Times Crossword 25,355 – are you getting your Five A Day?

Author   JerryWPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving Time: 22 minutes, which seems to be about average for me at present. Fairly straightforward stuff, helped by an easy 1ac and 2dn. The only unknown for me was the French writer (as usual) but it was easy to get from the wordplay.

.. on with the blog, which is a bit late and a bit sketchy, sorry about that – but Xmas Day just did not allow for staying up (or even conscious) until midnight! Never mind, there are four vintage crosswords to follow, at least for Crossword club members.. I believe they will be blogged, in due course

cd = cryptic definition, dd = double definition, rev = reversed, anagrams are *(–).

ODO means the Oxford Dictionaries Online

Across
1 obstacle – *(COST ABLE)
6 pick at – film = PIC + KATHERINE (Hepburn)
9 laze – BLAZE
10 well I never – wife = W + course = LINE in ELVER = small fish. The def. is “my!”
11 remorseful – *(RULE) = REUL containing MORSE + F. I assume Morse needs no introduction around these parts
13 Nash – N + ASH
14 foul play – a reference to the Ibsen play The Wild Duck…
16 surely – US rev. + bank = RELY
18 weapon – certainly not = NO + A in PEW, all rev.. though why pew = direction is unclear to me. You can “take a pew,” could that be it? – On edit, it is actually A in NOPE + W rev., see first two comments below
20 exercise – monarch = ER in tax = EXCISE. The def. being working out, as in pumping iron..
22 vent – EVENT
24 square meal – and not “mare squeal.” I should like Spoonerisms more than I do, no doubt
26 facilities – dd. “Facilities” is a euphemism employed by those unable to bring themselves to use the proper word, lavatory. And as the ODE says, “the pianist played with facility” ie well
28 dime – DIM + E
29 statue – stone = ST + A TUESDAY
30 opencast – work = OP, + NOT COMMON in EAST
Down
2 Brasenose – “BRAISE KNOWS”
3 trefoil – *(FRET) + OIL
4 Cowes – all of us = WE in COS. Last week we had Kos, this week Cos. I don’t know if one is any more or less “correct,” but it is the sort of thing that happens with words transcribed from another alphabet, in this case one using mainly the “Wingdings” font..
5 ell – EXTEND + LL. Theell is a measure of length which apparently could be almost anything between 18in and 54in. Must’ve been sheer ‘ell
6 paillasse – a problem = A ILL in old hat = PASSÉ. One of my last in since although I have heard of palliasse, I took some convincing that paillasse actually existed. In fact it is the more accurate rendering of the French source word
7 cleaner – C + EXPRESS in LANE + R
8 avers – RAVES, with Republican = R “let down”
12 Feydeau – yen = Y in FED + EAU. Not immediately clear that Vichy water meant nothing more than “French for water,” but the checkers were helpful
15 landslide – wins = LANDS + top = LID + PRIZE. A very neat clue this one
17 Las Palmas – SPA in *(A SMALL) – another neat construction
19 patriot – PROTEST AT RIOT
21 comedic – “CO-MEDIC”
23 exact – accurate = EXACT or Morecambe & Wise = EX-ACT.. though you never would know it, to judge by their Christmas TV exposure
25 Rosie – gRoOm SmIlE
27 Ibo – I + “beau” for the Nigerian national language, that we are apparently supposed to call Igbo now

Author: JerryW

I love The Times crosswords..

11 comments on “Times Crossword 25,355 – are you getting your Five A Day?”

  1. I had NOPE as “certainly not” and W as “direction” and it was my very last in after 37 minutes. I feel happier about this solve than my Christmas Day effort.

    Edited at 2012-12-26 08:52 am (UTC)

  2. 18 across = WEAPON

    Certainly not = NOPE
    given direction = NOPEW
    about = WEPON
    loading a = WEAPON

  3. Nice steady solve. Just right for Boxing Day. Didn’t know or had forgotten the French writer but once E-U appeared at the end with a leading F the cryptic was obvious.

    Yesterday I wrote the blog and the first three visitors were Jack, Tim and an Anon. And the opening quartet today are… What does this tell us guys?

    2. After yesterday’s nina I thought we were in for a pangram today but we have J and G missing. G would be easily catered for as the first letter at 22ac but I can’t spot an obvious home for a J.

      Edited at 2012-12-26 02:46 pm (UTC)

      1. 9 could have been Jape and 22 Zest… Oh, that still leaves G. Hang on. OK, 9 Gaze, 22 Jest. I think.

        Edited at 2012-12-26 06:09 pm (UTC)

  4. Held up by initially rejecting paillasse as having only one l but managed 22 minutes. Not too devilish. Has anyone seen a lovely book, ’75 years of the Times Crossword’ – ? Given to me by my grand-daughters yesterday, it has a puzzle for each year from 1930 to 2005. I negotiated the opener yesterday (the first the Times published) with one wrong and it will be a delight gradually working through. Recommended.
  5. As there is no letter c in the greek alphabet Kos should be the preferred version but as you say “words transcribed from another alphabet” gives the setter (and us)the option.
    Speaking of another alphabet ho in hungarian (or magyar) actually means snow so Santa might be a weather forecaster the rest of the year!
  6. 12 minutes, though I was really unsure about BRASENOSE which was the last in with a shrug and a hope. Rather fun – I bashed away at the four bonus ones with increasingly diminishing returns.
  7. No major hold ups today. Weapon from definition and Foul Play from wordplay.
    Now for the four extra puzzles…
  8. 9:41 for me, but with BRAZENOSE.

    I could plead (I will plead) that I was totally zonked by the time I did this puzzle as the fifth of my five a day, but it’s not really a decent excuse considering how often I must have seen BRASENOSE written down – particularly during my three years in the “city of dreaming spires” / “home of lost causes” / etc, etc. Although BRASENOSE actually looks right once I’ve written it down (whereas BRAZENOSE doesn’t really), I suspect I actually spell it wrong more often than I spell it right.

    Anyway I’m going to add it to my list of difficult words. Right now. (Should have done so ages ago.)

    [Oh, good grief! I only just stopped myself adding BRAZENOSE!!!]

    Edited at 2012-12-26 11:06 pm (UTC)

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