Hectence compiled Quiptic no 4 in December 1999 and here she is with Quiptic no 1,349 nearly twenty-six years later. She’s good at it. Seriously good.
Less experienced solvers generally enjoy Hectence’s Quiptics because they have generous grids, avoid obscurities, are clearly clued, and maybe have one or two chewier offerings to stretch the brain a little. Recently, her puzzles have all been pangrams, like this one: all 26 letters of the alphabet appear at least once. Just for fun.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Secretary caught providing information about peacemaking
PACIFIC
A charade of PA for Personal Assistant, C, IF for ‘providing’, I and C for circa or ‘about’.
5 More fragile West Indies arachnid died out
WISPIER
A charade of WI and SPI[D]ER.
9 On choppy lake, back of dinghy losing water
LEAKY
An charade of (LAKE)* and Y for the last letter of ‘dinghy’ in (LAKE)* The anagrind is ‘choppy’.
10 Attempt to save doubtful bride succeeded with signal received
RESCUE BID
An insertion of CUE in (BRIDE S)* The insertion indicator is ‘with … received’ and the anagrind is ‘doubtful’.
11 At this point dividing care of new church makes sense
COHERENCE
An insertion of HERE in CO for ‘care of’ and N, CE. The insertion indicator is ‘dividing’.
12 Endless exotica could be harmful
TOXIC
([E]XOTIC[A])* with ‘could be’ as the anagrind.
13 Speciality of hotel in French resort
NICHE
An insertion of H for the phonetic alphabet ‘hotel’ in NICE. The insertion indicator is ‘in’.
15 So excited to be out and about at the same time
COEXISTED
(SO EXCITED)* with ‘to be out’ as the anagrind.
18 Final word describing complex model causes perplexity
AMAZEMENT
A charade of MAZE inserted into AMEN and T for the ‘model’ [T Ford]. The insertion indicator is ‘describing’.
19 Ogre edgily suppresses craving for food
GREED
Hidden in OGRE EDgily.
21 Boat’s gear regularly surrounded by small fish
FERRY
An insertion of ER for the even letters of ‘gear’ in FRY. The insertion indicator is ‘surrounded by’.
23 Crumple cups scattered around empty coach after race
SCRUNCH UP
An insertion of RUN and CH for the outside letters of ‘coach’ in (CUPS)* The insertion indicator is ‘around’ and the anagrind is ‘scattered’.
25 Everyone tucked into Ribena supply for dancer
BALLERINA
An insertion of ALL in (RIBENA)* The insertion indicator is ‘tucked into’ and the anagrind is ‘supply’, which has to be read adverbially as ‘in a supple way’.
26 Naming words for numbers including one in French
NOUNS
An insertion of UN in NOS. The insertion indicator is ‘including’.
27 Made certain rocky undersea area’s ignored
ENSURED
(UNDERSE[A])* with ‘rocky’ as the anagrind.
28 Most stingy relatives?
NEAREST
A dd. NEAR is a synonym for ‘miserly’ and the second element refers to the expression NEAREST AND DEAREST.
Down
1 Knock biting lice off bird
PELICAN
An insertion of (LICE)* in PAN. The insertion indicator is ‘biting’ and the anagrind is ‘off’. Hectence often gives me a chance for the Obligatory Pierre Bird Link, for which I thank her. Often I will choose an adjective like ‘handsome’ to describe the bird in the picture. I can’t really do that today; perhaps ‘evolutionarily well-adapted’ is the kindest description.
A wonderful bird is the Pelican.
His beak can hold more than his belly can.
He can hold in his beak
Enough food for a week!
But I’ll be darned if I know how the hellican?
Dixon Lanier Merritt (1879-1972)
2 Churches hosting geriatric centre with a tea dance …
CHA-CHA-CHA
A charade of A for the central letter of ‘geriatric’ inserted into CH and CH and A CHA (‘tea’). The insertion indicator is ‘hosting’.
3 … in hall some Surrey officials set up
FOYER
Hidden reversed in SurREY OFficials. The ellipses between the two clues can be ignored; they are just there to improve the surface reading.
4 Historical record or cliche circulated about north?
CHRONICLE
An insertion of N in (OR CLICHE)* The insertion indicator is ‘about’ and the anagrind is ‘circulated’.
5 Weathers storms when woman put out rubbish
WASTE
(WEAT[HER]S)* with ‘storms’ as the anagrind.
6 Hunkering down occupying building
SQUATTING
A dd.
7 Repository for television at home
INBOX
A charade of IN and BOX.
8 Discounted wine clubs as part of university education
REDUCED
A charade of RED and C for ‘clubs’ inserted into U and ED. The insertion indicator is ‘as part of’.
