A request to step in as holiday cover for a fellow blogger, willingly agreed to. Then it turns out to be Anto. Ah well, other forms of Bank Holiday entertainment are available.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letters removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 I did it all right — but it felt wrong enjoying it
GUILTY PLEASURE
I am not sure what to underline here as the definition. It’s a kind of cd, I suppose.
8 Jobs created by company? Quite the reverse
APPLE
The ‘company created by Jobs’ is the tech giant APPLE.
9 Exemption granted, if one admits weakness about it
IMPUNITY
An insertion of IT in I’M PUNY.
11 Most pious but also most flawed, perhaps
HOLIEST
A dd, relying on the fact that HOLY can mean ‘pious’ but also (just) ‘flawed’. ‘The crossword was full of holes.’
12 Plant fancy range in centre of room
OREGANO
An insertion of (RANGE)* in OO for the middle letters of ‘room’.
13 Support attempt to create demand for release!
LEGGO
A charade of LEG and GO. It’s not in my SOED or my Collins, but it is shown online as a sentence substitute for ‘let go!’.
15 Enter into arrangement for holding on to staff
RETENTION
(ENTER INTO)*
17 They’re hard pressed to find a quick getaway in America
GAS PEDALS
A cd, referencing the fact that Americans refer to the accelerator as the GAS PEDAL.
20 Vice head sounds nervous, unable to stomach chop perhaps
VEGGY
A charade of V for the first letter of ‘vice’ and a homophone of EDGY. A pretty vague definition.
21 Put power into not so new office equipment
STAPLER
An insertion of P in STALER.
23 New tech giants produce important information about adjusting bad gait
BIG DATA
I have no sense here of what the definition is meant to be, but it’s a nearly meaningless surface and (BAD GAIT)* with ‘adjusting’ as the anagrind.
25 Surround dog displaying trait some cats have
RING-TAIL
A charade of RING for ‘surround’ and TAIL for ‘dog’.
26 Criticise British carry on
BLAST
A charade of B and LAST.
27 Hate each online broadcast showing a hidden edge
AN ACE IN THE HOLE
(HATE EACH ONLINE)* and referring to the poker term.
Down
1 One asking for your hand before getting to know you
GRAPHOLOGIST
A cd.
2 Drive-in movie playing Endless Love to start with
IMPEL
You need to ignore the hyphen, then it’s the first letters of the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth words of the clue.
3 So supportive, when finished with drug
THEREFORE
A charade of THERE FOR (‘He was there for her’) and E.
4 Dramatist retains nothing that might give a clue
POINTER
An insertion of O in [Harold] PINTER.
5 Old conspiracy protecting one creating abuse …
EXPLOIT
A charade of EX and I inserted into PLOT.
6 … because church is weighed down by wickedness
SINCE
CE under SIN.
7 Going back over call about broken crate
RETRACING
An insertion of (CRATE)* in RING.
10 Clean-cut yobs destroyed kids entertainment
BOUNCY CASTLE
(CLEAN CUT YOBS)* Nice surface. Pity about the punctuation howler: Anto will be telling me next that when I am shopping for socks in Tesco I’m in the right place when I see a sign saying ‘mens’.
14 Almost get post during development phase
GESTATION
A charade of GE[T] and STATION.
16 Lava, being fluid, can be passed through
NAVIGABLE
(LAVA BEING)*
18 Fix a trial that’s holding up carrier
AIR TAXI
Hidden reversed in fIX A TRIAl.
19 Revamped pub has opening outside? It’s a minor story
SUBPLOT
An insertion of (PUB)* in SLOT.
22 It makes sense for soldier to occupy unfinished canal construction
LOGIC
An insertion of GI for ‘soldier’ in LOC[K]
24 Tall farm boy regularly remembered in Texas
ALAMO
The even letters of ‘tAlL fArM bOy.
Many thanks to Anto for this morning’s Quiptic.
Thanks Pierre (some might say commiserations..). I think 1a might be meant to be GUILTY (“I did it”) + PLEASURE (“all right”, as in “it’s a pleasure”).
I saw 1a as GUILTY PLEA (“I did it all”) + SURE (“right”). I thought this a great clue and seem to be enjoying Anto a little more each time.
Thanks both. I know you have your issues with this setter, Pierre, but for me he/she has improved a lot since their first appearances. Perhaps if Anto put in some birds?
I thought this was more difficult than Pasquale’s crossword, so didn’t really fulfill the Quiptic requirement.
As Shirl @3 said, I think Anto is improving although BIG DATA (??) and VEGGY were iffy (I really don’t think vice head means V.)
I did, however, enjoy GRAPHOLOGIST and GAS PEDALS.
I don’t have ‘issues’ with Anto, Shirl. I just don’t think he or she is a very good setter, for reasons which I have mentioned before and which I don’t really want to revisit every time it falls to me to blog an Anto puzzle. I’m just the blogger. Like others who undertake that role, as well as explaining the clues as best I can, I might give an opinion on the crossword. If I do, you’re all consenting adults who can disagree with it. It’s fair to say that there are a number of others who haven’t warmed to this setter either, and they’ve also expressed that opinion on 225. That’s why people find this blog useful and often diverting. A bird link would be a chance for a further diversion for those who like that sort of thing, but tighter cluing would be the way for Anto to wriggle his way into my cruciverbal heart. Anyway, I have used up my annual allocation of first person singular pronouns in this one comment, so I will leave others to say what they thought of this offering.
