Which Clue, What Show? [May 23-28]

Okay, post-post, I knocked off the last seven clues, and don't mind admitting that I'm taking a wild swing at 24dn. If I fall short, than that black cat is my ushanka.

Missing the black cat, I posted this on the last thread:

Done today's though. Looks like a solid knowledge of things musical (as well as obscure villages) is required for this setter. Quite enjoyable though, some smart clues eg 1A, 2D, 8D. So hoping 1/1.

2DN with a nautical theme.

This was certainly a toughie. I was stuck for a while at the end on 28AC and 22DN would you believe. I really liked the use of 'yarn' in 1AC. 21DN was clever and 17DN tantalising - a terrific story.

I'm not entirely sure about the workings of 26AC and I thought 12AC meant something quite different.

Overall, a good challenge for the start of the week.

(By the way, I didn't have an issue with LITTLER. Thought it was fine. And wasn't smart enough to think of BATTLER. I'm glad you explained that, Bon.)

Your 'wild swing' at 24DN is preying on my mind, DA. Are you sure you have the parts of the clue in the correct order?

Checking in, not yet done, but I'm with you RK - 24dn is one of those answers that you know is correct when you have it. And I'm not sure how else you'd answer it anyway, given 3/5 letters.

Some excellent clues indeed - I've found myself working out half a day later that my gut thought for the answer was in fact correct, and it just took that long to figure the wordplay. Still working on 8 1/2 (26ac is puzzling me in part).

21dn my pick so far.

21dn is gorgeous, agreed.

@RK - your challenge made me look twice at 24dn, and my wild swing is now accurate. I must confess I hade ALDON - ALDO + N - thinking desperately it was The Ring's coda, or one of Rossini's lesser knowns. Now I see that Giuseppe comes into play. Even have a mate called this answer too - sheesh.

Looks like the NE will keep me out of the celebrations today. I have the last letter of 5ac, but can't make the obvious answer fit the wordplay in any sense. And I have an answer for 7dn, but equally, it could just be a lucky error. Once again, that feeling of 'one more and it will all fall out'...

I hope you got there in the end, Anthony. You haven't been having much luck lately.

So glad you revisited 24DN, DA. Sitting in front of the telly last night, I said to my partner, 'Everyone's heard of Aida haven't they?' Both being musicians, sometimes it's hard to discern these things, but he assured me that you would most definitely have heard of it!

I still don't quite understand 26AC. Is it a double definition or is something else going on?

9011 looks like yet another challenge. After my first sweep I have one lonely little answer in the bottom right corner.

AIDA is almost crossword-ese, RK, along with TOSCA. The two opera staples. At first blush, I was thinking the answer was opera - or end of opera - rather than a charade link.

26AC is a fine charade: among [IN] lower-paid groups [D/E - the blue-collar strata] coming to an end [TERMINATION].

My beef, which could well be musical, was with 13ac, where 'arranged' = ARR. Not happy, Jan.

Did anyone find the TV show? The crossword answer you need to mix is in the NW corner.

I referred to it at 4.50 yesterday. Sea Patrol.

Arr is a very commonly used abbreviation used before an arranger's name in music.

Oops. So you did. And I'll cop the ARR, with a grr.

Cracked the NE corner, and thought 8dn a strange sort of word. Though I suppose the more obvious fit had been bagged by 13ac.

Loved the signpost in 27ac, and sound the sexist klaxon for 22ac.

Still a swathe to solve, with a road trip most of today keeping me off the grid. A classy puzzle.

I was pretty confident that PONCHO would be wrong, and thought of STUCCO as a word that would at least start with S, end in O, and have the C in the correct place. But never heard of the TUC, sadly.

DEMOS would have foiled me too - circulated I would have happily taken as anagrind, but not reversal. Live and learn.

KNOCK UP? Wow, in spite of the warnings about unexpected defn, I doubt I'd have got there. TELFORD I might have come up with, having heard of such a place, had I not ignored EFT completely. PICKINGS I considered, but too late in the night - it got me to PICKFORD as a film mogul (yeah, right)...and when I started working on compounds, for some reason, I stayed with -MINGS only.

Another day, perhaps. It was still a very enjoyable puzzle.

Tell you one thing for free, Anthony - number 9011 will knock you up good. It's downright pugnacious, with the SW corner the slugfest.

