The Manchester City fan, guinea pig keeper and cinema lover returns to the Quiptic slot with a finely crafted puzzle designed for those just embarking on what will no doubt be a torrid affair with the cryptic arts. The jaded old punters who just want a quickie behind the bike shed will find some satisfaction here too.
A very pleasant challenge, with a good range of cryptic devices on display, plenty of smiles and some great surface readings.
Not all plain sailing either, at least for this solver: I had to scratch my head a little over ASSEMBLY, REFINE and KNIGHT.
I wonder if ON THE BLINK might become a female version of ON THE PULL?
| Across | ||
| 1 | RIPPLE | Wave of anger very softly breaks (6) |
| An insertion (breaks) of PP (very softly) in RILE (anger) | ||
| 4 | ASSEMBLY | Cleverly holds back room for military meeting (8) |
| ABLY (cleverly) around (holds) a reversal (back) of MESS (room for military) | ||
| 9 | DENIMS | Son dug around in work trousers (6) |
| A reversal (around) of S (son) and MINED (dug) | ||
| 10 | YODELLER | Singer of “Old Yeller” medley cut tearful ending (8) |
| An anagram (medley) of OLD YELLER minus (cut) one of the letter Ls (tearful ending) | ||
| 11 | SCANDALMONGERS | Gossips with lad congressman abandoned (14) |
| An anagram (abandoned) of LAD CONGRESSMAN | ||
| 13 | FIELD EVENT | Perhaps hammer other competitors, having energy to let off steam? (5,5) |
| FIELD (other competitors) plus (having) E (energy) VENT (to let off steam) | ||
| 14 | PERI | Fairy can be seen in superimposed photo (4) |
| An answer hidden in (can be seen in) suPERImposed | ||
| 16 | CASK | Note request for drink container (4) |
| C (note, a musical one) ASK (request) | ||
| 18 | ON THE BLINK | Fluttering the eyelashes is not working! (2,3,5) |
| A cryptic definition. If you are fluttering your eyelashes, you might be said to be on the blink | ||
| 21 | I BEG YOUR PARDON | What? Setter’s to ask for solver’s forgiveness? (1,3,4,6) |
| A cryptic-ish definition. I (the setter, Hectence) plus (‘s = has) BEG (to ask for) YOUR (the solver’s) PARDON (forgiveness) | ||
| 23 | NOTEBOOK | Pad for jotting down the score? (8) |
| A cryptic definition. The score here is a musical one. The pad on which composers write their music might be described as a note book | ||
| 24 | REFINE | Strain regarding charge for misdemeanour (6) |
| RE (regarding) FINE (charge for misdemeanour) | ||
| 25 | LARGESSE | Great character reportedly gives generous donation (8) |
| A homophone (reportedly ) of LARGE (great) ESSE (character, or letter S) | ||
| 26 | KNIGHT | Think about welcoming good man (6) |
| A reversal (about) of THINK (think) containing (welcoming) G (good) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | RUDE | Goody-goody with top off becomes bawdy! (4) |
| PRUDE (goody-goody) minus its first letter (with top off) | ||
| 2 | PANACHE | Dash to toilet with chronic pain (7) |
| PAN (toilet) plus (with) ACHE (chronic pain) | ||
| 3 | LEMONADE | Drink‘s a bit of a problem on a demo (8) |
| An answer hidden in (a bit of) probLEM ON A DEmo | ||
| 5 | SHOWMANSHIP | Usher chap on to vessel with dramatic flair (11) |
| SHOW (usher) MAN (chap) plus (on to) SHIP (vessel) | ||
| 6 | EYEING | Contemplating, for example, holding on to the old home (6) |
| EG (for example) around (holding on to) YE (the old) IN (home) | ||
| 7 | BELIEVE | Have faith in bishop and priest the day before (7) |
| B (bishop) plus (and) ELI (priest) EVE (the day before) | ||
| 8 | YARDSTICK | American gardens get check for standard (9) |
| YARDS (American gadens) plus (get) TICK (check) | ||
| 12 | ADVENTUROUS | Foreign tour in rickety used van is reckless (11) |
| An anagram (foreign) of TOUR contained in (in) another anagram (rickety) of USED VAN | ||
| 13 | FICTIONAL | If raised caught on Scottish island, long for make-believe! (9) |
| A reversal (raised) of IF, CT (caught) plus (on) IONA (Scottish island) L (long) | ||
| 15 | ABERDEEN | Want soldiers to get degree up in Scottish university (8) |
| A reversal (up) of NEED (want) RE (soldiers, Royal Engineers) plus (to get) BA (degree) | ||
| 17 | SWEATER | One’s hot in a thick jumper (7) |
| A double definition. One’s hot = SWEATER, a thick jumper = SWEATER | ||
| 19 | IRONING | First person to call about working is pressing (7) |
| I (first person, gramatically speaking) RING (to call) containing (about) ON (working) | ||
| 20 | BYE-BYE | Trader’s call echoes for so long (3-3) |
| I’m not completely sure how to parse this, but it’s a homophone of BUY BUY (the trader’s call). I assume ‘echoes’ serves as the homophone indicator and perhaps also as a repetition indicator, i.e. you sound BUY twice | ||
| 22 | KEPT | Cared for king’s naughty pet (4) |
| K (king) plus (‘s = has) an anagram (naughty) of PET | ||
Thanks Hectence & nms.
Largely good as a Quiptic although one or two tricky ones. I did like FIELD EVENT.
I was once told by an esteemed crossword editor that no redundant words should be inserted in an ha (e.g. photo in 14)
Thanks nms,
A well-constructed puzzle from Hectence although a lot easier than his/her previous settings.
LARGESSE made me smile and I also liked SCANDALMONGERS (good anagram), KNIGHT (took a bit of
figuring out), PANACHE and LEMONADE (well hidden). The last two in were ASSEMBLY and SHOWMANSHIP
where the SHOW was a long time coming although I don’t know why.
I thought this was just right for a Quiptic so well done Hectence.
Was I the only one who (wrongly) thought that “dungos” was the anagram at 9a?
Thanks for blogging, nms. Your preamble made me laugh.
Yes, Gasmanjack, I too flirted with DUNGOS for 9ac, but it turned out not to be a word. I was another who liked PANACHE.
Brava, Hectence – good Quiptic fare.
I, too, thought ‘dungos’ might be a slang word for dungarees.
I think I may have opined in the past that Hectence’s Quiptics were harder than Quiptics were supposed to be, but this one felt just about spot on. However, like Robi@1 I did raise an eyebrow over the superfluous “photo” in the clue for 14ac.
Another trying dungos, thanks NMS2 and Heckers. Enjoyed that.
As others said a fine Quiptic, yet I still think it’s at the top end.
Two quibbles (but there’s a lot right too!).
The aforementioned use of ‘photo’ in 14ac.
Also, the use of L for ‘long’.
Now that may seem an obvious abbreviation but actually it’s not, at least not one in its own right.
Chambers doesn’t support this, nor do Oxford and (my) Collins.
Thanks newmarketsausage for your clear blog.
Sil @ 8
You’re right that none of Oxford, Collins or Chambers supports L = long. But it’s in Chambers XWD, Chambers Crossword Dictionary and Bradford’s Crossword Solver’s Dictionary. That suggests it has some currency in crosswordland.
On the question of the ‘superfluous’ word in the PERI clue, I think it’s just a question of approach as to whether you clue hidden answers in that way or not (always assuming it’s not unfair to the solver, that is).