I never really time myself when I’m doing a puzzle, but this Quiptic seemed to take a long time to nail down, which might mean it was trickier than it should have been. The grid wasn’t very solver-friendly either. More importantly, what did you think?
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
7 Engineer in charge pursues blokes drinking tea
MECHANIC
An insertion of CHA for ‘tea’ in MEN plus IC for ‘in charge’. This is counter-intuitive for me: since we have a left-to-right language, I want to see ‘follows’ and not ‘pursues’.
9 She‘s a foremost essayist
AMELIA
It’s clever, but give me a break: this is a Quiptic. It’s A, M for the first letter of ‘most’ and ELIA, which is referring to the Essays of Elia, by Charles Lamb.
10 Charts turnover of unsolicited emails
SPAM
This is more like it, except that for me the clue leads to MAPS. It’s in fact a reversal of MAPS.
11 Make arrangements for priest after today
ADMINISTER
A charade of AD for anno domini or broadly ‘today’ and MINISTER.
12 Took issue with guard about hiding key
ARGUED
An insertion of the key with four sharps in it in (GUARD)* with ‘about’ as the anagrind.
14 Papa’s stuck in routine after fund’s lost all his money
BANKRUPT
Dad? Nope. Pop? Nope. It’s the phonetic alphabet. P Papa inserted in RUT for ‘routine’ after BANK for ‘fund’.
15 Yep, pie’s cooked — hurray!
YIPPEE
(YEP PIE)*
17 Condition a mother to accept son having time with husband
ASTHMA
Mamas and Papas centre stage this morning. An insertion of S, T and H in A MA.
20 Beginning to grasp wife in Los Angeles is faithful
STALWART
An insertion of W in LA, all inserted in START. The insertion indicators are ‘to grasp’ and ‘in’.
22 Very old city has a river enshrouded in mist
VAPOUR
Another insertion: of A PO for ‘a river’ in V and UR for the setters’ favourite ‘old city’.
23 Ganged up to repair drive
GET-UP-AND-GO
(GANGED UP TO)* Not sure I’d hyphenate this phrase, but that’s by the by.
24 Writer O’Brien is wild without measure
BIRO
Hectence is asking you to take EN out of ‘O’Brien’ and then make an anagram. An EN is a printer’s measure, and is half an EM. Tough clue for a Quiptic.
25 Bishop’s jurisdiction keeps soldiers’ quarter peaceful
SERENE
The bishop’s jurisdiction is a SEE. Put RE for Royal Engineers or ‘soldiers’ and N for one of the four ‘quarters’ of the compass in that, and you’ve got your answer.
26 Returning full-time university student’s after flat with lots going on
EVENTFUL
A charade of EVEN for ‘flat’, FT reversed, U and L for learner or ‘student’.
Down
1 In Paris I work on a ruddy odd quiz show
JEOPARDY
A charade of JE for the French word for ‘I’, OP for ‘work’ (short for ‘opus’) A and RDY for the odd letters of ‘ruddy’. It’s a US quiz show.
2 Fancy Welshman?
WHIM
W for ‘Welsh’ followed by HIM.
3 Home country’s far from the sea
INLAND
A charade of IN for ‘home’ and LAND.
4 Longing to get rid of cap on Sunday pay
EARNINGS
[Y]EARNING followed by S for ‘Sunday’.
5 Accidentally conspire, keeping quiet, with suppression of information
CENSORSHIP
An insertion of SH for ‘quiet!’ in (CONSPIRE)*
6 Stop soldier taking against English at university
GIVE UP
A charade of GI for ‘soldier’, V for ‘against’, E for ‘English’ and UP for ‘at university’.
8 Visit setter in horse yard
COME BY
An insertion of ME for ‘setter’ in COB followed by Y.
13 United Nations voting model’s within due process and corruption-free
UNPOLLUTED
A charade of UN, POLL and an insertion of T in (DUE)* The anagrind is ‘process’ and the ‘model’ is the model T Ford. Any colour you like, as long as it’s black.
16 Issues over group with a title
EMANATES
A reversal (‘over’) of SET A NAME.
18 Fish tanks losing large number is one of the signs of winter
AQUARIUS
AQUARIU[M]S, although posh folk like me would always say AQUARIA, dahling. M is the Roman numeral for one thousand, or a ‘large number’; and AQUARIUS is the sign for babies like me who were born in February, which is officially winter.
19 Street-ravaged dog takes on energy from pudding
STODGE
A charade of ST, (DOG)* and E. Not all puddings are STODGE.
21 Laugh at Penny leaving tent after drug’s brought in
TEE-HEE
The tent is a TEEPEE. Take P for ‘penny’ out of that and insert H for ‘heroin’ and you get TEE-HEE.
22 Carry out investigation about oil extract from flower
VIOLET
‘Carry out investigation’ is VET and IOL is an anagram of ‘oil’ Put one inside the other; but that would mean that ‘extract’ would have to be the anagrind, which I can’t see.
24 I quit bad habit in Somerset
BATH
Great surface, but some folk won’t like this. Firstly because it’s a bit convoluted for a puzzle designed for beginners, and secondly because ‘in Somerset’ as a definition of BATH doesn’t go down well in some circles. Whatever, it’s (HAB[I]T)* with ‘bad’ as the anagrind and ‘quit’ as the removal indicator.
Many thanks to Hectence for this morning’s puzzle.
Thanks to Hectence and Pierre. Agree with you AMELIA. In fact, I could not solve it. Still
I did enjoy the puzzle. Probably because I was in a good mood. See below.
Cheers (to the Seahawks)
having come to this after doing today’s two Rufus puzzles, I found it harder work, possible a bit tricky for a Quiptic. Will be interested to see what less experienced solvers made of it.
Thanks to Hectence and Pierre.
I agree with crypticsue (as always). I thought that this was, once again, harder than the daily Rufus puzzle, and I am surprised that it appears as a Quiptic. Although the vocabulary is pretty straightforward, and the general knowledge is undemanding, some of the cluing is, in my opinion, too difficult for any newbies, or less dedicated solvers, for whom the Quiptic is intended. While I solved ‘Amelia’, and parsed it as Pierre has, I thought that the clue would not have been out of place in a Mephisto, or similar.
Thanks, Pierre.
I agree with the above. This took me at least twice as long as today’s Rufus.
We used to see ELIA the essayist quite often but I thought the extra letters made this way too hard for a quiptic.
I thought the definition in 14ac was rather dodgy.
I suppose I’m feeling a bit grumpy because I spent a long time trying to parse EDNA for 24ac: I’d have applauded this great misdirection in a cryptic puzzle but this is a quiptic!
I agree that this puzzle had some clues that were unsuitable for a Quiptic. That isn’t to say that it was a poor puzzle, in fact quite the opposite, but it didn’t do what it said on the tin.
AMELIA was my LOI.
I wondered if 9ac was meant to be some sort of &lit, but I didn’t find any “foremost essayists” called Amelia (unless it’s Amelia Bloomer, who promoted the women’s trousers that are now called bloomers in her newspaper, but she seems too obscure). Agree it’s definitely too difficult for a Quiptic
Well, I thought it was easy, but then ground to a halt with about 3/4 done. Finished eventually with gadgets and guessing. If golf is a good walk spoilt, then this was a good Quiptic spoilt.