Pan is a regular in the Quiptic slot, but this is his (?) third appearance on the Cryptic sde. As on previous occasions, many (perhaps most) of the clues were of Quiptic standard, but there’s nothing wrong with an easier puzzle now and again to encourage beginners. Thanks to Pan.
| Across | ||||||||
| 1. | SHANDY | Alexander drinking hot drink (6) H in Sandy |
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| 4. | MADDER | Dye produced from male snake (6) M + ADDER – madder is a dye made from plants of the genus Rubia |
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| 9. | HEMP | Cannabis grown by extremely hirsute politician (4) H[irsut]E + MP |
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| 10. | PLATE GLASS | Priest with sorry tale meets good girl that’s seen in shop window (5,5) P + TALE* + G + LASS |
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| 11. | ANGELS | English slang confused divine messengers (6) E + SLANG* |
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| 12. | DELEGATE | Retired editor and member dined with representative (8) Reverse of ED + LEG (member) + ATE |
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| 13. | SMALL TALK | Follow someone round shopping centre for chit-chat (5,4) MALL in STALK |
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| 15. | STYE | Son yet to burst swelling (4) S + YET* |
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| 16. | SAVE | Rescue second bit of cork from wine (4) SOAVE (Italian wine) less [c]O[rk] |
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| 17. | SNARE DRUM | South American admitting new crime over instrument (5,4) N in SA + reverse of MURDER |
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| 21. | SHRAPNEL | Shell ruined her plans (8) (HER PLANS)* – I’m no military expert, but surely shrapnel is what a shell produces rather thean the shell itself |
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| 22. | VENICE | Mostly sell diamonds to Italian city (6) VEN[D] + ICE |
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| 24. | FISHMONGER | Handler of sea creatures mistreated his frogmen (10) (HIS FROGMEN)* |
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| 25. | RUNG | Called for part of ladder (4) Double definition |
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| 26. | KENNEL | Navy twice entering part of ship where animals are kept (6) N twice in KEEL |
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| 27. | HERESY | Present leaders of synod display non-conformist belief (6) HERE (present) + SY[nod] |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1. | STERNUM | Strict master leaves relative a bone (7) STERN + [M]UM |
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| 2. | APPLE | Fruit in bottom of skip covered by pale bananas (5) [SHI]P in PALE* |
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| 3. | DEPOSIT | Place for dopiest criminal? (7) DOPIEST* |
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| 5. | AREOLA | Pigmented circle of plant artist rejected (6) Reverse of ALOE + RA |
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| 6. | DELIGHTED | Very happy to be blonde indeed! (9) LIGHT “in DEED” |
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| 7. | ROSETTE | Prize claimed by retro setters (7) Hidden in retRO SETTErs |
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| 8. | DADDY-LONG-LEGS | Insect found by very tall parent? (5-4-4) Double definition – I believe this refers to a kind of spider in the US, but over here it’s definitely an insect |
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| 14. | LEVIATHAN | Massive thing lit a haven development (9) (LIT A HAVEN)* |
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| 16. | SCHTICK | Familiar routine in school getting mark of approval (7) SCH + TICK – a Yiddish word (properly spelt “shtik”) meaning “a familiar routine… adopted by, and associated with, a comedian, etc” |
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| 18. | REVERIE | Dreamy piece of music written by clergyman on lake (7) REV + ERIE |
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| 19. | UNCANNY | Weird coincidence initially covered up by university childminder (7) C[oincidence] in U NANNY |
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| 20. | SNOOZE | One’s agitated about small amount of sleep (6) OZ (ounce, small amount) in ONES* |
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| 23. | NERVE | Thinner vegan eating sauce (5) Hidden in thinNER VEgan. Sauce/nerve in the sense of cheek |
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Wow – talk about a write-in! I don’t think I’ve finished a puzzle so quickly ever before. Wham, bam, thank you Pan!
Daddy-long-legs is also a type of spider in Australia – https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pholcidae
Haha – my cup of coffee is still hot, at least! 🙂
Would have been an ideal Quiptic.
Thanks Pan and Andrew. This beginner got almost all in very quickly too. Struggled for a while with last one in – AREOLA
Yes, it was a lot easier than expected for a midweek puzzle but I’m sure it won’t be long until we are back to complaining about wordplay that’s too convoluted, definitions that are too obscure, and nonsensical surfaces. Happily none of these were on offer today. Very neat and polished offerings. Thanks to Pan and Andrew.
An occasional easy puzzle restores my faith in my ability, and the fact that I have improved over this year by dint of perseverance.
Found an unusual number of indicators for anagrams: “confused”, “to burst”, “ruined”, “mistreated”, “criminal”, “development” and “agitated”, showing that experience has taught me to look out for such “anagram alerts”.
Thanks to Pan and Andrew.
@Andrew
Thanks for your blog of Pan’s puzzle. SHRAPNEL is the name of the shell (eponymous inventor; although nothing to be especially proud of…not sure I’d have lent my name to it tbh).
Quite a lot of anagrams (9) plus quite a few fill-in surface enhancers in this puzzle, I thought.
