Times Quick Cryptic No 1722 by Hurley

50 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1722 by Hurley”

1. …was pretty good – quite an easy puzzle of course. I see Verlaine has gotten under 2 minutes again; that guy is really something.

   The clues are all pretty basic, and even if your knowledge is limited to a one-page glossary you should be able to finish quite easily.

   1. Under 2 minutes again, and faster by 7 seconds than a veteran neutrino.
2. I was going great guns, but for some reason RACKET & COURAGE just weren’t forthcoming. Never noticed the pangram, of course. Nice time, Jeremy! 5:45.
   1. Kevin! How could you not notice the pangram when the very first answer is PANGRAM?!
      1. Well, it would be just like a crossword setter to have the first answer be pangram, and then have an ambiguous clue where a word with the missing letter almost fits!
      2. It’s a gift.
3. 8 minutes with a slight delay at 23ac where my first thought had been ‘duty’ and I spent a while trying to justify it before moving on to return when both checkers were in place.
4. A very rare under 9 for me, could have been even better had I not stalled at both SPEAR and COURAGE – had to resort to alphabet trawls and then a pause with COURAGE to parse. Eight on the first pass of acrosses and then the downs kept on coming. Didn’t know what was going on with ‘cinque port’ for SANDWICH, so thanks to Jeremy for confirming the double definition, I have now visited Wikipedia. I also now know Sandwich used to be coastal, my only previous association was pharma. Now reading about the Wantsum Channel, who knows where that will lead.

   Edited at 2020-10-14 06:13 am (UTC)

5. Another accessible QC. Is this a new policy? My solve seemed a lot quicker than it actually was but I was within target under 12 mins. Like Kevin, I was held up by RACKET and COURAGE. EMBARGO took a while, too – for some reason I couldn’t get argonaut out of my head. Ah, well. Some nice clues and some gifts for the newer solvers who were unhappy last week. Thanks to Hurley and to Jeremy for the blog and also the glossary which includes one or two that I persistently miss/forget. John M.
   And I, too, missed the pangram despite being told to look by the setter in the very first answer……..

   Edited at 2020-10-14 06:33 am (UTC)

6. 7 mins, duty at first like Jack.
   LOI Racket.
   COD courage.

   Edited at 2020-10-14 07:44 am (UTC)

7. Thanks for the additional section on the blog, Jeremy. Super helpful for those coming up to speed with the arcana.

   I also found the acrosses dropping in quickly, leading to a very rapid top half. LOI MANNER took some time as I was stuck on MANSE/MANSION for big house.

   12d, anagram of ‘bless male’ took some time as with those letters it felt like it HAD to end in =EMBLE or -ABLE

   COD ROUNDABOUT

   1. Me too, I settled for manses, parsing it as “man says” homophone, simply because I was racing through the rest so quickly.
8. Bang on 8 minutes. Thought I could be heading for a PB but COURAGE and RACKET took much too long. Enjoyed the pangram indicated in the clues.
9. … with a 4.35 finish on this very generous puzzle from Hurley. Including a huge signpost in 1A for what to look out for in the rest of the puzzle!

   Less unusually (though not something that happens every day by any means), all 26 letters are present in the clues as well.

   Thank you to Jeremy for the blog
   Cedric

   1. That’s interesting Cedric. In all my years of solving and blogging here I have never thought to check!
   2. Cracking time Cedric, well done! I’ve had a few sub-Ks but only once ever a sub-5.
   3. all 26 present in just the across clues too
      the downs are short of z and q though

      apologies to therotter, below, who noticed this several months before I did

      Edited at 2021-01-28 02:00 pm (UTC)

10. Must be getting of for a PB – one of the rare occasions where I have a time as I did it on my phone over breakfast (the paper not having arrived yet). The time was 15:45 but that might have included rinsing the cereal bowl and walking upstairs – I’m not sure if the timer paused or not as I didn’t check. Normaly, I’m well over 30 mins, assuming I can even finish without resorting to aids.

    Nothing caused any real issues, some had to wait for checkers (eg the Cinque Port and the anagram at 12d – not doing it on paper meant I couldn’t write down the anagrist, as I normally do). Also the weapon didn’t come for a while.

    I, too, wondered about duty for 23a and was looking for synonyms of ‘fan’ at 15a, but it was easier than that.

    Definitely a nice approachable QC. Thanks to Hurley and Jeremy

    Edited at 2020-10-14 07:55 am (UTC)

11. No hesitation really. Knew the Cinque Ports, more or less, so all went straight in.
    FOsI Pangram and Pedestrian.
    LOI Roundabout

    Thanks for the encouraging crossword, and glossary.

12. Another puzzle at the easier end of the spectrum, although it felt that I needed to engage the brain cell a little more today than yesterday. I think the only way that I will ever spot a pangram is if the setter is kind enough to point me in the right direction as Hurley did today. Finished in 5.48 with LOI ROUNDABOUT with WOD going to JAMBOREE.
    Thanks to Jeremy
13. Yep, PB for me too at 4.38. Think it’s my first sub-5.

