Quick Cryptic 846 by Hurley

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
An interruption means I only have a rough estimate of time at 16 minutes so this seemed a bit of a work out. Plenty of interesting word play to unravel and two long anagrams at 4 and 7dn taking some time. The right hand side seemed tougher than the left (but I don’t want to get into politics). All thoroughly enjoyable – thanks Hurley.

ACROSS

1. Path – course of action – either as a decision or as the route one takes for an activity (e.g. walking). Glib (PAT), foolis(H).
3. Citrous – like lemons – the Oxford dictionary has this as the alternative spelling for citrus. Anagram (chopped) of IS CUT OR.
8. Morale-booster – that gives confidence. Me (ME) holding exam (ORAL) in front of rocket (BOOSTER).
9. She – woman. U(SHE)r.
10. Runic – referring to old characters. Single in cricket (RUN), in charge (IC).
12. Bracing – invigorating like Skegness. British (B), sport (RACING).
14. Devious – underhand. (D)emanding (E)xtremely (V)aluable, credit notes (IOUS).
16. Ditto – the same. Song (DITTy) turning the last letter from Y to love (O).
17. Inn – hostelry. Popular (IN), northern (N).
20. Spitting image – lookalike. Anagram (off) of GAMING SITE TIP. The ‘needed’ makes the surface work and also could be in the sense that the anagram fodder ‘needs’ to go ‘off’ to get the answer.
21. Retreat – den (but a man cave sounds far more macho). Referring to (RE), pleasant surprise (TREAT).
22. Onus – burden. Supported by (ON), America (US).

DOWN

1. Pampered – over-indulged possible by or in a man cave. Covered walls (PAPERED) including male (M).
2. Torn – double definition.
3. Cobweb – spider’s creation. Firm (CO), we (WE) found inside books (BB).
4. Tooth and nail – with ferocity. Anagram (cruelly) of HALT DONATION.
5. Optimist – one expecting the best. Surgery (OP), (T)railed (I)n, film (MIST).
6. Spry – nimble. Agent (SPY) about right (R).
7. Old school tie – neckware. Anagram (rearranged) of CLOTH LOOSE ID.
11. Novelist – Jane Austen perhaps. An unusual device – leading couples of (NO)t (VE)ry (LI)kely (ST)ory.
13. Goodness – double definition.
15. Signet – ring feature. In de(SIGN ET)ernity.
18. User – addict. Not seeing any odd numbered letters in bUm StEeR.
19. Darn – mend. Publicity – ad – reversed (DA), Royal Navy (RN).

34 comments on “Quick Cryptic 846 by Hurley”

  1. Started slow, with only a couple of acrosses done in the first pass, but then things fell into place. The spelling of CITROUS threw me off, and I didn’t get it until I had some checkers. I liked NOVELIST and USER. 4:22.
  2. Similarly surprised at the spelling of CITROUS. Not too many problems otherwise, enjoyed the NOVELIST device.

    Thanks Hurley and Chris.

  3. 7 minutes. The technique used in 11dn is novel, at least for a QC. If I’d been solving the clue at 4dn “blind” I’d have gone for TOOTH AND CLAW as used in Tennyson’s poem “In Memoriam”, but fortunately I already had the N checker in place so I had to think again.

  4. 22 min, complete by Earlsfield. Never seen BB for books, is that like PP for pages.

    LOI 19 d. Got stuck with PR=publicity.

    Wordplay at 16a too good for me, but biffable from checkers,

    COD 10a

    1. Without researching it I’d say that BB and pp don’t work in the same way. PP (or rather pp) is a standard abbreviation for the plural “pages”, whereas as B is a book and followed by another B one has two books that can be legitimately clued in the plural.

      Edited at 2017-06-06 07:05 am (UTC)

  5. with a visit from my doctor, but I estimate I was on stage for about 8 minutes – with a bit a slow start too.

    I note Lord Galspray’s splendid time which I suppose makes up for his cricket team’s inability to conquer the English weather conditions. Long may it rain!

    3ac CITROUS sounds like a bit of lemon to me!

    12ac BRACING as per Chris, my avatar is changed accordingly.

    LOI and COD 11dn NOVELIST

    WOD RUNIC – who was famous for his cube.

    Edited at 2017-06-06 06:46 am (UTC)

      1. Yup and he walked over (American not Chinese) – I’m still living in the fifties! Back in UK my doctor was a very close friend so nothing has changed.
      2. Here in England you can get home visits if you can convince the receptionist that you’re too sick to make it to the surgery but not sick enough to be in hospital.
        1. When having difficulty getting a home visit, I always casually add “and I think I can smell gas”. Someone usually arrives within minutes.

          Philip

  6. 25 minutes. enjoyable and chewy in places.

    A couple of bits where I needed to check the parsing:

    For 14a I had D + EV (extremes of valuable) + IOUS.
    Also for ditty I was expecting a remove Y add O type instruction.
    dnk glib = Pat

    COD USER

    1. Song turning to love in the end = the remove Y and add O instruction. Love being O and the end of ditty being Y. Or is that what you mean?
      1. Maybe it would have been too easy but something like:

        The same song turning hippy ultimately to love

    2. I think “extremes of valuable” cluing EV would be a bit much without a reversal indicator, and little better with one!

