Times Cryptic No 29021 — Lift and separate

95 comments on “Times Cryptic No 29021 — Lift and separate”

1. I think 1 down is also an & Lit, making it a great clue. A clever puzzle all round, I thought, with crafty but rewarding clues. Thanks as ever for the blog.

   1. I tried to indicate that.

2. This took a while! I didn’t parse GOALIE, thinking it was just a CD. At the end, I had YARDAGE crossing RATION, which doesn’t work, so finally had to find RATHER—for which “a bit” did not seem a definition, not the way I use the word!

   1. ‘It’s rather cold’ = ‘It’s a bit cold’ – both understatements.

      1. But if I said “rather cold,” I would mean it was more than a bit cold. A “mild intensive,” rather.

         1. Both work fine if a little irony or similar is added.

         2. I think that nuance must be a US usage. It can mean that this side of the pond, but with irony implied.

3. I had to pause at 6d, one of the many long pauses throughout this Friday toughie, but I suppose the shared cell just means a shared component. Almost fell into the trap at 17d with PROMISER instead of PROMISOR, after initially having PROMISEE.
   One of the longest solves I can remember at 47:27, but a great relief to finally finish without pinks.

   1. I have eventually realised that the shared cell is the grid cell of the crossword! Doh!

4. After some quick solves this week I hit the fence on this one, surrendering on the hour with GOALIE, MIDIRON (is that really a thing?) and PROMISOR outstanding. I also struggled in the NE and required J’s assistance to understand how ABELARD, MAYORESS and DOMINOES worked. I was thrown by some multi-part definitions but there were some terrific clues here, including ADHERE and COWHOUSE. Jeremy I think at 10ac it’s an anagram of A SERMON. Which reminds me, how does ‘original’ work as an anagrind?

   From Tomorrow Is A Long Time:
   If today was not an endless highway
   If tonight was not a crooked trail
   If TOMORROW wasn’t such a long time
   Then lonesome would mean nothing to you at all

   1. Thanks! I think ‘original’ as in ‘newly presented’.

   2. It counts as an anagram indicator because it’s an adjective or a verb. That’s the rule as far as I can make out!

      1. If that’s the rule we’re all in trouble! It doesn’t make work for me but I appreciate the help.

         1. The penultimate edition of Chambers included a “comprehensive” list of anagrinds.
            It was doomed to fail and turned out to be useless. And does not appear in the current edition.
            Setters, an inventive lot..

      2. hahaha

5. DNF. I took 31 minutes to wrestle this beast into submission, only to succumb to a stupid typo (AS LONF AS ONES ARM). And now it strikes me that most of my typos occur during long and difficult solves, but I can’t think of any reason why that should be the case.

   Some brilliant clues I thought. COD to GROUNDED which went from intractable to “how did I not see that?”. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one looking at the wrong end of the clue for the definition.

   Also liked ADHERE, NONE TOO, DOMINOES, GOALIE, COWHOUSE, RATHER and SUBTEND, so it’s a thumbs-up to the setter from me. And thanks Jeremy for the blog.

6. Thanks J.

   In 8dn, I think the second O of the answer comes from “old”.

   1. Thank you!

      1. I’m being picky, but you should delete it from the definition of DOME too.

         1. Not at all! Thanks!

7. As 90 minutes appeared on the clock I was left with the same two answers outstanding as Jeremy, 1ac and 1dn. I’d had enough by that time so chose to reveal 1dn, and then with the final checker (G) in place GROUNDED leapt out at me at 1ac. Of course with ‘Grand’ as the first word of the clue I had already tried G as the missing checker, but there had been room for doubt and it was only after writing G in with certainty that my brain crashed into gear.

   The maddening thing about GOALIE was that my very first word in the grid at 1dn had been KEEPER, thinking of the position on the football pitch and ‘game keeper’ satisfying the requirements of wordplay. It stayed in for a while but I deleted it when I realised the two-letter word at the beginning of 10ac could not begin with E.

   I was disappointed not to finish without aids as I had nearly given up with barely half the grid filled, but I persevered and made progress and only stuck with it for so long because I really thought I was going to get there in the end, but it wasn’t to be. Confidence started to fall away again when I realised how many answers had gone in with fingers crossed as I was unable to fully explain them. For example DOMINOES, MAYORESS, SUBTEND (NHO, and this is its first appearance here), DEALT (why would we know DEA in the UK?).

