Times for The Times Christmas Special 2024

Hi everyone,

A first posting from me here for a mighty long time, and done at a fairly busy time — the usual push to get everything prepared up to the first Sunday in the new year is over, but the second Sunday is when we mark the centenary of crosswords in the Sunday Times, and there’s still work to do for that.

As we don’t have a Sunday Times quick cryptic, this puzzle is a bit different to my usual editing fare.  I wasn’t aware of the quick cryptic objective when solving, and as usual these days, didn’t time myself — I’m not as quick as I used to be and was very pleased to beat 12 minutes for Friday’s Times puzzle, probably helped by getting both top row answers on first look.  In this one, I solved 20 out of 29 on first look, so the intended level of difficulty seems to be achieved.  Onto the clues, commented on without looking at who wrote what, or reading explanations — if a clue needs an explanation to an experienced solver who knows the answer, it shouldn’t be in this puzzle.

Definitions are underlined, anagrams indicated like (TIHS)*, deletions like this, and wordplay indicators are in italics. Plus something borrowed from Paul McKenna’s Mephisto annotations – “~” = the rest of a word when only its first and/or last letters contribute to the wordplay.

Across
1 Confidential directions caught on tape initially (6)
SECRET – S E = directions, C RE T~
This was a pleasing start, with a good surface story, though not one that throws you too far off the scent.
4 Noel’s songs transport Holst’s soul (6)
CAROLS – CAR, h(OLS)t
Easy to solve, and Holst and Coward’s life spans overlapped by about 35 years, so the surface reading makes sense. But I’m unconvinced about “soul” as an indication of central letters.  It can mean the same as “heart”, but the meaning involved isn’t the “most central part” meaning of “heart”.  There are some indicators which are used despite being like this, with “essentially” in the same role as a common example (presumably from meaning “at heart”, in the same kind of unrelated sense), but in the puzzles I edit, I don’t think you’ll see it very often.  As a less interesting point, the “e” in Noel could have done with a dieresis, as that was used for Noël Coward’s name and is a possible spelling for the Christmas meaning.
8 Remaining undefeated when bowled out (7)
UNbEATEN
Although “when bowled out” seems not quite ideal as the deletion indication, it’s part of a short clue with a cogent surface story, which any meddling seems likely to spoil.  The surface may seem contradictory, but it shouldn’t take too long to think of a moment like Headingley in 1981.
9 Surprisingly get a gold cross on French pastries (7)
GATEAUX – (get a)*, AU X
Strictly speaking, “on” isn’t essential for the cryptic reading, but I wouldn’t mind very much counting it as indication of attaching X to the rest. You could swap in “for”, but suggesting a “croix d’or” for patisserie seems a bit Pythonesque.
11 For shopping, for travel, for one in a mess? (6,4)
BASKET + CASE
This was my last answer written in, because it doesn’t really work for me.  A clear definition and (6,4) help, as does clueing the answer using the same word break, but the indications for the two parts need the solver to read “for” as “something for”.  This is the clue I’d most want to replace, and (ASK inside BET + CASE) and (ASK etc) inside BASE seem like alternative structures worth trying.
12 Pine trembling, remembering every embrace to begin with? (4)
T~ R~ E~ E~
In a dictionary, “to begin with” is “at first”, and as we use “at first” as first letter indication, it makes just as much sense.   But I don’t think it’s used for that purpose very often (it’s missing from a list in one crossword dictionary).  I didn’t recognise it instantly, and this isn’t one of my first look solves.  So maybe a better indicator in a standard cryptic, unless it suddenly catches on. The surface story seems to be about strong emotions about an old flame, though I think I had to abandon the idea of the pine being like a trembling aspen.
13 On entering pub, it’s not decorated as much (5)
BA(RE)R
A clue that fulfils its mission and tells a story.  Probably not one that would stand out, but a sound member of a supporting cast of clues that need no editing.
14 Posh gin mixed with a dash of Pimms must be finished before Christmas Day? (8)
SHOPPING – (Posh gin P~)*
Easy enough to solve, but the definition really needs to start with “that” or have a similar adjustment so that a noun phrase indicates a noun, and that would do little harm to the surface, and lessen the need for the final question mark.  The surface reading makes sense when you remember that Pimms is the content of a bottle, and historically at least, came in six different numbered “cup” varieties, but the dominant meaning, a summery cocktail including No 1, means that “Pimms with a dash of posh gin” sounds more realistic, so I think I’d be suggesting other booze starting with P as a gin addition.
