Guardian Quiptic 1,337/Pasquale

31 comments on “Guardian Quiptic 1,337/Pasquale”

1. Lovely quiptic thanks Pasquale and Pierre
   The S in front of EWER kept me disturbed for a long while

2. I found this to be a fun, fair and well-pitched Quiptic at the gentler end of the spectrum perhaps. DISLOYAL was my favourite, I’d say.

   PROFOUNDER made me blink; personally I’d typically say “more profound”… but then again I also prefer “more common” over commoner, etc.

   LOIs were RULER (possibly the meatiest one today, with a crafty, almost cryptic definition) and the intersecting CASTE and CLANNISH. I’m often held up a little by synonyms which are not strictly of the same class, here “discord” (abstract noun) and “clash” (common noun); so “observe the discord/clash there” but not “there was discord” / “* there was clash”.

   Thanks Pasquale and Pierre.

3. A nice and intelligent one as expected from Pascuale. Great level for a quiptic. Thanks Don and Pierre.

4. I’m in a hurry this morning, so it’s nice to have a quiptic that properly lived up to the billing. Enough time left over to come here and say that Pasquale’s a bit good at this kind of thing. Who knew?

   Hope the beginners found purchase with this one as much as I think they will; the litmus test for me is if I was sat in a pub explaining how cryptics work to a friend, would they think it’s stupid or would they find it engaging? I’d have confidence convincing them of the latter if this was the puzzle in front of me.

5. As a beginner/improver I found this very satisfying. The only ones I couldn’t fully parse are 30a and 28d. Although I’m sure I’ve come across both abbreviations before, I didn’t see TT for teetotaller or CH for Companion of Honour. So many abbreviations to remember!

6. This was the best Quiptic in a while, the difficulty levels have been variable over the past few weeks IMO. Thoroughly enjoyable, and very solvable without being a write-in.

7. Tachi@4 yes indeed as a beginner this was a pleasant way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon.
   Managed to complete all but still find this blog very helpful in parsing some ( 4a in particular )

8. Someone please explain what is cryptic about the clue for SPADES. Spades are a black suit, a term in fairly common use in many card games, so it seems like just a straight definition to me. How is it supposed to be misleading?

9. Really enjoyed this Quiptic. Possibly the best for a long time. As an improving beginner I managed all the wordplay apart from 22a. I was sure it was a homophone but just couldn’t see it that it was actually a homophone of a charade – very clever. Thanks Pasquale and also to Pierre for the blog.

10. Thanks Mrpenney@8. I thought it was just me that read it as a quick crossword clue

11. Enjoyed it today – well pitched. Couldn’t see how cast means shy – but then realised I was being a coconut.

12. I thought it well constructed but a little anodyne. I most liked THREAT and BATTERY.

    Per comments above, SPADES was so uncryptic that I had to look at it several times before I understood the clue. RULED was in the same league.

    Thanks Pasquale and Pierre

13. As experienced solvers we rattled through this, but as an example of a crossword pitched at beginners/improvers it was perfect. Certain other setters might like to take note.
    Thanks, Pasquale and Pierre.
    AP@2, re ‘profounder’. Our understanding is that for comparatives and superlatves with adjectives of one syllable add ‘er’ (or ‘est’). For two syllables either add er/est or use the more/most construction and for three+ syllables always use more/most.

14. MrPenney@8 I guess most people when they see black suit would think formal jacket and trousers. So I was looking for something about that until I saw that spades fitted. It’s not very subtle though!
    Overall I enjoyed it. Thanks Pasquale and Pierre!

15. I don’t do the quiptics so often. I had a spell of several write-ins here but don’t find the solve to be much quicker than a week day cryptic. The likes of Pasquale and Vulcan change difficulty levels better than I adjust to them. Definitely easier than yesterday’s prize!

    Thanks Pasquale, Pierre and everyone else.

16. allan_c@13, indeed it’s the grey area in the middle of the two-syllable words which is interesting… is it simply down to personal taste for adjectives in that zone? I wonder to what extent regional dialect comes into play.

17. Another excellent quiptic – thanks to Pasquale for writing and Pierre for parsing above.

    Overall I thought it was a good quiptic, a lot of easier clues to allow for footholds etc. I did not know the word Clannish but otherwise everything was good :). Personal favourites were probably Eyrie and Pageantry

18. Evening all and I felt that this one warranted my first post. It was lovely puzzle, so thanks to Pasquale and also to Pierre for the blog.

    As a relatively new solver I found this quiptic eminently doable so it definitely fulfilled the brief. I’m currently working backwards through the quiptics and find the difficulty can vary quite significantly. I also find it easier to get on some setters’ ‘wavelength’ than others! That said, with few exceptions, I find the quiptics (and Guardian Quick Cryptics) enormously enjoyable and wonder if there are others out there that are similarly pitched for beginners?
    I did get a book Times Quick Cryptics for Fathers Day that also nicely fits the bill!

19. As an “improver” I completed it quite rapidly. It is nice for someone of my level to have, from time to time, a crossword that is not too hard but still satisfactory, is nicely clued, and that you can fully complete without using any extra tools (dictionary, crossword solver, thesaurus, etc.) I suppose this crossword is the right level of difficulty for a quiptic, although my view is probably tinted by the level I’ve reached in cryptic crossword solving.

20. Evening, Horizontal and welcome to Fifteensquared. ‘Eminently doable’ is what most Quiptic setters are aiming for, I think, so good to know you enjoyed it. Working back through the Quiptics will certainly help you improve, but the difficulty will vary. My personal advice would be to use the search function to find Quiptics by Hectence, Arachne, Carpathian and Nutmeg. They are all female setters, but that is by the by – they will generally provide you with a puzzle that falls into the ’eminently doable’ category. The Times book sounds a good bet too, though I am not familiar with them or their difficulty level.

21. This was a relief after last week’s!

22. I’m surprised that no one has commented that since 6D is such an unsubtle CD it sails perilously close to a rather offensive double definition.. only the plural here is (possibly) saving it .. Surprised an editor would let that through.

23. ZombieCat@22. ??

24. Paddymelon @23. SPADE (singular) is an offensive term for a black person. I must admit, I raised an eyebrow. at the solution.

25. The plural does save 5dn from being interpretable as a racial slur, fortunately. But I’m like others who found it to be a naacd (a “not-at-all cryptic definition”), as the first things that come to mind when I hear the phrase “black suit” are “spades” and “clubs”.

    I thought this was an excellent Quiptic. I’m always impressed with the way Pasquale can construct elegant and satisfying puzzles at very different parts of the difficulty spectrum.

26. I had ruled as a td – was in charge, with lunes, put down.

27. Lines

28. Excellent Quiptic and blog, thanks Pasquale and Pierre. I loved IMPERIOUS which took me forever, and SAUSAGE which was less taxing but made me smile.

29. Hmm? I can leave comments on this a month after it was posted? Well. Could anyone explain why ‘shy’ = ‘cast’? My knowledge of those words does not include any overlap in meaning.

30. Hello, Forgetful. Comments are left open for a good while after the blog is first published, so yes you can.

    ‘Shy’ and ‘cast’ are synonyms, both having the sense of ‘throw’. The examples that I can think of would be ‘Let him who is without sin cast the first stone’, from the Bible; and ‘The fielder shied at the stumps and ran out the batter’. Or for the second one, think of a Coconut Shy at the fairground.

    Hope that helps.

31. Managed to solve this one without help, which is rare for me. Though I wasn’t familiar with ‘shy’ having the sense of ‘throw’ or ‘CH’ for ‘Companion of Honour’ (probably because I’m American), and I didn’t recognize the word ‘EWER’.

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