Quick Cryptic 32 Hurley

Posted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Little to say about this puzzle. I seemed to rattle through it reasonably quickly and didn’t get a kick out of any of the solutions which is most unusual.

Definition parts of clues underlined where appropriate.

Across
8 Aristocracy look to get on (7)
PEERAGE – PEER(look) + AGE(to get on).
9 Tennis shot Monsieur features in frame (5)
SMASH – SASH(window frame) with M(Monsieur) inside(features in).
10 On hill, check flashlight (5)
TORCH – CH(check) on TOR(hill).
11 First 50 admitted to the plant (7)
THISTLE – IST(first) + L(50) inside(admitted to) THE.
12 South western diner’s warm clothing (7)
SWEATER – SW(south western) + EATER(diner).
14 Turn away from green area first (5)
AVERT – A before(first) VERT(green, heraldic term).
15 Brought over drink fit for a king (5)
REGAL – LAGER reversed(brought over).
17 Have great desire to put in range here? (7)
KITCHEN – ITCH(great desire) inside KEN (range of knowledge). I didn’t know the right meaning of KEN and got this from guessing the cryptic definition.
19 Opening, glasnost, riled section (7)
NOSTRIL – hidden glasNOST RILed.
20 Intend initially sharing resources (5)
MEANS – MEAN(intend) + S(first letter of sharing).
22 Biblical woman not disheartened – it happens! (5)
EVENT – EVE(biblical woman) + NoT (disheartened).
23 Chinese, perhaps, initially edging towards rear of ship (7)
EASTERN – E(initially edging) + A(towards, a- prefix. probably a staple in crossword land but the first time I’ve seen it) + STERN(rear of ship).

Down
1 Awkward situation – son found with drug (4)
SPOT – S(son) + POT(drug).
2 Judgment last month about source of energy (6)
DECREE – DEC(last month) + RE(about) E(source, beginning, of energy).
3 German composer’s term of address for Welshman (4)
BACH – double definition. He was a German composer and it is a term of endearment used by Welsh speakers.
4 Let her kestrel loose causing disorder? (6-7)
HELTER SKELTER – anagram of LET HER KESTREL indicated by loose.
5 Partisan in conflict, he seeks higher position (8)
ASPIRANT – anagram of PARTISAN indicated by in conflict.
6 Social group welcomes Liberal in Leeds, say? (6)
CASTLE – CASTE(social group) with L(liberal) inside(welcomes). Leeds Castle is a pretty awesome example in Kent.
7 Hear tent shaking – to suggest rain? (8)
THREATEN – anagram of HEAR TENT indicated by shaking.
12 Small item of office equipment for athlete (8)
SPRINTER – S(small) + PRINTER(item of office equipment).
13 Indulge learner with time to get involved in gambling system (8)
TOLERATE – L(learner) + ERA(time) inside(to get involved in) TOTE(gambling system).
16 Set importing outsize piano? It’s true (6)
GOSPEL – GEL(set) with OS(outsize, questionable) P(piano).
18 Guy looking over avenue (new), very pleasant place (6)
HEAVEN – HE(guy) + AVE(avenue) + N(new).
20 One of nine? Think! (4)
MUSE – double definition. The nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne in Greek mythology and think.
21 Posted perfume, you say? (4)
SENT – homophone (you say?) of scent(perfume).

14 comments on “Quick Cryptic 32 Hurley”

  1. I only noticed when coming here that I hadn’t bothered parsing THISTLE & TOLERATE. DECREE took longer than it should have since I was looking for ‘ult’ or ‘mar’ rather than ‘dec’. I agree with you on the general meh-ness of the puzzle; but it’s good practice for newcomers.
  2. 20 minutes with the last 8 spent on 6dn before realising I had carelessly entered THISLTE at 11ac. Once I realised my error the end came swiftly.

    ‘Scent’ and ‘perfume’ came up in articles about U and non-U over the weekend as examples of social status. The posh (though they now term themselves ‘smart’) call it ‘scent’ whereas oiks and the hoi polloi say ‘perfume’.

    On 23ac your explanation is completely correct though ‘astern’ is a word in it’s own right so the ‘a’ doesn’t need to separated.

    Edited at 2014-04-22 01:59 am (UTC)

  3. 15 minutes but that isn’t bad given that the right hand half of my iPad Safari keyboard doesn’t populate answers. Always worth a struggle through for a Tuesday blog though!
    I think astern means ‘towards the rear of the ship’ as in ‘you’ll find the tiller astern of the mast’.
    Sorry jackkt – just seen your comment on astern.
    Should also have mentioned that my COD was 4dn as it reminded me of a BBC interview with Helen Skelton!

    Edited at 2014-04-22 08:17 am (UTC)

  4. Some things to enjoy here, I thought, and some things a bit odd (which is also enjoyable to those of us of a perverse disposition, I guess).

    Thought 3 dn was quite amusing – had never linked the master of the fugue with my old Welsh mates at school who applied the “Bach” salutation to each other when they got excited watching rugby.

    The surface of 4 dn appealed: something very pleasing about the image of a woman roaming around with a kestrel and deciding to let it loose to cause disorder.

    Thought “very pleasant place” as a definition of HEAVEN (18 dn) was a tad odd. Sort of puts it on a par with Worcester or Amalfi, or the Commodore pub in North Sydney.

    Probably all of the above is a bit whimsical, but I am on holiday…

    Edited at 2014-04-22 08:54 am (UTC)

    1. I suppose The Commodore is OK, but for me, The Australian Youth Hotel in Glebe ranks higher on the scale of “very pleasant place(s)” 🙂
      1. Crikey! I must check out this august establishment at the first opportunity!
  5. 4 mins again, which seems to be my par for Monday and Tuesday QCs. THISTLE was my LOI.
  6. 19mins with the last 5 mins taken up with 5d and 6d. I misread the enumeration for 5d as (9). I know of the castle but A Momentary Lapse of Reason took hold. Another puzzle that will provide good grounding for the main cryptic. Again, a good blog, Ian.
  7. Moi aussi with ‘ult’ and ‘mar’, Kevin.

    Edited at 2014-04-22 11:26 am (UTC)

  8. The easiest yet?? definitely one for the newer cryptic solver but enjoyable for us ‘oldies’ too.
  9. Having been comprehensively beaten by a previous offering from Hurley I was able to complete this in under 20 minutes. COD NOSTRIL as the hidden answer took longer to spot than it should. LOI MUSE. I enjoyed this one though no stand out clues.
  10. Not happy with tolerate being equated with indulge.
    Am enjoying these puzzles as a newcomer to cryptics. They’ve proved just right with my husband’s guidance.

    1. Glad you are enjoying the puzzles and welcome to TftT.

      Collins’s very first definition of ‘tolerate’ is ‘treat with indulgence’ so this is a case of complaints to the dictionary rather than to the setter.

  11. Pleasant but untroubling. Must be improving!
    13 minutes, held up by wanting to put in CATTLE as social group in 6d, then puzzled over how to make CATTE a homophone of Leeds!/leads/lieds etc. Just goes to show – if you can’t work out the parsing, you are probably wrong….

Comments are closed.