I wasn’t expecting to be blogging tonight but Andy tells me that the sub who was to cover for Dave P is incommunicado at the moment so you’re stuck with me I’m afraid. I must admit I was a bit concerned when I approached this as I have had a very, very bad run of Times cryptics over the past week or two so it came as some relief when I spotted the long answer at 2dn whilst the puzzle was still printing off. I completed the grid in 36 minutes which is about as good as it can get for me at the moment and I was of the opinion it was an easyish puzzle until I looked at the leader board and saw that NeilR also took 36 minutes and had commented that he found it “so hard”. I’m rarely anywhere near his solving time. Quite apart from anything else I thought this was a lively and entertaining puzzle unlike some of the very dry stuff we have had recently.
Across |
|
---|---|
1 | CATACOMB – Give a CAT A COMB is the answer to the riddle. |
5 |
WYCLIF – |
10 | GANGPLANK – A + NG (no good) + PLAN (mean) inside GK (Greek). |
11 | BROIL – BR (train company once), OIL (fuel). I wasn’t sure about ‘overheat’ as broiling is a recognised method of cooking but I think figuratively one might ‘broil’ as one might be ‘boiling’ on a hot summer’s day (if anyone in the UK can remember such an occasion!) |
12 | BULL – Double definition. Taurus is the sign and ‘bull’ as in ‘Papal Bull’ is the edict. |
13 | WINDOW BOX – WINDOW (light), BOX (punch) |
15 | WHARFINGER – Anagram of FAR inside WHINGER (person complaining). I didn’t know this word but the wordplay was clear. |
17 | SCOT – S (second), COT (crash site – geddit?) |
19 | TO-DO – TOD (on which you’ll find one solo), 0 (love) |
20 | PAY-PER-VIEW – Y (variable) inside PAPER (journal), VIEW (opinion) |
22 | HARD TIMES – R (king) inside HAD (entertained, as in having people to dinner), TIMES (by as in 1 x 2). The book is by Charles Dickens. |
24 |
IVAN – |
26 |
VIOLA – VIOLA |
27 | SON OF A GUN – SON (issue) GUN (firearm). I immediately think of Gabby Hayes or Walter Brennan when I hear this expression |
28 | RE-ECHO – Hidden |
29 |
GREY AREA – Anagram of YEAR inside GREA |
Down |
|
1 | CAGE – Double definition, the second answer being the composer, John Cage |
2 | TONGUE-AND-GROOVE – TONGUE (Polish perhaps), anagram of DONOR GAVE |
3 | COPYLEFT – COPY (mirror), LEFT (labour, as in Labour Party). Another word I didn’t know. |
4 |
MIAOW – WO (without) + AIM (end) all reversed. Queen is a female cat reference here. |
6 | YOBBOS – Y (year), OB (pupil once, ‘old boy’) + BO (ditto, reversed), S (shillings). Definition: more than one tough. |
7 | LOOK BACK IN ANGER – This was a write-in once I had a couple of checkers but I spent ages trying to work out the word play and eventually came up with this: When the space is removed from I ROLE we have IROLE or LO (look) backwards inside IRE (anger). |
8 | FELIXSTOWE – Anagram of LOTS EX WIFE. I was amused at the surface reading which appears to equate the Suffolk seaside resort with Sodom! |
9 | SKIN-DEEP – KIND (type) inside SEEP (leak) |
14 | SWITCHOVER – Anagram of COVER THIS W (with) |
16 | NEAR MISS – NEAR (reluctant to give), MISS (single person). A rather odd expression, I’ve always thought. |
18 | FRUIT FLY – Anagram of FURY LIFT |
21 |
ATTACH – ATTAC |
23 | SENOR – ONE ( I) reversed inside SR (sister). ‘Don’ as in Spanish gentleman or lord for once, instead of the professor. |
25 | ANNA – The old Indian currency that’s a palindrome |
Not knowing COPYLEFT didn’t help. And I really ought to given some of my interests. So I’m glad to be informed now. Second hot drink coming up. Though a stiff one would be better if it weren’t so early.
Oh and … I took (4d) “that the Queen’s going” as a round-about def for MIAOW. Cf “that’s how the queen’s going”. Or something like that!
