Times Quick Cryptic 1900 by Hurley

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Solving time: 9 minutes. A pleasant puzzle by Hurley with no great surprises. I wondered if there might be something to celebrate the 1900 milestone but I haven’t been able to find anything.

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 Rating tennis badly and unwilling to compromise (12)
INTRANSIGENT
Anagram [badly] of RATING TENNIS
8 Drink boost (5)
TONIC
Two meanings
9 Not taking sides as late run organized (7)
NEUTRAL
Anagram [organized] of LATE RUN
10 Delay referring to grudge (7)
RESPITE
RE (referring), SPITE (grudge). I wasn’t sure about the second bit of wordplay, but Collins has it.
11 Raise glasses to   Brown? (5)
TOAST
Two meanings
12 Oscar, member of Upper House, welcomes new cricketer (6)
OPENER
O (Oscar – NATO alphabet), then PEER (member of Upper House of Lords) containing N (new). An ‘opener’ in cricket is either of the first two batsmen to open an innings.
14 Looking red as a fine meal ruined (6)
AFLAME
A, F (fine), anagram [ruined] of  MEAL
17 So long in Madrid? (5)
ADIOS
ADIOS (so long – cheerio – in Madrid). Barely cryptic.
19 Invading wasp in a chap’s vegetable (7)
SPINACH
Hidden in [invading]  {wa}SP IN A CH{ap}
21 Close to nadir in power cut, there’s indignation (7)
OUTRAGE
{nadi}R [close to…], contained by [in] OUTAGE (power cut)
22 West Pier’s new cleaner (5)
WIPER
Anagram [new] of W (west) PIER. The most famous West Pier in the UK, in Brighton, is alas no more.
23 On return lived month with vehicle, English, not worrying at all? (5-3-4)
DEVIL-MAY-CARE
LIVED (reversed) [on return], MAY (month), CAR (vehicle), E (English)
Down
1 One asking questions in Bury, right old reptile! (12)
INTERROGATOR
INTER (bury), R (right), O (old), GATOR (reptile – alligator)
2 Container is in African port (5)
TUNIS
TUN (container – barrel), IS
3 A Catholic area of much activity where records are kept (7)
ARCHIVE
A, RC (Catholic), HIVE (area of much activity – bees)
4 Love names included in prescribed poem (6)
SONNET
O (love)  + NN (names) contained by [included in] SET (prescribed e.g. set works)
5 Sound unhappy with good cricket score, ton? (5)
GRUNT
G (good), RUN (cricket score), T (ton)
6 Bliss of Northern Ireland artist securing leading position (7)
NIRVANA
NI (Northern Ireland), then RA (artist – Royal Academician) containing [securing] VAN (leading position)
7 Hostel chores involved producing frame for drying (7,5)
CLOTHES HORSE
Anagram [involved] of HOSTEL CHORES
13 Saint entering Eastern building finding something he wrote? (7)
EPISTLE
ST (saint) contained by [entering] E (Eastern) + PILE (building). E.g. Saint Paul the Apostle wrote a number of epistles.
15 Market style that’s seen at Troon? (7)
FAIRWAY
FAIR (market), WAY (style). ‘Troon’ being a world-famous golf course in Scotland.
16 Have much respect for European power, we hear (6)
ESTEEM
E (European), then STEEM sounds like [we hear] “steam” (power)
18 In East, a significant police force once (5)
STASI
Hidden [in] {Ea}ST A SI{gnificant}. The former East German security force, abolished in 1989.
20 At outset ambitious learner perhaps has aim to get top mark (5)
ALPHA
A{mbitious} L{earner} P{erhaps} H{as} A{im} [at ouset]

51 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1900 by Hurley”

  1. ‘Unhappy’ seemed a bit off for GRUNT. Biffed EPISTLE. I’d forgotten that Troon was a golf course. 5:32.
    1. Collins mentions ‘annoyance’, and Chambers has ‘disgust’, both with reference to human emotions rather than animals e.g. pigs
      1. I’d checked Collins before posting, and have no problem with either; I still find ‘unhappy’ as, as I said, a bit off.
        1. Surely ‘sound unhappy’ leads nicely to ‘grunt’? If somebody grunts at me, I am quite likely to think they sound unhappy…
  2. Likely a personal best for me. Spoiled by a silly typo on the main puzzle. Didn’t know OPENER or the HORSE part of CLOTHES HORSE. Also didn’t parse DEVIL-MAY-CARE… I just put it in there in a DEVIL-MAY-CARE fashion and I happened to get lucky.
  3. An astonishing personal best for typos where CLOTHES HPORS managed to wreck WIPER and DEVIL too to give me three errors before stazi not STASI gave me a fourth. Oops. As I submitted I thought delaying myself with ‘adieu’ in place of ADIOS for a while was going to have been my biggest hold up on the way to a 12m solve. Loved the hidden SPINACH.

