Firstly, apologies for posting this a lot later than I’d intended. I had a couple of visits to the doctor’s today following a rather rough weekend, and the fact that I’m a bit under the weather at the moment meant that I spent longer solving today’s four puzzles than perhaps I might have done otherwise.
I found this tough – much the toughest of the four. So tough in fact that by the end of 30 minutes I’d finished only slightly more than half the puzzle. I think if I’d been up to par, I’d have completed just over three-quarters of it, but I’d have needed to be on my very best form to have cracked the SE corner in the time I allowed myself.
The clues I solved at a first reading were 28A and 2D (thank goodness for quotations, I say 🙂 and 7D (literary), though I did guess 8D correctly but didn’t dare put it in. I ended up with 1A, 5A, 10A, 15A, 18A, 23A, 26A, 28A, 2D, 3D, 6D, 7D, 8D, 14D, 16D, 17D, 19D and 25D.
After I’d finished, I used “Bradford” for 13A, which I was annoyed to find I knew perfectly well – I think I first came across NENUPHAR in a Ximenes puzzle from the 1960s, and I’ve remembered it ever since. After that, 11D was perfectly obvious, and I kicked myself for not thinking of it. Those two answers completed the SW and NE corners, so I left things there, joined the Times Online “How to solve The Times crossword” chatroom, and went back to the puzzle later.
The next line of attack had to be the NW corner, and almost as soon as I went back to 1D the answer I’d been searching for came to me, after which 9A and 4D followed quickly (another kick for not thinking of the latter), which left 12A. I reckoned there were three possibilities: TAINDS (which I wasn’t sure even existed as a word), TEINDS (which sounded faintly familiar, but no more than that) and THIRDS (which at least had the merit of existing, but didn’t sound convincing) – so I plumped for TEINDS and was pleased to find it was correct.
That left the SE corner. Here I’d made the bad mistake of assuming that 20D (“It’s most absorbing”) was going to end in EST, and that had firmly scuppered my chances. It made RENEGADE look like a possibility for 27A (“Rebel in a bit of a hole”), but I couldn’t see any way that the “hole” fitted in. When I returned to the puzzle, I felt that I had to disregard the EST ending for 20D and see where that left me. GYRATORY for 29A seemed a possibility, and that would fit with HOVE-TO, the only answer I’d been able to come up with for 21D. But I hadn’t put it in as I wasn’t completely sure about the hyphen, and it wouldn’t fit with anything else. However, there seemed to be a much stronger answer to 27A, and that was RECUSANT, where the “hole” would then be a priest hole. But that didn’t seem to fit with anything else, so at that point I abandoned hope and looked up the solution.
I’ve commented on every clue, even the one clue that would (I think) be allowed today.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Though “busy” in fiction, he suggests a decline in business = LESTRADE: Inspector Lestrade, a busy (= detective) from Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories; LESTRADE=”less trade” |
| 5 | State that forms part of a smaller one = KANSAS: included in word Arkansas, but (as a state) larger than Arkansas in area |
| 9 | Acid juice = VERJUICE: two meanings (“must” indicating partially fermented grape juice) |
| 10 | Suave = URBANE: simple definition |
| 12 | They embrace the desirability of living in Scotland = TEINDS: a Scots word for tithes (I initially thought the answer might be MANSES, but fortunately 2D ruled that out) |
| 13 | Sustenance for a lotus-eater = NENUPHAR: a water lily or lotus (roughly speaking) – you can find out about the lotus-eaters here |
| 15 | Offspring of spit and polish = SPICK AND SPAN: nowadays this would be regarded as too woolly, but in 1940 it was regarded as fair game |
| 18 | What the Chancellor of the Exchequer has to consider = WAYS AND MEANS: it’s helpful to remember the Committee of Ways and Means |
| 23 | Close season? = MEANTIME: close = MEAN (as in niggardly), season = TIME; no definition (commonplace in those days, and at least there was a question mark) |
| 24 | He’s a bit mixed, as you might say = CREOLE: someone of mixed blood (I should really have got this from the possible O from HOVE-TO), but I’d abandoned hope by then) |
| 26 | West Indian town in Germany = NASSAU: two places, one in the Bahamas and one in Germany (I initially read this as “Red Indian”, which didn’t help!) |
