A relatively straightforward Monday offering, with some nice stuff and a bit of an undisguised-anagram fetish.
12:28
| Across | |
| 1 | Reactionary new school lacking aspiration (6) |
| NARROW – N |
|
| 5 | Is one clever to welcome Conservative, it being civilised? (8) |
| AMICABLE – C (Conservative – more reactionaries?) in AM I (is one?) ABLE (clever); ‘Civilised’ in the ‘Come on, darling, let’s be civilised about this. We must think of the children, you know’ sense. | |
| 9 | Badly mistreat an old puffer? (5,5) |
| STEAM TRAIN – anagram* of MISTREAT AN | |
| 10 | Husband that’s horrible — this chap? (4) |
| HUGH – H UGH! | |
| 11 | Warrior suffers, wrongly held (8) |
| ACHILLES – ILL (wrongly – ‘JK Rowling was ill treated’) in ACHES (suffers) | |
| 12 | Look after dilapidated vehicle going round sharp bend, perhaps (6) |
| CURATE – U in CRATE (dilapidated vehicle) | |
| 13 | Old poems from the east, almost all augmented (4) |
| EDDA – ADDE |
|
| 15 | Tough guy going round concealing dread (8) |
| GANGSTER – ANGST (in Existentialist philosophy, this is the dread caused by the awareness that your future is not determined but must be freely chosen) in REG reversed. Personally, I’d be far more dreadful if I thought my future wasn’t freely chosen. Which, I suppose, means I’d never make much of an Existentialist.
Hands up who thought the definition was ‘tough guy’ and couldn’t parse it? |
|
| 18 | What might offer illumination when in fix? (8) |
| CASEMENT – a cryptic definition – or not (thanks, Bob!) AS (when) in CEMENT (fix); I’ll keep it underlined as it also works in a gestalt sort of way. A CASEMENT is a window frame that opens on hinges along the side. | |
| 19 | Noble old king, 50, beating a retreat (4) |
| EARL – aha! a cycling clue without the word ‘cycling’, and all the better for that. We have [King] LEAR with the L (50) going to the final position | |
| 21 | Make a fuss about judge dropping an E (6) |
| CREATE – C (about) E in RATE; I’m not convinced about this, if I have the parsing correct, as ‘dropping’ would be an instruction to drop an E in the word RATE – and we lack an ‘in’. As pointed out by Myrtilus, if you drop an ecstasy tablet (E), you swallow it. | |
| 23 | Around island, I cannot shake inertia (8) |
| INACTION – I (island) in I CANNOT* | |
| 25 | A clever remark backfiring a bit? (4) |
| ATOM – A followed by a reversal of MOT (as in ‘bon mot’) | |
| 26 | Rescue men I deport in error (10) |
| REDEMPTION – MEN I DEPORT* | |
| 27 | A rebel soldier lost in scholarly setting (8) |
| ACADEMIA – A CADE (rebel, as in John Cade, who is memorialised in crosswords) MIA (soldier lost, that is, Missing In Action) | |
| 28 | Annoyed shopper starts to express dismay (6) |
| NARKED – NARK (one who snitches on another – very common these days, as people dig up things you tweeted 20 years ago in an attempt to destroy your career) E |
|
| Down | |
| 2 | Greek agents about to acquire Times (5) |
| ATTIC -TT (times) in CIA reversed | |
| 3 | Restore ecstasy enjoyed by Hindu queen and consort (9) |
| REANIMATE – E in RANI MATE | |
| 4 | Building material inventor left half abandoned (6) |
| WATTLE – WATT (inventor of the separate condenser for the steam engine) LE |
|
| 5 | Book overseas trip (1,7,2,5) |
| A PASSAGE TO INDIA – a bit weak, this one, methinks | |
| 6 | Free of sin, as some popes were (8) |
| INNOCENT – 13 popes have called themselves innocent – unlucky for some… | |
| 7 | Hate violent crime associated with men (5) |
| ABHOR – ABH (actual bodily harm) OR (Other Ranks – crossword soldiers) | |
| 8 | A long way from lethargy, I suspect (5,4) |
| LIGHT YEAR – LETHARGY I* | |
| 14 | Mark of a poor reviewer, they say (9) |
| DIACRITIC – a non-rhotic bad reviewer might be called a ‘dire critic’ | |
| 16 | Doctor protects a bystander (9) |
| SPECTATOR – PROTECTS A*; we’ve had a few clues like this, haven’t we? | |
| 17 | Message in TV broadcast having little weight (8) |
