The usual sound and pleasing Quiptic from Hectence this morning, but with a rather unusual feature.
Which is that there are no full anagrams in the puzzle. Some beginners (and indeed more experienced solvers) look for some Easy Annies first up to give them a foothold in the crossword, but they would have been frustrated here. It was all clearly clued otherwise, so it’s another Quiptic from this setter that I think improving and new solvers would have enjoyed.
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 Stay with boy to include day in France
SOJOURN
An insertion (‘to include’) of JOUR in SON.
5 Cheer try before catch is reviewed
HEARTEN
A charade of HEAR in its judicial sense and NET reversed. The reversal indicator is ‘reviewed’.
9 Next in line for gold on back of victory
SUCCESSOR
A charade of SUCCESS and OR, which is a heraldic word for ‘gold’ (as well as being the French word for it).
10 Papa’s in error ignoring wife’s point
PRONG
Hectence is inviting you to remove the W for the first letter of ‘wife’ from WRONG and replace it with P. The Papa reference is from the phonetic alphabet.
11 Slow to get moving having left street map back in city
LAZY
A charade of L, AZ for the London ‘street map’ and Y for the last letter of city. I still have my dog-eared London A-Z, but I suspect it’s been largely superseded by that new-fangled Google thingy.
12 Search mountains for somewhere to practise shooting
RIFLE RANGE
A charade of RIFLE and RANGE.
14 Way of working in ink transformed old robe
KIMONO
An insertion of MO for modus operandi or ‘way of working’ in (INK)* plus O. The anagrind is ‘transformed’.
15 Commanding officer taking short nap after lunch is most comfortable
COSIEST
A charade of CO and SIEST[A]
16 Trendy lawyer’s to sum up
IN BRIEF
A charade of IN and BRIEF.
18 Quiet religious house reportedly in poor condition
SHABBY
A charade of SH and ABBY for a homophone (‘reportedly’) of ABBEY.
20 Fouls aplenty and fight lead to sin bin
PENALTY BOX
A charade of (APLENTY)* and BOX. The anagrind is ‘fouls’. PENALTY BOX and ‘sin bin’ are not the same in footie, but they are in ice hockey, apparently.
21 Nudge sheep’s behind with stick
PROD
A charade of P for the last letter of ‘sheep’ and ROD.
24 Article in news strangely peters out
WANES
An insertion of A in (NEWS)*
25 Instinctively ring home about spasmodic heart beat
ON IMPULSE
This one wins the prize this morning in the ‘hardest to parse’ competition. A charade of O for ‘ring’, IN for ‘home’ reversed, M for the middle letter (‘heart’) of ‘spasmodic’ and PULSE for ‘beat’.
26 Rest of soldiers given uniform in camp
RESIDUE
A charade of RE for Royal Engineers or ‘soldiers’ and U (more phonetic alphabet) inserted into SIDE, for ‘camp’ in its ‘extravangance of manner’ meaning, I think.
Edit: Jay has a better explanation. ‘We’re on the same side/in the same camp.’
27 Notices doctor returning without drug and is furious
SEES RED
A charade of SEES and an insertion of E for the ‘drug’ in DR reversed. The insertion indicator is ‘without’ and the reversal indicator is ‘returning’.
Down
1 Fibre for rope mats is a leaf extract
SISAL
Hidden in matS IS A Leaf.
2 Chum regularly improvised music outside with me in hot tub
JACUZZI
An insertion of CU for the odd letters of ‘chum’ in JAZZ, followed by I. The hardcore cats out there won’t like jazz being described as ‘improvised music’. They read the notes like everyone else. Most of the time.
3 Second-hand American edition
USED
A charade of US and ED.
4 Issue over family with poorly disposed money’s not a problem for me
NO SKIN OFF MY NOSE
Runner-up in the aforementioned competition. A charade of SON reversed, KIN, OFF for ‘poorly’ and (MONEYS)* with ‘disposed’ as the anagrind.
5 Tales of woe when fortune’s dividing solid Conservatives
HARD-LUCK STORIES
An insertion of LUCKS in HARD and TORIES.
6 Normally a second inspection secures uranium
AS PER USUAL
A charade of A, S and U for the chemical symbol for the element in PERUSAL.
7 Thrash lightweight after first of two rounds
TROUNCE
A charade of T and R for the first letters of ‘two’ and ’rounds’ and OUNCE.
8 Choose to adopt girl after partner’s lack of care
NEGLECT
A charade of N for the bridge ‘partner’ and G inserted into ELECT.
13 Met friends having liaised to come out after football’s first half
SOCIALISED
A charade of SOC[CER], the posh word for ‘football’, and (LIASED)* The anagrind is ‘to come out’.
16 At home, might be running things
IN POWER
A charade of IN and POWER.
17 Crazy colourful scarves daughter’s chucked out
BANANAS
BAN[D]ANAS
19 Criminal in trouble, run in by US city’s Republican leader
BURGLAR
A charade of R inserted into BUG followed by LA and R.
