Times Crossword 24093

Author   sabine_tkPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

Solving time: 9.55.

Worked through this pretty steadily, with the SE corner the last to crack. Felt as if I should have been a couple of minutes faster when I’d finished. I thought the grid was a pangram but I can’t find a Y, which is a bit worrying; hope it doesn’t mean I’ve made a stupid mistake somewhere.

 

Across
1
   TATE MODERN – (T, NOTRE DAME)*
6
   S,P(A)M
9
   MINI,KIN – MINI being IN, I, M (“in a minute”) all reversed. Not sure I’d come across this term for a small person before, but it was eminently guessable. Less obvious are its other meanings: a dialect term for a pin, and a thin length of gut used for the treble string of a lute. (Note: early commenters have MANIKIN, which I’m sure is the intended answer.)
10
   SORT OUT – sounds like “sore tout”.
12
   BRINGING UP
16
   REPORTER – being RE,TROPER (heartless trooper) all reversed.
18
   CO,LOSS,US
20
   FUN(d) RUN. Everything up to the comma is just a long way of saying “remove the last letter of FUND.”
23
   LAG – can mean either a prisoner, or to provide with insulating material.
24
   A,PPR,ENTICE – with PPR, alternate letters of PAPER, being “a written exam oddly”. Isn’t this kind of device – an “indirect regularly”, as I’ve been mentally calling it, quite unusual?
26
   UGLIE,ST – guile* + ST=saint.
27
   S(CO)URE,R
28
   EXPO, hidden in SussEX POssibly
29
   WRITES DOWN – (new words, IT)*. I knew how this clue worked but was expecting a more complex answer, so kept putting it off until I had no choice but to look at it in order to open up the bottom right of the grid. And it turned out to be very straightforward after all.
 
Down
1
   TUMS – “smut”, going upwards
2
   TEND, RIL – sounds like “rill”, a very small brook.
4
   D(A NZ)IG. “Archaeological excavation” is very helpful of the setter. Danzig is the German name for the Polish Baltic city of Gdansk.
5
   RESIGNED – a nice straightforward double meaning.
7
   PROP, HET (HET = “the”, afflicted)
8
   MITT,ERRAND – Francois Mitterrand was still in office as recently as 1995, which by Times standards is practically contemporary. I expect “old statesman” to be something like Bismarck.
11
   RE(PRO)DUCTIONS
14
   A,V(IC)ULTURE – bird-rearing. Took a while to see this one – IC (“in charge of”) is inside (feeding) the vulture.
17
   QU,IPSTER – “Wit” here being a witty person. “jeu d’esprit” means a witticism, and “jeu’d” must here be an anagram indicator for ESPRIT. I guess it literally means “play of” or “game of” which seems fair enough.
19
   LEG, SLIP (Pils reversed). Pils, or Pilsner, is a pale lager originating in the 19th century from Pilsen in Bohemia.
21
   RI(CARD)O, a reference to David Ricardo (1772-1823), a political economist of whom I hadn’t heard, but once the port revealed itself to be RIO this was easy enough to work out.
22
   JET SET – being TESTE(d) J, all reversed.
25
   GRIN – a nice note on which to end.

30 comments on “Times Crossword 24093”

  1. A disappointing 30 min. Didn’t know Tate Modern, but easy enough from the anagram fodder and checking letters. Nothing to complain about, but felt like I was wading through treacle.
  2. ..one finished the other not. I went through the left half very quickly, including RESIGNED and JETSET, then apart from SPAM, HUE and GRIN had nothing in the right half. By then I was dozing off and got fed up.

    Looking for an old statesman I considered METTERNICH at 8 but (as sabine says) never thought of anyone post (say) 1900.

    I didn’t see “go out of” as a container at 27, it seems(to use sabine’s word)unusual.

    I had MANIKIN at 9 – IN,A,M reversed before KIN.

    1. My thoughts exactly, kurihan. The whole of the LH side apart from AVICULTURE went in without much pause for thought. The NE corner put up some resistance but the SE proved impossible as I had only REPRODUCTION, FUN RUN, SCOURER and JET SET in place when I ran out of time on my way to work. I had considered RIO around something else at 21 but never having heard of RICARDO didn’t help.

