Guardian Quiptic 1211 Chandler

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

Across

1. The last to get a shift shows furtive manner (7)

STEALTH : Anagram of(… to get a shift) THE LAST.

5. Idiot has to stop detaining fine all-female group (7)

HALFWIT : HALT(to stop moving or doing) containing(detaining) [ F(abbrev. for “fine”) + WI(abbrev. for the Women’s Institute, an all-female group/community organisation) ].

9. Pulse starts to trouble husband resting on bed (5)

THROB : 1st letters, respectively, of(starts to) “trouble husband resting on bed“.

10. Stock fare prepared for working party (4,5)

TASK FORCE : Anagram of(… prepared) STOCK FARE.

11. Grey Geneva, maybe, lacking a leader? It’s a Swiss hallmark (10)

NEUTRALITY : NEUTRAL(of a pale grey colour, as in “walls of a neutral shade”) + “city”(an example of which/maybe is Geneva, Switzerland) minus its 1st letter(lacking a leader).

Defn: …, one of not taking sides in a conflict.

12. Stadium lacking in new locality (4)

AREA : “arena”(a stadium/a place where contests are held) minus(lacking in) “n”(a.”new”).

14. Stop at an early stage trouble behind input (3,2,3,3)

NIP IN THE BUD : Anagram of(trouble) BEHIND INPUT.

18. Suggestion to conceal display device (5,6)

TOUCH SCREEN : TOUCH(a suggestion/a hint of as in “a touch of meanness in his actions”) + SCREEN(to conceal/to hide something behind something else).

21. Liberal Scottish musician provides attraction (4)

LURE : L(abbrev. for a member of the Liberal Party) + URE(Midge, a phonetic reversal of Jim, Scottish musician).

22. Knowledgeable solicitor, say, on a roll finally with a great score in golf (5,5)

LEGAL EAGLE : LEG(in cricket, the on side/that half of the field facing away from the batsman’s feet when standing to receive the ball) plus(on) A + last letter of(… finally) “roll” plus(with) EAGLE(in golf, a score at a hole that is 2 strokes below par, considered a great/impressive achievement).

Defn: What you might call/say, a smart/knowledgeable solicitor.

25. Ban dire criminal entering international court (9)

INTERDICT : Anagram of(… criminal) DIRE contained in(entering) [ INT(abbrev. for “international”) + CT(abbrev. for “court”) ].

26. This writer’s mature portrayal (5)

IMAGE : I’M(“I am/this writer is”, with the writer using the self-referential pronoun) + AGE(to mature/get older).

27. Bread in store for later needs? (4,3)

NEST EGG : Cryptic defn: “bread” as a slang for money.

28. Conservator has short form essentially about introduction to antiquities (7)

CURATOR : [ CURT(short/terse in speech) + middle 2 letters of(… essentially) “form” ] containing(about) 1st letter of(introduction to) “antiquities“.

Down

1. Revolutionary is leading element close to workers’ protests (3-3)

SIT-INS : Reversal of(Revolutionary) IS placed above(leading, in a down clue) TIN(a chemical element) + last letter of(close to) “workers’“.

2. Fighter breaking a rule badly gets long reprimand (6)

EARFUL : F(abbrev. for “fighter”, as used in the designations of fighter planes) contained in(breaking) anagram of(… badly) A RULE.

A good clue surface.

3. Scientific site over year favoured this when shorn of international networks (10)

LABYRINTHS : LAB(short for “laboratory”, a scientific site) placed above(over, in a down clue) YR(abbrev. for “year”) + IN(favoured/popular, as in “the in thing”) + “this” minus(when shorn of) “i”(abbrev. for “international”).

4. Sweltering Celt taking off jacket in tourist accommodation (5)

HOTEL : HOT(sweltering/uncomfortably humid) + “Celt” minus its 1st and last letters(taking off jacket).