| TELEGRAM – TELE (sounds like ‘telly’) GRAM (little weight) | |
| 20 | Inquisitor in call for truce on island (6) |
| PAXMAN – PAX (what schoolboys say when they want a break from playground hostilities) MAN (Isle thereof); Jeremy Paxman is a fearsome British interviewer | |
| 22 | Abused Cockney ready to explode (5) |
| ARMED – |
|
| 24 | Joke about weight taken the wrong way — toxic stuff! (5) |
| OZONE – a reversal of OZ (ounce) in ONE (joke, as in ‘Have you heard the one about the Englishman, the Scotsman and the Irishman?’) | |
40 minutes. I was well on target for a sub-30 solve with more than three-quarters of the grid completed but then I got myself bogged down in the SW with 14dn, 22dn, 21ac and 25ac missing, plus a question mark over ACADEMIA as I was unable to parse it. Eventually I firmed that up by spotting CADE as the rebel, but still had no idea about MIA which in retrospect I should have known.
The breakthrough came with DIACRITIC, then ATOM and ARMED in quick succession. My LOI was CREATE which went in with reservations as I was unable to parse it and I still can’t see any way to make the grammar of the clue work.
I didn’t have any difficulty with PAXMAN but I feel for our overseas solvers, most of whom have probably never heard of him. And once again with a living person clue I think that the definition is not specific enough. Paxman retired from Newsnight, the programme that made his name as a fierce interviewer, 10 years ago, so the definition could be a reference to his more recent career which ended only last year as host of the quiz University Challenge. I suspect this may exported to a few other countries, perhaps Australia and New Zealand? Some like me may be ancient enough to remember the quiz show Take Your Pick on ITV and Radio Luxembourg in which the host, Michael Miles, was known as the ‘Quiz Inquisitor’.
I had the same problem with CREATE. But after searching, I found that create means ‘make a fuss, as in ‘little kids create because they hate being ignored’.
Thanks, but it was ‘dropping the E’ that baffled me. I’ve seen the explanations of others that ‘dropping’ is slang for taking a pill which may well be correct but seems to be taking Times setters’ apparent obsession with drug culture to a new level.
Agreed Jack. I couldn’t parse this one as I didn’t understand the required slang.
Agree, wording implies leave e out.
Yes, PAXMAN was well-nigh impossible, and a more straightforward definition wouldn’t have helped.
Yes our living person rule tripped me up today. I could not think of anything other than lawman and put it in expecting to be wrong. I did not think of PAX for the call for truce and I agree the definition was too loose to suggest we were looking for a name rather than a noun. Heigh ho every day is a school day
Have I missed a rule change? I thought The Times only used the names of dead people as answers with the exception of the ruling monarch. Any clarification would be much appreciated.
Yes, the rule was changed 3-4 months ago
Thank you
Open the box!
11’33”, five minutes faster than my effort on the QC. The full parsings of GANGSTER and ACADEMIA passed me by.
Here is Paxman at his best https://youtu.be/IqU77I40mS0?si=ATdtdFMREZMOmiUG
Thanks ulaca and setter.
23 minutes and amazingly all correct. I biffed CASEMENT, CREATE and OZONE. I had PAXMAN as COD. He is so well known in the UK that surely no apology is necessary for his inclusion.
I have CASEMENT parsed: AS in CEMENT
Agreed.
Spot on. Thanks, Bob. Blog duly amended.
Oh! narrow, narrow was the space, Oriana.
Loud, loud rung out the bugle’s brays, Oriana.
(The Ballad of Oriana, Tennyson)
25 mins pre-brekker with a few Minor Eyebrow Raises.
I think if you “drop” an E tablet, you actually swallow it, rather than let it slip from your grasp.
I must remember MIA. We have had it before and I remember telling myself to remember it then too.
