Times 27483 – crosswordy swimming practice

Author   pipkirbyPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
I thought this was an elegant puzzle, the best on Wednesday for a while, not difficult but with some clever, smooth surfaces and no MERs for me. I went astray at first with 15a and took a while to sort out 21a, no issues with the rest in a total time of around 24 leisurely minutes. For a clue of the day I’d pick either 10a or 21a.

Across
1 Bank charge discount partially returned (4)
SIDE – bank = side e.g. of a river. Reversed hidden in CHARG(E DIS)COUNT.
3 American embraces endlessly resilient old scientist (10)
ASTRONOMER – There was discussion recently when we had AMER for American, and here it is again. Into AMER you insert STRON(G) (endlessly resilient) and O for old.
10 Describing open-air activities that could be yours to do (9)
OUTDOORSY – (YOURS TO DO)*.
11 Tycoon is second victim of hoax, though losing just one pound (5)
MOGUL – MO (second) GUL(L) victim of hoax loses an L.
12 Make fun of a politician in guise of a fool? (7)
LAMPOON – A MP inside LOON = fool.
13 Guy at St Andrews? Liberal guy at St Andrews, not Conservative (6)
LADDIE – A Scottish chap. The guy at St Andrews (R & A Golf Club of) is a CADDIE, carrying my bag, not C, add L.
15 Preparation the public can’t see for exclusion of NHS work? (7,8)
PRIVATE PRACTICE – Cryptic double definition, where ‘practice in private’ wouldn’t be seen in public. I went wrong for a while with PRIVATE MEDICINE, thinking the ‘preparation’ was a drug not an activity, but 6d ending in I woudln’t work.
18 Landlord blocking theatre presented by cultivated political group (10,5)
REPUBLICAN PARTY – PUBLICAN is our landlord, he goes into REP our theatre, then ARTY = cultivated.
21 Necklace queen’s wearing removed by force (6)
TORQUE – I put in the correct answer to this quite a while before seeing how it worked; was the definition force or necklace? I think it is necklace, as TORE = removed by force, leaving you with QU for queen to insert. A torque (or torc) is a rigid metal necklace, as well as a force causing rotation.
23 Rewarding golf? Agonising missing first of putts (7)
GAINFUL – G for golf, PAINFUL = agonising, loses its P.
26 Supple, seeing reduction of ailment in time (5)
AGILE – AGE (time) has IL(L) inserted.
27 Area a lot choppy? Channel swimmer weak (2,1,3,3)
AT A LOW EBB – (A A LOT)* then WEBB = Captain Matthew Webb, first to swim the channel in 1875. What a nice, topical surface, given the recent amazing feat by Sarah Thomas. A pity she didn’t get sponsored to raise money for breast cancer research.
28 Lack of skill recording songbird? One gets exposed about that (10)
INEPTITUDE – I NUDE = one gets exposed; into that insert EP (recording) TIT (songbird).
29 Times item in centre: several bits (4)
BYTE – BY = times, multiplied by, TE = central letters of iTEm, a byte has 8 bits in it.
Down
1 Plunder harbour town, getting damper (10)
SPOILSPORT – SPOILS = plunder, as a noun; PORT.
2 Information corporation supplied to American lawyer (5)
DATUM – DA (American lawyer) TUM (corporation). Singular of DATA, which latter is all too often treated as singular not plural. A moment of pedantry.
4 Determined to include wild green island in African ecosystem (9)
SERENGETI – My FOI. SET = determined, insert (GREEN)* and add I for island.
5 Though no son, optimistic over a line of monarchs (5)
ROYAL – ROSY could be optimistic, delete the S for son, add A L(ine).
6 Mostly I refuse to accept degree of person who’s travelled (7)
NOMADIC – I refuse could be “NO DICE”, mostly = NODIC, insert MA degree.
7 Source of detailed view that is needed in review of farming (9)
MAGNIFIER – Insert I.E. into (FARMING)*.
8 No opening for comic turn (4)
ROLL – DROLL loses its opening letter.
9 Study leading to answer about golden solar gases (6)
CORONA – CON (study) has OR (golden) inserted, then A for answer.
14 Playground: yard left cordoned off by rope, fit for repeated use (10)
RECYCLABLE – REC = playground, Y = yard, CABLE = rope, insert L for left.
16 Pull together one million, supporting Society in contest (9)
IMPROVISE – I, M(illion), PRO (supporting), then S for society inside VIE = contest.
17 Defending month being taken up in Bishop engaging in study (9)
REARGUARD – READ = study; insert AUG reversed into RR (bishop) then insert that RGUAR into READ.
19 Happen to search for a legacy (7)
BEQUEST – BE = happen, QUEST = search.
20 River being shown? It’s not what you’d want to drink (6)
POISON – The River PO (in Italy) IS ON = being shown.
22 Praise X-ray as investment in unlimited health (5)
EXALT – HEALTH “unlimited” = EALT, insert X for x-ray.
24 Passionate on-line exclamation of disapproval (5)
FIERY – FIE! = exclamation of disapproval, is ‘”on line” i.e. on RY railway line.
25 Artist I’d upset about almost everything (4)
DALI – AL(L) inside I’D reversed.

