Quick Cryptic 66 by Hurley

Posted on Categories Quick Cryptic
The puzzle can be found at http://feeds.thetimes.co.uk/timescrossword/20140609/173/

This is Hurley’s sixth offering in the Quick Cryptic line, the previous five seemingly scattered all over the difficulty spectrum, going by people’s comments. I don’t think there’s anything particularly tricky in this one, though it’s possible that the abbreviation in 18D might not be familiar to all. To any readers in the Åland Islands – happy Autonomy Day!

Definitions are underlined.

Across
1 Dreary versifier on way back (4)
DRABBARD (versifier, i.e. poet) reversed (on way back)
3 Unusual hassle accommodating European learner (hard case) (8)
SEASHELL – anagram (Unusual) of HASSLE around (accommodating) E (European) and L (learner)
9 Street occupied by, say, soldiers in part (7)
SEGMENTST (Street) around (occupied by) EG (say) and MEN (soldiers)
10 Gourmet finally ready for this? Hardly! (5)
TRIPE – last letter (finally) of GourmeT + RIPE (ready). The entire clue points towards the definition by suggesting that tripe is not a food that a gourmet would necessarily have on their plate.
11 Cattle stealer (no saint!) one put in charge (5)
RULERRUstLER (Cattle stealer) without ST (no saint)
12 Park worker‘s fury right at the start (6)
RANGERR (right) + ANGER (fury), with “at the start” indicating where the R needs to go.
14 Unreliable name-plate term rewritten (13)
TEMPERAMENTAL – anagram (rewritten) of NAME-PLATE TERM
17 Bringin’ up dried fruit? (6)
RAISINRAISIN’ (Bringin’ up, i.e. raising with the g dropped)
19 With permission, starts to live in city in Thailand (5)
LICIT – initial letters of (starts to) Live In City In Thailand. Today marks the 68th anniversary of King Bhumibol’s ascension to the throne of Thailand.
22 Church figure, cultured, learned, some recalled (5)
ELDER – reversed hidden answer (some recalled) in cultuRED, LEarned
23 Typical example of English mine home, hard to leave (7)
EPITOMEE (English) + PIT (mine) + hOME (home, hard to leave, i.e. home without the initial H)
24 Go through food consumed by French dad (8)
PERMEATEMEAT (food) inside (consumed by) PERE (French dad, i.e. the French for father)
25 Refuse requests of Democrat initially entering New York (4)
DENYD (Democrat) + first letters (initially) of Entering New York
Down
1 Separated daughter on island, Greek one (8)
DISCRETED (daughter) + IS (island) + CRETE (Greek one, i.e. Greek island)
2 Kind woman in a Northern set (5)
ANGELA + N (Northern) + GEL (set, in the verbal sense)
4 At Internet, men’s unexpected fun? (13)
ENTERTAINMENT – anagram (unexpected) of AT INTERNET MEN
5 Protest is over money (3-2)
SIT-INSI (is over, i.e. is reversed) + TIN (money). Money can also be brass, rhino, bread, dough, ready/readies, scratch, etc.
6 Competition I’d entered – that’s obvious (7)
EVIDENTI’D inside (entered) EVENT (Competition)
7 National emblem from barge upset? (4)
LEEK – reversal (upset) of KEEL (barge – not a word I knew). The LEEK/KEEL reversal was exploited in the main cryptic recently (“What makes leafy vegetable collapse? (4,4)”) as well as in the Independent shortly after (“Faint Welsh emblem? (4,4)”.
8 Some deride Green’s award (6)
DEGREE – hidden (Some) in deriDE GREEn’s
13 Cook brought round milky coffee and soft soap (8)
FLATTERYFRY (Cook) around LATTE (milky coffee)
15 In Low German the word for “wind“? (7)
MEANDERMEAN (Low) + DER (German the). Other German words for “the” that are occasionally seen in crosswords are die and das – I have yet to see a den, dem, or des, though, or whatever others I may have forgotten from O-Level German.
16 Tasty item in extremely exotic retreat (6)
ECLAIR – ends of (extremely) ExotiC + LAIR (retreat)
18 Be of use – bring holy books into Bishop’s place (5)
SERVERV (holy books, i.e. Revised Version of the Bible) inside SEE (Bishop’s place). The Revised Version was compiled in the late 19th century, as a revision of the King James version of 1611 (often encountered in crosswords as AV, i.e. Authorised Version).
20 Finish alongside (5)
CLOSE – double definition
21 Chap’s old record providing aid (4)
HELPHE (Chap) + LP (old record)

12 comments on “Quick Cryptic 66 by Hurley”

  1. 14 minutes. 3 of Hurley’s 5 previous puzzles took me longer so this is perhaps at the easier end of the spectrum. Needed several checkers before unravelling the long anagrams.
  2. ECLAIR last in. Again, pound for pound this was not much easier than the main crossword today, so those who found this navigable may wish to try Big Brother.

    Edited at 2014-06-09 02:15 am (UTC)

    1. I agree (again), in fact most of these clues have appeared recently in the main crossword.

      Sorry, wrong crossword. I was doing no.66.

      Edited at 2014-06-09 07:43 am (UTC)

  3. 5 mins, and another QC that was pitched at the right level. I only solved and saw the RV element of SERVE after I got the middle checker from ELDER. CLOSE was my LOI after EPITOME.
  4. Well, I thought this was pretty tricky. Nothing totally unplayable, but the ball was seaming around disconcertingly throughout the session. Took me around the half hour mark.

    Performance was probably not overly enhanced by tackling this after a boozy lunch as it’s a public holiday here in Australia – “Queen’s Birthday long weekend” – and yes, it’s a tad ironic that it is celebrated here but not back in Blighty! But hey, let’s not let my republican leanings get in the way of a day off…

    Much to like in this offering, particularly RAISIN.

    And on behalf of tripe aficionados everywhere, can I just say that I thought the implicit logic of 10ac was thoroughly unwarranted 🙂

    Edited at 2014-06-09 10:00 am (UTC)

    1. Indeed! Tripe is a delicacy in this part of France! Trust you enjoyed the holiday! But from what I read in the SMH Online recently, young people in Australia are leaning more towards the status quo than towards a republic.

      Edited at 2014-06-09 11:19 am (UTC)

      1. Thanks Martin – fine time was had (though sadly tripe was not on the menu). Re. republicanism, I think it’s a “quot homines tot sententiae” kind of gig – which probably goes to affirm how out of touch I am with young Australians…
    2. My last paid employment was as a Civil Servant so I can confirm that the Queen’s Birthday is recognised by a special holiday there, if nowhere else in the UK.
  5. Thanks for a clear and entertaining blog, mohn2. Just as well you referred to the King of Thailand in a respectful manner. Lèse majesté is a serious offence in that country! No real difficulties with this -16mins, so just over the ‘medium’ mark.
  6. Tripped up by leek and tripe.
    Also had eyesore for miners home which I thought rather rude. Then I got the eclair and the Yorkshire dialect did the rest: ‘e pit ‘ome (lad)
  7. Found this tough 28 even with a bit of help from himself

    Some lovely clues & smashing blog mohn2 🙂

    LOI EPITOME, COD FLATTERY – always appreciated;)

  8. I found this one hard. I had to cheat *hides head in shame* bby checking the other line answers several times to see if I was on the right track but still dnf. SEASHELL, PERMEATE, LEEK & ECLAIR got the better of me.

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