Times 27940 – in which I was not fooled

Author   glhPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

Time taken: 8:55

Nothing too difficult here, and I suspect a few biffing opportunities, particularly in 1 across where the definition and number of characters leads itself to one of two answers. There was only one that I had to get from wordplay alone, and after inventing the language NORM yesterday, I was glad to have an all-green grid.

I’ll check in tomorrow for a postscript, but since I am usually asleep when most comments come in, make sure you check the comments in case I have made a slip somewhere.

Away we go…

Postscript:  Wow, there’s a bit of consternation about not associating the definition “Eight” with Oxford. I guess it is topical, but at the time of writing, I didn’t get it. Thw wordplay definitely lead to the answer, and so I was left with resolving the definition… I wasn’t familiar with the boat race, so I was racking my brain for things I associated with Oxford – a University, a town, shoes and a property on the monopoly board. That’s where I came up with eight being a reference. I was clearly wrong and must be spanked with eight oars.

Across
1 Entering water, I function for a very short time (10)
PICOSECOND – inside POND(water) find I, COSEC(cosecant, trigonometric function)
7 Try and catch (4)
HEAR – double definition
9 Bring down five hundred and three on slides (8)
DETHRONE – D(500) and an anagram of THREE,ON
10 Entering sustained campaign, contest comparatively less flat (6)
WAVIER – inside WAR(sustained campaign) find VIE(contest)
11 Rank element in space above (6)
STINKY – TIN(chemical element) inside SKY(space above)
13 Initiate action on a plane, perhaps? (6,2)
STRIKE UP – STRIKE(industrial action), UP(in a plane, perhaps)
14 What big, mean delinquent has time for diminutive fighter? (12)
BANTAMWEIGHT – anagram of WHAT,BIG,MEAN containing T(time)
17 Starter had type of liquid served with a little bread (4,2,3,3)
SOUP OF THE DAY – anagram of HAD,TYPE,OF after SOU(a little bread).
20 I didn’t quite get that dance (6-2)
EXCUSE-ME – double definition
21 Separate taste, as some wines drunk (6)
BISECT – BIT(taste) containing SEC(as some wines)
22 Second musical yarn (6)
MOHAIR – MO(second), HAIR(musical)
23 Pitch a collection of works, overwhelmed by theatre award (8)
TONALITY – A LIT(collection of works) iside a TONY award
25 Advantage held by seed, generally (4)
EDGE –  hidden inside seED GEnerally
26 Turn creative — work on Picasso, primarily (5,5)
PARTY PIECE – ARTY(creative) then PIECE(work) after the first letter of Picasso. This was the one I got from wordplay alone, and was my last in
Down
2 He perhaps gets spattered with rain (5,3)
INERT GAS – anagram of GETS and RAIN, He referring to helium
3 Bear scratching head well! (3)
OOH – winnie the POOH(bear) missing the first letter
4 Under root of tree, spare wood (5)
EBONY – last letter in treE, then BONY(spare)
5 Look after complete bishopric (7)
OVERSEE – OVER(complete), SEE(bishopric)
6 Complete day throwing fits (9)
DOWNRIGHT – D(day) then an anagram of THROWING
7 What queen might do — panic! (4,7)
HAVE KITTENS – double definition, one referring to a cat as a queen
8 A place for walk (6)
AVENUE – A, VENUE(place)
12 A duck an alternative to minced meat? (3,1,7)
NOT A SAUSAGE – double definition – a duck in cricket is no runs, and minced meat would be a SAUSAGE
15 Plan to cover place in our mouldy cheese (9)
MOUSETRAP – A double container – MAP(plan) containing SET(put) inside OUR
16 Numbing cold crushing Scott’s heart, Amundsen ultimately coming first (8)
NARCOTIC – ARCTIC(cold) containing the middle letter of scOtt, with the first letter of amundseN first
18 Very basic home situated in row (3-4)
ONE-STAR – NEST(home) inside OAR(row)
19 Eight nil: football team, one short, cross (6)
OXFORD – tricky clue – Eight refers to 8 down – AVENUE as the definition.  Then O(nil), the football team would be an XI, but they are missing one so no I, and then FORD(cross).  There is a suggestion in the comments that this refers to an Oxford rowing team, which is possible, I was thinking of monopoly. Neither definition is in Collins. Nor is the monopoly square an avenue. Enjoy the boat race!
21 Bent wings of bluejay? (5)
BANDY – the wings of BluejaY are B AND Y
24 First signs of limp elastic in some worn bloomers? (3)
LEI – first letters in Limp Elastic In

