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A solid and pleasing Quiptic from Chandler this morning with my apologies for a slightly truncated blog. Some IT issues this morning.
Across
1 Authority given to winning party and team possibly
MANDATE
(AND TEAM)* with ‘possibly’ as the anagrind.
5 Admire some more spectacles
RESPECT
Hidden in moRE SPECTacles.
10 A limited study in district
AREA
A charade of A and REA[D].
11 Spell with a session of golf and time needed to meet deadline
TURNAROUND
A charade of TURN, A and ROUND.
12 Striking train drivers should pay attention to it
SIGNAL
A dd, and an example of the common occurrence in English of a single word being able to function as a noun and an adjective.
13 Retired journalist was waiting for fitting?
DESERVED
A charade of ED reversed and SERVED.
14 Sweet honeysuckle’s latest thing cultivated in garden
ENDEARING
A charade of E for the final letter of ‘honeysuckle’ and (IN GARDEN)* The anagrind is ‘cultivated’.
16 Metal worker quiet about first signs of metal in truck
SMITH
An insertion of MIT for the initial letters of ‘metal’, ‘in’ and ‘truck’ in SH. The insertion indicator is ‘about’.
17 Origin, reportedly, in room on ship
BERTH
Aural wordplay (‘reportedly’) of BIRTH.
19 Female in neat base prepared celebratory meal
BEANFEAST
An insertion of F in (NEAT BASE)* The insertion indicator is ‘in’ and the anagrind is ‘prepared’.
23 Rota devised in job to get slowly cooked meat dish
POT ROAST
An insertion of (ROTA)* in POST. The insertion indicator is ‘in’ and the anagrind is ‘devised’.
24 That fellow is captivated by Conservative system of ideas
THEORY
An insertion of HE in TORY. The insertion indicator is ‘captivated by’.
26 Poorly rated runners need it and fail to make progress
TREAD WATER
A charade of (RATED)* and WATER. The anagrind is ‘poorly’.
27 Recall walker tiring in part in long journey on foot
TREK
Hidden reversed in walKER Tiring.
28 Old writer in front of gallery for launch
OPENING
A charade of O, PEN, IN and G for the initial letter of ‘gallery’.
29 Revised trail in Cyprus showing intelligible character
CLARITY
An insertion of ‘trail’ in CY. The insertion indicator is ‘in’.
Down
2 Bring before a court a rule in hearing
ARRAIGN
Aural wordplay (‘in hearing’) of A REIGN.
3 Onset of duly damp weather requires channel for water
DRAIN
A charade of D for the initial letter of ‘duly’ and RAIN.
4 Nominal trade union featuring in corrupt trial
TITULAR
An insertion of TU in (TRIAL)* The insertion indicator is ‘featuring in’ and the anagrind is ‘corrupt’.
6 Pass middle of week covering circuits
ELAPSE
An insertion of LAPS in EE for the inner letters of ‘week’. The insertion indicator is ‘covering’.
7 Line up TV sitcom, maybe
PROGRAMME
A dd.
8 Start to care about opening for group of sisters
CONVENT
A charade of C for the initial letter of ‘care’, ON and VENT.
9 Tag reinstated wrongly in commercial area
TRADING ESTATE
(TAG REINSTATED)* with ‘wrongly’ as the anagrind.
15 Divert different trainee to be around conservationists
ENTERTAIN
An insertion of NT for National Trust in (TRAINEE)* The insertion indicator is ‘to be around’.
18 European obtained parting message in selfish venture
EGO TRIP
A charade of E, GOT and RIP. Requiscat in pace.
20 Note person who has an inherent talent
NATURAL
A dd. The musical note is one which is neither sharp or flat.
21 Use the internet and start to enjoy it in abundance
SURFEIT
A charade of SURF, E for the initial letter of ‘enjoy’ and IT.
22 I want to wander around a Pacific Ocean island
TAIWAN
An insertion of A in (I WANT)* The insertion indicator is ‘around’ and the anagrind is ‘to wander’.
25 Go into US headquarters avoiding cold
ENTER
[C]ENTER
Many thanks to Chandler for this morning’s puzzle.
