Times 27327 – at least I had time to read all about dear old Alfred.

Author   piquetPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
I like a struggle on a Wednesday; I enjoy the frisson of solving a tough test under pressure and understanding every clue so as to write a convincing account. This week I was disappointed. This is a perfectly good puzzle, of course, but it was done and dusted in 12 minutes, an equal PB for me. The parsing, likewise, held no difficult secrets.
It’s always good to see a less popular element come along, here at 6d, although these days if you watch the Pointless quiz show at tea time on BBC you’ll know that everyone is swotting up on them; especially from 95 Americium to the latest to be named, 118 Oganesson, of which 5 atoms have been fleetingly produced.

Across
1 They’re a blow to Conservatism? (5,2,6)
WINDS OF CHANGE – Cryptic definition.
8 Seafood, cold, local sent back (4)
CRAB – C followed by BAR reversed.
9 Zest of primate left clutching sword (6-4)
ORANGE-PEEL – ORANG = primate, L = left, insert EPEE = sword.
10 Single idea lost in translation (8)
ISOLATED – (IDEA LOST)*
11 Marrow jam (6)
SQUASH – Double definition.
13 S American rang up AA a year after crashing (10)
PARAGUAYAN – (RANG UP AA A Y)*.
16 13th or 15th, team’s heading into last place (4)
IDES – SIDE = team has its S moved to the end. In Roman times the Ides was on the 15th in March, May, July and October, and on the 13th otherwise. Thanks to deezzaa for pointing out I had initially typed 13 / 15 the wrong way round. My Latin master, one Mr Percy Cushion (really!) didn’t make it stick well enough to last 60 years.
17 In which one could be expecting stick (4)
CLUB – Double definition; a stick, and if one were ‘in the club’ and a female person, one could be expecting.
18 Ace having people following India in test (10)
EXPERIMENT – I (India) MEN, inside EXPERT = ace.
20 Display containing goods one can’t choose? (6)
BEGGAR – BEAR = display, insert GG = goods; beggars can’t be choosers, they say.
22 Tracks one in run continuously (8)
RAILWAYS – R = run, ALWAYS = continuously, insert I.
24 No longer having to conduct tourist periodically alfresco (3-2-5)
OUT-OF-DOORS – OUT OF = no longer having; DO = conduct; O R S = alternate letters of t O u R i S t.
26 Reversed bank’s repeated instructions (4)
LOOP – POOL = bank, reversed.
27 Read wrong notes: foreign articles tolerated (13)
MISUNDERSTOOD – MI’S = notes, UN, DER = articles in foreign, STOOD = tolerated.

Down
1 Wife formalised renewed expression of astonishment (5,4,2)
WORDS FAIL ME – (W FORMALISED)* where W = wife.
2 Chemist’s lack of alarm when speaking (5)
NOBEL – Sounds like “NO BELL” = lack of alarm. With time on my hands I read up the life of Alfred Nobel on Wiki, he was a more interesting chap than I’d realised.
3 Quick temper of female with uniform — wearing trousers, note (5,4)
SHORT FUSE – F and U have SHORTS around, then add an E note.
4 Charity event in Florida welcome in Australia (4,3)
FLAG DAY – FLA = Florida; G’DAY what allegedly Australians say in greeting, although I’ve never met one who did.
5 Trips with school society (5)
HIGHS – HIGH school, S(ociety).
6 Element in UN put me off (9)
NEPTUNIUM – (IN UN PUT ME)*. Element 93, not surprisingly being the one following Uranium and before Plutonium.
7 Girl’s flat unfinished (3)
EVE – EVEN = flat; unfinished.
12 Serial killer sugared rum to entrap marshal (7,4)
SWEENEY TODD – SWEET (sugared) ODD (rum) has Marshal NEY inserted.
14 Equivocal claim to generosity by posh old American (9)
AMBIGUOUS – AM BIG could be a claim by a generous person, big-hearted for example; U (posh) O(ld), US.
15 Drug agent I figure out on reflection is a plant (9)
NARCISSUS – NARC = drug agent, I, SUSS (figure out)  reversed.
19 End of contract entered into by Post Office (7)
PURPOSE – PURSE = contract, e.g. lips; insert PO. END as in ‘to what end?’
21 Stick with popular French form master (5)
RODIN – ROD = stick, IN = popular. The sculptor or ‘form master’.
23 I’ll do that when I’m legally called on, initially (5)
WILCO – Initial letters of W hen I ‘m L egally C alled O n. Origin WILL COMPLY in early radio talk.
25 German city firm ludicrously upset hosts (3)
ULM – City reversed hidden in FIR(M LU)DICROUSLY.

