One to take a little time over?
The theme in this puzzle is very obvious from the start, with every clue having some reference to time, measurement time, way of recording time or the passage of time. It was a very straightforward puzzle, with only the unusual use of DUN in DURATION being a little obscure. The two longer entries forming a cross in the middle were probably my favourite clues. A very clever puzzle, if over a bit too quickly (and perhaps containing too many double definitions for my liking).
Thanks Brendan.
| ACROSS | ||
| 5 | POPS IN |
Old man’s at home, thus visits for little while (4,2)
|
| POP (“old man”)’S IN (“at home”) | ||
| 6 | TOWERS |
Recovery vehicles? Some have clocks (6)
|
| Double definiton | ||
| 9 | ASCEND |
Climb in a second, somehow dropping nothing (6)
|
| A + *(secnd) [anag:somehow] where SECND is SEC(o)ND dropping O (nothing) | ||
| 10 | PRECIOUS |
Affected as minutes may be (8)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 11 | EONS |
Lots of the past one’s misrepresented (4)
|
| *(ones) [anag:misrepresented] | ||
| 12 | PHILANDERS |
Two-times quiet husband one defames first off (10)
|
| P (piano in music notation, so “quiet”) + H (husband) + I (one) + (s)LANDERS (“defames”, first (letter) off) | ||
| 13 | TIME IS MONEY |
Saying there’s no difference between porridge and bread (4,2,5)
|
| TIME (in prison) (“porridge”) IS (i.e. “there’s no deifference between”) MONEY (“bread”) | ||
| 18 | BIOLOGICAL |
Starts off by installing one sensible kind of clock (10)
|
| [starts off] B(y) I(nstalling) O(ne) + LOGICAL (“sensible”) | ||
| 21 | ITEM |
Broadcast time for piece of news (4)
|
| *(time) [anag:broadcast] | ||
| 22 | DURATION |
Apply pressure about ten to three, say? As long as it takes (8)
|
| DUN (“apply pressure”, especially for payment) about RATIO (10:3 or “ten to three”, say) | ||
| 23 | CLOCKS |
Records hits (6)
|
| Double definition, the first referring to recording the time it takes someone to do something. | ||
| 24 | ELEVEN |
Team’s schedule for tea-break (6)
|
| Double definition, the second referring to 11am (time for elevenses) | ||
| 25 | TIMELY |
Tiny fellow, see, is punctual (6)
|
| (Tiny) TIM (“fellow”) + ELY (a diocese or “see” in East England) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | APRES-SKI |
A smooth king I joined for relaxing stretch after runs (5-3)
|
| A + PRESS (“smooth”, as in iron) + K (King, in chess notation or on a playing card) + I | ||
| 2 | WIND UP |
Storm increased? Ensure operation of watch (4,2)
|
| WIND (“storm”) + UP (“increased”) | ||
| 3 | MODERATO |
Guidance on tempo, contemporary inspiration for poets (8)
|
| Mod. (modern, so “contemporary”) + ERATO (Muse of lytic poetry, thus “inspiration for poets”) | ||
| 4 | PERIOD |
Spell as part of school learning (6)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 5 | PASTOR |
Minister in bygone days supported by some troops (6)
|
| PAST (“in bygone days”) supported by OR (other ranks, so “some troops”) | ||
| 7 | SQUARE |
Piece of crossword that’s out of date (6)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 8 | SPLIT SECOND |
Left supporter for very brief moment (5,6)
|
| SPLIT (“left”) + SECOND (“supporter”) | ||
| 14 | EGG TIMER |
Send up kind of person to begin with that can help one cook breakfast (3,5)
|
| [send up] <=REMIT (“timer”) with EGG (“kinf of person” as in “he’s a good egg”) to begin with | ||
| 15 | EPISODES |
Is dividing lyric poems – they’re presented on separate occasions (8)
|
| IS dividing EPODES (“lyric poems”) | ||
| 16 | MINUTE |
Extremely small fraction of hour (6)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 17 | WEEKLY |
Reported with minimal impact in periodical (6)
|
| Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [reported] of WEAKLY (“with minimal impact”) | ||
| 19 | LOANER |
Recluse concealing a source of something for days or more (6)
|
| LONER (“recluse”) concealing A | ||
| 20 | LOCK IN |
Part of clock I never restrict the movement of (4,2)
|
| Hidden in [part of] “cLOCK I Never” |
I didn’t think it was that easy but loonapick certainly makes a convincing case. I was messing about with IO as ten and N as three say on DURATION and my classical knowledge wasn’t quite good enough for ERATO or EPODES. I prevailed though and it didn’t take as long as I thought. I also liked those crossing clues in the middle and thought APRÈS SKI was good. (Even I saw the theme today.)
