Times 27849 – three strikes and I’m out

Author   piquetPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Olivia (for one) can confirm or otherwise that this was the third of the “didn’t happen” TCC puzzles last month, as she managed to download it before it vanished from the website. If it is, or was, let me say I found it far harder than the first two, which were IMO too easy for a championship test. Maybe I just couldn’t get on the right wavelength. Even when I’d written in some answers with a “it must be” shrug, I had difficulty getting fully comfortable with the parsing when I came to write this. How did you do? Was it just me that found it hard?

Across
1 Decorated old men on opposite sides at Waterloo died (7)
PAPERED – took a little time to see this after I’d biffed it from checkers. Old men in English and French could be PA and PÈRE (father). D for died. We stuffed the French at Waterloo, the battle in Belgium not the station.
5 Horseman protecting lord repelled villain (7)
RIDDLER – RIDER the horseman had LD (lord) reversed inside. I don’t think all riddlers are villains, but I have a vague idea that one in a Batman movie was, although I’ve never seen any of them.
9 Cunningly multiplied by two a nice prime number (8,3)
AMERICAN PIE – I stared at this trying to see how it worked, even though the 8, 3 enumeration and the checkers suggested the Don McLean song might be the answer. Then I saw it. The first part of the clue “cunningly” is an anagrid, “multiplied by two A” means “have two A’s” and the fodder becomes (A A NICE PRIME)*. Cunning, indeed.
10 VAT reduction in train (3)
TUB – I can only imagine a TUBE train is reduced by one letter.
11 Might associated with underworld boss causing alarm (6)
DISMAY – DIS is or was the Roman God of the underworld, and MAY can be MIGHT, same tense sometimes, or present and past. See https://writingexplained.org/may-vs-might-difference.
12 Revealing costume: nothing stops brother wearing one (8)
MONOKINI – O (nothing) in MONK (brother) IN 1. I am told by Google (and images therefrom) a monokini is like narrow bikini bottoms with thin strings going up and around the neck, which sounds definitely revealing; more likely to be worn by a sexy sister (not a nun) than a brother monk perhaps. Mrs K does not have one, that sort of thing was not her cup of tea even in her prime.
14 Sock someone draped around queen’s cocktail (8,5)
PLANTERS PUNCH – Well if you SOCK SOMEONE you could be said to PLANT (a) PUNCH; insert ER’S for Queen’s.
17 Planning part of Michaelmas term in Dingwall (13)
MASTERMINDING – Is this the longest hidden word ever? Someone might know.
21 One spot on about force of old religious image (8)
CRUCIFIX – not sure about this. RUC can be “force of old” (old name for the N. Ireland police force) and that leaves C I F I X for “one spot on”. C= about, I = one, FIX = spot? Then about has to work twice to cover RUC. I am puzzled. EDIT see pootle73 below. I was halfway there.
23 Carriage lined at the front with gold (6)
LANDAU – L(ined), AND (with) AU (gold).
25 Length of old Henry’s skipping torment! (3)
ELL – HELL loses H(enry). Nothing to do with EMs and ENs which also festoon crosswords; an ELL is 45 inches, about the length of an arm, or in some versions, like a cubit from elbow to the end of the hand.
26 I left data lying around, moderately carelessly (11)
NEGLIGENTLY – I L(eft) GEN all reversed, then GENTLY = moderately.
27 Person calming down someone after match in Kent? (7)
SEDATER – Someone going on a DATE in S.E. England = SE DATER perhaps.
28 Advice from “mother” for one wife and female (3,4)
SAY WHEN – SAY (for one), W(ife), HEN (female).

