This week’s Quiptic crossword comes from Picaroon, who sets at a range of levels (he set this Saturday’s Quick Cryptic too) and dials the difficulty up and down. The Quiptic is “a web-only, cryptic puzzle for beginners and those in a hurry. It is published every Sunday” and this one can be found here.
Nothing too tricksy or difficult here, pretty much what it says on the tin for a Quiptic.
Usual abbreviations found in the About Fifteen Squared page and in the FAQs
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | CONTESTS |
Challenges criminal trials (8)
|
| charade of CON (criminal) + TESTS (trials)
One of the possibly meanings of CON is that of a criminal, person or act. |
||
| 6 | ABBESS |
Elder sister? (6)
|
| Cryptic definition – sisters in this sense are nuns, and the elder of a group of nuns is an ABBESS | ||
| 9 | UNISEX |
At heart, pronoun is exceptionally inclusive in terms of gender (6)
|
| hidden clue (at heart) in pronoUN IS EXceptionally | ||
| 10 | ROADSHOW |
Howard so excited for travelling entertainment (8)
|
| anagram of (HOWARD SO)* with anagrind of excited | ||
| 11 | UPSETTING |
You said softly, compiling crosswords is distressing (9)
|
| charade of U (you said) P (softly) SETTING (compiling crosswords) to give U P SETTING
adding later – see below p is softly from musical notation, which mostly comes from Italian, piano meaning quiet or soft |
||
| 13 | SATYR |
Stray cuckoo for lecherous woodland god (5)
|
| anagram of (STRAY)* with anagrind cuckoo | ||
| 15 | IGNORE |
Pay no attention to Signora with no clothing and energy (6)
|
| charade of sIGNORa (Signora with no clothing) and E (energy) to give IGNOR + E | ||
| 17 | CHROME |
Letters seen on taps with capital kind of metal (6)
|
| charade of C H (letters seen on taps) + ROME (capital) | ||
| 18 | KENNEL |
Barbie’s beau regularly unveils pet shelter (6)
|
| charade of KEN (Barbie’s beau) and NEL (regularly uNvEiLs) | ||
| 19 | ENTAIL |
Involve English translation of Latin (6)
|
| E (English) + anagram of (LATIN)* with anagrind of translation – to give E NTAIL | ||
| 21 | FLUTE |
Loud old stringed instrument or wind instrument (5)
|
| charade of F (loud) + LUTE (old stringed instrument)
adding later f for loud is another musical instruction – again from Italian, forte for strong. |
||
| 22 | BRASSIERE |
Metal that is extremely rare making a pair of cups? (9)
|
| charade of BRASS (metal) IE (that is) + R E (extremely RarE) and a cryptic definition.
Chemically BRASS is an alloy, not a metal, but metal dealers count it amoung their metals to be reused. adding later – extremely in crosswordese is taking the extremes of a word, so R and E from RarE |
||
| 25 | RESERVES |
Books dealing with what waiter or tennis player does (8)
|
| charade of RE (dealing with) SERVES (what waiter or tennis player does) | ||
| 26 | OPPOSE |
Disapprove of affected behaviour after work (6)
|
| charade of POSE (affected behaviour) + OP (work) – the “after” says to put the components in the order of OP POSE | ||
| 28 | ESTHER |
That lady following Parisian is a Persian queen (6)
|
| charade of EST (Parisian/French for is) + HER (that lady) and the following gives the order of the components.
