Times Crossword 25,391

Solving Time: About 40 minutes, but I’m not feeling good today having done something painful to my back. You only discover just how many activities involve bending, when you no longer can. The crossword did feel a bit harder than average to me, interested to see how others found it. Sorry if the blog’s a bit sketchy, especially as I think there are some absolutely first class clues here – very entertaining stuff indeed

Incidentally, for anyone who missed Araucaria’s appearance on Newsnight last night, and is interested (and is UK based, or is using a site like Expat Shield).. then you can watch it again here.

cd = cryptic definition, dd = double definition, rev = reversed, anagrams are *(–), homophones indicated in “”

ODO means the Oxford Dictionaries Online

Across
1 by jove – *(JOB VERY), the def. being “My.” How we all talk here in Blighty, don’t you know?”
4 Augusta – A + U + GUSTAV
9 court – dd
10 arresting – remains = REST in A RING. The def. being “Running in.”
11 sunbather – red top = SUN + “to go in” = BAT + HER. Cricketing reference du jour, but a neat clue nonetheless
12 elfin – EATING LARGE FISH + INDIGESTION. An even neater clue.. top class
13 axle – “AXEL.” What skaters do
14 slug pellet – dd
18 Galsworthy – misses = GALS + WORTHY = VIP
20 glum – large = L in GUM
23 demon – assume = DON containing ME rev.
24 Agnes Grey – A + G + *(ENERGYS). The (governess) titular heroine of what is perhaps not the best known (Anne) Bronte novel, but a Bronte novel nonetheless – and as such, a pillar of English literature
25 warmonger – close to finding = WARM + CONGER.
26 pilau – beer = PILS + AU = valuable metal, ie gold
27 lay into – *(IT ONLY A), a nicely hidden anagram
28 unpick – Parisian one = UN + PICK, a “ground-breaking article,” ha ha
Down
1 back slang – second’s = BACKS + delay = LAG containing N, an unspecified number. Back slang, cant, verlan etc. are fascinating forms of language
2 journal – O URN in JAIL – another really neat clue
3 vatman – See = VATICAN, or if you prefer VIDE, + BATMAN, a very American hero, ie a violent one
4 airer FAIRER, a clothes type of horse
5 gas meter – *(MAYHEM + GREETS A). Another fine clue, look at that surface reading, and the lovely cryptic def… mind you these days the Utilities just estimate everything, or get you to read the thing
6 skinful – SKILFUL, with the central L changed to N to get what you have if you sink a lot (of alcohol)
7 argon – ARE GONE.. yet another nifty clue
8 bachelor – composer = BACH + something played = ROLE, rev.
15 go hungry – GO HUNGARY, ie fast, as in Lent
16 tummy tuck – T + Y UMMY TUCK. What obese people do rather than eating less
17 twin town – just a cd, I suppose. Do they have twinning everywhere, or is that a European thing?
19 lamprey – batter = LAM + (a hunter’s) PREY. Very peculiar fish indeed, your Lamprey
21 legends = LORE + floral LEI. Lovely def., “rock singer.” The Lorelei rock is a World Heritage site
22 ash pan – when = AS + HP = hire purchase, = never-never, + LAND. Tricky! The def. of course is “one getting grateful eventually,” ie when the fire is out and the grate is cleared..
23 dowel – DO WELL
24 aggro – gross = gr in earlier = AGO

Author: JerryW

I love The Times crosswords..

40 comments on “Times Crossword 25,391”

  1. I really struggled with this but managed to complete it in 65 minutes without resorting to aids.

    At 13ac, I get ‘spring’ but not ‘on blades’. Is that also a ballet term or are we in ice-skating or roller-blading territory?

    I think John Galsworthy is primarily remembered as a novelist rather than a dramatist although of course he was that too. AGNES GREY exposed a gap in my literary knowledge.

    I couldn’t untangle 22dn having solved it correctly as I assumed that ‘never-never land’ had to be connected in some way to (Peter) PAN. I’m old enough to remember the arrival of “the never-never” so I should have spotted it.

    I’m afraid I do get a bit tired of puzzles so full of wordy clues of which we have had an abundance of late and this is yet another example. To illustrate the point, for years I had my browser printer setting at 95% but I recently had to reduce it to 90% to prevent clues dropping off the bottom of the page almost every other day.

    Edited at 2013-02-06 02:48 am (UTC)

  2. I had 9A as a triple definition with an &lit element – The Yard, invite, defendant to appear here.

    Found this quite tough, though seeing a host of lengthy clues tends to put me off from the start.

    1. Hah! Thanks for that explanation of 9ac. I hadn’t spotted the triple definition. Very clever.
  3. From My Golden Book of the Kings and Queens of England I learned that HenryI died of a surfeit of lampreys (and never smiled again, per 1066 And All That). I had Ipswich in as a city which tied things up no end in that corner. Rather a TLS sort of puzzle with some very entertaining, albeit wordy, clues. 28 minutes.
    Thanks for the Araucaria link Jerry and feel better.

