(Please click here for this same blog but with a picture quiz added. Please do NOT post hereinbelow any comment relating to the picture quiz. Thank you.) Another enjoyable Quiptic from Hectence, thank you. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Sailor has a plan to hoard (4,4)
SALT AWAY : SALT(a sailor) plus(has) A + WAY(a plan;a method of doing).
5 Co-ordinate on shop floor (6)
STOREY : Y(one of the coordinates defining a point in space) placed after(on, in an across clue) STORE(a shop selling merchandise).
Defn: … in a building. The word that I grew up with, but now almost totally replaced by “story”, just as “ground floor” is now the first story, and what used to be called the “first floor” is now the second story.
9 Privileged, having permit to go round Virgin Islands (8)
ENVIABLE : ENABLE(to give the means or opportunity to someone to do something – I’m not sure it is synonymous with someone having permission to do something) containing(to go round) VI(abbrev. for the Virgin Islands).
10 Babble audible instruction to woman boxer? (6)
JABBER : Homophone of(audible) “jab her”(possibly an instruction to a woman boxer to punch her female opponent).
12 Notices endless liver etc on soldiers’ menus (5,2,4)
BILLS OF FARE : BILLS(a printed notice;a poster) + “offal”(an animal’s internal parts, like liver, etc.) minus its last letter (endless …) plus(on) RE(abbrev. for the Royal Engineers, the engineering branch of the British Army).
15 Satisfies group with a small return (5)
SATES : Reversal of(… return) [ SET(a group of related things) plus(with) A + S(abbrev. for “small”) ].
17 Struggle with violent crime mags (9)
SCRIMMAGE : Anagram of(violent) CRIME MAGS.
18 Look at trace of colour on lid (9)
EYESHADOW : EYE(to look at) + SHADOW(a trace, as in “without a shadow of a doubt”).
Defn: …, eyelid, that is.
… more than a trace I’d say.
19 Elbow number’s due out around 3rd August (5)
NUDGE : N(abbrev. for “number”) + anagram of(… out) DUE containing(around) the 3rd letter of(3rd) “August “.
20 Party too hard and undergo vile transformation! (11)
OVERINDULGE : Anagram of(… transformation) UNDERGO VILE.
24 Out of character to withdraw Facebook approval? (6)
UNLIKE : Double defn.
25 Party in farmland is charming (8)
ADORABLE : DO(a party;a social function) contained in(in) ARABLE(farmland;land fit for cultivation).
26 Agree dyspepsia’s part of being gluttonous (6)
GREEDY : Hidden in(…’s part) “Agree dyspepsia “.
27 Criminal eyed swag on one side (8)
EDGEWAYS : Anagram of(Criminal) EYED SWAG.
Down
1 Gradually lad with nothing to lose breaks into dance moves (4,2,4)
STEP BY STEP : “boy”(a lad) minus(with … to lose) “o”(letter representing 0;nothing) contained in(breaks into) STEPS(dance moves).
2 Duck landlady’s declaration of affection (4,6)
LOVE LETTER : LOVE(0 points in tennis scores, and in turn, 0 runs in cricket is a duck) + LETTER(a landlady;one who lets out her property).
3 Collect from a church service (5)
AMASS : A + MASS(a church service).
4 Everything on untidy sofa dude originally needed in a rush (3,2,1,6)
ALL OF A SUDDEN : ALL(everything) placed above(on, in a down clue) anagram of(untidy) SOFA DUDE + the 1st letter of(originally) “needed “.
6 “Up” arrow points people to retailers (9)
TRADESMEN : Reversal of(“Up”, in a down clue) DART(a missile similar to an arrow) + S,E(abbrev. for the 2 compass points, south and east) + MEN(people in general, or about half of them).
7 Old boy’s in short red dressing gown (4)
ROBE : OB(abbrev. for “old boy”) contained in(…’s in) [ “red ” minus its last letter(short …) ].
8 Tale has a twisted thread (4)
YARN : Double defn.