Esther is the legendary wife of Xerxes 1 or King Ahasuerus – as described in one of the few books of the Bible named after a woman. Parisian is a way of suggesting that the French is used (as is Nice) |
||
| 29 | SWELLING |
Growing roses well in greenhouse? Not entirely (8)
|
| hidden (not entirely) of roseS WELL IN Greenhouse | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | OWN |
Have bagel with starter of nuggets (3)
|
| charade of O (bagel) + W (with) and N (starter of Nuggets)
a bagel is a score in tennis arising when a set is won 6-0 – hence bagel = 0 |
||
| 3 | TASTE |
In art institute, son shows discernment (5)
|
| insertion of (in) S (son) in TATE (art institute) to give TA S TE | ||
| 4 | SEX-STARVED |
Vexed stars possibly desperate for it? (3-7)
|
| anagram of (VEXED STARS)* with anagrind of possibly
the old crossword chestnut of sex = it |
||
| 5 | STRAND |
Bear crossing river in desert (6)
|
| insertion of (crossing) R (river) in STAND (bear) to give ST R AND
desert in the sense of leaving, say Robinson Crusoe on an island |
||
| 6 | AFAR |
A long way off, Nadal turned up (4)
|
| reversal (turned up in a down clue) of RAFA < (Nadal) | ||
| 7 | BOSSA NOVA |
Chief American star in samba style (5,4)
|
| charade of BOSS (chief) + A (American) + NOVA (star) | ||
| 8 | STORYTELLER |
Conservative interrupting small bank clerk, one providing an account (11)
|
| charade of S (small) TELLER (bank clerk) interrupted by TORY (Conservative) to give S TORY TELLER | ||
| 12 | PAINKILLERS |
Numbers of pearls I link clumsily (11)
|
| anagram of (PEARLS I LINK)* with anagrind of clumsily
PAINKILLERS are numbers because they numb. |
||
| 14 | RHINESTONE |
Hero sent in rocks – this is a fake rock (10)
|
| anagram of (HERO SENT IN) with an angrind of rocks | ||
| 16 | NINETIETH |
He and I intent to organise important birthday (9)
|
| anagram of (HE & I INTENT)* with anagrind of to organise | ||
| 20 | TRUSTS |
Expects disastrous Tory PM to admit fault, ultimately (6)
|
| insertion of (to admit) T (faulT, ultimately) in TRUSS (disastrous Tory PM) to give TRUS T S | ||
| 23 | IMPEL |
Urge that is gripping politician on left (5)
|
| insertion of MP (politician) in IE (that is) to give I MP E + (on) L (left) | ||
| 24 | OVER |
Topless fan in part of cricket match (4)
|
| decapitation of (topless) lOVER (fan) | ||
| 27 | SIN |
Wrong function for a mathematician (3)
|
| double definition – SIN is short for sine – a mathematical function |
Sheer delight, thanks Picaroon. Yes, it was quick, like it says on the tin, but almost every clue brought a smile. PAINKILLERS was my favourite.
Edit: I didn’t pinch “on the tin” from you Shanne — I just noticed it 🙂
As it should be-a quiptic.I’m glad someone in the editorial has taken note of grouses voiced in past posts about mislabelled quiptics.This one was enjoyable and was able to complete it.👍👍
Absolutely brilliant quiptic! Thanks Picaroon and Shanne.
Painkillers was the first time I have ever remembered the the classic crossword number trick so I’m going to be pleased about that for the rest of the day 🙂
Huh, I’d assumed bagel = o because of its shape.
Thanks for the write-up Shanne, and thanks to Picaroon for a fun puzzle.
I’m with you, Deebster. Never heard of the tennis connection.
I’ve heard of the tennis connection, but only because someone brought it up here recently.
I didn’t know Raphael shortened to Rafa, I thought it would be RAF, so I used the A at the start of the clue to justify it’s inclusion.
Good Quiptic, thanks both.
Shanne, Deebster, GDU and nicbach. I’d never heard of the tennis score, and like Deebster I assumed it was the shape. O for bagel has been used in cryptics before. But now I know you can get golden and triple bagels, and even the verb bagel/led. However, it’s still referring to the O shape of a bagel.
paddymelon @7 I only knew bagel came from tennis because it’s come up before in these blogs, there was a discussion about it a few months back.
nicbach @6 – he’s Rafael Nadal, but he’s called Rafa pretty universally.
He even has RAFA written on the back of his tennis shoes. Just in case they get lost, perhaps.
What a peach. SEX-STARVED and PAINKILLERS glorious.
Ta Picaroon & Shanne.
In 5d, I arrived at STRAND by inserting T (for a type of crossing) and R (for river) into SAND (for desert) and then wondered for a while how STRAND can mean “bear”. But then I noticed that it is actually an R inserted into STAND and the answer means “desert”. 😊
A very enjoyable Quiptic which I would recommend to beginners.
Favourites: STORYTELLER, TRUSTS (a very pertinent surface!), CHROME (loi).
New for me: SIN = abbreviation of sine.
I never heard of bagel being a tennis score of 6-0. In the past, when it appeared in crossword clues, it always seemed to be because of the bagel shape being like a zero/0.
Thanks, both.
Gliddofglood@9. On the back of Rafa’s tennis shoes, just so they don’t go AFAR? 🙂
Sorry for a stupid question – made way to quiptics from beginners series…
Why is iover fan?
Really enjoyed this one, but 24 down couldn’t parse, guessed [c]over was somehow to fan
Lovely stuff. I’m another who hadn’t heard of the tennis reference for bagel, but all good. Another to try and remember for future such instances.
PAINKILLERS was quick to go in after missing the ‘numbers’ meaning in one of the recent cryptics (Thursday or Friday?)
Rockhoppers @14 I assume that’s a typo and should be lover = fan.
Sorry, Rockhoppers @14 it’s lower case L not capital I/i, so LOVER for a fan. (There’s a utility for producing these crossword blogs, so I didn’t go into the coding to score through the L). Did the other trick of just capitals for the letters being used.
Doh. Thank you. Should have figured that one out myself
Thank you Shanne for another excellent blog. A couple of small things I’m not getting re 11A and 21A: how do I get P from “softly”, and F from “loud”? I’m just missing why.
