Times 27589 – Wot’s that thingummy?

54 comments on “Times 27589 – Wot’s that thingummy?”

1. I biffed a couple–ADULTERY & INFERNAL–that I never did work out. DNK RIPPER. LOI BROWNIE POINT; the first word eluded me for a while. ‘Roger’ means ‘I understand’ not ‘I will’; ‘I will’ is ‘wilco’ (will comply).
   1. Wikipedia notes that Roger can mean ‘“Yes” with regard to confirming a command’.

      More important, though, is the vital part it plays in assuring air safety: https://youtu.be/NfDUkR3DOFw

      1. Haven’t seen that in years! Great stuff!
2. I found this very easy, and tore right through it up until Doodah crossing At Home held me up at the end. I only knew doodah as a pointless kerfuffle, my gizmo has always been a doodad. But I agree with ulaca, there were some clever bits in the cluing. I liked seeing RR and not B for the Bishop, and I liked Bust a Gut. Also, best luck to anyone in our community drenched by Denis.

   Edited at 2020-02-17 02:14 am (UTC)

3. Nice puzzle – a little tricky but completed in just under my normal time.

   I did wonder about “point” = “show” (as opposed to “point out”), but I see that Chambers allows it (and notes the more usual usage). I then thought of “point the way”.

   Thanks, U, for the blog (and the important air safety video).

4. …not to mention completely off the wavelength, taking 57 minutes – but all correct. Did not understand bust a gut, stripper, and striking – which I still have my doubts about.

   I did have the same objection as Kevin, but usually when are flying a plane and receive an order, you carry it out.

5. At 56 minutes I found some of this quite hard but enjoyed it immensely. I got quite a few of the tricky answers quickly but was held up for ages by my LOI, DOODAH.

   Not sure why vinyl1 is concerned about STRIKING as a DD. Lexico has ‘Dramatically good-looking or beautiful’ which covers ‘lovely’, and if workers are striking i.e.on strike, they are said to be ‘out’.

   Edited at 2020-02-17 05:22 am (UTC)

6. Not that it matters, U, but you’ve got not quite the right letters capitalized.
7. I’m in the middle of changing my morning routine in preparation for starting a new job on Wednesday (I’ve had the luxury of working from home for the last couple of years, but I’m going back to an office now.)

   As such I’ve been tackling the puzzle after, rather than during, my normal coffee-and-wake-up period and reducing my time limit, and it seems to be helping my solving times. Today’s took me 22 minutes, in a mostly-straightforward top-to-bottom from 1a BALDERDASH to LOI 22a DOODAH, all fully-parsed. COD 4d ROGER.

   From Wednesday, I may turn from a morning commenter into an evening commenter, as I doubt I’ll be able to reliably finish the puzzle before I set out on my new commute…

8. .. thou shalt not commit ADULTERY. That was FOI. 28 minutes, quick at the start and the end but bogged down in the middle. LOI TUTTI. My slight knowledge of Australian comes from memories of Barry McKenzie, Dame Edna and Sir Les, but didn’t include a ripper as a beauty, for which I would have guessed another, more vulgar meaning. So, STRIPPER was biffed. I sort of half-parsed WHISKEY SOUR and took the rest on trust. I had no trouble with DOODAH. COD to BUST A GUT. Thank you U and setter.
9. found this very straightforward .. for some reaon this and the concise took me roughly the same amount of time today!
10. …Is a mystery even now.
    25 mins with yoghurt, blueberry compote, granola, etc.
    Am I the only one to have bunged in EMU and then struggled briefly with Antigone?
    Nice one. Thanks setter and U.
    1. Me too EMU, works perfectly
    2. Just remove the word ‘briefly’ and I am with you.
11. Back after a short trip to Helsinki, where they have had no snow at all this winter – unprecedented.

    I found this very hard, but appreciate the cleverness after the numerous biffs and shrugs were decoded by Lord Ulaca – in particular DOODAH and AT HOME.

    I think 6D is an &lit as it requires the E of energy to be added to the rest of the anagrind.

    Thanks U and setter.

    Edited at 2020-02-17 09:01 am (UTC)

12. My pen wasn’t working properly, neither was my brain. Gave up and did not enjoy at all. Nowhere near!

    I never saw the anagram at 12dn HOMEBUILDER. Thought 11ac ETCHER was STICKS for a while. 4dn ROGER well I never! Presently IKEA are closed in Shanghai. DOODAH!! BUST A GUT!

