Times 29279 – torture, and not mercy

81 comments on “Times 29279 – torture, and not mercy”

1. This pangram was a toughie in keeping with Friday traditions which we have been told on more than one occasion do not exist. Yeh, just like easier Mondays!

   I needed 63 minutes to complete this very enjoyable challenge but sadly I made an error also experieneced by our blogger, namely QUETSAL at 2dn arrived at from wordplay S{po}T. The answer looked so unlikely that I checked it in a dictionary before proceeding and changed S to Z.

   I missed some of the parsing of FUNDAMENTALIST, so thanks for that, Will.

   I thought the definition of BUZZARD (glider) was weak, bordering on the unfair, but otherwise I liked the puzzle a lot.

   1. Drat! If I’d spotted the pangram I *might* not have erred on 2dn.

   2. Is Glider any worse than Flyer, Winger or Singer (whether they do or not)? Glider is more deterministic for a Buzzard.

2. Now this was really something. Hubris strikes again as I was moderately pleased to at least fill the grid in 37′, although I dared not submit on-leaderboard (what’s the etiquette around that?) due to feeling BUSTARD and QUETSAL were dodgy. (Note: I wrote this comment before the blog appeared – funny to see the same errors!)

   Upon seeing the two pinks and realising that ZIT could also be ‘spot’ (how incredibly devious!), I nevertheless tried to make my answers work. Unfortunately, however, bustards seem unequivocally not to glide (although the authors of a 2021 paper entitled ‘Is There Any Aerodynamic Obstacle to Gliding in Great Bustard?’ conclude that “although great bustard is known as poor flyer, there is no aerodynamic obstacle to perform gliding or soaring”). If the setter thought of all this, he/she is a genius. I was hoping for a connection between ‘bust’ (as in blackjack) and ‘advanced beyond’ (the number 21), but it doesn’t really work of course, and then there’s no ring.

   Next, I went on a brief hunt through archive.org for the alternative ‘quetsal’ spelling, hoping for it to appear as a historical variant. There are a couple of hundred hits but many are likely to be dross. Some are genuine such as reference to “feathers of the quetsal bird” (The American Numismatist, August 1934, p. 505), but could be typos or due to lack of editorial knowledge.

   Thank you for accompanying me in reliving this vain quest for Friday glory. What a puzzle! And thank you blogger for the hard work.

   PS: Didn’t know owls prowl, hence, apparently, the actual meaning of prowl. Didn’t know LOWER, only glower. Did know German ‘lauern’ which sounds the same and means ‘to lurk’, both of which are apparently etymologically related.

3. Just brilliant – despite the bird! 😀

4. I also went for QUETSAL but luckily I never thought of “bustard” so I fixed everytbing up with the correct BUZZARD. Everything went smoothly at first but I was hald up for ages with lots of unsolved clues in the SE until I finally saw was SHARPENER was all about and then things started to fall into place. I was pleased to finish all green, this felt hard as i was solving.

5. Clever and elegant crossword. Well done setter.
   Of course, I had many left unfinished after my allotted 30 minutes but who cares.

6. I saw the ‘que’ and empty flag for ‘la’ but fell for the empty ‘spot’ trap. I failed miserably on this but can appreciate the cleverness with which the clues were constructed, especially the surfaces in some.
   LIQUID was very good and liked the two ponies which I saw straight away, maybe because we had ‘pony’ last week in a Sunday Times puzzle. Missed the ‘Nancy’ for in French. Knew the ‘left/sinister’ meaning but it was clue as ‘abandoned’ anyway. For some reason I thought it was ‘nuptUal’ but ‘t(r)ial’ sorted it out. HELLBENT another cracker for ‘set’. Missed the ‘kid’ reference in FEEDSTUFF which was obviously the intent of the setter. NIAGARA was very good with the horses to go with the ponies in 1a. COD to SHARPENER.
   Thanks William and setter.

7. Another who went for QUETSAL until BUZZARD came into view, had to look it up to see if it was a bird and or currency. Otherwise a super Friday job, 35 minutes.

8. 23.20
   An amazing puzzle! Having biffed INKJET I suspected the pangram was on, and this (for the first time ever) allowed me to fill in the missing Z.
   Some of the wordplay was not the sort of thing to spring on a lad with a morning head, especially for my LOI QUETZAL.
   INSINUATE gets my COY (Clue of the Year).

