Times Quick Cryptic No 1923 by Hurley

Author   TheRotterPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A nice concise crossword from Hurley, with plenty of good long answers (which I find help me when solving).  There are a couple of harder bits of parsing, but no obtuse GK.  I was somewhat surprised to see my full allowance of nearly 15 minutes had elapsed after I entered the LOI (17d).  2d had been FOI, my WOD goes to 16a.

Thanks to Hurley, please let me know how you got on.

Across

1  On return, deduces pounds must go inside, hidden (9)
SECLUDED – Reverse ‘deduces’ to give SECUDED, and insert L (pounds / Libra) to give SECLUDED.
5  Maybe criminal group fights here (4)
RING – Double definition.
8 Dog, company ultimately for soldier (5)
CORGI – CO (company) followed by {fo}R (ultimately) and GI (soldier).
9  Opportunist in part of church changing direction (7)
CHANCER – CHANCE{l} (part of church) with the final letter changed from L{eft} to R{ight} (changing direction) to give CHANCER.
11  At home, hence girl included in behest (11)
INHERITANCE – IN (at home) followed by HENCE (hence) with RITA (girl) inserted.
13  At start have every relevant enactment before you as a result (6)
HEREBY – Initial letters (at start) of H{ave} E{very} R{elevant} E{nactment} B{efore} Y{ou}.
14  Part of play I have shortened, being busy (6)
ACTIVE – ACT (part of play) and I’VE (I have – shortened).
16  Sparkle in castle lit for a change (11)
SCINTILLATE – Anagram (for a change) of [IN CASTLE LIT].
18  Delayed because of wet, we hear (7)
OVERDUE – OVER (because of) and DUE (sounds like (we hear) dew (wet)).
19  Cry about river squabble (5)
BRAWL – BAWL (cry) around R{iver}.  I initially wanted this to be BLURB, but couldn’t see how that equalled squabble.
20  Within planet, unearthly melody (4)
TUNE – Hidden ‘within’ {plane}T, UNE{arthly}.
21 Postpone sentence of agent brought to Rhode Island day before (8)
REPRIEVE – REP (agent) with RI (Rhode Island) and EVE (day before).

Down

1  Hit something inside your shoe? (4)
SOCK – Double definition.
2  Flier from prior age, nicer somehow (7,6)
CARRIER PIGEON – Anagram (somehow) of [PRIOR AGE, NICER].
3  French article, popular monk’s garment, editor finds lifeless (11)
UNINHABITED – UN (French article) plus IN (popular) HABIT (monk’s garment) and ED{itor}.
4  English name, actor, regularly referring to repeat performance (6)
ENCORE – E{nglish} N{ame} {a}C{t}O{r} (regularly) and RE (referring to), to give ENCORE.
6  Cross about North Carolina following rules?  That’s unthinking (13)
INCONSIDERATE – IRATE (cross) containing (about) NC (North Carolina) and ONSIDE (following rules).
7 Worker evoking Arden era to some extent (8)
GARDENER – Hidden in (to some extent) [evoking}G ARDEN ER{a}.
10  Been at march, lively?  Wait here perhaps (11)
ANTECHAMBER – Anagram (lively) of [BEEN AT MARCH].
12  Gradually stop using taphouse after review (5,3)
PHASE OUT – Anagram (after review) of [TAPHOUSE].
15  Claim everything, say, and concede in the end (6)
ALLEGE – ALL (everything) with EG (say) and {conced}E (in the end).
17  Delight of good sheltered place (4)
GLEE – G{ood} and LEE (sheltered place).

41 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1923 by Hurley”

  2. 11 minutes, so target missed again. My problem was having to revisit too many of the clues too many times before the answers came.
  3. CARRIER PIGEON took far too long but doing anagrams in my head still isn’t the easiest

    Laugh of the day came when I realised I’d invented an ANTICHAMBER. Whoops!

    More embarrassing was INHERITENCE. I shudder when I write it out like that.

    Thanks Rotter and Hurley

  4. Only four on the first pass of acrosses so feared the worst — I guessed INHERITANCE but couldn’t parse, it never occurred to me that ‘hence’ would be literal but I should have been alert to that after ‘deduces’ in SECLUDED. Most clues needed prising out so very pleased to finish all green in 12, only half the time it took to complete yesterday’s. Loved UNINHABITED, always enjoy following the instructions and seeing the answer reveal itself. LOI was REPRIEVE — I had to look it up post solve to persuade myself it meant ‘postpone’ rather than salvation. I’ve been thinking about last minutes reprieves wrong all these years.
  5. Just shy of 20 but couldn’t parse hence until I came here. COD overdue. Thanks as always.
  6. Back within target after a couple of tough days. My only real hold up was forgetting about the indefinite version of French article in 3d and then trying to think of a word beginning with LE or LA. Coming to my senses then allowed me to finish with the deceptively simple SECLUDED. Lots to enjoy but PHASE OUT was my favourite. Finished in 9.12
    Thanks to Rotter
  7. Had to wait for all the checkers before INCONSIDERATE went in. Otherwise a steady solve, working up rather than down the grid.
    Back in the saddle, after the HOOT/CROW parliamentary error yesterday.
    Thanks as always for the helpful blog. It all helps with my efforts on the 15×15. Improving slowly.
    BW
    Andrew
  8. FOI: 4d. ENCORE
    LOI: 10d. ANT(I)CHAMBER
    Time to Complete: 47 minutes (DNF)
    Clues Answered Correctly without aids: 20
    Clues Answered with Aids: 1
    Clues Unanswered: 0
    Wrong Answers: 1
    Total Correctly Answered (incl. aids): 21/22
    Aids Used: Chambers

