Quiptic 841 by Hectence

by

Phew. Not a bit of leftover turkey or a stale mince pie in sight.

Instead a puzzle from this site’s favourite guinea pig fancier that provides much needed mental stimulation for a brain still numb from overindulgence of various kinds.

Compliments of the season to everyone. Here’s to many happy solving hours in the year ahead.

Across
1 LIBRARY
Book place and sign on line (7)

LIBRA (sign) next to (on) RY (line = railway). Nice clue that completely defeated me
5 AMNESIA
Doctor means to take contents of vial for memory loss (7)

An anagram (doctor) of MEANS next to (to take) IA the inner letters (contents of) [v]IA[L]
10 IMPART
One politician has skill to communicate (6)

I (one) MP (politician) next to (has) ART (skill)
11 ATTITUDE
Pose with a model bird due to fly (8)

A (a) T (model) TIT (bird) plus an anagram (to fly) of DUE
12 AIR
Blow the cobwebs away with song (3)

A double definition. Blow the cobwebs away = AIR. Song = AIR
13 ANSWER
Article points us to right solution (6)

A (article) NS (points of the compass) WE (us) next to (to) R (right)
14 GOVERNOR
Chief justice minister’s car keeps on coming back (8)

GOVE (justice minister) next to (‘s = has) RR (car, Rolls-Royce) containing (keeping) a reversal (coming back) of ON
15 ZEBRA
Crossing place for African animal? (5)

A cryptic (ish) definition
16 WITTICISM
Silly twit in charge is initially mystified by repartee (9)

An anagram (silly) of TWIT, IC (in charge) IS (is) M (initially, i.e. the first letter of, mystified)
19 MOUSTACHE
Have to admit zero pain from growth on lip (9)

MUST (have to) containing (admit) O (zero) ACHE (pain)
21 SNACK
Put last bun in bag — it will keep you going until mealtime (5)

An insertion (put … in) of N (last letter of bun) in SACK (bag)
24 REINEDIN
Checked reported noise from shower? (6,2)

A homophone (reported) of RAIN DIN (noise from shower)
26 AMUSED
When letter from Athens comes in, editor’s kept busy (6)

An insertion (comes in) of MU (letter from Athens) in AS (when) plus ED (editor)
27 TUT
Sound disapproving of short ballet dress (3)

TUTU (ballet dress) with the last letter removed (short)
28 PRACTISE
Rehearse scene in lift (8)

I assume this is an insertion of ACT (scene) in PRISE (lift), although I’m not sure I’m completely convinced by prise = lift
29 HERMIT
One wanting solitude gets it on small Channel Island (6)

IT (it) following (on) HERM (one of the Channel Islands)
30 ANARCHY
Canary flapping round her head causes chaos (7)

An anagram (flapping) of CANARY containing (round) H (the first letter or ‘head’ of her). Nice image
31 SMIRKED
Sniggered about girl and caused annoyance (7)

A reversal (about) of MS (girl) plus (and) IRKED (caused annoyance)
Down
2 IMMENSE
Tremendous, when single chaps embrace married state’s limits (7)

I (single) MEN (chaps) containing (embrace) M (married) SE (the first and last letters, or limits, of state)
3 ROADWORKS
M25, say, has mechanism for carriageway repairs (9)

ROAD (M25, say) plus (has) WORKS (mechanism)
4 ROTARY
Cyclical work timetable has disheartened Rosemary (6)

ROTA (work timetable) plus (has) RY (the first and last letters, disheatened, of Rosemary)
6 MOTIVATE
Encourage to provide Vimto and tea (8)

An anagram (to provide) of VIMTO and TEA
7 ENTER
Come into some barren terrain (5)

An answer hidden in (some) barrEN TERrain
8 INDOORS
No way out with these in the house? (7)

A cryptic (ish) definition
9 BARGAINHUNTER
One’s hoping for a good deal from pub with hunting era style (7,6)

BAR (pub) plus (with) an anagram (style) of HUNTING ERA
17 CONQUEROR
Study question and make mistake about old king’s title (9)

