Quick Cryptic 1117 by Hurley

Author   william_j_sPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Apologies are due to the early birds for the slightly later than normal posting – unforeseen circumstances, I’m afraid. This has a bit of everything and I enjoyed solving it. A few bits and pieces were unkown to me, but not too difficult to figure out or guess, such as 7ac and 3dn and the composer at 20ac. Lot’s of contenders for COD – I’m going to plump for 1dn for its surface reading.

Thanks Hurley.

Definitions underlined.

Across
1 21 back in crowd — foolish behaviour (7)
MADNESS – END (answer to 21dn) reversed (back) inside MASS (crowd).
5 District Attorney referring to challenge (4)
DARE – DA (district attorney) and RE (regarding, referring to).
7 Winter sportsman or cricketer hitting high ball (5)
SKIER – double definition. In cricket, a skier (pronounced sky-er) is a ball hit high above the fielders resulting in an easy catch. Presumable the setter uses the term to refer to the person hitting the ball also, but I cannot find support for this.
8 After first sign of crime, make certain there’s condemnation (7)
CENSURE – first letter (sign) of Crime and ENSURE (make certain).
10 Sort of dislike oddly ignored (3)
ILK – every other letter from (oddly ignored) dIsLiKe.
11 Gift I’d kept inside for top politician (9)
PRESIDENT – PRESENT (gift) with I’D inside).
13 Address hesitation by maiden hugged by boy (6)
SERMON – ER (hesitation) and M (maiden, cricketing abbreviation) surrounded (hugged) by SON (boy).
14 Tree initially as charming as collection in arboretum (6)
ACACIA – first letters from (initially) As Charming As Collection In Arboretum.
17 A pert sort at work, lying (9)
PROSTRATE – anagram of (at work) A PERT SORT.
19 Character from Athens — another Homer? Not entirely (3)
RHO – hidden in (not entirely) anotheR HOmer.
20 Titanic hit this, one church composer put together (7)
ICEBERG – I (one), CE (church), and BERG (Alban, composer).
22 Having been cut with tool, they say, a bath in Finland (5)
SAUNA – sounds like (they say) “sawn” (having been cut by tool), then A.
23 Girl to take courses on return (4)
ENID – DINE (to take courses) backwards (on return).
24 See Trot’s strange badge (7)
ROSETTE – anagram of (strange) SEE TROT’S.

Down
1 US State girl is found with drink by private investigator (11)
MISSISSIPPI – MISS (girl), IS, SIP (drink), and PI (private investigator).
2 No teetotaller, the German crossing skating area (7)
DRINKER – DER (‘the’ in German) surrounding (crossing) RINK (skating area).
3 In sympathy with parent pro upset (2,7)
EN RAPPORT – anagram of (upset) PARENT PRO.
4 Use Crete as setting for mystery (6)
SECRET – hidden in (as setting for) uSE CRETe.
5 Reportedly completed in brownish-grey colour (3)
DUN – sounds like (reportedly) “done” (completed).
6 Provoke complaint — starter missing (5)
ROUSE – gROUSE (complaint) missing its first letter (starter missing).
9 Unusually courteous, getting article for one — draw conclusions! (11)
EXTRAPOLATE – EXTRA POLiTE (unusually courteous), replacing ‘i’ (one) with ‘A’ (article).
12 Expands popular features of cricket pitch (9)
INCREASES – IN (popular) and CREASES (features of cricket pitch).
15 Sound of satisfaction turning over in bed not to be trusted (7)
CORRUPT – PURR (sound of satisfaction) reversed (turning over), inside COT (bed).
16 New attempt in pub in Welsh town (6)
BANGOR – N (new) and GO (attempt) inside BAR (pub).
18 Manoeuvred canoe in water (5)
OCEAN – anagram of (manoeuvred) CANOE.
21 Finish the season tired ultimately (3)
END – last letters of (ultimately) thE seasoN tireD.

29 comments on “Quick Cryptic 1117 by Hurley”

  1. 9 minutes for the third consecutive day. Very enjoyable but I looked twice at EN RAPPORT wondering whether it counted as an ‘English’ expression or had I remembered it only from when I studied French? Good to see a substitution clue at 9dn as we don’t get many of them in QCs.

