Matilda appears comparatively infrequently as our Quiptic setter, but I always enjoy solving and blogging her puzzles.
This one had a good variety of clue types, with some less common constructions – but I think newer solvers might have enjoyed teasing these out. The clueing is fair throughout, there are no obscurities, and the grid is reasonably friendly, which is what less experienced solvers should expect. But I’m not a beginner, so we might find out what some who are in that category thought below, because that’s what this blog is for, really. Requests for additional elucidation will always be answered, either by me or some other kind soul who’s more experienced in the dark arts.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 America endlessly embroiled in area of conflict
CRIMEA
(AMERIC[A])* ‘Endlessly’ is telling you to remove the last A; the anagrind is ’embroiled’.
5 Time for a few words
SENTENCE
A dd. The first element is referring to a prison sentence.
9 Writer getting sack after the end of photo shoot
OPEN FIRE
A charade of O for the last letter of ‘photo’, PEN and FIRE.
10 And not small when unwrapped, as usual
NORMAL
A charade of NOR for ‘and not’, and [S]MAL[L].
11 The end of the series spoiled a fine production
FINAL EPISODE
(SPOILED A FINE)* with ‘production’ as the anagrind. Great surface.
13 Heard expressions of relief from circuit breaker
FUSE
A homophone (‘heard’) of PHEWS.
14 Anticlimax of odd concert finale?
NON-EVENT
A charade of NON EVEN – which is a definition of ‘odd’ – and T for the last letter of ‘concert’.
17 Find fault in friendly source of power
WIND FARM
An insertion of (FIND)* in WARM. The insertion indicator is ‘in’; the anagrind is ‘fault’.
18 Happy? Good boy!
GLAD
A charade of G and LAD.
20 This iced tea’s terrible, but it’s too late to change
THE DIE IS CAST
(THIS ICED TEAS)* with ‘terrible’ as the anagrind.
23 I left broken toenail in the shed
LEAN-TO
(TOENA[I]L)* The removal indicator is ‘left’ and the anagrind is ‘broken’.
24 Primarily all brave actors performing
ACROBATS
(A B ACTORS)* The anagrind is ‘performing’, and a clue-as-definition, or cad: the whole clue could be read as the definition.
25 Marked either end of envelope in a rush
STAMPEDE
A charade of STAMPED and E for either the first or the last letter of ‘envelope’.
26 Those people hoarding gold for speculation
THEORY
An insertion of OR for ‘gold’ in THEY. OR comes from heraldry and is common for ‘gold’ in crosswords. When it’s not AU.
Down
2 Substantial string of properties
ROPE
Hidden in pROPErties.
3 Dangerous situation, being born during midlife crisis
MINEFIELD
An insertion of NÉ in (MIDLIFE)* The insertion indicator is ‘during’ and the anagrind is ‘crisis’. NÉ is the stupidly irregular past participle of the French verb naître, to be born. It is more commonly seen as the feminine form, NÉE, referring to a woman’s maiden name (often in an obituary). But it can be used for a man, used in giving the original name of a titled man. That would be only for posh folk, then, which is why it’s less common.
4 Jumble sale in extraterrestrials?
ALIENS
(SALE IN)* with ‘jumble’ as the anagrind.
5 Abracadobra?
SPELLING MISTAKE
A cd. The play on words is that you would use Abracadabra! to cast a spell, so Abracadobra! would be a SPELLING MISTAKE. Geddit? I liked it, but not everyone’s a fan of cryptic definitions. If your brain is not wired up to this type of clue, you’ve always got the crossing letters.
6 Nice and neat 50% cutback for skittles
NINEPINS
A charade of NI and NE for the first half of ‘nice’ and ‘neat’, and SNIP reversed. You need to do a ‘lift and separate’ on ‘cutback’ to give you ‘cut’ and ‘back’, then the latter becomes your reversal indicator.
7 Chauffeur ostracised for pocketing coins
EUROS
Hidden in ChauffEUR OStracised.
8 Wine and veg being served? No!
CHARDONNAY
If veg were being served, then there might be CHARD ON the menu. Then you need NAY for ‘no’.
12 Sanction wordplay and strange hints about Matilda
PUNISHMENT
A charade of PUN and ME inserted into (HINTS)* ME for ‘Matilda’ (the setter) is common. The insertion indicator is ‘about’ and the anagrind is ‘strange’.