    EDIT: worse than I thought now I’ve read Templar’s comment and Jack’s hints to see STASI was a hidden and not a strangely worded cryptic definition, so poor GK and not parsing combined — that pink square was most certainly deserved but I’m still letting me off the four for the wonky horse. Good fun!

    Edited at 2021-06-21 08:45 am (UTC)

  4. With both 1s going straight in I had a lot of very useful starting letters which got me off to a flyer. Steady going from there on with a complete brain freeze over what went before HORSE – even though it’s my preferred method of drying CLOTHES – doh!. The only other minor hold up was with LOI RESPITE. Finished in 8.24.
    Thanks to Jack

    Edited at 2021-06-21 07:44 am (UTC)

  5. Quite tough in places. I managed to answer all the clues, but did have two wrong answers.
  6. The four long ones went in without much trouble but I wasn’t so quick with filling the centre, reading the news at the same time, and a typo in 1D left me with A*e*e* for what would become OPENER. Should have realised much sooner given the Oscar element of the clue! Liked SPINACH and EPISTLE, didn’t like GRUNT. A mildly distracted 35 mins to complete.
    1. Similar experience with the edges falling and then trying to fill in the middle. I thought ‘sound unhappy’ to be fair enough for grunt – if a reply to a question takes the form of a grunt then the responder isn’t too happy. Went just over 10 minutes as I couldn’t see RESPITE.
  7. We got the 4 long clues without any trouble and seemed to be completing the grid at a reasonable pace. However, we ended up taking 14 minutes with OPENER, for instance, taking much longer than it should have to solve. Nice puzzle though – we enjoyed it.

    FOI: INTRANSIGENT
    LOI: OPENER
    COD: RESPITE

    Thanks Hurley and Jackkt.

  8. A gentle Monday offering to ease us into the week, I thought, aided by all the long clues popping into my head straight away. Shame there was no turn of the century theme.

    FOI INTRANSIGENT, LOI OUTRAGE, COD STASI (“only” a hidden, but what a lovely surface), time 06:56 for 1.1K and an Excellent Day.

    Many thanks Hurley and Jack.

    Templar

  9. I enjoyed this but it took me 3 mins over target. I got 3 of the long clues fairly quickly but, having entered NIRVANA, I jumped to the conclusion that 1a ended in ING and it was only when I convinced myself that GRUNT must be correct (and that the anagrist had only one G) that I removed the I & G and immediately saw INTRANSIGENT. A penultimate N so often means a word ends in ‘ing’ but it cost me quite some time on this occasion.
    I liked ARCHIVE, NIRVANA, EPISTLE, and some neat anagrams. Thanks to Hurley and jackkt. John M.
  10. 12:40. Back in the Land of Good Times, with this straightforward puzzle today. Would have broken ten minutes apart from the STASI ADIOS cross. I noticed we hadn’t had a “hidden” yet today, and the QC usually has one, and that unblocked it. 17a ADIOS was not a cryptic clue, and that made it the hardest!

    COD CLOTHES HORSE, pleasing word, nice surface.

    Edited at 2021-06-21 08:54 am (UTC)

  11. FTF — failed to finish! A careless ADIEU combined with a spelling error in INTERROGATeR made OUTRAGE and STASI impossible. I didn’t question either mistake, and gave up in frustration before coming here. What a stupid boy!
    1. You’re not alone – I made both errors but fortunately managed to climb out of the hole.
  12. Anyone else getting ‘access denied’ when clicking on either cryptic crossword?
  13. Monday morning brain combined with doing this in a noisy cafe meant I was fairly slow, coming in around 35 mins. Even then I dnf, as I put in the intriguing, but probably non existent, port of “Tinis” for 2dn.

    Both the long clues of 1dn and 1ac were biffed with confidence, but I still struggled with the NW corner. 8ac “Tonic”, which I have seen so many times before, taking an age to recall. Other battles included trying to fit wasp into 19ac until I finally saw the hidden word and wondering whether 12ac had anything to do with Botham.

