Times Cryptic No 29333 — No messing about

82 comments on “Times Cryptic No 29333 — No messing about”

1. Re 14dn, I think HEM is ‘border that sewer plants’ i.e. it’s created by the person who sews it .

   1. Plants?

      1. Yes, to plant can mean simply to put in place. I agree it’s a bit twisted but then so is so much else in this puzzle!

   2. Surely someone who sprinkles seeds is a ‘sower’ not a sewer? There’s no homophone indicator there.

      1. No, but a sewer sews hems. The setter is being deliberately abstruse in my view.

   3. Dear jackkt, as a relative newcomer to the times crossword can you explain why 10 = lt?
      Thanks

      1. In case no-one else has answered yet; the answer t0 10 across is second-in-command, he would be a Lieutenant or LT. A bit of a stretch and we’re generally not keen on clues referring to other clues.

      2. Thanks piquet

2. 58 minutes. Scraped in under the hour, so at least as judged by my solving time about a mid-level difficulty Friday puzzle under the new regime. Still, I couldn’t parse CONQUER and didn’t properly reassemble all the bits for TEA GARDEN. I agree with Jack about the clueing of HEM in 14d.

   I spent several minutes on my LOI THE LAW. I was itching to put in TOE RAG, probably because ‘minds’ triggered memories of Arthur and Terry in “Minder”.

   As a bonus, this was a double pangram after another one a couple of weeks ago in the ST.

   Thanks to Jeremy – hope you get over the COVID soon.

3. DNF with knobs on
   Threw in the towel after an hour, with about half done, and even some of those, like POLEAXE, I couldn’t parse.
   A MISTER is something that produces a film/mist; ‘master’ wouldn’t work, so far as I can see.

   1. The master of a film is where all the copies are made from?

      1. Evidently I didn’t see far enough.

         1. I parsed it your way, and am confident that we’re right.

   2. Male=M, then film producer Ari Aster.

   3. there is a film producer called Aster

4. Another fab Friday! I realised it would likely be a double pangram towards the end, which helped to reassure me that my last in 25a POLEAXE would be a better bet than some medieval earl I’d never heard of, though I couldn’t parse it at the time. Thanks Jeremy for that.
   A large part of my 44minutes was spent looking for a county in the SE, where 22a must surely end in SEX , as IT is so often the case, but SUSSEX and ESSEX were out without scoring.

5. Defeated by QATARI since I gave up and went for MALAWI which I couldn’t see worked (because it doesn’t) but at least has one country with something in it to give another. This was hard, done in 3 sittings.

   1. I think this is one of those where it helps to be suspicious of a pangram at play, as with this grid.

      1. I saw the possible pangram so thought of QATARI, then got CONQUER which gave me the Q so I removed QATARI, then realised it could be a double pangram and put QATARI back (and then managed to construct it).
         Real struggle but I got there in the end. Unfortunately I don’t know my time (off the scale in any case) as I left the puzzle running accidentally when I had to leave it for a while.

6. Another one of THOSE Friday puzzles where too many clues were left with queries over the definition or wordplay, or in some cases both. After an hour I used aids on four answers scattered around the grid to get myself unsteadily over the finishing line.

   It’s also another one of THOSE Fridays where I’ve simply had enough of the puzzle and can’t raise the energy to discuss the clues here.

   1. Couldn’t agree more. Though I did mention a few but wish I hadn’t!

7. DNF. I found many clues convoluted.

8. Hmm, this was hard I agree. Too hard, imo.
   I put master, but thinking about it, mister is better.

   1. Yes it has to be MISTER, a mister creates a mist or film. Like an aerosol.

9. Happy to get a fully-parsed grid after 45:30 but it required some grim perseverance.

   Like Corymbia I was looking for sex in the wrong place at 22dn. Unlike Corymbia I never thought of the double pangram (I never do) but I think that would have helped with the eternity I spent over THE LAW at the end.

   Great puzzle if you had the time. Bravo setter and thanks Jeremy.

10. More of a DID NOT START than a DNF. I abandoned with only about half done. Sympathies, Jeremy, I had Covid again a few weeks ago and it left me totally confused. Maybe that’s still my excuse today. I’ve written here before about one of the less pleasant rites of passage, the BEDSIT years, that period in the first job after university in a new place, away from family. Generations since have found better solutions. A puzzle far too good for me. Thank you Jeremy and setter.

11. DNF, several missing on the top half, but all done on the bottom half.

    Missed the easy ARMREST, as I miscounted the number of letters in Starmer. And went through all Asians such as Omani, Bahrani, Kuwaiti but missed QATARI. Although that parsing is very convoluted, still not sure I get it.

