Times Quick Cryptic 2090 by Hurley

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Solving time: 9 minutes. I found this mostly straightforward but one or two clues slowed my progress around the grid.

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 Entertainer, mature, one detained (7)
HOSTAGE
HOST (entertainer), AGE (mature)
5 Quickly   stuck (4)
FAST
Two meanings
7 One who’ll agree seeing desire to accommodate son, mother (3,3)
YES MAN
YEN (desire) containing [to accommodate] S (son) + MA (mother). I’d have expected a hyphen here and the usual sources other than Collins agree with me.
8 Protection, quiet, that is given to Lord briefly (6)
SHIELD
SH (quiet), IE (that is), LD (Lord briefly)
9 What might reveal sight, including tree, extremely typical (11)
STREETLIGHT
SIGHT containing [including] TREE + T{ypica}L [extremely]. I think the definition probably needs to include some or all of the rest of the clue, in which case we’re into semi&lit or &lit territory as there’d be overlap of definition and wordplay. Whatever the intention the definition seems unsatisfactory to me and the whole clue might have been worth reworking.
10 Period of year with time for good race (6)
SPRINT
SPRIN{g} (period of year] becomes SPRINT when T (time) is substituted for g (good)
12 Served in unit with foolish person (6)
NITWIT
Hidden [served] in {u}NIT WIT{h}
14 New dawn since arenas rebuilt (11)
RENAISSANCE
Anagram [rebuilt] of SINCE ARENAS
17 Practical party, skilled (6)
DOABLE
DO (party), ABLE (skilled). Another word where I’d use a hyphen but only Collins offers it as an alternative.
18 Quite   attractive (6)
PRETTY
Two meanings
20 Clothing boast rebuffed (4)
GARB
BRAG (boast) reversed [rebuffed]
21 Section in old hospital with no luxuries (7)
SPARTAN
PART (section) contained by [in] SAN (old hospital – sanatorium)
Down
1 Reportedly, man’s in the shade (3)
HUE
HUE sounds like [reportedly] “Hugh” [man]
2 Fighter‘s aura is stirring, gripping male (7)
SAMURAI
Anagram [stirring] of AURA IS containing [gripping] M (male)
3 Girl‘s pannier missing outside (5)
ANNIE
{p}ANNIE{r} [missing outside]
4 No spiel, surprisingly, in letter from Greece (7)
EPSILON
Anagram [surprisingly] of NO SPIEL
5 Love affair makes Scottish reel (5)
FLING
Two meanings
6 Game from oil era, it’s newly ordered (9)
SOLITAIRE
Anagram [newly ordered] of OIL ERA IT’S
9 Exploding star — a sun? Prove that’s wrong (9)
SUPERNOVA
Anagram [wrong] of A SUN PROVE
11 Muscle comes in instant, leading to postscript (7)
TRICEPS
TRICE (instant), PS (postscript)
13 Sun’s effect on fellow, touching (7)
TANGENT
TAN (sun’s effect), GENT (fellow)
15 Initially not appreciating Robert, powerful guy (5)
NABOB
N{ot} + A{ppreciating} [initially], BOB (Robert)
16 Brown, private investigator, seen in water (5)
SEPIA
PI (private investigator) contained by [seen in] SEA (water)
19 Weight not brought up (3)
TON
NOT reversed [brought up]

28 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 2090 by Hurley”

  1. I didn’t notice anything at the time, but STREETLIGHT does need a better definition. Biffed SPARTAN. 4:07.
  2. I’ve been enjoying a good run of accurate typing but that came to a halt today with ‘srpint’ giving me two pink squares and mucking up SUPERNOVA too. I had been quite pleased with my 10m solve until then with both the 1s holding out to the end. Only five on the first pass of acrosses but then lots and lots of downs to help me on my way. Good one.

    Edited at 2022-03-14 06:20 am (UTC)

  3. 19 minutes.
    FOI: HUE
    LOI: TRICEPS
    Lots of candidates for COD: SPRINT, SPARTAN but my favourite TANGENT.
    10ac SPRINT is the type of clue I would have struggled with once but now see quickly.
  5. 16:32 including time out to make a coffee, so this has to be as QC as can be. Very generous cluing with several answers popping out of the grid. A confident start to the week. Thanks Hurley and Jack.
  6. A gentle start to the week, with just STREETLIGHT and LOI NITWIT causing a brief pause at the end. Finished in 6.31.
    Thanks to Jack
  7. YES MAN was my FOI and I made steady progress, although STREETLIGHT resisted until the end. 6:19. Thanks Hurley and Jack.
  8. Probably took longer than it should. For some unknown reason, I got it into my head that “Lea” was “Shade” — causing problems in the NW corner for a while. DNK 15dn “Nabob”, but the clueing was straightforward.

    After that, main hold up was 21ac “Spartan” and 13dn “Tangent”.

    FOI — 4dn “Epsilon”
    LOI — 13dn “Tangent”
    COD — 21ac “Spartan”

    Thanks as usual!

  9. Enjoyed this thanks setter and blogger. No problem with streetlight personally. One minor gripe I’m married to an Annie and she certainly isn’t a girl any more!
  10. Seven minutes. FOI fast, LOI hostage, eighteen on first pass. As Vinyl said, didn’t need to parse them all to finish the puzzle. I prefer a bit more of a challenge, a bit more of a need to ruminate than offered here, but maybe I was just on the wavelength today. Thanks, Jack – I enjoyed the parsings I hadn’t completed – e.g. didn’t see the san in spartan. Wasn’t sufficiently analytical to see a problem with streetlight – it fit the clue and the grid. Some nice words in the grid, all generously clued. Thanks, Hurley.
  11. LEE at 1 down, which slowed up 1 across substantially. Not as slow as STREETLIGHT, which was LOI by an appreciable margin. NITWIT was biffed to my shame…

    6:40.

