Times 27,605: A Surfeit of Typos

51 comments on “Times 27,605: A Surfeit of Typos”

1. One minute it wasn’t there and then it miraculously appeared @ 11dn MINESWEEPER.
   I’m not quite sure where it is now, but it was in the most useful position, opening up the south-west passage.

   I became FOOTSTOOL and fancy-free 16dn and forgot all about the time.

   –

   FOI 1dn GUM

   LOI 21dn NOTED

   COD 28ac TIDDLYWINKS

   WOD has to be 25ac

   –

   TOODLE-PIP!

   Edited at 2020-03-06 03:06 am (UTC)

2. technically a DNF, as I had to look up MAIL/M, never having heard of it and MERGE not occurring to me. Verlaine took the words out of my proverbial re RAVING. Biffed TOODLE-PIP & TIDDLYWINKS. DNK COVER, of course, and barely knew TRYPSIN, if at all. A good deal easier than yesterday’s, at least.
   1. ‘The Covers’ is the ‘off-side’ square of the batsman, depending on whether he is right or left-handed. And to field at cover or ‘in the covers’ is to be placed at ‘cover’ or even ‘cover point’ between cover and point. Then there’s extra-cover and towards the boundary ‘deep cover’ and ‘deep extra cover’. Deep John Arlott country.

      Edited at 2020-03-06 03:43 am (UTC)

      1. I think you’ve covered everything 😂
         1. Did I mention ‘silly point’!? 🙂

            Edited at 2020-03-06 12:28 pm (UTC)

            1. Don’t even go there !
3. Finished all correct. I thought this was going to be easy when I spotted WALKABOUT immediately. But it turned out to be harder. Took forever to get the enzyme even though I realized immediately how the clue worked. I just didn’t think of PS as something added, nor TRYIN’

   When Digital Equipment’s Vax computers were released, the operating system had a parameter that some Brit had obviously set the units for: micro-fortnight. That turns out to be pretty close to a second (there are 1.2M seconds in a fortnight). Fortnight is one of those words that Americans just don’t use.

4. 1dn GUM went in straight away but I think the best part of 10,minutes passed before I found another answer. At that stage I thought I was in for a very long haul with possible need to refer to dictionaries, but suddenly it started to come together and I had all but two answers as my target half-hour approached. Probably needless to say that the two that delayed me were the unknowns TACHYON and TRYPSIN, and I was cursing the setter for having two such obscurities intersecting each other, however I trusted to wordplay and was rewarded by both answers proving to be correct. So 39 minutes in all, which I was quite satisfied with, all things considered.

   I never did work out how MINESWEEPER worked but it was more or less a write-in for me once I had the M and R checkers.

   I wondered why ‘arguably’ in 13ac. Is the setter suggesting that some people might not say ‘natty’ to sound exactly the same as ‘gnatty’? I can’t imagine how they could be said differently other than by devotees of the F&S ‘Gnu’ song!

   Edited at 2020-03-06 05:49 am (UTC)

   1. I took the ‘arguably’ to indicate that it’s not clear whether gnats are flies.
      1. You may well be right but all the usual sources have definitions that would let the setter off the hook on that one, the most direct being the first under ‘gnat’ in the ODO: A small two-winged fly that resembles a mosquito.

         Still the setter has cleverly avoided possible protestations from those with more specialist knowledge of the subject than the average solver.

   2. I think the “arguably” is there because gnatty: “like a gnat” is a bit of Uxbridge English Dictionary. A word that ought to exist, and is perfectly understandable, but which isn’t in the usual authorities.
      1. Spot on I think Z. It’s there as gnatty is not a real word.
      2. That was my first thought but when I explored it I found this in Collins:

         Definition of ’gnatty’
         gnatty
         in British English
         ADJECTIVE
         Word forms: gnattier or gnattiest
         resembling, or infested with, gnats
         Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers

         1. Collinsy: adj. Published in Uxbridge.

            1. I’ve just consulted my copy of the Uxbridge and natty isn’t in there but it does have natterjack – a telephone socket.
   3. DNF
5. It seemed easy at first, and I thought Verlaine would be dissatisfied, but I was stuck by the end of my subway ride and when I returned to it, it was tough indeed. LOI was MINESWEEPER, and I guessed the sense of the last part.

   Superman actually has had quite preposterous powers, though he started off with the more modest advantages of having been born on a planet with stronger gravity and he wasn’t flying all over the world, let alone turning time backward by reversing the rotation of the planet, for a number of years yet. He eventually had (I don’t know if this has been scaled back in later versions of the character) all in his one superperson virtually all the powers of which the other leotarded vigilantes had each to be content with just one.

