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.
Very enjoyable Quiptic as usual from Carpathian. I agree with the points being made about fail-safe, Carpathian’s definition doesn’t quite fit in my opinion. Thanks C and Shanne for the blog.
[The clue for TUTU brings back memories of my schooldays at the height of the 60s mini-skirt era: we used to roll up our waistbands to produce the desired mini length, only to have to roll them down again to the official knee-length when the inevitable “disapproving noises” were made by our teachers. Maybe Carpathian (who is female) has similar recollections?]
Always loved the derivation of dandelion from the French “dents de lion” or lion’s teeth. Refers to the shape of the leaves and not the bright yellow middles.
Time marches on is roughly time marches in the advance direction. A bit tenuous but it was enough for me.
Very enjoyable. I had to reveal the last few, but easier than of late. It made my Sunday.
Carpathian was very generous with her anagrams today which made for very plain sailing. A perfect quiptic for me. Thanks to Shanne for the blog (and the “on” example), and to Carpathian.
Reading the blog and the comments, I’m still not convinced by on=in advance. The fact that it’s in Chambers does not make it right–even dictionaries can be fallible! Yes, those are the rules of this game, but sometimes those rules produce some odd results.
MrP @19
I am fed up with “it’s in Chambers, so it must be right”. I think we need to replace it with “it’s in Chambers, so it’s fair game for compilers”.
What Humbletim@18, Mrpenny@19 and muffin@20 said
Ate for annoyed is new to me too – I would say “ate at” her. Ate alone may a UKism?
Thanks. Carpathian and Shanne
mrpenney @19 and muffin @20 – my thought was if it’s in Chambers, I can’t criticise – which is why I checked and made the neutral comment about being in Chambers and the cheerful admission I couldn’t think of way of replacing it in a sentence.
Martyn @ 21 I don’t really like the equivalence of ate and annoyed either, but if it is in Chambers, they are allowed under the rules of the game. Ate isn’t a UK-ism – I was thinking it was southern states USA. I’d say it ate away at him as a way of saying it worried him or he was eaten up/annoyed by the unfairness ..
Yes, I could also say “ate away”. Southern US for “ate”? Interesting and thanks
I thought it was a lovely Quiptic. Of course I’d be more than happy to carp at ‘ate’, but no need when others have done it for me. A lovely QC yesterday as well. And last weekend’s pair! Aren’t we having a good spell?
To muddy the waters further, this ATE has been turning up in crosswords recently.
If I was upset about something when I was a lad, my mother would say, “What’s eating you?”
For what it’s worth, I’m also mildly nonplussed by “in advance” for “on”, but if that’s the worst thing about a puzzle, I’d say the setter has done well.
Thanks Carpathian and Shanne – a truly beautiful quiptic imo, elegantly written and definitely fitting of the brief. I had to come here for the parsing of Yeti, as I could not see past even as a wordplay indicator, but everything else made sense and fell into place nicely
Agree with the general sentiment about ON and ATE. Couldn’t parse these.
And, embarrassingly, I was convinced 1 down was PERM (assuming this was was a synonym for bonus I just hadn’t heard before). PERK makes so much more sense!
Thanks S&B
I understood that in 19d the ON was clued by “about”: first it’s I, then RING but in advance of that you have a word for about. About = on e.g. I have a book about birdwatching, I have a book on birdwatching.
Calico is unbleached cotton fabric to me, but in the US it is fabric printed with small overall patterns. Calico cats I think are the US version – I’ve always known them as tortoiseshell cats. But presumably they are named for the patterned fabric in the US.
A largely superb quiptic as we are used to being spoiled by when Carpy’s in the slot, although I do find common ground with a few comments above. I really liked DANDELION, made me think of a lion in a 3 piece suit!
Saying that a thing is in Chambers always feels to me like saying that some morally reprehensible action is technically legal – so there’s nothing you can do about it. Re. an example of ATE (which seems to be a fixture in Accepted Crosswordese), there’s that film called “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?”
Matt @29. I’m with you on “about” = “ON”
Calico and tortoiseshell cats are different, at least here in the US. Both kinds have both black or grey fur and orange fur, and are therefore both always female, since you have to have two X chromosomes to be one — one with each color on the relevant gene. Oh, and you have to be a cat — I have two X chromosomes too, but no black or orange fur.
A calico cat has black/grey and orange patches here and there on a white background. I’ve had two of them, both greatly loved. A tortoiseshell cat has a look like tortoiseshell glasses frames, with black and orange sort of smearily mixed together. A housemate of mine had one, whom he named Tortuga.
Valentine @34. I know more about fabric than I do about cats! When I was growing up I was told that the blotchy cats were tortoiseshell, and I’ve never questioned that until now. I never heard the term “calico cat” until the age of the internet when I was exposed to lots of new terms from around the world. But that could just be my ignorance of cats in general.
Chambers is getting a bad rap for no good reason.
Moving on, going on, getting on, all imply forward motion, as does advance. I don’t think Chambers has anything to apologize for here.
And Gladys@32 mentions the Johnny Depp film “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape”, which uses eating in the colloquial sense of bugging, bothering or annoying. This is not an uncommon usage, so again Chambers is not wrong…
…and neither is Carpathian in how she used ATE andON in 13d TITILLATE and 19d IRONING – both excellent clues in an excellent Quiptic.
(Whatever is eating the Chambers critics, perhaps they should just move on.😊)
I like the misdirection of weed for dandelion which in French is pis-en-lit for its diuretic properties!
I do find charades such as “Completely new exhaust after rear of vehicle loudly evacuated” a struggle. Having stared at it for ages to no avail even after getting the answer it me used me as to how straightforward it actually is!
The dandy-dande homophone in 8 down reminded me of the song in the Wizard of Oz when the characters wish they had a brain/a heart/the nerve and the lion’s verse goes “I’m afraid there’s no denying I’m just a dandy-lion, a fate I don’t deserve…”