Quiptic 1,197 by Bartland

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I believe we have a new Quiptic setter today; I haven’t come across Bartland before.

If this is indeed a debut puzzle, it’s a promising one. Slightly rough around the edges in places: I wasn’t convinced by the ambiguous homophone at 15a, the anagram indicator (or lack of it) at 26a, or the not-really-double definition at 23d (the last of these being one of my pet grumbles). But there’s plenty to enjoy; the two long anagrams are clever, and I liked the assorted animals in 2d, 16d and 20d – with an honourable mention for the “old bird” in 11a too. Thanks and welcome, Bartland.

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

ACROSS
1 THRUST
Force most of the decay (6)
TH[e] (most of = all but the last letter) + RUST (decay).
4 GROOVE
Cut wood conceals nothing (6)
GROVE (wood = cluster of trees), containing (concealing) O (zero = nothng).
9 RADIO TELESCOPES
Receivers cunningly copied store sale (5,10)
Anagram (cunningly) of COPIED STORE SALE.

Radio receivers used by astronomers.
10 THROWN
Chucked the auditor’s chair (6)
Homophone (the auditor’s) of THRONE (chair).
11 EXTERNAL
Old bird meets an inexperienced driver outside (8)
EX (prefix meaning old) + TERN (seabird) + A L (an inexperienced driver, as in L-plate).
12 TRICYCLE
Transport lead-free electricity without it getting diverted (8)
Anagram (getting diverted) of [e[LECTRIC[it]Y without the leading letter (lead-free) and without IT.

Transport as a noun, in the sense of “a means of transport”.
14 EJECTS
Shows the door to vacant juvenile taken in by eccentric sect (6)
J[uvenil]E (vacant = inner letters removed), contained in (taken in by) an anagram (eccentric) of SECT.
15 LESSEN
Period of instruction is said to be moderate (6)
Homophone (said) of LESSON (period of instruction).

Moderate, as a verb = reduce = lessen. Unlike 6a, where it’s clear which part of the clue the homophone indicator applies to, this one could be interpreted as either LESSON or LESSEN; that’s not so much of a problem if the crossing letters resolve the conflict, but here they don’t.
18 PLEASURE
Penny amusement for the audience’s gratification (8)
P (abbreviation for penny) + homophone (for the audience) of LEISURE (amusement).
21 CHAIRMAN
Someone taking charge of Switzerland alongside high-flyer (8)
CH (country code for Switzerland) + AIRMAN (high-flyer).
22 TERROR
Fear brat’s latest mistake (6)
Last letter (latest) of [bra]T + ERROR (mistake).
24 EDWARD THE EIGHTH
King briefly affected there with eg ADHD (6,3,6)
Anagram (affected) of THERE WITH EG ADHD.

Edward VIII, who abdicated less than a year after becoming King (and before his coronation).
25 AGENCY
Power of a military leader on Cyprus (6)
A + GEN (abbreviation for general = military leader) + CY (country code for Cyprus).
26 NECTAR
Sugary liquid comprising nitrogen and trace elements (6)
N (chemical symbol for nitrogen) with the letters (elements) of TRACE. I don’t think either “comprising” or “elements” really works as an anagram indicator, but I have to assume that’s what the setter intended.
DOWN
1 TEACHER
Master the care problem (7)
Anagram (problem) of THE CARE.

As in schoolmaster.
2 RHINO
Animal starts to rub himself in nut oil (5)
First letters (starts) of R[ub] H[imself] I[n] N[ut] O[il].
3 SATANIC
Served up aspic in a tasting sample — that’s nasty! (7)
Hidden answer (sample), reversed (served up = upwards in a down clue), in [aspi]C IN A TAS[ting].
5 ROSETTE
Lifted title regularly to gain mark of honour (7)
ROSE (lifted) + alternate letters (regularly) of T[i]T[l]E.

