Times Quick Cryptic 1650 by Hurley

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

This is my 200th blog of a Quick Cryptic and my solving time was 9 minutes. I don’t hold the record btw, as that belongs by a country mile to Chrisw93 who will post his 324th tomorrow and will certainly remain unchallenged as top QC blogger for the foreseeable future and well beyond. Well done to him!

Most of this was quite straightforward I thought, but maybe not so for less experienced solvers. As always I shall be very interested to read what everybody has to say.

As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]. I usually omit all reference to positional indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.

Across
1 Sad scene involving Net being withdrawn as punishment (8)
SENTENCE : Anagram [sad] of SCENE, containing [involving] NET reversed [being withdrawn]. A little more than a MER at ‘withdrawn’ as a reversal indicator and on checking my thesaurus I couldn’t find anything to justify it, but then I looked in SOED and found this under the first entry: Draw (a veil, curtain, etc.) back or aside; draw back (a bolt). It adds ‘now rare’ which may account for the meaning I am not familiar with.
6 On return secure this hotel accommodation (4)
ROOM : MOOR (secure – as of a boat) reversed [on return]
8 Laid back about English knight’s rejection of request (6)
DENIAL : LAID (reversed) [back] containing [about] E (English) + N (knight – chess)
9 Think about artificial lake with some hesitation (6)
PONDER : POND (artificial lake), ER (some hesitation)
10 Discontinue stay (4)
STOP : Two meanings
11 Upset the cop in referring to speech sounds (8)
PHONETIC : Anagram [upset] of THE COP IN
12 Son coming into clean wealth (5)
PURSE :  S (son) contained by [coming into] PURE (clean). I wasn’t sure about the defintion here but then thought of the national purse meaning being the wealth of the nation and it seems to fit.
13 A lure, reportedly, to become less intense (5)
ABATE : A, BATE sounds like [reportedly] “bait” (lure)
15 Is participating in march — heaven! (8)
PARADISE : IS contained by [participating in] PARADE (march)
17 Friend‘s  winning move (4)
MATE : Two meanings – chess again for one of them
19 Alliance at start letting each acceding Government use everything (6)
LEAGUE : L{etting} E{ach} A{cceding} G{overnment} U{se} E{verything} [at first]
20 Recluse in leather mittens (6)
HERMIT : Hidden [in] {leat}HER MIT{tens}
21 Writer of verse protests in odd places (4)
POET : P{r}O{t}E{s}T{s} [in odd places]
22 Worker from agency yet to arrive — a pattern (8)
TEMPLATE : TEMP (worker from agency), LATE (yet to arrive)
Down
2 Contest well-matched over time (5)
EVENT : EVEN (well-matched), T (time)
3 Tourist — one undressing? Not at first (7)
TRIPPER : {s}TRIPPER (one undressing) [not at first]
4 Upset Liberal in love (3)
NIL : L (Liberal – party) + IN reversed [upset]. ‘Love’ as in tennis.
5 Spookery page one is circulating (9)
ESPIONAGE : Anagram [circulating] of PAGE ONE IS. SOED: spook – an undercover agent; a spy. slang (orig. US).
6 Mountain chain called Eastern (5)
RANGE : RANG (called), E (Eastern)
7 Formerly was victorious, we hear — it’s brought up by the writer (3-4)
ONE-TIME : ONE sounds like [we hear] “won” (was victorious), IT reversed [brought up], ME (the writer)
11 Gift I’d carried for top politician (9)
PRESIDENT : PRESENT (gift) contains [carried] I‘D
12 Drug substitute in location, outskirts of Bilbao (7)
PLACEBO : PLACE (location), B{ilba}O [outskirts]
14 Alarm I’d set for navy man (7)
ADMIRAL : Anagram [set] of ALARM I‘D
16 Some drear Gothic slang (5)
ARGOT : Hidden in [some] {dre}AR GOT{hic}
18 Oliver‘s decisive change of direction (5)
TWIST : Two definitions, the first with reference to Dickens’s eponymous character
20 One playing in poorish drama, humdrum ultimately (3)
HAM : {pooris}H {dram}A{humdru}M [ultimately]. We’re probably in at least sem&lit territory here although strictly speaking it’s the actor who’s poor rather than the drama, though that may be too.

