Times Crossword 25,427 – elementary, or fundamentally difficult?

Author   JerryWPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving Time: 24 minutes, about average for me on a blogging day, though I think this is definitely harder than some recent efforts, eg yesterday. I enjoyed it a lot and thought it had some very clever clues and slick surfaces, with just a couple on the weaker side and one (15dn) that I guess may cause problems

cd = cryptic definition, dd = double definition, rev = reversed, anagrams are *(–), homophones indicated in “”
ODO means the Oxford Dictionaries Online

Across
1 corn laws – *(SLOW CAN + R(UN))
5 emerge – (CANDL)E + MERGE = fuse
9 Franglais – resounded = RANG in FLA + IS. Franglais was popularised by Miles Kington in Punch magazine, and led to a number of books (eg “Let’s Parler Franglais One More Temps,” you get the idea?). It is interesting though that the word has a different meaning in France and Canada
11 lined – LIN(K)ED.. very clever clue, nice surface
12 eyelash – “I LASH” – un peu risque, methinks
13 bouncer – dd, clever in using ball in two senses
14 mushroom cloud – space = ROOM in face = MUSH + C + LOUD, to obtain one of the iconic images of the 20th century
16 old wives tales – cd, Dutch meaning wife, often wrongly attributed to Cockney rhyming slang but actually just an abbreviation of “Duchess.”
20 quintet – “In Montreal, who” = QUI + T in NET = score
21 fog-lamp – alluring = GLAM in dandy = FOP. Not sure I personally would find something glam alluring, but many would no doubt
23 Akela – pAcK hE’d LeAd. Akela was a wolf in Kipling’s Jungle Book stories, whose name was borrowed for the leader of what we used to call wolf cubs, but now call cub scouts I believe
24 nail punch – arrest = NAIL + PUNCH = drink. A nail punch is a driver, and so a “lift and separate” is needed here
25 keying – unknown amount = Y + at home = IN, in barrel = KEG. Presumably tapping = keying in the ” using a keyboard” sense
26 reinsert – *(TREES IN (ARBOU)R)
Down
1 coffer – C(LEVER) + OFFER
2 Reade – (CHARTER)ED AER(OPLANE), rev. A reference I assume to Charles Reade. I am no great fan of Victorian novels (though I did manage to plough through Disraeli’s Sibyl after it appeared here a few months ago) and confess I had not heard of Reade. however when solving I assumed it referred to Miss Reade, (who in fact, has no terminal e) and wrote it in happily enough
3 logjams – enter = LOG + JAMS = sticks
4 weather-beaten – AT + boy = HERB in WE + EATEN = scoffed. Tricky wordplay, not fully fathomed til now
6 mollusc – American = US in MOLL (Flanders) + C = caught
7 run across – career = RUN + A + CROSS.
8 El Dorado – *(OLD DEAR) + O. Since there is no evidence the lost city of El Dorado ever existed in the first place, it is quite carefully defined as “city, apparently lost.”
10 sub-post office – reserve = SUB + bar = POST + OFFICE(R) – another nifty bit of clueing. I liked the def., “establishment of sorts” ie a sorting-office..
14 midwifery – *(DIY FIRM WE) …super surface to this clue
15 top quark – leading = TOP + “Egypt once” = UAR in “royal couple” = Q + K. I can see this clue causing trouble, because not only the particle itself but also the UAR could reasonably be classed as obscure. But I think the royal couple do limit ones options rather, and quark popped into my mind early on. I did remember the UAR, vaguely, but not in time to help with solving the clue. Although the top quark is indeed very small, it is nevertheless the largest of all elementary particles
17 in train I suppose one = I, + NT RAIN = New Testament rain which could cause a second flood, the first one being firmly anchored in the OT, and the def. is “happening,” but still somehow it seems a tad weak to me
18 leg-spin – today’s cricket reference. Stage = LEG + SPIN (doctors)
19 upshot – raises = UPS + (piping) HOT
22 Annie – (C)ANNIE(R)

Author: JerryW

I love The Times crosswords..

28 comments on “Times Crossword 25,427 – elementary, or fundamentally difficult?”

  1. Quite quick until reaching the Delta Quadrant (SW) and only broke through there by looking up how many players there are in a basketball team. No alternative I’m afraid: can’t stand the game. Thence into the QUARK and its fiendish clue. (Had visions of the setter drafting away for ages on that one.)

    Jerry thanks for the laff with your firmly anchored flood!

  2. 50 minutes of very steady progress and never quite being stuck. I lost about 10 minutes by not solving 9ac until very late in the proceedings, a complete aberration because I knew what I was looking for and I used to be an avid reader of Punch magazine in its good old days when Alan Coren was editor and Miles Kington began writing his ‘Franglais’ columns.