| 27 | Rebel in a bit of a hole = DECADENT: CADE (the rebel Jack Cade) in DENT; no definition!!! (this is a pig of a “double entendre”: the obvious answer nowadays would be RECUSANT (see above)) |
| 28 | One of the little things that “have their day” = SYSTEM: a straight quote from the Prologue to Tennyson’s In Memoriam A.H.H, verses from which are sung as a hymn, which is where I first came across them (I remember the clue “Our little – have their day (Tennyson)” appearing in (I think) a Bristol Regional Final many years ago and wondering how many people put in SISTERS instead of SYSTEMS 🙂 |
| 29 | What Dick Swiveller was? = GYRATORY: to swivel = to gyrate (I should have taken more notice of the question mark, but I was desperately trying (and failing) to remember which Dickens novel Dick Swiveller appeared in – it’s The Old Curiosity Shop |
| Â | |
| Down | |
| 1 | It’s in charge = LEVITY: IT in LEVY (I really should have got this, as I’d parsed the clue correctly, but at the time the only word I could think of for “charge” was LOAD) |
| 2 | “It matters not how – the gate” (Henley) = STRAIT: perhaps guessable even if you don’t know it, particularly if you’re familiar with “Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life” (Matt, 7:14) |
| 3 | Bovine assembly = ROUND-UP: little more than a simple definition |
| 4 | Shakespearian shepherd = DICK: “When icicles hang by the wall, and Dick the shepherd blows his nail …” (Love’s Labour’s Lost) (I tried my best to think of shepherds from Shakespeare’s plays beginning with D and, unsurprisingly, failed miserably; it was only when I had the C from VERJUICE that light finally, and depressingly quickly, dawned |
| 6 | One reason for being stranded = AGROUND: a clue which I think would probably pass muster today (I dare anyone to tell me it wouldn’t!) |
| 7 | Trollope family vehicle = STANHOPE: the Rev. Vesey Stanhope and his daughters appear in Trollope’s Barchester Towers (I’d have given a link to the wikipedia article on Barchester Towers, but sadly it doesn’t mention the Stanhope family, and I don’t have the energy to update it just at present) |
| 8 | It gives her a sign = SHEARING: (her a sign)*; no definition (but if you were used to 1940s puzzles, you’d have no problem with it) |
| 11 | Formerly abed = BELATED: LATE (= formerly) inside BED (another clue that would have been utterly straightforward to regular 1940s solvers) |
| 14 | Where people get hung = ACADEMY: referring to artists or, by whatever that figure of speech is, their paintings (I wanted this to be GALLERY, but ACADEMY seemed pretty obvious once I had some crossing letters: I was assuming it referred simply to the Royal Academy in London or the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh, but I see now that Chambers (2003) contains the definition “the annual exhibition of the Royal Academy or of the Royal Scottish Academy”) |
| 16 | A state in which people are unlikely to settle = TWO MINDS: straightforward cryptic definition |
| 17 | How footballers cooperate = BYPASSES: by passes; no definition (get over it!) |
| 19 | Impel = ACTUATE: simple (or at any rate, simplish) definition |
| 20 | It’s most absorbing = NIRVANA: I’m grateful to John Harding for pointing out the definition of NIRVANA in Collins English Dictionary: “Final release from the cycle of reincarnation …, culminating (in Buddhism) in absolute blessedness, or (in Hinduism) in absorption into Brahman” (I’d probably have guessed the answer once I had all the crossing letters, but I find it rather an odd clue and a not particularly helpful one) |
| 21 | Anchored near Brighton = HOVE-TO: referring to Hove next door to Brighton (I could almost claim this one as solved, but I failed to write it in the grid – Hove is known to Brightonians as “Hove actually”, since that’s what people who live in Hove answer when you ask them if they live in Brighton 🙂 |
| 22 | Little Tommy thought heavy rain was indicated = PELTRY: my thanks to Anonymous for his or her suggestion (which Gareth Rees has confirmed) that “Little Tommy” here represents a generic child, who when faced with the word PELTRY would think that it had something to do with PELT = to rain heavily |
| 25 | 14 Ultimately reaches this size = DEMY: a size of paper; (aca)DEMY |
I find it hard to believe that solvers in the 1940s would know anything about that!