    Slow to start but did enjoy, despite ending with a DNF due to a misspelling (ANTiCHAMBER). I also used an aid for BRAWL, which, if I had waited and answered ANTECHAMBER before it, I would have completed without the use of aids.

    Oh well, I am pleased with the result.

    1. When we were kids in Boston, our Pop wouldn’t let us use life-savers or arm-bands when learning to swim, at the local pool. We were slung in the deep-end; and we learned to swim a lot quicker than the kids who relied on aids. Just sayin’.
  9. I never felt stuck with this one, but it stretched me right up to my target with CORGI FOI and ANTECHAMBER LOI. UNINHABITED disabused me of my biffed SECRETED at 1a. 9:50. Thanks Hurley and Rotter.
  10. … with a lot of the long clues easier I found to guess than parse. All done in 12 minutes, but I thought it a slightly one-dimensional puzzle, with lots for those that like long clues and anagrams, but for me little to make one chuckle. This will be the cue for others to say they found it full of wit and sparkle, of course, and I may just be suffering in the heat, but that is how I found it this morning …

    Looking at the grid, is 22 clues in all (and the highest number across being number 21) the lowest that a QC grid can go?

    Many thanks to Rotter for the blog
    Cedric

  11. I thought this was a fairly gentle puzzle from Hurley, and it should really have been a comfortable sub-20, even allowing for a misplaced Nail at 1d, but trying to force the wrong sort of agent into 21ac was my undoing. 22mins is still my second quickest this heat affected week, so not too bad, but could have been better. CoD to 18ac, Overdue. Invariant
  12. A much better day. Guessed quite a few answers without really trying, like CHANCER, INHERITANCE.
    Liked ANTECHAMBER, PHASE OUT (failed to see anagram at first), BRAWL, UNINHABITED, OVERDUE.
    Would prefer not to write the word PIGEON as I am a GARDENER.
    Thanks vm, Rotter.
  13. Rotter. Just to let you know I deleted the comment you queried and it took your query too. These one-word things arrive as the result of some sort of bot activity. They are harmless but annoying so vinyl and I and a couple of others delete them. Sometimes they take the form of copying all or part of a previous contributor’s comment and reproducing it.

    Edited at 2021-07-22 09:31 am (UTC)

    1. I suspected that they were bots — but to what purpose? The only thing that I can think of is that they gain credibility by the number of posts they make which aren’t deleted or marked as spam, in order to do something more damaging or rewarding (for them) in the future. If this is the case, they should be deleted wherever possible.
      1. They’re clearly commercial things so maybe the idea is no more than to put a name and logo out there. When deleting them I ban them from the blog so they don’t come back, at least under the same guise.
  14. Slowish solve today, with LOI OVERDUE entered just after 20 mins. Nothing I can identify that caused me any particular difficulty but my brain working very turgidly this morning after a bit too much pimms last night.

    Thanks Rotter & Setter.

  15. A couple of very clever clues, CHANCER and SECLUDED (which was quite simple in the end but it took me ages to realise that I wasn’t looking for a synonym of “deduces”).

    FOI SOCK, LOI CORGI (I had that completely wrong, thought I was looking for a soldier), COD CHANCER, time 09:32 for 1.8K and a Solid Day.

    Many thanks Rotter and Hurley.

    Templar

  16. Disastrous DNF yesterday but finished in just over 20 today (amazing time for me!). Like others had to double check my spelling of INHERITANCE before submitting. Last two were CARRIER PIGEON and ANTECHAMBER. FOI CHANCER. I too like the word SCINTILLATE, and COD was OVERDUE, although I was trying to fit in something to do with ‘rain’ for a while… Thanks Rotter and Hurley.
  17. FOI SECLUDED and LOI OVERDUE in 9:44. I really need to start wearing my glasses when I’m doing the QC as once again I misread a clue. 19a Cry became City and I wondered whether the answer was BRATH.
  18. A slow start didn’t bode well but things got better. As Kevin says, as soon as the longer answers were in, biffing (and parsing, I should add) followed quickly but I was still over target. I liked INCONSIDERATE, UNINHABITED, BRAWL and OVERDUE. SECLUDED was clever — I could not see a future in ‘secuded’ at first (doh). Thanks to Hurley and Rotter. John M.

