A pleasing and well-constructed Quiptic from Carpathian which I enjoyed solving and blogging. What did you think?
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
abbreviations are underlined
Across
9 Impasse he cultivated, causing stress
EMPHASISE
(IMPASSE HE)*
10 Love judge to hold forth
ORATE
A charade of O and RATE
11 Name I note for insect
TERMITE
A charade of TERM, I and TE for the seventh note of the sol-fa.
12 Keep apart from one getting very behind
ISOLATE
A charade of I, SO and LATE. This one’s been round the houses a bit.
13 Guard heading off for gate
ENTRY
[S]ENTRY. So has this one, but the crossword’s for beginners, so you’ve got to learn it somewhere.
14 Save ruin crumbling and left for everyone to see
UNIVERSAL
(SAVE RUIN)* plus L, with a nod to the cinema classification, I guess.
16 Horribly bad end to holiday diet in guest house
BED AND BREAKFAST
A charade of (BAD END)* BREAK and FAST.
19 Sweet returns with legal end to currency fraud
DUPLICITY
A reversal of PUD, LICIT and Y for the last letter of ‘currency’.
21 Discover crude Corsican ornament
DECOR
Hidden in cruDE CORsican. You need to read ‘discover’ as ‘dis-cover’, in other words ‘take the outside letters from’. Not happy with that device? Below is the place to register your complaint.
22 Wild horse has to enrage without hesitation
MUSTANG
A charade of MUST and ANG[ER]
23 Journey from property crossing middle of Kansas
TRANSIT
An insertion of NS for the middle letters of ‘Kansas’ in TRAIT.
24 Emotional lines you recited invoked confusion initially
LYRIC
The first letters of the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth letters of the clue.
25 Huge robin performing for someone nearby
NEIGHBOUR
(HUGE ROBIN)*
Down
1 Be fathered illegitimately in luxurious place
FEATHER BED
(BE FATHERED)*
2 Declines to rise around ceremony that’s lively
SPIRITED
An insertion of RITE in DIPS reversed. The insertion indicator is ‘around’ and the reversal indicator, since it’s a down clue, is ‘to rise’.
3 Hollow metropolis embracing a victor
CAVITY
An insertion of A and V in CITY. T Tango, U Uniform, V Victor …
4 Nip absinthe regularly
BITE
The even letters of aBsInThE.
5 Unquestionably from French (in a limited way)
DEFINITELY
A charade of DE for one of the French words for ‘from’ and FINITELY.
6 Mint drink is top
POLO NECK
A charade of POLO and NECK for the somewhat démodé jumper. Perhaps they have come back into fashion – I am no follower of such things.
7 Pester and almost hurt fool
HARASS
A charade of HAR[M] and ASS.
8 Relinquish offspring reportedly
CEDE
A homophone (‘reportedly’) of SEED.
14 Happy providing nurture
UPBRINGING
A charade of UP and BRINGING.
15 Books set on fire by English traitor you heard about
LITERATURE
A five-part charade: LIT plus E plus RAT plus U plus RE.
17 Pest lives in shade
NUISANCE
An insertion of IS in NUANCE.
18 Escort an eccentric old relative
ANCESTOR
(ESCORT AN)*
20 Tart old line?
PASTRY
A charade of PAST and RY for the abbreviation for railway or ‘line’.
21 Ends in outhouse overturned, holding a toilet’s lid
DEATHS
An insertion of A and T for the first letter of ‘toilet’ in SHED reversed. The insertion indicator is ‘holding’ and the reversal indicator is ‘overturned’.
22 Bloke held up by little lamb
MALE
Hidden reversed in littlE LAMb.
23 Time to be sickly comes to an end
TAIL
A charade of T and AIL.
Fine Quiptic from Carpathian – thanks to him or her for the start to the cryptic week.
I enjoyed this puzzle. My favourites were 15d and 19a.
