A fine Quiptic from Provis today, I thought. Clear cluing in a solver-friendly grid. What’s not to like?
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Use force to stop street amplifier working
STAMP ON
A charade of ST, AMP and ON.
5 Detectives come back during lunch, possibly for a health check
MEDICAL
A reversal of CID for ‘detectives’ in MEAL.
9 Inclined to be unproductive by the end of a shift
LEANT
A charade of LEAN and T for the last letter of ‘shift’.
10 Prospect of surviving flying bomb requires skill
VIABILITY
A charade of VI for V1, the ‘flying bomb’ and ABILITY.
11 Still constipated?
MOTIONLESS
A rather amusing dd.
12 Plan is almost perfect
IDEA
IDEA[L]
14 Ban on leaving home for break after euro has collapsed
HOUSE ARREST
A charade of (EURO HAS)* and REST.
18 Frightened popular boy I went out with
INTIMIDATED
A charade of IN, TIM and I DATED.
21 Manage business with quiet efficiency, initially
COPE
A charade of CO, P for the musical ‘quiet’ and E for the first letter of ‘efficiency’.
22 Amazing stamp I possess briefly
IMPRESSIVE
A charade of IMPRESS and I’VE for I HAVE or ‘I possess briefly’.
25 Scotsman takes a long time to follow Latin modes of expression
LANGUAGES
An insertion of AGE in ANGUS, all following L for ‘Latin’. A Scotsman who isn’t IAN? I think we need to refer this clue to the authorities.
26 Trevor is endlessly backsliding in public
OVERT
The setter is asking you to reverse Trevor after losing the last letter.
27 Was sick and miserable after losing first point
RETCHED
[W]RETCHED
28 Lets her move to sanctuary
SHELTER
(LETS HER)*
Down
1 Bad omens about opening of looted grave
SOLEMN
An insertion of L for the first letter of ‘looted’ in (OMENS)*
2 Expects a delay close to Paris
AWAITS
A charade of A, WAIT and S for the last letter of ‘Paris’.
3 Disgraced member conceals hoax in support of position
PUT TO SHAME
An insertion of SHAM for ‘hoax’ in TOE for ‘member’ which is all ‘supporting’ PUT for ‘position’. Only works because it’s a down clue.
4 Story of knight’s unhappy love
NOVEL
A charade of N for the chess ‘knight’ and (LOVE)*
5 Statesmen fiddled financial assessment
MEANS TEST
(STATESMEN)*
6 Pathetic person finally shed tear
DRIP
A charade of D for the final letter of ‘shed’ and RIP.
7 Doctor captured in foreign country with a number of kids
CHILDREN
An insertion of DR in CHILE followed by N for ‘a number’.
8 To destroy part of display was terrible
LAY WASTE
Hidden in dispLAY WAS TErrible.
13 Incline to misplaced pride over son’s stance
PREDISPOSE
A charade of (PRIDE)*, S and POSE.
15 Extremely uncommon mother got old without suffering impairment
UNDAMAGED
A charade of UN for the outside letters of ‘uncommon’, DAM for the horsey mother, and AGED for ‘got old’.
16 Advertisement relating to a band
CIRCULAR
A dd.
17 Hurry up and get unexpected set point
STEP ON IT
(SET POINT)*
19 Show how to get there without having to change trains
DIRECT
Another dd.
20 Punter is completely recovered
BETTER
And another.
23 Dangers of topless capers
RISKS
[F]RISKS
24 Urge mum to turn up in advance
PUSH
My last one in, since I often struggle with these pesky four-letter solutions. It’s SH for ‘mum’ preceded by a reversal of UP. Good clue.
Thank you to Provis for this one.
Thank you Provis and Pierre.
I found this easier to solve than the Cryptic today, just perfect for the Quiptic slot. I was fooled by the Scotsman, thought at first that it meant “LANG” for “long”. VIABILITY and MEANS TEST were great and LAY WASTE well hidden.
typo, HOUSE ARREST definition just “ban on leaving home”.
A good Quiptic with a lot of nice surfaces – too many to pick favourites. Thanks, Provis and Pierre.
I am not sure whether the Quiptic is still a genre of its own, or just an extra weekly crossword set by a small pool of setters and only available online.
But if the Quiptic still is what it was meant to be, years ago, then Provis has it spot on.
Immaculate clueing, very accessible, nice surfaces, good variety of devices, never too tricky.
For some perhaps a bit too clean or even boring.
However, I prefer this style to one in which a setter is constantly walking along the borders of Crosswordland.
Excellent stuff.
Sil van den Hoek @3
The Quiptic index web page still describes it as “A web-only, cryptic puzzle for beginners and those in a hurry”, so I would say it is still intended as a separate genre.
Sil @3, I don’t think the solvers the Quiptic crossword is set for would find this boring, it is such a pleasure to be able to complete the solve.
jennyk @4: then it’s time to get rid of one or two Quiptic compilers, don’t you think so? Or is that too harsh?.
Cookie @5: fully agree, make no mistake, but I do think some more experienced Guardian solvers would find Provis’ style not exciting enough if she were to set a daily.
[btw, I am quite happy if they gave her the opportunity, just like the FT did]
Sil van den Hoek @6
I do think so. Only last week I posted that:
“the Guardian should choose setters capable of adjusting to the brief. By all means give new ones a reasonable trial (the new-ish Everyman took a while to find the right level), but if they keep producing puzzles which the consensus says are quite good but far too hard for the slot, move them to the regular Cryptics.”
As to whether any or all of the setters that you or I might have in mind would be any more suited to the regular Cryptic role, there is so much disagreement over the current pool of Cryptic setters that I doubt that there would be any consensus on that.
I thought that this was on the more difficult end of the “quick and easy” scale. I found it easier to solve than to parse. I was unable to parse the IVE in 22a, the V1 in 10a (never heard of any flying bombs), and also I did not pick up on the second part of the dd in 19d.
My favourites were INTIMIDATED, RISKS, PUSH, MOTIONLESS, SOLEMN.
for 11ac I tried to work it out with a pencil (as the old joke goes… 😉 )