Quick Cryptic 2909 by Hurley

Author   BletchleyRejectPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

 

I enjoyed this one for its mix of relatively straightforward clues with a few headscratchers to complete the grid.

A good variety of clues including five anagrams, seven letter deletion (or variations on the theme) clues and three double definitions but – no complaints from me – no cryptic defs.

All done in 8:36. Thanks to Hurley

Definitions underlined in bold, deletions and letters in the wordplay not appearing in the answer indicated by strikethrough.

Across
7 Perfect extract from guide altered (5)
IDEAL – Hidden (‘extract from’) guIDE ALtered
8 Mug drank merrily after cheers (7)
TANKARD – Anagram (‘merrily’) of DRANK following TA (‘cheers’)

An appropriately boozy surface. My COD
10 Drug substitute, hollowed-out pill, expert brought over initially (7)
PLACEBO – PilL (‘hollowed out pill’) ACE (‘expert’) Brought Over (‘brought over initially’)
11 Suppress odd bits of castellan’s book (5)
ATLAS – cAsTeLlAnS (‘suppress odd bits of castellan’s’)

Only the even numbered letters of ‘castellan’s’. I don’t know if the surface means anything, ie if a famous cartographer was a ‘castellan’. FWIW I looked up Mercator (finding out that his 1595 Atlas was the first time the word had been used to describe a book of maps) and it wasn’t on his CV.
12 Far-seeing gift entertaining 101? (9)
PRESCIENT – PRESENT (‘gift’) containing (‘entertaining’) CI (‘101’ in Roman numerals)
14 Argument against fraud (3)
CON – Double definition

After umming and aahing about whether this was a triple definition, I eventually opted for a double, mainly because I couldn’t see ‘argument’ by itself as a definition for CON.
15 Add small measure of spirits (3)
TOT – Double definition
16 Home needs rice to be cooked (9)
RESIDENCE – Anagram (‘to be cooked’) of NEEDS RICE
18 City where I’m rebuffed repeatedly about article (5)
MIAMI – MI and MI (‘I’m rebuffed repeatedly’) containing (‘about’) A (‘article’)

‘Rebuffed’ indicating reversal of IM
20 Pay proper attention to particular point (7)
RESPECT – Double definition

The second definition as in “the cases were similar in almost every respect”.
22 Special deal ultimately leads to impulse for spending spree (7)
SPLURGE – SP (‘Special’) deaL (‘deal ultimately’) preceding (‘leads to’) URGE (‘impulse’)
23 Offence of a right child (5)
ARSON – A (‘a’) R (‘right’) SON (‘child’)
Down
1 Animal mishap, pup too silly (12)
HIPPOPOTAMUS – Anagram (‘silly’) of MISHAP PUP TOO
2 Dissolute ten years, not without love (8)
DECADENT – DECADE (‘ten years’) NoT (‘not without love’)
3 Run away from pest, we hear (4)
FLEE – Aural wordplay (‘we hear’) of FLEA (‘pest’)

No ambiguity about the def with the aural wordplay indicator at one end of the clue; one of my bugbears is when the indicator is in the middle of the clue and working out the def depends on having some checked letters in.
4 Made great effort in street roam (6)
STROVE – ST (‘street’) ROVE (‘roam’)
5 At sea, dawn tune desired? No! (8)
UNWANTED – Anagram (‘At sea’) of DAWN TUNE
6 Irritation in Georgia — lie low at the outset (4)
GALL – GA (‘Georgia’) Lie Low (‘lie low at the outset’)

The US state, not the country, which would have given GE as the International vehicle registration code for the country of Georgia. ‘Irritation’ as in annoyance or exasperation, not a sense of GALL I’m familiar with, but it’s in Collins and the other dictionaries.
9 Engineer can’t find site for debugging aid? (12)
DISINFECTANT – Anagram (‘Engineer’) of CAN’T FIND SITE

No, not a software anti-virus program.
13 Bearers and cross-country runners using different leader (8)
CARRIERS – HARRIERS (‘cross-country runners’) with the first letter changed to C (‘using different leader’)

HARRIERS as cross-country (human) runners named after a kind of hound used for hare-hunting.
14 Container one emptied first for water fan? (8)
CANOEIST – CAN (‘Container’) OnE (‘one emptied’) IST (‘first’)

The question mark as a CANOEIST is an example of someone who might be a ‘water fan’, though maybe not the first to come to mind. My LOI.
17 Kind about skin on bizarre dessert (6)
SORBET – SORT (‘Kind’) containing (‘about’) BizzarE (‘skin on bizarre’)
19 Supporter the whole year (4)
ALLY – ALL (‘the whole’) Y (‘year’)
21 Fall in price around November leads to difficulty (4)
SNAG – SAG (‘Fall in price’) containing (‘around’) N (‘November’)

I wondered what the ‘in price’ was doing, but Collins specifically has ‘to fall in value’ as sense 2 for SAG.

