Matilda’s turn in the Quiptic slot this week.
| Across | ||
| 1 | PRODUCT | Expert on pipe output (7) |
| PRO (expert) next to (on) DUCT (pipe) | ||
| 5 | STRIPES | Undresses, having taken drug in bars (7) |
| STRIPS (undresses) containing (having taken … in) E (drug) | ||
| 9 | TITLE | Handle book (5) |
| Two definitions. Handle = TITLE. Book = TITLE | ||
| 10 | WHISPERED | Said quietly: “Wife sadly perished” (9) |
| W (wife) plus an anagram (sadly) of PERISHED | ||
| 11 | TRAMPOLINE | Bouncy oriental MP bounces on this (10) |
| An anagram (bouncy) of ORIENTAL MP | ||
| 12 | VIEW | Compete with Western opinion (4) |
| VIE (compete) next to (with) W (western) | ||
| 14 | OCCASIONALLY | Do join in now and again (12) |
| OCCASION (do) ALLY (join) | ||
| 18 | ABBREVIATION | Curtailment of flying above Britain (12) |
| An anagram (flying) of ABOVE BRITAIN | ||
| 21 | THEN | Later in the news … (4) |
| An answer hidden in (in) THE News | ||
| 22 | BOOBY PRIZE | … bird spoils wooden spoon (5,5) |
| BOOBY (bird) PRIZE (spoils) | ||
| 25 | INVENTION | Invite non-renewable development (9) |
| An anagram (renewable) of INVITE NON | ||
| 26 | EVENT | Affair the night before not without heart (5) |
| EVE (the night before) NT (not minus its middle letter, i.e. without heart) | ||
| 27 | GERMANY | Country bug -—doesn’t matter which (7) |
| GERM (bug) ANY (doesn’t matter which) | ||
| 28 | ELECTED | In bed etc, eleven turned in (7) |
| An answer hidden in reverse (in … turned) beD ETC ELEven | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | POTATO | Vegetable rubbish in dump (6) |
| An insertion (in) of TAT (rubbish) into POO (dump) | ||
| 2 | OUTLAW | Ban Bonnie or Clyde? (6) |
| Bonnie and Clyde are examples of outlaws | ||
| 3 | UNEXPECTED | Wicked indecent exposure foolish senior ignored — surprising! (10) |
| An anagram (wicked) of INDECENT EXPOSURE minus (ignored) an anagram (foolish) of SENIOR | ||
| 4 | TOWEL | Tool loses right to throw this in (5) |
| TROWEL (tool) minus (loses) R (right) | ||
| 5 | SCIENTIST | Boffin incites trouble in street (9) |
| An anagram (trouble) of INCITES contained in (in) ST (street) | ||
| 6 | RIPE | 5 across is partly ready (4) |
| An answer hidden in (partly) stRIPEs (the answer to 5 across) | ||
| 7 | PARTICLE | Bit of piano piece (8) |
| P (piano) ARTICLE (piece) | ||
| 8 | SIDEWAYS | Indirectly influences catching fish (8) |
| SWAYS (influences) containing (catching) IDE (fish) | ||
| 13 | INCOMPLETE | Deficient policemen taking time out (10) |
| An anagram (out) of POLICEMEN plus (taking) T (time) | ||
| 15 | ANIMOSITY | No amity is produced by this (9) |
| An anagram (produced by) of NO AMITY IS | ||
| 16 | WALTZING | Dancing like me gives Disney energy (8) |
| WALT (Disney) ZING (energy) and a reference to our setter and the Australian national anthem ‘Waltzing Matilda’ | ||
| 17 | OBSERVER | Paper witness (8) |
| Two definitions. Paper = OBSERVER. Witness = OBSERVER | ||
| 19 | FINEST | I’m backing out of feminist play, it’s most lightweight (6) |
| An anagram (play) of FEMINIST minus (backing out of) IM | ||
| 20 | HEATED | Was unfaithful, losing head when passionate (6) |
| CHEATED (was unfaithful) minus its first letter (losing head) | ||
| 23 | BINGE | Being naughty, drink too much (5) |
| An anagram (naughty) of BEING | ||
| 24 | INCA | Some skincare for South American (4) |
| An answer hidden in (some) skINCAre | ||
Re Clue 21. Isn’t there a convention that in a hidden clue, the first letter of the word required must not be the first letter of a word, that the required word must start from somewhere within a word, even just the last letter?
