Times 27705 by – let me know where to come to, next April 30th, Mr Setter; it sounds fun.

Author   pipkirbyPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
I noticed, on my online version, a subtle ‘by’ appears after the puzzle number. With no name added. Is this a prelude to puzzles having their setters identified, as on Sundays?
This was another fairly straightforward Wednesday offering, with lots of insertions and anagrams and no particularly obscure words. Not even a plant or an antelope. I expect the SNITCH will be well below the 100 mark.
EDIT well I was wrong, it is exactly on 100 as of 17.00 GMT+!.

Across
1 Method of carrying almost half a ton, including rare minerals (8,4)
FIREMANS LIFT – Almost half a ton = FIFT(Y); insert (MINERALS)*.
9 Native of South America once imprisoned? (5)
INCAN – Member of the Inca race; IN CAN = imprisoned.
10 Quick fix, fantastic load of money saving corporation, finally (5,4)
MAGIC WAND – MAGIC = fantastic; WAD = load of money; insert N = end of corporation.
11 Whatever takes your fancy, many thin gassy drinks? (8)
ANYTHING – hidden word in M(ANY THIN G)ASSY.
12 Rogue beset by obstruction that’s difficult to shift (6)
LIMPET – IMP (rogue) inside LET (obstruction).
13 Hate stealing or wicked crime (8)
ENORMITY – OR is inserted into ENMITY = hate.
15 Newspaper copy (6)
MIRROR – double definition.
17 Bully boys grown up perfect (6)
MENACE – MEN (boys grown up) ACE (perfect).
18 Lofty monarch hauling bags (8)
TOWERING – ER (monarch) is bagged by TOWING (hauling).
20 Opening element, batting (4-2)
LEAD-IN – LEAD (element) IN (batting, at cricket).
21 Small shoe that’s full of holes (8)
STRAINER – S, TRAINER.
24 Frank finished off contender (9)
CANDIDATE – CANDID (frank) ATE (finished off).
25 Little time to avoid damage to reputation for Greek character (5)
SIGMA – STIGMA goes without its T.
26 Cold established, fed wild honey (5-7)
STONY-HEARTED – STARTED (established) has (HONEY)* inserted.

Down
1 Ship: arrangement of sails etc crushed by one’s sinking? (7)
FRIGATE – RIG is crushed by FATE.
2 Entering difficult battle, a unit unfortunately in range (5,9)
ROCKY MOUNTAINS – ROCKY (difficult) MONS (battle), insert (A UNIT)*.
3 Get one’s teeth into eminent expressionist (5)
MUNCH – double definition. Edvard Munch, Norwegian chap who painted several versions of The Scream.
4 Name foe, by implication, has smuggled in (8)
NOMINATE – foe by implication could be NO MATE, then insert IN.
5 Symbol of goddess of love initially erected (4)
LOGO – Initial letters of Of Goddess Of Love are OGOL, erected = LOGO.
6 Copy a brief selection of miscellaneous characters up into dossier (9)
FACSIMILE – Insert A then MISC reversed into FILE = dossier.
7 Right-wing US pal organised debauched feast (9,5)
WALPURGIS NIGHT – (RIGHT WING US PAL)*. I’ve been at a Walpurgis Night celebration somewhere in Europe, I think it was in Switzerland, and it wasn’t much of a debauched feast; more of a bonfire and a few drinks. It seems to be celebrated in different ways in various places, on April 30th and May 1st, the anniversary of St Walpurga being canonised in 870. If you need to know more, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walpurgis_Night .
8 Newspaper worker in routine procedure wrapping papers up (6)
EDITOR – ROTE (routine procedure) has ID (papers) inserted then all is reversed. ROT(ID)E.
14 User of device, a feature in film (9)
MACHINIST – A CHIN (a feature) goes inside MIST = film.
16 Ruby fastener found in river (8)
FORTIETH – TIE (fastener) inside the River Forth as in Scotland. As in Ruby Wedding for example.
17 Venom shown by nation over evacuation of Chile (6)
MALICE – MALI a nation has C(HIL)E added.
19 Old material put up, secure decoration (7)
GARLAND – Old material = RAG, put up = GAR, add LAND = secure.
22 Adrift on the water (2,3)
AT SEA – double definition. If you’re all at sea, you’re not in control, adrift.
23 Story that can be spun out? (4)
YARN – cryptic double definition, as you can spin a yarn and yarn can be spun.