   1. DEA was a write-in for me (in Oz) because in our household we have become addicted to the Netflix series Narcos…

      1. Not to mention Breaking Bad. One of the most watched (and many would say the best) TV series of all time.

         1. Yep, I was picturing Hank!

      2. Thanks, Lindsay. NHO the TV show but my first thought at 5d (before checkers) had been NARCO since I knew ‘narc’ from previous puzzles and thought NARCO might be slang for a drug enforcement officer. It didn’t go in because I was unable to account for ‘sold drugs’ and eventually the arrival of the A checker put paid to the idea.

         1. I worked with the DEA when I was in Customs. Couldn’t understand why their boss never answered anything, only for him to be exposed as the local chief of the CIA. Larry Katz I think he was called. Why the US couldn’t find someone to stand in for him at the DEA desk I’ll never know.

8. Finished the top half OK but went to pieces on the bottom half. On the SW corner I got PROMISEE but couldn’t see the definition reading guaranteeing party as guaranteeing a party so PROM I SEE did the trick. Missed RATHER completely. On the other side I did much worse. Missed ADHERE expect a C to be present. Similarly for REBIRTH I wanted an F. For SUBTEND, SHAKO and COWHOUSE I had no or wrong crossers and didn’t have a clue. The latter I thought was related to finance.
   Thanks Jeremy for putting me straight

9. DNF but what an excellent crossword. Thanks setter and Jeremy

10. I was surprised that I never got completely stuck somewhere along the way through this one, but went from FOI GROUNDED (nice) to LOI TOMORROW in a fairly average-for-me 38 minutes. Perhaps doing the Guardian puzzle on the side helps. Nothing completely unknown, though I could have told you absolutely nothing about ABELARD apart from that the name seemed familiar.

    1. He had a bit of fluff called Heloise … and that’s all I know about him

       1. I worked on an operatic telling of the story of Abelard and Heloise. Also there was a pretty funny puppet show of their relationship in the film ‘Being John Malkovich’.

          1. That might be where I knew the name from; I seem to remember liking it enough at the time that I had a copy on DVD for a while. Can barely remember anything about it now, but I suppose it has been twenty five years or so…

       2. He had a very unpleasant experience, not long after their son’s birth, who, BTW was the answer to Monday’s 26ac ASTROLABE.

          1. I’m having a hard time thinking of how you could make their story funny, puppet show or not. Opera, yes, that makes sense.

             1. https://youtu.be/ET0mR5DTKU0?si=UG3AUEUa4WY5hO1p

                1. I really must watch the film again!

11. Slow start (FOI 2d!), went offline at 25′ for lunch. My last two were 1ac and 1d. DNK FOSSE WAY, no idea how MAYORESS worked, waited until I had all the checkers before putting it in. Surprised to see DEA, but grateful. I spent far too long taking ‘at home’ to be IN inside something, and ‘ship’ to be S___S. All in all hard work, but enjoyable for that reason. ADHERE perhaps my COD.

12. Finished this going up the Danube to Budapest – we were going down to the Black Sea but there’s not enough water in the river.

    35’41” for this toughie. Didn’t parse completely GOALIE (LOI), thought COWHOUSE might be financial slang, liked GROUNDED once I got the ‘tidy sum’ bit. I’ve never heard nor used the phrase AS LONG AS ONE’S ARM. And for all my mathematical career I used SUBTEND without otherwise defining it.

    Thanks jeremy and setter.

13. 21.36. Tricky stuff, but very enjoyable. I ended up with a guess at the end, which for once was right. I’d never heard of the hat, and at least in some puzzles, ‘king’ can be either R or K. SHARO and SHAKO both looked perfectly plausible, but I couldn’t recall a Times puzzle with king for R. Further investigation suggests that it could indeed have been R in the Times, so I just got lucky.

    Had I got it wrong I would undoubtedly be grumbling; as I got it right I will note the word for the future, and the potential for grumbles, and acknowledge my good fortune.

    COWHOUSE and GROUNDED were particularly good.

    Thanks both.

