Times Quick Cryptic 1700 by Hurley

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Solving time: 10 minutes. Mostly straightforward although I was missing the GK required for arriving at 16ac other than via wordplay. 18dn is probably unknown to some, but I had met it in a previous puzzle.

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 Female cut turkey (4)
FLOP : F (female), LOP (cut). An unsuccessful film or stage show, for example.
7 Getting Old Boy practice after resistance dropped (9)
OBTAINING : OB (old boy – usually of a school), T{r}RAINING (practice) [after resistance dropped]
9 In favour of quiet support (4)
PROP : PRO (in favour of), P (quiet)
10 Guarantee less than accurate reportedly (10)
UNDERWRITE : UNDER (less than), WRITE sounds like [reportedly] “right” (accurate)
11 Friend hiding European ring (4)
PEAL : PAL (friend) containing [hiding] E (European). Ring them bells!
12 Opening remark in ship on Arctic? (3-7)
ICE-BREAKER : Two meanings
16 Education expert, most senior, flexible (10)
MONTESSORI : Anagram [flexible] of MOST SENIOR. Maria Montessori 1870–1952, Italian educational reformer, who evolved the Montessori method of teaching children. Never ‘eard of ‘er… nor it.
19 Ambush — hazard of course (4)
TRAP : Two meanings, the second an Americanism with reference to golf; we call it a bunker.
21 Rearrange a space as in inland lake (7,3)
CASPIAN SEA : Anagram [rearrange] of A SPACE AS IN
23 Feature of car used in hasty retreat (4)
TYRE : Hidden [used] in {has}TY RE{treat}
24 Fancy horse, Peru, one to bet on in crisis? (9)
SUPERHERO : Anagram [fancy] of HORSE PERU. Rather a loose definition, I think.
25 At first really envious, eying fine part of sail (4)
REEF : R{eally}, E{nvious}, E{ying}, F{ine} [at first]. Defined as ‘each of the horizontal portions of a sail which may be successively rolled or folded up in order to reduce the area of canvas exposed to the wind’. I only knew of it as a sailor’s knot.
Down
2 Big canal boat bachelor put aside for learner (5)
LARGE : {b}ARGE (canal boat) becomes LARGE when b (bachelor) is substituted [put aside] by L (learner)
3 Politician‘s Dad you heard on series of items (8)
POPULIST : POP (dad), U (you, heard), LIST (series of items). A DBE perhaps?
4 Unexciting food, for example, Dorothy’s briefly brought up (6)
STODGE : EG (for example) + DOT’S (Dorothy’s) [briefly] all reversed [brought up]. I’m rather fond of it myself!
5 Truly reflect Michigan trio of Republicans holding office at outset (6)
MIRROR : MI (Michigan), then RRR (trio of Republicans) containing [holding] O{ffice} [at outset]
6 Method of travel on rise? Don’t believe him! (4)
LIAR : RAIL (method of travel) reversed [on rise]
8 Some yoga — the recruits assemble (6)
GATHER : Hidden in [some] {yo}GA THE R{ecruits}
13 Vehicle characterized by activity, last to go (3)
BUS : BUS{y} (characterized by activity) [last to go]
14 Troublemaker‘s air got at cast (8)
AGITATOR : Anagram [cast] of AIR GOT AT
15 Big number, including other ranks, in swampy area (6)
MORASS : MASS (big number) containing [including] OR (other ranks)
17 Bright in South — linger on (6)
STARRY : S (south), TARRY (linger on)
18 Taciturn guy‘s unexpected story about East (6)
OYSTER : Anagram [unexpected] of STORY containing [about] E (East). Someone who’s reserved and uncommunicative.
20 Concur — a craving must be curtailed (5)
AGREE : A, GREE{d} (craving) [curtailed]
22 Paid poet on regular basis for musical instrument (4)
PIPE :  P{a}I{d} P{o}E{t} [on regular basis]

46 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1700 by Hurley”

  1. A time that reflects no great resistance. Montessori is pretty big in these parts so that wasn’t such a surprise once I had a few crossers. Same for SUPERHERO.
  2. MONTESSORI (who, as Jeremy says, is pretty well-known in the States) was a bit late in coming, as I was looking for a generic term not a name, and posited …IST. At 7ac I failed to separate ‘getting’ and ‘old’, leading to another delay. 5:10.
  3. An unusual solve. Only four on the first pass, starting with OBTAINING, but then very rapid progress with the downs so that at one time the whole top half was filled in with only REEF in the bottom. As Jack correctly predicted I’d never heard of OYSTER in that context and only knew only MONTESSORI from schools and had never thought about the name coming from a person so both had to wait for lots checkers and even then I was grateful they were anagrams to reduce the risk. Also held up by CASPIAN SEA where I needed the P from PIPE to put thoughts of ‘something spa’ out of my head. LOI was MORASS where I wanted the answer to be googol, I think because it sounds a bit like ‘bog’ is in there and I was looking at the wrong end of the clue for the definition – saw sense quite quickly to finish all green in 15.

