Times Crossword 24069

Author   sabine_tkPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

Solving time: 6.08.

This must be another puzzle from the second heat of the semifinals, which I recall Peter saying was a very fast heat indeed. Seemed like a straightforward enough puzzle – the two long down clues are both pretty easy, which is a tremendous help, and there’s no real trickery such as disguised definitions to battle with.

 

Across
1
   PAC(IF)Y
4
   OB,STA(C)LE. My first thought for this one was OBSOLETE, influenced by the “out of date” element.
10
   REAR,RANGE
12
   BRIGADE – (a bridge)*
13
   WA(R,L,I)KE. I thought that “I” would be turn out to be a kind of mathematical symbol for “unity” – something to do with set theory maybe – but looks like it’s unity meaning “the number one”, which can of course be “I” in the Times Crossword.
14
   LATH,E – an & lit type of clue. I had always assumed LATH and LATHE were related words, in which case this clue would surely have been unacceptably weak, but according to Chambers LATH is Old English but LATHE, a wood-shaping machine, is of unknown origin, whereas the other definition of LATHE IS Old English, and means a former division of Kent. Got that?
18
   PASTRAMI – I,MARTS,A,P all reversed.
20
   EX,TOL(l)
23
   NOMADIC – C(I,DAM)ON all reversed.
25
   GUTLESS
26
   L(O,RC)A – Federico García Lorca, Spanish poet, dramatist and director.
27
   TOO,T(H)ACHE – “tache” being short for “moustache”. Didn’t see the wordplay straightwaway, thinking that “tache” was the container for the rest, and that “excessively” would somehow be “OTT”, despite needing to sell a vowel and buy a T for this to make any sense at all.
28
   TE,LET,EXT
29
   S(P)EEDY
 
Down
1
   PARABOLA – A,LOB,A,RAP all reversed, making this the third 4-element reversal in this puzzle.
3
   FIRM,AMEN,T
5
   BEEF, WELLING,TON
6
   TUBE,R – another & lit
7
   C,A,SHIER
8
   ES,CHEW – “edges of elbows” = ES
9
   INHERITANCE TAX – (a next heir it can)*, Have to admire an anagram that produces such a perfect definition, though it does make the clue awfully easy to solve.
16
   SW(EATS,H)OP
17
   B(LUSTER)Y
21
   TREACLE – hidden in teaTRE A CLEopatra
22
   AN(KLE)T – KLE is “moose lifting” (ELK reversed)
 
    

21 comments on “Times Crossword 24069”

  1. 20 min. Which I fear was far too long. My mind went blank with 2 to go (23 ac, 24 dn). Much metaphoric kicking of rear when the lights came on again. Hadn’t thought of Lorca since being involved in a university production of “Blood Wedding”. Grim stuff.
  2. 22 mins, at least 10 of which were spent trying to finish the SW corner where LORCA stood alone for ages. The others were not hard, I just got a mental block.

    14 …..and LATHI (another stick) is different again, being Hindi.

  3. 10:07 .. nice jaunty puzzle with several smart surfaces. I really liked TUBER and PARABOLA, and of course that long anagram at 9d.

    CASHIER made me laugh out loud (I’m not entirely sure why).

  4. Pretty easy, yes, and a PB for me at 10 minutes, roughly. No hold-ups at all til my last two, SWEATSHOP and BLUSTERY, since we never use ‘swop’ over here, only ‘swap’, and it took me a bit of time to see ‘luster’ as the carnally motivated person. I’d expect some very fast times from the speed demons here. I solved this while having a nightcap cocktail and a cigarette (sorry), and I would probably have been quicker if I had no need to bother with puffing, flicking ashes, lifting glass, bending elbow, etc. That being said, this is about as fast as I ever expect to solve one of these, and if I went any faster I think it might become less of a diversion and more of a racing exercise. But don’t let that slow you down, please! Regards to all.
  5. Very simple puzzle but some excellent clues. Really liked Lathe and Inheritance tax. Around 30 minutes on and off
  6. 23 minutes in two sessions, the first one being full of distractions as delayed and cancelled trains were announced. Having settled on the train the answers nearly wrote themselves in. But for all this I think I might have achieved a PB today.
  7. My 6:30 felt pretty quick but it was an easy puzzle and I suspect even Sabine’s excellent time will be beaten. What’s that Pete? 3 minutes? Wouldn’t surprise me!

