Times 27496 – double maths!

Author   glhPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Time taken: 13:22. That is a little over my average, and there was some head scratching and letter trawling for the last two in but I think I understand everything.

There’s a few bits of general knowledge that were thankfully in my range.

We are in one of those strange weeks where the USA has not ended daylight savings so the puzzle doesn’t appear until an hour later than I expect. All will be back to whatever passes for normal next week.

Away we go…

Across
1 Something since cured with last of medicine in tablet (8)
PASTILLE – something since cured would be PAST ILL, then the last letter of medicinE
5 Unsparing curbing of habit by party from the right (6)
BRUTAL – RUT(habit) inside LAB(party) reversed
10 Getting one’s teeth into calculations? (6-9)
NUMBER-CRUNCHING – cryptic definition
11 Evil trait initially absent in enduring celebrity (10)
IMMORALITY – remove the first letter of Trait from IMMORTALITY(enduring celebrity)
13 One of four Hindu texts in five days (4)
VEDA – hidden in fiVE DAys
15 Attention required in class — might one be leaning on desk? (7)
FOREARM – EAR(attention) inside FORM(class)
17 Last bit of green wiped away, colour toenails maroon (7)
ISOLATE – remove the last letter of greeN from TOENAILS and form an anagram
18 Brother welcome among females (7)
HEAVENS – AVE(welcome) inside HENS(females)
19 On your bike, take the wrong route? (3,4)
GET LOST – double definition
21 National relationship mentioned (4)
THAI – sounds like TIE(relationship)
22 Write page in prayer where one has a little freedom? (4,6)
OPEN PRISON – PEN(write), P(page) in ORISON(prayer)
25 Appear in total control — with deck hand? (4,3,3,5)
HOLD ALL THE CARDS – if your hand is the deck you would HOLD ALL THE CARDS
27 Infusion all there is after this, oddly (6)
TISANE – SANE(all there) after alternating letters in ThIs
28 American steps in Spooner’s love dance? (5,3)
BUNNY HOP – Spoonerism of HONEY BOP(love dance)

Down
1 High priest in power working to get over disagreement (7)
PONTIFF – P(power), ON(working) then TIFF(disagreement)
2 Problem needing solution originally, let me think (3)
SUM – first letter in Solution then UM(let me think)
3 Way of shifting reserve vessel (10)
ICEBREAKER – double definition for the group activity and the boat
4 Establishment purveying beer: diet? (5)
LOCAL – LO-CAL(diet)
6 Career people (4)
RACE – double definition
7 Second artist covers dinosaur (11)
TRICERATOPS – TRICE(second), RA(artist), TOPS(covers)
8 Crack found in sled in several cases? (7)
LUGGAGE – GAG(joke, crack) inside LUGE(sled)
9 Shooting game in Ireland that’s time-consuming? (8)
HURTLING – HURLING(game in Ireland) containing T(time)
12 I strike up, moving La Scala? (5,6)
MARIA CALLAS – an all-in-one clue. Wordplay is I, RAM(strike) all reversed then an anagram of LA,SCALA
14 Native of Central America, don’t question my ability to act with you! (5,5)
COSTA RICAN – CO-STAR? I CAN!
16 Coat under slip taken down in error (8)
MISSPELT – PELT(coat) under MISS(slip)
18 Potter’s much fancied attempt, perhaps, to become wizard (7)
HOTSHOT – a pool player might like a HOT SHOT
20 Nose put out gets into better shape (5,2)
TONES UP – anagram of NOSE PUT
23 Pandit upending gas-filled vessel (5)
NEHRU – reversal of HE(helium gas) inside URN(vessel). The first Prime Minister of India was Pandit Jawaharlal NEHRU
24 Clumsily touch knight — instead of this? (4)
PAWN – PAW(clumsily touch), N(knight in chess)
26 Some cheer, a hooray? (3)
RAH – another all-in-one, hidden in cheeR A Hooray

46 comments on “Times 27496 – double maths!”

  1. I was happy to finish this in under my average time, with not too many hold-ups.
    HURTLING was my LOI, when I finally remembered the Irish game. I was a little worried that we had two containment clues. And I didn’t think of the pool-playing potter in 18d, so thanks for that explanation.

    I did like COSTA RICAN – perhaps the surface reading is a bit clunky, but full marks for getting the whole clue in a separate sentence.

    Thanks, George, for the timely blog and to the setter for a solid but not-too-tricky offering.