      I have two quibbles. Firstly I think the device used at 24 has no place in a daily cryptic,as it requires the solver to find a synonym and then take its alternate letters and fit these into the main solution. Secondly if “jeu d'” is the anagram indicator in 17 and “wit” is the definition, then what is the purpose of “form of”. Another anagram indicator?To me it looks very much like part of the definition in which case “QUIPSTER” doesn’t seem an appropriate answer. But then I’m probably just fed up because the setter beat me!

  3. Oops yes, thats a “Me Too” for manikin in 9 ac. Didn’t spot Sabine’s minikin. I think we have found the topic for the day. Mannikin, manikin, minikin.
    1. Eek. You’re both right, of course, it’s MANIKIN. Now you’ve pointed it out I’m not sure my version is even sound. As you say, I expect we will be hearing more about this.
  4. 13:50 … Seemed to get more challenging as one worked down the grid. I can never remember how to spell m..thingy..kin so was saved an error by having to get it from wordplay.

    I loved the stuffed vulture.

    Q-0, E-8, D-7 .. COD 14d AVICULTURE

  5. A slow go for me, about 45 minutes. I also tried for a long time to fit Metternich in 8, but with a few crossers finally saw MITTERAND, my COD. The two offbeat meanings of LAG were also slow to come to mind even when staring at L_G. I think MANIKIN is what’s called for at 9. Even though it took me a long time, as I review there’s nothing overly obscure, and this puzzle is well put together. Regards.
  6. Another very easy puzzle (less than 20 minutes to solve) with not much to commend it and three queries for me.

    SORT OUT does not sound like “sore tout”

    I agree with Jack on 17D

    I certainly don’t like the indirect “written exam”=”paper” then take the odd letters “ppr” at 24A. This editor continues to take more and more liberties. I would much prefer a harder puzzle that does not have to resort to such devices.

    1. It’s probably not any consolation, but the homonym worked for me. Perhaps the setter’s Welsh?
  7. Off to a bad start, putting in SMUT at 1D. I was surprised by the PPR in 24A as well. Like others, my initial choice for 8D was Metternich. I liked the jeu d’ anagrind in 17D.

    Tom B.

  8. I think 17D’s “form of” is excused by the fact that “Question jeu d’esprit as a wit” doesn’t make sense in the surface reading. 10A’s cheesy pun sounds close enough to me.

    Not so easy here (18:30) as I’d optimistically put H,OPE(ra) at 25D (no it doesn’t really work), and also had a lot of trouble with 8D, and before that 11D where I thought “frames for” was rather good.

    As a B Sc (Econ), nice to see economist = something other than MILL or KEYNES.

    Edited at 2008-12-10 12:44 pm (UTC)

    1. I agree the shortened version of the clue doesn’t make sense in the surface reading but I also think the longer version doesn’t work neatly with regard to the wordplay and perhaps it might have been better to have thought up something else.

  9. I got off to a flying start, making me think 20 minutes was possible, then came to an abrupt halt in the SE corner, finally limping home in 35 minutes. Guessed RICARDO, but I haven’t heard of him.
    I was taken aback by the indirect odd letters in 24. I don’t recall ever having coming across it before. In the context of 3 letters in a 10-letter word I don’t think it’s particularly unfair (no more than “half of X”, when X is indirectly indicated), but I hope it doesn’t become common.
    17 was brilliant and I liked 14. In fact, an interesting set of clues in general.
    I don’t really see how MINIKIN is indicated in 9. To conform to Times practice surely that would have to be clued by “In one minute etc.”
    1. The Times practice as I understand it is that “one” in a clue can indicate I in the answer, but not A or AN.
      I don’t know whether this is extended to disallow A=>I or the reverse.
  10. Firstly, thankyou for this community, Im sure the feedback here will only help me to become a better solver.

    This is only my 2nd times crossword so I am still finding my footing and as such my time to solve was just under 2 hrs.

    Luckily I put lag in even though it is to provide insulation and not protection, some nice uses of “frames” and “feeds”.

    I’m glad that a, “written exam” oddly isnt a common form of clue as I wouldnt like to make substitutions and then look for the alternate letters all that often.