    Edited at 2020-09-14 05:54 am (UTC)

    1. Once again saved by my affection for noirish detective fiction, it comes from”he clammed up like an oyster”
  4. Also struggled with the acrosses but better with the downs except I initially put in an unparsed BARGE for 2d.

    Knew MONTESSORI and had a vague recollection of the required definition of OYSTER.

    First in PROP and last FLOP after I had corrected 2d.

    Just under 20 minutes for an enjoyable solve.

  5. 9:20 and a Personal Best on a solid solve, working clockwise round the grid from 1A to TRAP, LOI.

    After some anagram-rich puzzles recently, this had a wider variety of clues, and no “chestnuts”. Seemed to be mainly “constructor” types, rather than Double Definitions. OYSTER was a definition I DNK.

    There was an article about Montessori nurseries in the paper today, which I had read an hour earlier, so that made a tough anagram much easier. COD 3d, POPULIST, which seems to be all politicians at the moment.

    The 15×15 is often easier on Mondays: Before I sink a couple of hours into it, how do the QC squad rate it?

    Edited at 2020-09-14 07:42 am (UTC)

    5. Today’s 15×15 is indeed doable, but with a couple of unknowns in the SE where you just have to trust the cryptic.
  6. A nice, straightforward start to the week for me – 11.56 all parsed. I filled in the first half without much fuss but found parts of the lower half a bit more chewy, especially the across clues ending in vowels. MONTESSORI came to mind but SUPERHERO, MORASS, and OYSTER (worked it out but dnk) took a bit longer. I rather liked MIRROR. Nice puzzle. Thanks to both. John M.

    Edited at 2020-09-14 08:33 am (UTC)

  7. A gentle Monday offering, very enjoyable. MONTESSORI nurseries were all the rage in London SW when my children were young so as soon as the “I” ending emerged I twigged it (up until then, like Kevin, I had been positing IST as the ending). We didn’t send our boys to one, though, since they seemed to involve making mud pies instead of learning the alphabet. Agree with Jack about SUPERHERO being a loose definition; thank goodness it was an anagram. Did anyone else start out with “jump” instead of TRAP at 19? (A jump being a hazard on a race course.)

    FOI FLOP, LOI MORASS, COD OYSTER, time 1.5K for a Very Good Day. (Then I tried Phil’s weekend puzzle – ouch!)

    Thanks Hurley and Jack.

    Templar

      1. Ouch indeed – DNF for me! Great puzzle though, thanks. When my post is approved it will pop up on John’s blog.
    2. Yes, we “jumped” in with both feet with jump until it became obvious that it couldn’t be the right answer….
  8. The top half went in with barely a pause but I needed to get pen and paper out to unravel the various anagrams in the bottom half which slowed me down. I was familiar with the educational person but needed lots of checkers to be confident of the spelling, however OYSTER was new to me a caused me a double take when I realised what the answer was. Finished in 10.57 with LOI STARRY and COD to UNDERWRITE.
    Thanks to Jack
  9. This is the sort of puzzle I would probably have taken around 30 to 40 mins to complete a few years back, so the fact I finished in 22 mins shows there must be some improvement. Overall I enjoyed it and thought it was a good start to the week.

    No real hold ups, although 3dn “Populist” wasn’t immediately obvious and DNK 18dn “Oyster” in relation to a taciturn individual. For some unknown reason, I didn’t spot the obvious “Tyre” in 23ac even though I looked for the hidden word (albeit backwards).

    FOI – 2dn “Large”
    LOI – 23ac “Tyre”
    COD – 5dn “Mirror” – nice clue and surface

    Thanks as usual.

  10. Started with FLOP and worked steadily through. Knew MONTESSORI, but was held up by the unknown OYSTER, although it makes sense if you think of someone clamming up. 8:32. Thanks Hurley and Jack.
  11. Found parts of this quite tricky, but ended up finishing in 23:20 so it can’t have been too bad. I knew of 16a but have obviously heard the name more often than I’ve seen it written as I had totally forgotten, if I ever knew, it was spelt like that. I would have gone for for Montasauri, so another example of the educational value of crosswords. I also never realised MONTESSORI was a woman, so thanks Jack for the enlightenment. I tried putting in “SUREHOPER” for 24a, thinking it might be the antonym of no-hoper. Getting AGITATOR put paid to it, but I still think it’s a good word. If it makes a future OED, you heard it here first. Actually AGITATOR also put paid to “JUMP” at 19a, which I’d put in thinking of a steeplechase course. Not sure I’ve heard of the meaning of OYSTER in 18d, but I think it’s come up here once before. LOI was 17d, COD 23a for its smooth surface. Thanks to Hurley and Jack.
    2. Great word, let’s add it. Good time today. I’m usually on par with you, but you’re at least 5 minutes faster today!
  12. FOI was LIAR and then I was very quick with less than 7 minutes on the clock when I returned to 18d. The clueing is very clear so OYSTER emerged; a meaning that I did not know. 07:52 in the end.
    An enjoyable and fair puzzle. David
  13. which is always encouraging.
    FOI Prop and Icebreaker
    LOI Oyster after a struggle

    Thanks all.

