Times Quick Cryptic 950 by Tracy

23 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 950 by Tracy”

1. …at 7:15 with no typos. This Quickie was quite easy for me, but I suspect that more than a few will object to ‘Nessun dorma’ as hopelessly obscure. The days when the general public hummed the latest arias seem to be in the distant past.

   Edited at 2017-10-30 01:57 am (UTC)

   1. Not sure if you’re aware of all this (extracted from Wikipedia):
      “Nessun dorma” achieved pop status after Luciano Pavarotti’s 1972 recording of it was used as the theme song of BBC television’s coverage of the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy. It subsequently reached No2 on the UK Singles Chart. Although Pavarotti rarely sang the role of Calaf on stage, “Nessun dorma” became his signature aria and a sporting anthem in its own right, especially for football. Pavarotti notably sang the aria during the first Three Tenors concert on the eve of the 1990 World Cup final. For an encore, he performed the aria again, taking turns with José Carreras and Plácido Domingo. The album of the concert achieved triple platinum record status in the United States alone, and went on to outsell all other classical recordings worldwide. The number became a regular feature of subsequent Three Tenors concerts. Since that time, many crossover artists have performed and recorded it. The aria has been sung often in movies and on television.
      1. My personal Pavarotti favourite is the movement Cujus animam gementem from Rossini’s Stabat Mater. What a top Dflat!
2. 52 minutes, but about 42 spent on
   second sight, outfit, alto, augusta, twang, nessun dorma and freight. Not sure why, maybe its too early.

   Any football fan over 35ish will remember italia 90 and nessun dorma, Gazza’s tears etc.

   COD Nylons.

   1. And the whole Three Tenors thing went on with 34 concerts over 13 years (to 2003), and many an album and DVD. They never played a concert without singing Nessun Dorma, nor often when they appeared individually, I imagine.
3. Seconds are (or were) also a part of duelling. I didn’t know about the football connection, but NESSUN DORMA is about the only aria I know the name of. Wasted a lot of time trying to solve what should have been a gimme, 22ac, because I’d put in ISABELLE for some reason; or none. 7:09.
4. My reaction to “second” for “backer” was not anything as exciting as duelling but as in the rather more prosaic context of supporting a motion of proposal – “I second that”.

   LOI Augusta as I tried to see how Bath fitted in!

   Thanks for a neat blog.

   Templar

   1. I agree one probably doesn’t need to think much past your explanation, and my original thought process when solving was along identical lines. The problem with blogging is that one tends to overthink clues on occasion and when I came to explain how this one works it didn’t seem as simple as it had at first glance.

      In the example ‘I second that’, ‘second’ is a verb, but ‘backer’ (in the clue) is a noun, so they are not exactly equivalent. A person who seconds a proposal is a ‘seconder’. In the same way, a person who proposes something is a ‘proposer’ and not a ‘propose’.

      So I had to look for a better fit for ‘backer’ = ‘second’ and came up with the boxing and chess examples. Kevin’s duelling term is a clearer illustration in some ways, and if I’d thought of it myself it’d have been the one I used my blog.

      Edited at 2017-10-30 09:03 am (UTC)

5. No problems with this puzzle apart from trying to build 14a around APT instead of FIT, and not seeing LANYARD until I had the crossers. 8:00. FOI STARVING, LOI OUTFIT. NESSUN DORMA biffed from enumeration and checkers. Thanks Tracy and Jack.

   Edited at 2017-10-30 09:53 am (UTC)

6. This was pretty much a write in for me, completing it in 9 minutes. Fortunately I didn’t spot the typo in 1d or it might have caused a bit of confusion. Last one in 14a.
   1. The typo is interesting. I you are such an hardened solver that you solve ‘problem over’ as you read it, you will see ‘wrestling’ by the time you get to it.
      1. Quite right. I didn’t notice either.
      2. I wish that was the case for me, but I read ‘wrestling’, worked out the answer and then parsed it afterwards.
7. Today’s main puzzle is very accessible for QCers. This was a gentle Monday offering taking under 10 mins. I didn’t spot the error in 1d. Isnt thr a thry tht u can read mst sntncs even if thyr rittn with fwr ltrs? Thnks blggr
   1. yr rght
8. Not about this puzzle but of general interest to users:

   I recently posted a link to the post for Times Crossword 26,865 — https://times-xwd-times.livejournal.com/1832278.html — to a forum (of interest there because of one of the answers). A user told me that when he followed the link, three Russian websites tried to give him a cookie. Are there a lot of solvers in Russia?

   Tony Collman

9. … not being a football or TV fan, it passed me by or vice versa.

   Otherwise straightforward without spotting the sp. error even though I had noticed (and assumed and been very surprised at) ‘long’ for ‘log’ on Friday.

10. A gentle 5:17 for me, despite being tempted to biff RAVENOUS for 1ac. I never noticed the typo at 1d either. I liked the SNAPPY OUTFIT across the middle.
11. I struggled with this one, not helping myself by misspelling Nessun Dorma. On which subject, I have heard Pavarotti sing it live twice. But one of the most beautiful renditions I have ever heard was by a choir of Welsh schoolgirls on Britain’s Got Talent. The 17 year old lead soprano was quite astonishing. It’s on Youtube for any one interested.
    I was quite happy with SECOND for backer. A second seems to me to be a perfectly valid noun in this context.
    PlayUpPompey
12. I really thought the NE corner was going to need a second sitting, or at least another cup of tea, when I finally remembered the Item/Couple link from a previous puzzle. 6 and 7d then went in without much further delay – it’s amazing what a difference having the first letter makes. A sluggish 40mins or so, but maybe I will have better luck with the 15×15. . . Invariant
13. Solved this in a pub in London waiting for a friend whose train had been delayed.
    It took me 17 minutes and a pint of IPA.
    Was not sure about how to spell Nessun Dorma but was certain of the answer.
    LOI was 23a where I had Delay (perhaps thinking of the train) then Defer before Deter presented itself.
    Enjoyable medium strength puzzle. David

14. Agree, easier than any of last week. Back in at around 20 mins.

15. Agree much easier for the newbie.

    Still a dnf for me: second sight just didnt come to me – twigged the homophone but given the S and T was looking for “stait” or similar for a sounds like “state” for quote. All the others went in in under 20 mins which is good for me.

    Mighty

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