DNF by some way. Bravo, setter.
Too good for the likes of me, but I enjoyed the challenge, until I didn’t and gave up. Trusty aids and liberal use of the check feature came to the rescue. I’ve unpicked as much as I can for the blog, but would be grateful if someone could return the favour with a couple of them!
Definitions underlined.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | The last thing batter needs to stop collapse? (8) |
| GROUNDER – last letter of batteR inside (to stop) GO UNDER (collapse), &lit. A grounder is a delivery in cricket that stays low and may lead to a dismissal. Anyone who has followed The Ashes will not need an explanation of ‘batting collapse’, but to the uninitiated it’s when several batsmen are dismissed in quick succession. | |
| 9 | What’s encapsulated by 007 and certain to stir? (8) |
| ACTIONER – anagram of (to stir) CERTAIN with the central O from (what’s encapsulated by 0O7) – thanks Jackkt for the help. Another word for an action film/movie. | |
| 10 | You did ask to ignore such a significant difference (4) |
| ODDS – even letters from (ignoring odds, the answer, such) yOu DiD aSk. As in, ‘at odds’. | |
| 11 | A breakfast order for one — Bill’s golf round ahead (4,8) |
| EGGS BENEDICT – E.G. (for one), and the reversal of (round) NEB’S (bill’s) + G (golf), all in front of (ahead) EDICT (order). I now know that ‘neb’ is an actual word for beak or bill; I’ve previously only heard it in the phrase ‘keep your neb out’ and assumed it was a non-sense word. | |
| 13 | Select pipe to feed empty cistern (6) |
| CHOSEN – HOSE (pipe) in (to feed) the first and last from (empty) CisterN. | |
| 14 | Nothing loaded, in that case what’s charged magazine? (3,5) |
| THE ONION – O (nothing) contained by (loaded) THEN (in that case), followed by ION (what’s charged). Satirical online magazine. | |
| 15 | In the company of medic, dread takes hold (7) |
| AMONGST – MO (medic) which ANGST (dread) contains (takes hold). | |
| 16 | Relief only some deny donating to the West (7) |
| ANODYNE – reverse (to the West) hidden (only some) dENY DONAting. | |
| 20 | Film one crashing against tree, then reversed over (3,5) |
| RIO BRAVO – I (one) contained by (crashing) V (versus, against) with ARBOR (tree), all reversed, then O (over). John Wayne film. | |
| 22 | Compositions confirmed residents of Planet Earth? (6) |
| NONETS – NON-ETS (not extra-terrestrials, confirmed residents of Planet Earth). | |
| 23 | “I H8 U”: slogan ultimately adopted by disaffected Biden voters (8,4) |
| INVERTED SNOB – last of (ultimately) slogaN contained by an anagram of (disaffected) BIDEN VOTERS. The definition is ‘I hate upper class’, written in a decidedly lower class way, which an inverted snob might say and do. | |
| 25 | Within limits, fancied backing fiery mount (4) |
| ETNA – the inside letters (within limits) of wANTEd (fancied) reversed (backing). | |
| 26 | Contrary article edited a lot in The Times? (8) |
| NATIONAL – reversal of (contrary) AN (article), plus an anagram of (edited) A LOT IN. | |
| 27 | Narcissus advanced, in a furtive manner, the last of his dodges (4,4) |
| LENT LILY – LENT (advanced) + sLILY (in a furtive manner) with the last letter of his removed (dodges). | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 2 | “Meet” me on the waves? (5,3) |
| RADIO HAM – I think this is a cryptic definition for someone you might virtually meet on the (air)waves, but also a homophone (on the radio) of “meat” (HAM). | |
| 3 | Ill-timed counter logic makes right arguments in the end (12) |
| UNSEASONABLE – UNrEASONABLE (counter (to) logic) replacing the ‘r’ (right) with the last letter of (in the end) argumentS. | |
| 4 | The Cynic leaves us eating melon (8) |
