Quick Cryptic 2732 by Hurley

Author   CuraristPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Reasonably straightforward but I was held up by the most schoolboy of errors with 16 across.

Across
1 Daily fare in legislature (4)
DIET – double definition
7 President, unexpected vote loser? (9)
ROOSEVELT – anagram (‘unexpected’) of VOTE LOSER. 26th and 32nd US presidents. This is such a belter I can’t believe we’ve never heard it, at least from one of their political rivals. Reminds me of Nixon’s Vice President Spiro Agnew, whose name can be rearranged to spell GROW A PENIS
9 Escape from charge surrounding lake (4)
FLEE – FEE around L for lake
10 Devoted fan of Aida icon possibly? (10)
AFICIONADO – anagram (‘possibly’) of OF AIDA ICON
11 Italian river, right? Left! (4)
PORT – PO (Italian river) + RT (right).
12 False alibi — event sure to happen! (10)
INEVITABLE – anagram (‘false’) of ALIBI EVENT
16 Container receipt missing one parcel we oddly overlooked (10)
RECEPTACLE – RECEPT (= RECEIPT minus I) + alternate letters of pArCeL wE. Arrgh – spent three minutes staring at this trying to think of a synonym for ‘receipt’, which is how this clue would work in the 15×15. Here in Quickie land, they can use the actual word rather than the synonym. 
19 Fellow, international player, embracing Henry (4)
CHAP – CAP is an international player, insert H for Henry.
21 Place of great beauty, old and new, exotic, welcoming King (10)
WONDERLAND – anagram (‘exotic’) of OLD AND NEW with R for King inserted
23 Unique, extremely open, lovely! (4)
ONLY – first and last letters of OpeN and LoveY
24 Enthusiastic European person (strong) that is not heartless (9)
EBULLIENT – E (European) + BULL (person, strong) + IE (that is) + NT
25 Bridge player’s big meal lacking starter (4)
EAST – FEAST minus the first letter
Down
2 Island dimness — last to leave house (5)
IGLOO – I + GLOO[M]
3 Formal written work — pleasant surprise is estimation originally (8)
TREATISE – TREAT (pleasant surprise) + IS + E for estimation
4 Easy to manage party (Channel Islands) meeting the French (6)
DOCILE – DO (party) + CI + LE
5 In centre, gorgeous small sign (6)
GEMINI – GE (centre of ‘gorgeous’) + MINI (small)
6 Ultimately back the game plan as shrewd (4)
KEEN – acronym from last letters
8 To some extent bit odd, leggy — move unsteadily (6)
TODDLE – hidden word.
13 Through Virginia, coming across inn at first (3)
VIA – VA is Virginia with I for Inn inserted
14 Entertaining story from date once recollected (8)
ANECDOTE – anagram (‘recollected’) of DATE ONCE
15 Far away, referring to car test, English (6)
REMOTE – RE + MOT + E
17 Excitement of 60 minutes inside where money is kept (6)
THRILL – HR inside TILL
18 Cowardly cold flier, croaking (6)
CRAVEN – C + RAVEN
20 In the end, not finishing book (5)
ATLAS – AT LAST minus the last letter
22 Sullen mood, ours? Not entirely (4)
DOUR – hidden word

56 comments on “Quick Cryptic 2732 by Hurley”

  1. 10 minutes with a few minor delays along the way. The anagram of WONDERLAND took some working out because the definition ‘place of great beauty’ led me to believe I was looking for a specific place name. DIET was my LOI after I had started an alphabet trawl but fortunately D comes early.

    I don’t know what ‘croaking’ is doing in 18dn. Even if ravens croak (surely they ‘caw’?) it doesn’t add anything to the clue.

    AFICIONADO appears to be the the word of the moment at Times setters HQ. This is its 5th outing since 27th June!

  2. Hi Jack, ravens do in fact croak, they’re known for it😀

    Lots of anagrams and ikea clues made this a fun morning in the sun, once you work it out just follow the directions. Working it out was the hard bit but all done in around 25 with a break in the middle.

    Brilliant flash of inspiration from Mrs RH this morning of house that starts with I is igloo, don’t think I would ever have seen that.

