Times Cryptic No 29297 — 0.5 upm

84 comments on “Times Cryptic No 29297 — 0.5 upm”

1. A lot easier than last Friday. Held up a b(it at the end on RAISE, IMPRINT, and the BEETLE part of the flyer (I was looking for a bird too). I had no idea who EE was (I was trying with SKY and ISP, but when I saw it I just assumed EE was something in the UK I’d vaguely heard of). Anyway, all correct but no time since I was doing other things too.

2. 14 minite[sic]s, but dementia strikes again. Or maybe just fat-finger-syndrome this time.

   I am also unsure about the legality of 16 down. Should someone inform the police?

3. I had the same problem with 4dn having also not heard of the creature. Sadly I failed to experience the same felicitous revelation on looking away. I’ve seen beetled off/away meaning hurried off/away but have never used it and it did not occur to me. Presumably that meaning arises simply from observing beetle behaviour which makes the clue a little unsatisfactory.

4. Thanks, jeremy. A lot of usuages I know but didn’t think of very quickly.
   I liked the numbers to letters, after last week I very much liked that Chasm managed to avoid a final “y”, and I liked that China correctly clued ‘mate’ and not ‘pal’.

5. This puzzle seemed like it was another impossible one, but I gradually picked off the easier clues and gathered crossing letters. When the critical mass of reached, a grand biff-fest ensued, enabling me to complete the puzzle in a rush – even beetle didn’t faze me.

   A Minuteman is indeed a missile, as well as being my junior high football team; after one of their regular routs by bigger and better teams, they were derisively described as minute men by our 14-year-old wits.

   My last ones in were the extravert/erect pair, both totally biffed.

   Time: 34:12

   1. When I was working in Houston, the local baseball stadium was affectionately known as tiny cleaning-lady park. It was sponsored by the orange juice manufacturer Minute Maid.

6. Hats off to the excellent anagram at 5 down
   Beetle can also mean a hammer used tomsplit wood as in a riverside pub called the Beetle and Wedge in Moulsford. Who knew?
   Wondering if it’s Beetle or Beatle?
   I think its double b
   Thought this was a stiff test but easier than last Friday’s stinker

7. NHO the bug, and looked up GOLDSMITH X in ODE, where I didn’t find it, but it was in my English-Japanese dictionary. Never parsed INTERCEDE, but that’s because I’d biffed INTERVENE and forgot to go back and try to parse it. I don’t like 16d. I do like REHAB.

8. 45 minutes but a technical DNF because I used aids for BEETLE as I never heard of 4dn and didn’t think of the synonym.

   What’s with the strange wordplay involving EVENT following on from yesterday’s weird clue to SEVENTEEN?

   I never did figure out where the R went in order to make DENTAL HYGIENIST, so thanks for that, Jeremy. I lost a lot of time on it, almost as long as the unknown BEETLE.

   1. I agree.
      Both yesterday’s and today’s ‘seventeen’ clues are barely cryptic, but everyone seemed to be raving about yesterday’s.

9. LOI IMPRINT, and I still don’t quite get the wordplay. Or accept it, rather. 16d is definitely missing a definition.

   1. After lifting and separating “writer’s / I’m” is standard stuff and “still / print” are synonyms for a photograph so I don’t see a problem.

      1. I was empathizing with Jeremy’s question mark after “still,” and hadn’t gotten around to searching dictionaries. Reasoned that there could, of course, also be a “print” of a motion picture, so it seemed a bit of a reach.

         1. Ah, I assumed the question mark was replicating the one at the end of the clue which may be intended to mitigate other interpretations.

   2. Granted, the definition in 16 dn is oblique — “Finnish, we’re told”, meaning a homonym for ‘end’ — but it’s definitely there.

      1. In a normal homophone clue, there would also be a definition.

   3. You posted something about a question mark — for me that was definition by example, I thought, but maybe not.

   4. PRINT is a photo I think, cf the oft-appearing ‘pic’. ‘Finnish’ sounds like ‘finish’, but it’s unusual, I think, for a ‘we’re told’ or ‘we hear’ device to denote a definition.

      1. QUITE ASIDE FROM THE FACT that in no conceivable way is “Finnish” a definition for TERMINATE.

         1. Well it’s “Finnish, we’re told”. It is not inherently problematic, it’s just not something that has really previously been allowed in the Times. The fact that the editor let it through signifies that we might expect some new conventions in puzzles to come. I support that if it’s done thoughtfully.