Ta setter and U.
I feel as though ‘dropping an E’ could have done with a question mark as it’s so far from the other definition of dropping. Fair-ish I guess, but I still harrumphed all the way to Pret.
14.25
I didn’t mind PAXMAN as we’re now well into the living persons era, but I think dropping to mean inserting was a step too far. (The young people nowadays talk about a new record or film “dropping” to denote its being released: the first time I heard the usage I thought it meant they’d decided not to bother.)
NHO (Jack) Cade’s Rebellion, didn’t think of MIA but biffed ACADEMIA anyway.
LOI CREATE
COD LIGHT YEAR
Hoped for a PB as almost done in ten minutes, but held up for another 5 with the possibilities for *A*E*E*T at 16a and with NARKED and PAXMAN, who, as he is currently totally wrecked with Parkinsons, was I thought a little unnecessary, but maybe I’m over sensitive to that issue as it’s close to home.
12.44
CASEMENT was my LOI, fearing I was after a cryptic definition for a word/meaning I wasn’t sure of (EASEMENT, BASEMENT, PAVEMENT…). I was quite relieved to discover there was wordplay! A bit laggardly through the rest, but it all went in.
I agree that PAXMAN could’ve been defined differently, although I don’t mind his inclusion per se. If the purpose of introducing living people is to engage younger solvers (an aim & a way of doing so I fully support), defining someone with a role he’s not had for a decade seems to miss the point.
Thanks both.
21.50 but put in Harrow for narrow. Mea culpa, mea culpa….
In 1a don’t get that ‘lacking aspiration’ = drops the H?
The aitch sound at the beginning of a word is called aspiration. So Harrow without its aspiration is ARROW.
And makes a welcome change from shoehorning a reference into the clue.
33 minutes. I did this as a warm-up to the QC. I didn’t know what was going on with CREATE but the proposed parsing makes sense. Glad I corrected the C to a K inNARKED. Favourite was my LOI CASEMENT both for def and wordplay.
10:59. I found some of the definitions a bit loose in this. 1ac for instance: in my experience reactionaries take an expansive approach to the aspects of the modern world they dislike. However reactionary you are though, being ‘cancelled’ (appointed as a columnist in the Telegraph and given a regular spot on Question Time) for a 20-year old tweet would be impressive, since it would have been two years before Twitter existed. Having said that I am not keen on ‘dropping an E’ as a containment indicator, so perhaps I’m turning into an old reactionary myself.
I think ‘dropping’ as a containment indicator can only work with ‘dropping an E’ (or maybe ‘dropping a tab’), but in that specific context it’s alright.
Is that Charles Moore you are referring to?
Just skimmed through his Wikipedia page. He makes me feel like Tony Benn by comparison!
I wasn’t thinking of anyone in particular. Just general-purpose facetiousness!
Should have known!
35 minutes.
– No problem with ‘dropping’ meaning ‘insert’ for CREATE, but was a bit less sure about ‘make a fuss’ as the definition
– Didn’t parse ACADEMIA
– Several other clues I was slow to get (ATTIC, GANGSTER, ATOM, TELEGRAM, ARMED)
Thanks ulaca and setter.
FOI Hugh
LOI Gangster
COD Casement
This is a specific meaning of ‘create’. See Collins for example: ‘to make a fuss or uproar’. Not sure I’ve ever come across it in the wild.
It used to be used all the time at home ‘stop creating’.
Thanks. I’ve certainly heard “create a scene,” but that doesn’t require a special meaning for CREATE tout court.
CREATE is in Collins as 6. (intransitive) British slang
to make a fuss or uproar.
Also in Chambers and the Oxfords.
Yes, I found it in Collins last night. Just never heard or seen it in real life.
I have, although I can’t imagine where; the first time was before it showed up here, anyway.
33 mins, 12 of which on CASEMENT which ruined an otherwise great start to the week.
Forgot Cade as usual but biffable, no probs with Paxo as it was well signposted and I like anagrams.
Failed to parse, 5a Amicable, 18a Casement.
DNF 25a Atom. I BIFD Item being a misspelt mite coming back, and possibly an item might just be a clever remark? No, all right then.