    COD to port, nice surface and PDM once you realise that right is rt not r

    Thanks Hurley, and Jack for the blog

  3. About 11 with interruptions, a nice quickie with many good clues. I’m with Jack on ‘croaking’ and I also thought we’d seen a lot of AFICIONADO lately. Really liked ROOSEVELT, by coincidence I did this while some braggardly old gasbag was meandering his confused way through a Castro-like speech at the RNC. Thanks Hurley and Curarist.

  4. Had to leave DIET until second last – took me back to Early Modern History for A level and the Diet of Worms. LOI was CRAVEN where “croaking” made me pause wondering if there was something I was missing. Enjoyed seeing EBULLIENT appear as I work through the clue and the mysteries of AFICIONADO and WONDERLAND clearing with a few checkers. All green in 15.54.

    2. ‘The croaking raven doth bellow for revenge’ – Hamlet – so they have indeed been croaking for some centuries

  6. I felt a times that I was making quite hard work of a fairly gently puzzle but I finished a bit under average so can’t complain.
    I spent some time thinking that ‘croaking’ was telling me to anagram ‘flier’ which delayed seeing CRAVEN. My other hold up was spotting the anagram instruction for WONDERLAND.
    Excellent puzzle which I started with DIET and finished with DOUR in 7.49 with COD to ROOSEVELT.
    Thanks to Curarist and Hurley.

  7. A relatively gentle puzzle – if, that is, one has one’s long anagram hat on. AFICIONADO and WONDERLAND took the longest (I remained unsure about the latter until checkers proved it was correct), but once got they opened the grid nicely for a completion in just under 10 minutes.

    Many thanks Curarist for the blog.
    Cedric

  8. Had to correct my careless write in AFECIONADO once DOCILE appeared.
    LOI DIET. I puzzled over this for far too long. Nothing too challenging with several easy ones to get going and fill up the grid.
    COD ROOSEVELT. Thanks Hurley and Curarist

  9. 10:40
    My FOI seems to have been LOI for some, DIET. I also was confused by “croaking” which made CRAVEN my LOI.

    VOTE LOSER, what a great anagram.

  10. Needed a hint for DIET and GEMINI, and could not parse ‘GE’ until I saw the blog, oh dear.
    Otherwise OK, easy in parts and difficult in others.
    Liked THRILL, PORT, DOCILE, EBULLIENT. FOI ROOSEVELT.
    Thanks vm, Curarist.

  11. My anagram hat seems to have been fixed by copious amounts of Pol Roger last night. Excellent news. Not so helpful for other bits of one’s crosswording toolkit though, so it all evened out to cross the line in reggo 07:59.

    Terrific puzzle, liked PORT, ROOSEVELT and EBULLIENT in particular. Many thanks Hurley and Curarist.

  12. 13:53. I struggled with this for some reason, especially the SW corner, with THRILL, WONDERLAND and RECEPTACLE (LOI) all proving resistant. Despite AFICIONADO appearing in a recent crossword, my memory of how to spell it was rusty, and needed a careful count of the letters in the anagrist.

    Thanks Curarist and Hurley

    1. I was stuck because I was trying to spell AFICIONADO with two Fs. It is derived from AFFECTION. I wonder why it lost its second F.

  13. A much earlier solve than usual for me, but with the same deflating outcome as yesterday – a DNF. 1a was the culprit today where, not knowing the legislature and with DIET not coming to mind, I tentatively guessed that gIsT (inside legislature) might be a word for daily fare. I was unconvinced (rightly) and wrote it in faintly and marked it with a question mark, but with the possibility of a rare SCC escape on the cards, I forgot to revisit the clue before coming here. In the end, I stopped the watch at 20 minutes, but that’s all immaterial now.

    A DNF caused by my own stupidity (and there have been far too many over the past four years) always makes me feel prickly for a short while. I don’t know why, as it’s only a game (although what did Bill Shankly say about football?). Anyhow, I’m currently visiting my 94 y.o. dad in sunny Christchurch (Dorset) and we’re just about to walk along the river (Stour), past the quay, boats, swans, old mill, mill stream and castle into town for some coffee and cake. What could be better? Just writing these few words has already banished that prickly feeling … well, nearly.

    Thanks to Hurley and Curarist.

