Thanks to Pan for our Monday morning wake-up exercise. (And hello to any Quiptic regulars who haven’t met me; I’ve been a Fifteensquared blogger for a while but haven’t done the Quiptic until now.)
There are a couple of unfamiliar words here, but the wordplay is clear enough to deduce them. Also a couple of single-letter abbreviations that are probably not in everyday use, but recognised by at least one dictionary (as noted below). I hope I’ve explained everything, but feel free to ask questions if anything isn’t clear; that’s what we’re here for.
Definitions are underlined; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| Across | ||
| 8 | DINOSAUR | One considered out of date is around after broadcast (8) |
| Anagram (after broadcast = after scattering) of IS AROUND. Slang term for someone who isn’t up to date with current thinking or technology. |
||
| 9 | IMAGES | Setter’s given a long time to make pictures (6) |
| I’M (the crossword setter is) + AGES (a long time). | ||
| 10 | RANK | Foul-smelling row of soldiers (4) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 11 | CONTRABAND | Smuggled pictures returned after trick associated with group (10) |
| ART (pictures), reversed (returned), after CON (confidence trick), then BAND (group). | ||
| 12 | FINALE | The end of almost great drink (6) |
| FIN[e] (great; almost = last letter removed) + ALE (drink). | ||
| 14 | LEEBOARD | Load beer clumsily with device for restricting sideways movement at sea (8) |
| Anagram (clumsily) of LOAD BEER. An unfamiliar word to me, but the anagram is fairly obvious and it’s easy to come up with a word that sounds like it means part of a boat – which indeed it does. |
||
| 15 | SURCOAT | Actors furious about opening in unisex garment (7) |
| Anagram (furious) of ACTORS, containing (about) the opening letter of U[nisex]. It was an outer garment worn in the Middle Ages. |
||
| 17 | DIPLOMA | Drop lecturer with old degree qualification (7) |
| DIP (drop, as in “a dip in profits”) + L (abbreviation for lecturer, according to Chambers Dictionary) + O (old) + MA (academic degree). | ||
| 20 | DEMIJOHN | Died in home drunkenly clutching top of Jameson bottle (8) |
| D (abbreviation for died) + anagram (drunkenly) of IN HOME, containing (clutching) the top letter of J[ameson]. A large container holding liquids for transportation or in brewing. |
||
| 22 | PEDANT | Nit-picker removing end of chain from necklace (6) |
| PENDANT (necklace), removing the first N which is the end letter of [chai]N. | ||
| 23 | GOVERNMENT | Domination shown in good bowling spell by new chaps at last (10) |
| G (good) + OVER (a period of bowling in cricket) + N (new) + MEN (chaps) + [a]T (last letter of AT). | ||
| 24 | FROG | Mist envelopes rare creature (4) |
| FOG (mist), containing (enveloping) R (r = abbreviation for rare, according to Collins Dictionary). | ||
| 25 | SEVERE | Serious cut close to ankle (6) |
| SEVER (cut) + closing (last) letter of [ankl]E. | ||
| 26 | INTREPID | Greatly daring, I printed translation (8) |
| Anagram (translation) of I PRINTED. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | TIRAMISU | Sweet air I must circulate (8) |
| Anagram (circulate = move around) of AIR I MUST. Sweet = dessert, in this case an Italian one. |
||
| 2 | DOCK | Weedy plant cut (4) |
| Double definition: a wild plant that’s generally considered a weed (except when it’s needed as a traditional remedy for nettle stings), or as in “to dock someone’s pay”. | ||
| 3 | GAUCHE | Inept Conservative in a huge muddle (6) |
| C (Conservative) in an anagram (muddle) of A HUGE. Gauche = inept = clumsy. Not a politically-correct term because it means “left” as in left-handed, from a historical prejudice against such people. |
||
| 4 | BRINDLE | Spotty headgear capturing one’s heart (7) |
| BRIDLE (headgear for a horse), containing (capturing) N which is the heart (middle letter) of ONE. A streaked or spotted pattern on an animal’s coat. |
||
| 5 | DISRAELI | Rex is ideal playing old 23 leader (8) |
| R (abbreviation for Rex = King in Latin; as in GR for King George) + IS IDEAL, all anagrammed (playing). 23 across = government, so “old government leader” = former prime minister Benjamin Disraeli. |
||
| 6 | BAMBOOZLED | Hoodwinked airline’s doctor about alcohol left in (10) |
| BA (British Airways) + MD (Latin abbreviation for Doctor of Medicine), containing (about) BOOZE (alcohol), with L (left) inserted. Hoodwinked = bamboozled = deceived. |
||