​

60 comments on “Times 27483 – crosswordy swimming practice”

  1. I agree with your assessment, Pip. A nice set of clues with a good level of challenge for a steady solve. I did wonder about ARTY = cultivated, then realised it could be “presented by cultivated” and would work just as well.

    I liked the simplicity of POISON and EXALT, even though it took me a couple of readings to see them. An it’s good to see astronomy getting another outing.

    Thanks to you and the setter.

    1. Dear Mr. Starstruck

      I found your ‘Neutrino’ most absorbing, which leads me to this:

      I would assume that an Intelligence Quota of over 100 is required to complete the Times Crossword.

      So, for example, is Mr. Magoo’s IQ higher than mine?
      With a 38 minute effort today, I would suggest it was. And everyday!

      If you knew 100 person’s IQ ratings and compared them to their MEDIAN ‘nitch’ rating over a year, might this make discernable that it is simply a matter of IQ (nature perhaps) or does crossword cunning (nurture) help?

      Obviously the longer one has been doing ‘The Times’ helps. But there are also times when one forgets a particular ‘convention’ and suffers.

      I note today our times are roughly similar but I would also guess that having seen your great work, you have a certain edge over Meldrew. However, I have been a this caper since about 1965!

      Might you be able to further enlighten?

      1. I once wrote a dissertation about IQ, which is nothing to do with ‘nature’. However, there may be a correlation between scores on tests and crosswords. Or there may not.
      2. Dear Mr Meldrew,

        Thanks for your interest and, indeed, for your entertaining and unique approach to commenting most days.

        I suspect that high IQ does play a large part in how quickly we solve. I recall the study reported in 2013 here (https://times-xwd-times.livejournal.com/1012822.html) focused on problem solving and “fluid intelligence” as the key factors. It did mention that experience plays a large part as well.

        For my own efforts, I’m a certified nerd (in case you hadn’t guessed) and keen problem solver. And I’m building up some solid years of solving. As a never-lived-in-the-UK solver, I do find I get slowed down fairly regularly by lack of some GK, or an unfamiliar nuance in word usage. Part of the experience factor for me has been to push past this with a growing confidence that I can probably still solve it from either the straight or cryptic side, even if it takes a bit longer. My pet aversion is the “double obscurity” where two bits of GK are required; fortunately these are very rare.

        For all this, I do remain in awe of Mr Magoo’s speed, even when seen close up on his YouTube blogs. He must score very high indeed on any fluid intelligence measure. And our TftT friends, such as Verlaine and aphis99, can’t be far behind.

        Thanks again for taking the time to comment.

        1. All this is interesting Starstruck but I think Magoo and a few others in addition to those mentioned (Jason, Mohn, Dave Howell et al) are in a class by themselves. In my own case, I solve best if I stay out of my own way and let my brain just get on with it. Needless to say this doesn’t always work ….. As for “fluid intelligence” whatever that is, I only wish mine was as reliable as theirs seems to be.
        2. This is not meant to be a cheap comment but I really do solve more quickly accompanied by a glass of wine (more than this amount certainly does inhibit me).
          1. Some truth there. I solve in a variety of places: Monday morning train to Glasgow; during my lunchtime walk; in one of Glasgow’s many Wetherspoons over dinner and a pint. Sadly my Saturday morning walk around Lancaster University campus while my son practises judo is no more as his class has transferred to Tuesday evenings, and there are too many familial distractions to truly concentrate at home.

            Levels of concentration vary: train – noise from others and p.a.; walk – stops to cross roads/frequent raindrops; pub – probably most focussed here.

