Carpathian provides another excellent Quiptic this morning.
We have plenty of straightforward clues, several standard abbreviations (DR, MOT, OB, RA, EP . . .) and a couple of old favourites (first man = Adam, former = ex). But a few slightly more chewy clues to keep it interesting. I particularly liked the very concise 9a and 18a. Thanks Carpathian as always.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | ADAMANT |
First man with a set of religious texts is resolute (7)
|
| ADAM (the first man in the Bible) + A NT (New Testament = set of religious texts). | ||
| 5 | OBSCENE |
Rude old boy on site (7)
|
| OB (old boy = former pupil of a school) + SCENE (site, as in “scene of the crime”). | ||
| 9 | DRAFT |
Doctor behind plan (5)
|
| DR (short for doctor) + AFT (behind, in seafaring terminology). | ||
| 10 | EXPECTANT |
Former pet can’t mix with child (9)
|
| EX (prefix ex- = former, as in ex-soldier) + anagram (mix) of PET CAN’T.
Expectant = with child = pregnant. |
||
| 11 | UNOCCUPIED |
Coup, induced almost entirely in error, is doing nothing (10)
|
| Anagram (in error) of COUP INDUCE[d]; almost entirely = last letter dropped. | ||
| 12 | BALM |
Comfort found in herbal medicine (4)
|
| Hidden answer (found in) [her]BAL M[edicine]. | ||
| 14 | OLD TESTAMENT |
Modest talent written about in books (3,9)
|
| Anagram (written about = spread around) of MODEST TALENT. | ||
| 18 | HEARTRENDING |
Agonising trial involving Vogue (12)
|
| HEARING (trial = court case) including (involving) TREND (vogue = current fashion). | ||
| 21 | MIST |
Blur lost on radio (4)
|
| Homophone (on radio) of MISSED (lost). | ||
| 22 | STEPMOTHER |
Sulks about test woman gives relative (10)
|
| PETS (sulks = grumpy moods), reversed (about), then MOT (vehicle roadworthiness test, from Ministry Of Transport) + HER (woman). | ||
| 25 | INTERFERE |
Barge in Bury free to move around (9)
|
| INTER (as a verb = bury in the ground) + anagram (to move around) of FREE. | ||
| 26 | ELITE |
European diet is best (5)
|
| E (short for European) + LITE (alternative spelling of “light”, used in branding for low-sugar or low-fat “diet” foods). | ||
| 27 | DROUGHT |
Daughter having bad time in dry spell (7)
|
| D (daughter) + ROUGH (bad, as in rough weather) + T (time). | ||
| 28 | TOTTERY |
Unsteady river animal in banks of Tay (7)
|
| OTTER (river animal) in the outer letters (banks) of T[a]Y (a river in Scotland, which does indeed feature otters, although that isn’t necessary for the clue). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | ARDOUR |
Passion of artist turning grim (6)
|
| RA (Royal Academician = artist), reversed (turning), then DOUR (grim). | ||
| 2 | AMAZON |
No limits to damp and haze on river (6)
|
| [d]AM[p] + [h]AZ[e] (no limits = outer letters dropped), then ON from the clue text. | ||
| 3 | ARTICULATE |
Eloquent liar ate cut in pieces (10)
|
| Anagram (in pieces) of LIAR ATE CUT. I can’t quite make sense of the surface, unless “cut” = a cut of meat? | ||
| 4 | TWERP |
Heads of the wealthy elite rabidly praise buffoon (5)
|
| Initial letters (heads) of T[he] W[ealthy] E[lite] R[abidly] P[raise]. Feel free to pick a public figure that you think this might refer to; there are sadly too many candidates. | ||
| 5 | OPPRESSED |
Newspaper article about journalists being tyrannised (9)
|
| OP-ED (newspaper article: an opinion piece written by an external author, so named because it’s published “opposite the editorial” on the adjacent page) around PRESS (journalists). | ||
| 6 | SACK |
Plunder fire axe (4)
|
| I think this is a triple definition, though I’m not quite sure. Plunder = sack = steal goods from (as in an army overrunning an enemy city and looting it); axe = sack = dismiss from employment. Fire can also mean “dismiss from employment”, but we need a different meaning for a proper triple definition, so perhaps this is “destroy by fire” = sack (as the army might do to the city when they’ve taken everything worth stealing). | ||
| 7 | EMANATED |
Issued title returned by upset duke (8)
|
| NAME (title) reversed (returned), then ATE (worried = upset) + D (duke). | ||
| 8 | ESTIMATE |
Engineer set a time to assess (8)
|
| Anagram (engineer, as a verb = rework) of SET A TIME. | ||
| 13 | RAINFOREST |
Information found in most unusual ecosystem (10)
|
| INFO (short for information) in RAREST (most unusual). | ||
| 15 | TREATMENT |
Behaviour management (9)
|
| Double definition: the way one person behaves towards another (as in ill-treatment = cruel behaviour), or the action taken to control something (as in pain management). | ||
| 16 | SHIMMIED |
Mimes hid out and danced (8)
|
| Anagram (out) of MIMES HID. | ||
| 17 | FALSETTO |
Singer in argument after footballers left (8)
|
| SET-TO (argument) after FA (the Football Association) + L (left).
