As always, a sound and pleasing Quiptic from Pan. I have given full explanations for those still a little mystified by cryptic conventions, but if there is anything that isn’t clear, you only have to ask.
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 Orpheus finally going to underworld for hints
SHADES
A charade of S for the last letter of ‘Orpheus’ and HADES.
4 Hit barrier at work
WALLOP
A charade of WALL and OP for opus or ‘work’.
9 Reportedly uninteresting fruit
SLOE
A homophone of SLOW. The homophone indicator is ‘reportedly’. The fruit of the blackthorn, beloved of home-made gin enthusiasts.
10 Fine pass for unruly boy at centre of row
TICKETY-BOO
A charade of TICKET, (BOY)* and O for the middle letter of ‘row’. The anagrind is ‘unruly’.
11 Pay attention to silent movement
LISTEN
(SILENT)*
12 Responded to article by son and wife before daughter
ANSWERED
A charade of AN, S, W, ERE and D.
13 About to get Grauniad’s ultimate compiler a dog
RED SETTER
A charade of RE for ‘about’, D for the last letter of ‘Grauniad’ and SETTER. Even Guardian setters are acknowledging the organ’s nickname, created by Private Eye and based originally on its propensity for typos. Those are less common these days, but the crosswords have been known to have more than their fair share of errors.
15 Good intentions involving god
ODIN
Hidden in goOD INtentions.
16 Revolutionary listened to records
MARX
A homophone (‘listened to’) of MARKS. Some folk (like me) don’t appreciate clues like this, which are ambiguous because the homophone indicator is in the middle of the two elements and could therefore refer to either particle. Yes, the answer has four letters and the homophone five, but it’s still ambiguous. Compare 9ac, where both potential words have four letters, but the answer can only be SLOE because of the position of ‘reportedly’.
17 Bad time of year to make babies?
OFFSPRING
A charade of OFF and SPRING. Will there be a spike in ankle biters in late 2020/early 2021 because everyone was reduced to bonking for entertainment during lockdown? The jury is still out.
21 Senator’s sounding strained after judgment
SENTENCE
A charade of SEN and TENCE, a homophone of TENSE. The homophone indicator is ‘sounding’.
22 Cantankerous individual welcoming king to railway
ORNERY
The only really out of the ordinary word in the puzzle, but gettable with the clear clueing and the crossers, I think. An insertion of R for ‘king’ in ONE, followed by RY.
24 Chuck out note found in campanologist’s file
RING BINDER
An insertion of BIN and D for the musical ‘note’ in RINGER. The insertion indicator is ‘found in’.
25 Shoe made from carpenter’s first piece of wood
CLOG
A charade of C for the first letter of ‘carpenter’ and LOG.
26 Lark about with doctor in prison
GAMBOL
An insertion of MB in GAOL.
27 16’s collaborator points to broken legs
ENGELS
A charade of E and N for two ‘points’ of the compass and (LEGS)* Friedrich ENGELS collaborated with Karl Marx extensively, and completed/edited the last two parts of Das Kapital after the latter’s death. Pan is referring to 16ac, although she hasn’t told us so.
Down
1 Trials new English and Scottish flag
SALTIRE
A charade of (TRIALS)* and E.
2 A fellow spy?
AGENT
A charade of A and GENT.
3 No longer around, former partner can go to court
EXTINCT
A charade of EX, TIN and CT.
5 Disinclined to be part of lifesaver’s experiment
AVERSE
Hidden in lifesAVERS Experiment.
6 Service man licensed by bishop to brew dreary ale
LAY READER
(DREARY ALE)* with ‘to brew’ as the anagrind.
7 Essential part of diet is not ripe, unfortunately
PROTEIN
(NOT RIPE)*
8 Had scene rewritten to include analyst getting malicious pleasure
SCHADENFREUDE
An insertion of FREUD, the ‘analyst’ in (HAD SCENE)* A German borrowing, from Schaden, for ‘harm’ and Freude for ‘joy’. German is such a Lego language.
14 Plan to find valuable stone under layers of rock
STRATAGEM
A charade of STRATA and GEM. ‘Under’ works because it’s a down clue.
16 Member raising support given gin cocktail at get-together
MEETING
A charade of M for ‘member’, TEE reversed and (GIN)* The reversal indicator, again because it’s a down clue’, is ‘raising’; the anagrind is ‘cocktail’.
18 Special gold poured into Scotsman’s pouch
SPORRAN
A charade of SP, OR for ‘gold’ and RAN. SALTIRES, SPORRANS … one more Scottish reference and we’ll be having a theme.
19 Gets smaller new missiles
NARROWS
A charade of N and ARROWS.
20 One doing weaving with dye
INDIGO
A charade of I and (DOING)* with ‘weaving’ as the anagrind.
23 Northern race excited by mother-of-pearl
NACRE
Scottish ghost theme confirmed. A charade of N and (RACE)*
Many thanks to Pan for the start to the Grauniad week.
Thanks both. Good Quiptic. Surely ORNERY needs an American indicator?
Thanks for the detailed blog Pierre – sorry there were no birds for you to discuss!