    I agree that 5dn “grunt” seemed a bit loose for unhappy.

    FOI — 11ac “Toast”
    LOI — 10ac “Respite”
    COD — 12ac “Opener”

    Thanks as usual!

  15. Really enjoyed this crossword which I finished in one relatively quick swoop, all correct. Solving the long clues round the edge helped. Maybe CLOTHES HORSE is an old-fashioned rack, but OK for me! Father/husband/sons were/are sportive so that helps with cricket and golf.
    FOI INTRANSIGENT
    LOI OUTRAGE,
    Liked ARCHIVE, SONNET, SPINACH, INTERROGATOR
    Thank vm, Jack..
  17. … and a fast finish. The long 1A and 1D went in almost immediately and opened the grid up, and I barely paused from there for a rare sub-8 minute finish. I wondered if 1D was a passing nod to our esteemed blogger (and Saturday Special king) Johninterred, but surely the Times would not be so rude as to label him a “right old reptile”!

    A slight missed opportunity perhaps not to mark the 1900th puzzle with something a little more memorable — this one will not alas linger long in the memory for me. Two very minor grumbles — or perhaps grunts — at 17A Adios, which is a strange clue for a cryptic crossword (it seems to require more familiarity with Spanish than familiarity with crossword techniques), and the aforementioned 5D Grunt, which as others have suggested is not really a symptom of being unhappy. For pigs, grunting is usually a sign of great contentment!

    Perhaps the 2000th puzzle — due I think on Monday 8 November — will make up for it with a truly celebratory puzzle.

    Many thanks to Jack for the blog.
    Cedric

    1. I wouldn’t swear to it, but by my calculations QC 2000 will appear on Monday 20th October. Because of a quirk in the numbering system the actual 2000th puzzle will appear on the Friday before that. Like today’s is actually the 1901st QC. There was a Christmas Day QC puzzle in 2014 published only on-line that didn’t get a number

      Edited at 2021-06-21 09:16 pm (UTC)

  18. I have just spent 3 fitful nights sleeping on ferries from the UK to mainland Spain and then to Mallorca so my solving time today of 6:42 has cheered me up no end. Time to tackle the 8 months of cobwebs now. I rather enjoyed the cluing for the invading wasp…something I know a lot about in these parts. My FOI was INTRANSIGENT and my LOI TOAST.
    2. Wow, are you tackling those climbs in your bicycle?! Very impressive
      1. That’s the idea. Perfect conditions….quiet roads. Puerto Pollensa which has a predominantly British clientele is like a ghost town. We live inland, amongst the locals, at the foot of the Sierra de Tramontana.
  19. Enjoyed this puzzle. Made a pleasing start to the day and week. No particular problems, although I, like others here, hesitated a little over ADIOS because it seemed too easy and literal. I reached the European power in ESTEEM via E’S TEAM so felt a bit of a clod when I read the blog! Hah!
    I particularly liked INTERROGATOR, DEVIL MAY CARE, EPISTLE and FAIR WAY today.
    Thanks to jackkt and Hurley
  20. All four long clues went in straight off, but I then had trouble filling the centre.

    Slow on the uptake this morning with a number of groan-out-loud moments when I’d finally spotted the answer. Came in at just over 20 minutes.

  21. My best in ages — 38 minutes and no wrong answers! Got the 1s straight away, but held up by OPENER and RESPITE. Being an old Brightonian my COD was WIPER. Biffed NIRVANA and needed to look at blog to parse. Thanks Jack — hadn’t thought of VAN as leading position. Is this related to vanguard? Thanks to Hurley for a really enjoyable puzzle.
  22. A tad under 8 minutes this morning, despite a slightly rocky start. I couldn’t see the anagram at 1a at first, but scanning the clues, ADIOS jumped out, then I started on the down clues – a somewhat erratic style of solving, I agree, but ultimately it worked for me! Once I got INTERROGATOR followed by INTRANSIGENT, everything started to fall into place, although that final run in GRUNT was elusive for some reason. Some nice anagrams (NEUTRAL, CLOTHES HORSE and my COD) and a couple of good hiddens (SPINACH and STASI) made for a pleasant solve.
    FOI Adios
    LOI Grunt
    COD Intransigent – just in time for Wimbledon!

