QC 3131 by Hurley

Author   MerlinPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Great crossword, nothing too scary on the vocab: 11:34 for me, with LOI the very simple 21D.

Todays clue of 14A is a duplicate of one from last Thursday (QC 3127). I presume that when the editor selects and checks puzzles, they are not done on a sequential basis. Otherwise I think he would have asked for it to have been changed. Here’s my alternative: Large beer without head is rubbish (6).

Across

1 Imitative police officer last to annoy queen? (7)
COPY CAT – COP(police officer) +{anno}Y + CAT (queen)

A female cat, a term used by cat breeders.
5 Firm, northeastern, solid (4)
CONE – CO (firm) + NE(northeastern)

A Cone is a solid, mathematically-speaking. The ice cream cone was popularized in 1904 at the St. Louis World’s Fair, when a waffle maker helped out a nearby ice cream vendor by rolling up waffles into cones. Genius.
7 Less important vitamin — order reduced (5)
MINOR – Hidden in vitamin order

The dash in the middle of this word, is the EM dash, which used to be a mark of erudition, but is now a mark of AI.
8 Mob rage about trade restriction (7)
EMBARGO – (MOB RAGE)*
10 Title, Afghan, regularly forgotten (3)
AGA – A{f}G{h}A{n}

And pleasingly, Aga is a term used in Afghanistan, where it is used as a mark of respect for leaders or elders, (originally linked to Persian and Turkic traditions) The AGA Khan is the spiritual leader of the some of the Muslims in Afghanistan.
11 Miss target time as eel proves slippery (9)
OVERSLEEP – (EEL PROVES)*

A bit of an odd definition, but I guess you only oversleep if you had a specific (target) time when you wanted  to wake up.
13 Buck’s party everyone recalled, rave at the outset (6)
DOLLAR – DO (party) + ALL (everyone) reversed + R{ave}

Etymology of Buck for dollar is not definitive. One theory (which sounds unlikely to me) is that on the American frontier, deerskins (buckskins) were used as trade goods and valued like money — so a ‘buck’ (skin) became a sort of unit, and when paper dollars came in, the word stuck.
14 Refuse  young group (6)
LITTER – Double definition, the second as a Litter of puppies.

Appeared last Thursday (QC 3127), as Refuse  group of newborn (6)
17 European shipmate upset — show compassion (9)
EMPATHISE -E + (SHIPMATE)*

I’d say that “showing compassion” is Sympathy rather than Empathy.
19 Australian native, Mike, visiting European Union (3)
EMU – M{Ike} contained in [visiting] EU

ROO was my immediate thought, until the word play disabused me of it.
20 Poles in characteristic movement (7)
TRANSIT – NS (North & South, Poles) inside TRAIT (characteristic)
22 Those introducing tune, uplifting, thankful, that is to be sung by all performers (5)
TUTTI – Initial letters of [Those Introducing] of “Tune Uplifting  Thankful That is”

This is written on a musical score after a solo section to tell everyone to join in. Italian for All. As in Tutti Frutti.
23 Damp, dreary on the outside, we returned inside (4)
DEWY – D{rear}Y contains EW (= WE reversed)
24 Beginning to develop new climb (7)
NASCENT – N{ew} + ASCENT (climb)

Down

1 Remark about fellow, Democrat, one of ten? (11)
COMMANDMENT – COM^MENT (remark) contains MAN (fellow) + D{emocrat}

The Ten Commandments, obvs.
2 Game — option periodically used before formal event (7)
PINBALL – {o}P{t}I{o}N + BALL (formal event)
3 End of spin in unusual motor car, a flier! (9)
CORMORANT – (MOTOR CAR)* contains {spi}N

Cormorant is a bird, hence a “Flier”. If you’re new here, note this one along with “flower” (a river)
4 Ancient city article, matchless? Not entirely (6)
THEBES – THE BES{t} (matchless)

Not UR this time. THEBES was one of Egypt’s greatest cities, home to the temples of Karnak and Luxor. The Greeks also had a city of the same name.

