This is the thirty-eighth 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 – those rules include not posting solving times. This puzzle can be found here.
Following a number of comments we now hide the answers and the wordplay descriptions too. To find that hidden information, click on “Details” and it will pop up. The definition is in bold and underlined, the indicator is in red. (And as of 3 January, there’s an Expand All Button, that I’m adding trying to break this before going live tomorrow.)
This week we have a return of Chandler to the Quick Cryptic, his 4th puzzle in this slot. He is a regular setter in the Quiptic slot, who has set an occasional Cryptic at the Guardian. He is changing up the clues this week, so today we see anagrams, acrostics, decapitations and reverse hidden clues, all helpfully have the letters provided, giving solvers a foothold. It’s only the second time we’ve seen decapitations and reverse hidden clues.
There is a summary of the tricks used in the first six months here and a recent Guardian Crossword blog called the ultimate beginner’s guide has tips which may be useful for some solvers.
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
- indicators are in red – adding later and some of these are split.
- CAPITALS to indicate which bits are part of the answer, e.g. some haVE ALtered meat, Get A Good,
- anagram *(SENATOR) shows letters in clue being used, see clue below.
- anagrind the anagram indicator (arranged)
- decapitation – losing the first letter so tALE (a story) – tale becomes ALE (beer)
- reversal – by using the < symbol – so below: vieTNAm < hides ANT (insect) reversed.
- CAD or clue as definition– where the whole clue gives the definition, sometimes called an &lit.
- DBE or defintion by example – e.g. where a dog might be clued as a setter – often using a question mark, maybe, possibly or e.g. to show that this is an example rather than a definition.
- 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/38 – because the clues have moved on from the clue descriptions below, I am now adding more to the descriptions above.
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 - Acrostic The first letters of the answer
‘Initially get a good joke (3)’ gives GAG - Hidden reversal Answer defined and hidden backwards
‘Insect returns in Vietnam (3)’ gives ANT - Decapitation Answer is another word without first letter
‘Beer in story without intro (3)’ gives ALE
| ACROSS |
Click on “details” to see the solutions | |
| 1 |
Food in places to sit when overlooking front (4)
|
EATS
|
|
decapitation (overlooking front) of sEATS (places to sit)
|
||
| 3 |
One with deadly aim leads to some not invading places easily reached (6)
|
SNIPER
|
|
acrostic of (leads to) Some Not Invading Places Easily Reached</details
|
||
| 8 |
Deficient and being inactive with last of managers gone (7)
|
LACKING
|
|
decapitation (with last of managerS gone) of sLACKING (being inactive) – the instruction here is to remove the S, the last letter of managerS. This is the sort of instruction you’ll find in full-fat cryptics where the letter to be removed or added could be anywhere in the answer.
|
||
| 9 |
Antlered creature with no end of fans gets label (3)
|
TAG
|
|
decapitation of (with no end of fanS) – so sTAG (antlered creature) minus the S (end of fans) removed (with no)
|
||
| 10 |
Gourmet so excited in place for visitors to stay (5-4)
|
GUEST-ROOM
|
|
anagram of (GOURMET SO)* with anagrind of excited
|
||
| 12 |
Criticise diet range in a poor state (9)
|
DENIGRATE
|
|
anagram of (DIET RANGE)* with anagrind of in a poor state
|
||
| 14 |
Sailor has some other attempt making comeback (3)
|
TAR
|
|
hidden reversal (some … making comeback) otheR ATtempt < Tar is one of the many, many words for sailor that comes up in cryptic crosswords – apparently so called for the tar covered tarpaulin they used to keep dry and the tar used in their pigtails to hold them in place.
|
||
| 15 |
Exulted dancing at lodge (7)
|
GLOATED
|
|
anagram of (AT LODGE)* with anagrind of dancing.
|
||
| 17 |
Trick duly enraged lots undergoing desperate economies for starters (6)
|
DELUDE
|
|
acrostic (for starters) of Duly Enraged Lots Undergoing Desperate Economies
|
||
| 18 |
Mistake ignoring liberal in part of church (4)
|
APSE
|
|
decapitation of (ignoring Liberal) lAPSE (mistake – lapse) removing L for liberal as in political parties (it’s in Chambers).
