Times Cryptic 26498

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
I found this one quite hard but resolved it eventually without resorting to aids in 50 minutes parsing as I went. Here’s my blog…

ย As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]

Across

1 Water not hot now? (4)
WASH – “Water not hot now” suggests that previously the water WAS H (hot). ย  I think the definition works best as a noun as in an expanse of shallow water or the bay/estuary in East Anglia where King John is said to have lost the Crown jewels
3 Great achievement having bottle back to drink nothing (6,4)
MAGNUM OPUS – MAGNUM (bottle), thenย  SUP (drink) + 0 (nothing) reversed [back]
10 What fills blimp, in general, is to have an effect (7)
IMPINGE – Hidden [what fills] in {bl}IMP IN GE{neral}
11 One speaks about going both ways when touring most of large town (7)
RECITER – RE (about – forwards) + ER (about – reversed) [going both ways] contain [touring] CIT{y} (large town) [most of]
12 It’s still on the conference agenda? That’s a physical impossibility (9,6)
PERPETUAL MOTION – A very clever clue that I find hard to categorise. The first part I take as a cryptic definition, a motion being a proposal that could be on a conference agenda and if it finds its way back time and again it might be said to be “perpetual”.ย  The second part of the clue is a straight definition of which the answer is an example. I like the juxtaposition of “still” in the clue and “motion” in the answer, a bit like “dry food” and “water biscuit” in yesterday’s Quickie.
13 Man on board that is a new arrival? (6)
ROOKIE – ROOK (man on board – chess), I.E. (that is – id est)
14 Hint eventually used around answer time (8)
INTIMATE – IN TIME (eventually) contains [used around] A (answer) + T (time)
17 Indicate tirade as outrageous (8)
FLAGRANT – FLAG (indicate), RANT (tirade)
18 One investigates broken lute in case of Sherlock Holmes initially (6)
SLEUTH – Anagram [broken] of LUTE is contained by [in case of] S{herlock} H{olmes} [initially]
21 Wind, then I twisted and bent, perhaps โ€” a hidden danger (5,2,3,5)
SNAKE IN THE GRASS – SNAKEย  (wind), anagram [twisted] of THEN I, GRASS (bent, perhaps). “Bent” as a type of grass was something I learnt quite recently from crosswords.
23 What many do with Hair (a collection of pieces of music)? (7)
PARTITA – PART IT (what many do with hair), A.ย  A German suite, if I remember my music studies correctly. J S Bach wrote a lot of them.
24 Manufactured material against one from Liverpool University dismissed (7)
VISCOSE – V (against – versus), I (one), SCO{u}SE (from Liverpool) [University dismissed]
25 Openings for top artists โ€” organised show with a dance (10)
TARANTELLA – T{op} + A{artists} [openings], RAN (organised), TELL (show), A. Another musical form. Here’s one by Liszt
26 Refuse to accept lie out of stupidity (4)
DENY – DEN{sit}Y (stupidity) [sit = lie, out]
Down
1 Keep things quiet, with chap’s permission, abandoning assignment (7)
WHISPER – W (with), HIS (chap’s), PER{mission} [abandoning assignment = mission]
2 Prove sun may explode, leading to a ________? (9)
SUPERNOVA – Anagram [may explode] of PROVE SUN. I can’t stand clues with blanks in them.
4 Beautiful woman with cut is blocking A&E access (6)
AVENUE – VENU{s} (beautiful woman) [with cut] is contained by [is blocking} A&E
5 Hurry up and get rid of the child (8)
NURSLING – RUN (hurry) reversed [up], SLING (get rid of)
6 Scientist married big solicitor, sadly suppressing love (14)
MICROBIOLOGIST – M (married), anagram [sadly] of BIG SOLICITOR containing [suppressing] 0 (love)
7 Material easily moulded, we hear, producing cherubs? (5)
PUTTI – Sounds like [we hear] “putty” (material easily moulded). These cherubs came up very recently in another puzzle.
8 Jabber, say, neglecting a telephone voice at last (7)
SYRINGE – S{a}Y [neglecting a], RING (telephone), {voic}E [at last]
9 Layout of room represented trendies’ origin (8,6)
INTERIOR DESIGN – Anagram [re-presented] of TRENDIES ORIGIN
15 Redundancies in senior management? Excellent (1,3,5)
A CUT ABOVE – A cryptic definition and a dodgy straight one as to be “a cut above” means to be better than something, not necessarily to be excellent.
16 One sister takes boyfriend to swamp (8)
INUNDATE – I (one), NUN (sister), DATE (boyfriend)
17 One agitates failsafe component, reducing difficult situation (4-3)
FUSS-POT – FUS{e} (failsafe component) [reducing],ย  SPOT (difficult situation)
19 Hurry to stock outsize line in legwear (7)
HOSIERY – HIE (hurry) contains [to stock] OS (outsize),ย  RY (line – railway)
20 One used in digs: small, mean dwelling (6)
SHOVEL – S (small), HOVEL (mean dwelling)
22 Increasingly just ignoring first item in laundry (5)
AIRER – {f}AIRER (increasingly just) [ignoring first]

