Chandler is on double duty this weekend too – with a Quiptic found here
Chandler is good at pitching accessible clues for beginners, and there wasn’t much here to confuse
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | BEDLAMP |
Confusion with power in aid for late-night reading? (7)
|
| charade of BEDLAM (confusion) + P (power – abbreviation from physics) | ||
| 5 | GARBAGE |
Sack put in French station for rubbish (7)
|
| insertion of BAG (sack) into GARE (French for station – as in the Gare du Nord in Paris) | ||
| 10 | SCAM |
Dishonest scheme among shameless campers (4)
|
| hidden in (among) shamelesS CAMpers | ||
| 11 | SPECIALIST |
I tip scales wrongly for expert (10)
|
| anagram (wrongly) of (I TIP SCALES)* | ||
| 12 | MANTRA |
Fellow with skill recalled slogan (6)
|
| charade of MAN (fellow) + TRA (ART < skill recalled) | ||
| 13 | RATIONAL |
Reasonable allowance to introduce a learner (8)
|
| charade of RATION (allowance) + A (from the clue) + L (learner – from L plates on cars) | ||
| 14 | AMBULANCE |
Name a club that’s arranged transport for patients (9)
|
| anagram (that’s arranged) of (NAME A CLUB)* | ||
| 16 | LIVER |
Celebrity chef with no love for some offal (5)
|
| deletion (with no love) from Jamie oLIVER (celebrity chef) – here the deletion is given to be O (love in tennis scoring) | ||
| 17 | TWITS |
Idiots beginning to taunt comics (5)
|
| charade of T (beginning of Taunt) + WITS (comics) | ||
| 19 | ADMISSION |
A daughter calling to get entry (9)
|
| charade of A (from the clue) + D (daughter in genealogy) + MISSION (calling) | ||
| 23 | FLAMINGO |
Fine language to describe a male wading bird (8)
|
| charade with insertion – F (fine – from pencil gradations) + LINGO (language) around (to describe) A (from the clue) + M (male) | ||
| 24 | PLACES |
Steps to circle lake in locations (6)
|
| insertion (to circle) of PACES (steps) around (to circle) L (lake – from maps) | ||
| 26 | TOOTHPASTE |
Cleaner of some ivories? (10)
|
| cryptic definition – ivories can be piano keys or teeth, in this case, teeth | ||
| 27 | IRIS |
Flower put in hair, I suppose (4)
|
| hidden (put in) haIR I Suppose – and for once a flower means the bloom of a plant, not a river. | ||
| 28 | DENMARK |
Study symbol in European country (7)
|
| charade of DEN (study – as in a man cave at different times in history) + MARK (symbol) | ||
| 29 | ASSURED |
Confident American for all to see in fancy dress (7)
|
| A for American + U (film classification for all to see) inserted into (in) anagram (fancy) of (DRESS)* | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | EXCLAIM |
Show indignation getting cross amid Alice warring with Mike (7)
|
| X (cross) inserted into (amid) an anagram of (ALICE)* with anagrind of “warring” + M (Mike – M in the NATO phonetic alphabet) | ||
| 3 | LIMIT |
Restrict a lot of fruit with appeal (5)
|
| charade of LIM (a lot of fruit – so most of LIME) + IT (appeal – as in She’s Got It) | ||
| 4 | MASCARA |
Mother hiding a blemish has form of make-up (7)
|
| insertion (hiding) of MA (mother) around (hiding) A (from the clue) + SCAR (blemish) | ||
| 6 | AVIATE |
Pilot has a struggle to keep a time (6)
|
| pilot as in the verb, to pilot a plane – A (from the clue) + VIE (struggle) around (to keep) + A T (A from the clue, T for time from science) | ||
| 7 | BALCONIES |
Sole cabin after renovation has projecting platforms (9)