14 First lady’s online, endlessly long annually
EVERY YEAR
A charade of EVE (Adam’s wife), RY for railway or ‘line’ and YEAR[N]. You have to do what some folk call a ‘lift and separate’ manoeuvre on ‘online’ to give you ‘on’ and ‘line’. Then ‘on’ becomes a placement indicator and ‘line’ gives you RY.
16 Join Tina Turner to put on a show?
ENTERTAIN
A charade of ENTER and (TINA)* with ‘turner’ as the anagrind. ‘She entered/joined the nunnery at the age of sixteen.’ Great surface.
17 Three assembled by river to make den
TREE HOUSE
A charade of (THREE)* and OUSE. The anagrind is ‘assembled’. Another great surface.
18 Good-natured sailor supporting fellows hampered by beer
AFFABLE
An insertion of FF and AB for Able Bodied [Seaman] in ALE. The insertion indicator is ‘hampered by’. ‘Supporting’ works because it’s a down clue.
20 Down payment for silicon in warehouse
DEPOSIT
An insertion of SI in DEPOT. The insertion indicator is ‘in’.
22 Provokes teacher to retire over student with low grade
RILES
An insertion of L for learner or ‘student’ and E for a ‘low [exam] grade’ in SIR reversed. The reversal indicator is ‘to retire’ and the insertion indicator is ‘over’.
23 Watched very good journalist following lead for story
SPIED
A charade of S for the initial letter of ‘story’, PI and ED. PI, short for pious, for ‘very good’ only ever comes up in crosswords. But it comes up a lot.
24 Inside Shogun in Japan there’s a warrior
NINJA
Hidden in ShoguN IN JApan.
Many thanks as always to Hectence for this week’s puzzle.
I never knew that “near” means “miserly”. I do now.
Thank you Pierre and Hectence.
I really liked this puzzle, apart from PI in 23d which is a pet peeve of mine. It might originally have been dreamt up as short for pious, but OED lists it as a word in its own right:colloquial. Now somewhat archaic. Too obscure for a Quiptic, in my opinion (too obscure for most cryptics), and I’d rather it was consigned to the dustbin. I hate things that you just have to know, and which can’t in any remote way be considered general knowledge, or reasonably be guessed it.
You omitted I for ‘information’ from 1a.
I didn’t really see 7d as a charade, more of a dodgy dd, but then it would need a question mark.
I took “low grade” to be the last letter in gradE, but I think your parsing works better.
The ‘I’ for ‘information’ is included in my explanation for 1a, Remus, if you read it carefully.
Thanks Pierre and Hectence.
I’m with Remus on not liking the obscure but common in crossword items. I could add AB for able bodied that makes an appearance at 18 down.
It doesn’t bother me much now that I know most of them, but it’s very off-putting for beginners.
Other than that minor quibble, a fantastic crossword.
Yes, Hectence’s customary pangram, as Pierre notes. Actually, for anyone interested, today’s Sunday Quick in the Guardian is a double pangram, a rara avis at any time, but which in a 13×13 grid with only 23 clues is quite a feat.
Well having read through all those explanations, I now know why I couldn’t figure half of them out. Definitely required a level of knowledge above what the last few weeks’ puzzles have.
Also I think the parsing for 12 should make it clear “endless” deletes both the E and the A.
Re PI, AB etc: I’ve no particular objection to setters using words and abbreviations that are in standard dictionaries, and assessments of their obscurity will inevitably vary from solver to solver. My quibble with PI on this occasion is that Chambers defines it as ‘obtrusively religious, sanctimonious’, so ‘very good’ (as in the clue) seems a bit loose.
What Mike @4 said. I also don’t particularly enjoy clues such as PACIFIC, which don’t make for any wordplay over and above a decryption exercise. Having said that, I found this a very enjoyable quiptic, thanks Hectence and Pierre!
@Geoff Down Under 1. – I didn’t know that “near” meant mean with money either, but I know that “close” does. So I assumed it did too. Just as well that the grid didn’t make it any harder.
My experience was similar to @6 Dylan N. I found half of it went in very smoothly but the rest took a good while and there was much in here that was unfamiliar to me.
My mother used PI – as in “too pi for her own good”, and I also know it from my childhood reading, probably Angela Brazil, possibly Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers – definitely novels set in boarding schools, so it’s not as unknown as Remus @2 suggests. Particularly if, as I suspect, I know it from Malory Towers, which has been recently serialised on BBC, so the books will be widely read now.
Looking at the featured bird, they are not the nicest of birds and can fit unusual fodder into that beak – there’s a much reported case of a pelican eating a moorhen in St James’ Park.
I enjoyed this, Hectence at her best.
Thank you to Pierre and Hectence.
Thanks for the pelican pic, Pierre. I love these birds. Australian pelicans regularly travel huge distances between the coast and inland Australia. As children growing up at the beach in southern Queensland, we would regularly feed them scraps from the day’s fishing and watch in awe as they made their landings on the water. Here’s a video I found of their aeronautical and landing skills.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ppXNv9hDMU
Loved the puzzle as well. I’m always impressed by a pangram. I enjoyed the Princess Bride clue RESCUE BID, as well as TREE HOUSE and FERRY.
