Guardian Quiptic 1,127 / Carpathian

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A no-show by the scheduled blogger so here is a simple analysis of the clues.

Across
1 Upright house and home (6)
HONEST – HO (house) NEST (home)

4 Clean ersatz stool (7)
SHAMPOO – SHAM (ersatz) POO (stool)

9 As part of agreement demand ridiculous platitudes lacking depth (9)
STIPULATE – an anagram (ridiculous) of PLATITU[d]ES (platitudes lacking depth)

10 After time, those in need return to parade (5)
TROOP – T (time) POOR (those in need) reversed (return)

11 Correct last word by director (5)
AMEND – AMEN (last word) D (director)

12 Vegetable in painting perhaps seen on tip of Irish clog (9)
ARTICHOKE – ART (painting perhaps) I[rish] (tip of Irish) CHOKE (clog)

13 Ask who in France follows English knight about (7)
ENQUIRE – E (English) N (knight) QUI (who in France) RE (about)

15 Lock up bloke covered in wine (6)
REMAND – MAN (bloke) in (covered in) RED (wine)

17 Stare intently before old boy returns to summerhouse (6)
GAZEBO – GAZE (stare intently) OB (old boy) reversed (returns)

19 Choir resigns in distress (7)
SINGERS – an anagram (in distress) of RESIGNS

22 We initially welcome song and dance performance without uniform that’s quaint (9)
WHIMSICAL – W[e] (we initially) HI (welcome) M[u]SICAL (song and dance performance without uniform)

24 Keep quiet and polish plant (5)
SHRUB – SH (keep quiet) RUB (polish)

26 Heads of international committee indicted lying youth without feeling (5)
ICILY – initial letters (heads) of International Committee Indicted Lying youth

27 Wealth of cane fuel distributed around France (9)
AFFLUENCE – an anagram (distributed) of CANE FUEL around F (France)

28 Say Pluto’s death is an unexpected blessing (7)
GODSEND – GOD’S (say Pluto’s) END (death)

29 Stone put in place for A-listers? (3,3)
JET SET – JET (stone) SET (put in place)

Down
1 Mark, surrounded by water, is prisoner (7)
HOSTAGE – TAG (mark) in HOSE (water)

2 Green, natural, timeless (5)
NAÏVE – NA[t]IVE (natural, timeless)

3 Doctor bused in to provide media-friendly comment (5,4)
SOUND BITE – an anagram (doctor) of BUSED IN TO

4 Top / perspirer (7)
SWEATER – double def.

5 Jerk following a tenor into room (5)
ATTIC – A T (tenor) TIC (jerk)

6 Declare it, perhaps, in front of church (9)
PRONOUNCE – PRONOUN (it, perhaps) CE (church)

7 Bird very upset by game (6)
OSPREY – SO (very) reversed (upset) PREY (game)

8 Artist in eatery getting bottle (6)
CARAFE – RA (artist) in CAFÉ (eatery)

14 Modified square containing 51 oddly depleted offices (9)
QUALIFIED – QUAD (square) around (containing) LI (51) [o]F[f]I[c]E[s] (oddly depleted offices)

16 Without signal around lake that’s very small (9)
MINUSCULE – MINUS (without) CUE (signal) around L (lake)

18 Source of fruit or vegetable (7)
ORCHARD – OR CHARD (vegetable)

19 Flips out about foot joint (6)
SPLIFF – an anagram (out) of FLIPS around (about) F (foot)

20 Underlying theme of U-boat book? (7)
SUBTEXT – def. & cryptic indicator

21 Pawn in game partially providing cover (6)
AWNING – contained in (partially) ‘pAWN IN Game’

23 Type of pen with exterior of lime (5)
STYLE – STY (pen) L[im]E (exterior of lime)

25 Grades / lines of soldiers (5)
RANKS – double def.

18 comments on “Guardian Quiptic 1,127 / Carpathian”

  1. Thanks Gaufrid for stepping in. Fine Quiptic, no complaints, just one eyebrow slightly raised by the Paul-esque 4a.

  2. I loved 4a. But then, I am very childish.

    In fact, I love Carpathian, too, all the more so since her Guardian interview the other week.

