Times Quick Cryptic 1596 by Hurley

61 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1596 by Hurley”

1. I hesitated over SHANE; the only Shane I know of is the Alan Ladd character, and ‘man’ hardly seems a satisfactory definition. I biffed TENDER-HEARTED. The Savoy was built by Richard d’Oyly Carte, and most of the Gilbert & Sullivan operettas were first performed there; so it’s not just ‘The Gondoliers’ that’s a Savoy opera. 5:07. Chris, you do have a typo, or misrecognition, at 15d: should be TO show deer.

   Edited at 2020-04-21 02:25 am (UTC)

   1. Thank you.
   2. The obvious candidate is Shane Lowry, the reigning Open Golf champion. He won at Royal Portrush in July of 2019, beating Tommy Fleetwood by an amazing 6 shots.
      1. Obvious to you, maybe; I never heard of him, or the other Shanes mentioned below (or above, depending on where this posting winds up). Anyway, the question is not whether there are famous Shanes, but whether Shane is a man’s name that one should expect to show up, like the countless Eds, Teds, Erics, Toms, etc. we see here. I know of exactly 2 Elvises, Presley and Starr; should I expect ‘man’ to clue ELVIS?
   3. Shane Warne?
2. I found this pretty hard, taking exactly 22m. LOI was SHOE, couldn’t see what was going on, no idea why now that I’ve read the blog but I didn’t submit with total confidence. THE SW gave me the most trouble and even when I filled one in it turned out to be wrong, I had ROSETTE ending with an A for a while and that made BLUSTERY harder than it should have. Lack of culture let me down again – THE GONDOLIERS only vaguely rang a bell and the lack of checker in the SW made it much harder to unscramble to anagram. All green but slow – and very low on the early leaderboard. It all started so well with the acrosses for once being more accommodating that the downs.
3. 17 mins, last two somerset and oodles.

   No real hold ups just not speedy today.

   COD maypole or oodles.

4. 11 minutes after struggling a little to get my first one in. No problem with SHANE as a male given name. Wiki lists about 60 of them who have achieved fame in various fields and they are distributed world-wide, at least in English-speaking countries. ‘Man’ is always a rather loose definition for a male name but I don’t see why ‘Shane’ in particular would require something more specific, after all the wordplay is there for that very purpose.
   1. The first Shane I thought of was Australian swimmer Shane Gould, who is definitely not a man !
      1. Surely Shane Warne is now The Most Famous Shane In The World?
         1. Undoubtedly, but I always thought his name was “Bloody Warne” (or worse).
5. Hi, I don’t understand why Favour = rosette. Not a meaning I’m aware of and couldn’t that definition – maybe I’m being a bit dense?! Thanks
   1. Our friend Templar will no doubt be familiar with this. A badge or ribbon worn or given to indicate loyalty, often bestowed on a knight by a lady.
      1. Many thanks. Not a meaning of Favour that I knew – amazing what you learn doing these crosswords!
   2. From Chambers:
      Favour – a knot of ribbons worn, eg at an election, to show one’s allegiance.
      Rosette – a knot of radiating loops of ribbon or the like in concentric arrangement, esp worn as a badge showing affiliation.
      …as seen on election nights when the results are declared.
      1. Rosette : the award that my beloved black labrador, Merlin, won (after a great deal of effort) as “most improved dog” at his obedience class. When we got home, he snatched it off me as I was about to pass it to my wife, and promptly chewed it to bits.
      2. Many thanks – I didn’t know that meaning of the word Favour – amazing what you learn doing these crosswords!!
6. 21 minutes, a bit closer to my 20 minute target than I’ve been recently. As usual with Hurley there was lots of deception, and my LOI ENTENTE was beautifully hidden. Followers of English cricket know all about Shane!
   Thanks to Hurley and Chris.