16 Firstly, produce a rhombus.  And lastly, label each line as this? (8)
PARALLEL – P~ A~ R~ A~ L~ L~ E~ L~
This is an entertainingly accurate clue if you can remember or deduce enough geometry — as a rhombus has four equal sides, opposite sides must be parallel to each other. Clues using first/middle/last letters can seem like an easy way out for the setter, but producing a credible surface reading for ones longer than about 4 or 5 letters can turn out to be very hard indeed. This clue qualifies as an &lit (allowing “as this” as a permissible variant of “this”, often used for that purpose), and it also includes a bit of solver teasing, with “lastly” suggesting a need to switch to final letters after P~ A~ R~ A~, followed by a word with L as its first and last letter.
18 Almost evaluate stupid people (5)
ASSES(s)
The logic here is perfectly fairly indicated, but on the artistic impression rather than technical merit side, almost evaluating (anything) seems an odd enough notion to make the real reason for having almost evaluating in the clue just a bit too clear.
20 Malevolent figure holds back present (4)
GIFT – hidden backwards in “Malevolent figure”
An easy clue, but with a decent story
21 Heirs glide unsteadily and trip on the ice (5,5)
SLEIGH RIDE – (heirs glide)*
An anagram clue for a quick cryptic puzzle I think. Experienced solvers seem too likely to detect that there’s little reason for heirs to glide. OTOH, “trip on the ice” is a nice def.  I don’t think I would insist on a question mark to acknowledge the possibility of snow rather than ice.
23 Mother Brown’s instruction for a celebration (5-2)
KNEES-UP – DD or CD
“Knees up mother Brown” seems well known enough for this to be an easy starter clue, with the apparent owner of an instruction seen as the recipient as well as the deliverer. Some would say that the second def has to be just “celebration”, but as much of my early solving experience preceded this being a common idea, I’m happy to consider two possibilities when “a” precedes a noun — A + synonym or just synonym.  I think hair-shirt deletion of strictly unnecessary A’s can lead to too much “telegramese” in surface readings – see 25A for an example.
24 Metal in music interlude initially gets you in hot water (7)
JA(Cu)ZZ, I -“Metal” rather than “copper” seems like the kind of challenge not expected in a quick cryptic, and this clue has another definition that really needs “that” or similar.  I think a mission for the setter here could have been to find a surface story using “copper” as a policeman and still ending with something about “in hot water”. That said, JACUZZI seems like the short straw among the answers.
25 Christmas dinner is a total failure (6)
TURKEY – DD
I wouldn’t be surprised if this clue has been used before, but it’s hard to resist for a seasonal puzzle.
26 Short jolly tune for time of year (6)
SEA SON(g)
I’m not sure whether “jolly” meaning a Royal Marine is good content for a quick cryptic or not.  Collins records it as British slang, but ODE doesn’t, and it feels like old slang. OTOH, if QC solvers are going to move on to the main puzzle, they’ll need to know it one day.
Down
1 Christmas presenter playing sonata (not Beethoven’s sixth) (5)
SANTA – SONATA* – Beethoven wrote 30-odd piano sonatas, so there must have been a sixth one, but I have to admit to feeling that the composer’s Nth device is overused, so I might suggest something like “rondo finale” as an alternative.  Beethoven would no longer be relevant, but his 30 include at least a few with rondo finales.  That’s the only thing to change — the Christmas presenter definition is very good.
2 He tells joke about bishop eating tipsy cake (7)
CRACKER – C + CAKE* in RR
I don’t think any dictionary would have this definition of “cracker”, but it seems like a good example of an imaginative definition that’s not used as often as “flower”, so needs a bit of thought rather than recognition.  Some might say this kind of thing should be kept for the main cryptic, but I don’t think a QC should suggest that everything you come across will be something previously used in a cryptic clue.
3 Complex girl, having accepted the love of God, left making the Sign of the Cross (9)
ELECTORAL – (O in ELECTRA),L
The wordplay here is indicated impeccably, but the definition would need “of making …” to mean “electoral” rather than “electing” or “election” (as the act of electing).  A shame, as the complex girl and “love of God” meaning one of its letters, were both ingenious ideas.
