Times Cryptic 31961 – Thank Heavens for Ximenes…

Author   JerryWPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
OK, well, I got about two thirds of this done, all the top half and the odd clue (and golly, some of them are very odd) in the bottom half. I now have a completed grid, thanks to my Wednesday oppo, mctext, who unlike me has managed to complete it. I have copied the clues below, and provide in each case the answer and such parsing as I can. Not sure I’ve seen a Times cryptic with not one single anagram in it before..

I am now in an extremely grumpy mood, because (a) I rather dislike the Ximenean rules, and (b) I am on record as having defended these vintage crosswords against their modern descendents. However this particular one seems to be a good piece of evidence for the prosecution. My normal habit when faced with really difficult grids is to do what I can, put them to one side and then come back to them later; repeat until completed. Unfortunately blogging duties prevent that today and I am much indebted to mc’s help. I like to think I would have got there in the end, but I am feeling very far from 6dn at present

cd = cryptic definition, dd = double definition, rev = reversed, anagrams are *(–), homophones indicated in “”

Across
1. A swipe at Lord’s is positively incandescent! (8) – BATSWING, a dd since it is a word to describe a gas flame: “a laterally spreading flame from a gas-jet” (OED) – but spelt with a hyphen
5. Look – now and then and up and down (6) – SEESAW, see + saw, fairly clear once you have the answer. Actually not a bad clue
9. To come to grips with the enemy again is very fruity (8) – GREENGAGE, ie (G)REENGAGE
10. Goody, goody, — a cracker! (6) BONBON, a dd since a bonbon is also “a small parcel of sweets etc containing a fulminant, which explodes when pulled sharply at each end” – ie a cracker!
11. Interval music (8) – ENTRACTE, a dd since the word (which has come up here before, I think) means both an interval at the theatre, and also music played therein
12. Tailor’s assistant is much improved (8) – FITTER, as in outfitter [so the enumeration is wrong, should be (6)].. the junior who has to interact with the clientele to make final clothing adjustments
14. Calls a halt to the gate-crashers (10) – CHALLENGES. Just a cd, as far as I can see
18. Well, what else would this chap be? (10) – HUSBANDMAN. One of the clues I couldn’t solve, hearty congrats to anyone who did!
22. Regretful comment of the inebriated on seeing the deer? (6) – WAPITI “Wha’ a pity.” Words fail me
23. Did the audience get all steamed up in it? (4-4) – SHOW-BOAT, a musical though in that case one word, no hyphen
24. A weeper’s the thing when it serves the purpose (6) – AVAILS, I think as in “a vale” (of tears)
25. “_____ is a great matter, I was a coward on ____” – INSTINCT. From Henry IV part 1. Been there, got the T-shirt… (8)
26. Line for a dowered bride? (6) DOTTED. Not exactly a dd, but a dot is, it transpires “A woman’s marriage portion; the property which she brings with her, and of which the interest or annual income alone is under her husband’s control”
27. So superlative, large size and incombustible (8) – ASBESTOS. = AS BEST + OS (outsize).

Down
1. Wager at the local? Very doggy! (6) – BARBET, a small curly-haired poodle
2. Implying free entertainment when it’s signed? (6) – TREATY ie treat-y
3. Flag-waving or head-shaking perhaps (3-3) – WIG-WAG. “To move lightly to and fro, to wag; esp. to wave a flag or other object to and fro in signalling” (OED)
4. The dark is deadly (10) – NIGHTSHADE, as in deadly N, so again just a cd really
6. Used the first person singular (8) – EGOTISED. “To talk or write in an egotistic way.” The OED however has only egotiZed..
7. What boots it to bring about destruction? (8) – SABOTAGE. Presumably, because a sabot is a boot, a wooden shoe or clog.
8. A gale’s perpetually blowing on the river (8) – WINDRUSH. The Windrush is a Cotswold river, a tributary of the Thames
13. Requirement for nursery tea essential in adults (5,5) – CLEAN HANDS. Another clue I didn’t get, and where really words fail. Essential they might be, but hardly universal.
15. What the gate-crasher can’t do (4-4) SHOW CARD, a cd.
16. Dead Sea fruit sapling? (3-5) ASH-PLANT. Dead Sea fruit, aka “Apple of Sodom,” is defined as: “a fruit (now usually identified with that of the mudar, Calotropis procera (family Asclepiadaceae)) which, according to legend, appears tempting but dissolves into smoke and ashes when grasped.” So a dd
17. The French make a day of it (8) – BASTILLE. So not Mercredi Vendredi or Dimanche as I confess I thought..!
19. What a bind for the dresser! (6) – SWATHE people can be swathed in something: “A band of linen, woollen, or other material in which something is enveloped.” Though I haven’t swathed lately.
20. Not that the cavalryman got the wind up! (6) – CORNET. A cornet is a cavalry rank, a junior officer. And an instrument of course, though not the one a cornet would have he would have had a bugle, if anything..
21. Keats saw many goodly ones on his travels (6) – STATES, and yes, probably you have seen this poem, or at least bits from it:

