Not too tricky, with neat cluing and surfaces. Favourites 25ac, 1dn, and 18dn. Thanks to Carpathian for the puzzle.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | RATHER |
That woman follows traitor in preference (6)
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HER="That woman" following RAT="traitor" |
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| 4 | RESCUE |
Regularly orders prompt salvage (6)
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regular letters from [o]-R-[d]-E-[r]-S + CUE="prompt" |
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| 9 | SLAP |
Revolting friend’s make-up (4)
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PAL'S="friend's" reversed/revolting |
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| 10 | VOUCHSAFED |
Head with focus changing after Victor condescended to accept (10)
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anagram/"changing" of (Head focus)*; after V (Victor, NATO alphabet) |
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| 11 | STUDIO |
Hot man I love is a little flat (6)
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definition as in a studio apartment/flat STUD="Hot man" + I (from surface) + O=zero="love" |
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| 12 | COCKATOO |
Taco cook prepared bird (8)
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anagram/"prepared" of (Taco cook)* |
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| 13 | ADVERSITY |
Misfortune of model featuring in commercial so (9)
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SIT=(e.g. to sit/pose for an artist)="model"; inside AD=advert="commercial" + VERY="so" |
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| 15 | JAPE |
Jack to copy joke (4)
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J (Jack, in playing cards) + APE="copy" |
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| 16 | LAIR |
Oddly missing sleazier den (4)
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odd letters missing from [s]-L-[e]-A-[z]-I-[e]-R |
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| 17 | IMPRECISE |
Claim: précis extract in part is inaccurate (9)
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"part" of / hidden in: [Cla]-im precis e-[xtract] |
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| 21 | BY GEORGE |
Exclamation of surprise in relation to Prince (2,6)
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BY="in relation to" + Prince GEORGE [wiki] |
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| 22 | CRADLE |
Support source (6)
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double definition: to support / to cradle; and e.g. 'cradle/source of civilisation' |
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| 24 | CONTINGENT |
Study metal man group (10)
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CON=to "Study" + TIN="metal" + GENT="man" |
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| 25 | EXIT |
Leave film around eleven (4)
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ET the Extra-Terrestrial="film"; around XI="eleven" in Roman numerals |
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| 26 | FLESHY |
Plump pixie returning throw (6)
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ELF="pixie" reversed/"returning"; plus SHY="throw" |
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| 27 | BAZAAR |
Graduate going to South Africa with revolutionary artist to find market (6)
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BA (Bachelor of Arts, "Graduate") + ZA (Zuid Afrika, South Africa) + RA (Royal Academician, artist) reversed/"revolutionary" |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | RELATED |
Told socialist about deceased (7)
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definition: RELATED as in 'gave an account' RED="socialist" around LATE="deceased" |
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| 2 | TEPID |
Half-hearted tantrum flipping papers (5)
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PET="tantrum" reversed/"flipping"; plus ID (identification "papers") |
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| 3 | ENVIOUS |
Green promises after beginnings of exciting new vows (7)
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IOUS (I-owe-yous, "promises"), after beginning letters of E-xciting N-ew V-ows |
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| 5 | ETHICS |
Itches to change moral values (6)
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anagram/"to change" of (Itches)* |
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| 6 | CHARABANC |
Coach and cleaner going to a bar by college (9)
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definition: a type of carriage/coach with benches CHAR="cleaner" + A (from surface) + BAN=prohibit="bar" + C (college) |
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| 7 | EYESORE |
Carbuncle or stye? (7)
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"Carbuncle" is British slang for an unsightly building (an EYESORE), and a stye is a SORE on the EYE |
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| 8 | QUICK-TEMPERED |
Clever office worker Ed initially embarrassed is easily riled (5-8)
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QUICK="Clever" + TEMP="office worker" + initial of E-[d] + RED="embarassed" |
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| 14 | EPICENTRE |
Heart as impressive, incomplete dish (9)
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EPIC="impressive" + ENTRÉ-[e]="incomplete dish" |
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| 16 | LAYS OFF |
Temporarily suspends covers over middle of scaffold (4,3)
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LAYS="covers" + O (over, cricket abbreviation) + middle letters of [sca]-FF-[old] to lay = to put a cover on something e.g. 'lay a table', 'lay the floor with carpet' |
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| 18 | RICOTTA |
Revolting whiff surrounds firm, dry cheese (7)
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AIR="whiff" (a puff of air) reversed/"Revolting"; around CO (company, "firm") and TT (teetotal, "dry") |
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| 19 | SOLDIER |
Man promoted by one former queen (7)
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SOLD=marketed="promoted" + I="one" + ER (Elizabeth Regina, "former queen") |
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| 20 | WRENCH |
Bird by church provides tool (6)
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WREN="Bird" + CH (church) |
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| 23 | ARENA |
Article by Time turned up in sports venue (5)
|
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AN=indefinite "Article" + ERA+"Time"; all reversed/"turned up" |
The easiest Quiptic I’ve ever completed but a nice pangram.