9. Took about an hour and a half on this and I’m glad did. Unfortunately, though spotting the pangram did help for QUETZAL, it didn’t help at the end where the relatively innocuous crossers of GRIMACE and PRIEST were probably my biggest hold-ups. All good fun though.

10. A fantastic puzzle – I got badly stuck on GRIMACE (trying to either cycle the whole clue, or looking for a bovine lower) and INSINUATE (I danced around it for a while before it clicked). 22.07.

    Thankfully I got BUZZARD before needing to worry about QUETZAL!

    Thanks both.

11. 75 minutes but with one wrong. I guessed QUETZEL to rhyme with Pretzel for the Guatemalan bird, not that I knew that’s what I was looking for anyway. Some good came out of my travails with my printer earlier in the week when I thought of INKJET. COD to ABEYANCE, not that I knew Beyonce wrote as well or indeed any of her songs. I was confusing her with Rihanna where I did know one. As I’ve said before, nothing after Sergeant Pepper please, apart from Dylan. Fine puzzle, too fine for me. Thank you William and setter.

12. What a pig! I don’t record times but if I did I’d keep quiet about how long this took.
    I didn’t see it as elegant, because some of the surface readings were so poor. Intricate, devious, yes.
    But it they were all like this I’d go elsewhere!

    1. Did not try today’s (and very glad) but came here for a look.
       I think these types of clues only appeal to solvers desperate to be beaten?

13. A shade over an hour for this, and very glad to get across the post to be honest.

    LOI was FEEDSTUFF, but spoilt for choice for CODs today really: TOTALLY, INSINUATE, QUETZAL, ABEYANCE.

    Absolute masterclass.

14. Had a look after doing the QC: impossible!!

15. I didn’t know QUETZAL and didn’t parse FLATBOAT, but got home nonetheless 18 seconds within target at 43:24.

    With a phone call…

16. Wow. Way too hard for me. Two clues after 25 mins.

17. Wow, a completion after I nearly threw in the towel. It started so well with LIQUID, LIFEBUOY, BUZZARD and OWLET straight in. I was about to put this down when LEFT-HANDEDNESS suddenly jumped into my head which opened up the grid.

    Luckily had BUZZARD in before QUETZAL so could see how the word play worked.

    A bit unsatisfactory as couldn’t see a lot of the wordplay JOKER, ANGLE (although an ‘of course’ moment when reading the blog), GRIMACE (LOI with a shrug) amongst others.

    Struggled with SHARPENER as I just couldn’t get some variant of sculptor out of my head.

    COD: NIAGARA

    No time but it was over the 1 hour I put aside in the morning before the little one gets up and I didn’t even get started on the Guardian.

    Hard but ultimately I admired the clues I understood so it must have been a good one.

18. 66 minutes. Another Friday, another failure to finish within an hour but still very happy to have no pink squares at the end. I’d NHO my LOI QUETZAL which only went in thanks to crossers and wordplay. Many other clues solved from def or wordplay first and parsed later.

    Lots of top notch clues including the &lits and INSINUATE.

    Thanks to William and setter

19. 48 mins. I almost gave up on GRIMACE but glad I persevered (for 7 mins!) for a most satisfying completion. Club = Mace is a real chestnut too.
    Didn’t spot the zit, thought it must be some kind of &lit but knew there was a bird with a Z in it on that flag. Lots of Buzzards in these parts. In fact a young one chose to shelter in our greenhouse one year. They are big up close.
    Still don’t understand MINISTER = Divine.
    LOL at TOTTY, such an 80s Men Behaving Badly vibe.
    Excellent puzzle, thanks William and setter.

    1. I suppose a minister, as a clergyman, is supposed to be (a) godly (one). Could be wrong.

       1. Chambers gives Divine: noun. A minister of the gospel.

    2. From Wiktionary:
       “Noun … divine (plural divines)
       1) One skilled in divinity; a theologian.
       2) A minister of the gospel; a priest; a clergyman.
       3) (often capitalized, with ‘the’) God or a god, particularly in its aspect as a transcendental concept.”
       This crossed with Zabadak, sorry.

    3. More like St Trinians actually.
       (if I recall correctly, they had ‘posh totty’.)

20. Grid filled in just under 30 minutes but with a couple of checks along the way so 1-0 to the setter. &lits are a personal weak spot so having two of them was cruel. I constructed QUETZAL from the wordplay but couldn’t believe the result was a word. Now I know the Guatemalan flag has a bird on it I will be well equipped for the next flags round on Pointless.