On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer by John Keats

Much have I traveled in the realms of gold
    And many goodly states and kingdoms seen;
    Round many western islands have I been
Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold.
Oft of one wide expanse had I been told
    That deep-browed Homer ruled as his demesne;
    Yet never did I breathe its pure serene
Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold:
Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
    When a new planet swims into his ken;
Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes
    He stared at the Pacific—and all his men
Looked at each other with a wild surmise—
    Silent, upon a peak in Darien.

Author: JerryW

I love The Times crosswords..

35 comments on “Times Cryptic 31961 – Thank Heavens for Ximenes…”

  1. Managed to complete this with, I hope, all the right answers. But blood had to be drawn from the stone.

    Jerry, feel free to email if you do happen to need help. Which I seriously doubt!

  3. Completed with no errors, much to my surprise. Much guesswork is needed, but in the end everything (except 26ac, which I have, apparently correctly, as DOTTED on the grounds that it goes before line) feels about right. You can see why Ximenes thought some sort of rules were necessary
    1. Yep, because a DOT is a dowry. Not necessarily a good one for the bride, as the husband keeps the interest on the sum.
        1. No worries. Just checked my answers against the Times archive. The puzzle is from Saturday 23 September 1961 — just after my baby brother was born. So I had to go to Monday 25th for the solution.

          Don’t know where they got the puzzle number: it’s actually 9792.

          Were Saturdays a bit harder even then?

          Edited at 2014-04-16 08:22 am (UTC)

          1. Do you think the number may be meant to be the date? It should be 23961, of course, but 31961 may be close enough for engineering, even if it doesn’t really exist. Doesn’t look as if there was anything as vulgar as a prize attached to the Saturday crossword.
  4. Gave up after an hour with less than half completed. Seeing how some of the clues I solved worked did not exactly encourage me to persevere with it and finding intersecting quotations in the same quarter sealed the deal. Life’s too short for this sort of thing!

    Edited at 2014-04-16 08:18 am (UTC)

  5. Well these things have certainly changed: I spent 15 minutes on this and couldn’t solve a single clue. Not one.
    1. Ha! I gave up after 15 minutes but I got 3 clues! Thank you for making me feel incredibly brainy.

      I normally quite enjoy these vintage puzzles but one definitely has to be in the mood for them. Today the sun is shining, the sea is blue and life seems, as jackkt said, too short for this one.

      1. I got two in my 15 minutes, but wasn’t quite brainy enough to realise, despite reading the blurb, that this was an ancient crossword. I was a bit nonplussed by the quotation clue, but reckoned I had to do something with it and spent some time looking for the anagram indicator.
  6. I finished it in about 45 minutes, but with lots of help from Chambers and Bradford’s. When I entered the solution into the Times site to check it at 7:45 I was the only one on the leaderboard, and had made one mistake (EGOTIZED, as Chambers had that as the primary spelling).
  7. I figured 10ac as BOB+BON: French for “good” (by extension “goody”?) x 2.

    At 14ac I thought of a “Halt. Who goes there?” kind of scene where the invaders of a fortress (gate-crashers?) are challenged. Someone will have the right Monty Python clip to go with this.

    In retrospect, 27ac is such an ironic surface given that the answer is one of the worst and most dangerous building materials ever.

    Edited at 2014-04-16 01:02 pm (UTC)

    2. Are you thinking of the Rutland Weekend Television sketch in which the guard (played by David Battley) exclaims “Who goes there – friend or foeful?” leading to Eric Idle debating with him whether there was such a word as “foeful”?
      By the way, I couldn’t get a single answer either. Seems I’m in good company.
  8. Great blog Jerry but I am not sure what you are saying the answer to 9ac is. Not GREENGAGE as the answer is only 8 long and while REENGAGE is fine, not sure how the G disappears from the fruit. Perhaps I am being too Ximinean!
    1. Too Ximenean, yes bigtone.. I think “very fruity” is intended to be read as “almost a greengage but not quite,” or perhaps “very nearly a greengage.”
  9. Thanks for the blog Jerry and Alec. I gave up after almost an hour. I had “tinker” in 12a on the theory that if you tinker with something you might make it better (yes I know). So that put the kibosh on that corner completely. Then I toyed with the idea that there might be a kind of deer called a “shorry”.