For those who like to plan ahead, there’s a total Eclipse of the Sun right over ancient THEBES in August 2027.
5 Vehicle seen in America, Britain (3)
CAB – Hidden in “America Britain”
6 Carer, not usually rattled, seemed edgy at first (5)
NURSE – Initial letters of “not usually rattled, seemed edgy”
9 Moving up into sport, one seeing opening (11)
OPPORTUNIST – (UP INTO SPORT)*
12 Tilts toes awkwardly in these? (9)
STILETTOS – (TILTS TOES)*

A Semi &lit, since stiletto shoes do indeed tilt one’s toes.
15 Playhouse that welcomes English, extremely reasonable (7)
THEATRE – TH^AT contains E{nglish} + R{easonabl}E
16 Animal finally sick, clear up after it! (6)
KITTEN – {sic}K + IT + TEN [=NET (clear) reversed, up]

This is NET as in Net Profit, which is profit clear of tax, overheads etc.
18 Tranquillity of bishop or knight, say? (5)
PEACE – sounds like PIECE [bishop and knight being chess pieces]
21 Heaven ultimately lasts a thousand years (3)
SKY – {last}S + K (thousand) + Y{ears}

And I seriously thought about whether SMY might be heaven in some religion.

67 comments on “QC 3131 by Hurley”

  1. 4:05, some good misdirection today. Thank you for the extra information.

    I think every commenter should be required to produce a LITTER alternative now. Mine is:

    Scallywag’s superior detritus

    [I had asked how to get italics, hence comments below]

    1. Can’t parse this. And/so I don’t see where italics would be used. I come here for answers, not more questions!

    2. Go to the help section and click on user/commenter tips and all the html tags permitted are there.

  3. It is not often I share an error with Vinyl1 – I usually find far simpler traps to fall into – but I too biffed OPPORTUNIty for 9D until NASCENT put me right. That apart, a trouble-free run through this enjoyable puzzle for a 8:04 finish.

    Many thanks Merlin for the blog. Not sure though what had happened to your formatting/spacing – secondary parts of most of your entries have run on from the first parts with no breaks.

    1. Sorry about that,. I was able to find an older version and restore from there, WordPress glitch.

  4. Didn’t know that meaning of CONE but the wordplay was kind. The ‘queen’ in COPYCAT threw me as I assumed it would end in ‘er’. Also assumed the ancient city would be ‘Ur’ but saw THEBES pretty quickly after that. Liked TUTTI.
    Thanks M and setter.

  6. Finished! 11:34.

    I did try and shove UR into THEBES somewhere.

    And any fan of the show Bluey knows that the currency of Australia is actually Dollarbucks.

    I missed that MINOR was a hidden. Someone told me ages ago that there’s only ever one hidden in a times cryptic but I forget that doesn’t apply to the QC. So I never look for them once I find the first.

    1. It also doesn’t apply to the main these days. There can be two, although in that case one ought to be a reverse hidden.

  7. A top to bottom solve with only a couple of brief hold ups over the parsing of MINOR and having to correct a biffed OPPORTUNITY.

    Started with COPYCAT and finished with SKY in 5.47.
    Thanks to Merlin and Hurley

  9. 10:03 – exactly the same time as vinyl1, though I put in the correct OPPORTUNIST so was generally slower on the rest of the clues. A MER at the OVERSLEEP def and I agree with Merlin about ‘show compassion’ and EMPATHISE not quite being the same thing. Favourite was STILETTOS.

    Thanks to Hurley and Merlin

  10. I am another sharing the experience of vinyl (and others). Whilst I enjoyed the anagrams, I must have become complacent when they dropped out easily because I biffed OPPORTUNITY. I then spent ages trying to make sense of N-S-E-Y. When I finally sorted it out, I had managed to turn a decently quick solve into 18 mins. A moment’s indiscretion had its price….
    My LOI and COD was therefore NASCENT (with relief). A very good QC from Hurley with too many excellent clues to list.
    Thanks to Hurley and Merlin.

  11. Finished all correct, but a bit slow this morning, as anagram skills deserted me. PDMs with DOLLAR, COMMANDMENT (COD), THEBES. Also liked SKY and PINBALL.
    Thanks vm, Merlin. CNP KITTEN

  12. 19 after 30 minutes (nine after first pass).

    Going back for another look without reading the blog.

    Thanks H & M

    It didn’t get any better.

  13. I should be thanking Kitty for explaining my LOI COPYCAT, for NHO queen = CAT. Instead, thank you Merlin. Nice gentle enjoyable puzzle as usual from Hurley to whom many thanks. Liked KITTEN, too.