|
||
|
DOWN
|
||
| 1 |
Devices used by anglers right away to get slender fish (4)
|
EELS
|
|
decapitation of (right away) rEELs (devices used by anglers) with R (right) removed (away)
|
||
| 2 |
Natural contraction elicited in part on reflection (3)
|
TIC
|
|
reverse hidden (in part on reflection) eliCITed<
|
||
| 4 |
Ignore a tot that’s disturbed one involved in making deals (10)
|
NEGOTIATOR
|
|
anagram of (IGNORE A TOT)* with anagrind of that’s disturbed
|
||
| 5 |
Help too for replacing cavity on a road (7)
|
POTHOLE
|
|
anagram of (HELP TOO)* with anagrind of for replacing
|
||
| 6 |
Principally, ruler expected gains in most efficient system of government (6)
|
REGIME
|
|
acrostic of (principally) of Ruler Expected Gaines In Most Efficient
|
||
| 7 |
Aged design possibly making one emotionally detached (10)
|
DISENGAGED
|
|
anagram of (AGED DESIGN)* with anagrind of possibly making
|
||
| 10 |
Military officer starts to get every name entering regiment at last (7)
|
GENERAL
|
|
acrostic of (starts to) Get Every Name Entering Regiment At Last
|
||
| 11 |
Some cadet I’d encouraged in turn and corrected (6)
|
EDITED
|
|
hidden reverse (some … in turn) caDET ID Encouraged <
|
||
| 13 |
Lazy rebel disillusioned somewhat after revolution (4)
|
IDLE
|
|
hidden reverse (somewhat after revolution) rebEL DIsillusioned <
|
||
| 16 |
Leading place to pick up bus passengers lacking in sun (3)
|
TOP
|
|
decapitation of (lacking in Sun) sTOP (place to pick up bus passengers) – S for Sun is also in Chambers and is another regular crossword abbreviation found in crosswords
|
Ha! A couple of clue types that I find quite difficult- reverse hidden and decapitation clues.
A couple of nice surfaces with ticks against DENIGRATE and GLOATED
Thanks Chandler and Shanne
Tricky in places, even with the anagram indicators which appeared to be wordy, for replacing, possibly making, in a poor state, that’s disturbed……..
and the decapitation indicators didn’t necessarily tell you to first think of a synonym and then delete the first letter of that word to find the answer, the exception being in the clue for FOOD, overlooking front. and that had its own complexity in the interpretation/misdirection of overlooking. If these were part of a regular cryptic, without the preamble signposting the clue types, they may have been more difficult to spot.
Certainly a couple of trickily worded clues there from Chandler.
My livesolve talkthrough of the puzzle available over at https://youtu.be/wy-mmFpMivU providing tips on how to approach the solve.
Hopefully it supplements Shanne’s blog which has been excellent and I’m sure has taken a huge investment of time and effort. Merry Christmas everybody!
Lovely puzzle.
@3 I agree that it was very useful to know what clue types we were looking for. I have definitely benefited from practising those decapitations and reverse hidden.
The layout of the clues on the blog is very helpful for consolidation after doing the crossword – some of the answers I had put in correctly but my parsing of the clues had been woolly.
Thank you for this excellent crossword and blog. Merry Christmas
I’m really enjoying these Quick Cryotjcs. I’ve done them all (yay!), and as a newbie, it’s only recently that I’ve been able to do them totally ‘unaided’. One of my Saturday morning highlights!
This really cheered me up after two days of dismal failure: completed and fully parsed. It was good to have some practice with hidden reversals and decapitation, both of which often pass me by in the regular cryptics.
Very enjoyable. Liked how the decapitations were signalled. The NW corner was initially tricky for some reason and was last ones in for me. Thanks Chandler for the grid and Shanne for blog.
HG @4, you completed this puzzle much more fluently than I did, especially the NW corner. My excuse is that I always try not to read what the clue types are, so as paddymelon says @3 it was quite difficult to spot the word play.
I didn’t get APSE, not having heard of it, but I’m sure I’ll see it again in another crossword!
@10 Monkey – that seems a decent excuse to me. Think I said on the TAR clue that the reversed hidden was hard to spot because the hidden and reversed indicators were separated. Certainly agree it would have been a harder puzzle without knowledge of the four clue types.
