My previous Monday blog was of Matilda’s first Cryptic, and now Carpathian makes the same step up from the Quiptic. This puzzle could easily have been a Quiptic, with lots of helpful anagrams and generally straightforward constructions, but it’s nicely done, so a pleasant, if brief, diversion. Thanks and welcome to Carpathian.
| Across | ||||||||
| 1. | SATISFY | Meet South African model returning before start of fashion year (7) SA + reverse of SIT (to model) + F[ashion] + Y |
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| 5. | SHOT PUT | Try getting place in athletic 23 (4,3) SHOT (a try, as in “give it a shot”) + PUT (to place) |
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| 9. | UNITE | Join university side, leaving in the morning (5) UNI + TEAM less A.M. |
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| 10. | CAPTIVATE | Charm hostage over a time (9) A T in CAPTIVE |
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| 11. | REVELATORY | Party has a politician that’s informative (10) REVEL (party) + A TORY |
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| 12. | BOIL | Heat black fossil fuel (4) B + OIL |
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| 14. | OUTSTANDING | Remaining excellent (11) Double definition |
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| 18. | ROMAN CANDLE | Firework in love story about foreign land (5,6) LAND* in ROMANCE |
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| 21. | TASK | Works a treat, reversing to include charge (4) Hidden in reverse of worKS A Treat |
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| 22. | WAGE FREEZE | No pay rise, as few agree arrangement before final letter to Europe (4,6) (FEW AGREE)* + Z (final letter) + E[urope] |
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| 25. | CHINAWARE | Feature sensible dinner service (9) CHIN (feature) + AWARE (sensible, in an older sense of the word) |
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| 26. | EXIST | Old first to be present (5) EX (old, former) + 1ST |
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| 27. | LUNCHES | Left top off groups of bananas as meals (7) L + [B]UNCHES |
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| 28. | TITULAR | Nominal time in strange ritual (7) T in RITUAL* |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1. | SQUARE | True Conservative shape (6) Three definitions |
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| 2. | THIEVE | Pinch article about one empty vehicle (6) I (one) in THE (article) + V[ehicl]E |
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| 3. | SPELLBOUND | Entranced by time before spring (10) SPELL (a time) + BOUND (to spring) |
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| 4. | YACHT | Leaders of yesteryear approach captain helming tourist vessel (5) First letters of Yesteryear Approach Captain Helming Tourist |
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| 5. | SEPARATED | Curtains put up across mantle regularly pulled apart (9) Alternate letters of mAnTlE in reverse of DRAPES |
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| 6. | OBIT | Notice of death from mosquito bite (4) Hidden in mosquitO BITe |
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| 7. | PLATONIC | Non-physical complaint head of medicine dismissed wrongly (8) Anagram of COMPLAINT less M[edicine] |
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| 8. | THEOLOGY | Old record those people keep for study of religion (8) O LOG in THEY |
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| 13. | ENDEARMENT | Tender name broadcast as expression of love (10) (TENDER NAME)* |
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| 15. | TEARAWAYS | Hooligans drop onto a path leading south (9) TEAR (rhyming with “beer” – a drop) + A WAY + S |
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| 16. | PROTOCOL | Crazy mount rearing following quiet procedure (8) P followed by reverse of LOCO (crazy) + TOR (hill, mount) |
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| 17. | OMISSION | Love calling for exclusion (8) O (zero, love) + MISSION (calling) |
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| 19. | AERIAL | Den raised after a bit of excitement in the air (6) A + E[xcitement] + reverse of LAIR (den) |
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| 20. | JESTER | Fool rejects shuffling with no clubs (6) Anagram of REJECTS less C[lubs] |
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| 23. | EVENT | English opening race perhaps (5) E + VENT (opening) |
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| 24. | WASH | Clean with volcanic dust (4) W[ith] + ASH |
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thanks C & A! (isn’t that a supermarket chain somewhere). anyway, didn’t find this as easy as C. In fact, I only got two acrosses in my first pass — the downs were much more accessible. I also managed to enter COAL instead of B,OIL until I saw the error of my ways…
Welcome to Carpathian – great to start with a Pangram!
