Times 29311 – In the soup? Yes, it is!

75 comments on “Times 29311 – In the soup? Yes, it is!”

1. Same problem and same solution to the non-appearing puzzle. I was a little distracted by something while I was solving, but my impression was that a few of the synonyms, both in the definitions and in the wordplay, were a step further than I was comforatble with.

2. 13:37
   It’s been a while since we’ve had a screw-up from the club site; I suppose we were due. I went to the Times site, waited and waited until I finally got the puzzle. Like Vinyl I biffed a bunch, but confirmed each once I’d typed it in, except for LOI MARTINMAS

3. I have never heard of MYRMIDON but given that it was clearly MY followed by an anagram of NIMROD, no other arrangement would work. Held up a little at the end by the distraction of 1A ending with the letters that would fit AUTUMN (and the clue ending “season”) even though I don’t know wny word that ends that way. Once I fot th eP it was obvious though.

   1. Myrmidons are Achilles’ folk. The Iliad is actually quite a good read.

   2. ‘Come here about me, you my Myrmidons. Mark what I say.’ Achilles plans to kill Hector with the help of his followers in revenge for the killing of Patroclus. Troilus and Cressida. I played Troilus (very badly) at Uni and the lines have stuck.

4. I think KINSMAN is not an anagram (although the letters work) but rather a reverse hidden (with all the Es dropped). At least that was how I solved it. Of course, any hidden clue is also an anagram by definition, since it involves that same letters.

   1. Agree, I think the “coming over” suggests a reversal. Also agree that it doesn’t really matter.

      1. To be fair to the setter the hidden reversal requires a little more thought on their part than an anagram?

   2. I also read it like this.

5. 8:51 for a bit of Monday morning fun.

   As others have said, the biggest challenge was accessing the puzzle. I did it on the puzzles page instead of the club site, which saved me the few seconds I always take to fumble my way to the “submit” button.

   I’ve heard of MICHAELMAS but not his brother MARTIN. And MYRMIDON is one of those words of which you’re vaguely aware but have never really encountered. As Paul said, the checkers helped out with the spelling.

   A few of the other clues wouldn’t have been out of place in the Quickie but there’s nowt wrong with that on a Monday.

   Thanks Vinyl and setter.

   1. Try the Steeleye Span song “The Wife of Usher’s Well’.

      1. Ok, googled. To be fair he could have just said November. And could have lightened it up a bit while he was at it!

6. 26:29 (on the app). Several such as KINSMAN and RIGMAROLE half-parsed and I’d forgotten the meaning of MYRMIDON. Like galspray, I didn’t know the date or significance of MARTINMAS, which I’ve now found out occurs on Armistice Day; interesting to look it up.

   I was happy to be able to complete a puzzle without too much trouble after the travails of last week. I liked ADOLESCENT and then noticed ACNE in the unches a few rows up; who knows, but probably not a deliberate Nina.

   1. ACNE – good spot!

7. MYRMIDON was a bit of fresh vocab that was the highlight of this puzzle for me,
   Printed it out from the e-paper.

8. Sadly I got all muddled up with PERVERSION so that’s a fail in about 30. I found it less easy than others, mainly because I fell for every misdirection, disguised definition and sheer trickery that was on offer. Much enjoyed nonetheless, thanks V.

   From Subterranean Homesick Blues:
   Look out kid, don’t matter what you did
   Walk on your TIPTOEs, don’t try No-Doz
   Better stay away from those that carry ’round a fire hose
   Keep a clean nose, watch the plain clothes
   You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows

   1. I didn’t know what No-Doz were back then. Still don’t! In any case, I think Bob spelt it DOSE in the Ginsberg video.

      1. I wondered if he’d taken some when he was up all night, leaning on the window sill. I must check out the vid, maybe Bob was afflicted by another mondegreen – of his own song.

9. 42 minutes. I don’t remember meeting NORI as seaweed before, but IRON AGE was easy enough not to delay me on that one. MYRMIDON from wordplay only. It has come up a few times before including once when I was the duty blogger but the definition has varied and nothing has stuck.

10. Knew NORI from other crosswords. All was well until a brain-freeze on -C-U-I-T, forgetting the rule about trying a Q before a U.

    So dnf in 18′ or so. Thanks vinyl and setter.

