Hectence returns to the Quiptic slot with a puzzle that provides the old grey matter with a decent Monday morning workout.
There are some tasty morsels for us, her admiring guinea pigs, to chew on, but some took a little bit of reaching and slid down a little less readily than others. Some nice surface readings, though, and an enjoyable start to the cryptic week.
| Across | ||
| 1 | BUMPY |
Not even member gets cut into deal (5)
An insertion (gets cut into) of MP (member) into BUY (deal) |
| 4 | QUANDARY |
When in Paris, young artist goes round in a state of confusion (8)
QUAND (when in Paris, i.e. French word for ‘when’) followed by a reversal (goes round) of Y (young) and RA (artist) |
| 8 | TAKE A FIRM STAND |
Be determined to damn fake artist’s work (4,1,4,5)
An anagram (work) of DAMN FAKE ARTIST |
| 10 | ENHANCED |
Trained and hence improved (8)
An anagram (trained) of AND HENCE |
| 11 | BROWSE |
Graze first of ewes on hilltops (6)
BROWS (hilltops) followed by (on) E (first of ewes, i.e. first letter of) |
| 12 | SUSPICION |
Doubt wandering cousins receive letter in Greece (9)
An insertion (receive) of PI (Greek letter) into an anagram (wandering) of COUSINS |
| 15 | ERODE |
Grind down shaft to fit between points (5)
An insertion (to fit between) of ROD (shaft) into E and E (points, i.e. of the compass) |
| 17 | OCEAN |
Oscar’s told to keep away from the sea (5)
O (Oscar) followed by (‘s = has) a homophone (told) of SHUN (to keep away from) |
| 18 | GROTTIEST |
Most squalid cave’s briefly on site tour (9)
GROTTO (cave minus its last letter, i.e. briefly) next to (on) an anagram (tour) of SITE |
| 19 | CHERRY |
Weep over girl’s fruit (6)
CRY (weep) containing (over) HER (girl’s) |
| 21 | BLACK EYE |
Baron’s minion has key sign of a blow to the head (5,3)
B (baron) next to (‘s = has) LACKEY (minion) next to (has) E (key) |
| 24 | STINGING NETTLE |
Ripping off bug from weed (8,6)
STINGING (ripping off) NETTLE (bug) |
| 25 | BAREFOOT |
Photo of era basically shows characters raised without shoes (8)
An answer hidden in reverse (shows characters raised) in ptoto of era basically. You would more usually find ‘raised’ indicating reversal in a down clue |
| 26 | TASKS |
Volunteers large number to divide ship’s chores (5)
TA (volunteers) followed by an insertion (to divide) of K (large number, i.e. 1,000) in SS (ship) |
| Down | ||
| 1 | BUTTERSCOTCH |
Sweet-talks cavalry leader into mess (12)
An insertion (into) of UTTERS (talks) and C (cavalry leader, i.e. first letter of) into BOTCH (mess) |
| 2 | MAKE HASTE |
Hurry up and master preparation of the sake (4,5)
MA (master) followed by an anagram (preparation of) THE SAKE |
| 3 | YEARN |
Long time before last train (5)
YEAR (time) preceding (before) N (last train, i.e. last letter of) |
| 4 | QUIVERING |
Tremulous setter’s introduced into Queen’s circle (9)
An insertion (introduced into) of IVE (setter’s = setter has = I have = I’VE) into QU (queen) and RING (circle) |
| 5 | ARMY |
Force to marry heartless rogue (4)
An anagram (rogue) of MARRY minus its middle letter (heartless), i.e. R |
| 6 | DETERGENT |
Dead EastEnder’s first and last good man in soap (9)
D (dead) followed by the first and last letters of EAST = ET and ENDER = ER, all followed by GENT (good man) |
| 7 | RENEW |
Extend library loan of rare Banks’ novel (5)
First and last letters (banks) of RARE follwed by NEW (novel) |
| 9 | NEVERTHELESS |
After all, even shelters get vandalised (12)
An anagram (get vandalised) of EVEN SHELTERS |
| 13 | IGNORANCE |
Can collapse into slight stupidity (9)
An insertion (into) of an anagram (collapse) of CAN into IGNORE (slight) |
| 14 | NEON LIGHT |
Bright sign takes energy working long into dark (4,5)
An insertion (into) of E (energy), ON (working) and L (long) into NIGHT (dark) |
| 16 | OMELETTES |
Dish allowed to be fixed up on ’ouse (9)
OME (‘ouse) followed by (on) LET (allowed) and a reversal (up) of SET (fixed) |
| 20 | EXTRA |
Bonus for person in film (5)
A double definition. Bonus = EXTRA. Person in film = EXTRA |
| 22 | CLEFT |
Close opening to sinister chasm (5)
C (close opening, i.e. first letter of) next to (to) LEFT (sinister) |
| 23 | LIMO |
Car could be stretched to limit when it’s out on circuit (4)
Not entirely sure what we should take the definition to be here. Does ‘could be stretched’ form part of it (the reference being to a stretch limo)? For the second half of the clue we have (I think) LIM (limit minus the letters IT, i.e. when it’s out) on top of (on) O (circuit) |
I thought this puzzle had some tricky cluing and was probably more worthy of a regular slot than the Quiptic. A good example is the separation of sweet and talks that is needed for the definition and wordplay of BUTTERSCOTCH to work.