73 comments on “Quick Cryptic 2909 by Hurley”

  1. 6.03, one of my quicker times of late. I’m pretty sure there won’t be any complaints about this one. My LOI was DECADENT where I spent a while trying to wrestle an anagram out of ‘ten years’ for a word meaning ‘without love’. Otherwise it was a largely straightforward solve, thanks Hurley and BR.

  2. I wondered about ‘in price’, too; in fact wasted some time wondering about it before putting in SNAG as my LOI. 7:26.

  4. Thought it was going to be fast before stumbling badly at the end. SORBET was last in – I’d got to ‘sort’ for ‘kind’ but ‘skin on’ refused to yield so it went in unparsed. Before that held up on PRESCIENT but that was entirely down to me – an old Sale Harrier – whacking in ‘harrier’ without reading the clue properly. A little slow out the blocks when I missed the hidden for a bit and tried to anagram guide. Ended up all green in 12.59.

  5. About half done in 5 minutes, then as others slowed down a bit, but still a rare day for leaving our SCC debenture seat free for the cleaners. 18.12 with sorbet then respect as L2I

    Also DNK gall as irritant but galling is definitely irritating so took that and moved on.

    COD to canoeist, great surface and we love a clue where you just do what it says and out pops the answer (so long as you can work out which bits are the instructions😉).

    First thought for debugging aid after dismissing from my own IT world was something like fly swat, but as soon as wrote out the letters in a block the answer was staring us in the face.
    Thanks Hurley and BR

  6. As others have said, this was at the gentler end of the spectrum.
    Started with IDEAL and finished with the slightly trickier CANOEIST/RESPECT combo in 6.01.
    Thanks to BR

  7. I inadvertently closed the puzzle on my phone (swiped by mistake) and having reopened and finished it I was amazed to see my time as 3:52. I am positive this is a glitch but reckon I was sub 10. All write ins on first pass of acrosses bar SPLURGE and how much easier are the downs with all checkers and not an unch in sight! A very unusual and brief foray into the rarified atmosphere of the speedsters and for me a glimmer of understanding of what it must be what it is like for you folks everyday!
    Sorry if I sound a bit too much like the TC that’s got the cream.
    Thank you Hurley and Bletchers

    1. Same for me. Easily a PB at sub 10 minutes and a spur to get in enough practice to graduate confidently to the 15×15

  8. 7:53. Nice and quick, with just a moments hesitation over SNAG before pressing submit. What else could it be?

  9. Like others, slowed down in the south-east with SORBET, RESPECT and SNAG last to fall. All easy going up to then. DISINFECTANT biffed from the DIS. SPLURGE took a while to see the parsing correctly and SORBET as I wouldn’t consider it a dessert, more of a palate cleanser between courses. But, it’s in the dictionaries, so…
    Thanks BR and setter.

  11. Nice one. I thought I was in for a record but had to spend some time unravelling CANOEIST (lovely clue) RESPECT (not so lovely) and SNAG (hmm)
    So 26:08 for a happy day.
    COD DECADENT where I too tried to solve a non existent anagram.
    Thanks both.

  12. Like others I wondered about ‘in price’ re SNAG but I didn’t let it delay me.

    11 minutes. I don’t go all out for speed and like to include parsing in my timings, but I note with mild interest that it is now 2 weeks (12 puzzles) since I solved a QC within 10 minutes, which for many years was my target time until I extended it to 15.

    1. The NITCH for this puzzle is currently 81, which is the lowest since QC2897 (Tue 28th Jan – 12 puzzles ago) which has a NITCH of 77 – today’s is my fastest since the same date.

  13. 5:09. Yes, rather easy… except where it wasn’t. I thought I was on for a clean sweep of the across clues until I got to 20A, and then I was held up by more than a minute at the end by CANOEIST. I liked “drank merrily”. Thanks Hurley and BR.

  14. 4.52

    Held up by CANOEIST but followed the w/p and the answer emerged.

    Thanks Hurley and BR for the usual excellent blog

  15. Lots to like here, all mentioned above already. 14d seems to point towards the answer having an OE in it which can’t possibly be … oh! So COD to that in a packed field for the PDM.