10. I took 38 minutes with a full 10 minutes on GOLDSMITH BEETLE. I thought for a long time SMITH was the craftsman, before finally getting BEETLE for rush and then thinking GOLDSMITH. Before that I took several minutes on the DENTAL HYGIENIST (I’m not good at anagrams) and felt like an idiot when I got it. The rest of today’s puzzle was fairly strightforward.
    Thanks a lot setter and Jeremy
    Steve

11. Nice to have a do-able Friday again. Didn’t find this too hard, beetle for rush is standard Wodehouse. Nho this particular beetle but it didn’t matter. I liked the hidden events, and the rehab. Didn’t like the unfamiliar extravert..

12. First time under 20 minutes on a Friday squeezing in a few seconds over 19 minutes. Was quite the contrast to last Friday. A late save on this changing INTERVENE to INTERCEDE before submitting. Even the incorrect EXTROVERT was quickly spotted after deciding that BALLERINO probably wasn’t a word. I don’t think much else caused me problems with the GOLDSMITH BEETLE flying in last once I had all the checking letters.

    COD: REHAB

    Thanks blogger and setter.

    1. Ballerino (a male ballerina) is in Collins, as a new word to be added..

       1. I look forward to it punishing one of my biffs in a future crossword.

    2. Pretty sure ballerino appeared in the past few weeks/months?

13. OK, look, with particular reference to 6ac, I enjoyed an extended lunch with an old friend and by the time I came to do this I was a bit, um, unfocused and also I fell asleep, so I thought 59.20 was pretty good considering. I suspect it might not have been as hard as it seemed. That long down anagram was all-round brilliant. Didn’t know the beetle which took ages. Very good puzzle, thanks J.

    From Romance In Durango:
    No llores, mi querida
    Dios nos vigila
    Soon the HORSE will take us to Durango
    Agarrame mi vida
    Soon the desert will be gone
    Soon you will be dancing the fandango

14. 30 mins.
    Good puzzle.
    Thanks, pj.

15. 35 mins

    I think what I found most egregious was cluing the first letter of garden as “border” for GROUNDHOG – surely the border ‘surrounds’ the word? I agree that homophones as definitions (for TERMINATE) are somewhat suspect. Not a big fan of this one in terms of difficulty or cluing I’m afraid.

    1. A border can surround but also means just an edge or side. The border between countries for example.

       1. I suppose as it’s a single border, not plural borders then fair enough. I did quite like the beetle, too. Was just hoping for another beast today.

16. 23:43 romped through with few holdups.
    Borders of Garden would be GN but the sneaky singular is OK I think.
    I wondered if TERMINATE might mean Name as a verb but may have invented that in justification. Bit George Dubya.
    Easiest Friday I can remember so at least a month.
    Thanks plusjeremy and setter.

17. As Friday is usually well beyond my abilities, I tackle it no holds barred treating it as a learning experience (pathetic I know).
    So I technically DNFed.
    Biffed GOLDSMITH BEETLE and shocked to find it correct. DENTAL HYGIENIST came in the end and reminded me I have an appointment next week. Was convinced EXTRAVERT had an O rather than an A which is rather worrying. BELATEDLY seemed unlikely when I first tried it as I had missed the abdominal connection.
    Overall, an unusually kind offering for a Friday I thought.
    Thanks to setter + jeremy.

    1. EXTROVERT is the more common spelling, don’t worry!

    2. It does have an O in the real world.
       The A version is apparently the correct professional term used by psychologists.

18. About 20 minutes

    – Not familiar with the EXTRAVERT spelling, but the wordplay (and BALLERINA) left no other options
    – Didn’t know that a MINUTEMAN is a missile
    – Got GOLDSMITH BEETLE without knowing anything about it
    – Didn’t bother working out the anagrist for DENTAL HYGIENIST once I’d seen the ‘Cleaner of traps’ trick
    – Didn’t know HORSE can be used to refer to mounted soldiers
    – Biffed BELATEDLY once I had enough checkers
    – Personally don’t mind the definition by homophone for TERMINATE

    Thanks Jeremy and setter.

    FOI Usage
    LOI Minuteman
    COD Rehab

19. 41 mins with my LOI belatedly being ironic! On first pass I thought this was going to be a typical Friday disappointment. But gradually got on the wavelength and not too disheartened in the end.

    Has anyone had the same thought as me not to enter a time when the going is particularly tough and thereby manage one’s average time in a favourable way?

    1. No doubt you are not alone in this. However, I wonder what is the actual point. You just get an average of when things were easier.

