A delightful Quiptic from Chandler, with a generous sprinkling of anagrams to get you going and straightforward clueing to help you get near, or over, the finishing line. Bravo to the setter.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Turn aside first signs of demands emerging from lecturer
DEFLECT
A charade of DEF for the initial letters of ‘demands’, ’emerging’ and ‘from’ and LECT.
5 Ordinary fellow is fed rubbish creating infringement on a field
OFFSIDE
A charade of O, F and (IS FED)* with ‘rubbish’ as the anagrind. In footie, you used to be able to explain the offside rule on the kitchen table with a few salt and pepper pots. Not any more.
10 Try, in this place, to be heard
HEAR
Aural wordplay (‘to be heard’) of HERE. This is ‘try’ in its legal sense.
11 Trainee Tom misplaced thing worked on strings
MARIONETTE
(TRAINEE TOM)* with ‘misplaced’ as the anagrind.
12 Thin thread in piece of furniture for displaying things? About right
STRAND
An insertion of R in STAND. The insertion indicator is ‘about’.
13 Denial? It requires breakdown from top to bottom
IN DETAIL
(DENIAL IT)* with ‘requires breakdown’ as the anagrind.
14 Container for documents in short-lived legal event
BRIEFCASE
A charade of BRIEF and CASE.
16 Frightening evidence of injury shown by unknown character
SCARY
A charade of SCAR and Y for the mathematical ‘unknown character’. Y is BFF with X and Z, if you are new to this stuff.
17 Item put on floor kept by daughter and son for forms of medication
DRUGS
An insertion of RUG in D and S. The insertion indicator is ‘kept by’.
19 Trick by Eric upset, say, retired hotel employee
CONCIERGE
A charade of CON, (ERIC)* and EG for exempli gratia reversed. The anagrind is ‘upset’
23 Musical instrument wrongly let in car
CLARINET
(LET IN CAR)* with ‘wrongly’ as the anagrind.
24 A secondary thoroughfare overseas?
ABROAD
A charade of A and B-ROAD.
26 Urge parent developed to get exciting book
PAGE-TURNER
(URGE PARENT)* with ‘developed’ as the anagrind.
27 Firm linked to leading masterstroke
COUP
A charade of CO and UP.
28 Fine point before journalist dined sumptuously
FEASTED
A charade of F, EAST for the ‘point’ of the compass and ED.
29 At home awkward type grips line in a clumsy way
INEPTLY
A charade of IN and L inserted into (TYPE)* The insertion indicator is ‘grips’ and the anagrind is ‘awkward’.
Down
2 Equestrian competitor still on terrace
EVENTER
A charade of EVEN and TER.
3 Early form of insect found in similar valleys
LARVA
Hidden in simiLAR VAlleys.
4 Funny doctor following beginners in children’s orthopaedics
COMEDIC
A charade of C and O for the initial letters of ‘children’s’ and ‘orthopaedics’ and MEDIC.
6 Facilities in France, Germany and Sweden for natural disasters?
FLOODS
An insertion of LOO in F, D and S. The insertion indicator is ‘in’.
7 Place sect transformed in striking display
SPECTACLE
(PLACE SECT)* with ‘transformed’ as the anagrind.
8 Dorothy shortly facing bank gets more eccentric
DOTTIER
A charade of DOT and TIER.
9 Starting point altered for pastime near to tracks?
TRAINSPOTTING
(STARTING POINT)* with ‘altered’ as the anagrind.
15 A German among five bridge players showing enthusiasm
EAGERNESS
An insertion of A GER in ENESS, whose letters are all players in bridge. That could give you a squillion combinations, of course, but the crossing letters and A GER would point you to the obvious synonym.
18 Set free concerning rental agreement
RELEASE
A charade of RE and LEASE.
20 Children with a sign of amusement – or annoyance?
CHAGRIN
A charade of CH, A and GRIN, with an extended definition – in other words, you have to create the definition as ‘[a sign of] annoyance’.
21 Good artist given praise after turn is unhurried
GRADUAL
A charade of G, RA and LAUD reversed.
22 Make certain English nurse is prepared
ENSURE
A charade of E and (NURSE)* The anagrind is ‘is prepared’.
