Quiptic 1,153 by Hectence

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A slightly more challenging Quiptic than usual today.

There were a few moderately complex assemblies to work out. I’m not happy with the grammar of 4d, though I may have missed something obvious; and both 22a and 23a use a construction that’s fairly clear but won’t please everyone. On the plus side, I liked 9a for its misleading surface, and the long anagram in 8d; my favourite was the double cryptic definition of 1d. Any new solvers who haven’t met the animal in 10a should make a note, because they’ll see it again. Thanks Hectence as always.

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

ACROSS
9 PUT UP WITH
Permit to build hotel’s beyond reason (3,2,4)
PUT UP (to build), then H (abreviation for hotel) after (beyond) WIT (in the old sense of understanding, as in “beyond the wit of man” = wisdom).

Put up with = permit = tolerate.
10 OUNCE
Small weight for a big cat (5)
Double definition. Roughly 28 grammes; or another name for the snow leopard.
11 LENGTHY
Long process gently nursing husband (7)
Anagram (process, as a verb) of GENTLY, containing (nursing) H (abbreviation for husband).
12 FLAT OUT
Hawk pursues a large female retreating as fast as possible (4,3)
A + L (large) + F (female), all reversed (retreating), with TOUT (as a verb = hawk = sell unofficially in a public place) after it (pursuing).
13 ITEM
Sometimes includes rejected article (4)
Hidden answer, reversed (. . . includes rejected) in [so]METI[mes].
14 CLAY PIGEON
Note place and time animal’s caught and used as target (4,6)
C (a note in music) + LAY (place, as a verb) + EON (a long time: alternative spelling of aeon), with PIG (animal) caught in it.

An artificial projectile used as a target for sport shooting. No pigeons were harmed in the making of this clue.
15 GOSSIPS
Makes small talk finally interesting with very large drinks (7)
Final letter of [interestin]G + OS (abbreviation for outsize = very large) + SIPS (drinks).

Gossip = small talk = informal conversation.
17 PLATEAU
Plain dish has value every now and then (7)
PLATE (dish) + alternate letters (every now and then) of [v]A[l]U[e].
19 IN EXCESS OF
More than half pubs and clubs of Essex flourishing (2,6,2)
Half of IN[ns] (pubs), then an anagram (flourishing = waving around, perhaps?) of C (clubs, in card games) with OF ESSEX.
22 JIVE
Dance judge’s 6 knocked back last couple (4)
J (abbreviation for judge), then VI (Roman numeral for 6) reversed (knocked back), then the last letter of [coupl]E. A reference to this weekend’s Strictly Come Dancing final, perhaps? But I know several commenters here won’t be happy about “last” for “last letter of” . . . .
23 TWIDDLE
Adjust model’s front wheels, not working without key (7)
T (model, as in Model T Ford) + front letter of W[heels] + IDLE outside (without) D (musical key).

. . . . and the commenters who objected to the previous clue will presumably have the same objection to “front wheels”.
24 PERFORM
Put on show for every class (7)
PER (for every) + FORM (class in school, as in “sixth form”).
26 KNOWN
Characters from Norfolk now nationally famous (5)
Hidden answer (characters from . . .) in [norfol]K NOW N[ationally].
27 RECONQUER
Soldiers question holding party with English side getting beat again (9)
RE (Royal Engineers = soldiers) + QU (abbreviation for question), holding CON (abbreviation for the Conservative Party), then E (English) + R (right, as opposed to left = side).
DOWN
1 SPELLING MISTAKE
Error in casting Cinderela? (8,7)
Double cryptic definition. An error in casting a magic spell; or a definition by example, because the fairytale heroine’s name should have a double L.
2 ETON MESS
Comment about jam pudding (4,4)
NOTE (comment) reversed (about), then MESS (jam = difficult situation).

Dessert (a mixture of summer fruit, whipped cream and meringue pieces) said to originate from Eton College.
3 SPAT
Dispute in street about parking area (4)
ST (abbreviation for street) around (about) P (road sign indicating parking space) + A (abbreviation for area).
4 BICYCLES
Contracted rubbish collector goes round travelling on two wheels (8)
BI[n] (a receptacle for collecting rubbish) without the last letter (contracted), then CYCLES (goes round).

I can’t quite make the grammar of the definition work: shouldn’t it be “travels on two wheels” = “bicycles” as a verb (third person singular)? “Goes round travelling on two wheels” means the same, but then “goes round” is doing double duty and “travelling” is superfluous. There’s probably something I’ve missed.
5 SHIFTY
Slippery fish cooked on banks of Tay (6)
Anagram (cooked) of FISH + outer letters (banks) of T[a]Y.