    1. Glad to read your father is still going strongly Mr Random – it is indeed a lovely day down here today.

      I thought Hurley’s QC was generous in many places with two hiddens, extreme letters for only, some good anagrams, IKEA clues and old chestnuts but then let itself down with the DIET double def which expects a lot from the intermediate solving population especially without the starting letter.

    2. Good effort Mr RandomChap Senior! I really hope that if I get to 94 I can still walk along the river for coffee and cake.

  14. 4:38 but 1 wrong. I forgot to go back and look at the questionable GIST for 1A, thinking as I saw the hidden answer that “daily fare” was an odd definition for it. Thanks Hurley and Curarist.

    1. Am I missing something? However hard I stare at “legislature”, I can’t see “gist” hidden in it. “Gisl” yes, “gist” no.

      1. No. It was my poor eyesight. I should have worn my reading glasses to solve!

  15. I can’t say that I enjoyed this quite as much as others. There seemed to be far too many anagrams for a single puzzle, and while some were neat surfaces (vote loser), others were a bit on the clunky side. CoD to 23ac, Only, for the parsing. Invariant

  16. Another AFICIONADO?! They’re all over the place at the moment.

    5 mins for all but 1, then 2 to get DIET – a write in with D?E?, very much not (for me) with ?I?T.

    A week to forget for me – not a single WITCH score under 100, or even close to it! Plus a DNF.

    7:01

  17. Went off the rails a bit with 16a coming up with tabernacle as a container. Had second thoughts when Remote came in at 15d. Can’t even blame a catholic upbringing.

  18. Pleased to finish – LOI ATLAS (after abc trawl) – but CNP WONDERLAND or GEMINI, so thanks for excellent blog. COD to ROOSEVELT, surely – what a brilliant surface.

  20. Left 1a until near the end as I hate spending a long time on the first clue! Eventually remembered DIET when I came back to it, only known through doing crosswords and previously looking up diet of worms. 2d also took a while until I had the O from PORT and IGLOO suddenly appeared. Struggled with RECEPTACLE for same reason as C, initially looking for synonym of receipt. Biffed then parsed EBULLIENT (great clue). COD has to go to ROOSEVELT. Tricky in places but very enjoyable overall. Thanks C and Hurley.

  21. 15m or nearly 9 mohns (1:43!)
    Also struggled with this.
    Didn’t parse Gemini, question mark next to croaking (tried an anagram of c + flier).
    LOI diet.
    COD roosevelt.

  22. Luckily I had my anagram hat on today, allowing me to finish in 13 minutes with everything parsed except my LOI. I have no problem with croaking as applied to ravens but wondered why the word was there at all. Otherwise all fairly straightforward.

    FOI – 7ac ROOSEVELT
    LOI – 17dn THRILL
    CODs – 7ac ROOSEVELT and 25ac EAST, both for the surface and for the sheer ingenuity of the anagram

    Thanks to Hurley and Curarist

  23. 7:07

    Another appearance from AFICIONADO – don’t think anyone should have any excuse for not spelling it correctly by now 🙂

    Jumping around a bit after the first round – didn’t spot that WONDERLAND was an anagram, didn’t know that RAVENs croak (but happy to accept that they might) – RECEPTACLE came to me in a flash once four checkers were in, having momentarily thought of the recently-seen TABERNACLE (fortunately already had REMOTE in place to quash the thought).

    Finally left with the cunning IGLOO and the forgotten-about-the-legislature element to DIET.

    Thanks Hurley and Curarist

  24. I was sailing along quite happily with about eight minutes expended with two to get. It took me about four minutes to get IGLOO, and a further two minutes or so to get my LOI DIET. The clock was finally stopped at 13.48, where bloodied yet unbowed I was relieved to finish. I thought these two clues might be a stumbling block for many, but looking at the posts so far apparently not. Just me then!
    Total time for the week 52.17 giving a daily average a little outside target at 10.25.

  25. From ROOSEVELT to DIET in 7:41. I stuggled to spell AFICIONADO and transposed the first and last letters so TREATISE was my penultimate solve.

  26. 15:42, which would have got me back out of the SCC if I hadn’t used assistance to get DIET. Ah well.

    Thank you for the blog!

