Times Crossword 25,714 – somewhere in Europe

Author   JerryWPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving Time: 26 minutes. Having got 1ac and 1dn while the crossword was coming off the printer, I thought I was in for an easy one for once, but it was not to be. I got bogged down more than once, and I ended fairly pleased with my time. Like yesterday’s, this crossword needs some GK. Whenever I don’t know something I try to regard it as my shortcoming, rather than the crossword’s.. and the GK required these days is far less than it used to be. So grin and bear it, and keep up with the reading… Oh, and it’s a Y short of being a pangram.

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

ODO means the Oxford Dictionaries Online

Across

1 farming – RAF rev., + porcelain = MING
5 bran tub – R, in language = BANTU + Book. I confess I only parsed this afterwards..
9 Asian pear – ASIAN + exercise = PE + hARd. You see them in Sainsbury’s, but they don’t look very tempting
10 union – college = UNI + ON, today’s cricketing reference
11 cocktail dress – perhaps manhattan = COCKTAIL + location = adDRESS. I have vivid memories of drinking Southern Comfort manhattans, in my younger days..
13 aeronaut – cArEeR + NA in exposed = OUT
15 Portia – hidden in supPORT IAgo. My heart sinks rather when I see the word Shakespeare, because I am abysmally ignorant of his plays, but both these characters are familiar enough..
17 mohawk – Mile + fruit = HAW in OK. A reference, it appears to the River Mohawk and not the indian tribe or the hairdo.. Collins says: “a river in E central New York State, flowing south and east to the Hudson River at Cohoes: the largest tributary of the Hudson. Length: 238 km (148 miles)”
19 benefice – BE + *(FINE) + CE. Strictly a benefice is a living, not a church as such. In these parts it is used to refer to the office in charge of a grouping of five churches..
22 Newton’s cradle – animal = NEWT + *(ANDROCLES) a clever and rather hard clue, referring to that toy with the suspended metal balls that keep going long enough, when you lift one and let it go, to give some credence to the law of  conservation of momentum – not expounded by Newton, but an implied result of his laws of motion…
25 T-bone – infection = TB + ONE
26 expensive – EX + PENSIVE
27 averted – RiTE in DEVA rev. I knew Deva from my Wirral days, but if someone said that was obscure GK, I probably would not argue… I think we had Eboracum recently too? Surely better known though
28 toolkit – Is this just a cd with no wordplay? It seems a rather eclectic mix of tools.

Down
1 flab – chap = ALF, rev. + Boot
2 railcar – clergyman = RR containing AIL + CA
3 Ionic – *(IN + vOICe). Ionian patois.. Collins: “One of four chief dialects of Ancient Greek; the dialect spoken in Ionia”
4 great auk – “grey talk.” A sad bird that was too stupid to flee when it caught sight of humans, and suffered the inevitable consequences of our rapacity
5 Barrie – BARRIE(r), a reference to the well-known author of Peter Pan. Recalling any other of his many works is something of a struggle, though The Admirable Crichton may ring a bell..
6 Aquadrome – key = A + QUAD(recep) + *(MORE)
7 trident – cleansed = RID camping, ie in a TENT. Not just a black hole in our defence expenditure, but the weapon of choice for Poseidon, and various hapless gladiators that always seem to get killed easily by the hero in epic films about ancient Rome
8 boneshaker – doctor = BONES + fish = HAKE + R(iver)
12 jasmine tea – *(JAM IS EATEN).
14 New Forest – green = NEW + FORE + S(ho)T. Created about 1079 by William the Conqueror, so not all that new, really. Jimbo territory
16 decrepit – lay down = DECRE(e) + bed = PIT. I suppose a pit is a bed sometimes.. ODO has: “informal a person’s bed”
18 how come – O WC, in HOME
20 ice rink – Ireland = ERIN in (n)ICK. A topical clue!
21 Ostend – sort of map = OS (Ordnance Survey) + X = TEN + D(iamonds). A busy port “Somewhere in Europe,” and within fairly easy reach of Calais, so I have been once or twice.
23 dingo – performing = DOING, with the O last
24 zest – (ga)ZE(bo) + (mo)ST(ly). Zest as in, I guess a zest for life

Author: JerryW

I love The Times crosswords..

35 comments on “Times Crossword 25,714 – somewhere in Europe”

  2. It took me 6 minutes to find my first answer (at 24dn) and then another 59 to complete the grid parsing as I went. I’d heard of NEWTON’S CRADLE but spent ages trying to decipher the anagram having become fixated on the second word being CANDLE.

    FLAY at 1dn would have completed the pangram.

  3. Strange for me to be under JW’s time. But you can applaud now if you like.

    Spent a while near the end looking for the missing Y. At the end, decided the best place for one would be if 5dn were to be BYRNIE, a bit of armour I think. But that would be even more GK.*

    Shades of the good and great Keef and his Winos at 26ac. And I took ZEST as in “zest of lemon” for the taste/flavour. Probably wrong again. Last in and COD to AERONAUT.

