Times Quick Cryptic 1661 by Hurley

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Another fast start to the week – today’s time of 7:57 improving slightly on yesterday’s. All seemed fair play and entertaining as I sailed through. I’ll see if anything comes up as I dissect it all below.

Right – just back from digging around in the entrails! It occurs to me that I must have biffed a fair few as I went through as it’s been fun unentangling some of the clues. A smattering of anagrams, a couple of hiddens and something of a mix up in my vocabulary at 1ac kept it all interesting.

ACROSS

1. Rest as site’s revamped (6)
SIESTA – anagram (revamped of AS SITE). I had always thought that siesta meant ‘little death’ and am happy that this rather dramatic description is not adopted by Collins who have ‘C17: from Spanish, from Latin sexta hōra the sixth hour, that is, noon’. Hmm – it seems my wires have been crossed as, looking up ‘little death’, I find it’s defined as La petite mort. I’m rather embarrassed to quote Wikipedia for the meaning – In modern usage, this term has generally been interpreted to describe the post-orgasmic state of unconsciousness that some people have after having some sexual experiences. I suppose it would be possible to combine the two?
4. Mail job (4)
POST – double definition.
9. Bearing left in Heathrow, say (7)
AIRPORT – bearing (AIR – an authoritative bearing/air), left (PORT).
10. The Spanish court accepting English make a choice (5)
ELECT – ‘the’ in Spanish (EL), court (CT) accepting English (E) inside.
11. Looking back, some declare Bill is intolerable (9)
ILLIBERAL – inside the clue but backwards (looking back) dec(LARE BILL I)s.
12. Heads off awful snake, poisonous – this one? (3)
ASP – heads taken off (A)wful (S)nake (P)oisonous to give the answer. I suppose the clue could have read ‘of’ rather than ‘off’ and still scan – although it would have implied a multi-headed snake.
13. Exclamation of surprise about old language in Northern river? (6)
MERSEY – my LOI. Exclamation of surprise (MY) about old language (ERSE – Irish Gaelic).
15. Bitterness with operation, move fast (6)
GALLOP – bitterness (GALL) with operation (OP).
17. Effect of sun cheers by noon (3)
TAN – cheers (TA) by noon (N).
18. This adjunct shows program finish in time (9)
APPENDAGE – program (APP), finish (END), time (AGE).
21. Tons wander around store with valuables (5)
TROVE – tons (T), wander around (ROVE).
22. Give account of return of managed price (7)
NARRATE – retrn of managed – ran (NAR), price (RATE).
23. Indication one’s engaged in call (4)
RING – nice double definition.
24. Coming publicity opening (6)
ADVENT – publicity (AD), opening (VENT).

DOWN

1. Admits allowing United in to play – here? (7)
STADIUM – anagram (to play) of ADMITS U (for United). I remember this held me up a bit before I realised what was going on.
2. In from France, with theatrical part, we hear – register (5)
ENROL – ‘in’ in French (EN), homophone of theatrical part – role (ROL). Seems a funny sort of homophone to me.
3. Mark rebel out, needing reform – me? (12)
TROUBLEMAKER – anagram (needing reform) of MARK REBEL OUT.
5. Finished calls avoiding outsiders on the whole (7)
OVERALL – finished (OVER), calls avoiding outside letters c(ALL)s.
6.Young child out of bed? Put two and two together! (3,2)
TOT UP – young child (TOT), out of bed (UP).
7. Celebrity‘s scornful expression when upset (4)
STAR – Scornful expression – rats – upwards (when upset – STAR).
8. Polite lender lawmen represented (4-8)
WELL-MANNERED – anagram (represented) of LENDER LAWMEN.
14. Disparage cricket score, reduced (3,4)
RUN DOWN – cricket score (RUN), reduced (DOWN).
16. Gift here (7)
PRESENT – double definition – something of a gift in itself as it was so straightforward.
17. Teacher‘s mild rebuke over lacking heart (5)
TUTOR – mild rebuke (TUT) over with no middle letters (O)ve(R).
19. Weak play on words, ultimately ropey (4)
PUNY – play on words (PUN), rope(Y).
20. Proverb used by head, a gentleman (5)
ADAGE – inside he(AD A GE)ntleman.