            A decent IQ may help though my own aptitude is with numbers rather than letters

            Edited at 2019-10-16 05:22 pm (UTC)

        3. I was a chessplayer for many years, as well as doing crosswords. Good chess players exhibit a specific kind of intelligence that the top crosswordists like Mark often seem to exhibit too. You could call it mental agility .. they are quick and precise, in their sphere, whilst still not necessarily knowing quite what day it is .. perhaps that is fluid intelligence?
          I was a member of Mensa but I have learnt the hard way that intelligence and common sense and social skills are three very different things!

    2. Thanks for your fascinating work on Neutrinos starstruck. I was intrigued by your mention of me so checked my Crossword Club record finding the anomaly on 20th August (i think) when I apparently took 17+ hours i.e. forgot to pause and came back to it later. Happy for you to leave it there – guess it will work itself out of the equation around mid-Feb!!
      1. Hi Mike, thanks so much for following up, and I hope you didn’t mind me mentioning your data.

        You can rest easy on your long time. It didn’t get included in my data set, as I exclude really long ones for exactly that reason. Your longest time recorded was around 91 minutes on a couple of the high-NITCH crosswords. Like me, you have good persistence!

        But it does leave the question about why you are “super-aligned”. In you individual LJ message box I’ve sent you a link to the graph that shows your individual NITCH correlated against the NITCH for the crossword (as it will get marked as spam if I include it here).

        I’m not 100% sure what’s going on, which is why I mentioned it. It’s a smallish data set (26 entries compared to verlaine’s 139), so the line of best fit is likely to move around depending on what data I have captured. Assuming that you do the crossword most days, it might be a weakness in my approach of only collecting the top 100 scores, as I might not be storing some results that would be important for your alignment.

        Thanks again for the interest and the comments. I’ll keep exploring, when I have time, to see if I can improve the analysis.

      2. Hi Mike,

        Thanks for your previous interest in the SNITCH. Based on your comments, I’ve included you as “opted in” to tracking your results via blog-reported times. But please let me know if I have this wrong and I will remove you from the list.

        In fact, I have really appreciated your earlier comment and the fact that you report your times on the blog even when doing the crossword on the club site. Although I haven’t yet matched up your TftT identity to your Crossword Club identity on the SNITCH site, I would like to do that eventually. It’s clear that I’m missing quite a few of your results from the Crossword Club site, which was the reason for non-alignment with the SNITCH. When I see the full list of results from your blog entries, they are strongly aligned.

        Best regards,
        Stuart

  2. 32 minutes with TORQUE biffed from ‘force’, only to discover after the event that it’s a necklace and ‘force’ is part of the wordplay.

    I must have missed the discussion about AMER / American as I hesitated over it today and that probably accounted for just missing my half-hour target.

    If I ever heard the word OUTDOORSY said, I hadn’t realised it is actually a word.

    Edited at 2019-10-16 06:38 am (UTC)

  4. Finished but took ages to get torque, gainful, ineptitude, magnifier, rearguard, bequest, and loi fiery. Phew.

    Cod laddie.

  5. Got ‘em all, though I NHO Mr. Webb nor the “necklace” sense of “torque” (and took the definition to be “force”).

    Edited at 2019-10-16 06:29 am (UTC)

  7. 18:53 … I stalled a bit mid-solve, but it wasn’t too hard to find another foothold in this. Nice stuff.

    The name Webb as a Channel swimmer rang the faintest of bells, though Sarah Thomas, mentioned in the blog, didn’t. Now I’ve looked her up, I’m in awe.

    COD to LADDIE for having me completely baffled at first, then slowly making sense.

    1. Do you remember Captain Webb safety matches? Not as common as England’s Glory or Swan Vestas, but they were certainly around in the days when I smoked (which must be over 30 years ago, come to think of it). Anyway, they kept the good captain’s name as part of general knowledge.
        1. Not to worry. I’m afraid I don’t consciously remember the matches, though maybe that’s the bell that was ringing for me. Such a strange thing, isn’t it, to name safety matches for a swimmer. Unless they were claiming they still worked when wet. Maybe he stopped half-way to Calais to float on his back and enjoy a Capstan Navy Cut
  8. I don’t see how IMPROVISE = PULL TOGETHER. Sorry.
    Thanks for explaining NOMADIC, Pip.
    I had to look up Sarah Thomas. What an amazing feat!
    Many years ago a Scottish Duty Officer I worked under at Gatwick was fond of referring to young whippersnappers like me as ‘LADDIE’!