Slippery = shifty = untrustworthy.
6 SONATINA
Bearing working at home with a bit of light music (8)
S (abbreviation for south = compass bearing) + ON (working) + AT + IN (home = at home) + A.
7 SNOOZE
Nap with small dribble on bottom of chin (6)
S (small), then OOZE (dribble = liquid escaping slowly) added to the last letter (bottom, in a down clue) of [chi]N.

Nap = snooze = brief sleep.
8 WESTON-SUPER-MARE
Ruined steamer owner’s getting high in seaside town (6-5-4)
Anagram (ruined) of STEAMER OWNER’S + UP (high = elated).

Seaside town on the Bristol Channel in Somerset.
16 INCIDENT
Disturbance in part of hospital stopped by police (8)
IN + ENT (abbreviation for the Ear, Nose and Throat department in a hospital; easier to say than otorhinolaryngology), containing (stopped by) CID (Criminal Investigation Department = police).
17 PROSPECT
Look for brochure American left (8)
PROSPECT[us], after US (American) has left.

To prospect for gold, oil, etc = to search for it in a likely location.
18 EPILOGUE
In conclusion, European Union holds very good record on energy (8)
EU (European Union), holding PI (short for pious = very good) + LOG (record), then E (scientific abbreviation for energy).
20 EDITOR
Ride to work with top journalist (6)
Anagram (work) of RIDE TO.
21 SHERRY
Heading off, slightly intoxicated after quiet drink (6)
[m]ERRY (slightly intoxicated) with its heading letter taken off, after SH (sh! = quiet! = a command to stop making noise).
25 RANT
Resistance soldier makes a wild harangue (4)
R (scientific symbol for electrical resistance) + ANT (possibly a soldier ant).

26 comments on “Quiptic 1,153 by Hectence”

  1. Summed up nicely by Quirister, including my favourite, SPELLING MISTAKE. I was guessing this was going to be a pangram and this helped with my loi, RECONQUER. Quite tough for a Quiptic but more enjoyable than the Cryptic.

    Ta Hectence & Quirister.

  4. As usual, a few that might have beginners scratching their heads.
    Thanks for parsing CLAY PIGEON – too many notes in this puzzle: a choice of A to G is only helpful once you have the answer. The UP in WESTON SUPER MARE is almost but not quite an indirect anagram: I got that one from def and crossers and didn’t check the parsing. And the C(lubs) of Essex is another one for the raised eyebrow. Loved the SPELLING MISTAKE, and it’s useful to introduce new solvers to the OUNCE.
    By the way, it’s yet another Quiptic pangram – they are getting to be a habit in this slot.

  6. I tried to parse BICYCLES with just “two wheels” as the definition, but it still didn’t quite work. I agree with gladys about the notes – it’s not just A to G, there’s doh re mi, me etc. as well. Nevertheless I enjoyed this puzzle and the blog.

  7. I thought this too tricky for a Quiptic – definitely more so than today’s excellent Cryptic. There were too many that I went ‘hmmm… if you say so’ to: CLAY PIGEON (which I suspected long before I could justify it), PLATEAU (is it really a plain?), IN EXCESS OF and SONATINA (both clunky), RECONQUER (surely just ‘beat again’ rather than ‘getting beat again’), ETON MESS, PROSPECT (surely ‘America left’, not American), JIVE (why 6 back and not 4?). Quirister has identified the ones I liked. Thanks for that, and thanks to Hectence.

  9. Two clues Weston-super-mare and Eton Mess were both long and very specific to UK. So I lost so many crossers it raises the difficulty level a lot. So over all happy how many I could get working with multiple handicaps. Especially Eton Mess, never heard of it at all. Some day there will be a clue based on jigir thanda … no, it ain’t gonna happen…

    I avoid coming to this page before finishing to avoid accidentally glancing at the answers leaping at you with bold face. But this page is probably the best place to say, “non UK GK people, watch out for 2d and 8d, they ain’t easy for ya. “ Then at least I can use anagram cheating or one-letter-reveals [*] without feeling guilty. But even if the solver-blogger is mentioning it in the intro, I might inadvertently glance at the solutions too. So not a good solution.

    [*] Anagram cheating: Figure out the fodder and fill all the open squares with some letter from the fodder. Use check to locate its place. Now see if you can crack the anagram. Else add one more letter from the fodder.

    One-letter-reveal : keep filling one square with guesses, and use check button till you get it right. One letter revealed! Use it as a crosser and try to solve rest of the clue.

  10. Thanks Quirister – you accurately predicted my objections to JIVE and TWIDDLE. The basic problem is that it means that the cryptic instructions aren’t written in English – they’re in the ‘have a guess at what this riddle might mean’ category. Disappointing in a cryptic but doubly so in a Quiptic.

    Not that it was really a Quiptic – once again, I agree with commenters who felt this was in the wrong slot.

    Like Gladys @4 I think WESTON-SUPER-MARE can be saved from the charge that it’s an indirect anagram by treating ‘getting’ as a containment indicator, albeit a not very convincing one.