    1. The blog title may give you a hint where actual nori may be encountered, if you order the miso soup.

11. 17mins. Nothing too daunting though it took me a while to rid myself of the notion that the non European might be a Klingon. One of the better hidden word clues. COD assume, showing the wonderful variety of meanings a single word can cover in English.

12. 17:21, started off fast but as so often happens slowed down a lot on the last few. LOI PERVERSION.
    Thanks setter and blogger

13. 25:17, on the Puzzles page. What a shock when it suddenly said “completed” and I didn’t need my final check. LOI RIGMAROLE. I liked SMATTERING and RINGMASTER. COD to ASSUME

14. 28 minutes with LOI a constructed MYRMIDON. I assumed there was a seaweed called NORI. I knew of MARTINMAS and thought it might be one of the quarter days, which I see it has been in Scotland. A nice start to the week. Thank you V and setter.

15. 18:46

    Done on the puzzles’ page.

16. No time, but felt fast, maybe 25 mins, but with two blanks at the end : PERVERSION, where I forgot the convention rep=theatre, and ACQUAINT, where I kept trying to find ways to make “oddly” either be an indicator of alternate letters, or stand alone like “rum”, didn’t think it as a modifier of “oddly unfamiliar”. It’s hard to define QUAINT in two words, but this looks both odd and unfamiliar.

    Problems with ACQUAINT not helped about unease over UNIFIED, as I couldn’t see a word NIFIED with its middle removed.

    We seem to have had SMATTERING a few times recently? Anyway, it went in straight away. And, for the first time I spotted a Triple definition, with ASSUME.

    Pleased to get the barely heard of PROVENDER and MYRMIDON, both words that I have seen and never thought what they meant. Also didn’t know NORI, I love sushi but never knew this word.

    COD MARTINMAS

17. 10:35. I too printed out the crossword from the puzzles area of the online paper. I’m another who didn’t know MYRMIDON although it felt dimly familiar. Having looked it up, I’m not sure what “instinctively” is doing in the clue. Likewise a MER at “oddly unfamiliar” for “quaint” seems a bit of a stretch. I tried a biffed ACCUSTOM for that one at first, but UNIFIED set me straight. Thanks Vinyl and setter.

    1. I knew that the MYRMIDONs were Achilles’s followers but ‘instinctively’ puzzled me too. ODE says ‘typically one who is unscrupulous or carries out orders unquestioningly’, and Chambers says ‘who carries out another’s orders without fear or pity’, which are both close but not quite the same thing.

18. 13:37
    On the puzzles page.
    Thanks vinyl and setter.

19. A rare opportunity to do the 15×15 in the morning, and an enjoyable 17:10 it was too. NHO MYRMIDON, and having looked it up it made me think that the world would be a nicer place if there were fewer of them. Hey-ho! COD ASSUME, with MOSAIC running it close.
    Thanks Vinyl and setter

20. 32:51

    Sluggish performance for a Monday. Correctly guessed MYRMIDON (NHO) from wordplay.

    Thank you, vinyl1 and the setter.

21. About 20 minutes.

    – Eventually put in ASSUME without being confident of how it worked – the ‘fancy’ meaning was less obvious to me
    – Have we had ‘whipping’ as a letter-removal indicator before, as used in IRE?
    – Hadn’t heard of MYRMIDON, and the only reference point in my mind was Stephen Fry in Blackadder’s Christmas Carol asking “What news of the foul Marmydons?”… anyway, I had the checkers and that was the most realistic-looking option
    – Didn’t know nori seaweed, but IRON AGE had to be

    Thanks vinyl and setter.

    FOI Orc
    LOI Myrmidon
    COD Assume

22. Another with great prob s trying to find the crossie today despite having various methods of access. In the end, madame r de p found it on her ‘pooter. What a palaver.

    Anyway, 34 mins which it shouldn’t have been but I held myself up with a clumsy EPISODAL. Doh.
    Once I’d figured out that 4d must be MARITNMAS, all went to order. LOI PERVERSION.

    Neddless to say, I’ve NHO MYRMIDON but worked it out, as others, from wp.

    Thanks V and setter.

23. 7:10

    Completed on the puzzles page online. I’d forgotten this submits immediately you enter the final letter but luckily no misprints this time.

24. About 25′. One of those which is quite easy apart from the unknowns. PROVENDER rang a bell and was straightforward to parse. MYRMIDON was NHO and I correctly guessed the positions of the I and O.

    Isn’t KINSMAN a reverse hidden without the “e”s rather than an anagram?

