Quiptic 881 by Provis

15 comments on “Quiptic 881 by Provis”

1. Thanks for the blog, nms.
   I enjoyed this but found it tougher than today’s Rufus. In a couple of instances I spent too much time trying to make an abbreviation fit when the full word was required – ROAD instead of RD and PIANO instead of P. It’s funny how one’s brain slips into “crossword mode” and you can’t see the wood for the trees.

2. Thanks Provis and nms

   Very good crossword, but far from easy – slots should be swapped with today’s Rufus!

3. I thought this was on the whole easier than today’s Rufus, which had a couple of obscure terms/cryptic definitions, but like matrixmania @1, I also got stuck trying to figure out what else went with the P in 18 ac.

   I especially liked the surface of 8 down.

4. Thanks both. Good stuff, a relief after last week!
   A pedant writes: a DIMMER SWITCH reduces voltage, but I suppose a consequence of this is that the current reduces too.

5. Thank you Provis and newmarketsausage.

   This was most enjoyable and I found it easier than Rufus today.

   I take it that the HE for “ambassador” at 26a stands for His Excellency?

   I had “He doesn’t believe” as the definition of HUMANIST, an adherent of “humanism” – COED “an outlook or system of thought concerned with human rather than divine or supernatural matters”.

   MONARCHY was great!

6. I too found this harder than today’s Rufus

   I could not parse 1d and 6d and had to think quite a bit after solving 26, 19d and 18a

   My favourites were TROJAN WAR, LIVE WITH, MONARCHY

   Thanks nms and Provis

7. @5, or Her Excellency, apologies…

8. Good Quiptic I thought. Thanks Provis and nms.

   I didn’t have any problem with the ‘quietly’ in 18 as I got the UPRIGHT first.

   I liked the current desire reducer.

9. I found this to be an excellent quiptic.

   I think Cookie @5 is right about HUMANIST. For one thing, the &lit interpretation doesn’t seem to lead to a correct definition: a humanist certainly can believe that our species is at the top.

10. Despite Cookie @5 am not too happy with humanist as a non-believer. Here’s a definition of Christian humanism: “Christian humanism is the belief that human freedom, individual conscience, and unencumbered rational inquiry are compatible with the practice of Christianity or even intrinsic in its doctrine. It represents a philosophical union of Christian faith and classical humanist principles.” OTOH, humanists are more likely to believe humans are top of the table than, say, posthumanists.

11. I don’t usually bother with the Quiptic but Rufus was easier than usual(!)
    so I thought I’d try it out. Rather nice and rather more difficult than the
    aforsaid.
    A nice gentle solve.
    Thanks Provis.

12. Fine Quiptic, I thought.

    I parsed HUMANIST in exactly the same way as Cookie. It’s not an &lit: the definition is ‘he doesn’t believe’ and the parsing is as nms has indicated. By definition, humanists don’t believe in a deity, so ‘Christian humanist’ is an oxymoron. I’ve sat on the local city council SACRE as the humanist representative for the past five years, so I feel qualified to comment.

    Thanks to nms for the blog, and to Provis for the puzzle.

13. On the question of the definition in the HUMANIST clue, it would seem we have a choice of two, both rather unsatisfactory.

    We could take the definition as ‘He doesn’t believe’. This is unsatisfactory as humanism is a system of thought in which (presumably) humanists do in fact believe.

    Or we could take the whole clue as the definition: ‘He doesn’t believe our species is top of the table’. I don’t know much about humanism but this would seem a rather odd definition. But of the two choices, this morning I preferred this one.

    I would be happier with something like ‘non-believer’ since that means someone with no belief in a deity. I’m not sure ‘he doesn’t believe’ carries the same meaning.

14. A more appropriate Quiptic this week. I don’t have a problem with “he doesn’t believe” as being equivalent to saying he is a “non-believer”, whereas I don’t think a “system of thought” is the same thing as a “belief”.

    Thanks, Provis and nms.

15. As to the level of difficulty, this was perhaps towards the higher end of the needs of ‘those improving’.
    But a good crossword that fully lives up to what a Quiptic(+) should be.
    It would also deserve a Monday or Tuesday spot in the daily paper.
    If Nutmeg and, recently, Pan can be promoted, why can’t Provis?
    Apart from Orlando, she is perhaps the best of all the Quiptic setters.
    Well, that’s what I think.

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