Quiptic 1,129 by Anto

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Mostly straightforward from Anto, with a few untidy bits.

There are some lovely surfaces here – especially the delightfully misleading definition in 8d. I was slightly annoyed by a couple of rather vague indicators (noted below), and by what I think of as one-and-a-half-definitions such as 12a (it’s not really a double definition because the two meanings are too closely related). 25a is a lovely anagram but the clue as a whole doesn’t really work. On the whole, though, an enjoyable solve.

I liked the pair of very similar clues crossing at 11a and 3d. Matched pairs of answers, and dodgy indicators: Anto, you’re not Everyman in disguise, are you? Thanks anyway, whoever you are.

Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.

ACROSS
1 PHOTO-OP
Fashionable ring snatched by father as a publicity stunt (5-2)
HOT (fashionable) + O (ring), contained in (snatched by) POP (father).

Short for photo-opportunity.
5 FITNESS
Attack head demonstrating evolutionary survival principle (7)
FIT (attack, for example in epilepsy) + NESS (head as in headland).

As in “survival of the fittest”.
9 SWEAT
Work hard with women in constituency (5)
W (women) in SEAT (a parliamentary constituency).
10 SERENGETI
Develop green site as a place for animal sanctuary (9)
Anagram (develop) of GREEN SITE.

National park / nature reserve in Tanzania.
11 OUT OF HABIT
Stripped almost without thinking (3,2,5)
Cryptic definition (habit = clothes, so stripped = out of one’s habit) and straight definition (done in the usual way without really thinking about it).
12 GUT
Clean out natural gas producer! (3)
Double definition, though to me it always seems a bit of a cheat when the two meanings are so closely related. Gut (verb) = to remove the intestines from fish or animals before cooking; gut (noun) = the intestines, which can produce embarrassing gases during digestion.
14 ERIC AND ERNIE
Nice earner I’d abandoned to become comedy act (4,3,5)
Anagram (abandoned) of NICE EARNER I’D.

Better known as Morecambe and Wise, but sometimes referred to by their first names.
18 CONTEMPORARY
Absurd poem in difficult setting — so modern (12)
Anagram (absurd) of POEM, inserted into (in . . . setting) CONTRARY (difficult, describing a person who won’t do what’s expected of them).
21 ONE
Formal person you can become in posh company? (3)
Cryptic definition. In casual speech you might say “you can . . .” to mean that a person in general can do it. In more formal speech, for example trying to fit in with posh company, one might say “one can. . .”.
22 IRRIGATION
Watering can create inconvenience, when getting time in for golf (10)
IRRIGATION (watering) becomes IRRITATION (inconvenience) when the G (golf in the radio alphabet) is replaced by T (time). Nice (if brief) misdirection of “watering can”.
25 NOSTALGIA
Lost again in reverie about the past … (9)
I think this is intended as an anagram of LOST AGAIN, but it doesn’t quite work. Is “in reverie” meant to be the anagram indicator? – I don’t think so, and if it is, “about the past” isn’t really a good definition of nostalgia. That means LOST needs to be the anagram indicator as well as part of the anagram fodder. “Lost, lost again . . .” or something like that might have worked. It’s a shame, because it’s a very good anagram.
26 HOURI
… time I linked with a beautiful young woman (5)
HOUR (time, as in “hour of need”) linked to I. The ellipsis . . . is just there to join the surface to the previous clue, and doesn’t add anything to the meaning.
27 RED CENT
Paltry sum socialist said was mailed (3,4)
RED (slang for socialist) + homophone (said) of SENT.

Red cent = small US copper coin, used in phrases like “not one red cent” = not even the smallest amount of money.
28 CISTERN
Research facility in Switzerland retains first reservoir (7)
CERN (research facility in Geneva, home of the Large Hadron Collider; the name is from the French for “European nuclear research council”), containing (retaining) IST (1st = first).
DOWN
1 PASS ON
Die from excitement if information is missing (4,2)
PASS[i]ON (excitement), without the I (information).
2 OMERTA
Some clergy attack centres enforcing vow of silence … (6)
Centres (middle two letters) from each of the words [s]OM[e] [cl]ER]gy] [at]TA[ck].

