Times Cryptic 29336

44 comments on “Times Cryptic 29336”

1. 39:23. I found it pretty tough – NHO CONDYLE, and the wordplay for that one was particularly convoluted… I didn’t really enjoy the style of the puzzle overall – a bit too clever for me! luckily I escaped the MOBCAP trap. thanks both!

2. Drew stumps on the hour with CONDYLE and MOBCAP unsolved. Got as far as bringing Conan Doyle into the equation but failed to work it out. I got HANUKKAH at least, even though I didn’t have a clue how to spell it. Careful construction from the clueing got me there however.

3. 58 minutes. That was hard in parts. I was pleased to get the NHO CONDYLE from the N and Y. TEETHE, REMIT, MOBCAP and VEGA took far too long. I finished with a biff of JACKASS and RABBIT PIE from the checkers. Thanks Jack.

4. CONDYLE and HANUKKAH both went in as a result of an early HYDE PARK CORNER, though I did check it was a real word after writing it in! The top half was a good bit easier than the lower, though I didn’t help myself by writing the W of HACKSAW so badly I thought it was an N, which held me up for ages with the obvious WATER NYMPH. Trouble with 20d also, where I thought the CAP was the hat reference and was tempted by ICECAP. Fortunately, a bifd CARBON FOOTPRINT pointed the way to MOBCAP. LOsI were VEGA, which took far too long, and REMIT, whose meaning in this sense I was unaware of. A tricky Tuesday, I thought, sharing others’ MERs regarding singular CRAMPON and FT (UC) for foot.

5. My solve was slower than yours, so there! In fact, another DNF: CRAMPON (ha, it turns out I know it’s a climbing aid, but not that it fits on your boots; and I forgot the hint dropped in the QC blog); VEGA (no excuse, just tired); NHO RABBIT PIE; and just dense about MOBCAP.

   Really enjoyed some of this — I need to learn how to give up sooner to preserve that sense of fun. Especially the NHO CONDYLE, which I saw with some disbelief.

   Thanks setter and jackkt.

6. 30’18”. Slight delay at end till I spotted I’d written SON OF A FUN. Had RIGA for a bit in the bottom right. I was thinking of RIGEL, I think. Or was it the neighbouring ESTONIA? NHO CONDYLE, but was confident from the clueing. The original Child Catcher was of course in Ian Fleming’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Generations of children have been traumatised by the film. “Come get your lollipops!”. Many thanks.

7. A long struggle, only to fall at the last with a guessed Doncap in place of the nho Mobcap. However, I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge, with the nho Condyle and vho Hanukkah relying solely on the cryptic. One of the delights of this game is finding that a jumble of letters is actually the correct answer! Invariant

8. NHO CONDYLE but got it from the wordplay. Remembered MOBCAP from ‘Cranford’, read many decades ago at school. I think someone called Miss Matty answered the door wearing one by mistake when she should have worn some smarter headgear… 44 minutes, but all parsed, and rather less painful than Friday’s virtually sans anagram ordeal!

9. All bar two in around 50 minutes. Then I had to sleep on it overnight and come back refreshed to spot Remit and Mobcap -fortunately selecting the latter over Topcap or Doncap.
   My COD to Hanukkah.

10. Again pleased to even be in the running for this one, now that I’ve read the comments! Luckily the long anagrams helped, but I failed to persevere in constructing CONDYLE ( lesson: keep at it when you know the wordplay is correct, even if you NHO the resultant word). Also, like most others here, failed on MOBCAP (distant recognition of the word, but forgot the obvious alternative name for the Mafia!) Didn’t know that meaning of REMIT either. Knew BOWSPRIT and HYDE PARK CORNER, happily . But a fun solve from 1a to 26a.

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