New Kids on the Blog [Aug 22-27]

9088 so far is high quality stuff. 14ac, for instance, is so quirky a surface it takes a while to figure out how it works. 10ac was so sly that even though I pulled the answer out at first glance, I didn't spot the wordplay and discarded it!

So far I've only finished the NE, and the other three corners are isolated - meaning three breakthroughs required. Have fun everyone!

I thought I’d try the Times today and got one out! Unfortunately, not the grid, just a single clue (perhaps...). Are they always this tough? Was this an easy Monday puzzle? If so, I’m in trouble… will see if I can work back from the answers tomorrow. A discouraging start, but hats off to you regular solvers.

@Sam: One out's about where I was a couple of months back - the Times seems to make heavy use of standard abbreviations and once you get used to it, things simplify somewhat. Then you just have to pick the obscure words from wordplay, and puzzle out the obscure wordplay from definitions!

I'd rate today's as a bit above average in difficulty, though the obscure word count wasn't high.

Best way to learn is to look up the 'Times for the Times' blog, via here.

Bit of a journalistic theme today - with help from a well fed churchman. Good fun, not much to whinge about! 18ac was last one in, and probably will have to be the final punt for others too. 29ac wouldn't normally be (9), I would have thought. Interestingly, the skeleton (5d 14ac 19ac 15dn) made a nasty combo of clues - almost an Ubernatick!

12dn strikes me as a case of setter's desperation...might well have been his/her last one in.

I wonder if the solver deliberately had 22ac and 13ac in mirror positions... ;-)

Correction. Tony Sever took over ten minutes, therefore this one falls into the hard category!

Thanks Anthony - a very handy blog

Nailed 9088 without much bother. Yes , I agree that 12D is a bit of an Oslo team (if I remember Puzzled correctly).

First in 6A, last 19A once I'd nutted out what 'excessively' was really clueing.

Hoping to crack the crossie tonight, over cocoa - since I left my Oz at home today, puzzle-poor in the studio.

Really enjoyed 9088, despite making one false step. For 18ac, I put in UGLY (with a mild huh attached) only to see today it's UGLI, the pithy fruit.

Though pithily, UGLY [as sin] is the terse version of that phrase's moral repugnance - but UGLI is far prettier.

Loved the ballooning Mayans in 14ac (a scintillating clue), and the sneaky use of 'finals' in 23dn. (Look for that deceit in a future DA.)

Now I'm going into last week's forum to fathom the enigma of RUBY MURRAY.

9089: you're going to like 3dn, I suspect. I do.

And I'm pretty pleased to have entered 14ac as my first.

Other than that, it's fairly pedestrian so far, with a fairly generous serve of long clues in the skeleton.

Hmm. Spoke too soon. Stalled on the 1s, and a ? for 24ac, which seems to have too many words in the clue. It looks like I may lack the local knowledge to get 1ac...

12ac is another fine clue.

Hmm. Spoke too soon. Stalled on the 1s, and a ? for 24ac, which seems to have too many words in the clue. It looks like I may lack the local knowledge to get 1ac...

12ac is another fine clue.

Ah...a boo boo.

9089 a bit of a toughie, but made it at last. Some simple clues here and some damned hard ones. Entering BASTINADO without reasoning it through at 15D did not help.

I liked 19D and 17D was clever too. Some more evangelism for you at 11D Anthony!

Grats, Bon. I'm still stalled on the 1s. If only I could put Henry Parkes out of my head I might get somewhere!

I just completed (well, all but 2) Guardian #25408 by Paul.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/crosswords/cryptic/25408

Laughed uproariously at :

Fresh velvety cut or laminated edges for the buggers? (4,2,3,5) = NEWS OF THE WORLD

Just gave up. I was right, both 1ac unknown to me. But given I'd figured the last half of it out correctly, I'm kicking myself that I'd spotted the definition in 1dn, and then for some reason thought I needed an EE ending for the answer and ruled it out.

