Quick Cryptic No. 60. by Hurley

Posted on Categories Quick Cryptic
This took me twelve minutes on a tablet (the Android Times keyboard is working now), but it wasn’t a straight top-to-bottom write-in, I had to go back or wait for checkers a few times. Definitely harder than Wednesday’s, for which I was panned for sending people to the naughty step if they weren’t seeing the most obvious answers. So apologies for that! No Greek in this today but a few French-derived words and some French geography.

Across
1 PLAYLET – P (power) LAY (not clerical) LET (authorised), def. ‘drama’. Logical, but not obvious.
7 UNROLLS – UN (United Nations) and ROLLS = bread supply, def. ‘becomes visible?’. This was my last in, before I had the checkers I was thinking about money for ‘bread supply’ and a closer synonym for ‘becomes visible’, but the ? in the clue indicates it’s not a straight definition.
9 STARTER – S = south, TARTER = more caustic, def. ‘race official’.
10 BOASTER – Straw hat = BOATER, ‘wearing’ the S (society), def. ‘Bigmouth’.
11 POMP – Musical work = OP, recalled makes it PO, add MP = politician, def. ‘Splendour’. Pomp and splendour often come together, so presumably they’re not the same thing, exactly.
12 CANDIDATE – Def. ‘election hopeful’, from CAN D.I. DATE? Date meaning ‘to go out with’.
14 ENTOURAGE – ‘Changes’ indicates the anagram (EURO AGENT)*, def. ‘attendants’.
16 DEAL – A Double def., DEAL = a sort of timber, DEAL = agreement.
17 EMBRACE – E = English, MB = doctor (Bachelor of Medicine, in Latin Medicinae Baccalaureus), RACE = contest, def. ‘hug’.
20 REUNION – A double def., Reunion = coming together again, Réunion is a part of France in the Indian Ocean.
21 TARGETS – Seaman = TAR (not AB for once), succeeds = GETS, def. ‘objectives’.
22 EXTREME – ‘Part of’ tells you it’s a hidden word clue, T(EXT REME)MBERED, def. ‘immoderate’.

Down
1 POSTPONEMENT – (OPPONENTS MET)*, anagram indicated by ‘in revised arrangement’, and a revised arrangement could be a postponement, an elegant clue.
2 ALARMIST – Gangster in crossword-land often means AL (as in Capone), provide with piece (i.e. gun) = ARM, first = Ist, def. someone who sees danger.
3 LATE – L (Liberal), ATE, (dined), def. ‘after expected time’.
4 TURBAN – T (trend initially) URBAN (associated with city), def. ‘headwear’. At first, I wanted there to be a city called RILBY, but there isn’t one.
5 CREATIVE – (CAVE RITE)*, anagram indicator ‘unusual’, def. ‘showing impagination’.
6 FLAT – Well, lustreless can mean ‘flat’ as in flat white paint, and a flat has rooms, as in ‘he took rooms in Chiswick’… so it’s a double def.
8 SURVEILLANCE – SUR(E) = ‘almost’ certain, VEIL = cover, LANCE = weapon, assemble all for the def. ‘close observation’.
12 CRUSADER – ‘To reform’ indicates (CARD USER)*, def. ‘one campaigning’.
13 APPETITE – Primate = APE, install PET (favourite) IT (computers), AP(PET IT)E, def. ‘desire’.
15 AVERSE – Def. ‘opposed’, A (introduction of arcane), with VERSE (poetry).
18 BARE – Pub = BAR, European = E, def. ‘without elaboration’, e.g. ‘the bare facts’.
19 DUET – Fitting = DUE, time = T, def. ‘activity by pair’.

18 comments on “Quick Cryptic No. 60. by Hurley”

  1. Just made it in my target time of 10 minutes, achieved only the once this week. Hurley’s last two offerings delayed me 20 and 24 minutes so today’s came as something of a relief particularly after a tough night battling with the main cryptic blog. One device appears in both puzzles.
  2. Took me 36 minutes but no cheating whatsoever for the first time. Very proud. But guess it must be easy.
    Particularly like Can DI date.
    1. Isn’t it great to finish un-aided. Enjoy! As martinp1 says it would be great if you logged on – it’s free, non-dangerous and much more fun.
  3. Enjoyable puzzle, about 20 minutes. Left hand side took some time but all fell into place after getting 1d with TARGETS being my last one in. Got 13d from the definition but had a smile as I saw the wordplay whilst I was writing the answer.
  4. 6 mins, and UNROLLS was also my LOI. I started off slowly because my brain was a little fried after my tribulations with the main puzzle.
  5. Easier end of the spectrum. Nicely constructed clues I thought (“good surfaces” in the jargon). Good puzzle, so thanks to the setter and to pip our blogger.
  6. Back to the naughty step for me as I failed to spot impagination! No problem for me with your blog the other day, Pip. I thought today’s was straightforward. 10mins. I did like ‘he took rooms in Chiswick’. Some might say that that suburb is lustreless, although I think it has a couple of decent riverside pubs.

    Edited at 2014-05-30 12:39 pm (UTC)

  7. First wifi connection since Tuesday so enjoyed this one. 13 minutes and got stuck , once again, on NE. Went for bloater for 10ac – although couldn’t work out why society would be ‘L’ and didn’t think rolls was that good for source of bread – given that they are bread rather than ingredients or supply. 2 blogs in a week pip? Take the weekend off!
    1. Three, I scraped through my first main Cryptic on Monday, they were desperate obviously, the regular chap was unavailable. Definitely a week off!
      I agree, UN-ROLLS for source of bread was not impressive and reluctantly written in as my last clue.

      Edited at 2014-05-30 04:38 pm (UTC)

      1. I agree unrolls and flat were not top notch but overall this was an enjoyable puzzle.

        Congratulations to pip on the threesome. Perhaps chrisw91 impagioned only 2?

  8. My first finish in 4 days so I’ve a smile on my face. I got hung up on the NW corner from some time having idiotically decided that “opponents met” didn’t have any anagrams. Duh. Off to conquer the SuDoku now…
  9. Oh dear; please put my out of my misery and explain Impagination. Please! Thankyou.
    1. Well done on asking the question – I’m sure there are others who haven’t but this is exactly what this site is for. Pip may well come along to explain further but may also be exhausted after his triple blogging this week. At first sight it looks like a simple typo in 5 down. However it does sound like a good word so I looked it up and it means to do with laying out (a book, a document, etc) so is a beautifully creative typo in this context as Bryanlawson observed – unless, of course, it was intended, in which case it is simply creative!
      1. Thankyou so much for the answer! Really kind of you to take the time. And the answer reveals just another reason why I love crosswording, and love the minds if fellow crossworders. Am determined to keep getting better at it; this blog is invaluable, not just in the official explanations but all the comments and extra banter. Thankyou all!
  10. In my edition (Edinburgh) the clue just has “imagination”, no ‘p’. So not a deliberate mistake I think!

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