Quick cryptic No 603 by Hurley

Author   TheRotterPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Some very nice and compact clueing in this offering by Hurley.  Nothing too difficult or obscure, so perfect fare for the Quick Cryptic, with a nice selection of clue types and devices, including a definition by example, hidden and reverse hidden, double definitions, anagrams, alternate letters, assembly and even an &lit.  Twelve enjoyable minutes for me.  Thanks Hurley.

Definitions are underlined, anagrams indicated by [square brackets] and deletions with {curly ones}

Across
1  Gift dispatched in advance? (6)
PRESENT – type of Double Definition – dispatched in advance could be pre sent
5  Initially attempt to oppose powers above (4)
ATOP – first letters (initially) of A{ttempt} T{o} O{ppose} P{owers}
8  Nobles open at heart, eager to change (7)
PEERAGE – Anagram of (to change) [EAGER] with [PE] which lies at the heart of {o}PE{n}.  If you are like me, you probably spent some time looking for an anagram of ‘eager to’
9  Iron block found in Roman villa (5)
ANVIL – hidden in {rom}AN VIL{la}
11  Amusing, like flighty slights (5,7)
LIGHT HEARTED – Thus one held me up a little, failing to spot that the two example words given have the word LIGHT at their hearts {f}LIGHT{y} {s}light{s} and can therefore be described as being LIGHT HEARTED – a kind of definition by example
12  Official from Honolulu’s no coward on reflection (6)
CONSUL – hidden and reversed (on reflection) in {honolu}LUS NO C{oward}
14  Oddly, spy I love is a girl (6)
SYLVIA – odd letters from SpY i LoVe Is A
15  Male sensibly rearranged factory feature (8,4)
ASSEMBLY LINE – Anagram (rearranged) of MALE SENSIBLY
17  Finished a dish of macaroni?(5)
PASTA – PAST (finished) A (a)
18  Give false information to girl, say, deal off (7)
MISLEAD – MIS sounds like MISS (say), with an anagram of (off) [DEAL]
20  Left harbour (4)
PORT – the purest of double definitions.  Two words that surface well
21  Apprehension about the quill (7)
FEATHER – FEAR surrounding THE

Down
2  Regret discourteous daughter leaving (3)
RUE – RU{d}E is the discourtesy, with d for daughter leaving it
3  Quiet, one walked on as dismissive gesture (5)
SHRUG – SH is quiet and RUG is the one walked upon
4  We hear Sir hits places of entertainment (10)
NIGHTCLUBS – sounds like (we hear) KNIGHT CLUBS
6  Part of plant where number exercise endlessly (7)
TENDRIL – TEN is the number and to DRIL{l} is to exercise, with the last letter dropped (endlessly)
7  Proper sci-fi film – I’m ecstatic at first, when many watch (5,4)
PRIME TIME – a kind of flat pack clue, with PRIM equals proper, ET the sci-fi film, and I’M with E{cstatic} (at first).  Assemble it yourself
10  Urban area series my Ed reworked (10)
MERSEYSIDE – anagram (reworked) of [SERIES MY ED]
11  Learner confused – oh ask pro!  Hurry! (4,5)
LOOK SHARP – L for learner with an anagram (confused) of [OH ASK PRO]
13  Change course accommodating lieutenant in refuge (7)
SHELTER – to SHEER is to change course or deviate, with LT for lieutenant inside it
16  Opening within chain letter(5)
INLET – hidden inside {cha}IN LET{ter}
19  Wimbledon winner unreachable (3)
ACE – a topical &lit to finish, where the whole clue acts as the definition.  In tennis to serve an ACE is to win the point by hitting a serve that cannot be reached by the receiver.

13 comments on “Quick cryptic No 603 by Hurley”

  1. 29:04. I agree with the Rotter, an excellent selection of clues, although I was late to spot the second ‘in’ clue of ANVIL. Generally don’t have more than one of these per QC (other was INLET). I thought LIGHT HEARTED was a great clue, definitely COD. PASTA making another appearance, last time it was clued as “Pa’s Ta” as I recall. I felt I had a couple of screws left over after my flat pack assembly of PRIMETIME, I got the ET and IME, but thought PR might be an abbreviation for ‘proper’, and that the IME could be repeated (‘when many’). Did not see PRIME for ‘proper’, so thanks, blogger, for showing the assembly instructions.
  2. Nothing particularly recalcitrant today, although I think I biffed LIGHT-HEARTED. I believe a clue like 7d is known as a charade, where each element of the solution is clued sequentially; Jack will correct me if I’m wrong. At 13d, Rotter, it’s wind sheAr, which is change in velocity not direction. And what happened to your photograph? Always liked to see T-T. 4:47.
    1. Thanks for pointing out the error of my ways Kevin. I have now removed the offending reference from the blog. In mitigation, it was 4:00 am when I wrote it.
  3. The second in a row that was relatively hard for me, coming in again at 13 minutes. I took for ever to see FEATHER even with all its checkers. PRIM for “proper” by the way, merlin – no doubt it was just a typo. T-T pic now present and correct.It always cheers me up!
  4. 10dn was the only clue that held me up as I was looking for a more general term for Urban area.

    COD 20ac Port simples!

    Landed in 8.30

    Excellent blog from the Rotter!

    horryd Shanghai

  5. A good puzzle for me today coming in around my 30 min target. I also spent a while playing with an anagram of eager to at 8a and biffed Light Hearted. Thanks Rotter for the explanation. I had even spotted the ‘light’ in the middle of each word but the penny had still not dropped.
  6. Held up at the end by 8a, yes I did look for an anagram and hidden in “eager to change”, I think this one is worthy of the 15×15 as are some of the others. Could see what was going on in 11a but could I think of HEARTED, took a few minutes, so I suppose I thought this was on the trickier end of the scale. COD 11d for the surface and on the personal note that my lessons have turned an occasional duck hook into a more than occasional slap out to the right. Nice blog as usual rotter and thanks Hurley.
  7. Not too much trouble for me today. My biggest hold up was 10d where I was looking for a descriptive term rather than an actual place and I didn’t get close to parsing 11a so thanks for the clarification Rotter. Solved in 19 minutes with LOI 21a. COD 4d
  8. Straightforward, parsing of 7d was incomplete. In 10d, the ana- thingie is a bit obvious, Liverpool, or its region, would be my clue. Thanks rotter and Hurley. 5’25”
  9. Just back from Merseyside but still held up a little by 10d.
    Took 23 minutes to finish this with 11a LOI. Only understood the parsing from here so thanks as always to the blogger. David
  10. I actually found this quite hard for Hurley, but my solving times have been rubbish since the hols so it’s probably just me. Feather, for example, joins a depressingly long list of 15 minute LOIs. . . My CoD, by a country mile, was 11ac. Invariant
  11. A very enjoyable and satisfying puzzle full of variety and nice wordplay. Favourite clue was LIGHT HEARTED which took some figuring. Last in was MISLEAD. Thanks Hurley and Therotter
  12. 15:03, so quite fast for me. LOI MERSEYSIDE, which took a few minutes. Didn’t parse LIGHT HEARTED.

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