Making this more embarrassing is that I worked for five years in the dept of the public service most closely connected. D'oh. (Literally)

Enjoyed the wrestle of 9089. Flukily I have concupiscent coming up in a Wordwit as it's a word that warrants preserving.
Yes, 19 was cheeky and 1ac is my cultural deficit of the week. Will see if my guess is good when I dogwalk to the servo this morning. Today begins 5 studio- free days!

And lastly, when your (sic) not cracking...!!
cracked me.
Proofreader needed?

9090 complete. Plenty of tough defs here and overall quite enjoyed it. First in 2D, last was 10A.

25A reads nicely. 7D I've seen several times before.

Yep, 9090 another step up the difficulty ladder. Very slow progress here - though I just got out 23ac, and thought I'd complain that the use of the word 'ark' is so far from what the word actually means that it's an outright embarrassment.

For the purist, an ark is a chest. It's all those dodgy Bible illustrations that have confused its meaning. Grizzle.

In any case, there's a free hint, of sorts.

Ha! The joke's on me with 20ac, which took me this long. And DA should enter Jeopardy, perhaps, for anticipating the clue.

10ac also my last one in. Not sure that the clue was quite right - seemed to have one more word than was necessary, but I'd be happy to argue the toss on that.

It might have been just me, but there wasn't much in the way of soft answers in this one. The surface readings seemed to be consistently a little odd, so it was hard to pick where the oddity was forced by accommodating a definition! It may also have been me, but it looked like there were a number of clues made to look like potential anagrams, that weren't.

9090 optimistically complete. (I seem a day behind everyone at the moment - ) My stab is the Scots town, which hopefully rhymes with spoon.

I thought seal as fur was a slippery element in 2dn, and tried to justify OXEN for 5 minutes with 4dn. Not completely across how 4ac functions either.

By the way, my LADEWOOD was not 9089's LADYWOOD, so I'm still aspiring to break my duck.

Had an hour to kill while waiting on a bike repair so bought Mr Murdoch's Broadsheet. Just a couple to go in 9091(9A and 26A) and a couple of answers I have never heard of (so could be wrong). I'll have another look after lunch.

4ac: Anne'd (Hathaway would) go, all reversed, followed by sh (peace). But TROON should be good for you.

As for 9091, I'm not as advanced as Peta, but yes, there's some vocab additions for me too.

Thanks for the ANNE'D anatomy, Anthony.

Finding 9091 evasive. After a quick toastie and OJ, still to nail down any of the longer entries, which is downright glacial by my standards.

Will keep the puzzle at my elbow, as I'm making some puzzles of my own.

Believe I'm home with 9091, but I'll be checking the results carefully tomorrow. Definitely a tricksie puzzle with some lovely words. 1D a goodie, as with 4D.
First in 22D, last 15D.

Peta, if you haven't got 26ac, start kicking yourself. Luckily I don't use my foot to type!

Have answers for all but not confident. 6A first in which helped get most of that corner. The rest (bar two) was a steady chore over the next hour. Last two in after lunch were 9A (iffy) and 26A (unknown to me but looks right). 4D and 10D were my picks

Yes, Anthony, re 26A. I'm assuming it's one of those clues which are probably the easiest when you're expecting them.

Wow. Quite the workout today. Got through in the end, but added 5 or 6 words to my vocab along the way, including the 'Nahick' of 9ac with 2 and 3 dn - I must have a thing for coining these terms, but rather than having two obscure clues crossing (a T shape), this was three (an H shape).

Two, with a phew, for me.

Got it out despite being unfamiliar with the words in 9a,2d, 3d and 26a

9092 a bit of a breeze - Sam and others, if you want an easy puzzle, this is the one for the week, by a long way. Only one word that may challenge anyone's vocab in the answers, and one more in one of the clues. 5ac a hoot, 13ac a clever clue, and 3dn my pick of the day for craftiness.

