This is the twenty-third 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.
This week we continue consolidating clue types learned earlier in the series, and with anagrams and hidden words which provide all the required letters, the by now familiar charades, plus the soundalike clues we’ve seen several times already. When I was putting the statistics together I was amused to see that the first Quick Cryptic crossword also used these clue types. And that there were only 3 anagrams compared to 5 charades, 6 hidden and 6 soundalikes.
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, e.g. PASS (qualify) to get PORT (drink) or Get A Good (joke), see below
- anagram *(SENATOR) shows letters in clue being used, see clue below.
- anagrind the anagram indicator (arranged)
- quote marks to show a soundalike , so in the example listed below, Oscar “Wilde” the playwright sounds like WILD (see below)
- 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 www.theguardian.com/crosswords/quick-cryptic/23
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 - Hidden word Answer is hidden in the clue’s words
‘Some have altered meat (4)’ gives VEAL - Charade A combination of synonyms
‘Qualify to get drink for ID (8)’ gives PASSPORT (pass + port) - Soundalike Something that sounds like the answer
‘Excited as Oscar’s announced (4)’ gives WILD
| ACROSS |
||
| 1 |
Piece from Shelley showing underworld (4)
|
HELL
|
|
hidden (piece from) of sHELLey
|
||
| 3 |
Son ridicules loose overgarments (6)
|
SMOCKS |
|
charade of S (son – from genealogy) and MOCKS (ridicules) to give SMOCKS (loose overgarments)
|
||
| 8 |
Influences troublemaker with New Testament book (7)
|
IMPACTS
|
|
charade of IMP (troublemaker) + (with) ACTS (New Testament book) to give IMP ACTS
Books from the Bible often turn up in crosswords, Acts of the Apostles being the 5th in the New Testament (often used as NT, along with OT for the Old Testament).
|
||
| 9 |
Low flying bird (3)
|
OWL
|
|
anagram of (LOW)* with anagrind of flying
|
||
| 10 |
Part of Reading, in essence, shows drab quality (9)
|
DINGINESS
|
|
hidden (part of) reaDING IN ESSence
|
||
| 12 |
Cocktail and a kind of pizza picked up (9)
|
MARGARITA
|
| soundalike (picked up) of “Margherita” (a kind of pizza) and the cocktail, a MARGARITA cocktail | ||
| 14 |
Boy star on the radio (3)
|
SON
|
|
soundalike (on the radio) of “sun” (star)
I’m sure we’ve come across this soundalike before, even if it’s not a soundalike in some accents – but RP (received pronunciation) seems to be the standard
|
||
| 15 |
Somewhat annoying rat, even a thankless so-and-so (7)
|
INGRATE
|
|
hidden (somewhat) of annoyING RAT Even
I’m not sure how common ingrate is, because I’ve come across reading it as schoolboy slang or in older books. Checking, apparently it’s archaic and goes back to the 1100’s.
|
||
| 17 |
Passes on the Spanish fuel (6)
|
DIESEL
|
|
charade of DIES (passes on) and EL (the Spanish – meaning the in Spanish)
Lots of euphemisms for death and dying in the English language, and crossword setters take advantage of them all, and their ambiguity. Here passes on for DIES suggests some sort of deal.
We have discussed the trick of using the definite and indefinite articles (the, a, an) from other languages before – here it’s used again with EL – Spanish for the, but we’ve also seen “un” (“a” or “one” in French) in previous puzzles. You are likely to see “la/le/les” (various forms of “the” in French), “de/des’ (“some” in French) “ein” (“a” or “one” in German), “der/die/das” (various forms of “the” in German), “il” (“the” in Italian – which I know from opera titles).
