Times Cryptic No 28973 — Relief from the heat!

59 comments on “Times Cryptic No 28973 — Relief from the heat!”

1. Just 1 missing at the 50 mins mark, but was never going to get IL PENSEROSO. Saw pens=writers, but assumed love=O, and needed a longer word for “look”. Though definition was some Latin tag to describe a poetical work.

   Liked CHIN CHIN. Knew Yogi Berra, but tried to get Yogi Bear in there first. Guessed that URTEXT might be a word.

2. 10:45
   Surprisingly easy for a Friday. I biffed IL PENSEROSO from the enumeration and the E, never parsed. Also didn’t parse CHANGELESS, GOOD SAMARITAN, STEVENSON, OLIVER T. I would write URTEXT with a hyphen.
   PREPONDERATE & IN COMMISSION both felt odd, but as they say, they had to be. I notice that of the four corpus examples ODE gives for ‘in commission’, three refer to ships.
   [On edit] Even more surprisingly, the SNITCH is at 109, hardly an easy one; I’ve actually got the lowest NITCH, with Jeremy close behind.

   1. Wavelength!

3. I got a bunch of these from the definition, with help a few times from the enumeration. Maybe this accidentally got switched with yesterday’s…? LOI was last answer, HEADLOCK, but first I had to fully parse and correct PREPONDERATE (not PREPONDERANT!).

   Collins has the intransitive sense of STRESS found here as the 10th definition, tagged as “Informal,” but there’s no indication of when this became current. It’s in only one of the several listings on that page (two from American dictionaries). However, Merriam-Webster (American) has it as intransitive for “to feel stress (often used with out).”

4. Around 70 minutes. Tricky but most enjoyable. NHO URTEXT or IL PENSEROSO but got them from wordplay. FOI HEADLOCK LOI SKINNY Slowed by having ON COMMISSION since it sounds more natural than IN COMMISSION. Also had TIDE for EDDY. Took a while to get CRUISE which is a rather cleverly worded clue. Liked GOOD SAMARITAN.

5. This was definitely a biff-fest; if I’m not the blogger, I just put in the obvious answers and don’t worry. There was a bit of a literary flavor: Stevenson, Oliver Twist, Il Penseroso, urtext, the stress mark. These were all right up my alley, of course.

   I would say that the literal for in commission is simply working, because out of commission means not working.

   Time: 20 minutes

   1. That’s four of us in the States who found it on the easier side. Interesting.

   2. Yes that was an accidental underlining. Fixing now.

6. 35 minutes but not entirely without difficulty for me.

   My LOI IL PENSEROSO was something of a guess. I got I LO and PENS from wordplay but the rest of it was a guess and only afterwards did I spot the possibility of EROS and the connection with Homer. I was going to say I never heard of the piece by Milton but I see it has come up a couple of times before so perhaps subconsciously I had it tucked away somewhere.

   I thought of CANBERRA quite early although at the time I was missing two of the checkers, but it didn’t go in as I was unable to parse it. NHO Yogi BERRA, nor of CAN as American for ‘behind’ which I’d have expected to be ‘ass’ if it had fitted. CAN as American for ‘lavatory’ I would have known.

   I wrote ON (working), COMMISSION (assignment) at 4dn with some confidence but then wondered how that might mean ‘with pay cut’ so I put a question mark in the margin. Later the arrival of CHIN-CHIN forced the change to IN COMMISSION but by then I was fixated on the definition being at the end of the clue and I was still unable to reconcile it. Nevertheless the answer had to be what it was.

   I had none of the misgivings shared by others about STRESS, but MARK took a while to emerge as I didn’t have the A-checker at the time.

   1. So far, I think Jeremy is the only one who expressed “misgivings” about the sense of STRESS in the clue (not the answer). I responded to that point only because initially I (absent-mindedly) thought he was talking about STRESS MARK and I briefly commented (since deleted!) about that.

      1. Thank you for putting misgivings in quotes! Because I am in fact quite pleased to modern uses of words in puzzles (as opposed to modern references like pop music stars). I just wondered when this usage was attested.

