Times Championship 2009 – 4th Qualifier

Author   yfyapPosted on Categories Other Crosswords

A nice puzzle about the same degree of difficulty as a normal daily Times puzzle. However, my solving time is way way above the kind of average registered by past winners; so I won’t be entering the Championship any time soon. The “trouble” with me is that after solving a clue, I tend to sit back, pause to fully understand, savour and relish the clever wordplay. Besides, not everybody can have the kind of keen, quick and sharp intellect possessed by brainy people like Peter Biddlecombe

ACROSS

1 POLITICAL ASYLUM *(capitalism you’ll)

9 LANDMARKS Cha of LAND (a state or province in Germany and Austria functioning as a unit of local government) MARKS (money gone being obsolete German money now replaced by Euros)  

10 ARGON ARGO (remember Jason’s vessel?) N (nitrogen)

11 VANISH VAN (vehicle) IS H (hard)

12 SEAFARER Ins of AFAR (at a distance) in SEER (prophet)

13 RITUAL Ins of U (sounds like you) in *(trial)

15 BARSTOOL Cha of BARS (doesn’t allow) TOOL (person to be exploited). What a lovely definition ; sure to raise a chuckle or two

18 ANSWERED Ins of NSWE (all the directions) in A RED (a socialist)

19 TACTIC Ins of ACT (perform) in TIC (movement out of control)

21 TRAPPIST Beautiful crytptic def, one of the last clues to be solved

23 WEAVER We aver (we claim)

26 ELITE ha

27 TAUTOLOGY *(lot to a guy)

28 SPIRAL STAIRCASE Another lovely cd

 

DOWN

1 PALAVER Cha of PAL (mate or rhyming slang for China plate) AVER (state)

2 LINEN Third and just-as-good cd

3 TIMESHARE Cha of TIMES (daily or this paper) HARE (rush)

4 CORN Ins of OR (either) in CN (first and last letters of composition)

5 LAS VEGAS Ins of VEGA (star) in LASS (girl)

6 STAFF dd

7 LAGER LOUT Ins of ER (Elizabeth Regina or monarch) & L (left)  in LAG (prison inmate) & OUT (rejected)

8 MINERAL *(marine) + L (lake)

14 TOSCANINI TOSCA (Italian opera) NINI (rev of IN IN, popularity rising repeatedly)

16 STAGEDOOR dd

17 WEBSITES WEB (Sounds like WEBB Sidney James (1859 – 1947), early member of the Fabian Society) SITES (sounds like cites, quotes) Another lovely def

18 ARTLESS Please replay My Fair Lady and you will understand the word-play

20 CARLYLE C (Conservative) + *(really)

22 PIETA  PI (equivalent of P) ETA (equivalent of E) PIETA is the representation of the Virgin Mary  with the dead Jesus Christ across her knees, [Michelangelo’s sculpture in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome is the most famous] therefore ‘work religiously done’

24 VIOLA dd – a stringed instrument and a character in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, who disguises herself as a man to enter the service of Orsino, Duke of Illyria.

25 CUBA CUB (very small bear indicated by URSA v) + A

Key to abbreviations
dd = double definition
dud = duplicate definition
tichy = tongue-in-cheek type
cd = cryptic definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
ha = hidden answer
*(FODDER) = anagram

8 comments on “Times Championship 2009 – 4th Qualifier”

  1. I thought this was a shade easier than a regular Times daily. Many good clues and I was pleased to have finished it without looking up the dictionary (which normally doesn’t happen with the Times for me).

    Isn’t TRAPPIST an &lit: TRAP=mouth, PT=little point with I’S inside?

    – Shuchi

  2. I was left with not-so-happy feelings about three clues here, and the blog hasn’t changed them very much.

    23A My dictionary does not use the words “African” or “song-” in its definition of WEAVER bird.

    16D A double definition, but I think the language is a bit sloppy, e.g. “stage” is a type of coach, not a synonym for a coach.

    18D This is the one I feel strongest about and I’m afraid the blog doesn’t help. I suppose ARTLESS can be interpreted as (H)EARTLESS, which explains ‘Enry ‘Iggins, say. But I do not understand
    “Like Eliza, initially”. I do not have a copy of “My Fair Lady” and even if I did, I would feel it was unfair to have to replay it to understand why the clue worked. Help please!

  3. 23A My dictionary does not use the words “African” or “song-” in its definition of WEAVER bird.

    Since when must a definition in a cryptic crossword conform with any dictionary? Is there a dictionary that defines a swiss roll as “jammed cylinder”? Nevertheless, please see
    Try http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ploceidae

    16D A double definition, but I think the language is a bit sloppy, e.g. “stage” is a type of coach, not a synonym for a coach.

    Why is that so? “opening for coach” is a door to a stage-coach Per Chambers, stagecoach n formerly, a coach that ran regularly with passengers from stage to stage.

    Among many definitions given by Chambers for stage is stagecoach

    18D This is the one I feel strongest about and I’m afraid the blog doesn’t help. I suppose ARTLESS can be interpreted as (H)EARTLESS, which explains ‘Enry ‘Iggins, say. But I do not understand
    “Like Eliza, initially”. I do not have a copy of “My Fair Lady” and even if I did, I would feel it was unfair to have to replay it to understand why the clue worked. Help please!

    If you remember My Fair Lady, Eliza Dolittle started out (thus initially) as a simple flower girl selling blooms to rich people attending cultural activities in certain parts of London. She was quite “artless” initially

  4. First of all thank you for your excellent deciphering. The explanation of Viola from Twelfth night was really helpful.
    I had a problem originally with the use/non use of hyphens for Timeshare and Websites but realise this is something you have to be aware of as language is constantly evolving.
    I had Bar Stool rather than BarS tool as I had thought of Stool as in in Stool Pigeon but now see your explanation is the correct one.
    Whilst I completed the puzzle in too long a time I came at some of the clues from a different perspective (maybe not fully appreciating fully some of the intricacies.
    Perhaps you could more fully explain Ursa v (cub) I know Ursa Major is the Bear but couldn’t find a reference to cub (small v?). I also wondered why there was a large space after Ursa v but presume that is just newspaper line spacing.
    1. My theory is that “Ursa v    ” was a weird printing error for “Ursa Minor”.
      1. Ursa is Latin for bear and v is a tongue-in-cheek way of saying “very, abbreviated” or “very small”. Thus read together, Ursa v is very small bear or a CUB, which when added to A gave the island of Cuba.
        1. Perhaps I should explain why I think this was a printing error.  The clue as printed (“Ursa v     observed on a tropical island”) lacks a surface reading, which is an essential component of a cryptic clue.  My alternative suggestion (“Ursa Minor observed on a tropical island”) does have a surface reading, and a plausible one at that: observing the stars in a location away from light pollution.  And as far as the cryptic reading is concerned, “Ursa Minor” more or less directly indicates a CUB.  The train of thought that goes “Ursa v     = Ursa very small = CUB” might just about be found in a Guardian puzzle, but it would never be found in the Times.

          My time for this qualifier was significantly (~20%) lower than for the previous ones.

          1. Thank you both for your thoughts and ideas. Would Ursa young observed on a tropical island work? It might explain a possible printing error. Will we ever know?

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