      Edited at 2017-06-06 07:10 am (UTC)

  8. A meaty one today, and nearly threw in the towel with just 19dn remaining. I’ve never heard of DARN meaning “mend” so had to check that one. I took ages over 1dn, and the “run2 in 10ac didn’t make sense until I came here. 1dn was my FOI, but with some hesitation, not knowing the pat=glib connection. I’ve also never come across torn meaning rent. So, all in all, done in about 30 minutes. Gribb.
    1. I wondered how familiar darn might be – it’s practice and so the word usage is probably reducing dramatically. In the ‘old days’ it was quite common to darn socks (whether torn or worn out). Interesting reflection on the wealth of economies/world trade.
  9. As I pointed out to my children at the w/e, a sure sign that I’m a beginner is the amount of scribbles, anagram fodder, ideas, possible synonyms etc which litter the surrounding area of the QC.
    Today’s looks like a bomb site, so a toughie for me.

    From a tip from T.Morrey’s helpful book I now begin with the quick, short words but this can have drawbacks: 9a could have been she or her. Naturally I chose HER.

    Took ages to twig ‘leading couples’ but, once I did, it made me smile and I enjoyed the elegance of the WP. My COD.
    Thanks Hurley and Chris.

  10. Never heard of RUNIC so a fail today! Had it starting with RE, as in referring to.
    Also had a complete mental block at 6 down, in hindsight one of the easier clues but that often seems to be the way with me!
    Nevertheless most enjoyable I thought, something for everyone.
    Thanks
  11. Thank you Hurley, that was a lot of fun. Medium tough, completed somewhere south of London Bridge.

    I thought NOVELIST was a super clue, very clever and beautifully presented.

    FOI was CITROUS, LOI was TORN – I just didn’t even think about an alternative meaning for “rent” and ended up running through the alphabet in my head! Thank goodness the vowel wasn’t “u”.

    Thank you Chris for the blog.

    Templar

  12. I struggled home in just under 20m with the NW a problem as I couldn’t get stoumached out of my dull mind. Some excellent clues and a couple of non-obvious anagrams made this a joy. Entered Novelist as I had the checkers but thanks blogger for the parsing – a new tool is always good to have. I like the geegees but I’m not sure it’s a sport as I always come away thinking someone has pulled a fast one! My thoughts to the families of those killed by Islamic extremists of course.
  13. After a well lubricated night at the folk club I apparently began this crossword before going to bed, and found it about a third completed this morning. I finished it off but have no idea how long it actually took me as the elapsed time is shown as 520:53. Some devious clues here. I think I need another coffee now. Thanks Hurley and Chris.
  14. I enjoyed this offering from Hurley, and it was very welcome after yesterday’s 15×15 horror story. Getting the long anagrams quickly always helps, and my only real hold up was 11d, where the leading couples bit threw me for a good few minutes. Fully parsed in just under 30 mins. Invariant
  15. My quickest for a long time, although to be fair the device in NOVELIST completely escaped me. Once I had the V checker though it was pretty obvious. I had never come across CITROUS with an O, but again it couldn’t be anything else. So learnt something today thanks for that setter.
    PlayUpPompey
  16. Found this one a bit of a trudge, but kept momentum. Just within my target of 30 minutes with 29:32.
  17. Pretty hard going, as usual. I normally get the answer from the checkers and then work out why it’s correct. Didn’t help with 11d as I’d never heard of the leading couples clue (but, it seems, I’m not alone there).
    I now find I can access the online version, so I check the answers as I go along, which gives me confidence to press on.

    Forgot that love is zero and, although I was sure ‘darn’ was right (I’m old enough to remember socks being mended) I couldn’t see why ‘AD’ would be reversed but the penny finally dropped just now….

    For 20ac, I couldn’t be sure that ‘tip off’ didn’t mean dropping the initial letter of something.

    I can’t say I ‘enjoy’ these but there is a sense of satisfaction in finishing.

  18. I had no real difficulties with this, and finished well within my target of 15 minutes. Some nice clues and devices, including 11d.
  19. Some nice clues today. I solved this waiting for a delayed train to Rochester; 15-20 minutes. Tree on the line at Sole Street.
    Needed to think about Runic -Relic lurked for a time. LOI was Novelist -a clever clue and my COD. David
  20. . . .is definitely worth a go, albeit there are a couple of quite obscure words. Have a try at 25ac if nothing else 😊 Invariant
  21. I found this slightly tough.

    Citrus with an “o” threw me as well and I’ve never heard of “torn” for rent not film = mist? I dabbled with Relic and Optimism for a while which also hindered progress. Thought the clueing for 11dn was very clever.

    FOI was 3dn, LOI and COD 11dn.

    DR31

  22. No major problems today, although 3a held me up for a bit and the parsing of 11d took a bit of figuring out. LOI 21a, COD 16a. Completed in around 17 minutes
  23. Unbelievable. The only quick cryptic I’ve ever completed was a Hurley one about six months ago. Since then I’ve been struggling to get more than about 4-5 clues a day. Another Hurley one comes up? Completed it! I wish he (she?) did the quick cryptic every day!!!
    1. Selective crypticality? Not even sure if it’s a word or even a thing. Whatever you’re doing though, keep doing it. We talk a lot about ‘wavelength’ – if you can get one then you can get the others.

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