Down
1 Foreign issue of public relations “bible” getting its approval? (6)
PRAVDA – PR, AV (authorised version of bible) DA (yes in Russian).
2 A little exercise before Kitty gets up (5-2)
PRESS-UP – PRE = BEFORE. Why would Kitty = press? EDIT as our Australian friend notes in the first comment, it is PRE then PUSS reversed. Doh.
3 Marble game popular with a number of spectators (4,5)
RUIN AGATE – RU (game) IN (popular), A GATE (a number of spectators). AUIN AGATE is apparently a thing, a kind of marble or brown agate with lines in it when polished, supposed to resemble an ancient building stone.
4 Pulling motion creating pain in the neck (4)
DRAG – Someone can be a pain, a drag, if they’re boring or tedious.
5 Wild, noisy drummer, ultimately one for a band (3-7)
RIP-ROARING – R (drummer ultimately) I (one) PRO (for) A RING (band). All a bit contrived, I thought.
6 Spaniard possibly to pass on turn (5)
DIEGO – DIE (pass on) GO (turn). I suppose just a random Spanish name, or a recently deceased footballer.
7 Hail not unusual in Scottish region (7)
LOTHIAN – (HAIL NOT)*.
8 Awfully poor mistake getting in the red (8)
RUBBISHY – BISH (mistake) inside RUBY (red).
13 Germ gets in badly preserved root (4,6)
STEM GINGER – (GERM GETS IN)*.
15 Pastime that’s welcome, occupying page in recent Times (9)
PHILATELY – P (page) HI (welcome) LATELY (in recent times).
16 British ready for some loud shows of affection? (8)
SMACKERS – Noisy kisses could be smackers: a slang term for pounds, “that’ll be fifty smackers, guv.”
18 Foul initially seen as being over the top (7)
SQUALID – S (initially seen) QUA (Latin for as) LID (the top).
19 Pay individually — split other half? (2,5)
GO DUTCH – GO – split, leave; DUTCH slang for wife.
20 No point going back for old English preacher (6)
BUNYAN – NAY (no) NUB (point) all reversed.
22 Tavern has appeal, would you not agree? (5)
INNIT – INN (tavern) has IT (sex appeal). Slang speak for would you not agree, perhaps, isn’t it? or just used for emphasis as in “education gonna make you fick, bruv, innit?”.
24 Rome’s increasingly spoilt, at first, for choice of popes? (4)
PIUS – PIU is Italian for more, or more often, hence ‘increasingly’; S + spoilt at first. I was thinking PIU was Latin, initially, then realised Rome is still in the same place but Italian now.

​

64 comments on “Times 27849 – three strikes and I’m out”

  1. Hard but fun. I found this a great challenge.

    Pip, for 2d I parsed it as PRE = before and PUSS (Kitty) backwards.

  2. I did this early in two half hour sessions with brekka in the middle.

    FOI 23ac LANDAU

    LOI 9ac AMERICAN PIE = number! IKEAN

    COD 14ac PLANTER”S PUNCH

    WOD 16dn SMACKERS or smackeroos down under

  4. I didn’t find this too hard until the end, and then I ground to a halt with PIUS, BUNYAN, and SAY WHEN. Got them in the end bit way to slowly to be in contention in the championship (had it taken place).

    And MASTERMINDING is not the longest hidden I’ve seen. Don’t remember if it was the Times, but I’ve seen CARDIFF ARMS PARK as a hidden (and, to my embarrassment, it took me forever to see it). I forget the exact clue. The literal was “ground” and it was something about “farm’s parking”

    Edited at 2020-12-16 07:43 am (UTC)

    1. Ah yes, but that (and the Omelette variety below) are several words, not one long one, which was what I asked.
  5. Did this in 31′, but with a typo – which would not have happened on paper. Much much harder than the previous two.

    Liked MONOKINI, nho RUIN AGATE. COD to AMERICAN PIE.

    Thanks pip and setter.

  6. 39 minutes, so not too difficult, but I lost time constructing MOONKINI from wordplay probably distracted by the thought of mooning being particularly ‘revealing’.

    I posted the info very late on last Wednesday’s blog that David Parfitt had confirmed in the Club that the three competition puzzles were being published on consecutive Wednesdays, so today’s is the last of them. He didn’t say however that they would be in the same order 1,2,3 as planned on the day.

    Edited at 2020-12-16 07:34 am (UTC)

  7. I’m sorry but i just can’t see how the word order of the clue gets you CRUCIFIX. As Pip indicates, to get the correct solution, “about” has to do double duty, surely?
    RUIN AGATE it had to be but I have never heard the term.
    I enjoyed PIUS and MASTERMINDING but my COD goes to PAPERED.
    Thanks for the explanation of NEGLIGENTLY, Pip, and for your blog as a whole.
    My new default photo is the painting of my Miniature Poodle, Bianca which I commissioned an artist in the region to paint and which I took delivery of yesterday.
  8. I’d forgotten this was a championship puzzle, and I’m in agreement with those who say this was far harder than the other two. I had to rely on parsing several times, not least on my LOI CRUCIFIX which I left at the end to come back to before it revealed itself to me about two minutes later. Initially though I thought of zit for spot, giving me CRUCIZIT which in a rasher moment I could see myself throwing in. I paused long enough today to come up with the right answer and crawl over the line.
  9. Apparently I now know what a crossword is like if it’s at the opposite end of the spectrum from my wavelength! Gave up after forty minutes with only ten or so answers and came here for my education.
  10. 13:43. I loved this. I always enjoy it when setters use colloquial terms so I liked SMACKERS, INNIT and RUBBISHY, but there are a couple of literary and religious references to even things out. I thought 1ac was quite brilliant, as were 28ac and the amazing hidden MASTERMINDING. And it’s always nice to have an unlikely-looking obscurity fairly indicated.
    So thanks very much setter!
  11. Very enjoyable test of wits. Pravda was particularly good. I wasn’t, taking 48’04”. Thus 105’36” for the three championship puzzles, being well over the 90min mark. Next year!