56 comments on “Times 27940 – in which I was not fooled”

      1. Unlikely I think George as in the UK version of Monopoly the property is called Oxford Street. A rowing eight is surely what the setter had in mind. Also it’s topical as the famous annual race Oxford vs Cambridge takes place on Sunday, though not on the Thames as Hammersmith Bridge under which they row has been declared a dangerous structure.

        Edited at 2021-04-01 02:27 am (UTC)

  2. Ah, couldn’t figure out the parsing of BISECT (was wondering if it had something to do with a homophone of SEKT)
  3. Found parts of that very tricky. No idea about the eight, size eight shoe? Oxford sounded more like a word than oxrood. Forgot my 1970s chemistry – saw He so 2dn went straight in as IDEAL GAS, took a long time to correct. Misremembered the crossword dance as PARDON ME. Needed an alphabet trawl for LOI bisect, just couldn’t see it till I found it.
    COD definitely NARCOTIC, for the surface.
  4. I couldn’t solve 1ac immediately but apart from that I made speedy progress through most of this but then slowed and ground to a halt with nothing more than OF THE DAY and LEI in the SE corner.

    When I went back to 1ac (2dn was also still unsolved) I decided to biff NANOSECOND – it had to be right surely, although it was unparsable – but that only made matters worse re 2dn. Eventually the fog cleared and I spotted INERT GAS which forced me to rethink 1ac and deduce the unknown PICOSECOND.

    Getting ONE STAR at 18dn proved to be the key to opening up the SE and I cracked it all with too much time on the clock and BISECT as my LOI.

  5. I managed to avoid biffing NANOSECOND but PICOSECOND was confusing having assumed the function to be “cos” which made the body of water a “pecond”. That resulted in several head scratching moments.
    I’m amongst those who took the definition of “eight” to refer to a rowing crew. There are several rowing related definitions in Chambers:

    A set of eight things or people (syllables, leaves, rowers, etc)

    An eight-oar boat

    (in pl) a race for eight-oar boats

    1. Not all eight oar boats are eights! Quadruple sculls have eight oars but four rowers.

      PPJS

  7. And borrowing dulls the Edge of husbandry.

    After 30 mins pre-brekker I couldn’t crack one-star, tonality and party piece.
    Hats off to the Scott/Amundsen one and a titter at the worn bloomers.
    Thanks setter and G.

  8. 24 minutes on this pleasant stroll. LOI INERT GAS. COD to AVENUE if only for the ear worm. OXFORD will be the eight, George. I’ve never even heard of Oxford Avenue, let alone walked up it! Thank you to you and setter.
  9. Definitely not easy for me but I enjoyed the challenge.
    Lots of good clues: PARTY PIECE, INERT GAS, NARCOTIC and OXFORD for example but my favourite was NOT A SAUSAGE.
    OXFORD definitely refers to the rowing eight, I feel.
    I didn’t help myself by having the dance as a PARDON ME for a while.

    Edited at 2021-04-01 07:31 am (UTC)

  10. 19′ 34″, after doing all but SE in 12′.

    Took a while to justify LEI as the worn bloomers initially escaped me. Got fixated also on ‘one-step’ or ‘one-stop’.

    For 99% of people here, the only time we hear ‘eight’ in this context it is preceded by OXFORD or Cambridge.

    CsOD to NOT A SAUSAGE and SOUP OF THE DAY, although enumeration made them easier.

    Thanks george and setter.

  11. DOWNRIGHT mavellous — right up my AVENUE
    PICOSECOND was such a nice clue
    Please EXCUSE ME this verse
    (ONE-STAR stuff; perhaps worse)
    I thought INERT GAS was very good too
  12. 25:58
    No dramas. Eight is the rowing crew, I think. Thanks george, great blog.
  13. 10:01. Couldn’t quite sneak in under the 10-minute mark. Nice puzzle. I didn’t even notice when solving but referring to a sausage as ‘minced meat’ seems a bit incomplete.
    1. I don’t think it presents sausage as minced meat, I think it calls it an alternative to minced meat, though that might be taken as even vaguer!

