Times Quick Cryptic 940 by Hurley

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
It’s becoming dangerous to attribute levels of difficulty to Quick Cryptics so I shall limit myself to saying this one didn’t present me with any particular problems and I completed it within my 10-minute target, but only just. I don’t think any of the words or meanings are obscure.

As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]

Across
1 Island politician with easy win — trade union unprepared (9)
IMPROMPTU – I (island), MP (politician), ROMP (easy win), TU (trade union)
6 Girl quiet in the morning (3)
PAM – P (quiet), AM (in the morning)
8 Pro, qualified, bagging English penalty (7)
FORFEIT – FOR (pro), FIT (qualified) containing [bagging] E (English)
9 In from France given theatrical part, we hear, register for course (5)
ENROL – EN (in, from France), ROL sounds like [we hear] “role” (theatrical part)
10 Came, met group playing — this? (8,4)
COMPUTER GAME – Anagram [playing] of CAME MET GROUP. I’ve underlined ‘this’ as the definition although it refers back to the previous words in the clue.
12 Tubular vessel some have internally (4)
VEIN – Hidden [some] in {ha}VE IN{ternally}
13 Finally crash via fall of fifty per cent (4)
HALF – Last letters [finally] of {cras}H {vi}A {fal}L {o}F
17 Study period — irrelevant, you experienced at redbrick first of all (8,4)
ACADEMIC YEAR – ACADEMIC (irrelevant), Y{ou} E{xperienced} A{t} R{edbrick} [first of all]. I think ‘academic’ in this sense means ‘not of practical relevance’ and am not sure that’s entirely the same as ‘irrelevant’. Edit: please see first two comments below.
20 Unusual item copper linked with port in Brazil (5)
CURIO – CU (copper), RIO (port in Brazil)
21 Feeling Hamlet, say, gives radio exposure (7)
AIRPLAY – AIR (feeling), PLAY (Hamlet, say)
23 Private heading away from urban area (3)
OWN – {t}OWN (urban area) [heading away]
24 Manoeuvring seaward — to drink (4,5)
SODA WATER – Anagram [manoeuvring] of SEAWARD TO
Down
1 Data from virgin forest (4)
INFO – Hidden in [from] {virg}IN FO{rest}
2 Post Office in funds — that’s the intention (7)
PURPOSE – PO (Post Office) in PURSE (funds)
3 Mineral course oddly abandoned (3)
ORE – {c}O{u}R{s}E [oddly abandoned]
4 Vegetable, too apt, switched (6)
POTATO – Anagram [switched] of TOO APT
5 Eerie, lunar, they recollected (9)
UNEARTHLY – Anagram [recollected] of LUNAR THEY
6 Type of ham of standard expected by mother (5)
PARMA – PAR (standard expected), MA (mother)
7 Tool satisfied everyone inside (6)
MALLET – MET (satisfied) with ALL (everyone) inside it
11 Dull pool of water upset 3, American (9)
PONDEROUS – POND (pool of water), anagram [upset] of ORE (3dn), US (American)
14 This might advertise / small bit of greenery (7)
LEAFLET – Two meanings
15 Clumsy to get nothing for ultimately game S American cowboy (6)
GAUCHO – GAUCH{e} (clumsy) gets 0 (nothing) substituted for [ultimately] {gam}E
16 Group following religious instruction award (6)
RIBAND – RI (religious instruction), BAND (group)
18 Article lying flat, almost, in airport area (5)
APRON – A (article), PRON{e} (lying flat) [almost]
19 One changing colour extremely dirty I hesitate to say (4)
DYER – [extremely] D{irt}Y, ER (I hesitate to say)
22 Move in water / dispute (3)
ROW – Two meanings

18 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 940 by Hurley”

  1. This felt sluggish at the time, although in retrospect I didn’t see anything problematic. ACADEMIC seems fine (God knows I’ve felt irrelevant often enough); or maybe I’m missing the distinction Jack’s drawing. 8:43.
    1. A little more research suggests that my slight quibble was not valid. I note that Collins lists two separate meanings of ‘irrelevant’ i.e. a) not connected with a subject, and b) not important in a situation. I was thinking only of the first whereas ‘academic’ fits the second.
  2. About 25 mins and then totally stuck on 17a/15d intersection.

    Finally got academic and then remembered gaucho grill.

    COD 19d dyer.

  3. I found this a gentle offering from Hurley, completing it in 12 minutes. My biggest issue was trying to find a musical instrument in 10a. LOI 18d
  4. Nothing particularly obscure in this puzzle, but it took me 12:15 to complete, so either I’m in a less than fully alert state or it wasn’t as straightforward as it might seem. It didn’t help that for the second time in two days, my laptop stopped connecting to the internet following the latest forced Windows update. I had to resort to a system restore on Saturday, but managed to find a registry hack today, which allowed me to do a netsh int ip reset without getting an “access denied” message. I couldn’t decide whether to put PO at the front or the middle of 1d, so that held me up for a while. INFO was my FOI and GAUCHO my last. Thanks Hurley and Jack.
  5. Straightforward I thought. Perfectly happy with ACADEMIC. Been guilty of a few academic arguments myself.
    In fact not unknown on this blog!
    PlayUpPompey
  6. 14:15 today so my best time for well over a month. I think I was fortunate, though, to conjour up some of the answers out of nowhere whereas on other days I might have spend some time working them out from the wordplay,
  7. Well, it’s not what you know but what you don’t I suppose – I found this quite hard at 14 minutes – quite a lot of this taken, like Invariant, on 16 and 21 but my other hold up was 15dn.
  8. Going along quite well, but then got stuck with 16, 17 and 21 left. Needed a second sitting to get those last three – all obvious once completed. Invariant
  9. I thought this pretty straightforward and a nice start to the week. FOI 1a. LOI 10a (also looking for musical instrument until forced to read the clue correctly). COD 11d.
    1. It never occurred to me to look for a musical instrument, perhaps because with the checkers I had, GAME leapt out of the anagram fodder for the second word. So now you’ve got me wondering if there is a musical instrument(8,4). How about Cocktail Drum? Or Electric Viol? I hear my daughter upstairs playing her violin as I type.
      1. I saw Game straight away from the checkers – that got me looking for a sport, then an instrument. Then I went back and tried the clue again… Maybe we need Frank Muir to come back and give his whimsy for an instrument using rave or saxe…
  10. 14 minutes for me, with at least the last four four of them trying to conjure up the cowboy. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one outside a crossword, and even then not often. Sadly where Flashman has a Gaucho grill, Bristol’s only Argentine steak place is called Cau, otherwise I might’ve got there sooner…

    FOI 1d INFO, COD 5d for managing to separate “lunar” out of the anagram fodder for UNEARTHLY. Nice.

  12. I thought I was a bit sluggish taking 8:21, but it seems Hurley has given us a good tester for the first of the week. Like Matt, I particularly liked the unearthly moon-beings at 5d.

    Edited at 2017-10-16 07:09 pm (UTC)

  14. Had to dart around the grid to solve this but no major hold-ups en route.
    LOI was 4d because it was the clue I read last.
    10a and 17a took a bit of working out. About 15 minutes. David

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