We’re standing in for Pierre today and this is the first Quiptic we’ve blogged. Joyce often tackles the Quiptic if she is eating lunch on her own, so it isn’t the first Quiptic that we have solved!
We found this rather more difficult than we had expected for a Quiptic partly because we felt some of the clues were a bit too contrived.
We still can’t work out the thinking behind 26ac, although the solution is failry obvious when we had the crossing letters.
We managed it without having to use the ‘reveal’ button, but we did need to ‘check this’ several times because we couldn’t believe that we had the correct answer!
| Across | ||
| 1 | STRANGE | Choke left out? That’s odd (7) |
| STRANG(l)E (choke) without ‘l’ (left) | ||
| 5 | CAREFUL | Meticulous preparation of fair clue lacking interest (7) |
| An anagram of FA(i)R CLUE without or ‘lacking’ ‘i’ (interest) – anagrind is ‘preparation of’ | ||
| 10 | DOWN | Blue dye on white nylon tops (4) |
| First letters or ‘tops’ of Dye On White Nylon | ||
| 11 | PROVIDENCE | Supply niece that is missing fortune (10) |
| PROVIDE (supply) N(ie)CE without or ‘missing’ ‘ie’ (that is) | ||
| 12 | ISOLDE | Tragic heroine features in this old epic (6) |
| Hidden or ‘featuring’ in thIS OLD Epic | ||
| 13 | BANJAXED | Judge fired after prohibition is broken (8) |
| J (judge) AXED (fired) after BAN (prohibition) | ||
| 14 | GROCERIES | Shopping provides less attractive leisure, reportedly (9) |
| Sounds like (‘reportedly’) GROSSER (less attractive) EASE (leisure) | ||
| 16 | CHARM | Make a good impression with church member (5) |
| CH (church) ARM (member) | ||
| 17 | SURGE | Society leading drive for rapid growth (5) |
| S (society) ‘leading’ URGE (drive) | ||
| 19 | NET RESULT | Turn sleet liquid? It all boils down to this (3,6) |
| An anagram of TURN SLEET – anagrind is ‘liquid’ | ||
| 23 | FIERIEST | Most passionate duke acquires lake (8) |
| FIST (duke) round or ‘acquiring’ ERIE (lake) | ||
| 24 | BOTTOM | Last British legend returns (6) |
| B (British) MOTTO (legend) reversed or ‘returning’ | ||
| 26 | PALL-BEARERS | Reverse dead shoulder — it’s what one does (4-6) |
| We’re really not sure about this one – a PALL-BEARER carries a coffin on his or her shoulder, so ‘shouldering the dead’ could be described as ‘what one does’, but we don’t understand the inclusion of ‘reverse’ – have we missed something here? | ||
| 27 | PLOP | Power cut may be just a drop in the ocean (4) |
| P (power) LOP (cut) | ||
| 28 | SECONDS | Supports another helping for a short period (7) |
| Triple definition | ||
| 29 | SHAPELY | Copy line in pitch that’s well put together (7) |
| APE (copy) L (line) in SHY (pitch) | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | TROUSER | Steal base from besieged city employer … (7) |
| TRO(y) (besieged city) with the last letter ‘stolen’ USER (employer) – ‘steal’ doing double duty here | ||
| 3 | ANNUL | … regularly pawning ugly scrap (5) |
| Alternate or ‘regular’ letters of ‘pAwNiNg UgLy’ | ||
| 4 | GAP YEAR | Opening period taken after school? (3,4) |
| GAP (opening) YEAR (period) – ‘period’ doing double duty | ||
| 6 | ALIENS | When taking on security for film … (6) |
| AS (when) round or ‘taking on’ LIEN (security) | ||
| 7 | EYELASHES | … they may be fluttered, if you’re interested (9) |
| A (not very convincing, in our opinion) cryptic definition – one might flutter one’s EYELASHES if one was interested in someone else as a potential friend | ||
| 8 | UNCLEAR | Confused king supports central council (7) |
| LEAR (king) after or ‘supporting’ in a down clue (co)UNC(il) – ‘central’ letters | ||
| 9 | DOUBLE FEATURE | Back-to-back films from Gemini productions, perhaps (6,7) |
| A company called ‘Gemini Productions’ might possibly produce films in twos | ||
| 15 | CIGARILLO | Crushed garlic oil can be smoked (9) |
| An anagram of GARLIC OIL – anagrind is ‘crushed’ | ||
| 18 | URINATE | Eliminate waste in a true reorganisation (7) |
| An anagram of IN A TRUE – anagrind is ‘organisation’ | ||
| 20 | REBIRTH | Personnel hold family back for another delivery (7) |
| HR (Human Resources – ‘personnel’) round or ‘holding’ TRIBE (family) all reversed or ‘back’ | ||
| 21 | LOO ROLL | Paper kept to hand — 24 may need it! (3,4) |
| Cryptic definition – need we say more? (24across being ‘bottom’) | ||
| 22 | BEHEAD | Take top off using blade handle around edges (6) |
| First and last letters or ‘edges’ of BladE HandlE ArounD | ||
| 25 | TOP-UP | Additional payment for cover required when driving a convertible in winter? (3-2) |
| Cryptic definition – you’d want the TOP UP when driving a convertible in winter | ||
*anagram
Thanks Anto and Bertandjoyce
If you reverse “dead shoulder” you get “shoulder dead”, which is what a pall-bearer does. Not a good clue, though
I quite enjoyed this, but I really do feel that the quiptic should be a crossword which uses orthodox strokes played off the middle of the bat. In 8d, I cannot see how UNC can be allowed to stand as “central council”.