    1. I am often a bit slow to twig the &lits, too. I count 4!

21. Way out of my league, tough going, and I was right to call it a day early. Some great clues, including the deeply impressive &lits.

    Let down by S=sun? What’s that about? Is that from a calendar ?

    Like TOTTY clued by “women objectified”

    1. S[un] is in the standard list of abbreviations, both for the heavenly body and the day.

22. It’s a while since I’ve gone over 40 for a daily, even on Fridays, but this repaid the sheer bloody-mindedness needed to defeat the multiple misdirections and calculated b*stardy of our setter. I’m sure I’ve come across “in sin you ate” before, possibly in “Safe Humour for Young Christians”, or the more earnest Christmas crackers.
    Otherwise, this needed gritted teeth and attention to flashes of inspiration to spot the answers and then work through the tangled wordplay to find out why. One example: there’s no way you can get to URAL from “river flowing out of range” until guessing AURAL guides you to it.
    Commiserations to the many, including our blogger, who stumbled at the last, but commendations for perseverance.
    I’m looking forward to the Listener later today for recovery.

    1. The b* word is quite strong for this site. Of course, in Oz (without the y) it’s used in a variety of ways – least of all to indicate one born out of wedlock.
       Wonder whether URAL could have been clued: ‘bathroom fitting but home not where the heart is’?

       Yes, I know: Don’t give up my day job!

       1. Like the URAL clue!
          I sometimes use Alan B’Stard’s spelling to soften the word and get past the censors. I would hope our setters know that we love them really.

       2. This reminds me of the story of the English cricket captain (Jardine?) who went to remonstrate with his Australian counterpart about a personal insult directed at one of the English players. The Australian said he would sort it out, took the English captain to the dressing room, called his team together, and said, ‘Listen fellas, this b****** wants to know which one of you b******s called one of his b******s a b******.’

23. Too much – it’s back to the Wordsearch in Women’s Weekly for me.

    1. Ah, the classic the Victoria Wood song!

24. COD 29a Priest. God botherer!
    Phew, DNF of course, SW corner. FOI 1a Liquid, Tricky I thought. But things got worse.
    On several occasions (5d, 13a, 14a, 9d, 21d etc) I was very unsure even when I got the relevant answer, which I didn’t enjoy. It turns out that I had missed the parsing, which was often convoluted. And DNK that Owls Prowl (14a).
    https://www.google.com/search?q=do+owls+prowl&oq=do+owls+prowl&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTINCAEQABiGAxiABBiKBTINCAIQABiGAxiABBiKBTIKCAMQABiABBiiBDIKCAQQABiABBiiBDIKCAUQABiABBiiBDIKCAYQABiABBiiBNIBCTU0MzRqMGoxNagCCLACAfEFO0y4hMxqoTU&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
    Whilst cheating for 1d I learnt that I didn’t really know what a lifebuoy is. I do now; I don’t really see why English needs so many words for quite simple things.
    26a Why is a US player a JOcK?
    Missed the pangram of course.
    Oh well, another Friday over.
    Thanks to william_j_s and setter.

    1. ‘Player’ as in ‘baller’, ‘alpha’, etc, no? Jocks are classically alpha males who play sports.

    2. Short for jockstrap, which athletes wear, and in my experience usually more meaning a bit thick rather than alpha.

       1. Oh! Thanks. I thought jockstraps were in use outside the USA but then what do I know of such things? Except of course for the (in)famous Jock Strapp Ensemble who sang rude songs (known as Rugby songs), and they seemed more RU than American Football types.

25. After seeing William’s headline when I checked the blog for the QC, I approached this one with trepidation. With some justification I have to say! Got a few starters early doors, OWLET, TRESS, EXTRA, HOSTAGE and TRAVEL, but then the hard work started. INSTANTLY was reasonable innocuous and led to an inspired BUZZARD, so the eventual assembly of QUETZAL was made somewhat less of a gamble. I had a breakthrough after getting MINISTER when I decided to try MENTAL instead of MAD for out to lunch and FUNDAMENTALIST emerged. COD to INSINUATE, with TOTALITY the runner up. TOTTY indeed! Last 3 in were HELLBENT, PRIEST and GRIMACE, which I biffed from crossers and definition. A bit of a slog but gratifying when no pink squares appeared. 53:52. Thanks setter and William.

