Oh dear. I’m in danger of turning into Mr Grump. This is the second puzzle I’ve blogged this morning that I haven’t liked much. I’m a big fan of the Quiptic and keep bigging it up to friends who, knowing I’m keen on my crosswords, want to have a go. Not sure I’d recommend this one, though. In my opinion, it’s far too complicated in some places, and the cluing is ambiguous in other places. But I’m not the target audience, so you tell me what you thought.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
9 Lead and gold material that will transmit electricity
CONDUCTOR
A charade of CONDUCT for ‘lead’ and OR for ‘gold’.
10 Mother trimmed outfit worn by soldier on leave
MUFTI
It’s clever, but what ‘beginners and those in a hurry’ will make of it, I’m not sure. It’s MU[M], which is ‘mother trimmed’ and FTI, which is an anagram of (FIT)* The anagrind is ‘out’, which is attached to FIT in the surface. Hmmm.
11 Worried our town appears behind the times
OUTWORN
(OUR TOWN)* with ‘worried’ as the anagrind.
12 Evidence links nothing to artist at Italian address
SIGNORA
A charade of SIGN for ‘evidence’, O for ‘nothing’ and RA for ‘artist’.
13 Get tasteless book scrapped
LAND
[B]LAND. ‘I’ve just landed a new job.’
14 Notes a time to move flat
MAISONETTE
(NOTES A TIME)* with ‘to move’ as the anagrind.
16 To be liberal with butter at first appears healthy
FAT-FREE
Well, the cryptic grammar seems all over the place to me, but it’s FAT for ‘butter’ followed by FREE for ‘to be liberal’. ‘Butter, for example’ might define FAT better.
17 Transport by rail perhaps, if time
AIRLIFT
A charade of (RAIL)* IF and T for ‘time’
19 Good to respect expert
HONOURABLE
A charade of HONOUR and ABLE. Except (for me at least) being ABLE doesn’t mean I’m ‘expert’ at something. I’m able at cryptics, for example, but …
22 Make an impression and so on at hospital
ETCH
A charade of ETC and H.
24 Circle missing outlines with cooking implement
UTENSIL
The surface is not putting a picture in my head and it’s too complicated for a Quiptic (imho). The setter is asking you to take O for ‘circle’ out of (‘missing’) ‘outlines’ and make an anagram (‘with cooking’). So it’s ([O]UTLINES)*
25 Set dance disrupted by English student
CONGEAL
An insertion of E in CONGA followed by L for learner or ‘student’.
26 Five tucked into healthy share
HALVE
Another insertion of V for the Roman numeral for ‘five’ in HALE for ‘healthy’. As in ‘hale and hearty’. And it would only be a ‘share’ if it was between two.
27 Can well recall engineers being doubtful at cut
RETENTIVE
I refer right honourable members to my comment at 24ac. RE for ‘engineers’ followed by TENT[AT]IVE.
Down
1 Where philosophers are trained?
SCHOOL OF THOUGHT
A cd.
2 Original sin can act without a gut feeling
INSTINCT
Is this too complicated for a Quiptic? You tell me. It’s (SIN)*, TIN and [A]CT. The anagrind is ‘original’ and the surface is pretty meaningless.
3 Coach tour has altered boarding time
TUTOR
An insertion of T for ‘time’ inside (‘boarding’) (TOUR)*
4 Old-fashioned to plant herb without style
STONE AGE
An insertion of TONE for ‘style’ in SAGE for ‘herb’. The insertion indicator is ‘to plant without’. I think.
5 Unsalted crab is late addition to snacks
CRISPS
I wanted to preface my explanation of this clue with a three-letter acronym, the first two of which are the the sixth letter of the alphabet; but the site administrator would strike me off the list of bloggers if I did, so I won’t. If you are a beginner or improver, well done if you understood this, because it took me ages to solve it and parse it. AB is ‘able bodied seaman’; another synonym for ‘seaman’ is ‘salt’; take AB out of ‘crab’ (‘unsalted’) and you’ve got CR; add IS; then add PS for post scriptum or ‘late addition’ and you’ve got CRISPS. Which are snacks.
6 Pretend I am angry with one suspect
IMAGINARY
A charade of I’M for ‘I am’ and (ANGRY I)* ‘Suspect’ is the anagrind.
7 Attempt to elevate iron building
EFFORT
Since this is a down clue, it’s a reversal of FE for ‘iron’ and FORT for ‘building’.
8 Twist of her logic treated as support for smokers
CIGARETTE HOLDER
(HER LOGIC TREATED)*
15 Con man misrepresented Freud’s art
FRAUDSTER
(FREUDS ART)*
17 Assign place to a student
ALLOCATE
A charade of A plus L for learner or ‘student’ and LOCATE for ‘place’. But the ‘to’ in the clue doesn’t tell you which way round to put the parts of the charade.
18 Brave of one to get books about rising depression
INTREPID
A four-part charade: I plus NT for ‘books’ of the bible plus RE for ‘about’ plus PID for a reversal of DIP for ‘depression’.
20 Irritate with unnecessary loss of two points
NEEDLE
NEEDLE[SS] The ‘two points’ are SS for two lots of ‘south’ for points of the compass.
21 Everyone united regarding appeal
ALLURE
A charade of ALL for ‘everyone’, U for ‘united’ and RE for ‘regarding’. We’ve had RE for ‘about’ and ‘regarding’ in the two of the last three clues.
23 Silly of Anne to get involved with one
INANE
(ANNE I)* The anagrind is ‘to get involved with’.
Morning Mr Grump.
Just to say that although 5 down took a bit of thought, it is, once cracked (or explained), just the sort of construction to move your target audience of beginners along a bit. Quite a lot of investement value.
I made a brief genuflection in Beale’s direction when I entered the answer.
Again, I agree with Pierre’s quibbles. Some of the clues in this puzzle are more than worthy of the regular daily puzzle, such as those for MUFTI, CRISPS and possibly INSTINCT. This one definitely doesn’t do what it says on the tin.
Having said that, SCHOOL OF THOUGHT made me smile.
What is the “links” doing in 12a (besides making the surface work)? If SIGN really was linking “nothing” to “artist”, that would be OSIGNRA. In general I agree that this was too complicated to be a Quiptic, although on the positive side, FRAUDSTER is a great surface and a nice anagram, and like Andy B says, SCHOOL OF THOUGHT is a classic groaner. UTENSIL didn’t strike me as too bad, although it might have been more beginner friendly as “Outlines missing circle [or, for a more culinary theme, “starter”?] with cooking implement” or similar.
I am not really the intended audience either but not quite as grumpy as Mr Grump. As Andy says there is quite a lot of it that would be worthy of a daily puzzle.
I wonder how many of the intended audience actually know the Quiptic exists, and if so, whether they know they can comment here.
That’s a very good question, Sue!
Yeah, as all above.
I usually do the regulars online, but I have a vague memory of these being mentioned in the paper.