| 7 | MEANER | More nasty fellows surrounding a queen (6) |
| MEN (fellows) surrounding A, then ER (Elizabeth Regina = Queen Elizabeth II). The R that stood for Rex (king) in 5d also stands for Regina (queen). | ||
| 13 | ARCHIMEDES | Chief ordered demise of Greek mathematician (10) |
| ARCH (chief, as in archbishop) + anagram (ordered) of DEMISE. Archimedes – mathematician, scientist, inventor, and generally very clever bloke. |
||
| 16 | ANOINTED | Tanned suspect going round old island smeared in oil (8) |
| Anagram (suspect = not right) of TANNED, containing (going round) O (old) + I (island). | ||
| 18 | MANDOLIN | Staff do nothing about instrument (8) |
| MAN (staff, as a verb, as in “man the lifeboats”) + DO + NIL (nothing) reversed (about). | ||
| 19 | ENDEMIC | One leaving medicine out for native (7) |
| Anagram (out) of MEDICINE with one I (Roman numeral for one) taken out (leaving). Endemic = specific to a particular geographical area, for example a species of animal that exists only in that area or a disease that persists in that area. |
||
| 21 | ERODED | English radical taking overdose crumbled away (6) |
| E (English) + RED (slang for communist / socialist, hence radical), containing (taking) OD (abbreviation for overdose). | ||
| 22 | POTATO | Spot a tortoise eating a tuber (6) |
| Hidden answer (. . . eating) in [s]POT A TO[rtoise]. | ||
| 24 | FEEL | Touch female fish (4) |
| F (female) + EEL (a fish). | ||
Very nice.
Thanks both.
I thought that BRINDLE was a bit obscure – but that’s just because I’d never heard of the word before. Next time I’ll think it’s obvious!
BRINDLE was my LOI as well. I hit a dead end trying to think of a hat that could have N inserted and an expression that I hadn’t heard since childhood floated up from the depths – “Black, white or brindle”. The meaning was a jokey way of saying ‘whatever colour’. I see it is now the title of a book about race relations in rural Australia. Clever. Thanks V & Q.
Thanks Pan and Quirister
BRINDLE my LOI too. I have heard of “brindled”, but not Brindle by itself (except for a rather-demanding student I used to teach!)
My favourites were GOVERNMENT + FROG.
Thanks Pan and Quirister.
BRINDLE was also my loi, and I smiled at the misdirection when it dawned on me. Otherwise not too difficult. I thought “at last” to clue T might raise a few eyebrows, but it didn’t bother me. Thanks to Pan and Quirister.
It’s not a very friendly grid for a Quiptic with many first letters unchecked, and some solutions with less than 50% checked letters.
I didn’t know SURCOAT and LEEBOARD, and maybe had forgotten BRINDLE.
I think this might have been better as a regular Monday puzzle, although it was quite entertaining.
I knew brindle because it’s used to describe the coats of certain dog breeds. I looked it up and it’s apparently used with other animals as well: horses, guinea pigs…
copland smith @8
Wiki tells me that it’s stripey rather than spotty, though
A DNF for me because of DOCK. I didn’t know the “weedy plant” meaning, but I should have got it from the other definition and the crossers.
Aside from one’s pay, the other thing I know of that’s docked is the tail of certain breeds of dog. (I understand that there’s sometimes a need to do this to avoid injury for dogs that perform certain types of task, but I can’t abide “cosmetic” tail-docking.)
Other than that failure, for which I blame only myself, I found this to be a very enjoyable and well-constructed Quiptic.
Thanks Pan and Quirister. I struggled with DOCK too – I had the K in early but got fixated on “weedy” meanings such as weaK or ineffectual and it’s sometimes hard to give up barking up the wrong tree!
Welcome to Quiptic Quirister, all is clear thanks.
As muffin says, BRINDLE seems to be more stripy although I did find a ‘stippled’ synonym.
I did wonder why the clue wasn’t just “Stripey headgear capturing one’s heart”.
Nice puzzle except that I cannot find BRINDLE meaning spotted anywhere online. (I had a brindle boxer dog as a boy and it certainly wasn’t spotted.) Perhaps ‘streaky headgear’? So it was my second last in and enabled me to fill in DINOSAUR (which I should have got earlier) but I found the clue confusing. As was the abbreviation r for rare, but it was easy to extrapolate from F-OG. Also DOCK took a while to click, even after having –CK as I am an expat.
Thanks to Pan and Quirister.
PS I don’t think that linking clues e.g. 5 and 23 is kosher.
archivist @14
From Chambers:
brinded, brindled or brindle
adjective
Marked with spots or streaks