Guardian Quiptic 1,009 by Carpathian

20 comments on “Guardian Quiptic 1,009 by Carpathian”

1. This was quite a straightforward Quiptic.

   New for me was the Ford KA in 19d.

   Thanks Carpathian and nms

2. Thanks Carpathian and nms

   Very good. I particularly liked “One picking nits” for PEDANT!

   Not convinced by “row” = RANGE.

   I suppose there’s no point in saying that beetles (Coleoptera) and bugs (Hemiptera) are different orders of insects!

3. Thanks both. Good Quiptic. Are all VEGANs women? Perhaps person might have been better?

4. I agree about “woman” in 26A (prompted by Shirl’s comment, I’ve just mentally totted up my vegan friends – and it’s equal numbers for both genders!) but it’s a quibblet, rather than a gripe.
   Other than that, I thought this was a pleasant and relaxing solve – and particularly enjoyed the economy of clues to ARTLESS, ROBIN, ABASEMENT and CLEVEREST. Thanks to Carpathian and nms.

5. Re VEGAN: some compilers – Arachne springs to mind – always choose a female when an unspecified person is needed. An attempt to restore the balance, I expect.

6. Thanks to Carpathian and newmarketsausage. Nothing really outstanding here, although I did like UNDERLINE and SOUPCON. Mostly just good clear cluing, appropriate for a Quiptic. I agree with Muffin@2 about the definition for RANGE (and thanks, Muffin@5, for the insight about the female vegan).

7. I had a slightly different parsing of 19dn:
   GO (Drive) KA (Ford Model) R (right) T (another Ford Model) – definition “vehicle”. I think that makes the “into” less redundant

8. I too wondered about “row” for “range”, but this definition from Chambers got me there:

   “a group of mountains forming a distinct series or row”

   I thought that this was a very good Quiptic, with clear and precise cluing. It’s true that the “lift and separate” in 15a is perhaps a bit unusual for a Quiptic, but I think it’s good to introduce these tricks gently to Quiptic solvers.

    

9. Ted @8

   I’ve never come across the expression “a row of mountains” before!

10. muffin @9 —

    I certainly concede that it’s not idiomatic, but I don’t think that we generally require that. It does illustrate that one of the meanings of “range” means the same thing as a row.

    Anyway, I agree that it’s a weak definition; it’s just a bit less weak than I initially thought.

     

11. Thanks for all the comments and the blog. I was puzzled about the reference to “Woman” in 26ac, thanks for the explanation. I do have a couple of questions. 16D has “job” = “Line” for the life of me I cannot see it. If anyone can help me see the light I’d be very grateful.

    Also, 20D fooled me, when I saw “regularly” I assumed the letters were the 2nd, 4th etc not 1st, 3rd as I assumed – again – that the latter would be written as oddly, or am I being too formulaic? Appreciate any insights into these questions.

12. Martin@11: “job” = line of work. I always expect “regularly” to indicate even letters, but I’m aware that some setters use it to indicate simply every other letter, leaving it to us to figure out the rest.

13. Martin @11; Oxford gives the example: ‘‘there are no jobs nowadays in my line.’ If you are old enough you might remember the panel game called ‘What’s my line?’ Regularly is used for repeating letters; it can be every two, or on occasions, every three.

    Good Quiptic; it did what it said on the tin. There have been lift-and-separate clues previously in the Quiptic, although maybe a ‘separately’ or some such would help the solvers.

    Thanks Carpathian and nms.

14. Thank you DaveNCarolina and Robi, appreciate the prompt and clear feedback. Sadly I am old enough to remember “What’s My Line”. Again many thanks for all the help.

15. Thanks Carpathian and newmarketsausage.

    I found some of the surfaces enjoyable: CARNIVORE, PEDANT, SCAVENGER, BOOST – each drew a pleasant picture, for me anyway.

16. Lovely! A near-perfect Quiptic and a great blog. Thanks, both.

17. Hi,

    I’m fairly new to cryptics so spend much of the week on the quiptic, hence the late post (also my first post).
    Something I’ve been trying to get a handle on is when the clue needs something like a question mark. So if I understand correctly, an answer can be a specific example of the def (eg def = animal, answer = lion), but if the def is by example, then use a ?.
    (eg def=lion?,answer=animal). On that basis, I thought the clue: “Woman rejecting animal products, say, found in vehicle” used ‘say’ twice – both as ‘eg’ in vegan but also as ‘woman’ being an example of a vegan. Would anyone be able to clear that up for me? many thanks & loving this new world of cryptics!

18. Hi Clive @17; as it says in the blog, the definition is ‘woman rejecting animal products,’ so the ‘say’ is only used once to mean eg.

    The ‘woman’ could have been any person with the explanation as in muffin @5.

19. Hello Clive. Welcome to the cryptic world. Glad you’re enjoying it 🙂

    You’re absolutely right that when a clue uses a definition by example, this is usually indicated by a question mark, or a ‘for example’, ‘for instance’, ‘say’, or other similar formulation.

    In this case the definition is not by example so, as Robi says, the ‘say’ is used just to indicate the letters EG.

    Hope you continue to enjoy your new-found world 🙂

20. Thanks Robi and newmarketsausage. I thought my post may be a little late for a Monday quiptic so many thanks for the clarification

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