Quiptic 1,322 by Anto

45 comments on “Quiptic 1,322 by Anto”

1. Thanks so much Shanne – beyond the call of duty. I’d managed to complete. crossword without understanding all the parsing. So very much appreciated.

2. Liked the Anerixan shopping for trunks, but banoffi was a wtbleep. And Shanne I think, in 18d, “it will” isn’t part of the def. Nice Sunday stroll, ta both.

3. … AmeriCan …

4. PS What’s happened to the 4min edit time

5. Thank you Shanne, I most definitely needed explanations for several of the answers, I think this might be the toughest quiptic I’ve encountered.

6. Half and half for me, this one: much of it fell into place relatively quickly, but I was held up for a lot of it too. Another one for which I altered my approach as though it was a standard cryptic, which helped for both solving and enjoyment.

7. grantinfreo – we’re having a lot of spam today, maybe the edit time being shut down is to do with that. As a blogger with a user name, I can still see an edit button, but I’ve just checked, it’s because I’m logged in and I’m on that screen to edit.

   Not that I was dithering much as I hurled this together, but I did wonder where to draw the line on the definition for “LEAP OUT”, but the “it will” didn’t connect with the wordplay, so I went that direction.

   I didn’t have a problem with BANOFFI as that version because I had the crossers when I got there, so didn’t think more than I’ve seen it spelt that way too. According to Wikipedia, the original inventors spelt it BANOFFI rather than banoffee.

8. Not a Quiptic in my opinion. I gave up on solving 11ac, 26ac, 1d – only got as far as BAN = forbid.

   Of the ones I solved, I could not parse 23ac, 28ac apart from TEST = trial.

9. That was not a great outing for me – got maybe half done and then called it quits as it was just turning into a horrible grind that was consuming too much of my day. Just not anywhere near the wavelength required today and really struggled to parse the clues even after having the answer in some cases.
   Will put it down to a learning experience and leave it at that.

10. I gave up on this when my second entry was spelled incorrectly – it’s BANOFFEE, a portmanteau of banana and coffEE, as you say.

11. Once again Anto fails to deliver a proper quiptic. Even as experienced solvers we couldn’t get CHOICES and failed to parse both FAH and LOB. And we’ve never encountered the spelling BANOFFI for ‘banoffee’.

12. Hi Shanne – thanks for stepping in. A few of these had me baffled. Also, I think ELASTICATED is ELATED with ASTIC(k) inserted, otherwise you’re an A short.

13. I found this difficult with few straightforward clues. It seemed no different from the weekday cryptics to me. I didn’t put in BANOFFI for ages until I realised it had to be that with ‘offi’ for ‘alcohol store’.

14. muffin@11 It’s toffee not coffee. Banana and coffee wouldn’t taste nice at all.

15. Correct Amma – I don’t know why I said “coffee”. I think it’s unpleasantly sweet whichever!

16. BANOFFI is one of those “never in a million years would I have gotten that” numbers. I’d never heard of either the dessert or the liquor store, so I was up a creek without a paddle.

    Anto does too many clues where he takes a two-word phrase and gives a plain definition of each word. Today I’m referring to BREADBASKET, LAY BARE, and WIDE SET. My objection to this clue type is first, that it isn’t very cryptic, and second, like a bad cryptic def, either you get it or you don’t, with no help if you’re in the latter category.

    Lastly, I admit I wound up revealing a couple of these at the end. As I’m certainly no beginner, I think I can safely say that he didn’t hit the sweet spot for a Quiptic either.

17. muffin @11 and @16 – if you put Banoffi into a search engine, the Wikipedia article, linked above in the posts, gives their article for Banoffee and says that the original inventors called it BANOFFI. I’ve linked to their recipe in the blog. I’ve seen it spelt both ways so wasn’t bothered.

    Drinks shops are off licences – slang use is the offie or offy. All alcohol sales are licenced in the UK, so public houses are licenced premises, an off-licence is a shop licensed to sell alcohol for consumption off premises.

18. Not a hope in hell’s chance of getting many clues in this crossword for me.

    “For beginners and those in a hurry”….?

    Moaning rant over.

19. As a Quipter rather than a Crypter, getting through this without any reveals was very much a personal best. But as Anto had served-up his usual mix of entertainment and befuddlement, it was less a sense of accomplishment – more a feeling of relief at having reached the finishing-line!

20. Loved it.

    Ta Anto & Shanne for stepping in.

21. It was an Anto 😄. The anagrams helped a lot but I did get stuck in the bottom half. ENDER I thought very obscure and I needed this blog post to explain some things like how CHOICES worked and also TORMENT. I’d convinced myself OR was for ‘soldiers’ and couldn’t understand the rest. Never thought of ‘tort’. Thanks Shanne for the explanations and to Anto for the grey cell frazzling.

22. Could someone please explain what ENDER means? Thanks.

23. Only the second Anto puzzle I have solved but not enjyable

24. Thanks for an excellent blog, Shanne, I like your style. And thanks to Anto – I’m beginning to enjoy his/her quirky setting. But, quiptic it aint! Not the setter’s fault, presumably the crossword editor selects which submissions fit the bill. Or, as in this case, not…

25. I solved 19a by thinking the sweet treats were CHOCCIES and removing one of the three “calories”. It took me some time to realise that this left the letters in the wrong order, with no indication that any shuffling was needed. It was only quite a bit later that I realised the treats (more cold than sweet, in my opinion) might be CHOC ICES.

    I liked this one very much, and I certainly haven’t been a fan of Anto in the past. Yes, it was on the tough side for a Quiptic, but I solved it with little fuss, so it can’t have been too difficult. About the standard of a Daily Telegraph puzzle, which is about the level the Quiptic is usually pitched.