    Edited at 2019-10-16 07:44 am (UTC)

    1. I took this to be the way one sometimes has to pull things together at short notice, e.g. a fancy dress outfit, or customs arrangements, that sort of thing.
  10. 38 minutes, so the roll I’ve been on is slowing down. I too went for PRIVATE MEDICINE until NOMADIC put me right. I biffed TORQUE as a force and didn’t return to see why it was right for all the wrong reasons. I did manage to parse INEPTITUDE. I liked AT A LOW EBB, SPOILSPORT and LADDIE. I too couldn’t really see IMPROVISED as pulled together, but I guess a cobbled-together arrangement is improvised. My Dad would refer to one such as a proper Harry Tate arrangement, after a music hall entertainer I’ve not heard of, but apparently still cockney rhyming slang for ‘state’. Thank you Pip and setter.

    Edited at 2019-10-16 08:29 am (UTC)

    1. My dad also used to refer to a Heath Robinson improvised mess as a Harry Tate job — but he also used CRS “getting into a right two-and-eight” for “state”. As a kid I loved the Heath Robinson drawings, and, like you, had no idea who Harry Tate was, until now.
      1. My wife is genuine cockney, so I am aware also of a right two and eight. I once said “a right six and eight” to her hoots of derision. It must have been the memories of a third of a pound that lured me into such a solecism. But what cost two and eight when the expression was coined, I wonder? I can’t find it on t’internet.

        Edited at 2019-10-16 09:33 am (UTC)

  11. No problems but not easy to make progress without solving something else first. I realise that I biffed AT A LOW EBB and ROYAL. COD to POISON.
  12. Captain Webb for many years had his very own box of matches (Bryant & May and Collards). (How did he keep them dry!?)
    So us ex-smokers know all about him and thus 27ac did not put me AT A LOW EBB.

    FOI 1ac SIDE

    LOI 29ac BYTE

    COD and WOD 10ac OUTDOORSY with music from the Tommy Dorsey Orchetra perhaps?

    Edited at 2019-10-16 09:03 am (UTC)

  13. 31 mins and mostly good entertainment, though marred a little for me by a few MERs. I missed the ‘Amer’ discussion and so found that a little unsettling early on. Then my eyebrow moved ever so slightly at ILL=ailment in 26a: ‘ill’ would have to work as a noun? I bunged in TORQUE recognising that it is both a force and a necklace but I simply couldn’t see the wordplay. Now that you’ve explained, Pip, I’m MER-ing madly at tore=’removed by force’ — that would require an adverbial particle (tore + off/down/away). And what’s happened to the verb ‘vie’ in Crosswordland? How can its grammar have drifted so far that it’s possible to use it as a synonym for ‘contest’ (vb)?
    I liked the misdirection of ‘on-line’ in FIERY (my LOI).
    Thanks for your blog, Pip.
    1. ILL is in the usual sources as a noun meaning ‘disease’ and Chambers actually specifies the word ‘ailment’.
  14. Stalled briefly a few times during this solve, but got there eventually. Once again off to a flying start with SIDE, DATUM and OUTDOORSY, although the Y only went in when I looked at 5d and realised I was a letter short. Another TORQUE biffer with the wrong end of the definition here. Liked LADDIE. MER at IMPROVISED until I thought of it in the sense of cobble together. FIERY(good misdirection) and REARGUARD were my last 2 in. 32:27. Thanks setter and Pip.
  15. Nice one except that it’s left me with the Bluebells Of Scotland (oh where and oh where has my highland laddie gone etc) on the brain. DNK Capt Webb I’m sorry to say. Anglo-Saxon TORQUEs or torcs seem to be ploughed up by farmers now and then in East Anglia. 17.18
  16. ….INEPTITUDE on this puzzle, and much head scratching ensued. Was slowed down by “gaining” which doesn’t really fit, and held me up in the SE corner until I cracked RECYCLABLE. Indeed to sharpen up before December exposes too many of my shortcomings.

    FOI OUTDOORSY (ugh !)
    LOI FIERY
    COD MOGUL
    TIME 17:31

  17. Steady solve. Captain Webb used to be known as part of General Knowledge by all schoolchildren – he died trying to swim Niagara Falls. Dnk TORQUE as necklace with that spelling, can envisage the TORC. OUTDOORSY seems a clumsy word.

    Thanks pip and setter.

  18. 8m 54s with plenty of that spent on GAINFUL / FIERY – the delay being because I was convinced “on-line” meant that the answer began with an E.

