The Quiptic is 20 years old in November and Hectence was one of the first setters back in the early days. She should be good, shouldn’t she? Let me tell you something: she is. This is going into the category of puzzles I’ll be specifically recommending to friends who have finally given in to my chuntering and have started having a flirt with cryptic crosswords. I suggest you do the same (the general chuntering and the specific recommendation).
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Speak sincerely, at home anyway, about taking us in
MEAN WHAT YOU SAY
An insertion (‘taking in’) of US in (AT HOME ANYWAY)* The anagrind is ‘about’.
8 Row about finally trapping wild cat
TIGER
An insertion of G for the last letter of ‘trapping’ in TIER.
9 Judge’s ruling doesn’t begin to cover horse in circus act
JUGGLING
A charade of J and GG for ‘horse’ in [R]ULING. If you’re new to all this, GG is crosswordspeak, and kiddiespeak, for ‘horse’. The removal indicator is ‘doesn’t begin’ and the insertion indicator is ‘cover’.
11 Ask about acquiring girl’s jackets
ANORAKS
An insertion of NORA in (ASK)* The insertion indicator is ‘acquiring’ and the anagrind is again ‘about’.
12 Aunt ruthlessly conceals lie
UNTRUTH
Hidden in aUNT RUTHlessly.
13 Feeble play on the radio
FAINT
A homophone (‘on the radio’) of FEINT in its ‘wile’ or ‘ruse’ sense.
15 Ridiculing pathetic racialist
SATIRICAL
(RACIALIST)*
17 At home, a horribly bullied student’s withdrawn and silent
INAUDIBLE
A charade of IN for ‘at home’, A and (BU[LL]IED)* The removal indicator is ‘withdrawn’ and the anagrind is ‘horribly’. The ‘student’ is L (as in learner driver) and while you should never make a plural in real life using an apostrophe, Hectence is allowed to in crosswordland. As is usually the case with surface readings, just ignore the punctuation.
Edit: in fact there is only one L that needs removing to make the fodder for the anagram. Thanks to Andrew and greensward for pointing out my error.
20 Display of top-grade river fish
ARRAY
A charade of A, R and RAY.
21 Fix counter in place for a manicure
NAILBAR
A charade of NAIL and BAR.
23 Cook panics getting hot food for Popeye
SPINACH
An insertion of H in (PANICS)* The insertion indicator is ‘getting’ and the anagrind is ‘cook’.
25 Question to annoy, arousing ire in stranger
QUIRKIER
A charade of QU, IRK and (IRE)* The anagrind is ‘arousing’.
26 Follow path
TRAIL
A dd.
27 Feeling for propriety and taste perhaps, regarding study about church and the limits of charity
SENSE OF DECENCY
A charade of SENSE for ‘taste, perhaps’, OF for ‘regarding’, CE for ‘church’ inserted into DEN for ‘study’ and CY for the outside letters of ‘charity’. Phew. You don’t like OF for ‘regarding’? Don’t speak of such things.
Down
1 Fall short coming up by Friday with loan to cover our chum
MUTUAL FRIEND
A solution that was easier to write in than parse. A charade of AUTUM[N] reversed and FRI inserted into LEND. The removal indicator is ‘short’ and the insertion indicator is ‘to cover’.
2 Violence is on the rise in some cyborg games
AGGRO
Hidden reversed in cybORG GAmes.
3 Justified conflict with journalist after verbal attack
WARRANTED
A charade of WAR, RANT and ED.
4 Alters notices about fair
ADJUSTS
An insertion (‘about’, again) of JUST in ADS.
5 Wild hog breaks into tent to find food
YOGHURT
An insertion (‘breaks into’) of (HOG)* in YURT. The anagrind is ‘wild’. Great surface reading.
6 Out until dark
UNLIT
(UNTIL)*
7 Newsreader can run one broadcast
ANNOUNCER
(CAN RUN ONE)*
10 Doubly bashful when sick and everyone comes in to hum and haw
SHILLY-SHALLY
More insertions: of ILL and ALL in two lots of SHY. The insertion indicator is ‘comes in’.
14 Soon unite main components
IN A MINUTE
(UNITE MAIN)*
16 Pragmatic about boxer with short fuse
REALISTIC
A charade of RE, ALI for the ‘boxer’ and STIC[K]. The removal indicator is again ‘short’.
18 Catch up with trio taking break for Mexican food
BURRITO
A charade of RUB reversed and (TRIO)* The reversal indicator is ‘up’, since it’s a down clue; the anagrind is ‘taking break’.
19 Made certain spaces suitable for all having wine
ENSURED
A charade of ENS, U and RED. The EN is the printers’ ‘space’. As opposed to an EM.
22 Graduate’s robes regularly get gibes
BARBS
A charade of BA and the odd letters of ‘robes’.
24 Kitchen range’s popular once more
AGAIN
A charade of AGA and IN.
Many thanks to Hectence for another delightful Quiptic. Keep them coming, please.
Thanks Hectence and Pierre. Great Quiptic
Thanks Pierre. There’s no plural in 17: only one L needs to be removed from BULLIES.
BULLIED, I mean.
Thanks Pierre, great puzzle, Hectence. In 17a, only one ‘L’ is removed from ‘BULLIED’, hence the apostrophe in ‘STUDENT’S’ (ie. student is.)
Sorry Andrew, beat me to it.
So there is only one L needs removing. More haste, less speed. Blog corrected.