52 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1650 by Hurley”

  1. 200 here, 450+ for the biggies, a truly impressive record. Congratulations, and thanks!
    My eyebrow didn’t twitch at SENTENCE, but probably because I simply treated it as an anagram without pausing to think about it. I did wonder about ‘artificial lake’, as a pond can be natural–think Walden. Your comment on HAM reminded me of a wonderful Robert Benchley anecdote: When he was drama critic for the New Yorker, he had to watch a wretched South Seas melodrama, ‘Nauna of the Pacific’ or something, where the eponymous heroine spoke in Tarzan-style pidgin. At one point she says, “No! Nauna in love; Nauna stay here!” At which point Benchley stood up in the front row, announced “Bobby sick; Bobby go home,” and left. 4:22.
    1. That reminds me of critic Walter Kerr’s review of John Van Druten’s stage adaptation of ‘Goodbye To Berlin’ entitled ‘I am a Camera’, on which Kerr commented ‘Me no Leica’.
      1. I believe it was Kerr who coined the phrase, ‘delusions of adequacy’.
    2. The production was actually “White Cargo”, starring Hedy Lamarr as Tondelayo (the torrid terror of the tropics).
      KevinS
  2. …. for the week ahead in a time of 25m – just inside my bottom quartile.
    I pondered for far too long over whether a pond had to be artificial (9a) and also in trying to think of a specific mountain chain at 6d.
    16d ARGOT had to be, but I’d never heard of it. Still, that’s learning.
    I liked 5d ESPIONAGE in particular.
    Thank you Hurley.

    Edited at 2020-07-06 05:32 am (UTC)

  3. Started the week with doubts by entering SENTENCE but not being sure what “withdrawn” was doing in the clue. Progressed reasonably smoothly from there and appreciated the run of LEAGUE, HERMIT, POET where the instructions stood out nice and clearly. Held up in the NE by ONE-TIME holding out longer than it should and by then carelessly not reversing MOOR so that the mountain chain became impossible. Flirted with bunging in MONTE and submitting in hope but in the nick of time RANGE appeared, I groaned, kicked myself and submitted. All green in 14, well under average.
  4. On Kevin’s and slackercracker’s point, the term is certainly used more widely but SOED’s first definition is “a fairly small body of still water, freq. with a specified purpose, formed artificially by hollowing or embanking” and all the other usual sources mention that ponds are often artificially constructed, so it doesn’t seem unreasonable for the setter to choose to focus on that particular meaning.
  5. I found this tougher than many after a quick start on the LHS. Perhaps it is just a Monday morning thing but I felt my brain was somewhat disconnected and I slid into the SCC for the first time in a while. My LOI was ONE TIME; I spent minutes trying to see this one. I liked ESPIONAGE but took too long to see RANGE, instead looking for Andes and the like. Thanks to Hurley and many congrats and thanks to jackkt. John M.

    Edited at 2020-07-06 11:05 am (UTC)

  6. Thought I would get under 10 mins here but ended up spending a few minutes on the last 3/4 clues. ESPIONAGE kept me thinking for a bit, until I got all the checkers. POND doesn’t strike me as just artificial, as people have mentioned above, but that shouldn’t stop people from solving the clue. 12:26, so relatively quick for me.

    FOI: stop
    LOI: paradise

  7. Thanks for the mention jackkt, but any honours belong to you. Without your support I wouldn’t have got off the ground or continued for very long.
    I found today’s puzzle exactly on my tuned-in wavelength and completed in a zippy 6:33. No surprise then that I thought ‘withdrawn’ was OK in 1ac. I left ‘spookery’ for a while as I was heading down the ghosts route until the link with spies surfaced. LOI purse.
  8. 13 minutes, well under my 20 minute target, for another great puzzle by Hurley with the usual smooth surfaces.
    My QCs recently have been split between sub-15 minute quickies and 30+ minute struggles and DNFs, I’m not sure what is going on!
    LOIs today were ESPIONAGE, then PHONETIC.
    Special congratulations to Jackkt on his 200th, he has been an enormous help to me since I started cryptics.

