Guardian Quiptic 1175 Matilda

by

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

Across

1. Proceeds with instruction to enter after part exchange (6)

INCOME : [“COME IN”](instruction to enter/come through) with the last 2 letters exchanging position with the first 4 (after part exchange).

4. Gather with capacity to contain returning chaos (8)

ASSEMBLE : ABLE(with capacity/with the ability or power to do) containing(to contain) reversal of(returning) MESS(chaos/mayhem).

9. Stress from ‘sexercise’ (6)

STRAIN : ‘S + TRAIN(to exercise’/to work out).

10. Five he-men stripped into skimpy underwear by the roadside? (8)

PAVEMENT : [ V(Roman numeral for “five”) + “he-men” minus its 1st and last letters(stripped) ] contained in(into) “pants”(underwear, specifically underpants or knickers) minus its last letter(skimpy …).

Defn: A … that has been raised and paved for pedestrians.

11. Changes suitable to feature in publicity (6)

ADAPTS : APT(suitable/appropriate) contained in(to feature in) ADS(short for advertisements/publicity material).

12. Unique ruling as ordered (8)

SINGULAR : Anagram of(… ordered) RULING AS.

14. Providing assurance on the way to protect northern tree (10)

CONFIRMING : COMING(on the way/approaching) containing(to protect) [ N(abbrev. for “northern”) + FIR(a coniferous tree) ].

Defn: … that something is correct or true.

18. Letters from interesting people (10)

CHARACTERS : Double defn: 1st: Written or printed …; and 2nd: …/unusual or amusing persons.

22. Everything you say is never wrong (8)

UNIVERSE : Homophone of(… say) “you” + anagram of(… wrong) IS NEVER.

23. Remember finally: offer the public the lot (6)

RECALL : Last letters, respectively, of(finally) “offer the public” + ALL(the lot/everything).

24. Most absurd to get poorly during a short nap (8)

SILLIEST : ILL(poorly/feeling unwell) contained in(during) “siesta”(an afternoon nap) minus its last letter(short …).

25. Swimmer‘s hairstyle (6)

MULLET : Double defn.  1:  A food fish:

; and 2: 

26. Height and distance from the equator after a tweak (8)

ALTITUDE : LATITUDE(the angular distance of a place north or south of the equator) with its 1st 2 letters exchanging positions(after a tweak).

Defn: … of an object above sea or ground level.

27. Kind offer (6)

TENDER : Double defn: 1: …/soft-hearted; and 2: …/to present.

Down

1. Home position, for example (8)

INSTANCE : IN(home, as in “I’m home tonight) + STANCE(a position/a posture or viewpoint).

Defn: An …/a case in point.

2. Window dressing all over? (8)

CURTAINS : Double defn: 2nd: Slang for “ending in death or ruin”/all over, as in “if that becomes public, it will be curtains for us”.

3. Care for chief isn’t commonly included (8)

MAINTAIN : MAIN(chief/principal) containing(… included) AIN’T(a non-standard/in coarse language/a commonly used contraction of “is not”/”isn’t”).

5. Static on the radio provides material for writers (10)

STATIONERY : Homophone of(… on the radio) “stationary”(static/unmoving).

6. Turn green with envy in the end — that’s life! (6)

ENERGY : Anagram of(Turn) GREEN plus(with) last letter of(… in the end) “envy“.

Defn: …/vitality.

7. Volkswagen buzzer let loose (6)

BEETLE : BEE(a buzzer/a buzzing creature) + anagram of(… loose) LET.

Defn: Nickname for the iconic … model.

8. Blackmail previously upset communist (6)

EXTORT : EX-(prefix signifying “previously”/formerly) + reversal of(upset) TROT(short for “Trotskyite”, a supporter of the communist politics of Leon Trotsky).

13. Stressed editor after cooking pies and mash (10)

EMPHASISED : ED(abbrev. for “editor”) placed below(after, in a down clue) anagram of(cooking) [PIES plus(and) MASH].

