Quick Cryptic 562 by Hurley

Author   nick_the_novicePosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Don’t know about you, but I found this a bit of a strange experience. Quick first whizz down the Across clues only yielded a couple, and I started to get worried! Then a quick whizz through the Downs found most of them (except 2d and 14d) to be write-ins.

Thus armed with a decent bunch of cross checkers, the Across clues then fell into place quite easily, and I was left wondering why my initial crack had yielded so little. But there you have it – this happy pursuit of ours that defies all understanding!

Anyway, all most enjoyable so thanks to Hurley.

Definitions underlined: DD = double definition: anagrams indicated by *(–)

Across
7 Referring to bird from Scandinavia, nesting (5)
AVIAN – Hidden (indicated by ‘from’) in ScandinAVIA Nesting
8 Spear I’d used in river (7)
TRIDENT – ID ‘used’ inside TRENT (river)
10 More rapid armada facing monarch? (7)
FLEETER – FLEET (armada) in front of (facing) ER (monarch)
11 Some learn one sunny day from Caesar (5)
NONES – Hidden (indicated by ‘some’) in learN ONE Sunny, giving us the Roman word for the fifth or seventh day of the month. Vaguely recalled this from schooldays, but fortunately for me the wordplay was clear enough to make it all pretty comfortable.
12 Original model of yacht peer adapted (9)
ARCHETYPE – *(YACHT PEER) with “adapted” as the anagrind
14 Expression of disapproval that unnerves talker initially (3)
TUT – First letters (initially) of That Unnerves Talker
15 Firm with five hundred fish (3)
COD – CO (firm) + D (Roman numeral for five hundred)
16 Comment about Cardinal, American, in Cathedral (5,4)
NOTRE DAME – NOTE (comment) goes around (about) RED (Cardinal) + AM (abbrev. American)
18 Small vessel with temperature scarcely sufficient (5)
SCANT – S (small) + CAN (vessel) + T (temperature)
20 Mother covering a blemish in cosmetic (7)
MASCARA – MA (mother) goes around (covering) A SCAR (a blemish)
22 Go beyond being unfashionable, as it happens! (7)
OUTLIVE – OUT (unfashionable) + LIVE (as it happens)
23 Cold comfort in end (5)
CEASE – C (cold) + EASE (comfort)
Down
1 City fans’ icon’s car – convertible (3,9)
SAN FRANCISCO – *(FANS ICONS CAR) with “convertible” as the anagrind
2 Declines to change – forbidden to preach? (8)
SILENCED – *(DECLINES) with “to change” as the anagrind. The “preach” bit of the definition had me scratching around for something specifically ecclesiastical for a while, but I think the question mark at the end indicates our setter is being a cryptic in that preaching could be just one possible example of what is being forbidden
3 Insect smell after tipping (4)
GNAT – Answer also derived from reversal of TANG (smell after tipping)
4 Tempestuous male stops narrative (6)
STORMY – M (male) interrupts (stops) STORY (narrative)
5 Leading couples in vigorous energetic new set? Capital people! (8)
VIENNESE – First two letters (leading couples) in VIgorous ENergetic NEw SEt. Nice definition.
6 Unproductive field, northern (4)
LEAN – LEA (field) + N (abbrev. northern)
9 Retweets that upset: make exploratory approach (4,3,5)
TEST THE WATER – *(RETWEETS THAT) with “upset” as the anagrind
13 Physicist – German one with beer mug there (8)
EINSTEIN – EIN (German one) + STEIN (beer mug there – i.e. in Germany)
14 He’s reckless having drink, undiluted? Indeed! (8)
TEARAWAY – TEA (drink) + RAW (undiluted) + AY (indeed). My LOI as I was convinced “neat” somehow had a role to play here, and it was only when the full complement of cross checkers arrived I had to change tack with my thinking.
17 Doctor in row gets deal maybe (6)
TIMBER – MB (doctor) in TIER (row)
19 US car valuation oddly abandoned
AUTO – Every other letter (oddly abandoned) of vAlUaTiOn
21 Fire rifle (4)
SACK – DD – give the DCM and “rifle through” / sack the contents of the cellar (or wherever you happen to be)

29 comments on “Quick Cryptic 562 by Hurley”

