Guardian Quiptic 1262 Pasquale

by

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

Is there a connection amongst the foursome Sue, Don, Bob and Ann?  Besides being 3-letter short versions of longer names.

Across

7. William and directors providing a medium for advertisements (9)

BILLBOARD : BILL(short version of the name “William”) plus(and) BOARD(the group of directors in an organisation).

8. See female awfully fit finally carry half a ton! (5)

FIFTY : F(abbrev. for “female”) + anagram of(awfully) FIT + last letter of(finally) “carry“.

Defn: …/half of a hundred.

9. Ace travelling to Saturn? One usually goes less far! (9)

ASTRONAUT : A(abbrev. for “ace”, as in a deck of playing cards) + anagram of(travelling) TO SATURN.

Defn: … than Saturn, that is.

10. Periods of world revolution! (5)

YEARS : Cryptic defn: …/of the earth going around the sun.

12. Way grand house is mentioned (6)

MANNER : Homophone of(… is mentioned) “manor”(a grand house in the countryside with an expanse of land).

Defn: … in which something is done or happens.

13. Troubled fool has rushed around (8)

HARASSED : ASS(a fool) contained in(has … around) HARED(rushed/ran fast, like a hunted hare, say).

16. Servant hugging old fellow on the river? (7)

BOATMAN : BATMAN(a soldier assigned as a servant to an officer in the British armed forces) containing(hugging) O(abbrev. for “old”).

Defn: … in a boat.

19. Flourish as British operator starting off (7)

BURGEON : B(abbrev. for “British”) + “surgeon”(one performing surgical operations/an operator if you like) minus its 1st letter(starting off).

22. Don’t allow one outhouse to be got rid of (8)

BANISHED : BAN(don’t allow/to outlaw) + I(Roman numeral for “one”) + SHED(an outhouse/a separate structure on the grounds of a house).

25. Ape going across an area at top of jungle? (6)

CANOPY : COPY(to ape/imitate) containing(going across) AN.

27, 29. Produces notes maybe and runs a profitable business (5,5)

MAKES MONEY : MAKES(produces/manufactures) + MONEY(in the form of currency notes).

28. A link for G&S? (9)

AMPERSAND : The symbol standing for the link word “and”, as in “G&S”.

29. See 27

30. Trendy officer, usually (2,7)

IN GENERAL : IN(trendy/fashionable) + GENERAL(rank of an officer in the army).

Down

1. Seat is adjusted for rest (6)

SIESTA : Anagram of(… adjusted) SEAT IS.

Defn: … in the afternoon.

2. Wine left outside home? Blow that! (8)

CLARINET : CLARET(a red Bordeaux wine) containing(left outside) IN(home/not out, as in “I’m home tonight”).

3. Craftsperson who does not stand aloof from company? (6)

JOINER : Double defn: 1st: … who constructs the wooden components of a building; and 2nd: … of a group but goes to join it.

4. Beer that gives you wind (7)

DRAUGHT : Double defn: 1st: … from a barrel or tank rather than from a bottle or can; and 2nd: A …/a current of air entering a supposedly enclosed space like a room.

Or out of a billboard:

5. Pit workers – children reportedly (6)

MINERS : Homophone of(… reportedly) “minors”(children/persons under the age of full legal responsibility).

6. Severe English author (6)

STERNE : STERN(severe/strict) + E(abbrev. for “English”).

Answer: Laurence …, Irish author.

11. German Mrs, a cheat for the most part (4)

FRAU : “fraud”(a cheat/a swindler) minus its last letter(for the most part).

Defn: …, used to address a married German woman.

14. Woman to bring to trial? (3)

SUE : Double defn: 1st: A feminine name; and 2nd: … in a court of law.

15. Man and daughter getting on (3)

DON : D(abbrev. for “daughter”) plus(getting) ON.

16. Man to bounce up and down (3)

BOB : Double defn: 1st: A masculine name; and 2nd: To make quick, short movement up and down. And, the answer is palindromic, in a down clue, reading the same up and down.

17. Woman offering article, newspaper’s leader (3)

ANN : AN(article in grammar) + 1st letter of(…’s leader) “newspaper“.

Defn: Another feminine name.

18. Ruler wants stove to keep hot (4)

AGHA : AGA(trademark name of a cooking range/stove) containing(to keep) H(abbrev. for “hot”).

Defn: An alternative spelling of “aga”, title for a civil or military leader/ruler, originally in the Ottoman Empire.

20. Feeling of unease evident in German criminal (8)

GANGSTER : ANGST(feeling of unease/deep anxiety) contained in(evident in) GER(abbrev. for “Germany”).

21. Firm‘s worker overseen by leading man (7)

ADAMANT : ANT(a social insect, one of whose casts is the worker) placed below(overseen by, in a down clue) ADAM(leading/first man in the Bible).