A high-voiced male singer. |
||
| 19 | SHRINE |
Lustre surrounding top of Russian place of worship (6)
|
| SHINE (lustre) around the first letter (top, in a down clue) of R[ussian]. | ||
| 20 | CREEPY |
Weep about European record being unsettling (6)
|
| CRY (weep) around E (European) + EP (extended play: a gramophone record or CD, longer than a single but shorter than an album). | ||
| 23 | PLEAT |
Excuse leader of the fold (5)
|
| PLEA (excuse, as a noun; for example citing provocation as a defence against a criminal charge) + first letter (leader) of T[he]. | ||
| 24 | BRAG |
Crow costume turned up (4)
|
| GARB (costume) reversed (turned up = upwards in a down clue).
Crow (as a verb) = brag = boast. |
Thanks Carpathian and Quirister
Carpathian is one of my favourite setters, and I really enjoyed this. EXPECTANT was my favourite clue, for the sneaky definition.
I didn’t know op-ed, so that went in from definition and crossers.
I dislike “lite”, but it’s out there, so a setter is entitled to use it.
Excellent Quiptic, does what it says on the tin.
I agree with muffin that EXPECTANT had a good clue. Carpathian usually has good surfaces as well as precise clues, so I wondered a bit about: ‘Mimes hid out and danced’ until I realised that Mimes was a noun.
Thanks Carpathian (if you want a second dose, she’s in the Indy today) and Quirister.
Enjoyed it a lot. Thanks Carpathian and Quirister.
Nice Quiptic, that for once I actually managed to do quickly. As well as the clues others have mentioned, I liked RAINFOREST.
I thought FALSETTO was the style of singing, not the singer him(?)self.
Very nice Quiptic : I liked EXPECTANT and OLD TESTAMENT.
gladys @5: yes, falsetto is a style of singing, but the word can also be used (less commonly) to mean the singer doing it, in the same way as you’d say “a soprano” for a high-voiced female singer.
Excellent Quiptic.
Favourites: RAINFOREST, HEARTRENDING.
Thanks, Carpathian & Quirister.
A very nice puzzle, with EXPECTANT, ELITE and RAINFOREST being my favourites, although the whole thing is an excellent exemplar of setting at a beginner level. If I had any slight nitpick then it would be the recurrence of the New Testament/Old Testsment references.
Quirister – I interpreted SACK and ARTICULATE exactly as you have described.
Thanks Quirister: I haven’t met it before as defining the singer rather than the singing.
Just what a Quiptic should be. DROUGHT was a joy. Thanks, Carpathian and Quirister.
re SACK – you can also colloquially sack something off, though that’s not a particularly good fit for either fire or axe.
Agree with those who thought this was well-pitched for the Quiptic; thanks both.
This was excellent, more of this from the Quiptics! Kicking myself for not getting 13D.
Thanks Carpathian and Quirister.
For 16d you have MEMES HID* instead of MIMES HID. If your WhatsApp feed is like mine, it’s probably wishful thinking.
An excellent Quiptic. Really nice surfaces, and some inventive cluing, for example “written about” as the anagram indicator in 14a.
Clever how in 10a EXPECTANT, the word “with”, which might on first reading be expected (sorry) to be just a link word, is part of the definition.
Many thanks Carpathian and Quirister.
Petert @13: thanks, blog now corrected.
After a few demoralising weeks (though haven’t tried last week in case that was fine) this was a very welcome confidence booster!
Many thanks to Carpathian and Quirister.
I note that Quiptics are about the level of difficulty of North-American cryptics – the better ones, anyway (like mine :->). Thanks to Carpathian and Quirister. I did have a quibble with ATE in 7D. One can say “what’s eating the duke” but not “ATE the duke”. I see that Chambers has EAT as a synonym for UPSET – which I also totally disagree with. If something is upsetting you, it can be eating AT you but not eat you.
Excellent, thanks.
I commented yesterday under the puzzle that I thought 6 not a great clue. ‘Sacking’ does not specifically refer to setting a city ablaze, although razing it most probably occurs. The OED and Chambers don’t believe so either. So yes it was certainly intended as a triple definition but did not succeed. An enjoyable puzzle on the whole and fairly Monday-ish as it should be.
@Les “eating’ and ‘upsetting’ are exact synonyms in speech, it’s common to say ‘what’s eating you?. I’m from the UK and am in my 60s and have heard and probably even used this expression many times in the past. Whether it’s more prevalent in UK or US usage I can’t say.
@20 John, I think if you read my post again, you’ll see that I agree that “eating” and “upsetting” are synonyms. What I am saying is: that does not mean that “eat” and “upset” are synonymous. In the context, the setter would have us make “upset” equal “ate” which is wrong.
Brilliant Quiptic and blog – thanks both. I loved FALSETTO too!
@21 Les, you hear ‘it ate him from the Inside out’, or ‘it just ate him up’, meaning it badly upset him. ‘Ate’ and ‘upset’ are synonyms.
Sorry for the late response, I just came across these comments again accidentally!