Quick Cryptic 65 by Pasquale

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This week’s 11 x 11 crossword from the Guardian, intended to teach cryptic crosswords, found here

This week we have the second Quick Cryptic by Pasquale, a regular setter at the Guardian and elsewhere. Today we only have one clue type with all the letters given – anagrams, otherwise we have charades, reversals and palindromes, all of which have met before, although it’s the 4th time we’ve seen palindromes.

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 blog continues to develop in response to suggestions. We hide the answers and the wordplay descriptions (parsing) too.   To find the solution click on “Answer” and to find how the word play works, click on “Parsing” which will reveal the hidden information. You can choose to reveal everything using the “Expand All” button. If you have partially revealed the page, refreshing it will clear that, and allow you to expand all. The definition is in bold and underlined, the indicator is in red.

For additional help click here

There is a summary of the tricks used in the first six months here and a Guardian Crossword blog called the ultimate beginner’s guide has tips which may be useful for some solvers

For abbreviations and clue tips click here

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.
  • CAPITALS to indicate which bits are part of the answer, e.g. RApID for the lose the middle example, Give A Good joke for the acrostic example.
  • anagram – letters being used shown in brackets (SENATOR)* for the clue below to give TREASON.
  • anagrind – anagram indicator – in the case below it is “arranged”
  • reversals – shown by the symbol < so from the example, the pet is a DOG <.
  • charades – the description below only gives the example of words being added together, but charades can be more complicated, adding abbreviations or single letters to another word.  Examples previously used in this series are: Son ridicules loose overgarments (6) S (son) + MOCKS (ridicules), Get rid of dead pine (5) D(dead) + ITCH (pine) – D ITCH, and early on DR (doctor) + IVE (I have) to give DRIVE.
  • CAD or clue as definition– where the whole clue gives the definition, sometimes called an &lit. These are rare.
  • 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 – because the clues have moved on from the clue descriptions below, I am now adding more to the descriptions hidden above. Clues begin or end with a definition of the answer. The rest is one of these:

  1. Palindrome Hint that answer reads the same backwards
    ‘Holy woman going back and forth (3)’ gives NUN
  2. Anagram An anagram of the answer and a hint that there’s an anagram
    ‘Senator arranged crime (7)’ gives TREASON
  3. Charade Combination of synonyms/abbrevs
    ‘Qualify to get drink for ID (8)’ gives PASSPORT (pass + port)
  4. Reversal The answer backwards, and a hint that we’re reversing
    ‘Deity’s pet coming back (3)’ gives GOD

ACROSS Click on “Answer” to see the solutions
1
I am taking time to construct picture (5)
Answer

IMAGE
Parsing

charade of I’M (I aM from the clue) with (taking) AGE (time)
4
Monster therefore must be driven back (4)
Answer

OGRE
Parsing

reversal (driven back) of ERGO (therefore) – and this we have met before, in both directions, it’s a crossword regular.
6
Unkempt person in student jollities having a cake (10)
Answer

RAGAMUFFIN
Parsing

charade of RAG (student jollities) + (having) A (from the clue) + MUFFIN (cake – although English muffins are a form of bread, we’re more likely to see the American muffins, which can be sweetened to become cakes, now). Student RAG is usually for fundraising but can get a bit rowdy – one of the rag traditions of Imperial College when I was there was a tiddlywinks race along Oxford Street.
7
Rear part of ship that is reversible (4)
Answer

POOP
Parsing

palindrome (that is reversible) gives POOP – a deck found at the rear of a boat, according to the link so named from the French. Last week we had KEEL as a reversal word, but that’s underneath a ship or boat.
9
Dramatist having pub drink with hesitation? (6)
Answer

PINTER
Parsing

charade of PINT (pub drink) and ER (hesitation) – for this playwright
10
A geographical feature making sum of money (6)
Answer

AMOUNT
Parsing

charade of A (from the clue) and MOUNT (geographical feature)
13
Cheese that’s manufactured being put back (4)
Answer

EDAM
Parsing

reversal(being put back) of MADE < (manufactured) for this cheese
15
Horse given special role? A secret pet ill-treated (10)
Answer

PACESETTER
Parsing

anagram of (A SECRET PET)* with anagrind of “ill-treated” for this horse given special role with adverts, sorry. There’s a questionmark to show that this is a definition by example (DBE) – because there are other examples of this – in running.
17
An act that goes one way and another (4)
Answer

DEED
Parsing

palindrome so the only word meaning act that is a palindrome.
18
Pay to get e.g. watch returned (5)
Answer

REMIT
Parsing

reversal (returned) of TIMER < (e.g. watch)
DOWN
1 Identity given to a small house in American location (5)
Answer

IDAHO
Parsing

charade of ID (identity) + A (from the clue) + HO (small house) for the American state. Small here is a way of describing an abbreviation.
2
Military ruler going up and down (3)
Answer

AGA
Parsing

palindrome (going up and down – in a down clue) – and there’s only on Miltary ruler that’s a palindrome – this title but there are dynasties that use the spelling here – and we also had this clued as the kitchen range last week.
3
Furnish end of house with witty remark (5)
Answer

EQUIP
Parsing

charade of E (end of housE) + QUIP (witty remark).
4
Crime related to receiver of stolen goods (7)
Answer

OFFENCE
Parsing

charade of OF (related to) + FENCE (receiver of stolen goods).
5
Anger with characters getting confused in mountains (5)
Answer

RANGE
Parsing

anagram of (ANGER)* with anagrind of “characters getting confused”.
8
Jumped quietly with little weight on end of bed (7)
Answer

