Carpathian is a regular and reliable Quiptic setter – here she is again.
This one seems a good fit for the brief of “a puzzle for beginners or those in a hurry”, with nothing too obscure and mostly straightforward constructions. Lots of good surface images: the ornately-dressed bride, the crossword setter’s favourite revolutionary interrogating a roomful of civil servants, the co-workers quietly ignoring input from their obsessive colleague, and the prisoner’s writing exercise. It’s also a pangram, for those who like spotting them. Thanks Carpathian as always.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | PLUCKY |
Brave page’s favoured (6)
|
| P (abbreviation for page) + LUCKY (favoured). | ||
| 4 | ARCHIVE |
Files a recipe with herb (7)
|
| A + R (abbreviation for Latin recipe = take, in old-fashioned prescriptions) + CHIVE (a herb). | ||
| 9 | EMBROIDER |
Decorate bride more elaborately (9)
|
| Anagram (elaborately) of BRIDE MORE. | ||
| 10 | MAFIA |
Criminal group missing in action having abducted American fellow (5)
|
| MIA (military abbreviation for Missing In Action), containing (having abducted) A (abbreviation for American) + F (abbreviation for fellow). | ||
| 11 | AVAIL |
Use of a revolving toilet with one in (5)
|
| A, then LAV (abbreviation for lavatory = toilet) reversed (revolving), with I (one in Roman numerals) inserted.
As in “of no avail” = “of no use”. |
||
| 12 | LOST CAUSE |
Doctor outclassed, lacking depth in hopeless endeavour (4,5)
|
| Anagram (doctor, as a verb = fix) of OUTCLASSE[d] without the D (abbeviation for depth). | ||
| 13 | DECIDED |
Determined detectives in action (7)
|
| CID (Criminal Investigation Department = detectives) inserted into DEED (action). | ||
| 15 | SECOND |
Flash assistant (6)
|
| Double definition. As in “in a flash” = “in a second” = very quickly; or an assistant to a competitor in a duel, boxing match, chess match etc. | ||
| 17 | INGEST |
Absorb popular joke, we hear (6)
|
| IN (popular) + homophone (we hear) of JEST (joke). | ||
| 19 | PROWESS |
Art of journalists suppressing noise of pain (7)
|
| PRESS (journalists) containing (suppressing) OW (a sound expressing pain).
Art = skill = prowess. |
||
| 22 | EXCHEQUER |
Old revolutionary to question almost all the Treasury (9)
|
| EX (prefix indicating “no longer” = old) + CHE (Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara) + almost all of QUER[y] (to question). | ||
| 24 | KEBAB |
Dish king and infant returned (5)
|
| K (abbreviation for king, in chess or playing cards), then BABE (infant) reversed (returned).
Dish = prepared food. |
||
| 26 | PRIZE |
Loudly force open the loot (5)
|
| Homophone (loudly = spoken out loud) of PRISE (force open). | ||
| 27 | FULMINATE |
Unfit male’s horrible rage (9)
|
| Anagram (horrible) of UNFIT MALE.
Fulminate = complain angrily = rage. |
||
| 28 | ENTITLE |
Authorise payment it legally covers in part (7)
|
| Hidden answer (. . . covers in part) of [paym]ENT IT LE[gally]. | ||
| 29 | DECENT |
Passable genealogy missing son (6)
|
| DE[s]CENT (genealogy) without the S (abbreviation for son).
Passable = decent = satisfactory. |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | PIEBALD |
Patchy dish unadorned (7)
|
| PIE (dish = prepared food) + BALD (as in the bald truth = unadorned).
Piebald = in patches of black and white, especially describing a horse’s coat. |
||
| 2 | UMBRA |
Dancing rumba in shadows (5)
|
| Anagram (dancing) of RUMBA. | ||
| 3 | KNOWLEDGE |
Information from nerd put back on shelf (9)
|
| WONK (nerd = someone who knows a lot about a specific subject) reversed (put back), then LEDGE (shelf). | ||
| 4 | ARRESTS |
Stops creeps regularly entering crafts (7)
|
| Alternate letters (regularly) from [c]R[e]E[p]S inserted into ARTS (crafts). | ||
| 5 | COMIC |
Funny firm with male in charge (5)
|
| CO (abbreviation for company or corporation = firm) + M (abbreviation for male) + IC (abbreviation for in charge). | ||
| 6 | INFLUENCE |
Control in chimney originally needed on top of church (9)
|
| IN + FLUE (chimney) + first letter (originally) of N[eeded], before (above, in a down clue = on top of) CE (abbreviation for Church of England). | ||
| 7 | ENAMEL |
English star left coat (6)
|
| E (abbreviation for English) + NAME (famous person = star) + L (abbreviation for left).