  14. Had to write out the anagrist for both the long acrosses but whilst doing so saw immediately what was needed. Nice puzzle.
  15. ….ICE-BREAKER for the week to come. Thanks Hurley and Jack.

    FOI FLOP
    LOI OYSTER
    COD UNDERWRITE
    TIME 3:24

  16. Started with 2d and 1ac and then successfully tackled the across clues until I got down to the three anagrams, none of which would come to mind. Switched to the downs, and in due course I was left with 16ac and 18d as my last pair. Did a Google check to make sure the unknown Montessori existed and had something to do with education, and was a bit dubious about loi Oyster but it seemed plausible, so I stopped the clock just north of 18mins. CoD to 5d, Mirror for its (un)polished surface… Invariant
  17. A rare DNF giving up on MONTESSORI after 22 minutes. I saw the anagram early enough, but knew it had to be some foreign name, and whilst I could have bunged in the remaining letters from the anagrist with a reasonable chance of getting them in the correct order, what was the point. I don’t think I have ever been aware of the person or their contribution to education. Otherwise, no complaints.
  19. A little surprised at the problem with Montessori. I thought they were all over the world – there are certainly plenty in the UK. I was rather unkindly thinking that one only thinks of him as an expert if you agree with the method but heh 🙂 Oyster on the other hand was anew one on me. Thanks setter and blogger!
  20. Very enjoyable puzzle from Hurley which we completed in 17 minutes. No real problems but we meandered rather than steamed through it.

    FOI: flop
    LOI: oyster
    COD: ice breaker

    Thanks to Jackkt for the blog.

  21. I found this quite straightforward although I still needed just under 20 minutes, held up by MORASS and OYSTER. I had heard of MONTESSORI but I, too, had to carefully check the clue to spell it correctly.
    COD goes to UNDERWRITE which made me smile.
    Thanks to Hurley and to Jackkt for the great blog.

  22. An enjoyable start to the week, finished in 15 mins. Thanks to Hurley for a fine crossword. I had no problems with MONTESSORI, even remembering how to spell it, or with OYSTER. Progress was steady rather than fast but with few major hold-ups. Thanks to jackkt for providing explanations to a couple I had biffed (BUS and AGREE).

    FOI – 9ac PROP
    LOI – 2dn LARGE
    COD – 10ac UNDERWRITE

  23. … and today was no exception as all done in 7 minutes, and all except 18D Oyster fully parsed too. My brother went to a Montessori school for a couple of years so 16D was one I did know – my parents took him out after 2 years as he seemed to have had a great time without actually learning very much! Maybe if they, and he, had stuck at it …

    A general thought: I wonder if the powers that be might consider dividing this website into sub-sections, one for each of the various types of puzzle. Not so much of an issue on weekdays, but on Saturday when I was trying to find Phil’s latest puzzle (another real gem incidentally), there were rather a lot of blogs to wade through before i found the Friday QC one with the required link. Just a thought.

    Many thanks to Jack for today’s blog.
    Cedric

    1. Main problem is having to squint at the 15×15 blog when looking for the QC blog. As I don’t want to peek at any answers on the rare days when I decide to attempt the Big One.
    2. Tip – just use the LJ search function and enter the crossword number. Hey Presto…!
      Barry.
  24. ….but scuppered by taking ages over the last three – Superhero, Morass and Starry (LOI).
    Ended up with a respectable 15 minutes but just couldn’t see Superhero for many minutes.
    Not heard of this meaning for Morass.
    Montessori no problem. Oyster meaning also new to me, but anagram meant that was all it could be…
    Wasn’t totally sure of Populist = Politician either!! Or reef as part of sail..so a learning experience too.

    Definitely a Monday feeling with a little sting for me.

    Ice-breaker COD

    Thanks all,
    John George

  25. Reminds me of Joyce’s gracehoper in Finnegans Wake. Not to be confused with an admiral USN who was a pioneering computer scientist. Answers on a postcard….
  26. Enjoyed the puzzle, but did not know Oyster. To clam up like an oyster is more for me of a person who doesn’t talk on a subject, ie being interviewed by the police, rather than being an “uncommunicative guy”.

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