Times Cryptic 28046

56 comments on “Times Cryptic 28046”

1. Love the Scottish stuff. Anything, in fact, that helps me finish above Greggy and the Weissmann.

   13:48

   How about a few Welsh towns and hymns?

   1. It’s people like you what cause unrest.
      1. I’d be done for sedition in Hong Kong.

         Edited at 2021-08-03 03:00 am (UTC)

2. I spent too much time looking for a W (wicked leader) at 11ac. LINLITHGOW vaguely familiar, although I tried bunging in Lilithgow at first. DNK the ex-county of Moray, but I knew the firth. ANTELOPE puzzled me until I finally realized that it was another stake and not another animal. For some reason, I’d always associated GODOWNs with China, but ODE tells me it’s India. ODE capitalizes Dick.
   1. I didn’t even think of LILITH, but it would have been diverting.
      1. One of my favourite characters in Frazier:-)
3. I had heard of Moray (there’s some song about the Earl of Moray, isn’t there), but not on Linlithgow. However, lin, lith, and gow are all good Scots place-name elements, so I went for it. I only vaguely remembered godown from a previous puzzle, but it seemed to work. Trotskyist was quite good, since we usually have only Trot, but I didn’t care for the cross-reference.

   Time: 37 minutes.

   1. re. The Earl of Moray. It’s where Mondegreens come from.

      Grew up a few miles from Linlithgow, county was no problem, and played the Chorus in a production of Anouilh’s Antigone.

4. Never heard of Linlithgow, but there’s a Lithgow in New South Wales so that helped get the end of it and made solving the anagram easy.
   The German misdirection in 20a,together with T,I and K crossers led me to ‘Blitzkrieg’ which I had trouble parsing and had to dismiss reluctantly. Laid siege to 24d. When TROY fell the reds emerged.
   22:33
   1. The Lithgow factory that produced the Lee Enfield rifles is known to all 303 enthusiasts — and was the only way I’d have found my way to the right answer!
5. POI and LOI, on opposite sides of the grid, GODOWN (NHO?) and LINLITHGOW (NHO!).
   I especially liked “in a word” in 22.

   Edited at 2021-08-03 04:57 am (UTC)

6. My usual approach to the puzzle is to start with three word answers or long answers then if I don’t get them I work round in sequence, but always working off any I get. Today I was drawn to the 2-2 enumeration and having got it immediately I worked outward from there. Maybe I should consider the enumeration at the start more often as it worked well today.

   It did also help that some of the answers worked to my advantage. I knew LINLITHGOW which as Jack suggested some non-natives might not. I always remember STOA as having previously been clued as a curtailed stoat. And PARABOLA played to my mathematical background. However, I guess they were all clued generously enough going by the SNITCH rating.

7. No problem with LINLITHGOW since I lived in Edinburgh for years, nor MORAY (from the Firth, I juat assumed it must have been a county once). GODOWN vaguely remembered from other crosswords. I was a bit doubtful on RENASCENCE, but I know the word NASCENT and it was really the only way the letters fitted. 16 minutes for me, so pretty fast.
8. Further to yesterday’s remarks, it’s definitely a crisis of confidence – but I’m working through it.

   After looking at the across clues, I was in despair, almost certain of a DNF – but CLEVER DICK gave me a foothold for the NW corner, and I was able to make steady progress from there, ending with (for me) a respectable time.
   FOI the trivial TA-TA
   LOI DOLEFUL
   NHO STOA, GODOWN, RENASCENCE with that spelling

   Confession corner – I looked up the name of Oedipus’ daughter after failing to make anything sensible from the anagrist.

9. 20 mins pre-brekker.
   No dramas. Linlithgow did seem a bit mean to our US friends.
   Thanks setter and J.
10. 24 minutes, helped by having seen GODOWN and STOA in previous crosswords and by the wordplay supplementing a basic knowledge of Scottish geography and place names for LINLITHGOW and MORALITY. Same comment as many others re the spelling of RENASCENCE.