A hard glossy coat on a metal surface. |
||
| 8 | ADDLED |
It’s rotten when a religious scholar went in front (6)
|
| A + DD (abbreviation for Doctor of Divinity = religious scholar) + LED (went in front).
As in an addled egg = rotten. |
||
| 14 | CONSCRIPT |
Draft piece of writing by prisoner (9)
|
| SCRIPT (piece of writing) next to CON (short for convict = prisoner).
Conscript, as a verb = draft = compel someone to join the armed forces. |
||
| 16 | CLOCKWISE |
Take note of reasonable direction (9)
|
| CLOCK (as a verb = slang for observe = take note of) + WISE (reasonable). | ||
| 18 | TRUFFLE |
Fungus in wrinkle beneath chestnut’s base (7)
|
| RUFFLE (wrinkle) after (beneath, in a down clue) the last letter (base, reading downwards) of [chestnu]T. | ||
| 19 | PAROLE |
Old man having part in conditional release (6)
|
| PA (old man = slang for father) + ROLE (part in a play). | ||
| 20 | SUBJECT |
Dependent theme (7)
|
| Double definition. A subordinate; or the topic for a talk, essay etc. | ||
| 21 | PEOPLE |
Individuals go around old place (6)
|
| PEE (go = urinate) around O (old) + PL (abbreviation for place, especially in street names on maps). | ||
| 23 | ERECT |
Without ceremony, rejected providing raise (5)
|
| Hidden answer (. . . providing), reversed (rejected), in [withou]T CERE[mony]. | ||
| 25 | BLAME |
Chide bachelor getting weak (5)
|
| B (abbreviation for bachelor) + LAME (as in a lame excuse = weak). |
Thanks Quirister. I rarely think about looking for a pangram but I don’t think it would have helped. The rare letters as in PRIZE, or SUBJECT and KNOWLEDGE weren’t really needed for the solve.
Like your blog for KEBAB (dish) as prepared food as I don’t think of KEBAB as a dish.
PIEBALD and KNOWLEDGE favs for the wordplay.
And CLOCKWISE.
Haven’t heard of clock/take note of. Couldn’t parse EXCHEQUER. A pleasant puzzle with no speed bumps. Thanks Carpathian & Quirister.
Thanks Carpathian and Quirister
Carpathian is one of my favourite setters, and this was a good example.
Pedantically, I would make a distinction between absorb and ingest; the former occurs after the latter.
Enjoyable Quiptic, quite good for beginners.
Favourites: PEOPLE, PROWESS, PIEBALD.
Thanks, both.
I’m not a beginner and I found it quite hard, but looking back I don’t know why. Maybe my brain wasn’t working. I completely missed the hidden answers somehow.
Thanks both.
I thought this was hard for a Quiptic, but some good clues and a satisfying solve overall. Thanks to both.
Yes good pair of lurkers at ERECT and ENTITLE. My last two in. Took longer than they should’ve.
Perfect Q.
Ta Carpathian & Quirister.
Good Quiptic; I forgot to check for a pangram.
I liked ENTITLE, being well-hidden, ENAMEL for the surface, and CONSCRIPT for the definition.
Thanks Carpathian and Quirister.
Good quiptic – thanks both!
Very much what Quirister says in her preamble.
We were looking for a pangram and thought we might be disappointed but then CLOCKWISE and PROWESS, our last two in, saved the day.
We likes EMBROIDER, FULMINATE and CONSCRIPT.
Thanks, Carpathian and Quirister.
A very good Quiptic. I found it slightly toward the harder end of the Quiptic range, but all perfectly fair.
I do have the tiniest of quibbles with the defintion of 2dn (UBMRA). The answer is a singular noun, so it should be defined as “shadow” rather than “shadows”.
Yet again Carpathian has come up with a quiptic as it should be.. Many thanks.
Took me a lot longer than the Monday Cryptic, but battled through and glad I did. EXCHEQUER and INFLUENCE my favourites.
Too hard for a quiptic in my view. I’m not a total beginner, and I’m already trying some cryptics. I found it more of a cryptic than a quiptic, but a good one.
Enjoyed it, though it took me forever. Thanks Carpathian, Quirister and commenters.
Enjoyed doing this again today but was unable to parse 23d this time!