Guardian Quiptic 1239 Carpathian

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

Across

1. Soldier has location for drone? (8)

PARASITE : PARA(short for “paratrooper”/soldier who parachutes into the combat zone) plus(has) SITE(a location/place at which a, say, building is situated).

Defn: …/one who does no useful work and lives off others – even worse than the drone in a bee colony that does no work, but can fertilize a queen.

5. Passive join in petition (6)

SUPINE : PIN(to join/attach with, well, a pin) contained in(in) SUE(to petition/appeal formally to a person for something).

Defn: …/failing to act as a result of laziness.

9. Rant and roar about storyteller (8)

NARRATOR : Anagram of(… about) [RANT plus(and) ROAR].

10. Crease the French found on rear (6)

RUMPLE : LE(French for “the”) placed after(found on) RUMP(the rear/a person’s buttocks).

12. Seductive spirit modelled with Lycra regularly (5)

SATYR : SAT(modelled/posed for, say, a painting) plus(with) 2nd and 4th letters of(… regularly) “Lycra“.

Defn: … in Greek mythology.

13. Dance position for writer (9)

BALLPOINT : BALL(a dance/a social function involving dancing) + POINT(a position/a particular spot on, say, a map).

Defn: A particular type of pen/writing instrument.

14. Consequence of engineers getting instruments (12)

REPERCUSSION : RE(abbrev. for the Royal Engineers in the British Army) plus(getting) PERCUSSION(collectively, musical instruments played by striking with the hand or stick, or by shaking).

18. I adore joiner travelling to state capital (3,2,7)

RIO DE JANEIRO : Anagram of(… travelling) I ADORE JOINER.

Defn: …, ie. the state with the same name in Brazil.

21. Male to deal with what’s found on top (9)

HEADDRESS : HE(third person pronoun for a male) + ADDRESS(to deal with/to tackle an issue or problem).

Defn: … of one’s head.

… ala fruit basket.

23. Look across river and ruminate (5)

GRAZE : GAZE(to look steadily and intently) containing(across) R(abbrev. for “river”).

Defn: …/to eat grass.

24. Check person tying knot around end of sail (6)

BRIDLE : BRIDE(the female person who is tying the knot/getting married) containing(around) last letter of(end of) “sail“.

Defn: …./to restrain.

25. Amuse detective inspectors with booklet (8)

DISTRACT : DI(abbrev. for “detective inspector”)S plus(with) TRACT(a booklet/writing in pamphlet form, often on a religious subject).

26. Can King and Queen potter? (6)

TINKER : TIN(a can/container made of tinplate or aluminium) + K(abbrev. for “king” in chess notation) plus(and) ER(abbrev. for “Elizabeth Regina”, Queen Elizabeth).

Defn: …/occupy oneself casually and enjoyably.

27. Break toy with returning issue (8)

PLAYTIME : PLAY(to toy/to behave carelessly/frivolously with someone or something) plus(with) reversal of(returning) EMIT(to issue/to give out).

Defn: …/period in the school day when children are allowed outside class to play.

Down

1. Discipline press covering Northern Ireland (6)

PUNISH : PUSH(to press/to force someone to do something) containing(covering) NI(abbrev. for Northern Ireland).

2. Curiosity of artist right before thing with unknown (6)

RARITY : RA(abbrev. for a member of the Royal Academy of Arts, an artist) + R(abbrev. for “right”) plus(before) IT(pronoun referring to a thing previously mentioned) plus(with) Y(symbol for an unknown quantity in mathematics).

Defn: …/an unusual or interesting thing that is hard to find.

3. See zebra drunk on drug cocktail (3,6)

SEA BREEZE : Anagram of(… drunk) SEE ZEBRA placed above(on, in a down clue) E(abbrev. for the drug, Ecstasy).

Defn: … of vodka, cranberry juice and grapefruit juice.

4. Russian mint possibly, after time, finds agitator (12)

TROUBLEMAKER : [ROUBLE MAKER](how you might/could possibly describe the Russian mint/the place where they mint the Russian currency) placed below(after, in a down clue) T(abbrev. for “time”).

6. Heads of ultra socialist union revoke parliament to take over (5)

USURP : 1st letters, respectively, of(Heads of) “ultra socialist union revoke parliament“.

7. Absolute little devil sanctioned (8)

IMPLICIT : IMP(a little devil/a mischievous small child) + LICIT(sanctioned/officially permitted).

Defn: …/without any reservation or question.