    All done in 06:33 for sub-K and a Red Letter Day.

    Many thanks Hurley and Bletchers.

  16. 14:25

    I thought a PB was in the offing as I raced through all but the SE corner in 6 minutes but then ground to a halt with a good 5 minutes on the last 3, SORBET, RESPECT and LOI SNAG.

  17. 11:20
    A similar story to others. I thought I was heading for a PB, until hitting the SE corner where RESPECT and CANOEIST held me up for an age. I had gone through every type of water fan from turbines to teetotallers. Only after working out how to construct it from the wordplay did the penny finally drop.

    Thanks Bletchers and Hurley

  18. It’s a relief to be under target again at 8.59 after yesterday’s shambles when it took me about three times as long to finish. I did later redeem myself however by solving the 15×15 over eight minutes faster than the supposed QC.
    I thought this was relatively easy for a Hurley whose puzzles I always enjoy. The only answer to really trouble me was my LOI which was CANOEIST, which took me the best part of a minute to solve.

  19. 25 mins…

    Should have been quicker, but got held up with the 17dn “Sorbet” and 20ac “Respect” axis. At least I finished, which is more than I can say about some of my offerings lately.

    I seriously wonder whether the setter put “in price” for 21dn to create a rude distraction – because my first result made me do a double take. The rest were more gentle.

    FOI – 7ac “Ideal”
    LOI – 17dn “Sorbet”
    COD – 21dn “Snag”

    Thanks as usual!

  20. Another solver who started off thinking it was a doddle and then decelerated over the last few in the SE. A good QC, though. I enjoyed PRESCIENT, SPLURGE, and CANOEIST most.
    Thanks to both.

  21. 36 minutes.
    Like others started off very speedily and then held up in south east. Should have finished sooner, but never mind.
    Able to parse the clues. This QC will help improve my skills. I wish they were all like this.
    Many thanks to Hurley for the most enjoyable puzzle in a long while. Thanks also to BR for blog.

  22. After spoiling yesterday with yet another typo (25% fail rate this month so far) I slowed myself down this morning – and still turned in a very respectable time for this genuine QC, where only 3 across clues remained after the first pass.

    FOI IDEAL
    LOI RESPECT
    COD SPLURGE
    TIME 3:23

  23. 8:21 with STROdE being corrected. All but TANKARD and RESPECT (which was LOI) went in on first look at Acrosses and that had only taken 2mins. With things going well, I twigged that STRODE wasn’t quite right as I bunged it in but not enough. At 5mins, I had DISINFECTANT which required pen&paper, CANOEIST, SNAG, SORBET and RESPECT left.

    Nice to rip through even if it was a DNF.

      1. Even knowing it was the problem, it took me 30s to convince myself STROVE is the past tense of making effort and that there wasn’t some other possible letter required.

  24. Lovely friendly Hurley, thank you, Hurley. Agree precisely with BR “a few head-scratchers to complete the grid”, those being the SE corner: I never did quite parse RESPECT, and also wondered what the purpose of “in price” was, so thank you BR for both. LOI SORBET (got hung up on “bizarre dessert”).

  25. Quite straightforward for a Hurley puzzle. No real holdups – LOI SORBET. 20 minutes- about par for the course for me.

  26. 7:35, and a canter through this enjoyable puzzle with only my L21 RESPECT and SNAG stopping it being a much faster time. Did not see the second definition in RESPECT and didn’t really understand why “in price” was in the wordplay for SNAG, but answers clear enough in both cases.

    Many thanks BR for the blog.

  27. Decent QC I thought, all green in 9:36. Thought it was going to be quicker but like many got snagged up with LOI SNAG and dithered a bit too long over RESPECT.

    Thanks Hurley and to Bletchley for the explanation of the inclusion of “price”.

  28. Yes, a genuine quickie at last. The LHS went straight in thanks to HIPPOPOTAMUS. Had to think about one or two on the right like ARSON, TANKARD (cnp) , SORBET, and CANOEIST.
    Liked RESPECT, SPLURGE, and PRESCIENT, among others.
    Thanks vm, BR.

  29. 53:25
    Ouch!
    Not sure why this took me so much longer than yesterday’s but I did stick with it and got there in the end (maybe ring rusty after all).
    CANOEIST, SNAG, RESPECT and SPLURGE accounted for more than half the time.

    Thanks to BR and Hurley.