  14. I feel I should have been quicker. My parsing skills took a day off. FOI COPYCAT and LOsI TRANSIT and TUTTI. 7:35 Thanks Merlin

  15. Fairly gentle, and completed in two straight passes. I didn’t manage that on today’s Concise, which had me staring at my last three clues, and took me longer than this.

    Usual fine blog Merlin, and many thanks….but surely the toes are the only part of the foot that are not tilted when wearing STILETTOS (I’ve never actually tried this theory out, they aren’t easy to find in size 11).

    FOI CONE
    LOI CORMORANT
    COD EMPATHISE*
    TIME 4:25

    * I’ve always considered that one would sympathise with somebody whose misfortune was not one that one had personally undergone, whereas one would EMPATHISE where that misfortune had been personally experienced.

    1. As a counsellor I would offer the following:

      Sympathy – I feel sorry for you (from my perspective and my experience)

      Empathy – I hear and understand how you’re feeling (from the other person’s perspective)

      Show compassion as EMPATHISE works for me

  16. Enjoyable from Hurley – slow start in NW but then got going in NE and worked around at a fair canter before inexplicably taking over a minute to see LOI SKY.

    All green in 7:17

    Cheers Merlin

  17. Bish bash bosh, Hurley being kind today. My longest hold up was over one of the three letter boys, SKY, because I didn’t twig “y” for “years” – needed both checkers and a mini-trawl!

    Otherwise it was pretty rapido and I stopped the clock at 05:52 for an Excellent Day. COD has to be SKY for tying me up in knots.

    Many thanks Hurley and Merly.

  18. A morning solve today; I find I’m doing most solving in the evenings these days.
    9 minutes for this. LOI SKY which held me up.
    A proper QC I think.
    The if not UR try THEBES rule worked.
    COD to SKY.
    David

  19. 22:51

    Thought a good time was on the cards but the last few took an eternity including 8 minutes on TRANSIT before LOI KITTEN fell into place.

  20. I left this mostly to Mrs RH today as we shared our coffee time with breakfast for our 4 year old grandson! All done in a leisurely 18.35 with some significant pauses. Liked the anagram for stilettos and glad that it was easy to work out the correct spelling.

    Thanks Hurley and Merlin.

    Rubbish seen in sunlit terrain

  21. Recently my average time of around 15 minutes has crept up to about 20 on a good day but this one was spot on 15. I don’t know whether that was because it was easier than of late or whether I managed to reactivate some dormant brain cells.

    FOI – 5ac CONE
    LOI – 17ac EMPATHISE
    COD – 12dn STILETTOS

    Thanks to Hurley and Merlin.

  22. 6.09 with a typo

    What others said. I was short on three on the concise as well and ended up guessing one wrongly. At least you get the w/p here!

    Thanks Merlin/Hurley

  23. 7:29

    Steady Eddie – some I should have perhaps seen more quickly include THEBES and EMBARGO.

    Thanks Merlin and Hurley

  25. A relatively quick 11:58 for me. For some reason it took me the longest time to parse OPPORTUNIST, despite being (in hindsight) a very obvious anagram.

    Thank you for the blog!

  26. Mostly straightforward, although I did biff more than usual. Came home in 13:57.

    Retilt rubbish

    Thanks Hurley and Merlin

  27. 21:52 on a rather nice QC.
    COD to COMMANDMENTS because I assembled all the pieces and bingo there was the answer.
    Thanks Hurley, and Merlin for an enjoyable blog.

  28. 18:14
    Last 4 mins spent trying to work out what my LOI was O_T_I???
    About to throw the towel in as an alphabet trawl didn’t reveal a synonym for TUTTI when I checked my bunged in 12d – STILETOES, d’oh!
    Other than that the solve felt a bit like my last Lego Technic build, especially the NW – very enjoyable 🙂
    FOI: CONE
    LOI: TUTTI
    COD: DOLLAR (best Lego clue)

    Thanks to Merlin and Hurley

  29. Straightforward enjoyable solve. Thanks Hurley and Merlin.
    I never knew I had fat fingers until the new Android phone version of the puzzle resulted in frequent typos. No time today due to interruptions, but definitely seemed well short of SCC eligibility.
    Tried to compose a clue based on LITRE but failed. Another reason I applaud the setter’s art.

  30. Hurley in a gentle mood today. From COMMANDMENT to KITTEN in 6:35. Thanks Hurley and Merlin.

  31. Good, just got stuck at the end with the sky clue where I had to spam letters until it said it was correct. Not sure sky is really synonymous with heaven, but I was more thrown off by the “a” between “ultimately lasts” and “thousand” which I guess we’re supposed to pretend isn’t there.