John Harding
(Still puzzling over Little Tommy and peltry)
I’d looked in the OED, but that doesn’t mention “absorption” (or any other word related to “absorb”) apart from in the citation “1905 Rep. Brit. Assoc. 15 The greater chance is that it [sc. a meteoric stone] will find its Nirvana by absorption in the sun” where it doesn’t seem to be relevant.
I’ve a feeling in my water that there’s a better explanation to be had. I’ll think on.
I think it could take a few days (or even weeks) to really get into the swing of old puzzles like this one, but I suspect Roy and your other friends would find that their times improved dramatically with practice, particularly if they have the necessary knowledge of the Bible, literature, classical mythology and so on.
I kept forgetting to look out for definitionless clues, and only got the anagram when I had a few crossing letters and it couldn’t really be anything else. Should have got 1A as “busy” meaning detective came up recently. I think this was a much harder than average puzzle though – I’ve solved early Times puzzles before and none were this tough.
Once I’ve recovered a little more (and I’m feeling significantly better already :-), I’m going to have a bash at the following day’s puzzle (available with the solution) and see if I fare better with that.
Edited at 2010-02-02 09:47 am (UTC)
De gustibus non est disputandum!
I got the top right answers listed by linxit, down to SPICK AND SPAN, plus ROUND-UP, NASSAU, ACTUATE, and the ACADEMY/DEMY pair – ACADEMY with the help of AND/THE as likely middle words of 18A. I fell into the same “teamwork” trap as linxit, and also pondered -EST at the end of 20, which didn’t help. I had 23 -TIME and 18 ? AND ? pencilled in, but couldn’t finish them, and trusted the enumeration too much at 21 – I’d say this was a misprint, as the ones in the book do multiple words correctly. I daftly rejected “busy=detective” at 1A. Should have got 9 – I had “like VINEGAR” jotted down.
Only offer on the mysteries: at 22D, the “heavy rain” in the clue could be PELTing. But Google searches for “little Tommy” accompanied by things like rain, raining and peltry found nothing useful.
17D minor typo: the clue’s players don’t communicate but cooperate.
Edited at 2010-02-02 09:04 am (UTC)
I should of course have mentioned the “heavy rain” and PELT connection, but I took it to be so obvious that I didn’t even consider doing so – which just shows my lack of experience of this sort of blogging!
Thanks for pointing out the typo. I’ll correct it now.
I’m a bit annoyed with myself for not sticking at it, even if it took a week. I shall have to dig out some more puzzles from the period because I found this an interesting challenge – almost like being a novice solver again where it’s a matter not so much of working out the answers as trying to work out the mind set behind the puzzle.
I must be in the ‘libertarian’ camp because I find some of today’s puzzles a little too systematic and enjoyed some of the eccentricities here (and the fine surface readings – presumably easier to achieve when fewer ‘rules’ applied).
I’m going to have a bash at the puzzle from the following day, and intend to give it as long as it takes – which I hope won’t be quite as long as this one took me!
Long live the ‘libertarians’ :-).
I don’t think any more indication of the RY is needed in a puzzle of that date, “heavy rain” (“indicated” or not) being quite enough to cover the whole of PELTRY.
I don’t know whether the use of catskin for fur was common at that time, but I’m beginning to wonder if my idea about Little Tommy Stout might not just be right.
In the absence of any other ideas, I think Tommy Stout is our best shot – even though the nursery rhyme has him saving her from drowning rather than skinning (he says, wondering about alternative meanings of “in the well”) and doesn’t imply that he did so for the purpose of taking her away and skinning her himself. In this world of indirectness, the catskin pelt possiblility seems OK!
Edited at 2010-02-04 09:57 am (UTC)
I quite like your idea about the rain part of PELTRY, but I suspect this may be just another example of a loose hint at the word – the sort of hint that was regarded as quite adequate then but would be quite unacceptable now.