    Edited at 2019-10-31 03:05 am (UTC)

  2. The clue for ISOLATE was marvelously devious. But the Spoonerism seemed weak, since HOP is also a dance (Lindy Hop, sock hop…)
      1. I just think a Spoonerism is funnier if the sense of both parts is different when you do the switcheroo.
  4. Technical DNF as I used aids for the dinosaur, convinced it was one I didn’t know, but of course I was wrong about that. Also for 9dn where my eyes glazed over trying to think of a game that is specific to Ireland.

    Other than that the answers came quite readily although the parsing at 14dn didn’t occur to me until I had slept on it. I had seen COS…I CAN which I took to stand for ‘don’t question my ability’ but was baffled by TAR and the rest of the clue.

  5. I started from the base and worked steadily in an upwards direction.

    Time 38 minutes.

    FOI 26ac RAH

    LOI 21ac THAI – ouch!

    COD 8dn LUGGAGE which is inevitably pluralised in these parts especially HK.

    WOD 14dn COSTA RICAN as it brings to mind the failed balsa magnate Julian A. Weston, who wrote ‘The Cactus Eaters’.

    I did not think much of 23dn NEHRU or 15ac FOREARM where I assumed initially that FORE! was the attention.

    I always feel that at 27ac TISANE should also be a classical poet.

    Edited at 2019-10-31 08:38 am (UTC)

  6. 26:03 …. I found this tricky, though made it harder by having HAVE all the cards for a long time, which rather stymied the opera singer. I couldn’t parse BRUTAL for the life of me (‘curbing’ … ouch).

    I agree with Guy that the Spoonerism is a flit of a bop.

    On the other hand, I don’t know how many minutes I spent trying to justify VEDA using V (5) in wordplay before the blindingly obvious revealed itself, so I’ll have to give my COD nomination to that.

  7. I was in good form today taking 23 minutes, with LOI PAWN. It must be the occasional extra training I’m putting in doing the Grauniad crossword. Well, what else can I do with this bad back? I’m seeing the local osteopath today. Like Sotira, I had all the cards first, before memories of Maria Callas put me on hold. COD to COSTA RICAN, though what punctuation is put after COSTAR (exclamation mark or comma) could mean either the answer to the clue or its opposite. Nice puzzle.Thank you George and setter.
    1. The Guardian puzzle has at least trained me not to stop looking for hiddens once I’ve found the first one! (PS: Did you try Paul’s Saturday prize puzzle? I only finished it yesterday!)
      2. Dear Lofthousian,

        Sorry to hear of the ‘bad back’. I do hope the osteopath can relieve your pain. I have a ‘bad front’ and sadly there are no specialists. And before you ask… all of it!

  8. Finished in 57 minutes, with HEAVENS (good clue) and MISSPELT holding me up at the end. I didn’t have the foggiest notion about the parsing for COSTA RICAN – definitions do come in handy sometimes.

    I love a good &lit/all-in-one, or whatever they’re called, and MARIA CALLAS was one of the best.

    Thanks to setter and blogger

  9. Took a while to get my teeth into this one, dotting around until 9d HURTLING got me started on enough of a roll to sweep through the rest. Or, at 34 minutes, gradually stroll through the rest, I suppose. I think I’d have enjoyed COSTA RICAN if I’d spotted the wordplay rather than just biffed it. Ah well.

    FOI 2d SUM LOI 5a BRUTAL just after the dinosaur hove into view.

  10. Liked the dinosaur and MARIA CALLAS. COSTA RICAN also enjoyed (one of my favourite countries).
  11. 45 mins.
    Found it tricky. Couldn’t parse Costa Rican. Eyebrow twitch at ‘colour’ as anagram indicator.
    Mostly I liked Maria Callas.
    Thanks setter and G.
  12. All done, except Isolate, in about 20 mins. I eventually went with Idolate. I also had Curtling for Hurtling.

    I don’t recall colour as an anagram indicator before. Assuming it’s ok then COD to the well disguised ISOLATE.

    As to the various comments about the Spoonerism here – I couldn’t have fed Sarah myself.

