Quiptic 1,288 by Pasquale

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Lovely Quiptic from Pasquale, who produces a range of puzzles at different levels.  The crossword can be found here

Lots of reasonably straightforward clues here, which I hope will hit the spot for other Quiptic solvers.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1 DESIST
Restrain sides getting disorderly – start to talk (6)
anagram of (SIDES)* with anagrind getting disorderly to give DESIS + T (start of talk)

conversation below – Those cakes are for later, desist/restrain from eating them before
4 ODIOUS
Awful old Democrat, one old American (6)
charade of O (old) D (Democrat) I (one) O (old) US (American) to give O D I O US
9 AMEN
Word of prayer in lamentations (4)
hidden (in) in lAMENtations
10 BOOKKEEPER
Accountant or librarian? (10)
double definition – an accountant is a BOOKKEEPER in the accounting sense, while a librarian looks after books.
11 REGALE
Entertain king, say, with beer (6)
charade of R (king) EG (say) with ALE (beer) to give R EG ALE
12 TRACTION
Try endless fighting to gain grip (8)
charade of TR (TRy endless) + ACTION (fighting) to give TR ACTION
13 AT ONE TIME
Formerly having to make amends with the enemy (2,3,4)
charade of ATONE (to make amends) with TIME (the enemy) – to give AT ONE TIME

 

TIME as the enemy comes up regularly in crosswords, various sources are being given for the original quotation
15 TRAD
Valuable violin not primarily needed for jazz (4)
deletion of first letter (not primarily needed) of sTRAD (Stradivarius – valuable violin) to give TRAD
16, 17 LOST IN THE WASH
Like King John’s jewels – or maybe the odd sock? (4,2,3,4)
double definition – famously King John lost part of his train of wagons and equipment in the Wash, a big bay on the East of England, in 1216.  There is a chance that a dig to check the area for archaeology before a solar farm is built may discover some of these jewels this summer.
21 ASPIRANT
One hopeful partisan in action (8)
anagram of (PARTISAN)* with anagrind in action
22 LADLED
Boy showed the way – served out in kitchen? (6)
charade of LAD (boy) and LED (showed the way) to give LAD LED
24 COME ACROSS
Run into room, access being organised (4,6)
anagram of (ROOM ACCESS)* with anagrind of being organised
25 PORT
Left drink after end of feast? (4)
double definition – in sailing PORT is the left hand side of the boat when facing towards the bow and traditionally PORT is the drink handed around at the end of a feast
26 TISANE
Drink spilt in seat (6)
anagram of (IN SEAT)* with anagrind of spilt – Hercule Poirot drank TISANEs in the Agatha Christie books.
27 SETTER
Dog wise person keeps dry (6)
insertion (keeps) of TT (dry – as in teetotal) in SEER (wise person) to give SE TT ER,  this time clued as the dog, not the person setting the puzzles.
DOWN
1 DAMPEST
Mad pets running around, most wet (7)
anagram of (MAD PETS)*  anagrind running around
2 SENNA
Princess’s climbing plant (5)
reversal (climbing in a down clue) of ANNE’S< (Princess’s)
3 SUBJECT
What may start a sentence in English at school, say (7)
double definition – English at school could be a SUBJECT and in some cases the SUBJECT can start a sentence – as in: The man ran away.
5 DIKTAT
Order from Richard, reportedly rubbish (6)
charade of DIK (Richard – Dick – reportedly) and TAT (rubbish) to give DIK TAT
6 OVERTHROW
Careless incident on cricket field bringing defeat? (9)
double definition with OVERTHROW (defeat) being straightforward and OVERTHROW as a cricketing term for an additional run being scored by a batter because the ball wasn’t collected by a fielder (nope, I looked it up too)
7 STEROID
Editor’s written about body-builder (7)
anagram of (EDITORS)* with anagrind of written about to give the body building drug (although as I kept pointing out to students, body-building STEROIDs are only one example, I inhale asthma steroids twice a day).
8 CONTAMINATION
Pollution in country getting a thousand in disorderly action to start with (13)
charade of CONTAMI [disorderly (ACTION)* around M (thousand)] NATION (country) to give CONTA(M)I NATION
14 NASTINESS
Isn’t a horrible head showing spite? (9)
charade of anagram of (ISN’T A)* to give NASTI + NESS (head) to give NASTI NESS
16 LASH OUT
The French female to yell and spend a lot (4,3)
charade of LA (the French female) and SHOUT (to yell) to give LA SH OUT

