Anto divides his time these days (or the editor does it for him) between the Quiptic and the daily Grauniad cryptic. This was a fine example of the former, with some pleasing anagrams and meaningful surface readings. As always, further explanation available on request.
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 Kinky practices with an individual who might get you dreaming
SANDMAN
A charade of S AND M and MAN AN. S&M is short for sado-masochism, but I’m sure you knew that already. Is it ‘kinky’? Your call. The SANDMAN is a mythical, folkloric character who sprinkles sand in your eyes to bring on sleep and encourage dreams. Which is why you wake up with sleep in your eyes and need to rub them.
5 Brought down drone that’s exhausted
HUMBLED
A charade of HUM and BLED.
10 Regulars leave drab wine when night is over
DAWN
The odd letters of DrAb WiNe.
11 Pleasure-seeker set out real alternative
LOTUS-EATER
(SET OUT REAL)* with ‘alternative’ as the anagrind. The term comes originally from Greek mythology.
12 Incomparable lady from South Pacific
DAME
One where a passing knowledge of 1950s technicolor musicals might have been helpful. It’s referencing the song There is Nothin’ like a Dame, from South Pacific.
13 Wrap frayed rope in skin — it makes it last longer
FOREPLAY
An insertion of (ROPE)* in FLAY. The anagrind is ‘frayed’; the insertion indicator is ‘wrap’. You need to think of ‘it’ as sex, then the clue is funny. Well, I smiled, anyway.
14 As it is, half of stations used quotas
STATUS QUO
Anto is inviting you to use only the first halves of the last three words: so STAT[IONS] US[ED] QUO[TAS].
16 Exciting call for attention when receiving bill
HEADY
An insertion (‘when receiving’) of AD in HEY!
17 Newly made retreat for high end personal servant
FRESH
A reversal of H for the first (or last, I suppose) letter of ‘high’ and SERF.
19 Society relaxed about summit where dodgy booze was served
SPEAKEASY
An insertion (‘about’) of PEAK in S and EASY.
23 Bury stores port for country’s central region
INTERIOR
An insertion (‘stores’) of RIO in INTER.
24 Purchase tops for girl resplendent in pink
GRIP
The initial letters of the last four words of the clue.
25 Taking colonists away is bothersome
UNSETTLING
A dd, with the first definition rather whimsical (but perfectly fair).
26 Language spoken at that cockney woman’s party?
URDU
Given the cockney’s tendency to drop his or her aitches, this is a homophone (‘spoken’) of ‘ER and DO.
27 Police programme understands the way to …
COP SHOW
A charade of COPS for ‘understands’ and HOW.
28 … confound American criminal with Roman law
PERPLEX
A charade of PERP and LEX. PERP is American slang for a ‘criminal’ and comes from ‘perpetrator’; LEX is a word for ‘law’ with Latin origins. You can (as almost always) ignore the ellipses between the clues: they are just there to make sense of the two surface readings.
Down
2 First husband has terrible tan fixed
ADAMANT
A charade of the biblical ADAM and (TAN)*
3 Uneducated type in drably coloured church …
DUNCE
A charade of DUN and CE.
4 … claims every side’s lacking depth
ALLEGES
A charade of ALL and E[D]GES. The ellipses can again be ignored for solving purposes.
6 Central fund issues currency when confidence is lacking
UNSURE
The solution is formed from the central letters of the second, third and fourth words of the clue: fUNd, isSUes, curREncy.
7 Curse, as sheep and lamb go astray
BLASPHEME
I thought this was a great spot for an anagram. (SHEEP LAMB)*
8 Criminal dealer acquires minute stone
EMERALD
An insertion (‘acquires’) of M in (DEALER)* Here ‘criminal’ is in its more usual role as an anagrind.
9 Hard drug has edge, but you won’t react with it
STIFF UPPER LIP
A charade of STIFF, UPPER and LIP, referencing the British upper-class tradition of not showing emotion in the face of bad news. Not good for your mental health, generally.
15 Doctor seals test? That’s improper
TASTELESS
(SEALS TEST)*
18 Come across crash …
RUN INTO
A dd.
