Quiptic 1,165 by Anto

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Anto’s usual trickier-than-your-average Quiptic. Contains strong language.

The usual range of clue types, though the reverse construction of 12a isn’t something I’d normally expect in a Quiptic; nor is the somewhat direct language of 10a (though according to recent reports it’s more or less what Ukrainian troops say to Russian warships). Those who get strict about homophones, and especially German speakers, may grumble about 5d. Plenty to enjoy though; 18a is obvious when you finally see the alternative meaning of “green”, 25a is neat, but my favourite was 11a for both unusual wordplay and quirky definition. Thanbks Anto as always.

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

ACROSS
1 IN-CHIEF
Most important popular cook outside India (2-5)
IN (popular = fashionable) + CHEF (cook), outside I (India in the radio alphabet).

As in “commander-in-chief”.
5 L-PLATES
Records containing recent requirement for those lacking experience? (1-6)
LPS (long-playing records) containing LATE (recent).

Marking required on cars driven by those who haven’t yet passed their test.
9 BENIN
Country home on a Scottish mountain (5)
IN (home, as in “I’ve been in all day”) after BEN (Scottish Gaelic for mountain, as in Ben Nevis).

Country in west Africa.
10 BUGGER OFF
One tapping away told to get lost! (6,3)
BUGGER (one tapping = intercepting communications) + OFF (away).
11 THREE BEARS
Carry stick and deliver food source for hungry blonde! (5,5)
Three meanings of the word “bear”: carry (as in bearing gifts), stick = endure (as in bear with me), and deliver (as in bear a child).

The hungry blonde is Goldilocks, in the fairy tale, who helps herself to the three bears’ porridge.
12 WAYS
Means to create influence by making son leader (4)
Reverse wordplay: from WAYS, making the S (son) the leading letter gives us SWAY (influence, as in “to hold sway”).

As in “ways and means” = methods of achieving something.
14 PATIENT ZERO
Tolerating nothing that may start epidemic (7,4)
PATIENT (tolerating) + ZERO (nothing).

The first known person to be infected with a disease that leads to an outbreak.
18 ECO-FRIENDLY
Green decor finely woven (3-8)
Anagram (woven) of DECOR FINELY.
21 AUNT
Family member presents gold nugget hollowed out (4)
AU (Au = chemical symbol for gold, from Latin aurum) + N[ugge]T with the inner letters removed (hollowed out).
22 SECOND LAST
Keep going after support with just one behind (6,4)
LAST (keep going) after SECOND (support, as in to add one’s backing to a proposal).

Also “second to last”: almost last in a race, but with one other competitor behind.
25 EMOTICONS
Come on, it’s fantastic how they picture your feelings (9)
Anagram (fantastic) of COME ON ITS.

Pictorial representation of emotion using text characters, such as : -) or :-O
26 ARMED
Cultivated fellow leaves with a gun (5)
[f]ARMED (cultivated), without the F (abbreviation for fellow).
27 EYESORE
Unpleasant thing to hear what Icarus thought shortly before crashing? (7)
Homophone (to hear) of I SOAR: in Greek mythology, Icarus achieved human-powered flight, but it didn’t end well.
28 TAKINGS
Proceeds to make family wear labels (7)
KIN (family), inserted into (wearing) TAGS (labels).

Takings = proceeds = income from an event.
DOWN
1 IN BITS
Upset by the way computer data is retained (2,4)
Double definition. Emotionally devastated by something (though “in bits” suggests something more than just “upset”); or a reference to data stored using binary digits 0 and 1 (bits for short).
2 CANARY
Yellow peril indicator (6)
Double definition. A shade of bright yellow; or a bird formerly used in coalmines as a carbon monoxide detector (because it shows the effect of CO poisoning more quickly than humans do).
3 I’M NO EXPERT
Disclaimer that introduces unqualified opinion (2,2,6)
Cryptic definition: actually a fairly straight one, with the cryptic element being the alternative meaning of “unqualified” = completely positive with no reservations. A phrase used to indicate that something being said is the speaker’s opinion, not to be taken as scientific fact or legally defensible.
4 FIBRE
Broken rib dressed in iron material (5)
Anagram (broken) of RIB, inserted into (dressed in) FE (Fe = chemical symbol for iton, from Latin ferrum).