    Think the combination of straight-forward clueing (I don’t think the Suez clue could be any more signposted!) and no long anagrams to unpick makes this easier.

    Great idea adding that glossary. I’ve been trying to build my own version up as a way of trying to get them to stick!

14. Nicely straightforward and fun with everything done and dusted in 14 minutes which is the fastest I can ever manage if I parse as I go along. I initially wobbled with mansion / mention, trying to decide if there was any way that they could be homophones, until I took the time to count the letters… I missed the pangram, my FOI, even though there it was, telling us what was to follow. And thanks, too, to the blogger who pointed out that the clues are a pangram as well! Amazing. Lots to like here but my CODs are PEDESTRIAN, ROUNDABOUT and LEVY.
    Thanks, Jeremy, for the hugely useful glossary. That’s so kind of you.
    And thanks to Hurley for providing a smooth beginning to the day.
15. A very good time from Jeremy , our blogger, and others seem to have raced through this friendly puzzle.
    I took 7:22 with LOI DUE which I had forgotten about as I raced round the grid. FOI SUEZ.RACKET would have been LOI and I’ll make that COD.
    David
16. Quickly through the grid in 1K with only racket and courage to go – ended up at 7:23 so still a very happy time. Well done Hurley for producing easy clues whilst constructing something more complex i.e. the pangram in grid and clues.

    Edited at 2020-10-14 09:35 am (UTC)

17. 8 minutes and close to a PB I think (I cant actually remember my quickest ever time, but 8 mins must be close). Saw / expected the pangram in the grid after FOI, but didn’t notice it in the clues as well – cleverly spotted Cedric. Unless I am mistaken, the across clues themselves are a pangram, as is this comment. Very nice, easy puzzle from Hurley. My only slight delays were SPEAR, RACKET and LOI COURAGE. Thanks J.

    Edited at 2020-10-14 09:02 am (UTC)

18. Completed in 23 mins, but would have been quicker if I hadn’t put in “Rouses” for 13ac which made 14dn initially unsolvable. For some inexplicable reason I also thought 1ac “Pangram” had an additional “a” after the “n”.

    Good puzzle though, and enjoyed 1dn “Pedestrian”, 9dn “Roundabout” and 11ac “Embargo”. Had to look up “cinque port” afterwards – vaguely recall this from somewhere, but as I’m from the North I’ll use that as an excuse for not really knowing.

    FOI – 1ac “Pangram”
    LOI – 14dn “Courage”
    COD – 14dn “Courage”

    Thanks as usual.

19. Early morning success for me – nice puzzle where my last two were 13a 14d where I didn’t see Courage quickly and started to worry.
    LOI Racket
    COD Courage
    Thanks all
    John George
20. At 14mins this definitely counts as a sprint, even with a pause half way down the track to consider how ‘scheme’ could be rearranged to make a word meaning dishonest or uproar. That’s what happens when every other clue seems to be an anagram – you invent extra ones as well. CoD to 14d, Courage, which thankfully went in without delay. Invariant
21. Like Kevin, I stalled at RACKET and COURAGE(LOI) and like Jack I wasted time trying to justify DUTY. Otherwise it was a romp through and I submitted at 7:38. Thanks Hurley and Jeremy.
22. Like a lot of people my only delays were the 13ac/14dn crosser. Everything else went in very smoothly for a time of 11 mins – exactly as yesterday. Spotted the pangram but then it was well signposted – probably the only way I ever will!

    FOI – 1ac PANGRAM
    LOI – 14dn COURAGE
    COD – 1dn PEDESTRIAN

23. I’m another one with 8 m on the dot! 1a definitely helped point me in the right direction today (I don’t often see pangrams and as for ninas, well … ) I whizzed through my first 10 clues (1a, 1d, 2d etc) and hoped I might be going for a clear run, but SPEAR put paid to that. Like others, RACKET held me up, but otherwise I did think this was pretty user-friendly. Hard to find a COD today, as none of the clues really stood out for me, but I did think it was good fun. It was a very cleverly constructed crossword, and well spotted, Cedric, for your pangram-clue discovery!

    For those of you who may be interested: SANDWICH has an important link to American history – Thomas Paine, who wrote The Rights of Man and who was the first to coin the phrase The United States of America, lived in the town and there is a blue plaque on his house. Funnily enough, as mendesest mentioned, the Americans in the form of Pfizer arrived there back in the mid-1950s! Not forgetting, of course, that it is very humorous if you’re Mr B, to have your photo taken eating a sandwich in front of the town sign!

    FOI Panagram
    LOI Racket
    COD Racket (because it caused me most trouble)
    Time 8:00

    Many thanks Hurley for the fun, and Jeremy for the blog

24. Great fun and how generous to have the Pangram signposted like that.

    FOI PANGRAM, LOI RACKET, COD EMBARGO, time K+6 seconds for an Excellent Day, nothing to add to what everyone has already said.

