Times Quick Cryptic 1557 by Hurley

Author   william_j_sPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A couple of unknown meanings for me at 1ac, 14dn and 18dn meant I had to wait for a few checkers there, but otherwise a nice, workaday puzzle.

Definiitons underlined.

Across
1 Former pupil, retainer, watchful (9)
OBSERVANT – OB (Old Boy, former pupil) and SERVANT (retainer, apparently a family’s long-serving servant).
6 Regularly upbeat, much-liked (3)
PET – everyother letter from (regularly) uPbEaT.
8 Duck famous navigator (5)
DRAKE – double definition.
9 Worry, after backing one child’s contact (7)
LIAISON -AIL (worry) reversed (after backing), I (one), and SON (child).
10 Doctor sent girl, reliable (8)
STERLING – anagram of (doctor) SENT GIRL.
11 Run away from fight and cry noisily (4)
BAWL – ‘r’ (run) removed from (away from) BrAWL (fight).
13 Group, dynastic, needing reform, obsolete ultimately (9)
SYNDICATE – anagram of (needing reform) DYNASTIC and the last letter of (ultimately) obsoletE.
16 This relation’s gibe, not the first (4)
AUNT – tAUNT (jibe) missing the first letter (not the first).
17 Feature of website game — hope for shake-up (4,4)
HOME PAGE – anagram of (for shake-up) GAME HOPE.
20 Plant leased before truce? Not right (7)
LETTUCE – LET (leased) then TrUCE minus the ‘r’ (not right).
21 Family in street with no money (5)
SKINT – KIN (family) inside ST (street).
22 Coming back unprepared for conflict (3)
WAR – reversal of (coming back) RAW (unprepared).
23 Pioneer somehow crossing Poles — he may get income for life (9)
PENSIONER – anagram of (somehow) PIONEER containing (crossing) Nand S (north and south, poles).

Down
1 Getting on, love large service of food (6)
OLDISH – O (love), L (large), and DISH (service of food).
2 Urbane, put money aside to cover university (5)
SUAVE – SAVE (put money aside) surrounding (to cover) U (university).
3 Wine series linguist embraces (8)
RIESLING – hidden in (…embraces) seRIES LINGuist.
4 Confused notice at canal, or the pond (8,5)
ATLANTIC OCEAN – anagram of (confused) NOTICE AT CANAL. As in, ‘across the pond’ referring to North America.
5 Initially tense, hesitant and wary, become more relaxed (4)
THAW – first letters of (initially) Tense, Hesitant, And, and Wary.
6 Opening excerpt (7)
PASSAGE – double definition.
7 Story about no good muddle (6)
TANGLE – TALE (story) surrounding (about) N (no) and G (good).
12 Show at Erskine displaying leisure equipment (5,3)
WATER SKI – hidden in (…displaying) shoW AT ERSKIne.
13 Spanish man clutching at politician? (7)
SENATOR – SENOR (Spanish man) containing (clutching) AT.
14 Immature depiction of everyone in Jersey, say? (6)
CALLOW – ALL (everyone) inside COW (Jersey, say). So that’s what that means…!
15 Delicious drink close by impressing court (6)
NECTAR – NEAR (close by) containing (impressing) CT (court).
18 Foreign article about position of golfer’s ball (5)
ALIEN – AN (article) surrounding (about) LIE (position of golfer’s ball). This is quite far down the list of dictionary meanings for ‘lie’, but it’s not too difficult to guess.
19 Rising slander over penny tip (4)
DUMP – reversal of (rising) MUD, then P (penny).

29 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1557 by Hurley”

  1. I biffed 9ac then parsed it, and semi-biffed 4d, not bothering to check to see that what looked like the anagrist was indeed all there. Similarly, I thought of RIESLING before seeing the hidden. POI SYNDICATE, LOI DUMP. 5:15.
  2. 12 minutes. After 9 minutes I had completed all except three answers and it was revisiting those that pushed me over my target 10. The last to fall was 18dn where the golfing reference threw me, as ‘position of golfer’s ball’ brought only the words ‘tee’ and ‘green’ to mind, neither of which worked with the existing checkers. Eventually I thought of ‘foreign’ = ALIEN and reverse engineered from there.

    Edited at 2020-02-26 06:14 am (UTC)

  4. The difference between my golf game and Jack’s is well [not meaning completely] illustrated by the fact that when searching for words meaning “position of golfer’s ball” he thinks of “green” and I think of “rough”. This was a very playable puzzle without too many doglegs and bunkers and I went round it in par, which is exactly 2 Kevins, for a Good Day. What I think of as the true clean sweep, in which I do all the acrosses in order followed by all the downs in order, remains elusive (missed three acrosses on first pass).

    FOI OBSERVANT, LOI SYNDICATE, COD LETTUCE.

    Thanks Hurley and William.

    Templar

  5. Another slow start at the top and a gradual work up clockwise from the south. Over 3.5K today. Last in were BAWL (yes, I was also tempted to biff WAIL for no good reason except that it fitted the space) and NECTAR. I found lots to hesitate or trip over today. Perhaps it was just me. Thanks both. John M.
  6. No time today, as interrupted by kitchen fitters, but it all went in relatively easily, so I’m going to guess inside my target range somewhere. Like others, I was tempted by wail briefly, and wondered why I’d never heard of wrail for fight, resulting in it being my last one in.

    Was anyone else struck by the impression of groups of words, such as oldish pensioner, Riesling dump (wine lake anyone?), or is it just me?

