Quiptic 1,141 by Anto

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A good concise Quiptic from Anto today.

I had a couple of minor quibbles, noted below, but maybe I’m just over-thinking things. I liked 12a (neat idea and good surface), 22a (who could forget him?), 26a (think I may have seen something similar before but it’s still good), and 6d (obvious when you see it). Thanks Anto as ever.

Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.

ACROSS
1 STATISTIC
Still taking in first piece of information (9)
STATIC (staying still), taking in IST (1st = first).
6 BUFF
Fan removes uniform for closest mate (4)
Iff you remove U (Uniform in the radio alphabet) from BUFF you get BFF (best friend forever = closest mate).

As in a film buff: someone who enjoys a subject and knows a lot about it.
8 WARPLANE
Ale and prawn cocktail? It could kill you (8)
Anagram (cocktail = mixture) of ALE + PRAWN.
9 RETIRE
Withdraw sequence of notes (6)
RE + TI + RE = a sequence of notes in the tonic sol-fa musical scale.
10 BEWARE
Warning given by European after live conflict (6)
E (European), after BE (live, as a verb) + WAR (conflict).
11 HISTORIC
Significant island wrapped by Christo somehow! (8)
Anagram (somehow) of CHRISTO, wrapped around I (island). The surface suggests the artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude who were known for wrapping buildings in vast amounts of fabric.
12 ASTERN
Abandons the run, gutted to be behind (6)
A[bandon]S T[h]E R[u]N, with the internal letters removed (gutted).

Nautical term for behind a ship.
15 PARENTAL
Annual payment for looking after kids? (8)
PA (p.a. = Latin per annum = annual) + RENTAL (payment).
16 ON COURSE
Training is going as intended (2,6)
Double definition. On [a] course = engaged in a training programme; on course = proceeding as expected.
19 WITHER
Shrink gets paler as husband moves back (6)
WHITER (paler), with the H (husband) moved back a couple of places.
21 FLATLETS
Properties that provide disappointing rents for the owners (8)
FLAT (disappointing) + LETS (properties rented out to tenants; the surface requires “let” to mean the rental payment, but I’m not sure that quite works).

Flatlet = a small flat / apartment with only one or two rooms (a studio apartment).
22 MANUEL
Staff reportedly thriving — except for this bullied Spanish waiter (6)
MAN (staff, as a verb; as in “man the lifeboats”) + homophone (reportedly) of WELL.

The Spanish waiter in the TV sitcom Fawlty Towers, played by Andrew Sachs and constantly bullied by John Cleese as Basil Fawlty.
24 STIGMA
Strong leader for Greeks takes time to make mark (6)
SIGMA (Greek letter S, which is the leading letter of S[trong]), containing (taking) T (time).
25 ARTHOUSE
Share out treatment for serious type of film? (8)
Anagram (treatment) of SHARE OUT.

Also known as art film.
26 ONUS
We’re paying for liability (4)
People who are intending to pay a bill for others might say “it’s ON US“.
27 DRY SHERRY
Boring and reserved, slip inside for a drink (3,6)
DRY (boring) + SHY (reserved), with ERR (slip, as a verb = make a mistake) inside.
DOWN
1 STAKE
Small share of profits for what’s at risk? (5)
This one doesn’t quite work for me. S (small) + TAKE (the revenue or profits from an activity). I think the intention is take = a share of profits, but I can’t find dictionary justification for that. Or it might be S = small share = a small piece (the first letter) of S[hare], but that seems a bit of a stretch.
2 APPEASE
Buy off a very soft moderate (7)
A + PP (pp = pianissimo = musical term for “very soft”) + EASE (moderate, as a verb = reduce the harmful effects of).
3 INANE
Bread filling that is dull (5)
NAN (also spelled naan = Asian flatbread), inserted into (filling) IE (i.e. = Latin id est = that is).
4 THECHOP
Dismissal for adding copy into middle of notes she typed (3,4)
ECHO (copy) inserted into the middle letters of [no]T[es] [s]H[e] [ty]P[ed].