8. Balanced on ring taking part in equestrian competition (8)

EVENTING : EVEN(balanced/having equal effect or importance) placed above(on, in a down clue) TING(a sharp and clear ringing sound)

11. Renovated college’s pink instrument (12)

GLOCKENSPIEL : Anagram of(Renovated) COLLEGE’S PINK.

15. Nimble Tory left embraced by agent (9)

SPRIGHTLY : [ RIGHT(the side of the political spectrum that a Tory/a Conservative Party member is on) + L(abbrev. for “left”) ] contained in(embraced by) SPY(a secret agent).

16. I rip both apart in bar (8)

PROHIBIT : Anagram of(… apart) I RIP BOTH.

Defn: …/to ban.

17. Situation where big cat eats round another feline (8)

LOCATION : LION(a big member of the cats family) containing(eats) [ O(a round/circular letter) + CAT(another member of the cats family/felines, specifically, the domestic cat) ].

19. Expedition partially explores a far island (6)

SAFARI : Hidden in(partially) “explores a far island“.

Defn: … to observe or hunt wild animals in their natural habitat.

20. Disrupted recent focus (6)

CENTRE : Anagram of(Disrupted) RECENT.

22. Dig love regularly entering river (5)

DELVE : 1st and 3rd letters of(… regularly) “love” contained in(entering) DEE(the river in the UK).

20 comments on “Guardian Quiptic 1239 Carpathian”

  3. I was just thinking the other day how long it’s been since we’ve had a British river — and the Dee pops up today. One of the easier ones to remember, and I seem to recall we have one or two such rivers here too.

    I couldn’t work out why “sue” is “petition”. Everything else was tickety-boo, with no gnarly obscurities, and the experience was a thumbs-up.

    Thanks Carpathian & scchua.

  4. GDU@3
    Yesterday (I think it was yesterday) elsewhere AIRE appeared.
    I find that there is a river by this name in Australia as well (or you say ‘in the UK as well’).

  6. GLOCKENSPIEL my favourite anagram today. Feel chuffed that I didn’t use any aids. What a surface: Renovated college’s pink instrument. Made me laugh. TROUBLEMAKER also chuckleworthy, and SPRIGHTLY. I liked BRIDLE for the one tying the knot.

  7. GDU@3 – “petition” as a verb e.g. “SUE/petition for peace”.

    Nice straightforward puzzle, as it should be.

    Thanks C & s.

  10. When I was first learning how to do Cryptic crosswords I was always pleased to see Carpathian. I’m still learning and still pleased to see her.

  11. What AlanC said. Lovely stuff. Thanks, Carpathian and scchua.

    beaulieu @7 – “sue for peace” is the example that came to my mind too. I don’t think I’ve ever heard it used with this meaning in any other formulation. The OED gives some nice examples from the past though, eg: “Her eyes suing for forgiveness.” (1915)

  12. Quite tough but enjoyable. NW corner was hardest for me, almost gave up on 5ac and 8d.

    Liked TROUBLEMAKER, PROHIBIT, HEADDRESS.

    Thanks, both.

  13. Am I the only one who was convinced that the CREASE in 10 across was BUCKLE rather than RUMPLE. (BUCK as a verb, as in “the horse bucked/reared”)? Until the crossers made 7 down impossible, that is.

  14. Like most British rivers, the Dee comes from a Goddess name in the old British language (Brythonic, the forerunner to Welsh). She was Dwy. The river is Dyfrdwy – Dwy’s water. And British was also spoken in Scotland, pre invasions of Gaels, Danes and Angles. Not strictly relevant, but I hope interesting.

  15. Pretty straightforward, although I did like TROUBLEMAKER and IMPLICIT

    @14 copland – that’s true for the Welsh river flowing through Chester, but what about the Scottish one in Aberdeen? Curious to know.

  17. Enjoyable and straightforward but three of the definitions are a little shaky, I feel.
    RUMINATE is surely the digestion that follows the GRAZE;
    Although ‘IMPLICIT trust’ and ‘ABSOLUTE trust’ are used synonymously, I’m not convinced that the two adjectives are synonyms in their own right;
    Similarly with DISTRACT and AMUSE.
    I think TROUBLEMAKER is brilliant.
    Thanks both.

  19. Blaise @13 – yes, me! Took me a while to spot the mistake…

    MikeB @17 – if they pass a reasonable substitution test, they’re close enough synonyms for a crossword! Set the standard much higher than that and the number of ‘true’ synonyms reduces to the point where crosswords would be much simpler (and much less interesting). And in your examples: Chambers has one of the definitions of IMPLICIT as ABSOLUTE, and one of the definitions of DISTRACT as AMUSE 🙂

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