To Anto: Don’t let the bloggers get you down!
A good crossword for me, Anto. Everything parses well. Thank you.
I understand some peoples’ issues with Anto but IMO that’s more because he is always in the Quiptic slot whereas I think he is more suited to the main puzzle – but that’s down to the editor.
Re 23ac – it is definition + 2 times wordplay – ‘New tech giants’ = BIG DATA (often used in the business pages); important = BIG, information =DATA; adjusting (anagrind) bad gait = BIG DATA.
I’m with Pierre. And today’s Cryptic was easier.
I originally parsed 1a as Andrew @1 did, and I didn’t like the clue. But now that I see Litmus @2’s parsing, I think it’s very good indeed.
Anto still isn’t one of my favorite setters, but I agree with those who say (s)he’s gotten better. I thought that this puzzle was perhaps a shade difficult for a Quiptic, but otherwise not bad at all. 9a, 1d, and (now that I get it) 1a are all quite good, for instance, and most of the other clues are thoroughly solid.
I’m sure that Litmus@2 has hit the nail on the head. Maybe it’s a bit advanced for a Quiptic, but it’s undoubtedly clever
What happened to the captcha. Unable to comment…
…meaningfully…
Blaise @12&13
See my announcement on the Home page. You obviously are able to add a comment as you have now done so twice.
I wasn’t a fan of LEGGO (not a word I’ve seen before) or BIG DATA (clue needed a lot of editing) but the rest of the puzzle would have fitted in well as a midweek cryptic. The puzzle really doesn’t belong in the Quiptic slot, though, and I wonder if Anto wrote it specifically for Quiptic, or if the editor is the one made the decision?
While solving I wasn’t happy with this puzzle, took me far too long – so, indeed no Quiptic. Looking back at it, it wasn’t too bad at all [although, give me a sentence in which ‘supportive’ replaces ‘there for’].
Whether Anto belongs in the daily cryptic spot is another matter. Some will welcome today’s setter, others will refute such a decision.
What actually annoys me most of all is that, years ago, this setter was given an opportunity and subsequently produced often truly awful crosswords. A lot of new-setters-knocking-on-the-door [to be absolutely clear, I am not talking about myself] were rejected by the editor for reasons we’ll probably never know. And I know a couple who did. If I were one of them, I would feel insulted. One comment above says “Anto still isn’t one of my favorite setters, but I agree with those who say (s)he’s gotten better“. Sorry but that is not enough. After all those years, it feels like nepotism to me.
Thanks/Commiserations, Pierre.
Would agree that this was a bit tough for the Quiptic slot as I solved the Pasquale Cryptic more quickly.
Like others I thought 1a was very good and 23a was fair and relevant!!
I have mixed feelings about this quiptic – but this comments-thread has been absolutely fascinating. Like some of the previous commenters, I wasn’t wild about Leggo, or Veggy (neither of which, let’s face it, are really proper words) and I share Sil van den Hoek’s misgivings about Therefore. But then again, Litmus’ interpretation of Guilty Pleasure shows it to be a much cleverer clue than I’d realised whilst completing the crossword, and there were several others that were pleasing. I have to confess, though, I’m surprised at the strength of feeling expressed so often on this blog about the setters. Devising a crossword seems such a difficult task to me – and speaking personally, I just feel chuffed to bits whenever I think I’m starting to discern how a particular setter’s mind works. I suppose this makes me a simpler soul than you seasoned and skilled cruciverbalists.
Not great. Too hard. Probably because it’s not all that well-written. See ‘Guardian Cryptic’ for a properly-composed easier puzzle.
Back in the (dim and distant) day, I think that LEGGO!!! used to be shouted a lot in certain comic strips in the Beano and the Dandy.
Indeed, along with YAROO!! and YIKES!! they weren’t valid words either
Thanks Anto and Pierre
I was unable to parse LEGGO.
I agree with Pierre that we are all adults and can decide on who are our least favourite setters – I have one too, but it is not Anto.
As a crossword fine but not a quiptic. Harder than Pasquale’s excellent ‘Monday’ cryptic. Please editor do something about this. When you’re expecting something straightforward it makes it even more difficult…
Thanks for the blog. Frank Richards’ Billy Bunter used to howl “leggo you beasts” as I recall.
Earlier than Frank Richards, and on the other side of the Atlantic, Mark Twain was using ‘leggo’ in slangy dialogue between a pair of con artists who talk a load of ‘rubbage’ to each other in Chapter 30 of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Does that increase the ‘validity’ of the word in any way?
I think it’s valid, John, but probably not a great choice of solution for a crossword intended for beginners. Once you’ve got the crossers then it can’t be much else since the cluing is clear, but to solve it straight off would require a bit of a leap of imagination.
It’s now Thursday so late to the party. We needed a crossword to solve over tea tonight and decided to have a look at the Quiptic. As we solved it, we hoped that Pierre was not having to blog this one.
OK, some of the solutions were fine but in our opinion this was not a quiptic. We took a while to get started and there were a number of guesses along the way. A quiptic should be a straightforward puzzle as far as we are concerned – no checks needed during the solve. Also, we feel quiptics should not contain any words which may need checking in a dictionary. LEGGO was a new word for us.
Anyway, it kept our minds active whilst eating so thanks thanks to S & B.