Guardian Quick Cryptic 7 by Carpathian

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This is the seventh Guardian Quick Cryptic, a series of 11 x 11 crosswords designed to support beginners learning cryptic crosswords.  The whole point of these crosswords is support and encouragement of new solvers, so special rules for these crosswords apply – see here.  The puzzle can be found here.

Fifteen Squared uses several abbreviations and jargon tricks, there’s a full list here, of which I’ve used the following in this blog:

  • underlining the definition in the clue – this is either at the beginning or end of the clue
  • CAPITALS to indicate which bits are part of the answer, eg R in CEASE means that ‘in’ is not part of the answer
  • *(fodder) to indicate an anagram, eg *(ORCHESTRA)
  • < to indicate a reversal
  • anagrind to describe the anagram indicator.
  • surface – the meaning from reading the clue – so often cryptic clues use an English that could only be found in a cryptic crossword, but a smooth surface is a clue that has a meaning in English, which can be pointed or misleading.

TODAY’S TRICKS – from the crossword site – which can be found at  https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/quick-cryptic/7

Clues begin or end with a definition of the answer. The rest is one of these:

    1. Anagram An anagram of the answer and a hint that there’s an anagram
      ‘Senator arranged crime (7)’ gives TREASON
    2. Charade A combination of synonyms
      ‘Qualify to get drink for ID (8)’ gives PASSPORT (pass + port)
    3. Reversal The answer backwards, and a hint that we’re reversing
      ‘Deity’s pet comes back (3)’ gives GOD
    4.  Acrostic The first letters of the answer
      ‘Initially get a good joke (3)’ gives GAG

ACROSS
1 REVEL

Flipping crowbar for glory (5)

reversal (flipping) of LEVER< (crowbar)  – to REVEL in something is to glory in it.
4 REFIT
Match official with sex appeal getting makeover(5)
charade of REF (match official) + (with) IT (sex appeal) = REFIT
No, no-one has said SA or IT for sex appeal for decades, but they’re still used in crosswordland.
7 DISEASE
Strange seaside condition (7)
anagram of  *(SEASIDE) anagrind (strange)
8 RAN
Managed renegotiations about new beginnings (3)
acrostic (beginnings) of Renegotiations About New
9 DOG
Deity lying about setter perhaps (3)
reversal (lying about) of GOD < (deity) to give DOG (setter, maybe)
This use of setter is a regular as it can mean either the person setting the puzzle or the dog – none of  the Red or black and tan Gordon Setters I’ve met have been the brightest of dogs.  (corrected as I posted the clue the wrong way round in the wee small hours – apologies)
10 ENTRAP
Capture upset parent (6)
anagram  *(PARENT)  anagrind (upset)
13 OLD
Aged heads of organisation like dealing (3)
acrostic (heads of) Organisation Like Dealing
15 SAG
Talk about sink (3)

reversal (about) of GAS< (talk)

GAS for talk is a regular in crosswordland – as a gasbag who talks to much or someone who gasses.
17 APT
Fixed tap fitting (3)
anagram  *(TAP) anagrind (fixed)
19 PUTRID
Rotten place getting purge (6)
charade – of PUT (place) + (getting) RID (purge)
22 RAW
Revolutionary conflict is bloody (3)
reversal (revolutionary) of WAR< (conflict)
24 BOA
Starters of baked ostrich and snake (3)
acrostic (starters) of Baked Ostrich And
25 ATTEMPT
Principal characters in away team took extraordinary measures procuring that try (7)
acrostic (principal characters in) of Away Team Took Extraordinary Measures Procuring That
26 RULED
Lured out and judged (5)
anagram  *(LURED)  anagrind (out)
27 RETCH
Start to remove and corrode vomit (5)
charade of  R (start to Remove) + (and) ETCH (corrode)
This is also including one of the acrostic tricks of the first letter of Remove, indicated by start to – which is something to watch for in all cryptic crosswords.
DOWN
1 RIDGE
Dirge about hill-range (5)
anagram *(DIRGE) anagrind (about) 
2 VISIT
Six meet for call (5)
charade of  VI (six in Roman numerals) + SIT (meet) = VISIT
SIT as in meet in Parliament or on a committee
VI – Roman numerals are another common trick – it’s worth learning them as they occur regularly.
3 LLAMAS
Creatures left by Tibetan monks (6)
charade of L (left) + (by) LAMAS (Tibetan monks)
4 REED
Grass animal sent back (4)
reversal (sent back) DEER< (animal)
This reversal is one that turns up a lot in crosswords.
5 FORGO
In favour of attempt to give up (5)
charade of  FOR (in favour of) + GO (attempt)
6 TONED
Buff engineer noted (5)
anagram *(NOTED) anagrind (engineer)
I didn’t notice this when I was blogging it last night, but buff meaning TONED isn’t in my edition of Chambers.  It’s a usage I’ve regularly heard describing a muscled/toned body as buff, but I have worked in schools and in youthwork for decades.  The link I found was in a BBC article series entitled “Keep your English up-to-date” from 2009.
11 NIP
Bite nail from bottom (3)
reversal (from bottom) of PIN< (nail)
12 PAP
Primarily poor and pointless pulp (3)
acrostic (primarily) of Poor And Pointless
14 LEI
Floral garland starts to lower everyone’s inhibitions (3)
acrostic (starts to) of Lower Everyone’s Inhibitions
16 GUTTER
Drain in front of garage say (6)
charade of G (front of Garage) + UTTER (say)
17 AMBER
Brownish-yellow bream swimming (5)
anagram (BREAM)* anagrind (swimming)
18 TRAIL
Path leads to tiny ruin and icy lake (5)
acrostic (leads to) Tiny Ruin And Icy Lake
20 REMIT
Transfer watch back (5)
reversal (back) TIMER< (watch)
another regular reversal to look out for is REMIT/TIMER
21 DITCH
Get rid of dead pine (5)
charade of D (dead) + ITCH (pine)
D for dead is another regular abbreviation that’s used in crosswordland.
23 WARD
Somewhere in hospital, sketch put up (4)
reversal (put up) of DRAW< (sketch)
This is another regular reversal DRAW/WARD (and REWARD/DRAWER)

