Moley on top form today – an excellent Quiptic. If you had to niggle, you might say a bit overloaded with anagrams, but beginners appreciate that, because it gives them a foothold in the puzzle.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Captain’s gloom dispersed by one ringing the changes
CAMPANOLOGIST
(CAPTAINS GLOOM)*
10 New excitements seem to vanish, becoming a thing of the past
EXTINCT
Moley’s asking you to take ‘seem’ out of ‘excitments’ and then make an anagram: (EXCIT[E][M][E]NT[S])*
11 US politician‘s vile treason
SENATOR
(TREASON)*
12 Ways in which boards head off differently
ROADS
([B]OARDS)*
13 Morning breaks for sides with European stars, originally, or …
ELEVENSES
A charade of ELEVENS for ‘sides’ with the first letters of ‘European stars’.
14 … sides reportedly, if it rains
TEEMS
As usual, you can ignore the ellipses. A homophone of TEAMS.
16 More than happiness: journalist’s euphoric!
OVERJOYED
A charade of OVER, JOY and ED.
18 French philosopher’s awfully sad secret
DESCARTES
(SAD SECRET)* Cogito, ergo sum and all that.
19 Strange urge to accept nothing but French red
ROUGE
An insertion of O in (URGE)*
20 Up to date with Nile photo changes
IN THE LOOP
(NILE PHOTO)*
23 Distinctive spirit shown by alien host, mostly
ETHOS
A charade of ET for the setters’ favourite film and HOS[T]
24 Label organ feature
EARMARK
A charade of EAR and MARK.
25 Pointed at badly run gala
ANGULAR
(RUN GALA)*
26 The classic life-and-death question?
TO BE OR NOT TO BE
Referring to Hamlet’s soliloquy in the play of the same name:
To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them
Down
2 Animals found at eastern ground
ANTEATERS
(AT EASTERN)* I wonder if ANTEATERS ever get bored with their diet. ‘Do you fancy something different for tea tonight, love?’ ‘Well, I suppose we could have termites as a change from ants, but I’m cool either way.’
3 Yearns for trees
PINES
A dd.
4 Sort of inert saltpetre
NITRE
(INERT)* NITRE and ‘saltpetre’ are common names for potassium nitrate, which is used in explosives and preserving food.
5 Auditors’ audience?
LISTENERS
A (not very convincing) dd.
6 Redhead’s clash concerning Chinese spice container
GINGER JAR
A charade of GINGER and JAR for ‘clash’.
7 So-called views at some locations
SITES
A homophone of SIGHTS.
8 Anonymous fan arrested: crime’s frightful!
SECRET ADMIRER
(ARRESTED CRIME)*
9 Annoyed that wardrobe mistresses wear the trousers?
CROSS-DRESSERS
A whimsical cd, and a charade of CROSS and DRESSERS.
15 Draw one that’s not a new friend?
STALEMATE
A dd. The first is referring to a position in chess where neither black nor white can force a win; and if you had a STALE MATE, he wouldn’t be a new one.
16 Away with employee, but this one stays at home
OUTWORKER
A charade of OUT and WORKER.
17 Young person’s weapon, which would certainly be banned here
YOUTH CLUB
A charade of YOUTH and CLUB, and a cd cum dd.
21 Roots out trunk
TORSO
(ROOTS)*
22 Instrument Post Office receives in a notecase, originally
PIANO
An insertion of the first letters of ‘in a notecase’ in PO.
23 Pieces of this sort found in Spanish galleons
EIGHT
What pirates’ parrots are alleged to say: ‘Pieces of Eight! Pieces of Eight!’
Many thanks to Moley for a fine Quiptic to start the cruciverbal week.
Thanks Moley and Pierre
Very nice Quiptic – easy but entertaining. STALEMATE and TORSO were my favourites.The clue for EXTINCT is very good, but possibly not appropriate in a Quiptic, though.
The “concerning” in 6d looks a bit odd, and the crosser is needed to decide between TEEMS and “teams”.
[No picture of a pirate’s parrot, Pierre?]
Thanks both. Very easy, great for beginners, as a Quiptic is supposed to be
I’ll admit I don’t do them that often, but this is the first perfect Quiptic I’ve ever seen.
We may wince slightly at clues like “Yearns for trees”, but a newcomer would get great satisfaction from solving them, I’m sure. Even the 12 Anagrams are fine by me, although maybe a couple might have been sacrificed for Hidden Word clues for added variety.
Well done Moley – you’ve achieved what nobody else seems to be able to!
I think that there were enough challenging clues that did not make it too easy a puzzle
Thanks Pierre and Moley
Thank you Moley and Pierre.
A great Quiptic, agree with Limeni @4 that a “hidden word” clue would have given more variety, but I doubt that beginners cared about that, they would have been so happy solving this.
@ Cookie. Yes, I agree – I just meant ‘variety’ in the sense of giving beginners practice in as wide a range as possible of the easier cluetypes. Very well-judged Quiptic though.
Limeni, yes, you are right, the Quiptic should have a variety of clue types.