| DIOGENES – DIES (leaves us) containing (eating) OGEN (melon). The founder of the philosophical school of Cynicism. | |
| 5 | Brought into line, book parts rather like Peter or Roger? (7) |
| RABBITY – |
|
| 6 | A particular example is in this position (6) |
| STANCE – I have no idea how this works. Thanks to Jackkt – ‘inSTANCE’ (a particular example) is ‘in’ + this. | |
| 7 | Heritage group taken in by first-class con (4) |
| ANTI – NT (National Trust, heritage group) contained by (taken in by) A1 (first-class). | |
| 8 | Show coppers curtains connected with front of theatre (8) |
| PRETENCE – PENCE (coppers) contains (curtains) RE (regarding, connected with) and first latter (front) of Theatre. | |
| 12 | Ring done well, but individual characters adapted rhyme (4,4,4) |
| DING DONG BELL – change only one letter from each word (individual characters adapted) rING DONe wELL. | |
| 15 | Scales one of these when going over rising ground (3,5) |
| AIR SIGNS – AS (when) containing (going over) an anagram of (ground) RISING. Libra/scales is an air sign in astrology. | |
| 17 | Unaffiliated religious individual’s initiation in middle of day (8) |
| NONUNION – I need help getting this to work. NUN (religious |
|
| 18 | Having ruled out Holy Island, left with just an impression (8) |
| NOTIONAL – NOT (having ruled out) + IONA (holy island) + L (left). | |
| 19 | Real life and natural laws are seen to grip (7) |
| HOLDALL – real life and natural laws are both seen to HOLD ALL. | |
| 21 | On stage as temporary replacement? (6) |
| ACTING – double definition. | |
| 24 | One used to fighting old Prohibition (4) |
| VETO – VET (veteran, one used to fighting) + O (old). | |
A particular example = inSTANCE
At 5dn I had:
RABBITY – B (book) parts A BIT (rather) all contained by (brought into) RY (line). Definition: like Peter or Roger
Oh that’s better for 5dn. Bit/parts was in desperation. Will update when I get to my desk.
Thanks Jackkt
Yuk.
Ditto. Gave up.
A nun is a religious.
Thanks. I didn’t know (and missed the dictionary entry for) the noun.
The kind of crossword that makes me want to give up. Managed quite a few but way beyond me. I parsed RABBITY as Jack, along with STANCE, which I thought was a pretty clever clue. Biffed EGGS BENEDICT. I think ACTIONER needs the ‘O’ for the anagrist, which I assume comes from encapsulated by 007.
Bravo William.
After an hour I was stuck in the SW and effectively gave up and used aids to complete the grid. RH seemed a lot easier than LH, or perhaps I had more energy at that stage. Very annoyed not to manage RIO BRAVO without aids as it’s one of my favourite classic westerns. Guessed GROUNDER. Failed to parse INVERTED SNOB. Well done, Will!
I have a problem with ‘anodyne’ as ‘relief’; barely even an outer equivalent.
It has meanings other then the one you are thinking of. Eg Collins: capable of relieving pain or distress
Well we’d had a gentle rest of the week…
I can hazard a guess as to how this will go down, but I thought it was fabulous. Very, very difficult, although as is often the case with the really tricky ones, my Witch is a bit high nonetheless.
More importantly though, it was a fair fight throughout, and very, very rewarding (plus I managed to dissuade myself from inventing the FROUNDER). All solveable and parseable – eventually!
Thanks to our setter and to Will.
Gave up after 45 minutes with about a quarter of this done. NHO GROUNDER, ACTIONER, NEB, RIO BRAVO as a film, LENT LILY, that IONA is a holy island(?) and probably a few others.
DNF. Way too good for me. I ended up with plenty of errors after a very long time. As hard a crossword as I can remember doing in the last few years. A big “Well done” to anyone who managed to solve this unaided.