15 Green victory in Europe attainable
VEGETABLE
A charade of VE and GETABLE. Personally, I would always write GETTABLE, but dictionaries give both spellings. Actually, I’d write ACHIEVABLE to avoid getting into an argument about it.
16 Choke with ale going the wrong way down this?
CAKEHOLE
(CHOKE ALE)* The anagrind is ‘going the wrong way’ and the clue is another – rather clever, in my opinion – cad. CAKEHOLE is British English slang for your mouth, derived presumable from our love of cake. Shut your cakehole!
19 15 as an inducement
CARROT
A dd, referring to the VEGETABLE of 15dn. All greens are vegetables, but not all vegetables are greens.
21 Material extracted from the ground in return
DENIM
A reversal (‘in return’) of MINED.
22 Commotion arising in Amritsar
STIR
Hidden reversed in AmRITSar. ‘Uprising’ works as the reversal indicator because it’s a down clue.
Many thanks to Matilda for this week’s Quiptic.
About the right level for a quiptic, and clearly differentiated from the cryptic in terms of difficulty, for a change.
SPELLING MISTAKE might divide opinion but I thought it was genius.
Thanks, Pierre and Matilda. I thought this was delightful, *especially* SPELLING MISTAKE – though yes, I can imagine some won’t like it. Also particularly enjoyed FINAL EPISODE and PUNISHMENT.
I only got SPELLING MISTAKE after I had the crossers for the second word – then of course it was obvious – although I didn’t “get it” till I came here – duh…..
Also enjoyed PUNISHMENT, THEORY, MINEFIELD, VEGETABLE
Thanks Matilda and Pierre
Lovely quiptic – can’t fault it.
What Steve said.
Thanks Matilda and Pierre
Yes, very nice. I liked SPELLING MISTAKE, but FINAL EPISODE was my favourite.
Proof that a great Quiptic can also be a great cryptic. And a good blog to boot. Thanks
Agreed. Excellent puzzle!
PS: many thanks to Matilda and Pierre.
Bit rich to criticise French for irregularity when you look at the vagaries of English spelling. If you mean the presence of gender in language, then almost every language bar English has that, including the ancient British language, Cymraeg.
cs @10 – I think it was humorous self-deprecation on Pierre’s part – I’ve always assumed, given the name, that he is either French, or has a French connection?
As for the puzzle – parfait!
I didn’t mean the gender, actually, copland+smith, but the irregularity of the past participle. I know all about English being a generally gender-free language: I speak three European languages other than English and have taught French to business people for the last three decades. I also know how to say ‘good morning’, ‘goodnight’ and ‘arseholes to all Englishmen’ in Cymraeg. Will that impress you, or irk you further? I’m truly sorry if my throwaway comment struck you as being a bit rich. I’ll stick to just parsing the puzzle from now on. And then you can stick to telling us what you thought of the crossword. Which you haven’t so far.
Pierre @12 LOL, as I believe the young folk say.
A really enjoyable Quiptic, with fair clues and no obscurities. Thanks Matilda and Pierre.
Iecyd Da Pob Cymro ac Ffraneg, Twll Dyn Pob Saeth Pierre!
Not sure I’ve ever seen GETABLE but as Pierre says, it’s in the dictionaries, so no problem there.
With CAKEHOLE, the clue seems to be talking about swallowing problems, hence the throat, not the mouth, right? Or maybe the word means both?
A really nice Quiptic. I thought 20a was great with the terrible iced tea which it was too late to change. And CAKEHOLE brought a huge smile when the penny dropped for the anagram.
Pierre @12: please don’t change the style of your blogging which I always enjoy. I don’t think copland smith intended any offence but was just comparing French and English irregularities. Many thanks to you and Matilda.
I agree that this was a very enjoyable puzzle. It hit the Quiptic spot perfectly, in my opinion.
[Incidentally, in US English, “cakehole” is occasionally seen, but “piehole” is far more common. I suspect, with no evidence, that this is related to the fact that pies are a common dessert in the US, whereas in the UK they’re more often savo[u]ry. The word seems much more derisive if the thing being stuffed into the hole is a sweet.]
Pierre @ 12
I agree with Lord Jim @ 17
Don’t change
I agree with others on GETABLE, although not only do the dictionaries show it, but list it first which usually means the preferred spelling…
Pierre, I enjoyed your little lesson on NÉ. [In the 70s, some couples would pick a new shared last name when they got married.]