I agree that this was an excellent and enjoyable Quiptic.
My favourites were MUTUAL FRIEND, SHILLY-SHALLY, INAUDIBLE, QUIRKIER.
Thank you Hectence and Pierre.
Thanks Hectence and Pierre
Yes, a very good Quiptic. I loved SPINACH!
I was slightly irritated that my perfectly valid TRACK for 26a turned out to be wrong. Yes, I know it’s a crossword, so crossers are important, but I hadn’t got 10d when I wrote it in.
lovely jubbly! Not totally convinced by “of” for “regarding” and, like muffin, I had the perfectly correct “track” until it was ruled out by crossers. What is especially clever about this is that the longer clues can be solved with a few crossers and the definition, and then the parsing pieced together, so a beginner can really feel they’ve made progress and learned something. Many thanks Hectence for a lovely puzzle, and Pierre for the clear blog.
Largely good, although SENSE OF DECENCY isn’t in the main dictionaries (it’s in Crossword Compiler though)
The parsing of 1D was a bit tricky until you remember fall = autumn (American usage of course.)
Thanks Hectence and Pierre.
A really nice puzzle. My favourite was 16d REALISTIC – very clever.
TheZed @9 – I think “of” = “regarding” is fine – To talk of many things: of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings.
Many thanks Hectence and Pierre.
I hit the same snag as Robi with parsing MUTUAL FRIEND: the solution bubbled up happily by itself, but i generally don’t expect to find American words in English crosswords. My failing, I know! SPINACH made me giggle. Nice one, Hectence! Thanks also to Pierre for the blog
[btw the story about spinach giving strength derives from a long while ago (1920s?) someone miscopying the iron content in a published article, moving the decimal point one place to the right (thus giving ten times the correct value).
Actually, Google tells me that this story is a myth as well!]
“Fall” for autumn isn’t necessarily an Americanism. It’s more common here, sure. But it’s not unknown in British usage. I think, for example, of Gerard Manley Hopkins’s classic “Spring and Fall” (in which several meanings of “fall” are intended, including “autumn”); he was about as British as they come. Apparently, Dr. Johnson included it in his dictionary too.
Anyway, I agree that this puzzle is a great example of what a Quiptic is supposed to be all about.
[“Spring and Fall,” it just occurred to me, has essentially the opposite gist as another of my favorite poems, Wallace Stevens’s “The Snow Man”. Is bad weather a memento mori? Hopkins and Stevens disagree.]
I agree that this was a gem of a Quiptic. The only blot on my enjoyment of it was being thrown into a fit of depression by the bleak surface of 17a.
Thanks to Pierre and Hectance
Superficially at least yes, a good puzzle – if the clues (most of them), are considered separately, but we have:
About as anagrind 3 times
About as insertion indicator twice
About = Re once
If the purpose of a “Quiptic” is to beat new solvers about the head with certain well used devices then this fits the bill.
If, however, it is also intended to introduce the basics of cryptic grammar, then it falls down in several clues:
9a Cryptically Judge has uling to cover GG.
This doesn’t work. having would work, so would covering, but the combination employed doesn’t (IMO).
5d At its simplest the clue would read “Wild hog enters tent for food”, “breaks into” and “to find” are superfluous surface verbiage.
10d There are two items “sick” and “everyone” which need to come in, not comes in.
14d I see absolutely no way that “components” can in itself be an anagrind.
18d “Taking a break” is significantly poorer as an anagrind than simply “breaking”, and e.g. “breaking for lunch”, serves the surface at least as well, if not better, than “taking break”.
Before anyone gets their knickers in a twist, I’m not having a go at Hectence – they are a fine setter whose work I enjoy. What I do doubt is the Guardian’s commitment to attracting and informing new solvers. In order to understand, decrypt and enjoy, one needs a decent grounding in the “rules”, even if only to spot when they are bent, changed or, occasionally totally ignored in the cause of an exceptional clue.
Btw 23a isn’t an insertion
Trace would also have worked for 26a. Like muffin I was disconcerted by this, not having crossers at the time. I don’t understand where the u comes from in ensured (19d)? Surely suitable for all is precisely not u? Otherwise, I really enjoyed this. Unlike Dansar I thought this worked really well and was a good introduction to the way that things are not always what they seem ( indeed, usually are not what they seem) in a cryptic crossword.
Beobachterin, I should have made clearer in my blog that U for ‘suitable for all’ comes from the film board classification. Next step up is PG – parental guidance – then you have the age limits for viewing. I’m glad you found it a good introduction to the cryptic world – I’m still recommending this as one to attract and inform new solvers.
Dansar, thank you for your comprehensive review of how you found the puzzle. I hinted at the overuse of ‘about’ in the blog. A venial rather than a mortal sin, but hardly one that’s likely to put off new solvers. I’m not going to go through a line by line disagreement with your deconstruction of the cryptic grammar, but for someone you consider a ‘fine setter’ you’ve found a lot to dislike. Most if not all of your criticisms could be prefixed by IMO. You doubt the Guardian’s commitment to attracting new solvers? The Quiptic is twenty years old in November – that looks like commitment to me. Have they all been perfect? Of course not. But if you think this isn’t a near perfect puzzle to recommend to beginners then you are well wide of the mark. IMO. But perhaps you’re a published setter or a wannabe setter and know better than the other contributors here.
Thank you also for pointing out my error in 23ac. Btw, the setter’s name is Hectence and not Hectance.