Times Crossword 26,001 – When the new millennium really begins…

Author   JerryWPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving Time: well, this took me 14 minutes on the Club timer. But that includes printing the thing off, obtaining a glass of wine, and keying it all back in afterwards and submitting.. so it can’t have been much over 10 minutes. I actually felt rather sluggish to start with, so either I was wrong, or this was really easy. None of yesterday’s fireworks, but enjoyable nevertheless with some neat touches.

This seems to be my 150th blog according to Excel. I make that about a week’s nonstop blogging. Save the celebrations for 250, I think I shall..

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

ODO means the Oxford Dictionaries Online

Across

1 transitory – TRAINS (undergoes instruction) with the I delayed to make TRANSI, + TORY, a politician
6 marc – MARC(h). Marc is made from the leftovers of the wine-making process, and is usually pungent and aromatic. Sometimes it tastes good too. My FOI
9 lattice – ATTIC in L(odg)E. I don’t think I knew Attic and Attica relate only to ancient Greece.
10 compass – CO + M(arks) + PASS, a defile in a mountain.
12 sculptress – *(PLUS CRESTS). Very neat clue
13 ago – A + GO
15 re-echo – EC (London city postal code) in *(HERO)
16 proclaim – PRO (expert) + CLAIM (right. Eg what prospectors have)
18 highbrow – HIGH (presumably Anglo-catholic, sometimes described as “High church”) + B(ishop) + ROW (argument)
20 placid – C(LAN) in PLAID, tartan. Placid seems a little more than just collected to me, heading more towards bovine perhaps, but let it pass..
23 Sun – NUS rev. (National Union of Seamen/Students). Little bit of product placement by the Sun’s Murdoch colleagues – now page 3 is no more, they need to sell a bit harder I suppose. The cheesy pics mantle was passed on to the Mail years ago, anyway
24 atmosphere – well I think this is PATMOS, with the P taken pack to make ATMOSP + HERE (present). Interesting island, Patmos, it has seen a few events over the years
26 revisit – ie “Rev, is it?”
27 aniseed – IS in A NEED. Can’t stand the stuff, sadly. I have a bottle of Pernod still unopened, that I was given in 1993
28 lynx – sounds like “Links.” Bit of a chestnut, this?
29 iridescent – I(ndividual) + RI (Republic of Ireland) + DESCENT (ancestry). On edit: the RI is IR(ish) reversed, ie reflected. Thanks mctext

Down

1 till – dd, cash tills and till the land
2 article – grammar, innit.. definite/indefinite articles and such
3 spill the beans – a cd, beans being pulses. Or possibly vice versa
4 treaty – EAT (to take in), in TRY (attempt)
5 rocketry – T(ested) in ROCKERY
7 Alabama – A LAB (dog, briefly) + A MA (graduate.) Easy once you have the right Birmingham
8 custom-made – *(AD MUST COME)
11 musical chairs – MUSICAL (eg Cats) + *(AS RICH). Another v neat clue. (My grandson had his 5th birthday party yesterday. Instead of musical chairs they played “Ninja move pass-the-parcel.” Don’t ask)
14 orchestral – CHESTER, without the second E, in ORAL (exam)
17 commuter – a dd I think, since you can commute a pension, ie substitute – “Change one kind of payment or obligation for (another)” as ODO says. And if you are a rail commuter in these parts some standing may well be required. I have done my share, over the years..
19 Genevan – GEN (information) + EVAN (Welshman). Except that most of them seem to be American
21 cortege – T + EG in CORE (centre)
22 island – S(mall) in I (current, properly i) + LAND (light, aiight)
25 edit – D in TIE, rev.

Author: JerryW

I love The Times crosswords..

44 comments on “Times Crossword 26,001 – When the new millennium really begins…”

  1. And a considerable relief after yesterday’s tour de force. Very much liked the neatly concealed definitions in 1ac and 10ac. Thanks for explaining COMMUTER (17dn) Jerry. I had little idea of what was going on there. Strangely my LOI was TREATY!
  2. I thought for a short while that I might get in under 10′, but 7d, 10ac, and 1ac (LOI) took some time. It didn’t help that I thought of -imp for ‘one politican’ at 1ac, and couldn’t seem to let go of it. It also took a while to get away from Brum. A definite relief after yesterday.
  3. Not sure that RI is the Republic. More likely that it’s IR (Irish) reversed (hence “reflecting”). Happy, as ever, to be wrong.
  4. About 15 mins so about as fast as it gets for me. Understood everything except the Anglo-Catholic=HIGH and some doubts about exactly what was going on in the COMMUTER clue.
  5. Not so fast here as I nodded off at least once, but it was all done within 40 minutes. Didn’t fully understand COMMUTER or COMPASS but both answers went in quickly enough.