    DEVA was always a threat when I was growing up (also on the Wirral). It was the name of the Chester Lunatic Asylum. As kids we were told that the vans marked “UCLA” would come to get you and take you there if you had a bit of a paddy. They were in fact laundry vans (United Co-operative Laundry … something). Not “Uncle Charlie’s Lunatic Asylum”.

    Yep, 28ac is just a CD — up with which I would rather not put.

    * On edit: so Jack’s suggestion of FLAY is far better.

    Edited at 2014-02-19 02:41 am (UTC)

  4. Despite a couple of quibbles (Alf for chap at 1d, and Deva for Chester at 28 – why, Runcorn’s better known!), I thought this was a fine puzzle, even though I struggled considerably, taking well over the hour.

    We used to have a 22a, but I just thought of it as the thing with the metal balls that swing and (eventually) stop. I liked the CD at 28 (isn’t it a kind of ‘all in one’, with an alternative elliptical surface reading ‘[You] saw plane and chopper amongst this collection?’ to evoke an aviation theme?), and ticks also against 1a (certainly no write-in for me), 2d and 8d. Thanks to setter and blogger.

  5. Nearly an hour for me … must be the beer and the whisky from last night’s hash run. Pity about the pangram … agree that setter should have clued FLAY instead of FLAB for 1Down. Lots of fine stuff in this puzzle. Thanks

  6. … and that blank was DECREPIT, which I couldn’t get after I’d spent my usual hour. I too thought it was going to be a quick one after getting 1ac and 1dn straight off, but it was not to be. DNK DEVA, nor that the MOHAWK is a river, and took an age to get the ASIAN bit of ASIAN PEAR (unknown). Also, didn’t work out how DINGO parsed. Never really thought of NEWTON’S CRADLE as a toy, but then I’m not sure what I would classify it as… I too wanted it to be something ‘candle’.
    1. You and Jack must have some idea how candles can be toys. Wicked things?
      No … I won’t ask!

      Edited at 2014-02-19 05:57 am (UTC)

  7. Three-quarters of an hour, but well worth the effort. I confess that my general knowledge wasn’t up to scratch today but the clues were clear enough.

    My last one in was BONESHAKER and, having spotted the possible pangram, did wonder if there was such a thing as a BONYSHAKER, but decided that only Stanley Unwin would have had one of those.

  8. A bit of a slog at times.

    Had forgotten the river MOHAWK; don’t think of NEWTONS CRADLE as a toy (is it one?); thought 28A really weak and couldn’t help but briefly ponder the use of “chopper” with “tool”; struggled to recall “pit” as “bed”.

    Anybody thinking of visiting the NEW FOREST at the moment should bring flippers and a snorkle

    1. According to a little internet research, “get out of you pit” was an army usage. I know it from St Aldate’s Church, Oxford, circa 1978, when the rector, one Michael Green, used to use the same expression to exhort undergraduates to prayer!
  9. 32min: 8dn LOI, after while trying for some sort of SKATER, with the missing Y. I accepted NEWTON’S CRADLE as an “executive toy”, as seen sitting on the chairman’s ostentatious desk in movies.
  10. Tough 20 minute wrestle, with the bottom half falling into place only against the best efforts of my brain to see NERVOUS CANDLE as the only possible words which could fit the checkers. 28ac is one of those cryptic clues which seems great in principle, assuming that people will read it in the “right”, surface, way first, and then see the “other”, cryptic, way; the trouble is that a lot of crossword solvers are tuned in to looking for that “other” way from the off, so if there is a penny drop moment, it happens more or less while you’re reading the clue, and there is no great suspense or moment of revelation.

  11. Pleased to have completed this one in just over a couple of hours, which (given the senior pros seem to be saying it was no pushover) is possibly my best to date.

    Thanks to jerrywh for explaining 27 – got it in OK, but could not parse – same with 16. Thought 18 was a neat clue.

    Also pleased to see the late lamented Great Auk get an airing, purely on the basis that I am a sentimentalist when it comes to birds that should still be around. Was about to add comment re. looking forward to a Great Bustard related clue (a name somehow resonating with magnificence), but then double checked and found to my delight that this fine bird is still with us in small numbers in Southern Europe – and indeed, is apparently being reintroduced to the UK. The report of his extinction that I absorbed as a kid visiting our local Taunton Municipal Museum (where a stuffed Bustard was displayed) appears to have been – happily – exaggerated.

    Edited at 2014-02-19 12:03 pm (UTC)

    1. The Great Bustard was previously reintroduced into the UK in 1970. Google the British Cartoon Archive for item GA 2856 to see the peerless Giles cartoon on this.