Slang term for dismissal from employment: “they’ll get the chop if the boss finds out what they’re doing”.
5 CORKSCREW
Stopper’s team come together for opener (9)
CORK’S (stopper’s = pertaining to a bottle stopper) + CREW (team).
6 BITCOIN
How one checked authenticity of old money, then some new (7)
Traditionally people BIT a COIN to check how soft the metal was, in order to distinguish between genuine gold coins and forgeries made from gold-plated lead (which would have been softer).

Bitcoin = cryptocurrency = new money.
7 FORNICATE
Play away? It will turn into farce (9)
Anagram (turn) of INTO FARCE.

Play away (slang) = have an extra-marital relationship.
13 SINGLETON
Individual weight of one diamond, perhaps (9)
SINGLE (individual) + TON (a weight).

Card-playing term for a hand containing only one card of a particular suit (for example diamonds).
14 NURSEMAID
Rude man is crazy for nanny (9)
Anagram (crazy) of RUDE MAN IS.
17 OUTAGES
Abroad for a long time due to lack of services (7)
OUT (abroad = away from home) + AGES (a long time).

Outage = a temporary failure of the electricity supply, phone signal, or other service.
18 ECSTASY
Drug best known initially to keep dancers going in trance (7)
Recreational drug known “initially” = by its initial E, or perhaps by the initials of its chemical formula MDMA. “To keep dancers going” isn’t really needed, but one of the drug’s supposed effects is to maintain energy levels for long periods.

The last word of the clue (an altered mental / emotional state) makes this a double definition, but also refers to a type of electronic dance music.
20 TANDOOR
Oven has opening with leather on top (7)
DOOR (an opening), with TAN (leather, as a verb = beat violently) before it (on top, in a down clue).

Traditional Asian clay oven.
22 MATCH
Bring together tips for making ancient thatched cottage homely (5)
First letters (tips) of M[aking] A[ncient] T[hatched] C[ottage] H[omely].
23 ESSAY
Try reading out opening bits of Secret Agent (5)
Pronounciation (reading out) of the opening letters of S[ecret] A[gent] = ESS AY.

Essay, as a verb = try = attempt.

20 comments on “Quiptic 1,141 by Anto”

  1. Pleasant easy solve except for NE corner. It took quite a while for me to recognise BITCOIN. I entered BUFF without getting the parsing, never having heard of BFF. Trance as electronic music was new to me as well. Still, thanks to Anto, who I consider to be the most challenging quiptic setter, and Quirister.

  2. Thanks both. I entered WHITER for 19a – I think this clue is a bit vague. ECSTASY doesn’t seem too cryptic to me.
    [Hate OUTAGES (I know that it is now part of British English) – what’s wrong with “power cuts”?]

  3. A good challenge from Anto. I liked BITCOIN, BUFF, FORNICATE and ONUS. I think ECSTASY was made too easy by the additional fodder referenced by Quirister. Certainly took longer than the Cryptic this morning.

    Ta both.

  4. I struggled with this. I couldn’t work out THE CHOP. I found the “for the owners” bit of FLATLETS distracting and I thing an OUTAGE is a loss of service rather than a lack, but BITCOIN was great and I liked MANUEL and DRY SHERRY

  5. Thanks Anto and Quirister
    I thought this was really difficult. I had no idea for the parsing of BUFF or THE CHOP. MANUEL amused, but it’s hardly a fair clue – very GK.

  6. A very enjoyable crossword, perhaps a bit tricky for a Quiptic.

    Like erike44 @1, the NE corner was the last to yield. I reluctantly put BFF in to WordWeb and found ‘best friend forever’ to my astonishment.

    I thought the definition for SINGLETON was ‘individual’ so I couldn’t parse that one. Lots of ticks – for RETIRE, WITHER, THE CHOP, ECSTASY, BITCOIN, ASTERN, DRY SHERRY.

    Thanks Anto and Quirister.