   But Batman, he’s not really a superhero. His origin story didn’t involve his being born a mutant with telekinesis or bitten by a radioactive bat and thus gifted with sonar vision. He was just a millionaire (today Bruce Wayne is probably a billionaire) with a secret identity as an anti-crime crusader and the wherewithal to equip himself with nifty high-tech tools.

   Edited at 2020-03-06 06:42 am (UTC)

   1. If we’re being pedantic – and I always am – I believe Superman didn’t actually turn time backward in Superman: The Movie; he went back in time, a subtle difference that meant there were two Supermen flying around at the same time for a while.

      Spider-Man (who is referenced in the clue) is more or less super-powered depending on the version, sometimes having organic web-shooters – e.g. in the Sam Raimi trilogy – but mostly creating them himself.

      1. Somehow I did read “Superman” for “Spiderman,” although Verlaine’s comment about their “respective universes” (DC Comics for the Man of Steel and the Caped Crusader, Marvel for the wisecracking webspinner) should have made my Spidey sense tingle.
      2. I mean he’s more superpowered than Batman, but arguably his powers are only the same as a spider would have it was the size and intelligence of a small human. Which is nowhere near being in Supes’ league.
         1. Yeah, the radioactive spider supposedly gave him proportionate strength and some extra(human)sensory perception, but in the original version, he invented (à la Bruce Wayne) the webshooter—thank goodness he wasn’t made to shoot sticky stuff out of his… abdomen, like a real spider!

            Edited at 2020-03-07 10:55 pm (UTC)

6. Nice to finish a week with no errors for a change. Interestingly I’ve had other things on my mind this week which have distracted me from solving so perhaps I normally strive to be too focussed?

   I was lucky not to go wrong with TRYPSIN as when I had TRY_SIN I assumed the middle letter was a vowel and I just needed to choose between the 5. Why I assumed that I don’t know but it’s just the sort of blind alley in which I often find myself. LOI MINESWEEPER where I was reading it wrongly just as V suggests.

7. In my effort to get this done before I headed off for work, I bunged in THYASIN, knowing it was wrong, for the unknown (and unlikely) TRYPSIN. I couldn’t see “trying” for the life of me… 34 minutes for my failure!
8. 19:28, but 1 wrong and 1 missing. TRYASIN wasn’t going to be right, but I couldn’t see the P.S., which is annoying. And then I found having written COVER in at 13A and then crossed it out, I failed to go back and solve NATTY. Grr. Oh Well. Try harder next time.
9. 25 minutes, with MINESWEEPER awaiting V’s dismantling and MOTORED very nearly entered as MATURED for no real reason.

   Otherwise a fast NW corner and the rest at more leisurely pace.

   It’s been a while since we’ve had two clues taking one letter from consecutive words: NOTED in particular hid it well and puzzled me for a spell trying to work out how a jaded horse, or a knackered nag fitted into the scheme of things.

10. Minesweeper went straight in from checkers, never did bother to parse it. I did however try to parse PAGES and NOTED, and struggled both times ..
11. … well one is one too many. Another toughie for me, taking nearly fifty minutes. LOI was MINESWEEPER. DNK TRYPSIN but cryptic was fair. RAVISHING was biffed from crossers and then at best semi-parsed. I don’t think I’ve used ‘raving’ as an adjective without attaching it to either ‘idiot’ or ‘lunatic’, so ‘great’ didn’t spring to mind. I didn’t parse TOODLE-PIP either.I’ll give COD to FOOTSTOOL as the only clue to raise a smile in this no doubt worthy puzzle. Thank you V and setter.
    1. If “loony” could be said to be approbative then there’d have been nothing even remotely unelectable about Screaming (as in most excellent) Lord Sutch…
12. Not as hard as yesterday’s, for me. I was all done except for 8d, 22a and 23d in 20 minutes, but had gone astray at 18a with writing in OFFENSIVE so had a problem with 8d until that was twigged and put right. MINESWEEPER went in unparsed as did PAGES. Liked TACHYON best.
13. A (slightly) watered-down version of yesterday’s, in that I started smoothly, and gradually ground to a halt; this time the sticking point was the nexus of ENLIVEN and NOTED, where the (p)ENN(y) took some time to drop. It must delight the setter when a clue like NOTED has this effect, being so bleeding obvious when you look at it the right way. DNK TRYPSIN, but luckily didn’t need to.
14. Sounds like the thing that kicks in when you’ve eaten too much turkey at Thanksgiving. Rather a Woosterish flavour to this one. I think one of his STARCHY aunts played TIDDLYWINKS with him when he was having a TRYIN’ time with measles as a boy. Jeeves certainly turned him out in NATTY style and MINESWEEPing (vacuuming up unattended drinks) at a cocktail party might be the sort of thing Bertie would do when squiffy. TOODLE PIP. 22.59
15. Completed without even my usual break in the middle. Surprised to find that TACHYON and TRYPSIN were unknown to many of you, but there again I don’t know any of the literary references here. Nice to have a bit of science for a change.
    COD NATTY
16. ….appeared on local television news, after a group of sixth-formers introduced TIDDLYWINKS as a competitive sport, and claimed the World Championship.