Omertà = the criminals’ code of silence (don’t cooperate with the authorities or inform on anyone) associated with the Mafia and similar organisations.
3 OUT OF ORDER
… disgraced monk’s status, perhaps, for not following the rules (3,2,5)
Very similar to 11a: cryptic definition (a disgraced monk might be thrown out of his “order” = community) and straight definition (not according to the accepted rules). Again, the ellipsis is just for the surface and doesn’t add anything.
4 PASTA
Gone on central Iraqi food (5)
PAST (gone) before (on, in a down clue = above) the central letter of [ir]A[qi].
5 FOREIGNER
Non-national enemy seizes power with queen (9)
FOE (enemy) containing (seizes) REIGN (power), then R (as in Elizabeth R = Latin Regina = Queen).

National here is a noun, as in “a British national”.
6 TINA
Girl embodying Margaret Thatcher’s single-minded approach (4)
Double definition: a woman’s name, or the acronym for Margaret Thatcher’s slogan “There Is No Alternative”.
7 EMERGENT
Greet men excited to be coming out (8)
Anagram (excited) of GREET MEN.
8 SHIFT KEY
Sell important means to create capital (5,3)
SHIFT (business jargon for sell, as in “we need to shift all of these by the end of the week”) + KEY (important, as in “key players”).

On a keyboard, the key that allows the user to create a capital letter.
13 REPROACHES
Reprimands dashed racer’s hope (10)
Anagram (dashed) of RACER’S HOPE.
15 COPYRIGHT
Proper support for journalist’s text can stop others using it (9)
RIGHT (proper) and COPY (journalist’s text). In a down clue, “support” means that RIGHT is at the bottom, “supporting” COPY.

Extended definition: copyright, as a verb = legally assert ownership of text to prevent others from using it without permission.
16 SCHOONER
Ship requires check-in before this (8)
We need to separate “check” and “in” to make this work. CH (check, in some systems of chess notation) in SOONER (before this).
17 UNVERSED
Being ignorant, I abandoned everything on date (8)
UN[i]VERSE (everything), with the I abandoning it, before (on, reading downwards) D (date).
19 MINUTE
That salamander of mine sounds so small (6)
Homophone (sounds) of MY NEWT (that salamander of mine).
20 ENSIGN
Standard part of working is negotiating to get promoted (6)
Hidden answer (part of) [worki]NG IS NE[gotiating], reversed (promoted = reading upwards in a down clue). Though I don’t think “promoted” really includes the sense of reversal; it means “moved up”, but not “going upwards”, if that makes sense.

Ensign = standard = flag.
23 ISAAC
Patriarch begins investigating some American alternative cults (5)
Beginning letters from I[nvestigating] S[ome] A[merican] A[lternative] C[ults].
24 TAKE
Suffer stomach nick (4)
I think this is intended as a triple definition, but the first two meanings are very similar. Suffer = take as in “I can’t take any more”; stomach = take = digest as in “I can’t stomach shellfish”, but this is probably more common in a metaphorical sense which is the same as the first meaning; or nick = take = steal.

30 comments on “Quiptic 1,129 by Anto”

  2. Thanks baerchen for the link – it’s always good to meet our crossword setters (at least virtually).

  3. I see from the crossword blog (thanks baerchen @1) that Anto believes that Quiptics should be hard – I disagree!
    For OUT OF HABIT I had O-T -F -A-I-, obviously OUT OF, but tricky to find the third word from those crossers in a rather obscure (to me) clue

  4. Thanks Quirister, I had the same question mark as you over NOSTALGIA and assumed that reverie was doing double duty. For GUT I had thought of it in the sense of a fire or renovation workers gutting a house so the two meanings weren’t quite so similar. Thanks for the Thatcher explanation, i was puzzled and guessed TINA over TONI simply because of Tina Turner and “the lady’s not for turning” but I couldn’t really make the link work so am relieved that there was something else behind it. i didn’t like “abandoned” as an anagram indicator but it didn’t delay me much, unlike the “promoted” in ENSIGN which you also queried. But I enjoyed the solve and thought SHIFT KEY, IRRIGATION and SERENGETI were great (although I suppose the animals get some sanctuary from humans there but not their natural predators!) , thanks Anto.

  5. Thanks Anto and Quirister
    I’m enjoying recent Anto puzzles much more than his early ones, and this followed that trend. ENSIGN was actually my favourite – misleading definition and neat hidden.
    IRRIGATION is more likely, but a case could be made for IRRITATION instead, and the contentious letter isn’t checked.
    Gazzh has made the point that “gutting” is applied to more than just carcases nowadays.
    24d would have been better as just “Suffer nick”, as you hint, Quirister.