   Brian

7. Steady going today with the SE proving stubborn at the end. I was unfamiliar with that meaning of ROSETTE so I needed all the checkers and it went in last. MOUSSE also took some working out as I got distracted by mutes and trying to put a ‘p’ in it – remembering that the planet Mercury existed eventually put me on the right track. Finished in 13.08.
   Thanks to chris
8. Well! After a reasonably smooth solve yesterday, this was a disaster for me. I thought it was going to be a quick run-through until the half way mark. RABBLE ROUSING took way too long, as did SOMERSET and even ENTENTE (doh/doe). Then I got totally hung up on ROSEMARY, OODLES and LOI ROSETTE. Twice my target time and not much quicker than my 15×15 time yesterday. Nothing unfair but my brain was stuck in second gear, l’m afraid. Thanks, both for a salutory lesson. John M.
   P.s. I normally wait until 9am to do the QC when my wife has finished listening to Today on radio 4. I then switch to Radio 3 on a low volume. This morning, I did the QC whilst Today was still running. Maybe speech and Xwords don’t work for me. Perhaps I should try silence. What background (if any) do others prefer?

   Edited at 2020-04-21 08:27 am (UTC)

   1. Silence – definitely !
   2. Total silence, but I sometimes resort to white noise in the summer when windows are open and neighbours are in their gardens. Can’t do music at all, nor speech on radio or TV, though both are fine for Sudoku solving which must utilise a different part of my brain.
   3. Train noise … but now birdsong! Today would be an awful accompaniment, all that angry shouty stuff.
      1. And that’d just be me interrupting my solving to shout at the radio!
   4. Ideally silence but, failing that, low-level noise that is fairly consistent in tone, pitch & volume. People speaking nearby is probably the worst distraction for me which suggests that music would be better in the background than talk radio.

      At the championships silence is maintained, except when the fire alarm goes off!

   5. Has to be silence for me. Fortunately I live alone so control all the sound sources, apart from any DIY that might be occurring next door.
   6. Radio 3, so not full attention to solving. About usual 10 minutes, but forgot to check fully for typos, so once again caught out by auto skipping of filled.
   7. I need silence and I annoy my wife by closing all doors to reduce sound levels from her watching breakfast TV. It doesn’t stop her interrupting me if she wants something, though.
   8. Ours is a post lunch solve in silence immediately after listening to The Archers podcast
   9. Prefer silence but at the moment its clarinets and homework questions.
   10. Many thanks for all your helpful replies. I didn’t expect so many. I have clearly become very careless about background noise, perhaps imagining my brain can rise above it. Some of my recent performances suggest strongly that I cannot.
       I’ll attempt my puzzles in silence from now. I suppose it is pretty obvious that this is best but I have always been intrigued by solvers and bloggers who quote what music they listen to as they puzzle.
       Perhaps others will find this thread helpful, too.
9. I see Kevin has explained the Savoy Operas as a term for the works of Gilbert and Sullivan. Last 2 in TENDER-HEARTED and DOE. I liked the OODLES of MOUSSE combination, but I think it would make me sick. 4:21.
10. Just over half an hour. After a slow start, came a slow middle and slow end. Got THE GONDOLIERS immediately as it’s close to my heart. Strangely the first production of it I was in was directed by someone called SHANE.
11. ….back in 1988 was THE GONDOLIERS, so it was SOI.

    FOI WRIT
    LOI ROSEMARY
    COD MAYPOLE
    TIME 0.82K

12. Based on the comments above I seem to have had a very good day submitting in under 10 mins. I was not over-keen on the intersection of two random names but the cluing was fair. I did wonder if ROSETTE = favour but the wordplay settled the matter. FOI WRIT and LOI the well hidden ENTENTE.

    I like to solve in silence but this rarely happens. Normally my husband interrupts this precious solo time to ask me a question…..but this morning he is out exercising on his bike.