Thanks Brendan and loonapick
‘source of something for days or more’ = loaner? Can someone explain?
‘Dun’ was a new one for me.
Failed on 19d, and seeing the solution I’m not surprised. No doubt some will say acceptable, but I say “distinctly dodgy!”. Otherwise nice puzzle. Thanks both.
Mark @2: a loaner is a temporary replacement car/computer/etc. while yours is being serviced. A “source of something” seems rather loose; I guess “source” here stands for “procure” (“to source something temporarily”) but how does it work as a noun I don’t know.
Overall though, a very enjoyable puzzle and a thoroughly worked theme (constraint?) as always with Brendan, and a rather easy one this time – I would agree with loonapick. Thanks both!
Liked PHILANDERS, MODERATO (erato must be most popular crossword muse) and BIOLOGICAL. Wasn’t entirely convinced by TOWERS or LOANER, but perhaps that’s just me. Mark@2, I think the idea is that you borrow something for a while from a LOANER, but as I said, I wasn’t convinced by the definition, though the wordplay was clear (with the help of crossers). Thanks to Brendan and loonapick.
Tough puzzle, took me a while to get going on it. Theme helped me solve a few clues.
New for me: EPODES; 6ac TOWER = tow truck (I think it is more American than British English?)
I could not parse 22ac.
Favourite: PHILANDERS, SPLIT SECOND.
I’m surprised by the people saying it was tough, most of the acrosses went in on the first pass and the only chewy ones were LOANER, PRECIOUS, DURATION (DUN was a new word for me). ELEVEN (bit of a weak clue I thought), and MODERATO (MOD for contemporary being not immediately obvious to me, but ERATO was the clincher and then “all mod cons” came to mind). EPODES was new to me too, the answer was obvious from the crossers but I was thinking “EP means lyric?”.
Thanks Brendan and loonapick
Even I saw this theme.
I was puzzled by LOANER too, and am not convinced by the attempts to explain it.
Not sure PERIOD is a DD – isn’t it the same definition twice?
Favourite MODERATO for the inspiration for poets.
I liked MODERATO and PHILANDERS. Unless I am missing something LOANER seems a bit arbitrary. You can loan something for less than a day.
I had LEAPER for 19D. LEPER concealing A, and a LEAPER might whimsically be a year that provides an extra day. Couldn’t account for the “or more” but I’m glad the correct solution is iffy on that part too!
This was a lot of fun. Like others, I had ticks (or should that be tick tocks?) for 13a TIME IS MONEY and 3d MODERATO. I really like the economy of double definition clues, such as “Records hits” for 23a CLOCKS. It was a cleverly executed theme – so thank you to Brendan for the satisfying solve and to loonapick for explaining 22a DURATION (the use of RATIO for “ten to three” was clever in a puzzle about time!).
Another fun puzzle from Brendan, with his usual ingenuity in getting in so many references.
My favourites were PHILANDERER, BIOLOGICAL, DURATION, MODERATO and EPISODES.
Julie in Australia (@11 (nice to see you!) – I liked your ‘ten to three’ observation – like the Grantchester church clock. 😉
Thanks to Brendan and loonapick.
Very nice. I had LONGER for19d which seemed to fit, but which stymied me for a duration
[Eileen @12
Watch adverts usually (always?) have the hands set at ten-to-three; not in homage to Rupert Brooke, but because the watch looks like it’s smiling!]
I thought of another explanation for LOANER: not the item but the person who loans something (never heard this being used but found it in Collins). In this case “source of something for days or more” makes more sense, albeit sometimes it can be a day or less…
I’m with Layman @15 for loaner, a complement to loanee.
Minor point, loonapick. The fodder in 21a is TIME; ITEM is the solution.
Thanks, Muffin@17 – it wouldn’t be a Loonapick blog without a Type O.
[Muffin@14 – not quite, it’s actually ten past ten that’s always shown. (I should have posted this ten minutes ago.)]
Lender is more usual than loaner.
On the gentler side for Brendan today, I thought. With several not too difficult to fathom double meanings, CLOCKS, ELEVEN, PERIOD, SQUARE, MINUTE.
But the usual “not seeing the wood for the trees” with me, though the theme was clearly evident to others…
At school we were taught that a lender lends a loan so a loan is what’s lent. But then there’s argot like ‘es ‘avin’ a lend of yer … so I guess it’s gotten a bit slippy …
Didn’t take a long time to spot the theme on this one. I am in awe of Brendan being unfailing in producing enjoyable crosswords even if this one wasn’t on the harder side. DUN was unfamiliar to me.
