Guardian Quiptic 1,156/Anto

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There’s no escape from Anto today, since he’s also compiled the cryptic in the paper. This at least looked like it was written specifically as a Quiptic offering.

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 Naughty bits apt to make one religious
BAPTIST
(BITS APT)* with ‘naughty’ as the anagrind.

5 Quickly leave launch strip
TAKE OFF
A dd.

10 Shanghai regularly deserted? It’s a long story
SAGA
The odd letters of ShAnGhAi.

11 What grown-ups pay to acquire drug, being lower in quality
ADULTERATE
An insertion of E for the setters’ drug of choice in ADULT RATE.

12 Crowd can live with hollow victory
BEVY
A charade of BE and VY for the outside letters of ‘victory’.

13 With luck, it covers any parts being displayed
SPRAY TAN
(ANY PARTS)* with ‘being displayed’ as the anagrind and an extended definition.

14 Build up for goal in free flowing soccer
CRESCENDO
An insertion of END in (SOCCER)* The anagrind is ‘free flowing’ and the insertion indicator is ‘in’.

16 Recording material introducing video into New York libraries
VINYL
The initial letters of the final five words of the clue.

17 Host is shot when it gets a bit cooler
SWARM
I’m afraid I can’t parse this one.

Edit: Norbrewer has this for us at comment #1.  If S HOT gets a bit cooler, it would become S WARM.

19 Sedate don goes wild when definitely passed over
STONE DEAD
(SEDATE DON)* with ‘goes wild’ as the anagrind.

23 Embarrass person of substance when lot includes forgery
FAT SHAME
An insertion of SHAM in FATE. The insertion indicator is ‘includes’. An informal, and certainly contemporary, phrase meaning to criticise a person for being overweight.

24 Great book, in my opinion
TOME
‘In my opinion’ could be rendered with the phrase TO ME.

25 Imagine writer being one of these Scousers!
THE FAB FOUR
You need to think of John Lennon’s song Imagine to reach your answer. The Beatles were widely known as THE FAB FOUR.

26 Gullible senate shifts from the centre
NAIF
A charade of the central letters of seNAte and shIFts.

27 Attempt to cover one diary in three books
TRILOGY
An insertion of I LOG in TRY. The insertion indicator is ‘to cover’.

28 Neuter cat, say — you’ll get a scrap!
SNIPPET
A charade of SNIP and PET. SNIP is an informal word for a vasectomy if you are Homo sapiens, or having both your balls cut off if you are Felis catus.

Down

2 Part of team at Euros but not getting paid
AMATEUR
Hidden in teAM AT EURos.

3 Sycophant is present as duke descends
TOADY
The setter is, since it’s a down clue, inviting you to move the letter D one place further down from where it is in the word TODAY.

4 Resolve to take a city
SEATTLE
An insertion of A in SETTLE. The insertioni indicator is ‘to take’.

6 Nature’s mutated when uranium’s left behind
ASTERN
(NAT[U]RES)* The anagrind is ‘mutated’.

7 Premature attempt to acquire recipe for cheaper menu option
EARLY BIRD
A charade of EARLY and R inserted into BID. The insertion indicator is ‘to acquire’. R for ‘recipe’ is common in crosswords, and comes from a doctor’s instruction written on a prescription, meaning ‘to take’. It was often written as Rx, like here. Recipe is an imperative form of the Latin verb recipere, and originally was an instruction to the pharmacist, not the patient.

8 Her singing is the end
FAT LADY
A not very cryptic clue, referring to the common phrase ‘it’s not over till the fat lady sings’. Its origin seems to be from the opera, but this thread from The Guardian has a few other ideas.

9 Expose bias on television, where radical thinking may take place
OUTSIDE THE BOX
A charade of OUT, SIDE and THE BOX for one of my least favourite phrases. Cliché, cliché, cliché.

15 Demanding type of test for fuelless energy
STRESSFUL
A charade of STRESS (as in stress test) and FU[E]L. You need to lift and separate ‘fuelless’ into ‘fuel less’ to give you the instruction to remove the E for ‘energy’.

18 Cope successfully with atmospherics?
WEATHER
A dd.

20 Particle has complicated route between two points
NEUTRON
An insertion of (ROUTE)* in two Ns for two ‘points’ of the compass. The anagrind is ‘complicated’ and the insertion indicator is ‘has … between’.

21 Press more air out
ARMOIRE
(MORE AIR)* ‘Press’ is a common term for a wardrobe; ARMOIRE is a posh French term for the same thing.

22 Creep removes both names from rave report
RATBAG
A charade of RA[N]T and BA[N]G.

24 Raised bet wins nothing when century scored
TON UP
An insertion of O in PUNT, all reversed (‘raised’, since it’s a down clue).

Many thanks to Anto for this morning’s Quiptic.

31 comments on “Guardian Quiptic 1,156/Anto”

  2. Liked CRESCENDO, THE FAB FOUR, SNIPPET, ADULTERATE, STRESSFUL.
    New TON UP.
    I could not parse 17ac or 24d.

    Thanks, both.

  4. Thanks Anto and Pierre
    I found this very difficult, especially the SW.
    I thought the clue for FAT LADY was dreadful – not cryptic at all if you know the expression (as you, say, Pierre), but completely impenetrable if you don’t, as there is no wordplay.

  5. Loved 17, once the penny dropped. While I didn’t know the “fat lady” phrase, I’m guessing Sir Terry Pratchett did, as witness Perdita X Nitt in Maskerade…

  6. S_WARM is cooler than S-HOT
    I missed the anag of ANYPARTS
    I found this inconsistent like his early puzzles-OUTSIDE THE BOX was good-I didnt mind FAT LADY but i have never heard FAT SHAME

    His cryptic was easier but classier

  7. Ta for the blog.

    I took 5ac as a triple def.