Ta Carpathian & manehi
It’s supposed to be cryptic! But it was fun, if over too quickly. Thanks Carpathian and manehi
That won’t do much to stave off cognitive decline! But I thought some were good, including FLESHY and RICOTTA. Thanks to C & m.
Straightforward. But soldier = man in another age I think!
Probably on the easy side, but most enjoyable. I spent too much time struggling with obscure words in today’s FT puzzle, so it was a nice relief to come here. Thanks Carpathian & manehi.
I don’t know if I’m getting better or if that really was very easy – hope it’s the former! Lovely to see CHARABANC, having almost forgotten its existence. As a child I thought it sounded strange and exotic but now realise it’s just French for a carriage with benches
Thanks Carpathian and manehi
Carpathian is my favourite Quiptic setter, and this was another good one.
I toyed with TIMID at 2d, but didn’t enter it. I also attempted to parse 19d by doing something with ISOLDE.
BUT – heart = EPICENTRE? Absolutely not!
I didn’t know that CARBUNCLE had entered the language as a term for an “architectural monstrosity or eyesore” (Chambers), though I do remember the then Prince Charles’s “monstrous carbuncle” speech.
A nice brisk puzzle (and a pangram).
Rather straight forward but I’m not complaining. I can’t remember the last time I did a cryptic and I knew every word. So thanks to Carpathian and manehi for the Blog.
muffin@7: in geological terms, EPICENTRE has a specific meaning, and I would be right with you if the definition was ‘focus’. But epicenter (as I would spell it) had come to mean something less strict (e.g. “Paris was the epicenter of existentialism”), where ‘heart’ is a perfectly valid synonym.
As others have said, this was an excellent Quiptic. Thanks, Carpathian and manehi.
Is there a reason that film so often translates to ET beyond it just being such a short film title? Am I looking for depth where there is none?
TassieTim
I agree that the usage of “absolute centre” has become widespread, and I’m livid every time I see it. Do these people not know what the prefix “epi-” means? Epicentre is used by pretentious fools for whom the more correct “centre” isn’t sufficiently polysyllabic.
(I even saw “epicentre” misused in this week’s New Scientist!)
Richard@11: you are looking for depth where there is none (indeed the whole point is that there is brevity). In Crosswordland having 2 letters is very attractive (think the id, that otherwise unfamiliar fish, and the Po, a not especially well-known river).
Thanks manehi.
Good point Redrodney@4 about SOLDIER/man. I found some of the wordplay also of a similar vintage, tired old abbreviations from royalty, cricket, church.
And then the other regulars, ID for papers, BA for graduate, RA for artist, IOUS for promises, AD for commercial, O for love. At least XI wasn’t cricket.
Add to that CON for study, ET for film, RED for socialist, SHY for throw. As for the surfaces ….
I’m not fazed by pangrams, so for me there wasn’t a lot else going on.
Frankly, I don’t think this was up to the Guardian’s standards.