52 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1661 by Hurley”

  1. No particular problems, although I don’t know why ERSE is an ‘old language’; it’s another name for Irish or Scots Gaelic, both of which are still spoken. And for me at least, ‘Rats!’ is an expression of anger or irritation, rather than scorn. No problem with ENROL. 5:41.
    1. I was querying the homophone of role. I hadn’t heard of ROL and nor has Collins or Scrabble. Apparently it’s Rate on line (ROL) – the ratio of premium paid to loss recoverable in reinsurance contracts. Presumably it should be pronounced like role rather than ROL.
      1. I’m missing something. EN as you say, and ROL sounds like ‘role’. I don’t see what Rate On Line has to do with it.
        1. I just didn’t think it was a proper word and can’t remember coming across homophones of made up words – would ORL be OK for awl?
          1. That occurred to me just as I clicked to submit my reply. It had seemed fine at the time.
      2. I can’t see where ROL is part of the problem

        “In from France” = EN
        WITH (critically !)
        “Theatrical part we hear” = ROL
        to give ENROL = register

        1. Of course the parsing is clear. My problem (but not any others, it seems) is whether ROL is actually a thing. I’ve only come across real-word homophones.
          1. Surely a theatrical part is a “role”, which sounds like the second syllable of “enrol”? I had no problem during the solve, but now I kind of see your point. Or am I overthinking?
            1. I rather agree – i also had no problem writing in the answer as I was doing the puzzle but now do wonder about cluing syllables which don’t form words by no more than “sounds like”. Especially as, in this case, the clue could easily have read “in from France, with endless theatrical part to register”.

              Cedric

  2. At 5:21, I’m bound to give someone the impression that I’m a speedy solver.

    Meanwhile, on the 15×15 I was doing well but got stuck in some corners and now don’t even know if I’ll finish.

    EDIT: DNF after an hour.

    Edited at 2020-07-21 03:45 am (UTC)

  3. Unusually fast for me until ADAGE and WELL-MANNERED took the pace right out of it. Kicked myself when I realised I’d been undone by a lurker and an anagram – what could have been? I was certain ‘represented’ was the definition for WELL-MANNERED. I don’t think a pb was ever on the cards, although seven on the first pass is a good return for me, but ended up all green in just over 13 which must be well within my fastest quartile. Interestingly 30 of today’s 31 first solvers on the leaderboard did not have an incorrect entry – slightly ruined by #31 having 24!

    Edited at 2020-07-21 05:48 am (UTC)

  4. A 7 minute solve which flowed nicely throughout, each answer linking neatly to the next one.

    Edited at 2020-07-21 08:04 am (UTC)

  5. 12 minutes, stuck mainly on Mersey, which is annoying as I’m from that region.
    Not sure why that clue has a question mark.

    COD ring or stadium.

  6. Steady going today, with my main delays being spotting the hiddens at 11a and 20d and I needed all the checkers for LOI MERSEY as I wanted to put an ‘O’ in it. Finished in 10.12 with my favourite being RING.
    Thanks to chris
  7. I think we are being offered an easier ride this week after the hurdles presented last week. Just within 12 mins for me and a smooth run with plenty of straightforward biffs and parsing to follow, as Chris describes. I agree with plett11 – RING was neat and was my LOI. Thanks to both. I hope to continue my slightly better performances tomorrow. John M.