  1. I was going along nicely, but lost time registering the wordplay at 5d, and then staring helplessly at 14d; all the checkers in and still not a clue, until finally I dragged TEARAWAY out of memory (it’s not in my idiolect). Is AUTO a US term? Didn’t know that. I seem to recall reading here that there’s only supposed to be one hidden clue in a puzzle; or am I making that up? 6:19.
    1. Yes, it was one of Peter B’s stated “rules” that there should only be one “pure” hidden clue per 15×15 puzzle, with reversed-hidden not counting as “pure”. How official this ever was I don’t know but from experience I’d say it holds up pretty well in the main puzzle, and as the Quickie is a practice ground for the 15×15 it’s reasonable to assume the same rules or guidelines should apply. Today’s Quickie, as you have noted, is an exception.

      Edited at 2016-05-04 04:40 am (UTC)

    2. I think Auto has passed to some degree into English, but (from the perspective of those of us on this side of the pond) is generally regarded as an American import – albeit a less troublesome one than the grey squirrel!

      Quick check suggests online dictionaries refer to it as N.American.

      1. Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever heard the word used by itself (a big red auto); only in compounds (auto mechanic, auto parts).
  2. Back in the DNF game after the 1hr cut-off. With 2 clues left 17d and 5d, chockful of checkers, glad I gave up when I did, as I would never have got VIENNESE with its double initial letters: never seen one of those before. For 17d I had both TAMPER and TEMPER as synonyms for ‘doctor’. Thought about TIMBER, with the construction of MB inside TIER, but passed on MB as abbreviation for doctor, and don’t see the definition, even after Nick’s blog.
    COD 15a &lit.

    Edited at 2016-05-04 04:04 am (UTC)

    1. Deal is a kind of wood; ‘maybe’ because this is a definition by example. MB (Medicinae Baccalaureus) is one of those to keep in mind along with the obvious DR, and MO. (And of course ‘doctor’ can be used as anagrind.)
      1. This one is just too much for us QCers, and encourages biffing, a bad habit. I checked a dictionary for MB, but didn’t see it. As for ‘gets deal’ I could see no way to use it, except as a clue for a gambler or salesman.
        1. Don’t see the problem with MB ( I got one in 1972) Bachelor of Medicine!!!!
    2. Apologies Merlin (and to anyone else) for the somewhat sparse parsing of Timber – should have clarified the deal = timber.

      MB, however, is a pretty common abbreviation in Times crosswords (along with MO, GP, DR) and I’d be surprised if it has not cropped up on quite a few occasions in the QC before now? It will certainly appear again so suggest it is a good one to tuck away in the memory bank. On edit: sorry, just realised I’ve repeated a lot of what Kevin said earlier…

      Edited at 2016-05-04 07:45 am (UTC)

  3. 7 minutes, thrown for a moment by 11ac as I have only met “nones” recently with reference to hours of prayer – one of several of that ilk which catch me out. Then I remembered that it had a more general meaning in the days long ago when I studied Latin.

    I’m not sure that 15ac qualifies as &lit, Merlin. I see only two bits of wordplay and a one-word definition.

    I’m very pleased to find that previous weekday puzzles (crosswords/sudokus etc) are now available via the “Past Six Days” tab in the new version of the online newspaper. This is a much-needed improvement putting right a glaring omission. Sadly the Sunday Times puzzles aren’t included so if you miss them on the day that’s just too bad.

    Edited at 2016-05-04 04:50 am (UTC)