I should stop now and agree with the much cheerier and more concise comment by drofle@3. .RICOTTA my pick.
Very brisk, felt like a Quiptic to me. But enjoyable once I’d moved down a gear – spotted the pangram although didn’t need it.
Thanks both.
PS to me@14. It’s not about difficulty or day of the week. I just got the feeling that not much effort went into this one. Maybe the pangram took over. But it is a good as an example of the kinds of regular things to look out for and provides a happy sense of recognition and achievement.
I agree with SinCam at 2: fun, and over far too quickly. Once BAZAAR & EXIT appeared, I had a sneaking suspicion this would be a pangram – which made JAPE & QUICK TEMPERED no-brainers!
I’m very fond of Carpathian’s work. I enjoy her surfaces and gentle humour. I didn’t even mind dear old ET raising his wrinkled head: to complain about his presence would be as little use as pointing out that a so-called “Spoonerism” isn’t a phrase anyone would ever use in real life.
Although when I saw EPICENTRE I did think to myself, “oh dear, that’ll get folks harrumphing” – and could almost feel the ground rumble beneath me.
Still, it makes a change from carping about whether something is a homophone or not….
Thanks to manehi for the blog – and Carpathian for the entertainment.
I agree with muffin@7. Unfortunately, however, I have almost stopped wincing at misuses such as parameter, cusp, enormity and shibboleth – I guess I must add epicentre to this list now.
Thanks C and m
Well constructed puzzle, full of chestnuts as paddymelon @4 lists (well, it is the season for them), which means it would have been better in the Quiptic slot.
Some nice words: CHARABANC and VOUCHSAFE. CRADLE was my LOI, and the only entry that took more than a few moments’ thought.
I agree with the grumblings about EPICENTRE. Originally this was believed to be the area on the surface where damage was greatest – which would have leant some validity to the metaphorical usage – but this is not the case. In fact, this means that it is not a particularly useful concept in practical terms, unlike ‘hypocentre’. But I think we have to accept that the horse has bolted. A similar example of erroneous usage of a technical term which has become standard is ‘decimate’ – originally the Roman practice of teaching rebellious provinces a lesson by executing one man in ten, ie reducing BY one tenth, but now used to mean reducing TO one tenth, or virtually obliterating. Hey ho.
Thanks to S&B
DE @ 18 Don’t forget humanitarian, refute and hopefully…
This would have made a good Quiptic for exactly the reasons paddymelon@14 gives: an introduction to a lot of well-used crossword features that a beginner needs to be familiar with.
16d: I rarely find myself saying ‘the dictionary must be wrong!’ but I’ve never seen ‘lay off’ refer to the temporary loss of a job – and I was sentient in the 1980s, a golden age for the jobless. I just can’t imagine a conversation like: ‘Sorry to hear you’ve lost your job.’ ‘No, I’ve only been laid off – I expect to get my job back soon.’
CHARABANC made me think of Beachcomber’s parody of Walter Scott:
If thou wouldst view Melrose awrong
Go visit it by charabong
(from memory as I can’t find it online)
I’m going to “lay off” disagreeing with people for a while
Ticks for FLESHY & CRADLE
Agree this was pretty much the quintessential quiptic
Cheers S&B
Muffin I feared for your blood pressure when I saw EPICENTRE 🙂
[Simon S @20: The common complaint about the modern usage of ‘hopefully’ is not well founded. Plenty of other adverbs are used in this ‘absolute’ rather than ‘relative’ sense. ‘Thankfully the Nazis were defeated in 1945’ doesn’t mean that the Nazis were pleased about it!
Word order can make the sense more precise. ‘Hopefully, it is better to travel than to arrive’ is not the same as ‘It is better to travel hopefully than to arrive’. 🙂 ]
2D – How does PET = tantrum?
A gentle puzzle that didn’t take too long to finish. Thanks to Carpathian and manehi.
Thanks for your concern, bodycheetah @25!