    Edited at 2013-02-06 10:47 am (UTC)

  4. Tricky puzzle with some excellent clues. Solved in two sessions with a longidh break in the middle.

    I also had 9A as described by mohn2. Not quite sure why back slang should be associated with yobs or what the function of “on” is in 8D.

    Thanks to setter and well done Jerry

    1. I think ‘on’ has to be taken with ‘rising’, so “on rising” is the reversal indicator, not just “rising”. Justified, I think.
    2. Was interested to note in the Wiki article linked by Jerry that two of the young British tennis players reportedly use backslang to keep their on-court intentions from their opponents. I’d love to hear one of their conversations at the net, presumably involving:

      – bol
      – eca
      – yellov
      – pord tosh
      – rethel ti
      etc …

      1. Hi Sotira – I first came across it Billingsgate fish market and then later in Smithfield meat market where it was spoken at great speed (I worked not far from those two fascinating places, although the fish market has now gone). None of those people were yobs – very shrewd business brains some of them. However I accept the explanation given above about backslang for boy
        1. Hi Jimbo – I don’t doubt the acuity of the practitioners. I’m still not quite sure how it works. While I was in the supermarket just now (a long way from Billingsgate) I was wondering if ‘top spin’ would be POT NIPS or POT NISP. And would back spin be ‘KAB NIPS’ or KAB NISP’?
          1. I’ve been trying to remember – it’s all rather a long time ago that I worked in the Holborn area

            As I recall they mixed back slang with common english and rhyming slang. The back slang was loosly phonetic so that ease of pronounciation took precence over exact reversal of letters. I doubt they ever said TOP SPIN but my guess is that it would be POT NIPS and BACK SPIN would be CAB NIPS

  5. This must have been quite tough – lunchtime in the UK and I’m still in the first 50 on the leader board despite having one mistake and more than 30 minutes on the clock (and Magoo went over the 10-minute mark – allow yourself a little smile, setter).

    We’ve been spoilt with some outstanding clues lately, and there were more here. VATMAN and GO HUNGRY the pick of the bunch for me.

    Thank you, Jerry. Hope the back recovers soon.

  6. Commiserations, Jerry. May I recommend alternating an ice-pack with a hot-pack, 20 minutes each two or three times a day. It worked for me.

    A very tricky puzzle. I was stuck on 18 with only two letters in place and resorted to aids to get it. Not surprised at my slowness as I don’t immediately think of Galsworthy in connection with drama. I also didn’t study 6 carefully enough and entered SKILFUL.

    As others have said, there were some excellent clues. Two I noted in particular were the triple definition at 9. I thought 22 could have done with an alert of some kind (exclamation mark or whatever) but it was a very witty construction (which I didn’t fully understand till coming here).

  7. Absolutely first-rate puzzle that beat me all ends up. Found it too difficult by half, managing only 23 of the 32 clues without aids (my worst effort for months) and even with Onelook couldn’t quite finish it (Axle missing).
    Solved the SE corner reasonably quickly but from then on found it very hard going. Some wonderful definitions (Lorelei, “pick”, Ash-pan) and misdirections (did anyone else try to fit E for English into Galsworthy?).
    The required meaning of Arresting was new to me. Of many excellent clues I thought Lay Into was a beauty. Thank you setter.
  8. Great puzzle which I had to surrender unfinished and read the blog as available time had run out. Didn’t know my Bronte, and didn’t twig the very clever ash-pan and unpick.
    We can eat lamprey locally, from the Garonne – usually stewed in red wine. I don’t recommend it.
    Jimbo – So now they’ll be re-defining and legislating for same-sex divorces and the lawyers make even more money?
    1. Hello Pip

      I’m sure you’re right. The whole thing will be a minefield and thus a lawyer’s goldmine that will rattle on for years. I read one MP raised the issue of brother and sister pairings! Legislate in haste – repent at leisure.

      My prime concern was the depths to which our elected representatives have sunk (expenses scandal, perverting course of justice, flouting normal parliamentary procedure) and did not intentionally contain any party political content. Having said that I suspect Mr Cameron may live to regret what he did seeing the size of the rebellion.

      1. How is it a rebellion, if everyone is given a free vote?

        I quite like politicians who have a mind of their own. Heaven knows they get criticised often enough for being sheep.