(I'll wager your last few will include 20dn and 26ac, a real gotcha unless your ecumenical, which I seem to recall you are - )

Anyhow, cracked it. 21ac is gold, while I collected three huhs along the way: 1dn, 5dn and 18ac. Feeling mildly concussed, but the stoush is worth the bruising.

The left half of my puzzle is entirely blank, save for a slight encroachment by 22AC. Off to a rehearsal shortly and I'm wondering how this one will ever get finished. Your comments, DA, have only served to increase my sense of panic.

DA, your freebie, I'm afraid, wasn't news to me. I've got two in the NE, and that's it...though I'd picked 26ac to be an obscure Latin term that, as a Sydney Anglican, I studiously have ignored. I may move to using aids just to see if I can get the puzzle out!

I'm through, too. It' a toughie alright. Watch out for the traps at 2D (spelling) and 19D (got the right word?). There are a number of loose indicators as well, as DA has already mentioned. 24A was neat as well.

Ok, got 26ac. Nothing to do with being ecumenical, though - and I'm puzzled by a couple of letters that seem to be missing from the wordplay.

Think twice about 'it' - that was the pitfall I sidestepped as well. And Boniface's advice is also worth musing for 2 and 19. Quite the grapple for a Tuesday, eh?

This time the drive back from Sydney wasn't quite as productive. But I got 19dn, and confirmed a theory for 16ac. So now I have 7 answers...gulp.

Looks like I'll have to work from the bottom up. Unless my idea for 1dn works out.

Well I was totally defeated by 9011. I came up eight short. I'm not even going to use the excuse of not having enough time, because even if I'd had a week I know I still wouldn't have solved it. DA and Bon, I am in awe of your prowess.

I have issues with the definition of 26AC, and have no idea how several others work - 23DN, 20DN, 15DN and 21DN.

I found this puzzle loathsome (because I couldn't do it!) and am hoping today (my 50th) will restore my confidence.

Fifty today, RK? Had I known, I would have baked a cake.

Seems only right that 9012 will give you 'ell by way of celebration.

Being my 50th puzzle (just to make it clear to the viewers at home) I can easily do the maths as to my success rate thus far. If I solve today's then it will be 76%. Yesterday's would also have been my magic 7th in a row, which alas still remains out of reach.

Egad, sorry for ageing you. Not that there's any shame in people born in 1961, turning 50 this calendar year, at all.

Unlike you, once I crash in a puzzle, I start afresh completely, ignoring the sequence in my wake. Sir George Airy is dead to me.

Yes, but you have much longer runs than me. 38 out of 50 sounds better to me than 6 in a row (or 0, as I am now on). The crashes are good though. Next time you're at a dinner party with an esteemed astronomer, you will be able to discuss your mutual friend, just as I'll be sure to stay in Haringey next time I visit London. And if I ever need to do a spot of welding...

PS. I'm not quite as ancient as you, DA. I just realised that if I'm successful today, my number of solved puzzles will equal my age. Freaky.

No, freaky is how INTAGLIO was in 9011 and also the Sunday Times last weekend.

Disappointing that I got it on Sunday, and then didn't think of it yesterday!

I gave up with nothing much on the board, but today looks far more promising.

Solved 9012 - yet another toughie and a goodie, have they booted all the mediocre setters off the Times? Only query I have is with 23D, there could be a trick here. As there was with 24D, but I picked it.

1D and 15D are ripsnorters. Also liked 10A as a great deletion (and that's not giving much away). Not sure I like the clueing at 4D but will live with it. And I don't like the solution at 19A which grates somewhat.

What do others think?

A great puzzle all up, though.

Got the OZ today. First read through of the across clues yielded just 2 answers. It was one of those slow and steady efforts. 15d was my pick. 4d was meh. Unfamiliar with 14a but it looks right. I confidently penned in the answer to 27a only to discover my answer was a letter short. All sorted now.

Now that was more like it. Not too easy, but still doable.

Haven't heard of 2DN before, but what I have suits the wordplay well. 23DN is a Huh for me too, Bon.

Thought 1DN was very appropriate to DA's earlier revelation. Also enjoyed 3DN, 15DN and 5DN. But my favourite clue of all was 4DN which had gone unloved by both Bon and Peta. Go figure.