22 Fear old man’s about to be imprisoned
DREAD
An insertion of RE for ‘about’ in DAD.
23 Some of Veronese’s paintings mounted in east end of church
APSE
Hidden reversed (‘mounted in’, since it’s a down clue) in VeronesES PAintings. The APSE is, typically, at the east end of the church.
Many thanks to Hectence for this morning’s Quiptic.
I read side/camp as in, if you’re on the same side, you’re in the same camp, but I can see the other meaning too.
Thanks Pierre and Hectence, most enjoyable.
Thanks both. I agree with Jay @ 1 about SIDE.
I believe that they have a PENALTY BOX in both versions of rugby, perhaps a bit more familiar to UK solvers than ice hockey.
Your reading is better, Jay. I’ll amend the blog.
Thanks for the parsing of 26ac. I had U in RESIDE being what soldiers do in camp, but (rightly) wasn’t happy with it.
As a relative newbie (only the second Quiptic I’ve caught fresh, as ’twere) I thoroughly enjoyed this, and despite the lack of ‘pure’ anagrams, it was actually the most clues I’ve solved first go round. Tripped on a couple (couldn’t solve 13d or 19d, and even once I gave in and revealed them I couldn’t parse them until I came here) but fair clueing all round. I rather enjoy Hectence, I find I am generally on her wavelength.
Many thanks to Pierre and indeed all of the contributors, I have found this site invaluable as I began my cryptic journey! Just a note that the explainer for 27a seems to be missing.
The Quiptic and the Cryptic were in their right places today. This was a very pleasant, steady solve, though I didn’t notice it didn’t have any full anagrams. I suspected a pangram for a while (must be the first time I have actually looked for one), but it wasn’t to be. Thanks, Pierre and Hectence.
This was a pleasing mixture of write-ins and chewier ones – with a few guess-first, parse-later numbers. Some being semi-parse, so thank you Pierre for help with RESIDUE and the N in NEGLECT (I know very little about Bridge and that use of “partner” hadn’t occurred to me).
I have two teeny quibbles. With 25a, I’m not sure instinct and impulse are synonymous; then again, in the cruciverse – where homophones are always being disputed and every Scotsman is called Ian and any random two words with switched first letters get described as a Spoonerism – they’re close enough!
Also, I wouldn’t have said soccer is a posh term for football. I know Americans use it to differentiate it from the game they call football – but in the rest of the world it’s surely just an alternative name. I’d always supposed it came from “Association Football”….
IN BRIEF was neat, BANANAS and PRONG made me giggle.
Thanks to Hectence for the fun and to Pierre for the entertaining and informative blog.
[Wellbeck @7. Not just in the US. Real footy is Aussie Rules Football. Soccer is the right name for that imposter – I note that Aussie Rules was codified before soccer. 🙂 ]
A very pleasant Quiptic. Interesting about the absence of anagrams; I hadn’t noticed that while solving. Favourites 22d DREAD and 27a SEES RED, both clever and neat with smooth surfaces.
Not keen on “girl” for G in 8d NEGLECT as it is not a standard abbreviation!
[Normally with the Quiptic I click on the “Print” button just under the title, and this opens a version with the black squares in grey, which can be printed out, thus saving on black ink. But today it just opens a version with the black squares fully black. I assume this is a problem at the Guardian’s end, not mine?]
Many thanks Hectence and Pierre.
I enjoyed this quiptic and managed to complete it with just a little help from the dictionaries and check button – and was able to parse all of them for once – even the ones I guessed, including ON IMPULSE. Oh except BANANAS.
Particularly liked SOJOURN, LAZY, KIMONO, SOCIALISED
Thanks to Hectence and Pierre
Thanks Pierre and Hectence: all went in steadily, bar slight hesitation for PRONG and NEGLECT. Like Wellbeck @7 the bridge reference eluded me, though over the years I have reluctantly come to accept, and even learn from, the crossword convention that everyone knows about bridge. In reality, in over 50 years, I have never once come across anyone who plays it.
[Tassie Tim at 8: thanks for the info on Aussie Rules Football. I know even less about that than I do about Bridge!]
Welcome, CavyCorner, and thanks for pointing out the missing explanation, which I have now re-uploaded. Is your moniker anything to do with guinea pigs? If so, you’re in good company, since our setter today is a lover of the little beasts (and her pseudonym for the FT, Zamorca, is an indication of that).
Lots of gentle clues to provide a foothold for the rest. PENALTY BOX in particular went in right away, ‘sin bin’ being a cliché for American hockey announcers. Otherwise nothing especially outstanding, but solid cluing throughout. Couldn’t parse the first part of ON IMPULSE, so thanks to Pierre for that, and thanks to Hectence for the fun.