|
||
| 18 |
Reporter’s dispatched a little cash (4)
|
CENT |
|
soundalike (reporter’s) of “sent” (dispatched) for the small coin
|
||
|
DOWN
|
||
| 1 | We hear this resembles a rabbit’s fur (4) | HAIR |
|
soundalike (we hear this) “hare” (resembles a rabbit)
|
||
| 2 |
Cut last part of Handel work (3)
|
LOP |
|
charade of L (last part of HandeL) + OP (work)
OP for work comes up a lot. It’s short for Opus, and musically a composition is often referred to as an opus.
|
||
| 4 |
A bit of sadomasochism is giving some doubts (10)
|
MISGIVINGS |
|
hidden in (a bit of) sadomasochisM IS GIVING Some
|
||
| 5 |
Illness from water in unhygienic hole – rancid! (7)
|
CHOLERA |
|
hidden in (in) unhygeniC HOLE RAncid
.
|
||
| 6 |
Leaders of Sun paper flog prominent news story (6)
|
SPLASH |
|
charade of S P (leaders of Sun Paper) and LASH (flog)
I don’t think this has come up before in these Quick Cryptics – a partial acrostic in a charade, using the first letter of two words to build a clue. This is common in cryptic crosswords, the use of more than one first letter.
SPLASH in this sense comes from newspaper jargon – the front page splash
|
||
| 7 |
Among surrealists, can Dali seriously shock? (10)
|
SCANDALISE |
|
hidden (among) surrealistS CAN DALI SEriously
From the surface, Dali is a surrealist painter – and is a regular in crosswords as that is a useful group of letters.
|
||
| 10 |
Perturb enraged criminal (7)
|
DERANGE |
|
anagram of (ENRAGED)* with anagrind of criminal
We haven’t had “criminal” yet as an anagram indicator in this series of Quick Cryptics, but it’s really common in the usual 15×15 cryptic crosswords, so much so that occasionally there are comments when a clue looks as if it is using criminal as an anagrind, but criminal is the definition.
|
||
| 11 |
Tickled, Medusa goes wild (6)
|
AMUSED |
|
anagram of (MEDUSA)* with anagrind of goes wild
|
||
| 13 |
Reported impressive exploit in iambs, say (4)
|
FEET |
|
soundalike of (reported) of “feat” (impressive exploit),
iambs, say as an example of FEET, because there are lots of other things feet could be.
Iambs come from poetry to give feet. An iamb is the metrical foot or beat in a poem. Shakespeare often writes in iambic pentameter – 5 feet to the line – and produces a rhythm like speech using this technique.
|
||
| 16 |
We’re told a number dined (3)
|
ATE |
|
soundalike (we’re told) of “eight” (a number)
ATE is another of those really useful words that comes up in crosswords, often building other words. It’s often used in the sense of worry – something ate away at her.
|
Enjoyable puzzle with a couple of trickier (for me) clues. LOI was 13d FEET.
Thanks, both.
Really enjoyed today’s hidden words. Very impressive. I didn’t see 4D was a hidden word until after I got the word and was discussing the work play with my partner.
I needed checks for 1d, 2d and 8a.
I also was beaten by 18a and 13d.
Thanks for the explanations.
I am still confused about the use of “…, say” in a crossword clue.
A good puzzle from Picaroon. As Shanne says, the use of partial acrostic as part of the charade for SPLASH and the use of L from Handel for LOP were a step up but a good learning tool.
My live solve is available at https://youtu.be/heBkVhP1PEM … I’ve made a point of talking through the grammar of the soundalikes as I know people can struggle knowing which is the correct one to put in.
Steffen @3 – sorry – I didn’t explain the “say” in 13d, here and a few other times you see it, it’s indicating a definition by example. Definitions by example often come with a question mark. I’ve added it now.
In this example, there are lots of things that could be FEET, those on the end of our legs, or of furniture legs, or paws for animals – and I’m sure you can think of other examples.
Looking at the clues you found difficult, you had most problems with the soundalikes, where you have to hear the words. In the usual cryptic crosswords, the homophones are usually those that get most comment as they seem to be generally challenging. These were OK for being true homophones – hare/HAIR, feat/FEET, sent/CENT, sun/SON, eight/ATE, Margherita/MARGARITA.