        Edited at 2013-02-06 03:55 pm (UTC)

        1. I agree that on this occasion Cameron seems to have done the courageous thing by allowing a free vote on a matter that he knew would be opposed by many in his party. At the very least, he can’t be accused in this instance of putting party before democracy.
    2. It’s going to be fun. Two examples already: same sex marriages cannot be annulled on the grounds of non-consummation (now there’s an interesting definition question for the Common Lawyer). And if a same sex spouse strays with another person, it’s only adultery if it’s with someone of the opposite gender. You play with words at your peril.
  9. My first comment. Many thanks to the bloggers and the regular contributors to the comments – I’m continually in awe of how some of you manage to get your minds thinking on the right track – ash-pan is a prime example.
    Back to back slang; I’m no expert but I always thought that it was ‘utchersB(ay)’ ‘ackB(ay)’ ‘langS(ay)’ in which case boy would be ‘oyb(ay)’ or yob would be oby(ay).
    John McK
    1. Hi John, and welcome to TFTT. Yes, that’s one way of doing it, but by no means the only one. You will find with a bit of googling that there are just dozens of other backslang and similar argots.
      As far as the right track goes, it is imho a knack, honed by lots and lots of practice (or “enjoyment,” as I prefer to call it).. learn to completely ignore the apparent “sense” of the clue, and go on from there..
  10. Sorry to hear about the back – mine too unfortunately has its moments, and gives an underlying current of pain. Literally, a pain in the ar*e.

    A tricky but good puzzle (ELFIN I enjoyed a lot), though with some rather long clues, I think. Easier to smooth out a longer surface, I suspect, but it was, for me, 50 minutes of time well spent.

    Chris.

  11. I found this as tricky as (nearly) everyone else and was only able to finish with resort to aids. BACK SLANG was a completely new concept for me (the things one learns about on this blog!). A lot of top-class clues, among which I particularly liked GAS METER – a brilliant mix of a plausible but devilishly misleading surface read with cryptic def and ingenious wordplay. Thanks setter and well done blogger.
  12. Probably over 30 minutes in two sittings. Thanks for unravelling ASHPAN – the assumed reference to Peter meant my road to enlightenment was deeply frozen and it sadly went in as a “what else could it be?”. At least I got the grateful (chortle) bit.
    With ash on my mind, I was looking for it again to match “remains” in 10, thinking thrashing was a possible (if unlikely) answer, but saw and filled the light eventually.
    Good demonic stuff all round.
  13. A very enjoyable puzzle which I managed to finish without resorting to aids. I live in Felixstowe which is around 10 miles from Ipswich so I knew it is a twin town (twinned with the French town of Arras if anyone is interested!). My COD has to be 12a over 10a which both had lovely surfaces. Thanks to Jerry for the blog and the link to Araucaria’s mention on Newsnight which was very interesting. Never heard of back slang but got it from the wordplay.Thought 9a was a dd until I came here and realised it was a triple def. Also required the blog to parse 22d. Thanks and regards to all.
  14. Very good and very enjoyable puzzle, about 45 minutes. I liked ELFIN and GAS METER, but I couldn’t parse the never-never bit. Thanks to the setter and Jerry, and regards.
  15. 42 minutes, very enjoyable. After the unpromising By Jove it loosened up and the whole thing seemed by the end to have a humorous personality about it that’s made my evening. (Now for England to beat Brazil.)
  16. Wow, the setter and I were on different planets here, but eventually got together, but it took four solving sessions until GAS METER went in and I was done.

    My big problem was putting in LEG PULL for 27 (double def) in SLUG BULLET for 14.

    BACK-SLANG from wordplay, along with GALSWORTHY and AGNES GREY. ASH-PAN and AXLE from only getting the definition part of the clue. Phew!

  17. 1h.
    Wow. I struggled mightily to find the setter’s wavelength on this and never really did. I had to leave it after 25 minutes this morning and then didn’t get a chance to look again until just now. A couple of glasses with dinner helped perhaps.
    There were a few little things I wasn’t keen on in here but there were so many superb clues that I really don’t want to quibble. Time after time, a clue that I found extremely hard to crack appeared simple, elegant and obvious once I had cracked it. This is the best kind of clue. And by the end of the puzzle I was absolutely furious with the setter. This is the best kind of puzzle. The fury soon fades and admiration replaces it. Thank you setter.
    I’m familiar with Verlan, but had never come across its English equivalent, BACK SLANG, which is curious.
    Thanks for the blog, and for pointing out the Araucaria interview, Jerry. I am out of the UK at the moment but will certainly watch it when I’m back.

    Edited at 2013-02-06 11:24 pm (UTC)

  18. A belated comment from me, as I’m recovering from a bout of lurgy that laid me up in bed (and not feeling up to crossword-solving or anything else really apart from sleeping) for a good part of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

    20:39 here, though I like to think I’d have been a little faster under other circumstances. A truly brilliant puzzle, that’s almost certain to get my vote for “puzzle of the month” – in fact one of the best Times crosswords I’ve ever come across. I’m not normally too fond of long clues, but 5dn (GAS-METER) and 22dn (ASH-PAN) were both beautifully constructed, and 16dn was a delight. I raise my hat to the setter (whose identity I think I can guess).

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