​

59 comments on “Times 27705 by – let me know where to come to, next April 30th, Mr Setter; it sounds fun.”

  1. Pip, if you take a look at the comments under the QC table I posted yesterday there is one from Richard Rogan regarding his policy on the naming of 15×15 setters and there are no plans to change it. I think we had a ‘by’ once before on a 15×15 and maybe even a name with it, which was an error but I can’t recall the explanation if one was offered.

    Edited at 2020-07-01 04:55 am (UTC)

    1. I like the status quo, but I’d also like the setter’s name to be published with the solution the following day.
  2. As for this puzzle, I did very well with most of it but ground to a halt in the NE as I was unable work out a word from the remaining anagrist to go with NIGHT at 7dn. I was missing some of the intersecting words – MAGIC WAND and LIMPET, so it wasn’t just a matter of filling in the unchecked letters. After looking up the answer I remembered seeing WALPURGIS NIGHT once before in a puzzle, but I have never come across it in real life – as if I would be attending such a function as described in the clue!

    Once that was in place the crossing words fell into place but for some unknown reason I was still unable to solve 6dn despite having FILE in mind for ‘dossier’, so I looked that one up too. Pip, you have an error in the wordplay here, it should be ‘A, then MISC reversed’ not ‘I’.

    Edited at 2020-07-01 04:57 am (UTC)

    2. WALPURGIS NIGHT has appeared in a couple of Jumbos but as far as I can tell has only turned up once in the main puzzle, #26718 on Saturday 6th May 2017. Unusually for me I didn’t comment that day so I can’t be sure I ever saw it.
  3. LOI RUBY. FIREMANS LIFT was new to me (with the legs, not the back, right?). Nice to see ENORMITY used “correctly.”
    1. In a fireman’s lift the person being carried is placed across the fireman’s shoulders so that the fireman can have hands free – to hold on to a ladder say.
  4. Not that straightforward for me–I’ve got the highest NITCH so far, by far. A couple of DNKs–FIREMANS LIFT, TRAINER–and a few biffs–ROCKY MOUNTAINS, SIGMA, MAGIC WAND. LOI FORTIETH: I finally thought of TIE, but still couldn’t think what could go around it.
  5. I rather enjoyed this as one of those puzzles which (if you didn’t just biff) made you feel like a half-decent solver for working it all out. LOI FORTIETH with time spent trying to remember an alternative name fro the stone.

    Unlike Angus, I did end up with STONE-HEARTED, precisely because I didn’t work it out properly. 14.20 with one pink.

  6. Thanks! For a fleeting moment, I wondered if it wasn’t another term for the service elevator.
  7. 34 minutes, not helping myself by trying to crowbar the answer for 22d into 23d in my bleary-eyed state. Still, got there in the end. I think 7d WALPURGIS NIGHT gets a name-check in the Masonic Mysteries episode of Inspector Morse, and I was also helped by The MACHINIST actually being a film.

    FOI 1a FIREMAN’S LIFT, LOI 23d YARN, though it was 16d FORTIETH that held me up most, not twigging that ruby was an anniversary.

  8. I never quite got onto this setter’s wavelength and so struggled at times. Never heard of W-NIGHT so guessed NIGHT and derived the rest from anagrist before checking answer on Wiki. Ended up feeling slightly irritated by it all.
  9. 15:15. Held up at the end by TOWERING fixated on finding a word ending in KING meaning hauling bags. Setter 1 John 0. All good stuff with some neat wordplay. I liked STONY HEARTED and ENORMITY best.
    1. I did the same KING thing, both xxxxKING and KxxxxING.
  10. …’The curse is come upon me,’ cried
    The Lady of Shallot.
    25 mins with yoghurt, granola, banana, blueberry compote.
    Having seen it was Walpurgis Night, I wrote in Nacht. This made Sigma tricky for a while.
    Mostly I liked Fortieth and Stony-Hearted.
    Thanks setter and Pip.
  11. 9:46. Fairly straightforward, and mostly a biff-fest, which always feels like relatively unnourishing fare.
    Here’s an interesting story about how I knew WALPURGIS NIGHT: I came across it in a crossword and happened to remember it.
  12. I suspect this crossword might divide solvers into two camps – those who know WALPURGIS NIGHT and those who don’t. I finished most of this quickly then spent a long time trying to shoehorn the anagrist into the spaces. My LOI was actually LIMPET so maybe if I’d got that first WALPURGIS would have revealed itself quicker.
  13. Good time for my nemesis day of Wednesday. Nearly put in stone-hearted by mistake. Some of the clues seemed a bit long, e.g. 1dn (FRIGATE), 6dn (FACSIMILE), 25ac (SIGMA).

