Guardian Quiptic 1207 Kite

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

Across

1. Journo to broadcast on cultism (9)

COLUMNIST : Anagram of(to broadcast) ON CULTISM.

Defn: …/journalist.

6. Celebrity of revolutionary traitors (4)

STAR : Reversal of(revolutionary) RATS(traitors/betrayers).

10. Salvo exploded into rounded shapes (5)

OVALS : Anagram of(… exploded) SALVO.

11. Former partner pinches trains (9)

EXPRESSES : EX(one’s former partner/ex-wife or ex-lover) + PRESSSES(pinches/puts pressure on, as in “my new shoes are pinching on my feet”).

Defn: … moving at express speeds and making few intermediate stops.

12. Play area has smooth hollow (7)

SANDPIT : SAND(to smooth with, say, sandpaper) + PIT(a hollow/a hole dug out in the ground).

13. Person enjoying liberty heartlessly imprisoning one who rescues cats? (7)

FIREMAN : “freeman”(person enjoying liberty/one who is not a slave or in bondage) minus its middle letter(heartlessly) containing(imprisoning) I(Roman numeral for “one”).

Defn: Answer to the question: “…?”

14. Something that produces red pickle (13)

EMBARRASSMENT : Cryptic defn: A pickle/a difficult situation one finds oneself in, causing one’s complexion to go red.

17. Temporary miss, perhaps (6,7)

SUPPLY TEACHER : Cryptic defn: A relief/temporary teacher, whom pupils might/perhaps address as “Miss”.

21. Old changes to organs (7)

OVARIES : O(abbrev. for “old”) + VARIES(changes/alterations).

22. A god of love originally: one can produce a cloud (7)

AEROSOL : A + EROS(the Greek god of love) + 1st letters, respectively, of(… originally) “of love“.

Defn: …/a fine spray of, say, deodorant.

24. Lost shirt fabricated (from which a final selection can be made) (9)

SHORTLIST : Anagram of(… fabricated) LOST SHIRT.

25. Surprise opening of games was irritating (5)

STUNG : STUN(to surprise/to shock) + 1st letter of(opening of) “games“.

26. Shot guide (4)

LEAD : Double defn: 1st: Informal term for a bullet/a shot, so-called from the metal that some of them are made of.

27. Wise woman collecting hot drink, ignoring the first contraction (9)

SHRINKAGE : SAGE(a wise woman, or man) containing(collecting) [ H(abbrev. for “hot”) + “drink” minus its 1st letter(ignoring the first) ].

Down

1. At first Charles loiters around a courtyard (8)

CLOISTER : 1st letter of(At first) “Charles” + anagram of(… around) LOITERS.

2. Discover tragic king has end in prison (5)

LEARN : LEAR(King, in Shakespeare’s tragedy) plus(has) last letter of(end in) “prison“.

3. Rob‘s pronouncement of a woman who’s suitable? (14)

MISAPPROPRIATE : Homophone of(pronouncement of) “Miss”(an unmarried woman) APPROPRIATE(suitable/fitting), in the style of the title given to a beauty contest winner.

4. I retain strange apathy (7)

INERTIA : Anagram of(… strange) I RETAIN.

Defn: Tendency to remain unchanged or unmoved resulting from a lack of interest/….

5. Rich people assume current power; that’s confidential information! (3-4)

TIP-OFFS : TOFFS(unkind term for rich people) containing(assume) [ I(symbol for “electric current”, in physics) + P(symbol for “power”, in physics) ].

7. Evaluate light for game (4,5)

TEST MATCH : TEST(to evaluate/assess) + MATCH(a light/a device that produces a flame, as in “have you got a light?”).

Defn: … of cricket or rugby between teams representing two different countries.

8. Feel bitter, then dispatched again (6)

RESENT : Double defn: 2nd: Sent again.

9. Lead guitarist to go rehearsing or dancing … (6,8)

GEORGE HARRISON : Anagram of(… dancing) GO REHEARSING OR.

Defn: … of the pop group, the Beatles.

15. … this perhaps, showing head’s a 6 (5,4)

BOSSA NOVA : BOSS(head/chief) plus(…’s /has) A + NOVA(a star/answer to 6 across, that, for a while, becomes brighter and then fades back)

Defn: Continuing from the previous clue, “dancing this, perhaps”, ie. an example of a dance, from Brazil, in this case.

Channeling Austin Powers:

16. Introduction for endless eulogy, appalling (8)

PROLOGUE : PRO(for/in favour of) + anagram of(…, appalling) “eulogy” minus its last letters(endless …).

Defn: …/introductory section in a literary, dramatic or musical work.

18. Fool blocking inventions made for girls (7)

LASSIES : ASS(a fool/an idiot) contained in(blocking) LIES(inventions/fabrications).

19. Judas‘s men kept under property (7)

TRAITOR : OR(abbrev. for “other ranks”, as opposed to commissioned officers/men in the military) placed below(kept under, in a down clue) TRAIT(a property/a characteristic).

20. Diplomat to seek advice shortly (6)

CONSUL : “consult”(to seek advice from an expert/consultant) minus its last letter(shortly).

