The puzzle can be found at http://feeds.thetimes.co.uk/timescrossword/20140609/173/
This is Hurley's sixth offering in the Quick Cryptic line, the previous five seemingly scattered all over the difficulty spectrum, going by people's comments. I don't think there's anything particularly tricky in this one, though it's possible that the abbreviation in 18D might not be familiar to all. To any readers in the Åland Islands - happy Autonomy Day!
Definitions are underlined.
This is Hurley's sixth offering in the Quick Cryptic line, the previous five seemingly scattered all over the difficulty spectrum, going by people's comments. I don't think there's anything particularly tricky in this one, though it's possible that the abbreviation in 18D might not be familiar to all. To any readers in the Åland Islands - happy Autonomy Day!
Definitions are underlined.
| Across | |
| 1 | Dreary versifier on way back (4) |
| DRAB - BARD (versifier, i.e. poet) reversed (on way back) | |
| 3 | Unusual hassle accommodating European learner (hard case) (8) |
| SEASHELL - anagram (Unusual) of HASSLE around (accommodating) E (European) and L (learner) | |
| 9 | Street occupied by, say, soldiers in part (7) |
| SEGMENT - ST (Street) around (occupied by) EG (say) and MEN (soldiers) | |
| 10 | Gourmet finally ready for this? Hardly! (5) |
| TRIPE - last letter (finally) of GourmeT + RIPE (ready). The entire clue points towards the definition by suggesting that tripe is not a food that a gourmet would necessarily have on their plate. | |
| 11 | Cattle stealer (no saint!) one put in charge (5) |
| RULER - RU | |
| 12 | Park worker's fury right at the start (6) |
| RANGER - R (right) + ANGER (fury), with "at the start" indicating where the R needs to go. | |
| 14 | Unreliable name-plate term rewritten (13) |
| TEMPERAMENTAL - anagram (rewritten) of NAME-PLATE TERM | |
| 17 | Bringin' up dried fruit? (6) |
| RAISIN - RAISIN' (Bringin' up, i.e. raising with the g dropped) | |
| 19 | With permission, starts to live in city in Thailand (5) |
| LICIT - initial letters of (starts to) Live In City In Thailand. Today marks the 68th anniversary of King Bhumibol's ascension to the throne of Thailand. | |
| 22 | Church figure, cultured, learned, some recalled (5) |
| ELDER - reversed hidden answer (some recalled) in cultuRED, LEarned | |
| 23 | Typical example of English mine home, hard to leave (7) |
| EPITOME - E (English) + PIT (mine) + | |
| 24 | Go through food consumed by French dad (8) |
| PERMEATE - MEAT (food) inside (consumed by) PERE (French dad, i.e. the French for father) | |
| 25 | Refuse requests of Democrat initially entering New York (4) |
| DENY - D (Democrat) + first letters (initially) of Entering New York | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Separated daughter on island, Greek one (8) |
| DISCRETE - D (daughter) + IS (island) + CRETE (Greek one, i.e. Greek island) | |
| 2 | Kind woman in a Northern set (5) |
| ANGEL - A + N (Northern) + GEL (set, in the verbal sense) | |
| 4 | At Internet, men's unexpected fun? (13) |
| ENTERTAINMENT - anagram (unexpected) of AT INTERNET MEN | |
| 5 | Protest is over money (3-2) |
| SIT-IN - SI (is over, i.e. is reversed) + TIN (money). Money can also be brass, rhino, bread, dough, ready/readies, scratch, etc. | |
| 6 | Competition I'd entered - that's obvious (7) |
| EVIDENT - I'D inside (entered) EVENT (Competition) | |
| 7 | National emblem from barge upset? (4) |
| LEEK - reversal (upset) of KEEL (barge - not a word I knew). The LEEK/KEEL reversal was exploited in the main cryptic recently ("What makes leafy vegetable collapse? (4,4)") as well as in the Independent shortly after ("Faint Welsh emblem? (4,4)". | |
| 8 | Some deride Green's award (6) |
| DEGREE - hidden (Some) in deriDE GREEn's | |
| 13 | Cook brought round milky coffee and soft soap (8) |
| FLATTERY - FRY (Cook) around LATTE (milky coffee) | |
| 15 | In Low German the word for "wind"? (7) |
| MEANDER - MEAN (Low) + DER (German the). Other German words for "the" that are occasionally seen in crosswords are die and das - I have yet to see a den, dem, or des, though, or whatever others I may have forgotten from O-Level German. | |
| 16 | Tasty item in extremely exotic retreat (6) |
| ECLAIR - ends of (extremely) ExotiC + LAIR (retreat) | |
| 18 | Be of use - bring holy books into Bishop's place (5) |
| SERVE - RV (holy books, i.e. Revised Version of the Bible) inside SEE (Bishop's place). The Revised Version was compiled in the late 19th century, as a revision of the King James version of 1611 (often encountered in crosswords as AV, i.e. Authorised Version). | |
| 20 | Finishalongside (5) |
| CLOSE - double definition | |
| 21 | Chap's old record providing aid (4) |
| HELP - HE (Chap) + LP (old record) | |