    Thanks Vinyl and setter.

    Edit, sorry didn’t see Paul’s comment above…

25. 15:38 for me and NHO MYRMIDON but an enjoyable crossword and the first easy one, even for a Monday, in ages!

26. 13.32 in the unfamiliar surroundings of the online non-club version. At least there’s no chance of adding to your error total. My last in was ASSUME, as I could see it was probably a multi-definition but struggled with “fancy”. So I hit reveal, and was surprised to go straight to the completion hoorah.
    MYRMIDON, of course, from Troilus: Achilles apparently had them but how those ones fit the definition I’m not clear.
    Not all my memories of PLAYTIME were enjoyable: our setter clearly doesn’t know (or has forgotten) the devilry kids out of the classroom were capable of.

    1. Myrmidons did whatever Achilles told them, come what may.
       As I mentioned above, The Iliad is a surprisingly good read!

    2. I rember well, at school, some oof smacked me in the playground and I smacked him back, which was the only part of the fracas the prefect saw! I was duly punished with 500 lines on Picasso’s Blue Period. I wrote a load of twaddle on the story of his girlfriend leaving him. He was beside himself the next day. 🤨

27. Apologies for the late running of the 29311 service from London Bridge to Club Site via Server Central. The problem has now been fixed but you will need to refresh.

    1. Thanks and also for replying to email, there must be lots. Great customer service.

28. 20:22 on puzzles page which is far less user-friendly. Why would anyone use that? The club does not cost extra and you can opt out of the leaderboard. Did the QC while waiting to see if it came back.
    It felt slower with some on the fringes of GK. CUSTOM was confusing after just trying to fit it into ACQUAINT.
    Mondayish, thanks vinyl and setter.

29. 16:21
    Slow in committing to ASSUME as triple definitions are one of my blind spots, the unknown MYRMIDON went in as the most likely looking collection of letters, and PERVERSION took far too long as I had PORN on the brain. I also feel as if S MATTERING has held me up in the past.

    An entertaining solve to start the week with nothing too out there.

    Thanks to both.

30. Club site was up and running when I started the puzzle. From ORC to ACQUAINT in 18:09. I lost almost 2 minutes on LOI, ACQUAINT. It didn’t help that I’d put in ACC for account so was trying to solve ACCU-I-T. Have heard of MYRMIDONs, but couldn’t have told you what they were. Thanks setter and Vinyl.

31. DNF due to MERTINMAS for MARTINMAS, otherwise would have been a satisfying 10:33. It wasn’t due to rushing as I was staring at it for a minute. I now realise that ‘mother’ is MAMA rather than just MA, and I hadn’t accounted for the other M in my reading anyway. That’s my leaderboard aspirations banjaxed for another month.

    MYRMIDON is a nice word which was mainly familiar to me from the game Oblivion (it’s one of the arena ranks), and perhaps once or twice from Homer, although I’ve only read the Odyssey, not the Iliad, which is apparently where they feature more prominently.

    Thank you Vinyl1 and setter.

    1. I have to admit that I knew of Myrmidons from the film Troy! So, I knew the word if not how to spell it.

32. This was on the gentler side, but I think still a bit more of a challenge than some of the easy Mondays we used to see. The only unknown for me was the seaweed, but the answer was obvious so it had to be NORI.

33. 45”. Muddled up my seaweeds. There’s Aonori as well so had an extra a and o but it was clearly Iron Age. Incidentally I access the crossword using my IPhone paying £5 monthly for the Lite version. I called them when the subscription price increased and they ‘enlitened’ me to this option if that helps anyone?

34. 27 minutes. All fairly straightforward. MYRMIDON entered because it fitted, I’d heard of it, and the wordplay gave it, but I couldn’t have told you what it meant. Also a bit vague about nori, but thought that IRON AGE was what it was.

35. 16:58

    Decent start to the week with a gentle Snitch at 66 which would give me a target of 18 minutes. A few notes:

    ACQUAINT – LOI, had to rely on the ‘If U then Q’ rule, to think of the answer
    MYRMIDON – During the solve, I was thinking that must be that dance from The Nutcracker, but that’s Mirlitons, so goodness knows how I know this answer.
    IRON AGE – never heard of NORI = seaweed
    MARTINMAS – dragged up from somewhere, but parsed successfully

    Thanks V and setter

36. 19:20 – gentle enough to count as a normal Monday following a particularly tough week. Was familiar with MYRMIDON after much immersion in various versions of the Achilles saga, but the definition threw me a little. No doubt the instinctive bit has some lexicographic justification somewhere but it doesn’t immediately spring to mind as an essential quality.