26. I did have the necessary knowledge, but it took a while to remember it. At least I knew the bird had a TZ or a ZT in the middle, and I saw how the wordplay worked. I knew a divine was a clergyman, I knew a buzz was the equivalent of a ring, I knew a pony was 25 quid, etc. I did end up biffing grimace as my LOI, seeing how lower worked.

    Time: 55:58

27. I think if I was introducing a newcomer to the cryptic crossword I wouldn’t start with the clues to QUETZAL or INKJET, which were about as convoluted as I’ve ever seen! I mean this as a compliment of course.

28. Very pleased to have completed this correctly taking nearly an hour to do so. It certainly took a lot of unraveling, with grimace my LOI when I saw mace for club. Agree that glider as a clue for BUZZARD is misdirection in an art form! Thanks to the setter for a severe workout and the blogger for untangling it!

29. I got BUZZARD okay. Just shoved in QUETZAL on the basis it’s a Guatemalan bird and/or coin. But couldn’t parse the clue.

30. Two goes needed.

    – Biffed PRIEST once I had all the checkers
    – Relied on the wordplay for the unknown but plausible-sounding QUETZAL
    – Can someone remind me of the justification for “starting” as an anagrind as used for OUTRAGE?
    – Missed the wordplay for SHARPENER and thought it was just a cryptic definition
    – GRIMACE took an age to come, as I’ve trained myself to think of a cow or similar when I see “Lower”, but not the kind of look

    Thanks Willam and setter – a very tough puzzle, but an enjoyable one.

    FOI Travel
    LOI Priest
    COD Extra

    1. Chambers gives one definition of ‘Start’ as:

       – To cause or undergo displacement or loosening of

31. Still don’t get how ANGLE works

    1. As in Angles and Saxons, who settled down ‘here’ (in England).

32. I noticed the possibility of a pangram but didn’t bother about it. Should have done, because it would have helped with BUZZARD and QUETZAL, just two of the clues that took me absolutely ages. No complaints though, as this was a lovely example of the setter’s art. I almost enjoyed my 121 minutes (with few aids today, for some reason). But there were one or two definitions/definitions in the wordplay that seemed a stretch: hoe = scrape; lower = grimace; BUZZARD = glider; but no more, now that I look, simply cleverness.

    As for the difficulty of Friday crosswords, clearly the statistical comparison of Monday and Friday, which was done a few years ago and showed that Friday was harder, passed Jack by. It’s fairly obvious that Friday has been incredibly difficult for the last few weeks. A while ago we used to have a SNITCH of around 80 occasionally; but not now.

    1. Mr Grimshaw, crossword editor two previous, swore blind to me that it was purely unintentional that Friday should be harder (or Monday easier) than any other day.
       But it has been clear for some years now that it is not as unintentional as it used to be! I sometimes wonder if TfTT has talked itself into this..

       1. John Grimshaw has never been the Times Crossword editor. He has been one of the Listener editors in the past. The editor before Richard Rogan was Richard Browne.

          Proud as I am about starting this blog, I don’t think any xwd editor would or should base any policy about difficulty on what we say. There are still plenty of people who know nothing about it.

          1. Ah, you are quite right, sorry. Richard Browne it was. He said he usually couldn’t tell how hard a crossword was likely to be in any event.
             As for policy, I wouldn’t know. But setters and editors are all human, and it would not be surprising if they paid attention to feedback from time to time.

       2. Yes, to be serious for a moment, I suspect the demand for more intellectual challenge by many here is driving setters.
          And my pet concept is that there are ways to challenge that more fit the Times (and tradition – in every sense of those words).

          Of course, as Mr Biddlecombe suggests this may just be ‘appearance’.

33. What a lovely puzzle! Surprised to finish correctly, albeit in 234 minutes. I’m really encouraged by finishing – maybe I’m not losing my (solitary) marble quite yet.

34. Usually we get a good &lit about once a fortnight, and today we get four, plus a pangram. Well done to the setter, even before I get to a very hearty well done for the cluing.
    Weller done to Wm for a very clear blog.

35. Time..12:30…….to answer the first clue !
    Ceased to be an enjoyable challenge after about 30 minutes and became frustrating and irritating thereafter. 2d sums it up.

    1. Did U mean 21d ? (by any chance)

36. Around an hour but all correct

    No exact time today as did it in chunks during a drive (I wasn’t driving I hasten to add!) but must have been around an hour.

    Can never remember how much a pony is which delayed the NW but BUZZARD came before the Guatemalan bird.