A decoration awarded for winning a competition.
6 ODOURLESS
Lacking fragrance, love? Manufacture or use LSD (9)
O (zero = love in tennis scoring) + anagram (manufacture) of OR USE LSD.
7 ELEGANT
Refined gelatine mixture without a pig’s guts (7)
Anagram (mixture) of GELAT[i]NE without the inner letter (guts) of [p]I[g].
8 FLEECE
Rob and Jason’s desire? (6)
Double definition. Slang for “to steal from someone”; or as in the story of Jason and the Argonauts in Greek mythology, who went on a quest for the Golden Fleece.
13 CASTIGATE
Actors I prevent from leaving reprimand (9)
CAST (actors in a play) + I + GATE (as a verb = confine as a punishment = prevent from leaving).
16 ECHIDNA
Chained wild animal eating ants (7)
Anagram (wild) of CHAINED.

Also known as the spiny anteater.
17 NOMADIC
Travelling comedian strangely lacking in energy (7)
Anagram (strangely) of COM[e]DIAN without the E (scientific symbol for energy).
18 PONCHO
Essential to slip on choir cloak (6)
Hidden answer (essential to = contained within) in [sli]P ON CHO[ir].
19 EXTREME
It helps to make sex tremendously intense (7)
Hidden answer (it helps to make . . .) in [s]EX TREME[ndously].
20 ROOSTER
Nothing in schedule for early morning caller (7)
O (zero = nothing) in ROSTER (schedule).

An adult male chicken, known for crowing loudly in the early morning.
23 RIGHT
Just perfect! (5)
Double definition. Morally fair; or correct. But I think these are really different aspects of the same meaning, rather than two separate meanings.

33 comments on “Quiptic 1,197 by Bartland”

  1. Good fun – welcome to Bartland, whoever you may be.

    I don’t think 15a would work if the answer was LESSON; ‘to be’ indicates that the final word is the definition.

  2. Agree, Jim @1; if “period of instruction” was the def, you’d have to leave the “be” out for the rest to work.

  3. Yes, welcome Bartland and thx, nice puzzle. Liked Edward 8 being hyperactive, and a bit of intense sex never goes amiss! And thx Q for blogging.

  4. I agree with the blogger that the clue for 15a is ambiguous, and the inclusion of the words ‘to be’ make it ungrammatical. Otherwise, some very good clues.

  5. I put in LESSON and hit the check button because I wasn’t sure on that one either. You can argue it this way round as a period of instruction being the definition, that sounds like a word meaning to minimise (LESSEN). However I read the NECTAR clue as an anagram mixing N and the elements (parts) of trace as comprising read to me as an instruction to put them together.

    Otherwise a friendly Quiptic with hopefully a new setter.

    Thank you to Quirister and Bartland.

  6. Think I’m again on setter’s side re nectar; “trace elements”, i.e. “the elements of [the word] trace” says, to me anyway, ‘In no particular order’.

  7. Thanks to Bartland for a well-pitched Quiptic. I also found LESSEN ambiguous, but I did enjoy the RHINO rubbing himself in nut oil, the two big anagrams, the old bird and the early morning caller, and the complicated TRICYCLE. I have no quibble with parsing NECTAR: it comprises Nitrogen plus the elements (letters) of TRACE.

  8. Very enjoyable Quiptic. Welcome to Bartland!

    Liked PLEASURE, NOMADIC, THRUST (loi)

    New for me: radio telescopes.

    Thanks, both.

    NOTE: Bartland introduced himself on the Guardian blog, writing:
    Hi there, good to meet you all and thanks for your kind words. Elsewhere, I am Hasslethymi https://www.alvsmith.com/100-cryptic-xwords.html

    Why the change to Bartland? No idea! A change is as good as a rest…

  9. I happily entered LESSON, sure that it was the right way around. “Is said to be…”, I thought, means “when it is said, it would be…” a word meaning ‘moderate’. There is lots to like here, mostly already identified, especially the brief king. Thanks Bartland and Quirister.

  10. Very nice Quiptic, I thought – hope we see this setter more often.

    I did think 15A was the wrong way round though. ‘Is said to be…’ surely indicates the homophone, not the definition. Spot on other than that.

  11. EDWARD THE EIGHTH was my favourite too. [Brief periods in power are very topical] I thought elements was fine for an anagram of trace, plumped for LESSON but I can see now why LESSEN is better. It’s good to have a slightly different style, but still meeting the Quiptic brief.