    Edited at 2020-12-16 08:30 am (UTC)

  13. No RUBBISHY RIDDLER today
    And no SQUALID birds to DISMAY
    So can you SAY WHEN
    You’ll be setting again
    MASTERMINDING a treat all the way?
  14. 25:03. I struggled with both SW and NE corners, trying for too long to get 12A to start BORO and taking a while to find RUBBISHY and TUB. Then it was CQUALID that got me to CUCIFIX which I couldn’t parse. LOI PIUS. All good stuff and rather chewy. Great 13 letter hidden at 17A. Thanks Pip and setter.
  15. Thoroughly enjoyed this one and no complaints. Enjoyed the odd vocabulary such as SAY WHEN and SMACKERS. Great hidden clue. Thanks all.
  16. Unlike keriothe, I dislike colloquial terms in my puzzles, so I found this somewhat 8d.
    As always, ‘different strokes for different folks’, so I’m pleased for those who enjoyed it.
      1. Thanks horryd. I always enjoy your witticisms and heartily reciprocate your Christmas wishes.
        Hoping that 2021 will see an end to the worst effects of the Covid-19 virus and for plenty of great crosswords.
        Regards,
        George
  17. Google says: “Ground needs placard, if farm’s parking in short supply”
    Not a Times clue, don’t know from where
    1. One of our contributors – maybe Keriothe or PipKirby – offered my favourite ever hidden clue:

      Overwhelmed by sadness, Pan is home – let tears course (7,8)

      Edited at 2020-12-16 10:59 am (UTC)

    2. Times 22,947 on 11th April 2005 (though that’s not to say it wasn’t recycled from an earlier puzzle either in the Times or elsewhere)
      1. Ha, that is before TfTT was even a twinkle in Peter’s eye.. I would love to know how you found that out!

        But it brings to attention an interesting issue, which is that in the good old days, setters could recycle favoured clues fairly regularly. Now they can’t, at least not so easily, because a google search will find them out. Though they can of course: the clue recently where beano = BE A NO has been in at least *14* different Times crosswords since 2008, and no doubt many times before..

  18. 57 minutes, with LOI the constructed but unheard of RUIN AGATE, and penultimate SQUALID. COD to RIDDLER. Jumping Jellybeans, I was pleased to see that. I also liked SAY WHEN. The anagram material for AMERICAN PIE took some spotting but was neat. I biffed RIP-ROARING, CRUCIFIX and PIUS on the back of circumstantial evidence. INNIT is not in the vernacular of where I’m from, but it seems an entirely fair clue to me. A tough puzzle, which felt as though one or two loose ends needed tidying up. Thank you Pip and setter.
  19. Started late post brekker (yoghurt, granola, etc.)
    After 30 mins of a struggle I still had most of the NE left: Rip-roaring, Riddler (which I was never going to get), Monokini (??) and Rubbishy which was impossible as I had put in TUN for the VAT.
    Some very clever setting.
    Thanks setter and Pip.

    Edited at 2020-12-16 10:01 am (UTC)

  20. Very pleased to have finished, which at one point I did not think I would, especially as I had forgotten about the Wednesday/TCC thing. Just under the hour. Some tough clues to unravel which have all been mentioned. I particularly liked AMERICAN PIE, though not the time it took me to work it out. LOI PRAVDA. Another clever clue. It always amused me, but not many of my French friends, when the first Eurostar’s arrived from Paris and Brussels to the London terminus at Waterloo. Welcome! Now at St Pancras , of course. Thanks Pip and setter.
  21. Nearly all done in 20 and a bit minutes but I was never going to get PIUS. I could have got it but, as Peter Cook nearly said, I didn’t have the Italian.

    Agree with Pip that it was a lot harder than the other two from the New World Order Champs. It took a long time for the old ‘number’ penny to drop with AMERICAN PIE, and the CRUCIFIX and the MONOKINI (I’ve never written a sentence with those two before) were just as stubborn.