    I squopped and squidged my way through this, and I’m with Jack on the TRYPSIN/TACHYON crosser. Said alma mater utterly failed to instil any worthwhile sciency stuff into me, and I’ve found my Latin O Level far more useful in the world of cruciverbalism.

    Thanks to V for parsing MINESWEEPER.

    Whilst there doesn’t seem to be a Nina, I did wonder if “RAVISHING FORTNIGHTLY” was an under-the-counter publication.

    FOI GO WALKABOUT
    LOI SIGHT
    COD TOODLE-PIP
    TIME 14:07

17. 14 minutes dead, with MINESWEEPER unparsed and finishing on MOTORED.

    Nice puzzle, although I’m a little troubled by SIGH = ‘I’m exasperated’

    1. I have heard some people just say “sigh” in place of sighing so I took it to be referring to that sort of usage.
    2. Tony Sever used to add “sigh!” to his posts when he’d been particularly (relatively) slow or dim, conveying that exact meaning.

       Edited at 2020-03-06 01:09 pm (UTC)

       1. In this digital age, I’m long used to seeing *sigh* used in this way, and eagerly await the first use of the more modern *smh* in a Times crossword.
    3. I thought 23 ac “Hideous THING” must mean NIGHT, with NIGH meaning exasperated, a double definition. But had to change to SIGHT once I’d solved 23 dn.
       I didn’t twig either of the multi-letter clues 24 ac and 21 dn. So failed to complete the SW corner. Got MINESWEEPER and RAVISHING but couldn’t see why!

       from Jeepyjay

18. 17:19 with MERs at go walkabout = get lost and raving = great. I knew tachyon but not trypsin and biffed fortnightly and toodle-pip.
    1. This sense of going walkabout is reasonably common in my experience, usually (in fact perhaps always) in reference to inanimate objects. Raving for great on the other hand seems very odd to me.

       Edited at 2020-03-06 06:40 pm (UTC)

    2. As Keriothe says: in the sense of “where’s my mobile? It’s gone walkabout!”
19. Went for Main Morte, which killed an otherwise respectable 28’56”. Everything else was fine! Deftly avoided putting in Stately, though Lord knows an atel could easily have been a Maori chief or some such. Tachyon we have definitely had before, and trypsin just had to be squeezed out. Anyone know where the natty in natty dreadlocks comes from?
20. It comes from the matted / knotted dreadlocks which are ‘notty dread’. Rastaf. (Jam)
    Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage – Richard Allsopp – OUP 1996.
21. My pet hate – obscure words clued as anagrams, especially when a crosser is an equally arcane term. Stephen
22. After a very poor week, I finally finished one!

    Quite a few ticks next to clues inc Tiddlywinks and Top flight. I was particularly pleased with Tachyon and Trypsin because I didn’t know the words and got them purely from word play. I couldn’t parse Minesweeper or Ravishing so thanks to Verlaine for the explanations.

    FOI Gum
    LOI Minesweeper
    COD hard to choose between Toodle-pip and Footstool
    Time about 45 minutes

23. Did no one else go for TRYISAN? Something being SA.
    1. ‘Something’ strikes me as a better indicator for SA than the ubiquitous ‘it’!
24. 15:38. I enjoyed this one a lot, and was pleased to work out the unknown-but-likely-sounding TACHYON/TRYPSIN crossing pair. These tested the solver’s ‘does this look like a word’ skills but obviously since I got them I think they did so in a fair way.
25. 44:06 but I needed two bites at the cherry. A distracted half hour at lunch was not enough to get to grips with this. 15 mins after work sorted it all out though. I had to correct bog to gum at 1dn and the tachyon trypsin crossers were unknowns. I never did parse the copper frayed at the edges bit of enliven. I enjoyed toodlepip and Foot’s tool.
26. I finished this in 28:22, but looked up THYASIN to see if it existed, and was presented with TRYPSIN which was a total unknown. I totally failed to see the PS as the addition. Sadly as I’d typed in TIDDLEYWINKS without looking, I’d totally screwed up the SE and finished with 3 errors. Plonker! In my defence, I was rushing to get to Hartlepool Golf Club for a 9am bacon butty and coffee before our 10am tee off. A good day as it happens, hardly any wind and the sun shone all day. To cap that, I played the best golf of my life(not that that’s saying much!). Thanks setter and V.
27. Thirty-six minutes for this one. I’ve not been doing very well, puzzle-wise, this last week or so, so I was glad to get through this one.

    Delighted to see TACHYON and TRYPSIN appearing – they appealed to my inner (or perhaps it’s outer) geek.

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