Failed to parse 27a Academia, although I saw Jack Cade and just shrugged. Failed to parse Ozone at 24d; saw the ounce and never thought about the one=joke.
So pretty hard for a Monday IMHO.
Biffed ACADEMIA and CASEMENT. Never really felt on top of this one.
LOI CREATE
15:30
15.49, with the slower section being most of the stuff below the middle. Parsed neither ACADEMIA nor CREATE, my deductive powers being M.I.A though not distorted by dropping a morning E. I also (being apparently a NARROW reactionary) need to remember that OZONE, like many things once thought healthy, is now toxic. Running through my (rather short) list of inquisitors, mostly crossword setters like Torquemada, then Ximénez, Biggles and Fang, didn’t produce PAXMAN, but sudden inspiration did. Nobody expects that!
Not the comfy chair!
I thought CREATE was a great clue. Although it was my LOI I knew it had to be right earlier in the puzzle but couldn’t see why. Only got it when I had filled in everything else and stopped to think about it properly. No problem with the definition, that meaning has always been in my family’s vocab and particularly in recent years after my sister adopted a child who is ‘on the spectrum’ as they say nowadays and she frequently CREATEs when something doesn’t go the way she thinks it should. And then I realised that to ‘drop’ an E (or a tab or heroin or acid for that matter) is common parlance for ingesting the substance. So it’s a neat misdirecting device as one of those ‘contronyms’ that mean two opposite things, like BEST and WORST as we often meet in these crosswords.
Fun Monday offering, thanks to setter and ulaca.
I filled it in 39 minutes, but was unhappy with three, and only entered them because they more or less had to be the right answer. Was totally unable to understand EARL, which seems doubtful: beating a retreat means going to the end of the word, does it? Sort of, but … Dropping an E seemed to be quite a stretch and defeated me. I thought it was something about the liar being a Cretan and couldn’t work it out. Never knew about MIA. The rest of it all was very nice.
20:49
Fairly straightforward with only the SW causing me to slow down a little – CREATE and ATOM in particular. I like the MIA bit of ACADEMIA once I’d worked it out. COD CASEMENT.
Thanks to Ulaca and the setter
7:43 Nice gentle start to the week. Unlike some of those creating I thought all the clues were perfectly fair, and the ‘E’ dropping device was a clever addition to the setter’s armoury, though I hope it’s not used too often. It was good to be reminded of the fearsome Paxman, in whichever guise, though sad to discover above that he is in poor health. As a non-rhotic linguist I must award my COD to DIACRITIC.
I’m slightly mystified by many of the preceding comments, because this puzzle really skewered me. Maybe the fact that I dozed off mid-solve so don’t have a proper time is relevant, but even so I was staring for a long time at so many blank spaces that I was mightily relieved to actually finish. Got there in the end but had a shocker with the QC as well, if that means anything. Getting PAXMAN felt like a moment of triumph, you don’t see much of him outside the UK.
From Temporary Like Achilles:
That’s it, ACHILLES, who is not otherwise mentioned.
‘And me, I never asked you for much, I never asked for your crutch
So don’t ask for mine [John Lennon]…’
That’s not from “Temporary Like Achilles,” Lindsay. It’s “Fourth Time Around”—which I did at karaoke a few months ago, after the demise of François Hardy, having heard that she requested it from Dylan once.
I don’t know what “John Lennon” is doing there, though this song is said to have been some kind of response to “Norwegian Wood.”
Ha ha of course it is! That will teach me to rely on memory instead of going to the web site, what a dope. I read just recently (can’t remember where, on one of those Dylan sites where they spoke to people involved with the Blonde on Blonde sessions) that the Norwegian Wood echoes and the closing lyrics were prompted by some spat with Lennon over issues that arise between international megastar musicians but nobody else…
Here’s the story, such as it is. I’d forgotten some details. Supposedly, Dylan thought Lennon had aped his own style on Rubber Soul and wrote “Fourth Time Around” to get back at him.…
https://www.goldradio.com/artists/the-beatles/bob-dylan-feud-argument-lennon/
So guess I’ll do the honors…
« ACHILLES is in your alleyway
He don’t want me here, he does brag
He’s pointing to the sky
And he’s hungry, like a man in drag
How come you get someone like him to be your guard?