    2. Imagine there’s no heaven
      It’s easy if you try
      No hell below us
      Above us, only sky.

      1. What you’ve just quoted directly implies that heaven and sky are not the same thing! If there’s no heaven, and only sky above us then obviously they’re different things.

  33. Always pleased to beat ten minutes with Hurley, and this excellent puzzle kept me entertained for 8.29. A good thirty or so seconds of that was on my LOI SKY. I see I am not alone in finding this seemingly gimme of an answer more difficult than perhaps it should be.

  34. 4:04. Gentle but entertaining. Held up only by briefly considering “time as eel” as the anagrist for 11 across. Thanks Hurley and Merlin.

  35. Fairly gentle today. Thought of Ur before THEBES. Liked TRANSIT and PEACE. Many thanks Hurley and Merlin.

  36. 19:45, which is just under my personal threshold flr blazzzing fast. (I understand the 20 minute mark is referred to somewhat differently around here.)

    Almost convinced myself not to slow down and check why THEATRE was right, but it’s a good thing I didn’t, as, being American, I had reversed the last two letters. The wordplay straighened me out.

    Thanks, excellent wrote-up! Waffle cones!

  37. I was overconfident with’ upstart’ in lieu of NASCENT which snookered me somewhat and led to a DNF, which from above comments shouldn’t have happened

  38. 14 mins…

    Definitely on the easier side, but none the less enjoyable. Only issue was initially putting “Opportunity” for 9dn which I notice a few people did.

    FOI – 5ac “Cone”
    LOI – 2dn “Pinball”
    COD – 13ac “Dollar”

    Thanks as usual!

  39. A mostly straightforward 8:20 though SKY took a while to see. LOI KITTEN. Thanks, Merlin and Hurley.

  40. 9:08 here, the only hold-ups coming from justifying SKY to mean “heaven” and juggling all those Ss and Ts to form STILETTOS. COD to KITTEN, as we currently have two causing chaos in our home.

    Thanks to Hurley and Merlin.

  41. Reasonably straightforward for me. Failed to parse transit, and as ever, simple when you see it.
    FOI Cone
    LOI transit
    COD oversleep

    Thanks both

  42. Really lovely QC for this resident of the SCC. And yes I too wondered whether SMY was heaven for some religion somewhere. I enjoyed all the anagrams but slightly confused by there being no obscure words. And definitely on board with NET=clear (the numbers geek in me??)

  44. 12.39 NHO CAT>QUEEN however a lot of anagrams which makes me happy – himself less so, however pleased to be < teens : )
    Thank you Merlin and Hurley

  45. Great puzzle, flew through it until Sky, which refused to enter as could not parse. K for thousand, 🤦‍♂️

    Remembered Queen from previous blogs.

    Thanks all

    1. I assume it comes from the Kilo (one thousand) prefix, as in kilogram and kilometre.

  46. A gentle amusement today from Hurley that took me 9:59 (whew!) to complete. I liked TRANSIT best for some obscure reason. Joined the crowd with LOI SKY, why?????

    Thanks Hurley and Merlin.

  47. Only ever owned a ‘Cat’ once, it bit me, so no chance of wanting to breed one or even calling it a Queen! Very grateful for remarkable parsing of COPYCAT. A little DEWY eyed by a pretty quick solve for me.

  48. Very quick for me today, and fully parsed as I went along. Although I thought the surface for OVERSLEEP was a bit strange, I really liked the anagram, and EMBARGO was a contender for COD.
    Ur came to mind first (of course) but then I was trying to work Troy into the answer somehow, until I saw the light.
    16d seemed heartfelt – I did wonder if Hurley has recently acquired a KITTEN! It made me chuckle though.
    I tried to come up with something original(ish) for LITTER, but failed! I must admit, I didn’t really understand Dr Shred’s offering.
    7:00 on the dot FOI Pinball LOI Commandment COD Stilettos
    Thanks Hurley and Merlin

  49. A steady clockwise solve earlier today, starting with Cone and finishing with Thebes, in a comfortable sub-20. That included correcting a carelessly biffed Opportunity, but on the other hand benefitted from considering Litter for Kitten, before seeing it turn up as the missing answer for 14ac. CoD to Transit for the parsing. Invariant

Comments are closed.