    Like Jerry not keen on long un-smooth surfaces where you normally have to just rely on the definition and sure enough I got stuck on the two long downs, though twigging MENTAL did actually unlock the clue then the rest of the grid.

    However I thought overall it was a great puzzle with the &lits particularly superb especially the QUETZAL, which I will now go and investigate

    Thanks William/setter

37. The two birds did for me after 55 minutes. Having opted for bustard, I wondered if the Guatemalan one could be spelt with an s rather than the more familiar z, and didn’t have the presence of mind to check if there was a better answer for the former. Good fun for the rather long time it lasted.

38. challenging. 64 minutes but cheated for QUETZAL.

39. DNF. Solved in two sessions, 16 minute before going out for the day’s 9 mile Mid-Suffolk walk (in 29 degrees heat) and 20 minutes more after I got back and had rehydrated. Same as our blogger and, I see several others, I had QUETSAL and an unparsed BUSTARD. Drat! Good crossword, though. I liked INSINUATE and PRIEST and took a while to work out the parsing of GRIMACE. Thank-you William and setter.

40. DNF

    I was too far off after an hour even though I had made decent progress, should have had the courage of my half-convictions (and applied a little more thought) – and had correctly understood how the clue worked but lacked some knowledge on occasions.

    Lots to enjoy and admire, SHARPENER being a favourite.

    Thank you, william_j_s and the setter.

41. 70:12. cor that was very tough. I couldn’t parse GRIMACE having NHO of LOWER used like that. Quite a lot of biffing and then working out the wordplay afterwards. A fantastic Friday puzzle as we’ve come to expect!

42. I am so pleased to have finished this in 45 mins. I was staring at a half empty grid at 40 minutes then fundamentalist yielded its mysteries and the SW seemed to slot in easily after that. I was very lucky that I plumped for buzzard for the bird which gave me quetzal ( that I never understood, thanks William) instead of quetsal.

    Thanks for the blog William that must have been hard work and thx setter for an outstanding puzzle.

    Less than 5 Verlaines, glory be

    1. I know! Verlaine in under 10 minutes really puts things into perspective. Glory, indeed.

43. 38.51. First Friday I’ve solved in a month. I was beginning to think I should cancel the paper on a Friday.

    Hard but fair. Aural was my LOI. But any of the clues could have taken that accolade.

    Thanks setter and blogger.

44. INSINUATE doesn’t work for me as I say ‘ate’ as ‘et’ but let’s not argue about homophones like we do every other day! A great puzzle, I didn’t know that meaning of ‘divine’ but no complaints (apart from perhaps the dodgy anagrind ‘starting’).

45. Piece of cake.
    Took me well under 4 hours.

    1. Love it!

46. Over the hour. As a Scrabble player, pleased to see QUETZAL. In fact, it’s my avatar on an online scrabble site. LOI GRIMACE, not sure why, wasn’t hard!

47. Once I’d got inkjet, joker and quetzal, it was obvious that a pangram was looming, helped a bit. Some devious but fair clues, took a long time, but v satisfying. ABEYANCE was the best.

48. Over the hour and with Quetsal/Bustard. I was thinking that a bustard doesn’t really glide. Still enjoyed the puzzle, though.
    The Quetzal also is (or was) the currency of Guatemala.

49. DNF and DNE (Did not enjoy). Also, errors in the SE corner. Of the clues I did solve, I was unable to parse a number. I found the clues to be not only excessively contrived, but often lacking in any sensible surface reading.
    Sorry to be so negative, but I think that all opinions should be aired.

    1. I’m glad you did- makes a change from all the self-satisfied comments you get on this site.

       1. You certainly do your best to redress the balance, David.

          There’s nothing at all wrong with a comment, like George’s, saying you’ve not enjoyed a puzzle, but I’ve never seen you say anything positive at all.

          Maybe the ‘self-satisfied’ commenters just liked the puzzle? No, they must be doing it to show off. It’s the only explanation.

50. I took about an hour over two sessions. Got blocked at my first attempt, so stopped and came back to it. My brain was in the swing this time round. Once I got into this puzzle I was loving it and admiring the clever phrasing of even simple clues like “river flowing out of range” for Ural.
    LOI was FLATBOAT not a word I know but I know barges have flat hulls so I was finally able to reverse engineer the clue as it were.
    Great great puzzle and no b****y hungarian dogs!
    Many thanks setter and blogger

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