  7. Enjoyable challenge. NE corner last to be filled in. Spent the same amount of time on this as today’s Cryptic.

    Favourites: WITHER. ESSAY, STIGMA, ASTERN, SINGLETON, ONUS, OUTAGES, FLATLETS, RETIRE (loi).

    I did not parse THE CHOP.

    Thanks, both.

  8. Struggled with this one too, after the Cryptic went in very quickly this one held me up far more. Not too keen on BUFF and WITHER: I feel like they suggest the definitions should be “closest mate” and “paler”, as they’re what you get after the action described in the clue, and something like “Shrink would get paler if husband moved back” would be better. But maybe that’s just me.

  9. Some nice clues and some quibbles, all mentioned already.

    I was thinking that for STIGMA, since the surface did not revolve around the leader being strong, why not choose an adjective that came from the Greek so that there actually was a sigma there, etymologically speaking? Something like sarcastic, maybe – wouldn’t that make a classier clue?

  10. No, I couldn’t parse THE CHOP either, and hadn’t really thought through how STIGMA works. I find Anto both frustrating and fun, just as a good setter should be: I liked the unusual construction of BUFF (last in), and enjoyed BITCOIN, FORNICATE, ASTERN, NURSEMAID, PARENTAL (I suppose if you’re hiring a chap to look after your kids, you might pay him a Pa-rental?).

  11. Thanks Anto and Quirister. This was tough for a Quiptic! But lots of strong clues, aside from the quibbles already mentioned, some of which I agree with. I wonder if Anto had been out for a curry before composing this, given 3d and 20d?

    Dr W @9 – I like your thinking, though “Strong leader for Greeks” initially had me going down a blind alley looking for something to do with Alexander or similar, so it makes for good misdirection.

  12. Thanks Quirister, agree with you on TAKE and LET and with those who find clues like BUFF and WITHER ambiguous, I usually need all the crossers before I can be sure which way to lean. DrWhatson@9 that would be a nice touch even if it would have gone over my head, and muffin@5 MANUEL was my way in so was glad of some GK that I knew (but agree it’s nearly impenetrable if you don’t, especially as the answer is a proper noun).
    My own contribution to the quibbling is that the definition of WARPLANE is pretty vague (we could be killed by all sorts of things and what % of Guardian crossword solvers will be killed by warplanes?) but I appreciate the surface.
    Enjoyed overall and scratched my head long enough for THE CHOP to make sense but especially enjoyed the DRY SHERRY, thanks Anto.

  13. I enjoyed this, thanks both. Agree with most quibbles (particularly the vagueness of WARPLANE) although I read LETS differently: ‘rents for the owners’, as in, ‘lets’ is to the owners as ‘rents’ is to the tenants. Could be? Still not perfect but doesn’t require definitions being twisted. But maybe I’m overthinking it!

  14. If the Quiptic is intended for beginners, then this one failed at that level for me. Took me almost twice as long as the normal cryptic. BITCOIN was a cracker – but not if you’re a rookie solver.

  16. Phew, just finished! Took me longer than the last Vlad and Paul combined! This morning’s (Tuesday’s) Philistine was a pleasant breeze by comparison.

    I agree with LovableJim @13 re LETS/rents – it makes “for the owners” an essential part of the wordplay.

    On TAKE = ‘share of the profits’, Lexico has this example sentence (under noun, definition 2): ‘You encourage as many sites as possible to shove up ads in exchange for a take of any revenue driven by those ads.’

    Tom @8 – no, it’s not just you!

    Thanks both, but have to agree with Times Refugee @14 that this failed as a Quiptic.

  17. I found this really difficult (in other words, a typical Anto Quiptic) but I didn’t find any of it unfair. Maybe it’s an American English thing but “take” as a share of profits seems perfectly fine to me. FLATLET, on the other hand, completely eluded me.

  19. Had quite a struggle but loved it, especially 6a and 6d and a mention to the very neatly-clued WITHER. Thanks Anto and Quirister.

  20. Perfectly good cryptic but is it quiptic? By Wednesday it was still the hardest solve of the week for me. I am familiar with TAKE meaning a share -often heard in crime caper movies etc.

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