  6. Gazzh @4, muffin @5: yes, “gut” can be used metaphorically to mean stripping out a building etc – but it’s still derived from the same literal meaning, so it’s not really a separate definition.

  7. Shirl @3 – I didn’t interpret the blog the same way. I thought Anto was saying the Quiptics are a gentler introduction to the harder cryptics; it is the cryptics that we do “because they are hard”.

  8. The Everyman similarity extends to a first letter clue as well. I agree with muffin@5 about enjoying Anto more than previously, though.

  9. Stared forever at the last two, reproaches and houri, despite the one being a straight anag and the other being an occasional regular. O’wise pretty clear, harder than the cryptic, not that I’m at all bovvered. Liked 7d as it reminded me of a theory about how sentience arises from matter.. one of the koans of science. All fun, thanks Q and A.

  10. I am with muffin‘s assessment of this crossword @5.
    Despite the blooper in 25ac, but then this is The Guardian and we’re used to that.
    When Petert @8 refers to Everyman in saying “the Everyman similarity extends to a first letter clue as well“, then he probably thinks of the weekly ‘Primarily’ clue.
    That said, technically, 23dn would have been better if it read: Patriarch starts to investigate some American alternative cults (5).
    But all in all, good Monday entertainment.
    With my only real ‘complaint’ the homophone fodder of 27ac: ‘sent’ is not ‘was mailed’, or is it?
    Many thanks to Quirister & Anto.

  11. SHIFT KEY and ENSIGN were both very good. Agree with Sil @10 that ‘starts’ was better than ‘begins’, without sacrificing anything on the surface!

    Thanks Anto and Quirister.

  12. Sil@10 agree that “was mailed” is not a direct swap for “sent” (or at least I can’t think of a suitable instance). The clue could have been re-written as something like “Paltry sum socialist mailed, reportedly” (although that would risk opening up the debate on whether 21A mails the post or posts the mail).

  13. A disgraced monk would be OUT OF HABIT as well as OUT OF ORDER, wouldn’t he? I thought Anto could have recycled this definition, as soon as I saw them both – would have been a neat trick. I really liked NOSTALGIA and thought SHIFT KEY very satisfying once the penny dropped. Thanks, Anto and Quirister.

  14. TassieTim@13 – maybe being OUT OF HABIT was the cause as well as the result of the disgrace.
    Thanks to Anto and Quirister, and baerchen for the link.

  15. I agree with Shirl@3’s interpretation of the interview with Anto. The full quote is as follows:

    With quiptics, I know the prime audience are solvers finding their way into cryptic crosswords. I take the view that – like other solvers – they would like to do cryptics “not because they are easy, but because they are hard”, as JFK might put it.

    If he were just saying that cryptics are hard, and Quiptics are supposed to be a way in, his words would be no more than stating the obvious. Anto’s clear implication is that since beginners are aiming for something hard, they shouldn’t be mollycoddled, even in the early stages. And to make that even clearer:

    I will not patronise solvers… I offer clues that provide a bit of a challenge… That’s how we all learned.

    In other words he doesn’t actually believe we need a Quiptic slot – certainly not one that matches the description on the tin. And that’s a good reason he shouldn’t be in it.

  16. I found this on the tougher end for a Quiptic. The northeast in particular held me up for a while. I lacked the knowledge to get 2dn (TINA), and I don’t recall hearing Morecambe and Wise referred to by their first names, but my ignorance is not Anto’s fault. I particularly liked 12ac (GUT), 16dn (SCHOONER), and 20dn (ENSIGN), among others. As someone who’s complained about Anto in the past, I’d like to congratulate him on this one.

    [The crossing of “out of habit” and “out of order” reminds me of a moment many years ago on the BBC quiz programme “My Word”. Each panelist was given the beginning of an obscure proverb and were expected to complete it. Either Frank Muir or Denis Norden got something like “A monk who abandons his monastery …” and immediately completed the proverb with “doesn’t have clean habits.” I have no idea what the right answer was supposed to be.]

  18. Thanks Anto for what was, for me, a tough teatime challenge, and thanks for the blog, Quirister. “Mostly straightforward… with a few untidy bits” is a very fair assessment. I had the same problems with 25ac – it’s a shame it doesn’t quite work as it’s almost a very good clue. “In reverie” doesn’t work for me as an anagram indicator. Perhaps the idea is that the letters “LOSTAGAIN” are literally in the solution? Grasping at straws here. But there is much to appreciate here as well – I’m with you on the lovely pairing of 11ac/3dn. And 8dn is excellent.