    I wondered if EPIC was a triple def, but the parsing above makes more sense.

    Thanks to Jack and setter

11. 28:14
    Antelope took a while. Nice puzzle. NHO godown. Hoedown, on the other hand, is by Copeland.
    Thanks, jack.
12. A pleasant breeze in just over 14 minutes. Same as Kevin on ANTELOP, too many animals, not enough stakes, becoming my last in. SPORTSWEAT slowed by expecting the casual clothing to be shorts – only one letter out, and wrong definition.

    I’m all in favour of RENASCENCE, a much more sensible spelling.

    I was worried about ANTIGONE until I wasn’t. The anagrist, while neat, looked unpromising, but now I know she’s Oedipus daughter, and come to that his step-sister.

    Another fine and clear blog.

13. Didn’t know ANTIGONE was Oedipus’s daughter, but maybe there’s a play of that name. Thanks jack for explaining ANTELOPE, I also thought there was a surplus E + ANT.

    I spent some time distracted, thinking through the West Lothian question, thinking of the parliamentary quandary. There was a workaround of it many years ago, but I see it’s going to change again as yet another ploy to ward off demands for Scottish independence.

    To try to solve the crossword, I used to put an answer in and work from there, but now I do one pass through the across clues, then the down, and then work from there, it’s a swings and roundabouts thing.

    12 and a bit minutes, fun today.

    Thanks jack and setter.

14. 13:37 LOI the unknown GODOWN and DNK the spelling RENASCENCE. No problem with LINLITHGOW or MORAY as I have a cousin living in one and an aunt just a bit north of the other. I was collecting SEASHELLs on Holkham beach yesterday. COD to the smelly sea-creature. Thank-you Jackkt and setter.
15. Very quick today, my old Scottish granny helping no doubt.
    Antigone’s story is worth a look in Wikipedia.. a troubled family, that one, and no mistake.
    1. I remember Irene Papas in the 1961 film.
16. Didn’t know GODOWN (which ended up as my LOI) or ORNERY, so both of those were figured out from wordplay and went in with my fingers crossed. Remembered STOA from a previous crossword, and ANTIGONE came once I had the first and last letter.

    FOI Ta-ta
    LOI Godown
    COD Villainous

17. I don’t get the parsing of Villanous because there is no’containment indicator’ to show the O is ‘contained’ in ‘villa in US’. Perhaps I am missing something as no-one else has commented on this! Also, as a mathematician, I would maintain that a parabola is not a figure but a type of curve. I would say a figure in this sense needs to bound an area of some sort. Anyway I really enjoyed this, done in 27.40 with much scratching of head to remember ‘godown’ (which has appeared before) because I was trying to fit ‘DJ’ in somewhere for the formal wear. Thak you setter and Jack.
    1. OK I’ve just worked out ‘villainous’. No containment indicator needed.
       1. Gosh I realise I have missed out the ‘I’ a couple of times. Oh dear.
       2. Took me a while to see it, too.
    2. Chambers has for ‘figure’, both a shape and a geometrical form, which is surely good enough.
18. Disaster! Having done most of the puzzle without too much difficulty – even if GODOWN was with fingers crossed, ANTEATER wasted some time and LINLITHGOW took a while to disentangle – I was then stuck trying to get a roofed colonnade from ?I?A. Several alphabet trawls later I gave up… and only then discovered that I’d accidentally typed ANITGONE. Blast.

    Thanks for explaining UNTAUGHT, which I’d broken down as UN+T+AUGHT and couldn’t understand.

19. Another steady solve. Fine by me. ORNERY is a lovely word. Sean Connery was ornery.

    When I first came across ARCADIA, I imagined it to be a place full of slot machines.

    Thanks to Jack and the setter.

