Bonjour. Thank goodness January is over. Slightly terse blog this morning, because I’m on a bit of a mission with work commitments. But good stuff from Moley – what did you think?
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Foolish crook sells cue
CLUELESS
(SELLS CUE)*
5 Tumult at centre of break up blonde initialised
HUBBUB
A charade of HUB and the first three letters of ‘break up blonde’.
9 Plants discussed by extras in the entertainment industry
RHUBARBS
Allegedly, to make background noise in a film, extras would say ‘rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb’.
10 Energetic move: four get the point
ACTIVE
A charade of ACT, IV and E for a ‘point’ of the compass.
12 Lie over, for example, in Belgian city
LIÈGE
An insertion of EG in LIE.
13 Extraordinary ardour nun showed for the chase
RUNAROUND
(ARDOUR NUN)* Nuns don’t do ardour, in my experience. Except for the Almighty, of course, but he’s already spoken for.
14 International standard for players’ performance on the sports field
CONCERT PITCH
A charade of CONCERT and PITCH gives you the standard for tuning orchestral instruments. I think the modern convention is to use the A above middle C to tune from.
18 Funding a lift perhaps results in petty criticism
FAULT-FINDING
(FUNDING A LIFT)*
21 English male’s Byronic twist at the very beginning
EMBRYONIC
A charade of E, M and (BYRONIC)*
23 Projection torn apart by hothead
THORN
I think this works by inserting H for the first letter of ‘hot’ in TORN.
24 Scramble data for company in dire need
ENCODE
An insertion of CO in (NEED)* with ‘dire’ as the anagrind.
25 I am after unusually brittle operatic books
LIBRETTI
(BRITTLE)* plus I.
26 Scrap damaged lute outside craft
TUSSLE
An insertion of SS for ‘craft’ in (LUTE)*
27 Unpalatable order: lie in bed
INEDIBLE
(LIE IN BED)*
Down
1 Homer’s enchantress kept pupil in orbit
CIRCLE
An insertion of L for learner or ‘pupil’ in CIRCE. CIRCE was a character in Homer’s Odyssey. Bit of a flirt by all accounts.
2 New peacekeepers employed
UNUSED
A charade of UN and USED.
3 Omits pages that are dated
LEAVES OUT
A charade of LEAVES for ‘pages’ and OUT.
4 Deductions for bus con artist crashed
SUBTRACTIONS
(BUS CON ARTIST)*
6 Recluse, leaving the Home Counties, turned up with an abscess
ULCER
The ‘Home Counties’ is setter-speak for South-East; so if you get rid of SE from ‘recluse’ you’ve got RECLU; reverse that and there you go.
7 Blocks Britain’s one quest, irrationally
BRIQUETS
A charade of BR, I and (QUEST)* I fancy I might spell it BRIQUETTE, but dictionaries give both. Used for lighting your fire, in our house at least. And, like many a word in English, it comes from the French.
8 The bards travelled repeatedly from side to side
BREADTHS
(THE BARDS)* but I think ‘travelled’ is doing double duty, isn’t it?
11 Induction split: possibly rot set in at the launch
INTRODUCTION
An insertion of (ROT)* in INDUCTION.
15 Pierced, cut and pruned badly
PUNCTURED
(CUT PRUNED)*
16 Time and again, best three-quarters appear most frequently
OFTENEST
Is this really a word? Looks a bit ugly to me. A charade of OFTEN and EST for 75% of bEST.
17 Dismiss rugby team members due to lack of funds
CUTBACKS
More rugby. I think Moley is being whimsical: if you dismissed rugby team members then you’d CUT BACKS because you didn’t have enough funds to pay them. A question mark might have been favourite.
19 Bang up to date, but turned up in Bath
HOT TUB
A charade of HOT for ‘bang up to date’ and BUT reversed.
20 Motor to part of England, in Essex at first
ENGINE
Naughty, naughty, because you’re not telling me how much of a ‘part’ of ‘England’ you want me to use. It’s ENGland plus IN plus E for the first letter of ‘Essex’.
22 Unknown poem for student to warble
YODEL
A charade of Y for the mathematical ‘unknown’, ODE and L for learner or ‘student’ for the second time in the down clues.
Many thanks to Moley for this morning’s Quiptic.
Thanks Pierre and Moley
A very good quiptic. However I don’t think the clue for THORN works – the definition is loose, and “by hothead” implied to me that the word would finish (or possibly start) with H; in fact I tentatively tried NORTH first (projection as relating to maps?)
I think this is well-pitched for the Quiptic slot. If I was to quibble, the “Byronic” anagram was too obvious (just 2 letters switched) so the answer leapt out at me before I even read the clue properly, but that is very minor quibble for a Quiptic. I think I’ve only seen the BRIQUETte spelling, but as dictionaries show both spellings I can’t complain about that.
Pierre, for BREADTHS,I would count “travelled” as part of the wordplay, but not the definition. I think “from side to side” is enough to give BREADTH, and “repeatedly” indicates the plural, but the concept of BREADTH doesn’t require movement. Also, nuns often feel “ardour” about causes which are important to them, and sometimes about each other or visiting males.
muffin @1
Yes, taken on its own, “by hothead” suggests the H is at the end, so I too originally looked at “North”, thinking of map projections. However I think the whole wordplay “torn apart by hothead” does suggest inclusion, though that would require “torn” to do double duty. Whether just “apart by hothead” is enough to indicate that the H breaks up the T/ORN, I’m less sure.
Thanks, Moley and Pierre.
Thanks Moley & Pierre. A good Quiptic.
I agree with jennyk @2 about BREADTHS. Widths is used for swimming pool distances, so I guess BREADTHS is OK. I forgot the enchantress but she soon became apparent. What a strange word HUBBUB is. According to the OED, it is related to an Irish expression and ‘Compare Gaelic ub! ub! ubub! an interj. of aversion or contempt.’ BTW does everyone know that you can access the OED online for free if your local library has a subscription (which it probably does.) Just put in [COUNTY NAME], followed by your member number to log in.
Thanks Moley and Pierre
For 27 I question equating inedible and unpalatable. Some people find brussels sprouts unpalatable but they are not inedible. I consider toadstools to be inedible but i have no desire to find out if they afe unpalatable.
For 22 I wonder whether yodelling is the same as warbling. However I am sure someone more learned than me can clarify this.
Thanks Moley and Pierre.
Just right for the Quiptic, and fun. I remember for crowd scenes in school plays we were told to keep saying “RHUBARB”. Oftenest might look ugly, but it is in the COED. CONCERT PITCH and CUTBACKS were good!
kevin @4, I hope the warblers that will come into my garden from Switzerland this spring will not start yodelling…