53 comments on “Times Cryptic 26498”

  1. Looking forward to trying this when the paper flops through the letterbox in 6 hours’ time!

    In the meantime I’ve made a crossword as a present to you all on my 50th birthday today. ๐Ÿ™‚ Some of the answers are things that are relevant to my life, and the definitions in those clues reflect this. The other clues are normal.

    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153694439846971&set=a.64714286970.84204.659951970&type=3&theater

    You can email queries/answers to dadge@hotmail.com and there’s a small prize for the first two correct(est) solutions. Cheers!

  2. For some reason I flung in ‘indicate’ at 14ac, then of course forgot to come back and deal with my doubts. I created a couple of garden paths for myself, missing the hidden, as I so often do, at 10ac and trying to get either GAS or HE included in, well, something; and taking ‘outrageous’ as anagrind at 17ac and trying to get (tirade as) to arrange itself as a word meaning ‘Indicate’. I also took ‘failsafe component’ to mean just F, never parsed the clue, and BIFD at last for my LOI. I don’t pronounce ‘putti’ and ‘putty’ the same, and I doubt that I’m alone. COD to 12ac.
    1. Oxford agrees with you (putty has the สŒ sound, while putti has the สŠ sound). I think I would too if I’d ever said the word…
      1. I think the U in putty veers dangerously close to the U in putti the further north you go, in reverse distinction to the A in bath.

        Edited at 2016-08-23 07:20 am (UTC)

      2. Furthermore (a pedant writes) putti are not cherubs. Cherubs have wings (Ezekial 11:22) but putti are just small boys.
        1. Chambers would agree with your point but Collins and the Oxfords would not. Here’s the SOED entry:
          A representation of a (boy) child, naked or in swaddling clothes, in (esp. Renaissance and baroque) art, a cherub, a cupid.

  3. About 40-45 minutes for me. Held up for quite a while by A CUT ABOVE, my LOI. I parsed 25 as TARA (Openings for top artists) – as in a few musical notes to introduce a performer, NTELL (organised show) – as in ‘show ‘n’ tell, + A. Why go for the simple when the complicated is staring you in the face? Self-flagellation for ‘permita’ instead of PARTITA. Favourite was PERPETUAL MOTION.

    Thanks to setter and blogger.

    1. .. and I managed both Indicate and Permita (meaning to go back and reconsider Indicate as use of it in 17ac seemed to make it unlikely as the answer to 14ac)

      Central Line (must join properly one of these days)

  4. Similar time and result to yesterday. Today I had PERMITA instead of the unknown PARTITA. On reflection I probably should have got it, as I’m sure there are a lot more people who part their hair than perm it.

    Anyway, no complaints, as I know some people have no sympathy for not knowing this sort of thing!

    Thanks setter and Jack.

  5. I also lazily put 14ac INDICATE!

    34 minutes of otherwise reasonable fare.

    FOI 2dn SUPERNOVA – but why those blanks!?

    LOI 17dn FUSS POT

    I agree – a cut above is heading towards excellence but not necessarily there.

    COD 12ac PERPETUAL MOTION WOD MAGNUM OPUS

    horryd Shanghai

  6. 32 minutes, with the last five spent deciding whether 25a was ‘defy’ or ‘deny’, flipping a mental coin and for once calling correctly.

    Went through most of Kevin G’s processes and was seriously considering ‘fish pot’ at 17d, not least because I had a mental blank about what ‘failsafe’ actually meant.

    For Gallers and others, here’s a Bach partita (originally for violin but transcribed for piano) played by Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli.

    Edited at 2016-08-23 02:34 am (UTC)

    1. I was in the same boat for DENY / DEFY – unfortunately my mental coin-toss came down the wrong way. With those two answers, and so many different words for ‘lie’, I just wasn’t able to back-derive the correct one.
  7. Finished in about 40 minutes (plus a phone call). DWNY was the only doubtful one, too many levels if indirection for me to see it. I initially went for PERMITA to but then I remembered Bach Partitas.
  8. Count me as another who invented the unknown “permita” rather than the unknown PARTITA, continuing my long run of finishing with one wrong. 45 minutes, so I think I’m getting faster at failing to finish, at least.
  9. 18:15 … definitely on the trickier side.

