Apologies for the late blog, but blame the Grauniad, not me. A fine end to the Quiptic year, with a puzzle from Carpathian that does exactly what it says on the tin. For beginners, and those in a hurry …
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 Cult adopting unique selling point is dubious (7)
SUSPECT
An insertion of USP in SECT.
5 Rejected seed is cause of downfall (7)
NEMESIS
A charade of SEMEN reversed and IS.
9 Try to surpass bird consumed around start of lunch (7)
EMULATE
An insertion of L for the first letter of ‘lunch’ in EMU and ATE.
10 Criminal copper inflamed about press release (7)
CULPRIT
A charade of CU and an insertion of PR in LIT.
11 Engineer closes its biannual events (9)
SOLSTICES
(CLOSES ITS)* with ‘engineer’ as the anagrind. We’ve just had one. Evenings are getting longer already.
12 Singular desire to be stylish (5)
SWISH
A charade of S and WISH.
13 Drain out bottom (5)
NADIR
(DRAIN)*
15 Artist returning coins beginner produced for heavenly being (9)
ARCHANGEL
A charade of RA reversed, CHANGE and L.
17 Part of licence covers air conditioning (9)
CHARACTER
An insertion of AC in CHARTER.
19 Strange beer I eventually swallowed (5)
EERIE
Hidden in bEER I Eventually.
22 Take in party with suitable clothing (5)
ADOPT
An insertion of DO in APT.
23 Moll lisps about footwear (9)
PLIMSOLLS
(MOLL LISPS)*
25 Stick out for proposal (7)
PROJECT
A dd.
26 Material of knitted angora with unknown ingredient (7)
ORGANZA
An insertion of Z for the mathematical ‘unknown’ in (ANGORA)* The anagrind is ‘knitted’.
27 Miserable benefit payment almost complete (7)
DOLEFUL
A charade of DOLE and FUL[L]
28 Meet female and settle back in state (7)
SATISFY
An insertion of F and SIT reversed in SAY.
Down
1 Relative walks about (7)
STEPSON
A charade of STEPS and ON.
2 Disgusting gangster swallowed by sea creature (7)
SQUALID
An insertion of AL (Capone) in SQUID.
3 Praise old key (5)
EXALT
A charade of EX and ALT for the key on your keyboard.
4 Forthright six-footer by ditch (9)
TRENCHANT
A charade of TRENCH and ANT.
5 Mask censors raised, concealing kisses (5)
NECKS
Hidden reversed in maSK CENsors.
6 Squeezes fish to get drink (9)
MILKSHAKE
A charade of MILKS and HAKE.
7 Helping European recreational vehicle stuck in grass (7)
SERVING
An insertion of E and RV in SING in its ‘betray’ sense.
8 Posed with revolutionary by left luggage (7)
SATCHEL
A charade of SAT, CHE and L.
14 Spooner’s crow key to dish (5,4)
ROAST BEEF
A Spoonerism of BOAST REEF. Think Florida Keys.
16 Caught alternative free gold substitute, initially in aisles (9)
CORRIDORS
A charade of C, OR, RID, OR for ‘gold’ and S for the first letter of ‘substitute’.
17 Before exercise day man cracked (7)
CHAPPED
A charade of CHAP, PE and D. Think lips.
18 Walking fish lax about accepting love and fate (7)
AXOLOTL
An insertion of O and LOT in (LAX)*
20 Gives in regarding fast son (7)
RELENTS
A charade of RE, LENT for the religious ‘fas’ and S.
21 Drug treated stye sac (7)
ECSTASY
(STYE SAC)*
23 Priest lifted dead part of flower (5)
PETAL
A charade of P and LATE reversed.
24 Gun feature regularly seen in slingshots (5)
SIGHT
The odd letters of SlInGsHoTs.
Many thanks to Carpathian for this, and her many other Quiptics during 2019.
