Moley’s first outing of the year in the Quiptic slot.
| Across | ||
| 1 | SQUEEZE | Pinch to put pressure on (7) |
| Two definitions, although I think they really mean the same thing | ||
| 5 | ACCRUED | Collected one hundred said to be unrefined (7) |
| A (one) C (hundred) and a homophone (said to be) of ‘crude’ (unrefined) | ||
| 10 | TAME | Master sped away from amazing stampede (4) |
| An anagram (amazing) of STAMPEDE minus (away from) the letters of ‘sped’ | ||
| 11 | ANALGESICS | Pain relief when casing seal is broken (10) |
| An anagram (is broken) of CASING SEAL | ||
| 12 | STEREO | Reset about zero, which produces all-round sound (6) |
| An anagram (about) of RESET + O (zero) | ||
| 13 | SPECTRUM | Range for cooking crumpets (8) |
| An anagram (cooking) of CRUMPETS | ||
| 14 | PROMISING | Concert’s first person to perform has prospects (9) |
| PROM (concert) I (first person) SING (to perform) | ||
| 16 | ALTER | Transform part of central terrace (5) |
| An answer hidden in (part of) centrAL TERrace | ||
| 17 | HAVOC | Unruly chav gains nothing, causing disruption (5) |
| An anagram (unruly) of CHAV + (gains) O (nothing) | ||
| 19 | IMPENDING | Little devil’s downfall is in the offing (9) |
| IMP (little devil) ENDING (downfall) | ||
| 23 | EYESORES | Sties are blots on the landscape (8) |
| A sty also being a sore on the eye. An ellipsis after ‘are’ might have been an idea here | ||
| 24 | IRONIC | Press ninety-nine when dry (6) |
| IRON (press) IC (ninety-nine) | ||
| 26 | AMBIVALENT | In two minds about evil batman (10) |
| An anagram (about) of EVIL BATMAN. A second outing for ‘about’ as an angram indicator | ||
| 27 | CUES | Lines for an American spoken as signals for action on stage (4) |
| A homophone (spoken) of ‘queues’ (lines for an American) | ||
| 28 | SLEEPER | Again peels back to reveal a spy (7) |
| A reversal (back) of REPEELS (again peels) | ||
| 29 | BETRAYS | Flutters around beam of light in shops (7) |
| BETS (flutters) containing (around) RAY (beam of light) | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | QUARTER | Two pints each round initially in this part of town (7) |
| QUART (two pints) and the first letters (initially) of Each and Round | ||
| 3 | EMEER | Prince seen on English lake, reportedly (5) |
| E (English) and a homophone (reportedly) of ‘mere’ (lake). An variant American spelling of EMIR, apparently | ||
| 4 | ZEALOUS | To Zulu, a louse may be full of enthusiasm (7) |
| I assume this is Z (Zulu) plus an anagram (may be) of A LOUSE. Not sure what the ‘to’ is doing | ||
| 6 | CAGIER | More shrewd accountant at first gives in each report (6) |
| CA (accountant) and the first letters (at first) of Gives In Each Report. Not sure cagey really means shrewd | ||
| 7 | RESETTLED | Moved established location again (9) |
| Two definitions, although as in 1 across, both definitions mean the same thing | ||
| 8 | EXCLUDE | Leave out former spouse — that’s badly clued! (7) |
| EX (former spouse) and an anagram (badly) of CLUED | ||
| 9 | PASSING MUSTER | Overtaking, need the Queen make the grade? (7,6) |
| PASSING (overtaking) MUST ER (need the Queen). To correspond to the answer the clue should really read ‘making the grade’. | ||
| 15 | MOONSHINE | Bootlegged product is trash! (9) |
| Two definitions | ||
| 18 | ABYSMAL | A little baby, small and woeful (7) |
| An answer hidden in (a little) bABY SMALl | ||
| 20 | EPISTLE | Correspondence about politeness son left out (7) |
| An anagram (about) of POLITENESS minus the letters (left out) of ‘son’. A third outing for ‘about’ as an anagram indicator. Correspondence really means letters (plural) not letter (singular) | ||
| 21 | NAIVETY | Unworldliness shown in vain trip by Egypt’s young (7) |
| An anagram (trip) of VAIN next to (by) ET (IVR code for Egypt) Y (young) | ||
| 22 | GREASE | Oil for great comfort (6) |
| I assume this is GR (great) EASE (comfort). I don’t think I’ve seen GR for great before. It’s not in Oxford online or Chambers but it is in Collins under the American English listings | ||
| 25 | OCCUR | Happen to see officer in command around the old city (5) |
| OC (officer in command) C (around) UR (old city) | ||
Thanks both. Decent Quiptic, with a few quibbles. I don’t think 10a needs the “amazing” as the letters of TAME and SPED are in the right order in STAMPEDE.