      Edited at 2021-04-01 07:45 am (UTC)

  14. Easiest of the week so far, at 18.31, and that’s accounting for some treacly moments in the SE corner, where it took me a while to work out which of ONE-STEP/STOP/LINE worked before locating the OAR which had somehow drifted across from the OXFORD eight.
    I rather liked NARCOTIC which cheekily located Scott and Amundsen at the wrong end of the planet. And MOUSETRAP was a decent example of a matryoshka clue.
    I wonder if this is the first time we’ve had the COSEC function used? Took a while to spot to justify whichever of the plethora a very short times was required.
    It was worth taking time to de-biff SOUP OF THE DAY.
  15. 14:52 Nice puzzle with some quirky humour. I had PARTY TRICK for 26A originally until I found my otherwise LOI had to be LEI. COD to STINKY.
  16. Not too difficult and lots to like in this. Picosecond, Not a sausage and Lei the pick of them for me.

    I’d be happy to have soup of the day and some stinky mousetrap but bars and restaurants in France look set to be closed for some months yet. Tant pis.

    Thanks to glheard and setter.

  17. Quite enjoyed this, a bit quirky with some clever clues .. 2dn for example, or 17ac which I bet 99% of us biffed.

    Allow me to be the 94th person who thinks it’s the rowing eight, George 🙂

  19. Lovely puzzle, not too tricky but lots of imagination – my favourite was INERT GAS, and even the easy ones were often beauties – e.g. EBONY.

    Interesting that SOUP OF THE DAY was very close to being an &lit – I wonder if it was originally submitted as ‘Liquid of type had with a little bread?’

    6m 32s, a lot of fun. Thanks for explaining BISECT.

  20. All fairly straightforward, though ONE STAR and TONALITY held me up at the end. As others, I automatically assumed “eight” in 19d to refer to the Oxford rowing team and didn’t give it any further thought. No worse than HEARTS and other crossword-friendly football team names being clued as “team” which I think happened in the not too distant. 23m.
  22. I’m in the 1% who didn’t biff 2dn, according to jerrywh. Actually my guess is that it’s quite a few more than 1% — it seemed just a normal clue that one could easily enough work out.

    My rather old Collins Master Street Map of London says that there are three Oxford Avenues in London, in Hayes, Hounslow and SW20. Probably not quite so well-known as Oxford Street.

  23. Well I didn’t find this easy at all. It’s true there were some very easy clues mixed in which had a sort of whiplash effect on me and I got really bogged down in the southern hemisphere. I vainly tried to find a hidden word in the BISECT clue and took a very long time to grasp NARCOTIC and OXFORD. An off-form 23.19
  24. Found 80% of this pleasantly straightforward, starting with PICOSECOND and INERT GAS, then got stuck in the SE corner, with ONE-? TONALITY, BandY and BISECT slow to come. LOI Party piece.
    Definitely the OXFORD eight.
    30 minutes of which half on that corner.
  25. One of those easy ones which turned out to have a sting in its tail. After having most of this done in 10 mins, I totally seized up in the SE, mainly because all I could see was PENNY PINCH and that did not fit the clue at all. As above, I had ONE ST.. and couldn’t get STEP or STOP out of my brain. Having completed that, I was left with the OXFORD clue which I had to come here to understand.
    COD OOH
  26. PICOSECOND took me the longest – having got no further than GCSE maths, it took me a while to remember cosec. I completely missed the anagram in SOUP OF THE DAY, and just thought it was a (rather weak) cryptic definition, so thanks for setting me straight. Didn’t know EXCUSE-ME as the dance, but the cluing made it simple enough. An enjoyable challenge.

