Guardian Quick Cryptic 75 by Budmo

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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 2nd Quick Cryptic from Budmo, last seen in week 70. Budmo has only set Quick Cryptic puzzles in the Guardian. Today we have anagrams with all the letters give, the other clues are charades, decaptitations and last letters – all of which we’ve seen before, although it’s the 3rd last letters puzzle and 5th decapitation.

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. Get A Good joke for the 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”
  • 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.
  • soundalike – shown using quotation marks, so “Wilde” in the example below
  • CAD or clue as definition– where the whole clue gives the definition, sometimes called an &lit. These are rare.
  • DBE or definition 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. Anagram An anagram of the answer and a hint that there’s an anagram
    ‘Senator arranged crime (7)’ gives TREASON
  2. Charade Combination of synonyms/abbrevs
    ‘Qualify to get drink for ID (8)’ gives PASSPORT (pass + port)
  3. Decapitation Answer is another word without first letter
    ‘Beer in story without intro (3)’ gives ALE (from tALE)
  4. Last letters Final letters give answer
    ‘Finally pulL thE ruG showing limb (3)’ gives LEG

ACROSS Click on “Answer” to see the solutions
1
Performed with girls in shades (10)
Answer

SUNGLASSES
Parsing

Charade of SUNG (performed) + LASSES (girls) where shades are another way of saying SUNGLASSES

7
Strange how stadia etc look silly, finally (5)
Answer

WACKY
Parsing

last letters (finally) from hoW stadiA etC looK sillY
8
Summarise criminal caper (5)
Answer

RECAP
Parsing

anagram of (CAPER)* with an anagrind of “criminal”
9
Wicked, wicked person losing face (4)
Answer

EVIL
Parsing

decapitation (losing face) from dEVIL (wicked person)

10
Father S Hill is member of the clergy (6)
Answer

PASTOR
Parsing

charade of PA (father) + S (from the clue) + TOR (hill) – we’ve seen hill meaning TOR before, last time I illustrated it with Mam Tor, so this time we’ll have Glastonbury Tor. The surface suggests the name of a priest, so there are some deliberately misleading capitals in the clue.

13
Ann set off for French city (6)
Answer

NANTES
Parsing

anagram of (ANN SET)* with an anagrind of “off” for this French city
14
Thanks company for Mexican pancake (4)
Answer

TACO
Parsing

charade of TA (thanks) + CO (company)
16
Damaged plugs and bolts (5)
Answer

GULPS
Parsing

anagram of (PLUGS)* with an anagrind of “damaged” – with the bolts as in bolting food.

18
Criticise the Spanish group of judges? (5)
Answer

PANEL
Parsing

charade of PAN (criticise) + EL (the Spanish) – where “the Spanish” means to translate “the” into Spanish. There’s a question mark to indicate a definition by example (DBE) as a group of judges is just one example of a PANEL
19
Brief story I rant about (10)
Answer

TRANSITORY
Parsing

anagram of (STORY I RANT)* with an anagrind of “about”
DOWN
2
Ointment’s purpose when uncapped (7)
Answer

UNCTION
Parsing

decapitation (when uncapped) of fUNCTION (purpose).
3
Yoga affected painter (4)
Answer

GOYA
Parsing

anagram of (YOGA)* with an anagrind of “affected” for this painter.
4
Opening shot from part of golf course? That may help you breathe more easily (6)
Answer

AIRWAY
Parsing

decapitation (opening shot) of fAIRWAY (part of golf course) – and this one I’m quibbling about – no airway means no breathing, full stop. It’s why asthmatics (like me) struggle to breathe, when their airway closes up for some reason.

5
Dry wines taste acidic, ultimately (3)
Answer

SEC
Parsing

last letters (ultimately) of wineS tastE acidiC with a very smooth surface – it’s not quite a clue as definition (CAD or &lit) as the “ultimately” isn’t part of the definition.
6
Magnificent flier for American sporting event (5,4)
Answer

SUPER BOWL
Parsing

charade of SUPERB (magnificent) + OWL (flier) for a clue that’s turned up in the full fat cryptics recently
7
Little man on board Thursday evening? (9)
Answer

WEEKNIGHT
Parsing

charade of WEE (small) + KNIGHT (man on board) with another question mark to indicate a DBE (definition by example) as Thursday evening is just one WEEKNIGHT. The KNIGHT is a man on board as in a chesspiece – chesspieces are often clued as man/men in the full fat cryptics, without the extra help of board to indicate it’s a board game.
11
One putting effort in, ignoring head coach (7)
Answer