    Edited at 2020-07-21 07:51 am (UTC)

  8. Comfortably home within target in 1.5K. I solved clockwise from FOI POST and just 3 clues on the LHS of the grid caused a small delay. Despite currently residing in Mallorca I failed to see SIESTA until all the checkers were in place. My POI was TROVE and my LOI MERSEY. Thanks Hurley for a promising start to the week and to Chris for the blog.
  9. Pretty easy today with a reasonable time for me of 11:11. Only trouble I had was with RUN DOWN which I originally put as PAN DOWN, thinking that down must be some sort of cricket score – it was a bit far fetched but didn’t take me too long to untease.
  10. A good day, biffed quite a few, but didn’t quite finish as NHO’d ERSE.

    I’m a bit puzzled by ROVE. Surely that’s past tense, should it not be “wandered”?

    Thank you, Hurley and Chris.

    Diana

    1. It’s present tense – to wander about (a place) with no fixed direction; roam.
      Roved would be wandered.
  11. Nothing too difficult today in a pleasant puzzle. FOI POST; LOI RING solving more or less in order, which I rarely do.
    COD to STADIUM. Time: 10:39 David
  12. I thought todays was as good as yesterdays was poor! Thanks Hurley and chrisw91. Idon’t understand the debate about enrol. En is French for in, a theatrical part is a role – what’s the issue?
    1. I’m asking what ROL is. It may sound like theatrical part=role but I don’t recognise the word ROL.
      1. Ah I see – I don’t think it has to be a word – that part of enrol just sounds like a theatrical part or maybe a buttie
      2. I don’t understand what your point is. As far as I’m aware there has never been a requirement with homophones for partial answers to be real words. 15a in this week’s (blogged) Mephisto () is What’s said to fasten a feather? (5) for PINNA. ‘Pinn’ is not listed as a real word in any dictionaries I’ve seen. I mean, I know it’s a small river in London, but I don’t think anyone solving the puzzle needs – or indeed is expected – to know that.
  13. You have “well mannered” as an anagram of Lender Lawman instead of Lender Lawmen
  14. If I had been just a little more careful looking for the backward hidden in 11ac and not started to write in Iberal…, I wouldn’t have wasted a minute thinking there was a mistake in the clue. A minor mishap, soon enough corrected, but the consequence was a missed chance at the elusive sub-10 solve. One day perhaps, but not today. Mersey and Appendage were my last two in 11 minutes, with the latter the only significant hold up due to Hurley. Invariant
  15. This one flowed nicely for me too. ENROL was FOI and ADVENT LOI as the clocked ticked over to 7 minutes, another 26 seconds proof reading revealed no typos. 7:26. Thanks Hurley and Chris.
  16. All done in 18:20 today, so pretty fast for me, although I did parse one or two after I had stopped the clock. LOI 21a, COD 11a Thanks Hurley and Chris
  17. ….MERSEY GALLOP running across the centre. A tribute to Liverpool FC’s season perhaps.

    FOI SIESTA
    LOI ELECT
    COD APPENDAGE
    TIME 0.56K

  18. I hardly ever write out the anagrist for an anagram; I don’t think I’ve ever done that for a six letter anagram before, let alone when I’ve got the three checkers! But today I did just that because I could not see SIESTA for the life of me. Maybe I need a siesta today. Dear oh dear.

    The rest of it went in smoothly enough for 1.5K and a Very Good Day. Long hesitation over TROVE – I always forget that “tons” simply = T and so I always try to make it TS or TT. I really need to remember that one. Not only did we have GALLOP just the other day but it appeared in exactly the same position in the grid.

    FOI POST, LOI SIESTA (which is extremely embarrassing) and COD APPENDAGE.

    Thanks Hurley and Chris. I didn’t get confused about ENROL because I didn’t know that there was a rule that homophones had to be real words on both sides of the equation.

    Templar

    Edited at 2020-07-21 11:32 am (UTC)

    1. I’m just checking if there is a rule – I just hadn’t seen a non-word before. Gcook52 above doesn’t seem to think it has to be a real word. Good enough for me.
  19. Absolutely the same experience with SIESTA as Templar, although it wasn’t my LOI – very close to it tho! I couldn’t see MERSEY straightaway either, even though I had thought about Erse – I think I was confused by the ‘old’ part of the clue. An old language isn’t necessarily a dead language, after all!