      Edited at 2014-02-19 07:54 pm (UTC)

  12. . . . with many slammed in unparsed so thanks jerry. If you have a vivid memory of drinking Southern Comfort Manhattans, you obviously did not have enough of them.
  13. A very slow start to this one but picked up after the first couple of answers had gone in. Once I had ???D?E as the second word of 22A, assumed it was going to be some small poodle (toy animal) I’d never heard of until the light dawned – would agree with a previous comment that it’s a toy in the executive sense. BRAN TUB for some reason sprang unbidden into my mind though I don’t think I could have defined it if asked. Put in BOTTOM for 15A from my (very) short list of Shakespearean characters before 8D proved that wrong – thought that was a nice clue, though. Also liked FLAB and TOOLKIT.
  14. Just under 18 mins so I was on the setter’s wavelength, although it probably helped that I had just solved today’s Enigmatist puzzle in the Guardian so my brain was ticking over smoothly.

    I had all the necessary GK for this one, and that definitely made it a faster solve. I didn’t think the CD at 28ac was as bad as some of you did because of the aviation-related aspects of the clue. The well hidden PORTIA was my LOI after BONESHAKER.

  15. 15 mins with the TOOLKIT the last to fall and that only after I had worked through the alphabet
  16. 20:20 with railcar, Asian pear and finally ionic the last 3 to succumb.

    Thanks to Jerry (not) for reminding me of SC Manhattans. The recipe on the bottle called it an “improved Manhattan” so at my Sister’s 21st party, with my cousin and I (aged 19 & 18) assigned to bar duty, we felt compelled to try a few. This was in the days when SC was stronger than it is now (close to 50% I think rather than the 35% ABV it is now) and whilst I’ll spare you the details I was not a well chap the following day.

    I hadn’t heard of the Asian pear (when I go to Sainsbury’s I tend to head straight for the ale and pork scratchings) and I didn’t know Deva either.

    As above, I have the cradle in my mind as an executive toy so I was happy enough.

    Nice challenge today.

  17. Another DNF after 45m – I think that’s three times I’ve failed to link Afghan and Asian now! But that was not my only blind spot as I didn’t get near BENEFICE either!
  18. Struggled to get started on this one today, couldn’t concentrate at first, but eventually struggled home in about 32 mins, with everything parsed. No problems with DEVA though – didn’t we all have to learn the Roman names for modern cities in junior school? No? My main sticking points were NEWTON’S CRADLE (I also wanted it to be a candle) and 1ac/1dn, which were my last two. For some reason I also had a blind spot with the JASMINE TEA anagram, even though TEA went straight in.
  19. A tough one, took just over 90 minutes but enjoyed the challenge. Nice to see Bantu get a mention, mother of Swahili and a host of other East African languages.

    28ac held me up a bit, tried toolbag and then toolset before getting it.

    Thank you setter and blogger for clear blog as always.

    Nairobi Wallah

  20. 21 minutes so I was not on the setters wavelength today although when I got to the end the only ylthing that didn’t make total sense was the wordplay for AVERTED
  21. Found this nice and straightforward at 16:55 with no particular holdups, but put in dingo without quite getting it so thanks for the explanation.
  22. Felt a little panicked as nothing seemed to come naturally, then got JASMINE TEA, which opened up the bottom half. I was starting work when everyone and his brother seemed to have a NEWTON’S CRADLE on his desk, so no problem there (and yes, at that time it would have been “his” desk). Didn’t think a MOHAWK would be especially notable for being fleet of foot, so grateful to jerrywh for pointing out that it is a river! Liked COCKTAIL DRESS and BONESHAKER, which opened up the NE. Hadn’t really thought of IONIC as a dialect before, but it makes sense. LOI the RAILCAR / ASIAN PEAR crosser. Hadn’t been aware of them before, but “comice” and “conference” didn’t fit. About 35 minutes, mainly due to slow start. Enjoyable without being outstanding.

    Still chortling over Saturday’s 12ac.

  23. 25m. Too much GK – some of it quite dated – required for me to enjoy this much. It was all in there somewhere but struggling to remember what a BRAN TUB is (or was) doesn’t give quite the same pleasure as seeing through a clever bit of wordplay. So a bit of a slog.
  24. About 45 minutes, struggling in the NE re the unknown BRAN TUB, and trying to figure out BONESHAKER, which wanted to be BONESETTER as ‘doctor’. That took a while to sort out. The ‘deva’ bit of AVERTED, well I just ignored it. Good thing, because I would never have come close to understanding it. Regards.
  25. Attempted to do this whilst watching TV and managed about 4 answers in an hour. Then gave it my full attention and knocked the rest off in about 10 minutes.

    Concluded that multitasking is not a strong point of mine.

  27. 14:20 for me, though in retrospect I’m not sure why I was quite so slow as it looks pretty straightforward now. However, I didn’t know MOHAWK as a river (thanks for that, Jerry), I’m unfamiliar with PIT = “bed”, and I dithered over some clues I really ought to have twigged straight away. I briefly wanted 8dn to end in SKATER, but fortunely spotted the real answer reasonably quickly.

    Nice puzzle. COD (almost LOL 🙂 to 28ac.

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