Defn: …/gave special importance to something in speech or text.

15. Timetable for school: 50% escape to head north (8)

SCHEDULE : 1st 3 letters of(…: 50%) “school” + reversal of(… to head north, in a down clue) ELUDE(to escape from or to avoid).

16. Elaborate hindquarters indeed (8)

DETAILED : TAIL(hindquarters/the rear) contained in(in) DEED.

17. Switch to sailor mode (8)

ISOLATOR : Anagram of(… mode/a way in which something is expressed or done) TO SAILOR.

Defn: A type of electrical …

19. Aggressor starts to raid Ukraine, still stuck in action (6)

RUSSIA : 1st letters, respectively, of(starts to) “raid Ukraine, still stuck in action“.

20. Flower arranging — love it! (6)

VIOLET : Anagram of(arranging) LOVE IT.

21. ‘Male or female first’ — person showing prejudice? (6)

SEXIST : SEX(gender, ie. male or female) + IST(1st/first with the Roman numeral substitution).

Defn: … based on gender.

28 comments on “Guardian Quiptic 1175 Matilda”

  1. Thanks for the blog scchua. I always appreciate the illustrations. 🙂

    Once more I found the Quiptic trickier than the Monday cryptic, for no particular reason. Different wavelength. However all completed.

    STRAIN made me smile, and so did CURTAINS.

    Thanks Matilda & scchua.

  2. A good Quiptic I thought. The grid made it a game of four quadrants to some extent with the NW going in last. Liked RUSSIA and SEXIST for their extended definitions, but raised an eyebrow at “mode” as a nounal anagrind. I did like “part exchange” in 1a and “with a tweak” in 26a as novel indicators.

    Many thanks to Matilda and scchua

  3. Fairly hard for a Quiptic, but fun.
    Liked the flower arranging and the he-men, and the sadly topical RUSSIA. Thanks for parsing RECALL: I got the last of “remember” but failed to spot the ends of the other words.

  4. Mullet do seems to have made a comeback… some footballers et al. But why is it so-called? A (very) quick glance online looks like Why indeed? All fun, nice puzzle, ta both.

  5. Thank you to scchua and Matilda.

    I’m with Crossbar @1 finding this slower than the Cryptic, but when I’d solved it I couldn’t quite see why. It was all clued fairly with some entertaining devices. I did wonder on first read through if we were looking at another MULLET, but left it as I wasn’t sure until I had some crossers. RUSSIA was a neat first letter clue as not immediately jumping out as that form. I read the way it’s underlined above, which is why it was so obvious.

  7. Fun crossword. Split word clues like those for INCOME and DETAILED always trip me up. Thanks Matilds & scchua. (Your beetle looks a little stretched – is it trying to be a jag?)

  8. Like last week, slightly trickier than the cryptic for me. CONFIRMING took me a stupidly long time as I had somehow convinced myself the ending was MENT… I guessed but didn’t parse STRAIN, and the explanation was a ‘doh’ moment.

    Liked SILLIEST, MULLET and PAVEMENT.

    Cheers both.

  9. Good Quiptic, I thought, although marginally more difficult than the cryptic.

    I liked INCOME because of the part exchange, PAVEMENT for the surface image, CONFIRMING, where ‘on the way’ didn’t use st or rd, CURTAINS for the all over meaning, and RUSSIA for the apt description.

    Thanks Matilda and scchua.

  11. I wonder if the reason for this being a slightly slower solve that Vulcan’s cryptic for some, including for me, is not to do with it being intrinsically more difficult in terms of cluing, but that it is an odd grid, in which, other than the four solutions along the northern and western extremities. no other solution affords first-letter help with its intersecting solutions. Working on it reminded me how useful first letters can be in nudging one towards a quicker solve.

  12. Like some others I found this rather harder than today’s cryptic.

    scchua, I think you’ve omitted to say that in 10a PAVEMENT, “pants” becomes “pant” (because of “skimpy”).