First look last night. Got just two of the acrossers and thought ‘too hard’ and went to sleep. Had more success with the downs this morning but still nothing much yielding in the across department. And then shot-put came from nowhere and it opened up wonderfully. The answers cascaded in all the way to the SW corner. Smiling as roman candle, chinaware and omission went in. A great example of the crossword setter’s art! Square was my favourite and penultimate. Thanks Andrew for the parsing of unite. Thanks and congratulations to Carpathian for such a smooth, quality solve.
Yes, pleasant enough and about quiptic level, as Andrew says. Did today’s Matilda straight after and took about the same time. Welcome Carpathian and thanks both.
Yes, just the right level for Monday. I particularly liked ROMAN CANDLE and PLATONIC. Welcome Carpathian!
I thought this was very well put together – no frills, few thrills, but nicely observed wordplay and quite a few clues which I looked at and thought “I have no idea how to think about that” followed by enlightenment. I found it unfolded well – a few write-ins giving hints to others and it gradually giving up its secrets. Not the most demanding puzzle, but well balanced and clear. Well done Carpathian and thank you Andrew.
I generally do them all online and so never notice which setter does which kind of crossword – and was thinking I must just be on Carpathian’s wavelength today, for lots of this went in fairly swiftly. Funnily enough, it was seemingly straightforward clues like WASH that held me up the longest. By the time I got 1d, I was pretty sure it was a pangram, which helped with JESTER, EXIST and TASK. My faves were THEOLOGY, AERIAL and the delightful ROMAN CANDLE. Thanks Carpathian and Andrew for a fun start to the day.
Nice puzzle. I failed to parse UNITE as I was looking at it as U/NITE rather than UNI/TE.
Thanks C+A.
Thanks Carpathian and Andrew
My two favourite Quiptic compilers in one day! I thought the level of this was well-pitched; harder than Matilda’s Quiptic. Favourites were REVELATORY (an informative politician?), and PLATONIC.
Unlike Wellbeck, I didn’t like AERIAL – the surface doesn’t make sense, and I’m not a fan of “a bit of excitement” for E.
An enjoyable alternative to our usual Monday fare and no quibbles from me. Suspected a pangram once I got JESTER and did a letter check to find only the Q missing. Which helped me with SQUARE which was outstanding at that point. (Funnily enough, it always seems to be the occurrence of a J, rather than any other letter, that gets me looking for a pangram.)
I liked ROMAN CANDLE like others here, along with SATISFY, CAPTIVATE, SEPARATED and WAGE FREEZE. I agree with Wellbeck @7 that the shortest clues were trickiest with WASH being LOI and the misdirection on 12ac initially suggesting Coal rather than BOIL – as per Ilan Caron @1.
Thanks and welcome to Carpathian. Thanks to Andrew for the blog.
Welcome to Carpathian and thank you Andrew for the blog.
A pleasant enough Quiptic for a Monday morning if a touch on the easy side, but I wish our newcomer every success as he/she hones his/her art.
Stay safe, everyone.
You got what you wished for muffin – maybe Hugh follows you? A nice start in cryptic Monday slot from Carpathian. I didn’t notice the pangram so thanks for pointing it out quenbarrow. My favourites have been mentioned and EVENT and WASH which are the simplest of clues were the last to go in – nice. Thanks to Carpathian and to Andrew – especially for the parsing of PLATONIC which I missed.
TheZed @6 has expressed my thoughts exactly.
Many thanks, Andrew and Carpathian.
Very enjoyable thanks both. 14a reminded me of checking teachers’ reports and sending back those with comments such as “Unfortunately some of his work is still outstanding”.
Two new cryptic setters for Mondays and both excellent. I enjoyed this, it was no write in but yielded nicely. With Vulcan and Pan as well, we have much to look forward to in the weeks to come. Chifonie perhaps can up the difficulty and appear during the week. It would seem sadly that Arachne is no longer setting – can anybody confirm this – so new faces were needed.
My favourites were ROMAN CANDLE, TASK which was well hidden and gave me pause for thought and UNITE once I had checked with Andrew that I had the correct parsing.