After spending far too long on it, I got 15 clues, one of which (sister, for system at 28ac) turned out to be wrong. I got all of the SW, and all of the NE bar nenuphar and belated, plus Insp. Lestrade.
I was annoyed about missing 4dn demy, and 3dn roundup but otherwise it is beyond me.
Two other comments: I think verjuice is just a simple def. not two defs, Chambers has it as “tart, sour juice” and must can be defined as raw juice. Also, it seems quite likely that they would have seen Nirvana as a state of absorption.
Thank the lord for Ximenes!
I saw an email that inadvertantly gave me nirvana and peltry as possible answers, but in the event, it didn’t help at all! I couldn’t even place peltry, and never managed to use any of nirvana’s crossing letters having already got ways and means.
I’m beginning to think you (and John Harding) may be right about NIRVANA, particularly when you introduce the phrase “a state of absorption”.
Nirvana, n., the cessation of individual existence – the state to which a Buddhist aspires as the best attainable.
Verjuice, n. the expressed juice of green or unripe fruit : sourness of temper. – v.t. to make sour or acid
Edited at 2010-02-03 04:19 pm (UTC)
Little Tommy, thinking heavy rain was indicated, hides (6)
It’s still awful!
As for the RAIN/RAINY etc doubts expressed by Peter above, please note that PELT is a noun as well as a verb, hence my carefully chosen analogy with JEWEL/JEWELLERY. C gives:
I think all the setter was trying to do was to indicate that the answer was a 6-letter word starting (or perhaps ending) with PELT (or some other short heavy-rain-related word) but at the same time actually having nothing to do with rain.
vinyl1 made the comment in Monday’s chatroom that once you got used to the 1940s style you could knock the puzzles off in under 10 minutes, and I agree with him that that ought to be possible for some, perhaps most, of those puzzles, though perhaps this one might have taken a little longer. I’m assuming of course that you’re a decent solver and have the same level of literary/biblical knowledge that (say) my father (born in 1899) would have had.
However, I think a key difference is that clue construction was basically a lot simpler then, and one has to avoid assuming that the setter will use modern-day elaboration (which can all too easily become over-elaboration). Although your “Little Tommy, thinking heavy rain was indicated, hides” is closer to modern-day standards, it’s significantly more clunky that the simple “Little Tommy thought heavy rain was indicated”.
Little = “paltry” (as in a “paltry sum”), and PELTRY is a Tommy=soldier’s garbled version of “paltry” in the style of “Wipers” for Ypres.
I still prefer Little Tommy as a generic child.
IMO his analogy simply doesn’t hold water, since I can see exactly how “Wipers” is derived from Ypres, but no reason why “paltry” should lead to “peltry”.
Spectator, 1945: “as translated by Little Tommy”
Dublin Review, 1950: “which Little Tommy, of crossword fame, translated”
Max Beerbohm’s mischievous wit, 1965, reprints the author’s spoof crossword that appeared in the Times on 9 March 1940. 10 down is “Little Tommy thought it meant a red-faced blacksmith (10)”
Intelligence Digest Supplement, 1955, prints a crossword. 4 across is “Little Tommy thought he was a Soviet father in France (7)”
So “Little Tommy” appears to be crossword convention for mishearing or mistranslating something.
After 3 days I retired hurt on 13 answers, but I seriously doubt I’d have got STANHOPE without looking at the article beside the grid in the paper, so that one probably doesn’t count. And I only got NENUPHAR (my one moment of glory) after getting STANHOPE! VERJUICE I looked up after getting LESTRADE, LEVITY and STRAIT. Possibly should have got TWO MINDS. Anyone who cracked the SE corner in particular deserves the highest praise. I’m awfully glad I didn’t get as far as being left with 28 across because I’d have stuck SISTER in without thinking.
The clue about the Shakespearean shepherd reminds me about a clue often quoted (in certain circles!) in an old eliminator: “They hang from the trees in the book of Jeremiah” which reportedly had solvers reading the book of Jeremiah only to be thwarted by the fact that the “book of Jeremiah” in question was actually “Lamentations” and the answer consequently AMENTA. I confess to having looked up a list of Shakespearean characters to no avail of course(!)