23. Fierce female in flower firm providing deliveries (6)

AMAZON : Triple defn: 1st: …/a legendary female warrior, extended to refer to a tall, strong, aggressive woman; 2nd: The river/flow-er in South America; and 3: Online firm/company which is, among other activities, an e-retailer and marketplace delivering goods to end-users.

24. One cold summer in France with a cold drink (3,3)

ICE TEA : I(Roman numeral for “one”) + C(abbrev. for “cold”) + ETE(French for “summer”, the season) plus(with) A.

25. Smart Conservative overcoming Left always (6)

CLEVER : C(abbrev. for “Conservative”, a member of the Conservative Party) placed above(overcoming, in a down clue) L(abbrev. for “left”) + EVER(always/at all times).

26. Animals having miserable sleep upside down (6)

PANDAS : Reversal of(… upside down, in a down clue) [ SAD(miserable/feeling down) + NAP(a short sleep) ].

45 comments on “Guardian Quiptic 1262 Pasquale”

  2. Thankyou scchua. Don’t know about Sue, Don, Bob and Ann but there were BOATMAN, and (bani)SHED, and DON (Pasquale) Guardian setters. And there was a link in the clue for AMPERSAND, and a JOINER. I also wondered about FIFTY YEARS in a prominent position top RH corner on the grid..
    YEARS was familiar, maybe an Arachne clue?
    Was CLEVER a nod to the Conservative MP Cleverly?
    Favs were GANGSTER for the misdirections, clever clue, AMAZON, the triple def, and ASTRONAUT for the whole clue.

  3. Thanks to Pasquale and scchua.
    I can’t believe I didn’t get 28a – I was too busy trying to find a G&S opera that had some connection with “link”! Clever clue.

  4. Enjoyable puzzle, almost gave up on 28ac and 20d, glad I could finish this.

    Thanks, both.

    paddymelon@2 ‘Was CLEVER a nod to the Conservative MP Cleverly?‘
    perhaps, but smart is not the first adjective I would associate with him. His comments about drugging his wife were not very smart. He then said he regrets making a joke about spiking his wife’s drink with a “date rape” drug and should never have said it. You can do a google search on ‘cleverly drugging wife’ for more info.

  6. Thanks Pasquale and scchua
    I can’t make sense of the surface for 17d. Shouldn’t it be “…article to newspaper’s leader”? “Offering” also seems odd for the wordplay.
    Favourite ADAMANT – that did have a good surface.

  7. Thanks for Acker Bilk. I tried very hard to make MAKES MONEY be an anagram of “notes maybe” before the light dawned, and took ages to parse FIFTY.

  10. AMPERSAND was my favourite, a very clever misdirection. Fortunately I twigged before doing a Wiki search.
    I also admired AMAZON – triple definition with such a neat surface.
    I noticed DON and BOATMAN, but who is SHED?
    Thanks Pasquale and scchua

  11. AMPERSAND was neat, but the app showed it as G&S – I’ve logged it with the app team, fingers crossed it gets resolved soon as it’s a bit distracting!

  12. I confess I don’t understand 28ac (AMPERSAND). Is it just a cryptic definition? If so, what’s cryptic about it? In other words, what’s the alternative reading into which I’m meant to be misled?

    A somewhat embarrassing DNF for me, as I just couldn’t see 3dn (JOINER), although it’s perfectly clear in hindsight. Other than that (which is my fault, not the Don’s), this seemed to me to fit the Quiptic bill perfectly.

  14. SueM48@10.
    Shed . Meet the Setter. Guardian 5 Dec 2012. (Sorry I don’t know how to do links on this device.)

  15. I enjoyed this and completed it, SE corner last to go in. 28A took a while to see but once I got ADAMANT it fell into place. ICETEA and CANOPY my favourites among lots of great clues that made me smile.
    Thanks pasquale and sschua.

  16. Ted@12: you may have seen & straight away, but I can assure you that some of us spent ages racking our brains for an appropriate Gilbert & Sullivan opera before eventually the penny dropped with a clang (ditto, Crosser@3). On the other hand, JOINER came quickly. I found this tougher than the Cryptic – but then, each of us has a different experience. Thanks, Pasquale and scchua.

  17. Ted@12 I also wondered if G&S was something to do with Gilbert and Sullivan or even Gavin and Stacey – a link character?? Or an operetta about links somehow (golf?) and it remained unsolved for some time, before I got the M and it was immediately obvious

  18. I thought this was a great Quiptic, and easier for me than the Cryptic (as it should be).

    I liked the surface and anagram for ASTRONAUT, the wordplay for BOATMAN, the good cd for AMPERSAND, and the GANGSTER criminal that wasn’t an anagram. I thought 10 could have been hours or weeks as well as YEARS.

    Thanks Pasquale and scchua.

  21. Congratulations to Pasquale @20 for the significant milestone, and for marking it with a perfect Quiptic. Particularly enjoyed the excellent surface for CANOPY, the fine triple d for AMAZON and the splendid Teutonic construction for GANGSTER.

  22. Wishing Don and Sue many more happy years together. A custom crossword beats any old golden gift in my book. I hope in Sue’s too.

