Guardian Quiptic 1131 Hectence

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Thank you to Hectence. Definitions are underlined in the clues.

P.S. Thanks also to Gaufrid for standing in in my absence 4 weeks ago.

Across

7. Charlie’s copying Mike in holidaying under canvas (7)

CAMPING : [ C(letter represented by “Charlie” in the phonetic alphabet) + APING(copying/imitating, as apes would do, better than other animals other than humans) ] containing(… in) M(letter represented by “Mike” in the phonetic alphabet).

There’s camping:

… and then there’s glamping: 

8. Keep an eye on reptile (7)

MONITOR : Double defn.

9. Jackdaw nest concealed when day breaks (4)

DAWN : Hidden in(… concealed) “Jackdaw nest“.

10. French articles about catch thrown back by sailor not based on facts (9)

UNTENABLE : UN,LE(in French, the articles “one” and “the”, respectively) containing(about) [reversal of(… thrown back) NET(to catch/to trap, with a net obviously) plus(by) AB(abbrev. for “able-bodied seaman”/a sailor) ].

12. Guiding light from church on hill (5)

TORCH : CH(abbrev. for “church”) placed after(on/attached to) TOR(a rocky hill).

13. Quietly left off plaque with date incorrectly cut for watercourse (8)

AQUEDUCT : [“p”(abbrev. for “piano”, the musical direction to play quietly) + “l”(abbrev. for “left”)] deleted from(off) “plaque” plus(with) D(abbrev. for “date”) + anagram of(incorrectly) CUT.

15. Fasteners for flies? (4)

ZIPS : Double defn: 1st: … for garments, say, including flies on your trousers; and 2nd: …/moves at high speed.

16. Approached large animal (5)

CAMEL : CAME(approached/moved nearer to one) + L(abbrev. for “large”).

17. Models have little space in marquee (4)

TENT : T,T(2 x the model of car made by the Ford Company) containing(have … in) EN(a small unit of space used in printing text).

18. Sent for a trip along the esplanade (3,5)

SEA FRONT : Anagram of(… trip) SENT FOR A.

20. Bashed in first of stakes to dishearten vampire (5)

STOVE : 1st letter of(first of) “stakes” + TO + middle letters deleted from(dishearten) “vampire“.

Answer: Past tense of “stave in”/break something by bashing/forcing it inwards).

21. Bags of support with crowds (9)

BACKPACKS : BACK(to support/champion, say, a proposal) plus(with) PACKS(crowds/fills completely, leaving little or no room)

22. Smell extremely bad odour around layabout (4)

SLOB : 1st and last letters of(… extremely) “Smell” + reversal of(… around) BO(abbrev. for “body odour”/bad smell emanating from a living body).

24. Wrap boy’s broken ankle with some kind of shirt (7)

BLANKET : B(abbrev. for “boy”) plus(‘s) anagram of(broken) ANKLE plus(with) T(short for “T-shirt”, a casual short-sleeved top shaped like a, well, “T” when spread flat).

25. Average kind of wine knocked back causes wind (7)

MEANDER : MEAN(the average of a group of numbers/quantities) + reversal of(… knocked back) RED(a kind/wide variety of wine).

Defn: …/go round in a twisting/winding course.

Down

1. Daughter’s motoring club going over Tesla’s facts and figures (4)

DATA : D(abbrev. for “daughter”) plus(‘s) AA(abbrev. for the Automobile Association, a club for motorists) containing(going over) T(the symbol for “tesla”, the unit of measurement of magnetic flux density).

2. Furious when flower head is knocked off by branches (2,2,4)

UP IN ARMS : “lupin”(flower of the lupinus genus of plants) minus its 1st letter(head is knocked off) placed above(by/attached to, in a down clue) ARMS(branches of a wider organisation, as in “branches of the military”).

3. No huge labour to make a sufficient quantity (6)

ENOUGH : Anagram of(… labour) NO HUGE.

4. Judge new bishop old Yorkshire city to be an archetypal Englishman (4,4)

JOHN BULL : J(abbrev. for “judge”) + { [N(abbrev. for “new”) + B(symbol for “bishop” in chess notation) ] } contained in(in) [ O(abbrev. for “old”) + HULL(a port city in Yorkshire, England) ].

5. A bride’s unhappy with such a mattress (3,3)

AIR BED : Anagram of(…’s unhappy) A BRIDE.

6. Drift in and out of sleep as 12 noon slips away (4)

DOZE : “dozen”(12 in quantity) minus(… slips away) “n”(abbrev. for “noon” in time notation).

11. Shocking art movement has a following — I’m not sure about it on reflection (9)

TRAUMATIC : Reversal of(… movement) ART plus(has) [A placed before(following, in a down clue) UM(expression of uncertainty/”I’m not sure”) ] + reversal of(… on reflection) [C(abbrev. for “circa”/abut when referring to years or other time periods) + IT].

12. Clan‘s brief attempt to live on island (5)

TRIBE : Last letter deleted from(brief) “try”(an attempt at doing something) + [ BE(to live/to exist) plus(on/attached to) I(abbrev. for “island”) ].

