Times 28,061: Gone In 60*5 Seconds

82 comments on “Times 28,061: Gone In 60*5 Seconds”

1. Okay, so I know I operate at a different level, but I thought this was a decent challenge for a Friday. (And I notice aphis clocked in at more than ten minutes.) I struggled especially with the clues for ROYAL FAMILY, MAGNESIA and STATELY. DRY ROT was a bit of a write-in, since buildings in Crosswordland seem only to be susceptible to one problem. Would that were so in real life!

   BTW, your fave is d not ac.

   1. 24ac is my fauxve.
      1. 24dn?
   2. So what happened to the capybara?
      1. He was ousted by Jennifer Lawrence
         1. Is that meant to be cryptic?
            1. No, it is to be taken quite literally
2. …2 down, I put toad about OB, giving too bad. Close, but no cigar, and it had me stuck on pillar for a long time. I also had trouble with royal family and dry rot, because I thought Al and not Alf was the boy. Total time, 47 minutes.
   1. Me too, TOAD
   2. And me. Knew toad as an English abusive term (the horrible toad Spikely in the honourable schoolboy?) but not what it meant.
3. So, a challenge for me as well. But hey, at least I beat ulaca.
   1. Nothing new in that!

      Hopefully, we both beat horryd.

4. 10:19 – the bottom right took me a chunk of time, I thought I might have been in for under 10 minutes which is rare for a Friday. Everything went in fully understood for a change.
5. I found it a normal challenge, too. You’re going too fast, Verlaine!
   I liked eyesight, and badly wanted Tat in some form at 2d, but couldn’t get it in without a non-Timesean vulgarity — the one which is the opposite of what a schmuck is when schmuck is properly defined.

   Edited at 2021-08-20 02:10 am (UTC)

   1. The word you’re talking about isn’t that rude of an insult in British English, is it? It’s certainly no “cut”.
      1. You’re spot on, PJ. It just means a bit of a merchant banker. Often used self-referentially.
         1. Please, call me J. PJ was my father.
            1. J it is.

               [You know you have made it around here when you are initialised.]

6. Not unusual for horses to hit their straps on their third run back from a spell. Also not unusual for them to break down shortly after and be sent to the knackery, so I’m saying nothing.

   Enjoyed the scathingly dismissive ESPERANTO clue, and greatly enjoyed my first dose of Verlaine for some time.

   1. Good to see you again Galspray.
      1. Hi Olivia, and ditto. Given the recent state of the world, it’s nice to see so much unchanged around here.
         1. Not, “so much,” more “everything” 🙂
            1. Well these funny little “like” buttons have appeared, so that’s something.

               Good to see you Jerry.

7. 30 minutes, so bang on target.

   From childhood if I see MAGNESIA I only think of the brand name Dinneford’s with its distinctive bottle and taste. An advertisement from 1887 claimed it as: The Universal Remedy for Acidy of the Stomach, Headache, Heartburn, Indigestion, Sour Eructations and Bilious Affections. The Physicians Cure for Gout, Rheumatic Gout and Gravel; the safest and most gentle Medicine for Infants, Children, Delicate Females and the Sickness of Pregnancy. Who needed a doctor with that in the medicine cabinet?

   1. I’m surprised it didn’t cure catarrh, piles, hiccoughs, lumbago, chilblains, neurasthenia and the vapours while it was at it. Who knows, maybe it did.
   2. Milk of MAGNESIA was used as toothpaste in our house – horrible.
      1. I remember MoM being horrible too. Dinnefords had a lovely refreshing taste to it. I think eventually we abandoned it as a first line of defence in favour of Alka Seltzer which was more exciting!
         1. I used to experiment with my father’s Andrews Liver Salts – you got a nice fizz.
8. The only thing I had to report was that I was a bit disappointed that there was no previously unknown word this time, breaking the week’s run, but I didn’t even realize it was the week’s end.

   The definition of LEFT FIELD seems so loose grammatically that I hesitated to put it in.

   The fate of ESPERANTO is rather ironic, even sad, for a lingo intended to facilitate universal communication.

   Edited at 2021-08-20 05:17 am (UTC)

   1. I found it hardish. NHO unremorseful, so I would call that a new word.
      Nearly failed in SW til FOE gave me GAFFER – which I should have seen straight off.
      Andyf
9. Back in the world of mere mortals …thrilled to achieve a Friday completion – can’t remember that happening any time since I became a regular solver. Only had to check one word, ENTREPOT, in the dictionary after solving the clue (thanks to jakkt and others for pointing me a couple of days ago towards Lexico, now my reference of choice).