 

19 comments on “Guardian Quick Cryptic 7 by Carpathian”

  1. Good fun again with some nice clues. Lots of smiles as the answers unfolded, with a particular call out to GUTTER, ATTEMPT for its remarkable acrostic and ENTRAP given I love a good anagram

    I also appreciate the reliably clear and informative commentary from Shanne

    Thanks Carpathian and Shanne

  2. Thanks Shanne.
    I particularly liked the acrostics. If “Today’s Tricks” hadn’t told me to look out for them, I might not have identified them as readily in a regular cryptic. Lovely surfaces with the ”first letter” indicator so apt in the context. Agree with Martyn@1. ATTEMPT was pretty special.

  3. Some confusion about 9a – DOG in the grid, GOD in the explanation.

    The downers require DOG, but the clue seems inconsistent by cryptic standards.

    Another great crossword for this cryptic learner!

  4. Hugh @3 – oops, yes, corrected! It’s not the most helpful, because the definition is setter, maybe for DOG. I wasn’t planning to blog this in the wee small hours, but ended up doing so because I was awake.

  6. Hi Shanne, nice to see a comment from you on the crossword page. I had 6d wrong. Having already got the initial letter from 4a, I saw “buff” and thought of “In the buff” = nude. Then used nude as anagram fodder for the rest of the clue. I wasn’t entirely happy with my answer, but it didn’t clash with the crossers, and, sort of, parsed.

  7. Thank you Shann and Carpathian – I really enjoyed this (and the previous six!), there were three I didn’t fully understand so the above explanations have been very helpful indeed, more knowledge stored for the next one!

  9. Pine and ITCH are two of a group of words all meaning approximately to yearn or long for something, all of which you’re likely to find defining each other in crossword clues. Pine=itch isn’t a very close synonym.

  10. Thank you very much.

    I needed the down clues to help figure out 1a, 8a, 27a.

    19a also needed letters because I was trying to use “Pl” for PLACE.

  11. Another wonderful example, especially the heavy usage of acrostics. With the exception of PAP I thought the words were pretty commonplace too, including BUFF=TONED, which makes untangling the answers much easier than having JORUM moments where you build up what is a plausible answer from the pieces and are bowled over to find that it’s actually a word which matches the definition. The saintly Eileen, despite repeated protestations, has been credited with this.
    One thing to notice with the tougher crosswords, which makes sense, is the use of “synonyms once removed” and pseudo synonyms, as it is not too hard to open the Thesaurus and find a match for the definition which fits the ‘fodder’. Works mostly for the Quick, not always the Cryptic. However, PINE today was straight forward. If you Google “Pine Synonym”, ITCH is there amongst the suggested answers. The Norwegian Blue…dead parrot…in Monty Python, was pining for the fjords.
    Much appreciation to Carpathian and Shanne.

  13. I’ve managed to complete the others in this series but struggled in one or two places with this one so was delighted to find this blog to help me learn. Such fun, can’t wait for next Saturday’s now.

  14. Another half hour of head scratching after Sunday lunch. Managed to complete the grid then headed here to get the thinking behind some of the guesses. Didn’t get ATTEMPT at the first attempt but then had a good groan…

  16. Thanks Carpathian and Shanne
    My daughter, who has never done cryptics before, is really enjoying and getting into these. Today she very nearly finished – I gave her LLAMAS, which enabled her to fill in the ones she had missing.

  17. ranroar@16 – I dug out Chambers to check ETCH, having not really worried about etch being a synonym of corrode, and:

    etch (vi & vt) to design on metal, glass & etc by eating out the lines with an acid; to eat away or corrode.

  18. I’ll post here, for any latecomers, and repost again next week as I think this is a great resource, by Alan Connor, Guardian crossword editor and Everyman setter. It covers many of the clue types which have been appearing in this series of Quick Cryptics and has heaps of links to other articles of his on Cryptic Crosswords for Beginners.

    https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/crossword-blog/article/2024/may/20/cryptic-crosswords-solution-anagrams-clue-letters

  19. VISIT – VI was easy, SIT not so easy.

    New to me: LEI. And REMIT in the verb sense, was only familiar with remit as a noun.

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