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) |
DRAB – BARD (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) |
SEGMENT – ST (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) |
RULER – RU |
|
12 | Park worker‘s fury right at the start (6) |
RANGER – R (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) |
RAISIN – RAISIN’ (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) |
EPITOME – E (English) + PIT (mine) + |
|
24 | Go through food consumed by French dad (8) |
PERMEATE – MEAT (food) inside (consumed by) PERE (French dad, i.e. the French for father) | |
25 | Refuse requests of Democrat initially entering New York (4) |
DENY – D (Democrat) + first letters (initially) of Entering New York |
Down | |
1 | Separated daughter on island, Greek one (8) |
DISCRETE – D (daughter) + IS (island) + CRETE (Greek one, i.e. Greek island) | |
2 | Kind woman in a Northern set (5) |
ANGEL – A + 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-IN – SI (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) |
EVIDENT – I’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) |
FLATTERY – FRY (Cook) around LATTE (milky coffee) | |
15 | In Low German the word for “wind“? (7) |
MEANDER – MEAN (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) |
SERVE – RV (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) |
HELP – HE (Chap) + LP (old record) |
Edited at 2014-06-09 02:15 am (UTC)
Sorry, wrong crossword. I was doing no.66.
Edited at 2014-06-09 07:43 am (UTC)
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)
Edited at 2014-06-09 11:19 am (UTC)
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)
Some lovely clues & smashing blog mohn2 🙂
LOI EPITOME, COD FLATTERY – always appreciated;)