Thank you to Bartland. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1. Little Mama gets the smallest portion (7)
MINIMUM : MINI(describing a miniature/a little version of something) + MUM(like “mama”, a familiar term for one’s mother).
5. Ripple disturbed twelve outside space centre (7)
WAVELET : Anagram of(disturbed) TWELVE containing(outside) middle letter of(… centre) “space“.
9. Subtle differences detected in new blended sauce with hidden name (7)
NUANCES : N(abbrev. for “new”) + anagram of(blended) SAUCE containing(with hidden) N(abbrev. for “name”).
10. Violently elbowing wife out is contemptible (7)
IGNOBLE : Anagram of(Violently) [ “elbowing” minus(… out) “w”(abbrev. for “wife”) ].
11. Fewer at sea follow coast (9)
FREEWHEEL : Anagram of(… at sea) FEWER + HEEL!(command to a dog to follow/walk closely behind its owner).
Defn: …/to move easily without having to use power/effort.
12. Moving about 30 centimetres (5)
AFOOT : [A FOOT](a distance in Imperial units equivalent to about 30 centimetres).
You-know-who’s catchphrase:
13. Ease off rent increase (3,2)
LET UP : LET(to rent/let someone have use of a property or room in return for regular payments/rent) + UP(to increase in level or amount).
15. He fought good boy in addition to frontrunners for gold (9)
GLADIATOR : G(abbrev. for “good”) + LAD(a boy/a young male) + 1st letters, respectively, of(… frontrunners) “in addition to” plus(for) OR(the colour, gold in heraldry).
Defn: … in Ancient Rome.
17. Romantic deception involved no therapy (5,4)
HONEY TRAP : Anagram of(involved) NO THERAPY.
Defn: A ploy where an attractive person (usually a woman) tricks/deceives another (usually a man) into revealing confidential information with romantic behaviour or sex.
19. Gospel writer‘s letters (5)
MARKS : Double defn: 1st: Writer of the second of the four gospels; and 2nd: Examples of which are ….
22. A portion of crab bisque for teacher (5)
RABBI : Hidden in(A portion of) “crab bisque“.
Defn: … of Jewish law.
23. Scenery of country’s headland (9)
LANDSCAPE : LAND(a country/state)‘S + CAPE(a headland/a narrow piece of land jutting from a coastline into the sea).
25. Wife gets poorly beforehand and afterwards, leading to animosity (3,4)
ILL WILL : W(abbrev. for “wife”) with(gets) ILL(poorly/sick) placed before(beforehand) and placed after(afterwards) it.
26. It stops the flow of dry hair (7)
AIRLOCK : AIR(to dry by exposure to air) + LOCK(hair that is coiled or hanging together).
Defn: An air bubble that stops liquid flow in a pump or pipe.
27. He doubts retracted chest muscles twitch (7)
SCEPTIC : Reversal of(retracted) PECS(short for “pectorals”/chest muscles) + TIC(a twitch/an involuntary contraction of muscle).
28. She gets to choose electronic reader (7)
ELECTOR : E-(prefix signifying things electronic) + LECTOR(a reader, like someone who reads lessons in a church service).
Down
1. Aware of Miami’s banks and primarily Lloyd’s absorbing slush fund (7)
MINDFUL : [ 1st and last letters of(…’s banks) “Miami” plus(and) 1st letter of(primarily) “Lloyd” ] containing(…’s absorbing) anagram of(slush/watery mud – use of the perhaps more appropriate “slushy” would spoil the surface reading) FUND.
2. Listener to be found in snug right next door (7)
NEAREST : EAR(listener/that used to listen with) contained in(to be found in) NEST(to snug/to fit in comfortably as in a nest, say).
3. Colourful flyer made audiences come and watch overtures (5)
MACAW : 1st letters, respectively, of(… overtures) “made audiences come and watch“.
4. Don’t shoot him for telling you jam’s weirdly green (9)
MESSENGER : MESS(a jam/a difficult situation to be found in) plus(‘s/has) + anagram of(weirdly) GREEN.
Defn: From the metaphorical phrase “Don’t shoot the messenger”/don’t unfairly blame the one who tells you bad or unwelcome news.
5. Eddy outgrew fifth bikini for full bottoms (5)
WHIRL : Last letters, respectively, of(… bottoms, in a down clue) “outgrew fifth bikini for full“.
6. Wanton damage made by truck to dismal building (9)
VANDALISM : VAN(a truck/goods vehicle) plus(to) anagram of(… building) DISMAL.
7. Little dog’s fur for scientist’s protection (3,4)
LAB COAT : LAB(short for/little Labrador dog) plus(‘s/has) COAT(eg. a fur/a coat made of fur).