“over” crime for a reversal of murder in an across clue seems a bit iffy to me.
Busy day so something straightforward was appreciated and still enjoyable. Guess we’ll get a challenge tomorrow! Heresy was last in.
Finished before 10am. Even Rufus can’t beat that! Too many too obvious answers.
Quite easy but unobjectionable cluing. Puzzles like this would be a welcome sight on Mondays.
I have been doing the puzzles but usually by the time I finish (or give in!) any comment I might make has been made, often several times, by others. I agree with the assessment of today’s puzzle as a virtual write-in, but not with the welcome! Far too easy for a Wednesday, it would be better as a Quiptic or an alternative to Rufus on a Monday.
Thank you Pan and Andrew.
Delightful, but all over too quickly – which reminds me, NB baerchen @7, “over” is given as a general reversal indicator in all the lists I have consulted, agreed it adds a little confusion at 17a, all to the good today.
Yes, this was easy, but tidy enough, and we should remember that since most of us are at the expert end of the wider readership who may tackle the crossword from time to time, our view of what constitutes a good crossword may not be shared by everyone. Yes, a Monday slot might have been better, but even Rufus can’t go on for ever…
Thanks to Pan and Andrew
Very rare that I finish a crossword this quickly (if at all). This would have been most welcome in my dinner hour. As it’s my day off, I’m open to suggestions for how I should spend the rest of the it!!
Verro @14
Browse the Guardian archive looking for puzzles from before you started doing them, by setters you know you like?
17ac was only across which didn’t go in at once, as ‘new crime’ got me trying to find an anagram of the latter word, so had to go back there after writing in all the downs. So finished in likely record time, though I don’t keep notes for this series.
It was easy, but very well clued, so it gets my vote. It will encourage improving solvers as well.
Thanks, both.
I’m a beginner and enjoyed this puzzle very much as one I could do without taking far too long over it. I don’t understand why ‘rejected’ is used to mean reversed upwards in AREOLA. No-one has mentioned it so I’m guessing it is standard, but why?
@Verro 14 perhaps you could use your free time to compile a list of alternative clues to the puzzle! I imagine that could be an interesting bit of fun for the more expert solvers on this page.
As others have suggested, a good Quiptic but probably in the wrong spot, or at least on the wrong day. All but two were write-ins for me, and even those two probably should have been.
While I take beery hiker’s point (@12) that most of us are fairly experienced at cryptics (though I wouldn’t class myself as “at the expert end” – middling, maybe), I am not convinced it is helpful for beginners/improvers to throw in easy puzzles on random days. A beginner who doesn’t already tackle the main puzzles regularly will probably miss this one anyway. If someone comes across this one by chance and is encouraged but then tackles a stinker tomorrow or Friday, wouldn’t that undo any good this one has done for their confidence?
Explicitly stating in the paper and online that Monday’s Cryptic is an easier puzzle (and then sticking to that) might be more use, or printing the weekly Quiptics (or even daily ones).
I initially wondered whether “ruined” was doing double duty in the clue for SHRAPNEL (with “Shell ruined” as the definition) but baerchen @7 has clarified that – thanks!
Thanks to Pan and Andrew.
No excuse for putting off today’s jobs, as we finished this in what is probably our fastest ever time. So it failed as a displacement activity, but it was nice to feel really proficient mid-week! Thanks to Pan and Andrew.
After a somewhat bacchanalian dinner last night I found this just the ticket. Definitely the easiest one I’ve ever done
All very straightforward, couldn’t parse AREOLA but otherwise over in a jiffy.
Could some kind soul please explain why Alexander = Sandy? Thank you
@ Dqb 23 Sandy is a common shortening of the name Alexander
Dqb @23, SANDY is just a shortening of the name Alexander, like Billy is for William, or Teddy for Edward…
Thanks to Pan and Andrew. Easy but fun. MADDER was new to me, and for SAVE I enjoyed seeing Soave as the wine as opposed to the usual cryptic Asti.
For those of us with limited time (and expertise?), the occasional easier cryptic is most agreeable, so no complaints from us!
Not a bad puzzle I suppose but I wouldn’t one of these too often:I felt vaguely disappointed when I finished it. Still, the puzzle was well crafted so no complaints on that score!
Thanks Pan.
Whenever I attempt a Guardian cryptic crossword I invariably try the clues in descending order of the length of the answers (and if there are multi-word phrases covering more than one answer in the grid I try those first). Today was no exception, but I think this was the only time I have ever solved all the clues in that order! That indicates how easy this was. It is one of only two crosswords I can recall in the last six months or more in which practically all of the answers were write-ins (the other being a Rufus, who is typically not as easy as that – at least not for me).
I have no complaints, though, and I hope this puzzle gave more pleasure to those who find some of the Guardian cryptics too difficult. All the clues were sound, give or take a couple of minor points already mentioned.
Thanks Pan and Andrew.
Thanks both,
I enjoyed this despite it being easy. Several of the clues were elegant and were quite satisfying to solve eg 1ac, 12 ac 17ac, where splitting the reversed word across two in the clue was good. Now back to marking dissertations.