    2. So as to delude yourself?

20. Nearly fell down over EXTRAVERT, and finished in 18’30”. Submitted off board as didn’t trust GOLDSMITH BEETLE. Knew MINUTEMAN from anti-nuclear campaigning – there was a ‘peacekeeper’ missile too which even Ronald Reagan couldn’t say without stuttering.

    May I suggest a garden has only one border?

    Thanks jeremy and setter.

    1. I guess missiles launched to knock out missiles sent out to harm one’s people are defensive and ‘peacekeeping’ in their own way.

21. 38 minutes, unsure of EXTRAVERT until I shrugged my shoulders. LOI was IMPRINT, waiting for the BEETLE. Flying beetles are not to be encouraged even in crosswords. They should be small, black and definitely not Death Watch. I had the GOLDSMITH early too. An irritating end to an otherwise decent puzzle. Thank you Jeremy and setter.

22. DNF (again)

    I was going great guns and for the most part flew through this, only to be left defeated by the unknown beetle. The Goldsmith bit was fine but I didn’t know RUSH = BEETLE, I’d never heard of the confounded thing, and a letter trawl didn’t help. Rather than put in any old nonsense I decided to pull up stumps.

    An enjoyable solve though and I liked the homophone definition as it was a bit different.

    Thanks to both.

    1. All things lead back to the Bard:

       What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord,
       Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff
       That BEETLES o’er his base into the sea,
       And there assume some other horrible form,
       Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason
       And draw you into madness? Think of it.
       The very place puts toys of desperation,
       Without more motive, into every brain
       That looks so many fathoms to the sea
       And hears it roar beneath.

       Horatio, Hamlet

23. 32:06

    Enjoyable even if I didn’t quite understand all of it – NHO GOLDSMITH BEETLE nor the MINUTEMAN missile so shrugs to both of those. TERMINATE seemed a bit weird too. Nearly fell into the EXTROVERT trap as I knew of the existence of BALLERINO as a male dancer, however rechecking the wordplay saved me.

    Thanks PJ and setter

24. Very tough but over all I enjoyed the challenge. RAISE and BEETLE took at least ten of my 40 minutes.
    I liked IMPRINT, DENTAL HYGIENIST and BELATEDLY. I suppose I can eventually get used to catchphrase clues like 1770s but I’m not keen.

    Never mind beetles, DESPERADO has left me with an earworm .

    Thanks to Jeremy and the setter

25. 23.41, with the lower right segment opening the floodgates after a stodgy start.
    I’m pretty sure I’ve previously generated a pink with EXTRAVERT, so restitution of a sort. The various words for a photograph have held me up in the past, today’s PRINT broadening the field.
    Over the past few months we’ve had to get used to “cycling” clues. Expect a growing number of definition by homophone clues now. Get used to it!

26. Some of the same issues as others, nho of the beetle and was relieved my guess was right. My real difficulty was with 24, where at first I had IMPRESS. An impress might be a sign of depression, and I found it very plausible that PRESS (as in cider-press) might also be called a still.

27. Gave up on the hour with REHAB, HORSE and ROUTE missing. Irritating, because now I see them they were easy. HORSE in particular should have been a write-in. Lost my brain somewhere.
    Was also irritated by the ‘border’ device in GROUNDHOG, but with two G’s at either end it wasn’t hard to guess.

28. UNDAMAGED was FOI. USAGE was next but I didn’t parse it and needed ARSENAL and EVENT to confirm it. HORSE came next and sat on its own in the NE corner until much later. I also raised an eyebrow over the garden border. Bertie Wooster was always beetling off somewhere or other, although I always thought of it as ambling off rather than rushing. GOLDSMITH seemed like a likely craftsman from the checkers, so the BEETLE flew in. The trap cleaner arrived, accompanied by a loud clanging noise. The BALLERINA was held up by an EXTROVERT, and needed careful revisiting of the wordplay to sort out. Back in the NE, ROUTE joined HORSE and REHAB was entered. BELATEDLY went in belatedly and a STATEMENT was issued. LOI was ELIDE. 34:26. Thanks setter and Jeremy.

29. 40′ or so for an accessible Friday. I too had “impress” for a while and a few went unparsed, REHAB & EVENT. The BEETLE took a while but an alphabet trawl worked and I knew its meaning “to rush”. I’m not an expert on the “laws of the game” but even to me “Finnish” as a definition felt strange. EXTRAVERT had to be though I’ve never seen that spelling. Thanks Jeremy and setter.