Missed CAKEHOLE — if I’d studied it a bit longer I might have spotted the anagram indication.
Enjoyable quiptic, so thanks, Matilda. As others have said, just the right level.
Funnily, I hadn’t been getting too many until I saw SPELLING MISTAKE (just like that!), so it gave me a wealth of crossers. All went well form then on, so I loved it. Thanks, Matilda and Pierre (especially for the French lesson).
Excellent quiptic. Good fun and about the right level. “Spelling mistake” made me smile – lovely clue.
Thanks both.
Took a while, but got there in the end. I agree that SPELLING MISTAKE is one you’ll get or you won’t, but I thought it was fair.
Re ‘ne’ (I don’t know how to get the acute on my keyboard), I remember singing this at choir a million years ago. Apologies for the lack of link but I don’t have the wherewithal to do that, either!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Il_est_n%C3%A9,_le_divin_Enfant
I am a beginner, having started attempting the Quiptic after an article in the Guardian some months back. This was my quickest finish (taking only a day and a half) and I enjoyed doing it. There were a few that I couldn’t see how the clue worked until reading this blog, but I did get them all anyway.
To think I was about to give up after last week’s – I only got about half that one done by Sunday!
Great stuff vireya@25!
This was quite tough for a so-called Quiptic.
Liked SPELLING MISTAKE, CHARDONNAY, NINEPIN.
New: 15d getable – I usually see it as GETTABLE.
Thanks, both.
I’m hit & miss when it comes to completing the Monday puzzles, but this one I completed today. 5D was a great clue, absolutely fair and laugh-out-loud funny.
And as for cakehole – very much used here in England’s sunny North-West.
Started a month ago by reading the Guardian’s Cryptic Crosswords for Beginners series. Since then I’ve tried maybe 30 of the quiptic back catalogue and this is the first one I’ve ever completed! Albeit with the odd “check”.
This quiptic was pitched at a much more useful level. Would appreciate any suggestions of other similarly pitched past quiptics?
Tattyoggy @29 – have you tried this one by Pasquale (1154)?
My comment at the time was: “I thought this was ideal for introducing a beginner to cryptic crosswords.” Interested to know if you agree.
More generally, I would say look out for puzzles by Matilda and Carpathian, and Pasquale when he appears in the quiptic slot (might be a bit soon to try his regular cryptics!)
Also worth mentioning – the Monday cryptic is often easier than the quiptic – you might like to try a Vulcan, for example.
Difficulty level can be very subjective, of course – others here may have different views.
Oh, and welcome to the site, and happy solving!
Great crossword, thanks Matilda, and excellent blog, thank you Pierre and PLEASE don’t make changes to the way you approach blogging! You are much appreciated
From the moment I read “some other kind soul who’s more experienced in the dark arts.” I was laughing, so please do not change your style Pierre.
I truly think, like Lord Jim, that copland+smith meant no offence.
Anyway, yes, I am not as experienced as you are but I do agree that Matilda is a setter whose quiptics I look forward to doing until I become more advanced – hence meaning that she provided me with a great grid to work on.
I didn’t get all the answers so I do have some questions here – just to help me learn better.
1) 24 across, I didn’t get this because I was taking the primary letters of ALL, BRAVE and ACTORS – how did you know that it was just to take the primary letters of just ALL and BRAVE?
2) 23 across – even though I actually solved this easily I still couldn’t understand – maybe because I’m not English – but SHED is a noun here right? Because LEAN TO doesn’t read to me as a noun.
3) 5 down – in my mind I actually said that it’s not spelt correctly but still didn’t think that SPELLING MISTAKE was the bloody answer – go figures, I guess I have to learn some more on cryptic definitions but now that I see that this is the answer, I think it’s the best clue in the grid.
4) 21 down – How did you know that “15” was in reference to 15 down? I was doing roman numerals for this one and just couldn’t see how “XVI” was going to work?
Also I still don’t understand this because doesn’t “INDUCEMENT” mean like a motive, an incentive or a cause? How come “CARROT” is the answer?
Thank you soo much again for this blog! I really appreciate it, your writingstyle and look forward to the answers to my questions.
P.S. Oh yes, anyone that can speak more than 2 languages impresses me too! (Wink) (Smile).
Quite easy and good fun. I “unwrapped” the first three words in 10a, resulting in NOMAL, and couldn’t account for the R. I was looking for NEE in 3d, and understand from reading here why it can be NE — a bit of a challenge.