    Last in was AVENUE, where for ages I was determined to get a ‘W’ in there.

    I’m another who was led surely to PERMITA by the wordplay, and I nearly convinced myself that a permita was a thing. Nearly but not quite.

  10. I thought I was on for a quick time – all but the SW corner went in with scarcely a blink. I had intended, too, to go back to DENY to work out why it was right. Just lucky, I guess.
    For me, the Poldark region was held up by trying to work out an anagram for 17a’s obvious TIRADE AS fodder, so though fuse… something looked likely in 17d, it couldn’t be.
    17a’s “Indicate” may account for so many biffing INDICATE in 14. Visually, it’s the very next word after the clue. Diabolically clever if intended.
    My tortuous musings took me to 19.45, when my war ended.
  11. Very enjoyable puzzle in which sadly Tiepolo didn’t appear. Managed not to gang agley over PARTITA where permita was very tempting – as was “limping” at 10A without reading the second half of the clue. Liked PERPETUAL MOTION

    If you’re an arty type and are wondering what a MICROBIOLOGIST does try Louis Pasteur (who developed vaccines) or Francis Crick (who discovered DNA)

  12. Oh, and of course I considered PERMITA. As a kid, I used to have a parting glued into my hair with Silvikrin to be Sunday smart (apparently school next day didn’t care), so I suppose I should have gone there first. But there’s something very seductive about permita
  13. 20 minutes but I also had a perm (actually, I didn’t, which is surprising as I had long hair and went to Art College in the early seventies).

    PERPETUAL MOTION was clever (if in doubt, consult Robert’s Rules of Order).

  14. Missed the significance of ‘still’ as discussed by jack, but have been to too many dreadful meetings not to know the answer to 12ac. TARANTELLA appears in Ibsen’s ‘A Doll”s House’, where it is evidence that the protagonist/dancer is socially incorrect. Knew PARTITA, but could not parse 26ac. Flying today, 15’35”, thanks jack and setter.
  15. Thanks, Jim, for creasing my face with a smile on a difficult afternoon at the office.

    The intertextual irony of your brief contribution could win a prize.

  16. Yet another answer remembered from Peg-leg Wakefield’s excellent English teaching of nearly sixty years ago. I’ll pronounce putty and putti the same of course, so the homophone worked for me. I got PARTITA despite having spent my teenage years trying to rid myself of a parting in favour of a Billy Fury quiff. If anyone wishes to invest in a wheel for perpeual motion in the South Seas, there’s a bank just for you. Under the half hour today on an excellent puzzle.
    1. For me it was Sister Mary James, nearly fifty years ago. Funny the things that never leave your memory isn’t it? Chancing, glancing, dancing…
  17. Tricky and very enjoyable puzzle. Spent an age on the south west corner as I could not see fuss pot (what kind of fastener is a fish pin, I wondered) and – even more bizarrely – managed to convince myself that “top artists” in 25ac was putting us in the big top, and that I was in search of an opening relevant to circus performers. Which took me to some very odd places indeed…

    Limped home eventually. Loved perpetual motion. Thanks for the blog Jack, and particularly for parsing DENY which was a complete mystery to me.

  18. 44 minutes with a perm instead of a part. Obviously didn’t think enough about that as I have plenty of Bach recordings, the Violin Partitas being especial favourites. Doh! Some very misleading clues, so I was happy to get the rest correct, even though my time was a bit sluggish. FOI ROOKIE, LOI INTERIOR DESIGN. I’d tentativley biffed REGION as the second word, thus misleading myself for a while. Spotted DENSITY quickly, so wasn’t tempted by DEFY. Nice puzzle, thanks setter and Jack.

    Edited at 2016-08-23 09:55 am (UTC)

  19. Nice crossword .. slightly worried that so many of my fellow commenters seem more likely to perm than to part..
    Getting 26ac wrong seems appropriate to the spirit of the clue, somehow
    No problem with the homophone 7dn, especially as if ever requiring the word I would more probably say “puttoes” anyway..
  20. Polished off in about 45 minutes at breakfast while minding little ones and assisting the ladies with the Concise; no real problems although DENY was unparsed and I biffed TARANTELLA. LOI SYRINGE I liked for ‘jabber’.
    I’ve printed off Adrian’s puzzle, will attempt it when granddad duties are completed.
    Happy 50th Adrian, half way to the ‘Telegram’.
  21. I thought myself nicely warmed up, having watched the Coren siblings’ quiz shows last night – having seen Victoria’s Only Connect then found Giles presenting 500 Questions on ITV.