A slightly loose definition, but perhaps in the sense of clothes being made from natural or synthetic fibres.
5 LAGERFELD
German designer picked up drink knocked over (9)
Homophone (picked up = heard) of LAGER (drink) + FELLED (knocked over). Or in fact not quite a homophone, because the final D in this German name is pronounced as an English T rather than D.

The designer Karl Lagerfeld.
6 LIEN
Property right patron drops outside of court (4)
[c]LIEN[t] (patron = someone using the services of a business), dropping C and T which are the outer letters of C[our]T.

Lien = roughly, the legal right to hold property as security for a debt or obligation. But 3d.
7 TWO-FACED
Pair stood up to being duplicitous (3-5)
TWO (a pair) + FACED (resisted = stood up to).
8 SOFT SPOT
Affection for a swamp (4,4)
Double definition. A particular liking for someone or something; or an area of soft marshy ground.
13 STAYED BACK
Reportedly unadventurous defender didn’t venture forward (6,4)
Homophone (reportedly) of STAID (unadventurous), then BACK (defending player on a sports pitch).
15 THE REMOTE
Present spot useful for controlling channels (3,6)
THERE (present at that location) + MOTE (a speck or spot).

Colloquial shortening of “the television remote control device”.
16 LEGALESE
Support dodgy lease with highly professional language (8)
LEG (support) + anagram (dodgy) of LEASE.

Legal language, written to be unambiguous (beyond challenge in a court of law) but often hard for the average person to understand.
17 ROUND ONE
Portly individual starts fight (5,3)
ROUND (portly = overweight) + ONE (individual).

The first period of a boxing match.
19 BATMAN
Valet shows where cash is delivered during prohibition (6)
ATM (automated teller machine = where cash is delivered) inserted into BAN (prohibition).

A soldier assigned as a valet / personal assistant to a commissioned officer.
20 ETUDES
Studies some of unused utensils returned (6)
Hidden answer (some of), reversed (returned), in [unu]SED UTE[nsils].

Etudes (French) or studies (English) = musical term for short pieces designed as exercises for perfecting a player’s technique (but often interesting enough to be performed in concerts).
23 ONSET
Start rolling stone (5)
Anagram (rolling) of STONE.
24 LIMO
Car found in uncertain place, when battery lead dropped (4)
LIM[b]O (uncertain place) without the B which is the leading letter of B[attery].

Short for limousine.

43 comments on “Quiptic 1,165 by Anto”

  1. Thanks Anto and Quirister
    Much too hard for a Quiptic. I needed a wordsearch for LAGERFELD – never heard of him.
    I liked ECO-FRIENDLY and TAKINGS.

  2. I got THREE BEARS from the definition, but couldn’t parse it, so thanks for that. Once you get past the “bit hard for a Quiptic” issue, there are a lot of nice clues. Why “highly” in LEGALESE?

  3. I thought this was a great crossword. Anto is becoming a firm favourite of mine. Particularly liked THREE BEARS now I’ve had it explained. Couldn’t see what the THREE was doing. Duh!

    I agree muffin@1 that maybe this was a bit tricky for the Quiptic, but it was much more fun than today’s cryptic imo.

    Thanks Anto and Quirister.

  4. Yes, Crossbar @3, I’ve always championed Anto from the get-go. Maybe a bit too hard for a Q, but some lovely clues here. I liked EMOTICONS, BATMAN, ECO-FRIENDLY, LAGERFELD (near enough homophone for us non-German speakers) and the funny THREE BEARS. Thought BUGGER OFF was a bit strong, but it’s a pretty common expletive, I suppose.

    Ta Anto & Quirister

  5. I was all set to quibble about LAGERFELD, but Quirister got there first 🙁

    [German Auslautverhärtung is also why last week’s Everyman’s NO SWEAT/nose wet homophone would actually work if said in a German accent. It’s not limited to German either: the Russians do it (hence Gorbachev and Sakharov have an F sound at the end), but not the Ukrainians (which is one reason Kyiv sounds different from Kiev).]

