Quick Cryptic 772 by Hurley

Author   nick_the_novicePosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
I found this one fairly straightforward – most of it wrapped up in the time it took me to eat a sausage roll in a car park whilst en route to a funeral – with the last couple being added later. However, these things are subjective so I’ll be interested to see what the rest of you thought.

Nothing obscure and plenty of different clue types, so probably a good one for those at the early stages of their cryptic learning curve.

Definitions underlined: DD = double definition: anagrams indicated by *(–): omitted letters indicated by {-}

Across
1 Mini cameras adapted for New York usage? (11)
AMERICANISM – *(MINI CAMERAS) with “adapted” pointing us to the anagram (and also doing double duty as part of the definition as I read it – hence the question mark indicating something a bit quirky is going on…)
9 Book of maps in end left unfinished (5)
ATLAS – AT LAS{t} (in end left unfinished)
10 Delegate authority to fellow going to appointment (7)
MANDATE – MAN (fellow) with DATE (appointment)
11 At home a brother finally raises being behind with
payments (2,7)
IN ARREARS – IN (at home) A R (a brotheR finally) + REARS (raises)
13 Animal’s hiding place in story (3)
LIE – DD (at least I think that’s the explanation – did not know ‘lie’ as a hiding place and do not have access to my trusty dictionary as I am on the road, and cannot find any online validation of this…)
14 Perhaps plot information about a road (6)
GARDEN – GEN (information) goes around (about) A RD (a road)
16 Mixture used in building gun (6)
MORTAR – DD
17 Strange drink (3)
RUM – and another DD…
18 Condiment Bill allowed, Sarah briefly admitted (5,4)
TABLE SALT – TAB (bill) + LET (allowed) with SAL (Sarah briefly) inside (admitted). Must admit I had not known that Sal was a short form of Sarah – but at least it’s not quite so mysterious as Peg being a short form of Margaret (never could fathom that one!)
21 In restaurant is not able to recall indication of maiden
name (7)
CANTEEN – CANT (is not able to) + NEE reversed (recall indication of maiden name)
23 Measuring device used in extreme terrain (5)
METER – Hidden (indicated by ‘used in’) extreME TERrain
24 New scout’s botched attempt to find where Devon is?
(4,7)
WEST COUNTRY – *(NEW SCOUT) – with “botched” indicating the anagram – + TRY (attempt). And for the benefit of any non-UK based solvers, Devon is a county in the southwest of England renowned for cream teas, rustic life and the great sea-dogs of the Elizabethan age – a heady combination.
Down
2 Mother, fifty, cheers for Republic (5)
MALTA – MA (mother) + L (Roman numeral for fifty) + TA (cheers)
3 Again use Ulster’s outside recreation ground in break (9)
RESURRECT – UR (UlsteR‘s outside) + REC (slang for recreation ground) ‘in’ REST (break).
4 Mark, actor Mumbai regularly features (5)
COMMA – Every other letter in (regularly features) aCtOr MuMbAI.
5 Member of Order — note posh name (3)
NUN – N (abbrev. ‘note’) + U (posh – as in “U / non-U”) + N (abbrev. ‘name’)
6 Red vehicle learner, English, parked in street (7)
SCARLET – CAR (vehicle) + L (learner) + E (English) put inside (parked in) ST (street)
7 Prayer after preventing goal — redeeming feature? (6,5)
SAVING GRACE – GRACE (prayer) follows (after) SAVING (preventing goal)
8 Rectory able to be transformed in honour of win, perhaps
(11)
CELEBRATORY – *(RECTORY ABLE) with “to be transformed” as the anagram indicator
12 Mask opens unexpectedly — a guy media deal with is
revealed (9)
SPOKESMAN – *(MASK OPENS) with “unexpectedly” pointing to the anagram
15 Love languages derived from Latin (7)
ROMANCE – DD
19 Game has Robin going to some extent (5)
BINGO – Hidden (indicated by ‘to some extent’) in roBIN GOing
20 Firstly ask laity to adorn refurbished church table (5)
ALTAR – First letters of (firstly) Ask Laity To Adorn Refurbished
22 Devour ham, say, heading off (3)
EAT – {M}EAT – ham for example – with its first removed (heading off)

26 comments on “Quick Cryptic 772 by Hurley”

  1. No doubt just a typo at 1ac, Nick, but it’s AMERICANISM, with just “NY usage” as the definition.I also looked twice at LIE for “animal’s hiding place” but it’s fine according to the usual sources. I think it may be applied particularly to birds. Nice puzzle. 8 minutes.

    Edited at 2017-02-22 01:20 am (UTC)

  2. I was irritatingly slow to get some of the clues, like SPOKESMAN and SCARLET. LOI was LIE, which gave me pause, too, but which did sort of ring a bit of a bell; and what else could it be? 6:43.