Jaytee53 @18
It’s musical notation in both cases: p for piano, meaning played softly, f for fortissimo = loudly (from memory, hopefully I’ve got that right).
Worth keeping in mind as these tend to come up with some regularity.
Perfectly pitched. PAINKILLERS was my COD, but there was much else to enjoy.
Jaytee53@18 They are abbreviations of the musical direction terms, p for piano, meaning softly and f for forte meaning loudly. ( or even pp, pianissimo, very softly or ff, fortissimo, very loudly.)
(Musicians: feel free to correct me, it is a long time since my music lessons)
Loved this puzzle, finished with time to do some gardening.
Thanks to Picaroon and Shanne
Scraggs @19 and Chardonneret @21, Thank you, that makes sense.
Chardonneret @21 – yes, forte = f so I stand slightly corrected, fortissimo being ff as you rightly say.
Yes, a 6-0 set is a bagel (and has been called that since at least the 1980s when I started watching tennis), and yes, it’s called that because a zero looks like a bagel. I’m guessing the term is an American one (we make more bagels over here than you do). More recently, by extension, they’ve started calling a 6-1 set a breadstick. Wonder if that one will find its way into crosswordese at some point…
Gliddofgood@9 & @paddymelon@13 – You can never be too careful :
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/sandy-irvine-body-found-everest
Somebody please teach me how to imbed links on an Android tablet .
Ricardo @25 – same way as on my Android phone I guess? by using the link button above the box. Find what you want to link to, click share on the link page and choose clipboard – go back to this page, highlight what you want the embedded link to say, click on the link button, paste in the link from the clipboard – and remember to wipe the https:// because you’ll have it with the link.
The only way I can make enough space when I’m posting on the phone is put a load of spaces / enters / returns in above where I want to put the link and then take them out when I’m done.
I’ve added in the p and f derivations from above, and corrected my typo that I spotted.
A perfect Quiptic. My friend who has been doing the Quick Cryptics since they started is now solving these as well and will love this one. My favourites were SWELLING and those identified by AlanC @10. Many thanks to Shanne for a very comprehensive blog and to the Pirate for all the fun ☠️.
Hello Shanne, I’ve started doing the Quiptic now (really enjoying them!) as well as the Quick Cryptic – it’s all your tips from the latter that have enabled this so thank you. Great to see fifteen squared available here too, there were a couple where I didn’t fully understand the workings but I do now. Thank you Shanne and thank you Picaroon.
Like this?
Yaaaay! Thank you Shane@26. I think leaving all those spaces made the difference. Great blog too.
Hurrah !! Success yesterday ( with quick cryptic ) and today. Picaroon is such a great setter, pitching clues across the various degrees of difficulty. And Shanne’s analyses ( plus comments in these blogs) are invaluable.
I just wonder when you get time to rest !
Holly Anderson @30 – I only blog the Quiptic every 4 weeks and on this system it is so much quicker to put together a blog.
Thanks Picaroon and Shanne
Generally excellent, but I baulked at 11a. “You said” implies the YOU pronunciation, but the U in UPSETTING isn’t pronounced like that. I suppose you could argue that it’s only to give the U letter, but it still grated.
I was not quite in the right frame of mind when doing this and made parts of this approachable puzzle difficult for myself. An interesting lesson
Thanks Picaroon amd Shanne
This was a great Quiptic, the level set was excellent throughout in my opinion (speaking as an improving beginner coming through from the Saturday Quick Cryptics). Like many I went with bagel as shape rather than a tennis connection which was new to me. Just had a mighty DOH! reading the blog as I’d struggled to understand num-bers for PAINKILLERS rather than nummers LOL 😂.
Thanks Shanne for your explanations and Picaroon for the puzzle; double plus good this w/e from the Picaroon with yesterdays QC and this Quiptic.
Didn’t do this yesterday so as to save it for work today. They were going in pretty quickly until I got stuck on a few at the end. Ended up with just 5d left but I just couldn’t see it.
Favourites were SEX-STARVED, PAINKILLERS and BRASSIERE. thoroughly enjoyable.
Thanks Shanne and Picaroon.
Smooth as usual. Thanks
Couldn’t finish this because I had MOTHER for 6a, not ABBESS – and it was such an obviously correct answer that I didn’t question it 🙁
Altreus @37 that’s the problem with cryptic clues, they can be ambiguous. I thought ABBESS as I read through, but also cryptic clues, will wait for crossers to confirm.
Don’t understand 26A; why does “work” = OP? Got it anyway once I’d filled in all the crossing clues but still don’t know why it’s right.
Thecommexokid @39 (what does that mean?)
Short for “opus”, or “work”. The plural is “opera”, which you have probably heard of 🙂