5 Alert after alarm at Westminster as Keir’s economies begin (5)
A~ W~ A~ K~ E~ 
This clue has the opposite problem to 3D – a nicely teasing definition, but wordplay indication that doesn’t work.  I’m guessing that the clue writer thought that as “start” is OK as a first letter indicator, its synonym “begin” must be too.  But that synonym is for the wrong meaning — “start” is OK because it’s a noun meaning the same as “beginning”.  The wordplay part of the clue seems best if we can have “as” after “alarm” and a final “begin”, with words between to complete the pattern “A~ W~ A~ K~ and E~”.  The E~ could still be “economies”, but other choices would be needed for the other words.
6 Open set dance! (3-4)
ONE-STEP(Open set)*  &lit?
An &lit with a bit of difficulty. I wondered how “open” in particular applied to the “set dance” which seems OK as meaning a dance that’s required, but later saw that there is a British Open dance championship. But as far as I can tell, the one-step is not one of the standard contest dances – it’s the precursor of the foxtrot.  I don’t think I would accept this unless the setter was prepared to sacrifice the full &lit aspect for an indication that the one-step might have been in an older version of the event.
7 Rocky sees aunt imbibing last of summer wine (9)
SAUTERNES – ~R in (SEES AUNT)*
I like the hint of old TV in “last of summer wine”, and although “Rocky” is a forename included for wordplay purposes, being an anagram indicator seems less common than completing anagram fodder as the reason.
10 Finished decorating – let’s dance with Slade (9)
TASSELLED – (let’s Slade)*
This wasn’t one of my first look solves, and I’m daring to claim that it wasn’t my fault.  “Finished decorating” needs us to imagine the right kind of decoration before seeing that tasselling might be a final part of the process, and in the wordplay, “‘let’s’ dances with ‘Slade’” is what we need to say, and the fact that we’re using something that looks like a verb form prevents us from using common get-outs  for this problem like “is dancing with”.  Although it would almost certainly need a different definition, “let’s deal with indication of S” seems one route to anagram fodder indication allowing a range of possible definitions and anagram indicators.
13 South American football fanatic wears a shell suit (6,3)
BRAZIL NUT – double definition intended, I think
I  think this is another case of something needing a tweak to get a noun phrase indication for a noun answer.  As a mildly unusual love-child of cryptic and double definitions, I think I’d allow a version ending with “wearing a shell suit?”
15 Dolomites initially articulated in poem for fizzy libation (9)
ORANGEADE – (RANGE A~) in ODE
“Dolomites” is strictly DBE, but I think the surface reading would be my main reason for wanting something else.  Something like “Reported alternative to lemon helping to make drink” = ORANGE + “aid” seems too helpful about ORANGE for the daily cryptic, but maybe OK in a QC, or something to toughen up.
17 Inhabitant of Africa nesting in luxuriant beard (3,4)
ANT BEAR – hidden word
A second hidden word, forwards this time, with a broad def that seems OK with easy wordplay.  I think “nesting” would be understood, but if nesting is “inhabiting a nest” I think “ant bear” is really inhabiting (=dwelling in) “luxurid”.   There are separate lists of containment and hidden word indicators, and there are some words which logically appear in both as a result of having several meanings, but I’m sensing a trend towards allowing hidden word indicators that don’t really make sense, which I think needs to be resisted.
19 US Ports distributed green Minis from Brussels (7)
SPROUTS = (US Ports)*
As a bit of boring xwd editing, I’d downcase “ports”.  I don’t mind the mildly odd definition, as it’s entertaining.
21 Bizarrely, use a splash of Curacao for gravy (5)
SAUCE – DBE strictly, but I can’t see it causing difficulty.  The cryptic reading has a couple of features I prefer setters to avoid — anagram indicators that suggest strangeness conveniently used in stories that are a bit odd, and “dodgy recipes” as the basis of the story.  But the overall story is OK here, especially with “splash”.  And this is another clue where removing a non-essential A would create ugly English.
22 Twelve sleep on top of newspapers (5)
DOZEN – this feels a bit like another short straw answer.  For me, “top of newspapers” is fine for N in an across or down clue, as “top” can mean “beginning”.  I’m pleased to see that none of the down clues in this puzzle required the solver to pretend that the clue was written in the same direction as the answer.

