A fine Quiptic from Moley to get us off to a good start to the cryptic crossword week. She has given us concise but precise cluing; good surfaces; and a nice variety of reference material. And the sun is shining (here at least). Life is good.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
7 Oscar’s dice scattered around cup that is full
OCCUPIED
A charade of O for the phonetic alphabet ‘Oscar’, and (DICE)* around CUP.
9 Doctor and I in an old Italian house
MEDICI
A charade of MEDIC and I gives you the old Italian family (often referred to as The House of Medici) who started out in Florence in the 13th century and whose support of the arts is said to have made Florence the cradle of the Renaissance.
10 Grabbed first bit of the duck — all right?
TOOK
A charade of T for the first letter of ‘the’, O for the cricket ‘duck’ and OK.
11 Think cable’s repaired, so able to pay
IN THE BLACK
(THINK CABLE)* with ‘repaired’ as the anagrind.
12 Preserve Virginia’s painting
CANVAS
A charade of CAN for ‘preserve’ and VA’S for ‘Virginia’s’.
14 Altered its speed for lateral movement
SIDESTEP
(ITS SPEED)*
15 Prosperity unknown to plutocrats
WEALTHY
A charade of WEALTH and Y for a mathematical ‘unknown’.
17 Damaging publicity to serve indiscriminately
ADVERSE
A charade of AD and (SERVE)*
20 Professor, a bounder, tortured mice
ACADEMIC
A charade of A CAD and (MICE)*
22 Snooze with top covering fake tan
CATNAP
An insertion of (TAN)* in CAP.
23 Put a stop to yen for a tree
SCOTCH PINE
A charade of SCOTCH for ‘put a stop to’ (usually rumours) and PINE for ‘yen’.
24 City in California needed empty acres
LAND
A charade of LA for the Californian city and ND, which is N[EEDE]D.
25 Wind up again and spring back
RECOIL
A dd.
26 Pilot at a given diversion
NAVIGATE
(AT A GIVEN)*
Down
1 Honour first two hundred over new deal
ACCOLADE
A charade of A, CC, O for a cricket ‘over’ and (DEAL)* I’m not keen on A for ‘first’ (letter of the alphabet) or Z for ‘last’, but I’d better get over myself because setters use this device frequently.
2 Money found in Fatty Arbuckle’s pocket?
BUCK
Hidden in ArBUCKle. Fatty Arbuckle was an American silent film actor, although of course you didn’t need to know that to solve the clue.
3 Appreciate its figures
DIGITS
DIG for ‘appreciate’ followed by ITS.
4 Firmly included English physician’s daughter in rewritten deed
EMBEDDED
My LOI, although that’s my muppetry rather than Moley’s poor cluing. It’s E for ‘English’, MB for ‘physician’ and D in (DEED)*
5 Do cleanest changeovers for a youngster
ADOLESCENT
(DO CLEANEST)*
6 At first, ideal candidate in charming lime ensemble was cold and sharp
ICICLE
The first letters of Ideal Candidate In Charming Lime Ensemble.
8 Hate being tested randomly
DETEST
(TESTED)*
13 Proof from new violin data
VALIDATION
(VIOLIN DATA)*
16 Family backing for a council employee
HOME HELP
A charade of HOME for ‘family’ and HELP for ‘backing’. The clue is sound, but I rather fancy that HOME HELP as a ‘council employee’ is rather outdated these days, since most of what they used to do has been contracted out to the private sector. With varying degrees of success.
18 Stand still! Deer never attack the elderly, for starters
STAGNATE
A charade of STAG and NATE for the first letters (‘starters’) of Never Attack The Elderly.
19 Movement in first part of play has no retrospective
ACTION
ACT 1 (I) plus NO reversed.
21 Prestige for tricky catch about Elizabeth
CACHET
An insertion of E in (CATCH)* The setter can get away with this because E for Elizabeth is part of ER for Elizabeth Regina.
22 Separate stick
CLEAVE
This is one of those stupid verbs that has two entirely opposite meanings, so it’s a dd.
24 Carry partner’s toboggan
LUGE
A charade of LUG for ‘carry’ and E for a (bridge) ‘partner’.
Many thanks to Moley for this morning’s Quiptic.
A very nice Quiptic, as expected from this setter, though I have the same quibble about HOME HELP as a council employee. EMBEDDED was my LOI too, as I needed all the crossers.
Thanks, Moley and Pierre.
Thank you Moley and Pierre.
An enjoyable Quiptic, nothing too difficult. I particularly liked MEDICI, IN THE BLACK, CANVAS, EMBEDDED, ICICLE and DIGITS!
New for me was SCOTCH PINE.
My favourite was DIGITS (LOI)
Thanks Pierre and Moley
Nice puzzle, perfect for the Quiptic.
I have an objection to clues like the one for WEALTHY. Dividing it into WEALTH + Y is how the word “wealthy” is constructed in the first place, and the word WEALTH is not defined in a way that is any different from how it’s defined as a component of WEALTHY. In other words, the clue’s wordplay basically did nothing transformative.
Okay, it’s a Quiptic so I can’t complain that loudly. It is, after all, an easy clue, which is rather the point of a Quiptic.
We have HOME HELP here in the U.S., but we don’t call it that (not exactly; they’re home healthcare aides, even if the aid provided is not strictly healthcare). So I needed all the crossing letters before I got it.
mrpenney @4
I had the same reaction to WEALTHY but, like you, I felt it was just about acceptable in a Quiptic.
Your US “home healthcare aides” sound more like our home care workers, who provide personal care such as bathing and getting meals, though they aren’t allowed to do ‘medical’ tasks. We used to put my mother’s medication into a pill dispenser box but they weren’t allowed to take them out for her even when her hands were very shaky. All they were allowed to do was hand her the box. In my experience, home helps usually only do housework, no personal care.
Thanks moley and Pierre
After whizzing through today’s Orlando, I thought I would come back to this (missed when I was away) to compare difficulty. Sure enough, this was harder.
“Partner” for E is very loose, though bridge references are common enough in crosswords.
SCOTCH PINE is a solecism – the only things “scotch” are whisky and mist. The correct name is SCOTS PINE.