5. Ambassador with attitude about India is dithering (9)

HESITANCE : HE(abbrev. for “His/Her Excellency”, term of address for an ambassador) plus(with) STANCE(an attitude/a position taken, literally or figuratively) containing(about) I(abbrev. for “India”).

6. See paper in elevated room (4)

LOFT : LO(see, as in “lo and behold”) + FT(abbrev. for the daily newspaper, the Financial Times).

7. Drive shown by old boy in Hertfordshire town producing theatrical costumes (8)

WARDROBE : [ DR(abbrev. for “Drive”, as in home addresses) plus(shown by) OB(abbrev. for “old boy”, formerly from a school or university) ] contained in(in) WARE(a town in Hertfordshire, England).

8. Old comic afterwards trimmed and in fine fettle (3,5)

THE DANDY : “then”(afterwards/later in time) minus its last letter(trimmed) plus(and) DANDY(in fine fettle/perfect).

13. Suspect cleaner hid hanging feature? (10)

CHANDELIER : Anagram of(Suspect) CLEANER HID.

15. Activity of those out to deter others? (9)

PICKETING : Cryptic defn: Reference to workers on strike/out detering others who are not on strike from working.

16. Obstruct one riding horse (8)

STALLION : STALL(to obstruct/to stop progress being made) + I(Roman numeral for “one”) + ON(riding/travelling in, as in “on the bus”).

17. Problem in turn with tiros cooking Mexican food (8)

BURRITOS : Reversal of(… in turn) RUB(a problem/a hitch) plus(with) anagram of(… cooking) TIROS.

19. Appalled by Henry, when getting into a sports car (6)

AGHAST : [ H(symbol for the henry, a unit of electrical inductance) + AS(when/at the time that something happens, as in “as you enter …”) ] contained in(getting into) [A + GT(abbrev. for “gran turismo”, a high-performance sports car) ].

20. Decorative covering never altered around front of exhibits (6)

VENEER : Anagram of(… altered) NEVER containing(around) 1st letter of(front of) “exhibits“.

23. Prank by one opposing Conservative (5)

ANTIC : ANTI(one opposing/an opponent of a particular policy, activity or idea) + C(abbrev. for a member of the Conservative Party).

24. Some superior feed for pond fish (4)

ORFE : Hidden in(Some) “superior feed“.

28 comments on “Guardian Quiptic 1211 Chandler”

  1. Thanks Chandler and scchua
    Mostly fitted the brief, though Midge Ure is pretty obscure for a Quiptic (Vienna was a great track, though!).
    I went to a WI meeting once, to hear a nurseryman – a friend of mine – give a talk on alpines. I was made welcome!

  2. Enjoyed this – Chandler is a very reliable setter of Quiptics, just challenging enough to be interesting and all very neat.

    Thanks for the blog, scchua, especially the explanation of Midge, which I didn’t know – always assumed it was one of those Scottish names like Ming (Menzies).

  3. Couldn’t parse LEGAL, hung up on EG for “say” and thus unable to account for the initial L. Obviously, I’m not a cricketeer…

  4. All complete, but I failed to parse ‘lure’ and ‘legal eagle’. I found this trickier than the cryptic.

  5. My knowledge of things British was not adequate to enable me to complete this — Women’s Institute, Ware, The Dandy and Orfe (which I still don’t understand after coming here). I didn’t think the clue for PICKETING was cryptic.

  6. GdU
    ORFE is a species of fish often kept in ponds. A lot of “goldfish” are Golden Orfe. Orfe is an alternative name for that most well-known crossword fish, the ide.

  8. GDU – Midge Ure is a Scottish musician who was a member of Visage, later front man of Ultravox. Also involved in Thin Lizzy at one time, I think, and had a solo career too. Also one of the main people behind Live Aid.

  10. Almost but not quite Quiptic fare in this solver’s opinion – ORFE is new to me, and I wasn’t aware of F=fighter until now although it makes total sense once pointed out.

    Liked HALFWIT, LURE, NEST EGG, STALLION. Only partly parsed LABYRINTHS and WARDROBE.