30. Luckily I was aware of the other spelling EXTRAVERT, so no hold-up there. In fact, that spelling is possibly more etymologically justified than ‘extro-‘, which seems to have emerged due to influence from ‘introvert’.

31. I am an extrovert but did manage to get it right. Got Goldsnith beetle erroneously Gold – Rush as in 49er smith- craftsman and just biffed beetle. Two days in a row completeed for first time in an age.

32. Did not attempt today, but had a good look at the blog and posts so far. Besides 17ac and 16d referred to by plusjeremy et al, a couple of extra questions – to help educate the addicted:
    Connection between DAM and ‘litter-bearer’ in 1ac?
    LID as ‘cover for viewer’ in 22ac?
    Is the EE in 22d a ‘network provider’ that is better known in UK or USA?
    Why is HORSE acceptable for ‘mounted soldiers’ in 7d. I have heard of cavalry in USA being called ‘horse soldiers’ – is that it?
    Can see how ‘tender’ might be NURSE at a stretch – but is this reasonable in the context of the other clue elements?
    I suppose it would/will be argued that TAPER is OK for ‘source that enlightens’ (object for lighting a candle or gaslight) based on the generous nature of the rest of the clue for 20d.
    Thank you plusjeremy and other bloggers for the continuing education.
    Thank you all for whatever patience or indulgence you can summon.
    Apologies if any of this crosses concurrent posts by others.

    1. Hi,
       A dam is a mother animal, which might bear a litter of babies.
       A lid or eyelid covers a ‘viewer’.
       EE, originally Everything Everywhere, is one of the major mobile network operators in the UK.
       ‘Horse’ by itself can be used informally to refer to cavalry.

       1. Much appreciated.
          As soon as I posted I also thought of the Australian Light Horse Regiment.

          1. And DAMs are female whereas SIREs are male.

             And thinking about it SIRE can be a verb whereas I don’t believe DAM can be.

    2. Dam as in horses mothers are ALWAYS called Dams, and for other creatures is OK.
       Lid=eyelid so is cover for viewer.
       Does and stags are female and male deer. Hinds as well.
       From Wiki: “EE Limited (formerly Everything Everywhere Limited)” is a network provider, a big one in UK at least.
       “Fifteenth horse” might be a regiment of cavalry.
       I’m OK with a nurse as someone who tends.
       Tapers are a variety of candle.

33. Was a bit unhappy with border only giving the first letter, but the border of a country point that Jack mentioned convinces me. In 24ac a print is I think a photograph, a still. A bit of a stretch but OK I think. The bird at 4dn was unheard of. Had to look up Goldsmith in Chambers to get the answer. Not the horror of the recent Fridays but still hard enough for me, 74 minutes.

34. Technical DNF as I used aids, but actually none of them gave me the answers! In any case Fridays usually demand them so I was just happy to complete under my own steam.
    Never bothered to untangle the anagram for 5 dn, I just waited for crossers and bunged it in once it was clear. Spent far too long thinking the source of enlightenment in 20 dn was one of those obscure eastern disciplines (TAOISM, or some such).
    FOI ARSENAL
    LOI IMPRINT.
    For its sheer economy and red-herring-ness COD must go to 21 dn RAISE.

35. Thanks plusjeremy and setter for a good Friday puzzle – i.e. one I could finish. Not an easy one to blog though as I did a fair amount of biffing.
    17a Groundhog, yes I was trying to use G(arde)N rather than just G.
    19a Intercede. I was tempted by intervene but decided that cede was closer than vene. Never parsed it obv.
    27a Extravert, I can’t spell this but the ExtrOvert was corrected by 15d, and anyway the clue showed me I was wrong when I decided to actually parse it.
    3d Minuteman, I remember reading about these missiles in Readers Digest in the early 1960s, so not exactly up to date then.
    4d Goldsmith beetle. Cheated here by looking it up, and yes, it does exist and is shiny. Added to Cheating Machine. Also added ballerino, thanks to Mike Harper and JerryW.

36. Tired and off the wavelength, but got through. Slowly. REHAB was brilliant. Totally missed the parsing of EVENT, and STILL/PRINT (slight post-blog MER). No real MER at 16 ac; I don’t like it but I’m sure we’ve seen it many times before. ELIDE a bit of a guess… EE WTF? Put in EXTROVERT wondering why a rover was crazy. Eventually BALLERINO didn’t parse and BALLERINA did, so it had it be the misspelled EXTRAVERT.