Thanks to William and our setter
Nearly made it but frustrated by GROUNDER, ACTIONER and NON-UNION. I’ve played and watched cricket for three quarters of a century, and have been bowled by shooters and grubbers, but never a GROUNDER. I did enjoy the challenge. Thank you William and setter.
Ditto, never ever heard of a GROUNDER
Ditto, always a grubber. Grounder NHO.
Almost finished, but had to give up on ODDS after 40 minutes, thinking it could only contain two vowels. 5 biffs (RIO BRAVO, INVERTED SNOB, NATIONAL, UNSEASONABLE, HOLDALL).
One recalls Woody Allen’s childhood friend ‘EGGS’ BENEDICT, who unfortunately met his end under a car, costing Allen $110.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfhmnIgc7LY
COD ODDS (despite the DNF).
Gave up after 20 mins with only RABBITY and CHOSEN solved. I’m sure it’s nice for retired folks who need something to fill the long, empty days…. but I don’t have time to scratch my head over ones like this for hours and hours. More power to those that do.
Completely agree.
It’s all very well to argue that the top solvers need the occasional something to get their teeth into, but it’s a false argument. This might take a top solver 10 minutes instead of the normal 5 minutes, so it’s still barely a challenge for them.
And they’re already well-catered for by the weekly Mephisto and the Monthly Special. Perhaps this sort of crossword should form the Saturday prize offering, with the prize cryptic jumbo catering for the mere mortals?
Agree totally about the prize. I’ve often thought Saturday’s relative ease was a misdirected tactic. Surely a prize demands something special in the way of effort and intelligence? On the other hand, after a Friday like today, perhaps tomorrow’s will be welcome. (DNF even with aids today, BTW)
44.28, fingers crossed. No idea what was going on with DING DONG BELL, apparently change (unspecified) individual letters to other (unspecified) letters. A step (or two) too far? RIO BRAVO with a similar shrug, ARBOR is very odd for tree. Too much of a slog, and no discernible humour. Surprised to be all clear.
Commiserations William – this was brutal.
DNF in the end with about 5 to go which, on reveal, I would never have solved. Of those I did “solve”, too many were unparsed biffs, and of the others there was nothing I particularly enjoyed. I’m stuck in Costa Coffee awaiting an airport arrival, so nothing else to do, otherwise I’d have given up sooner!
Thanks for your hard work William and setter.
30:28. We sometimes talk about the distinction between puzzles that make you go ‘eureka’ and those that make you go ‘oh well I suppose so if you insist’. Today we have a new variety, the ‘sod this for a game of soldiers I’m just bunging something in to get this over with’. I was surprised not to see any pink squares. And to be honest slightly disappointed because it will bugger up my SNITCH!
I admire this puzzle for its technical virtuosity but I can’t say I enjoyed it. There’s a place for that but not too often please.
Glad I’m not alone in finding this very difficult, it was well beyond the limits of my ability and I only finished using aids. That said there were a few genuinely enjoyable clues among the stinkers – ODDS, DING DONG BELL and RADIO HAM – but otherwise more of an ordeal than an entertainment.
Thanks William and setter.
I thought this was more like a Mephisto. Almost every clue required obscure knowledge – and if you didn’t have it it was often impossible to get to the answer because (e.g.) it was a cryptic definition with no word play (RADIO HAM – still no idea here). For example, I am a very keen cricket player and fan but have never heard the term “Grounder”. I also found some of the word play quite dubious: STANCE (where is the indication to remove the “in”?); RIO BRAVO is incredibly hard if you don’t know old films made before you were born, and crossed with the (fair and extremely clever, but very difficult) HOLDALL (my COD).
As a younger solver, I found this quite frustrating.
I think Grounder refers to baseball, not cricket.
DNF. Ouch. Needed aids for LENT LILY about half way through and RIO BRAVO, UNSEASONABLE and GROUNDER towards the end. I couldn’t parse HOLDALL, but worked out everything else finishing, with aids in about 60 minutes, although I was a bit dubious about some bits. Thanks William and others for the explanations and setter for the, some might say, unreasonable challenge.