seeing queries on this – it’s British English, and we lash out when we go on a spending spree, as well as splash out.
18 HOLY SEE
In broadcast completely understand the Vatican (4,3)
soundalike (to borrow from the Quick Cryptics) indicated by in broadcast of “wholly see” (completely understand) for one of the names of the Vatican – with see as in diocese.
19 SHEARER
Football pundit gets one woolgathering (7)
double definition – Alan SHEARER is a football pundit, these days, he used to play, and a sheep SHEARER gathers wool – with misleading intention from woolgathering which usually means day dreaming.
20 FALCON
Female, a learner needing to study a bird (6)
charade of F (female) A (from the clue) L (learner) + (needing) CON (to study) to give F A L CON
23 DEPOT
What heavy drinker did when turning up in bus station? (5)
reversal (when turning up – in a down clue) of TOPED< (what heavy drinker did)

 

30 comments on “Quiptic 1,288 by Pasquale”

  1. A much better offering than last week.Managed to fill in all save a few like diktat, setter and trad.

  2. Made steady progress with no great dramas, despite a couple of references I did not know. I will try to remember TIME

    Thanks Pasquale and Shanne

  4. Pretty straightforward, tho did wonder about 1ac, can’t think how to substitute def and answer.

  6. grantinfreo @4 Those cakes are for later, desist/restrain from eating them now? I’d prefer refrain.

  7. Lovely write-in. Interesting story about King John. Favourites were CONTAMINATION and HOLY SEE. There is also a probably accidental Nina of SCATH, alternative spelling of Scathe, across the 6th row.

    Ta Pasquale & Shanne.

  9. I enjoyed this, despite there being a good number of references/answers that I’d nho: SENNA, TISANE, TOPED, King John’s Jewels, LASH OUT meaning “spend a lot” (splash out, yes, but around here lash out means to try to hit someone).

    Also spent a bit of time trying to convince myself that tale (“drink after end of feast”) could mean left before the penny droppped on PORT.

    OVERTHROW took an age, as I’m not familar with the cricketing term, and that led to me loi TRAD – I had Stradivarius is mind from the first reading of the clue, but hadn’t thought to shorten it to Strad,

    Favourites were ODIOUS and LADLED.

    Thanks Pasquale and Shanne.

  10. A great puzzle for the less experienced with some clever definitions but I have NEVER heard anyone in the UK use lash out instead of splash out for spending. I’ve only ever heard it used to mean lose your temper

  12. Didn’t know OVERTHROW caused an extra run to be scored, just pictured it as an over-energetic throw that caused a bit of a scramble at the receiving end. Works either way I suppose.

  13. Hours later, thanks Remus and Shanne; yes, desist is reflexive, as in restrain yourself; and intransitive as in desist or refrain from; (agree, gladys, I’d never say restrain from). But hey ho, I wouldn’t hang the Don over it, he’s usually pretty gramm.

  14. Really hoping the Wash will remain undisturbed as a unique tidal area which currently supports thousands of wading birds.
    I did though enjoy this quiptic and only had a couple of reveals ( contamination and , annoyingly as an avid birdwatcher, falcon ). In spite of no football interest I managed to get Shearer
    And pleased to complete the whole quick cryptic last night
    Thank you Carpathian, Pasquale and Shanne

  15. Inge Shepherd @10 and TanTrumPet @9 I did check and LASH OUT is in the BRB (Chambers – the Big Red Book) as spend a lot. Going on the lash is going out on a spend-y drinking spree and I’ve heard people say, in that situation, “How much did you lash out on the round?”

  16. Hadn’t heard the story about King John, so LOST etc wasn’t straightforward, and am unfamiliar with LASH OUT = spend. As has been said by Inge @ 10, I associate it with loss of temper or verbal outburst at someone. Still, it wasn’t a huge leap to arrive at the answers, and this was an enjoyable and thankfully well-pitched Quiptic puzzle. Very welcome after last week.

  17. Liked TRAD, SETTER, STEROID, DEPOT

    1a. DESIST. For me, Refrain is better than Restrain.
    25a. PORT. I believe the tradition is to pass the drink withershins (a fine word I’ve not seen in a crossword yet).
    26a. TISANE. A new word for me, but then I’ve not read Agatha Christie.

    Thanks Pasquale and Shanne.