  12. I’m not sure that ROSE is equivalent to LIFTED in 5d – wouldn’t it be RAISED?? (i.e. transitive rather than intransitive). I’m another one who got 15a the wrong way round, but apart from those 2 quibbles, enjoyed it.
    Thanks, B&Q 😉

  13. GrannyJ @12: I thought that too at first, but “lift” can be intransitive – fog (or a bad mood) can lift to leave everything looking much better.

  16. Not bad. A bit rough around the edges, I’d say. I stumbled with THROWN/throne, which made SATANIC my LOI.

  17. Nice to do a Quiptic in Quiptic time. Nice one Bartland!

    Lots to enjoy. The rhino rolling in nut oil reminded me of a trip to uganda, where there was both but never together 🙂

    No quibbles from me. If you do a Venn diagram of the 19 meanings of “perfect” and 27 meanings of “right”, you’ll probably find a sentence where they can be used interchangeably 😉

    Thanks Michelle@8 for the background to the setter.

  18. Thanks, all, for the lovely and useful feedback. I’m pleased that my Guardian debut has gone down well and look forward to entertaining you with further grids in due course.

    All the best

    Bartland (Hasslethymi)

  19. I thought that Bartland might be Steve Bartlett (Artexlen/FT, exTernal/Indy)…name similarity plus EXTERNAL in 11 plus a possible partial Nina (EXLEN) in the 9th column of the grid. But apparently not…Bartland himself posted on the Guardian site, as noted above.

  22. Welcome Bartland. An enjoyable little romp of a crossword at the right level.
    Thanks for the blog Quirister.

  24. Pleased to meet you, Bartland. I enjoyed this, and think that most of the criticism above is nothing too serious. I too had LESSON for 15a, but can see it’s more likely LESSEN. My favourites were FLEECE & EXTREME, the latter eliciting a chuckle.

  25. As a fairly novice solver, this quiptic was perfect – enough challenge to be satisfying, and clearly enough clued to be completed without any use of the “reveal” button. Thanks, Bartland.

  27. I agree that this was an excellent debut Quiptic. Thanks to Bartland.

    What do others think of “an inexperienced driver” being used to indicate “a L” in 11ac? I’m thinking specifically of where the “n” in “an” gets to in the cryptic reading. If “L” were pronounced with an initial consonant sound, it’d be fine, but is seems to me that an inexperienced driver is “an L” rather than “a L”. Is there some better interpretation that I’m missing?

    If this is a problem, it’s a pretty small one, and easily fixable: just change “an inexperienced” to “a novice” or the like.

  28. Clearly not on the setter’s wavelength- I’d put this as the toughest quiptic I’ve seen in the last 20-30 grids. Normally fairly confident of completing a grid or requiring 1-2 hints. Couldn’t get more than 5 for sone reason. Ho hum, another day and other challenge

  29. C&S @15 I’m not sure any assumptions are being made? These are just synonyms that are in the dictionary. If you think they shouldn’t be then maybe take it up with Chambers?

    I thought NECTAR was rather good but maybe a bit much for a Quiptic

    Cheers B&Q

  30. Only just came back to it; was feeling rather stuck on Monday, but swept through the remainder quite happily with fresh eyes. As a fairly inexperienced solver I’d say this was a very good quiptic, a nice range of clues and reasonably chewy but not much in the way of obtuse crossword-isms. I’d be very happy to see more Bartland!

  31. Thanks Quirister, saw this late and only realised I had 15a the wrong way when I came here but at least I’m not alone.

    Ted@27 that occurred to me too, and maybe this will work for you: if you separate the “an” and the “inexperienced driver” you can just equate “a” with “an” (both are singular indefinite articles even if we’d never replace one with another in a sentence, though you could make a case that some people say eg “an hotel” and others “a hotel”). This leaves us needing to equate “L” with “inexperienced driver” which i think is ok, you would never say “he’s an L” in the direct replacement sense, but the L plate on a car is clearly indicating an “Inexperienced driver”.

    I thought it was really good overall and TRICYCLE superb, thanks and congratulations Bartland.

  32. I might be a bit late commenting as I always do the Quiptic on the following Saturday. Thought I might say that enjoyed it very much, as Bartland is a new setter and reading these comments. It was challenging but accessible. I got LESSON for 15 a, as the period of instruction sounds like moderate, I thought.

  33. I’m even later, sorry, but great Quiptic and blog, thanks both, and of course everyone else for the brilliant comments!

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