Anto has the Quiptic for us this morning.
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 You’d hope fast gets broken with this variable dish
SOUP OF THE DAY
(YOUD HOPE FAST)*
9 Poor family dumped in street
SKINT
An insertion of KIN in ST.
10 Cover when one or other is caught not working?
EIDERDOWN
I really hope that this isn’t a charade of EIDER for a homophone of ‘either’ and DOWN. Because while I am relaxed about homophones generally, there is no way that EITHER and EIDER fall into that category. Except perhaps in some parts of Ireland (where the setter comes from).
11 Where in France husband leaves stuff for trips
OUTINGS
A charade of OÙ for the French word for ‘where’ and T[H]INGS.
12 Win a set, playing while upset
IN A STEW
(WIN A SET)*
13 March to secure jail reform? He might send you there!
TRIAL JUDGE
An insertion of (JAIL)* in TRUDGE.
15 Treatment area charge creates political division
WARD
A triple definition: ‘treatment area’, ‘charge’ and ‘political division’. It seems to me that ‘creates’ is only there to make sense of the surface. Like many of this setter’s clues, this is rather imprecise.
18 Fake news about king that teenagers now repeat constantly
LIKE
An insertion of K in LIE. I was like, “Anto is easily the best setter in the Quiptic stable.” She was like, “No way.”
19 Denounces drunk not in good condition
SHOP SOILED
A charade of SHOPS and OILED.
22 Spring initiates this forward movement in clocks
ONE HOUR
This appears to be a barely/not at all cryptic definition.
24 One tempting English with time in more pleasant surroundings
ENTICER
A charade of E and T inserted into NICER.
25 Work spade into lands down south
ANTIPODES
(SPADE INTO)*
26 In the bellies of whales, science finds something strange
ALIEN
The central letters of whALes and scIENce.
27 Establishment that should provide you with a brown cover
TANNING SALON
A cd.
Down
1 Painter has mouth turned up — it’s nothing to cry about
SPILT MILK
A charade of [Gustav] KLIMT and LIPS reversed.
2 Work out one approach lacking information
UNTANGLE
I think this is UN[I]T ANGLE with I as an abbreviation for ‘information’.
3 Submarine’s first captain comes up to deliver warnings
OMENS
A reversal of S for the first letter of ‘submarine’ and NEMO all reversed.
4 Creating order to hide almost depleted uranium in dump
TIDYING UP
An insertion of DYING and U in TIP.
5 Merit increase having eliminated new impediment to hearing
EARWAX
EAR[N]WAX
6 Arrest leaders of All Blacks on rugby tour
ABORT
The first letters of the last five words of the clue.
7 Try to date report of one doing reconnaissance
ASK OUT
A homophone of A SCOUT.
8 Worried a couple is supporting green extremists
GNAWED
Since it’s a down clue, it’s A and WED under GN for the outside letters of ‘green’.
14 He insured treatment getting introduced
USHERED IN
(HE INSURED)*
16 Energetic start to play occupies everyone performing
ALL ACTION
An insertion of ACT I in ALL ON.
17 Settle for drop in customer numbers
FOOTFALL
A charade of FOOT (as in ‘I’ll settle/foot the bill’) and FALL.
18 Ladies note cleaning implement
LOOFAH
A charade of LOO and FAH.
20 Adventurous sweetheart dropped line
DARING
DAR[L]ING
21 Become aware of union cutting voucher
COUPON
An insertion of U in COP ON.
23 More pull out when court is dismissed
EXTRA
EXTRA[CT]
24 Moves carefully inside overseas establishment
EASES
Hidden in oversEAS EStablishment.
Many thanks to Anto for this morning’s Quiptic.
Thanks both. Re 10a, perhaps Anto has a cold
Thanks Anto and Pierre
Usual mixed bag from Anto. I liked SPILT MILK, but Klimt is hardly a household name; NEMO is a little less obscure. I read EIDER as an attempted homophone and hated it. ONE HOUR is an odd answer. Although it’s possible to find references to the note “fah”, it’s wrong – it should be FA (as it comes from “famuli” in the Latin hymn).
I liked ALL ACTION best.
I found this quite difficult for a Qupitic. I solved but could not parse 19a, 2d, 4d, and I failed to solve EARWAX.
I liked EXTRA and EASES.
Thanks Pierre and Anto.
I agree that it’s rather hard for a quiptic. I swallowed EIDER but got stuck with FOOTFALL where I had CONTRACT (which fits the clue just as well) and had to resort to a search to correct that corner. I failed to parse UNTANGLE and Pierre’s parsing is pretty weak (information is GEN or DATA or INFO but never just I)!
I found this harder than most Quiptics but more satisfying than most Antos. My favorites were LIKE and SPILT MILK, but I thought several others were quite good. I agree with muffin about FAH, but I thought EIDERDOWN was clear enough. I’ve certainly seen more egregious homophones. Thanks to Anto and Pierre.
My wife points out that “i” for informtion is standard on road signs etc, so I withdraw my criticism of 2d. But it is obscure!