    Edited at 2018-06-20 08:51 am (UTC)

  2. Was going to comment, honest, but I had to give a class. Anyway, I was going to second Jackkt’s opinion of EXTRAPOLATE. I was a bit surprised at (and slowed down by) EN RAPPORT, although I don’t think I’d have blinked an eye in a 15×15; but I suppose if one can be au fait or au courant, why not en rapport? DARE: the setter kindly provided ‘district attorney’; setter for the 15x15s aren’t so generous, and ‘lawyer’ is often a good sign that DA is wanted. 5:38, or one Kevin.
  3. 15 minutes today, so the perfect difficulty for me. Some entertaining clues too. Thanks Hurley.
  4. Indeed, a perfectly-judged QC, if I may say, though EN RAPPORT, since it is an unusual (and foreign) expression anagrammed, could qualify as a no-no for some people. The substitution I’m completely on board with, as it’s the sort of thing new solvers will get to see frequently in the daily.

    Thanks to Hurley and William.

  5. I found this pretty easy, for once! Nothing really slowed me down, although CORRUPT was my LOI and took a while to see. A great confidence boost after my dismal attempt at the 15×15 yesterday — going to have a look at today’s once I’ve walked the dog and done the housework. Pride comes before etc…
    1. Careful with today’s 15×15: it’s an oldie from 1986, and you may not know (eg) Miss Partington. Don’t be dismayed if you find it tricky: the first of this year’s oldies, which sub for the Championship qualifiers, had a stratospheric score on the Snitch.
      1. Well I started off thinking, “This is a doddle,” and now it’s all going downhill! The only Miss Partington I know of is Lucy, cousin of Martin Amis, who was a victim of Fred West…and I can’t even see which clue it refers to, which doesn’t bode well. Love the 21D clue, I did know him! Actually, this all makes me sound a bit macabre, doesn’t it: murderers and executioners. I’d storm a 15×15 on serial killers.
        1. Ah yes, I see you’re doing the Championship Qualifier rather than its sub on Club site. For the time being, stay shtum on the Qualifier: it’s effectively under competitions rules and won’t be discussed until next week. All the best!
          1. I’ve finished it!!!!!!! Had to use the trusty thesaurus a fair bit and google a couple of answers to check they were actually words, but — bloody hell — I’ve finished it. Going to send it in; my first entry into a xword comp! Wish me luck 🙂
            Ps. Yes, I’m a Luddite. Paper copy, not web land.
  6. Our nuclear subs are supposedly ordered to launch an attack if the Today programme doesn’t broadcast for a certain number of days … I feel the same way about the non-appearance of Kevin! Anyway, I’m guessing that my 8 mins is two Kevins today so pretty pleased with that.

    Agree with William that a skier in cricket is always used for the shot, not the player (plenty of skiers yesterday, and lots of Australian fielders with cricks in their necks!).

    COD was EXTRAPOLATE for me, very clever (thanks for the nomenclature “substitution clue”, jack). Lovely puzzle, lots of smooth wit on display.

    Thanks for the blog, William, even if it wasn’t Hurley enough.

    Templar

    1. I took the reference to the cricketer (rather than the shot) to be to be tongue-in-cheek like ‘flow-er’ for ‘river’ etc, and not a literal definition, but on reflection if that were so I would expect there to be a question mark or some other indication of the intention, and there isn’t.

      Edited at 2018-06-20 01:02 pm (UTC)

  7. So here I am – a reasonably old hand (at QCs anyway – the 15×15 is a different issue). Everything done in 7+ minutes today – with the exception of 15dn. This took a further 3 minutes (and a few sips of tea) – half the time as for the rest of the grid put together. I’d spelled 24 across incorrectly so had a final letter of E which didn’t help. I enjoyed finally seeing ‘purr’ as ‘sound of satisafcation’ with a deeper satisfaction than that which comes from posting a sub 10 minute time.
  8. 16 mins with important interruptions of whatsapped pictures of jeans to see if i wanted them.

    dnk en rapport
    couldn’t parse 1a as i missed the 21 ref!