Thanks Moley and nms
The last few took a lot longer than the rest – CAGIER/ACCRUED, PROMISING/MOONSHINE/SLEEPER.
I don’t suppose there’s any point in saying that 99 isn’t IC! (It’s LXXXXIX in fact, as the “subtracting digit” must be no less than a tenth of the digit it’s subtracted from.)
muffin @2-as Wilson Picket sung LXXXXIX and a half just wont do!
Hi Bangers.
Thanks Moley and nms
Good Quiptic, I thought. LOI was EMEER, which took far too long to see.
I didn’t realise that MOONSHINE could also be trash.
Firstly, I agree with Shirl that ‘amazing’ isn’t needed in 10ac (unless you’d like to make SPEDTAME of it before deleting).
And secondly, I do not see how ‘has prospects’ = ‘promising’.
Favourite was 13a; a well spotted anagram with a very nice surface. I thought IC for 99 a bit of a larf, but failed on “muster”. Thanks Moley and nms.
Perhaps I’m missing a joke, but surely 99 is XCIX?
Thanks to all.
Of course it is, Angstony – my mistake!
Definitely not IC though!
I think that precision and correct cryptic grammar are more important for a Quiptic than a regular cryptic, so I wish this puzzle had been more carefully constructed. We have the unnecessary anagrind at 10a (when no rearrangement is actually happening), and two clues (14a, 9d) where the definition leads to the wrong part of speech.
Ted, hear hear!
I was wondering about 29 across. When I read “around” I was expecting the definition of Flutters, i.e. Bet to be “around” a beam of light, e.g. ray. Instead, we have rays appended to Bet. Am I misunderstanding the term “around” in this situation?
Looking at 25 d I guess the same comment applies, so maybe “around” means appended or surrounding?
Hello Martin.
In 29a ‘around’ does indeed indicate containment. BETS (= flutters) contains RAY (= beam of light). BET(RAY)S.
In 25d, ‘around’ = C (circa).
Many thanks, seems I got my plurals mixed up between my bets and rays. Didn’t look hard enough at 25d to understand the “C”. Many thanks for the explanations.
Isn’t “stye” spelled with an E on the end when it’s the thing in your eye, newmarketsausage? I notice you left it off. And I also would have thought the plural was “styes” (as opposed to pig-“sties”), suggesting the need for a homophone indicator in the clue, or maybe both plurals are possible…
Hello davlo.
Interesting question. The dictionaries differ.
Oxford online has ‘sty’, with ‘stye’ as an alternative. Plurals ‘sties’ and ‘styes’ respectively.
Chambers is the same as Oxford.
But Collins has ‘stye’, with ‘sty’ as an alternative. Plurals ‘styes’ or ‘sties’.
Take your pick 🙂
Just catching up on my quiptics after the long school holidays (in Oz) and couldn’t help thinking 1a would have been perfect as ‘pinch to put pressure on sweetheart’!
Btw l’m fairly new to cryptics and the quiptic plus the blogs are the best combination for a beginner, thank you! ?
Hello Emz
Glad you find the Quiptics and the blogs helpful. Good luck with your cryptic explorations 🙂
I parsed 25d slightly differently: A reversal (around) of C (see) CO (commanding officer), followed by UR (the old city).