I could not parse 6d POLO NECK and still do not understand it. Is POLO a type of mint and why does NECK = drink?
Thanks setter and Pierre
ignore my comment above
found it: NECK
BRITISH informal
swallow (something, especially a drink).
“after necking some beers, we left the bar”
and
Polo Mints is a brand of breath mint whose defining feature is the hole in the middle. The peppermint flavoured Polo was first manufactured in the United Kingdom in 1948
I should have done more research on google earlier!
Thanks for your comments, Michelle – it’s sometimes hard for bloggers to know how much explanation to give. I guess those terms would be mostly familiar to a British audience. But your explanations will be helpful for those who aren’t familiar with the mint or the slang term.
This did what it said on the tin.
A moderately easy and enjoyable start to the week, favourite was 1 down. Thanks to Carpathian & Pierre.
I enjoyed this – thanks Carpathian! Favourites were Duplicity, Deaths – and Feather Bed is a delicious anagram. And thank you Pierre, for explaining the two clues which I couldn’t parse: Transit and Termite. It was obvious what the solutions to each were – but with Transit I would have said a trait is a quality, rather than a property. As for Termite, the only musical figure I’ve ever encountered using doh-ray-mee is Julie Andrews in The Sound Of Music! I’ve never seen any of the note-names written down, but have always assumed the seventh was spelled “tee”.
Oh well, you learn something every day…
@6 I have seen these notes of the musical scale written down before in a few ways. Wikipedia lists them as Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti. But I have usually seen TE as in this puzzle and SO is often written as SOL. Others may have a more informed response. As usual an enjoyable puzzle. FEATHERBED was my favourite. I never got POLONECK and glad I didn’t spend too long trying to figure it out. Thanks Michelle for the explanation and thanks Pierre for explaining DUPLICITY. I had the answer but not the parsing. I am wondering what other puzzles people find similar to the Quiptic in terms of difficulty. Already looking forward to next Monday’s.
The Everyman in the Observer every Sunday (and also online) is the one I usually recommend, CalmTom. And The Guardian archive of Quiptics is extensive – right back to no. 1 – if you can’t wait for next Monday’s offering. Fifteensquared has only been blogging them for about eight years, though.
I blazed through this one, only to come up short on 6d. I think I’ve seen NECK = drink in crosswords before, but I forgot about it. So this was a DNF for me, through no fault of the setter’s. Other than that, this was a very enjoyable puzzle that did just what it was meant to do.
Delightful Quiptic – thanks to Carpathia and Pierre for the blog
According to Big Dave, Carpathian is also Vigo who turns out to be a she; perhaps Vigo the Carpathian (Ghostbusters II) is her alter ego? Surely not
Pierre: in 24 across,I think you mean ‘second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth words.’
Yes, a good Quiptic, just at the right level in my opinion.
As it has been revealed, I can confirm that Carpathian is indeed the alter ego of Vigo. Thanks to her and to Pierre.
My LOI was POLO NECK as I struggled with ‘neck’ meaning to drink although it’s fine as a slang word.
Thanks Pierre. I will give the Everyman a try and great to know about the archive of Quiptics. Even the last 8 years will yield 400 puzzles, which should last me a long time.
I parsed 21a as discover, i.e find what was hidden in cruDE CORsican.
I’m not sure that would work, Christopher. You would need ‘in’ somewhere, I think.
For Wellbeck and Calm Tom: In solfeggio/solfege te is the name of the flatted seventh in a minor scale.
In the moveable do system, a major scale goes do re mi fa so la ti do. A natural minor scale goes do re me fa so le te do. The third, sixth, and seventh degree of the scale are flatted.
I’ve never seen any of the solfege terms for sharped or flatted notes used in a cryptic before. Perhaps we can infer that Carpathian is a trained musician.
Thank you Jo – I didn’t know any of that and it’s genuinely interesting. And perhaps Carpathian does indeed have musical training…