The clue for PALL BEARER seems to be a suggestion that we should switch (not reverse) the words DEAD SHOULDER so they become SHOULDER DEAD. This isn’t a great clue, imo.
Thanks to Anto &B&J
I liked ISOLDE and UNCLEAR. However there were lots of minor niggles. TROUSER for “steal” is pretty obscure, and the “steal” is doing double duty, as you say. GROSSER isn’t exactly “less attractive”. “Gemini productions” is a bit of a flight of fancy.”up” would be much better than “back” in 20d without spoiling the surface. I don’t see what “kept to hand” contributes to 21d.
I thought this was more like a Prize puzzle (or at least a Cryptic) that was misplaced into the Quptic slot.
For 26a, I guessed it must be to reverse the words ‘dead shoulder’ -> shoulder dead.
baerchen @ 3
I saw UNC as the centre letters of coUNCil
My favourites were BEHEAD, BOTTOM.
New word for me was BANJAXED.
Thanks Anto and B&J – nice to see you again!
muffin@3
I think GROSSER was acceptable, considering that ‘gross’ means unpleasant or repulsive, so it could also be uglier, coarser, ruder, more disgusting = less attractive.
TROUSER was a new word for me today
verb [ with obj. ] Brit. informal
receive or take (something, especially money) for oneself; pocket
Good morning B&J. But although it is good to see you, This is an occasion when a true Pierre grump is sadly missed (and sorely needed).
This in no sense a Quiptic, and in my view would have taken a bit of editing to make it an acceptable Cryptic. Sorry to be a tad negative Anto, but it is just my $0.02 worth.
Thanks both.
I try to be positive about Anto’s puzzles (they are free, I’m not forced to solve them) but yet again too tough for a Quiptic. 26a is particularly bad, with no surface meaning that I can see
Thanks for the blog – a mixture of quiptic with some more cryptic clues. I didn’t think that there is necessarily any double duty going in in 2 and 4 down – “base from besieged city” could be tro(y); a gap year might be “taken after school”. 26 aside I thought the surfaces were rather good.
@Michelle 4
Yes; I see it too. It’s just not in any way correct, especially in a puzzle aimed at starter solvers. I think the libertarian stuff (which I enjoy solving, mostly) is best left to Boatman and Philistine
@Andy Smith
(If you are happy with “steal” as a def for TROUSER, then) you have to accept that steal is doing double-duty. In a down clue, “base of besieged city” is (in this case) “Y” not “Tro”, since there is no removal instruction.
Similarly, “taken after school” is meaningless unless one bungs “period” on the front, in which case this word is also doing double-duty.
I am only banging on about this because although experienced solvers will write in the correct answer, the clue does not work in either case and this isn’t what the quiptic is supposed to be about
Thank you ANTON and Bertandjoyce.
I found this harder than Rufus, but I enjoyed the solve and found most of the surfaces very good.
Conrad Cork @6, I am glad this puzzle was not BANJAXED by B&J.
apologies to ANTO for the slip-up.
Ideally the cryptic and quiptic should be rebadged. But I suppose it it isnt right for the grand old Rufus to be demoted to Quiptic slot. Diplomacy.
But I think Anto is improving. I agree with above reservations but it made for a challenge when Rufus was tame even by his standards.
Lovely surfaces though(Rufus I mean).
I echo Michelle’s view that this is a good cryptic/prize level puzzle. It’s a shame that it was put in the Quiptic slot although I guess this is the editor’s fault – not Anto. It was only a couple of years ago that I started on cryptics and I remember how valuable quiptics were for me as a gateway to “the real thing”. Hopefully we get to see Anto in a cryptic slot in future – but I’d like to see quiptics toned down in difficulty to keep on encouraging new solvers.
Thanks Anto; I also thought this was too difficult for the Quiptic slot. Perhaps Quiptic setters throw a difficult one in now and again so that they get promoted to the higher slot?