 

41 comments on “Times for The Times Christmas Special 2024”

  1. 10d – thanks for your comments, Peter. Very helpful to get a constructive view. I felt that TASSELLED wasn’t an easy word to define, and provided two alternatives to Flashman – we agreed on the more Christmassy option, referencing both decorating and Slade. (The other clue offered read, ‘Tufty chewed tall seeds’ – less Christmassy certainly, and relying maybe on solvers recalling Tufty the squirrel from ’70s road safety).

    I very much enjoyed the crossword as a whole – I thought there were some very clever ideas in there.

    Merry Christmas to you.

    1. The Tufty version is logically sound, but “tall seeds” seems more improbable than “heirs glide” as surface reading content. Anagrams clues aren’t always as easy to write as they may seem – doubled letters don’t help, as each one reduces the number of possible arrangements by half. ASS inside TELL ED seems worth a look, with a version of “tell editor about numpty” as possible wordplay indication.

  2. I contributed 1a, and I’m very pleased that Peter didn’t find any glaring flaws with it.

    I’ll confess that the 2 weeks between sending in the clue and doing the puzzle was long enough that I thought, “I feel like I’ve seen this clue somewhere before” when I started this puzzle 😀.

    I found creating just one clue really hard: hats off to all of the people who create the complete puzzles we do each day. Perhaps we can all bear that in mind when commenting?

    Cheers, and Merry Christmas.

  3. I contributed SLEIGH RIDE, and like doofers I spent a long time trying to tune it up, going back and changing a word, even obsessing about a comma or question mark. Now very empathetic to setters and the time it takes to make the surface as smooth as possible but still pass the Editors red pen.

    Many thanks to flashman for putting all of this together, and to Peter for spending so long on the blog (over Christmas!) to give us an Editors View. Truly enlightening.

    COD PARALLEL, and if Peter B labels it an &lit, then it surely is. Great clue. Who’s was that?

    Highly Commended:
    SAUTERNES, the juxtaposition of “last of summer” with “wine” was very smooth, and I liked Rocky as a choice of anagram indicator.

    1. SLEIGH RIDE was one of my favourites, and you successfully misled me for quite a while into thinking of the “stumble” sense of “trip”.

  4. Many thanks for your comments Peter. Personally I particularly liked the clues for CRACKER, GIFT and SAUCE. The latter put me in mind of a recent news story (or arguably non-news story) about Cliff Richard’s odd gravy recipe.

    I provided the clue for TURKEY.

  5. Thanks Peter for blogging and Flashman/johninterred for their hard work.
    My clue was BARER.
    ‘trip on ice’ was my favourite definition.

    Trip on ice in dire accident after breaking his leg?

    1. I toyed with
      “Kill Sally the astronaut”, heard Carol (6,4)
      but thought the reference to Sally Ride was just a bit obscure.

  6. Both the puzzle and Peter’s comments have been fascinating. The solving wasn’t overly hard although I failed on SEASON, chucked in LESSON instead, as I never remember that use of Jolly for RM. The late lamented Rotter said, when I commented on it, that it was common usage, but in 30+ years of living in a city with a large Royal Marine presence I have not noticed it being used. Maybe I need to get out more.
    Anyhow, the puzzle itself had a unique feeling, not surprisingly when assembled by committee, but it made me realise how we get to recognise setters as having a style which permeates the grid. This may help or hinder, depending on the infamous “wavelength” issue!
    It was also apparent how hard it must be to put together an entire grid. There were some very neat clues, within a general feeling that everyone was trying really hard to do something a bit special with each clue. As Peter indicated, it is not easy to get the really smooth surface that The Times requires. ( He’s a demanding man, that Peter!)
    I have enormous respect for everyone who took the plunge!
    I liked TURKEY for its amusing simplicity when there must have been a great temptation to go for something more tricksy, and UNEATEN similarly. PARALLEL, very neat. And lots more to admire. Thank you, all.

    1. Thanks for your comment on TURKEY 😊. The alternatives I suggested were:
      – Try playing with uke, resulting in complete failure
      – You reflected on national bird

  7. It’s been a long time since any of my written work was assessed so thoroughly and usefully, many thanks Peter.
    I can now say that Peter’s LOI, BASKET CASE, was my contribution.
    My first attempts:
    1) BT, institution in a mess?
    2) One incapacitated by stress on the way to the guillotine?
    were considered by Richard to be too hard for a QC (and I’m now this morning being very self-critical).

    The hardest thing by far was finding a definition that was not offensive, so any ideas would be most welcome.

    Thanks again, Peter and Richard.

  8. Many thanks to everybody who joined in and set a clue. Looking at some of the words people were given, I’m impressed with what they came up with. ANTBEAR particularly stuck out to me as I missed it was hidden and, as I’ve NHO, the decision to make it hidden seems perfect to me. Also kudos to the “green Minis from Brussels”. I do love a sprout. Lots of really good clues in there. Beyond the cluesetters, thanks also to Flashman and JohnI for their work in bringing this together.

    My quick postsolve count suggested we had 1 forward hidden, 1 reverse hidden, 3 acrostics, 3 double defs, 3 anagrams, 3 deletion clues and a bunch of other stuff which seems a good distribution. Thankfully there were no soundalikes!!