    Nice puzzle.

  19. Steady solve for me, did not like outdoorsy which isn’t a word in my book, enjoyed exalt once I saw it.
    If you are ever in Newark (Notts not New Jersey), their torc in the museum is amazing.
    Roin
  20. So many OUTDOORSY haters – but my WOD. I had to check it out and find that Mirriam-Webster state it was first used in 1911 – stateside advertising.

    I wonder what our Kevin makes of it, but our Osaka correspondent is a no-show today – probably outdoors somewhere?

  21. Since moving to solve via the Crossword Club about a month ago that is my best time. As I can’t remember my best time prior to this perhaps I’ll call it a new PB, particularly as the Crossword Club is kind enough to record it for me.

    This may have been discussed before, but I do wonder if the easier puzzles are less easy than before the QC came about. Although not a frequent occurrence previously it feels much rarer now that I finish in under 10 minutes. Hopefully all my fast times are being saved up for the Championship.

    1. Whatever the Club records and your memory say, you’re definitely getting faster Pootle.
  22. 12:34 so steady for me too, despite making a right hash of 15 twice (TREATME… then MEDICINE).

    At 1d, armed with just the initial S, I had to stop myself putting in SACK for the “plunder” part.

      1. I used to roll my Magritte avatar out every time a surrealist got a mention (or even a random Rene) but given that I’m nowhere near my userpic quota I thought I’d add a Dali one.

        Edited at 2019-10-16 02:41 pm (UTC)

  24. Another enjoyable solve in a sluggish time (my brain appears to be entering hibernation, which suggests I will be taking advantage of the new qualification system on Finals Day). Fie! as nobody exclaims outside crosswords any more.
  25. Tricky in the right kind of way – so very happy with my 18’06”. BUT! I had role for roll! Must be my Frenchy side – thinking of drole. I had the same confusion as the honoured blogger over Torque. I took it to mean the force, but not so. LOI Laddie
    1. You’re not the only one, and I think you have a case. Drôle has a respectable entry in Chambers, with an adjectival meaning of “amusing, odd” – not a bad match for comic. And I could make a case for turn/ROLE, possibly involving a bit of to and fro in the Thesaurus.
      One of those where, if you get it in first, looks convincing enough not to look further, though droll/ROLL is probably better. Better does not necessarily mean uniquely correct.
  26. All this discussion of IQs correlating with solving times is depressing, as it would indicate that my IQ is roughly that of a tree stump. In any event, this one took me 47 minutes for some reason. My only moment of doubt was whether to use a C or an S in “PRACTICE” (well, obviously at least one C), as I always get that one mixed up.
    1. Think of advice (n) and advise (vb) and you’ll never get it wrong again (unless you are in America where it is the other way round). Sue S.
      1. Aha! Now that is a useful (and unforgettable) tip – thank you. I shall simply have to avoid being in America (or, indeed, Amerisa).
  27. None of this was too difficult, though I missed the AMER in ASTRONOMER, and did not see the comic (d)ROLL either.
  28. A late and rather distracted solve – Will Smith’s Hitch is burbling away in the background. That might account for a steady 24 minute solve, and the surprise pink square on the E of my ROLE (see above).
    I was going to question SERENGETI described as an ecosystem – I mean is Dartmoor an ecosystem, or the Lake District? But then I checked on Wiki, and got as the first sentence: “The Serengeti ecosystem is a geographical region in Africa.” So I defer to the Great Collective Knowledge Base.
  29. The discussion above about different places being better or worse for solving really rang my bell … I looked at this on the train on the way home and in 30 minutes limped my way to half a dozen clues … after supper I then picked it up to look at the blog with it and see where I’d gone wrong, immediately saw an answer and 20 minutes later had finished the whole damn thing, parsed and all. Maybe I just needed a glass of wine!

    Thanks for the blog, Pip.

    Templar

  30. 30 mins V late solve while playing table tennis, or at least, while not playing table tennis but watching the other games. Struggled with the Support in IMPROVISE, and had to wait for all the letters before it was solved. Otherwise straightforward. And yes, I won all my games!
  31. 31:27 not bad considering I solved this late, tired and after enough beers in the pub to impair my performance. I was delayed somewhat by having gaining instead of gainful and by failing to see the parsing of nomadic and poison. Also very nearly entered conora at 9dn. A good quality puzzle wasted on me today though.

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