    Bravo to the setter, though. MASTERMINDING and PRAVDA both did it for me. Cheers, Pip. I’m loving your INNIT example, innit

  22. Wiktionary says:
    (nonstandard) comparative form of sedate: more sedate (quotes)
    2008, 31 Dec, by Sam Jones, in The Guardian, on the New Years Honours List
    “Robert Plant, the former Led Zeppelin frontman who has gone on to enjoy a sedater breed of fame through his duets with US bluegrass singer Alison Krauss, also receives a CBE. John Martyn, who immortalised his fellow singer Nick Drake in the song Solid Air, gets an OBE.”

    Not sure the Grauniad is the guardian of our language….
    So add it to the list with innit etc.
    Hard puzzle, DNF.

      1. Is the clue not referring to the noun, one who sedates e.g. the nurse who injects the tranquiliser? With an implicit subject for the transitive verb… Person coming down (upset patient)?
  23. 55.16. I found this really tough, especially in the SW corner. Eventually took the gamble with sedater, crucifix and squalid and all the bets paid off. Having looked at the initial blog, the cluing of crucifix seems tortured and sedater a bit limp. But I don’t care, success…

    Just for the record, FOI dismay, LOI squalid. A few candidates for COD pius, only small but beautifully formed, american pie and quite liked landau.

    Thanks setter for a challenging ride and blogger for allowing me to see the light. Very apt with a crucifix and john bunyan in the mix.

  24. I see it’s been officially confirmed that this was puzzle 3 on the day. I recognized it from AMERICAN PIE, that interminable number, and the unknown RUIN AGATE. I did this in 19 and change at the time of. I started with the 3rd puzzle on the theory that there might be a traffic jam on the first one but by the time I’d finished the whole thing had collapsed anyway. Some very good stuff here, as others have noted – DRAG was a bit ho hum but the rest was a pippin.
  25. Way off the wavelength, and one wrong: couldn’t spell (or parse) the NHO Bunyon (sic). Bunyon had bad feet, presumably, like his alter ego author Runyon, D. Hard, mostly great clues, but still not keen on random foreign words and names in languages I don’t speak 4 today. Delayed by confidently entering TUN: tune is train in things like electronic control systems; and mispelling the superb rip-roaring, making the hidden impossible. Further exacerbated by cultural ignorance: who or what is Dingwall? What or when is Michaelmas term?
    1. Dingwall is a famous town in Scotland near Inverness. Obviously not that famous. Michaelmas term (mainly Oxbridge) is the Autumn term, around or after Michaelmas (29 September).

      Edited at 2020-12-16 01:09 pm (UTC)

      1. I’ve been to Inverness more than once, and never heard of Dingwall. Michaelmas is not a “thing” in Australia, most of us would tell you it isn’t even a real word 😉 I’ve seen it often enough in The Times, though, it and Hillary term.
  26. Hard but not overly so. Wavelength, innit? I had to biff PIUS, not knowing the PIU bit.

    Anyway, I enjoyed the puzzle, for the same reasons as Keriothe.

    Edited at 2020-12-16 11:58 am (UTC)

  27. Innit – possibly the most irritating affectation added to our language in recent decades innit?
  28. 38’ for this tricky but fair puzzle with rather too long spent on American Pie and the Russian organ.
  29. Now we’ve had the three puzzles I guess someone with sufficient time and inclination could delve into the leaderboards and/or SNITCH and compute what the championship result could have been.
    1. If my Excel manipulations are right [Edit: They weren’t quite, now updated] [Further edit: late solvers added 17/12] I think this could be the answer EChampionships Unofficial Results. In total 182 people “competed” and completed at least one puzzle correctly and 53 completed all 3. Note that, as I’ve used times from the SNITCH leaderboard, solvers flagged as neutrinos are not included.

      Edited at 2020-12-17 07:13 am (UTC)

  30. I started off with Drag and then PRAVDA, which I thought was a great clue. The RIDDLER then allowed me to sort out the NE without any trouble, apart from RIP ROARING, which arrived much later in the proceedings. RUIN AGATE was another very late entry which I had to construct from the instructions and crossers. CRUCIFIX was a partial biff, with only RUC fully understood. The rest of the puzzle was a steady workout apart from my LOI, PIUS, which resisted for some time before I started thinking about the names of popes and recognised PIU from the musical instruction. Nice puzzle. 36:46. Thanks setter and Pip.

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