    FOI 7ac WIRE

    (LOI) BROWNIE POINT gee! I never think of this Americana as a cake. Battenberg – Dundee – Christmas – Date & Walnut- Sponge – Fruit – Seed – Cattle….

    COD 21ac TURKEY

    WOD BALDERDASH!

    This reminded me of Sunday’s offering (Robert Price), which I did manage to finish. I think I am suffering from Lockdown-Cabin fever!

    1. I always–and it’s come up a couple of times–have had trouble thinking of a brownie as cake.
       Hang in there, horryd, and count your blessings: In the paper the other day I read that, with releasing passengers on the Diamond Princess, they’re thinking of giving priority to those whose rooms don’t have a window.
13. 15:06 – with one typo. STRRKING.

    I always forget what “on” indicates in the Times Cryptic Crossword when it’s a positional word. Is X on Y = XY or YX? Well 14 across gives the answer. Goddess on rug is MAT HERA and not HERA MAT. So X on Y = YX.

    What about “by”? Does X by Y= XY or YX? Or can it indicate either of XY and YX?
    COD: HIBERNATE. A nice &lit.

    1. What “on” means depends on whether it’s an across or down clue. AS you might expect, in a down clue X on Y means that X sits on top, so it’s XY.

       From that you can infer that in an across clue, in order for it to be different, X on Y means YX. I’m not 100% that that’s a hard and fast rule but I can’t recall seeing it otherwise. It’s a useful one to remember as it can save time looking at a clues the wrong way.

       “By” (as well as “with” for that matter) can work both ways regardless.

       1. That’s very helpful. Thanks.
    2. astonv,

       Penfold has already done an excellent job of explaining the ‘on’ conventions, but if you want to read more about it please click on the link below and scroll past the first item to the one that’s headed ‘Positional Indicator Protocol: https://jackkt.livejournal.com/

       1. Jacktt. That’s really helpful. Excellent thread. Thanks a lot.
14. and had to resort to aids. Everything else went in easily after that.
15. As we were discussing last week, Friday puzzles are tricky and Monday puzzles are easy…except when they aren’t. Lots of nice things here, but my main pleasure was in not biffing REGENT, as my brain wanted me to, and coming up with the right answer instead.
    1. A pleasure I unfortunately didn’t share!
       1. Nor me !
16. Earworm for the day with DOODAH. LOI BROWNIE POINT, nice clue. Never had a WHISKEY SOUR.

    16’53” thanks ulaca and setter.

17. I had 6dn as an anagram of (the brain) round e, so an &lit. Or a would-be &lit. It struck me that hibernating was a very vague way of preparing the brain to conserve energy.

    And in 16dn it’s really ‘Confounded plant closing, not the first, borders’. As it is it doesn’t look to me as if it quite works. Just, perhaps, but no doubt that explains why I couldn’t understand it at first.

18. Not an average Monday puzzle I thought. Stuttered through finishing in 25.31. Equal first COD were adultery and doodah. The first was one of my last in and had could smile at 22 all the doodah day.

    Could be a tough week !

19. I enjoyed this puzzle. BALDERDASH went straight in and I was off. The SW slowed me down with a biffed GADGET at 22a holding up AT HOME and TROOPSHIP, but was sorted eventually. ADULTERY was my LOI as I had myopically used the wrong alternate letters of qualifies, using the “where there’s a U try a Q” rule, BUST A GUT leading me astray. Liked ANTIGONE and BROWNIE POINT. Like Tim I was tempted by REGENT at 8d, but kept an open mind until the wordplay was clear. All done in 30:17. Thanks setter and U.

    Edited at 2020-02-17 11:57 am (UTC)

20. I thought this was an easy one, but pride comes before destruction… having thought I was onto a possible record time, I biffed a lot of answers finishing with, er, REGENT. By that time the NE corner had slowed me down to 5m 55s anyway, so I should really have thought longer.

    Biffed answers were BUST A GUT, AROMATHERAPY, PREVIOUSLY, WHISKEY SOUR & INFERNAL.