    As might be expected I also lost time over 15dn, the second word being quite easy to get from wordplay but I simply didn’t know the two-word term.

    I agree with the comments about 17dn which, unless we are all missing something, spoils an otherwise finely crafted set of clues.

    Edited at 2013-03-20 02:56 am (UTC)

    1. Miles Kington’s “Franglais” columns in Punch were indeed wonderful. But I think the term “franglais” was actually coined by a Frenchman in the early 1960s, a Professor Etiemble, who wrote a book called “Parlez-vous franglais?”, a battered copy of which I still have on my shelves. In it he rails (to little effect, it would seem, judging by the linguistic state of play 50 years on) for more than 350 pages against the invasion of French by English – and particularly American English – words since the Second World War. He writes at one point: “Once the universal language of the educated white man, the French spoken by our compatriots today has become little more than a pidgin tongue, ashamed of its illustrious past” (my translation). You get the flavour?
      1. I remember at university reading things of very similar flavour written about English 400 years ago. Just replace French with English and English with Italian (or indeed French).
        The more that changes, the more that’s the same thing.
  3. Agree with all comments. LOI and COD to REINSERT after toying with ‘reinvest’ and even ‘reinvent’. 9ac and 19dn also particularly fine. 87 minutes.

    I’m glad 14ac was marked for plural, or I’d have been sweating over ‘old wives’ tale’ (the norm) and ‘old wife’s tale’ (also used).

  4. Dans les jours des Lois du Maïs, quand les cils des femmes etaient très lignés, sont emergés les mots d’Englench. Par example, le verb “bouncer” etait usé pour signifier l’action d’un coup de poing des ongles. Et le verb “coffer” pour ce qu’on fait avant l’invention des lampes de brouillard. Les gens en ce temps etaient un peu battue par le temps (l’autre sort), en account aussi des nuages des champignons.

    Le coup-en-montant de tout ça est peut-être vrai, mais plus probablement rien que des contes des vieilles femmes. Je suis in train de reinserter les mots corrects, mais il y aura sûrement des confitures de rondins. Adieux!

    Edited at 2013-03-20 07:37 am (UTC)

  5. Ignorantly impressed as I am by the foregoing I’ll resist the temptation to follow up with something in transliterated Bengali or Benglish. It could be a long blogsheet if we all do the same. 34 minutes here for a much enjoyed puzzle. 17 brought a smile, nothing wrong with that. Could only see subfusc and bivouac for a time for 6 which didn’t help. Nice one setter. Let’s have another one.

  6. All but one, and that was the Miss Whiplash one, where I speedily put in eyewash without really thinking it through.

    Guessed at TOP QUARK, vaguely remembering QUARK, but not knowing UAR. Also, thought HERB was an odd choice for ‘boy’. Liked the def for 10dn (S-P O), so that gets my COD.

  7. Back to 25 minutes to solve this one so definitely harder than of late. An excellent puzzle overall with some clever constructions

    My two problems are identical with the experience of others. I much approve the inclusion of answers such as TOP QUARK but not definitions like “very minor constituent” – “small but important constituent” might have been better. 17D is indeed odd!

  8. 23m. I liked this a lot. “A very high-quality puzzle in the typical Times style, without any funny business” sums it up perfectly.
    I can’t see the problem with 17dn. In fact I rather liked it.
    I can’t remember if I’ve come across UAR or TOP QUARK before, but Q—K was enough for me to get the particle and then I just had to get a word meaning “leading” from -O-. Pas d’inquiétudes.
  9. Good puzzle. I too went wobbly over “very minor” and left it to last – my knowledge of physics being very minor alas. MUSH for face was new to me. Otherwise pas de comment. 31 minutes.
  10. Good puzzle that filled me with foreboding due to the length of the clues, but proved to be a pleasure rather than a slog. More quarks and basketball references, please.
  11. Time liberally extended to just beyond 30 minutes by struggling with REINSERT. Trees and plants in one clue was daunting to begin with, and though I worked out what the anagram fodder was in theory, I failed the practical. In the end, I told the wordplay to take a running jump and put in REINVEST, based solely on “back” as a definition. Not particularly surprised to find it incorrect.
    IN TRAIN went in with a theologian’s shrug (same as anyone else’s, but a tad more ineffable).
    This blog encouraged me to read Reade, and I’ve so far digested the Cloister and the Hearth and Put Yourself in His Place, free;y available on Kindle. I think you need to take a break between books.
    In my experience, basketball courts always appear to have more than 10 players in occupation at any one time. On Wiki, the 1899 University of Kansas basketball team picture appears to be of 11 players.
  12. Clever puzzle, and certainly a good bit harder than recent offerings.There was some extremely tricky and ingenious wordplay – e.g. EL DORADO, LINED, EYELASH, QUINTET, REINSERT. Nor can I see much wrong with IN TRAIN – the idea that heavy rain during the period of the New Testament might have caused a second Biblical flood seems to me rather nice, with the I of IN, on the principle of “lift and separate”, supplying the “one” of the clue, and the definition (“happening”) being cleverly disguised. What’s not to like?
  13. 45 minutes, but defeated by 15. In fact it was the whole of the SW corner that gave me most trouble. A very fine bunch of clues that had me putting approving ticks all over the place (8, 11 and 24 being my favourites).
  14. Many elements of the wordplay eluded me (despite getting the ‘correct’ answers): so many thanks for the excellent blog, jerry. As I started to write this comment, I was still puzzled by the definition for LINED. Suddenly the penny dropped: ‘lined’ paper = ‘ruled’ paper.
  15. Anyone else go for “lined” arising from “aligned”, meaning connected? ie take out a and g (as in grand). Straight in, never thought twice, and a case of right answer, wrong method.