The usual fine Quiptic from Carpathian, but with a couple of quibbles. I thought the clue for 14d was fair enough but poor, being a spoonerism of a meaningless phrase, and I don’t know what ‘produced’ is doing in the clue for 15a apart from adding to the surface. All good apart from that, and congratulations to Carpathian for managing a pangram at Quiptic level. Thanks to her and to Pierre.
Oh yes, the pangram. Should’ve seen that.
Does it make me look a bit of a saddo for being so happy about the pangram? I always keep an eye on the letters used, but invariably Q J and K fail to appear. Today, with ORGANZA and SQUALID as early solves, I started to get my hopes up…
I always enjoy tackling a Carpathian puzzle, even though I occasionally fail to complete them – so this one was doubly satisfying. My faves were NEMESIS, SATCHEL and CHARACTER – and it took an age before AXOLOTL waddled up slowly from the darkest depths…
Many thanks to Carpathian for all the pleasure he/she has given me this year – and to Pierre for the ever-informative blogs.
Many thanks to Pierre for this and all the other blogs this year. We do seem to meet a lot here – maybe see you in January at The Bridge House? Thank you also to everyone who takes time to comment here – especially when the comments are so kind. Nice to see the goodwill is still in full swing here! Best wishes to everyone for a very happy 2020.
Vigo/Carpathian
Thanks Carpathian and Pierre
I must disagree with your introductory comment, Pierre – I found this the hardest Quiptic I’ve done (and I include some of Anto’s!). Also, unusually for Carpathian, a couple of definitions are iffy or wrong. “Walking fish” for axolotl is nonsense – it’s a salamander, i.e. an amphibian. “Emulate” generally means “attempt to equal”, not “surpass”.
@muffin
The axolotl sometimes goes by the name “Mexican walking fish”
Words:
Characters:
Thank you Pierre! I was struggling to link grass and sing, and keys and reef. Seems obvious now, as always.
Oh yes, khitty, and a whale is a fish too!
…so should have been indicated as “sometimes known as”…?
Many thanks to both and best wishes for the new year, which it is now here.
I must agree with muffin@5, now that I have finally found the time to do this. I looked sideways at both of those clues too. NEMESIS took me the longest though. All great fun over my breakfast coffee.
@muffin “Oh yes, khitty, and a whale is a fish too!”
Hehehe. This comment is especially amusing because, depending on one’s approach to taxonomy, either a whale is a fish or there’s no such thing as a fish!
(Since we’re on a website entirely about dissecting wordplay, I’ll go ahead and explain the joke: the short answer is that, because all land vertebrates are descended from one group of fish (the tetrapods), any two land vertebrates (say, an axolotl and a guinea pig) are more closely related than something like a sturgeon and a cod are! However, since taxonomists really hate organizing animals in groups that exclude closer relatives, they either have to then declare that all vertebrates are fish or get rid of the category altogether!)
Words: 2
Characters: 17
I did muttered grumbling about “emulate” but that’s probably because I’m naturally a muttering grumbler. In general I loved the crossword and had a few moments of absolute delight. Thanks Carpathian and Pierre both for the great puzzle and ditto blog.
I’ve been doing cryptic puzzles for a couple of years now and the quiptic is usually about the right level for me. Found this one quite tricky and there were several I couldn’t parse (which is why I love this blog!)
One I still don’t understand: 4d… can someone help? Is it ant = ditch or ant = six-footer? And why??
Hey Emz
4 Forthright six-footer by ditch (9)
TRENCHANT
In the clue ‘by’ means next to so it’s TRENCH = ditch and ANT= six footer
Hi Emz
As Davy says, the ANT is the ‘six-footer’. Why? Because it’s an insect and has six feet. This use crops up often, so it’s worth remembering. Welcome to 225 if this is your first comment, btw.
Thank you so much for the explanation and the welcome! I’ve been doing the quiptic for a while now (including trawling the archives!) and have only ever seen ant = worker before so six-footer is new for me and I rather like the image!
And thanks to all the awesome bloggers on fifteensquared, without you I’d have definitely given up long ago!