    Cod extrapolate

  9. I like to see how far I can get going straight through the clues, so 1a rather kiboshed that today, but this was a decent offering, with “extra polite” my pick of the day.
    I think (even more technically) a SKIER in cricket is a top edge that goes straight up and is there to be caught. During the brutal dismantling of the hapless Australian bowling attack yesterday, they did at least induce two consecutive skiers which probably prevented England getting past 500. Some feat!
    Be that as it may, I can’t see any real reason why, in crosswordspeak, skier shouldn’t be “someone who skies the ball”
  10. Really enjoyed this. One thing to add is that “rho” (19 d) is a Greek (“from Athens” ) character. Thanks so much, blogger and Hurley. Louisa
  11. Enjoyable puzzle with just 9dn EXTRAPOLATE taking me over my 10 min goal. Spent a good three minutes trying to solve it as an anagram of ‘courteous’ and ‘an’ before realising the answer included two As and two Es. Also struggled to spell 1dn MISSISSIPPI. 12:47
  12. 13 minutes today and I enjoyed the outing. I cringed when I saw ‘Welsh town’ as my Welsh geography is suspect, but the first couple of crossers revealed the answer.
  13. Held up by EXTRAPOLATE where I had to resort to a letter trawl before I realised it wasn’t an anagram, and CORRUPT (I rarely PURR). The only BERG I know plays cricket for Hampshire, but hardly mattered. SKIER would certainly have fitted me as a batsman. Enjoyed MISSISSIPPI, although the PI rather gave it away. Overall then an average time with much to enjoy.
    PlayUpPompey
  14. Lost time by trying to turn 9d into an anagram, but still finished in 25mins, so that’s 3 fairly straightforward ones on the trot. No doubt Tracy will turn up quite soon to put a stop to all this. Left 1d until I had a few crossers in place, by which time its elegant surface wasn’t needed, but it’s still my CoD. Invariant
  15. Straightforward today. Struggled with 17ac. Kept thinking of fibbing. Only got it when sussed en rapport.
    Thought 18d was poetry. Cheers Hurley
    John
  16. Was my last one in, and I am still a little mystified. Our learned blogger wrote that rosette was an anagram of SEE TROT’S. However, that’s 8 letters instead of 7, which put me off for some time. I would grateful if somebody could explain what the ‘S is doing there? Is it SEE TROT (anagrist) IS STRANGE ( anagrind)?
    I have been enjoying this week, after the struggles of last. Thanks to setter and blogger.

    Edited at 2018-06-20 04:14 pm (UTC)

    1. My mistake – sorry about the confusion. You’re absolutely right: SEE TROT (is strange, is anagrammed) for “badge”.

      1. Thank you! A nice piece of misdirection from Hurley -at least as far as I was concerned! Had me stumped for a long time.
  17. Agree with everyone, a very enjoyable puzzle – BUT, my personal bete noire (if I can be allowed a French excursion myself) is clues that reference other clues. At best it spoils the rhythm by making you look elsewhere, and at worst if you can’t get one you are stuck on the other, or as today I got 1a immediately so 21d was a write in.
  18. Hurley was on form today in this entertaining offering, I particularly enjoyed 9d and 14a. Completed in 12.36 with LOI 9d.
  19. I share the reservations about EN RAPPORT and referenced clues passim, and also that this was an enjoyable puzzle.

    I wonder if daily solvers would also feel a little diddled by an anagrammed foreign phrase?

    1. Ref your last remark, yes some of us often do and complain about it regularly.
  20. PB for me at 11.59, shaving about 5 min from previous PB. Last in 15dn, correct answer but imperfectly parsed, having started with Cor, and unhappy that turn not a full anagram
  21. Came to this late today due to Grandadly duties and polished it off in 9:38, so by no means straightforward. Liked EXTRAPOLATE. Had to write out the anagrist for ROSETTE, and still needed the crossers. Nice puzzle. Thanks Hurley and William.

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