Guardian Quiptic N° 657, by Moley

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Moley gives us a pleasant variety of devices clueing mostly familiar word – which fills the Quiptic description very adequately.

Across
7. Tribunal to convey suit (9)
COURTSHIP A charace of COURT (‘tribunal’) + SHIP (‘to convey’).
8. It’s pleasant to hug husband in recess (5)
NICHE An envelope (‘to hug’) of H (‘husband’) in NICE (‘pleasant’).
9. Song to sing in the nude (9)
BARCAROLE An envelope (‘in’) of CAROL (‘sing’) in BARE (‘nude’; ‘in the nude’ would give a better fit, with ‘in’ doing double duty). A barcarole is a gondolier’s song.
10. Vowing to lose five, being in debt (5)
OWING [v]OWING without V (‘losing five’).
12. Backlash from river: source of E coli, perhaps (6)
RECOIL A charade of R (‘River: source of’) + ECOIL (‘perhaps’). ‘source of’ is equivocal: it is perhaps best regarded as an indication that the first letter of ‘river’ is to be taken (although R is a standard abbreviation for river without any further elucidation).
13. Nice girl could be more emotionally dependent (8)
CLINGIER An anagram (‘could be’) of ‘nice girl’.
16. Rescue bear (7)
DELIVER Double definition.
19. No French added to puzzle (7)
NONPLUS A charade of NON (‘no French’) + PLUS (‘added to’)
22. Fluent transformation of student to queen (8)
ELOQUENT An anagram (‘transformation’) of L (‘student’) + ‘to queen’.
25. Dumb — ie not properly penetrated (6)
IMBUED An anagram (‘not properly’) of ‘dumb ie’.
27. Greek for Room at the Top (5)
ATTIC Double definition.
28. Hit trouble, despite double illumination (9)
LAMPLIGHT A charade of LAM (‘hit’) + PLIGHT (‘trouble’). I take it that ‘despite double’ is intended to indicate that LAMP and LIGHT are synonyms.
29. First character in the set’s incomplete: bet’s off! (5)
ALPHA ALPHA[bet] (‘set’) with ‘bet’s off’. Alpha is the first character of the Greek alphabet.
30. Cheat a sculptor? (9)
CHISELLER Double definition.
Down
1. Capone involved in more team spirit (6)
MORALE An envelope (‘in’) of AL (‘Capone’) in ‘more’.
2. Greens, the cause of little brother’s awful colic (8)
BROCCOLI A charade of BRO (‘little brother’) + CCOLI, an anagram (‘awful’) of ‘colic’. Greens are more commonly leaf vegetables, but might cover broccoli as well.
3. Wrecked altars, resembling stars (6)
ASTRAL An anagram (‘wrecked’) of ‘altars’.
4. Idiom in which to ring English council tenant initially (7)
DIALECT A charade of DIAL (‘ring’) + E C T (‘English Council Tenant initially’).
5. Large locks for VIP (6)
BIGWIG A charade of BIG (‘large’) + WIG (‘locks’).
6. Coinage conversion (6)
CHANGE Double definition.
11. Store soil, after a fashion (4)
SILO An anagram (‘after a fashion’) of ‘soil’. ‘Store’ as a noun in the definition.
14. Complaint from mill worker (3)
ILL An answer hidden (‘from’) in ‘mILL‘; ‘worker’ is just along for the ride. The light is ILL as a noun meaning ailment.
15. Estate agents’ desirable place to live (3)
RES From the estate agent’s abbreviation DES RES (desirable residence), and RES as an abbreviation for reservation, perhaps.
16. Teacher abandons desire to reach river (3)
DEE A subrtraction (‘abandons’) of SIR (‘teacher’) from DE[sir]E.
17. Sign of a big cat (3)
LEO Double definition.
18. Original woman’s right? Always! (4)
EVER A charade of EVE (‘original woman’; discounting Lilith) + R (‘right’).
20. Bar to Lily carrying 100 without concealment (8)
PUBLICLY A charade of PUB (‘bar’) + an envelope (‘carrying’) of C (‘100’ Roman numeral) in ‘Lily’.
21. Diplomat’s case (7)
ATTACHE Double definition.
23. Allow insect to attack (3,3)
LET FLY A charade of LET (‘allow’) + FLY (‘insect’).
24. Guatemalan savoury pie (6)
QUICHE Double definition. The Quiché are a Mayan people of Guatemala, and a quiche is a savoury custard tart, with the quiche Lorraine as the best known example.
25. Road up: ship’s run into arch (6)
IMPISH A charade of IM, a reversal (‘up’) of MI ( M 1, the UK motorway) + PISH, an anagram (‘run’) of ‘ship’.
26. Repeated code he designed (6)
ECHOED An anagram (‘designed’) of ‘code he’.

4 comments on “Guardian Quiptic N° 657, by Moley”

  1. Thanks for blogging, Peter.

    I agree with you – a nice example of the Quiptic. I hadn’t come across that definition of CHISELLER before, but it was clear with a few crossing letters what the answer was. Ditto for QUICHE.

    I think most British English speakers in everyday usage would count BROCCOLI as ‘greens’, and this was my favourite clue today for its lovely surface reading.

    Thanks to Moley for getting my brain in gear this morning.

  2. I too think that was a very nice Quiptic – and I agree with Kathryn’s Dad about the broccoli clue.

    Thanks to Moley and Peter.

  3. Generally good Quiptic, although I got a bit stuck with IMPISH.

    Thanks PeterO; you have not underlined the definitions in the last two down clues. With 16d, I was thinking of l=learner and whether there was a river called ‘ust;’ no, I don’t think so. 🙁

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