Thanks Pierre and Chandler.
Really tidy quiptic, so if there’s a week the blog has to be truncated it’s good it’s this one! This was very ideal for the slot with clear definitions and seldom occasions of tricky vocab imo, definitely the sort I’d recommend to a beginner.
Only 12a where I wasn’t exactly sure that ‘striking’ was the best word to fit the dd.
I have no words.
(I do have a few, but would this be a double definition?)
Delightful and pitched perfectly for a Q. Sorry about your pesky IT issues but CLARITY needs ‘revised’ highlighted as the anagrind. Favourites were TITULAR, ENTERTAIN and TAIWAN.
Ta Chandler & Pierre.
Tachi @1
I could’ve done with a full blog.
For 11a, how does TURN arise?
In 12a, why is SIGNAL the same as STRIKING?
I liked 29a, 6d, 18d, 21d.
For completeness, 29 has (trail)* with anagrind REVISED.
Thanks Chandler and Pierre.
AlanC @ 3
Sorry, just saw you explained 29a already.
AR – signal in older English – it’s the sort of thing I’ve seen in Austen – she had a signal look about her, meaning striking
TURN = spell – he had a long turn/spell on the computer, it’s my turn now.
Sorry and thanks to Pierre and Chandler, who’s on double duty this weekend.
Thanks Shanne!
This was enjoyable but I found some of it quite tough: I do think much of that will be on me though, I’m not in the right frame of mind due to other, unrelated matters.
Enjoyable but I am a little stuck on 8a parsing
A charade of C for the initial letter of ‘care’, ON and VENT. So the c is the initial, and vent is the opening. Where does on come from?
If I were a pedant I would suggest that NATURAL is not a note but an accidental. F natural is a note.
Just as well I’m not a pedant, eh?
QuietEars @9: ‘on’ = ‘about’, as in ‘concerning’ – as in,say, ‘on the matter of assisted dying, there are strong views on both sides.’
Thanks Balfour @11.
QuietEars@9: on = about. For example: The astronomer gave a talk on black holes/ about black holes.
Thanks to you too Meandme @13. About has a lot of possible meanings/uses!
An enjoyable Sunday afternoon solve. No problems for us as experienced solvers but we thought that TURNAROUND amd TREAD WATER might be a wee bit above beginners’/improvers’ level.
Thanks, Chandler and Pierre.
Lots of anagrams made this very approachable, with a few strange definitions thrown in.
There were plenty of nice surfaces too, with ticks for MANDATE, DRAIN, SIGNAL
Thanks Chandler and Pierre
A very enjoyable puzzle, though not one I’d recommend to someone too new. The clueing is precise, but there’s a few answers that only really ‘click’ after the fact – as can be seen here by the number of questions about the specifics of the parsing.
Similarly, a lot of clues with words that make you shuffle through a few different ways of cutting the clue. Excellent for improvers like me, who need practice at sitting with a clue and figuring out the clue type. But I would have found this very frustrating a few months ago, when I first started solving seriously.
But all that said, a lovely and enjoyable puzzle – a fun workout. Thanks, Chandler!
Rog@10 – agreed, NATURAL is not a note; B natural, C natural, or any A -G natural, are notes but NATURAL is not by itself a note. It’s like saying ‘five’ is a symphony, just because Mahler 5, Beethoven 5, Prokofiev 5 are symphonies. Otherwise much enjoyed, and definitely on the tricky side of Quiptic. Thanks Chandler and Pierre.
..so a fairer 20d might be “Someone whose talent is inherent – or accidental?”
I didn’t get the wordplay for 20d but having had it explained, “natural” as a subset of note is fine by me. When you see an F♮ on your sheet music you play a note. I do favour broad synonyms, mostly because if I see the same type of clue too many times I turn big and green. In any case, very gettable with crosses and the second definition – and I was not on good form today as my guesses of 8d CREVENT and 11a TERMAGAMET will readily show.
SIGNAL, on the other hand, is antiquated nonsense (but still forgiveable as I got it from crosses). Don’t get me started on BEANFEAST. It’s on my enemies list with the erne.