23. Bath‘s South African accompanies one in Spain (5)

SAUNA : SA(abbrev. for “South African”) plus(accompanies) UNA(the article “one” applied to feminine nouns in the language of Spain).

Defn:  Steam ….

22 comments on “Guardian Quiptic 1207 Kite”

  2. Thanks Kite and scchua
    An irritating start with the first word, when “journalist” would have been fine. Fine after that. I found the top much easier than the bottom.

    Is anyonr else getting a sponsorship ad on the Guardian site that refuses to close?

  3. Thanks, Kite & scchua. As Petert says, just right for a Quiptic – though I spent far too long puzzling over 14a for no good reason.

  4. Very quiptic, that. Just the right level of difficulty and required no outside assistance. I parsed EMBARRASSMENT as more of a double definition (albeit a little same-sidey), with ‘pickle’ being the second.

    Liked GEORGE HARRISON, MISAPPROPRIATE and OVARIES.

    Thanks both.

  5. I found this more challenging than the cryptic today.

    New for me: SUPPLY TEACHER.

    Liked: RESENT, FIREMAN, STUNG (loi).

    Thanks, both.

  6. Easy peasy. I’ve found Kite’s difficult in the past but they were probably full-blooded cryptics. We don’t use “supply teacher” much, more likely “casual” or “relief”.

  8. scchua, your “ex” can also be your ex-husband. And I love your cat picture!

    SANDPIT isn’t very cryptic, with “pit” having the same meaning in wordplay and answer.

    SHORT LIST and CLOISTERS are barely anagrams.

    I don’t pronounce “appropriate” the same way when it means “fit” as when it means “steal.” And while we’re at it, “steal” (or appropriate) doesn’t mean “rob,” although they refer to the same act. If you rob a bank you don’t steal it.

    We don’t say “supply teacher” in the US either, gdu, we say “substitute teacher”. But I’ve learned the expression from these puzzles.

  9. Valentine, I’ve said it before: legally speaking, robbery is theft accomplished by force or threat. Robbery is necessarily theft, but the reverse is not true. To me, the problem here is that “misappropriate” implies (again, at least to me) precisely the non-robbery types of theft, accomplished by stealth or dishonesty rather than force.

  10. muffin@2 – I got this a week or so ago … I think the problem is with the site … using an adblocker stops it.

  11. mrpenney @9, re robbery/theft, maybe so, but we’re talking verbs here. The object of rob as a verb is the owner of property. The object of steal/appropriate is the property itself. They cannot be used interchangeably.
    I suppose the ‘to’ in 1ac can be put with ‘broadcast’, but what’s the excuse for the ‘to’ in 9d?

  12. Thanks scchua for a super pictorial blog, and to posters for the kind comments. I did mean EMBARRASSMENT to be a dd as Rob T @4 said. It’s difficult to pitch a Quiptic at the right level, so some of the wordplay may seem too simple for more experienced solvers. Interesting discussion about rob/steal. If you misappropriate funds you would steal them but maybe rob needs a bit more poetic licence. The ‘to’ in 9D is just a linker, without which the surface would make no sense.

  14. Valentine @ 8, I’m often uncomfortable with dodgy homophones, but I’m OK with MISAPPROPRIATE as I took the homophone to apply only to the first syllable.

  15. I echo Crispy’s comment at 13: sometimes commenters here can get a little bogged down trying to figure out what a setter was aiming for – so it’s really helpful when the Setter appears and puts us all straight!
    Fun puzzle, fun blog – thanks!

  16. I interpreted “blocking” as meaning that fool (ass) should go outside the word — as in it is blocking whatever it is containing from going anywhere.

    I see that blocking can also mean that is should go inside the word (as in blocking a pipe). Is blocking always used in this way, or is it also sometimes used in the way I first assumed?

    Thanks — I enjoyed bossa nova, misapporpriate, and supply teacher.

  17. Thanks for the really nice quiptic, blog, and comments. My favorite is 13a, and I love the pictures. But isn’t Bossa Nova a music genre rather than a dance?

  18. Aicul @17, that was my thought too, and wiki appears to agree with us.
    “Bossa nova music, soft and with sophisticated vocal rhythms and improvisations, is well suited for listening but failed to become dance music despite heavy promotion as yet another dance craze of the 1960s.”

    However, dictionaries say it’s a dance, so it would be unfair to blame the setter.

    hh @16 – I’m sure I’ve seen ‘blocking’ used in both the ways you describe. It’s a bit like ‘leaving’: A leaving B can mean B without A, or occasionally A without B.

    Thanks for the fun, Kite & scchua.

  20. Enjoyed. Thanks Kite and scchua.

    Maybe just me, but I was a little irked by 26A “Shot guide (4)” since the pronunciation of LEAD is different for each meaning.

  21. A little trouble with the bottom, but got there in the end. To my shame I didn’t parse TIPOFFS, although it couldn’t be anything else … my C in A Level Physics didn’t help me remember I for current!

  22. WhiteDevil @ 21: I’m sorry to read about your little trouble with the bottom. Have you tried suppositories?

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