@18: “Rejected” is quite common for reversals, as it can be synonymous with “sent back” e.g. I rejected the food because it wasn’t hot enough.
I’m all for an easy one occasionally and very much enjoyed this puzzle.
Thanks to Andrew and Pan.
Doing my tax returns today, so this was no good for me as a “displacement activity” (thanks Bayleaf@20 – will remember that coinage).
Will have to get back to them now: GRRRRrrr…..
But have time to thank Andrew for Schtick (never in this context before; would love to have it in a sentence) and to suggest (it’s a quibble – hardly worth it) that in 2D it should be [SKI]P rather than [SHI]P.
Thanks Pan and Andrew
Yes, it was easy, but it was still fun. I liked FISHMONGER in particular.
I’ve learned from doing and setting pub quizzes never to ask “How many legs does a daddy-long-legs have?” Most people mean “cranefly” by “daddy-long-legs”, so (as an insect) the answer would be 6, but a significantly large minority call a harvestman by this name; these are arachnids, and thus have 8 legs.
Thanks for the lesson, muffin (@33). That’s two things I’ve learned today, one from the puzzle and one from the blog: (1) MADDER the pigment and (2) the ambiguity of DADDY-LONG-LEGS. We often see crane flies at home, and I generally use that name for them, but I’ve noticed that more people use the longer name.
Surprised no-one has mentioned the mistake in today’s Guardianista nina – surely “Her Majesty’s Government an arse”.
This may have been simpler than the usual mid-week fare, but I found it a pleasant diversion with some good surfaces, neat cluing & plenty of fun. The variety of clue types would make it a very useful learning tool for anyone trying to gain experience in solving.
Thank you Pan & Andrew.
Good spot, VW@35. Enlivens an otherwise dull-ish (by which I suppose I mean very straight forward) offering! Would be good if Pan dropped in to confirm that it’s intentional. Are you there, Pan?
Alan B @34
Madder reminds me of this limerick
While Titian was mixing rose madder,
His model was posed on a ladder,
Her position to Titian,
Suggested coition,
So he leapt up the ladder and had her.
As has been pointed out this was Pan’s third puzzle in the cryptic slot.
We can but hope our illustrious Ed is employing a “Three Strikes” rule. Unfortunately I suspect he is employing no rules whatsoever 😉
Thursday approaches and we are yet to see a puzzle worthy of this slot!
I must congratulate the previous posters on their reserve and circumspection.
Brendan @ 39
Another day, another whinge.
Sometime back, under your previous handle, I recall you saying you were going to stop posting. Please stick with your decision.
Simon S @ 40: Are you implying that BNTO = HH??
BNTO
If you look at the comments I think you will see that most enjoyed this puzzle, despite it being rather easier than we would expect for a weekday one rather than a Quiptic.
Simon S
A little intemperate?
drofle
Possibly Simon is referring to the handle “Brendan (not that one)”, which BNTO of course stands for. BNTO’s tone is distinct from HH’s, I think.
muffin @ 42 – Thanks. All is now clear!
muffin @ 42
Per site policy, criticisms of a puzzle are supposed to be constructive. Constant whingeing about the supposed role or absence of the editor isn’t constructive and has nothing to do with the puzzle at hand. Saying something because one likes the sound of one’s own voice contributes nothing to any discussion.
I needed help parsing “save,” forgot about Soave. I also forgot Alexander could be Sandy — over here he’s usually Alex — so put in brandy. Maybe a brandy Alexander is hot, what do I know? That messed up 1d, now it was B_E_N_M, what could that be? I finished the puzzle quickly in bed last night except for those two. Thanks, Andrew, for straightening me out.
SHRAPNEL reminded me of the time a friend and I were thinking up related pairs of words beginning with shr- and scr-, like scrimp and shrimp or screech and shriek, and wondered if shrapnel was somehow related to scrap? Nope, it’s related to Henry Shrapnel. So much for our etymological detectery.
Thanks, Andrew and Pan.
BNTO @39
I think I am one of those guilty of “reserve and circumspection”, as I could have written something more critical of a cryptic crossword that falls short of the standard that we expect on Tuesdays to Saturdays. (I actually chose to highlight the soundness of the clues rather than the setter’s propensity for using the most obvious wordplays.)
From your comment “we are yet to see a puzzle worthy of this slot” I conclude that you must have made a similar assessment of the Nutmeg on Tuesday. I think in all honesty you find most Guardian cryptics too easy and should instead find another source of puzzles to test the mind of an intuitive solver rather than bemoan the mixed output from the Guardian stable. (I’m not in the same position, as I had to work at the Nutmeg to finish it, and that is the case with most Guardian puzzles.)
I can report no actual sighting of a crossword editor, but I believe there really is one, he has a name, is aloof (or so it seems to me) and when short of staff or time tends to make small and sometimes big mistakes. If he reads the pages on this forum (and I’m 99% certain he does), he will know that there is cause for concern from time to time with some issues of editorial judgement and with the editing process. We might just have to be patient. If the editor manages his relationship with the setters well we don’t have a lot to complain about, in my opinion.
BNTO @ 39
A patronising, snidy and unwelcome comment