  18. Fervently agree, Holly @14. [Our Aunty (ABC) did a series of programmes on the North-South Flyway, a huge chain of tidal washes, under constant threat of ‘development’, that sustain millions of migratory birds]

  19. Thankyou for the entertaining crossword and explanation…I could not see Anne’s climbing in 2d. Would not have guessed toped as a word but filled in depot anyway – one of the few words i’d never heard of in these crossword. Now I will have to try a full fat cryptic this week due to hot weather giving plenty of spare time to puzzle.

  20. LOST IN THE WASH: Not just King John… It was 6 years after I left home (and no longer had my laundry done by mum) that I read The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams. You may remember that the series revolves around 42 being the answer to the ultimate question about life, the universe, and everything. But what was the question? Anyway, I’d been saving my odd socks for a year (you never know when you’ll get a match) and when I finally decided to bin them there were seven. Inspiration, if that was the average per year then I had discovered the Ultimate Question: Why is there always one odd sock?

  21. Was held up by OVERTHROW as I had pegged “Careless” as the definition, and assumed “incident on cricket field” was a little bit of misdirection, where the incident was merely an “over”, rather than an actual incident. I put OVERSIGHT in despite not working out how defeat would slot in.

    Such was the way of it with this one – Pasquale has me hunting all over the place. Superb Monday morning entertainment, ta Shanne and Pasquale!

  22. For 2D, there’s also a princess Agnes, and there’s a strawberry variant called Senga, so I think that would also be a reasonable solution instead of SENNA.

    Thanks S&B

  23. Thanks Shanne for the clear explanations. I managed the puzzle without referring here but there were a couple of things which I didn’t understand so came to check – like I’ve never heard of the word TOPED, but I’d guessed DEPOT from crossers and bus station; and I didn’t spot PORT as double definition and was trying to see a charade which had T at end due to ‘end of feast’ but couldn’t figure POR but guessed PORT form crossers 😄🤦‍♂️
    Great Quiptic though, thanks Pasquale

  24. Enjoyed this one, managed to complete it but struggled with deinfinitions of 27A (TT) meaning dry; 26A Tisane (never heard of this tea) and also 23D TOPED (to drink heavily). Thanks for a fun puzzle and for the explanations.

  25. I guess I’m alone in finding this really difficult. 6 words I’d never heard of before: STRAD (aware of Stradivarius but never heard it shortened), TISANE, DIKTAT, NESS, CON and TOPED. Also unaware of a former king losing some jewelry in a place I’ve never heard of. Every time I feel I’m getting better at these a puzzle like this comes along to put me back in my place.

    Thanks both.

  26. Shaun @25 – NESS for head and CON (and “den” to study) are worth remembering as they are used a lot – just haven’t come up in the Quick Cryptics so far. STRAD is around too – as a reversal for DARTS.

    TOPED – he was an old toper is more common, but the verb is around.

    TISANE is a flashy word for a herbal tea, which I knew, but I really did know the word from the Hercule Poirot books.

    DIKTAT used to be around more, but it is used.

    More about the story of King John – which I knew but I know esoteric bits of history, and used to spend the odd weekend on the Wash (for my parents to sail)

    It does get easier, as we file away these little snippets and add them up.

  27. Shaun @25 You’re not alone here, I also struggled with a lot of those (although I had encountered CON in a couple of crosswords before, so agree with Shanne @26). It does definitely feel a bit brutal when there’s general knowledge that you just don’t have, especially when most of the other clues went straight in.

    Guessed SENNA from the word play, I swear one day I’m going to have to buy a big book of plants and just sit down and memorise them. I never had a chance with TRAD, not only is the shortening of Stradivarius new to me, but also the link to jazz – it’s way more linked with climbing than music to me.

    Did like LADLED – I always enjoy it way to much when a clue messes with the way a word sounds like that. Also like that we can basically have the clue for REGALE again with only a small change to the text (Entertain king, say, with drug for REGAL+E)

  28. Finally gave up on this after randomly looking over it when time allows throughout the week. A better outing than those for the two weeks prior but still managed less than half. Probably should have gotten one or two more as usual – 16+17A and 27A being two that spring to mind – but didn’t write them in.
    Will keep trying but seem to find the move up from the Quick Cryptic which I can usually do with very little fuss in a sitting to the Quiptic pretty damned hard.

  29. @Shaun no you’re not alone! @Holly Anderson speaking of “unique tidal areas”, I am in one. I speed through a Quick Cryptic one week then fall flat on a Quiptic; another week I will take forever on a Quick, and…well you get my drift – which I hope will desist or I may end up in a depot backwards.

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