It’s almost two years to the day since Pasquale last compiled a Quiptic for us. In the main cryptic slot in the Guardian, he is considered to be a fair but sometimes difficult setter; but he can write Quiptics as well. This fitted the slot perfectly and will have pleased newer solvers, I’m sure. As well as a few folk who will be congratulating themselves for finally finishing a Pasquale puzzle …
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Celebrity companion you initially found to be rather formal
STARCHY
A charade of STAR, CH for Companion of Honour and Y for the first letter of ‘you’.
5 Platitude from old male hugged by lady at wedding
BROMIDE
An insertion of O and M in BRIDE. A BROMIDE, chemically, is a compound containing the Br? ion; but it is also a ‘platitude’. The reason? Potassium bromide (KBr) was widely employed as a sedative in days gone by and its use in the sense that Pasquale has here is linked to the placatory effects of that.
10 Nothing by writer accessible?
OPEN
A charade of O and PEN.
11 Oriental Co restructured, moving to a new place
RELOCATION
(ORIENTAL CO)*
12 Girl, a learner, getting book in church
MISSAL
A charade of MISS, A and L.
13 Blessed with a word of greeting one day in the middle of the week
HALLOWED
A charade of HALLO and WED[NESDAY].
Our Father, who art in Heaven
Hallowed be thy name …
14 Heed bairn in trouble in part of Scotland
HEBRIDEAN
(HEED BAIRN)*
16 More than one tree languishes
PINES
A dd.
17 Boss almost making a tactless remark
GAFFE
GAFFE[R]
19 Supplement when cold is caught becoming a habit
ADDICTION
An insertion of C in ADDITION.
23 Impetus bringing hesitation after a little while
MOMENTUM
A charade of MOMENT and UM.
24 Marian trained to be a pilot, perhaps
AIRMAN
(MARIAN)*
26 Correct perspective for seeing something trigonometrical
RIGHT ANGLE
A charade of RIGHT and ANGLE.
27 Enticement that gets one into club
BAIT
An insertion of I in BAT.
28 Hide discharge
SECRETE
A dd.
29 Many sadly facing ruin in Asian country
MYANMAR
A charade of (MANY)* and MAR.
Down
2 Joint best team
TOPSIDE
A charade of TOP and SIDE.
3 Calls for items of jewellery
RINGS
A dd.
4 Cast given guidance after distress
HURTLED
A charade of HURT and LED.
6 Remember taking everyone to the sports ground
RECALL
A charade of REC and ALL.
7 Princess entertained by the most peculiar church member
METHODIST
An insertion of the late Princess DI in (THE MOST)*
8 Ice does melt, see!
DIOCESE
(ICE DOES)*
9 Extreme characters from Athens?
ALPHA AND OMEGA
A cd, referencing the Greek alphabet.
15 Updating course in divinity given to new undergraduate
REFRESHER
A charade of RE and FRESHER.
18 Poisonous plant — it is buried in a geometric shape
ACONITE
An insertion of IT in A CONE.
20 India has wise man with lines offering pictorial language
IMAGERY
A charade of I, MAGE (think the singular of the three wise men) and RY for railway or ‘lines’.
21 Instrument needs circular aperture — then air can get circulated
OCARINA
A charade of O and (AIR CAN)* A musical instrument more frequently encountered in crosswords than in real life, I fancy.
22 Map book arrives on time in the end
AT LAST
A charade of ATLAS and T.
25 Flighty type gettin’ dressed?
ROBIN
If getting dressed becomes gettin’ dressed, then ROBING is going to become ROBIN’, but more importantly, an opportunity for the obligatory Pierre bird link. Don’t be confused – it’s the American version.
Many thanks to Pasquale for this week’s Quiptic. See you again in 2022?
Nice to see the Don. I was held up at the end by having addictive for 19 across, which seemed to fit just as well.
Another religious studies puzzle from Pasquale.
Thanks Pasquale and Pierre
I got completely stalled in the SE and had to resort to “Check” as I had ADDICTIVE at 19a – a better answer, I think. Also the grammar for RELOCATION doesn’t work – either the answer should be RELOCATING or the definition “the act of moving to a new place”.
I liked METHODIST and DIOCESE.
Why is HURTLED “cast”?
Hurtle: to project or be projected …(Collins) and moving as gerund; Moving/relocation is stressful.
A lovely surprise to see the Don, thanks to him and Pierre.
Another one hooked on ADDICTIVE for a short while…
I liked MYANMAR and ROBIN in particular, and didn’t know that meaning of BROMIDE – good to know.
Funny how different solvers perceive crosswords. There are two highlighted comments on the Guardian site, the first questioning the crossword and calling 25d ‘iffy’, the second proclaiming 25d their favourite clue and the puzzle the ‘perfect Quiptic’. I think I’m nearer the second opinion!
Happy to see a Pasquale puzzle in any slot. Really enjoyed this.
And I own an ocarina, thank you very much. 🙂
A delightful crossword but I also was lazy with the anagram and put in “relocating” at first. I was going to say “gerund” too, but il principe beat me to it 🙂 I missed the “addictive” alternative and agree it is a better answer. Lots to enjoy here though, with variety and clarity. It shows that a really clever and difficult setter is actually, simply, a really clever setter who can choose to be difficult or easy as he please.
Pierre, your American Robin really is a dapper little chap. The quiet encouraged a brave little blue tit (?) on to my terrace yesterday, but his yellow bib was rather pale and he appeared to have dribbled a streak of black, balsamic vinegar maybe, down his front. Would this be a Mediterranean version, or have I got it wrong entirely?