|
| anagram (after renovation) of (SOLE CABIN) | ||
| 8 | GO SPARE |
Leave society facing cut and become very angry (2,5)
|
| charade of GO (leave) + S (society – lots of abbreviations use S = society) + PARE (cut) – and when you GO SPARE, you lose the plot, or any other phrase that suggests becoming angry. | ||
| 9 | TERRACED HOUSE |
Engineer searched outer residence in a row (8,5)
|
| anagram (engineer) of (SEARCHED OUTER) | ||
| 15 | ULTIMATUM |
Large chap in autumn shortly prepared final demand (9)
|
| anagram (prepared) of (AUTUM)* (autumn shortly) around L (large – as in clothing sizes) + TIM (chap – name of a man) | ||
| 18 | WELCOME |
Our lot, initially late to arrive, admitted willingly (7)
|
| charade of WE (our lot) + L (initially Late) + COME (to arrive) | ||
| 20 | IMPRESS |
This person’s urge to dazzle (7)
|
| charade of I’M (this person’s) + PRESS (urge) | ||
| 21 | ONE-TIME |
Former individual given money in game (3-4)
|
| charade of ONE (individual) + M (money) inserted into (in) TIE (game) | ||
| 22 | SNIPER |
Second little tyke quietly leaving is one with a deadly aim? (6)
|
| charade of S (second – as in the unit of measurement of time) + NIPpER (tyke – with P (quietly) leaving) | ||
| 25 | ADIEU |
Stop in a university to make farewell (5)
|
| insertion of DIE (stop) in A (from the clue) + U (university) |
So teeth can be called ivories? New to me. I couldn’t parse ASSURED, not twigging that there was a UK film classification lurking in it. Everything else fell into place very smoothly, and was over almost too soon.
Being a beginner I still find myself having to use the check about 2/3rds the way through for all but Carpathian’s quiptics and this was no different. However, I consider it a win that I was able to see the correct parsing of all but ASSURED, FLAMINGO and ULTIMATUM! As with Geoff Down Under@1, I did not know the UK film classification. Also, lingo evaded me and I’m hopeless with names in and out of crossword land. Particularly liked SNIPER and ADIEU!
Thanks to both Shanne and Chandler for the weekend double duty! Also to the blog in general, it’s how I’ve managed to get into this hobby!
Smooth puzzle, ta both. You can exclaim excitedly and delightedly as well as indignantly, but getting cross with Alice* + M is pretty neat.
gif@3. 🙂 Agree.
Short and sweet. I liked BEDLAMP, BALCONIES and TERRACED HOUSE.
Ta Chandler & Shanne.
Also couldn’t parse ASSURED, so many thanks to Shanne for elucidating and of course to Chandler for a lovely puzzle!
Having struggled to master Guardian cryptic crosswords for a number of years I like to do the Quiptic each week as a more relaxed solve. However, am I alone in thinking that most of the time it should be possible to get an answer by parsing a clue rather than guessing the answer and then parsing it? I found myself doing the latter for many of the clues today.
Enjoyable crossword. Favourite clues were FLAMINGO and the TERRACED HOUSE. We could not parse AVIATE or ONE TIME. I did not spot ‘vie’, which I think I thought was spelt ‘vye’ as you usually see it as ‘vying’, ie ‘vying for the title of…’. Still confused as to why ‘tie’ is a synonym of ‘game’. They are related, as a game could end in a tie, but that doesn’t make them synonyms in my book. Any thoughts??
We use the phrase “cup tie” for knockout competitions (especially football), so a tie is one of those games.
