This is the tenth 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.
Apologies in advance for the typos and mistakes various, particularly underlining, this one is being posted from my phone as I ended up travelling lighter than originally planned.
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 show the letters used in the solution.
- brackets around anagram fodder with an asterisk and anagrind for anagram indicator,
- surface many cryptic clues are written in an English that could only appear in a cryptic crossword – clues with a good surface read as sentences that make sense – often amusing, pointed and/or misleading.
TODAY’S TRICKS from the puzzle https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/quick-cryptic/10
Clues begin or end with a definition of the answer. The rest is one of these:
- Anagram An anagram of the answer and a hint that there’s an anagram
‘Senator arranged crime (7)’ gives TREASON - Double definition Both halves are definitions! ‘Search scrub (5)’ gives SCOUR
- Acrostic The first letters of the answer ‘Initially get a good joke (3)’ gives GAG
- Deletion Remove letters from another word for the answer. ‘Car trip with no parking is bad thing (3)’ gives SIN (SpIN)
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | ALERT |
Later drunk is on the ball. (5)
anagram of *(LATER) indicated by the anagrind (drunk).
|
| 4 | BARGE |
Violently knock into vessel (5)
Double definition a vessel is a BARGE and to violently knock into is to BARGE
|
| 7 | ROUTINE |
Ordinary performance by comedian, say (7)
double definition something that is ordinary is ROUTINE, and a performance by a comedian (for example, hence “say”) is a ROUTINE
|
| 8 | SIR |
Heads of school initially recruit male teacher (3)
acrostic (heads of) School Initially Recruit
|
| 9 | ETCH | New tech to carve a design (4)
anagram *(TECH) anagrind (new)
|
| 10 | COURSE |
Possibly the starter at Aintree ? (5)
double definition a starter is a COURSE of a meal, and Aintree is a raceCOURSE.
|
| 13 | STATUE |
Strangely astute work of art (6)
anagram *(ASTUTE) anagrind (strangely)
|
| 14 | CAME |
Tailless ship of the desert arrived (4)
deletion (tailless) CAMEl
(Ship of the desert)
|
| 16 | SKI |
Almost jump or slide (3)
deletion (almost) of SKIp (jump)
|
| 17 | PROMISE |
Semipro, oddly, shows potential for the future (7)
anagram of *(SEMIPRO) anagrind (oddly)
This time oddly is indicating strangely or similar anagram indicators, not taking odd letters.
|
| 18 | PINES |
Yearns for trees (5)
double definition to pine for something is to yearn for it, and pines are trees.
|
| 19 | MONET | Artist starts to mull over new, exciting techniques (5)
acrostic (starts to) Mull Over New Exciting Techniques |
| DOWN |
|
|
| 1 | AIRLESS |
Cockney’s bald and stuffy (7)
double definition in crosswordland, Cockneys all drop their aitches so hairless (bald) becomes AIRLESS (stuffy)
|
| 2 | ENUNCIATION |
Giving up, ignoring Republican’s way of speaking (11)
deletion (ignoring) the R (from Republican’s) to make renunciation (giving up) become ENUNCIATION
adding later – I didn’t check this at the time, because but R for Republican isn’t in my 1998 Chambers, but it is used by the United States Senate, it does come up in crosswords occasionally.
|
| 3 | TAIL |
Dog – or what might wag (4)
double definition TAILing someone is dogging their footsteps, and a dog wags its TAIL
|
| 4 | BRETON |
Inhabitant of northern France in Brontë novel (5)
anagram *(BRONTE) anagrind (novel)
|
| 5 | RESERVATION |
Maintenance initially ignored in Amerindian territory (11)
deletion (initially ignored) of the p of preservation (maintenance) to give RESERVATION
|
| 6 | EAR |
Starters of eggs and roasted bit of corn (3)
acrostic (starters of) Eggs And Roasted
|
| 11 | EVEREST |
Mountain that’s the world’s highest and harshest with the top hidden (7)
deletion (top hidden) – sEVEREST (harshest)
It’s a down clue, so top indicates the first letter.
|
| 12 | RUMPUS |
Leaders of really uptight military police usually suppress disturbance (6)
acrostic (leaders of) Really Uptight Military Police Usually Suppress
|
| 15 | NORM |
Standard from endless Bellini opera (4)
deletion (endless), the Bellini opera is Norma
|
| 16 | SAP |
Fool getting tree secretion (3)
double definition a SAP is an idiot, and SAP rises in trees in the spring time, hence tapping if birch and other saps
|
Good stuff from Picaroon and Shanne. Thanks both. Monet was my favourite.