Got to PERIOD the wrong way after thinking pod=school.
Brilliant crossword and picking a few favourites would do it an injustice.
Cheers Brendan and Loonapick
Brilliant
Brendan sometimes winds me up the wrong way but I enjoyed this one with ticks for PHILANDERS, DURATION and my LOI TOWERS which held me up for an absurd time.
LOANERS & PRECIOUS were very Brendan. I’ll leave it at that 🙂
Cheers B&L
Just retired so getting into the rhythm of starting my day with the Guardian cryptic, it’s early days but certainly
didn’t find that easy! Re LOANERS though – having just left a corporate environment I can say that it is a very common term for a
temporary replacement computer/laptop.
I’m never happy when ‘starts off’ is used for ‘starts of’ (18a). I see the intention, I just don’t like it. It’s simply not natural English.
EGG=’kind of person’ is a real stretch (which I failed to get). Maybe ‘kind person’ would work better, but not by much.
Thanks Brendan and Loonapick. Nice straightforward Tuesday offering. I need these every now and again to reassure me that my crossword brain still works after 50+ years. Definitely at the (much) easier end of Guardian Cryptics. About half complete on first serial pass across and down then ten minutes to complete. Lack of musical knowledge gave me 10 seconds pause to complete with MODERATO. All the parses gentle too. Mildly agree with the quibbles over “(source) of something for days or more” as synonym for LOANER, but it may just be a minor (and, I think, legitimate) misdirection by Brendan to suggest to the solver there may be an S (source of Something) and the definition is “days or more”
muffin@ 14. So now we have anthropomorphic clocks, the adverts any way, like “grins” on the front grills of some cars.
No mention of digital clocks? Apparently Gen Z is not very good at using analog clocks.
”We” take for granted the complexity of using analog clocks, direction , fractions etc. I once taught a class of Assyrian refugee women and it was much more than a language lesson., more of a lesson for me. I couldn’t use the way I had been taught how to ”tell the time”. But their ancient culture’s use of sundials and waterclocks (using weight of water when the sun wasn’t out) is so fascinating, as is their legacy to us of the sexagesimal (base-60) system (I looked that up.)
Closer to home there are also differences. Half nine in British English is 9.30 (past). Halb neun in German is8.30 (to). And ELEVEN(ses) is not part of my vocabulary.
But Brendan/Brian Greer would know all of this. His professional field is mathematics education (in addition to his pedigree in cryptocruciverbalism).
Loved this one. I felt that I was on the setter’s wavelength for once and recognising the theme was really helpful. I always like double definitions and there were plenty here to enjoy: TOWERS, ELEVEN, SQUARE and others. I thought TIME IS MONEY was clever.
Paddymelon @28, and everyone. If you haven’t seen it, watch “Dave Allen telling the time”.
Thank you Mr G. Loved it. Up to your usual high standard . Ta also for blog
In this old man’s schooldays, LOANER would have been marked wrong. LENDER was correct. So I winced, as I do when football clubs LOAN a player, and that player is a LOANEE.
Thanks for the recommendation, Brian@30. Just watched it – I’d forgotten how brilliant Dave Allen was.
If we’re going to have a dialogue on smiling clocks/watches, I think the standard setting is ten to two; at 10 to 3 you’d get a crooked smile!
I think you’ll find it’s 10:08, which has even filtered over into digital watch displays
There’s always something going on in a Brendan puzzle — sometimes it’s hard to pin down exactly what it is, but this was not one of those occasions! This was very entertaining. I needed the blog for the parsing of DURATION. And I did wonder about the minutes in 10a — isn’t the phrase normally “PRECIOUS moments”? Though it did remind me of the wonderful Van Morrison song “Precious Time”:
It doesn’t matter to which God you pray
Precious time is slipping away
(To continue the musical theme, while TIME IS MONEY, TIME and MONEY are both tracks on Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. Ironically perhaps, it’s MONEY that has the unusual TIME signature.)
Many thanks to Brendan (and for the Dave Allen recommendation) and to loonapick.
Have never met “loaner” in the sense Layman@4 describes.
Peter B @34
Yes, ten to two would be better. It’s been too long since I looked at an analogue clock!
I did think some of these were very loose or unsatisfactory. However I forgave all of that, simply because it was such fun and it was interesting. Loved the fact that every clue (or answer) fitted the theme. My favourite was PHILANDER, which was well constructed and clever. BIOLOGICAL was a close second.
Of course it helped my enjoyment that I finished it, albeit not finding it as easy as others here did.
