Anto’s turn in the Quiptic slot this week.
| Across | ||
| 1 | BEATLES | Group didn’t flog as much with one single out (7) |
| I think this is BEAT LESS with an S deleted (with one single out) although as far as I’m aware S is not a recognised abbreviation for single | ||
| 5 | SOOTHER | Very different means to keep baby quiet (7) |
| SO (very) OTHER (different) | ||
| 9 | DRAWN | Sketched daughter with rough end of crayon (5) |
| D (daughter) plus (with) RAW (rough) N (last letter, i.e. end, of crayon) | ||
| 10 | ON A CHARGE | It’s really moving, performing daily in mature setting (2,1,6) |
| ON (performing) followed by CHAR (daily) inside (in … setting) AGE (mature) | ||
| 11 | ALL DAY LONG | Gladly loan novel for 24 hours (3,3,4) |
| An anagram (novel) of GLADLY LOAN | ||
| 12 | CURT | Short circuit usually ruins the leads (4) |
| The first letters (leads) of Circuit Usually Ruins The | ||
| 14 | HOUSEKEEPER | Accommodate goalie, one who provides clean sheets, perhaps (11) |
| HOUSE (accommodate) KEEPER (goalie) | ||
| 18 | FLAT REFUSAL | All staff rue circulating such a blunt denial (4,7) |
| An anagram (circulating) of ALL STAFF RUE | ||
| 21 | GRRR | Good basic education can make one sound angry (4) |
| G (good) RRR (basic education, i.e. the three Rs) | ||
| 22 | MISPRINTED | Note dashed off could appear this way in the Guardian! (10) |
| MI (note) SPRINTED (dashed off). A reference to the Grauniad’s reputation for typos | ||
| 25 | ALL AT ONCE | Expert garners unbelievable return working so quickly (3,2,4) |
| ACE (expert) containing (garners) a reversal (return) of TALL (unbelievable) and ON (working) | ||
| 26 | HANOI | Have noises reduced by half in this city? (5) |
| HA NOI (the words ‘have’ and ‘noises’, each with half the letters deleted) | ||
| 27 | DRY LAND | Boring win nervous sailors might long for (3,4) |
| DRY (boring) LAND (win) | ||
| 28 | SURFEIT | Auntie frustrated — she holds back too much (7) |
| An answer hidden in reverse (holds back) in AUNTIE FRUSTRATED | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | BED PAN | Getting up to go? No need on this vessel (3,3) |
| ‘To go’ here meaning to relieve oneself | ||
| 2 | ANALLY | Confederate supporting a knight from the rear (6) |
| ALLY (confederate) below (supporting) A (a) N (knight) | ||
| 3 | LANCASHIRE | China’s real anxious to get a piece of England (10) |
| An anagram (anxious) of CHINAS REAL | ||
| 4 | SKOOL | Where young kids learn phonetic spelling (5) |
| How ‘school’ might be written phonetically | ||
| 5 | STAINLESS | Get out more, having lost yen to be so virtuous (9) |
| STAY IN LESS (get out more) with the Y (yen) deleted (having lost yen) | ||
| 6 | OCHE | Line to be observed when firing arrows (4) |
| A cryptic definition. The oche is the line behind which you stand when playing darts | ||
| 7 | HARRUMPH | Sound grumpy when a right ass is allowed into hotels (8) |
| An insertion (is allowed into) of A (a) R (right) RUMP (ass) into HH (hotels) | ||
| 8 | RE-ENTERS | Goes back in to find tenants injecting drug (2-6) |
| An insertion (injecting) of E (drug) into RENTERS (tenants) | ||
| 13 | WELL-WISHER | Supporter who’s hopeful when depositing money in spring (4-6) |
| A cryptic definition referring to the practice of making a wish when dropping a coin into a well | ||
| 15 | UNFEIGNED | Natural fungi need scrambling (9) |
| An anagram (scrambling) of FUNGI NEED | ||
| 16 | OFF GUARD | Napping when not on screen? (3,5) |
| OFF (not on) GUARD (screen) | ||
| 17 | FAIR PLAY | It’s just a messy rip in skin (4,4) |
| A (a) and an anagram (messy) of RIP contained in (in) FLAY (skin) | ||
| 19 | STANCE | Position adopted by extremists in secret Aryan clique (6) |
| The first and last letters (extremists) of SecreT AryaN CliquE | ||
| 20 | ADDICT | How to get picture from pure junkie (6) |
| If you ADD the letters ICT to PURE you get the word ‘picture’ | ||
| 23 | PLEBS | Quietly, church abandons VIPs for more common people (5) |
| P (quietly) CELEBS (VIPs) with CE deleted (church abandons) | ||
| 24 | ETNA | Dangerous mountain in Vietnam (4) |
| An answer hidden in (in) ViETNAm | ||
Thanks both. I have been critical of Anto in the past, but I thought that this was excellent
Thanks Anto and nms
Uusual mixture of good and not so good from Anto. I liked WELL-WISHER and FAIR PLAY. I didn’t like BED PAN – what’s it to do with “getting up”? I know you don’t have to in order to use one, but you wouldn’t want to anyway.
I didn’t like SKOOL either, which, pace Molesworth, isn’t a word (though, inconsistently, I did rather like GRRR!).
I didn’t parse ADDICT or PLEBS, and think that neither was a suitable clue for a Quiptic.
btw nms, you’ve missed the parsings of the first three clues
…oh, and I didn’t like OCHE. With no wordplay, it would be impossible unless you knew the word (and that darts are referred to as “arrows” (or, more usually, “arrers”).
Apologies for the missing parsings. For some reason they didn’t save properly. Now restored.
Difficult for a Quiptic. Or perhaps I’m mistaken in thinking that Quiptics are meant to be less difficult than cryptics.
Promote Anto to the Cryptic slot. Sorted.
I agree on SKOOL-ie it doesnt sit with me-whereas I’m fine with GRRR which isnt in Chambers wither.
Agree with Muffin on OCHE-I think we are supposed to be familiar with arrows as darts but without wordplay or GK its a forced google.But I did like STAINLESS and think Anto’s puzzles are improving even if they are not xactly quiptic.
Indeed, a few really nice clues (like e.g. 20d, 3d, 5d and, yes, 21ac) but – as so often – Anto’s score in the cd department brought the whole thing down. In fact, I didn’t like any of the cryptic definitions, with 6d (OCHE) being the worst.
And I do not understand how someone writing crosswords on a regular basis can use S for ‘single’, a mistake the editor should have spotted.
So, not bad, not excellent either – mixed bag for me.
Many thanks to nms & Anto.
Most (or all) of foot behind here to play darts (4)
trOCHEe?
Regarding 1a: for what it’s worth, S is a standard abbreviation for “single” in the US, specifically in the context of baseball.
I found this puzzle to be uneven. Some clues were excellent — I particularly liked 20d. But the CDs at 1d and 6d were weak, and 4d is inexcusable. For one thing, what’s to stop the answer from being SCOOL instead?