nms – it might help newbies more if your explanation for the “quand” in QUANDARY said something like “French for when” to demonstrate the cryptic nature of “when in Paris”.
Thanks both. Good stuff here. Shame about 25a not being a down clue, and shouldn’t 16d be “dishes”?
An enjoyable start for the week, but I do have some reservations. I agree with Andy B @1. My example would be the need to split “EastEnders” for “first and last” to work for DETERGENT. I also agree with Shirl @2 about “dishes”. I’m not happy with the homonym in 17a. For me, the vowel in the second syllable of OCEAN is a schwa, and I can’t come up with a sentence in which the vowel in “shun” would be.
For 23a, I see Car could be stretched as the definition.
I don’t have any particular favourites, but there are a lot of nice surfaces.
Thanks to Hectence and nms.
Thanks Hectence and nms
My favourite was BUTTERSCOTCH.
I also thought that 25a works better as a down clue, and for me the definition of LIMO is “car could be stretched”.
I too wondered about OMELETTES = dish. It doesn’t seem quite right. On the other hand you can’t really deny that omelettes are a dish.
Are word splits appropriate for the Quiptic? I’m no longer a regular Guardian solver but my impression is that they’re becoming much more common in the daily cryptic. If that’s the case, I think it’s OK for a Quiptic to introduce beginning solvers to a device they will encounter quite often if they graduate to the cryptic.
Having said that, there are probably easier ways to use the device than Hectence has given us here.
Tricky for a Quiptic, but at this point it feels like that’s basically a given – the slot has simply become “the non-Rufus”. Lovely puzzle from Hectence, as ever.
The parsing of 1d totally escaped me – I saw “butters” (sweet-talks) and “scotch” (mess, as in “scotched”), and completely failed to find any way to put these together. Thanks, nms
Tricky for a Quiptic?
Probably, also relatively tricky for a daily.
I didn’t find this easy at all.
As others said, ‘raised’ in 25ac is really not right.
‘Last train’ for N (in 3d) is not my cup of tea.
It’s an example of a style of clueing that some setters (a clear minority!) use but that’s not in my crossword book.
I also question, once more (yes, I did it before), L for ‘long’ (14d).
However, there will always be someone who comes up with a counterexample – unfortunately, I never saw one that makes full sense.
The use of ‘on’ in both 18ac and 16d is not in line with what it ‘normally’ is.
In an Across clue “A on B” could work either way even if the preferred way is “B+A”.
However, in a Down clue such as 16d “A on B” is nearly always “A+B”.
Hectence’s justification may lie in the word ‘nearly’ in the previous sentence.
In my opinion, ‘EastEnder’s first and last’ for ET,ER is unfair.
A split like this I’ve never seen before.
If one accepts this, one should also accept ‘timetable’s first and last’ leading to TE,TE.
I, for one, will not.
Now it may look that I found this a bad puzzle but that’s not the case.
There was plenty to enjoy.
Among many more, I liked BUTTERSCOTCH (1d) – yes, also a split but of a completely different order than the one in 6d.
Many thanks to Hectence for quite a challenging puzzle.
And to nms for the blog.
I must confess I don’t know where long = L comes from. It’s in Chambers XWD and Chambers Crossword Dictionary, which suggests it has some currency, but it’s not in Chambers itself. Nor is it in Oxford or Collins online.