    For no good reason, didn’t get Fat Shame – not really part of my lexicon, I guess, but no excuse. Didn’t parse swarm either, good clue in retrospect.

  9. Having found Anto’s cryptic to be quite straightforward today, I thought the Quiptic might be perversely difficult, but for once it wasn’t.

    I did know FAT-SHAME, but I’m sure it should be hyphenated.

    I also think 5A is a triple def.

    FAT LADY was weak.

    I liked CRESCENDO and FAB FOUR.

  11. Nice. Favourites were AMATEUR, ARMOIRE, ADULTERATE and CRESCENDO. Agree that FAT LADY was the weakest clue.

    Ta Anto & Pierre

  12. Thanks @Norbrewer for parsing SWARM – I’d figured out HOST = SWARM, but was playing with ‘cooler’ = ?’less warm’ and couldn’t get the parse. ?It’s a smart clue, but surely a bit much for a Quiptic – otherwise this was well-calibrated, however.

    CRESCENDO was my pick, but plenty to enjoy.

    Thanks Anto & Pierre

  13. Two puzzles from Anto – a perfect start to the week. I enjoyed both but the Quiptic took me longer to finish than the cryptic. Couldn’t parse swarm.

    Thank you, A and P.

  14. I found that hard for a Quiptic. Some tricky clues, a grid that left a lot of unchecked crossers as in SEATTLE and I suppose a bit of a wavelength thing.

  15. Generally OK, although not a very nice grid for a Quiptic with the triple uncheckeds in 4D and 20D.

    I liked ADULTERATE, SPRAY TAN and CRESCENDO. I must say that I didn’t get FAT LADY until I had a few crossers; that’s often the case with cds.

    Thanks again Anto and Pierre.

  16. A nice puzzle, but yet another quiptic I found harder than the corresponding cryptic, and I see I’m not alone. Maybe we just have the wrong idea about how easy/hard it’s supposed to be.

    I thought TAKE OFF was a triple definition – isn’t it? (Strip referring to clothing)

  22. Thanks Pierre and Anto. Another who didn’t twig SWARM here. Loved “Imagine writer” for THE FAB FOUR – very neat. Agree with Andy @7 and others on TAKE OFF being a triple.

    As regards difficulty level, I couldn’t tell this apart from the Cryptic. Anto appears not to be a setter who has different registers (unlike, say, Pasquale or Imogen/Vulcan), and there were several instances of very similar wordplay devices used in both today. This is by no means meant as a criticism of Anto – it was the editor’s decision to put both out on the same day. The flip side of that is that it’s a great day for Anto fans!

    altreus @19 – I’ve heard it before but had to dig deep to remember it. It’s certainly not common usage round my way.

  23. Not that it’s relevant to the clue, but Anto is Irish, and on that side of the water, a ‘press’ is a kitchen cupboard rather than a wardrobe. And a ‘hot press’ is what British English speakers would call an airing cupboard.

  24. I thought this was too difficult for a Quiptic. I’ve been doing cryptics for over a quarter-century, and I’ve long gotten to the point where I consider myself a skilled solver. So a puzzle that’s supposed to be for “beginners and those in a hurry” should be straightforward for me. This was not, and it contains several devices that beginners would find impenetrable: knowing you should split “fuelless energy” into “fuel, less energy,” for example, or the SHOT becoming SWARM thing. All very clever and quite enjoyable for those of us who have acquired some proficiency, but it doesn’t fit the brief.

    I have usually seen FAT-SHAME with a hyphen, and if it had been enumerated that way in the clue, I would have gotten it.

  25. The link given by muffin @ 20 told me as much about the hot press – but no, I’ve never heard of a linen press either!

    Well if I don’t learn something each week, why am I here? 🙂

  26. Well this took me about 3 hours on and off, so I’m with muffin/Petert/Dr W/mrpenney and others re the difficulty.

    SWARM would have been a great clue for Fiendish Friday.

    widdersbel @22: this may provide a clue as to why Anto doesn’t have different registers for cryptics/quiptics – the editor apparently told him not to (!) (I think the moonshot analogy is a bit odd too – it’s not as though NASA jumped straight in at Apollo 8.)

    Don’t get me wrong, I think Anto is a very good setter – just not so good at producing something which fits the description quoted by mrpenney @24.

    Thanks Anto & Pierre

  27. Thanks to Anto and Pierre. (It speaks volumes about the suitability for “beginners and those in a hurry” when ace blogger Pierre is left with an un-solved SWARM (as was I but that’s not that unusual). (Not Anto’s fault of course.)

    muffin@4: Indeed FAT LADY is very annoying and all that you said but equally moreso are THE FAB FOUR wherein I can discern no cryptic element. (Whatsoever).

  28. Fairly straightforward for me today, but took ages to work out RATBAG. I was obsessed with the idea that “rave” referred to a dance.

    As others, I go for triple definition in 5 across.

    I don’t see the necessity for “with luck” in 13 across.

    Thanks, Norbrewer@1, for parsing SWARM, which completely escaped me.

    Thanks Anto (twice today) and Pierre

  29. A mostly enjoyable romp, the SW corner held out for too long, but a lot of interesting devices for the beginner. At times you’d think that when the solution was posted in the G, all this wonderful explanation from Pierre would be there too. Just for this puzzle. To entice newcomers.

    Thanks, multitudes thereof, to Anto and Pierre.

  31. As usual I found this to be hard. Its Anto what else to expect?

    I enjoy London Times Quick Cryptic a lot more than these quiptics. Very inconsistent difficulty levels, lots of loose clues, too many GK stuff.

    For beginners, one obscure clue takes out three or four crossers increasing the difficulty level exponentially.

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