    Congrats on your 150th, Jerry!


  6. 14mins for all but 1ac and 1dn, then another 10 for them! As quick as it gets for me. A lot went in straight from def, then worked out the wp. (SCULPTRESS, HIGHBROW, SPILL THE BEANS, ORCHESTRAL…).
  7. 8:30 .. only hold-ups were COMMUTER and ATMOSPHERE (I was looking for a mythological spirit, then another Hennessey!)

    Well done on the sesquicentennial, jerry. I thought from your opening remark you were celebrating with a glass of wine for breakfast but I now see you posted not long after midnight. Either way, well earned.

    COD .. REVISIT, for the cringe value

    On edit: it’s not a sesquicentennial, unless Jerry is older than he looks. sesquicentbloggial? sesquicentcommentarial? sesquicentactal? I’m sure there’s a classicist somewhere around here …

    Edited at 2015-01-21 09:30 am (UTC)

      1. It’s not the scrumpy, Jim, it’s the staying up till dawn dancing naked round the stones of Mel-An-Tol every full moon. It’s playing havoc with my sleep patterns but, you know, if you want to fit in …
        1. Apologies – I didn’t recognise you. You’re supposed to go backwards through the Crick Stone, by the way. I thought your manoeuvre over complicated.
          1. I clearly have a lot still to learn, Jim. I’ll watch out for you next moon’s eve. Presumably you still wear your hat?

        2. I do hope you get a nice mug of hot chocolate after the Mel-an-tol thing Sarah, it must be be chilly this time of year. Not so bad if you are constantly on the move, I suppose 🙂
          1. The trick is not to stand still for long .. for all manner of reasons!

            Actually, beautiful weather down here right now. Went for a lovely long stroll on the beach today and it was positively springlike.

  8. PB for me for a weekday cryptic, my second-best time overall, bit of a walk in the….ah, dammit, I have to come clean. In my haste I managed to cross a Swiss with an Italian and entered GENOVAN. Damn.

    So a PB becomes a DNF. Such is life, as Ned may have said.

    Thanks setter and blogger.

  9. 11.25. Pretty straightforward, then, but I liked the REV, IS IT? clue, especially because it crossed with today’s resident Welshman, Evan. I don’t think it works in any other accent.

    23 across SUN is an anagram of 26001 in base 33. Thought you all should know.

  10. 9m, solving in the conditions described in 17dn. Straightforward but enjoyable this, I thought. I liked REVISIT for the same reason as z8, look you.
    Unknown today: Patmos and that meaning of ‘defile’.
    The trick with drinking marc is not to smell it. That’s with a good one. The trick with a bad one is not to drink it at all.
    Congratulations on the 150 Jerry.
  11. In the US the President has the power to commute a Federal sentence whereby a lesser punishment or a pardon is substituted for the original but the conviction remains. The Governor of a state can do the same. Congratulations on the blogging Jerry, and I liked the Yoda touch. 9.34
    1. Presidential pardons come to light in the (Australian) papers every 4/8 years when the incumbent, in his last few days as lame duck, hands out pardons to all sorts of criminal supporters – serial killers, rapists, drug king-pins, mob bosses all happily pardoned.

      I had 2 down as maybe a triple def: Possibly the / thing / though it may not be definite. First and thrid defs are the same, so maybe not. Otherwise very quick, except held up for 10 mins at the end by crossers ALABAMA/COMPASS and COMMUTE/ATMOSPHERE (yes, don’t know any greek islands or classics, which I was expecting the literal to be).
      Rob

  12. Well done Jerry

    Decent enough puzzle but bound to appear a little anaemic after yesterday. No problems and solved in 15 minutes. I liked 12A

  14. Well, of course, but I thought people might have missed it because of the lack of an anagram indicator. However, cunningly the setter clued SUN as “newspaper” which shows appropriate confusion.
  15. 7 mins (and closer to 7 than 8) so about as quick as it gets for me. I wasted a few seconds trying to decide if 23ac was SUN or NUS (I should have waited for a checker), I needed all the checkers for ALABAMA because I didn’t consider the other Birmingham at first, and COMMUTER was my LOI when I finally realised it was a straight DD. Count me as another who liked the clue for REVISIT.
  16. 9:55 here, also as a 17dn. Today’s Guardian was a LOT harder!