You know I want your lovin’
Honey, why are you so hard? »
22:41 with LOI ATOM. @LindsayO Paxman retired a decade or so ago, so even in the UK that was a clue for oldies like me.
19 mins with a Major Eyebrow Raise about the E
If ‘dropping’ as a containment indicator is legitimate in the context of 21ac then it’s legitimate in any context as a cryptic usage. All that’s wanted in addition is for the surface reading to be intelligible. So a contronym, as Astarte has indeed already said.
From STEAM TRAIN TO PAXMAN in 21:05. Didn’t understand the parsing for CREATE although I knew the definition. MER! Took me a while to get going in the top half, but then it flowed until I hit the bottom half and slowed down. Looking back I can’t see why. Maybe just me having a sluggish Monday morning. Thanks setter and Hugh.
Mostly on the wavelength, but DNF: I think I might have heard of Paxman, but no idea who he was or what he did. Australian primary-school children obviously don’t know any Latin (nor do their parents) so our call for truce was “Barley”. So a knew-it-was-wrong BARMAN was my best guess – barmen are prone to be inquisitive when things are quiet.
Otherwise a great puzzle, all parsed except CREATE which I solved without looking at, remembering the first word was MAKE so missing the unknown make a fuss. No problems with the judge ingesting an E. Did struggle with EARL, thinking ER was the old king, L fifty, and how do you get the A in there? Finally saw Lear.
I saw it the same way – ER for old king, L for 50, going around (beating) A.
Never heard of PAXMAN, had to look up that word, my POI. Last was CREATE, where the presence of “a fuss” was the most baffling aspect. Everything else was pretty easy.
7:03
… which was half a minute less than I took for the quick criptic: does anybody else think the quick has stepped up a level in difficulty lately? I do it as a warm-up for the bigger one so don’t submit it to leaderboard, but recently it’s only served to make me think I’m getting worse at these things.
From some comments in the Quickie blog, I was expecting an easy Monday, and maybe that’s why I was completely thrown by today’s offering, none of which came easily. Disliked NARROW as a definition of reactionary – it was one of my last in – was unable to parse ACADEMIA, having forgotten the crossword rebel and not known MIA, and didn’t understand EARL in the cycling clue. Certainly the Quick crossword was more enjoyable – it’s a wavelength thing coupled with false expectations, I imagine. At least there were no unknown words to deal with, though I thought PAXMAN was very insensitive.
19:51
So that’s how CREATE works? Too bad. I was going to say ‘NHO PAXMAN’, but when I thought of PAX MAN, it rang the faintest of bells to make me confident in my solution. It may have helped me get 18ac that I had just read a review of a new biography of Roger CASEMENT. Took longer than my QC, but felt easier.
32:23. Thrown by the same false expectations as alto_ego above. Struggled with far too many today including ACHILLES, DIACRITIC, CASEMENT, EARL, NARKED…. I liked GANGSTER
23:56
Perhaps a shade off the wavelength today, puzzle completed while waiting for Mrs H to emerge from the optician’s. Like others, didn’t understand CREATE fully until reading Myrtilus’ comment. EARL was slightly puzzling in flight but a kickself in retrospect
Thanks U and setter
A gentle Monday offering for me, all done over a lunchtime pinta in 19 minutes. Only minor problem was the parsing of 21ac, but the meaning of CREATE here was not an issue. Our children used to create a lot of the time.
FOI – STEAM TRAIN
LOI – CURATE
COD – NARKED
Thanks to ulaca and other contributors.
DNF, as I couldn’t get PAXMAN and biffed in DAEMON, not really knowing what one was.
It took me a long time to get into this, but once I’d got the book, it suddenly got easier. Last four clues were tough: ATOM, CREATE, DIACRITIC and EDDA (those last two felt a bit barred puzzle).
I still haven’t got used to the living rule. Old Paxo didn’t even cross my mind.
Harumph!
https://metro.co.uk/2021/08/09/university-challenge-6-of-the-most-hilariously-wrong-answers-ever-15037810/
Daemon also crossed my mind as a way of filling those blanks.
