I enjoyed solving and blogging Hectence’s puzzle this morning, but I fancy the target audience might have found it a bit of a struggle. There were some excellent surfaces, but often, in my opinion at least, at the expense of some complicated wordplay. But getting better at cryptics is a learning process, and there was some stuff here to learn. Including, in my case, how on earth to parse 1d. Which I think I have done, just.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
9 Listen! Consumption before vigorous run gives indigestion
HEARTBURN
A charade of HEAR, TB for Tuberculosis or ‘consumption’ and (RUN)* with ‘vigorous’ as the anagrind.
10 A number, I included, dined at home
ATE IN
An insertion of I in A TEN.
11 Scramble record containing name and call time
ENCRYPT
Another insertion: of N and CRY in EP for (extended play) record, followed by T.
12 Support earth on steep banks leading to great river
ESPOUSE
A charade of E for ‘earth’, SP for the outside letters of ‘steep’ and the river OUSE, one of whose incarnations is the GREAT OUSE.
13 Toned down letter to Telegraph’s head editor
MUTED
A charade of the Greek letter MU, T for the first letter of ‘Telegraph’ and ED.
14 Sailor returns to ship after day involved in alcohol and ribaldry
BAWDINESS
Lovely story-telling surface, but complicated wordplay. It’s BA for AB or ‘sailor’ reversed, and SS for ‘ship’. Into that you have to insert WDINE, which is a further insertion of D for ‘day’ in WINE for ‘alcohol’.
16 Shows gratitude to soldier with French wine, good time and celebration
THANKSGIVING DAY
A charade of THANKS, GI, VIN, G and DAY.
19 Make a break for it, when copper on beat’s briefly tipsy
CUT AND RUN
A charade of CU for the chemical symbol for ‘copper’, TAN for ‘beat’ and DRUN[K].
21 Nightcap by Chanel’s second hand
COCOA
A charade of COCO (Chanel) and A for the second letter of ‘hand’.
22 Die from seizure after son’s joke backfired
SNUFF IT
There’s some complicated stuff going on in this Quiptic. It’s S, a reversal of FUN, and FIT.
23 Mad queen imprisoned in Berks improperly
BERSERK
An insertion of ER for Elizabeth Regina in (BERKS)* Those who follow the thread for the Guardian cryptic will know what I mean when I say that we don’t mention the B-word.
24 Student pursues bit of stuff to roadside lodging
MOTEL
A charade of MOTE and L. ‘Mote: a particle of dust’ (SOED). And of course if you’d paid more attention in Sunday School, you would have remembered: Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye. Matthew Chapter 7, Verse 3, since you ask.
25 Sudden increase in time in which oxlips flourish
EXPLOSION
An insertion of (OXLIPS)* in EON. ‘Flourish’ is the anagrind.
Down
1 Cameron, gathering backbench support, has a brief moment of calm
PHLEGMATIC
I was into ask the audience mode here when it finally came to me. Caring sharing we’re-all-in-this-together Dave is PM. Put H for the last letter of ‘backbench’ and LEG into said PM and then add A and TIC for ‘a brief moment’. Great surface, but this clue is too complicated for a Quiptic imho.
2 Prepared canapé wrapping gutted trout in bacon
PANCETTA
An insertion of TT for ‘trout’ with its insides removed – ‘trout gutted’ – in (CANAPE)* with ‘prepared’ as the anagrind.
3 Remained decorous in speech
STAYED
A homophone of STAID.
4 In fact no student’s put up a tent
YURT
Hectence is asking you to reverse (‘put up’ in a down clue) TRU[L]Y.
5 Twisted rambling vine round new helter-skelter tower
INTERWOVEN
‘Beginners and those in a hurry’ are getting value for money today. An insertion of N for ‘new’ and (TOWER)* in (VINE)*. ‘Round’ is the insertion indicator and ‘rambling’ and ‘helter-skelter’ are the two anagrinds.
6 Lobby for Conservative politician to capture a potential gain
CAMPAIGN
An insertion of A in C MP followed by (GAIN)* with ‘potential’ as the anagrind.