    With regards to my attempt – ELECTORAL / BASKET-CASE held out on me and I had to take the DNF after 30mins. Prior to that I had to bif SEASON, ORANGEADE, JACUZZI and the first of these remained unparsed.

    Finally thank-you to Peter for a comprehensive blog detailing the nuances of editing. Highly fascinating. Apologies for my ignorance but would it be possible to add a short bio for him as his name/role has escaped me thus far in my limited years of puzzling?

      1. Thank-you – apologies again for my ignorance. I had a sense from the blog of your professional role but wasn’t aware of your significance to the blog. One for which I’m sure many, myself included, are appreciative.

    1. ANTBEAR was the clue given to me, and I was off to a rocky start as I did not even know what my own clue meant! So I decided that an unusual word needed a relatively straightforward clue, and a hidden seemed to fit the bill. The other clue I offered Flashman, in case he had too many hiddens already, was “Playful banter about a small animal (7)”.

      Cedric

  9. Much enjoyed community sing-song, with masterly comments from PB.
    The one I found hardest turned out to be UNEATEN: initially I toyed with UNBOWED for remaining undefeated, and nearly made it work.
    I’m pleased my entry made it as “an easy starter clue”. Sometimes I can write properly!

  10. Many thanks for the blog Peter, most interesting and instructive. Your comments on my clue (1dn, SANTA) were good: Like you I quite liked the definition, but your criticism of my ‘Beethoven’s sixth’ device was absolutely right. I didn’t like it myself and I wish I’d thought of your suggestion (rondo finale) because it’s far better than anything I could think of (Rodrigo’s last, concerto’s last, Orff’s first, etc). After something Azed said once, I’ve always been a bit neurotic about having ‘s in there. I’d have wanted ‘rondo’s finale’, but that doesn’t make sense really.

    1. “Rondo finale” as normally used isn’t the final part of a rondo, just as “flower” doesn’t mean “river” outside cryptic xwds. But the defs of “finale” in two dictionaries seem to allow it as a possibility – which they’d have to for “rondo’s finale” to be allowable too.

  11. My contribution was GATEAUX, which I actually found quite hard to clue. The pluralisation made it even more of a challenge. I’m just glad Mr B wasn’t too hard on me! Funnily enough I used to enjoy Monty Python.

    I really enjoyed solving this and I have ticks against CAROLS, SAUTERNES, BASKET CASE, SLEIGH RIDE & JACUZZI.

    Thanks Flashman and johninterred for the organisation and Peter B for his very interesting comments.

    1. When I had got the answer I thought, that must have been a real “argh!” moment for the setter who was given that clue!

  12. SAUTERNES was my offering – a word containing both SAUTE and TERN gave me plenty of options and I’m pleased to have managed without either.

    I liked JACUZZI, GIFT and BRAZIL NUT but PARALLEL was the pick of the bunch for me.

    Thanks to Peter for the comments and to Flashman for organising it

  13. Well done everyone, some great clues. I particularly liked TURKEY and GIFT. Peter’s insightful comments were an added bonus.

    My clue for PARALLEL was meant to include an ellipsis “…as this?” but it was either lost in translation or improved on in the editing process.

  14. All correct but not all parsed. I thought BASKET CASE was a triple definition but could not work it out, not surprisingly in retrospect.
    I liked Christmas Presenter and Green Minis from Brussels.
    Parallel still puzzles me.
    Thanks to all for the challenge.
    GIFT was my favourite.

  15. Season’s greetings to everyone. Late posting here.

    My effort was SAUCE. Favourites were the ice trip; the green minis and the clue for CRACKER. Thanks to Peter and of course Flashman

  16. My contribution, FWIW, was CRACKER. I gave our editor 6 options to choose from, but I demurred over his additional clever suggestion of “Something or someone you can pull!” as being rather more suited for the Private Eye crossword than this one. Well done to all contributors for the excellent clues, Flashman for expertly herding the cats to complete the puzzle and Peter for the excellent blog.

  17. Very, very late to this, but a dnf, with 8ac “Uneaten” stumping me. The rest I enjoyed a lot.

    Thanks as usual!

  18. A very enjoyable (if somewhat lengthy) solve for me. Understood all of the clues and parsing except season. Wish I could say the same about the blog!

  19. A very enjoyable (if somewhat lengthy) solve for me. Favourite was Parallel. Understood all of the clues and parsing except season. Wish I could say the same about the blog!

  20. Sorry about the double comment – the first one kept coming up with an error message so I used my other email address and tried again. Please feel free to delete the first one and this.

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