Quick Cryptic 717 by Hurley

Author   william_j_sPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A straightforward puzzle. I was not entirely familiar with 9ac or 20ac, but both came into consciousness readily enough. Very neat clue at 4dn, which raised a smile.

Thanks Hurley (and our resident Time Lord).

Definitions underlined.

Across
1 Correctly predict charge covering sources of metal (7)
FORESEE – FEE (charge) surrounding (covering) ORES (sources of metals).
7 Shambolic tea on terrace is caricatured initially (7)
CHAOTIC – CHA (tea) with first letters of (initially) On Terrace Is and Caricatured.
9 Feature of will — something fishy, not quite licit, on reflection? (7)
CODICIL – COD (something fishy), with most of (not quite) LICIt reversed (on reflection).
10 At heart Jamie, seaman, extremely lively in friendly way (7)
AMIABLY – middle letters of (at heart) jAMIe, AB (able bodied, seaman), and outside letters of (extremely) LivelY.
11 Wings of the raven? Another bird (4)
TERN – outermost letters (wings) of ThE and RaveN.
12 Long-lasting series of Superman, enthralling (9)
PERMANENT – hidden in (series of) suPERMAN ENThralling.
14 Procession Democrat organised about first of October (9)
MOTORCADE – anagram of (organised) DEMOCRAT around first letter of October.
16 Long and impressive European film (4)
EPIC – E (european) and PIC (film).
17 Prominent street captivates outsider (7)
SALIENT – ST (street) surrounding (captivates) ALIEN (outsider).
20 Payment per animal he linked to commercial era (7)
HEADAGE – HE, AD (commercial) and AGE (era).
21 Serve as comfort to prisoner, unaccompanied (7)
CONSOLE – CON (prisoner) and SOLE (unaccompanied).
22 Rugby team assemble about noon (7)
MUNSTER – MUSTER (assemble) around N (noon).
Down
1 Cash fee cut — I’m prepared to confront consequences (4,3,5)
FACE THE MUSIC – anagram of (prepared) CASH FEE CUT I’M.
2 Embarrassed anger over court — advise new course (8)
REDIRECT – RED (embarrassed), IRE (anger), on top of CT (court).
3 Time to escape from standard footwear (4)
SOCK – t (time) removed (to escape) from StOCK (standard).
4 Cake, high calorie, nothing left (6)
ECLAIR – anagram of (high) CALoRIE, with O (nothing) left over.
5 Ivan turning up at entrance to plan route (8)
NAVIGATE – IVAN reversed (turning up), and GATE (entrance).
6 Attempt nocturnal types mounted (4)
STAB – BATS (nocturnal types) written up (mounted).
8 Obvious call — car’s tyre needs changing (7-5)
CRYSTAL-CLEAR – anagram of (needs changing) CALL CAR’S TYRE.
12 At first popular — very, our new food supplier (8)
PURVEYOR – first letter of Popular, then an anagram of (new) VERY OUR.
13 He won’t forget Jumbo? (8)
ELEPHANT – double definition.
15 Part of veteran thematic song? (6)
ANTHEM – hidden in (part of) veterAN THEMatic.
18 Shipping company policy (4)
LINE – double definition.
19 Drops artist home (4)
RAIN – RA (royal academician, artist) and IN (home)

20 comments on “Quick Cryptic 717 by Hurley”

  1. Cheers. They cranked up the difficulty a bit today. The hidden at 12ac is impressive. FOI FACE THE MUSIC LOI EPIC COD RAIN
  2. Can’t say I’d ever heard of HEADAGE, or the rugby team; but I had heard of MUNSTER, so no problem there–once I had some checkers. Also needed checkers before I could sort out the anagram at 14ac. I surprised myself by actually spotting the hidden at 12ac off the bat; I’m usually pretty slow with hidden clues. 3d is a lovely surface. 5:21.
  3. Middling difficulty at 9.18. But all 8dn.

    DNK 20ac HEADAGE but quite obvious.

    COD 14ac MOTORCADE WOD 7as CHAOTIC

  4. 9 minutes but thought I was going past 10 with the unknowns at 20 and 22ac. I’ve never heard of Munster in connection with Rugby Football.
  5. 35:12 Also did not know HEADAGE, but seemed reasonable. Very slow to solve the anagram at 14a, LOI 12d. I carelessly had amiablE at 10a which held up 8d. COD was 17a for a tidy surface and I always like a good sandwich clue.
    1. -age for a payment is the original definition of many words such as anchorage, portage, brokerage.
  6. Very straightforward today, I thought. Finished within 15 minutes. Quite a lot of hidden clues and anagrams today, which always helps to speed things up. Gribb.
  7. A welcome equal PB of 20 minutes today after a dismal failure with yesterday’s horror (for me).
    LOI was Munster, with 20A as a great example of clear wordplay leading to an unknown word.
    Brian
  8. Enjoyed it ( about 20 mins) – mildly irritated by the Munster clue – I know it’s a province but I don’t follow Rugby.
  9. Brain not working on this one, came in at worst ever 17′. First time I’ve seen a word needing to be derived and entered with crossed fingers in the QC – HEADAGE. Most of delay was LINE/SALIENT crosser. I just do not have the idea of ALIEN as an outsider, possibly because the word ‘alien’ for me most often occurs in the ‘resident alien’ context of the OT, that is, ‘the stranger that is within thy gates’. Times for 15×15 and QC quite close today! Thanks william and Hurley.
  10. Another decent offering with something to chew over – just a minute over my target time at 16′.

    Like others, I hadn’t come across HEADAGE, but the wordplay was clear enough.

    No problem with MUNSTER – being a Tigers supporter we have seen plenty of them in Heineken Cup matches, and whatever the competition is called these days.

  11. An excellent puzzle with most types of clue for the aspiring. All done in just under 10 minutes with 20a taking a moment to parse. Is 1a 7a and 9a perhaps a vague reference to legal shenanigans surrounding the triggering of Article 50?
    Alan
  12. Around par again for me today, with a nice mixture of “gimmes” and some that required serious thought. Took me a while to see the parsing in 4dn, nice surface I thought (LOI). Hadn’t come across HEADAGE before, shades of the old taxes of poundage and tonnage much beloved of Charles I. As for MUNSTER, I think I had worked my way through the entire English Premiership, the Pumas, Wallabies and Springboks before arriving there.
    Much enjoyed thank you setter.
    PlayupPompey
  13. Really enjoyed today’s QC. Just the right level for me – doable but challenging, with a full house in 35 mins (albeit 20ac was a best guess answer). Slight panic at 12ac, until I spotted the well-hidden word. Invariant
  14. Pleased that I just nipped in before 30 minutes, at 28.12. I love the satisfaction of solving the clue when you haven’t heard of the word. For 9A I came to the word “codicil” having never heard of it. I was very pleased to then Google it to find it meant what I wanted it to mean!
  15. As a rugby fan I had an unforgivable DNF today – failing to get 22a. Also got very held up by the 17a/18d clues – not the first time I’ve struggled with alien being something other than a being from out of space. Enjoyed 12a in particular.
  16. My last two were Line and then Salient.I found this quite tough but kept going; interruptions meant that I lost track of my solving time-20 to 30 minutes which indicates a good test for me. Some very good clues including 3d and 4d and 8d. David
  17. Began by thinking this would be a stinker as it took until 11a and then 21a to get started but then all went swimmingly. LOI 3d COD 12d. Recognised 22a but didn’t see the construction until seeing it here, ditto 4d, so thanks to our blogger and to Hurley for a fun puzzle.

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