A straightforward enough Quiptic this morning from Bartland for our Bank Holiday entertainment.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
5 Moves slowly and carefully and steals all but the first
INCHES
[P]INCHES
6 Masses of water wrecked canoes
OCEANS
(CANOES)* with ‘wrecked’ as the anagrind.
9 To be manipulated in conversation is necessary
NEEDED
Aural wordplay (‘in conversation’) for KNEADED.
10 Becoming aware of frost having melted?
NOTICING
The setter is suggested that if frost is melting, it is NOT ICING.
11 This jumper could really make you itch!
FLEA
A cd.
12 Irrigate grounds to keep dry?
WATERPROOF
A charade of WATER and PROOF.
13 It could be a local number
ANAESTHETIC
A cd. You need to read ‘number’ in its ‘numbing’ or ‘deadening’ sense.
18 Slipped broken coils into outmoded frame
DISLOCATED
An insertion of (COILS)* in DATED. The insertion indicator is ‘into’ and the anagrind is ‘broken’.
21 Can you start to get tiddly?
TINY
A charade of TIN and Y for the first letter of ‘you’.
22 Image of Christ in church house concealed by extremely eccentric doctor
ECCE HOMO
An insertion of CE for ‘church’ and HO for ‘house’ in EC for the outside letters of ‘eccentric’ and MO for Medical Officer or ‘doctor’. The image of the scourged Christ presented to the people ready for crucifixion by Pontius Pilate. Usually translated into English as ‘Behold the Man’.
Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man! (John, 19:5, KJV)
The scene has been widely depicted in Christian art. Here is Caravaggio’s take on it.
23 Several dehydrate in the open, perhaps
SUNDRY
If you wanted to dehydrate tomatoes, say, you might SUN DRY them. So it’s a dd.
24 Appeared to be joined in speech
SEEMED
Aural wordplay (‘in speech’) for SEAMED.
25 In this place, spout your primarily unorthodox opinions
HERESY
A charade of HERE and SY for the initial letters of ‘spout’ and ‘your’.
Down
1 Pollution detected in a Channel Islands sewer
ACID RAIN
A charade of A, CI and DRAIN.
2 Content to name a downland field
MEADOW
Hidden in naME A DOWnland.
3 Burns, say, not charged and without penalty
SCOT FREE
A charade of SCOT, certainly a description of [Robert] BURNS and FREE. The origin has nothing to do with Scots folk, though: SCOT is a variation of an Old Norse word meaning ‘tax’, so the original meaning was ‘tax-free’, although it’s now more widely used to mean without penalty or punishment.
4 Curse a broken piece of crockery
SAUCER
(CURSE A)* with ‘broken’ as the anagrind.
5 Values of current offers
IDEALS
A charade of I for the abbreviation in physics for ‘current’ and DEALS.
7 I snore badly, getting older
SENIOR
(I SNORE)* with ‘badly’ as the anagrind.
8 Founding it on units it assembled
INSTITUTION
(IT ON UNITS IT)* with ‘assembled’ as the anagrind.
14 Shut up, dear, interrupting final…
ENCLOSED
An insertion of CLOSE in END. The insertion indicator is ‘interrupting’. ‘My dear/close friend has just got married.’
15 Designed to be fashionable and well maintained
INTENDED
A charade of IN and TENDED.
16 Roundabout entertainment
CIRCUS
A cd.
17 Strength is concealed by keener gymnasts
ENERGY
Hidden in keENER GYmnasts.
19 Myth associated with the German songs
LIEDER
A charade of LIE and DER for one of the many words for ‘the’ in German. The fact that LIEDER is a German word for ‘songs’ is by the by as far as the surface is concerned.
20 Eliminate certain features of Hindi spelling
DISPEL
Another hidden answer: this time in HinDI SPELling.
Many thanks to Bartland for this week’s Quiptic.
Thanks Pierre. I thought that German was doing double duty in LIEDER.
Nice Quiptic and pleased to see my moniker clued at 11a !
19d reminded me of the lyric of a Tom Lehrer song about forgotten politician Hubert Humphrey where he penned the pun
” As someone once remarked to Schubert
‘Take us to your leader.’ ”
Liked the ‘CLOSE in END’ construction
Thank you Bartland and Pierre.
You could certainly interpret it that way as well, paddymelon @1.