On the business of “16” vs “16ac” something that was pointed out on one the blogs earlier this year is that there seems to be a convention that just the number is fine in a clue of the same direction. This came up where there was a potential ambiguity with a cross-reference as there was both an across and down with the same number and the reference was simply the clue number. It was a TILT for many a seasoned solver so perhaps newer solvers adding it to their etui?
Good fun though I found too many came at me from the definition alone, before I even read the wordplay. Thanks Pan.
I hadn’t picked up on that convention, TheZed. Not a problem as long as everyone learns it, and potentially recognises it as a Grauniadism.
Pretty straightforward. I guess that no-one will be saying that the Quiptic and the Cryptic were the wrong way around today (I am still working at the Cryptic). I got MARX after I worked out ENGELS – pretty much a gimme then. ORNERY was strange – I agree with Shirl @1 that it is an Americanism. But then, our American friends might struggle with TICKETY-BOO. Thanks, Pan and Pierre.
I have a personal theorem that the presence of SCHADENFREUDE in any crossword makes it better.
Like TassieTim@4, I got ENGELS first, then MARX. SENTENCE was my favourite, apart from SCHADENFREUDE obviously. Am not convinced that ORNERY is specifically American.
Enjoyable way to ease myself into the week, especially after sampling some rather strong Belgian beers yesterday. Thanks Pan and Pierre.
New for me: SALTIRE = Scottish flag, SLOE.
Thanks B+S
Didn’t even flicker at ornery but then, after Shirl@1, realised it’s true that the only time I’ve heard it (well, since Rawhide) is in coversation with a mate in California. Anyway, nice puzzle, Engels first, tickety-boo fun, saltire dredged from the neural depths, the analyst in the anagram cod. Thanks both.
Didn’t realize that ORNERY was native to America, but Collins confirms it. And yes, TassieTim @4, I remembered TICKETY-BOO only from previous crosswords. Had to do a lookup to confirm SALTIRE, and dredged up SPORRAN from an obscure corner of memory, but otherwise straightforward. Especially liked SCHADENFREUDE, as did others. Thanks to Pan & Pierre.
For ORNERY the OED has: regional and colloquial (originally and chiefly North American) with separate British and American pronunciation – so, maybe doesn’t necessarily need an ‘American’.
Good Quiptic, as expected from Pan; thanks, and to Pierre for a good explanatory blog.
Another here with ENGELS first which gave me MARX. I was not aware of that numbering convention, so thanks The ZED@2. And I also think of ORNERY as an Americanism. Anyway, nice straightforward fun. Thanks to Pan and Pierre.
Thanks Pan and Pierre
Very sound Quiptic. My only quibble is 9a – “uninteresting” is no closer to “slow” than it is to my first attempt, “UGLI” (“ugly”)!
I liked the precise clueing of EXTINCT in particular.
Robi @9 – have never heard ORNERY used by a Brit, and I’ve been around for a while!
“Ornery” is a word I only associate with Westerns, usually paired with “critter”. Marx had to wait till Engels was in since “records” and “marks” didn’t occur to me as synonyms. I agree with Pierre’s point about the order of the homophone indicator for Marx but I guess it’s difficult but not impossible to construct it differently. Maybe something like; “Revolutionary records in audio format.”
An enjoyable Quiptic. Thanks to Pan and Pierre.
As a cryptic newbie I wasn’t able to finish, but I got closer with this than I do with most. A couple of new additions to my “crosswordese” vocabulary.
One quick question, I don’t know if I’m being thick but I’m struggling to see how you get TIN from “can go to”. Likewise OR from “gold” (ORE?). I guess that’s two quick questions.
Shaun @14
Read “can” and “tin” as nouns – i.e. a “tin can”.
OR is the heraldic name for gold.
Welcome, Shaun, if this is your first comment. You are not being thick – part of the joy and frustration of cryptics is learning to see how different words in English can function in different ways. OR for ‘gold’ is worth remembering (when it’s not AU, which is its chemical symbol).
As an American that has recently started enjoying cryptic crosswords (and to whom this site has been invaluable, thank you) I can confirm that ‘ornery’ went in immediately but ‘tickety-boo’ only fell with all the crossers (and I think exposure to Red Dwarf on late-night PBS as a child helped).
Ta Pierre and Pan. Another well-pitched Quiptic this week, I think.
I got RING BINDER via the cryptic definition of “Campanologist’s file”, which I thought was quite a neat bonus definition. Not sure there’s a way to describe a clue that does that, assuming it was intentional and parses?
I think RING BINDER is just an insertion clue, Ben T, as I parsed it. Not sure how your definition could be cryptic?
Hi Pierre, agree with your parsing of the whole clue, fwiw, just found it interesting that I’d circumvented that and got the same answer essentially via a (possibly unintended) hidden cryptic definition – eg if we were given a clue of “Campologist’s file?” I don’t think anyone would argue with RING BINDER as an answer.
Mostly I asked as I wondered if slipping in a second clue like that (especially as it crosses over both the definition and the clueing that you’ve parsed) has any actual term to describe it, or is even seen as legit? It seemed quite a neat bonus – and definitely quippy – for Pan to have sneaked it in.
