Guardian Quiptic 835 with Picture Quiz

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(Please post comments on ONLY the picture quiz hereinbelow.  To post comments on the crossword puzzle, please click here.)  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“.

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The following pictures have unidentified links to the puzzle.

  

(Please post comments on ONLY the picture quiz hereinbelow. To post comments on the crossword puzzle, please click here.)

52 comments on “Guardian Quiptic 835 with Picture Quiz”

  2. I don’t know if this is a misprint, but Project Gutenberg has this Edward Lear poem:

    There was a Young Lady whose bonnet,
    Came untied when the birds SATE upon it;
    But she said, “I don’t care!
    All the birds in the air
    Are welcome to sit on my bonnet!”

  10. I take it that Project Gutenberg’s “sate” is a misprint, then! It seems to be in the right verse – the birds in the hat one. 🙂

    SALT looks good, Shirl.

  11. Shirl, yes, a Roman soldier was a key character in the answer.
    muffin, it’s another nonsense verse that’s the answer.

  12. There are a lot more hits on Google for “sate” than for “sat” in the poem. Does anyone have a printed version to check?

  13. One of the verses of The Akond of Swat goes

    Does he sing or whistle, JABBER or talk,
    And when riding abroad does he gallop or walk,
    oe trot,
    The Akond of Swat?

  14. Well, there’s JABBERwocky, but that’s Lewis Carroll, not Lear…………..

    Incidentally, Lear was a fine illustrator, and provided pictures of birds for learned works.

  15. ………..and the Akond of Swat was a real person. He had just been on a state visit to LOndon when Lear wrote his rather impolite poem.

  17. You’re right, muffin, it is Lewis Carroll’s nonsense verse, JABBERwocky (the pic was meant to be a defn. by example).
    Pic1…One of his kind was a key character in …

  19. “The ROBE” was a film about the crucifixion. I think it was the one where John Wayne, as a Roman soldier, had to say the line “Surely he was the son of God”. The director instructed “Put a bit more awe in it, John.”

    “Awwwww, surely he was the son of God.”!

  21. You nailed it muffin: pic 1) suggests the military tribune Marcellus (Richard Burton) in 1953 movie ‘the ROBE’

  22. Right, muffin. It was the novel and movie The ROBE. But your story may or may not be true, since the Roman soldier was played by none other than Richard Burton, and John Wayne was not in the movie (which I remember watching).

  29. Pic 2, there is also Hilaire Belloc’s “Moral Alphabet” in his “Cautionary Tales”, which are rather nonsensical, but there have already been several JABBER answers.

  38. Have now found a short list of composers who used the B-A-C-H motif, but no mass is listed. Bach himself often used it, especially in the base. Apparently there are 409 works by 330 composers from the 17th to 20th century who used the motif – perhaps one of them is A MASS.

  40. pic 4: There was an Old Man of Nepaul,
    From his horse had a terrible fall;
    But, though split quite in two,
    By some very strong GLUE,
    They mended that Man of Nepaul.

    Wherever Nepaul is.

  41. Lear’s ornithological illustrations are incredible. The effort involved must’ve been why he did his nonsense stuff.

    In the film Getting Straight (1970) it is stated that the limerick is the most important verse form in English. I think that’s right,everyone can understand the principle and have a go a producing them.

  42. Of course, my favourite ones are the “anti-Limericks”. I have had people threaten to hit me after I’ve recited this one:

    There is a young poet of Wick,
    Whose verse is unpleasant and sick,
    He distorts and deforms,
    All conventional norms.

  44. If you want wrong limericks the best ever caused a bit of a fuss

    There was a young lady from Bude
    Who went for a swim in the lake
    A man in a punt
    Stuck his pole in her ear
    And said “You can’t swim here, it’s private”

  45. There was a young curate of Salisbury,
    Whose manners were quite halisbury-scalisbury,
    He ran around Hampshire,
    Without any Pampshire,
    ‘Til the Vicar compelled him to walisbury.

    (Explanation later, if required!)

  47. Pic 4: Nonsense poems – A Sea DIRGE by Lewis Carroll
    And in WS Gilbert’s Nightmare Song there are TRADESMEN that can be planted to produce their wares

  52. Yes, thanks scchua. I look in on these occasionally and am always surprised at how difficult they are with the connections so remote and convoluted. A crossword setter using similar connections would be way out of my league too. Is there a reason why you set these at the “very difficult to impossible” level rather than something more approachable? I think your audience would be larger if we had a chance of guessing one occasionally. I got one once, which is perhaps why I come back, but that was the only time.

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