    ORCHARD is starting to become a heavily-worn clue, though.

  3. Re. ORCHARD: indeed, Boffo. Guardian Genius 215 by Picaroon, blogged by Gaufrid only two weeks ago – “Source of fruit, if not vegetable (7)”; Everyman 3885 on March 28th – “Where to find fruit or vegetables (8)”. Time for some crop rotation, I feel.

  4. Thanks Carpathian, and many thanks Gaufrid for stepping in. I needed the blog for the parsing of WHIMSICAL.

  5. Yes, I liked SHAMPOO as well. I managed to spell 16 as ‘miniscule’ so thought there was a miscue there.

    Good Quiptic with Carpathian’s precise cluing, and thanks to Gaufrid for stepping into the breach.

  6. Another ‘miniscule’ here – no wonder I couldn’t parse it. In fact when I typed it just then, it got autocorrected, and ‘minuscule’ didn’t look right at all 🙁

    Thanks, Carpathian & Gaufrid

  7. PS, I would always use ‘bussed’ for the spelling; I see Collins says ‘bused’ is the American spelling.

  9. Thanks Gaufrid, and thanks Carpathian. This was a fun teatime mental workout. Got a bit stuck at first on 14d, thinking I was looking for an anagram of SQUARE… and a solution meaning “offices”… but the letters wouldn’t add up, and I was scratching my head for a while until the penny dropped. Otherwise all fairly plain sailing. Lots of neat, well formed clues. 4ac raised a smile here too.

    As a chief sub-editor by profession, MINUSCULE is the kind of word I might set as a trap in a subbing test. Many is the hopeful young candidate who has been caught out by that one.

  11. Big thanks to Gaufrid, for filling in – I looked for this blog last night several times. Can I be the first to say it was harder than the Cryptic? I struggled in the NW. I thought ‘mark’ = tag, ‘water’ = hose and ‘prisoner’ = hostage were all pretty left-field, even if they do all fit on reflection. I have seen ‘house’ = HO before, but only in crossword-land. As to 16d, it was the parsing that saved me from the ‘mini’ mistake. Thanks, Carpathian.

  13. Thanks Gaufrid, Carpathian and Boffo@2!
    I do not attempt Quiptics regularly but if Carpathian is the setter I’ll do so. However I’d assumed that Carpathian was a more relaxed Vlad. Thanks for directing me to the Guardian blog (something else I only look at occasionally).

  14. Thanks for stepping in, Gaufrid. I got HOSTAGE from the crossers but got stuck on the parsing by fixating on Mark referring to the saint, and couldn’t understand how HOAGE or HOTAGE could mean water. Otherwise, good fun and just right for a Quiptic.

  15. TassieTim @11: I agree with you – this was a step-up from the Cryptic for me!

    COTD has to be SHAMPOO followed by SUBTEXT which I thought was very clever.

    Thanks Carpathian and Gaufrid!

  16. I’m late getting to this puzzle, but I nonetheless seem to be the first one to point out that it’s a pangram. Unusually, I noticed that it seemed to be shaping up that way relatively early on, but I don’t think it actually helped me to solve anything.

  17. Thank you Carpathian and Gaufrid for a great Quiptic and blog. I hope the scheduled blogger is ok.

    TassieTim @11: I agree that HO= House is a bit Crosswordland but I suspect it is or was on some official list of postal abbreviations along with St and Rd and Gdns and so on. This is all a bit vague of me and I’ve failed on a quick look to find it, but I’m sure I’ve seen it many, many years ago.

  18. TassieTim @11: Agreed. This was my first ever go at the Quiptic and I was expecting it to be rather easier! (Never bothered before as I assumed a “crossword for beginners” would be too simple.) I did complete it, and enjoyed it very much, but I think a genuine beginner would struggle. Thanks to Carpathian and Gaufrid.

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