    FOI Hear
    LOI Picosecond
    COD Bantamweight

  27. Well beaten today — obviously on a different wavelength. I liked 2D and 7D, but 8D seems very weak in its definition and 3D, though easily gettable, just annoys me (as do other outbursts like WOW, COR and ARGH, all of which I’ve seen lately, though I’m not sure the last was in The Times).
    1. We do wish you’d own up to at least a username, if not a real one, especially if you’re going to be critical. It’s free to register.
  28. The neutrinos would have done this in picoseconds. It took me several orders of magnitude more to realise that our old faithful nanosecond wasn’t a goer.
    Liked the stinky narcotic inert gas.
    I also liked the absence of alumni, alumna, alumnae et al in today’s offering.
    all green in 1,656,000,000,000,000 picoseconds

    Edited at 2021-04-01 12:30 pm (UTC)

  29. For reasons I can’t fathom I read the definition at 1 ac as a very long time. Unbelievable. That made it my LOI and a bit tricky. I was trying to put something in FLOOD to make something -HOOD.
  30. Different strokes for different folks — I did not find this easy but thought it was a superb puzzle with some beautiful surfaces and excellent misdirection such as He for inert gas and 8 (surely a rowing reference) for Oxford. COD to narcotic for the surface.

    37:09 thanks George and setter

  31. ….either PICOSECOND, or COSEC, I eventually stumbled through 1A. Decent enough puzzle otherwise.

    FOI BANTAMWEIGHT (I was starting to worry)
    LOI OXFORD (once I pushed the boat out !)
    COD INERT GAS (I’m crap at science, but know my elements — as long as we don’t get into the periodic table)
    TIME 9:59

  32. I enjoyed this well enough, without ever being on the wavelength, apparently.

    Also, just wondering if anyone has considered that Oxford might refer to a rowing eight? I’ll get my coat.

  33. There were a lot of definitions you had to be on the right path to see today, and I wasn’t — Oxford in particular being obvious from the wordplay, but in my usage Oxford is an adjective which distinguishes one shell/eight from another. You wouldn’t clue the adjective “red” as and only as “automobile” even though there are red automobiles, and you wouldn’t clue “fragrant” as and only as “rose” even though roses are fragrant. So why do you clue “Oxford” as “eight”. Given the very large number of clubs, colleges, universities, and even Olympic teams (eg 2016 gold (GB men) and silver (GB women!) ) it seems a bit of a stretch to imply that Oxford is “the” eight, regardless of how clear the wordplay is.

    Edited at 2021-04-01 08:54 pm (UTC)

  34. On the right wavelength for a change. Some nice deceptions throughout. Held up a bit by NARCOTIC and BISECT at the end. Good stuff.
  35. Longest solve for a while, totally off wavelength … or maybe knocking off early for Easter break and enjoying couple of bottles of rosé before settling into puzzle was to blame … much wit on display in clues even if I was proceeding laboriously
    1. Correct! George got the wordplay spot on, just produced an alternative, and less accurate, definition. That said, there are numbers of examples of Oxford Avenue in the UK, probably none of them iconic enough to count
  38. I found this quite hard. In fact I spent as much time (and believe me that’s quite a long time) at the end getting the last five clues in the SE corner as the rest of the grid. Lie, Narcotic, Bandy (nice), Tonality and Bisect fell (…crumbled away with age, more like) in that order. A shame really, because I started quite well, but it all began to go wrong with Corn (hooch) on the Cob for 17ac, eventually adjusted to Soup of the Day though I needed the blog to see why. Invariant
  39. 36.17 so way off the pace set by glheard. A real struggle but glad I persevered. FOI hear, LOI tonality. NHO picosecond but second was obvious though pond took a while to drop as the outlying letters.

    Lots to like of which my shortlist comprised party piece, tonality and narcotic and the winner oxford- well worth the wait it caused to work it out.

    Thanks setter and blogger.

  40. 22.49. Generally smooth solving with the odd wrinkle here or there. DNK either cosec or picosecond but the water surely could only be pond and the unit of time a second of some sort. I was also led to believe that 19dn referred back to 8ac and struggled to square the definition Oxford with avenue. Now I understand why. An ooh of delight for the saucy Lei worn bloomers clue.
  41. Very late to the puzzle today. In fact it’s actually tomorrow now. FOI, EBONY, LOI BANDY with the SE taking a lot of the time. ONE STAR took a while as did TONALITY and NARCOTIC. Assumed the Eight was to do with boats. 36:01. Thanks setter and George.

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