21. No wavelength in sight but glad to see I’ve got company. Took ages to twig ROGER while I flirted with “racer” and “river” (well they run don’t they) which put BUST A GUT on the too difficult pile. Also took “regent” for a whirl. Like Rob, DOODAH makes me think of Kemptown Ladies rather than thingummies. Relieved to come home in 18.09
    Hope everyone stays dry and keeps the roof on in the UK and stays bug-free in China.
22. Please can someone give a reference to a lemon equating with turkey. I can’t find it in several dictionaries. The answer was obvious but I am not familiar with this use. Thank you. Barry J
    1. They’re both another word for dud/flop.
       1. I am reminded of the Volkswagen b/w press ad ‘Lemon’ from DDB Madison Avenue for The Bug, entitled ‘Lemon’.

          It featured a brand new, shiny VW Beetle with the headline ‘Lemon’. The car was to be scrapped – it had failed just one of its tests on the production line, carried out by an army of 25 inspectors. The car was a doomed to the scrapheap. VW would never sell you a ‘Lemon’. That was in the sixties, when they didn’t mind so much about the bottom line and they had a truly great product.

          I loved my bright yellow Beetle and adored my Karmann Ghia. But then, I worked for Doyle Dane Bernbach.

23. Count me as another who found this harder than average. As I print out and solve on paper I have no idea what my NITCH is, but I’d guess it would be 3 or 4 minutes faster than today’s 17:07.
24. Occasional 15×15 visit. 31:03.

    Seemed OK to someone much more familiar with the QC than this puzzle. PREVIOUSLY was a big fat biff, not sure why I didn’t spot how that worked though. AT HOME and AROMATHERAPY were both parsed post solve.

25. Some tough but rewarding tricksiness today. Held up for a long time by BUST A GUT and ROGER but hobbled home in the end.
26. Bit of a pickle. 50 mins. Thanks u.
27. Fell into the “regent” trap. COD WHISKEY SOUR.
28. Limped home in 37 mins, but had to check out ANTIGONE, as my lack of literary knowledge got shown up yet again. Was trying to put HOWDAH in as I couldn’t see anything else that fitted – good clue. COD BROWNIE POINT
29. DNF. I found this mostly pretty easy but since I saw no reason whatsoever to question the obviously correct EMU at 24dn I couldn’t figure out anything that would fit at 23ac and assumed it must be someone I hadn’t heard of. Drat.
30. Took longer than it should have, 35 minutes or so, a bit tired after golf in a half gale. Was convinced for ages that 19D was AT EASE, def. order, so DOODAH was LOI eventually. Why does simpler = BALDER? The rest was fair enough I thought.
    1. During the solve I thought of “bald truth”, and in one of those dictionary doodahs bald is defined as “bare, unadorned” which I’d warrant is close enough.

       1. Fair ’nuff, guv.
31. Found bits of this very tricky, but persevered and slowly filled in the grid only to fall at the last fence with 19d/22ac beyond me. Annoying, as I don’t think they are the hardest pair of clues on offer today, but there you go. Not sure about getting a Brownie Point for remembering my wedding anniversary, but after nearly 40 years I have a fairly good idea what would happen if I didn’t… Invariant
32. Another biffed regent, otherwise all correct and parsed.
33. 32:49. I found this quite tricky. Came very close to biffing regent but just managed to swerve it at the last. A bracing start to the week.
34. I just got around to working this one, and the day’s QC too. Has no one noticed that both puzzles contain the word ADULTERY? BTW, it’s very much in the news that ADULTERY is legal in France and it is my strong opinion that Paris mayoral candidate Benjamin Griveaux should not have dropped out of the race because his extramarital fling with a willing partner was revealed in explicit videos and texts. I’m not a fan of the guy or his Macronite party, but there is a principle involved here.
35. Lemon country = turkey? Why, there is not connection between Turkey and lemons, possibly they grow some there but they grow lemons in lots of countries.
    1. Discussed at length earlier in the blog. Double meaning of turkey as both a country, and something which is a failure or lemon.
36. …but didn’t find this very enjoyable strangely.

    Bottom half went in very easily but the top half was a struggle. Too many clues with only one or two vague checkers to go on.

37. Well this beginner managed to do over half and quite pleased with BUSt A GUT and several others. DKN Antigone and also didn’t know the meaning of TUTTI. Thanks for all your comments, surprisingly I find them encouraging even when some of you comment that it was an easy one! It gives me faith that I may be saying that one day.
38. 40mins, with LOI 26a PREVIOUSLY. Took far too long to see the entire definition was ‘before’ , instead using ‘pre’ as ‘before’ and trying to shoehorn a devout lady and priest into a synonym for ‘installed’. Aromatherapy as a dodgy treatment brought a smile.

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