   O.B. = old boy / alumnus goes into my ever-expanding list of crossword-specific words and abbreviations

   LOI the SYNOD part of 14a

   The word FLAGON always reminds me of Danny Kaye, because “The flagon with the dragon has the brew that is true”

   1. It’s not often that Myrtilus gets beaten to the Quote of the Day, so congratulations!
10. I didn’t see anything in the first 5-6 clues, so spent the next ten minutes immobile in the glare of the headlights, waiting for the coup de grâce of an empty grid DNF. Anyway, finally got going and finished in 47 minutes, last by a long margin on the Club leaderboard at the time.

    Maybe not easy, but nothing like as hard as I’d first thought. I couldn’t have told you what an ENTREPOT was (two for the price of one – we had PANTRIES as well), but nothing else too obscure. I liked TWO-BIT (Arthur Daley comes to mind) and my LOI BOOHOO.

    Thanks to Verlaine and setter

11. … the flagon with the dragon,
    the vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true!

    25 mins pre-brekker and pleased with that although helped by the six anagram clues.
    Took two long thinking of Alf and Amy rather than Al and Mary.
    Thanks setter and V.

    1. Rats! My QOTD gong just got rescinded – but thanks for the correction
       1. I think Olivia is a fan of this too and will be able to explain where the chalice from the palace fits in.
          1. Yes Myrtilus and Denise the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true. Actually the quotation I had in mind was “stay me with flagons” comprising two clues.
12. Hm. I was thinking as the first few sped in that V would be upset a having his Friday mostly unused, but dotted around my grid were entries that were more stubborn. Not Friday tough, but still…
    There were a few here where I had the answer soon enough but not the reason: BOTTLE GREEN for example where neither that version of “seal”, nor that of “common” gelled. I had ROYAL for long enough but couldn’t find the other random names to make a sensible follow up. Intersecting HOTs looked dodgy, even if one of them was -SPUR. The right error for the GAFFER wouldn’t come to mind. Even EYESIGHT was in and out because, well, because. So a total of 19.31, feeling slow.
13. I was with Verlaine today, thinking this seemed straightforward for a Friday. Plenty to like though — my COD to ON SAFARI which I thought had an excellent surface.

    Well done to Verlaine on your recent concise performance — topping the leaderboard by completing what must be most if not all offerings, and having no errors. I find that in about a third of the concise crosswords there’s a word I don’t know.

14. 18′ 30″, just realised that BOO is the noise you make to scare someone, rather than expressing disapproval.

    Thanks verlaine and setter.

    1. I hadn’t fully understood BOO until your explanation. Thanks Rob!
    2. Yes, I only vaguely understood that one as it went in but what you say makes perfect sense! Thanks Rob!

       Edited at 2021-08-20 10:34 pm (UTC)

15. ….that this was a bit too easy for a Friday. However, having thought that using the tablet had cured my “fat finger tendency”, I was proved wrong by “royal damily, and a good time was wasted.

    FOI STABLE
    LOI PANTRIES
    COD GAMETE
    TIME 7:34 (with that damned pinko)

16. 11:38 So I, too, found this straightforward for a Friday. Only GENERAL SYNOD parsed post-solve so not a biff-fest, though. I liked ROYAL FAMILY and FOE but COD to BOOHOO. Thanks V and setter.
17. It must be thankless task when QC solvers think the puzzles are too hard and 15×15 solvers are disappointed when they get an easier Friday puzzle just for once! Other puzzles are available for those with unexpected time on their hands, e.g. today’s Grauniad has multi-linked clues that may take a little while to unravel.
    1. And Friday is Listener day. Woohoo (though it might be BOOHOO)!
18. 31:12
    Nice puzzle; steady solve with a frothy coffee and a Nice biscuit. Didn’t feel the need to rush; it had its own rhythm. Not the toughest, but a nice half hour. Best part of the day, probably 🙂
    Thanks, v.
19. …but with WOOHOO i.s.o. BOOHOO.
    Easy Friday? I don’t think so.
    FOI: STABLE
    LOI: SOFT SPOT/BOTTLE GREEN. Those two alone took 15mins.
    COD: ESPERANTO
20. I always have a soft spot for songs that were old when Adam and I were lads. 29 minutes with LOI TWO-BIT. I was held up for a while having put SIGNET GREEN which I thought I remembered as a colour, until STABLE put me right and I found my bottle. COD to HOTSPUR, no longer Harry Kane? I was pleased to construct GENERAL SYNOD without crossers too. I didn’t spot the homophone for FOE though, and came here for the explanation. Thank you V and setter.
    1. Old songs that are brilliant include Jethro Tull’s Velvet Green. Which was surprisingly the first thing I thought of with (6, green {the obvious 5}).
21. 20.36 but so keen to get finished I put yoohoo in instead of boohoo which was obviously- now- easy peasy.
    Ruined what’s been a good week.