So many thanks and welcome Carpathian and a big thank you to Andrew for the help and a nice early blog.
Oh, and well done quenbarrow for spotting the Pangram
Yes, this is pretty gentle, but no more so that what we have had on Mondays for years, so not a bad introduction to the Cryptic slot.
Thanks to Andrew, and welcome to Carpathian.
I have been following this site for 9 years now when I took up solving the Guardian crosswords following retirement. I have never commented before simply because by the time I have finished the xword someone has usually said anything I might want to say and anyway I get enough enjoyment just reading the comments both here and in the Other Place. However, it must be lockdown fever or something because today I will pass comment.
Early on when I saw a J I somehow thought is this a pangram? I often find J is the elusive letter in a pan gram rather than Q or X say. I. Carried on and then came a Z then a Q and halfway through I checked the letters and saw I was only missing K. Carried on until last 2 clues, 16d and 21a. Still no K. LOI 21a, still no K. Thought of obvious-ish fit but couldn’t parse it then the penny dropped. A second hidden answer fooled me. Together with a Nina last week which unusually for me I spotted halfway through and it helped me get my last two answers, and then this pangram today I have finally been rewarded for spotting the hidden message. Now as for themes don’t get me started….
I very much enjoyed this in a not-over-exerting way.
PROTOCOL had me puzzled for a while. CHINAWARE was cute.
Straightforward fun unfolding nicely. A few clues that rang bells (spellbound, captivate, endearment) but all good fun. Favs were REVELATORY and PLATONIC. Thanks to Carpathian and to Andrew.
Welcome Phil K, this is usually a gentle blog which assists and provides ideas for both the real experts and, like me, the hacks. Please continue to share; you will’meet folks from all over the world, who have the same strange love of crosswords you have!!
An early finish for me so it must have been straightforward! I couldn’t parse SATISFY, having allotted the T to model, I couldn’t use the IS. Great start to the week. Didn’t spot the pangram of course. Thanks Carpathian and Andrew.
Nicely done; a bit harder than Carpathian’s usual Quiptic efforts, so just right for the Monday slot.
I particularly liked SQUARE [I just thought it was a dd with ‘true Conservative’ one definition] and PROTOCOL, which was my LOI.
Thanks Carpathian and Andrew – Carpathian/Vigo often does pangrams, although I missed this one!
Good to see Carpathian in the real paper now!
All very nice (as for others, ROMAN CANDLE being one of the highlights).
But, please, don’t use E for ‘Europe’ anymore (because it isn’t).
Many thanks to Andrew & Carpathian.
Carpathian and Matilda on the same day, who could ask for more? Both done in about the same time as I usually take for one puzzle, so I agree with others here regarding the level of difficulty, but this was none the worse for that. Thanks and welcome to Carpathian and thanks, Andrew, for the blog.
[Phil K @ 17 – a very hearty welcome! Nine years lurking – forbearance, taciturnity or simply good sense?! (Now you’ve started…) Is this a record I wonder?]
And to Carphatian, a new name to me, welcome also. I found this an elegantly constructed puzzle. Particularly enjoyed CHINAWARE and PLATONIC.
Many thanks, both and all.
Thank you Carpathian and Andrew.
I really enjoyed this puzzle and for once spotted the pangram.
Ilan Caron @1, C&A is a clothing store chain, it was present in the UK until 2001 – it always brings to my mind the discus thrower “Nina of the five hats”…
Thanks to Carpathian and Andrew.
This was definitely an accelerando, but from lentissimo (Andrew will understand)* with the pangramatic dawning at JESTER helping the dash to the finish. Favourite was PLATONIC which caused the engine, after much juddering, to cough into life at last. But I still needed Andrew for UNITE’s parsing – if I must (and I must) I bridle somewhat at the grammar here: “leaving in the morning” doesn’t quite translate to “less A.M.” for me but it’s a mere quibblet.
cookie@26: thanks for the link; a pangram and a nina in the same day – cute or what?
Phil K@17: always a treat to welcome a lurker on board.
