The current Sunday cryptic offer from the Guardian stable, and meant to be an accessible route into cryptic puzzling. It’s found here
When I checked the FifteenSquared diary this morning to check I hadn’t missed blogging, I realised there was no-one down for today’s slot, so offered to blog, which is why this is late.
I like Anto, but am not always convinced he’s the best fit for this slot, so was pleased to find a more accessible puzzle from him this morning.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | FORAGE |
Cast takes on a hunt (6)
|
| insertion of A (from the clue) into FORGE (cast) – although there’s a debate on the Guardian site whether forge and cast are equivalent, they are both defined as forming or moulding and my crossword dictionary has cast as a match for forge, so I think Anto is off the hook here. | ||
| 4 | STEREO |
Music system created by some austere orchestras (6)
|
| Hidden in (some) auSTERE Orchestra | ||
| 9 | PLUG |
Promote extremely punctual underling (4)
|
| the extremes (extremely) of PunctuaL UnderlinG | ||
| 10 | EXOPLANETS |
Texan lopes about finding places out of this world (10)
|
| anagram (about) of (TEXAN LOPES)* | ||
| 11 | MISSUS |
Casually called wife the most beautiful in America (6)
|
| In the Miss World competitions, the most beautiful girl in America could be Miss US | ||
| 12 | BENJAMIN |
Biblical fellow creating difficulty in African country (8)
|
| insertion of JAM (difficulty) into BENIN (African country) | ||
| 13 | FIRST DATE |
Sad fitter abandoned initial romantic encounter (5,4)
|
| anagram of (SAD FITTER)* with anagrind of abandoned | ||
| 15 | YEAR |
You express absolute resolution when starting this time (4)
|
| acrostic (when starting) of You Express Absolute Resolution | ||
| 16 | TURF |
Fossil fuel that may lead to war? (4)
|
| double definition – a turf is defined in my Chambers as a slab of peat, a fossil fuel traditionally burned in rural Ireland and Scotland. | ||
| 17 | MATCHLESS |
Unrivalled competition? Not so much (9)
|
| charade of MATCH (competition) and LESS (not so much) | ||
| 21 | LINGUINI |
Fish sounding very small to contribute food for Italians (8)
|
| charade of LING (fish) and a soundalike (sounding) of “weenie” (very small) | ||
| 22 | UNSAID |
Media snubs insider’s return – it’s not reported (6)
|
| reverse hidden (insider’s return) of meDIA SNUbs < | ||
| 24 | SEE THROUGH |
Don’t be fooled by this flimsy type of material (3,7)
|
| double definition | ||
| 25 | ARTY |
Pretentious faction loses power (4)
|
| decapitation of (loses power) from pARTY (faction) – P for power comes from physics | ||
| 26 | DRYDEN |
Really dull study of poet (6)
|
| charade of DRY (really dull) + DEN (study) | ||
| 27 | APOGEE |
Top primate nursing bruised ego (6)
|
| insertion of OGE (bruised EGO*) into APE (primate) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | FELLINI |
Italian director collapsed in current (7)
|
| charade of FELL (collapsed) + IN (from the clue) + I (current in physics terminology) for this director. | ||
| 2 | RAGUS |
Sauces made using spun sugar (5)
|
| reversal (spun) SUGAR < for the Italian sauces | ||
| 3 | GUESSED |
Speculated about how visitor is picked up (7)
|
| soundalike (is picked up) of “guest” (visitor) | ||
| 5 | TALENT |
Cheers advanced facility (6)
|
| charade of TA (cheers) + LENT (advanced) | ||
| 6 | RING A BELL |
Way to seek admission that will sound familiar (4,1,4)
|
| double definition | ||
| 7 | OUTLIER |
Published fiction on queen is something abnormal (7)
|
| charade of OUT (published) + LIE (fiction) + R (queen) – R as in Regina | ||
| 8 | COMBAT FATIGUE |
Mostly what you wear and feel in battle (6,7)
|
| you’d wear COMBAT FATIGUEs in battle and suffer the singular | ||
| 14 | SPRIGHTLY |
Being in good form accurately underpins race odds (9)
|
| RIGHTLY (accurately) comes after (underpins) SP (race odds – starting price – shown in that bit of the papers as SP) | ||
| 16 | THIN END |
Wedges have this fine finish – it’s just the start (4,3)
|
| charade of THIN (fine) + END (finish) – and the thin end of something is just the start – the other reference is to the thin end of the wedge | ||
| 18 | COUGH UP |
Reluctantly deliver expression of horror to disrupt power grab (5,2)
|
| insertion (to disrupt) of UGH (expression of horror) in COUP (power grab) – so CO UGH UP | ||
| 19 | SWIFTIE |
Devotee of major pop sensation broke wifi set (7)
|
| anagram of (WIFI SET)* with anagrind of broke – to give the fans of Taylor Swift | ||
| 20 | FIERCE |
Boiled rice in iron container – that’s very intense (6)
|
| anagram of (boiled) (RICE)* in FE (iron container) – F IERC E – Fe is the chemical symbol for iron and comes from the Latin ferrum – and is where we get ferric and other words from that root. | ||
| 23 | SLANG |
Informed about liberal jargon (5)
|
| insertion of L (liberal) in SANG (informed) to give S L ANG |
SPRIGHTLY and COUGH UP were pleasing. I also enjoyed the surface to DRYDEN: I suspect it isn’t the first time he’s been clued that way but, since I hadn’t encountered this before, it made me smile.
Thanks Shanne & Anto
I don’t know Anto as well as Shanne, but agree that this was a well-judged quiptic. I had doubts about TURF, my LOI, but I think that I heard the term on childhood holidays in Ireland (although peat was the usual term) and Shanne has confirmed that it is used in Scotland as well, so all good. TALENT was my favourite today. And I can confirm from my time in Texas that there is a fair amount of loping going on. Thanks Anto and Shanne.