TRAINER
Parsing

decapitation (ignoring head) of sTRAINER (one putting effort in) – STRAINER not using the usual definition of a tea strainer, but it does exist as someone putting in the effort.
12
Safest to rearrange banquets (6)
Answer

FEASTS
Parsing

anagram of (SAFEST)* with an anagrind of “to rearrange”
15
Recognise terms of contracts up to management (4)
Answer

SPOT
Parsing

last letters (terms of) contractS uP tO managemenT – “terms” is a regular crossword way of indicating the last letters of a word in crosswordland.
17
Biting insect’s first to leave field (3)
Answer

LEA
Parsing

decapitation (first to leave) of fLEA (biting insect) – LEA for field or meadow is much used in cryptic crosswords as a useful letter cluster.

 

 

21 comments on “Guardian Quick Cryptic 75 by Budmo”

  2. In what world is a taco a Mexican pancake? A tortilla might be, but a taco? Also a little dubious about a trainer being a coach, but maybe that’s a UK vs US thing.

  3. Quite a difficult one for me,left a few unparsed before revealing.Not familiar with this setter’s style.

  5. Very satisfying puzzle from Budmo. I can only recall seeing terms to indicate last letters once and that was recently. I was being tempted to make an anagram (management) of “up to” !!

    My weekly talkthrough solve is available from … https://youtu.be/bU4196_CsGM … and will hopefully provide tips and tactics

  6. A good one; I’ve had the same quibble as Shanne re: AIRWAY but Chambers also has “1 a passage for air, especially for ventilation” so fair I guess even if tricky. Liked SUNGLASSES. Thefishmonger@2 – a stuffed pancake (tortilla) is still a pancake I would think… Thanks Budmo and Shanne!

  11. Enjoyable but tricky in places. Like Michelle @ 8 I wondered how BOWL = flier worked and then the penny dropped. Thanks Budmo and Shanne.

  12. I found this the most straightforward Quick Cryptic for a while though I too went for SUPER BOWL and thought bowl=flier was some sporting term I’ve never heard of. I didn’t register that ‘terms’ indicated ‘last letters’ so I’ll look out for that in future.

  13. Most enjoyable today. Thank you Budmo and Shanne. Amma@12; I wonder if one was standing with one’s bat in front of the wicket on a cricket crease whether one might see the ball approaching (a bowl?) as a flier?

  14. Like Michelle@8 and Amma@12 I only understood Super Bowl reading Shanne’s blog here.
    Decapitations were the most challenging ( often getting answer from definition before thinking of the word to decapitate ). Unction was the answer in another crossword this week so that helped !
    But I’m still managing to complete the quick cryptic each week and then enjoy coming on here to have some answers explained. So many thanks for all your support Shanne.

  15. I did wonder about adding details to TACO, but thought those are international, and didn’t. My Mexican recipe book (written by someone born in Mexico City) says – “TACO shells are actually the American adaptation of the Mexican fried TACOs which are totillas with a filling rolled into a cigar shape and shallow-fried”. What we see as Mexican food is mainly Tex-Mex food nowadays, but there are recipes online for Mexican Tacos as street food, which are rolled around the food.

  18. I wonder if pancake is a US/UK misunderstanding as in the UK pancakes are like a french crepe, but I think in America pancakes are small and thick.
    Thanks again Shanne, I needed your enlightenment as usual!
    Tim@13, I also thought about a cricket/bowling clue for “flier”, but loved the real parsing. 😊🦉

  19. I was able to do this but I had to come here to check about 15d. I’ll have to remember “terms” meaning last letters. I had no problems with SUPERBOWL since I remembered it as an old joke on twitter, I might have struggled if I hadn’t.

    SUNGLASSES was my LOI, and probably my favourite.

    Thanks Budmo and Shanne.

  20. SUPERB OWL a longstanding online joke as oh no computer @19 says. Otherwise a lovely little grid – I thought the surfaces were as tricky as a Quiptic (maybe an Everyman), but the solutions were right for the QC.

  21. SUPER BOWL…I thought it was as in Bowling in cricket, but nice one 😀
    “terms” for last letter where does that come from?? short for “TERMinal”??

    Got both of them right without really understanding…

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