    I suppose 26a ALTITUDE is strictly an indirect anagram, but it’s so mild (switching two letters) that there can’t be much objection.

    Thanks Matilda and scchua.

  14. Thanks scchua, nicely illustrated as usual, though strictly speaking I think in 10A you need to show that the “pants” are trimmed into a singular “pant” thanks to “skimpy”, or am I mis-thinking that? This was fun with a lot of neat tricks, but no walkover thanks at least partly to the grid as per Jay (same order for me) and Spooner’s catflap. Thanks Matilda.

  15. [sorry, thought I had refreshed before posting]
    Lord Jim@12, I hadn’t thought of that as an indirect anagram until now – I wonder if we can consider “a tweak” to mean take the letter A in Latitude and adjust its position slightly, so that it is the equivalent of promoting or demoting, which I have sometimes seen? On the other hand my online dictionary gives one meaning of “tweak” as specifically referring to a pinch or pull of the nose, which is probably sufficent guidance that we can restrict our attention to the first couple of letters?

  16. Gazzh: interesting thoughts. The “cycling” type of clue that we sometimes see is I suppose strictly an indirect anagram, but it seems to be generally acceptable – where the letters in a sense retain their order but just cycle round. An example was in Picaroon’s Prize 28,697, where the wordplay for VERNE was “Not once cycling” (“never” with the first two letters cycled to the end).

  18. I think of pavements (or sidewalks, where I live) as more streetside than roadside.

    Nice puzzle, thanks Matilda and scchua.

  20. Another vote for the Quiptic being trickier than the Cryptic.
    And a pedantic popint about 9ac: stress is not the same as strain. I worked in an engineering environment for long enough to know that stress, measured in force per unit area, brings about strain, a dimensionless number. And yes, I am aware that common parlance knows nothing of the distinction.
    A great crossword, nevertheless. We liked PAVEMENT, BEETLE and ISOLATOR.
    Thanks, Matilda and scchua.

  21. Just right for a quiptic IMHO. I’d love to know the following:
    Did Matilda submit this as a quiptic?
    Did the crossword editor (if he or she exists – I’ve never seen a post from him/her) ask Matilda to submit a quiptic-type puzzle?
    Or did Matilda submit the puzzle with the aforementioned mythical editor deciding it should fill the Monday quiptic slot?
    I don’t suppose we’ll ever know.
    Anyway, thanks, Matilda, and scchua, for an easy-to-follow blog.

  22. AC @20 words have multiple meanings – cryptics wouldn’t be much fun if that wasn’t the case! There’s always a risk when you know a very specific meaning that you fall into the etymological fallacy trap. Happens to me all the time with IT stuff 🙂

  23. nicbach@19 My point exactly. Sidewalks and pavements are in a town or city, as are streets; roads are in the country and rarely have pavements.

    Erike@44 The crossword editor exists, his first name is Hugh, and he appeared once with Paul (John Halpern) on his puzzle blog that he puts on when he has a puzzle in the Guardian.

  24. Eric @21 – at least one of the interviews with setters on the Guardian blog has suggested that Quiptics are composed as such, rather than finding their way into that bucket by virtue of being easier. That possibly helps explain why they’re frequently tougher than the cryptic on the same day!

    The usual check buttons etc weren’t available on my browser, and I was surprised by how much it changed my experience of solving to have to repeatedly go back to answers and make sure I was happy they were correct.

  25. I only do the quiptic (and only occasionally) and I finished this one, which is uncommon. I’m usually 2-4 clues off.

    That’s just by-the-by though — what I wanted to say was that, before getting any crossers, I tried “labour” for a stress that comes from sexercise. I thought it was very funny (though incorrect unfortunately).

  27. Like some others, I struggled with the grid not giving me any help. I eventually managed to get the 4 joining clues, but I still had to give up shortly past halfway.

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