    Edited at 2019-10-31 08:50 am (UTC)

  13. Another slow start. I couldn’t see what potter was doing in 18D – thanks George. And did the same as Sotira, missing the hidden in VEDA. MARIA CALLAS was very neat. 18.11
  14. 26.30, so a tad above my comfort zone. The SW corner was again my most obdurate section, with the opera singer (good clue, once I’d sorted it out) hitting a bum note. I’ve fallen for brother (without the exclamation mark) = heavens before, even though I’d assumed AVE for the filler. It was nearly HEAVERS.
    As hinted above, the rare sighting of two hiddens today, which made me hesitate over RAH even if there were no other possibilities.
    I’m glad I’m not the only one whom thought CURTLING might be a thing.
    Thanks George especially for taking the time to unravel the wordplay for COSTA RICAN – it was rather good and completely wasted on, I suspect, most of us!
  15. Steady today with no hold ups, 14 minutes ending with ICEBREAKER once had all the checkers and the PD came. Getting the long across ones at first helped. Liked 19a and the dinosaur, which I knew but wanted to end in SAURUS until the O of 19a appeared.
  16. Once I’d popped in SUM and RACE, the top half became a bit of a no go area, so I turned my attention southwards and GOT LOST. Things looked up after that and I made steady progress, until PONTIFF and PASTILLE finally opened up the NW. The SW held out for a while but I eventually worked out MARIA CALLAS et al and returned to my LOI, HURTLING, which took a few moments of cogitation before the PDM. Nice puzzle. 34:06. Thanks setter and George.
  17. 31 min. Thought the Spoonerism lost nothing by the bop hop so to speak. But finding the answer described as a ‘social mixer’ dance on Google occasions a mild shudder. I like the serendipitous Central American.
  18. Funny mixture this one. NEHRU and BUNNY HOP both rather weak. COSTA RICAN clever and funny, MARIA CALLAS brilliant. Overall good fun and that’s what matters
    1. I’d hesitate to call it a chestnut, but the partial anagram has come up several times before, in recent years in two QCs and a 15×15, and this slightly took the edge off it for me. Its first appearance I can find was in 2007 just before you and I started writing blogs here.
      1. Like you I’d seen the partial anagram before. I also wouldn’t call it a chestnut.

        What I particularly liked was the & lit construction which is never easy to achieve and the literal truth of the clue.

  19. I too thought BUNNY HOP was a bit pallid, but then again I loathe Spoonerisms in general, so it was a lost cause. I enjoyed COSTA RICAN, though.

    This one took me 40 minutes, of which only a couple can be blamed on interruptions – considerably over my (slow) average. Given that brains are larely solar-powered, it would be interesting to see how average solving times of the top 100 vary across the year, and whether the reciprocal trend is seen in those who live in the southern hemisphere. A PhD in there somewhere.

  21. 12:07 so just on the easier side of average for me.

    Some neat stuff, more enjoyable than yesterday.

  22. …inexplicably stuffed it up with PORTO RICAN thinking that there must be another spelling of PUERTO that is allowed.

    Naturally couldn’t parse it (though wouldn’t be the first time) and didn’t even think that there might be another RICAN actually in Central America.

  23. Very nice stuff. Entertaining devices, no unknown vocabulary, knowledge which met my definition of general, all good.
  24. …. it’s perhaps surprising that my slow start was finally opened with ISOLATE.

    Slowed down considerably by solving on my phone, but no other problems. A good Spoonerism is freight gun, but that wasn’t a good one. NEHRU was just too obvious.

    FOI ISOLATE
    LOI BRUTAL
    COD MARIA CALLAS
    TIME 15:25

  25. Biffed COSTA RICAN with checkers, also initially had HEAVERS, wondering if he was a TV character. GET LOST FOI. TISANE and NEHRU seemed obvious.

    I love Spoonerisms.

    17’48” thanks george and setter.

  26. A few biffs ( are there any other Central American’s with 2 words?) until my last 2, which always hold me up. I think I develop a mental block when there are just 2 left. In this case I got the wrong literal for PASTILLE ( isn’t that a sweet?) and couldn’t see anything but INEBRIATED for the ICEBREAKER. WOD COD HEAVENS!
  27. Done in two sittings so no real time to offer. During the second go round everything flowed in smoothly, except for ISOLATE, because the ‘colour’ threw me off for a while. LOPI was actually BRUTAL, though. Regards.
  28. 43 minutes, but with at least 15 minutes stuck on Icebreaker, my LOI. I couldn’t get ‘inebriated’ out of my head: the crossers all work and being inebriated is one way of shifting reserve. COD icebreaker.
  29. 26:19 a satisfying solve which challenged but still flowed quite nicely for me. Groaned in a good way at number crunching. Brutal was pretty…er…brutal.

Comments are closed.