To clarify, I recognise that word meanings evolve. What I detest is when words with different meanings become used interchqangeably. The classic example is irritate/aggravate.
Steve69, my mother used to refer to one of us “having a pet” if we were being sulky or awkward, a “pet lip” was a pout. Possibly derived from petulant?
Steve69 @27: from Chambers –
pet2 /pet/
noun
A slighted and offended feeling
A slight or childish fit of aggrieved or resentful sulkiness
The sulks, huff
[muffin @29: More depressing is the use of ‘disinterested’ to mean ‘uninterested’. I have a nasty feeling that many people now interpret the expression ‘in the public interest’ as meaning ‘the public are fascinated by it’]
Enjoyable pangram with Carpathian’s fairly precise cluing.
I liked the surfaces of STUDIO and CHARABANC, the wordplay of RICOTTA, and the misleading ‘half-hearted’ for TEPID. Hoping not to stoke more of Muffin’s fury but the ODE gives this example: ‘the central point of something, typically a difficult or unpleasant situation: the epicentre of labour militancy was the capital itself.’ As I’ve said before, one can’t really fault setters using the sense given in dictionaries.
Thanks Carpathian and manehi.
Complaining about “hopefully” puts you in a cohort with Jacob Rees-Mogg 🙂
With my pedant’s hat on can I also mention “regular” used when frequent or often is the intended meaning.In my understanding regular means at a fixed interval.Is that right or have I missed another phase of the evolution of language?
Thanks Gervase for the info on “decimate”.I was never sure about the one tenth or nine tenths.Also thanks to Carpathian for a gentle start to the day and manehi for his blog.
Several of today’s contributors seem to be hoping to fill Pedanticus’s spot.
Enjoyable crossword for me.
Found this an ultimately pleasing mixture of the straightforward and subtly deceptive. Thought I was in for an easy ride as I quickly inserted the first few clues in the NW corner, but then VOUCHSAFED and ENVIOUS took a while to unravel. Thought ETHICS spot on, and COCKATOO made me smile, not sure why. Wasn’t quite certain how ADVERSITY worked, however. Now, I wonder within what circles today you might hear BY GEORGE! uttered, or indeed “RATHER!” as a hearty endorsement…apart from in the film script for My Fair Lady, perhaps…
Gervase @26: the formal term is “sentence adverb”, an adverb that modifies the entire sentence, and yes, they are a perfectly cromulent part of the English language. And yes, it is odd that the only one the naysayers ever complain about is “hopefully”.
Complaining about them is one of those examples of self-appointed grammar police being less well-informed than the people they are critiquing, I’m afraid.
Enjoyable, Quiptic-level puzzle. I think this is the puzzle that the Editor could have put in the Quiptic slot on Monday this week and Bartland’s puzzle could have been today’s Cryptic.
Thanks, both.
I came to say that this would have made a good Quiptic, and see that others have already made the point eloquently. Not much else to add really. Had not seen ‘pet’ = ‘tantrum’ before. My favourite was RICOTTA for ‘revolting whiff’ which set me off in entirely the wrong direction. Enjoyed the discussion on ‘hopefully’ etc above. Thanks Carpathian and manehi.
poc@23:
If thou wouldst view Melrose aright
Go visit it by pale moonlight
If thou wouldst view Melrose awrong
Go visit it by charabong
No, I can’t find it either.
Same thoughts here, would have made a good Quiptic, and it was more or less a straight write-in. I did learn a new abbreviation for South Africa, though.
I agree with muffin about epicentre – every centre is now an epicentre, every change is a sea change, etc. And I think words like charabanc should have an indication of being from a past age.
This was pleasant; but as with others above I found it pretty straightforward. The one exception was EPICENTRE, which took me ages. Not sure why I couldn’t see it with all the crossers in place. I was interested to see the comments above on that one. With thanks to Carpathian and manehi.
Can’t blame Carpathian if the crossword editor doesn’t know what day it is.
I do blame him for EPICENTRE, though. It made me wince. “Epicentre” and “centre” are different words with distinct meanings.