14. 75 minutes with LOI the unknown SHAKO. I just assumed DEA must be a US drug agency and not the Department of Economic Affairs. Perhaps it is. Penultimate was COWHOUSE. It was always a cowshed or better still a byre when I was a country boy. Two for Lindsay, if he’s not already there. TOMORROW is a long time. It seems very close after doing this. I was pleased to finish, God knows how. COD to SPIRAL STAIRCASE(s). I was weeping in unholy places after this. Thank you Jeremy and setter.

    1. Well done for finishing BW, I did not. Got TOMORROW, but what was your second?

       1. “Beat a path of retreat up them spiral staircases.” Angelina- great track in the Bootleg Series, a reject from Shot of Love. “His eyes were two slits, make any snake proud.”

          1. Ah yes, forgot that. Great song and a fantastic collection. Also I just watched a bit of the Rolling Thunder movie and would like to send a message to Scarlet Riviera in case she’s a member of the crossword community and by chance is reading this: please get in touch. I know it was 50 years ago but I’m sure we could have a whompin’ good time…

15. To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
    Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
    To the last syllable of recorded time,
    And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
    The way to dusty death.

    30 mins mid-brekker. I liked it – especially the dressing gown, mayo dress.
    Last two in were the constructed Shako and Cowhouse (a cow shed for pretentious cows).
    Ta setter and PJ

16. Beaten by SHAKO and COWHOUSE, but a lovely Friday challenge.

17. Some lovely clues and wordplay today (COWHOUSE, beautiful). 24:20 which felt like a respectable time for this puzzle, but gutted to have forgotten to revisit PROMISER which I had realised might be wrong.

    LOI GOALIE which I had thought was merely a CD until I visited this page. Thanks setter and blogger.

18. 55′ but enjoyable with LOI SHAKO, which I finally worked out and vaguely heard of. Henhouse made no sense and stayed in place for too long. Didn’t fully parse GOALIE a Jeremy did; just assumed it was a position in a game which started with GO. I liked the clueing for ABELARD but always assumed MIDIRON was hyphenated. Thanks Jeremy and setter.

19. 31.17 for a lofty 20th place on the LB, so clearly this did not complete the getting easier series of the week. A fine crossword, though, with really testing clues. I didn’t parse AS LONG AS…, so thanks for that PJ and congratulations for getting as far as you did!
    COWHOUSE was my final hold-up: the “stock” required occurred in a sudden flash of inspiration.
    ABELARD from seeing a memorable (and excruciatingly violent) performance of Abelard and Heloise in Bristol a staggering 50 years ago. Peter Abelard was an astonishingly advanced philosopher, theologian, lawyer, poet, composer and proto-novelist – pity he’s not better known.

20. 16:59

    Tricky but mostly enjoyable. I didn’t bother parsing everything so thanks for filling in the gaps. One example is MAYORESS where I couldn’t see beyond Chairman Mao.

    Despite the trials of other solvers I got GROUNDED immediately which gave me a good starting point and probably helped to keep the time respectable.

21. Excellent. Just shows that you can set a challenging puzzle using ingenious and deceptive wordplay, rather than a huge amount of obscure knowledge or vocabulary.
    DNF because I got PROMISOR wrong, although it is perfectly fair.
    ABELARD was a bit of a guess. I’ve never seen that ‘shared cell’ device before, very clever.
    Dressing gown -> MAYO DRESS, lovely.

22. 31:47
    I found this the toughest for a long time but an absolute treat to do.

    Didn’t understand the Third Man reference till Jeremy explained it.

    SHAKO and COWHOUSE the last two in. GOALIE the COD.

    Thanks to Jeremy and the setter

23. 100 minutes!
    Man, that was difficult. Just glad to get it finished. LOI shako – never heard of it.
    Thanks, pj.

    1. ‘Shako’ I also know from opera. Carmen yells at Don José, “Prends ton shako!”. (And presumably throws it at him.)

       1. Thanks for the extra detail! 🙂

24. 18:27. I thought this was a terrific puzzle, and echo David Sullivan’s comment above. There is some tricky vocab in here but at least it’s not all Latin!

    1. And a Bible reference even you could cope with!

       1. Indeed. I’m never sure which brother is which but the A from CANDID sorted that out for me.

25. Threw in the towel on the hour with GOALIE and RATHER missing. For some reason, soccer positions never come to mind for me, so I’d likely never have got it. RATHER was a write-in that my brain simply blanked out. Otherwise thought this was tough, but fair. Liked COWHOUSE.