    Many thanks Hurley and Jeremy.

    Templar

    Edited at 2020-10-14 11:24 am (UTC)

25. A really enjoyable puzzle today.
    Like some others, I stupidly missed the pangram , but it was nearly a pb and very satisfying.

    Thank you Hurley!

    Diana

26. …but 4 seconds under 9 minutes!
    I really enjoyed racing through this one so thanks to Hurley for enabling a PB.
    Thanks also to Jeremy for the blog and glossary. I certainly didn’t know ‘run’ for EXTRA and that was my only biff.
    The pangram in clues and answers was very clever and my COD goes to COURAGE which was the only tricky one for me today.

    1. Congratulations on the PB
       1. Thanks very much and also to you for the bronze!
27. A quick look back says MANNER was LOI after SANDWICH.

    Time of 4:17 says it was easy. Next week I might do what (I think), Phil does, and do the puzzle on paper, then replicate the time on the computer. I spend a bit of time correcting fat fingered typing.

    1. You’re right – that’s exactly what I do. DO NOT be tempted to join the Neutrino Club though !
       1. Never seen the attraction of being a neutrino!

          Just put today’s in the crossword club and managed to lose myself 3 seconds! Didn’t realise I had to press submit twice I think…

          I would have been in 53rd place with 836 points (whatever that means). Now to do the same exercise with the 15×15.

28. When I first started I could spend a whole day picking up and putting down the QC and still not finish. Today was a bronze medal solve in 5:54. I have once managed a sub 5 minutes solve but that required no passes on first reading of the clues. Minor holdups today were with SPEAR, RACKET and COURAGE. Thanks Hurley for the PANGRAM and superfast Jeremy for the blog.

    Edited at 2020-10-14 12:29 pm (UTC)

29. ….to immediately flag up the PANGRAM (I took it as read when AQUATIC and SUEZ went in early !), but especially clever to make the clues a pangram into the bargain (which I didn’t spot – of course).

    MER at 15A with “fan” appearing in both clue and answer, but that’s not a major criticism (I’ve only just realised, courtesy of Templar, that I used the same anagram indicator twice in the latest Weekend Special, so let he who is without guilt etc.).

    FOI PANGRAM
    LOI RACKET
    COD ROUNDABOUT
    TIME 2:45

30. Just noticed that Hurley has described this QC in both the NW and SE corners. How clever. Would have been a PB were I not also eating a Thai meal at my local. Johnny
31. First time under 10m so a pb. Thanks to Hurley and for the interesting glossary and blog.
    1. Great feeling, isn’t it?
32. 9 minutes, a PB by a long way I think. I wrote every answer in on my ipad with very little thinking time, so am astounded by the much shorter times that our regular contributors get! I’m sure that even with a list of the answers I couldn’t begin to approach these times! Anyway, either I have improved dramatically or it was a very easy puzzle. Either way, thank-you Hurley.
33. 4:54, and I got stuck for a while on RACKET. Heaven knows why, but I see that other people did as well so the setter managed to mislead more than one. Pangram obvious after the first answer (though I didn’t spot the pangrammatic cluing) and it allowed me to work out some of the answers before I’d even read the clues!

    The fact that this was easy and that I still didn’t beat four minutes shows just how many things have to be right to get a quick time. Can’t even blame my (normally lousy) typing as I only fat-fingered one answer.

    FOI PANGRAM
    LOI RACKET
    COD MANNER

    H

34. You wait for ages for an easy one, and then 3 come along together… Hopefully the trend will end soon as I enjoy the longer teasing puzzles just as much. I had to split this over 3 snatched sittings so no proper idea of a time but it would have been another fast solve (well that’s relative to my usual dawdle of course). After the hint of a pangram in 1a and then a Z in 5a it was pretty obvious what might be coming. About 35% of the way in I took a bit of time out to check the missing letters – so that would have added a smidgen to my time – but even at that point there were only 9 to go. I’m estimating sub-30 mins anyway. No real issues anywhere and with an L and V still to go 23a was a gift – even if the L turned up shortly after in 12d. FOI 1a Pangram; LOI 19d Title; COD 11a Embargo as it was probably the most complicated of an easy set. Clever of Hurley to construct this, and thx to Jeremy for the blog.
35. 15 mins
    COD Manner

36. 1A was FOI so was immediately on the look out for X,Y, Z and J so one the pangram was there for the taking.
    Rattled through the top half in 5 minutes or so, then fell asleep! Finished the bottom half without much trouble after some pondering on COURAGE. I think this was my PB and a pangram to boot. Decided it must have been set at beginner’s level, but happy that it made a hat trick of finishes this week. Roll on Thursday/Friday.
    Thanks Jeremy and Hurley.
37. Although it was fairly straightforward we enjoyed this puzzle – solving it in 8:53. Thanks Hurley.

    FOI: pangram
    LOI: except
    COD: courage

    Thanks to Jeremy for the blog and glossary.

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