To some of his victims daemon, in one of its senses, and Paxman could be seen as synonymous.
15.42 WOE
In a rush to finish that corner bunged in HARROW without properly reading the clue. Won’t be the last time. LOI was CASEMENT more in hope than expectation as had no idea what was going on.
Nor did I particularly notice the “drop” issue. Miracle I finish any of these!
Thanks setter/Ulaca
5:44. On the wavelength today. A fair mix of the usual devices. Wasn’t too keen on HUGH and the REG bit of GANGSTER, at least ATOM didn’t refer to TOM. And I know only a few will care about my objection to the extant PAXMAN!
No time as all done in several sittings. Not quick though. As some others, held up by some odd clues in the SW, particularly CREATE, ATOM and CASEMENT.
I never really liked PAXMAN in UC as I found him somewhat supercilious.
Is the unclarified “MOT” on its own a clever remark? I think not.
Thanks ulaca and setter
Collins has ‘mot’ as a shortened form of ‘bon mot.’
Aha. OK then.
41:41 but with 1 error. Typed AMICABLY – I’m still fairly sure that either works…
I got PAXMAN but usual gripe about the living persons rule. No disrespect to Paxo but I really do think the editor needs to up the level of fame required.
AMICABLY It does work if you take the definition “being civilised”, but not with the wordplay. Am I ably(?) doesn’t compute.Unlucky!
I found this relatively straightforward after my nightmare with the QC, finishing in 29.31. Only a couple of minutes more than my time for the aforementioned, it was a fairly smooth solve until I got to the sw corner where DIACRITIC and finally CREATE caused me to tarry a while. I suspected PAXMAN may be a problem for non UK dwellers, and I’m sure old Paxo will be flattered to get a mention.
I spent ten minutes at the end staring at the unparsable 20dn, thinking “if only there was such a word as PAXMAN?” Dear reader, imagine my surprise…
Thanks U and setter.
Your “if only” may well be true, given that “he [possibly] was descended from Roger Packsman, a 14th-century politician from Suffolk who had changed his name to Paxman to impress the electorate” – Wikipedia.
About 45′ before and after golf. Seemed to take longer than it should have done (as did my golf round) but survived in the end with a quick correction of AMICABLy avoiding a pink square. Looked at CASEMENT for a long time, though I’m sure it was used not long ago. Failed to parse GANGSTER as Ulaca predicted and didn’t ger the ATTIC=Greek connection but should have. Thanks Ulaca and setter
26’50”
Smartly away, stayed on well, never troubled leaders…
… but all parsed, bar my bête noire, the three letter abbreviation, which did finally dawn on me after I’d dismissed Mia, the soldier/eco-warrior step daughter of Will Grundy, lost to Ambridge on account of her being away at university.
I’d agree with E Bradford’s suggestion above; if the extant are to be included, perhaps a minimum level of achievement table ought to be compiled. In the field of journalism might Pulitzer Prize winner or equivalent perhaps be a benchmark. In this case the gap could equally well have been filled by Philip Pullman’s trope, or an admirably well qualified Dutch navigator.
Very minor quibbles aside, I enjoyed this lots; thank you setter and Ulaca.
25:23. I made hard work work of this – or it was hard work. Not quite sure which.
COD: ACHILLES
20 minutes – so quick for me – I biffed myself through this one wondering about rebels and e’s and jokes and shoppers and tough guys, but it all came good.
27 minutes. Biffed academia, although I eventually got the missing in action thing after staring at it for a while. I’d assumed that “judge(,) dropping an E” meant “if you dropped the E, you’d get the word “rate”, but I suppose that’s rather convoluted.
10 minute job, typical Monday. MIA was new to me, though it was an easy biff.
25:33
A straightforward Monday. LOI was GANGSTER.
45 mins but two and a half short: CREATE, TELEGRAM and the first bit of PAXMAN.
Eton 0; Harrow 1 today
That definition of CREATE was pretty fiendish, anytime the blog says it’s yhe sixth definition in Collins I know im in trouble.
15.01. Some redemption after a spelling error in the Quick Cryptic earlier.