My monthly slot for blogging the Quiptic, the Sunday cryptic offering from the Guardian, found here
As usual with Carpathian a well constructed Quiptic with lovely surfaces
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | PAGANS |
Put silver in vessels for heathens (6)
|
| insertion (put … in) of AG (silver – chemical symbol) in (put .. in) PANS (vessels) to give PAGANS | ||
| 4 | CARESSED |
Joker retaining European system regularly getting fondled (8)
|
| insertion (retaining) CARD (joker) around (retaining) E (European) + SSE (SyStEm regulary) – to give CARESSED | ||
| 9 | RELATE |
Report about dead (6)
|
| charade of RE (about) + LATE (dead) – late as in the late, great Robert Redford | ||
| 10 | THESPIAN |
Article: spread covering one performer (8)
|
| charade of THE (article) + SPAN (spread) inserting (covering) I (one) – to give THESPIAN | ||
| 11 | SELF-IMPORTANCE |
Policeman frets about egotism (4-10)
|
| anagram of (POLICEMAN FRETS)* (about) to give SELF–IMPORTANCE – for a very neat anagram and surface | ||
| 13 | TENDERLOIN |
Cut sore hip area (10)
|
| charade of TENDER (sore) + LOIN (hip area) | ||
| 14 | YETI |
Snowman is even icier at first (4)
|
| charade of YET (even) + I (Icier at first) – as in yet/even then they continued | ||
| 16 | TUTU |
Make disapproving noise encountering uniform skirt that’s short (4)
|
| charade of TUT (make disapproving noise) + (encountering) U (uniform – as in the NATO phonetic alphabet) | ||
| 18 | LIMITATION |
Left copy showing lack of talent (10)
|
| charade of L (left) + IMITATION (copy) | ||
| 21 | LORD CHANCELLOR |
Minister in cold hall corner shivering (4,10)
|
| anagram (shivering) of (COLD HALL CORNER) to give LORD CHANCELLOR | ||
| 23 | ALLELUIA |
Everyone the Spanish united beginning to intone a song of praise (8)
|
| charade of ALL (everyone) + EL (the Spanish) + U (united) + I (beginning to Intone) + A (from the clue) | ||
| 24 | CALICO |
Piece of radical, iconoclastic material (6)
|
| hidden (piece of) radiCAL ICOnoclastic – for a heavy unbleached undyed cotton – which I know (it’s cheap and takes dye, so good for home projects), but makes the nomenclature of calico cats confusing | ||
| 25 | ENTIRELY |
Completely new exhaust after rear of vehicle loudly evacuated (8)
|
| charade with some ordering instructions – N (new) TIRE (exhaust) after E (rear of vehicle – so E at the beginning of the word) + LY (LoudlY evacuated) | ||
| 26 | WEDGES |
Tightly packs shoes (6)
|
| double definition – the second referring to these shoes which are apparently back in fashion | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | PERK |
Agent upset by thousand as bonus (4)
|
| reversal (upset in a down clue) of REP < (agent) to give PER + K (thousand).
K for thousand as in the metric units system kg, km – lots of different abbreviations for a thousand in crosswordland |
||
| 2 | GALLEON |
Vessel volume written across bottom of base (7)
|
| insertion (across) of E (bottom of basE) in GALLON (volume) | ||
| 3 | NOTIFIED |
Declared info edit mistakenly (8)
|
| anagram (mistakenly) of (INFO EDIT)* | ||
| 5 | APHRODISIAC |
Paid choirs off with a stimulant (11)
|
| anagram (off) of (PAID CHOIRS A)* to give APHRODISIAC | ||
| 6 | ERSATZ |
Fake emerald ring sold as turquoise zirconia originally (6)
|
| acrostic (originally) of Emerald Ring Sold As Turquoise Zirconia | ||
| 7 | SCIENCE |
Nieces upset about constant Physics? (7)
|
| anagram (upset) of (NIECES)* around (about) C (constant) | ||
| 8 | DANDELION |
We hear smart cat weed (9)
|
| soundalike (we hear) “dandy” (smart) for DANDE + LION (cat) | ||
| 12 | MULTIRACIAL |
Claim ritual involved embracing people of all origins (11)
|
| anagram (involved) of (CLAIM RITUAL)* to give MULTIRACIAL | ||
| 13 | TITILLATE |
Tickle bird getting sick and annoyed (9)
|
| charade of TIT (bird) + (getting) ILL (sick) + ATE (annoyed) | ||
| 15 | FAIL-SAFE |
Infallible fellow having trouble with vault (4-4)
|
| charade of F (fellow) + AIL (having trouble) + SAFE (vault) | ||
| 17 | TARTLET |
Skill granted after time to make little pastry (7)
|
| charade of ART (skill) + LET (granted) after T (time) – so the T goes on the front | ||
| 19 | IRONING |
Domestic chore I call about in advance (7)
|
| insertion (about) I RING (I call) about ON (in advance) – in advance for ON is in Chambers | ||
| 20 | SCALER |
Clears revolting instrument for removing tartar (6)
|
| anagram (revolting) of (CLEARS)* | ||
| 22 | BOSS |
Leader with unpleasant odour starts to smell sweeter (4)
|
| charade of BO (unpleasant odour) + S S (starts to Smell Sweeter) |
On the one hand, easy; on the other, quite a few words I didn’t know, like TUTU, CALICO, DANDELION, WEDGES (I’m still not sure why “wedges” = “tightly packs”). Most of them were quite gettable from the clues though. Very nice overall, thanks Carpathian and Shanne!
Thanks for the blog and the puzzle.
13d – can I ask where ATE come from please? How does it equate to ANNOYED?
Layman @1 – if you wedge stuff in, you’re packing it tightly.
Steffen @2 – if you’re eaten by something you’re annoyed by it – the thought of the upcoming interview ate/annoyed her and she couldn’t settle. In Chambers, under eat, there is a later definition of “to upset, irritate or worry (colloq)”. In crosswordland ate often means worry.
Lovely crossword and informative blog – thanks Carpathian and Shanne. Thanks for the clarification on ATE too – makes sense in context. In a similar way, how would one use ON for ‘in advance’? I trust in Chambers but can’t think of a context.
Shanne @3: thanks, I didn’t know that expression
Holypeanut @5 – I couldn’t think of one, which is why I checked the BRB! I’m sure someone else can.
Collins online has this
On
29
a. in advance; forward; ahead
move on
KVa @8 – that’s pretty much what Chambers says. OK, so I can think of an exchange in a sentence – the vanguard moved on/in advance – very military.
A minor objection to the definition of FAIL-SAFE, which does not (in my understanding) mean infallible so much as being designed to not be a problem when fallible happens; when it fails it is safe. Or, as a noun, a backup plan; a fall-back.
A nice quiptic, though. I thought I wouldn’t finish, but I did!
ATE was a new one on me but, if it’s in common use for crosswords then every day is a school day!
Thanks for this, Shanne. It seems easy when reading your explanations. I completely missed the hint for the anagram of Policeman Frets. A good puzzle.
I didn’t know wedges were shoes. And despite what Chambers might say, I can’t think of an example where “on” might mean “in advance”. The above attempts seem a bit of a stretch.