7 Bewilder with live rock band?
BEMUSE
A charade of BE for ‘live’ in its verbal sense and MUSE for the rock band. I was going to say they were a bit obscure, but they’ve won a Grammy award, so I’ll shut up.
8 Joint for Ken and Barbie finally cooked
KNEE
Ken and Barbie were too innocent to have inhaled, I’m sure. And it’s obviously not that kind of joint. But it’s (KEN E)* with ‘cooked’ as the anagrind.
14 Older sibling keeping an eye on us?
BIG BROTHER
A dd, referring to George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four.
15 Broadcaster Larry King has lines cut when messing around
SKYLARKING
Larry King is indeed a veteran American broadcaster. It’s a charade of SKY for another ‘broadcaster’ and LAR[RY]KING. ‘Cut’ is the removal indicator and RY is the abbreviation for ‘railway’ or ‘lines’.
17 Family has thousands, including rare florins King chucked out
KINSFOLK
An insertion of INSFOL in two Ks for ‘thousands’. INSFOL is (FLO[R]INS)* ‘Including’ is the insertion indicator and ‘rare’ is presumably the anagrind, but I can’t see why.
18 Pronounce contract with mine’s falling apart
DECREPIT
Hectence is asking you to think of DECREE in its verbal sense for ‘pronounce’, remove its last letter (‘contract’) and then add PIT for ‘mine’.
20 Makes fun of Great Aunt Sally’s stuffing
TAUNTS
Hidden in GreaT AUNT Sally’s.
21 Incentive for vehicle to get up hill
CARROT
A charade of CAR and a reversal (‘up’) of TOR.
22 Add a small amount of money to pool
SUMP
A charade of SUM and P for ‘penny’ or ‘small amount of money’.
23 Take first boyfriend to works’ dances
BOPS
A charade of B for the first letter of ‘boyfriend’ and OPS for ‘works’. OP is short for OPUS, so in theory OPS can be works.
Many thanks to Hectence for today’s Quiptic.
Wow, this was difficult for a Quiptic. I did this first as my impression was that the Rufus was quite difficult today, but I certainly did not solve this Quiptic quickly and it took me quite a long time to parse all of my answers. Neither quick nor easy!
I liked 6d, 9a, 16a, 2d, 17d & 1d and my favourite was 14 BAWDINESS.
Thanks for the blog, Pierre.
Thanks for the blog, Pierre. I agree that some of the clues were trickier than one would expect in a Quiptic.
“Ops” for “works” is not completely theoretical – it reminds me of the lines from the Mikado’s song (“My Object All Sublime”):
The music-hall singer attends a series
Of masses and fugues and ops
By Bach, interwoven
With Spohr and Beethoven,
At classical Monday Pops.
Is yurt common enough for a beginners crossword? Nope. 1d wordplay fair not really. Not really sure what the quiptic is aimed at. thanks pierre and hectence. Not sure how to do two blogs same day. I’ve got that with G and indy same day soon.
I’m a 6 month “lurker” on here (may have posted once or twice in that time) but I feel the need to post again!
Hectence produces brilliant crosswords but “Quiptic”? – no way! He/She should be on the normal Cryptic team IMHO. The puzzles would not be out of place and would probably be enjoyed by a much wider audience.
A most enjoyable start to the crossword week so ta muchly to all concerned.
@flashling – only got YURT because it was in another puzzle I solved recently.
Yep, good puzzle but difficult for a Quiptic as detailed above.
I couldn’t remember YURT, but it is always good to learn a new word (especially for Scrabble!)
I did enjoy PHLEGMATIC, although the ‘backbench’ fooled me for a while.
I finished this but had no idea how to parse YURT or BEMUSE. Having read the solutions, I am sure I would never have got there – having to substitute “truly” for “in fact” before reversing it and subtracting from it seems more Azed than Quiptic! (I too had never heard of the band.)
…in fact, would leaving the clue as “Truly no student’s put up a tent” have been more appropriate for a Quiptic?
Pierre,
Thanks for the notes, like others I thought this was a bit tough for a Quiptic (it took me longer than todays DT. Thank you for explaining 1d, I got what was the obvious answer, but was struggling to parse. Note to self, must try harder.
Yep, a toughie. I had to cheat on a few and got more of the definitions first than the wordplay.