Guardian Quiptic 1083 Beale

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Thanks Beale for an enjoyable Quiptic, made easier with the many anagrams. Definitions are underlined in the clues.

Across

1. Nothing fits with information detectives last gave on killing (8)

GENOCIDE : O(letter representing 0/nothing) contained in(fits with) [GEN(information/facts) + CID(abbrev. for the Criminal Investigation Department consisting of detectives)] + last letter of(last) “gave“.

Defn: … of a large group of people, especially a particular nation or ethnic group.

5. Made off without us, feeling tickled (6)

AMUSED : Anagram of(… off) MADE containing(without) US.

9. Just pay attention to upper-class ideas for a change! (8)

UNBIASED : NB(abbrev. for the Latin “nota bene”, literally “note well”/pay attention to what’s written next) placed after(to) U(abbrev. for “upper-class”) + anagram of(… for a change) IDEAS;

OR Anagram of(… for a change) [NB(pay attention to) + U + IDEAS].

10. Deceive tipsy parent (6)

ENTRAP : Anagram of(tipsy) PARENT.

11. Is getting married after wild hen do the height of indulgence? (8)

HEDONISM : [IS plus(getting) M(abbrev. for “married”)] placed after(after) anagram of(wild) HEN DO.

12. Panic newspaper spread about doctor joining hospital (6)

FRIGHT : FT(abbrev. for the Financial Times newspaper) containing(spread about) [RIG(to doctor/to fiddle, say, the accounts) + H(abbrev. for “hospital”)].

14. Bankside residents with broken elevators (5,5)

WATER VOLES : W(abbrev. for “with”) + anagram of(broken) ELEVATORS.

18. Public anger — and love — for America is excessive (10)

OUTRAGEOUS : OUT(public/generally known) + RAGE(anger) plus(and) O(letter representing 0/”love” in tennis scores) plus(for) US(abbrev. for the United States of America).

22. To stay inside weaving rug seems less attractive (6)

UGLIER : LIE(to stay, as in “how long are you going to lie there?”) contained in(inside) anagram of(weaving) RUG.

23. Alongside being a radio presenter, is expert with books (8)

ADJACENT : A + DJ(abbrev. for “disc jockey”/a radio presenter) + ACE(expert/one who excels in a specific field) plus(with) NT(abbrev. for the New Testament, the collection of books in the Bible).

24. Painter skips first part — it’s complicated (6)

ARTIST : “part” minus its 1st letter(skips first …) + anagram of(… complicated) IT’S.

25. Offensive occupation? (8)

INVASION : Cryptic defn: An offensive by an armed force on a nation or region with the objective of occupying it;

OR if one treats the means separately from the ends, the clue could be considered a double defn.

26. It’s stimulating to be back in Eric’s embrace (6)

EROTIC : Reversal of(… be back) TO contained in(in …’s embrace) ERIC.

27. Sports meeting for health club at which foreign prince gets first aid (8)

GYMKHANA : GYM(a health club featuring a gymnasium) plus(at which) KHAN(a foreign prince, specifically from certain Muslim countries) plus(gets) 1st letter of(first) “aid“.

Defn:  …, an equestrian one, that is.

Down

1. French port is rather unsophisticated (6)

GAUCHE : French for “left”(the left side/port in nautical terms) and French/English for “unsophisticated”/inelegant.

2. On retiring, remains a person without influence (6)

NOBODY : Reversal of(… retiring) ON + BODY(remains/a person’s body after death).

3. Cash in fancy jewellery (6)

CHAINS : Anagram of(… fancy) CASH IN.

4. Well-established journalist perching on low chair (4-6)

DEEP-SEAT ED : An ED(abbrev. for “editor”/a journalist) who is perching on/sitting on a DEEP(low as with a person’s vocal pitch) SEAT(a chair, for instance) might whimsically be called this – a construction similar to “an upper-class twit”.

Defn:  …/deeply ingrained.

6. Servant and head gardener upset over tropical tree (8)

MANGROVE : MAN(a servant/a manservant) plus(and) 1st letter of(head) “gardener” + anagram of(upset) OVER.

7. Try hard to fix legs holding gardener’s basket (8)

STRUGGLE : Anagram of(fix) LEGS containing(holding) TRUG(a gardener’s basket for holding flowers and garden produce).

8. Substitute for topsy-turvy exercise in river (8)

DEPUTISE : Reversal of(topsy-turvy) SIT-UP(a form of physical exercise) contained in(in) DEE(the river in Scotland).

13. Laying off workers embarrassed humanitarian body — and shocked disheartened charity (10)

REDUNDANCY : RED(embarrassed, from the colour of the complexion of one who is) + UN(abbrev. for the United Nations, the inter-governmental humanitarian body/organisation) + anagram of(… shocked) AND + “charity” minus all its inner letters(disheartened …).

15. Government ministry united by overdue change (8)

MODULATE : MOD(abbrev. for the Ministry of Defence, a government ministry) + U(abbrev. for “united”) plus(by) LATE(overdue/past the deadline).

