[If you’re attending York S&B please see comments 32&33] - here
According to the Guardian website, Provis has only appeared twice before today, once in February and once in April. At that time I wasn’t solving the Quiptic on a regular basis and so this was my first encounter with this setter and therefore I didn’t know what to expect.
Because I was going to be blogging this puzzle, I decided to deviate from my usual practice of either starting at the end and working backwards, or progressing round the first answer entered into the grid, and went through the clues in the order presented.
The result of this was a nearly completed grid at the end of my first pass through the clues, only four across clues and one down one needed a revisit. This indicates to me that the puzzle achieved its intended aim of being quick and suitable for beginners.
Across
8 Normal to live for a drink (8)
BEVERAGE – BE (to live) replacing (for) the a in [a]VERAGE (normal)
9 Crumble away, stored in zero degrees (5)
ERODE – hidden in (stored in) ‘zERO DEgrees’
10 Determination shown by Belgian surrealist deserted by mate (4)
GRIT – [ma]GRIT[te] (Belgian surrealist deserted by mate) – this artist
11 Panic sales surprisingly show a very slow rate (6,4)
SNAIL’S PACE – an anagram (surprisingly) of PANIC SALES
12 Influenced mum to copy daughter (6)
SHAPED – SH (mum) APE (copy) D (daughter)
14 Rumble princess’s disguise (8)
DISCOVER – DI’S (princess’s) COVER (disguise)
15 Extraordinary alliance between UN and America, semi-casual (7)
UNUSUAL – UN US (America) [cas]UAL (semi-casual)
17 Suitor is married, unfortunately (7)
ADMIRER – an anagram (unfortunately) of MARRIED
20 Type of calculation where 500+4 = 10+9, initially (8)
DIVISION – D (500) IV (4) IS (=) IO (10) N[ine] (9, initially)
22 Favour dubious free voting system first (6)
PREFER – PR (voting system {proportional representation}) + an anagram (dubious) of FREE
23 Disgraceful lad cons USA jockey (10)
SCANDALOUS – an anagram (jockey) of LAD CONS USA
24 Clothing bearing a quality mark? (4)
KITE – KIT (clothing) E (bearing)
25 Complete introductions to the other teams at Lord’s (5)
TOTAL – initial letters of (introductions to) T[he] O[ther] T[eams] A[t] L[ord’s]
26 Advocate tea with politician before motion to abolish vehicle test (8)
CHAMPION – CHA (tea) MP (politician ) [mot]ION (motion to abolish vehicle test)
Down
1 Become threadbare in the raw wind (4,4)
WEAR THIN – an anagram (wind) of IN THE RAW
2 Cried when you and I had games lessons (4)
WEPT – WE (you and I) PT (games lessons)
3 Produced vehicle almost second-hand (6)
CAUSED – CA[r] (vehicle almost) USED (second-hand)
4 About to draw up final accounts for payouts (7)
REWARDS – RE (about) DRAW reversed (up) [account]S (final accounts)
5 Accomplished lies are definitely beginning to work (8)
REALISED – an anagram (to work) of LIES ARE D[efinitely]
6 Firm undertaking following money settlement (10)
COMPROMISE – CO (firm) M (money) PROMISE (undertaking)
7 Recover signal after short break (6)
RESCUE – RES[t] (short break) CUE (signal)
13 Strongly committed to stick around southern Scottish island (10)
PASSIONATE – PASTE (stick) around S (southern) IONA (Scottish island)
16 Friendly taxi takes a long way round (8)
AMICABLE – A MILE (a long way) around CAB (taxi)
18 Voting is an elite con anyway (8)
ELECTION – an anagram (anyway) of ELITE CON
19 Bill, once separated, is able to sing well (7)
INVOICE – when split (once separated) this becomes IN VOICE (is able to sing well)
21 Can be seen audibly to provoke (6)
INCITE – a homophone (audibly) of ‘in sight’ (can be seen)
22 A type of order to announce the French uprising (6)
POSTAL – POST (announce) LA (the French) reversed (uprising)
24 Held on to record secured by knight (4)
KEPT – EP (record) in (secured by) KT (knight)
Thanks, Gaufrid. Agree with you – just right for a Quiptic, even though the grid wasn’t super friendly.
I thought there were some nice touches here: I specially liked KITE and when I finally saw it, INVOICE.
Well done Provis.
I enjoyed this puzzle much more than today’s cryptic. In general, I agree that this one fitted the bill for a Quiptic, though 8a and 20a could be regarded as a bit ‘A’ level.
I hope that beginners and improvers, for whom the Quiptic is intended, will find the puzzle fun and stimulating, and that it will encourage them to move onwards, even if a couple of clues need explanation.
I agree that the clues for BEVERAGE and DIVISION were probably a little harder than the others. I thought this was an excellent example of what a Quiptic puzzle should be.
Thanks Provis, better than today’s Rufus.
Thanks Gaufrid; I see that m=money is in Chambers, but I can’t think of the context. It doesn’t seem to be in Collins, which is normally quite reliable on abbreviations.
I had to use a word search for BEVERAGE, so it couldn’t have been that easy – or maybe it’s just a bad day for me. 🙁