    Cheers both.

  11. GDU, Widdersbel : Jim Ure’s Christian name was turned backwards to Mij to avoid a clash with Jim McGinlay, bassist, when they were both in the Scottish group Salvation. Later came a refinement to.Midge.

    Liked LEGAL EAGLE and also found myself thinking about Maria Eagle MP ( constituency near where I grew up ) – who really was once ( a nicely punned ) LEGAL EAGLE.

    …. and cricket and debate about knowing terms versus spurning the subject is at large once again ….

  12. Failed to parse LEGAL EAGLE, and F for fighter is new to me. Sorry to see that the current dismal fashion for grey as the default NEUTRAL colour has spread to crosswords – I preferred magnolia.

  13. This was quite tough for a Quiptic. I was almost temoted to give up on the SW corner.

    Failed 8d – never heard of this 1930s comic.

    I could not parse:
    7d apart from OB
    19d apart from H in A GAST

    15d and 27ac did not seem to be very cryptic to me.

    New for me – F = fighter (in 2d).

    Thanks, both.

  14. [michelle @13
    The Dandy comic was still published up to about 2010. When I was young and could spend my own pocket money I used to get the Dandy, or the Beano (which I preferred); when my parents bought me a comic, it was always the more uplifting Eagle!]

  15. Never heard of the town WARE or the comic THE DANDY.

    I don’t understand LURE. L = liberal, Google tells me that there is a musician called Jim Ure whose stage name is Midge/MIJ. What does the MIJ part have to do with the clue?

    Once again I missed ON = LEG. When will I ever learn?

    Thanks, Chandler and scchua.

  18. Got there in the end, but I can see how it would be tough for our overseas friends. WARE I’d heard of but didn’t know where (ware?) it was, and I was thinking ‘Ike Turner wasn’t Scottish, was he?!) before L-IKE became L-URE.

    I didn’t realise the Dandy wasn’t still going, as I had grown up with it (although I always thought the BEANO, from last week’s Everyman, was cooler).

    ORFE was new to me but couldn’t be anything else and I never knew Midge Ure was Jim! I always thought it was one of those weird Scottish nicknames, like Shug for Hugh or Doddie for George.

    Also technically the WI isn’t (or wasn’t) an all-female group … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54uNKBOB9PU

  19. Valentine @15 — Despite what you say, I do think you understand LURE. It’s just L (“Liberal”) + URE (“Scottish musician”). The facts that his first name is Midge and that that came from a phonetic reversal of Jim are not relevant to the clue.

    Like Geoff Down Under @5 and michelle @13, I can’t see how 15dn (PICKETING) is cryptic. It’s probably inevitable with cds that in some cases the solver will immediately see the “real” cryptic meaning without being fooled by the surface. But in this case, I can’t even see what deceptive garden path Chandler was trying to lead me up.

  20. Others have been more subtle with their comments but I also thought this was definitely too hard for a Quiptic. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good puzzle. I enjoyed it just as much as the significantly easier Monday cryptic.

    Thank you C&S

  23. So sad. One clue off from a first complete solve unaided. I’ll get you next time gadget ….
    Loved this (maybe just because I was on the right wavelength as opposed to other weeks where I’m well wide)

    Thanks both

  24. Not getting to the Quiptic until Wednesday means that no one will read this comment. But it’s been that kind of week. Another who had never heard of Midge Ure, who got distracted by EG meaning “say” in LEGAL EAGLE, and who thought PICKETING was not cryptic in any way. Also had never heard of The Dandy. One day I’ll remember permanently that “on” = “leg,” but that day was not today.

    sschua, not to criticize, but those burritos look very……British. [There’s a lot of debate about how there came to be a food called a little donkey (which is what “burrito” translates as), and there doesn’t seem to be a clear answer.]

  25. Don’t know if Bodycheetah is being literal but if cryptic, it’s a fine joke that I very much enjoyed!

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