    Interesting that we had LIMBO → LIMO on Friday, but alas no dancing bishop this time (with or without tutu).

    Thanks A & Q.

  6. Quite tough for the so-called “Quiptic” category – I failed 11ac and 2d.

    Liked L-PLATES, ECO-FRIENDLY, BUGGER OFF, PATIENT ZERO, SECOND LAST, LIEN.

    3d seemed a bit weak.

    Thanks, both.

    Re LAGERFELD, I guess that is the way of GK. I have heard of Karl Lagerfeld, but I am very weak on old/ancient sportsmen and British TV personalities as well as other GK.

  7. Agree with others that this was hard for a Quiptic. Stayed/staid was helped by Qaos Cryptic the other day.

    As I entered LAGERFELD I was wondering whether Anto thought T for D was an acceptable homophone approximation, or he just didn’t know German. Maybe we’ll never know.

  8. PATIENT ZERO was coined as a phrase accidentally- it was a misreading of Patient “O” as Patient 0.

  9. This was a first-rate crossword, but far too tough for a Quiptic.
    I completely missed the (very clever and entirely fair) parsing of THREE BEARS; favourites elsewhere THE REMOTE (very clever use of the word-break) and LIMO (not difficult, but an elegant surface).
    I’d only vaguely heard of LAGERFELD (mentally filed under Overpriced) but it seemed an acceptable bit of GK to require.
    Thanks both.

  10. I got EYESORE and THREE BEARS but needed to come here for the explanations. Anto is fun but this is tricky for a Quiptic. And of course, when it came to 10a: hmm….
    Something OFF. Surely it isn’t… But it was.

  11. The THREE in THREE BEARS was very clever, but far too much so for a Quiptic. Icarus was more famous for crashing than fore soaring: I was looking for an un-sticky end!

  14. You’ve reminded me of one of my favourite paintings, Landscape with the fall of Icarus, by Brueghel the elder (or it may be a slightly later copy). It’s a fairly standard Brueghel landscape, but if you inspect it closely, you can see two legs sticking out of the water.

  16. Tough for a Quiptic, but very enjoyable. I shoehorned a bowdlerised BEGGAR OFF in for 10A, reasoning that “begging” = “tapping for money” and that the obvious answer would not be admissible!

  19. I thought this was very good. It may have been a little hard for a Quiptic but not especially so – there have been many much more demanding puzzles claiming to be Quiptics. Three Bears made me smile.

    Thanks, A&Q, for the Q&A!

  20. A comment on the cryptic thread made me realise that too often I don’t notice the surface reading at all; I just dive in to the wordplay. That was certainly the case with 2d – I just read it as “yellow…..peril warning”, and completely failed to see the unfortunate (?) “yellow peril” formation.

  21. I agree that it was too tough for a Quiptic. Quite hard to write a puzzle of low difficulty and still make it interesting and witty though, which is why the more experienced setters (eg Messrs Manley and Halpern) are best at it.
    THREE BEARS was good, as others have said. BUGGER OFF seems fairly mild these days – or maybe it’s because I’m used to people saying it to me a lot! I’m not sure what ‘told’ is doing in the clue apart from helping the surface, in which case it’s poor form.

  22. Slowed down by trying IN MY HUMBLE for three down, but a very pleasant exercise otherwise. As numerous posters above, we couldn’t parse THREE BEARS before coming here, and then saw how good it was. Yorkshire Lass, although a Grade 6 pianist, thought ETUDES needed a foreign indicator (I’ve bowdlerised her actual comment given the vapours induced by BXGGER OFF!) Thanks both.??

  24. Puff, puff….

    I won’t finish Anto this evening but I’m so enjoying what I’ve met so far. Busy, busy…..

  25. Anto is slowly, but for a long while back, becoming my favourite setter. A beautiful array of devices here imho.

    Will read the blog anon. Since the Quiptic is a weekly event, it seems reasonable (but not perhaps to the blogger) to license comments through the week.

  26. Yet again, Anto does his best to discourage those rookie solvers that these puzzles are intended help. What sort of ego trip is he on ?