POUNCED
Parsing

charade of P (quiet – as in musical notation – piano) + OUNCE (little weight) + D (end of beD)
11
Plan to get to the French wood (5)
Answer

MAPLE
Parsing

charade of MAP (plan) + (to get) LE (the French) for this wood. We’ve come across this use of the in French before – but we do tend to see le / la / les.
12
Shocking weapon that could make you stare (5)
Answer

TASER
Parsing

anagram of (STARE)* with anagrind of “that could make” – there’s a spare “you” to make the clue surface work.
14
A small department is accomplished (5)
Answer

ADEPT
Parsing

charade of A (from the clue) + DEPT (small department) – second use in this puzzle of small to indicate an abbreviation.
16
Boy in US university standing on head (3)
Answer

TIM
Parsing

reversal (standing on head – in a down clue) of MIT < (US university – Massachusetts Institute of Technology) MIT is a regular crossword staple – it’s found in Cambridge, MA so can be clued as Cambridge University.

 

 

18 comments on “Quick Cryptic 65 by Pasquale”

  1. Would never have worked out “rag” from “student jollities”, but didn’t matter in the end.
    I’d wondered about the “you” in the clue for 12D, but I guess “stare wildly at shocking weapon” was too obvious… (and arguably “at” is just as extraneous!).

  2. I rather enjoyed that. As ever Pasquale with tight clueing and some bits of tougher GK in AGA, POOP, PACESETTER. If I recall RAG stood for Receive And Give although it may have been a backronym.

    My weekly talkthrough of the QC is available at … https://youtu.be/zCY7HFfbiFk .. with tips and tactics on how to go about solving.

    Thanks to Shanne for the detailed blog.

  3. HG @2 – it’s a backronym – I checked and read the Wikipedia article I linked to here. I knew it as something else.

  5. The definition “extensive display of noisy disorderly conduct” (in Wikipedia quoting OED) better describes my memories of rags in the 70s.
    Many thanks to Shanne and Pasquale

  6. Humble Tim @5 – that link did work for me, but I went through checking and I’d lost the link to POOP and MIT <, so thank you for that. (WordPress tidies up coding, so if it doesn't like things it loses them).

    You think trying to run a tiddlywinks race down Oxford Street wasn’t noisy and pretty disorderly?

  8. I’m old enough to remember student RAG weeks but muffin is a bit too modern for me!!😁 I needed to understand the parsing for 8D -never thought of p for music. A lot of dry humour here but not easy for a beginner so I guess just the right level. Thanks both

  9. In my first pass through it took me all the way to MIT -> TIM to get started but then things started to slot in place. The usual elegant clueing from the Don. Thanks Pasquale and Shanne.

  10. On my first attempt I only managed to answer one but stuck at it and completed eventually! Loved 6a. Thanks Pascquale, and Shanne too, for such helpful explanations

  11. I too was surprised how few answers my first run through produced. With respect, HG@2, I found Pasquale’s clues very wordy, making it difficult in places to understand the type of clue I was solving.

    Liked OFFENCE

    I do not like a name as an answer for “boy”, so did not like TIM. Nor did I like a technical hitch that meant a single keystroke filled two boxes with the same letter.

    Thanks Pasquale and Shanne

  12. Unfortunately unable to finish as I’d never heard of AGA. Frustrating to be defeated by a 3 letter clue as I had A_A, so I went through every letter of the alphabet but nothing made sense. The rest was pretty straightforward though.

    Rag for student jollities also escaped me, but I was able to get it from the definition and crossers.

    Cheers Shanne and Pasquale.

  13. When I’ve first ran through this puzzle, I could only get 5D. However, bit by bit, the mists cleared. It took me a while to get 15A – but the others fell into place as I carried on. The last clue I got was 6A – really enjoyed that one, once I’d sussed out the clue.

  14. I found it interesting, and funny, and probably helpful for future reference, that Pasquale clued both AGA and RANGE in this puzzle. ”Range” is often used in wordplay as a misdirection when it’s AGA, the range/stove, not a chain of mountains, or a military ruler, we’re looking for. I had to learn those 2 words early as they come up frequently in cryptics and neither the Aga nor the range in the kitchen are very common here. Fortunately I don’t think there are many 3 letter mountain ranges.

  15. It was good to finish this – it needed a second pass as my first pass was empty! OGRE and RANGE were the first in. AGA (The Aga Khan came to mind) seemed ok as soon as I’d got IMAGE (knowing the A was repeated, palindromes are helpful like that!)

    Took me a while to get RAGAMUFFIN which was a bit of a ‘doh’ as I should have got RAG, I used to organise RAG for my hall of residence in uni…

  16. Can someone help me understand: ‘charade of P (quiet – as in musical notation – piano)’?

    I can’t even parse the parse here…

  17. Sorry totalfootball @16 – p is a standard crossword abbreviation for quiet. The reason is that it comes from musical notation: when a piece is meant to be played quieter, there’s usually an instruction that says p or piano, or even pp or ppp, if the composer wants the piece to go quieter.

    There’s another linked abbreviation that comes up too – loud(er) or strong is often cluing f for forte, also from the Italian, and also found in music.

  18. totalfootball @16 To add to Shanne’s explanation, the original name of the musical instrument was ‘gravecembalo col piano e forte’ or ‘harpsichord with soft and loud’, because unlike its predecessor you can affect the volume of the note by how heavily you press.

    A couple of shortenings later, it became the piano.

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