I agree with the majority – a most enjoyable start to the week. Many thanks Pan & Pierre. My favourites were SCHADENFREUDE, RING BINDER and STRATEGEM. I was slow to get SLOE and MARX definitely came after Engels.
I see what you mean, Ben T. I’m not convinced that Pan intended that, but sometimes if there’s an overlap like you describe between the cryptic bit and the solution, folk will call it an ‘extended definition’.
Half tricky, this one. I’m mostly pleased by 12a, because I figured it out by parsing the clue rather than (as in, say, 8d) by getting the answer and puzzling out the parsing afterward. I wasn’t quite sure about 4a WALLOP because it felt more like a neologic onomatopoeia (like the ‘bam’ and ‘ka-pow’ you see in stereotypical comic books), but the crossers clinched it. For 8d, I initially figured that (pleasure)* had to be part of an anagrind, but with a couple crossers and the letter length I hazarded SCHADENFREUDE. I’m another who solved 27a before 16a also (from (legs)* and a couple guesses), but because the the clue didn’t specify 16a, I wracked my brain for some other Engels partnership that fit into 16d. Only after failing to fit CHE or RED into 16a’s __R_ did I look at the clues again. Thanks TheZed@2 for the tip going forward.
17a was one of my last clues solved. I was looking for a cd with a pun on ‘make babies’, alas. My actual last answer was 18d MEETING, because I was thinking of get-together as ‘party’ (influenced by the surface, most likely).
10a I mostly got from crossers. TICKETY-BOO is very much a Britishism (natch), though I’m not entirely sure how commonly it’s used; my brain pictures the speaker as an Edwardian gentleman with a monocle watching horse races. The other less familiar words were 1d SALTIRE (which I dredged up from somewhere), 18d SPORRAN (which I know I’ve seen in crosswords but hasn’t seemed to stick), and campanologist. For 24a I was looking for a hidden word or removed letters; it wasn’t until I gave up and looked up what a campanologist was that I got the answer, and mostly from assuming a kind of cd – a RING BINDER is a file for someone who deals with ringing things! On the flip side, I never considered ORNERY as an Americanism, though my mental image is some gruff prospector complaining about his pack donkey.
muffin@11 What context are you thinking of for ugly=uninteresting? There’s ‘a slow day at work’ for slow=uninteresting, but I can’t think of a circumstance where ugly means uninteresting. (I mean, a phrase like ‘an ugly day at work’ could refer to many things, but I doubt any of them are uninteresting!)
(For funzies: special thanks for solving this crossword goes to author Yoon Ha Lee, as my desire to reread his trilogy this past weekend kept 14d at the forefront of my mind)
Words: 418
Characters: 2362
Ben T@20 – same wavelength! I also noticed something similar for 1a – of course the person going to the underworld is Orpheus and of course he might see shades there! (Ulysses would’ve been slightly more on the nose, since Ulysses went to the underworld for advice and Orpheus only went to get his lady-love; but, alas Orpheus is the one with an opera named for his journey, so.) Perhaps this one is also an ‘extended definition’?
Words: 6
Characters: 26
Khitty Hawk @23
The point I was making was that uninteresting and slow aren’t close synonyms, no closer than uninteresting and ugly (in a sexual atrraction sense).
Boffo @8, and evryone else who liked it : Schadenfreudefreude ?
Pierre: Lego, what’s not to like ? Thanks for the very clear blog.
TheZed @2: TILT ? etui ?
And thanks to Pan for a gentle evening solve.
Like the thinking with SHADES, Khitty Hawk – the gloomy image adds to the surface, doesn’t it?
Ta Pierre for the term “extended definition” – I’ll tuck that away for future use and understanding.
Muffin @11, I also started with ugli and only switched to sloe by necessity of the crossers.
Skip @26 – maybe too late for you to see and pardon me for not being clearer on what is, importantly, a blog for those newer to crossword land.
TILT = thing I learned today, often used here to refer to a new word. I learned the numbering rule from this blog so it was a TILT when that discussion occurred a little while back
Etui = a small ornamental case for keeping needles, cosmetics etc. One of those obscure words which probably one only meets in crosswords and is beloved on this site as a word meaning a virtual place where one stores crossword trivia, including words like “etui”.
Thanks, TheZed. (If not too late…)
Well I actually parsed 1a but only knew it as what you wear on your face and didn’t think of it as a synonym for hints so I thought my answer was wrong. I’m a newbie like Shaun so lots more practice. It was a bit hard for me. I’m from the Caribbean and English is my native language but I’m guessing TICKETY BOO is really an English expression as I’ve never heard of that nor SLOE before. I could kick myself for not getting 11a, 15a, 2d, 5d and 7d. Lots more reading to do too as thanks to the Scottish theme, learned SPORRAN, SALTIRE and NACRE, which I knew was a combination of RACE and N but because I didn’t know the word, still couldn’t figure it out! I’m soo happy to learn of this website, so I can learn even more. Looking forward to next Monday’s Quiptic. Hopefully from Rufus. I really like Rufus.