    COD: MENACE, good join between bully and boys. I liked LOGO too.

    Yesterday’s answer: niobium was named for its relation to tantalum, Tantalus being Niobe’s father.

    Today’s question: forty has its letters in alphabetical order. Can you think of a six-letter word with that property? (No double letters)

    2. How long or short should a clue be? I agree with you that 9 or 10 letters is a bit on the long side, but surely OK. Azed awards things to people who produce what seem to me to be absurdly long clues, yet his own clues are usually nicely short. So I just don’t know.
      1. I followed the Azed slip clue-writing contest for a while and I couldn’t make head or tail of what he considered a good clue or why. The winners often seemed absurdly clumsy, and as you say very unlike his own clues. I gave up in the end, but I still love his puzzles.
        1. Unfortunately Azed has never mastered the art of producing a clue-writing slip in the way that Ximenes did. The Ximenes slips were required reading and the winning clues (especially from Morse and Lewis) were often superb.
  14. Definitely off wavelength today. On reading the blog I can’t see why but it felt like grimly wading through mud all the way. Over 45m having resorted to aids in exasperation. Ah well Thursday is on the way.
  15. Not that easy for me, taking 38 minutes with LOI TOWERING. I did know WALPURGIS NIGHT but the memory needed some priming before I hit on it. I thought of FIREMAN’S LIFT straightaway but then took a while to sort out the parsing. That gave me a moment of concern when I saw M?N?? for expressionist, thinking I was going to have to decide between Manet and Monet, but then I thought, “Weren’t they impressionists?” and MUNCH came to me without need of a scream. Decent puzzle. COD to FORTIETH. Thank you Pip and setter.
  16. Had vaguely heard of WALPURGIS NIGHT, now know what it is. FORTIETH was late in.

    15′ 32″ thanks pip and setter.

  17. Like K I knew this word from the Times crosswords. I was even careful with STONY. Whatever next?
  18. Easy again… I did know Walpurgis night. It is very peculiar that St Walpurga was English .. born in Devon .. yet her night is celebrated everywhere in N Europe nearly, except here
  19. Didn’t find it that easy. LOI – and a good five minutes on it – fortieth.
    1. It was only when my wife and I opened a card from a friend earlier this year that we discovered it was our Ruby anniversary. But then it wasn’t as it was our 30th not 40th.
      1. We’re on 47. I make certain of these things, because I know if I get it wrong I will never be allowed to forget it 😉

        I am reminded of the man who said to his wife “it’s our 14th wedding anniversary today. “So, what’s so special about that?” Well if I’d murdered you instead, I would now be eligible for parole” …

        1. I did remember our silver and she was puzzled by the silver card.
  20. Took a while, but I eventually remembered WALPURGIS NIGHT, only known from these crosswords, of course. For once, I double checked 26a to see where honey fitted in, and changed my STONE to STONY. FORTIETH took a while too, but I did have a guess at TIE for fastener, and that helped. The NW was most of the solve, apart from INCAN, but once I saw FIREMAN’S LIFT, after getting FACSMILE, it fell swiftly, leaving me with MIRROR as my LOI. 34:57. Thanks setter and Pip.
  21. I got wrecked on Walpurgis Night. Never heard of it. In fact I got stung by attending a completely different feast. WASPurgil Night.

    COD:FORTIETH.