11 Managed to overturn argument, having cared it’s bigoted (6-6)
NARROW-MINDED : Reversal of(… to overturn, in a down clue) RAN(managed, say, an organisation) + ROW(an argument) plus(having) MINDED(cared, as in “she minded being treated like that”).
13 Holder of lights and cable designed by artist (10)
CANDELABRA : Anagram of(… designed) AND CABLE plus(by) RA(post-nominal letters for a member of the Royal Academy of Arts, an artist).
(On re-reading, I’ve just noticed that the answer is a plural noun, while the definition is singular.)
14 Compose nerves, not very easy initially, and head for tranquillity (10)
SERENENESS : Anagram of(Compose) “nerves” minus(not) “v”(abbrev. for “very”) + the 1st letter of(… initially) “easy ” plus(and) NESS(a headland;a cape).
16 Youngster gets train joke (9)
SCHOOLKID : SCHOOL(to train;to instruct) + KID(to joke;to tease)
21 Lament daughter’s finally leaving in anger (5)
DIRGE : D(abbrev. for “daughter”) plus(‘s;has) the last letter of(finally) “leaving ” contained in(in) IRE(anger).
22 Bribe stopper? (4)
BUNG : Double defn.
23 Note student regularly uses gum (4)
GLUE : G(a note in the musical scale) + L(plate displayed by a student driver) + the 1st and 3rd letters of(regularly) “uses “.
(Please do NOT post hereinbelow any comment relating to the picture quiz. Thank you.)
Thanks Hectence and scchua
As is frequently the case, I found this harder than the Rufus in the main paper; however for once not as enjoyable. Perfectly sound crossword, but no real smiles.
I made a slow start, but once the first few answers were in place, the rest went in smoothly. My favourite was STEP BY STEP.
Thanks, Hectence and scchua.
In the relatively short time I have been trying the Quiptics I have found Hectence to be one of the tougher setters. The same proved true today, but all seemed fair.
“Bills of fare” and “school kid” we’re my favourites. The plural / singular clue / solution of “candelabra” was pause for thought, but as per scchua’s illustration one candelabra holds many lights.
Thanks to Hectence and scchua.
Thanks Hectence and scchua.
I also found this harder than Rufus today. Was tempted to put ‘stripling’ in at 16d, but of course it would not parse.
Favourites were BILLS OF FARE, STEP BY STEP and NARROW MINDED.
Thanks Hectence & scchua.
I found this easier than today’s Rufus and thought it was perfect for a Quiptic.
I slowed down a bit in the NE corner – I liked STOREY when I got it. I also liked JABBER and BILLS OF FARE
Just what a Quiptic should be, in my opinion. Gentle and scrupulously fair.
Chambers says that candelabra is used as a “false singular”. I think that it’s very common to refer to the single object that holds multiple candles as “a candelabra”.
Indeed, a perfectly sound crossword.
Perhaps harder than the Orlandos and Moleys of the world.
It took me relatively long to complete.
Just one example, 14d:
One might also think that V[ery] E[asy] should be removed from ‘nerves’ and that ‘head for tranquility’ could be T, and that ‘Compose’ is perhaps the definition.
Even if that leads to nothing, I think the fact that parsing the construction needs a bit of extra thinking, may be too much for a Quiptic learner.
That said, there was a lot right.
A pity that Hectence didn’t write ‘3rd of August’ instead of ‘3rd August’ in 19ac, to avoid infuriating the absolute Ximeneans.
Many thanks to Hectence, and to scchua for the blog.
Thank you scchua,
I managed to finish it, but a fair few were guesses from the definitions and crossers – the constructions in many of the clues were beyond my modest abilities – eg BILLS OF FARE.
I’m still scratching my head on STEP BY STEP. I can see above how you can get STEP(BY)S but I can’t see where the final TEP comes from?
matrixmania, it is B[o]Y inside STEP & STEP (dance moves).
Took me a while of staring at it to realise that SERENENESS wasn’t in fact SE-RE-NE-NESS.