   2. Yogi Berra was the catcher for the NY Yankees, known, aside for his skill as such, for his (alleged) malapropisms, like “You should always go to people’s funerals; otherwise they won’t come to yours”. Many of these are probably apocryphal; as he himself said (maybe), “I didn’t say a lot of the things I said.”

      1. As a non-American who shouldn’t know of him, Yogi Berra is an iconic figures. Aside from his brilliant malapropisms, some of which he might never have said, he was equal to or better than all of his more famous Yankees teammates as a player. Won more World Series as a player than Mickey Mantle, Joe Di Maggio, Babe Ruth, all the other famous baseballers you’ve heard of. Then came back as coach and manager and won a few more. He has more rings than Saturn. But always a bit disrespected because he came across as a bit of a clown, perhaps? A personal favourite.
         I do like: “I didn’t say a lot of the things I said.” Don’t think I’ve ever heard that one.

         1. About a restaurant Mr Berra remarked: “Nobody goes there anymore- it’s too crowded.”

   3. Isn’t CAN just the last three letters of AmeriCAN? At least that’s how I read it.

      1. No there are sayings here like “kick in the can”. But ‘can’ for behind is certainly not in high use these days.

   4. I had the same for 4d and thought it was a brilliant cryptic definition – someone “following pay cut” is after a cut of the pay!

      Doesn’t quite work on reflection, but I was convinced at the time…

7. A terrific puzzle I thought, 42.58. Many thanks to J, I missed several parsings. Couldn’t remember IL PENSEROSO even with all the checkers, and wondered for a while if the name of the ranch in Bonanza – Ponderosa – had been inspired by Milton. LOI, even though I lived there for 20 years, was CANBERRA. I knew that sense of can from Blind Willie McTell, ‘your southern can is mine.’

   From Desolation Row:
   The phantom’s shouting out to SKINNY girls, get outta here if you don’t know
   AND
   I received your letter yesterday, about the time the doorknob BROKE
   You asked how I was doing, or was that some kind of joke?
   AND
   The GOOD SAMARITAN he’s dressing, he’s getting ready for the show
   He’s going to the carnival tonight on desolation row.

8. Surprised to have finished in 13:07, as this *felt* tricky. IL PENSEROSO was constructed from the neat wordplay.

   Thanks setter and Jeremy.

9. I didn’t find this at all easy, finishing in 48 minutes. LOI was 7dn which I have never heard of but after a long struggle I finally managed to work it out from the cryptic (when I realised the EROS bit).
   Maybe I was off form today – definitely some of the clues were cleverly misleading!
   Thanks setter and Jeremy

10. Completed with a mate in 33 minutes but with a random guess at IL PENSE_O_O slaying us at the last. We debated for a while whether it was going to be Latin IN with an ablative or Italian IL, settling for the latter but then coming undone on lack of poetic knowledge! Really fun crossword otherwise though, enjoyed ESAU despite confidently saying ‘Esau was the heir to Jacob, I believe’ before realizing the clue itself contradicted me, and also having briefly questioned whether it was going to be a reference to Chef from South Park (I wish).

11. Straightforward for a Friday. Had heard of Il Penseroso; but not read it, obvs. Who actually reads Milton?
    RL Stevenson, one of my favourite writers because of Travels with a Donkey and An Inland Voyage.

    1. I’ve read both Lost and Regained. Lost is better.

    2. Did L’Allegro and Il Penseroso for Eng Lit O Level! Couldn’t recite a word of them now!

12. 14’32”, with at least a couple of minutes on CANBERRA. I was fixated on Jellystone Park and a relative of Winnie, and nho CAN in that sense.

    We had IL PENSEROSO a few years ago, although I had to construct it from wordplay. EDDY was in a crossword I did in the last day or so. I did not stress about this.

    Nho URTEXT either, but now assume it references Abraham’s birthplace. If ESAU hadn’t been tricked out of his inheritance…speculate please. And the GOOD SAMARITAN mentioned also, excellent.

    I’ve read some Milton. Try ‘On His Blindness’ if you haven’t.

