Times Quick Cryptic 1960 by Hurley

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Solving time: 9 minutes. Only a couple of words here that aren’t perhaps in daily use so I hope, like me, you found this on the easy side.

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
6 Somewhat papal, a ceremonial building, impressive (6)
PALACE
Hidden in [somewhat] {pa}PAL A CE{remonial} building, impressive
7 Maintain agreement must have right to replace name (6)
ASSERT
ASSE{n}T (agreement) becomes ASSERT (maintain) when R (right) replaces N (name)
9 Only remaining    part of a shoemaker’s equipment (4)
LAST
Double definition. SOED:A shoemaker’s model of the foot, for shaping and repairing boots and shoes. From which we get ‘stick to one’s last’ i.e. refrain from meddling in matters one does not understand.
10 “The Saint” unexpectedly wavering (8)
HESITANT
Anagram [unexpectedly] of THE SAINT. My former neighbour back in the 1960’s!
11 Number of winding route in low-lying area (8)
FOURTEEN
Anagram [winding] of ROUTE contained by [in] FEN (low-lying area)
13 At the outset seemingly anxious for everyone to be secure (4)
SAFE
S{eemingly} A{nxious} F{or} E{veryone} [at the outset]
15 Most important part of US soldier’s time (4)
GIST
GI’S (US soldier’s), T (time)
16 Players on tour one left stranded? (8)
CASTAWAY
CAST AWAY (players on tour)
18 Declare arrival of girl — not much to follow (8)
ANNOUNCE
ANN (girl), OUNCE (not much). I’d have preferred a cat to follow.
20 Call   time in school (4)
TERM
Double definition
21 Move swiftly in profession (6)
CAREER
Double definition
22 Make mistake with task (6)
ERRAND
ERR (make mistake), AND (with)
Down
1 Pasta served up in Turin or a campsite? (8)
MACARONI
Hidden and reversed [served up in] {tur}IN OR A CAM{psite}
2 New rosette marks outstanding piece of skill (12)
MASTERSTROKE
Anagram [new] of ROSETTE MARKS
3 IT expert breaking the ice (6)
TECHIE
Anagram [breaking] THE ICE
4 Not quite finished bringing up fruit (6)
RAISIN
RAISIN{g} (bringing up) [not quite finished]
5 Country artist occupying home (4)
IRAN
RA (artist – Royal Academician) contained by [occupying] IN (home)
8 Weekend day — is overseeing workplace? OK (12)
SATISFACTORY
SAT (weekend day), IS, FACTORY (workplace). ‘Overseeing’ is a postional indicator that helps with the surface reading.
12 Retreat regularly visited for period (3)
ERA
{r}E{t}R{e}A{t) [regularly visited]
14 Outrageous tirade after standard’s shown (8)
FLAGRANT
FLAG (standard), RANT (tirade)
16 False report prison to be located over a road (6)
CANARD
CAN (prison), A, RD (road)
17 Quiet, slippery character pinching king’s money (6)
SHEKEL
SH (quiet), then EEL (slippery character) containing [pinching] K (king)
19 Northern listener close by (4)
NEAR
N (northern), EAR (listener)

58 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1960 by Hurley”

  1. 4:43 this morning which is just under target although I didn’t think it was particularly easy.
    LOI 2 d “masterstroke” where I had to write out the letters on paper before the answer finally jumped out at me.
    I wasn’t too sure of the spelling of 3 d “techie” but the wordplay left no doubt really.
    COD 17 d “shekel” where I had to review all the permutations of “p” and “sh” for “quiet” and “r” and “k” for “king”.
    Thanks as ever to jack for the blog and Hurley for a fair start to the week
  2. FOI LAST, ironically. Then swift progress before getting stuck on a few.
    I was another with Eton at first. Missed the hidden for the pasta and was trying to justify RIGATONI. Had CANTER as best guess for 21a and took ages to solve the MASTERSTROKE anagram, which was POI.
    LOI was the obvious CAREER-but I just didn’t think of it until the end.
    14:55 on the clock.
    A very good puzzle I thought.
    David
  3. Well I never thought I’d be in the illustrious company as aphis99 but I made the same mistake with the same reasoning! Not that my time would be within shouting distance of his 😅
    In general an ok day, apart from the fact that I got one wrong! There’s something about Hurley’s puzzles that don’t click with me (my problem, not his — I know lots of people thoroughly enjoy his puzzles) and I plodded through this in 12 minutes. Not a bad time for me but it didn’t capture my imagination. 3d made me smile though.

    FOI Palace
    LOI Term
    COD Techie
    Thanks Hurley and Jack

    Edited at 2021-09-13 04:08 pm (UTC)

  4. A DNF here as I was struggling with 17d, I knew eel should be in there somewhere but had to write the checkers out horizontally before I could see it. Then I came to the blog, forgetting that I hadn’t done 14d, so that would have been my LOI, if I’d got around to it. Canard came slowly and that gave me castaway which was the last one I did write in. I didn’t fall into any of the other traps mentioned and even, unusually for me, saw masterstroke very quickly, after writing out the anagrist (which I almost always have to do).
  5. I thought we might finish quite quickly today but we were held up by the last few clues and came in at 20 mins. We really enjoyed the puzzle — some very clever clues.

    FOI: PALACE
    LOI: ASSERT
    COD: ANNOUNCE

    Thanks Hurley and Jack.

  6. Joined others with trouble sorting out 4d and 7a. Started with assure, assume before finally getting assert. Otherwise seemed fairly straightforward, finished at about our target time.
  7. … but an awkward grid design and some tricky clues, IMO.

    PALACE came straight away, but I only managed to solve 6-7 clues on my first pass. However, bit-by-bit they succumbed until I was left with just four to get – CANARD, CAREER, CASTAWAY and SHEKEL. I parsed CANARD but entered it into the grid only faintly, as I DNK its definition. I then rubbed it out and only wrote it back in again once I had solved CAREER. CASTAWAY and (my LOI) SHEKEL followed.

    My favourite clue, which raised a smile for some reason, was RAISIN.

    Having caught up with her backlog of QCs over the weekend, Mrs Random finished today’s puzzle in 21 minutes. She queried FOURTEEN with me after she had finished (she didn’t spot the anagram of ‘route’), but was otherwise very confident of her answers. Barring the occasional disaster, Mrs R is routinely below 30 minutes these days, and quite often breaks out of the SCC. I still have a long way to go to catch her up.

    Many thanks to Hurley and jackkt.

  9. Found this really straightforward today. Very unusual for me…! LOI was MASTERSTROKE (helped by hubby when gave him definition and all the letters!) but otherwise no problems at all. Didn’t time myself but was probably around the 20 minute mark. I wonder whether the lack of time pressure helped? Happy with being in the SCC but all correct (with a little help). Many thanks for the blog and thanks of course to Hurley. Very enjoyable.
  10. Started well but ground to a halt in the bottom half, with career in particular taking far too long. Nearly 4 minutes outside target.
  11. Relatively straightforward today. Would never have come up with the word CANARD with the definition alone, although it has come up before I am sure, but the wordplay was kind. 16:32 for me. Thanks Hurley and Jack.
  12. Do any of you not find it unseemly to post your amazingly quick solving times?
    Big Dave’s Telegraph bloggers rate the difficulty but are modest enough to keep personal times to themselves.

    Richard

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