25 Some mature captain’s summary
RECAP
Hidden in matuRE CAPtain.
Many thanks to Chandler for this week’s Quiptic.
Lovely puzzle. I recommend it as a good one for beginners.
Thanks, both.
Thanks Pierre.
I thought this was a lesson in the various ways that abbreviations are clued. It may be a good thing though for newer solvers, as I had to look them up on various cryptic crossword help sites when starting out, and Chandler has demonstrated so many here. Had to learn about bridge players too. But I also realise it’s Chandler’s style to clue lots of single letters and abbreviations, having encountered this before. It’s just not something that appeals to me.
My pick was COUP (even though it’s got an abbreviation in it.) 🙂
That’s a good thought, paddymelon. Part of the learning process for newer solvers is becoming used to each setter’s individual style and getting to grips with the tricks of the trade. Abbreviations are always going to be in the mix, and there are a lot out there. In a Quiptic, you wouldn’t expect any out of the ordinary abbreviations, and I think Chandler has recognised that here. O for ‘ordinary’, F for ‘fellow’, R for ‘right’, D for ‘daughter’, S for ‘son’, CO for ‘company’, plus the country and bridge abbreviations – all ones that are good to tuck away in the memory banks for future puzzles.
Excellent quiptic. Thank you Chandler and Pierre.
I liked this week’s quiptic.I’d planned to quit quiptics for good after last week’s debacle,glad that I stayed for this one.A few abbreviations bothered me,other than it was relatively smooth ⛵️.Thanks Chandler & Pierre👍👍🫶🫶
This was great. I feel bad therefore for raising an eyebrow at 10a – ‘hear’ as the answer and ‘to be heard’ in the clueing. Anyway – a minor quibble, since this was as good a quiptic as it gets.
Thanks Pierre for filling in the gaps in my parsing of some of these. I thought it was a lovely one and would be a perfect “first quiptic” for those who are picking up awareness of clue types etc from the QCs.
As a newbie to all this I had hoped to increase my understanding with the explanations here. Unfortunately for me a number of them left me little the wiser. I find other contributers’ solutions are presented in a much more easy to understand way.
Mac @8: I find myself still in the dark with some clues at times, but I’ve found that people who comment btl tend to be very helpful if I ask about the particular bits that are new/unknown to me.
Thanks Pierre and Chandler – a very nice and pleasant quiptic. Thought Eagerness was clued in an interesting way and the rest all seemed quite straightforward but then again I love a good anagram, especially with a clear anagrind!
I just about managed this, though it took me a while and had to make a few educated guesses. LOI was EVENTER, which I had to google as I’d never heard of it before.
Also in the NHO category is bank=tier, and the abbreviations terrace -> TER, lecturer -> LECT and children -> CH (though all make sense).
Thanks Pierre and Chandler.
@6 scraggs – I’m relieved to read that that troubled somebody else as well, and it put me off writing in HEAR as the answer. In the end I went with WEAR as a synonym of TRY, and as a soundalike of WHERE, before the check button revealed that the first letter was wrong, and it had to be HEAR.
As a brginner i agree toally with @Michelle and the opening comment by Pierre. I got some answers quite quickly, others with patience and really only struggled with 15d and 19a (bridge i know, the compass positions aswell) but was caught out by the , for me, almost random selection….took me ages to work out that was what it was. I had the answer but had to work backwards from there. 19a the EG reversal did for me, again having the answer but the penny didn’t drop until i came here to look. Totally enjoyed this weeks fun, thanks Chandler and Pierre.
@8 Mac, sorry you found my explanations not helpful. Which ones are you struggling with? I will try to elucidate where I can.
I thought that this was a good Quiptic too.
Something I need to link to the Quick Cryptics as I blog them is my summary of the last 6 months, which lists out a number of abbreviations covered in the Quick Cryptics, which does include a number of the abbreviations used in this crossword. (Although I do have to add in some more from Chandler’s puzzle yesterday to my running total – just how to save it so I can find that information for the next 6 monthly challenge.)
Many thanks for the blog Pierre. I wasn’t a fan of HEAR or EAGERNESS for the reasons already stated. The rest was lovely. My favourites were CONCIERGE, MARIONETTE and PAGE-TURNER. My thanks to Chandler too.