16. Sharp footwear? (8)

STILETTO : Cryptic defn: Reference to women’s footwear with thin tapering high heels of a similar shape to the short sharp-pointed dagger of the same name.

17. Sports equipment demonstrated adventurous streak in women’s organisation (5,3)

WATER SKI : Anagram of(adventurous) STREAK contained in(in) WI(abbrev. for the Women’s Institute, the community-based women’s organisation).

19. Block demand for fine fabric (6)

DAMASK : DAM(to block, as with a river to form a reservoir) + ASK(to demand, but perhaps not as a right).

… too much of a good thing?

20. Half sure woman has something in her eye (6)

RETINA : Last 2 letters of(Half) “sure” + TINA(a woman’s name).

21. Nat has returned to South Africa with a bit of poetry (6)

STANZA : Reversal of(… returned) NAT’S(contraction of “Nat has”) placed above(to, in a down clue) ZA(the ISO code for the Republic of South Africa).

18 comments on “Guardian Quiptic 1083 Beale”

  3. For us who continue to be baffled by the sheer complex brilliance of most cryptics, Mondays (and Sundays with Everyman) bring a glimmer of hope and the illusion that we can actually crack these puzzles. Sometimes quiptics almost talk down to us in their simplicity – almost leaving the answers hanging obviously out for us to take. This one really is good. Such cleverly woven clues into credible, amusing surface. Three cheers for Beale today and to scchua of course

  4. A great B side to Matilda-almost a double A side,

    But a double A side caused Please Release me to reach no 1

  5. Thanks, Beale and scchua

    Enjoyable puzzle. I forgot to make any notes so I have little to say. I remember that TRUG was a new word, but that’s all that comes to mind now.

  6. Thanks Beale and scchua – very enjoyable

     

    as comps @4 a good companion to today’s Matilda

     

    and as Journeyman @3 says – Sunday and Monday puzzles are very helpful to relative newbies

  7. Must not be on the ball here. I found UNBIASED hard, and had to cheat a little, despite having considered all the elelnments that eventually went to making it (but not quite putting them together). The clue seems to me to have the NB and the U the wrong way around, which makes it a bit more difficult than Quiptic level, IMHO. And I failed on 15d (I had REGULATE: which govt dept? search me) which led me into having EXTRANEOUS at 18a. The correct answers make better sense, so thanks to scchua for the enlightenment. And to Beale, of course.

  8. Last gave = E? Skips first part = ART? First aid = A? Head gardener = G? For America = + US?
    That’s a bit too much for me, even if I know some setters, a minority actually, like to do these things.
    And so, alas, for me not a perfect B-side to today’s Matilda.
    A pity because there were quite a few lovely clues too, like 12ac or 23ac.

  9. A nice mix of easier clues and brain teasers, I thought. Am enjoying Beale’s return this years. GAUCHE was The stand-out clue for me: a lot of fun.

  10. Thanks Beale and scchua

    This was a good puzzle, but rather hard for a Quiptic. I loved the clue for WATER VOLES!

  12. Didn’t know TRUG or GYMKHANA. Couldn’t remember the womens’ group, but I did remember the River Dee.

    I definitely overthought 24a. 15d misdirected me, so that took a while. One of my last ones in was 25a, because I was looking for a dd rather than a cd

  13. I came here hoping to find everyone saying how hard this puzzle was. I found it much, much more difficult than past Quiptics, and in fact more difficult than most Guardian cryptics. But I didn’t sleep well last night, so maybe my brain is more than usually addled.

    I do think that 9ac (UNBIASED) is a flawed clue, with no adequate indication of the order of the parts (or, even worse, the dreaded indirect anagram in scchua’s second proposed parsing). All the other parsings make perfect sense, and aside from the unfamiliar (to me) words TRUG and GYMKHANA, I can’t say exactly what made this puzzle so difficult for me.

     

  14. Ted @13 – I wasn’t convinced by it as a Quiptic, although I completed it so I figure it can’t have been that hard. Maybe part of it was the grid meaning that you had to solve each corner with (at most) one crosser? The Quiptic always seems hard for setters (and the editor) to pitch right though; for my money only Matilda consistently hits the mark but that’s probably because I enjoy her style and don’t notice being done over by a more difficult Quiptic!

    Agree with the quibbles over UNBIASED – it seems to indicate NBU-  I was also caught out for quite a while by “sitting on” in DEEP SEATED – it felt a bit unfair in a down clue as ED is being sat upon, whereas if it was an across clue I’d have been fine.

  15. I rather enjoyed this – with GENOCIDE, NOBODY and DAMASK being particularly satisfying. Thanks to Beale for a fun solve and Scchua for the blog

  16. So help me out here, new to this and getting there most weeks, but this one had me stumped in too many spots.

    4D is a great example of rules that seem to make no sense… perched on… how in a down clue, in the order it says does that mean put ed underneath, not on top, of the rest of the answer?

    Found this hard!

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