HG @12, Monkey @10 – I do look at the clue types because I solve when the crossword goes live to get the blog up early and it makes solving quickker.
I picked up that several of the indicators are split – you can see the red appearing in several places above. It happens in full-fat Cryptics too, so I don’t think it’s unfair, but it’s a new trick to learn.
This crossword was a real education, but I managed to solve without help. Quite a bit of guesswork involved and now I’m going to read Shanne’s blog!
Yes, Shanne, that’s one of the nice things about Quick Cryptics – as a more experienced solver I can choose to ignore the helpful flagging up of clue types. Usually, that doesn’t slow me down much, but today it did. Some of today’s clues are good examples of slightly trickier word play, as the indicators of the “tricks” are quite well hidden. The series of Quick Cryptics is well worth tackling in sequence; most of the early ones were more straightforward in their clues. Today’s was more typical of a Quiptic or Cryptic or Prize or Everyman, and it wouldn’t surprise me if some people found it difficult.
Well done, Jen @14.
Well done Jen @14
Amma @8 – the Paul from Thursday and the Picaroon from Friday were on the tough side. There was some chat about grading puzzles by difficulty on the last General Chat thread, saying that we have had a lot of middling difficulty puzzles in the Cryptic slot for a while with only occasional easy or difficult ones. Those two were chewier than the usual levels we’re getting.
I thought this was a lovely QC, the reversals and decapitations made it more challenging than usual perhaps for beginners. Thank you Shanne for the blog and especially the line about not posting solving times!.
Thanks Monkey @ 16. Thanks Shanne @ 17 :-).
Found this a bit harder than the last couple of weeks, but still managed to finish. Slight grumble about 1a, is “eats” really a synonym of “food”? “Feeds” I could understand. Maybe it’s just not a word I use personally.
Thought TIC was clever.
Thanks Shanne and Chandler.
George Nixon @11: in a standard cruciform (i.e. cross-shaped) church, the APSE is the part near the “top” of the cross (behind the altar); the nave is the part near the bottom (where most of the pews are); and the transepts are the arms of the cross (home to most of the rest of the pews). In crosswords, apse and nave are regulars, worth learning. You will likely never see the word transept again.
Oh no @20: think along the lines of “Hey mom, what’s for eats?” Very slangy, but it is said.
mrpenney@21 – technically, because I looked it up for another crossword this week, the APSE is a semi-circular or polysided area, usually to the east of the church, but can be niches for side chapels, usually with a hemispherical domed roof. There’s more than one on Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral (Paddy’s Wigwam) or Westminster Cathedral, lots of side chapels in those buildings, and many are in apses. If you scroll down the Westminster Cathedral page, the picture of the choir boys processing is in front of a row of apses.
Well that stretched me – the hidden reversals and decapitations were quite a challenge but I did manage to complete it , even if I had to come here to understand some of the parsing.
I think my brain doesn’t easily rearrange words and I need to improve this if I’m ever going to progress to full cryptics. But at least I’m completing these each week and finding it very satisfying.
Thank you
Did anyone notice the Christmas themed Special by Ludwig that went up this afternoon? It was very do-able to us quick cryptic solvers
Hi everyone
I agree that it helps to know what tricks to look for. I managed this except for 1D
Good to know that ‘right away ‘ meant remove the R. I’m slowly getting there and enjoy every one. Thanks to the setter and the explainer! Both essential!
Thanks Zurichwelsh. I saw it and quailed- but I’ll have a go now
Really enjoyed this one and managed to get the answers eventually, after a bit of lateral thinking. Strangely, the SE corner, of short words, was the last bit I solved.
There is a large (23 x 23) cryptic crossword in the Xmas Radio Times. I’ve set myself the challenge of trying to solve it but with no clues on the tricks being used, it’s proving quite challenging!
Game of two halves! Got lots of the anagram ones but a bit baffled by the decapitations
I can’t see how replaced is meant to clue an anagram – my LOI and I only got there via crossers and an attempt to put hole in path.
Deebster @30 – don’t think replaced meaning putting something back in its place, but as re-placed – placed in a different way. (That trick turns up all the time – resorts is an anagrind because you read it as re-sorts – to sort again.)