Times Crossword 25,116 Championship Qualifier – second blog of the day!

Author   JerryWPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving Time: This puzzle was published on 21st March, the solution today. I’m not sure how acceptable it is to discuss times, for a championship qualifier? I wouldn’t want to put off (or worse, psyche out 😉 intending entrants, so I propose that we don’t mention how blindingly fast we no doubt were… but anyway, this was not hard. 16dn a new word for me, and the clever 20dn took me longer to understand than it really should have. Otherwise plain sailing

Good luck to all! Although the solution is published it was not easy to find.. on the Crossword Club website, do a search on the number, 25116, and up it comes. Presumably it is in the print version too?

cd = cryptic definition, dd = double definition, rev = reversed, homophones are written in quotes, anagrams as (–)*

Across
1 redesign – RED E(N)SIGN.. a clever clue, but is a “newly draw” an entirely fair definition of a word that implies it is a second stab, at the least?
5 hidden this one..
9 parmesan – a golfing reference for Jimbo: PAR + (NAMES)* for a cheese which represents one of Italy’s attempts to foist too much salt on us all (France uses Roquefort for the same purpose and the UK, virtually everything you can buy in a supermarket 🙂
10 elixir – RI(XI)LE, rev.
12 livid – all roman numerals, I suppose that’s OK, but like points of the compass or musical keys, using them en masse in this way – and in an order no Roman would use – always seems just a little bit of a copout to me
13 inhabited – IN (H) A BIT + ED
14 no explanation needed?
18 counterpunch – COUNT + ER + PUNCH, a drink I have never been keen on, if I wanted a fruit salad I would ask for one…
21 newsflash – N + E + W + S FLASH. This usage on the other hand seems perfectly acceptable, ie using all of them once, not just a random selection..
23 usual – USA + L containing U = university
24 ibidem – I BID ‘EM.. A clever clue, and hard if you are not familiar with the latin root. The abbreviation ibid. is a more common sight, though it occurs to me that an abbreviation that uses five symbols instead of six (count them!) is not much use to man nor beast..
25 cable car – CAB + L, + RACE rev.
26 rehash – RASH containing HE rev.
27 very well – dd.
Down
1 raptly – king = R + APTLY = appropriately
2 derive – D(E)RIVE
3 steadfast – (DAFT ASSET)*
4 gladiatorial – GLAD + I + A T(O)RIAL
6 ad-lib – A LIB containing D
7 taxation – TAXI + ON, containing A + (permi)T
8 abridges – A + BRIDGES, a reference to one of the few Poets Laureate whose name I can remember.
11 thoroughfare – this answer is fairly obvious but golly, it took me a while to parse. It is THE containing (HOUR GO)* + FAR
15 tactually – T + ACTUALLY
16 scantier – SCAN + TIER, naughty!
17 outweigh – sounds like OUT WAY
19 quiche – QUIC(K) + HE
20 plural – because two fish are still fish, sometimes..
22 frees – another homophone: sounds like freeze

Author: JerryW

I love The Times crosswords..

7 comments on “Times Crossword 25,116 Championship Qualifier – second blog of the day!”

  1. Thanks Jerry. Pete Biddlecombe always made it a rule not to mention times for Championship qualifiers on the blog, for the reasons you state above and I agree.

    All I’ll say is that I found this one a bit easier than the offering from 1972, which I was far too young to have attempted first time round!

  2. All correct for this one, solved last Friday evening. I found most of the clues straightforward but it took me an absolute age to get the last three (Plural, Cable Car and Tactually – in that order). Plural made me smile when the penny finally dropped. Hadn’t heard of the word Tactually and kept returning to Tactilely which fitted the definition and word length but not the wordplay!!

    I enjoyed the golf references at 9A. Roll on the Masters next week. Any golfers reading this who have an iPad really must download the free PGA Tour app – it’s fantastic!

  3. I solved all but five very quickly for me but then took nearly twice as long again to polish them off.

    I assume you’ve a typo, Jerry, and the word you didn’t know was 15dn rather than 16. I didn’t know it either and it’s not listed in several of the usual source dictionaries. But the wordplay is so simple I can’t believe now how much hassle this one caused me.

    All this seems to confirm that it would be pointless for me to attempt to enter the competition because even without the additional pressure of exam conditions as soon as I find myself sailing through a puzzle I suddenly get a death-wish and scupper myself.

    Edited at 2012-03-29 09:42 am (UTC)

    1. You are right, scantier is not in fact an unfamiliar word to me 🙂 – it was tactually – but hardly a difficult clue.
      I have similar feelings to you about entering the competition. Many of them I do sail through but there are setters I have real trouble with and it is not uncommon for a crossword to take me a whole day.. not the whole day of course, but a few minutes here and a few minutes there.. before it’s finished.
      Try coming to the next one just as a spectator – The Times is very good about that and if you are a regular here, you will meet people you know..
  4. This wasn’t a challenge, and it certainly should encourage potential entrants, which I expect is part of the purpose.
  5. I’ve just deleted a post wherein I’d asked for help resolving a log-in problem and in doing so inadvertently indicated my solving time. Problem was solved.
    At the penitent bench,
    Robert
  6. A nice straightforward Times crossword, just right for a Championship qualifier.

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