    Tried to make something like “skinful” for “round of drinking”. Don’t see why SCOOPFUL would cool one down. Is Ice Cream the empirical use for a scoop? The only scoops in my kitchen are used for coffee or flour.

    CON=do? What’s that about.

    Liked SECOND IN COMMAND, a reverse cryptic I spotted early. CARRY OFF was another of the same type, but missed that one.

    COD POLEAXE

    1. I think the idea here is ‘doing’ someone out of money, ie conning them.

       1. Unsatisfactory. Just about any verb can be indicated with do. Did you do the dishes, do the lawn, do the conference, do the summit etc.

          1. But it is a perfectly valid meaning of “do.” “I paid £x and now I think I’ve been done.” Just because other meanings exist, makes no difference …

12. Unsurprisingly another DNF. Definitely too tricky for me. QATARI, INDIGENT,SCOOPFUL, CARRY OFF & TALISMAN (hidden missed) all unanswered.

    Not enjoyable at all.

    Well done Jeremy.

    1. I agree – not enjoyable. Crosswords don’t have to be easy but they do have to be satisfying and enjoyable.

13. Got half, then gave up – could see it was too hard for me. Lots here that I’d never have seen – esp SCOOPFUL, which is a horrible parsing and not even clear how it means ‘helping to cool one down’. Ice cream?

14. Two errors in just under 40 mins. MASTER and ON THE WAY.

    A few years back we had SECOND IN COMMAND and I suggested an alternative clue here – which keriothe rather liked. My clue was

    O vice!

    1. Very good.
       How about: Vice ring?

       1. Even more devious! I like it! 😀

15. 38:02. I slowly ground this out on my tablet in our holiday lodge in Falmouth waiting for my sister-in-law to get ready for us to go out. LOI ON THE MAP. Some clever clues had me doing a lot of head-scratching, but I enjoyed it.

16. 38:02. I slowly ground this out on my tablet in our holiday lodge in Falmouth waiting for others to get ready to go out. LOI ON THE MAP. A lot of head-scratching, but fun.

17. Got in just under the hour, I know many people will not have that amount of time to dedicate. Slow but steady and all parsed but some were a stretch: ARIZONA, THE LAW, MISTER, SCOOPFUL. Base as an anagrind, hmmm.

    No NHOs or obscure GK though and I liked deburring for taking the (rough) edges off. Even the inter-clue reference helped for once as I got the long 10ac from the LT of ULTRA.

    A proper Friday, might finish, might not, its the taking part that counts. Probably wouldn’t say that if I hadn’t though. Thanks to Jeremy and setter.

18. 52.06. Clearly designed to make us solvers wonder how on earth the parsing worked in most of the clues. The only two that fell relatively easily were the two long ones, more because of the enumeration than the wordplay, which still needed teasing out from the tangle of words.
    Looking forward to an easier time with the Listener, though last week’s Sabre was, in the end, too much of a chore.
    Tough luck, PJ: congratulations on working it out regardless.

19. Another Friday beast. I got going fairly well with MUSIC BOX, OPINE, MISTER and ESPOUSE arrving in the first couple of minutes. ULTRA came along and allowed SECOND IN COMMAND to go in quickly too, but then the slog started. I biffed JACK OF ALL TRADES from a couple of crossers and enumeration, but managed to parse everything else apart from CONQUER. QATARI was LOI. 49:18. Another coffee is now de rigeur! Thanks setter and Jeremy. Hope the lurgi passes speedily.

20. too hard for me!

21. Life’s too short. Chapeau Jeremy

22. 18:36. I seem to have been very much on the wavelength for this, which makes the difference between a joyless slog and an enjoyable experience on the Friday beasts that seem to be the norm now. Perhaps I’m just getting used to the extreme deviousness we see in these puzzles, certainly I was able to untangle the wordplay in 5ac and 27ac more easily than I might have done even a year ago.

23. Did it! Took about an hour. Very tricky – glad to get through.
    Thanks pj.

24. Still struggling to log in properly – error 500 message 🙁

25. I enjoyed this, but possibly only because I finished it!
    I failed to parse the law, and Tea garden.
    I wasn’t too keen on deburring, and using base as an anagrind is a bit of a stretch for me.
    COD to Arizona.
    Thanks setter and Jeremy.

26. 1hr 2 minutes. Thankfully I was on wavelength for the multiword clues which gave me the framework to eke this one out. I found myself filling in a lot, QATARI, ARIZONA, CONQUER etc then going “now why is that right?”.