37. Quick today, no problems.
    Worried about how many have not heard of Myrmidons. What is happening to education in this country?!

    1. There weren’t any copies of the Iliad around in Blaydon Comprehensive in the 70s so I don’t think that’s a modern change😊

       1. You sure? Did it not have a school library? Mine did, but that was back in the educated 1960s 🙂

          1. Yes it did, I certainly don’t recall a classical Greek section. And somehow on my weekly visits to the local municipal library I did not tend to browse those shelves either.

    2. I did try reading the Iliad once after enjoying the Odyssey (wrong order, I know) but got bogged down in the lists of who was there with how many men and gave up.
       Nowadays I would simply skip those bits but I was rather a linear thinker in my youth. Maybe try again.

38. 13:35 accessed successfully from the club site so now gutted to find that my current position 27 on the leaderboard is a falsehood😊 Sort of knew the word myrmidon but wouldn’t have known its spelling so wordplay very helpful there. Also never heard of Martinmas which I was determined was going to be Michaelmas but it wouldn’t fit. Liked the modified reverse hidden clue for kinsman, not a device I recall seeing before.

    Thx V and setter

39. Must have loaded this after the problem was sorted. For some reason PERVERSION wouldn’t come. LOI. Otherwise v Mondayish. 14 mins

40. This would have been a quick time despite having to do it on my phone (I can’t stand the other crossword interface) but I opted for MYRMODIN for some reason. The correct answer looks more like a word.

    COD: PERVERSION

    Thanks blogger and setter

41. MYRMIDON remembered from my 15 minuts of fame as a contestant on Treasure Hunt. It was the name of a ship in Liverpool docks to which we had to direct Anneka in her helicopter.

42. 22 minutes. Bit weird not to be able to get the online version – don’t know why this is so hard for them to sort! Lovely puzzle with some interesting words (MYRMIDON which I had thought was a type of gladiator, but that turns out to be a MURMILLO).

43. 23:32
    No problem accessing the club page at 11.20 here in France (UTC+01:00).

    Reasonably straightforward but PROVENDER, MYRMIDON and PARFAIT all made me pause. Always confuse the latter with the description of the “gentle knight”.

    Thanks to Vinyl and the setter

44. I found it slightly trickier than a standard Monday, and it took me fully a minute to see my LOI, though it really shouldn’t have.

    FOI PLUCKY
    LOI PERVERSION
    COD DUMB
    TIME 10:20

45. About 45 minutes in total – 30 minutes to do all but four clues, then a cup of tea for refreshment, followed by the final 15 minutes with LOI Acquaint where I was trying to use the odd letters from Account. Does Quaint mean oddly familiar?
    NHO Nori, but it was clearly going to be Iron Age . Enjoyable puzzle.

46. Not a Monday stroll in the park by any means but pleasantly challenging. Held up mostly by ACQUAINT – like others here, ‘oddly unfamiliar’ isn’t quite what the word suggests in my opinion.

47. I thought it was slightly trickier than Vinyl judged it, with a couple of unknowns – MYRMIDON – the classics were not my strong suit and I only did Latin for a couple of years, not Greek – and NORI. Both were solvable from the cryptic, however, and it was other problems that held me up. I missed the triple def of ASSUME, until biffing it, had a MER at ‘quaint’ meaning oddly unfamiliar and was toying with CANDLEMAS before I thought of MARTINMAS, less familiar, and realising mother’s was MA MAS, not MAS. LOI ADOLESCENT, having convinced myself inclination was BENT.

48. Standard Monday puzzle, and none the worse for that. Achilles and his Myrmidons were a nasty bunch.

49. As far as I’m concerned this was the easiest for some time, with a swift (for me) finishing time of 17.08. Maybe I was just on the setters wavelength, but most answers came to me pretty quickly with only PROVENDER and PLAYTIME delaying me to any great extent. It was fingers crossed as far as MYRMIDON was concerned, and I was relieved to find it was right.

50. 7:40. I’m in Canada so the club site problems had been fixed by the time I got to this. No problems with the puzzle, but a couple of MERs at ‘oddly unfamiliar’ and ‘instinctively’.

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