Quick Cryptic 478 by Hurley. It’s all Greek to me.

Very good workmanlike puzzle.  Nothing specially noteworthy, although 18a was nicely disguised (it took some passes before I spotted it).  And 22a was well hidden.  No I certainly didn’t know the Korean money so I had to get 18a first.  Just under 6 minutes with a chunk of time spent with the wonton soup in the SW corner.  Definitions in blue italic underlined.  Answers in bold caps.

Across
1.  Duke has possession of hills (5)
DOWNS. D=duke (as often in crosswords), OWNS=has.
4. Rest day brings Southern seaman to city (7)
SABBATH.  S plus AB (sailor) plus Bath=city.
8.  Informed attitude about drink (7)
SANGRIA.  Sang=informed plus AIR reversed (attitude).
9.  Take front off roof beam at later time (5)
AFTER.  [R]after=roof beam with the front off.
10.  Greek character don droned on about shrub (12)
RHODODENDRON.  Rho=Greek character plus anagram of DON DRONED.  I liked the idea of the don droning on.  “Rhodo” comes from the Greek “rose” and “dendron” from “tree”.
12. Old mathematician returning snooker equipment cover (6)
EUCLID.  Our other Greek clue.  Snooker cue reversed (returning) plus LID=cover.
13. Small and attractive – favourite item Monsiieur’s missed (6)
PETITE.  PET=favourite plus ITE, “item” minus M[onsieur].
16.  Widespread stick for top officers (7,5)
GENERAL STAFF.  Amusing.  GENERAL=widespread and STAFF=stick.
18. Add life to routine, English not exaclty working initially (5)
RENEW.  No idea why but it took me a long time to see this.  First letters (initially) in r[outine] E[nglish] n[ot] e[xactly] w[orking].
20. Messenger in firm, curt ignoring outsiders? That’s right (7)
COURIER.  CO (company or firm) with [c]ur[t] plus i.e. r[ight].
21.  Pit worker welcomes a Republican sailor (7)
MARINER.  MINER (pit worker) contains a R[epublican].
22.  Movable mechanism from Munich in Germany (5)
HINGE.  Contained in [Munic]h in Ge[rmany].  Again I don’t know why I didn’t spot this much faster but I went looking for the German word for Munich (Munchen).  Nice misdirection by the setter.

Down
1.  Merit of French verse, translated (7)
DESERVE.  DE=of (in French) plus anagram of VERSE (translated).
2.  Order new car and old wine for glass worker (6,7)
WINDOW CLEANER.  Anagram of NEW CAR OLD WINE (order).
3.  Preach of dreadful mores in South East (9)
SERMONISE.  Anagram (dreadful) of MORES IN  contained in SE.
4.  One criticising roof worker (6)
SLATER.  Double definition.
5. Stole unfinished vessel (3)
BOA.  Boa[t].
6.  Aura, iron, that I represented as strict (13)
AUTHORITARIAN.  Anagram (represented) of AURA IRON THAT I.
7. Difficult – that endless road (4)
HARD.  [T]HA[T] plus RD=road.
11.  Drug upset unfashionable, hot US area (4,5)
DEEP SOUTH.  SPEED=drug, backwards (upset) plus OUT=unfashionable, plus H[ot].
14. Ensure observance of education extremely supportive of church (7)
ENFORCE.  First and last letters of E[DUCATIO]N (extremely) FOR=supportive.  CE=church (Church of England).
15. Tripper familiar with Charleston perhaps (6)
DANCER.  TRIPPER, as in tripping a measure, and CHARLESTON, as in the energetic1920’s dance.
17.  Regularly perform in concert (4)
PROM.  Every other letter (regularly) in P[E]R[F]O[R]M. Here it’s one of the venerable concert series held annually at the Albert Hall in London.  In the US it’s the dance held at the end of the senior year in high school, which sometimes turns up in these puzzles.
19. Got Korean money (3)
WON.  Double definition.

10 comments on “Quick Cryptic 478 by Hurley. It’s all Greek to me.”

  1. Some all too easily biffed clues, like 2d or 12ac. I’m usually slow at picking up hidden clues, but this time at 22ac I twigged instantly, then had to eliminate ‘ichin’ and ‘ching’ before coming to my senses. I liked 8ac especially. Today I discovered how to make the puzzle disappear, but at least when it finally returned, after about a minute, I didn’t have to retype anything, unlike the club puzzles. About 5 minutes of solving time, one more of waiting and cursing.
  2. 11 minutes but I think I nodded off very briefly, solving late into the night having completed the main puzzle.

    Edited at 2016-01-07 06:05 am (UTC)

  3. As a newby I appreciate all the efforts the bloggers make but seeing that (from recent comments) Oliviar is a blog newby, I thought this was especially clear and immaculately laid out. I know I’ll be awarded an OBN* for this!
    * “Order of the Brown Nose” as in “Private Eye”.
  4. A nice puzzle with the top half going in very quickly and the bottom taking a bit longer. Needed the checkers for 19d and 11d was unparsed so thanks for the clarification. CoD was 10a, partly out of relief that it was a shrub I’m familiar with, unlike most flora which seem to appear in crosswords.
  5. Surprised myself by getting the long anagrams quite quickly, which helped. Held up slightly by 13ac and LOI 15d, otherwise quite a gentle offering from Hurley. 12ac made me smile, and is my favourite today. Invariant
  6. I was in Rochester again today-in pouring rain, so I retreated with paper to a cafe. 20 minutes later the QC was finished (that might be a record for me).Looking back there was nothing controversial. I know most of the currencies but needed the W to remember Won. Last in was Boa!. David
  7. Thank you for all the comments. Today’s other cryptic was not one for the faint of heart (I see David had a go and more power to you)and it gave rise to a fair bit of comment here and on the Club Forum, including a rare(ish) response from the editor. To Johnhh – thank you for noticing the lay-out. I’m working on it but I cribbed it from Jackkt and Linxit. I blogged a couple of the QCs when they first came out and then temp-ed for Linxit on the Saturday cryptic last winter for a couple of months so I’m not a complete tyro, but I’d mark myself “needs improvement”.
  8. At an hour, a quickie (for me!) but thx to the bloggers to appreciate the finer reasoning… Really liked 12a and 20a

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