Ty
These explanations are really useful. I couldn’t work out why son was the answer to 14a and I had LOP but didn’t know why. Thank you.
Thanks Shane and Picaroon
Steffen – sound-alikes are some of the most divisive clues with many veteran solvers disliking them and solving them via crossers and guesswork. Look out for the key words (reported, broadcast, on the radio etc.) then mentally change gear to pun-mode. not my favourite sort of clues and now I am off to look at Paul in the prize which will probably feature some outrageous sound-alikes.
Congratulations to all
Nice puzzle with some great
surfaces – again it seemed on the more difficult end. The blog seems to get better each week.
Thanks Picaroon and Shane
Why ‘picked up’ with margarita in 12A?
Beaten by 13D and 18A which are too hard for a crossword like this. Well I would say that!
Sorry Pam Lunn @10 – I spotted that as I was listing out indicators a minute ago, and have updated it.
“Picked up” is a soundalike indicator – so you’re hearing Margarita (cocktail) or Margherita (pizza) as soundalikes (homophones). The clue gives:
Definition (cocktail) soundalike (kind of pizza) indicator (picked up)
“Picked up” as the indicator option for a soundalike is used here as you pick up a pizza or cocktail – so it adds to the surface.
Thanks Shanne for the explanations, and Picaroon for the puzzle. Felt it was a good level for this beginner, but like others the ‘soundalikes’ are the clues which are the most problematic for me with 1d foxing me but guessed from crossers and 13d which I got from ‘feat’ but for some reason I thought ‘iambs’ was a typo of ‘lambs’ (it being the Grauniad 😂) but with no idea why that would then lead me to FEET. Liked the hidden words with MISGIVINGS and DINGINESS being my favourites.
Liked: SCANDALISE, CHOLERA, OWL.
Some toughies: INGRATE, SMOCKS, FEET.
Some of the hiddens were very clever and witty. How do they do it?!
As already said in the comments on the crossword itself this is the first of these that I have really struggled with. Ended up with wrong answers for 14A, 18A, 1D and 13D and they were all soundalikes. For each of those I got the soundalike but then failed to take the last step and make the connection to the correct answer which is mildly annoying to say the least.
Thank you Shanne, it was quite tough this week and it’s really helpful to add more ‘indicators’ to my burgeoning stocks from your great explanations. : )
I thought this was more challenging than most QCs, I only got the partial acrostic ones from the cross letters, but it’s good to learn about the trick on this blog. Absolutely loved some of the hidden words. Thank you Shanne.
Lack of general knowledge forced me to google for 13d, but managed all the others with a bit of thinking.
Thanks both.
Shanne @5: more accurately, what’s going on is there is more than one type of poetic foot: besides iambs, there are dactyls, trochees, anapests, spondees, etc. If the setter had defined “feet” (delightfully misleadingly!) as “metric units,” it wouldn’t have needed the definition-by-example indicator, because that is simply one of the definitions of FEET. In other words, puppy paws and 12-inch lengths and all the other things FEET can mean don’t come into it at all.
As it is, an iamb is a foot, but “iambs” doesn’t mean FEET, it’s just an example of (poetic) feet.
[Shakespeare used the other ones sometimes too. The witches’ chant from Macbeth is the classic example of trochaic tetrameter–four feet per line, two syllables per foot, stress on the first syllable of the foot: “Double, double, toil and trouble / Fire burn and cauldron bubble!” (As opposed to iambic meter, where the stress goes on the second syllable.)]
Got SPLASH purely by guessing – thanks for explaining how it works, Shanne! LOP also I got entirely off the definition. I need to think more broadly about how charades work, I think.
I particularly liked DINGINESS. Also thought that any of the three words in 10d could be an anagrind (am I right about this?) which is confusing but pleasing to me
Aurelia: yes, you’re right that all three words there are common anagrinds. That’s a common trick (though usually the setter manages just two rather than three). Crossing letters will usually help sort it out.