*(as will everyone else – I forget where I am)
And “F” for fashion – I don’t quite get that.
Nice to welcome Carpathian to the cryptic. No mountain to climb today but I’m sure they will display the ability to set a range of levels of difficulty for the future.
Alphalpha@28 – the clue reads ‘start of fashion’ = F
Welcome and thanks Carpathian. A fairly gentle workout is just what I need on a Monday morning. All pretty straight forward with no obscure words or specialist general knowledge required.
And starting with a pangram sets the bar high. Keep it up.
Not familiar with the setter so it took a bit of time to get on the wavelength. Indeed, on the first pass I didn’t get very much at all. However, it all unravelled quite speedily and I even spotted the anagram- well Z and J so close together!
Liked PROTOCOL and PLATONIC.
Thanks Carpathian.
Perfect Monday fodder. SATISFY and SQUARE offered a pleasing entry into the grid and it all flowed from there. I’m sure many of us with extra time on our hands have been hitting the Guardian archives – I got bored this morning and hacked this web page http://www.bodycheetah.com/grauniad/ together to generate links to random crosswords and save me seconds a day choosing. As Keith Barrett would say “It’s just a bit of fun …”
Thanks to SPanza@20, William F P@25 and Alphalpha@27 for your welcomes. No idea how often I will contribute here but hopefully more than once in 9 years. At least I may have a better chance of getting an original comment in here than the other place where our antipodean friends have a typical 10hr head start on me. Good old fashioned circular arguments seem less frequent here and if they occur less heated than the Guardian blog. Not that I mind a good heated argument, they’re a bit like my attitude to work, I love it I could watch it all day.
A gentle but enjoyable start from Carpathian – welcome! Nice clueing apart, I thought, from AERIAL, my LOi. And, in the context, ‘juggling’ might perhaps have made a better anagrind than ‘shuffling’ in 20?
Carpathian is a welcome addition to the Monday slot – a smooth and satisfying solve.
My only difficulty was in parsing SATISFY. I was so fixed on the ridiculous convention that ‘model’ = T in crosswordland that I couldn’t see ‘sit’. Surely time to consign the old wreck to the scrapyard.
Thanks to Carpathian and Andrew.
Over my time doing cryptics, I managed to drum into my head the notion that a bunch of bananas was called a HAND (a term we never use in the US). So I kept trying to make 27ac into something starting with LANDS. If I’d approached the clue in the state of ignorance I found myself in a few years ago, I would have gone straight to BUNCH found this clue much easier.
Eileen@: thanks for the steer. (Palm-shaped weal on forehead.)
Lautus @35 I think Carpathian is steering us towards a card game picture rather than a juggling one, though your version links “fool” to the anagrind and “clubs” more neatly. One possible problem is that, in my experience, it is only jugglers who call the things we juggle “clubs” and most non-jugglers don’t have a name for them, or call them “batons” (which is the French word IIRC).
TheZed@39: IIRC? (Juggling is among your talents – chapeau!)
Alphalpha @40: “IIRC” = “If I Recall Correctly”. I am the guy who ran away FROM the circus. Been doing things topsy turvy most of my life it seems…
This was a write in for me. I know it’s Monday, but…
SPanza @15 Your mention of Arachne reminded me that I have not seen her work for quite awhile in the FT under her alias there as Rosa Klebb — I hope she’s not retired — it would be a great loss.
Alphalpha @27: ‘leaving’ as in ‘leaving aside’?
Welcome Carpathian and thanks, and to Andrew.
Doesn’t “drop” refer to “tear-drop”, rather than an unsignalled rhyme?
Did this one (and the quiptic) as a midnight feast… Thanks Andrew, for the parsing of PLATONIC, which my small – hours addled brain couldn’t work out. Very enjoyable, though really I should have gone to bed…
Thanks to Carpathian.
Tony Santucci @ 43 I agree but better she has retired than that she is unwell!! Eileen do you have any news?
Oh I did not like this! Just come across it in weekly heap of Guardians, Quiptic minus Quips. But I seem to have bern alone in this view, so Carpathian can take plenty of encouragement from everyone else.