Times 29263 – Compounding the misery

64 comments on “Times 29263 – Compounding the misery”

1. 21.01 and like you I spent most time on NITRIDE.
   FOI LINEAL
   LOI RHEA
   COD FUTURE PERFECT

   Thanks U and setter.

2. 34 minutes with one error due to lack of attention to parsing – ‘nitrite’ instead of NITRIDE. I had intended to revisit it at the end but forgot to do so. I’m not sure I remember ‘nitride’ from my chemistry lessons but it was always my worst subject.

   I also missed the parsing of HINDERED, having seen HIND and RED as the two deer but failed to account for the other E in the answer and ‘one running’ in the clue. Must try harder!

   1. I remember nothing from my one year of chemistry lessons. My teacher wrote in my school report: “He has little use for this subject”. But I knew that you could have oxides – so why not nitrides? BTW Has this compound ever been clued using Paul Revere?

3. Lovely way to start the week. Spelt FUCHSIA incorrectly, thought it was ‘fuschia’ but fixed when ENCHAINED went in. Had forgotten about the SECRETARY BIRD but had ‘secret’ for covert and remembered it when NITRIDE and CHANDELIER went in. Liked HINDERED with the two deer but had ‘Hart’ in mind to begin with. COD to ROADSTER.
   Thanks U and setter.

   1. I can spell it because it was named after a botanist called Fuchs, I think.

      1. I remember by mispronouncing it rudely!

         1. I once heard a funny interview on radio with an erstwhile head of the BBC discussing the pronunciation guidelines issued for newsreaders following the death of Fuchs. Hilariously one Northern bulletin included the unapproved version, because the approved oo sound was locally rude.
            Memorably, the various pronunciations are not bleeped, rules on what may be broadcast having relaxed/become offensively slack by the time of the interview. I can’t find it online.

            The name of the shrub is invariably pronounced fuschia on gardening programs so far as I’m aware.

4. A Monday-ish sub-10 for this (in my view) straightforward puzzle. CHANDELIER, ELECTRA, STORYLINE went in without parsing after one or two crossers. GRAPEFRUIT was LOI.

   I liked FUTURE PERFECT, although I’d settle for less than that.

   9’15”, thanks ulaca and setter.

5. 16:36

   Same hold-ups as others but HART instead of HIND cost me some time, as did FUSCHIA (sic), and I wasn’t quite sure how ENCHAINED worked so I mulled over that for a while before collecting my penny.

   A pleasant start to the week and no doubt the speedsters will have raced through it.

   Thanks to both.

6. 35 mins, no aids.

   I saw HIND + RED as my two deer, then couldn’t see where the E came from.

   Held up by spelling the flower as FUCHISA, I think that’s how I pronounce it, too.

   OSTIA is well worth a visit, as good as Pompeii with almost no crowds. And right by the airport.

   COD RAFFISH, probably a chestnut but new to me.

   1. I think the plant was discovered by or named after a Mr Fuchs. That’s how I remember the spelling, anyway.

7. Mutual anagrams at opposing corners: RHEA, HERA.
   I had HAMPERED at 4d for a while, while vainly searching for a “hamp” deer. NITRIDE was LOI here too.
   14’22”

8. 22 minutes with LOI NITRIDE. COD to PLASMA by a short head from SECRETARY BIRD. A pleasant start to the week. Thank you U and setter.

9. Mostly straightforward but FUCHSIA, a word I’ve been misspelling as FUSCHIA all my life, despite knowing its origin, held me up for a while. I liked ENCHAINED and ELECTRA.

   Thanks to Ulaca and the setter

10. 15:43 breaks my previous PB by over 2 mins. This was so on-wavelength I might have set it myself.
    COD to the Dame Edna reference.
    Thanks Ulaca and my twin the setter.

11. For some unknown reason I initially ended HINDERED with an R, so wasted a couple of minutes at the end trying to track down the source of the error message to ‘finish’ in 22.06. As regards the NHO NITRIDE, I used the check function on nitriTe and changed tack abruptly. Don’t understand the German ref in ELECTRA which (like I suspect almost everyone else) I biffed. Some very nice clues here and a couple of toughies, thanks Ulaca.

    From Desolation Row (like, obvs):
    All except for Cain and Abel, and the hunchback of Notre Dame
    Everybody is making love or else expecting rain
    And the Good SAMARITAN he’s dressing, he’s getting ready for the show
    He’s going to the carnival tonight on
    Desolation Row

    1. I remembered the Elector of Hanover from school history lessons circa 1960. The Electress was even more memorable.

       1. I suppose I need to do some research. NHO any of these people so I hope my investigations are rewarding…

          1. The Electress Sophia would have become Queen of England if she hadn’t died just before Queen Anne did. Instead we got a succession of Georges. I trust my old History master is suitably impressed looking down from above,

12. Just under 10 minutes.

    – Didn’t parse the ‘East End houses’ bit of ENCHAINED
    – Wasn’t sure that a U-BOAT is a warship, but given the lack of objections here I assume it’s OK
    – Didn’t know that a GRAPEFRUIT is bitter

    Thanks ulaca and setter.