Scandalise was great! Useful to get criminal in the anagrind bank. I was thinking of different words for criminal and totally missed the anagram. Thanks all!
It took me a long time to get started on this one after a couple of small obvious words (hell, owl). But then I found the answer to 11 down and from there on I managed all of it – as I thought- but I put Tens instead of sent so got 13D wrong. But in the end really enjoyable and good practice of charades and soundalikes. Thankyou.
Reported impressive exploit in iambs, say (4)
Not a fan of “In” as a link word being used bi-directionally here. Should really read [DEFINITION] in [WORDPLAY] which being a soundalike would work just as well with FEAT being the answer. Feet for iambs, say was a bit of a stretch, given it’s supposed to be an introductory crossword.
I failed on 13d and also had tens at one point. I would have got it if worded “Reporter dispatched US a little cash”. Probably 🙂
I liked Splash and Smocks as they took a long time and some crossers but that sense of satisfaction when you finally understand the clue is unbeatable!
Yes, a little harder than previous but none the worse for that. I failed on 1dn. Couldn’t separate rabbit from fur – once one can get below the surface the answer can be obvious – but it takes practice!
I’ve enjoyed solving these puzzles. For the soundalikes in 14a and 18a, how do you know which one is right?
Sean @28 – it’s not always easy, particularly in the standard cryptic crosswords, but there is something that helps with these – that the definition is either at the beginning or end of the clue. So:
14a – Boy star on the radio (3)
Boy (SON) is the definition, star (“sun”) is the soundalike, on the radio is the soundalike indicator. Here the star is next to the soundalike indicator, so that is the one that is a soundalike, not the final answer
18a – Reporter’s dispatched a little cash (4)
Reporter’s is the soundalike indicator, dispatched (“sent”) is next to the soundalike indicator, so it is the soundalike, and a little cash (CENT) (at the end of the clue) is the final answer.
In the standard cryptic crosswords, these clues are quite often in the order of
soundalike – indicator – soundalike
and then you have to use the crossers / crossing letters to inform the answers. And occasionally they don’t and there’s outrage in the comments, because hitting the check button is the only way of finding out (which doesn’t work for the Everyman or Prize).
That’s actually the case for 10d – Perturb enraged criminal (7)
There all three words could be anagram indicators as Aurelia @21 points out. I solve in order, so first the across clues then the down, as far as I can (there will be gaps where I’m not sure and wait for any crossing letters – and in tough cryptic crosswords, I’ll have more gaps than answers and have to work out from what I can get). When I reached this clue I had most of the crossers in place, so could see that (ENRAGED)* was the anagram fodder, DERANGE fitted the gaps, and perturb was the best fit for the definition, so wasn’t puzzling out which word was what. But without the crossers, and the helpfulness of the Quick Cryptic setters trying to ensure the definition is obvious, the cryptic grammar is ambiguous.
As a beginner, I truly appreciate the explanations you’re giving here, Shane. And, of course, the puzzle series itself, Picaroon. I only started last week so am alternating between the early ones (to build knowledge) and the recent ones (so I can comment!) and it’s incredibly satisfying when I get them right. Some challenges with this one:
10d – I got this right, but couldn’t for the life of me see why ‘DERANGE’ (my perturbation of ‘enraged’) could be a definition for ‘criminal’. Now I get it: I had the definition and anagrind the wrong way around.
In soundalike clues, knowing which is the definition and which the soundalike. Your explanation @29, Shane, helped alot.
Had to look up ‘iambs’ to find out that ‘foot/FEET’ is another word for this.
I got LOP from the definition and crossers, but it’s great to now understand the OP/opus reference as a standard abbreviation.
With the hidden clues, having a few crossers is immensely helpful as you can start looking for that pattern in the clue and then working out the rest is straight forward.
Thanks again