  3. 21:03 with the bottom half going in much faster than the top.

    I’ve known plenty of Sarahs and never heard them called ‘Sal’.

    I had RESURGENT for 3D, for ‘again’ which fitted all the checkers.

    Anagram at 1a took a bit of time to see. Also never heard LIE for animals hiding place. I think in a QC, a double def like this one should not be using a definition like this of such a common word.

  4. at 1ac was my FOI which made things fairly accessible but I also found this a bit slow and ended up at 8.59 on the clock.

    Chamber’s states that 13ac LIE is ‘an animal’s lurking place’! My LOI after CELEBRATORY finally arrived from Anagramland.

    12dn SPOKESMAN is now archaic with SPOKESPERSON to the fore these days.

    COD 7dn SAVING GRACE WOD BINGO the sport of Skegness.

  5. I meant to say earlier that “Sarah /Sally” used to be common enough so it’s quite a logical step from there to “Sal”, but all three names have declined in popularity over recent decades. “Mary / Molly” is another one to look out for.
  6. About 25 minutes, no exact time as lots of work interruptions.

    Nice crossword, the only uncertainties I had were the rec in 3d and the sal for sarah in 18a.

    COD to 14a garden.

  7. 12d (Mask opens unexpectedly — a guy media deal with is
    revealed: Answer SPOKESMAN)is a departure from crossword convention, no? The answer is usually in the front or the back of the clue.

    Here, “is revealed” is better omitted.

  8. Second completion this week so I must be learning something.
    I very much enjoyed today’s. Under 30 mins but interrupted to go for a run to ponder the anagrams as 1a was eluding me at the first pass.
    CSky
  9. Another sprint finish in the low 5’s. I thought the definitions were mostly so obvious that the cryptic was redundant, so not a great challenge.
    1. Similar time for me. Once 1a and 7d dropped very quickly into place a further ten first letters opened the grid up. I agree that ‘lie’ is an obscure usage but IMO part of the role of the QC is as a training ground for the 15×15 and possibly beyond, into a world where obscure usage can become almost the norm.
      GeoffH
      1. Perhaps it is a town v country thing but I don’t think too many people here in deepest Wiltshire would find LIE obscure. Certainly not my fishing friends – a trout’s lie is where it rests up when not actively feeding and common usage.
        1. Good to find someone else in deepest Wiltshire. I had no problem with LIE either. Thought it was a fairly generic term for a place where animals hide out as it were.
  10. I’d suggest it’s only better if one is a stickler for enforcement of so-called “rules”, but they’re not always so hard and fast anyway. Can’t see a problem myself.
  11. I was flying through this until I hit the 12ac 16dn crossing. Having eventually sorted this out I found I’d been flying too fast. DNF as 1ac went in as Americanise – which probably wouldn’t have happened with paper and pen – these new-fangled iPads have their drawbacks.
  12. 10 minutes dead for me this morning, and no real issues with anything. Nice puzzle, but on the easy side.
  13. Nice gentle run out I thought. Enjoyable puzzle. I had no problem with LIE, went straight in.
    PlayupPompey
  14. It was reassuring to have a relatively easy one today.
    My niece was christened Sarah, but always called Sally until she decided she was grown up and it wasn’t suitable for a girl of maturing years. Her cousin, also Sarah/Sally agreed, but the rest of the family have found it very difficult to remember which they prefer.
    Thanks for the blog everyone – it’s such a help, even if my times get nowhere near most of yours …
    Diana.
  15. My LOI was Mortar -took me a while to think of it, so I finished in 17 Minutes.
    I had written Lie for 13a without knowing the animal’s hiding place meaning; it seemed reasonable. As a golfer I often seem to get a bad lie; in those situations, one hopes for animal rescue: if the ball comes to rest in a hole or dip made by a burrowing animal, free relief is granted. This will now be a lie lie for me. David
  16. 16:24 for me, which I think is my PB. No real problems. I’ve occasionally come accross Sarah/Sal. I think it’s a corruption of Sar. I’ve come across “lie” in crossword-land before.
  17. As expected, a return to a distinctly average 33 mins after yesterday’s excursion into sub 20 territory. Like Merlin, I agonised between resurgence and resurrect for 3d having struggled to parse either option, but fortunately guessed correctly. Invariant
  18. A steady solve for me today, coming in at 19 minutes with my major hold up being trying to parse 3d (LOI). Rather enjoyed 14a and 10a
  19. As my sister-in-law is a Sally – but Alison rather than Sarah – this confused us too.
  20. I found this one easier than most finishing in 7:54. FOI was MALTA, then 4d and 5d which allowed me to write AMERICANISM in with confidence. The Familiar REC for recreation ground confirmed RESURRECT for 3d, and I finished with CANTEEN. Definitely a confidence building puzzle. Thanks Hurley and Nick

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