    FOI Rhea
    LOI Hindered
    COD Artwork

13. Glad I’m not the only one who struggles with the spelling of FUCHSIA with my heart sinking when I saw it was an anagram. I resisted the urge to look it up but inevitably I misspelt it which blocked SECRETARY BIRD. I spent most my time resolving that not helped by missing the obvious with HINDERED and not being fully confident in it.

    RABBINATE (nho) and ARTWORK were the only other ones which caused trouble. Spent far too much time trying to parse the incorrect ARTBOOK.

    Otherwise good Monday stuff which I should have done a good 10-15mins quicker than the 32 minutes it took.

    COD: HINDERED

    Thanks blogger and setter.

    1. I always remember the apocryphal newspaper headline “Dr Fuchs off”, which could have been written about both the explorer and the spy.

14. I’m hooting forlornly in the OWL club as I put ‘nitrite’ today. Otherwise fairly quick and Mondayish.

15. One wrong in 17 mins. NITRITE. Lots to like here and thanks to the setter.

    But something I need to get off my chest. I’m not a big fan of multiple initial letters forming part of the wordplay. Such as in CHANDELIER where “-IER” is represented by “installed extremely rarely to begin with”.

    I have no problems with one letter being represented by “initially”. When two letters are indicated in this way I’m triggered slightly. When I see three or more letters so denoted, I’m finally forced to speak out.

    Anyone else similarly afflicted?

    1. Absolutely not. And it’s a device I resort to in my own humble “weekend” puzzles.

       1. Hi Busman.

          Fair enough. Any devices that do get your 🐐? (That’s supposed to be a goat). 😀

          1. I don’t like reverse hiddens – but that’s because of my dyspraxia rather than for reasons of style. Sorry you couldn’t make the George. I still have it in mind to make my way down to Birmingham before much longer.

    2. I must confess I rather enjoy them, though with the same sense of slight shame that comes from admitting a weakness for airport novels and excruciating puns. It’s fun to see how much the setter thinks he can get away with as the sequence of words gets longer and longer – for example, “At first, cruciverbalists leave unanswered esoteric setters’ questions” (5)

       1. Thanks Inverleith. I suspect we all have our dislikes and our favourites.

16. Monday indeed! A new PB for me of just on 10 minutes. A slight pause while I decided between chandElier and chandAlier, otherwise written in as fast as they were read. I’ve seen a Secretary Bird on safari, on top of a bare tree, and oddly enough set a picture of one in a quiz last week (which nobody knew), life is full of coincidences.

    1. Congrats!

17. 23:20
    Another one who misspelled FUSCHIA, which delayed getting ENCHAINED and SECRETARY BIRD. This finally gave me the I for my LOI NITRIDE.

    Most GRAPEFRUIT in the shops seem to be very sweet, and not in the least bitter.

    In TAKINGS, it is nice to see “college” meaning somewhere other than Eton, although (assuming the Fenland one) the setters are still restricting themselves to colleges founded by Henry VI.

    Thanks Ulaca and setting

    1. Magdalen has been in the cryptic; although founded during the reign of Henry VI (in 1458), the founder was William of Waynflete.

       1. We’ve had my alma mater too, founded by Walter de Merton during the reign of Henry III.

18. Just under 20′ before bed last night. Very careful with NITRIDE, but thankfully both options popped into my head so I had a choice. Didn’t get the German prince but did get the answer. As said, pretty Mondayish.

    Thanks Ulaca and setter.

19. 24:33 (for which I earned a pleasing 777 points). LOI NITRIDE. I liked ARTWORK

20. Having done this puzzle at 6am, I looked at the leaderboard to find that two thirds of the entrants had at least one error – and I suspect “nitrite” to be the prime cause. Being a non-sciency kind of guy, I deliberately left it till the death and parsed it carefully.

    FOI MASONIC
    LOI NITRIDE
    COD HINDERED
    TIME 7:31

21. 5:45. Pretty Mondayish. Quite how I avoided the NITRITE trap – the kind of thing I am usually an absolute sucker for – I don’t know.

22. 17:13 but…

    …checked the existence of NITRIDE before committing – heard of nitrite and nitrate but wasn’t sure of this one. Mostly OK otherwise – I didn’t get the German reference for ELECT(O)R . Liked ARTWORK and pleased to recall SECRETARY BIRD – not sure I’ve ever seen one.

    Thanks U and setter

23. RHEA was FOI, closely followed by RAFFISH. I initially misspelled FUSCHIA, but on looking at the clue for 11a, and immediately seeing SECRETARY BIRD, (which like Piquet, I’ve seen on a safari), corrected it to FUCHSIA. LOI, ROADSTER, was held up briefly by my having biffed HINDRANCE at 4d, which didn’t do the SECRRTARY BIRD any good, and didn’t fit anyway. Once I’d changed HINDRANE to HINDERED, all was well. 13:43. Thanks setter and U.

24. 15:50 – rather elegant cluing, I thought, with rather less elegant solving, particularly in the NW where I discovered I was another one who couldn’t spell FUCHSIA. Similarly hindered by looking for an anagram of “two deer i” at 4d until RAFFISH eventually put paid to that line of thought.