    1. COD was my attempt at humour as the Clue of the Day was literally COD.
  4. I have just returned to the ritual of solving (or trying to solve) this puzzle. I used to find that if I couldn’t get an answer I could ‘respect’ the solution ( I could have or should have got it! Now increasingly the answers are tenuous references to obscure terms. Nones is indeed a term from the Roman calendar and it is amongst learN ONE Sunny day- but why ‘from Caesar’ From Rome would be fairer. This is just an example.
  5. The blog is a great way to provide feedback to setters, and I have heard that some do read it.
    1. While I agree that Caesar in 11a NONES is slightly iffy the wordplay is pretty obvious and while, it is “an” example, today it is “the ” example. I found this the trickiest of the week with a number worthy of the 15×15. I believe the QC is intended to introduce people to cryptics using clue types found in the 15×15 with the same rules and together with the blog has helped me complete the 15×15 on occasion, which I never could do before. If you really want to be put off cryptics try some in the red tops, you’ll take up suduko.
  6. SAN FRANCISCO was a write-in and didn’t stop thereafter until TEARAWAY, where as noted T-A-A-A- is an unusual structure. Liked VIENNESE, although the heavy wordplay gave that away soon, must be a joke in there somewhere about meaning nothing to me. If I ever moan I am never really complaining as I’ve learned something. Haha Merlin COD. 5’55” today PB.
  7. 1) It is the Nones of May this coming Saturday. 2) Synapses just kicked in to note that the title of my previous post above is cod Latin. 🙂
  8. Feeling smug with Viennese and Nones spotted without too much difficulty, I finally came to the SE corner and hit a wall with 14d. Had all the checkers, but just couldn’t see Tearaway. Perhaps my youth was too angelic. . . Invariant
  9. 31 mins, or a technical DNF if you like, because I put 17d as TAMPER initially, till I got the big fat “Unlucky” and needed the “check” button to tell me where I’d gone wrong. Once I knew what was wrong, I was able to correct it.

    TEARAWAY was one of my last in, but it wasn’t too hard with the checkers if you consider that the drink is going to be TEA, and “Indeed!” has to be a short word ending A_ – which can only really be AY.

  10. This one took a little thinking about but I completed it in about 30 minutes over two sittings. The second of which I needed for 17d (I always forget about MB in my list of doctor abbreviations) 21d and 23a. I saw the two long down anagrams quickly which gave me lots of early checkers. COD 5d
  11. I gave up after about 50 minutes having completed most of the clues in about 20 mins. Like many others 5d, 14d and 17d were my undoing. Like Merlin, I had tier and tried MO and MD but was not aware of MB. I will next time. I was also trying to find a word starting with Tea which had neat in it. 5d completely flummoxed me, but it’s a great clue once you understand it. Thanks, Nick for the blog – I very much needed the hep today.
  13. My experience seems to mirror others.
    On the first run through I thought this looks tricky. My FOI was 13d and I got Cod quickly but then it was a steady solve for about 30 minutes after which I was left with three: 14d, 21d and 23a.
    I had noted Sack for 21d on first pass but I really struggled to get those last two. A second sitting of some duration led me to Tearaway; I’d had Tea waiting for some time but wanted Neat for undiluted. LOI was 23a -on reflection I cannot see why it took me so long. Good puzzle. David
  14. Hmm – methinks we’ve had MB lots of times over recent months, sufficient for me to remember it anyway…. My struggles were with 22a outlive, then 14d tearaway, and the (only) one that defeated me, 23a cease. Ashamed to get a DNF for the sake of just one clue with all the checkers. A good challenge. Heigh ho.
  15. It’s fifty five years since I last heard of NONES, and I’d forgotten it. Surely the only association with Caesar is IDES – as someone remarked, Roman would have been better. And isn’t One Fine Day from an opera ?

    But I’m most troubled, yet again, here on the comments section, that people use 12ac, 21dn and 22ac.

    It’s much easier to read the answers such as ARCHETYPE, SACK and OUTLIVE, than to have to keep referring back to the grid. Am I a lone voice in the wilderness of crossword-land? And is that why it’s called a “cross word”?

    And can someone please explain to me, a newbie, what’s the connection with peer and ARCHETYPE?

    Ian Donaldson

    1. It’s needed to create the anagram – I think it’s as simple as that. I look for such odd words in the clue as pointers to there being an anagram (there’s always such a pointer, or anagrind, in this case it’s ‘adapted’ to confirm it’s an anagram).
    2. Hi Ian, appreciate your frustrations but a couple of points that might help:
      – peer is part of the anagram fodder for ARCHETYPE: the general convention on this site (see top of this blog) is for anagrams to be indicated by *(–). Thus ARCHETYPE is explained as *(YACHT PEER).
      – Re. 12ac, 21dn etc. rather than the full words, I’m afraid that’s just the way it is. Hope you can just get over that.
    3. The association with Caesar is that as a Roman he spoke Latin and that’s how the clue indicates we’re looking for a Latin word. It’s a fairly standard device when cluing a word in a foreign language to mention the name of a person who would have spoken it. Or a place in which the language would be spoken, Paris, Berlin etc. One to watch out for is Nice to indicate a French word is on the agenda, which if skilfully deployed to hide the capital letter can be confused with the English adjective “nice”.

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