WAYLAY… I feel I would have been wiser to give up much earlier!

    1. I didn’t notice the bottom line, dammit!!
      There are a small band of us I expect, who have stuck with the TLS. I find them educational as well as enjoyable and judge my successes not by how long they take but by how much googling I have to do, if any ..

      Edited at 2017-12-28 11:40 am (UTC)

      1. Couldn’t agree more. I never time myself on the TLS which affords a different kind of pleasure to the regular cryptics. I usually do it over at least two very relaxed sessions, one to pick off the ones which materialise early on from wp or knowledge at the forefront of my mind and at least one more to allow a few more to float to the surface from the deeper recesses of memory or more scrupulous attention to wp before turning to Google to get any stragglers. The rare occasions when I complete without googling give me a real sense of satisfaction.
  26. Cor, that was hard work! I’m amazed I managed to finish this without aids. I did know about the second hand bed, but the clue was solved after I had all the crossers. I thought of INEXACT for 7d but dismissed it as I couldn’t parse. it. I eventually went back and after some scribbling, managed to see how it worked. Didn’t know the Pretender, but did manage to assemble him from component parts. Gave up trying to fit the FT into 26a and ignored the pink bit after a while. ORPHAN was my last one in after UYGHUR didn’t fit and URCHIN was unparseable. Almost went with GALLIC at 15a but then GAELIC whispered in my ear and I eventually spotted the parsing. Saw 20a as WAY for approach and LAY for position. Knew VERY LIGHT and that it was fired from a pistol, so that came together. Liked POWER PLANT. DUO was my FOI. Great puzzle, but it took me 56:32 to complete. Thanks setter and Pip.

    Edited at 2017-12-27 10:48 pm (UTC)

  27. 23:12. After the first two finals puzzles I have just under half an hour left for the last one, which based on the comments here suggests these have been up my street so far.
    A couple of nice obscurities to work out from wordplay here: PERKIN WARBECK and VERY PISTOL. They both looked very unlikely but I just trusted the wordplay and crossed my fingers.
  28. On the day this was my downfall – I’d never come across EFFENDI so I went for EFFUNDI, on the basis that ‘fund’ means ‘provide’. Which it almost does. I’m not sure how long it took me just for this one, but I did the three in something like 35 mins I think – the third fastest on the day, but with that error it bumped me down to tenth.
  29. A 40 minute struggle: was held up in SW corner by having entered HURDLE at 28ac with some vague idea of it being an obscure fish. But finished with GARLIC at 15ac, from green part = E, CIGAR = smoke, roll as anagrind, and the whole thing being &littish.
  30. confront your cheating spouse with evidence,i was able to spy on my cheating ex phone without finding out…..it really helped me during my divorce …you can contact (ethicalhacking618@gmail.com) for spying and hacking social networks, school servers, icloud and much more,viber chats hack, Facebook messages and yahoo messenger,calls log and spy call recording, monitoring SMS text messages remotely,cell phone GPS location tracking, spy on Whats app Messages,his services are cheap.. and please tell him i referred you to him he is a man with a heart of GOLD

Comments are closed.