    Alas I was either not sufficiently warmed up or maybe I was overheated as I managed PERMITA, WHIMPER and the less excusable FUSE POT. Glad to see I at least have company for PERMITA. I also thought that the use of a blank in the SUPERNOVA clue stuck out for being unusual in the Times crossword. Why not ‘Prove sun may explode, leading to a brighter star?’ or similar?

  23. Going downhill. A DNF yesterday with 1 letter wrong. A DNF today with 2 letters wrong – INDICATE of course.
  24. Much better today. I came in at under the hour, fortunately not having though of perm as opposed to part. LOI was avenue which was ridiculous as I had all the letters except the V and N. Just as I was about to give up it clicked. Enjoyed lots of clues but especially jabber for syringe. Thanks for very clear blog which made me realise that I had not fully understood two.
  25. I managed an even better one than normal today not noticing that the last letter I typed in FLAGRANT (my last in) didn’t catch the attention of my laptop, so I submitted an incomplete grid. Wheee! Fun puzzle and I also liked the clue for PERPETUAL MOTION
  26. 10m today, with no particular problems and no unknowns. I didn’t think of PERMITA but I’m not too bad (relative to plants at least) on musical terminology so I like to think I wouldn’t have been tempted.
    I’m not sure I’ve ever said the word PUTTI out loud so I didn’t think twice about 7dn.
    Count me as another non-fan of blanks, as in 2dn. It’s such a clunky device.
    1. I reckon the editor and setters, under AOB at their annual meeting, after they’ve had a few bevvies, dedicate half an hour or so to clue types and items that will generate the most heat online. One of the setters acts as bookmaker and lays odds on a multitude of parameters, including words elicited from solvers (‘outrageous’, ‘execrable’) and pledges made (‘never do another Times crossword’, ‘find another hobby’). Maybe even this type of post is covered and a pay-out already being prepared.
      1. I was going to answer this but They have surely predicted what I was going to say and I don’t want to give Them the satisfaction.
  27. 15 mins, the last three of which were spent on FUSS-POT which I would always spell as one word. I came here and was glad to see my biffed DENY was correct because I spent a bit of time wondering about “defy” but couldn’t parse it either. For me lying is being prone while sitting is being erect, so the lie/sit synonym didn’t occur to me. However, like others I’d misbiffed “indicate” (I knew I should have thought about it some more) and mombled “permita” even though I’m sure I’ve come across PARTITA many times before. I’ll put my two errors down to, hopefully temporary, brain rot.
      1. Thanks Jack, I’m sure you’re right. I definitely wasn’t at my sharpest when I was doing this one.
    2. Perhaps a submission which combines a momble and a misbiff should be called a permita. Certainly a word that is too good to lose.
      1. Perhaps a permita would be an entry you got spectacularly but plausibly wrong, which the editor then miraculously allows through. Or did you say you’d like to use it once in a while?
  28. 25 minutes. No real problems but a lucky biff for DENY. I needed this blog to parse it. Ann
  29. Finding out I was far from the only one to fall into the Indicate/Permita trap is a great consolation. Those lapses apart, a really enjoyable solve.
    1. “Snapping putti” sounds like claiming to be able to punch your way out of a paper bag?

      Great picture. Well framed (probably the putty)?

  31. 31 minutes and enjoyed it much more than yesterday’s. I also failed to parse DENY but made the lucky guess.
  32. Sorry to be so late but they expect me to work every so often. About 30 minutes, LOI was WASH with a bit of a shrug. Unfamiliar with VISCOSE and PARTITA, but got them from wordplay. I never thought of either PERMITA or INDICATE so I wasn’t tempted in either case. Regards.
  33. 10:15 for me, held up badly at the end trying to work out which of DEFY or DENY could be justified by the wordplay. (I wanted it to be DEFY, but eventually managed to justify DENY – though not without wondering whether there wasn’t a third, even better possibility to be had.) I’d been held up earlier (like others) trying to come up with an anagram of TIRADE AS meaning “indicate”.

    I wasn’t too keen on TELL = “show” in 25ac, but apart from those three, I found this a pleasant, straightforward solve.

    PS: Those who bunged in PERMITA might like to know htat Jason (whose musical credentials are impeccable) confessed on the TCC Forum to making the same mistake.

Comments are closed.