On the EastEnder’s clue I’m not sure I’d say it’s unfair. Difficult, yes. Out of place in a Quiptic, possibly. But apart from the word split itself, is there anything much to quarrel with?
To me there is, nms.
One can split a word in many places (although I agree that for EastEnder a logical split would be East/Ender – that is, if you want to split).
And then applying the same device to both unspecified ‘halves’ is at least one step too far for me.
For me, ‘EastEnder’s first and last’ means E,R.
Splitting words in two is typical Guardian stuff that’s going on for years now.
Usually both parts are then treated separately, e.g. one as part of the definition, the other as fodder.
But not here.
If that were the case, one could have had for ‘East/Ender’s first and last’: E (for East) + E[nde]R.
As I said, this kind of split I haven’t seen before.
It’s not the split as such that’s the problem here (well, it’s part of it) but what to do with it afterwards.
The device might lead to a quartet of letters [how do I know? do I need four more letters?], however not to a unique quartet of letters.
That aside, as I showed above, it can also lead to two or three letters!
I really think it’s unfair (even in Guardian terms) though others may disagree.
L for ‘long’ is (used to be?) used by the clothing industry when sizing, for example, off-the-peg suits or jackets. It’s been a long while since I bought one but they used to be labelled 38L, 38R or 38S for a chest measurement of 38″ and a height indication of Long, Regular or Short.
@Gaufrid
Thanks for that. You still see 38L on jacket sizes to indicate 38 Long, as opposed to 38R (Regular) and 38S (Short). So it might be that.
But neither R = regular or S = short is in Chambers XWD. (Not that you can necessarily expect consistency of treatment where abbreviations are concerned.)
@Sil
You quite often see [A][B] ultimately or [A][B] initially to indicate that the first or last letters of both A and B are to be taken. Isn’t what we have here the same, except that we’re taking both the first and the last letters?
As far as word splits go, you can either accept them or not. I’m happy with them.
What I personally don’t like is to have to split a word to find the definition (as in the BUTTERSCOTCH clue). I like my defs to be in plain sight.
L for LONG has also been used in computer languages for decades to indicate the precision used to store numbers. So 1 might be stored as a 32 bit number (if that is the default), 1L as a 64 bit number. The precise bit sizes have varied over the decades but you get the idea.
Loads of kids learn this stuff nowadays.
Agree, nms, with what you say about ‘multiple fodders’.
The problem here, however, is that (a) the fodders are not separated (which it normally is – I challenge to come up with a counterexample!), and (b) the separation is not uniquely defined and so for the solution.
As I said before, I am not against separation as such.
Philistine, Boatman, Shed, a lot of a setters do it – often adding to the fun.
‘Shed and Boatman at heart’ for HE,N,T is fine.
But I object to something like ‘Boatman at heart’ giving me OAA, i.e. [b]OA[t]/[m]A[n].
That’s what’s happening here.
Thank you, Gaufrid (and Derek) for at long last giving a proper justification for L = long.
I am sure I have seen S = short in crosswords too.
Remains the question why it is not in any dictionary nor in The Times list of abbreviations (as Paul B once said at this place).
(which it normally is – I challenge to come up with a counterexample!)
… which they normally are – I challenge anyone to come up with a counterexample! …
I do see what you’re getting at, Sil. Like you I’m not sure I’ve seen a word split used in this way before. It’s certainly unusual. And given that a lot of crossword usages are sanctioned by convention as much as anything else, perhaps unusual can mean unfair.
But once you’ve seen the need to split the word, everything falls nicely into place. Or so it seems to me, at any rate.
I guess this comes down to the way the programme is officially written. I.e., EastEnders (with the capital letter in the middle you can make a case for it being two words run together). This doesn’t really work with a word like boatman.
I think it is quite ingenious.
Why not?
Boat/man is also the most ‘logical’ split – just like East/Enders is (indeed).
Only because of the capital E?
That is if you want to split.
For purists the clue leads to E,R.
For more Libertarian or Guardianesque solvers E,E,R and (ok,then) E,T,E,R are just as acceptable.
Too much of a choice for me, certainly when the most debatable of the options has to be chosen.
And why? Because I need four more letters, so let’s do this?
Unusual, ingenious, call it what you want.
Really, no problem.
I prefer to have my own opinion on this ‘device’.