    Thanks jeremy and setter.

    1. The prefix UR in this context is German, so probably nothing to do with Abraham!

    2. URTEXT is familiar to musicians as a lot of music in the classical repertoire is available in ‘urtext editions’, as annotated by the composer rather than interpreted by an editor.

       1. That’s where I know it!

13. Just under half an hour.

    Like KensoGhost above, I slowed myself down by putting ‘on commission’ rather than IN COMMISSION and only corrected when I realised 1a had to be CHIN-CHIN; not familiar with can=behind but CANBERRA was otherwise clear enough; haven’t heard of IL PENSEROSO but eventually managed to piece it together from wordplay; and haven’t come across the verb form PREPONDERATE before (more used to seeing preponderance).

    Thanks Jeremy and setter.

    FOI Ill
    LOI In commission
    COD Headlock

14. 11:02. Gentle for a Friday. NHO CAN for bottom only for lavatory and NHO the baseball player, so CANBERRA went in from the definition and checkers. This will be our American setter, I guess. DNK the Milton work, but had vaguely heard of the title. LOI STRESS MARK, which needed HEADLOCK to get the second word. I liked IMPATIENT and OLIVER TWIST. Thanks Jeremy and setter.

15. 7:17. No problems today. Weirdly my only unknown was IN COMMISSION, which I don’t remember ever seeing other than in the negative before.

16. Very nice, even though I have to record a DNF, with IL PENSEROSO completely unknown (and shortly to be forgotten) and three in the NE which defeated me but any of which, on revealing the solutions, could be my COD: CHANGELESS (and not the unparsable EVANGELIST which fitted what I had and made CHIN-CHIN impossible) and CRASSLY. Thanks to our setter for an enjoyable 35 mins or so, and to our blogger as ever.

17. 44 minutes with LOI STRESS MARK. Didn’t/ don’t understand the CAN of CANBERRA. I didn’t know but liked the idea of URTEXT. That’s what I’m now calling the drafts of my next (and last) novel. Liked the literary stuff but quite tricky. Thank you Jeremy and setter.

18. 229 mins.
    Easiest one this week, I thought.
    Thanks, pj.

19. 50m 18s
    Now that we have had our fourth Mephisto word of the week, ILPENSEROSO, to follow on from ICHNEUMON, ROCAMBOLE and AEDILES, does that mean I can now apply for a free lapel badge?

20. Quickie quality until bits of the lower half put up more of a resistance, finishing in 17.55. SKINNY and CANBERRA were the culprits, possibly because Sky is having trouble being a broadcaster this morning, but more likely because I was looking to work with “news free of padding” being NS, and an American behind is usually an ASS. I did, once the pennies dropped, remember Yogi BERRA as the inspiration for the picker nick basket aficionado (which, I see, tiring of its overexposure in Big Brother has taken refuge in the Quickie today). I couldn’t remember what Berra was otherwise famous for.
    Generously friendly for a Friday.

21. 24:51
    Gentle but good fun with a nice literary feel to it.
    Didn’t know that meaning of CAN.
    IL PENESEROSO was no problem as my wife is a big fan of Milton. Me not so much, but, thanks to Armando Iannucci, at least I now know that the opening line from Paradise Lost ‘Of man’s first disobedience and the fruit of that forbidden tree…’ rhymes with the theme tune to the Flintstones.

    Thanks to Jeremy and the setter.

22. The STRESS MARKs I grew up with fit the definition in the clue quite neatly. They were little forward slashes placed above the letter in a word to show where the stress or emphasis should be. For ‘pronunciation’ the stress mark would be above the U to show the place of emphasis.

23. 24.17

    Really wanted yogi to be “bear” and wasn’t aware of the CAN sense so slightly fingers crossed on that one.

    Is “correct” the same as “mark”? I’d say not usually but whatevs.

    Thanks Jeremy and setter

    1. I also have doubts about ‘correct / MARK’ which accounted for my difficulty with the second word in the answer at 14dn.