Edited at 2014-05-09 01:59 am (UTC)
Enjoyed this the way I enjoy watching England play rugby; was on edge pretty much from the off, which happened after 9 minutes when I’d read through all the clues. 4, 5 and 21 got ticks, with 21 (ATTACH) getting two.
In the meantime, I’ll have whatever the man from Beds is on!
Edited at 2014-05-09 02:59 am (UTC)
As vinyl says this was a case of trusting the cryptics especially for COPYLEFT (which was new to me and seems a pretty awful coining)and WYCLIF.
Jack I think you have a typo: at 25ac I took LA as the first note (consistent with TE).
Edited at 2014-05-09 06:48 am (UTC)
Love it when I get 1ac first off (not that often), but it went very slowly from there. Well over the hour when I threw in the towel with the unknown 3dn (COPYLEFT) blank, which I never would have got, having ‘rule’ (unparsed, obvs) at 12ac. Nearly had the momble wybluf at 5ac, but thought again. Not familiar with WYCLIF (or indeed Wycliffe). Thanks for parsing of ATTACH, which went in on def alone.
The top left corner mystified for ages, except for the well-constructed GANGPLANK and the panelling, and I struggled to think of a word that would fill ??A?W, even with the provocative Queen in the clue. COPYLEFT was my LOI too, and the sooner it disappears from the language the better.
Loved Sodom-on-Sea, and the really smooth surfaces for practically everything else.
John Wyclif, however you spell him, deserves his place in history, a figure who so annoyed the establishment of the day that he merited post-mortem execution, being burned at the stake some 44 years after his death.
Funny to see PRE-ECHO from yesterday being echoed today in RE-ECHO. I wonder if we’ll get E-ECHO tomorrow.
At 11ac ‘old railway’ always makes me think NER or GER (lots of others available, but not wordplay-friendly – the LBSCR (‘biscuit’ to its fans) is never going to appear in a clue!)
Then I happened to see Alan Connors’ blog.
Liked ‘crash site’ lots.
Many thanks, and a good w/e to all.
COD to CATACOMB for amusing me.
I didn’t bother to parse 20ac and 7dn because the answers were obvious enough from their enumerations once a couple of checkers were in place. Count me as another who found the LHS much trickier than the RHS. The VIOLA/ATTACH crossers went in unparsed, it took me an age to see SWITCHOVER, WHARFINGER followed thanks to the W checker, and COPYLEFT was my LOI as it was for several of you. I didn’t enjoy this puzzle as much as some of you seem to have done, but it was a good challenge.
I’m not sure I’d have included the S in Felixstowe if asked to write it down. As A taurean I’m also ashamed to admit that bull was my LOI.
Some lovely stuff in here, expecially miaow and to-do.
Thanks for explaining Don’t Look B In A, Jack, I couldn’t see how that worked at all
Wyclif is my hero, did a massive project on him in my degree course and enjoyed it, his contribution to the development of the English language is not appreciated.
I wonder if copyleft came up as a phrase meaning not copyright?
Good week-end everyone.
Nairobi Wallah
Hats off to jackkt for unravelling, and the setter for devising, the clueing of the play. Very clever.
I thought WYCLIF also quite clever – beware in future, there are other variant spellings around of the more familiar Wycliffe – but my COD goes to the well-hidden RE-ECHO. I never quite understand the cat/queen clues, but just put in MIAOW and sighed. FOI TONGUE-AND-GROOVE, LOI ATTACH.
Shame so few people on here have heard of it, yet there’s a serious discussion of hip-hop slang going on above!
I “discovered” Arcade Fire very early on (after reading a review in the Saturday Times when I still used to get the paper) and have all their albums. Almost got to see them live at Brixton Academy a few years ago, but couldn’t get a ticket on the day. I think I have a Kasabian album too, and all of Metallica’s. Looking forward to Glasto this year (but only on the telly, I’ve never been).
Edited at 2014-05-09 09:53 pm (UTC)
Time wasted at various points as usual: thought of GANGPLANK first time through, but failed to parse it; wondered briefly if 15ac could conceivably be TRAFFICKER; spent ages trying to think of a four-letter composer beginning with C (annoyingly obvious once I had the G in place); tried to remember Lot’s wife’s name; tried to find an anagram of THIS + W + LOOSE. Eventually the pennies all dropped, but it took time.
Another delight from start to finish. My compliments to the setter.