20 … feeling excited, investigating learner’s part
ATINGLE
Hidden in investigATING LEarner. Once again, the ellipses can be ignored.
21 Cheat swapping spades for diamonds in contract
SWINDLE
You need to take DWINDLE for ‘contract’ and then replace the D with an S.
22 Diner where writer holds empty seat
BISTRO
The setter is asking you to disembowel (’empty’) ‘seat’ to leave ST, then insert it into BIRO. The insertion indicator is ‘holds’.
24 Doctor interrupted by peculiar surly type
GRUMP
An insertion (‘interrupted by’) of RUM in GP.
Many thanks to Anto for this morning’s Quiptic.
Re 1a, I think it’s S-AND-M + AN, with “individual” being part of the defn, otherwise there are 2 M’s?
Thanks Anto and Pierre
Fun crossword. Lots of good clues; favourites BLASPHEME and EMERALD.
Is a SERF a “personal servant? Certainly not in the original meaning.
URDU for “her do” sounds more Scouse than Cockney to me!
Thank you, OddOtter. Typo corrected.
Seemed a bit on the chewier side for a Quiptic but not unreasonably so… all the more fun in my book 🙂
DNK Biro (a Britishism not in common use here in the US), so had fun learning the history there, and BISTRO was obvious enough regardless. Historians laud the wheel and lever… but where would we be w/out the humble yet ubiquitous ballpoint!
LOI: 12a, which I stared at dumbly for many minutes, trying in vain to justify various guesses, before excavating DAME from the depths of memory and crossing my fingers as I put it in.
Thanks as always to setter, blogger, & commenters!
nice
Yes, OddOtter @4 – I did the same. I even thought of South Pacific as a musical, wondering whether Mame was in it. muffin @2 – I also baulked at a serf being a personal servant. Apart from DAME, 4d and 20d were my last ones – in a Quiptic, is it fair on solvers to have a grid that yields three unchecked letters in a row? The clues were fine once I had twigged, but… I like SANDMAN and FOREPLAY – both a bit risque. Thanks, Anto and Pierre.
It was a rather trickier Quiptic than usual, but good fun. Thought I’d spotted a theme of 1970s bands when the first two in were DAWN and STATUS QUO. Sadly not. Thanks to A and P
Agree with Muffin’s criticism of “personal servant” for serf, especially within a Quiptic where “servant” would have worked just fine. If it’s there to mislead then it felt a tad unfair, if it isn’t then it’s superfluous.
On the bright side this felt a bit more like Quiptic difficulty than ones I’ve seen before from Anto. Liked BLASPHEME in particular, possibly because I was struggling to find a way in until hitting that clue…
As a someone who is still learning I found this one rather tricky, with only the anagrams of 7d and 15d going in on first pass! Rewarded for perseverance however, and two-thirds went in after that. Not my greatest ever attempt, but the challenge was at least fun, which is all one can ask for from a hobby.
Putting BIRO for ‘writer’ into the hints and tip notebook, it cropped up in an oldie I attempted the other day and thanks as ever to Pierre for the invaluable explainer
Mostly enjoyable, although like TassieTim @6 I thought the grid (which we’ve encountered once before not too long ago) was a bit unfair. On second thought, though, the offending lights are 7-letter words with 3 crossers, which we see in other grids with the crossers in different positions. Also like TassieTim, I especially liked SANDMAN and FOREPLAY. I won’t speculate on what that says about us.
I thought of the musical South Pacific but forgot about the song until after revealing DAME, so a dnf for me. Thanks anyway to Anto and Pierre.
Like Ben T @ 8 I thought this a bit easier than previous Quiptic’s from Anto and I enjoyed it. Got off to a quick start in the NW then slowed down. Took ages with SWINDLE as I was trying to swap S and D the other way – i.e. replace a D with an S, which would have meant starting with swinsle…. clearly wrong. Got it from the crosses but still couldn’t see how until I read the blog.
Liked BISTRO, PERPLEX (too much time spent watching US cop shows which also helped with COP SHOW), BLASHPHEME.
