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 entires 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)
|
| *(item) [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.
Comment #13
[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).