FAH is in all the dicts so I think it is fine. Favourite clue, TRIAL JUDGE. Thanks Anto and Pierre.
How is ‘a scout’ a homophone of ‘ask out’ (7d)?
It might be one of ‘skout’ [placed after ‘a’ (=one)] but for that to be the case the homophone indicator is in the wrong place, isn’t it?
Sil @8
I don’t understand your point. You aren’t pronouncing “scout” with a soft C, are you? For me there’s a tiny difference in stress between “A SCOUT” and “ASK OUT”, but it’s far closer than many “homophones”.
muffin @9, do you really pronounce ‘ask out’ as in “I will ask out my colleague tonight” (which I won’t) the same as ‘a scout’ as in “I am a scout leader”?
Yes, more or less – tiny pause after the A in the latter, but no other difference!
The only thing I can say then is, that I pronounce the “a” in the latter totally different from the “a” in ‘ask out’.
[in the main dictionaries their phonetic symbols are different too]
Perhaps, I should ask a scout to out for a date and see what happens ….
Best we leave it there, I think.
(don’t know what happened here but ‘to out for a date’ should not be there in the third line)
I liked 1d SPILT MILK. I don’t think Klimt is too obscure, and in any case the definition clearly points you to the answer.
We certainly had two quite controversial homophones here! 10a EIDERDOWN was outrageous but actually quite funny. 7d ASK OUT must partly depend on your accent. Sil, I’m guessing that like me you pronounce “ask” with a long a, as in “arm”, in which case ASK OUT sounds nothing like “a scout”. But if you pronounce “ask” with a short a, as in “cat”, it is a bit closer. But even in that case I would have thought that the “a” of “a scout” would be more of a neutral schwa sound.
I liked this. Nicely challenging. Surely the point of homophones is not how ‘you’ pronounce it but whether or not it can be pronounced that way. No problem with ‘ a scout’ once it clicked, but eider/either needed an extra indication I thought.
I thought this was a very classy puzzle. I couldn’t completely parse 13A and 21D – so thank you Pierre for the explanations, and for your usual informative blog. I agree with you about 22A, and I have to confess I thought 27A was a bit weak as well. On the other hand, I was amused by EIDERDOWN, and by ASK OUT (maybe Anto is from Yorkshire?), ALIEN and OMENS were very pleasing – and SPILT MILK was truly superb! Well done Anto!
As for whether the note in 18D is “Fah”, “Fa” or even “Far”: since most of us come across the wretched tonic sol-fa malarkey aurally rather than in writing (my own introduction to it being the infuriating earworm of that Julie Andrews song) the vagueness of the actual spelling is only to be expected. And, as others have pointed out to me before, on this very site, it therefore shouldn’t matter!
I’m not a big fan of Anto’s but I did find this one fun.
[Wellbeck @26
I’ve posted this before. The origin of the names for the notes is clear cut, (and the fourth is clearly fa) although you could argue that as some have been changed, there is no reason why others shouldn’t as well.]
Hi Muffin! Fair point – but I myself have spent far too long getting worked up about those blasted do-ray-mees, and I’m now trying hard to relax about the spelling of them….
Footfall in that sense is new to me.
Thanks Anto and Pierre. I rather enjoyed this one. FOOTFALL had me almost weeping in despair as I looked through every thesaurus and dictionary for help at either end. Then I just suddenly saw it – that annoying feeling! It was there all the time, it’s obvious, how could I be so stupid etc etc … Ah, the joy of crosswords!
As a fairly new solver, this was a hard DNF for me – I had several answers that seemed correct but with no idea why, and even after coming here for some hints/answers, some of these seem a stretch, particularly for a Quiptic.
Fah instead of fa is especially galling, although I suppose educational if it’s common. Claims here that “it’s in the dictionary” therefore it’s fair don’t chime with me – us poor beginners (who have been pointed at the Quiptic for a gentle start) don’t have access to cryptic dictionaries, we just have things like the Guardian’s own article on music in cryptics which states that it’s fa.
Welcome, Deebster (if this is your first comment). Don’t be too galled – many of the answers here are a stretch for any crossword. I’d still point you in the direction of the Quiptic to learn, enjoy and improve. This setter might not be top of my (or others’) list, however.
Alan Connors’ article does indeed list FA as an option for ‘note’, but as nms says, FAH is given in dictionaries (not sure what you mean by ‘cryptic dictionaries’ – I just use Collins and the Shorter Oxford). So ignore muffin’s ‘it’s wrong’ comment. It’s not – it’s an alternative spelling which often comes up in cryptics. Alan gives SOL as the fifth note, correctly – but you will also see SO and SOH clued in crosswords.
Keep on practising – and commenting. The Quiptic blogs are aimed at beginners, so it’s good to hear from them.
Re Deebster @#22, Collins Dictionary, very widely used by setters of the daily cryptics, can be downloaded for free – advertising on the site covers the costs. Has the advantage over the latest print edition of being constantly updated.
Ah, thanks for the clarification – I know of references like The Chambers Crossword Dictionary and had assumed that solvers were checking here for whether something’s “fair”.