26. DNF with GOALIE, PROMISOR, REBIRTH, RATHER, SHAKO & COWHOUSE all missing. Well past the hour I finally gave up with a befuddled brain and came here for solace. Thanks Jeremy for the hard work.

27. DNF. Utterly routed and gave up after an hour with six still to get but three I had selected were wrong. Thought goalie was very good as was grounded for which I opted for anointed.

    Romanise passed me by as I was loyal to Moors. Got the but in subtend but not the ship as in send connotation. Cowhouse was completely beyond me and I still don’t get shako for which I’ll now search above. Midiron I should have got , knew the Midi but didn’t make the final connections.

    Adhere another good clue which I missed through time as in time first letter.

    No complaints , just too good for me today! Thx setter and blogger.

28. This was hard, for me anyway, but I finished it in about an hour. Quite a few never heard of, or barely heard of things in the answers.

    My usual solving method is to think of answers suggested by the clue as a whole plus any checkers I have and then see whether they parse or not; for this crossword I frequently had to rely on racking my brains over the wordplay and then, sometimes, convincing myself that the word I arrived at might actually exist (MIDIRON, DONEE and PROMISOR being three examples of that). I suppose that is what you are actually meant to do and so I should be pleased that I have for once done it properly.

    In my defence, I’ve only taken to doing this crossword, and then only occasionally, in the last year or so and many of the “standard” wordplay tricks that seasoned solvers probably see immediately are missed by me. But I must be building a growing library of them, because I would not have completed today’s puzzle a few months ago.

    1. No defence needed – well done. This was a very tough puzzle, and your solving method is exactly what’s needed for something like this (particularly the faith in unknown words).

    2. For me, when a puzzle forces you to ‘do it properly’ like this it’s the mark of very high-quality setting. This puzzle was very much like that.

29. Revealed last four: GROUNDED/GOALIE, SHAKO/COWHOUSE. Lots of learning from the blog along the way (many thanks J). NHO MIDIRON but sounded plausible. FOSSE WAY was a write-in due to my location. Only VHO ABELARD and didn’t understand the clever wordplay. Liked ADHERE and GROUNDED, latter after J’s explanation. Pleased to have solved as much as I did on what seems to be quite a tricky Friday puzzle. Thanks all.

    1. FOSSE WAY was also a write-in for me due to my location, though I’m not entirely sure why there’s a street called The Fosseway in Clifton Village in Bristol. It’s at least ten miles from the nearest point of the actual Fosse Way, as far as I can tell, and I wonder a little about it every time I pass the street sign.

30. I was a bit surprised to see the SNITCH so high, because it seemed to me that this had plenty of good (especially 1dn) and pretty tough clues (and one or two slightly dodgy links etc in my opinion) it was doable. Why is RISKY likely to fail? Yes perhaps open to failure but likely? To my surprise MIDIRON is correct according to Collins — I’d always thought it was mid-iron. In 28ac why is who = which people, or am I getting it wrong? Took the DEA on trust in 7dn. Why are DOMINOES hopefully all toppling in 8dn? Hopefully if one is doing that toppling thing, but necessarily? 59 minutes, with a couple of aids by the end. ABELARD from Flanders and Swann: “Who’s Abelard?” said Heloise, “He′s not my fellow, he′s a friend,/Just a friend.”

    1. Which people successfully completed this Friday toughie?

       1. Thanks. Missed that.

       2. That’s not quite the same though, although I suppose it’ll do.
          If you want to know who has completed the crossword, you simply use ‘who’. One word is better than two. ‘Which people’ is more impersonal and might require the insertion of ‘of these’ or ‘of you’ to meet the equivalence. And that makes it even more impersonal.

    2. I am also surprised the SNITCH was so high. I found this to be a really easy puzzle, except for those last clues. All but those last clues took me something like 20 minutes, which is very average for me (I used to get many times below 20 but can’t seem to manage that anymore). But then I spent 15 more minutes on the last two clues, and my general rule is to not double my time on the crumbs.

    3. I agree. A bit of a curate’s egg this one.
       I’m taking the dominoes clue as figurative. But if you were a US foreign policy official dealing with Central America in the late 1970s and through the 80s, you most certainly wouldn’t want all the dominoes to fall

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