    Brian

    Edited at 2020-07-06 07:54 am (UTC)

  9. What a kind start to the week. Everything just dropped in nicely without too much thinking except for 6a which had to be ROOM but I just couldn’t get the Bodmin/Ilkley kind out of my head.
    22m – very satisfying as done in one go and well under my usual 30m target.
    Thanks Hurley and Jackkt for the No Leica. Some 15 years ago we took our sons to Singapore and included a visit to Raffles hotel to take the occasion to announce to one of them that he had a “secret” other name, hitherto unannounced, namely, Raffles, evidenced by the birth certificate brought in substantiation, to his shock and horror. Some hours later we visited a camera shop and out of the blue our youngest son asked us what was his secret name. My wife, taken aback, looked around, and said “Konica”. To this day he puts that whenever he has to complete any document with his full name. Is it too late to change his birth certificate now we wonder.
  10. Congratulations Jack, and many thanks from me too – you gently encouraged me to keep trying and keep reading the blog a few years back when I struggled to break half an hour, and also to create a Livejournal account and become a regular contributor instead of a grumpy anonymous! So thank you for helping me along.

    This was brisk business for me, perhaps because I’d warmed up by doing johninterred’s weekend puzzle this morning (the weekend was just too busy!). It is a really excellent puzzle BTW so if you haven’t done it yet I highly commend it; he posted a link on Friday’s blog.

    All done and dusted in exactly 1 Chris and today that, pleasingly, is exactly 1.5 Kevins. So this is a day of temporal exactitude, and I am awarding it an Excellent Day.

    FOI ROOM (with some hesitation), LOI the humble NIL, which was the only down I didn’t get first go even though I already had the L when I looked at it, COD TEMPLATE.

    Thanks Jack and Hurley.

    Templar

  11. Gentle start for me in 8 or 9 so I must have been on the wavelength. I had no problems with net being reversed but i didn’t know why it needed to be capitalised? Thanks all anyway!
  12. Just over ten minutes to get back to my LOI 1a. I had wondered about 4d and entered ILL with a frown. So it was that it took me another eight minutes to find SENTENCE and correct Ill. I was very confused by the instructions in 1a and considered many possibilities such as WESTLIFE; perhaps it would be a punishment to listen to their greatest hits ad infinitum? Surely not.
    My FOI was ADMIRAL and it took a few looks to get me started. After that very quick until 1a.
    Congratulations and thanks to Jack. David
  13. A speedy solve with nothing particularly standing out or holding me up for too long. I did have to leave the DENIAL/NIL clues to the end despite having completed the rest of the NW right at the start. My favourite was probably HERMIT as the image made me smile for some reason. Finished in 6.00.
    Thanks to Jack for the blog and congratulations on your 200.
  14. ….PONDER over an atypically poor solve. Couldn’t get going at all, 4th clue was FOI and it didn’t help me one iota. It was ABATE that finally got me started, but my target was missed. My 1.2K will be joyfully appreciated by Kevin !

    FOI PONDER
    LOI DENIAL
    COD ONE-TIME (spot the sarcasm)
    TIME 5:14

    Edited at 2020-07-06 09:34 am (UTC)

  15. … and that’s a bit uncomfortable. I didn’t much like today’s puzzle at all! It’s always a bad sign when I struggle with both of the first clues in each direction and thus it was today. My FOI was 10 across! And it remained a sluggish pulling-teeth experience. It’s that dratted Monday glue-brain, I suppose. I don’t know my time – it was too depressing to look at my watch – but I do know that a chunk of it was spent staring at my LOI, 5 down, and at the assembled letters of “page one is”, trying desperately to come up with a witchcrafty word. Which, of course, I could not. I got it finally only through an alphabet trawl. I really did not like this clue at all, I’m afraid – not the definition nor the clunky surface that choosing such an out-there definition created. Thanks, Jackkt, for the blog and for all the other blogs that you have shared with us. And thanks too to Hurley
  16. 8.5 mins. With a hangover, so happy with that.

    Last few denial, room, and one time.
    Argot rang a bell.
    Liked hermit, tripper, and nil.

    Congrats Jack. Here’s to the next 200!

  17. I started off with NIL after a bit of puzzlement over how to interpret the clue, but things fell into place after that and I whistled through the rest of the NW and kept going through the SW and NE, finishing in the SE with HAM. 6:49. Thanks Hurley and Jack, and many congrats once again to Jack for his sterling service.
  18. A big thank you to Jack for the many hours invested making sense of the QCs. After a few years of solving I still need the blog to explain the occasional parsing and continue to acquire a little GK along the way.

