I always enjoy Carpathian’s puzzles; not necessarily easy, but always fair.
This one took me a while to get going, although working out the ingenious long anagram at 16a was a good start – and everything else was obvious enough with hindsight. The few unfamiliar words were given straightforward wordplays, which is as it should be. I enjoyed the surfaces of 9a (sounds all too familiar), 12a (ditto), and 15d (ditto if you know the stereotype of amateur dramatics companies, though I’m sure they’re not all like that). But these are just a few among many excellent clues. Thanks Carpathian as always – and happy 2022 to all.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 9 | LOATHSOME |
Awful Lothario initially promises to love setter (9)
|
| Initial letter of L[othario] + OATHS (promises) + O (zero = love, in tennis scoring) + ME (the crossword setter). | ||
| 10 | TO WIT |
In other words, pull with sex appeal (2,3)
|
| TOW (pull) + IT (sex appeal).
Legal phrase used to introduce a fuller or more specific explanation of what’s just been said. |
||
| 11 | SIDEMAN |
Second maiden playing as member of band (7)
|
| S (second) + anagram (playing) of MAIDEN.
A member of a musical group other than the leader. |
||
| 12 | EMPEROR |
Heartless misjudgment by European politician and leader (7)
|
| ER[r]OR (misjudgment) without its middle letter (heartless), next to E (European) + MP (Member of Parliament = politician). | ||
| 13 | DEVIL |
Satan was revolting (5)
|
| LIVED (was = existed), reversed (revolting). | ||
| 14 | EXORCISES |
Drives out cuts overwhelming soldiers (9)
|
| EXCISES (cuts, though strictly it means “cuts out”) around (overwhelming) OR (other ranks = ordinary soldiers as opposed to officers). | ||
| 16 | OVERSPECIALISED |
Excessively focussed on one area, rewriting adverse policies (15)
|
| Anagram (rewriting) of ADVERSE POLICIES. | ||
| 19 | KINKAJOUS |
Twist a short tournament for tropical tree-dwellers (9)
|
| KINK (twist) + A + JOUS[t] (tournament; short = last letter missing).
Mammals living in rainforest trees. |
||
| 21 | WORLD |
Global promise to preserve life, primarily (5)
|
| WORD (promise, as in “I give you my word”), containing (to preserve) the first letter (primarily) of L[ife].
World as an adjective, as in “world leaders” = global. |
||
| 22 | CHARIOT |
Tea display vehicle (7)
|
| CHA (another name for tea, derived from Chinese languages) + RIOT (display, as in “a riot of colour”). | ||
| 23 | FELINES |
More than one queen, perhaps, in France on vacation with something to say on stage (7)
|
| F[ranc]E (on vacation = after emptying) + LINES (something an actor says on stage).
Queen = a female cat = a feline. |
||
| 24 | PYLON |
Noisy mass on supporting structure (5)
|
| Homophone (noisy) of PILE (mass = a heap or a large quantity) + ON. | ||
| 25 | CROQUETTE |
Game note for deep-fried food (9)
|
| CROQUET (a game) + TE (a note in the musical sol-fa scale).
Mashed potato (or other food) rolled in breadcrumbs and deep-fried. |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | CLOSED BOOK |
Mystery of blocked reserve (6,4)
|
| CLOSED (blocked) + BOOK (as a verb = reserve = secure for later use).
As in “it’s a closed book to me” = I don’t understand it at all. |
||
| 2 | EAU DE VIE |
Bit of elegant gold instrument releasing cold alcohol (3,2,3)
|
| First letter (a bit) of E[legant] + AU (Au = chemical symbol for gold, from Latin aurum) + DEVI[c]E (instrument) without the C (cold).
Generic term for a distilled alcoholic drink, typically one made from fruit. |
||
| 3 | THYMOL |
Some frothy molecular substance used as antiseptic (6)
|
| Hidden answer (some . . .) in [fro]THY MOL[ecular].
A natural antiseptic obtained from the thyme plant (or from various other plants). Not a familiar one to me, though I remember a toothpaste brand called Euthymol which (it turns out) contains eucalyptus and thymol. |
||
| 4 | MOON |
Gutless idiot’s bare bum (4)
|
| MO[r]ON (idiot) with the middle letter removed (gutless).