20. My times don’t get much better than this, so, I guess, a straightforward puzzle. I’ve never come across RENASCENCE, but the clueing made it easy enough to find. Otherwise not much to say beyond the usual thanks to the setter and blogger.
21. 24 minutes with LOI GODOWN, which I would say I didn’t know but for the fear of someone saying I did. Thus showing nominative determinism, I’m giving COD to CLEVER DICK. Thank you Jack and setter.
22. I usually finish the day with a NIGHTCAP, but today began with it. Then its danglers and SPONGE made for a rapid start. VILLAINOUS and SEASHELL came next and with the start and finishing letters in for 9a, I had a shot at Oedipus’s daughter, beginning with AGONITTE, which rapidly evolved into the more familiar ANTIGONE, although I was unaware of her family history. GODOWN was assembled from the instructions. The unfamiliar spelling of RENASCENCE had to wait for the crossers, but arrived in due course. I was delayed at 16 down by reading “stake” as “snake” and duly tried to fit an adder into an asp, but sanity was restored when I looked more closely at the clue. No trouble with Moray or LINLITHGOW. TROTSKYIST took a moment or two to parse. PARABOLA was LOI. 22:26. Thanks setter and Jack.

    Edited at 2021-08-03 09:53 am (UTC)

23. No problems, knew the Scottish place, and who Anti-gone was, 20 minutes LOI DOLEFUL. Thanks jackkt. WOD ORNERY.

    Edited at 2021-08-03 09:57 am (UTC)

24. Fast and “easy” even with lots of unknowns. Knew Antigone as a Greek tragedy, not as somebody’s daughter. Godown and stoa known from crosswords. Sponge as an animal kind-of-known, from working occasionally with marine scientists – coral is an animal, too. NHO Linlithgow but with the …T_G_W it couldn’t be anything else. Moray heard of, think I’ve even been to the forth, boarding a semi-sub for a trip out to drill for oil. Surprised Scotland hasn’t seceded yet – their chip on their shoulder against the English is almost as big as ours, and after Scottish oil financed England through the bleak 80s Maggie rewarded them with a Scottish-specific pole-tax (half an antelope each, backwards). I woulda been up in arms!
    Liked untaught, where I was stepping through present/past/pluperfect/subjunctive/future to get the right tense.
    1. Can we keep politics out of the discussions here please?
       1. Apologies. That was 30 or 40 years ago, so ancient history rather than politics? And sort of carrying on the conversation of Robrolfe, who mentioned Scottissh secession, using my own experiences.

          Edited at 2021-08-03 12:41 pm (UTC)

          1. Thanks, isla, and I hadn’t connected it with the earlier comment. Secession is still very much a contentious issue though, so perhaps it’s best avoided except in the most general of terms. I always enjoy your contributions.
             1. General terms indeed, the words “West Lothian” bringing it to mind.
25. 08.40 and my first sub ten for an age. Haven’t checked other times but I’m guessing my time won’t be in medal contention. As with the blogger, hadn’t come across the renascence spelling before but fitted well enough to not be a concern.

    Needless to record but I will anyway, BIG thanks setter and thanks blogger.

26. Another one who paused briefly at BLITZKRIEG before TROY fell and gave me a shove in the right direction. Thought ANTELOPE was neat. Have we seen it similarly clued before? 17 mins
27. No trouble with the Scottish stuff because, like others, I knew the firth and I’d just been re-reading the Eustace Diamonds where Lizzie Eustace’s old dragon of an aunt is called Lady LINLITHGOW. Speaking of aunts, in French ANTIGONE sounds like “auntie gone” and I was forced into the part of Ismene (her sister) in Anouilh’s play of that name when we did it at school. I think of ORNERY as bad-tempered rather than stubborn. 12.35
    1. I remember something that went:
       “Oh where, oh where is Anti-gone?
       Said I to silli-cate.. etc”
       It went on for ages in that vein.