       1. I thought the same, then I looked at Collins which has ‘to indicate the errors in’ for ‘correct’, so I thought it was OK, but on reflection I think that’s a copy-editing thing and you wouldn’t use ‘mark’ in that context so I’m back to thinking it isn’t!

    2. I was thinking about marking/correcting students exams/papers.

       1. Yes, I was thinking along those lines, but if you mark an exam or paper do you correct it or simply rate it?

24. Thoroughly enjoyable puzzle which I had nearly complete in 15 minutes then held up for a long time by my unknowns and had to use aids for il PENSEROSO and Canberra. I’d heard of Berra but would never have brought him to mind and certainly was not one of my many thoughts for yogi. Also had not heard of that expression of can = bottom, like many others here only knew of it as lavatory.

    Thx Jeremy and setter

25. 16:45 – A v gentle Friday apart from a couple of uncertainties in the parsing. NHO “can” as US slang for behind (toilet, yes) so wasted a few seconds noodling alternatives. Biffed PREPONDERANT without checking the anagram until HEADLOCK unambiguously presented itself

26. 15 minutes or so solving on paper.

    A couple of unknowns (URTEXT, IL PENSEROSO) but all fairly clued. Inexplicably, last-in was the ultimate chestnut CRUISE.

    Re CANBERRA, I parsed it as CAN being the ‘behind’ of ameriCAN, but I am always willing to be wrong.

    After a relatively tough week and with a thick head from last night’s festivities I was expecting a stinker, so I was pleasantly surprised.

    Thanks to both.

27. Very good crossword, nice surfaces and everything fair, except perhaps the CAN problem referred to many times above. Surely mark/correct is fine — think of a schoolteacher. Everything straightforward enough until my last three, CANBERRA, STRESS MARK (I had stress book, which didn’t make sense and in any case doesn’t exist) and CRUISE. Had to use aids for these. 54 minutes.

28. I didn’t find this as straightforward as others needing 52.45 to finish this. It took me quite a while to correctly parse PREPONDERATE before I dare put it in, and even longer to think of the MARK part of STRESS MARK for 14dn. Thinking I had correctly finished, I then discover I had one wrong anyway by carelessly spelling CANBERRA with an M instead of an N, when I knew perfectly well how it should be spelt. I think I was momentarily distracted by seeing ‘American’ as part of the clue.

29. 33:46

    I didn’t find this as easy as our blogger and a few others might suggest – backed up by the Snitch (103 when I looked – giving me a target time of 41.5 minutes). I had the following question marks:

    – Yogi – knew of both BERRA and Bear – the R of ROO suggested the former, however…
    – NHO CAN = American behind, only American toilet
    – NHO URTEXT – cryptic was ok though
    – CHIN-CHIN delayed by entering ON COMMISSION at 4d – didn’t think of CINCH as a piece of cake – another Americanism
    – IL PENSEROSO – NHO – got as far as IL PENSE_O_O before figuring out EROS
    – STRESS MARK – didn’t think the clue read particularly smoothly, however with all checkers in place, this appeared to be the obvious answer

    For too long, I wondered what 1d might be – didn’t know Raphael was an angel but later, with the A_G_L checkers, considered that was a possibility which let me to think EVANGELIST though couldn’t see how the rest would work. Took a good deal of thinking to see CHANGELESS.

    Thanks Jeremy and setter

30. My quick fire starters for five were, ILL, CRASSLY, INCOM——-, CHIN CHIN and ALLIANCE. I completed my mission later. Zipped though the rest until I hit the SE corner. STRESS was no trouble, but MARK needed both crossers. PREPODERANT held up HEADLOCK until a rethink cleared the deadlock. Didn’t know CAN for US backside, or Yogi Berra, so relied on definition and crossers with MARK then confirming CANBERRA. BLABBED gave away the capital. My O Level Eng Lit back in the 60s came to my rescue at 7d with IL PENSEROSO, along with L’Allegro and The Tempest forming the majority of the syllabus. Prospero, Miranda, Caliban and Ariel are helpful characters imprinted on my brain since that era. Had to assemble URTEXT as instructed. 18:08. Thanks setter and Jeremy.

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