    Also helped by assuming it was going to be a double pangram after JUMBO JET

    SCOOPFUL last one in, I didn’t understand it but I was losing interest by then and it was the only word I could see that fitted.

    Also had the MASTER/MISTER dilemma but opted for the one I thought more likely which was thankfully correct.

    Enjoyed ARIZONA

    Thanks blogger and setter and Jackkt’s explanation of sewer plants

27. Well, thanks to plusjeremy. I DNF either.
    Due to misunderstanding 6d I essayed Armless rather than Armrest. I removed the REST (support) from Starmer leaving only 1 arm, so Armless yes? No! So 15a Titan was an unparsable Satan.
    Moving on I could only biff 18a Ultra, I still find that parsing amazing.
    26a Jack-of… semi biffed; spotted the Jades but didn’t bother with the rest of the anagram.
    27a The Law, biffed. Again V unusual construction.
    1d Mister. Doesn’t create a film IMO but chucked it in anyway.
    3d Conquer biffed.
    7d Aware; I biffed Awake.
    9d Scoopful biffed.
    14d On the map; could not even guess. On the tap looked daft so I left it blank. I should have got it though.
    17d Jumbo Jet biffed.
    24d Emcee I didn’t see the definition. Doh!
    For a change I thought it might be a pangram, but it didn’t help at all.

28. DNF after two attempts, defeated by CARRY OFF, TALISMAN (always very annoying when a clue you don’t get is a hidden!), SYCOPHANT, CONQUER and SCOOPFUL (‘row’ is one of my least favourite words in clues, as there are so many directions it can go in).

    – Took a long time to get SECOND-IN-COMMAND even after getting ULTRA and thinking that it might be a cross-reference
    – Didn’t see how THE LAW worked
    – Was confused by ‘sewer plants’ in the clue for ON THE MAP, though Jack’s explanation makes sense
    – Hesitated over ARIZONA despite being able to parse it, as we don’t see that kind of all-in-one clue very often here

    Thanks Jeremy and setter, and kudos to anyone who completed this one.

    CODs Second-in-command / Armrest

29. I struggled through it and felt really pleased with myself only to find I had actually been defeated by 7d, AWAKE instead of AWARE 🙁

    Not surprising I couldn’t parse it.

30. Thanks to Jeremy for sorting this. In NYC realtor-speak a “studio” apartment is really just a BEDSIT. I’m in Jack’s column – lost interest.

31. In a recent interview Colin Thomas (Gemelo) thought that Ximenes said once that the worst thing about poor crosswords is picking up the paper the next day and seeing the answer and thinking, ‘Well, I thought the answer might be that but I still can’t work out why it would be.’ This crossword was full of such clues until I came here (congratulations Jeremy, coping with both this and Covid). Of course I found it ludicrously difficult (89 minutes, with goodness knows how much help from aids) but it did seem that some of the difficulty was gratuitous: why did the setter see the need for the sewer plants in ON THE MAP? The clue could surely have been made simpler; we could (and possibly should) have been told in the MUSIC BOX clue at 1ac that E was removed twice; in the SCOOPFUL clue how does in = stems? in THE LAW how does minds = surrounds? And endless tortuous but very clever wordplay.

    1. I thought all the clues seemed fair.

       To stem is to stop, check, dam, or plug.

       To mind something is to take care of it, bringing it inside your walls, metaphorically.

       I didn’t see anything in this puzzle out of the ordinary and I think I’ve upped my game by studying it!

    2. I think we are told to remove two Es in the clue for MUSIC BOX, aren’t we? If ‘electronic’ gives E, then ‘electronics’ means two Es.

       1. Yes I have to admit it. I missed that electonics was in the plural, and really the clues were fair I think. Just amazingly difficult.

32. 55 mins.

    LOI CONQUER, which I needed to come here to parse. Same went for ULTRA. I think once I got SECOND-IN-COMMAND and JACK-OF-ALL-TRADES the rest went in steadily, but there were two or three that stuck it out to the bitter end: POLEAXE and SCOOPFUL. COD to BEEHIVE. Loved it overall despite the trickiness – definitely more doable than some of the recent toughies!

33. Fortunately I looked at the Snitch before starting and thus was not too surprised at taking 45 minutes to look at every clue once, getting two fully parsed answers, one that I’m pretty sure of but can’t account for by one letter, and three guesses of varying degrees of likelihood. I might do some more later so not reading the blog yet.

    Maybe next life.

    Thanks setter and Jeremy.

34. Another biff orgy, wish I’d noticed it was a double pangram, then I’d have been more confident with Conquer and Qatari. Thanks for the parsing, of conquer, on the map (still not sure if it), scoopful (I was astonished to find that this was correct) and others. Quite enjoyed it though. Completed except for Qatari in about an hour.