    As to this QC I was slow to start but managed a sprint finish in exactly 1 Chris and 1 Templar. I solved in a clockwise fashion from FOI PONDER and LOI ONE-TIME. I have NHO ARGOT and I am not sure I will remember it if it comes up again. PLACEBO was biffed from ‘drug substitute’ without even reading the rest of the clue but with three checkers in play.

    Edited at 2020-07-06 10:17 am (UTC)

  19. A good day today, despite being interrupted by my son who was having computer problems. I had hoped he would become an expert with computers and so be able to help me out when I needed it, but it hasn’t happened yet. Fortunately all that was required on this occasion was the tried and tested “turning it off and on again” and I can just about cope with that. Anyway, came in at 24:01, although like louisajaney I couldn’t get the first few straight off and 10a was my FOI. No problems after that, although I wouldn’t have got the nho ARGOT if it hadn’t been a clear hidden, nor ESPIONAGE so easily if it hadn’t been an anagram. I didn’t parse HAM properly as I saw it was a backward hidden in draMA Humdrum but that wasn’t indicated. Also didn’t parse ONE TIME as I immediately thought the clue meant TIME = EMIT (something brought up) backwards. I see now that doesn’t work, but in the heat of the solving it was a different story. LOI 6d. Thanks to Hurley and especially Jack.
    1. I did the same with HAM and just moved on. 🙄

      Edited at 2020-07-06 11:12 am (UTC)

  20. Outstanding service from Jackkt through his 200 QC blogs, not to mention all the 15 x 15s. Thanks Jackkt, and for everything else you do to support this site.

    An increasingly rare sub-ten solve for me this morning, at 9m and 25s. Everything went straight in except for a very slight delay with the barely remembered ARGOT. FOI SENTENCE, LOI POET only because it was the last one I looked at.

  21. I did not find this as easy as most contributors. Struggled with DENIAL, NIL and hesitated over POND as ‘artificial’.
  22. I had no problem interpreting ‘being withdrawn’ as ‘going backwards’. When a military unit is ‘withdrawn from the line’ it goes backwards. Generally found this quite straightforward. An enjoyable start to the week
    PlayUpPompey
  23. Enjoyed this, especially as I found it fairly straightforward. I didn’t have any problem with the use of “withdrawn” as an instruction to reverse the letters. I did however wonder about 22ac (which made me chuckle) as just because someone hasn’t yet arrived it doesn’t mean to say they’re late. This would otherwise have got my vote for COD owing to the smooth surface. Didn’t parse 7dn so thanks to the blogger for explaining how that worked.

    FOI – 1ac “sentence”
    LOI – 15ac “paradise”
    COD – 20ac “hermit” just for the mental image it conjured up.

  24. Must have been half asleep at the start as I couldn’t make sense of 1ac even with the benefit of 2d being a write-in. Things improved thereafter, so what I thought was going to be a difficult start to the week ended up feeling straightforward. In fact, if I hadn’t gone down the ghostly path with 5d this could have been a comfortable sub-20 instead of just over. Finally, can I add my congratulations to Jackkt on his double century: head down, fresh guard and push on. Invariant
    1. I’ve been caught out on “spookery” before, going down the usual haunting/ghost/poltergeist/phantasm route until I twigged it related to spies.
  25. I must have been on the right wavelength today as, though I skipped NW corner at first, the rest went straight in. Then it all fell into place. I didn’t time myself but probably a personal best, while munching lunch.

    Room seemed too easy so I hesitated about that. I liked Ponder. Yes, I suppose ponds are man-made if they aren’t pools.

    Thanks all round, as ever.

  26. about this one. 5:56, after a slow start.

    I did the 15×15 today too as had a bit of time on my hands.

  27. Pretty straightforward today and we came in at 14 minutes. So, thanks to Hurley.

    A very big thank you to Jackkt for blogging so many QCs (and a stunning number of 15x15s). These blogs are so helpful – I only wish we’d discovered this site when we first started doing the QC. However, better late than never 😃.

    FOI: room
    LOI: league
    COD: tripper

  28. Firstly, congratulations to Jackkt on his 200th blog. Without yourself, and the many other bloggers, I don’t think I would have progressed as much as I have over the last few years.

    Managed to complete this in 19 mins, although another puzzle where the NW corner stubbornly remained blank until the end.
    However, I thought there were some nice clues here, including 1ac “Sentence”, 5dn “Espionage” and 7dn “One Time”. Remembered 16dn “Argot” from another puzzle a while back.