Thanks to Anto and Pierre
Just read CavyCorner at 9.
I got Tim Moorey’s “How to crack cryptic crosswords” when i started out on trying cryptic crosswords earlier this year. One chapter is called The Knowledge and has useful notes about crossword language. Last week I decided to add terms I learned here to that chapter as I know I forget them – good to see I am not the only one (but should have started ages ago).
The cryptic today has a parakeet. I thought of you, Pierre.
I found this a bit tricky for a Quiptic but maybe that says more about me than the puzzle. We had a discussion recently about trade terms and their allowability. Someone mentioned Bic, so that helped with biro in BISTRO. Was “tops for girl resplendent in pink” a bit loose?
Thanks Anto and Pierre for an excellent Quiptic and a very good blog.
Minor nitpick but in 6D don’t you mean the 2nd/3rd/4th words where you have 3/4/5? Or I might be going bonkers or looking at an earlier edition or something: who knows?
Anyway, all good, many thanks.
Lots to enjoy in this: BLASPHEME and BISTRO had pleasing surfaces, STATUS QUO and STIFF UPPER LIP were entertaining.
URDU reminded me of being a trainee at the BBC World Service many moons ago, when we were firmly told that the word is pronounced, “oor-doo”. Our instructor, an Everton fan, added that an err-do is what you get from a Liverpudlian hairdresser…
Thanks to Anto for the fun and Pierre for the ever-informative blog.
I thought this was tough for a Quiptic (harder than the cryptic), not helped by the grid where there were 11 answers with less than 50% checked letters, if I have counted properly.
I liked the clue for FOREPLAY.
Thanks Anto and Pierre.
I enjoyed this one but I agree that the grid is a bit dodgy for a Quiptic. For me the issue is not the unchecked lights but the lack of connectivity. Only three clues connect the top and bottom, with three clues connecting each of the left/right partition of the top and bottom halves. It makes “stiff upper lip” critical or you are solving four distinct puzzles.
That said, the clues were all clear enough and so the need to get help for the other quadrants is not that high.
I will be humming “Nothing like a Dame” all day even though my voice is no where deep enough to hit the bottom notes.
I enjoyed this one but I agree that the grid is a bit dodgy for a Quiptic.I
Well, I enjoyed this one too.
But this grid is not dodgy, unfair or whatever – it should immediately be binned, full stop!
Some time ago – it was during the first lockdown – we had a discussion about this in a Guardian blog, can’t remember which one it was.
Filbert (a well-respected Independent setter) and even Picaroon dropped in.
We all agreed, away with it.
Triple unches (grrr) and 12 clues that are less than 50% checked – just terrible.
I must admit I made a similar mistake before but setters should not choose this grid.
Did you hear me, Anto?
Sil
The grid didn’t make it difficult to solve, though.
Agree, muffin, but it is one that really breaks all the ‘rules’.
Only just finished the last couple in this, which I found tough for a Quiptic.
And, picking up on Sil van den Hoek @19, one of those which I had left till last was 4dn, one of those with four letters out of seven being unchecked.
Is perp necessarily American? Possibly I am being misled by having spent quite a lot of time doing care cases in the family court where a question is often “is A in ‘the pool of perpetrators’?” and so “perp” becomes quite a common shorthand for someone who is in that ‘pool’.
I didn’t like 21a as you could parse it either as:
swap a d in for s in swindle OR
swap an s in for d in dwindle.
I originally parsed it as the latter until it became clear that it needed to fit with “speakeasy”.
Anyway — I was very happy with myself for completing this one. It felt harder than the average quiptic.
Didn’t parse “Sandman”, and had never heard of the musical South Pacific (though a tentative search for “dame” and “south pacific” made it obvious).
Thanks, All.
I managed to complete this but 21d frustrated me because of the use of plurals. Surely, if following the clue, you’d end up with swinsle. Thanks Pierre and Anto.
Hi Paul. I think the DWINDLE/SWINDLE trick works without reference to the plurals, because S and D are the standard card game abbreviations (in bridge for example), of Spades and Diamonds.