Thanks Hectence and Pierre.
Very enjoyable quiptic.Was held up slightly at the NE corner but eventually solved all.Took a while to digest the explanation for 2D-(CHA)×3,thanks to Pierre and Hectence.
Never in a Quiptic have I stumbled on the answers to so many clues without having a clue how to parse them! Those letter-by-letter charades are definitely an acquired taste – I wonder how long it takes to acquire it?
I like Hectence’s puzzles and usually find them very nicely clued. Wasn’t sure about MAZE for ‘complex’ but I’ll go with it. Thanks Hectence and Pierre.
Wasn’t able to parse 14D so thank you for that, Pierre. Thanks to Hectence too.
I learned quiptics by trawling the Guardian vaults for back copies by Hetence and I’m very grateful for that. They seem to make the most sense to me. Though having said that, there is a lot of I for info, C for clubs etc which aren’t standard abbreviations , at least according to Chambers c is for circa, and I get a bit bogged down in these charades. But of course, always something to learn here.
Thank you both
Thank you very much for the explanations. I completed it, but by the end I was too tired to work out the how and why.
But it’s a great workout on a Sunday.
@getting there 17 , I suppose they are common abbreviations when they are part of other acronyms, e.g IT, FC.
Like others, NEAR for stingy was a new one on me and my last to solve.
I found this very difficult, and even after struggling to the end I had to come here for explanations of several answers, notably 1a, 14d, 23d, 28a. RY for online seems too complex for a quiptic, and as for Pi and Near, sometimes it seems that crossword setters are speaking a version of English from well before I was born.
A note on the abbreviations for those who have mentioned them. C for ‘clubs’ is from the deck of cards (like diamonds, spades, hearts …) PI for ‘very good’, AB for ‘sailor’ and RY for ‘railway’ are just crosswordese and come up regularly because they are useful letter combinations for setters. There’s not a shedload of them, so best advice is not to be put off by them but to assimilate them for next time.
Couldn’t figure out the parsing for 5d. For 28a, I kept trying to put in DEAREST since I knew “dear” meant costly or valuable and figured there was some rare variant that meant “stingy”.
Thankyou Pierre for your great blog, as always, and your pic of the PELICAN. Like SueM@12, I love these creatures and find them beautiful. Good clue too.
TREE HOUSE also a favourite of mine.
I know it is poor form to challenge a setter. And silly to challenge such a worthy and experienced setter as Hectence. Nonetheless, I quibble that 5D needed an apostrophe S: Weathers storms when woman’s put out rubbish. “woman” would be “she”.
Fred H @24. “Her” can also be the accusative of “she” so it’s just as valid for “woman “ (although perhaps it should be “the woman”?).
A vg Quiptic in any event; and thanks to Hectence and Pierre.
I liked the puzzle. I couldn’t finish it. I find reading fifteensquared helps for next time but also, more importantly, it’s very calming, because others have same problems trying to solve the clues as I do, and more experienced solvers are very encouraging by saying…. just keep on trying. Thank you.
I like the fact, Devonhousewife, that you find the blogs calming and encouraging. That’s kind of what I (and other bloggers, I’m sure) aim for, so it’s nice to hear we hit the mark.
I second that sentiment, Devonhousewife. In fact I habitually come here and read through the explanations and comments even if I have solved and parsed all of the clues (which isn’t that often I might add!)
I hate to buck the trend of praise but I’ve given up with Hectence. I’m just not on the same wavelength. When I spot a Hectence quiptic I usually go and find a Monday cryptic to do instead.
Sorry to be late to the party but I had three clues which would not yield. One was 10a which I’m still frowning at. I’m guessing the ‘s’ is from ‘succeeded’ but no idea why. Is this a cricket thing? Some other sport??
Mintteabag@30 … if you’re still here: it’s simply that ‘s’ is an abbreviation for ‘succeeded’. It’s given as such in Chambers and therefore regarded as fair game by many setters.
Thank you Hector. I’ll add it to my list.
Many thanks! I’m about a year into learning how to do cryptic crosswords and these explainers have helped me to reach the point where I can occasionally manage almost a full Quiptic!
One question about 10 across: where did the S in the anagram come from?
I’ve just noticed Hector’s helpful post above which answered my question! Many thanks Hector. Another for my toolbox.
Can someone explain Knock/Pan in 1d?
Both mean criticise…
Great Quiptic and excellent blog! Thanks very much Hectence and Pierre.
Thanks. I know I am late but I am still learning cryptics. I can manage the Quick Cryptic but the Quiptic is altogether more challenging. However sometimes I find inspiration and I can usually do the down once the across are in place. The blog is v useful. Thanks Pierre. Thanks Hectance.