  30. I seemed to be on the right wavelength today, solving in 4:57, only 4 seconds outside my all-time PB.

    Like many I wondered about the inclusion of price in 21d (thanks BR). My LOI was respect and I have to confess I didn’t quite see the second of the definitions in the DD (thanks again, BR). I might have stopped and given it more thought if I wasn’t aware that I must be close to a PB!

  33. Yes, a nice quick QC for a change, but with a hurried Strode for 4d while I still entertained faint hopes of a sub-15. That elusive target was in any case missed thanks to loi Snag. While I accept that an increase in price is often described as a price ‘rise’, I find it hard to believe that any human being calls a price fall a ‘sag’. CoD to 9d, Disinfectant, for the smile. Invariant

  34. That’s more like it. From IDEAL via an unparsed Milan to DISINFECTANT (oh that type of bug!) in 6:27.

  35. 17:13
    I’m probably wrong, but I kind of thought the use of ‘I’ to represent ‘one’ was restricted to clues or answers where the ‘one’ could viably be construed as the letter-form Roman numeral I. In 1st, that isn’t the case.
    Thanks, BR.

    1. First = ist seems to turn up quite often in the QC, in my very limited experience, whatever the rule may be elsewhere. Don’t knock it, its one of the little tricks I’ve actually learned to recognise quickly!

  36. From IDEAL to DISINFECTANT in 7:38. Also puzzled by the inclusion of “in price” for SAG. Thanks Hurley and BR.

  37. Easy at first, but several held me up at the end.
    LOI DECADE: I also tried the wrong anagram.
    Prior to that SNAG and RESPECT proved tricky.
    All done in 15 minutes.
    COD to DISINFECTANT.
    David

  38. Managed to get in just under 10 and enjoyed it very much. Thanks Hurley and Bletchley Reject. I put snag, in but even when I see the explanation I don’t like it. People just don’t talk about a sag in price do they?

  39. Like others I was flying then got bogged down in the SE corner: respect & snag (still don’t understand why ‘sag’ relates to fall in price). Final time about 16 minutes.

  40. Well, this was definitely on the easier side but luckily (for me) I did get held up at the end by SNAG and LOI CANOEIST; I prefer puzzles that take longer, make my brain work a little and, most importantly, generate a smile. I don’t worry about times – at all. COD to CANOEIST – I was royally misdirected and very much enjoyed the rather unexpected answer that emerged from the wordplay. Thanks Hurley and BR.

  41. 5:17

    Pretty comfortable – needed to write out the letters for 9d, followed by a tentative RESPECT before taking a few moments to see CANOEIST, which was easier to get via the wordplay than the definition.

    Thanks Bletch and Hurley

  42. 11 minutes all parsed in a welcome return to a respectable time after the horrors of the last couple of weeks. All bar 3 of the acrosses on the first pass although some of the downs put up more resistance. I had to write out the letters at 9dn to make sense of the anagram (relieved to find the answer was not some sort of obscure IT program). A proper QC with no obscure vocabulary or references.

    FOI – 7ac IDEAL
    LOI – 19dn ALLY
    COD – 14dn CANOEIST

    Thanks to Hurley and BR

  43. 10:32, a decent time after the disaster yesterday.
    Last two of RESPECT/CANOEIST were troublesome. CANOEIST was top drawer, RESPECT not so much.

  44. 19.20 A fast start but the SE took four times as long as the rest. SORBET, RESPECT and SNAG were the last three. Thanks BR and Hurley.

  45. About average today, although my last four – RESPECT, SPLURGE, CARRIER and SNAG – took a few minutes on their own. I couldn’t see what the ‘in price’ part was doing in 21d, and I struggled a bit with the DD at 20a, but got there in the end.
    I liked TANKARD, and HIPPOPOTAMUS was a write-in, but what a fun anagram. Another great anagram / surface gets my COD.
    11:58 FOI Tankard LOI Splurge COD Disinfectant
    Thanks Hurley and BR

  47. Very fast (for me) today at ~15 minutes. And, but for a 3-4 minute hold-up with around five clues to go, I might have found myself in PB territory. SPLURGE got me out of the problem, its E helped me with SORBET and I crossed the line shortly afterwards.

    Many thanks to BR for the blog and to Hurley for a proper QC.

  48. We join the crowd who wondered about ‘in price’ but, though we were still a long way from our PB, at 8:59 we can at least agree that this one was a quick cryptic. Thanks to BR and Hurley.

  49. Proper QC indeed even though I biffed carriers not knowing about harriers for cross-country runners.

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