[Pierre @13 – it is indeed, I have two furry potato pals! I think it must be why I chime so well with Hectence]
Thanks to Hectence for a great puzzle – I found KIMONO the hardest to parse, but agree ON IMPULSE was a toughie. I liked most of the clues but my favourites were HARD LUCK STORIES and SOCIALISED. Many thanks to Pierre for your thorough explanations. Bullhassocks @11 – I thought that the crossword convention was that everyone knows about cricket….. (except me)
Not sure, but seems the blog for PRONG describes replacement? I.e.:
“Papa’s in error ignoring wife’s point” =>
P (“‘s”=is) “in” [(error=WRONG) “ignoring” (“wife’s” point=tip)]
I read it as a charade (1st “‘s”=”has”), and W simply an abbr. for wife (w/2nd “‘s”=”is” being a connector):
P has (“in error”=WRONG) “ignoring” (wife=W)
Interestingly, at least 3 ways to read “wife’s point”:
– abbr. for wife, with “‘s” as connector
– (point=tip) of wife
– point=direction=west=W, i.e. the W in wife; this one isn’t as clear since the E could also be a “point”, but WRONG only has the W, making it precise
Also interesting that depending on one’s view of “‘s” in “wife’s” the clue can be seen as standard (wordplay is defn) OR semi &lit (what I call a w>d, or “wordplay includes defn”)
Moving on, disliked me=I in JACUZZI, as I’d always learned/read/heard they’re different parts of speech and not interchangeable… or is there a cruciverbal justification?
COTD: PENALTY BOX, as I was once a big hockey fan (and played in rec leagues a while)… though I disliked the fighting tacitly allowed in some pro leagues.
Thx to our setter/blogger/commenters!
Hey, I’m relatively new to cryptics. Could someone explain “At home, might be running things” -> IN POWER.
“running things” is the definition, “at home” is IN, but then how does “might be” become power for the cryptic part?
sb3700 “Might is not always right….” … it’s not might be, but just might.
I hope that helps.
Ah of course – thank you!
Perhaps I’m just getting jaded, but, I would hate to neglect, in brief, it’s a no no skin off my nose attitude from those lazy, bananas people, in power acting on impulse, as per usulal, ignoring hard luck stories that makes it inevitable that the public sees red.
lol ipd’o: nice one! Was about to explain that might =power but you have already done so This was a tad tricky for a Quiptic in places I thought, and I had not parsed ON IMPULSE, being too convinced that PULSE = heart beat, so could not account for the M. Very clever. Regardless, this was good fun on a Monday morning, so many thanks to Hectence and Pierre. And Bullhassocks, I am – or rather was – a bridge player, though a rather poor one. However I have not played for years as after leaving university I also have never known others who play, and I got fed up of playing online.
In reply to Lord Jim, yes, the black squares are from Guardian’s end, and printing is really using up the ink! I’m going to email them today – it’d be good if others do too.
As for everything else, thanks to all – this site’s a regular stop for me (though I’ve only commented once over the years, as my points have nearly always been addressed and my queries solved). Cheers!
Thanks Chris, yes I’ll email the crossword editor too.
Thanks Hectence and Pierre for a great Quiptic and blog. I was annoyed by how many I “got” but couldn’t parse (which, let’s be honest, doesn’t really feel like “getting” them!) so it was a relief to come here and be put right. Now, if only I could LEARN from the experience … !
Hi all-I realise I’m a bit late to the party here…but if anyone sees this, could they please explain why 25A has “without drug”? Seeing as an ‘E’ is inserted into a reversal of ‘DR’, should it not be “with” drug? Or am I missing something?
Alplord@26 It’s one of those tricky contranyms. Here ‘without’ should be parsed as opposite of ‘within’, as opposed to its normal meaning of ‘lacking’. Compare “drug within doctor” to “doctor without drug”.
LOI – SOCIALISED – I was so zeroed in on British terminology that it never occurred to me to try the American English term. Hah! I’ll be sure to let everyone know that Americans speak posh, heh.
Couldn’t parse 14a (got the INK and O, but not MO = modus operandi), 15a (at all; I only got it by guessing from the crossers. I was pretty focused on ‘after lunch’ referring to the structure of the answer rather than part of the definition ‘nap after lunch’ though), and 22d (*sigh* I really should have remembered ‘old man’=’dad’ in the four days it took me to finish this one. Duh.)
Got 8d and 19d mostly through parsing, but didn’t grok the bridge term and BUG for ‘trouble’, respectively. I knew there was something fishy with the latter because I had ‘city’ clueing for both BURG and LA. Also got tripped up on 25a because I had ‘impulse’=’heartbeat’ a la the medical definition (similar to ‘nerve impulse’). On the other hand, APSE I got from regular crosswords (that and NAVE are pretty common answers).
Not too many Britishisms this time around, except perhaps NO SKIN OFF MY NOSE as I’m more familiar with NO SKIN OFF MY BACK, but that might be regional rather than international variation.
Khitty Hawk@27 Thank you for your explanation!