    1. Welcome aboard. Very good point about LAG. There’s no requirement to quote your time if you don’t want to. If you have a look at “tips&tricks” in the list of “tags”, you’ll find a few pointers that should help.
    2. I started reading this blog a few months ago and my solving has improved greatly,so keep at it. Also this seems a blog full of nice people who are very encouraging. A good find.
  11. 22 minutes. Most flew in but the last 25% probably took most of the time. I was going to moan at the uselessness of 14d as a clue, but realised here that I just didn’t get it (halfwit!) and now I think it’s good. A really tricky one in places but thoroughly enjoyable. Agree that PPR isn’t CIKT. 25d was my last in having toyed first with HOPE and then GRAF.
  12. At 25 minutes, this must be one of my fastest for The Times. No real issues or question marks against anything, just steadily ploughed along. COD 1d or 5d.
  13. I breezed pretty well through this, some very nice wordplay for the more difficult words helping out. 11 minutes.

    From wordplay: MANIKIN, RICARDO.

    I laughed at MITTERAND befind defined as “Old Statesman” because I remember him always looking ancient and stiff when he was shown on the news.

  14. Like many, the SE took most of my time: 47 minutes in total.

    I’m surprised that there are so many comments about 24A and none about 16A.

    1. And of course you are right to point this out! Two examples in the same puzzle is two too many as far as I’m concerned. I think the reason I didn’t spot it was that having bunged in REPORTER the wordplay jumped out at me, whereas I didn’t understand APPRENTICE until I read Sabine’s blog. Admittedly I had limited time today and I may have spotted it if I had been solving relaxed at home; unfortunately I only have that luxury on Mondays and Fridays.
  15. You guys really should know who Ricardo is, and about the theory of comparative advantage (one of the major reasons for trade).

    There are various formulations but the image that makes it most concrete is that even though I’m used to be a CEO, and I was the fastest typist in the office (programming will do that), it still made sense for me to pay a much cheaper person to type (i.e. trade with the cheap typing country).

    Krugman just won the Nobel prize for Economics for noticing that this doesn’t explain all trade, especially between nations at the same level of development. Italy doesn’t have any innate comparative advantage in shoes, or Hollywood in movies etc. But once those ecosystems get established they are their own advantage.

    End of today’s economics minute.

    1. Hear, hear, and while we’re at it, I’m similarly disgusted by the lack of appreciation of Sir James (Whifflepuffer) Manikin, the discoverer of the department-store dummy and leading biochemist who identified the genetic mutation (on chromosome 65) which causes short people to be aggressive and develop an attitude.

      In his native Zimbabwe, where he grew up as an outfield-waterer for the Harare cricket club, there is a statue of him erected at cover point, a sad testament to the man who led the way for understanding of the tetchiness of people of below average height. Until today’s crossword, where he will now live on forever (or until the Times’ backup server crashes).

          1. Sadly, I think the wretched man appointed himself president of Zimbabwean cricket or something, so a statue of him in the middle of a cricket ground is all too plausible.
  16. As many comments above, left hand side done in very quick time for me. SE corner horrid. Apprentice seems the sort of clue that belongs in harder puzzles. Didn’t get that at all, nor 17D. About an hour to do all but tese two.
    Incidentally, tried yesterday’s Araucaria in the Guardian hoping for a romp, but it was diabolical and came in for some heavy crit in Fifteensquared.
  17. A bit of a slog for me at 16:20. Surprisingly, seeing the comments above, I had no problems with the SE corner at all. It was the NE corner that did for me for some reason, although they were all pretty obvious in hindsight! I’ll nominate 5D for COD, very well worded double def.
  18. Well I thought it was pretty good. Partly because I eventually twigged the two indirect references to TRO (O) PER at 16a and P(A)P(E)R at 24a and managed to find an unknown (sorry anon) economist in RICARDO at 21d. If a puzzle has some hard and obscure stuff like this I enjoy it more when the light comes on. This is because time to solve, for me, is not an issue.

    Then I can come to this forum and learn about economists from anonymous authorities and be delighted by a highly amusing story from GLH – can I have some of what he is on?

    There are 3 omitted “easies”:

    18a Colour gives finishing touches to photograph you take (3)
    HUE. Last letters of final 3 words.

    15a Book size (6)
    VOLUME. Darned DD – it took me longer than I care to mention to get this.

    3d This is how to get full marks, believe me (4,2,7)
    MAKE NO MISTAKE. I didn’t – if you can get 2 days per puzzle sign me up for the Championship now!

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