Moon = a display of the bare buttocks to amuse or annoy. |
||
| 5 | CEREMONIES |
Rituals upset nieces more (10)
|
| Anagram (upset) of NIECES MORE. | ||
| 6 | ATYPICAL |
Unusual pastry, split evenly by calorie (8)
|
| Even-numbered letters from [p]A[s]T[r]Y [s]P[l]I[t] + CAL (short for calorie). | ||
| 7 | SWORDS |
Argues over daughter and son getting weapons (6)
|
| ROWS (as a verb = argues) reversed (over) + D (daughter) + S (son). | ||
| 8 | STAR |
Impressionist art, featuring heavenly body (4)
|
| Hidden answer (. . . featuring) in [impressioni]ST AR[t]. | ||
| 14 | EYE CONTACT |
I loudly call for sign you’re paying attention (3,7)
|
| EYE (homophone, “loudly”, of I) + CONTACT (call = communicate with). | ||
| 15 | SIDE DISHES |
Group of players spreads spiteful gossip about extras (4,6)
|
| SIDE (sports team = group of players) + DISHES (spreads spiteful gossip about; Collins says this is a US usage, and I’m more familiar with the longer phrase “dish the dirt on” meaning the same thing). | ||
| 17 | SEA LIONS |
Mammals stamp on particles (3,5)
|
| SEAL (stamp = mark with a personal or official sign) + IONS (electrically charged particles). | ||
| 18 | STRENGTH |
Gents swimming across river on Thursday, showing talent (8)
|
| Anagram (swimming) of GENTS around (across) R (abbreviation for river), then TH (abbreviation for Thursday).
As in “play to your strengths” = make use of your talents. |
||
| 20 | NEARLY |
Almost ahead of schedule after November (6)
|
| EARLY (ahead of schedule) after N (November in the radio alphabet). | ||
| 21 | WALNUT |
Brown‘s legislation upset teachers as a body (6)
|
| LAW (legislation) reversed (upset = upwards in a down clue) + NUT (National Union of Teachers = former trade union for school teachers).
A light yellowish-brown colour. |
||
| 22 | CUPS |
Copper added note for receptacles (4)
|
| CU (Cu = chemical symbol for copper, from Latin cuprum) + PS (postscript = added note). | ||
| 23 | FOOL |
Take in most of cuisine before start of lunch (4)
|
| FOO[d] (cuisine) with the last letter dropped (most of) + starting letter of L[unch].
Take in = fool = deceive. |
Very enjoyable. KINKAJOUS was new but clued fairly. Nice juxtaposition of DEVIL and EXORCISES. I too parsed SIDE DISHES as ‘dishing the dirt’. Thought pangram but not to be. Happy 2022 all.
Ta Carpathian & Quirister
Thanks Carpathian and Quirister
Very nice. Favourite was LOI LOATHSOME, as I had been sure that it included an anagram of “lothario”.
I was going to comment on “display” being a bit of an understatement for RIOT, but your example justifies it.
Enjoyable Quiptic.
New for me: KINKAJOUS
Thanks, both.
As Quirister says, a bit slow to start but it fell into place reasonably well. Did anyone else notice that KANGAROOS would fit the crossers for 19a? And know that in Papua New Guinea, they have tree kangaroos? But I couldn’t see how the wordplay would support it. Thanks, Carpathian and Quirister.
TassieTim @4: my first thought was Kangaroos, but as you say nothing to support it.
[Years ago a favourite animal at London Zoo was a tree kangaroo. He used to stand on the thin top of the glass panel that separated his enclosure from a moat. This was evidently reported so often that a notice was affixed, on the lines of “We know the tree kangaroo is standing on the glass. Don’t worry – he has never tried to go any further!”]
TassieTim @4, yes, that made me think this wasn’t designed as a Quiptic, as there was no need to choose the obscure kinkajou. Once again I found the Quiptic harder than the Cryptic.
[Me @6
We used to see kinkajous at London Zoo as well!]
Yes I biffed in kangaroo, thinking tree kangaroos (Australia as well as PNG, I think) – nho kinkajous, cute looking thing.
Great D Attenborough clip in Life on Earth or whatever – “… his appalling ill-adapted creature (, off shot, as TK falls out of its tree)”
Ta for the blog, liked the puzzle.
Should have read “… this appalling ill-adapted creature (crash, off shot, as TK falls out of its tree)”
I fell for the unparsed KANGAROOS as well! Otherwise a quiptic-type quiptic, as it should be, although I’d never heard of SIDEMAN – I spent ages looking for a word ending in -ON for playing.
I like the way some Quiptic setters deliberately introduce us to well used setters’ clichés like the use of chemical symbols (normally two in the same puzzle might be considered a fault, but not here), queen for a cat, CHA=tea, IT=sex appeal and the ubiquitous OR for soldiers.
Andy+Smith @9 – indeed, they are found in Queensland as well, but I knew them from PNG.
Re SIDEMAN: anyone on stage who is not either the famous solo artist or an official member of the famous band.
Another nice Quiptic from Carpathian, perhaps slightly harder than usual but still fair and accessible. LOATHSOME was my favourite. Does Lothario seem to be turning up quite often recently?