Defn: … whilst working in the laboratory.
8. Someone posting on social media is quaint, taking the lead with hesitation (7)
TWEETER : TWEE(quaint/excessively dainty) + 1st letter of(… the lead) “taking” + ER(with hesitation/expressing uncertainty).
Defn: … using Twitter, now called X.
14. Carbonated sac reportedly produced by someone like Marie Curie (9)
PHYSICIST : Homophone of(… reportedly) [ “fizzy”(carbonated/describing a drink containing bubbles from dissolved carbon dioxide) + “cyst”(in medicine, a closed pocket/sac of tissue filled with air, fluid, or other material) ].
16. Software program log out takes time identifying attachment (9)
APPENDAGE : APP(a software program/application downloaded by a user to a mobile device) + END(to finish, in this case the use of a computer system/to log out) plus(takes) AGE(a period of time).
17. Cries, ‘Oh!’ about ostentatious antics (7)
HEROICS : Anagram of(… about) CRIES, ‘OH!’.
18. Utilize a lube nozzle piece in reverse to form dust clouds (7)
NEBULAE : Hidden in(piece in) reversal of(… reverse) “Utilize a lube nozzle“.
Defn: … in outer space.
20. It’s digitally displayed data … dear? (4-3)
READ-OUT : A reverse clue: Anagram of(-OUT) READ = “dear“.
21. Second summit attended by those spearheading economic research and Sir Lindsay Hoyle, perhaps (7)
SPEAKER : S(abbrev. for “second” in time notation) + PEAK(a summit/top) plus(attended by) 1st letters, respectively, of(those spearheading) “economic research“.
Defn: An example of which/perhaps is Sir Lindsay Hoyle, who currently holds that position in the UK House of Commons.
23. Tree sample provided by stuck-up botanical illustrator (5)
LILAC : Hidden in(sample provided by) reversal of(stuck-up, in a down clue) “botanical illustrator“.
A Japanese …:
24. Unrestrained self-indulgence of corrupt peers (5)
SPREE : Anagram of(corrupt) PEERS.
Ah, so that’s who Sir Lindsay Hoyle is. I guess I could have googled.
I thought ELECTOR was a lame clue, as ELECT is in the clue, but that’s probably because I didn’t know what a lector is. And in my sheltered life, I’d not heard of a honey trap.
Nothing else to report. A plesant little romp today, thanks Bartland & scchua.
Thank you scchua for your clear and beautifully illustrated blog, as always.
I always thought of the lilac as a shrub but I’d asked google the question and found it is a tree, as well. Lovely pic.
NEAREST: I read the surface meaning of snug being that small private part of a pub.
I really enjoyed this. Lots of surfaces telling a story, and a good mix of clues. I was going to query if the reverse clue READ-OUT was the right level for a quiptic, but this one is a goodie and they’re one of the setters’ tools. (Although I think from memory Anto does them too.) Until I got crossers, with the 4-3 enumeration and the definition I thought the first word might be ring (digitally displayed?).
LOL at MESSENGER. Such a serious definition with such a funny example of why you might shoot her/him for telling you about the weirdly green jam.
And PHYSICIST for lots of things, the surface, science-related, the homophones, and someone like Marie Curie as the def. She probably didn’t have a lot to do with carbonated sacs. Brilliant and funny..
Quite difficult for a Quiptic – my fear is that a puzzle like this would turn off beginners. Perhaps the Editor could think again about how they categorise the puzzles into Cryptic/Quiptic – or maybe he/she is not interested in encouraging new solvers to start doing cryptic crosswords? Otherwise, this slot is the equivalent of false advertising. Then again, why should I care?
That said, I enjoyed this rather challenging puzzle as a Cryptic not a Quiptic.
Thanks, both.
I enjoyed this, but I too wondered about the reverse clued READ OUT for a Quiptic.
I also enjoyed many of these surfaces as mentioned above.
Thank you to Bartland and sschua.
Absolutely horrendous for a Quiptic.Will take my business elsewhere.
Thaanks Bartland and scchua
Very easy (sorry Michelle!), but a lot of fun. VANDALISM favourite.
[I was tempted to boast about my MACAW experience, but thought it would be inappropriate…]
I thought there were enough straightforward clues to justify the Quiptic classification. paddymelon@2 it is seriously upsetting when your lovingly made jam goes mouldy. Thanks for a great blog and an enjoyable puzzle.
This was enjoyable and I must thank all the Fifteen Squared bloggers for helping me to understand how the clues work in the Guardian cryptics and quiptics.
As has been said before, the difficulty of a puzzle is, well, difficulty to quantify. I’d agree that this was a bit tougher than some, but not unsolvable.