       Btw, re yesterday’s puzzle: Does Heyer actually mention grosgrain? You might know. I remember bombazine and dimity and, of course, sprig muslin. And today I got GODOWN from the Niccolo books of Dorothy Dunnett. Do you read her? My favourite historical novelist. Ann

       Edited at 2021-08-03 01:10 pm (UTC)

       1. I’m not sure Ann. All my Heyer books are in storage until we move into our new apartment (I managed to omit that box from what I brought up to Rhinebeck unfortunately). I have a feeling I may know the ribbons from an early Victorian period novel but can’t put my finger on it. I think I must try Dunnett, thanks for the tip!
28. I thought there might be a reference to ANTIGONE in Tom Lehrer’s song, but just to a daughter.
    I’ll leave you with
    So be sweet and kind to mother now and then have a chat
    Buy her candy or some flowers or a brand new hat
    But maybe you had better let it go at that
29. and indeed it was, except PARABOLA, where I was looking at the wrong end of the clue for ages – trying to lop off a letter from a figure from a bible story and insert an “O” to get an “area”. Spent a good 3 or 4 minutes doing that, before the penny finally dropped.

    19:21.

30. Came up against the same sticking points as other comments. Didn’t mind at all as they extended my enjoyment of a leisurely pub lunch with the crossword as company.
31. ….as. I finished this only 1 second slower than my all-time PB. I needed that confidence boost !

    Parsed VILLAINOUS and TROTSKYIST afterwards.

    FOI NIGHTCAP
    LOI PARABOLA
    COD ENCAGE
    TIME 4:48

32. About 10 mins for 3/4 of the puzzle and another 15 mins trying to sort out the bottom left hand corner. Got there in the end though I had to construct what I thought was the most likely order of letters for LINLITHGOW. NHO of GODOWN.

    Thanks setter and blogger.

33. 8:53. No problems today, helped by having all the required knowledge except the spelling of RENASCANCE, which wasn’t hard to work out. STOA and GODOWN are crossword knowledge for me but we did Anouilh’s play at school so I knew ANTIGONE from that.
34. 7:50 this afternoon. The SNITCH suggests that this was easier than yesterday.
    The couple of Scottish references (Linlithgow and Moray) were helpful.
    NHO 21 d “ornery” but the hidden reference was pretty obvious.
    COD 10 ac “sponge” although the surface conjures up rather unpleasant image.
    So, overall a good day for me, although I am fully expecting a reaction later this week!
    Thanks to Jack for the blog and to the setter
35. Nothing too troublesome here — deffo no probs with the Scottish references.

    Last two in were PARABOLA and GODOWN, the second of which I had on the tip of my tongue for two or three minutes before lightning struck.

36. Not much to say. 29 minutes (anything under half an hour is very easy to me) and no real problems despite GODOWN and LINLITHGOW as unknowns. The latter was my LOI, but once I saw TROY and so positioned the T, the rest was easy to guess. As for ANTELOPE, I was never in doubt that the whole thing would be an animal and the wordplay would involve stakes, so no problem with the ANT at the beginning.
37. Finished another 15 x 15 and am well chuffed. Two of us sat doing this for an amicable hour. FOI Arcadia LOI parabola. Some partially parsed – Trotskyist, antelope, clever Dick, diagram. Stoa and sportswear unparsed. COD seashell. Thanks, Jack, and setter. GW.
38. 14.10. Off to a quick start in the nightcap corner. Didn’t need to look past Oedipus’s daughter to get Antigone. Kept up the momentum for most of the solve but for working out recce Anne’s to get to the odd-looking renascence and Linlithgow which I’d heard of but wasn’t exactly on the tip of my tongue. Godown had to be remembered but no other difficulties. A pleasant not-too-testing solve.
39. A day late as usual…. I’d given up on the 15×15 for the moment after too many bruising defeats. But comments in yesterday’s Quick Cryptic thread encouraged me to give this one a go, and bingo. I know this wasn’t the hardest, and I wasn’t the fastest at 40-some minutes, but it was a much needed confidence boost all the same Same as everyone else re RENASCENCE, NHO GODOWN but – gosh – worked it out. Live somewhere between MORAY and LINLITHGOW so they were a gift. Pleased to finish and enjoyed the run.

Comments are closed.