    FOI stable, LOI the aforesaid. Struggled with pantries for a while thinking stores opening had to be accommodated but eventually got there. Lots of anagrams today which I liked. COD general synod.

    Thx setter and blogger.

22. I spotted STABLE straight away, then PILLAR allowed me to see BOTTLE GREEN and I was off! Like BW I saw GENERAL SYNOD with no further crossers, and the ROYAL bit of the house was popped into place. I needed EYESIGHT to place the IL, and then DRY ROT brought the FAM into play. In short order I was typing in my LOI, FLAGON. I’ve just acquired an external 24″ monitor for my laptop which is a huge help for reading the clues, and also allowed me to spot the typo as I did a very quick proof read which showed I had AAM at 7d. 18:14. Thanks setter and V.
23. Well I didn’t find this that easy, especially as I too had banged in TOO-BAD which held up PILLAR for an age. Also LOVE SPOT didn’t help. Anyway at least I finished, eventually, unlike most of the rest of the week though I claim extenuating circumstances!

    Thanks V and setter.

24. Very new to this blog – dumbfounded at this obsession with speed, chaps! ( And I suspect this blog IS mainly for chaps – do correct me if wrong).Oh well.
    1. The clue is in the title of the blog and your suspicion is incorrect.
    2. There was a time when anyone daring not to give a time was lined up against a wall, but in these PC days such treatment is no longer tolerated.

       On the other hand, the newly returned Gallers might unleash his recalcitrant pet goat “Horryd” against you. A fate worse than life.

    3. You might want to read our history in “About this Blog”, which is linked in various spots depending on your device:

       https://times-xwd-times.livejournal.com/profile

       1. Re our “obsession” with time: First of all, it’s a decent barometer for how easy or difficult a puzzle is. A nice way to communicate the experience of the solve in a single number — which is what numbers are for after all.

          Second, I used to not care about time at all. Not coincidentally, I also rarely finished a puzzle, and when I did it usually took many hours. When I decided about a year ago to concentrate on and report my times, it sharpened my focus. Now I finish most puzzles, and do so I’m about 7-8 minutes for the quickie and 20-30 minutes for the main. That would have been unthinkable with “the number” to clarify and sharpen my focus.

    4. One friend here, to give you some love. Intent on seeing how all he cryptics work, always spends seconds or minutes trying to parse everything as it goes in, rather than just writing in the obvious answer. Because I love the cryptics. Except of course quite often beaten by unknowns, and have to either write in the obvious answers or guess the unknowns. As Kurt Vonnegut said: “So it goes”.
    5. As has been mentioned, the blog is called Times for the Times because its “gimmick” is that you are meant to say how fast you got through the puzzle. The “obsession with speed” is, after all, what gets rewarded at the annual (mostly) Times Crossword Puzzle Championships!

       It is a nice change of pace over at Big Dave’s where talking about difficulty and time taken are strict breaches of etiquette, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong per se with the TftT way of doing things. Any competitiveness is tongue-in-cheek and there’s certainly no suggestion that a slower time makes you a lesser member of this community; quite the reverse if anything, it’s often been suggested that the speed-solvers aren’t fully appreciating the puzzles, by not taking the time to slow down and smell the roses on their way to hitting the submit button!

    6. On the subject of chaps — I’d like to suggest that this blog is mainly for “chaps of any gender”. https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/05/chap.html
25. 20 mins. Came here still puzzled by the shocker definition of BOO but now I see it (thanks Robrolfe). Really not scary enough for a Friday. Boo.
26. Was the one that hung me up for a while. Then I recalled that Conan Doyle has Dr. Watson quite frequently express his admiration for a “queenly” woman so that took care of it. Foe=FAUX reminded me that Fox News is often so described by those opposed to its POV. 17.16
    1. Fo News – I’ll be using that!
       Andyf
    2. As I’m sure you know, Olivia, that name is not just a POV thing but literally true.
       1. Indeed Guy.
27. Times 28061
    One does rather tire on being told how clever he is. People of all abilities try the crossword.
    1. To be fair to V, he is one of the most agreeable people one could wish to meet. CS Lewis, railing against false modesty, once described humility as the ability to design St Paul’s Cathedral and reflect on it as a job well done.

       As well as entertaining and informing us each Friday, V also blogs the Club Monthly and every third (I think) Jumbo. We are greatly in his debt.

