Guardian Quiptic N° 681 by Nutmeg

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An excellent crossword from Nutmeg, with a Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (all of the Disney dwarfs are there) theme in full view in the clues.

I would rate it of Guardian Cryptic standard – not that there is anything outlandishly difficult, but there is hardly a weak link. I would be interested to see how beginners made out.

Across
7. Grumpy reversing Aussie pickup into factory (8)
PETULANT An envelope (‘into’) of ETU, a reversal (‘backing’) of UTE (Australian colloquialism for utility vehicle, ‘Aussie pickup’) in PLANT (‘factory’).
9. Soggy sheep knocked over Bashful (6)
MARSHY A charade of MAR, a reversal (‘knocked over’) of RAM (‘sheep’) plus SHY (‘Bashful’).
10. College sportsman panted audibly (4)
BLUE A homophone (‘audibly’) of BLEW (‘panted’).
11. Musician has large drink before the fish (6,4)
DOUBLE BASS A charade of DOUBLE (‘large drink’) plus BASS (‘the fish’).
12. Gland making many sick finally removed (6)
TONSIL A charade of TONS (‘many’) plus IL[l] (‘sick’) minus its last letter (‘finally removed’).
14. Coward’s work causing Sneezy to summon Doc? (3,5)
HAY FEVER Definition and literal interpretation; referencing Noel Coward’s play Hay Fever.
15. Pudding is hot, Dopey! (7)
FOOLISH A charade of FOOL (‘pudding’) plus ‘is’ plus H (‘hot’).
17. Monstrous seashell is helical to some extent (7)
HELLISH A hidden answer (‘to some extent’) in ‘seasHELL IS Hellical’.
20. RAF woman redesigned naval ship (3-2-3)
MAN-OF-WAR An anagram (‘redesigned’) of ‘RAF woman’.
22. One bringing court case about very loud bear (6)
SUFFER An envelope (‘about’) of FF (fortissimo, ‘very loud’) in SUER (‘one bringing court case’).
23. Cricketer finally wore hard hat after cap disintegrated (4,6)
PACE BOWLER A charade of PAC, an anagram (‘disintegrated’) of ‘cap’ plus E (‘finally worE‘) plus BOWLER (‘hard hat’).
24. Transported under cover, reportedly (4)
RAPT A homophone (‘reportedly’) of WRAPPED (‘under cover’).
25. Happy and Dopey dropping ring (6)
BLITHE A subtraction: BLITHE[ring] (‘Dopey’) ‘dropping ring’.
26. Sleepy comes to with a shaking (8)
COMATOSE An anagram (‘with a shaking’) of ‘comes to’ plus ‘a’.
Down
1. Flush is something yet to be fixed at watering place? (4-2-2)
WELL-TO-DO A charade of WELL (‘watering place’) plus TO DO (‘yet to be fixed’).
2. Make better kipper (4)
CURE Double definition, with ‘kipper’ as a verb.
3. Footwear, Sleepy’s first pair with a lining (6)
SANDAL An envelope (‘with … lining’) of ‘a’ (the second one in the answer) in S AND L (‘SLeepy’s first pair’).
4. Foyer out of bounds in place of worship with no time for worker (8)
EMPLOYEE An envelope (‘in’) of OYE (‘fOYEr out of bounds’) in [t]EMPLE (‘place of worship’) with the T removed (‘with no time’).
5. Character on staff to make 200% more departed shortly (10)
TREBLECLEF A charade of TREBLE (‘make 200% more’) plus C (hundred? – or is it CLEF[t], which seems not quite to be ‘departed’? – I cannot resolve this. Any offers?) plus LEF[t] (‘departed’) unfinished (‘shortly’).
6. Tense dons run after Snow White (6)
CHASTE An envelope (‘dons’) of T (‘tense’) in CHASE (‘run after’).
8. Was don tense when speaking? (6)
TAUGHT A homophone (‘when speaking’) of TAUT (‘tense’). The definition ‘was don’ refers to a college tutor. An ingenious pairing with the previous clue.
13. The outline’s reproduced, not new (10)
SILHOUETTE An anagram (‘reproduced’) of ‘the outli[n]es’ without the n (‘not new’), with a just about full &lit definition.
16. Doc was raised on fillets (8)
SAWBONES A charade of SAW, a reversal (‘raised’) of ‘was’ plus BONES (‘fillets’, as a verb).
18. Bashful member of flock is last in church (8)
SHEEPISH A charade of sheep (‘member of flock’) plus ‘is’ plus H (‘last in churcH‘).
19. Left one in short dress, merrymaking (6)
FROLIC An envelope (‘in’) of L (‘left’) plus I (‘one’) in FROC[k] (‘dress’) unfinished (‘short’).
21. Rising artist skilled and potentially productive (6)
ARABLE A charade of AR, a reversal (‘rising’) of RA (‘artist’) plus ABLE (‘skilled’).
22. Pinch shellfish, cold not hot (6)
SCRIMP SHRIMP (‘shellfish’) with the H replaced by C (‘Cold not Hot’).
24. Announcer’s made out a list of duties (4)
ROTA A homophone (‘announcer’s’) of WROTE (‘made out’) plus ‘a’.

8 comments on “Guardian Quiptic N° 681 by Nutmeg”

  1. Thanks, Peter.

    Well done to Nutmeg for slipping a theme into a Quiptic. I don’t think it got in the way of a ‘beginner’s’ puzzle, but as you say, some beginners might tell us otherwise. I thought COMATOSE was a lovely clue – nice surface, but eminently gettable.

    I fancy you’re right with your first interpretation of TREBLECLEF – TREBLE plus C plus LEF[T]. My quibble would be that I would always write this as two words – TREBLE CLEF. Dictionaries and musicians better than me might disagree.

  2. Thanks PeterO. I agree this was slightly above the usual Quiptic level, especially the rather involved 4d.

    I don’t know if I’m a better musician that Kathryn’s Dad, but I’ve never seen TREBLE CLEF written as a single word.

  3. Enjoyable crossword, but I think definitly more difficult than an average Quiptic. I had to resort to word searches to get some of the final answers. As Andrew said, EMPLOYEE was particularly tricky.

    Thanks PeterO; I agree with K’s dad about the parsing of TREBLE CLEF, which I think should be two words, at least as seen in most dictionaries. I liked COMATOSE, SANDAL and the great anagram for SILHOUETTE.

  4. Thank you for comments, and I’m sorry about 5d. My original clue had ‘…parting shortly’, (parting=cleft), and I didn’t spot that the editing change invalidated the clue. And yes, of course it should have been (6,4)

  5. At least we all agree that to make 200% bigger is to treble, not to double as I so often hear expressed even by journalists, :-O

  6. Thank you, Nutmeg for clearing up 5D. I had had the horrible suspicion that the intention might have been ‘departed’ -> split -> cleft, a device I would not like to come upon unawares in any crossword, yet alone a Quiptic.

  7. OK, I guess I’m not a beginner, afterall I’ve finished many by Araucaria, even the occasional Saturday one of his. I couldn’t finish this one though. Add to that our dear blogger couldn’t parse one of the clues. This may well have been a good crossword, but a Quiptic? Do I need to spell it out?

  8. I am writing from your distant future to say thanks Nutmeg and PeterO for a great Quiptic and blog, and how lovely that Nutmeg popped in to help with Treble Clef. Thanks – gee, I have taken careful note of it.

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