Mintteabag @8 – I thought of a cup tie – as in “a match, esp one at any stage of a tournament in which losers are eliminated” as defined by Chambers (98) – it’s the penultimate definition of the noun options under tie¹. (and crossed with Lin @9)
GeoffDownUnder @1 – Ivory, according to Chambers, means dentine – and “ivories” can be used for “objects of, or resembling, ivory, e.g. piano-keys, dice, teeth, and formerly billiard balls and dominos (slang)”
Ridgeowl @7 – I did build most of these clues from the wordplay, I find using wordplay helps me solve and like LEGO clues (there were a few here). Then I usually have enough crossers to see more of the word and work backwards. I quite often have bits of clue entered as I go through because I can see that bit of the wordplay, but not everything – so I knew on first reading that TRA was part of MANTRA, but couldn’t work the rest out until I had some crossers – because I wasn’t sure if that section was surrounded by the other part of the wordplay or at one end, I didn’t pencil any letters in. I tend to cold solve – so read through the clues in order and answer anything I can without any crossers, although this does mean I usually have crossers from the down clues, then go back through and add in anything else where the crossers help. As more gets filled in, I tend not to keep reading through all the clues, but concentrate on areas that have more gaps. I, generally, find cryptic clues the hardest, so TOOTHPASTE needed all the crossers.
Along with GO SPARE, there is also (FLAMIN)GO PLACES, just an idle thought.
Never heard of BEDLAMP, and couldn’t find it in my Chambers or Oxford Dictionary apps. Collins online has it as a bedside light, so fair enough. An enjoyable solve.
Many thanks to Shanne and Chandler
Thanks Chandler and Shanne
Striaghtforward, except I had TOOTHBRUSH instead of toothpaste on first pass.
I wouldn’t describe a MANTRA as a slogan, though it does have dictionary support. It’s a repeated phrase, originally in a religious context. Is a repeated pharse a slogan?
I haven’t posted on the past few cryptics. This was pitched below the level of those; a suitably straightforward solve after a big Sunday lunch, I’d have nodded off otherwise! TERRACED HOUSE was my favourite.
Despite being reasonably good at this now; the insertion device with “describe” as used for FLAMINGO is one I’ve only internalised after seeing it twice this week. Big progress hopefully, the toughest setters love those. So much of this world is learning about the tricks and standards.
Thanks Chandler and Shanne.
Nice Quiptic, thanks for the blog. Despite being familiar with it, I’m not sure why describe is a container indicator, and chambers didn’t help.
Shanne@10 – Thanks for sharing your solving methods. I think I probably follow similar principles except perhaps the ” cold solving”. It was just that with today’s Quiptic I found myself guessing and then parsing quite a lot. Thanks for your blog and Chandler for setting the appropriate level Quiptic.
Geoff Down Under @1
“For all to see”= “U”
is quite common in English cryptic crosswords.
To expand on Frogman’s @17, there have been several different film classification levels in the past, but currently (I think) there are only three:
A – adult
PG – parental guidance
U – unrestricted (i.e. for all to see)
Very well pitched Quiptic as we usually see from Chandler. EXCLAIM, GARBAGE and SNIPER were my favourites but lots to like really. Thanks to Shanne for the blogging and Chandler for the puzzle.
A very nice Quiptic!
I’ve never seen BEDLAMP as one word, and the dictionaries I have to hand don’t include it, but dictionary.com does, so presumably some other dictionaries do as well. I couldn’t remember why “game” could be used to mean TIE, but I vaguely remembered seeing it in past crosswords, so I dimly recalled that it could be.
Muffin @18. A isn’t a classification anymore, but there are also 12, 12A, 15, 18 and R18. There also used to be AA and X
Thanks Crispy. I’m not up to date on films. I remember that there used to be a H (horror) as well!
Like PAMM, I, too, start checking two thirds of the way through. Thank you for the explanations. Tie for game is so ething that will take a while to use actively. I enjoyed the puzzle.
Excellent Quiptic and blog, thanks Chandler and Shanne. I also liked TERRACED HOUSE, but just the whole thing really. A nice solve.
Probably too late to get a reply, but can anyone explain how ‘admitted willingly’ = welcome? Surely they’re different tenses?
@ TomShunt In case you look back to see if there was a reply… I thought that too at first but no, if someone was admitted willingly to my home they were welcome. Both past tense descriptions of what happened.