“DNA” and “quantum leap” are two more carelessly or ignorantly used expressions.
I’ll go and lie down in a quiet, dark room until I feel better…
Thanks for the blog, I thought this was well set , SOLDIER my favourite because the sold is deceptively different.
I think the Guardian should have two puzzles like this every week , Monday plus one other day, very good to encourage newer solvers. It used to be like this.
My grumble is that we should get two hard puzzles a week and we never get any.
Too many medium puzzles, well set and interesting but still medium.
[ AlanC @ Number 1 yet again , closing the gap. It is now 62 v – 16 .]
Quite straightforward as lots of people have already said.
I’m bemused at the annoyance over EPICENTRE. Chambers appends its geological definition with “(also figurative)”. Thousands of words have acquired additional and often wholly figurative meanings over the centuries, even contradictory ones. Language is moulded by usage; dictionaries – and crossword setters – reflect this. And one of the joys of crossword solving is the fascinating flexibility of words 🙂
Thanks both.
Rob T @48
There is already a perfectly valid word for “centre” – it’s, um, “centre”. We don’t need to use another word that actually means something different.
It’s down to dictionaries’ obsession with “descriptive” usage again.
As a new [bad] solver I got quite far with this, and I don’t usually attempt a Wednesday puzzle (maybe I should start?)
New for me: CON for study, CRADLE for source, PET for tantrum & CHAR for cleaner. Never heard of CHARABANC before and have the same grumble about “soldier” as previously mentioned.
I see nothing wrong with metaphorical use of epicenter (the source of something earth-shaking). But the thing is that it’s become so lazy that the metaphor is dead–people use it for things that aren’t at all metaphorically or literally seismic. Unfortunately, that happens to most metaphors that are so good that everyone copies them; our language is littered with usages that went from metaphor to cliche to so commonplace thar no one even remembers they began as figures of speech.
I hadn’t heard of a CHARABANC, but the clue was utterly clear, so that presented no difficulty.
muffin @ 49 If dictionaries didn’t have “an obsession with descriptive usage” how would they be compiled?
mrpenney @51
I remain quite cross about this. Your first sentence highlights the error – the source of something earth-shaking is the focus (or “centre”). The epicentre is the point on the Earth’s surface directly above the focus so, by definition, isn’t the centre.
If a dictionary gives it as “figurative” it should really say, instead, “incorrect”.
Simon S @52
Prescriptively, of course, as used to be the case with the Académie Française!
muffin @53
But the epicentre is indeed the centre of the earthquake on the surface, which is all anyone who experiences it cares about. Imagine someone shakenly informing you that they were at the centre of an earthquake and angrily shouting at them that they were at the epicentre, not the centre! Of course it is perfectly reasonable for them to say that they were at the centre of the earthquake.
Chris @55
A couple of years ago I heard a report on an earthquake. The reporter said “the epicentre was..” and I though “a chance to get it right”, then he continued “2 kilometres below the surface”!
muffin @49 – but it’s such polysemy that makes crosswords so interesting! 🙂
Thanks both and it would be interesting to get Steffen’s reaction to this – I thought of him a few times. An ideal exercise for those wishing to learn epicentral 🙂 aspects of the arcane art of solving – as detailed by paddymelon@14. And it made me look up the meaning of VOUCHSAFED – a word I have seemingly been able to live without. I’m surprised no one could ever be bothered to use and explain it to me.
I realized that I’d seen the word VOUCHSAFED but had no idea what it meant. When I looked it up I found that it meant “to give in a gracious or condescending way,” but the definition here says it means “accept”. Huh?
I had trouble making LAY = “cover,” so thanks, manehi.
I enjoyed the puzzle, It wasn’t quite the write-in for me that it seems to have been for others. Thanks Carpathian and manehi.
Thanks both. I enjoyed the crossword, which I solved in (for me) record time. I enjoyed even more the multiple grumbles about misuse of language originating with “epicentre” but then spreading outwards appropriately. It’s good to know I’m not alone in my pedantry. Sometimes I literally explode with annoyance. Well, not really.