  27. DIET first one in for me (Worms) and then all fell quite briskly into place except for 2d and 11a. I then spent 15 frustrating minutes trying to recall an Italian river ending in T and an island with I – L —. Terrible biff ensued: ISLAY for the island and EYOT for an ay-tie sounding river feature. I know. So obvious now I’ve read the blog! GLOOM without ending has to take you to IGLOO!

    That said, great fun puzzle from Hurley and cracking blog from Curarist. COD to ATLAS and runner-up to CRAVEN. Now for some gardening.

  28. 34 mins…

    Probably 10 mins spent trying to fathom 18dn “Craven”. To be honest, I should have just been able to biff it, but the “croaking” element threw me and I spent far too long thinking “flier” was an anagrist. Like a few above, still not sure what it’s even doing there. Other hold ups were the NW corner of 1ac “Diet” and 2dn “Igloo”, and trying to spell “Aficionado” for 10ac.

    FOI – 3dn “Treatise”
    LOI – 18dn “Craven”
    COD – 5dn “Gemini”

    Thanks as usual!

  29. I made hard work of this one, with 1a taking far too much time, eventually becoming my LOI after an alphabet trawl. TREATISE was FOI. POI, RECEPTACLE also took a while. 11:26. Thanks Hurley and Curarist.

  30. 8.33 DNF. We’ve seen AFICIONADO many times recently, but this is the first time I didn’t carefully check how I’d spelled it. With an A in the middle. I did the same thing every other time and corrected it. Gah! I enjoyed the puzzle though. I was baffled by croaking and held up at the end by IGLOO and ATLAS. Thanks Curarist and Hurley.

    P.S. Tell a lie. I just checked my submission for the last Private Eye crossword. I misspelled it there too. Double gah!

  31. Pretty straightforward today and it felt like it should have been faster than our 10:21. Couldn’t believe AFICIONADO cropping up again! Thanks to Curarist and Hurley.

  32. Not too difficult for me, though Pumpa did help me with 10a. He also helped me with the spelling of aficionado. I knew the word but couldn’t remember how to spell it.

    25:53

    My verdict: 👍
    Pumpa’s verdict: 🐈

  33. Interesting grid was my first thought when printing the puzzle.
    My FOI was FLEE although I had previously written DIET against the clue to 1ac. Other than that I had to write out the checking letters I had for some of the anagrams to reveal themselves.
    My favourite is EBULLIENT, as I built it from WP and WOD to TODDLE.
    LOI CRAVEN.

  34. Made hard work of this, putting creative in for 3d. So 1a not solved although Worms was well known. Blame the hot weather!

  35. 14:33
    Struggled in the NW and doubted the croaking abilities of ravens, but happy just to cross the line today with all my spelling correct.

  36. What a lovely anagram is 7a… Topical too.
    FOI 7a Roosevelt
    LOI 18d Craven
    COD 5d Gemini

  37. A disappointing 18 minutes.

    Another week in the fail column. 31 minutes inside my target time, but irrelevant as Monday was an unforgivable DNF – STATESHIP instead of SPACESHIP.

    Thanks for the blog.

    1. My 18 minutes were far from disappointing. You should try some of mine. Inside target ( I don’t do targets, but if you must…) and one far from major slip – hardly a disaster.

  38. Sub SCC entry time, so a pleasing end to the week. Some tricky clues, but nearly foxed by 1A where I was thinking legislation rather than legislature for too long – and then it took a while anyway. The presidential anagram was excellent, and plenty more to admire and enjoy.

  39. 11:51. RECEPTACLE was COD for me. Always believed crows caw (harsh or shrill) and ravens croak(throaty). In fact besides ravens I can only think of frogs croaking.

  40. Most enjoyable puzzle of the week for me. LOI DIET took me ages and I nearly gave in. Have a vague recollection of ravens croaking so happy with that clue. Thanks Hurley and Curarist.

  41. Had another crack at the big crossword. Got most but missed a few I should have got and took well over an hour.

    A frustrating week, having spent probably 10 hours on the QC, Quintagram and big crossword combined.

    I hope this pays off in the long run.

  42. Never really liked Hurley’s crosswords but all done and dusted on Saturday !

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