    I liked 17, which probably makes me a crossword pleb…cant see why it is odd Jimbo?

  16. A very entertaining puzzle indeed.

    I can’t give a time as I made a right chien’s petit-dejeuner of operating my chronograph but it’s academic anyway as I followed Z8 up the garden path with reinvest.

    I put reade (sic) in on the basis of a vaguely-remembered Chaucerian word, but I guess I was getting confused with rede or possibly reeve.

    I’m another who read Punch regularly during the “Coren years”. Among my favourite contributors at the time (other than AC and MK) were Hunter Davies, Clement Freud, Basil Boothroyd and Keith Waterhouse.

    COD to mushroom cloud.

  17. DNF today after 40m with 15d and 20a incomplete. Both were relying on knowledge I didn’t have and never expect to have so not all put out by this ‘failure’ especially as the custodians of the scientific flame on the blog suggest even the obscure phrase was defined in an obscure way as well as being partly clued by an obscurity. I also wondered about the ‘basketball team’ as five since the team actually so far as I can see has upto 20 players although only 5 on the court but the changes seem to be innumerable and constant unlike say soccer where the XI only changes permanently. Probably clutching at straws and I did enjoy the otherwise careful and very precise cluing and the helpful blog.
    1. I remember the bloody-minded and for a time immensely successful manager Brian Clough once substituting a substitute. He remarked post-match, “It wasn’t working.” So I guess it can be done.
  18. DNF as I put in ‘reinters’ without checking the tense of the clue, making ‘upshot’ impossible to get. I thought at the time that ‘plants back’ was a good definition for ‘reinters’ . Must read the clues properly.
  19. Got everything online in 33′ except 25ac and 15d, which brought me to a halt and the threat of a DNF. Largely just memory failure with KEYING; could only think of ‘tun’, not ‘keg’. Once that got in, I finally twigged to QUARK, but then I could only come up with ‘low’, until I finally took the wordplay seriously enough. No problem with UAR, at least. Thanks, Jerry, for explaining LINED, which was a total mystery to me. Good puzzle all around, including, for me, anyway, 17d.
  20. About 35 minutes, ending with the tricky REINSERT, from the anagram and clever definition. I liked IN TRAIN, and I knew of the UAR so TOP QUARK went in, although my knowledge of elementary particles is, at best, less than elementary. My other hold up was trying to solve 10D based on misreading the enumeration as (3-4,7) instead of the correct (3-4,6), which was dopey altogether, but unfortunately true. DNK ‘mush’ as ‘face or who READE was, but they went in without much real trouble. Regards.
  21. I really enjoyed this puzzle. Thank you setter. All correct too – hurrah! FOI Reade, LOI Reinsert. Some super clues/words, in particular Franglais, Logjams, El Dorado, Mushroom Cloud, Top Quark, Akela and Fog-Lamp.

    I thought 16ac might be Old Wife’s Tales not Old Wives’ Tales, but thankfully it wasn’t.

  22. Struggled with this, and had to have three peeks at it during the course of the day… last in was TOP QUARK, and SUB-POST OFFICE. Good workout
  23. Excellent puzzle – but I seem to be going through another of my bad patches at the moment, couldn’t seem to find the setter’s wavelength, and struggled to a miserable 19:33 for a puzzle which in retrospect doesn’t look all that difficult.

    Like others I dithered over OLD WIFE’S TALES, but it didn’t sound right so I plumped for the correct answer. (Phew!)

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