Another excellent Quiptic from Carpathian, and a spot-on blog from Quirister. Thanks both!
EMPEROR,DEVIL, WORLD, CHARIOT,MOON,FOOL,STAR, STRENGTH, CUPS and SWORDS… making a n interesting Tarot theme to start the year. What does the Wheel of Fortune have for us in 2022…?
6d took me longer than it should have because, before I solved 14a&16, I was looking for an anagram (unusual) of PASTRY and [s]P[l]I[t] that meant Calorie. D’oh!
Another quiptic that took me longer than the same-day cryptic. No complaints, but I wonder if that is what is desired in a perfect world. In other words, if the editor had his druthers, how would he rate the ideal quiptic relative to the ideal Monday cryptic. Just curious.
Another good Quiptic from Carpathian.
Maybe KINKAJOUS was put in as part of a (failed) pangram. I know that Carpathian frequently uses pangrams, so I was looking out for the J (and the missing Z). Perhaps 23D was originally FL.OZ., but that was deemed too complicated for a Quiptic?
Thanks Carpathian and Quirister.
About right for a Quiptic I thought. KINKAJOUS new to me, but fairly clued. And a standout anagram in 16a.
Thanks Carpathian and Quirister.
I’m going to go against the majority here and say that I thought this was an excellent puzzle but it took significantly longer to solve than the equally enjoyable cryptic today.
Loved the puzzle but it’s in the wrong slot as per.
A few too many obscurities for my taste – kinkajous, thymol, queen=female cat, eau de vie all new to me – but otherwise a nice start to the Quiptic year
Elbok @17: Thanks for pointing out that the above are Tarot cards, except Swords and Cups, which are Tarot suits. Carpathian never fails to surprise. I didn’t know Kinkajous though.
Mtega @24
Store away queen=female cat – it’s a regular occurrence in crosswords.
To me, Quiptic = teaching puzzle for beginners, and Monday Cryptic = easy puzzle to start the week, doesn’t mean that Quiptic must necessarily be easier than Monday Cryptic. All that matters is that they perform their respective roles.
I thought that Carpathian and Vulcan did that very well this week.
Thanks C and Q for this very nice puzzle and blog.
Completely agree, Cellomaniac.
Both are perfect for a Monday in their own way – both are considerably easier than any of the other Cryptics we’ve had over the past week or so. Easiness is subjective anyway – I solved this one quicker than the Vulcan. YMMV.
The key virtue of this one as a Quiptic is that the clues are all scrupulously fair and sound. Fits the bill perfectly for me.
First Quiptic I’ve failed to solve for ages. I suppose a cryptic’s difficulty is in proportion to the solvers passive vocabulary, and this had several words I’d never heard before – others have pointed out the culprits. I can’t help feeling there’s some passive-aggressive tendencies in the compilers of the Quiptic, with its awful name, and its pandering to the masses vibe, where there’s an assumption that the real work is done in the daily cryptic column. It’s amazing how it’s difficulty seems to fluctuate (good crossword word, that). Maybe that’s because no single compiler wants to do it, and it has to be farmed out to as many compilers as possible (“Oh no! My turn again, already!”), each with a style of parsing clue. Of course, this is all speculation, and is probably totally wrong.
Excellent anagram with adverse policies, which led nicely onto the other clues. I am new to Quiptics/Cryptics, having converted from Concise only recently. Kinkajous was evil, and still getting up to speed with many of the other clues but a nicely compiled crossword all the same. This is going to take some getting used to, as I thought the quiptic was supposedly more benign than the cryptic.
Had to look up KINKAJOUS, as I’d never heard of it. That opened up the whole SW corner, which was a desert until then (I was wracking my brain for how A-G or doh-te could fit in with CU). SIDEMAN was a new one as well but couldn’t be anything else.
Thanks Carpathian and Quirister
Slow start, first scan got not a single across! Started at the bottom of downs, and slowly I was able to get a foothold. With a crosser I was able to guess and then justify the answer. But getting it from wordplay? no way.
Kangaroos fit and would have made it an easier clue fit for quiptic. Walnut as a color instead of the nut … not sure it is apt for quiptic.
Anyway eventually got it, with the help of “check this” more often than usual.
Great Quiptic and blog – thank you Carpathian and Quirister. I liked EXORCISES, which took me forever to get, and TO WIT was surprisingly hard, simply because I’d forgotten the phrase so I was stuck with the idea of IT for ages …
Happy New Year, everyone.
I’m glad others thought that this was not right for a Quiptic. I was surprised by so many positive comments about a Quiptic with so many unusual words. I don’t think it’s fair and can put beginners off.
This site is very handy as a beginner! One thing that totally flummoxed me was “France on vaction” meaning to take the FE from France.