64 comments on “Times 27327 – at least I had time to read all about dear old Alfred.”

  2. I’ve just started doing the main xword every day, moving over mainly from the Quick, but I’m very inconsistent so I never really improve much. To remedy, I’ve set myself the challenge of doing the quick, normal and main cryptic each day for the next three months which is a bit of an ask for a slow yet busy person like me! What I’ll do at the weekend I’m not sure – might also tackle the knowledge, latin and big cryptic. Mephisto is out of reach. I tried it once and couldn’t get a single sausage. Managed this one today in four sittings over about 2.5/3 hours in total. The third sitting was actually standing for an hour in an incredibly packed tube train heading out towards Heathrow. Seems everyone is leaving UK for Easter or perhaps because of B-word, for good? I still managed to clutch onto the paper (yes, I prefer the dead-tree variety even though I have the e-version too) and glance at it as sardine-space allowed. I didn’t get a single clue during this time, but the fourth sitting a pouring fourth of answers happened and I had the end in sight. Like others ides occurring on 13th was a revelation to me and was the LOI. 19D was my favourite, but trickiest to parse I found. I was right in my early hunch that ‘End’ was the definition, but couldn’t jump from that to PURPOSE. I kept thinking ‘End of contract’ could be T, and was fooled into NOT thinking that contract was the shrinking definition.

    If anyone has any good learning resources (like classic Ximenes or whatever) in order to improve then please let me know. I’ll study this blog even if I don’t manage to finish the grid (as was the case yesterday). Thanks for all the solvers doing a sterling job of writing up the answers and explanations – lesser mortals such as I would be lost without your help sometimes.

    WS

    Edited at 2019-04-17 11:07 pm (UTC)

    1. Glad to hear there are other slower solvers out there. It is a bit intimidating seeing how quickly others manage but perseverance does bear fruit. I’ve definitely got quicker on the QC (being a co-founder of the Slow Coach Club or SCC, whose target for the QC was a leisurely 20 minutes plus) with a number of sub 10 times under my belt now. More regular efforts at the 15×15 mean I finish more often than not, with a few times under the hour. Ximenes ‘On the Art of the Crossword’ is a classic book on the subject. My edition even has a foreword by Colin Dexter. Good luck.
    2. It’s all about perseverance – and the more you do, the quicker you are to see things. Personally, I’d recommend that you do the QC and Cryptic every day, and then the Sunday Times cryptic (adding the Observer Everyman is no bad thing). Sticking to a single style of crossword is the key to progress.

      Take notes when you find a new compiler’s trick, and if you can remember new words when they crop up it helps. It’s not unlike learning a new language – think of the ways in which clues are set as the rules of crossword grammar.

      Good luck, and keep plugging away !

      1. Thanks for the encouragement. Yes, perseverance is key to success in any field pretty much except for Idling or Slacking!!! I do make notes, but generally on the top of the crossword which inevitably finds its way either into the bin, fire or use a decorating/workshop paraphernalia. I should start to be more meticulous like having a decent notebook. I wonder if other solvers do that? Or electronic resources like OneNote? I was sticking to the QC for a few months and got quite slick at that – my best time was 12min, sub 10 was a dream. However, some compilers just flummox me. I guess that in a deeper study of the crossword art, one would make a note of the setters one finds difficult then study their methods to make yourself more universal in your grammar, so to speak. With the main xword that seems to be a bit tough since all we have is a number – the identity is not known (or is it, I wonder…)

        Ta
        WS

  4. Thanks setter and pip
    Was able to finish this one before the coffee was finished or gone too cold ! Pretty similar experience to many of the others in the forum, working quickly through the top half and finishing in the SE corner with PURPOSE (took ages to parse too), SWEENEY TODD and that LOOP (which became clear when it dawned on me that they were talking about computer instructions).
    Was right across IDES which was a very early entry and had seen ULM before. Lazily didn’t see the word play for BEGGAR – only that he/she had no options. FLAG DAY was a new term for me.

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