    1. I did notice that Skint and Pensioner were right next to each other, which i thought was a little sad …
  7. 20 minutes, dead on my target, but I spent five on my LOI DUMP, despite numerous alphabet trawls. I finally realised that a dump could be a tip and wondered why it took me so long.
    Otherwise, a mixture of easy and tricky clues, just right for a QC.
    Thanks to setter and blogger.

    Brian

  8. Once again, Hurley had me digging deep and took me over my target time to 12:27. Hard to see why once it was complete, but it was so. Started with THAW and OBSERVANT and finished with DUMP. Thanks Hurley and William.
  9. Completed in 40 mins but I have a technical DNF as I put “Wail” for 11ac rather than “Bawl”. Didn’t think it parsed properly, but couldn’t think of anything else at the time and I was in a hurry.

    Overall, an enjoyable puzzle. The top half, particularly 1ac, flummoxed me at first, so made most of my progress at the bottom. The rest went in steadily after that.

    FOI – 6ac “Pet”
    LOI – 3dn “Riesling”
    COD – 3dn “Riesling” – just didn’t spot the hidden word..

    Thanks as usual.

  10. …and that one would be, 10 across, “reliable”, as a synonym for STERLING. Even when I had all the crossers in, I could not see how “S-E-L–G” came out as anything that came close to words in my head that meant “could be relied upon”.I guess I can see now – post blog -that it might be construed as “gold- standard” but hurrumph. Actually, whilst I am being negative, I might add that, IMO, the surface of this clue is a bit rum.

    Very much enjoyed the rest, though, especially the clever 14 down. I was very nearly caught out by the punctuation misdirection in 17 across – very smart. lots of hiddens today, it seems, and very cunningly disguised, too. With regard to 18 down, so hopeless am I at anything Golfic , that I usually ignore such references and hope I can work it out from the remainder as, indeed, was the case today.Thanks so much, William , for the blog, and thanks, too, to Hurley.

    1. The Concise Oxford has as the third definition for sterling: “(of a person or qualities etc) of solid worth; genuine; reliable”. Seemed fair enough to me!
  11. ….OLDISH, having been a PENSIONER for over seven years now. No queries, finished within target – slower than the last two, but still quick enough for position 11 on the leader board, which suggests it was a tad trickier.

    FOI OBSERVANT
    LOI HOME PAGE
    COD BAWL

  12. Not the easiest of QCs today, though the bottom half seemed a bit more straightforward, especially once the sneaky 17ac Home Page went in. Biffed Oldest for 1d, but realised my mistake when I checked the parsing. Otherwise a steady solve until held up for a few minutes at the end by 6d/9ac, but still happy enough with 27 mins. I particularly liked 14d, Callow, which gets my CoD vote. Invariant
  14. Just couldn’t get DUMP so a DNF to ruin a good week, OLDISH toigh for me too but plain sailing otherwise. LIAISON was nice to solve.
  15. Straight in with OBSERVANT, then finished with the LIAISON/PASSAGE crossers for another standard sort of time i.e. 7:46. COD WAS CALLOW.
  16. Felt it went well today! Steadily filled in all but about 5 and then managed all more slowly except for putting wail instead of bawl even although I couldn’t parse it. Also took time to twig that in 10a doctor meant anagram but it came after a bit. I think the problem for me with liaison was that I don’t equate worry with ail – is that just me? Still overall I am pleased with my progress. Thanks again to you all.
  17. …for a 12 minute finish. Not my fastest; not quite sure why though as no single clue really held me up for long.

    Slight delay convincing myself that Opening and Passage were synonyms in 6D, and rather more hesitation over Worry = Ail in 4D (not a common pairing perhaps in everyday speech, where they are I think slightly different), but otherwise a very nice puzzle with several candidates for my COD. In the end awarded to 3D Riesling, partly because it is surprisingly well hidden and partly because it is one of my favourite wines!

    Many thanks to William for a very clear blog, and to Hurley.

    Cedric

  18. who has a MER at 9a? ‘Ail’ for worry is a big stretch, but I can’t make liaison work for contact in any form.
    1. Collins has:

      ail VERB

      If something ails a group or area of activity, it is a problem or source of trouble for that group or for people involved in that activity.

      A full-scale debate is under way on what ails the industry. [VERB noun]

      Synonyms: trouble, worry, bother, distress.

      liaison NOUN

      1. communication and contact between groups or units

      Edited at 2020-02-26 05:31 pm (UTC)

  19. Rather late coming here as I have been golfing today;managed a game between weather systems although we did have hail for a few minutes. It is rather ironic that my LOI was ALIEN which has to be my COD.
    FOI was SKINT which I have seen recently with a similar clue. No particular hold-ups. I did this on paper with a cup of tea and a few distractions so no meaningful time. There was some good stuff in here. I liked Home Page and Atlantic Ocean in particular.
    David

  20. I found this one relatively straightforward, with only a very brief delay at the end with PASSAGE, LIAISON and BAWL (where I couldn’t parse WAIL despite my best efforts). There seemed to be a lot of anagrams and I had the right hat on today so managed to untangle them all without resorting to pen and paper, which helped.
    Finished in 8.56 with my favourite being CALLOW.
    Thanks for the blog
  21. A steady late night solve FOI 1a LOI 17a after an alphabet trawl to get inspiration to go with the crossers. COD 4d. Couldn’t fully parse 9a so thx for making it clear. Nice puzzle.

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