Thanks for the excellent blog newmarketsausage! I enjoyed this crossword and thought it was quite appropriate for a Quiptic; so many thanks to Matilda as well.
Thanks Matilda and nms
Very nice, with WALTZING raising a chuckle. INCOMPLETE was nice too. The clue for UNEXPECTED was, um, unexpected in a Quiptic.
I fixated on AVIATION in 18a; I had one of the Bs from Britain, but couldn’t work out where the BRE came from.
Just the confidence-boosting start to the week I needed – I sailed through this, albeit help needed to parse UNEXPECTED and INCOMPLETE. Many thanks to Matilda and newmarketsausage. Now for the cryptic….
For me a perfect Quiptic.
thanks Matilda and newmarketsausage
Nice puzzle and blog. Loved Waltzing and Abbreviation Thanks Matilda and NMS.
Re Rishikesh:I think so too. Hadn’t come across a hidden clue starting at the first letter of a word.
I thought this was hard for a Quiptic, but maybe I was just off my game.
I couldn’t understand what “like me” was doing in 16d, because I’d forgotten who the setter was by the time I got there. Silly of me. I also didn’t know this meaning of “wooden spoon”.
I agree that 21a is a bit flawed: the answer is on the edge of the fodder, so it’s not “in” it. I also think that the grammar of 6d is backwards: the word for ready is part of 5 across, but the clue says the reverse.
But despite these complaints, most of the puzzle was quite good. Thanks to Matilda and newmarketsausage!
Thanks Matilda, definitely more difficult than today’s Cryptic. I don’t really think compound anagrams (3d) should be used in a Quiptic.
Thanks nms, some nice clues and seemed more difficult at the time than in retrospect. For 1A I thought the usual convention in an across clue was that ‘on’ means ‘after.’
I did like WALTZING and ABBREVIATION
I sailed through three quarters of this, but then got badly stuck in the SE corner. Maybe I just ran out steam, missing a simple hidden word and anagram, I don’t know, but by the close this had taken more time than today’s normal cryptic. Doh.
Quite a few really good clues (e.g. 10ac, 11ac, 14ac, 26ac, 13d).
But I was puzzled by ‘like me’ in 16d. So the setter’s Australian, how should I know? That’s not fair.
I agree with Robi on the convention re 1ac. However, even a setter like Paul is breaking this ‘rule’ every now and then.
Referring to a clue where the answer overlaps the part that is referred to (6d, 5ac) – I wouldn’t have done that.
I can write a few lines on why I do not like the use of ‘play’ in 19d at all but I won’t.
I completely failed on 22ac (BOOBY PRIZE) but soit (as the French say).
Matilda’s crossword has its conciseness of cluing in common with today’s paper setter Vulcan. That said, Vulcan likes (his) cryptic definitions, Matilda doesn’t. Matilda is also technically ahead of his/her Monday rival, if a bit harder.
This was enjoyable.
Sil @11
I think you are missing the point with 16d. It’s not that the setter is Australian (she probably isn’t); it’s that she’s called Matilda, so may well be waltzing…
Yes I am, muffin – mea culpa.
Clever, clever.
Thanks Matilda and newmarketsausage (your name is making me hungry – haven’t had a good sausage in years).
I enjoyed this but a minor point of pedantry – Waltzing Matilda may be Australia’s best known song overseas but it’s not the national anthem. It was felt that a song about stealing and cooking a sheep was not sufficiently dignified, and a far more respectable, if less interesting, song called Advance Australia Fair was chosen instead.