    But Anax takes another lesson from the “It doesn’t have to be hard to be good” school of setting. There were some lovely clues and some moments of deception, especially (for me) at 27 where I kept thinking OOT had been mistakenly referred to as OTT for “excessively”.

    Q-0 E-7 D-5 COD 1D

    It was very nearly 7D for its amusing surface but the semi-&lit of 1D is well observed.

  8. My usual sixty mins.
    I put those two long ones in straight away! (5D and 9D).
    The one I liked best – PARABOLA.
    The one I didn’t solve – PASTRAMI.
    Mistakes that held me up – None today!
  9. This follows the pattern of the other prelims and is very straightforward – less than 20 minutes to solve. LATHE and TUBER are good, the long anagram is interesting but very easy because the 3 letter word at the end and an “X” in the fodder prompts TAX as an answer. PARABOLA is an excellent clue. I didn’t know LORCA but the wordplay is so literal and the definition so obvious that it caused me no problems. Surely these prelims have all been too easy for serious competition puzzles?
  10. About 8 minutes, solved on screen at work (which probably adds on a minute or two). The second prelim at Cheltenham this year had easier puzzles, but it’s the same for everybody so I don’t see a problem with that (although this was so easy that maybe the faster writers had an unfair advantage).

    I think the fastest solver in this prelim did all three in 14 minutes, which I’d struggle to match if I’d pre-solved them!

    1. I bleieve the 14-minute time was for Tim Smith in Prelim 1. Mark Goodliffe’s winning time for this one was reported as 15 minutes. The frightening thought is the possibility that Mark might have been going “slowly and carefully”, knowing that any place in the first 12 was enough.
  11. Recovered a bit after yesterday’s dismal performance. 23 minutes in the end, though I thought it would be bout 17 at one point, but I was held up by by 7, 22 and 23 (having unthinkingly lightly entered CHART for 24). 1dn is COD for me, with 9 coming a close second.
  12. It’s the third puzzle in Prelim 2. When I solved it as part of a private version of Prelim 2, I finished it in 4:53. Forgetting that it was one I’d seen before, I solved it today in 5:25 – only 5D seemed relativey familiar, once I’d cooped with “G rouse building up …” in the online version of the clue – I’ll blame some of the time difference on that.

    Too easy or not? When the winners are around 5 minutes a puzzle I think the prelims are too easy. I think a winning time of 7-10 minutes, with 12-15 minutes for the slowest qualifier, is about right. Then 8-12 for a winning time in the final.

  13. I got there in 40 minutes, which is a little above average for me. Got a bit stuck in the NW and SW corners. All the reversals, especially, got me in a bit of a stew. Lobs and elks on all sides, with only half an idea of what to do with them.
  14. I think I found this easier on the day than I did today. Like Pete it took me a while to realise I’d already solved it – very few clues rang any bells. The long anag at 9d gets my vote
  15. 18 minutes, hampered by the usual distractions and interruptions you’d expect on the East Coast mainline.

    It would be interesting to know if “doctor” usually means MB or MO which would make “physician” an immediate hint at DR.

    Q-0, E-6, D-5.5, COD firmament for the construction.

  16. 8 minutes, did like this one a lot, another for the pile to show people beginning to solve. DRAFT was the last in for me, so call me an R away from that. 19 raised more than a smile.
  17. This was quite a quick one – even for me.

    There are 5 “easies” not in the blog:

    11a Fundamental instruction’s foremost in spreading ABCs (5)
    BAS I C. Anagram of I and ABCS.

    15a Sir, you’ll somehow appear as false (8)
    ILLUSORY. Anagram of SIR YOULL.

    2d Discussion about carnival city vehicle (7)
    CHA RIO T

    19d Officer is to think highly of everyone hiding their bottoms (7)
    ADMIR(E)AL(L). Is that a REAR ADMIRABLE?

    24d Physician going over to stern plan (5)
    DR AFT. If you “go aft” you “go to stern” therefore AFT can = TO STERN. Especially if you are a Rear Admirable.

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