25. 12.36

    Amazingly I did actually try and parse NITRITE and was able to change the offensive letter.

    Otherwise, good Monday fare. Liked HINDERED.

    In response to AstonVilla I guess we all have clues we like less than others. If the objection to cluing more than one letter by its initial is that it’s a slightly lazy “out” I get that but personally don’t particularly mind it. Dare I say I like that it makes the clue straightforward most of the time. A personal peeve for me are long, wordy clues with an unlikely surface which usually have to be solved backwards from the definition. Favourites include NHOs which are clued scrupulously fairly.

    Thanks setter and Ulaca

    1. Being a Scotsman, any sort of homonym clue usually gives me a “really!” moment

26. Everything was more or less a write-in and I was on for a rare sub-20 time until I came up against N_T_I_E. Having rejected nitrite and nitrine and being thrown by ‘gunge’ and ‘in’ I gave up and used aids. All this took five minutes, so 24 minutes, but DNF strictly. Wasn’t totally convinced by the extra F in RAFFISH.

27. A poor show by me today. I fell into the trap of misspelling FUSCHIA and took far too long to see it, meaning I was stuck on 9 and 11 across for several minutes. I also failed on NITRIDES: I could see nitrites didn’t fit but NITRIDES wouldn’t come to mind and the construction was too counterintuitive to get there with the wordplay.

28. 15.30 for a pretty easy ride today. Thanks Ulaca – your use of the future perfect in the clue explanation was much appreciated!

    1. Well said.

29. About as quick as I can go, right on the wavelength. Stopped for a few nanoseconds to decide which of NITRATE, NITRITE or NITRIDE it was, no problems spelling Fuchsia. Electra Complex known, but also know the opera has a K not a C (from another puzzle I got wrong), so the word German in the clue slightly spooked me.
    Lots of initial and final and adjacent letters clued today, I count 11. Makes the puzzle a bit unbalanced. Unlike Aston Villa I don’t mind them, except in this amount.

30. 7:54 one of my fastest.
    The spelling of FUCHSIA is easy if you remember it is named after the German botanist Leonhard Fuchs.

31. A very rapid 15.38 for me where the answers just flowed ….. until 7dn. I gave it the best part of a minute trying to make something of it, but failed, and in the interests of recording a quick time went for NITRINE which was at least a compound. I also toyed with NITRITE but I never did think of ‘dirt’ for ‘gunge’.

32. I particularly identified with 15 across.

33. Trod very carefully around LOI NITRIDE. Glad I took the time to work it out. Bear trap, it was. But chemical compounds are always tricky. Otherwise it all went in very easily, and at one point I was hoping for an under-10. Not to be. 13’51”.

34. A late entry for me, and a steady 13.38 solve for what I thought was an intelligent Monday puzzle. I note 68 people (so far) today made it in under 10 minutes, which looks like a lot and contrives to make me feel rather pedestrian.

35. Yet another held up by misspelling FUCHSIA. Perhaps we need to start a campaign to change how it’s spelt.
    FOI OSTIA
    LOI ENCHAINED
    COD BEARABLE

36. 13:38 but a pink square because of ADTRACT (no I’m not sure why either). so it would have been a massive PB apart from that. not that I’m bitter or anything. I did get NITRIDE though through parsing it properly…

    lovely puzzle for a Monday. thanks both!

37. 29.16 The bottom half was quick, the top not so much. Eventually RAFFISH led to FUCHSIA, ENCHAINED and LOI HINDERED. Thanks ulaca.

38. I think I was quite fast but I have no idea because the timer wasn’t working in the app and when I finished it came up “Completed 0:00”
    Am I the only one having these battles ?!
    Anyway I thought that was a fun puzzle and I got the backwards dirt without problem 😉
    Thanks setter and blogger

39. Realised NITRITE didn’t work and corrected to NITRIDE when I spotted the dirt. Sadly same didn’t happen with ARTBOOK instead of ARTWORK 😔

40. 30 minutes with no issues – my CODs were Chandelier, Bearable and Takings.
    Spent a while looking for a Cockney word (i.e. minus H) in “East End houses”.

41. 16 minutes. Despite having given up chemistry pre-O-level, I realised that it had to be “nitride” because of the parsing. (Like “square leg”, I thought of Paul Revere!) Not a very challenging puzzle, which was just as well, as I didn’t have much time to spare.

42. Would have been close to a PB if I hadn’t misspelled FUCHSIA and CHANDELIER and if I had avoided the nitrite trap … TBF I was trying to beat 20 mins and was rushing. I don’t mind an easier puzzle so thanks setter and blogger

43. Missed pb as i was lazy with nitride but enjoyed it; thanks to setter and blogger.

44. I too enjoyed it, but has more problems with it than most here. RAFFISH just would not come, which would have helped enormously with those four down clues. Some I got “on sight” : the bird and the open-top car, for example, and the tense (now wise-up to that meaning of tense). A good 40 minutes with distractions from my pussy cats, but time well spent.

45. Are fuchsia and secateur the most likely words to be mispronounced by gardeners? Fuschia and secatua.

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