    1. I think LEE for shade (LEA less so James) is acceptable, and without the first crosser is excusable. The clue is at least ambiguous when seen stand-alone.

      Edited at 2022-03-14 10:32 am (UTC)

      1. Hm, I’m not at all sure about ‘lee/shade’ as to my mind (and according to the dictionaries I’ve looked at) it’s shelter from wind and rain, storm and tempest etc – unpleasant stuff – rather than refuge from the heat of the sun. I also associate it with the sea and I know you are an ex-naval man so I hesitate to say any of this!
        1. I kind of agree that LEE is for the wind as SHADE is for the sun, but the effect is very similar – one is protected from the elements in either a LEE or a SHADE, hence my contention that this is a reasonable mis-parsing, but I won’t ‘die in a ditch’ over it. The correct answer is obviously HUE, but without the first letter, LEE makes an acceptable alternative.
  12. Just inside target at a few seconds short of 15 minutes, slowed down by sticking in G instead of T in 10a. This made TRICEPS LOI after sorting my error. Otherwise, no real problems except for seeing a hidden where it didn’t exist at 1d (I bunged in HES instead of HUE initially), which helped with HOSTAGE despite being wrong. I obviously haven’t yet got my head back together after a week in Scotland. Thanks Jackkt and Hurley.
  13. Another one who’s put LEE in for shade, thinking perhaps the homophone could be LEIGH, though really they’re just the same name spelled differently. Made 1a impossible, so an unfortunate DNF…
  14. Very slow to get started but quite quick once I got going. A touch of Monday morning brain fade I think. 17 minutes with everything parsed.

    FOI – 17ac DOABLE
    LOI – 9ac STREETLIGHT
    COD – 21ac SPARTAN

    Thanks to Hurley and Jackkt

  15. DYE (Dai) for 1d anyone? That and 1ac were my last two in. Even with H_E I needed a second or two for the penny to drop. LEE was a good alternative too

    No complaints as I was a bit sluggish anyway

    Thanks Jackkt and Hurley

  16. A bit slow getting started but then I raced through this with LOI SUPERNOVA after 7:01.
    Nothing too difficult or obscure I felt. A good QC.
    David
  17. Nice start to the week — safely out of the SCC today. NABOB was new to me, biffed SPARTAN, almost put Huw instead of HUE, and STREETLIGHT was LOI by quite a few minutes. COD SEPIA. Many thanks to Hurley and Jack.
  18. … another 42 minutes for the last five. Infuriating!

    My troubles were exacerbated by a few errors:
    – Biffing SPRING instead of SPRINT
    – Putting RENNAISANCE instead of RENAISSANCE
    – Putting LEE instead of HUE

    My last five in were DOABLE, SPRINT, TRICEPS (impossible with the two errors above), HUE and HOSTAGE (impossible with the third error above). 52 minutes in total.

    Mrs Random couldn’t quite believe why I was finding it so difficult, as she finished in just 12 minutes today. Just one minute outside her PB. We are now heading out to buy some seeds and lunch at the local garden centre.

    Many thanks to Hurley and jackkt.

  19. 22min20 … about same time as back on Feb 25th … which is as FAST as it’s got.

    Was lovely to never get stuck for more than a couple of mins. Of course with a few clues left, begin to get that fear that one clue will remain unanswerable. But no.

    Like others STREETLIGHT was a strange one but when the G of FLING completed the checkers, I realised it really was some kind of light.

    NABOB slowed me as NHO and wasn’t sure it sounded like a real word. But I tentatively tried the final B and that gave me GARB, and then other middle B gave me DOABLE so went with it.

    LOI SPARTAN. Funny how I was only reading last week about Percy Cerutty’s stotan regime which combined stoicism with spartan; yet struggled on the clue for a minute or so.

    FOI FAST
    COD PRETTY

    Thanks to Jackkt for extensive explanations and to Hurley for letting me back under the hour for first time in March.

  21. ….but it shouldn’t have taken me over my limit.

    FOI FAST
    LOI STREETLIGHT
    COD SPARTAN
    TIME 3:48 excluding my LOI
    TIME for LOI 1:17 = total 5:05

  22. A stroll through once started.
    No problems with hue but can see why it upset some people.
    Thanks to setter and blogger
  23. Started with LEE for a man in the shade but quickly realised that wouldn’t need the reportedly. No other real holdups. A gentle start to the week.
  24. This felt like slow going for the acrosses, and I only got FAST, YESMAN, SPRINT and PRETTY first time round, but after failing to get HUE, the rest of the downs went in in what must have been record time. With the checkers in place, I was able to get everything I missed, but I was still surprised to stop my watch on 12:46 as I thought I had wasted more time earlier on. That squeaks into my all time list at number 10, which partially makes up for missing Trelawney’s and Mara’s offerings last week. I did them with my girlfriend who I am trying to teach the dark art of cruciverbalism to, and I couldn’t help thinking I’d have flown through them. Anyway, COD to SPARTAN. Thanks Hurley and Jack.

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