    Re ‘otorhinolaryngology’, it may be a bit of a mouthful, but it’s what the French say! Although it usually gets abbreviated to ‘oto-rhino’, which seems to trip off the tongue (or out of the throat, considering the French R 😉 ) more easily.

    Thanks Hectence and Quirister.

  12. Like essexboy @10 (and perhaps Gladys @4, I think that the UP in WESTON-SUPER-MARE should be seen as an insertion, indicated by ‘getting … in’.
    That would work for me.
    As to what happens in 22ac and 23 ac I’d rather keep shtum – but Hectence has done this several times before, so she’s happy with it, I guess.
    Thanks Quirister for the blog which is generally spot-on.
    I agree that 4dn is inaccurate but I also do not like the half-definition in 14ac.
    Why did Hectence use the rather ugly ‘half pubs’ instead of ‘half of pubs’ in 19ac?
    There are quite a few solvers above who thought that this was too hard for a Quiptic.
    For me, this was a fairly typical Hectence puzzle as to its level.
    With 26ac, 3dn and 18dn having surfaces I would like to single out.

  13. Thanks Hectence and Quirister
    As I said on the “other side”, I found this very hard, even for a cryptic.
    Sil – what do you mean by “half-definition” in 14a? The CLAY PIGEON (which is a disc, in fact, looking nothing much like a pigeon) is used as a target, yes?

  14. Nothing really to add except that I think Sil @12 is referring to ‘used as a target’ as a half definition, because it is clueing a participle rather than a noun. Strictly the def should be ‘it’s used as a target’.

    [Petert @11: I think in Ancient Greek, whence comes the name of the medical specialism, ‘larynx’ meant throat, and not just the structure with the vocal chords]

  15. Enjoyable puzzle but I failed to solve Twiddle and could not parse bicycles. I struggled today as I had to do the puzzle on my mobile phone – never again! I’ll skip the cryptic today; solving one puzzle on phone is enough for me and at a glance the cryptic looked hard.

  17. Indeed, Gervase.
    Perhaps, the inclusion of ‘and’ in the clue for 14ac makes clear that Hectence wants us to see ‘animal’s used as target’ as the definition.
    That is sort of OK for me.
    But, let’s not blow this up, it is not a major issue for this solver – sometimes there are things that you like, sometimes there are things that you don’t like.

  18. Thanks Sil @12 for suggesting ‘getting… in’ as the insertion indicator in 8dn. That works much better than just ‘getting’.

    [Petert @11: interesting question! Like Gervase @14 I suspected that λάρυγξ in Ancient Greek might have had a wider meaning than just ‘larynx’, and according to Wiktionary it did. Perhaps that was in the medics’ minds when they put together oto-rhino-laryngology from the Greek bits and pieces?

    In modern Greek both λάρυγγας and λαρύγγι (colloquial) are common words for ‘throat’, as well as the former meaning ‘larynx’.

    Quoi qu’il en soit… I’m sure a good French oto-rhino will also deal with non-strictly-larynx-related throat-type stuff. Just to make sure I checked the French wiki entry for Otorhinolaryngologie, which says it’s une branche de la médecine spécialisée dans le diagnostic et le traitement des troubles du nez, de la gorge, de l’oreille, et de la région tête et cou.
    Among the surspécialisations is Chirurgie de la thyroïde et des parathyroïdes. I’m no medic, but I think they’re a bit further down than the larynx?]

  19. essexboy#18. Diseases and malfunctions of the thyroid are handled by endocrinologists, who specialise in hormones. Thyroid surgery normally falls under thoracic surgery, but in the hospital which took out half of my thyroid it was, rather oddly, treated by abdominal surgeons.

  21. Chalk me down as one who found it on the tricky side & my slowest Quiptic solve for quite some time. Enjoyed it though.

  22. The reaction btl in the Guardian was so effusive I thought I’d missed something – rather a relief to come here belatedly and discover others had the same problems!

  23. Likewise glad to be here and see I’m not the only one who found the workings difficult. Why oh why is Pious equal to PI! anyone? I’m guessing it’s just one of those you have to know.

  24. Phew that seemed hard, though my Christmas sloth and overindulgence probably have not helped. I loved the Weston anagram, didn’t object to the front wheels etc, and struggled with the bicycles and many many others! Thanks Hectence and Quirister and commenters and Happy Christmas (or whatever) everyone.

  25. A DNF for me today, although I liked SPELLING MISTAKE.
    I agree with @23 Jazzer that pi for pious seems a bit of a reach.

  26. I have a feeling – not currently researched – that pi for pious might perhaps be some kind of public school language? I imagine Biggles or his pal Forty complaining about the WingCo’s “pi-jaw” … or something. But, as I say, thoroughly unresearched and may remain so …

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