October 10 2011
Time-Out Times
PS – the Times Crossword category has been put on ice till further notice. We kinda lost our quorum, on top of The Oz upping the price and/or duffing the grids, like last Friday. (Not a good habit for any paper to develop.)
Time poverty is the other issue. Or selfish jet travel to exotic locations (I’m turning a little smaragdine here…) So instead, if you feel the itch to solve a cryptic, what say we give the Guardian setters a crack this week? Here’s the link, and the forum is below. By and large the opening grid belongs to Rufus, and God knows where after that. Hop aboard.
And I vote we lift the Spoiler rule – though we keep a cautious etiquette. Tell us what’s good, who’s hot, the mehs, the golds, the huhs etc – and chip in when you can.
Comments
TT — 10 October at 08:07AM
DA, how long has the Oz been duffing its grids? I first noticed it happening about five years ago, however, like a misprinted stamp, the odd duff grid has enormous value: Red Letter Day. (To me, anyway.)
DC — 10 October at 11:26AM
Since a lot of the bottom half has more or less fallen out for me, I'd say it's a lot easier than the average Times, for better or worse.
(Not that my expectations of finishing it are high.)
Anthony Douglas — 10 October at 04:51PM
Haven't made it to the Grauniad yet, but today's Times was a delight... plenty of clever clueing and razor sharp definitions.
DA — 10 October at 07:48PM
Agreed Anthony - of all days to hop sideways. I've done half the Times and it's timeless.
(Then I have the added disadvantage of not being able to download a Grauniad puzzle until I get home from the studio. I may have to sweet-talk the ABC staff...)
With a heavy studio block in front of me, I will being play catch-up in this forum for a little while. Bear with me. I think there's joy at the end of the black-and-white rainbow.
RobT — 10 October at 07:52PM
I got 2/3rds of today's out. Southern reaches beat me.
DA — 10 October at 07:56PM
PS TT - thanks for the link. That sloppiness symptomises my beef. You gotta look after the peepz, or they will go elsewhere. Hence this little sidestep, as Hugh Stephenson (the Guardian ed)is a champion for the solver.
okra — 10 October at 08:46PM
I'm sure you've all experienced it many times, but i'm new at this cryptic crossword lark and just have to express the sheer joy to be had in solving a clue days later that never seemed possible. Ive never done the Times but I do the guardian weekly cryptic and it never fails to delight.
Anthony Douglas — 11 October at 12:42AM
The Guardian weekly cryptic? It's 6 days a week, okra! And yes, they're often good fun.
Though Rufus was a bit pedestrian today. It's a 50-50 puzzle: either you know how to conjugate Latin verbs, or you don't.
I'm pleased to report that my Latin vocabulary is ahead of my Latin grammar :)
— 11 October at 10:03AM
sorry the "Guardian Weekly" cryptic
Anthony Douglas — 12 October at 02:00AM
Philistine set a beauty in the Guardian (yesterday now) - well worth a look if you normally wouldn't. A clever theme, not overdone, and a laugh out loud joke at the paper's expense running smack down the middle of the grid. Sorry, in the Grauniad. Context matters!
The Times wasn't bad either. 7dn was a lovely clue.
Anthony Douglas — 12 October at 02:00AM
Philistine set a beauty in the Guardian (yesterday now) - well worth a look if you normally wouldn't. A clever theme, not overdone, and a laugh out loud joke at the paper's expense running smack down the middle of the grid. Sorry, in the Grauniad. Context matters!
The Times wasn't bad either. 7dn was a lovely clue.
Anthony Douglas — 12 October at 02:01AM
I guess it was 'Two' AM. Sorry.
DA — 12 October at 01:11PM
Good-ish news. An angel in the L&N production team is happy to print off the day's G-puzzle from this week onward, so now I can keep in sync with this forum for the next month.
Last night, too late and too zapped to contemplate Philistine, but am now taking Brendan up the road for a wrestle over mushroom risotto.
DA — 13 October at 06:32AM
Sometimes think Brendan creates a rod for his own back, going with his pervasive themes.
This EVENTFUL puzzle was good wihtout being soaring, with the DM for JUMPER, and the clue's story for RELAYED two highlights. Also thought DATE was pretty neat:
Romantic event, such as 14 February
Today will be my first studio-day puzzle, courtesy of a good Samaritan's printer.
JD — 13 October at 10:20AM
Paul's 13D today seemed eerily familiar.
Sam — 13 October at 01:58PM
Had a look at the very first Times crossword today – from February 1st, 1930. This one made me chuckle: 49D: Only a contortionist could do this on a chair (TIS); or 37D: Ladies in a promising mood (BRIDES). There was also a letter to the editor in the following Monday’s paper expressing his delight that the paper had yielded to the entreaty of its readers for the publication of a puzzle, and that “your promise to submit a daily puzzle exceeded my wildest hope”!
DA2 — 13 October at 02:41PM
On seeing Paul's bloody paparazzo, I have contacted my lawyers.
Don't know how this is possible but I've solved the lot, except for the key phrase at 19/20.
Criseyde — 13 October at 08:13PM
Very tentative and partial crack at wordplay for 19/20: picture, def, and double duty for picture fish=eal?, anagram of overcoming, cure= remedy, heading off.
Anthony Douglas — 14 October at 10:55PM
The fish is a ling, I'm afraid. Toss in some carbon monoxide, and you'll need a remedy.
Anthony Douglas — 14 October at 10:56PM
Nasty Times today, in the NE. Plus I counted two across clues with words doing double duty.
DA2 — 15 October at 08:20AM
Managed to mosey thru 9134, girded by your NE corner warning. Same place I found the puzzle's best clue - affluent. Not sure how the T is got in tuxedo: a future huh I reckon.
Anthony Douglas — 16 October at 10:14PM
I've just recycled Friday's paper, so can't look up the clue, but the T looks like a Trade Union reference.
I'd seen IMMERSE, but couldn't see how the wordplay could get me there (and even if I'd known of ERSE, I'm still not thrilled with it). Plus the defn is a bit sus - seems to reverse subject/object. So no great chance of guessing the plant. It's always the plants.
But I did get out the weekend edition, so that's something.