    1. I have been out exercising on a bike today but I don’t think I’m married to desdeeloeste. She beat me today because I was (not far) the wrong side of 10, clocking in at 2K for a Good Enough Day. I didn’t do well on the acrosses today and needed second visits (after finishing the downs) for ROSEMARY, TENDER-HEARTED, SHOE and BLUSTERY. A very enjoyable puzzle with plenty to think about, thank you Hurley. Chris, I am in awe of your IT skills as well as your blogging!

       FOI WRIT, LOI BLUSTERY, COD TENDER-HEARTED.

       Templar

13. 6:31, glad to see I’m not the only one who developed a blind spot over Somerset which, in hindsight, looks terribly obvious.
14. Finished apart from Rosette which I’d almost doodled in while playing with the letters. Aargh.
15. This started off at a canter with Somerset FOI, then The Gondoliers. No problem with any of the anagrams or hiddens. Got Most of the way through in double quick time and then totally ground to a halt with about 5 remaining and had to resort to aids. Don’t associate rosary (a physical object) with prayers and NHO rosette as favour. Wanted to put ‘hal’ in 4d but ‘shale’ doesn’t sound like a man’s name, even in Australia…

    Probably about 30 mins but not unassisted…

    Edited at 2020-04-21 10:54 am (UTC)

16. I thought this was tricky throughout. FOI was BITE and I made pretty good progress after that. No problem with ROSETTE as have seen this clued as Favour before.
    Each clue needed some time but hardly any problems at all until LOI 10a after about 13:30. I thought the definition was Source of Metal; was certain that ASH was the tree but then began to doubt it. Nearly put ASHONE just to get it finished. Sanity and patience prevailed and finally I saw how the land lay. COD to ASHORE. Time: 16:06.
    Good puzzle. David
17. Knocked this one off in 9:14 before slinging my bike on the back of the car and heading off to the garage, which had un-cancelled my cancelled annual service and MOT, with a phone call yesterday. The car park at the garage was eerily deserted, and the 4.5 mile ride home was done in BLUSTERY, to say the least, conditions, but I had to BITE the bullet and use OODLES of pedal power with SCANT regard for my laboured breathing. I didn’t win any ROSETTEs for my performance but did manage 2 Strava 2nd bests. The GONDOLIERS went in easily enough. My daughter performed in it last year with Tees Valley G&S Society. Thanks Hurley and Chris.
    On edit. Surprised no one mentioned Shane the Cowboy film. Perhaps I’m
    older than I thought! 🙂
    On second edit: I see Kevin did mention him, but not directly.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shane_(film)

    Edited at 2020-04-21 12:23 pm (UTC)

    1. Actually, I did; the only Shane I knew of.
       1. I know, I edited my comment on re-reading yours:)
18. I was not sharp and failed to recognize chestnuts like ‘ashore’ and ‘oodles’. The only thing in my favor is that I biffed ‘The Gondoliers’ as my FOI, but it was all downhill from there.
19. Challenging enough and a very enjoyable solve (thank you Hurley) in a reasonable time.

    FOI: writ
    LOI: scant
    COD: merry

    Thanks for the blog Chris

20. … for a 13 minute finish. LOI 7D Entente, a word which for those of us of a certain age and interest in politics is indelibly linked to Cordiale. Not so much sign of that these days with the current leadership in Downing Street and the Élysée!

    Some very nice clues from Hurley, but my COD is 16A Oodles, simply because it is such a lovely informal word. To my surprise the dictionaries suggest it was coined about 150 years ago.

    Thanks to Chris for the blog
    Cedric

21. Thought I was on for a quick one, but as usual got bogged down in the final few, so ended up bang on my average of 30 mins.

    As many above – didn’t know Rosette = Favour (I tend to associate the former with prize indicators). Also had a tussle between Terminus and Terminal, although it was obviously the latter based on the parsing.

    FOI – 1ac “Writ”
    LOI – 14dn “Rosette”
    COD – 21ac “Blustery”

    Thanks as usual.

