Anto’s turn in the Quiptic slot this week.
| Across | ||
| 9 | LOATHSOME | To Holmes, a criminal is repugnant (9) |
| An anagram (criminal) of TO HOLMES A | ||
| 10 | THROW | Confuse shy host (5) |
| Three definitions. Confuse = THROW. Shy = THROW. Host = THROW | ||
| 11 | PLONKER | Fool puts cheap wine before the Queen (7) |
| PLONK (cheap wine) in front of (before) ER (the Queen) | ||
| 12 | LIAISON | Praised heart in warrior making contact (7) |
| AIS (middle letters – heart – of praised) contained in (in) LION (warrior) | ||
| 13 | EDDY | Quickly turn around every document demanding your initials (4) |
| The first letters (initials) of Every Document Demanding Your | ||
| 14 | WALT DISNEY | Studio boss who could animate any wild set (4,6) |
| An anagram (could animate) of ANY WILD SET | ||
| 16 | Y-FRONTS | Hear wife has little ones making containers for tackle (1-6) |
| A homophone (hear) of “wife runts” | ||
| 17 | PLACEBO | Identify smell as something with no real effect (7) |
| PLACE (identify) BO (smell) | ||
| 19 | HEART-THROB | Without this star, we should all be dead (5-5) |
| A cryptic definition | ||
| 22 | USER | Addict getting friendly description of simple instructions (4) |
| A reference to the expression ‘user friendly’, which might be used to describe a set of simple instructions | ||
| 24 | NO CIGAR | Negative outcome of narrow failure with organic treatment (2,5) |
| An anagram (treatment) of ORGANIC. A reference to the expression ‘close but no cigar’. ‘No cigar’ is not a phrase in its own right | ||
| 25 | ON LEAVE | Out of office working with permission (2,5) |
| ON (working) and (with) LEAVE (permission) | ||
| 26 | EDICT | Order forecast without any publicity (5) |
| PREDICT (forecast) with the letters PR deleted (without any publicity) | ||
| 27 | SOUND BITE | Healthy edge a politician needs to get coverage (5,4) |
| SOUND (healthy) BITE (edge) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | SLIPPERY WHEN WET | Notice if floor is damp (8,4,3) |
| A cryptic definition | ||
| 2 | GAG ORDER | It prevents disclosure of a comedian’s routine, perhaps (3,5) |
| A comedian’s routine might be the order in which he or she tells the jokes. I had only heard of ‘gagging order’, but my dictionaries tell me ‘gag order’ is US usage. | ||
| 3 | SHAKY | In self-conscious surroundings a king is unreliable (5) |
| A (a) K (king) contained in (in … surroundings) SHY (self-conscious) | ||
| 4 | DOORMATS | They may display welcome for those suffering ill-treatment (8) |
| A double definition. They may display welcome = DOORMATS. Those suffering ill-treatment = DOORMATS | ||
| 5 | MERLOT | Parts of Bristol remain backward for wine (6) |
| An an answer hidden in (parts of) a reversal (backward) of Bristol remain | ||
| 6 | STEADICAM | Film equipment captures dangerous liquid turning into vapour (9) |
| I didn’t get this, not having heard of a Steadicam. A reversal (turning) of ACID (dangerous liquid) in (into) STEAM (vapour) | ||
| 7 | PRISON | Stir up negative response to teacher under pressure (6) |
| A reversal (up) of NO (negative response) next to (to) SIR (teacher) below (under) P (pressure) | ||
| 8 | TWENTY-FOUR-SEVEN | Distribute funny tweets over a continuous period (6-4-5) |
| An anagram (distribute) of FUNNY TWEETS OVER. ‘Over’ is doing double duty here, being both part of the definition and part of the anagram fodder | ||
| 15 | INSTIGATE | Start eating, it’s fantastic! (9) |
| An anagram (fantastic) of EATING ITS | ||
| 17 | PROLOGUE | Introduction for record by rising European group (8) |
| PRO (for) LOG (record) next to (by) a reversal (rising) of EU (European group) | ||
| 18 | ECSTATIC | Old flame still sounds happy (8) |
| A homophone (sounds) of “ex static” | ||
| 20 | ARCHIE | Comic character shaped like Bowie? (6) |
| I assume this is suggesting that if something is shaped like a bow or arch, you might describe it as ‘bowie’ or ‘archie’. Hmm | ||
| 21 | HERESY | Present state excludes a non-orthodox view (6) |
| HERE (present) SAY (state, with the letter A – excludes a – deleted) | ||
| 23 | SLIDE | Decline to provide cover, if perimeter is lost (5) |
| If you delete the first and last letters of SLIDE (if perimeter is lost) you are left with LID (cover) | ||
Thanks both. Not too bad for an Anto. In his/her defence, I think that “NO CIGAR” has entered the language now, without the initial “close but”. And, for me, in 8d “a continuous period” doesn’t need the “over” to make 24/7
…oh and STEADICAM is familiar to me, at least. Apparently this camera (with its balancing weights) is VERY heavy!
Thanks Anto and nms
Nice puzzle, with some very good clues, but not a Quiptic! At least the main one is Imogen, which I found harder than this. Favourites were NO CIGAR and ECSTATIC. I didn’t parse SLIDE, and I haven’t heard of a comic character called ARCHIE, unless it’s a reference to the strangest of programmes from the 50s, a ventriloquist on the radio in “Educating Archie”!
Shirl @ 1. If ‘no cigar’ has become a phrase in its own right, it hasn’t yet made it into Collins, Oxford or Chambers. I’m not sure I’ve heard it used as such, either. But I’m horribly behind the times, of course 🙂
24/7 is an adverb, I believe. I’m not sure ‘a continuous period’ can define an adverb.
Presumably the comic character is this one, who shares his name with the (probably more familiar to British solvers) radio ventriloquist’s dummy.
ARCHIE is an long running popular comic book character on this late rising side of the Atlantic – http://archiecomics.com/characters/. I think the comic strip still runs in some national newspapers.
Thank you Anto and newmarketsausage.
An enjoyable Quiptic. I agree with Shirl @1 that 8d does not need ‘over’ in the definition, TWENTY-FOUR-SEVEN is not only an adverb, it is also an adjective, “having kids is a 24/7 job” (Cambridge Dictionary online).
I enjoyed this. Some great surfaces. Faves were Y-FRONTS, WALT DISNEY and ARCHIE, which took me a long time to twig, but made me smile when the penny finally dropped.
Cookie @ 7
I agree that 24/7 can be used adjectivally. But ‘a continuous period’ isn’t adjectival, is it? It’s a noun phrase, if I remember my grammatical terms correctly.
Over on the Indy thread, Neal (the blogger) has described Vigo’s puzzle as lively and well-constructed. This, on the contrary, was stodgy and loose. 1dn is barely cryptic; I agree about TWENTY-FOUR-SEVEN; SOUND BITE is not defined by ‘a politician needs to get coverage’; ARCHIE is beyond obscurity. I’ll stop now.
Thanks to nms for the blog and to the setter too.
I like Anto’s slightly offbeat style and the surfaces are always immaculate unlike sone of the more acclaimed setters.
I’ve complained about Anto in the past, so let me give him his due today. A thoroughly sound Quiptic, with some nice surfaces. The compact triple definition at 10a was particularly satisfying.
Well, it’s not as poor as an Anto usually is, but ‘thoroughly sound’ is a very lenient assessment indeed.
Twenty Four seven is an anagram of funny tweets over
therefore the over is necessary
Otherstuff @14, yes, ‘over’ is necessary in the anagram fodder, but it is doing double duty if included in the definition.