It’s taken one of our more senior compilers to show some of the other Qiptickers how to do it. Yes it was easy, but elegantly done, without any tricky clues, unlike his Cryptics!
TheZed @8 It depends on where you see the definition beginning. If you read it as “a habit,” then it’s ADDICTION. If you read it as “becoming a habit,” then it’s ADDICTIVE.
American robins are the only kind I’ve ever seen. They really have a lovely song, google it on youtube.
I also have an ocarina someone gave me, which I’ve never played. But in elementary school we all played them in music class. They were called “sweet potatoes” then, they’re a similar shape.
As someone here said previously, it is difficult to write easy cryptics. This one was good and did exactly what it said on the tin.
I didn’t realise that ALPHA AND OMEGA was a kosher phrase. I liked the melting ice.
Thanks Don and Pierre.
Robi @12 I think “Alev and Tav” would be more kosher if you’ll excuse the pun!
Valentine @11 Good point – I read “becoming” as the joiner and hence got “addiction” but not all clues have joiners so I think there is ambiguity here as you point out. Oddly I have both an ocarina (two in fact) and some sweet potatoes (destined for a chicken stew). I wouldn’t say they were especially alike! The ocarina is most famous, of course, for its use in “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” in the fabulous score by Morricone.
As for robins, I don’t recall seeing the American ones but my twitching habits were unformed when I lived in the US. Here they are a joy to see as I garden as they are so bold and often hop onto the handle of a spade or fork which has been left alone for a minute. I’m told they are fond of cheese.
Buongiorno Principe @9. From your description it’s more likely to have been a great tit. One of these fellows.
Pasquale’s last Quiptic predated my involvement with them, so this was my first opportunity to appreciate his versatility as a setter. I admire his cryptics even as they (usually) defeat me, and I admired this one as it went down smoothly. I can see the difficulty some had with ADDICTION/addictive, which I didn’t encounter due to getting OCARINA first. I think il principe’s gerund explanation justifies RELOCATION, which in any case was an anagram and so unambiguous.
Thanks to Pasquale and Pierre. American robins are among the few birds I can identify, and watching them from a window now provides a much-needed connection to the outdoors. Patience, everyone, we will get through this.
Thank you Pierre; maybe mine was a juvenile and had only a dribble of balsamic. Your guy’s missus seems to have thrown the whole bottle at him.
Could he/she have been an African blue tit (Cyanistes teneriffae); I’m not that far from Algeria/Tunisia?
Maybe. My (very old) copy of Birds of Britain and Europe doesn’t, as the name suggests, go as far as Africa, so I couldn’t see him in there. But pictures online suggest you might be right. Isn’t the internet a wonderful thing?
Yes but….. my first search for Mediterranean varieties yielded something that certainly wasn’t on my terrace!
This was clever, fun and educational – well, it was for me: I’d never encountered ACONITE before (I had to do a bit of research before I could answer that one).
I do, however, have a feeling of deja vu with AT LAST and PINES – but no matter, the pleasures of other clues more than made up for this. Does anyone, other than film crews, still genuinely use the term “gaffer”, I wonder?
Pierre, thank you for yet another informative blog – I wasn’t aware of the reason why “bromide” meant platitude and up till now I’d only seen European robins, never an American one. Thanks to Pasquale for a fine quiptic.
You’re obviously not missing the footie during the current lockdown, Wellbeck. ‘Gaffer’ is footballspeak for ‘manager’. ‘The gaffer went mental at half-time with the lads ‘cos of our playing too many long balls to the second stick …’
I wasn’t aware of the bromide/platitude link either until I looked it up. You learn stuff with crosswords, don’t you?
As a physicist, I feel obliged to mention that momentum and impetus are quite different things: impetus makes something start going, after which it has momentum and has no need for further impetus to maintain its motion. That distinction (around the time of Galileo) is an important part of the birth of science. But I’m not really claiming (at least not all that strenuously) that the two words can’t be regarded as more or less equivalent in a nontechnical sense.
I think I’d only seen “gaffer” used to mean “old man”. I didn’t know the “boss” meaning, even though it looks like that’s the primary meaning. As I recall, Sam Gamgee refers to his father as “the gaffer”, which I took to mean “old man”, but I suppose it probably has both senses, as when people refer to their father as “the governor” (another usage I know of only from fiction, by the way).
I’m another ADDICTIVE person, until OCARINA put me right. I think both solutions work fine.
Valentine @11
I was surprised when I first saw American Robins because they are much larger than the British version (which is approximately sparrow sized or a bit smaller). There is a British bird, the blackbird, which behaves similarly, is about the same size and also has a beautiful song. I don’t know if they are related species, but the resemblance is quite pronounced. I was also surprised when I saw American blackbirds and they had red wings!
Nice puzzle, well written. I was not familiar with ACONITES, so that was interesting to learn.
Thanks, Pasquale and Pierre, especially for the bird links – always good to look at.
phitonelly @23
American robins and blackbirds are both thrushes. Our robins are related, but more distantly.
For anyone who doesn’t already know, Don Manley also regularly sets the easier Quick Cryptic puzzle in the Times, as Izetti (as well as the tougher Times crossword, anonymously).
18D was outside my knowledge, but as perhaps a younger solver I am of course aware of Zelda’s 21D of Time
7d – I thought at first ODDEST for ‘most peculiar’ – luckily led me to METHODIST thanks to some other letters I had!