Times Quick Cryptic 121 by Hurley

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
There seems to be a problem on the button at this moment so here’s the url to today’s Quickie:
http://feeds.thetimes.co.uk/timescrossword/20140825/250/
Edit: Fixed now but I’ll let it stand.

Time taken to solve 15 minutes with 4dn delaying me for a while at the very end. I didn’t register any unsual or unknown words or obscure references so I hope that most will find this one quite doable.

Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Deletions are within curly brackets
Square brackets contain indicators of anagram/enclosure/reversal etc

Across
1 Card, small, something to write on with energy (5)
SPADE – S (small), PAD (something to write on), E (energy)
7 Task, chore, stirring dessert (9)
SHORTCAKE – Anagram [stirring] of TASK CHORE. I must have led a deprived life because, having looked up shortcake on Wiki I realise I have never eaten one, at least not that I can remember. I thought it was more of a biscuity thing rather than a dessert, but one lives and learns!
9 Sergeant Major, cunning and astute (5)
SMART – SM (Sergeant Major), ART (cunning)
10 Crucial I’m left with worker? (9)
IMPORTANT – I’M, PORT (left), ANT (worker). The question mark accounts for other types of ant, and indeed other types of worker such as bees.
11 On return, spoil animal (3)
RAM – MAR (spoil) reversed [on return]
12 Approve increase after Henry’s invested in US car (9)
AUTHORISE – H (Henry – the unit of inductance) [invested in] AUTO (US car), RISE (increase)
14 No longer inspired, companion creating impasse (9)
STALEMATE – STALE (no longer inspired), MATE (companion)
16 Finally cracking a good joke (3)
GAG – {crackin}G, A, G (good). This could also have been indicated as a hidden answer but the setter chose a different route.
18 Big fall of lava recalled beside a new Church (English) (9)
AVALANCHE – AVAL [lava recalled], A, N (new), CH (church), E (English)
20 One held in renown when dipping into drink? (5)
TOAST – AS (when) inside [dipping into] TOT (drink). The definition refers to usage such as “the toast of the town”.
21 Paint Dean Court ground? (9)
UNDERCOAT – Anagram [ground] of DEAN COURT
22 Poem for example written in cathedral city (5)
ELEGY – EG (example) [written in] ELY (cathedral city). The most useful cathedral city in Crosswordland. Look out for it clued also as “see”.

Down
1 Nurse from South is strict? Not entirely (6)
SISTER – I went down the wrong route when parsing this one, having it originally as S (South), IS, TER {?} but I couldn’t find a word meaning ‘strict’ that fitted the bill so I thought again and came up with: IS reversed [from South], STER{n} (strict not entirely).
2 Oscar‘s place to study a medical facility (7,5)
ACADEMY AWARD – ACADEMY (place to study), A, WARD (medical facility). The official name of the Oscar statuette is the Academy Award of Merit.
3 Assessment of value of landed property (about one million?) (8)
ESTIMATE – ESTATE (landed property) encloses [about] I (one) + M (million)
4 Dropping firm (Western)? Exactly right (6) I
COWPAT – CO (firm), W (Western), PAT (exactly right)
5 Tips from straight actor – a celebrity (4)
STAR – S{traigh}T, A{cto}R. “Tips from” indicates the letters needed to make up the answer.
6 Held up by street test, find somewhere to sit (6)
SETTEE – Hidden and reversed [held up] in {str}EET TES{t}
8 Awful magazine (rag) initially criticises hymn (7,5)
AMAZING GRACE – Anagram [awful] of MAGAZINE RAG + C{riticises}
13 Food put in some letterboxes? (8)
OMELETTE – Hidden [put in] {s}OME LETTE{rboxes}
14 Soviet disheartened at American prestige? (6)
STATUS – S{ovie}T [disheartened], AT, US (American)
15 TV presenter, first to advise new contestants hesitant over responses (6)
ANCHOR – First letters of A{dvise} N{ew} C{ontestants} H{esitant} O{ver} R{esponses}
17 Information on test for posh class? (6)
GENTRY – GEN (information), TRY (test)
19 Distinctive quality of gold seen by painter (4)
AURA – AU (gold, as a change from OR), RA (artist – Royal Academician)

11 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 121 by Hurley”

  1. Are you thinking of shortbread perhaps, Jack? This felt as if it were taking forever, but I finished in 7 minutes; a time spoiled by a typo (‘avalanche’; don’t know how that happened). LOI was COWPAT, which finally came to me as I was about to chuck it all in as a DNF. Rather a tough, but nice, clue, that was. Note that ‘tips’ can indicate, as here, the beginning and final letters of a word or words, or just the final letters –but not, I think, just the initials. (Does that sound right, Jack?)
    1. I rather doubt there’s any rule or convention about “tips” but I don’t see why it shouldn’t indicate just first letters if it’s referring to more than one word.
  2. 6 mins. Count me as another who finished with COWPAT. I’d have been slightly quicker but I wrote in “settes” at 6dn even though I knew the answer was SETTEE and didn’t spot it until I couldn’t make sense of 12ac.
  3. Shortcake is a sweet biscuit often served with fruit and cream, so it is properly a dessert. Don’t worry, it’ll turn up on Great British Bake-off ere too long!
    9:20 for quite a satisfying crossword. LOI 20a – for some inexplicable reason I developed a blind spot. Nice hidden word in 13d, and 4d took some head scratching.
    New logo Jack?
  4. Interesting discussion about “tips” – if anything, I’m more comfortable with it meaning the first letter than either the last or the first and last so definitely agree with Jack’s comment. I found this tougher than normal and came home in 8 minutes. Some good, tightly written clues. I thought “toast” to mean “one held in renown” perhaps more suited to the 15×15. If Jack’s explanation for 1d is correct (“si” = “from South is”), that’s definitely hard for the quickie – I got there by “i” = “is”, but that’s perhaps more suited to the barred puzzles.
      1. Ulaca, short answer is, it can’t!! Thinking of “i” as a short form of “in” and allowed myself to believe I’d seen it as a short form of “is” as well. Put it down to a senior moment – I need to go and lie down now.
  5. Just over 20 minutes to complete. LOI TOAST which with 1d I was not able to parse. For once I saw what was going on with 15d but the hidden OMELETTE took some to spot and was my COD. Also got 4d after working out the first 3 letters.

    Thanks Jack, in particular for sorting out 1d.

  6. Like jackt, I used TER for 1d, thinking of TER(SE) which worked but I think STER(N) is probably what the setter wanted. Loved COWPAT, which took me while to see dropping in its intended meaning…. 18 mins
    1. You’re so right in working out that I tried to make TER{se} fit but I failed to see how “terse” could mean “strict” so I looked for another explanation.
  7. Not as much fun as usual as I found too many answers went in without parsing when checkers were in place. Good examples being 1dn, 2dn, 6dn, 11ac, 13dn, 19dn…. Maybe I’m a country boy, but COWPAT went in very quickly 🙂

    Nigel from Surrey

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