22. Elvis Costello? Whereas I’ve never heard of Elvis Starr!
    1. Sorry; I forgot Costello. Starr is/was a US general, I believe.
       1. The only Starr I could think of was Edwin!!
23. Just over my 12 minute par today – not sure why because I don’t think it was particularly difficult. My back is playing up again so it’s a bit hard to concentrate, so I’ll make that my excuse!

    In answer to Old Blighter’s query: silence in the room I’m in, although I don’t mind low level noise elsewhere in the house – something that can’t be avoided since Mr B is working from home and likes Radio 3 on in the background. What can be disturbing is when he wanders in and asks me how I’m getting on with my crossword! Guaranteed to put me off 😀

    FOI Somerset
    LOI Rosette – as others have commented, I didn’t make the connection between favour and rosette
    COD Mousse – wanted to start with P or SH
    Time c13 mins

    Thanks Hurley and Chris

    On edit: he’s just wandered in and asked the predictable question! Fortunately I was just posting on the 15×15 blog so no loss of train of thought – well, none that mattered!

    Edited at 2020-04-21 03:08 pm (UTC)

24. was Lord Shane O’Niell but he was my LOI and slowed me down to 14 turgid mins.

    FOI 3dn The Gondoliers as I am a long standing Savoyard.

    COD 14dn ROSETTE – a politcal favour, as worn by candidates at the elections – might help those of you who knew not.

    WOD DOH!

25. Defeated by the dogs at 16a, could not get away from a pack. Also rosette caused problems so a slow solve, however the comments above have given us much amusement, just the tonic while being confined. Thanks to all.
26. Found this relatively straightforward although I was held up by 1ac (my LOI) for some unknown reason.

    FOI 4ac Somerset
    LOI 1ac Writ
    COD to 17dn Merry – so ingenious

27. Came to this late in the day after several hours worth of painting (not the artistic kind), and was definitely the worse for wear – managed to write down Throng See Opera as the anagrist for 3d and sat puzzling why I couldn’t make my initial guess of The Gondoliers fit… Later on, I couldn’t see why Rosette was a favour, but nothing else seemed to work, so that’s another one to file away for the future. A sluggish 30 min solve. Invariant
28. The first time I’ve solved the crossword on the day it was published for a long time. Worked on it at lunchtime, all straightforward enough (20 minutes maybe, which is a good pace for me) apart from my last two, BLUSTERY and ROSETTE, which I looked at for a couple of minutes before deciding it was time to return to my work desk in the front room. Picked up the paper this evening and these last two fell quickly into place. Enjoyed OODLES, because it is such a fun word, and enjoyed EPOCHAL because I saw it straight away.
    1. Congratulations! Often the way. It’s hard to change the track of your thoughts – so putting it down and looking later often yields good results. More experience brings the ability to do this as you solve other clues – I still get stuck on a few quite often though.
29. Rather surprised no-one has mentioned Shane Fenton who had hits in the 1960s and later became Alvin Stardust. His actual name was Bernard Jewry but Shane Fenton had been a real person, a singer with a band who died tragically at the age of only 18 before his band had had much success. Jewry then joined the band and took Fenton’s name in tribute to him.
30. I knew 15D was DOE but couldn’t explain it. My Chambers (c1992) doesn’t have doh as a silly mistake nor do the online theasauruses I checked. Could it be an americanism?
    1. 1992 is rather a long time ago. Were the Simpsons around then?
    2. Here’s the entry in the Shorter Oxford :

       doh M20.
       [ORIGIN Natural exclam. Cf. oh interjection.]

       Expression of frustration at the realization that things have turned out badly or not as planned, or that the speaker or someone else has just said or done something foolish.

       N. Hornby ‘Doh,’ said Marcus scornfully. ‘Why would I want to go there?’

       Edited at 2020-04-21 09:37 pm (UTC)

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