Thanks Brendan for a richly themed crossword. I found this very gentle for a Brendan puzzle but nonetheless satisfying. Favourites included POPS IN, SQUARE, and SPLIT SECOND. I agree with poc @26 about ‘starts off’ being unnatural English. LOANER in the US is commonly used when leaving your car for servicing and the dealer provides you with a temporary replacement. Thanks loonapick for the blog.
Enjoyed this. I like how Brendan rings the changes on themes.
Julie in Australia @11 and Eileen @12 – I took “ten to three” as a random example of a ratio, not spotting the reference to Rupert Brooke (and maybe also to Péter Sellers).
“Stands the Church clock at ten to three?
And is there honey still for tea?”
“Honey’s off, dear.”
[Miche @41
Is that from “Balham, gateway to the south”?]
[muffin @42 – yes]
[Miche @43
Thanks. Not heard it for ages. I must look it out (or find it online?)]
[If anyone is curious about “Balham…”, it’s here.]
LOANER? Well, I’ve never heard of it and seem to have managed 65 years without it. A horrible word, but bunged in with a wince. I’m not at all convinced about PRECIOUS minutes either. Otherwise a good puzzle with a theme so obvious that even I saw it (I almost never do).
Thanks for the blog.
One of these days I will find it straightforward.
Not today unfortunately.
Very tricky.
I entered CHARTS for 23A until I reached 17D and the crosser didn’t work.
I struggled with this at first pass this morning, but coming back to it I’m not sure why.
I’m new-ish to cryptics, having been cutting my teeth on Quiptics recently. While I certainly had some issues solving this (thanks for the blog to clear up some parsing: 22a, I’m looking at you!) Certainly a fun one, and spotting the theme early helped.
Like Dai @ #10, I originally had LEAPER at 19d, but used a check word on it as I wasn’t sure. Wasn’t sure about LOANER either, though I’m happy with it as a word for a borrowed computer/car.
Although this was the quickest I’ve completed a Brendan in (an hour or so; and I started late Tuesday evening) I still found it a bit of a slog. I spotted the theme early on which was a great help but all in all it left me a bit cold – sorry B. Thanks loonapick for your blog as it cleared up the wordplay elements I did’t see even though I guessed right, and thanks Brendan for another of your ‘constraints’.
Loaner is a word that I haven’t heard for years and it’s also a word that heard every single day in my underprivileged junior years. As in… “can I have a loaner of your free bus pass or your free school dinner ticket or a loaner of your new jumper/coat or a loaner of a few cigarettes?” It was always implied that it would be repaid asap. BTW it was me asking.
Loaner takes me back to my roots. What about you?
I
Oops, time out caught me out. Thanks to Brendan for fab puzzle and loonipick for excellent blog
poc @ 26 ‘Starts off’ sounds okay to my ear, and I think is more natural; it’s ‘Starts of’ that seems unnatural to me?
‘Egg’ was fine for ‘kind of person’ as in P G Wodehouse’s ‘Eggs Beans & Crumpets’, all names Plum uses for Drones types, but ‘Egg’ for ‘Send up’ seemed strained.
The last three took all day — 3d MODERATO, 10a PRECIOUS, 19d LOANER — but I stared them down and prevailed. Hence the late post. Great puzzle, very satisfying to complete. Like loonapick I clocked the theme early on — after three or four clues. Favourites 11a EONS (“Lots of the past”), 12a PHILANDERS (“Two-times”), 8d SPLIT SECOND (“Left supporter”), and others
Thank you both
DD @ 54 (Should you see this)
EGG is not “send up”
“Send up” is telling you to reverse REMIT to get TIMER.
I often find Brendan’s puzzles hard, but this seemed straightforward.
I had to assume that DUN meant something, but was puzzled by the EP that I was left with having seen ODES, and having forgotten EPODES, as I will again, no doubt.
[Thanks for the reminder of Toothbrush Holesmanship.]
Cheers one and all.
Thanks for explanation of DURATION loonapick. Id never heard of DUN for applying pressure so couldn’t parse it, and failed to spot RATIO. Clever diversion from Brendon if expecting “ten to three” to refer to clock time in accordance with theme.
Ta Brendon really good one for me.
poc@26, a kind person would be a good egg; a bad egg might not be a kind person, but would be a kind of person. Your suggestion doesn’t work as well as Brendan’s original.
(Late to the party as I go through the archives looking for Tuesdays to solve.) The problem for me (a beginner trying to move past Quiptics) is that the ‘off’ in ‘starts off’ means either take a letter off somewhere or start the answer with ‘o’. Why is ‘off’ there at all? The surface doesn’t need it.