I thought the reverse clue was okay in that DEAR and READ aren’t convoluted anagrams.
PDM @2. Re the lilac being a tree / shrub. My other half did an RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) qualification a few years ago. They were told that if it’s got a single stem, it’s a tree. If it’s multi-stemmed (as the one in the picture) it’s a shrub.
Thanks to Bartland and scchua
Bashed this out pretty quickly, helped by the plethora of anagrams and first/last letter clues. PHYSICIST made me chuckle, READ-OUT made me nod in appreciation, but overall left me a bit flat.
Crispy @9 – so how does that work for the ancient trees that have developed into multi-trunked trees as they hollow out with age?
(Peterr@7. Weirdly green jam sounds like something Roald Dahl would cook up. Never thought of mould. When my jams go white or black or purple on the top I just scrape that bit out.)
[Shanne @9. I’m guessing that because they were originally single stemmed, they’re still trees. I seem to recall that it can be a bit of a grey area. Like a lot of things discussed on fifteensquared, the way a word gets used in a technical (in this case horticultural) sense can differ from how it’s used by the man on the Clapham omnibus]
I find it impossible to judge the difficulty of puzzles at the ‘relatively easy’ end of the spectrum – but then I have over 50 years of solving experience. Crossword editors probably have the same problem.
This was well put together, without any tortuous parsings, but I suppose some of the constructions are not flagged up in a very obvious way. Anyhow, I enjoyed it.
More tweeting! Was this a pre-existing puzzle? 🙂
Thanks to S&B
Difficulty is so subjective. I breezed through this one in no time. Took twice as long over today’s Vulcan.
Thanks, Bartland and scchua.
A nice balance of clues and some imaginative first and last letter indicators.
APPENDAGE was my LOI because I couldn’t stop thinking of log out as log*. I liked the definition for FREEWHEEL, the good anagram for HONEY TRAP, the wordplay for SCEPTIC, and the good homophone for PHYSICIST.
Thanks Bartland and scchua.
I got there (so, am subjectively on team quiptic, rather than “pretend cryptic”).
However, I’m not 100% on the “reverse clue”.
Does it go — figure out the answer (READ OUT) from the definition, and use a bit of the answer as part of the word play. So “OUT” would be a hidden anagram indicator telling you to shuffle “READ”, which you can then get confirmation of by seeing “dear” in the clue.
And, to confirm, the ellipses (…) is just for surface and has no bearing on the solution, right?
I liked lots of clues, including for ILL WILL, PHYSICIST, and MESSENGER.
Thanks:)
HH @17 – exactly that. The clue could be more generous to novice solvers by indicating the wordplay more explicitly, ie with more than just a question mark. Something along the lines of “Could this be a clue for dear?” rather than just “dear?” – but as Crispy @9 says, it’s still a relatively simple example of a “reverse anagram” so a gentle way to introduce beginners to this form of wordplay.
My first ever finish! I’ve been attempting cryptics on and off since early 2017 so this has been a long time coming. “Only” a quiptic, and I did have a to cheat slightly by googling Sir Lindsay Hoyle, but I’m so happy I don’t care. I think I might print this, get it framed and hang it on my living room wall (or at the very least the toilet).
HUGE thankyou to everyone involved at fifteen squared, you have been an absolutely invaluable resource to me. And thank you Bartland!
Azed here I come 😉
Took as long as Vulcan with some lovely devices. READ OUT was a bit tricky for a Quiptic but surely a good pointer for those who want to progress to Cryptics. Liked GLADIATOR, FREEWHEEL and HONEY TRAP.
Ta Bartland & scchua.
I got it done in about the time I’d like a Quiptic to take but I was surprised the clock hadn’t ticked on further – it felt slow.
I thought it was harder than the Quiptics I’ve enjoyed. My general guide to that is how I reach the answer. Last week, many of the answers I’d read a clue and be able to construct the answer. Today, I more often had to figure out the answer from letters already in place and what met the definition. The components were harder to spot and only afterwards was I usually able to parse what was going on.
Doing my usual…trying not to look at answers/explanations yet.
I have almost completed bottom half of puzzle, but I have no across clues at all in top half.
20d – where does OUT come from in this clue?
Steffen @23
It’s a “reverse” clue. OUT is the anagram indicator for READ to give DEAR.
Lately I’ve been tackling a cryptic or two. Some of the clues are quite fiendish in pulling single letters out of words or otherwise warping from clue to result. There are a number of wordplay devices that I’ve seldom or never seen in quiptics. If the quiptic is to be an introduction to cryptics than no device should be off limits. Certainly there should be a limit to the number of odorous/odious clues. The constructor should take care that the crossers are more gentle. Perhaps really advanced clues could be marked with an asterisk.