Heck, I found this quite tricky. This after I finished the Buccaneer earlier in the day. That was a nice puzzle.
Last week someone was asking about whether there are any videos of experienced solvers doing these, so I recorded my attempt. I couldn’t finish it but rather than prolong the agony of watching a man stumble around a grid pointing a cursor, mumbling incomprehensibly I reveal a couple of answers but hopefully the rest of the video is useful.
I talkthrough my interpretation of the clues afterwards which hopefully align with what Shanne has written here. It can be found here at https://youtu.be/rpCuvBIBVng
@3 interesting video.
I skipped to near the end and I see that your last two were the same as mine. I do think that 2d was a really tough clue for a relatively difficult word
2d was my last one by miles. I was putting the blog together around it hoping light would dawn when finally the penny dropped.
I’ll have a look at the YouTube when I’m home later today/tomorrow. I’m hoping to do some Zoom solving with Steffen next week and I might look at recording that, or not depending on how embarrassing it is to the parties concerned
Fun puzzle, took me a while to work out the two long clues. Even with all the crossers, for 2d I had to use the “go through the alphabet method’ ie E followed by abcdefghijklmn until I could get the answer 🙂
Holy smokes.
I was miles off the pace today. 2d and 5d are mythical, unobtainable answers for me.
Thank you for the blog to explain.
Another one I couldn’t quite finish, had to reveal 3. And for 5d I still couldn’t get it so had to come here for the explanation. EVEREST felt a bit unsatisfying, but I liked AIRLESS and BRETON. New for me: “dog” for to follow, and Norma.
Steffen@7 Last week you were asking about people who solve along to Guardian cryptics. I commented there but I doubt you saw it as I was about 5 days late to the party. Check out Pat Cousins on Youtube.
Thanks all.
For some reason I was stuck on ROUTINE for an age – I was trying to think of something that could be both “ordinary performance” and “a comedian, say”.
I took a break and came back after half an hour, and got ROUTINE almost immediately. Even then, with all the crossers ENUNCIATION (my loi) took a bit more time. I think part of the problem I had is that “giving up” would tend to lead one to “renouncing” rather than “renunciation”, which made the wordplay too difficult for me – I basically saw that ENUNCIATION would fit the crossers and definition, and that adding the “r” would give “renunciation” which would work.
I think that clue was a bit too hard for the Quick Cryptic, although I still enjoyed the puzzle overall.
Thanks to Picaroon and Shanne.
Didn’t get 1d, 2d or 10a but learning tricks and getting better every time. Don’t mind the odd clue being more cryptic, feels like a stepping stone to harder puzzles.
That did seem a tad harder than usual, but I got there in the end. Had to look up Bellini operas to get 15d, so not a reveal exactly but a little soft cheating 😉
Thanks to Shanne for the excellent blog
8. Thank you
Mike posted on the Rules blog:
Mike
June 8, 2024 at 3:58 pm | Edit
I got 2d, but I don’t really understand why. What do Republicans have to do with it? Spent a lot of time looking for the anagram…
I’ve looked up why R=Republican and added it to the information above.
Yep, 2d was a slippery one. As ‘republicans’ is 11, and contains all the crossing letters I probably wasn’t the only newbie looking for an anagram.
The introduction of the Quick Cryptic and Fifteen Squared’s (Eleven Squared?) of it for us newbies is enormously helpful. We enjoy our weekly dabble on the cryptic nursery slopes. Many thanks!
After 20 years or more of trying and failing to understand cryptic crosswords, the quick cryptic is exactly what I need. The explanations given in this blog are similarly a godsend for ones I don’t get and also sometimes I solve a clue but don’t fully understand it.
Liked: EAR and AIRLESS (normally I don’t like the Cockerney clues. Or the ones that reference how a person with a stammer might pronounce a word).
A couple of real toughies this week, but overall way easier than last week’s offering.
Took me a while again (so hardly “quick” for me), but got there apart from 2d, which I appropriately gave up on.