Far too tricky for me. I original put ‘rabbits’ with a partial parsing of ‘bits=parts’ before putting RABBITY with a just about acceptable parsing of B=book, BIT=rather and RAY=line but A BIT=rather and RY=line does work better. I also misremembered the title of the nursery rhyme as the alliterative ‘ding dong dell’ instead of DING DONG BELL, making INVERTED SNOB (perhaps COD?) impossible.
I’m glad it wasn’t just me–maybe our version of the nursery rhyme *was* “Ding Dong Dell”. There seems to be plenty of evidence on the web that it’s an alternative name for Ding Dong Bell. If I’d actually bothered to finish this puzzle and been out by this one letter I’d’ve been very annoyed…
Well over the hour mark with one check grid about 3/4 of the way through (turns out they were all correct which seems to annoy me more than when it picks up a mistake).
It got off to a good start with the NE finished within 5 minutes but all down hill from there.
I persevered but didn’t really enjoy. Maybe it was above my level so I won’t criticise it.
Thanks blogger and setter.
Not for me. I got 2 with confidence, and a few more were guesses, some of them right.
95 mins hard work then accidentally hit submit off leaderboard! I’ve had a bad week, struggling where everyone else found it easy and here was a chance for a top 100 finish. (facepalm).
All parsed except the breakfast and enjoyed in a masochistic kind of way so happy overall. I enjoy all the cryptic hints and recursive definitions.
COD to INVERTED SNOB which I saw the outline of early but hovered just out of reach for ages.
Many thanks to setter and William.
Crikey, that was hard. DNF, defeated by GROUNDER, ACTIONER, ODDS, RADIO HAM, DIOGENES and PRETENCE.
– Didn’t know neb=bill, so EGGS BENEDICT eventually went in with a shrug
– Also didn’t know the relief meaning of ANODYNE
– Bunged in RIO BRAVO with no idea how it worked as it sounded like it could be a film
– Misparsed RABBITY
– Didn’t know that the scales etc. can be called AIR SIGNS
– Had no idea how HOLDALL worked
Thanks William and setter, and kudos to those who completed this.
COD Inverted snob
Very comforting to find almost no finishers here today. Far too good for me.
I suppose the only pleasure I’ve got from this monstrosity is to see that people who are far better solvers found it almost impossibly difficult. There were some very good clues, but I came here for full explanations of half of them. And even when I did use electronic aids I often couldn’t tell what the correct answer was from the list supplied by Chambers. Is arbor = tree? Surely it’s a group of trees, as Collins confirms.
Thank you all for cheering me up by saying how hard this was!
A real Friday work out
Overly abstruse.
But got it done finally with some biffs and luck
Think the Holdall clue is brilliant though
Above my pay grade. Looked up 7 clues after struggling for 90 minutes. Submitted off leaderboard and found I had manged to solve the rest correctly. A chore. Thanks William.
Well, I got RABBITY, DIOGENES, the eggs, and most of the rest, but then gave up. Too many obscurities here – NHO RIO BRAVO being a movie, an ACTIONER movie, or a LENT LILY, or a GROUNDER in that sense although I thought I was a cricket buff. Or THE ONION being a mag but guessed that. Not enjoyable, I like a tough one but this was not satisfying. I’m off to the Grauniad.
EDIT apparently Mrs piquet knew about Lent Lilies so I am the ignoramus.
Well I solved it, as I am committed to do, but I didn’t enjoy it much. Torturous just for the sake of it.
And a “grounder” is purely a baseball term, nothing to do with cricket. One of several clues that had an X put after them, not just a ?
And slily? Surely if you are doing something sly you are doing it slyly? Yes it’s in Collins, but what isn’t? Our setter being sli, perhaps.
Awful.
Grounder makes no sense, it’s a baseball term not a cricket term and you do not have collapses in baseball nor would a grounder trigger one.