    Edited at 2021-07-22 11:15 am (UTC)

  19. Felt like this should have been quicker, but I can’t complain too much as it was not much over 20 minutes at 21:38. Not many immediate write-ins, but no real head-scratchers either. FOI was RING, LOI REPRIEVE, COD UNINHABITED. Thanks Hurley and Rotter.
  20. Bang on my average of 18 mins today. Quite a lot of lengthy answers, but all achievable through the wordplay I thought.

    Memories of the old Batman tv series came to mind with 1dn and those cartoon graphics that appeared during a fight. Sure there was a “sock” somewhere amongst the “kapows”.

    FOI — 1dn “Sock”
    LOI — 21ac “Reprieve”
    COD — 4dn “Encore” — nice surface

    Thanks as usual!

  21. An entertaining QC today which, with a steady solve, took us 9 minutes to complete. Lots of anagrams, which Mrs Peel particularly enjoys, and some very clearly signposted clues.

    FOI: SECLUDED
    LOI: REPRIEVE
    COD: OVERDUE

    Thanks Hurley and Rotter.

  22. A slowish 22 mins today. Took far to long to spot the hidden at 7dn and also to work out what was going on with 15dn. The mysterious “wavelength” so in evidence with me yesterday has completely disappeared!

    FOI – 13ac HEREBY
    LOI – 15dn ALLEGE
    COD – 18ac OVERDUE

    Thanks to Hurley and The Rotter

  23. ….but nicely put together by Hurley.

    FOI RING
    LOI INHERITANCE
    COD CHANCER
    TIME 4:18

  24. AT 1dn I had WELT which slowed me up a tad. Time 13:45mins

    FOI 20ac TUNE

    LOI 1dn SOCK!

    COD 16ac SCINTILLATE

    WOD 17dn GLEE – ‘glee clubs’ what were they all about? – I remember one up near Skegness – The Cleethorpes Glee Club dimisses us! Whatever!

  25. Her Majesty’s dog of choice – the Pembroke Corgwyn – tr. ‘dwarf-dog’. I note she likes Cargdigans too! CORGI my COD.
    An awful lot of anagrams today. Time 5:15mins
  26. But didn’t have time to post here.Crossword club tells me I did it in 7:20. I recall being held up by long anagrams. Should have just written them out.
  27. Slowed down sorting some of the long clues, loi 10d antichamber, but completed within our target of 30m.
  28. Thankyou, Hurley! I definitely needed a confidence boost after two 50+ minute toughies at the beginning of the week and yesterday’s marathon DNF. Today’s challenge seemed much more like a QC to me, and I crossed the line in 28 minutes. My records show that I break half an hour only about 3 times per month, so today is a good day.

    SECLUDED went straight in, and I had completed two-thirds of the puzzle after just 14 minutes. Although I slowed-up somewhat after that, I never hit the wall. My last four clues were INCONSIDERATE, REPRIEVE, RING (I had ‘gang’ for a while) and ALLEGE, which I fully parsed only after having put down my pencil.

    Once again, Mrs Random has too much on her ‘To Do’ list to take time out today, and we are off to a family wedding tomorrow, so we will catch up over the weekend.

    Many thanks (again) to Hurley, and to therotter.

    1. If you are going along quite quickly, don’t look at the clock until you have finished.
      1. I know I shouldn’t clockwatch, but I tend to glance at it when I’ve had a particularly good run of clues. Sub-consciously, I’m thinking “I can’t keep soving at this speed, surely”. You’re right though, as it sometimes breaks my concentration.
        1. It’s not so much concentration sapping, as the added pressure from thinking you might just be on for a PB. Absolutely fatal in my experience.
  29. 4:46 this morning. Another well pitched QC with nothing too controversial I would venture.
    As ever, unscrambling the long anagrams quickly was of great value.
    I noticed the “lovely Rita” appearing again as the unnamed girl in 11 ac “inheritance” – I think she popped up in a 15 x 15 the other day in a similar guise.
    COD 8ac “corgi”.
    Thanks to Rotter and Liz.
  30. Ed! Please leave ‘Madge’ out this – she prefers her ‘dorgis’ as I believe they are known – a dachshund/corgi cross! There is now an Italian greyhound/whippet cross known as a ‘whippig’ IKYN! Two new words for the English Setters!?Meldrew
  31. Was going to just give up without trying properly but then 2d FOI got me started. Completed in 32 minutes.

    Always struggled but saw Inheritance early but could not see why so left that for a while and Antechamber took an age to see — as did Inconsiderate….

    Somehow just not on the wavelength but a few pleasing PDMs with Sock and Secluded and Gardener so overall pretty good I suppose! And I stuck to it and the time just slipped away!

    Thanks all
    John George

  32. I rattled through this but was held up for ages on 6 down because I stupidly put gang instead of ring at 5 across. Also lost time trying to work out what a “hereby” was at 13 across as I was pronouncing it “Herrabee” as in Ferraby (the ‘Cruel Sea’ Sub-Lieutenant).
    A disappointing 42 mins.

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