I think this has been one of the best quiptic outings in recent memory for Anto. It’s documented that he looks to stretch the beginner, but I think the trickier parts are within reach this time.
APOGEE, COMBAT FATIGUE, COUGH UP and BENJAMIN highlights for me…
Of course, the actual beauty pageant that chooses the American entrant to the international ones uses the title Miss USA, but the clue for MISSUS was still amusing. (Beauty pageants are silly and anachronistic, so the less said thereon the better.)
Seamus Heaney’s Digging has turf and peat used interchangeably, which is one place from which I knew the equivalence, but I’ve come across peat fires and turf cutting in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, where it’s still legal for crofters to cut peat.
As a beginner I struggled with this and didn’t finish it. It’s been the same with many of the quiptics of recent weeks. There were many gaps but I had LINGUINE as opposed to LINGUINI, which although it made little difference, was slightly frustrating. TURF would never have occurred to be as a fossil fuel.
I failed to solve 16ac TURF. I thought of turf war but could not see how TURF=fossil fuel as I am not familiar with peat and its uses.
Apart from TURF we found this well qualified to be a quiptic. We particularly liked EXOPLANETS and LINGUINI.
Thanks, Anto and Shanne.
Why is SANG informed?
I hesitated over TURF as a fossil fuel, but once the crossers were in, it had to be that. The Italian food – I tried MINI – something and something – TINI before getting it right: nice one. Favourites COMBAT FATIGUE and EXOPLANETS.
Jonathan Hyams@9: think of a villain in a police cell informing on his mates: “he sang like a bird…”
I completely failed to get on Anton’s wavelength and struggled in places.
There was a lot to like, with ticks for STEREO, EXOPLANETS, FELLINI, RING A BELL, BENJAMIN, SWIFTIE, COMBAT FATIGUE, and TALENT (misled me at first). But I also finished without parsing a few clues. Thanks Shanne for the full solutions
Thanks Anto amend Shanne
Ah, autocorrect problems all over my post@11. Apologies!
I enjoyed this one. COMBAT FATIGUE took me ages, but I thought it was clever! I never hear of ling apart from crosswords, do we eat it in the UK?
Padraic Colum’s poem ‘An old woman of the roads’ refers to ‘the pile of turf against the wall’.
I really enjoyed this, thanks Anto and to Shanne for stepping in.
This time around Anto has it pitched right. A few tricky ones along the way but very fair clueing. I thought forge = cast was fine, and had heard of turf as a fuel. Thanks Anto, and Shanne for the clear explanations.
An excellent Quiptic. I especially loved LINGUINI and BENJAMIN. It took me a while but I found the cluing very honest. Thanks Anto and Shanne.
I don’t think TURF is properly classified as a fossil fuel? Coal, oil, gas yes, but turf/peat is too young, even though it contains organic matter. Anyway, enjoyed this, favourite was MISSUS.
Enjoyed this, although I’d never heard of FELLINI. How well known is this director?
21 across made me think of Uini Atonio, the French national rugby team prop, but he is not “weenie” as he stands at 6ft 5.5in (1.97m) and weighs 23st 13lb (152kg).
Eddie @18. Suggest you take a look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federico_Fellini just for an introduction to Federico Fellini.
Sorry Eddie @18 – I did mean to link to Fellini in the blog when I hurled it together yesterday, but I must have not fully hit all the right bits – corrected now.
Turf is well knows as a fuel here in the West of Ireland, so that was easy GK for me.
I really enjoyed APOGEE (apart from being a good word, the image of an ape with a bruised ego tickled me).
I also laughed out loud when I got LINGUINI. Weenie is just a funny word.
Definitely my favourite Anto ever.
Thanks S&B
I could parse almost all of these, but this one has taken me a long time to complete and needed several checks and hints from the wordDB. I wouldn’t describe it as easy, but it did feel fair.
Never heard of an exoplanet before!
Didn’t feel it was unfair but it was tricky – Anto always makes me feel like I’ve worked for the end!
Alas, this time TALENT beat me. You win 🙂
I found this quite difficult for a Quiptic, but I’ve been away on holiday and may just have got out of practice.
I wouldn’t call peat / turf a fossil fuel, and Wikipedia seems to agree, but that’s a fairly minor complaint.
I liked the puzzle and was pleased I could solve as many as I did. In the end though, there were a lot of reveals as I just couldn’t figure it out. Thank you to Anto and Shanne.
Another one here who failed to get on the right wavelength. Confidently plugged in PEON for 9a (didn’t love ON=Punctual but didn’t feel any more obscure than den=study or it=sex) and totally failed to recover. Shame too, because the clues I got I liked, especially SWIFTIE, RAGUS and EXOPLANETS.
New to me: SP, Fellini, turf=peat (another vote for it definitely not being a fossil fuel). Can’t argue with Benjamin being a biblical fellow but am genuinely intrigued if anyone thinks of the 12th son of the cloak bloke as their first association with that name. At least for me, I get through three world leaders, a musician and a fictional rabbit first – it’s not like a Noah or a Samson.
I’m also unclear on how lent=advanced and how abandoned can be an anagrind, so if anyone’s still reading this late into the week then I’d appreciate the help
Gecko @27
He lent/advanced the money for the trip.
Peat/turf is a fuel that was laid down in the past, in contrast to wood, which is more or less current, so I would lean towards it being a fossil fuel.
muffin @28 cheers, that makes sense
About right for a Quiptic, I only missed 16a as I had never heard of it as being synonymous with peat and I hadn’t considered peat to be a fossil fuel (there seems to be significant disagreement as to whether it is or not).