26. Missed out on 2. Torment… because females are soldiers too. But im kidding myself cause couldn’t get past squaddies ( sorrY if for some reason we can’t say that anymore. )
    And car boot sale failed me.
    But enjoyed poking it it intermittently on my phone half the day.

27. Thanks for the parsing on CHOICES and TORMENT. Had to reveal ADAGE and never would have got it as that meaning of ‘saw’ has passed me by all my life!

    Thanks Shanne and Anto!

28. Holypeanut @27 – saw meaning a saying or adage is a common trick in cryptics, you might have heard it as “that old saw“. The other word that means the same thing is gnome – that one you might have heard when someone is referred to saying something gnomically.

29. I’m doing this late in the day so I might be tired but I thought this was on the very tough side. CHOICES and SUBJECT would have been difficult clues in a regular cryptic. Them intersecting made things worse.

    I thought this was a great crossword in its own right. Liked TODAY, CAR BOOT SALE and many others.

    Anto’s clearly a talented setter, with a lot of wit, but please give them the Monday slot and leave the Quiptics for someone else.

    Cheers Shanne and Anto

30. I agree with those who feel Anto doesn’t know how to set a Quiptic He should be kept in the cryptic slot

31. Shanne @28: thanks for the response, and the extra detail. Familiar with gnomic, but not gnome in that sense – will look out for it. Not been doing cryptics for long, so have particularly appreciated your blogs and their tips for beginners!

32. I got there with a bit of a struggle (felt about as hard as last week’s).
    Didn’t parse FAH, and couldnt figure out what “by a third” was doing in CHOICES. Doesn’t it work without that addition?
    Last to get were TORMENT (always have a hard time remembering tort) and WIDE SET (dictates was making me look for a sound alike).
    Very much like CAKED ON, CAR BOOT SALE, and SYNCHED.
    I was fine with BANOFFI. A favourite dessert of mine:)

33. I didn’t approach this Anto with the usual dread, having solved an old one recently and fooling myself into thinking I was starting to understand the Anto mind. But no.

    After sleeping on it I got a few more in but a glance through the comments suggested I should accept the DNF. CHOICES seems particularly nasty, although I had pencilled it in without parsing.

34. Thanks Shanne for coming to the rescue. A word of warning for new players about gnomes in cryptics. It also comes up as synonym for Swiss bankers, which I’ve only learnt from previous crosswords.

    I knew off-licence from my time in the UK. Down here we call it a bottlo.

    My first thought for FAH , with only the H, was DOH. Anyone else?

35. Managed it without any reveals (although a few checks). Couldn’t parse a couple, which is always annoying. TBH I didn’t really enjoy it.

36. Well I really enjoyed it and I’m determined not to be put off by Anto and approach every Quiptic with no prejudice or expectations. Once I got your parsing of CHOICES I loved it but would never have parsed SUBJECT in a million years. Banoffi pie – yuk! Thanks Anto and Shanne

37. SchwarzeLaber@23. I took it as someone ending, as in winding up, a meeting. I think it’s a bit a of a stretch and not a term you’d probably use in every day speech.

38. SchwarzeLaber @23 – I found this definition of ender on wikitionary – “something that ends a thing” – which ties in with the winding something up – as in the end of a meeting, we would say: “Let’s wind this up.” Not the first thing that came to mind until I blogged this at speed yesterday afternoon.

    I would use this in speech as in tail-ender – I was out supporting a Brownie walk on Wednesday and I was the tail-ender, making sure no-one got left behind.

39. Given the objections above in case Anto reads these I’ll add that I really enjoyed it. I’m newish, learning from minute cryptic then the quiptic and Everyman, and didn’t find it tricky. Several clues made me laugh out loud, including BANOFFI, so I probably happen to be on the same Dad joke wavelength. The blog really helps when I can’t fully parse a clue. Thanks for that.

40. I enjoyed it and managed without any reveals but was grateful for your help Shanne with choices, thought the word calories was somehow reduced by a a third which got me to the answer but unparsed. A fair bit of post-parsing needed but all seems fair to me

41. As a french-speaking person, I struggled with FAH (even with the crossers!). I only knew the French spelling of these notes – Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Si
    FYI, this musical notation originates from a religious hymn: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solf%C3%A8ge

    I did enjoy this crossword, though 🙂 – many thanks

42. Thanks to Pete HA3 @37 and Shanne @38 for the explanation of ENDER.

    I am currently working my way backwards through the Pasquale quiptics after starting with the quick cryptics in October. I never thought that I would ever be able to tackle these and without the help of the bloggers and of course the setters I would not. A hearty thank you.

43. Well, it certainly wasn’t Quiptic. Some easyish ones, many not. I ended up revealing CHOICES, SUBJECT and ADAGE. When I did, I understood them but I doubt I would ever have got them. CHOICES particularly. I think of the abbreviation for calories as cal, not C. And you’d have had to be particularly brilliant to get SUBJECT from the wordplay rather than reverse engineering it.
    All in all a struggle and I don’t reckon to be beaten by a Quiptic but I enjoyed the challenge.

44. Usually not an Anto hater but this took me 3 days and accidentally looking at the bastard who spoiled two of the clues in the comments. Quiptic my bountiful arse.

    I’m going to be controversial and say that Banoffi is far from the worst alternate spelling I’ve come across in my puzzling life. I filled in “Banof” and figured the last crosser would reveal.

    Fun fact: “bas relief” is an anagram of “bar selfie”, the instagram staple which was my original answer for 1A. Don’t ask how I justified “stand out” in the definition because I have entirely forgotten.

45. There’s been easier Quiptics…

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