Nice Quiptic, and I think my fastest solve ever, probably because some of the answers were familiar from previous solving – ECCE HOMO I wouldn’t have got as fast this time last year, but it’s come up reasonably recently. Last one in was ACID RAIN, because it needed all the crossers.
Thank you to Bartland and Pierre.
Funny how the cookies crumble Shanne@4. I got ACID RAIN very early, without crossers, but ECCE HOMO late, needing the crossers.
Almost as quick as the cryptic this morning. Liked ANAESTHETIC, ACID RAIN and ECCE HOMO.
Ta Bartland & Pierre, especially for the beautiful painting.
Very rarely I don’t have a “Huh?” list down the side, but all the parsings were straightforward and unconvoluted, and produced a good number of smiles. ECCO HOMO was the only one I’d not heard of.
Thanks Bartland & Pierre.
I, too liked ACID RAIN and ECCE HOMO (even more with the picture). A very pleasant Quiptic.
Lovely gentle start to the week.
Liked the same ones as Petert @ 8 and AlanC @6
Thanks Bartland and Pierre
Very nice Quiptic puzzle.
Thanks, both.
Nice and straightforward, as a Quiptic should be. Thanks both.
I demur at the equivalence of lie and myth
Philip Endean@12: I walked on De mur this morning, lost in the mytht, i could not see the Lie of the land.
Apologies all round.
OK – I am struggling (no laughing please).
if this is supposed to be the easiest of the week I am in trouble.
I do not want to look at the answers/explanations yet, but could someone give me a few wee hints please as to how to tackle some of the clues please?
So far I have solved:
6a
10a
3d
4d
7d
8d
17d
20d.
That is all!
3d – where does “not charged” fit into the clue?
‘Not charged’, Steffen, is what is clueing FREE.
Steffen, are you still paying attention? You’ve pretty much solved the anagrams and hidden clues, but you’ve missed 2D, another hidden clue, plus 18a which is an anagram inside another word. Then much of what is left is double meanings ir charades – little bits building up. To a whole.
Good luck.
@17 – the answers all make sense when I read the explanations, but I find it so, so difficult.
Steffen —
Don’t give up! It gets easier.
I did this puzzle immediately after another one blogged recently on this site. There’s one clue in this that’s virtually identical to a clue in the other. I won’t say which puzzle or which clue, in case others are going to do that other one in the future. Just a coincidence, no doubt.
Anyway, this was a good, enjoyable Quiptic. CDs often leave me cold, but FLEA made me chuckle.
I can’t quite see how to make “values” equivalent to IDEALS, but they’re certainly close, and there’s probably some sense I’m not thinking of in which they line up. Anyway, that’s a minor quibble.
Ted @20 — value = ideal in the sense of moral, principle, ethic — does that help?
This was well clued enough that I nearly got ECCE HOMO just from the clueing despite never having heard of it and it not even being English!
Also have to thank Cracking the Cryptic for clueing me into the fact that “a” in a clue is almost always part of the answer!
Thanks Pierre and Bartland. I thought 16d was a dd rather than cd, one definition being as in Piccadilly Circus or Oxford Circus.
That’s a good call, verbose.
Many thanks to Pierre for the thoughtful analysis, as always, and to all of the solvers who have given their feedback. All very useful for me as I develop my setting skills. Glad you enjoyed the puzzle!
(Not Oxford or Piccadilly Circus any more, neither are roundabouts, now, although the circular nature of the junctions originally gave them their names.)
Thanks Bartland, Pierre and commenters. A lovely Quiptic. I’m slightly disappointed that no-one’s mentioned the most famous ECCE HOMO of recent years, the disastrous restoration in the Spanish village of Borja. I seem to recall that it caused a news/internet flurry a while back.
I was going to make reference to the Spanish restoration gone wrong, vogel421, but decided that the Caravaggio version had been around longer and was more elegantly crafted. You’re right, though: it did get a lot of news coverage. For those who missed it first time round, here‘s the result. It’s now a tourist attraction, apparently.
Thanks Pierre! What an extraordinary story, not least the tourism bit and the revival in the place’s fortunes.
Fairly straightforward, but I did like ECCE HOMO.
Rob T @21 — I guess that’s pretty close: “She’s a person with strong values” / “strong ideals”? Doesn’t seem quite right, but I think I’m just being overly picky.
Can somebody please explain how shut up == enclosed? Enjoyable puzzle, particularly liked anaesthetic!
MS@34:
“He hates being enclosed/shut up in a cubicle all day.”