CON (study) QU (question) plus (and) ERR (make mistake) around (about) O (old)
18 SANDWICH
Quick meal in Kentish Town (8)

A double definition. Quick meal = SANDWICH. Kentish town = SANDWICH
20 OVERRUN
Go on too long and micro-manage? (7)

A cryptic (ish) definition: if you over run something you might be said to be micro-managing it
22 CREVICE
Split with church over king’s depravity (7)

CE (church) containing (over) R (king) next to (‘s = has) VICE (depravity)
23 FATHOM
Understand obese Frenchman losing condition (6)

FAT (obese) HOMME (Frenchman) minus ME (losing condition = myalgic encephalopathy)
25 NICER
Northern wild rice is tastier (5)

N (northern) plus an anagram (wild) of RICE

13 comments on “Quiptic 841 by Hectence”

  2. How many kinds of overindulgence are there, nms? I think we should be told.

    Hectence has given us some fine Quiptics this year, and this was another of them. One or two tricky ones, certainly; but the grid was very generous. I didn’t help myself by slapping in GATHER for 23dn (when in doubt, read the clue …) I couldn’t parse GOVERNOR, but on seeing your explanation, I understand why: any mention of Michael GOVE just sends my brain into lockdown trying to pretend that he never happened. I thought REINED IN and ANARCHY were particularly good.

    All best wishes for 2016 to Quiptic setters, bloggers, contributors and lurkers.

  3. Thanks Hectence and newmarketsausage.

    I was wondering what the “us” was doing in 13a since all the “points” were there, NSWE.
    WITTICISM, REINED IN and ANARCHY among others were fun.

    Happy New Year to everyone.

  4. Kathryn’s Dad – another level of overindulgence is reached when your anniversary is on the 20th, your son’s birthday is on the 25th (as well as Jesus), and your own birthday is on the 29th!

    Thanks for the blog newmarketsausage. Like Cookie I also missed ‘us’ in ANSWER. And to me, ZEBRA was double def-ish?

    I hadn’t seen ‘to provide’ as an anagram indicator before – as in MOTIVATE – but will stow that away for future reference.

    Seasons greetings everyone!

  5. [Happy birthday tomorrow, matrixmania. Same as my sister’s – you aren’t her, are you? No, didn’t think so!]

  6. I found this on the easier end of the Quiptic range, but with a lot of nice clues.

    Thanks, Hectence and nms, and Happy New Year to all.

    [Re. too much indulgence: DH is from a Polish family. Like a lot of Europeans, the Poles have their main celebration on Christmas Eve, not Christmas Day, so we have Wigilia on the 24th and my take on the traditional British Christmas on the 25th. Then DH’s birthday is on New Year’s Eve …]

  7. Jennyk @6, my youngest son was born on Christmas Eve in Switzerland, the same day as the birthday of the wife of our English neighbour there – that year he gave her one ski boot for her birthday, the other ski boot for a present on Christmas Day, she was furious!

  8. Cookie @7
    🙂 I don’t blame her! It always seems unfair when people with birthdays close to Christmas get everything lumped together – no separate presents, no separate parties. On the other hand, perhaps a pair of ski boots would have cost too much for a single present, so if the two gifting opportunities hadn’t been so close together she might not have received the boots at all – and how much worse if she had had to wait until summer for the second one.

  9. Could someone please explain why Kentish Town = Sandwich? I tried to google it and this very page was basically the first thing that came up…

  11. I can see why the confusion arises over Kentish Town. You immediately think of the area of London with that name but to get to the answer you have to read ‘Kentish Town’ as meaning ‘a town in Kent’.

    There is a distinction sometimes made between ‘a Kentish man’ and ‘a man of Kent’, which one you are depending on which bit of the county you were born in (I think).

    But whether the clue here plays into that distinction I don’t know.

  12. nms @11
    I think that a man from Sandwich would it fact be a “Man of Kent” rather than a Kentish man, though I don’t know if the same distinction is made with towns. I thought that it referred to east of the Medway, but this article claims that that isn’t quite accurate (click on link 9 in the contents):

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Kent

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