Provis has had a colourful career.
‘Tramping, begging, thieving, working sometimes when I could— … a bit of a poacher, a bit of a labourer, a bit of a waggoner, a bit of a haymaker, a bit of a hawker, a bit of most things that don’t pay and lead to trouble … ‘
Now employed as a crossword compiler, she has provided us this morning with a nicely-judged and very accessible Quiptic. It certainly left this solver with a smile on his face and a spring in his step.
An extremely enjoyable start to the cryptic week.
| Across | ||
| 9 | EMOTIONAL | Switch to email on moving (9) |
| An anagram (switch) of TO EMAIL ON | ||
| 10 | SAUCY | State imprisons upper-class Tory as impudent (5) |
| SAY (state) containing (imprisons) U (upper class) C (Tory = Conservative) | ||
| 11 | TRAFFIC | Trade tariff wrongly calculated at the outset (7) |
| An anagram (wrongly) of TARIFF plus C (calculated at the outset = first letter of calculated) | ||
| 12 | TEARSUP | Pasteur beaten to shreds (5,2) |
| An anagram (beaten) of PASTEUR | ||
| 13 | EPIC | Awesome digital image? (4) |
| A digital image might be an ‘e-pic’ | ||
| 14 | COMPLACENT | Too satisfied with firm’s first Manchester location not being empty (10) |
| CO (firm) next to (‘s = has) M (first Manchester) PLACE (location) NT (not being empty, i.e. NOT with the middle letter removed | ||
| 16 | FINANCE | Acceptable to frame African politicians for money (7) |
| FINE (acceptable) containing (to frame) ANC (African politicians) | ||
| 17 | WRESTLE | Break the French after Western struggle (7) |
| REST (break) LE (the French) following (after) W (western) | ||
| 19 | RECLAIMING | Getting back to being on the dole again? (10) |
| A double definition. RECLAIMING = getting back. RECLAIMING = being on the dole again | ||
| 22 | SARI | Appears in what’s a risqué garment (4) |
| An answer hidden in what’S A RIsque | ||
| 24 | CERTAIN | Could be dead start to afternoon at home for sure (7) |
| CERT (could be dead. Ref to the phrase ‘dead cert’) A (start to afternoon) IN (at home) | ||
| 25 | FREESIA | Delivers lilac regularly as a flower (7) |
| FREES (delivers) IA (lilac regularly, i.e. letters 2 and 4 of lilac) | ||
| 26 | STEAL | Take wickets finally with a duck (5) |
| S (wickets finally) plus (with) TEAL (a duck) | ||
| 27 | CELESTIAL | Divine girl ensnares established lecturer (9) |
| CELIA (girl) containing (ensnares) EST (established) L (lecturer) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | WEATHERFORECAST | Survive predicted widespread storms, possibly (7,8) |
| WEATHER (survive) FORECAST (predicted) | ||
| 2 | DONATION | Act corruptly in Nato for the present (8) |
| DO (act) plus an anagram (corruptly) of IN NATO | ||
| 3 | BIFFS | Blows very loudly during encore (5) |
| An insertion of FF (very loudly) in (during) BIS (encore) | ||
| 4 | ANECDOTE | Account in which one acted badly (8) |
| An anagram (badly) of ONE ACTED | ||
| 5 | FLYTIP | Sympathy recedes after extremely foul dump (3-3) |
| A reversal (recedes) of PITY (sympathy) following (after) FL (extremely foul = first and last letters of foul) | ||
| 6 | ESCALATES | Resolved cases receive overdue increases (9) |
| An anagram (resolved) of CASES containing (receive) LATE (overdue) | ||
| 7 | PURSUE | Take action to support quiet closure of caribou reindeer hunt (6) |
| SUE (take action) below (to support) P (quiet) UR (closure of = last letters of caribou and reindeer) | ||
| 8 | SYMPATHETICALLY | Initially speak about my poor friend with feeling (15) |
| S (initially speak) a reversal (about) of MY PATHETIC (poor) ALLY (friend) | ||
| 15 | INCAPABLE | Leap in cab awkwardly, helplessly drunk (9) |
| An anagram (awkwardly) of LEAP IN CAB | ||
| 17 | WINDFALL | Current drop in unexpected income (8) |
| WIND (current) FALL (drop) | ||
| 18 | TRANSMIT | Pass on characteristic involving, primarily, nose, skull and mouth (8) |
| TRAIT (characteristic) containing (involving) N, S and M (the first letters = primarily of nose, skull and mouth) | ||
| 20 | CAREER | Worry about overturning progress (6) |
| CARE (worry) plus a reversal (overturning) of RE (about) | ||
| 21 | MENACE | Threat makes people join a church (6) |
| MEN (people) next to (join) A (a) CE (church) | ||
| 23 | TEASE | Time to let up being a wind-up merchant (5) |
| T (time) EASE (to let up) | ||
Thanks Provis and nms
Pleasant enough, but I didn’t enjoy as much as you obviously did, nms.
Isn’t “dead cert” a contraction of “dead certain” anyway?
A nice puzzle to start the week, better judged than some recent Quiptics.
Thanks, Provis and nms.
muffinn @1
According to the Oxford Dictionaries web site and other online sources, “cert” in “dead cert” is a contraction of “certainty”. Using it as part of the wordplay for CERTAIN feels a little awkward, but I suppose it works.
Thanks jennyk
Yes, just a bit awkward.
Thank you Provis and newmarketsausage.
A lovely Quiptic crossword. FLY-TIP and WIND-UP MERCHANT were new terms to me, and I did not know that BIS was also used for an ‘encore’ in English (I live in France).
Thanks, newmarketsausage. I think this is the first Provis puzzle I’ve come across, and I enjoyed it.
Cookie @5: I don’t think BIS is used by English-speaking audiences. I’ve never heard it in a theatre or opera house. But it is also a musical direction, meaning “to be repeated,” so I think it’s fair enough.
Miche @6, thanks, I was wondering…
Of course, in France, “bis” used to mean “bison fute” (wily bison), their equivalent of “holiday route”. Do these signs still appear, Cookie?
[muffin, yes, especially in the summer holidays (or during roadworks etc.), only problem is that the GPS systems do not take them into account. We used to work out our own routes before departing, but now I am contented to stay home!]
Very enjoyable. By no means easy, but it was totally fair and showcased a variety of different clue styles. Great for beginners to learn from. ‘Bis’ was also new for me but will duly add to my crossword vocabulary. Thanks for the blog nms.