24. Thank you. I freely admit to still being lost.
Is it because TUO is something to do with data/computers?
I don’t see TUO/OUT in the clue.
No. OUT means “make an anagram of READ”; this gives DEAR.
Apologies. This is my last question I promise! I am lost.?
Where are we told that OUT is part of the clue?
It’s a reverse clue! READ OUT, read as a clue, gives DEAR as its solution.
I thought this was a superior Quiptic with a number of very nice surfaces, such as NUANCES, HEROICS, FREEWHEEL and MACAW. READ-OUT is a fair introduction to the reverse clue genre, though I’m not sure the definition is the best. Needed the lovely blog to parse that and ELECTOR. Thanks Bartland for a fine puzzle.
I’m with Steffen at 26 and 28.
I simply do not understand how the OUT comes about.
I get that “dear” anagrams to “read” but I cannot identify the OUT bit.
Is it that “digitally displayed data” is a “read out”? And an anagram of read is dear?
Thanks to Muffin for the attempted clarity, I’m sorry I’m being such a donkey
You’re pretty much there, DelBoy. A read-out is a digital display of data, and because OUT is an anagram indicator, READ OUT is also a way to reach DEAR. So it satisfies both bits of the clue.
OUT isn’t the most obvious anagram indicator (although it’s quite common), and these clues are sometimes more clearly flagged like ‘for a crossword setter’.
Hopefully that has helped, or at least hasn’t made it less clear!
Perfect Quiptic for me – and a nice way to introduce reverse clues for beginners I thought, with such a clear definition. Did think some people might quibble about ‘fizzy cyst’ not being a real homophone, but I thought it was funny. Some great clues here.
Shaun@19, congratulations and I can share your joy. I also dabble occasionally and rarely get close to completion but managed all this Quiptic, so I’m happy.
I liked PHYSICIST and FREEWHEEL in particular. Thanks Bartland and scchua.
TomC@33. I wasn’t going to touch the ”homophone” in PHYSICIST, ‘fizzy cyst’, but seeing it’s bubbled to the surface, I think it’s okay (I’m a reformed purist) , and agree it was funny.
Many thanks to everyone for the excellent feedback. Glad you all seem to have enjoyed the puzzle, by and large!
Thanks also to @scchua for the great blog, and congratulations to @Shaun on your first finish 🙂
PS: For anyone wondering about the “fizzy cyst”, I grew up in Stoke-on-Trent, where the Potteries accent habitually turns the i sound in ‘thing’ into something along the lines of ‘theeng’. So Stokies would typically pronounce ‘physicist’ more like ‘fizzy cyst’ than ‘physicist’. (Actually, now that I think about it, you’d probably be more likely to hear it as ‘feezy seest’ in Stoke. Oh well!)
Loved. Found it easy, and did wonder aboutt READ OUT for a quiptic, but we have to learn. It was delightful, and the pictures in the bog are great.
Novice solver, have been trying for around a year now – definitely agree with those questioning READ OUT. I think I understand how the clue is supposed to work from what others here have said, but how are you supposed to figure out these kinds of clues from the surface alone?
Interesting some people put this as harder. As a newbie this was absolutely perfect for me. Fastest I’ve ever completed one. Just three days.
I think what helps is a lot of the clues feel classic cryptic stuff. A lot of anagrams with relatively easy to anagrinds etc. Also helps that none of the words used are crazy obscure. Honestly enjoyed this one immensely.
Agree that the difficulty is very subjective. I found this harder and would put whirl as the one that just seemed to
make no sense.
Perhaps rather than trying to make the parsing easier or harder the way to make things more accessible to less able solvers like myself, is to ensure there are a few more anagrams, embedded words and double definitions as these are generally easier to see. Once there are a few letters around the grid the rest can become easier.
Very put off by the use of “she” in 28d. Thrown off looking for a gendered noun or a pronoun to make the answer out of. What’s wrong with “they”?
Roses are red
Violets are blue
Singular “they”
Predates singular “you”
Lovely Quiptic, blog and comments! Thanks Bartland, scchua, and all.
Well done Shaun @19 and I don’t think Googling Hoyle is even slightly cheating. It’s not solving, just general knowledge that you do or you don’t have. It’s entirely different from “proper” cheating!
Lovely that Bartland rocked up here to comment.
Thanks, all.
Altreus @41: doesn’t the She in 28a make e-lector selector?
Muffin @29 Thanks so much for your explanation! Was puzzling over that for ages as have never seen a reverse clue before, and you cleared it up for me. V grateful