    To those non-Brit solvers who complain about being expected to know the British idioms/cultural references that crop up often in Guardian crosswords, I give you 27ac – us Brits, solving a crossword in a British newspaper are also expected to know decidedly non-British phrases.

    muffin @5 – surely the convention of the definition coming at the start or end of the clue resolves that one?

  19. This was harder than I expected. I don’t have any particular feelings about whether this was “too hard” for a beginner (that would be for beginners to chime in on), I just appreciate another opportunity for diversion.

    I enjoyed most of this, but spent quite some time trying to convince myself that inconvenience = irritation. When there is an obstacle or difficulty, doesn’t one describe the physical situation and the other ones state of mind, so they often co-occur but don’t have to? Or am I over-thinking this?

  20. Like TassieTim@13 ‘Out of habit’ occurred to me too as a ‘disgraced monk’. I even attempted to put it in 3D but the def wasn’t right.

    In OUT OF HABIT I initially thought the def was ‘stripped almost’ , assuming a) that it was a monk as I was now awake after 3D, and b) the monk wasn’t completely starkers, or was in some other clothing, On second reading I wondered if ‘almost’ was doing double duty. On third reading, as Quirister has it, I wasn’t totally satisfied. I see the definition as completely without thinking, not almost.

    TINA had me stuck on what part of the clue meant delete ARGEN from ARGENTINA. I couldn’t come up with an alternative solution 🙂

    Did like SHIFT KEY, amongst others. Thanks Q and A.

  23. Liked SHIFT KEY, MINUTE, UNVERSED

    Needed help from google to parse TINA = “There is no alternative” (TINA).

    Guessed Eric and Ernie from the anagram fodder, then went to google for confirmation – I never heard of the 2011 film, but might have vaguely heard of the comedy act. I never saw any of their stuff on TV. When I saw the numbering, my first thought had been that it would be Stan and Ollie as usual for ancient comedy acts.

    Thanks, both.

  24. I commented at the time that reverie was an unusual anagram indicator to me, but I quite like it, and setters are always looking for new tricks. Similarly the complaint about ‘promoted’ in 20. Promotion is raising up, I can accept the twisting of the definition as close enough, I’m sure I’ve seen it before anyway.
    To quibble about the DD of ‘gut’ in 12 isn’t correct, to me, because it also means to take the insides out of anything, a clock, a house, etc., not just animal intestines. It’s a perfectly fair DD. I’d suggest that ‘one’ in 31 is more suited to complaint. I don’t find it at all cryptic, just wordy.
    An aside: I see that in Anto’s personal bio (see the first comment here) he says that he avoids obscure references. I’d say that the first letters of Thatcher’s mantra, and the first names of dead comedians are pretty obscure to anyone not old enough to remember them, despite them being national heroes to many … time to review your mission system, Anto. ?
    Thanks Anto, and thanks Quirister.

  26. In is so common as a linking word that it is invisible. A in B means B contains A. A is a list of letters, here L O S T A G A I and N. So, these letters are in this definition. Was that that meant? Doubt it, but I find it more convincing than a lot of the garbage used for anagram indicators.

  27. I had exactly the same thoughts about TINA and ERIC AND ERNIE as John W Bight @24, having read the interview with Anto, but deleted my comments unposted as I thought I might be being unfair. I’m nearly forty, so by no means young, and TINA was well out of my GK (though Thatcher had other phrases which are definitely still part of pop culture, notably “the lady’s not for turning”) and ERIC AND ERNIE was eventually dredged up from somewhere – they were only ever billed under their last names as far as I’m aware, so although I’ve seen a fair few of their gags repeated over the years I’d not heard them referred to as such. It felt like Anto was confident people knew the source and didn’t think about which bits about them remain current.

    It’s interesting to compare Anto’s attitude to Quiptics with that of Carpathian (last month’s “meet the setter” subject), and hard not to agree with essexboy @15.

  28. Completely stumbled into TINA from the Thatcher angle, as I linked together Tina Turner and “the lady’s not for turning”, blithely ignoring that the clue was indicating something Thatcher was rather than something she wasn’t.

  29. I loved the Quiptic and very much enjoyed the blog and comments, so thanks Anto, Quirister and all. These days I don’t so much think Anto is hard, just that it takes me a while to get in tune with his thinking.

    Like many others I enjoyed the out of habit/order business and the shift key. I also loved the newt/salamander nonsense, then had to go and look it up! Good stuff.

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