37. All fairly straightforward until the dreaded BEETLE. I even googled GOLDSMITH CENTRE to see if it was a thing, but it wasn’t. Incomplete as I had to come here when my patience ran out. Thank you

38. I was taken just outside target at 45.37, mainly trying to sort out GOLDSMITH BEETLE. I spent three or four minutes trying to think of something to go with GOLDSMITH which was the easy part. I eventually broadened my thoughts to cover insects instead of birds, and came up with BEETLE. I wasn’t totally convinced that this was a synonym for ‘rush’, as I’ve only ever used the expression ‘to beetle around’ to signify a more leisurely speed. I was a little surprised to find it was right.

    1. See my comment above re Hamlet.

39. Nice puzzle, 25 minutes, guessed the BEETLE part, didn’t parse ERECT, thanks jeremy.

40. At 38:51, I think this would have been my first ever unaided Friday solve, if not for the dastardly EXTRAVERT, which went in as EXTROVERT. And yes, I did manage to convince myself that BALLERINO was a thing.

    Edit: Have now read others’ comments. It IS a thing! This makes it all the more heart-breaking.

    Never thought a spelling mistake would stop me like this!

41. All but some of the SW corner completed , so a huge improvement on last Friday’s nonsense.
    Struggle to accept that beetle and rush are synonyms. It’s more of a scurrying movement but without generating great speed.

    1. Which clues did you like in particular?

       1. Dental hygienist

    2. For me beetling definitely involves speed.. so does scurrying, come to that.
       It’s how you were brought up perhaps

    3. Again, v. Hamlet.

42. 10:41. This one seems to have divided opinion. I really liked it, it required attention to wordplay and there were some nice original touches. 6ac is superb.
    I’m glad the A in EXTRAVERT was checked.
    I once saw Myers-Briggs (which I’ve had to endure a few times in my career) described as ‘homeopathy for HR departments’.

    1. It’s not as scientifically rigorous as homeopathy, K 🙂

       1. You might say it contains homeopathic quantities of scientific rigour.

          1. I think I read Ben Goldacre once ‘praising’ homoeopathy as the one alternative therapy that can at least claim compliance with the ‘do no harm’ element of the Hippocratic oath. Of course, ‘do nothing else either’ was implied.

             1. Damning with faint praise!
                Goldacre has always been a vocal opponent of making homeopathy available on the NHS.
                My doctor friends are a bit divided on this. I have one friend who is sees it as a useful tool for ‘making time wasters go away’. The others (rightly in my view) regard it as fundamentally dishonest.

    2. LOL 😅

43. 38.51

    Snitch in the red but happy enough to finish when the two long ‘uns held out till the end.
    Otherwise, Jeremy/Keriothe mirrored my thoughts.

44. Beaten by the Beetle, sadly.
    I also spent quite a while wondering why a Rover would be considered a Madman.
    A mixture today of really nice clues and some odd ones, I thought – with Terminate in the latter category.

45. I came here because I was confused by extravert. I googled it but only found the spelling extrovert.
    I think 24ac would have been better as “writer’s letters showing sign of depression”.
    The one about 1770s (11ac) has been used before, about a year ago I think in a Saturday prize puzzle.

46. Well done for persevering Jeremy. I am also often in the last-two-blank camp. I worry that my brain finally gives up when I hit ‘the wall’ that marathon runners describe in the last few miles, because these last few, I’ve decided, are not necessarily the hardest in the grid. I know I should push through but sometimes there are just other things to get on with goddamit.

    Interestingly I had BEETLE for ages, which I do know as a word for rushing around (like a beetle?) but couldn’t think of a tradesman, which, on reflection, was a bit slow of me.

    Thanks for your blog.

47. Enjoyed this one. No recorded time but probably around the hour. Similar experience to others with the beetle and extravert. Massive PDM when I finally saw dental hygienist.

    For the record I’m liking the introduction of these new clueing techniques.

    Thanks setter / editor / Jeremy

48. Sunday evening and 32’11”, thankfully missing the EXTRAVERT trap — but only just. Once again I nearly convinced myself of something fundamentally stupid, in this case that MADMAN = ROVER. Note to self: if it’s not water-tight, it leaks. I had no idea there were two ways to spell EXTRAVERT. And BALLERINO seemed pretty plausible. Weren’t MINUTEMAN missiles named after the citizen-soldiers who fired the first shots in the American War of Independence? When they attacked that group of redcoats returning to Boston from somewhere or another. Had to guess the BEETLE and assume EE was an Internet provider. Many thanks.

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