    Thanks Hurley and Jack

  23. On paper today as denied access to the puzzle online for some reason.
    Got off to a flying start by writing the answer for 1d in the across row. That’s when solving on paper slows you down.
    But I then proceeded steadily to finish with TOAST in about 15 minutes. Nothing held me up for too long but I had to think to get ADIOS.
    A pleasant start to the week.
    David
  24. Wrote in 1ac straight away, and then 1d after a short pause, and thought those two would open up the grid, but only Grunt (!) and Adios went straight in, setting the scene for a slow solve. Held up mostly by the obscure Respite and the Fairway/Spinach/Esteem triplet in the SE. Spent too long with Flea for the market, and simply didn’t see the hidden vegetable until I had Esteem. Limped across the line after 28mins, with CoD to the pesky wasp. Invariant
  25. A strange solving experience. FOI intransigent, then no other acrosses. Saw Tunis next, then began to solve alternate acrosses and downs until only aflame and toast remained. These needed a moment’s pondering each. Fourteen minutes. COD devil-may-care. Enjoyed the puzzle, thought I had parsed everything, but there were nuances I had missed, so thanks to Jack for the very thorough blog, and Hurley for the entertainment. GW
  26. … and my fastest time (26 minutes) for quite a while.

    INTRANSIGENT went in first and most of the top half of the grid followed very quickly quickly (for me, at least). CLOTHES HORSE and DEVIL-MAY-CARE also didn’t really hold me up, but INTERROGATOR required most of the checkers and some of the lower half of the grid posed more problems for me.

    Solving STASI forced me to correct ADIEU to ADIOS (prior to that, I found myself wondering whether UMAMI was some historical police force I’d never heard of), and my LOI was RESPITE, which required a 2-3 minute alphabet trawl.

    Mrs Random is visiting her parents again today, so she will probably catch up (and overtake me again) tomorrow.

    Many thanks to Hurley and jackkt

  27. Rare sub-K and sub-5 minutes for me. Wrote in the the 4 outside ones then filled in the middle. LOI GRUNT with a slight shrug.

    Nice puzzle but I seem to have more to say when I muck up in some way which is where I am sure I will be tomorrow

    Thanks Hurley and Jackkt

  28. 10.49 — I think my fastest time ever, and as they mostly went straight in without much thought it will be hard to improve on!
    1. Congratulations! A sub-10 may seem out of reach, but if you could speed up by an average of just two seconds per clue …
  29. Why do crossword setters insist on describing Caesar as an emperor? He was never emperor, how ever much he may have wanted to be.
    PlayUpPompey
    1. Have I missed something? What has Caesar got to do with today’s QC?
      1. Well that’s a very good point! I’ve had a disrupted day out and about and have been following the discussion in dribs and drabs on my phone which involves scrolling through loads of stuff to see anything. I didn’t notice the irrelevance.
    2. Because it’s a generic title used by Roman emperors, especially those from Augustus to Hadrian. If Julius was an exception, it doesn’t invalidate the clue.

      Edited at 2021-06-21 01:47 pm (UTC)

  30. We were a little slow in getting the 4 long clues, but answers went in fairly quickly afterwards. Pleasant start to the week.
  31. Just driven back from the Scottish borders and tackled this after unpacking. No problems. Started with INTERROGATOR and finished with EPISTLE. 6:17. Thanks Hurley and Jack.
  32. for just getting a few seconds over target 6!

    Only just parsed my LOI – SPINACH – accursed hiddens!

    Late one today because of a busy work schedule.

    6:12.

  33. After a long day and a difficult drive home due to avoiding a hold up on the A12 (I’m sure it would have been quicker to stay on) I needed a relatively gentle puzzle and this hit the spot. Nowhere near a pb, but a nice 18:33 avoided any frustration. COD to 3d ARCHIVE. Thanks Hurley and Jack.
  34. 4:36. As others have already said, the key to this puzzle was solving the four peripheral clues, which yielded loads of crossers.
    As usual with Hurley all the clues were pretty fair and my COD was 5 d “grunt” despite the reservations others have mentioned.
    Thanks to Jack and Liz
  35. Done in 15 minutes with one ear to the evening news. Nothing especially challenging here, and nothing that made me smile at its cleverness. I hesitate to say mundane… FOI 9ac NEUTRAL, LOI 5d GRUNT. Thanks.
  36. For the record

    FOI 1ac INTRANSIGENCE

    LOI 11ac TOAST!

    COD 5dn GRUNT (GRUMBLE & GRUNT Ltd.)

    WOD 18dn STASI

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