A very satisfying quiptic today. This ,and yesterday’s quick cryptic, have given me more confidence. Like others though I didn’t think 10a could be hear ( with heard in the clue) so ended up revealing it !
I always try to finish these crosswords within the day so I can read what is said in this site.
However I can now take my time over Everyman !
As ever thanks to Pierre, and to Chandler for composing a great crossword for my level.
Just wanted to add another note of encouragement to Mac @8 — If you ask specific questions, I all but guarantee you’ll get helpful answers. I sometimes think this site has the only worthwhile comments section on the entire internet.
I was quite a beginner when I first started coming here, and to the degree that I’m not a beginner anymore, the commenters on this site deserve a lot of the credit.
This might be just my weird mind…but regarding 19 across, I wondered whether the charade was Eric + congé? A retired hotel employee?
Loved this one, being an improving Quick Crypticer. Quite a few I got the answer and then had to work out the parsing, but all part of the fun.
I enjoyed this – seemed like a proper quiptic for us beginners – thanks, Chandler. Failed to parse EVENTER, FEASTED and EAGERNESS, though. Thanks for the explanations, Pierre! Please could someone explain in what context “terrace” is abbreviated to TER?
Yes, like others I’m unaware of when terrace is denied by ter., lecturer by lect. and children by ch., though I don’t doubt that they are. Just curious about the actual contexts (I don’t have a Chambers 😉 )
This was an enjoyable, well-pitched puzzle. Thanks both!
*denoted by
I see what people mean about today’s Everyman…blimey.
Ter as an abbreviation for Terrace is to be found in maps, or A-Z atlases, in the same way as St is Street and Ave is Avenue.
RabTheCat, we have a policy of not commenting on other puzzles whose blogs have not been published yet. The Everyman is still a prize puzzle, and the blog won’t appear till next week. I have just written it, but please wait until next Sunday to tell us what you thought.
AP @22 – I have blogged Ter as Terrace as part of the blog for the Quick Cryptics along with st for street, ave for avenue and the rest. I don’t think we’ve had ch for children, but we’ve had a lot of the other genealogy abbreviations, which is where that comes from (along with d for died and daughter, w for wife, h for husband, s for son)
Sorry Pierre, I was being interupted earlier when I posted and didn’t thank you or Chandler.
Thank you Pierre and Shanne! That makes perfect sense.
I echo the positive comments
Thanks Chandler and Pierre
Nice and straightforward, as Quiptics should be.
All very smooth apart from 10 across, which was phrased somewhat inelegantly imho, and initially solved as ‘wear’ as in try/wear one’s patience to avoid having hear as an answer when heard was in the clueing. Pleased to read that several others followed a similar path!
It is probably obvious to others but how are ‘still’ and ‘even’ synonymous in 2 Down? And ‘leading’ and ‘up’ in 27 Across? I’m a crossword newbie and still learning the twists and tricks.
MintTea @31
I hope they’re leading by two, or better still three! = I hope they’re up by two, or better even three!
Hope this helps!
Ted @18 “I sometimes think this site has the only worthwhile comments section on the entire internet.”
I think you’ve been proved right here, thanks to Pierre @25 and Eddie @18 for preempting the questions I cane here to ask – I was really struggling with that parsing of ‘up’. Also thanks to Mac @8 for being the kid to put their hand up in class. (And obviously to Pierre for the blog and Chandler for absolutely nailing the difficulty level)
I can’t remember the last time that I felt this satisfied with a Quiptic. Only one I didn’t get was Eventer, but even that felt like absolutely fair as GK (rather than being an obscure religious thingy or any one of a million plants that I refuse to memorise).
Also ‘A B-Road’ made me audibly groan, which as I understand it is the highest praise possible for a crossword clue
Only got around to this one today (Wednesday) but found it a splendid Quiptic which I was able to do at a steady pace which felt very positive for this improving (I think) beginner. Thanks Chandler.
My only quibble/wobble was 15d with my head going for a V for ‘five’ and NSEW for ‘bridge players’ so ENESS as five bridge players was annoying but I’d seen A GER and the crossers put paid to my initial thinking so there you go 🙂
Thanks Pierre for your explanations.