23dn is my bete noire. Happy to sign off all other clues, but I have two possible answers for 23dn, and not sure which pony you lot picked.

Can't mention words of course, not at this stage, but the dilemma may go to compromise my ritual Origin viewing - and that doesn't make me a happy cockroach.

As for 2dn, would an anagram kill you, setter?

Re 19ac, I think Bon's beef may rest with the word industry, which did seem wayward for a pretty weak clue in general.

If the issue with 19DN is associating the word 'industry' with the answer, then I don't see the problem. That industry has been very important to many parts of the UK for centuries.

@RK et al. My beef was with the plural itself, where the singular does just fine. It's like musics or poetries, those words just don't sit well with me.

Fair enough, Bon. Personally, I didn't like the 'one catching fish' part of the clue.

I've come up with a reasonable explanation for how my 23DN down works. Not sure what DA's other option is. Maybe I should figure that out, just to be on the safe side.

@DA on 2dn - it's possible the setter's a Cockney, and it would have been too much of a hassle.

6 to go.

Always better to write the correct answer in the first time. Had the entry to 7dn slightly out, giving no end of grief.

Also good, when you've got the middle three letters of 27ac to fill in, to note that the letter in position 7 is part of the wordplay not yet accounted for, and that the missing part isn't horribly weak...

Hurrah. A victory at last. 23dn seems very clunkily written, so if you're on the wrong horse, DA, I'll be very sympathetic. Though I'm not sure how you'd justify your alternative via wordplay.

No grief yesterday and today's completed over a cuppa. Liked 12d, 18a.

Maybe DA would have preferred this for yesterday's 2DN:

Astle possibly a measure of magnetism?

(Being totally unscientific, I'm sure my definition is completely dodgy. Although, that wasn't the reason for the question mark!)

Cracked Astle requires a certain wavelength?

You'll be cheered to hear I've already bowled over 9013 - almost. Just like yesterday's CHUTE vs CAUSE dilemma (I kept seeing Austen in the latter), I have a tossup at 27dn, the coin still in the air.

As for the rest - a breeze. With a mild huh for 11ac, a bigger on for 15dn - and a hungover cackle at 9ac.

You've got options for 27dn??! I figured cause might have been yesterday's, but you had two letters to vary there...

For my money, I'd leave it there.

I think I've got 27DN, but it involves giving a word in the clue a dual role, so I'm not sure.

27d looks straightforward to me...which may be my downfall.

By the way, how dodgy was capitalising that S in the Shute clue? Massive red herring. Shackleton wrote a book entitled 'South' but fortunately avoided having any Us in his name.

I don't mind 11ac - it looks tidy enough to me. 15dn's a bit lazy, but common enough usage.

23dn and 6ac had me moving the PM to 74 Downing St for quite some time!

I'm done too. Goodness knows why the first thought I had for 18ac never got put into the past tense! 18dn my last...not sure if the wordplay is sufficient for it though.

It occurred to me that given the bonus puzzle on Monday, SWASHBUCKLING on Tuesday, PLYMOUTH, HARPOON, LIMPET MINE (and Cook's AURORA) yesterday, and our nautical musos today, 6dn-ing with the 3dns, no doubt, there's been a theme running all week!

Not to mention 21DN and 22AC, Anthony.

18AC probably my favourite today. Also fancied 20DN and 5DN. Thought 21DN was Meh, 12DN a groaner and I'm flummoxed by the workings of 11AC.

Oh, and I was making 27DN ridiculously more complicated than it actually was. Got it now.

Your 27dn comments, RK, made me look twice, and yes it is easy in a post-lunch light. What doesn't help, the answer potentially is a hidden reverse, without a signpost. And I reckon that Scottish town would have its eponymous rvier as well. But now I've seen the 28ac.

Puzzle solved. That makes 37, for the counters among us.

9013 complete. Bit of a walk in the park I thought - took about 20 minutes, so feel a bit cheated. No real stand-out clues either, in my view.

I think 27D was another attempt to create 2 possible answers in the mind of the solver, but only one really fits...

RK, the way I read 11A is that 'saving' is a containerind for L (pounds).

@Bon - I've a different reading on that one - with 'to save pounds' as a slightly wordier defn than required.