    2. One has to accept that some people have razor sharp brains and an encyclopedic thesaurus. I am way past that, taking ten times V’s time today. The important thing is to enjoy it. Fast or slow.
28. Having forgotten to pause, I then forgot to submit without it being on my record, so a time of 90 mins is not reflective of my performance. I confess that I didn’t get the alternative meaning of temple till I came here.
29. 23.08. I didn’t think this was that easy. I got tied up in knots in the boohoo flagon, dry rot corner. With boohoo in particular, I tried to fit O.G. or eel in as the shocker and came very close to entering woohoo, only alighting on boohoo at the last minute and only seeing how a boo could be a shocker after the event, thanks to Robrolfe. The correct meaning of temple in soft spot was also a post solve penny drop.
30. …from QC land. Quite unexpectedly I managed to finish a Friday 15×15! Today’s puzzle is clearly easier than a ‘normal’ Friday, but very happy to break my Friday duck. Enjoyed GENERAL SYNOD and ROYAL FAMILY. Struggled with SE corner but, once the BOOHOO penny dropped, I quickly ‘saw’ EYESIGHT and STATELY. Thanks to Setter and Verlaine

    Ged

31. A lull after the first dozen clues extended my time by perhaps 5 mins — not sure what the hold up in my head was, as everything seemed to flow again after that.

    Slowed up at the end though by NW corner where BOTTLE GREEN, SOFT SPOT and PILLAR were the last to fall.

32. Don’t usually try the 15*15 but greatly encouraged by Verlaine’s time I had a go…. V12 (in the sense of Multiples of Ks QC times)

33. Leisurely completion but a dnf as I carelessly left DIY JOB in at 27dn despite it not parsing in any way. Ifthe setter is listening in, then I found the puzzle a good and enjoyable test – but then maybe I’m not the target audience.
34. 13:17 this afternoon. I agree that this was an easier puzzle by Friday’s usual standards (but does Friday always have to be the toughest of the week? Perhaps the Crossword Editor might want to avoid being too predictable?)
    Whatever, I progressed in fits and starts , some clues proving more unyielding than others.
    FOI 1 ac “stable”, then en route to completion I particularly liked 25 ac “eyesight”, 27 ac “dry rot” and 4 d “esperanto” my COD.
    Thanks to V for his blog and to setter for an enjoyable end to the week
35. Which is quick for me on a Friday.

    I almost went with “Too Bad” for 2dn and “Day Job” for 27ac — the latter due to reversing Bo J — but on both occasions had (for once) the discipline to double-check and realise my errors.

    Thanks V and Setter.

36. The editor has been insistent that there is no intent to make the last weekday puzzle the hardest, but there has long been an impression (someone may have some stats to bolster this or give it the lie) that it often is, and of course Verlaine appreciates something he can sink his teeth into.
    1. Starstruck has done the stats for us. Go to the snitch home page and scroll down, while watching the colours of the 5 days’ snitch values. Without getting all statistical, you can see visually with your own eyes* that there are more red puzzles on Fridays than any other day, and more greens on Mondays and Tuesday. The snitch isn’t perfect, but it’s a pretty good indication Mondays and Tuesdays are easiest, Fridays are hardest.
       *Famous extemporisation from Master Tautologist and sportscaster Rex “The Moose” Mossop.

       Edited at 2021-08-21 07:35 am (UTC)

37. An uncommon attempt at the 15 x 15 for me and very pleased to finish it, with help from my husband on the last one in, soft spot. I had the spot, he contributed the soft, but couldn’t say why, and neither could I until coming here. Thanks to Verlaine for parsing the ones I biffed – dry rot, esperanto, royal family – and for the rest of the blog, of course. Thanks to setter for an enjoyable puzzle. No time to report – two sessions, either side of a nice hot bath. GW.
38. Interesting spread of comments. I enjoyed this puzzle enormously without finishing it. I started really quickly with stable straight in. Thought I was going to have a record time then it started to slow. Stopped after 40 minutes, came back several times during the day and was left with gaffer and foe incompleted. Whatever the outcome, I found the clues challenging but always fair. Thanks setter.
    As to Verlaine’’s blogging, I have enjoyed watching his videos because the thought process it reveals is not substantially different from mine. Where the difference comes is his ability to see the connection/answer/link/reference at speed. I usually get there but it takes longer. I find this most encouraging. In other words, there is no magic bullet but there is the usual combination of basic ability with practice. You can have more of one and less of the other but if you have lots of both you’re doing well.
    1. Yes it was a struggle for me, and I couldn’t see DRY ROT and BOOHOO.
       I have had an all corrrect on a Friday, but not for a while.

Comments are closed.