14. Small boat‘s old with bamboo frame (5)

CANOE : O(abbrev. for “old”) contained in(with … frame) CANE(a plant with hollow jointed stems/canes, such as the bamboo).

16. Casino worker‘s cough getting worse? (8)

CROUPIER : CROUP(an infection of the upper airway, characterised by a barking cough like a sea-lion’s) + -IER(suffix indicating a comparative, as in “happy/happier”, or in this case, “croupy/croupier” for having an infection that is getting worse, you might say).

17. Large number finally get short time on beach (8)

THOUSAND : Last letter of(finally) “get“+ “hour”(a period of time) minus its last letter(short …) placed above(on, in a down clue) SAND(the beach/an expanse of sand).

19. City of London finance assumed to be productive (6)

FECUND : EC(abbrev. for “East Central”, London postcode area that covers almost all of the City of London) contained in(… assumed/seized) FUND(finance/sum of money available for a particular purpose).

20. Stay outside and check procedure (6)

SYSTEM : 1st and last letters of(… outside) “Stay” plus(and) STEM(to check/to stop).

21. Degree students have big party (4)

BALL : BA(abbrev. for the degree, Bachelor of Arts) + L,L(2 x letter displayed by a student driver).

23. Cattle cross east between beginning of October and November (4)

OXEN : [ X(a cross/representative mark or symbol) + E(abbrev. for “east”) ] contained in(between) 1st letters, respectively, of(beginning of) [“October“, “November“].

21 comments on “Guardian Quiptic 1131 Hectence”

  2. The problem with living in France is that when DOZE looks likely from the definition and DOUZE means 12, what happened to the U?

  3. Thanks Hectence and scchua
    Lots of fun. Favourites were STOVE, MEANDER, and DOZE.
    I missed the second definition for ZIPS – I though it was just a rather weak cryptic definition.
    There’s a small camping/backpacking theme!

  4. A well pitched Quiptic. It’s a good thing that I have lived in the UK, otherwise I wouldn’t know ‘flies’ (plural) for the zip in your trousers. It’s called a fly here (“Your fly is open” not “Your flies are open”). I liked MEANDER, FECUND and thought ENOUGH was a neat anagram. I needed help with parsing UP IN ARMS and JOHN BULL – a bit ponderous, that last one. Thanks, Hectence and scchua.

  5. Some quite fiddly ones for a Quiptic – JOHN BULL and TRAUMATIC for instance. I liked the simpler TORCH (nice surface) and AIR BED – both part of a great-outdoors theme with CAMPING, TENT, BACKPACKS, BLANKET and perhaps STOVE, DAWN, CANOE and SEA FRONT.
    The Quiptic is getting ambitious: not only a theme but a pangram for the second week in a row.

  7. A lovely A to Z of outdoor living with a nicely illustrated blog. Is a THOUSAND a large number? It depends what you are talking about, I suppose. Thanks to Hectence and scchua.

  8. That was fun. Particularly liked AQUEDUCT, JOHN BULL, STOVE, MEANDER, FECUND

    For the first time remembered that en/em = space to get TENT and managed to get most of it without any help.

    Thanks Hectence and scchua

  9. Good fun as always with Hectence but am I missing something in 11d? “Movement” as a reversal indicator? Thanks scchua and Hectence

  10. Movement probably more easily parsed as an anagram indicator, Charlie @ 9 – though the outcome is the same. Not many options for rearranging three letters!

  11. When was the last time anybody used TOR for “hill” outside a crossword puzzle?

    I liked 20d with the disheartened vampire — a stake bashed in would dishearten me too!

    Oddly enough, I’ve seen references to “sleeveless t-shirts,” which is about as moronic as an ox can get.

    Thanks for a nice puzzle, Hectence, and for straightening me out here and there, scchua, as well as for some fine pictures — nice to see them in a Quiptic blog!

    References to Hull always make me think of the chorus to The Dalesman’s Litany: “From Hull and Halifax and Hell, Good Lord deliver me.”

    Thanks, scchua, for untangling DOZE for me. Obvious, but I was oblivious.

    Is there a rule for what words can go directly from clue to answer? Is it two-letter words like TO or ON?

  14. And in Tasmania (Legges Tor). In checking this out, I even found a Tasmanian property called Tor Hill for sale. It reminds me of the Cumbrian Torpenhow, supposedly meaning hill-hill-hill (see .

  16. Lovely and well-pitched Quiptic this week.

    Valentine @11: There is a gentle sit-com on Radio 4 called ‘To Hull and Back’ by Lucy Beaumont also starring the great Maureen Lipman of that parish. The accent from Hull is somewhat unique.

    SC @12 and muffin @13: and across Wales where anything with the word ‘Twr’ is also a hill. ‘Tor’ also pops-up in Breton place names quite frequently.

    Thanks to Hectence and scchua!

  20. Okay, I see that various places are named Something Tor, and the name persists from ancient days. So my question now is, does anybody use the word “tor” with a small t? As in, “It’s just beyond that tor over there.”

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