QC 1685 by Hurley

Author   astartedonPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Once again I don’t have much time for anything more than the usual stats.

Again I felt this was of medium QC difficulty similar to the last one I blogged and certainly a step up from the series that I met in earlier months which seemed to more or less solve themselves. So thank you Hurley for a slightly longer challenge than usual over the morning cup of tea.

FOI was 1A with a very obvious anagram. LOI was 7A because for some reason the key word MENIAL wouldn’t come at first although I could feel it lurking there at the edge of my consciousness. As always I have difficulty choosing a COD as they all seem to be of about the same level of difficulty so I go for the one with the neatest surface. This week the honour goes to 9A.

A special hello this week to invariant_tft. Thank you for your message and for following up. I haven’t managed to think too deeply about your little conundrum although I feel I should be able to get the answer. I did study Chemistry at University and took modules in Physics and since following several careers in other directions I have always maintained an interest in science so I feel it should not be beyond me. I’ll follow up the reference you suggest when I get a moment and I hope the penny will drop. I saw your SPOILER ALERT and didn’t read any further so I imagine if I decide to give up then the answer is disclosed in that message? Either way I will get back to you and tell you either that I got it finally or that I gave up!

Definitions are underlined in italics and everything else is explained just as I see it as simply as I can.

Across
1 Get coat altered in rural building (7)
COTTAGE – straight anagram (‘altered’) of GET COAT.
5 Instant credit (4)
TICK – double definition.
7 Domestic servant getting new start is friendly (6)
GENIAL – mENIAL (domestic servant) getting a new start.
8 Grape is beset by wet weather (6)
RAISIN – IS ‘beset’ by RAIN (wet weather).
9 One hoping you buy second drinks for each child (11)
SALESPERSON – S (second) + ALES (drinks) + PER (for each) + SON (child).
10 Busy, cite changes in hours, constant (6)
HECTIC – ECTI (anagram of CITE (‘changes’)) ‘in’ H (hours) + C (constant).
12 This decorative item cheers? Not so much, on reflection (6)
TASSEL – TA (cheers) + SSEL (LESS (not so much) ‘on reflection’).
14 Poisonous reptile disconcerts nude no end (11)
RATTLESNAKE – RATTLES (disconcerts) + NAKEd (nude with no end).
17 Seethe as whiskey taken from bather? (6)
SIMMER – W (whiskey, phonetic alphabet) ‘taken from’ SwIMMER (bather).
18 Saying nothing about a temperature change (6)
MUTATE – MUTE (saying nothing) ‘about’ A + T (temperature).
20 Strong reaction in prison (4)
STIR – double definition.
21 Vehicle collecting editor on way back or one used in transaction? (5-2)
TRADE-IN – TRAIN (vehicle) ‘collecting’ DE (EDitor ‘on the way back’).
Down
1 Reminder of broadcast line (3)
CUE – sounds like (‘broadcast’) QUEUE (line).
2 Blunder allowed in one of three (7)
TRIPLET – TRIP (blunder) + LET (allowed).
3 Book finally shortened (5)
ATLAS – AT LASt (finally) ‘shortened’.
4 Serious listener, home later (7)
EARNEST – EAR (listener) + NEST (home). I think ‘later’ here just says that the NEST comes after the EAR and also improves the surface into the bargain, although it is strictly superfluous IMHO.
5 By the sound of it, yarns for formal wear (5)
TAILS – sounds like (‘by the sound of it’) TALES (yarns).
6 Tell niece, working, to see customers (9)
CLIENTELE – straight anagram (‘working’) of TELL NIECE.
9 Flavour of pantries, after refurbishment, captivating Mike (9)
SPEARMINT – SPEARINT (anagram of PANTRIES (‘after refurbishment’)) ‘captivating’ M (Mike, phonetic alphabet again).
11 No-good prig in cult — who’s to blame? (7)
CULPRIT – CULT with PRI (‘no-good’ PRIg) inside.
13 Begin extremely late causing alarm (7)
STARTLE – START (begin) + LE (‘extremely’ LatE).
15 Watch maybe as millions lodged in bank (5)
TIMER – TIER (bank) with M (millions) lodged in it. Watch ‘maybe’ as other forms of timer are available.
16 Boy with nothing on a Polynesian state (5)
SAMOA – SAM (boy) + O (nothing) ‘on’ (i.e. ‘above’ in this down clue) A.
19 Cask from Soviet Union (3)
TUN – hidden word: ‘from’ sovieT UNion.

45 comments on “QC 1685 by Hurley”

  1. An interesting start to the week. Ambled through this in about 45 minutes after supper. Began well with 1a and 1d then had to start working. A bit hit and miss on the across clues but agree with others that the down clues were easier to resolve and gave plenty of crossers to help the second run. Held up with 12a tinsel v tassel despite the problem with parsing. Again with 20a as S + TIR didn’t work…but obviously it was STIR. FOI 1a cottage LOI 3d atlas (was fixated on album for too long). COD 14a for the surface. So thx to Hurley and our blogger by whatever name he prefers or is given!

    BTW anyone know how to clear out user names and passwords to start over with new? Been banned for an hour, again.

  2. Me too. The only advice I can give is shuffle the letters and look for typical combinations: ing, ion, st, ph, est etc. It does get (slightly) easier with practice.

    Edited at 2020-08-24 08:24 pm (UTC)

  3. Can’t get my head around STIR = strong reaction. It’s an action if anything not a reaction. I checked with Chambers at it says ‘If something stirs you, it makes you react with a strong emotion.’ which I suppose makes sense, but I wouldn’t immediately think something stirring was necessarily STRONG.

    LOI 3d after using an aid to get 9a which my mind went blank on.

    COD for me was 5d.

    Thanks Hurley and Don (?)

    1. I didn’t look it up but I felt it was OK from my own personal experience. I once had an Irish girlfriend and also hung out with her brother and sisters quite a lot, and if for example one of them had a new dress or suit and wore it to party where it was much admired they would talk about it ‘creating a bit of a stir’. Or similarly if they were in a conversation and thought someone was being a bit of an idiot they might have made a controversial remark as we might say, just to get a rise out of them or take the micky, but as they would say “Oh I just said it to cause a bit of a stir”.

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