I almost asked earlier, and now Bev has raised it, I will
What is a BEANFEAST? Obviously it is a celebratory meal, but by whom and when?
Bev@20 When you see ♮ (ie natural) by itself what ‘note’ do you play? None, because ♮ is not a note. It’s no more a subset of notes than black is a subset of sheep. Black sheep are a subset of sheep, F♮s are a subset of notes.
Finished most of it quite quickly and then got really stuck on the last few. Had to check a few and reveal the last two. I think it was mostly vocab issues; I’m not very well-read I think. ARRAIGN is NTM. Never heard SIGNAL as an adjective. Never knew BERTH as a room. I didn’t think ELAPSE and pass were synonyms; I always thought elapsed implied time was lost or uneventful. Took me a long time to get DESERVED and I think that ? is doing a lot of work there. Not my cup of tea this week.
Martyn@21 I only know BEANFEAST from the old Willy Wonka film where Veruca says she wants one. It’s a feast of chocolate and deserts from what I can gather.
BEANFEAST was new to me as well, although I could see there was feast or fest in the answer. Chambers says it’s “An annual dinner given by employers to their workers”.
I also don’t think natural is a note, but my music teacher wife had no problem with it.
The most difficult I’ve found a Chandler since I was a raw beginner, although nothing was particularly nasty, above quibbles aside.
Thanks Chandler and Pierre.
Tidy @23, I’m not surprised you didn’t know BERTH as a room. It’s a place to sleep in a ship, or the promise of somewhere to sleep. If I book a berth on a sailing ship, it might be a bunk bed or even a hammock. I would expect some kind of a bed, but not necessarily a whole room.
Tough for a Quiptic, mainly in my opinion because several synonyms weren’t the first to spring to mind.
Natural isn’t a note, but it didn’t particularly annoy me as it was clearly the answer.
A BERTH is the bunk or bed, not the room. It can also be the place where a ship is moored.
Otherwise, very enjoyable. Ta to both.
Deebster@24, my music teacher wife and I agree that natural is not a note, but like you and yours we had no difficulty with that clue. (A natural is of course a note.) 😊
Monkey@25 / Copeland@26 “is there room on ship?” “Yes we have a berth”
Somewhat tricky I found. I started it late on the Sunday and at first glance thought it impenetrable but then the bottom half of the grid fell into place and then the rest over another couple of visits on Monday. All in all well clued from Chandler although agree with the comments about NATURAL not being a ‘note’ per se. And I’m not convinced that TAIWAN is strictly speaking a Pacific Ocean island but where does the Ocean end and the North or South China Sea start. For example is the Caribbean Sea a thing or is it really just another bit of Atlantic Ocean and hence do you say Jamaica is an Atlantic Ocean island? I think not 😄
Thanks Chandler and Pierre.
Been a while since I managed to complete a Quiptic midweek. I do think this was just the right difficulty level, well at least for me anyway. Didn’t know SURFEIT. BEANFEAST came up in a past Quiptic, but it’s been a while now. Solved a lot of these by guessing using letters filled in, and when I saw the explanation above, there was a few self-directed eye rolls. In short, my parsing skills still need work. Does anyone have any recommendations of ways to train said skills. Are there any warm up exercises people do before embarking on a crossword for example?
Thank you Pierre and Chandler
Hello, Sakenotabibito. Good to know you found this one accessible. Be reassured: capable and experienced solvers will tell you that quite a lot of the time they will enter a word (mentally at least) based on ‘using the letters filled in’. ‘What fits?’ is a common question, I can assure you, in this house at least. Then you parse afterwards, and even then there will be some that won’t yield. Which is where fifteensquared comes in.
I don’t think there’s a particular way to train parsing skills. Just doing a crossword as often as you can and reading the blog and comments afterwards was my strategy when I was starting out. And not getting too frustrated when you can’t finish. It’s not an exam.
Happy solving.
Thank you so much for the reply Pierre. The Fifteensquared site really is fantastic. Just two years ago, I didn’t have a clue how to solve cryptics and now thanks to this site, I can do a few a week. So your strategy works for sure. Thanks for the advice and for all the work you do on this site. It really is an invaluable resource for cryptic solvers.