The 007 device, no thanks and NHO actioner as a movie genre – action yes but not actioner. The streaming sites don’t categorise “actioner”.
Ding Dong Bell, just literally change a letter? Had forgotten the nursery rhyme but was looking for something more complicated anyway.
Unreasonable = counter logic🤷♂️
Biffed Diogenes without knowing he was cynical but NHO Ogden as melon.
Overall, did not enjoy.
Thx William and ( grudgingly) setter
Fully agree- GROUNDER is total nonsense as a cricket term – we called them daisycutters.
I guessed (from the Chambers definition) that ‘grounder’ might be used by cricket aficionados. I cannot accept that The Times would use a baseball term in a cricket-esque clue. Perhaps an American will chime in and tell us that this is a common word in baseball, but I suspect not. My wife (lapsed American, former Tee Ball player) says ‘ground ball’.
Update: father-in-law (full American, former Little League player) agrees with you all. It’s a baseball word. Who needs a dictionary, eh?
Just over 50% complete after an hour. Too hard for me. In 60 odd years playing then watching cricket NHO GROUNDER. In my day they were grass cutters and are now illegal thanks to Trevor Chappell.
My longest solve that I can ever remember. There are difficult solves where every clue has you chuckling or exclaiming, but this wasn’t one of them, and I always dislike obscure words and phrases for the sake of them.
Also:
– I can’t see why ARBOR should mean “Tree”, except in Latin
– I don’t see how the definition of INVERTED SNOB works
– does 007 encapsulated really give the letter O?
– the wordplay for EGGS BENEDICT relying on NEB meaning BEAK was … harsh, given how convoluted the wordplay was already
– isn’t “In the company of medic, dread takes hold” missing a preposition at the end?
– how does RELIEF mean ANODYNE?
Sorry! I love most puzzles …
Did nobody notice all eight double unches were “IO”? I got tipped off after looking at NATIONAL/NOTIONAL…could’ve helped with some of the more obtuse entries like RADIO HAM.
I was wondering when someone would mention them. I never would have finished if I hadn’t finally seen them after over 2 hours (spread out over two days). I was ready to give up and grousing to myself about the combination of super-hard clues and double unches when I saw it, thus getting ACTIONER (NHO), RADIO HAM, RIO BRAVO, and NATIONAL.
Haha I “finished” except I had put RABBITs, though not liking it, and forgot to go back for RABBITY.
Frankly, what’s the point in setting a puzzle as difficult as this? The answer to Ia – GROUNDER as a cricket term is just wrong as some have already pointed out and it goes downhill from there.
Happy New Year..
DNF
Six short in the hour.
I really like a toughie but this was imho a step too far. I considered GROUNDER but dismissed it as a non-word which I couldn’t fit the parsing to. Considered UN and substitution for UNSEASONABLE but again the rest of the w/p was far from obvious. Considered RIO something for the film but the right tree just wouldn’t come. Now I know why. SLILY? Jeez. Managed to wade through and even parse the rest but if even first class solvers like JohnInterred are giving up after an hour, I’d suggest this one is (well) above the daily pay grade. I did like the clever AIR SIGNS, though.
But GROUNDER is a baseball term so why does everyone think it has to do with cricket? Batter can also be a baseball term. Very taxing but I enjoyed it. Incidentally its NATIONAL not NOTIONAL. Contrary article is AN backwards then an anagram of (edited) A LOT IN and The Times? is a National newspaper. COD for HOLDALL
My fault. Apparently ‘batter’ is also de rigueur in cricket these days.
Probably because we don’t play baseball in this country!
70:28
All to no avail as bunged in RABBITS when I had already thought of RABBITY. Other eyebrow raisers included: GROUNDER rather than grubber/pea-roller; who on earth uses the word ACTIONER?; vaguely heard of THE ONION; never seen RIO BRAVO so was pleased to come up with it. Didn’t parse NONETS or understand INVERTED SNOB. NHO LENT LILY. RADIO HAM was on an entirely different wavelength. But where on earth did I dig up DIOGENES from? For me, it was worth completing the grid and still getting one wrong, just to remember that dude.