35. Well, this felt really hard. I was happy just to have something to submit at 55′, but three errors (unsurprisingly, as I didn’t have the energy to check the parsing at that point):

    CONFUTE for CONQUER
    PILLAGE for POLEAXE
    TAPER OFF for CARRY OFF

    All I really learnt from today is that it’s satisfying to at least fill the grid, even when you think you can’t be bothered. Heroic blogging efforts! Thanks all.

36. Being a bit dim here. How can you blog the solution if you didn’t solve it?

    1. You can just click “reveal grid” and then all you have to do is parse the thing… a rather tricky task today!

    2. On the Times puzzle page you can reveal a letter, word, or the entire puzzle.

37. I had three left after 45ish minutes when I had to break off. On return, QATARI came quickly, which gave the second Q, and then I remembered the double pangram from a previous Friday Beast (I’m a bit behind on my Sundays, so it seems I’ve a bit of help now with one of them).

    Very pleasing indeed, then, when the double pangram as good as handed me the answers for POLEAXE and THE LAW, as I doubt I’d have got them otherwise. Almost seemed like cheating! Still took nearly 10 minutes of counting letters to get there, although it did mean I came away with a much rosier opinion of the solve than some recent beasts where I’ve been a good bit quicker but completely and frustratingly breezeblocked on one or two.

38. All done in about half an hour, with only The Law unparsed. Agree that some of the clueing was tortuous, so was pleased to finish, particularly when I saw the Snitch.

39. Thanks to Jeremy for admitting he struggled- helps those of us who struggle on Fridays
    Thought SCOOPFUL was an absolute joke- one of the worst clues I’ve ever come across!

40. I did this before going to a golf match but only found time to comment now. I thought it was quite hard but fair, although SCOOPFUL was a bit stretchy and some of the parsing was complicated. 30 minutes.

41. I thought of many synonyms for ‘Starmer’ but none of them are repeatable here! I exactly finished the lower half of this one and failed to get any of the top half here. Didn’t finish without massively cheating and quite a few unparsed. It seems fair though, apart from perhaps the weird ON THE MAP.

42. Gosh. Finished, but only just and after several prolonged breaks. I thought this was an excellent puzzle but glad they aren’t all like that. Life is just too short.

43. Mister – creates mist…?

44. Roundly defeated today. Revealed half a dozen or so after just over an hour was up and we could see little prospect of further progress. FWIW we had been very happy with MASTER for the reason ESPOUSEd by our blogger! Above our pay grade this one but onwards and upwards. Thanks all.

45. I spent an hour on this, in three bites, and then decided I had better things to do. DNF with ARIZONA and THE LAW outstanding. I don’t often find I lack the will to go on to finish a puzzle, but this was a rare exception. Too many answers where the parsing was too convoluted, and no sense of satisfaction even when the rationale for a clue revealed itself. Only slight inward smile at the political understatement in 6dn.
    Thanks to jeremy and other contributors.

46. With Iraq at least 550 miles by road from Qatar, and 425 miles as the crow flies, the setter is clearly attempting to redefine the adjective ‘nearby’.

47. The ‘Cracking the Cryptic’ today shows this crossword being solved by Simon with some ease. He admired most of the clues and thought that it was the best (or one of the best) Times Cryptics he has had the pleasure to solve. Certainly one for an expert solver like him. But the solve is well worth a watch for those complaining. I certainly (as someone who solved slightly fewer than half the clues) learned masses from his solve.

48. Took less than 50 minutes to complete. NW yielded last, after the pangrammatic nature of the puzzle induced consideration of where the Ys might go.

49. This took me well over an hour. I got there in the end, but didn’t enjoy it. I don’t mind a chewy one, but this was pure gristle.

50. I ALMOST finished in under an hour but 1dn took me over the hour to 1:03:03. I was torn between MISTER and MASTER, I went for MISTER in the end but for wrong reasons which I won‘t bore you with!
    Several clues which took me ages, like ESPOUSE and ARMREST, should have been easy but when a puzzle is hard, I tend to get mentally blocked on even easy clues. Some clues that others seem to have found hard, like the scoopful of ice cream, I did get quite fast though. I got 10ac by wondering why 10=LT in ULTRA, then realised it was a giveaway for 10ac. Really liked some of the clues and cod was for me was the toffs who carry off.
    A battle but you don‘t want always same same old do you! And unlike some apparently I did enjoy it.
    Thanks setter and blogger
    PS and yes some of the parsing like Arizona was complex but when I got there I liked how it was an arid zone of america

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