Yes, a no-brainer today, which is not what I've come to expect from the Friday Times...

First in 4D, last 1D which I enjoyed.

9A is an old joke and I thought 26A could have referenced nuclear energy.

Liked 16D even if a bit overwrought. 2D had superfluous words as well.

DA, I'm pretty sure you'll crack this in 20.

Almost been craving for a no-brainer, Bon. While I did get the four chief entries in 9091, a classy crossword, I stoopidly slipped wiht ELECTOR (not ERECTOR) at 17dn...so need a long hop to start a fresh dig.

Dang. I made exactly the same mistake as you, in yesterday's, DA. A lector is of course a lecturer at a uni while a rector is an administrative position at same - that's what caught me out. A very clever trap, that, in a very smart puzzle.

I had a definite advantage there, being one of the other meanings of rector myself!

I reckon the setter must have spat some chips to see someone reference gilt=sow the day before - otherwise the NW would have been a nightmare!

The SMH no longer makes it as far as Shoalhaven Heads, so it takes a little longer to obtain the Friday DA - but I'd like to offer my congrats on the clue that made me laugh

and laugh.

Me too. I reckon there'll be a few huhs over on DA trippers.

And I thought rock and roll was exquisite also.

I just finished it - slow going! But another excellent offering. My last in was the very enjoyable 4dn, believe it or not. DA, you totally fooled me with the rock and roll - an impressive clue pairing there.

9093? Some great clues. Only a couple i cant get. 15A and 9D. Any hints?

Got 'em but don't get the wordplay for 15A which i knew from history learnings.

Well done, Rob, if you got there without aids. Not an easy puzzle today. Hints generally not issued on these threads except in retrospect - the no spoiler policy is pretty firm amongst us hardcore nutters ;-)

Of course, it's academic. 15ac will be my last one in, if I can figure out the wordplay...because I'm pretty sure I don't know it from history...

Nearly got there - one of my famous 'missed by a jot' fails.

I can tell you the wordplay on Monday, Rob - or you can check the blog I referred to up the page.

Excruciatingly close, given the 15s were a Natick for me.

Thanks for the guide. No spoilers...no worries.

9093 in the bag... but not easy, with the Natick 15s resolving favourably for me.

That puts me on a flukey 2, only 98 to go.

We have to roll with this Times post for today. (Will post a new Times forum tonight.)

In the meantime, 9094 is tradesmanlike, with gold for 18ac, a huh each for 28ac and 8dn, plus a meh for 15ac. Most entries very very familiar in tandem with several dusty clues.

Tradesmanlike is generous! Very rare for me to finish before the school run.

I did notice, having all the checkers in place for 15ac, that 19ac was pushing me to enter a different answer! And 10ac stalled me a bit at the end, only because I'd jumped the gun with 6dn. See if you can figure out what I had there, with first and last letters in place correctly...

Best clues? 9ac, 23ac.

Re the huhs, DA, this should deal with 8dn, and apparently, the second word in 28ac is a type of fruit - see the Wikipedia entry for the word, under 'Other Uses'. I knew neither of those, so was unimpressed.

Finally, for those not starting on zero, you might be glad to be informed that there are about four perfectly acceptable answers for 25dn, so make sure you're happy with your roll of the dice. Mine, I believe, was officially incorrect.

I'll bet you had ALLOT there Anthony. Could only really see one fit for 25D. Yes, 15A is meh. And I wonder how many ways there are t clue 18D.

Liked the 1A-8a interplay though, and a big tick for 18A, nicely spotted.

What's the rule with the enumeration for 7D? Should it not be (4'1,4)?

Is it just me, or does feel too short for a crossword like 9095? Had one dip and found it austere, next to joyless. This could be one to skip unless you find something I'm missing. Even an old WoW at 19ac didn't up the pulse. What is it exactly? It's hard to nail down...

Life, that is. Too short for boring crosswords -