Thanks William and setter
Definitely out of my league, and delighted that I saw that I had little chance of finishing this after 40 minutes of head scratching. A proper DING DONG DELL (according to my answer anyway).
As a relative newcomer to the Times crossword I wonder why the setter is not invited to explain some of the alleged dubious definitions or constructions – not so we are critical but just to see what he/she meant. The clue answer GROUNDER is a good example as all cricketers (including myself) have never heard the term in cricket.
Crossword world is different from the real world. It’s in Chambers as a ball that keeps low, so it is fine here. Maybe it was what people said in 1910, Chambers rarely forgets a word.
Thanks, Paul!
Not for me. If it takes more than half an hour, then I tend to leave it with more important things to do. I did like holdall though
Impressive puzzle. Me, less so. Having battled through all but 2d and 10a, I was forced to admit defeat and rather pleased when the ordeal was over. Congratulations to our blogger and to anyone else who managed to hack their way through the undergrowth.
I’ve never heard of grounder. In my day such balls were called daisy cutters or sneaks. The opposite delivery was a donkey drop.
DNF. I felt proud to finish about ¾ of it. Luckily I don’t know enough about cricket (even though I’m English and forced to play cricket in my youth) to suspect GROUNDER was not a word in common use. I did know the word “yorker” for something similar (but not relevant today). I, too, did not know DIOGENES was a cynic but I did know he existed, and got him from the wordplay.
Managed to complete correctly in a tad under 40 minutes, but failed to correctly parse 5 of the clues. Strange how even with the right answers I couldn’t get the parsings to work for these … rabbity, stance, grounder, lent lily, nonets.
I spent well over an hour struggling with this one. It was way too hard for me and I got bored, with the SW corner largely unsolved. I was about to give up when I got HOLDALL which gave me RIO BRAVO. Many of my answers were guesses, including NOTIONAL for NATIONAL, but that was the only wrong guess. As it happens, I started on this puzzle while eating EGGS BENEDICT in a cafe, so at least I got that one straightaway. Sadly, not a fun puzzle for me. Nonetheless, thank you to Setter and thank you to Blogger.
This was ridiculous.
It’s so easy to make a crossword so difficult. The art is to make it tough but not impossible.
Unimpressed.
Very very difficult! Can’t give a time as I fell asleep at one point, but all parsed.
DNF – but I thought it was mostly a fair but tough challenge. What a grumpy lot you all are about this puzzle!
If Grounder is not a cricket term then I agree that one is too obscure. Plus Etna was a bit of a stretch I thought. First think of a synonym for fancied, then identify the inside letters, then reverse them!
COD: HOLD-ALL
Thanks to William and our setter.
I think the setters, who do a great job by the way, do occasionally need some feedback.
Bit late (I’m catching up post-Christmas) but hear! hear! Astonvilla. Way too many complaints about a puzzle that wasn’t in fact impossible, just extremely difficult.
My biggest problem is that I only knew the nursery rhyme as DING DONG DELL and that led to all sorts of problems in sorting out the anagrist for INVERTED SNOB.
I would agree that GROUNDER isn’t a cricket term, but so what? If it refers to a ball going along the ground (which isn’t too difficult to infer) then it’s the last thing a batter would want. It could also be solved by wordplay, or by the fact that it’s the only word that fits the checkers, so fair play I say.
Bravo setter. Great puzzle even if it took me ages and nearly defeated me!
Finally gave up after three hours. I had all but RADIO HAM and ODDS. Had the HAM, but couldn’t think of a first word. Why didn’t I see RADIO??? Fed up, I suppose, and imagining it to be harder than it was. I like the really tough ones, but some of this was really indigestible.
ETNA from the synonymous ‘wanted’ is surely like anagrams of words implied rather than explicitly mentioned – not usual practice in this place.