Thanks B&J; I echo your reservations; BANJAXED is also American, so I think it should be indicated as such. I didn’t know duke = fist, although it is probably a crossword staple. GAP YEAR would have been nice if a ‘that’s’ had been added to the clue.
I liked my LOI – BEHEAD.
Baerchen @10. I wouldn’t go to the stake for it, but as a defn in e.g. the quick crossword “taken after school?” would be acceptable to clue “gap year” IMO – and the ? is significant. And as far as Tro(y) is concerned, the word “base” does not necessarily relate to the orientation of the word – “head of science” could mean e.g. “s” in either an across or down clue IMO. I don’t personally mind “double duty” clues, but if these were, they were at the bottom end of the spectrum, with the clues parseable on a strict reading, I thought
matrixmania @14
‘I guess this is the editor’s fault – not Anto.’
Well, We don’t know what instructions the editor has given to the setters of quiptics but every other setter I can think of produces puzzles that fit the criteria ‘ a…cryptic puzzle for beginners and those in a hurry’ so presumably the guidance from the editor to setters must be on the right lines, in which case Anto must bear at least some of the blame for the puzzle being totally inappropriate for the quip[tic slot
Robi @ 15, “BANJAXED” is not American; Anglo-Irish slang Chambers says, and, being of that ilk, I agree!
I think there was a mini-theme going on too with the names of the quarks: up, down, charm, strange, top, bottom.
Well spotted Uatstu! Pretty obscure theme, though!
Like a badly-written cryptic, so probably very hard for beginners. I always solve Anto puzzles just to see if he is any good yet.
The Times’s Quick Cryptic is the exemplar in this field, I think, well-written, and genuinely MUCH easier than their daily.
baerchen @10: You’re right that “base of besieged city” would clue Y, but in this case we have “base from besieged city”, which seems to me to be acceptable crosswordese for “take the base away from TROY”.
Thanks for all the comments so far. We are regular Indy and Guardian Genius bloggers so it’s been strange to have so many comments! We’ve been busy all day walking to raise money for “Walk in her Shoes” so have not had not had an opportunity to reply earlier.
Our overall feeling is that if a puzzle generates a lot of discussion/debate over the parsing of a clue, then it perhaps isn’t a Quiptic.
We missed the theme but we weren’t really expecting one in a Quiptic.
Thanks B&J.
We found this rather more difficult than we had expected for a Quiptic?
Well, Quiptics are usually OK except when it’s Anto’s turn.
The puzzle being too difficult for its target audience is hardly headline news.
Despite ‘our’ reservations the editor has apparently a good reason, unknown to us, to continue on this road.
The only thing we can really do is unlink Anto from Quiptic and have an opinion on the quality of the cluing alone.
I fully agree with featherstonehaugh @21 that The Times Quick Quiptic is the place to be for beginners.
Like some others said this wasn’t too bad.
Anto can be anything between pretty awful and quite good.
Where I get annoyed is when (s)he starts to give us cryptic definitions.
16ac, 7d, 9d and perhaps 21d [a clue that I found a waste of paper] are just very weak.
Cryptic definitions are not ideal for a Quiptic anyway.
You won’t find them in The Times.
It’s also for that reason that I think Rufus doesn’t belong in the Quiptic area, he should stay where he is now.
@9 Baerchen mentioned ‘libertarian stuff’ but I think this crossword was pretty Ximenean.
‘Central council’ for UNC, that’s OK [could’ve been N too, of course], although I must say that I prefer ‘centre of …’ [which doesn’t work here].
I agree with Andy @8 and Ted @22 about ‘from’ – I’ve seen that being used a few times before by well-respected setters.
Anto should also not be blamed for the construction of 4d.
‘Wordplay’ taken after school? becomes: Gap year taken after school?.
The definition is then ‘something possibly taken after school’.
Lots of setters do this, even Don Manley – true, I don’t like it but wrong?
I missed the theme but then, who expects a theme in a Quiptic?
Obscure anyway.
One more thing and that is about 5ac.
Apparently ‘i’ does stand here for ‘interest’.
Not a problem as such but none of the dictionaries (Chambers, Oxfors, Collins) supports it!
On balance, I must admit I liked solving this crossword.
B&J:
Our overall feeling is that if a puzzle generates a lot of discussion/debate over the parsing of a clue, then it perhaps isn’t a Quiptic
Indeed, it isn’t, it is an Anto.
Thanks to Bertandjoyce and Anto.
[and I had to think of Pierre too!]
Bit late here, sorry! Can anyone enlighten me as to why “blue” is a clue for “down” in 10a, and “pitch” for “shy” in 29a?
Michael @25
Both ‘blue’ and ‘down’ can mean sad or depressed. Both ‘pitch’ and ‘shy’ are synonyms of throw.
Thanks, Gaufrid. Blue/down was a headslapper. Shy was new for me.