    I’m with Chris on the Role / Rol issue – I have always assumed that the homophone would be a real word. Is there any guidance on that, I wonder?

    Otherwise, a straightforward solve.

    FOI Post
    LOI Mersey
    COD Troublemaker
    Time about 11 mins

    Thanks Hurley and Chris

  20. I started well but then needed some time (plus pen and paper) to work out the two long anagrams – TROUBLEMAKER and WELL MANNERED.
    MERSEY, NARRATE and ENROL were all satisfying, with my COD going to ILLIBERAL for its deviousness.
    Quite happy with my time of 16.5 minutes.
    Thanks to Hurley and Chris.
  21. 6:25. LOI M?R?EY took a while though. The language ERSE, like UNCLE for pawnbroker and FT for newspaper, is one of many bit of crosswordese that fails to come immediately to mind!

  22. 36 minutes and with no real issues anywhere so this was a good day! Clue after clue just seemed to fall into place which was a very nice feeling. Perhaps this one just happened to have only rules I’ve seen before!

    FOI was 4A Post, LOI 21A Trove, COD many! But I particularly liked 18A Appendage, because it appeared backwards for me, as I wrote in first age, then end before finally seeing appendage which sounded right despite not really knowing adjunct. I also liked 3D Troublemaker.

    Thanks Hurley and Chris.

      1. I’d like to back up Invariant’s comment. Everyone who posts here have gone through the stage you’re at now and none of us have any doubts you’ll proceed to ever greater heights. Enjoying these things is what it’s all about.
  24. … as I got to within 3 of completion in under 8 minutes (well that’s very fast for me!). But the three were all in the SW corner and intertwined – 17A Tan, 17D Tutor and LOI 21A Trove. They added at least 4 minutes for a 12-and-change finish. Far from clear why they proved so obstinate; as so often, the moment of solution is followed almost immediately with “but of course, why did I not see that?”

    That apart, I thought this was quite gentle. The clue for 13A Mersey struck me as oddly verbose – it doesn’t really need the word old, or the word Northern, or even the question mark! And I too spotted that 15A Gallop came up only a few days ago, in exactly the same place in the grid. It is weird how often words reappear just a few days later – it isn’t as if English is short of them!

    COD 18A Appendage – nicely constructed.

    Thanks to Chris for the blog
    Cedric

  25. A steady solve rather than a fast one for me. It certainly didn’t flow – more a case of dodging around the grid. Several went in unparsed, so thanks to chrisw91 for providing the mechanics of those. However I didn’t encounter any massive hold-ups and must have finished in what for me is an average time.

    FOI – 4ac POST
    LOI – 22ac NARRATE
    COD – 6dn TOT UP made me chuckle

  26. Nice, straightforward puzzle today which we solved in 16 minutes – a good workout and within our target time. Thank you Hurley.

    FOI: post
    LOI: appendage
    COD: Mersey

    Thanks to Chris for the blog

  27. Very pleased with this one – 12.5m which is 5 min faster than ever before. Many thanks to Hurley
  29. A bit late in the day to this, but completed in 20 mins. Actually ended up being better than I thought as I couldn’t get anywhere with the NW corner to begin with.

    Like a few others I also had to write down 1ac until I got “Siesta” and also had a little trouble with 18ac “Mersey” (was thinking it was Murray, which isn’t even in this country).

    FOI – 4ac “Post”
    LOI – 13ac “Mersey”
    COD – 11ac “Illiberal” – must have looked at that letter by letter for a backward hidden answer and it still nearly got me.

    Thanks as usual.

  32. Your comments on a very familiar loan word fit the definition of gauche and I wouldn’t be surprised if they appear in Private Eye’s Pseuds Corner.

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