Quick Cryptic No 334 by Hurley – anagram practice time

Author   piquetPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A medium level quickie with no obscure words or unfair clues today, good setting Mr Hurley, a couple of long anagrams to unravel, not much else to add.

Across
1 SATURN – SA = saw with backing W away, TURN = change of direction, def. celestial body.
4 LARDER – (A)LAR(M) = endless alarm, DER = German for ‘the’, def. store.
9 PHILADELPHIAN – (HE’D ALL HIP PAIN)*, anagrid ‘treated’, def. city man.
10 AGE – Regular letters of ArGuE, def. get older.
11 CERTAINLY – (LYRIC NEAT)*, anagrind ‘rewrite’, def. without doubt.
12 COSMIC – Insert S for son into COMIC = entertainer, def. universal.
13 INNATE – INN = pub, ATE = had meal, def. natural.
16 SAN MARINO – AS retreating = SA, (IRON MAN)*, anagrind ‘crushed’, def. republic.
18 AWE – Leads to = first letters of: Admiration, Wild, Enthusiasm, def. wonder.
19 RETAIL THERAPY – Cryptic pun.
21 LINGER – LINGER(IE) = underwear with ‘that is’ missing’ def. delay departure?
22 CARTON – CAR = wheels, TON = heavyweight, def. container.

Down
1 SOP – S = second, OP = work, def. concession.
2 TRICEPS – TRICE = instant, PS = postscript, def. source of strength.
3 REACCLIMATISE – (ARCTIC SEA MILE)* anagrind ‘off’, def. again adapt to environment.
5 ALPHA AND OMEGA – First and last letters of Greek alphabet.
6 DEIGN – Sounds like DANE = national, def. act condescendingly.
7 RUNNYMEDE – RUNNY = likely to flow, MEDE sounds like mead, = drink they’d say, def. Thames location, a water meadow where Magna Carta was sealed 800 years ago.
8 METRO – MET = encountered, R = republic, O = old, def. railway system.
10 ANCESTRAL – Hidden in D(ANCES TRA L)A-LA, def. referring to past.
14 ADAMANT – ADAM = Old Testament man, then initial letters of Appreciate New Testament, def. unyielding.
15 WITTY – WI = West Indian, TT = abstainer, Y = ultimate in comedY, def. humorous.
17 NOT ON – NOON = midday, insert T = time, def. unacceptable.
20 YEN – Y = currency in end, E = eastern, N = note, def. &lit.

12 comments on “Quick Cryptic No 334 by Hurley – anagram practice time”

  1. Very very straightforward today. COD RETAIL THERAPY which raised a smile.
  2. Forgot to add – I will now have songs running round my head all day. Despite Hurley ignoring the more musical possibilities to clue 14D.
  3. Found this the easiest of this week’s offerings by some way.

    Enjoyable solve with just a slight hold up getting my last two of TRICEPS and SATURN.

    Favourite the hidden ANCESTRAL.

  4. 9 minutes, which was welcome after the rigours of the past couple of offerings, but it didn’t strike me as all that easy and I had to do a lot of grid-hopping to keep up the momentum.
  5. Quite straightforward today – about 5 1/2 minutes with all but 3 of across clues done before starting the downs. TRICEPS my last one in. It was good to see the nod to the 800th anniversary today of the signing of the Magna Carta in 7d. I’ve just discovered we have locally a “Barons Prize Trail” – 26 decorated bollards around the centre of the town to mark the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta. I must see if I can find them.

    Edited at 2015-06-19 09:56 am (UTC)

    1. As I said above, it was sealed, not a signature was on it. Sorry to be a pedant.
      1. Quite right to correct me Pip. Using the wrong word just doesn’t work when you are trying to solve crosswords.
  6. This was definitely on the easy side. At 26 minutes my fastest QC solve to date, but no less entertaining for that. Several nice clues with 14d my favourite. Invariant
  7. Wouldn’t say this was straightforward, but certainly easier than some of this weeks puzzles. Got held up by the NW corner and my last two in were 1a and 2d. It also took me a while to figure out that dances in 10d wasn’t an anagram indicator.
  8. Agree this was a bit easier today but still a good puzzle; my COD 15d. This might not be the right place to ask but… is is ever acceptable to have an clue/answer that involves two parts e.g. ‘End of quiet; a cockney in Baker Street’ = (HU)SHolmes. Sorry if that’s a poor ‘clue’ but it illustrates my question?
    1. You’ve lost me a bit there, Andrew, as lots of answers are built up from different parts of a clue. Are you saying can you have an answer built up from unconnected parts of a clue? If so, I don’t see why not, though the setter might want to avoid what would inevitably be a fairly crude approach. Invariant
      1. yes; I guess they’d have the answer here as 1-6 rather as we had ‘U Boat’ last week or as in 19a today. I’ll give this some more thought and see if I can come up with a better example for my question. Thx for replying.

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