    1. If it hadn’t been for the crossers I’d have gone for either Walruspig or Pigwalrus Night.
      2. Sadly Pigswalrus Night is no longer celebrated, since February was shortened – many happy memories.
    2. The first time I came across WALPURGIS NIGHT it was clued as an anagram and I had to look it up.
    3. At least you won’t be alone – I’ll be joining you at WASPURGIL night, which seems just as plausible if you haven’t heard of the actual thing.
  22. Comes in Faust and Balanchine made a ballet of but it’s spelled “nacht” so I did the same thing as Myrtilus. I’d no idea what actually went on and thought it was some sort of witches’ gathering. 19.54
  23. I have heard of WALPURGIS NIGHT, but still took a long time to spot it was the answer as the anagram took a long time to unfold, and I took a while to be sure that walnuts and walruses, amongst many other things, weren’t involved in any way. In fact I was rather sluggish in general, but this may not be unconnected to the fact that Tuesday is my regular Zoom virtual pub night.
  24. ….MAGIC WAND, I’d set everybody free” (Rush : “Presto”).

    I made heavier weather of this than I felt I should have done. I had all the necessary knowledge, but TOWERING continued to elude me even after the “king” was dead, and I spent far too long over the MENACE/MALICE crossing, hence my LOI where I misguidedly though the element might be tin.

    FOI INCAN
    LOI LEAD-IN
    COD FORTIETH
    TIME 13:16

    Edited at 2020-07-01 12:22 pm (UTC)

  25. My time was not recorded as I had the computer man in most of the day fixing the gremlins – two of which still NQ fixed.

    FOI 22dn AT SEA

    LOI 11ac ANYTHING

    COD 7dn WALPURGIS NIGHT arrived early as I remembered it from 2017.

    WOD Ditto!

    Have started reading Agatha Christie!

  27. I may just be improving. This would have been 25 minutes or so, if it weren’t for FORTIETH and LIMPET (must remember ‘obstruction’ = LET, which has come up dozens of times recently), which held me up for another 10! But still, I’ll take 30 minutes or so for a solve.

    Thanks to all the bloggers for helping me improve!

  28. No problem for me. I don’t know why but I knew WALPURGIS NIGHT so that went straight in from a glance at the anagrist, which made a lot of things easier. ROCKY MOUNTAINS went in early too. For once, I didn’t end up with one of those clues where the checkers don’t help much and I can’t see it.

    I remember being trained to do a fireman’s lift in the scouts as a teenager. I forget why. It is fairly easy to carry someone once you have them on your shoulder. But getting a body that is limp and not doing anything to help onto your shoulders is where the technique comes in. I remember it involves sitting the body up, squatting down, and somehow getting it up, then standing up using your legs. I’m sure there are any number of videos on YT for anyone who wants to try this while locked down!

  29. Thanks, Pip. Not my cup of tea, today. Can someone help me understand why “ones sinking” is fate?
    1. I read it as the fate of the ship in question, i.e. FRIGATE, being to sink. e.g. after being torpedoed.
      1. Thanks, John. That was all I could think, too, but it seemed pretty random. I guess the particular fate linking a bad outcome (crushed) to sinking ties back to the ship. But I didn’t see that at first, and I can’t say I like it very much now that I do.
  30. 18.06 which was rather quicker than I thought it would be on first pass. Incan was my first one in, towering the last. Lots to like menace for one and walpurgis night- never seen that as a solution before. Ditto for fireman’s lift but no doubt others have.

    Very enjoyable midweek outing.

  31. I seem to have had different experience than most, as the RHS including WALPURGIS NIGHT was easy, but the LHS held me up no end. Might have been easier if I’d known that MUNCH wasn’t spelt MUNSCH, and if I hadn’t got the literal for 2d completely wrong.
    This was one of those crosswords where the answers were easier than seemed to be at first.
  32. I found this on the easy side and finished it in 35 minutes. Nothing really obscure except perhaps the dirty deed of using ruby to clue FORTIETH (which thus is my COD). As I live in Germany, WALPURGIS NIGHT was not much of a problem. The “feast” led me to guess that the second word could be NIGHT and when I looked at the other letters to anagram, WALPURGIS presented itself right away.
  33. DNF in around 40 minutes. I ran aground in the SE corner and ran out of patience. I threw in a made up word instead of garland but I had an unparsed stone-hearted so it wouldn’t have made any difference.

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