  23. That was a super crossword, and as I see now (I never see themes etc – too busy struggling through) it has a lovely romantic message there too. Lucky Sue! Congratulations to you both .

  24. Struggling with a few…can I ask for tips please?

    8a, 9a, 16a, 28a

    2d, 3d, 18d are all out of reach for me.

  25. I had ticked 25a CANOPY (the AN was well-hidden), 2d CLARINET and 20d GANGSTER (had me looking for an anagram of ‘in German’, like Robi@18), but now I have changed my favourites to 14&15d and 8&10a. Happy Anniversary, Don and Sue.

  26. @steffen 24
    8a, the word awfully means there is an anagram (of the next word in this clue) – and the word finally means you want the last letter (of the next word in this clue). The beginning is the letter for the gender that you’d use to fill out in a form.
    The whole thing means the last part of the phrase

  27. Steffen @24
    9a is an anagram clue. The first word is a playing card, what letter would you see written on it? That’s the first letter. “Travelling” indicates the anagram and you can count the number of letters needed to complete the clue and see which words have the right number of letters (as you already have one from the playing card).

    HTH

  28. Thank you 27.

    It didn’t help that I had HARSHE for 6d.

    I really struggle with figuring out which letter/from which word I take a last letter from.

  29. Steffen @28 it is usually the one next to “finally” on either side: and sometimes you have to guess and see if it fits. Do you solve using the online website? There is a really handy “check word” button which I have found really helpful for learning. So you can put in a letter and see if it is the right one. Really helps. It’s fine to cheat as learners, it helps us get better!

  30. I do the online crosswords every day.

    I use “check” very liberally, and it feels like I am cheating.

    I am determined to get better so that I can enjoy them more.

  31. Steffen @27
    2d “home” can often mean “in”. As in “I’m in, at home rather than being out”. So could you try putting “in” somewhere in the clue and using the word checker to see where it goes.
    And then can you think of any wine varieties? (Eg but not actually Pinot) and can you fit that word around IN to make something you blow (musically)?

  32. Cheat away! That’s why the button is there: and it’s fun when you get a letter right and now you have something to work with. Much more enlightening and enjoyable than just staring in frustration

  33. Pasquale@20: Congratulations to Don and Sue and many happy returns! Thanks also for the puzzle and to sschua for the blog.

    I tried COOPER for 3d, making it co-oper, one who joins a co-op, which put me in a pickle figuring out ASTRONAUT until I realized my mistake.

  34. Congratulations Don&Sue on your 50 years joined in marriage. Thank you for sharing your celebration with us..

  35. paddymelon@14. Thanks. I’m new to this lovely Guardian puzzle world.
    Congratulations to Don (P) and his wife on 50 years of marriage.

  36. Thank you, Pasquale–what a lovely anniversary tribute. I wish you many more years to come.

    I particularly liked the sad panda.

    I totally can’t see the word ADAMANT without thinking of Adam Ant, and of course our clue here reinforces that.

  37. This was a lovely puzzle, even though I stared at it for quite a while before finishing and I had to check for AMPERSAND because, like many of you, I was thinking of Gilbert and Sullivan.
    Steffen@30. It’s not cheating to use check. It’s how you will begin to understand the puzzles.
    Thanks Pasquale and scchua. Congratulations Sue and Don.

  39. My favourite was the sad napping PANDAS.

    I was pleased with myself for remembering that wine might mean claret, and that servant might be batsman. These are both words I only really see in crossword land. I feel like I’m gradually improving my crossword-ese (there should be an option for this on duolingo…)

    It’s been a long time since I’ve seen flow-er for river, so I wasn’t sure how it fit in the clue. Hopefully it sticks better this time…

    Also, what a delightful theme for the crossword. Reading this thread has brought joy to my day:)

  41. First time to leave a comment but I am really stumped by 8a. I understand how fifty is arrived at from the cryptic work. But what is “See” there for? And since when does a ton, which is the definition, relate to a hundred anything? It is usually 2000 lbs, or 1000 kg, thereabouts, depending on which country you are in. So I was expecting 1000 or 500 in the answer, not 50.

  44. Anna@41 – May I refer you to the immortal words of Slade in 1974 (and every year since) – a 50th (golden anniversary):
    ‘Are you hanging up your stocking on your wall? | It’s the time when every Santa has a ball
    Does he ride a red nosed reindeer? | Does a TON-up on his sleigh? | Do the fairies keep him sober for a day?
    So here it is, Merry Christmas | Everybody‘s having fun | Look to the future now | It’s only just begun’

  45. A google search of ‘Sue, Don, Bob and Ann’ produced ‘Rita, Bob and Sue too’!!
    I didn’t like ‘see’ in 8a Fifty. Simon in ‘Cracking the Cryptic’ is forever telling me that no words are superfluous in cryptic crossword clues.
    I haven’t done a Quiptic in a while (I’m an Everyman man) – this was fun/clever.

Comments are closed.