BillD@60: Sometimes I literally explode with annoyance. Well, not really. We can reconcile those two conflicting statetements: the actual explosion has probably occurred some distance beneath you 😉
Valentine @59. As the blog says the definition for VOUCHSAFED Is “condescended to accept”.
Can I also add “fulsome” to the growing list of misused words.
Robert @22 — At least in the US, “lay off” is distinguished from “fire” because the former refers to a job lost for reasons unrelated to the employee’s performance (e.g., due to an economic downturn). So in at least some circumstances, a laid-off worker might be rehired when conditions change. But it’s true that things often don’t play out that way.
Agree with Roz @46 about this puzzle and the wider difficulty issue. There are eight ordinary puzzles a week in the Guardian (including the Everyman) of which four are usually easy (Monday, Tuesday, Quiptic, Everyman). This is fine because we need more beginners to get the crossword bug, and that won’t happen if half the puzzles are too hard. Today was easy, but personally I thought Tuesday’s Philistine was tricky for that slot. The issue, as Roz says, is that it would be good to have something truly stretching at least once per week so intermediate solvers (e.g. me) can continue to learn and improve and so the geniuses get more satisfaction from their hobby.
No problems in this puzzle, all very neat and tidy, and SOLDIER is a good clue. Thanks Philistine.
Chris @55: No! The epicentre is the point on the surface directly above the hypocentre, which is the point underground where the rupture first started. It used to be thought that this was the area of maximum damage at the surface, but it is now realised that this can be a long way from the epicentre. That depends on the length and depth of the slip and the surrounding geology.
muffin @ 54 Who prescribes the prescribers?
Thanks Carpathian for the light entertainment. I needed this after being demolished by Monk in the FT today. (Anyone who wants a challenge should give that one a go.) I enjoyed many of the clues such as SLAP, STUDIO, SOLDIER, and RICOTTA. Thanks manehi for the blog.
@58. I did better today than I normally do (I have stopped attempting any cryptics on here from Wednesday onwards as they are too difficult for me).
I used Chambers Wordwizard quite a few times (is that cheating?) and I also had several letter checks.
I struggled with 4a, 10a, 13a, 15a and 26a.
Also came a cropper with 2, 6, 8 & 19d.
I could write essays on why I didn’t understand these clues, but people have lives to lead!
We got an added bit of amusement with 20D, wanting to set the bird aside and focus instead on the possible architect. Architect and one of his churches provides tool . . .
Totally kicking myself over 21, which ruined my perfect-so-far week. Forgot that there was a George among the Windsor princes, and was stuck on the idea of MY ____.
SLAP = “make-up” totally new to me, but obvious from the clueing. Momentary confusion over EPICENTRE resolved by taking off American spelling lenses.
Steffen @68 – using wordwizard is not “cheating”! External reference resources are invaluable, especially when you are starting out. When I started on cryptics (~18 months ago) I used letter checks, thesaurus, dictionary, anagram helper and word finder apps, plus Google / Wikipedia – in fact I used everything short of the ‘Reveal’ button to grind out a finish some days. Do what you need to do to get to the answers! Over time you should rely less on external help. Now I can do most Guardian weekday puzzles without much external help. But it takes time and practice.
I love that you don’t give up 🙂
Interesting reactions today. I think I’m with the camp that says this was too easy and was better suited to a Quiptic. And I agree that at least one a week of the Cryptics should be challenging
Rob @71 – I still struggle with figuring out which end of the clue contains the definition and which part makes up the wordplay; I find that extremely difficult to be honest.
Steffen@73. But that’s what it’s all (or partly) about… finding which end is the definition, particularly when the setter has disguised that with misdirection.
It’s a game. Sometimes they win. Sometimes we do, or they let us think we have. But it’s not about winning. It’s the journey. Remember it’s supposed to be fun!
For all those wanting a tougher challenge – Paul has obliged.