    FOI – 6ac “Room”
    LOI – 10ac “Stop” (wasn’t convinced it was that straight forward until the end)
    COD – 15ac “Paradise” – nice surface that made me chuckle.

    Thanks as usual.

  29. My only real struggle was with 1A SENTENCE as I was looking for another word for punishment with ‘net’ missing from it so I’ll now add ‘withdrawn’ to my list of anagrists.
    Like others, I thought that ponds could be natural but this didn’t bother me too much.
    A long list of clues to choose from for COD but I think it has to be ‘TRIPPER’ for being so amusing.
    Congratulations to Jackkt on his superb achievement and thanks to Hurley for allowing me to complete this well within my target of 15 minutes.

    Edited at 2020-07-06 01:06 pm (UTC)

    1. Sad is the anagram indicator. Withdrawn is the reversal indicator for net.
  30. Today was one of those rare occasions when I wish I had timed a very quick (for me) solve. My mug of tea was still hot when I finished! Nothing really held me up.. I had no problems with 1a withdrawn as It seemed a clear instruction. I took a moment to parse 6a room as it seemed too obvious. When I do see an ‘iffy’ clue, I generally shrug and say it’s just crossword-land and then move on rather than split hairs or grumble aloud. FOI 1a sentence. LOI 7d one-time COD my missed hidden until too late for it to help at 20a hermit.

    I would like to add my congratulations to Jackkt on his double century, not out. That’s some dedication, and also a lot of proffered help and advice gratefully received. Thx too to Hurley for a generous start to the week.

  31. Pleased with how I did on this one, I’m getting better at constructing the answers without having to guess random definitions and figure them out backwards!

    I missed ‘sad’ as an anagram indicator, and ‘n’ for the knight. (Kicking myself over love = nil, I had nil but didn’t make the connection to tennis!)

  32. At 3:57, this is not only the easiest puzzle I’ve ever attempted, and not only a personal best, but —most importantly— the closest I’ll ever get to Verlaine’s time.
  33. … with a 9 minute solve – like Rotter, these are increasingly rare for me so appreciated!

    It nearly wasn’t though as I found it hard to start for some reason. For variety I started on the down clues first and the first one in was 14D Admiral. No real idea why, and once the brain had realised that the aim was to solve the clues not just read them, they came quick enough.

    I join others in both congratulating Jack on his double century and thanking him and indeed all the bloggers on this site for adding so much to my understanding and enjoyment of the QC.

    Cedric

  34. A bit of a stuttering solve for me today. No serious blocks, but never really got into a steady flow either.
    Many congratulations to Jakkt on a double century of helpfulness. I am indebted to him and all other bloggers for their constant help and encouragement, without which I would not have had half the fun that I have enjoyed with crosswords in my own inept way.
    Plymouthian
  35. Although we finished about our target time, felt thar we made hard work of it. Like others, ended in nw corner and needed two letters to sort out 2d. Congratulations to jacket, we admire the hard work put into this excellent site, and gives us much pleasure almost daily.
  36. Congratulations Jackkt and many thanks .

    I much enjoyed this one, a pleasant start to the week.

    Diana

  37. Many thanks to all contributors who have expressed their good wishes. I’m glad to have been of help especially to those new to the delights of cryptic puzzles.
  38. Thanks Jack, thanks Hurley.
    I’m still always pleased to finish! No time since the sun got to me in the late afternoon – but it would be 35+ because I just couldn’t see Abate (LOI) even though the old hindsight kicks me..
    Didn’t know Argot but as another commented it was vaguely somewhere. Nice mix of easy and not so easy clues.
    4d Nil was a struggle and took me a while as did Espionage but all fair.
    Thanks all
    John George
  39. Congrats on the landmark, Jackkt, and for all those blogs and all the work. Thanks also to all those who commented today. Hurley
  40. Too late to tackle the crossword but I just wanted to echo everyone’s congratulations and thanks for your explanations, expertise and encouragement!
  41. This one came in at 43 minutes so perhaps I can finally say I can solve the QC in under an hour! Like a couple of others I struggled with the first few clues, eventually getting 8A Denial as my FOI. Otherwise mostly straightforward till I returned to the top corner and got stuck on 3D Tripper. I only understood that answer after reading the blog and realising how simple it should have been! So many thanks to jackkt for another very helpful blog and congrats on the milestone. And thanks Hurley for a nice start to the week, even though I did it a day late!

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