@AK Hmm - I read "cut" as the primary def. Maybe another double-trouble clue?

How about: Cut 6DN spending a penny.

Ooh, there's an &lit in there somewhere...

Sorry my last comment was for Anthony, not AK.

My mistake. The Stasi were secret police, not troops.

Mind you, I like the double entendre of stashing cash in savings accounts, and stashing pounds about one's body...

Oh dear. After knocking off a delightful Aracauria and the Gemini in today's Canb. Times and solving all but one of DA's offerings in the SMH, I approached today's OZ with confidence. I'm finding it really difficult. Most of left hand side is in but not much of the rest. Will give it a break and hope I can come back to it later a little refreshed.

Yet to get the paper, Peta. Thanks for the warning. I'll take my A-game to lunch.

After a second wind most have now been resolved. Just three more to go. Liked 5d 21d and 27a. (A bit red-faced that I didn't get more answers in my first wind.)

A cold Becks, and every cylinder firing - and 9014 was solved in 10 rugged minutes. Both 13s are uncommon. And you need your vocab mojo for 1 ac/dn, 11ac and 20ac.

Did like 8dn, though the soft letters were pretty symptomatic of the whole. Tough words, soft letters - always a lethal combo.

I have an answer for 25a based on wordplay but the answer is unfamiliar to me.
I have an answer for 18d which is a word I'm familiar with but can't see all the wordplay.
And 20a just has me scratching my head.

10 minutes, DA?!

I'm afraid my mojo's a no go today. I've a handful left and I'm all out of ideas, so I'm going to be valiant in defeat.

I really admire this setter's clues though, with their smooth and silky surface - 26ac, 1dn, 4dn were fine examples. (Not that I have actually solved 1dn. I don't even know if it's a duck or a river, damn it.)

Also liked 12ac and thought 2dn sneaky. And spent a while trying to think of a type of monkey starting with Tiber. Der.

10 minutes. Sigh. Need more experience as a 4ac type. I think my confidence was shot when I confidently entered a 7 letter answer for 26ac that in retrospect was probably just meant to the surface reading's referent. There should be a law against those things fitting ;-)

Well, I finally and literally saw where the problems were in 20a and applying my limited knowledge of London? hospitals I've come up with a couple of possible answers. But both possible answers meant my 18d guess was wrong. Looking afresh at 18d with my 2 possibilities for the second letter, I quickly came up with an answer that satisfies. So now it's just a matter of whether the two answers (20a and 25a) which I'm unfamiliar with are real words or just the product of an unravelling mind. My word, today's was I grind.

My vote's on the duck. But I'm having no luck with the monkey.

However, I am chuffed to have just figured out 10dn with only two letters in.

After surviving my marathon effort yesterday (while others had a 50m sprint), I found today's an absolute delight. Challenging but fair, beautiful surfaces, the odd smile inducer. So many good ones (15d 25a 17a 8d 13d etc)

That was me

Agreed, some excellent stuff. 15d was my favourite for the camouflaging. 21ac was tough for being short, but clever; 25ac was deft; 20dn was a deceptively energetic surface meaning; 19dn was elegant in the extreme.

I suspect the setter ran out of time for 24dn though!

12ac and 23ac still elude me. I'm never sure whether the ? is meant to indicate &lit in these ones.

Survived yesterday's, very pleased about that. Today's looks a lot easier, and is more fun, so far.

Yeah, today's is a lot kinder, largely due to some unusual letter positions betraying a finite group of possibles.

Don't have the puzzle to hand, but thought 'capital crime' read well. Going for No 40 on Monday, when solving life truly begins.

Quite underwhelmed by this puzzle. The only clue that really appealed was 7dn. Taking a bit of a punt on 12ac and 23ac. I agree about 24dn, Anthony. GP to the max.

Through 9015 without too much bother.
Couple of hard ones in the SE quadrant requiring wider reading. Thought 1A and 3D were OK too.

That's a clean sweep this week (I hope) so I think that puts me on 6 straight, still suffering from the Twelfth Night debacle.

Not a PB yet but getting close.

Erk. Having crowed about last week's success, I've in fact been blown out of the water by the corruption INFRA DIG which I haven't come across before. Hard clueing of this obscurity as well. Hope DA and others made it. Now, where's my pen...