    I’ll be looking out for TRANSVAAL as an answer in tomorrow’s puzzle!

  17. I found this a delightful offering with some excellent surfaces. I did it sitting in the car waiting for my wife so didn’t get an exact time but it must have been close to a PB, which is 7:20.
    COD goes to 11D I think, but there were several others I really liked. Thanks setter for a most enjoyable start to the day.
  19. 19m so much more up my street today, with a number of good clues – I liked the SCULPTRESS and the Greek Island. I have to confess to having BIFD 10a thinking that COMPASS was a mountain range when in fact I was thinking of ATLAS anyway so thanks for straightening that out Jerry and also for the weeks worth of blogging you’ve completed now.
  20. Another here who completed all but 3 clues whilst being a 17d, so inside 30 minutes for me (the remaining three were quickly dispatched on arrival at the office).

    I’m not sure about the relevance of CAKE in 27, I think the clue works perfectly well without it. In 4d I also wondered about fencing until I saw it as “fencing in”.

    Much easier than yesterday!

    Edited at 2015-01-21 03:45 pm (UTC)

  21. Yes, it was easier than most recent puzzles. I’m new to the main crossword, after trying the Quick Cryptic for a little while and this is only the second I’ve managed to finish. I haven’t graduated to timing myself yet but it took lass than forty minutes.
    1. Less, than, lass than, either way, well done!

      By the way, if you get a free LiveJournal account you can edit your posts so you make less lasses (I know, ‘fewer’, but where’s the pun in that?)

  23. I’m an ex-expat and I started this just after spending the afternoon trying to complete online my first UK tax return for over 20 years. Even yesterday’s puzzle was easier than that task. 14 minutes for this one which is pretty quick for me and cheered me up a trifle after seeing what I appear to owe HMRC.
    1. I spent 38 years in the tax business and even when I started, it was considerably easier to do someone else’s tax return than your own (no personal involvement etc). We used to swap around and do each other’s. Now that I am retired it gets hard again and I am busily putting off the Jan 31deadline.

      An enjoyable puzzle I thought.

      1. I’m off to France at the weekend so my deadline was brought forward by a few days. I was the family trailblazer on this so have to help Mrs Y-G with her tax return tomorrow which I look forward to immensely!
      2. I spent 30 years paying tax, then decided I preferred not to. Moved to a tax – friendly island and not having to collect endless pieces of paper or even thin of a tax return has been a constant delight!

        Nice straightforward offering today. 40m.

  24. I think a personal best at just under 13 minutes. That’s about as fast as I can write them in – so it must have been very easy. Ann
  25. A six-minute stroll in the park as opposed to whatever the opposite of that is – a taxing mountain walk with excellent views along the way, perhaps – which would be yesterday’s. Still, nothing wrong with a good easy puzzle; variety being the spice of whatnot, and all that.
  26. About 15 minutes, no hold ups, unknowns or quibbles. REVISIT is cute, and stands out today because the rest aren’t bringing forth any commentary, at least that I can think of. No complaint, inasmuch as the puzzle was well put together. Regards.
  27. I really shouldn’t try to do crosswords while listening to commentaries on Tottenham football matches. In the circumstances, my time looks pretty good (by my standards). Hopefully the second half will be better; after all Spurs scored when I was commenting last fime.
  28. This was very easy, wasn’t it (or was it something in the cognac I had just before starting the puzzle?). Anyway, 23 1/2 minutes, definitely my best time ever, and I think I’ll have some more of that cognac tomorrow.

    I didn’t even have to think much today, the solutions just entered themselves (just as well, considering the alcoholic effects of the cognac). I liked REVISIT quite well, too, and the fact that I didn’t have to know obscure Midlands villages to cope with the geography of the Birmingham area.

  29. Oh dear oh dear. Romped through it all in 20min, apart from 17d which I could not see for the life of me. Even a trawl through the alphabet failed to produce COMMUTER.

    So, my CoD is 17d, because I appreciate a clue which can hide a perfectly ordinary word out of sight.

  30. 7:59 here for a straightforward puzzle with some nice clues. I made another horribly slow start, but at least I got going eventually.

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