    As a footnote, 12a is wrongly enumerated – it should be (6). Not that it made any difference to me. And thanks for the TLS back-up Z.

    Edited at 2014-04-16 10:12 am (UTC)

    1. ah, yes, should have mentioned that perhaps..

      I also forgot to mention that recent legislation allowing gay marriages might have put the kibosh on 18ac as a valid clue, too…

    2. You’re very welcome. Thanks from me at least for taking the initiative: I think this is a cause worth fighting to keep the TLS from falling into disrepute.
  10. I had in the back of my mind that there might be a Shakespeare connection for “wa pity” but a) I can’t find it (though “God ha’ mercy” turns up often enough and b) a drunken “what a pity” works at least as well. At least the checkers don’t allow for any other kind of deer!
  11. After 2 hours of this and no end in sight, I turned to the quickie and was defeated by that too!

    I also got ‘clean hands’ for 13d, but as a pure guess…can’t see anything equitable about it!

  12. I’m another who read through this and got precisely zero answers. I thought of REENGAGE but couldn’t make it parse, and I looked up BARBET but Collins has it as a bird, not a poodle. I think if the SEESAW clue appeared today in a current puzzle it would be welcomed as quite clever. But the rest of them, not so much. Regards.
    1. It’s a bit like vintage cars. Some people just love a Bugatti. Others say “Where is the heater? And the windscreen wiper? Indicators? Why don’t the brakes work? You either like vintage cars, or not.

      Me, I wouldn’t want them every day, but if you “get” them, they are different but can be a lot of fun. Though that wasn’t my feeling this morning, I confess.

      1. Jerry, when these vintage ones have appeared in the past I usually can’t finish them entirely, but I can solve many more clues than today’s absolute zero. This version seemed like it was from some parallel universe.
  13. Why, oh why have they reverted to the dreadful “Sunday Times” keyboard for this cryptic on the iPad?
  14. Awful, just awful. Instinct and Seesaw the only ones in, otherwise not a hope!
    I too hate the ST keyboard…..
    1. Agreed with the hated keyboard. I use a bluetooth-connected keyboard which also acts as a case and hate having to poke the screen with my sausage fingers.

      Edited at 2014-04-16 06:38 pm (UTC)

  15. Got see-saw and asbestos. Should have seen wig-wag nightshade, sabotage, and fitter. Dug around for instinct and states. So 2 for 28, and a coulda-shoulda 6 for 28. I’ve kept my mouth shut in the new vs old debates, which seems, in retrospect, to have been quite a good policy. Thank you for a good, and tough, blog. On edit: very tough blog.

    Edited at 2014-04-16 06:47 pm (UTC)

  16. 58:36 for me, so I found it tough – in fact as tough as any Times crossword I can recall attempting previously, though when I first started solving the Times crossword regularly a year or two after this one, I probably simply abandoned comparable ones.

    In fact I was honestly amazed to find I’d finished all correct (unaided) as I didn’t know the required meanings of BATSWING and BARBET, or indeed any meanings at all of WIG-WAG, EGOTISED and SHOW-CARD. And there were others I didn’t understand (and still don’t) like CLEAN HANDS – there’s a legal maxim “he who comes into equity must come with clean hands”, but I can’t relate that to “adults”.

    Embarrassingly I simply couldn’t remember the Keats quote until I had the crossing letters in place – all the more annoying as there was a time when I knew the poem off by heart.

    An interesting puzzle though – and first-rate blogging, Jerry.

    1. I’m glad they finally found a serious challenge for you, Tony! But well done. I doubt too many people completely this one unaided.

      And I forgot to thank Jerry for his blogging efforts, which went above and beyond the call of duty.

  17. Avails: Happily we have a Chambers of the same vintage as the crossword, which gives ‘barbet’ as a kind of poodle, ‘batwing’, et al.
    It also gives ‘weeper’ as “a widow’s crape veil”; ‘vail’ is an archaic alternative spelling

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