    This took me 45 minutes, as opposed to less than a third of that time for the admittedly anodyne normal Monday puzzle. There may as well not be a Quiptic if this selfishness is allowed to persist.

  27. Thanks Quirister for explaining those three bears, excellent clue and not the only one though I agree that this was quite tough so maybe not fitting the bill for a Quiptic. I don’t think that is Anto’s fault though, thanks to him for a fine challenge.

  28. I loved this puzzle and solved it very quickly; I found today’s cryptic rather harder, as it should be. So I’m sad that many found this one too hard to enjoy. Clues like 3d and 5d were weak but I thought acceptable for a Quiptic. And 11a THREE BEARS is one of the cutest clues I’ve come across ever. ? thanks Anto and Quirister

  29. Lovely puzzle despite being too hard for a Quiptic. THREE BEARS was my only real head scratch-last in & a belter of a clue.
    Thanks to A&Q

  30. This did nothing to dispel my feeling that Anto has a wavelength that is not mine. I’m happy for those who seem to be able to get on it, but the name Anto at the head of a crossie makes my heart sink. I got all but 12a (eventually), but not a lot of joy. Sorry, Anto. Commiserations, Quirister.

  31. I expected a slog but I had to cede with almost the entire top half of the puzzle unfilled. It didn’t help that I’m unfamiliar with L-PLATES but even after revealing it, I was still lost. And “stick = bear” doesn’t really fly for me even if they can be equated to different meanings of “endure”. This would have been a nice challenge for an end of the week Cryptic though.

  32. 3d, which makes me well qualified to attest this doesn’t fit the Quiptic bill. Great crossword nonetheless. I just wish there was a slot to reliably point beginners to.

  34. [muffin – meant to thank you for the reminder of Brueghel – for a long time I had the Tower of Babel as my screen wallpaper at work. Have you read “Headlong” by Michael Frayn? I recommend it for being educational (at least for me as I am not very arty) with the scholarly parts adding to, rather than getting in the way of, the story – and Bruegel is central to the plot (don’t read the Wikipedia synopsis which gives the story away). Thanks also Petert for the poem, which, likes Frayn’s novel, helps me to a depeer understanding of these landscapes. There is also this:
    http://english.emory.edu/classes/paintings&poems/williams.html – according to wikipedia he wrote a cycle of ten poems based on Brueghel works]

  36. I’m sure when I was growing up in London in the 1960s my parents used the term “yellow peril” to refer to traffic wardens.

  37. Fell down on my old nemesis, a short word, in this case LIMO. First time I’ve seen BUGGER in a crossword!

  38. Never understand why it’s so difficult to write a quiptic. Love Anto’s crosswords, but quiptic they will never be.

  39. @HoofItYouDonkey

    It is probably not difficult. Just that Anto does not care. He says “I am respecting the intelligence of the solver by challenging them to do the most difficult clues”. But I don’t buy that.

    There is a reason there is amateur cricket clubs and professional teams. I get one chance a week to solve a Guardian puzzle and he comes in rains on my party. I have solved, nay attempted, every Quiptic ever published. This is the first one I am skipping. Looks like I might go permanently to London Times Quick Cryptic. They publish 5 week.

    Quiptic, London Times Quick Cryptic are all should give a flavor of how enjoyable solving cryptic crossword could be, encourage newbies and raise a new generation of cross word lovers.

  40. Ravilyn Sanders @39
    I do wonder if some setters find it a bit ‘infra dig’ to set an ‘easy’ crossword.
    I had no problem solving this, but any new solvers attempting this would be dispirited and likely to take up another hobby altogether.

  41. HoofitYouDonkey @40

    ABSOLUTELY no problems ? If so, you have my total respect !

    I compile a Quick Crossword every sixth Friday, which is accessible on John Moody’s blog reinterred. I don’t pretend that I’ll ever reach professional standards, but the puzzle gets over 200 hits each time, and no adverse comment. It isn’t “easy” to compile any cryptic crossword, but it’s certainly more straightforward than a 15×15, and I just don’t get Anto’s rather sadistic attitude to the task. Maybe the editor forces him to compile Quiptic against his will, and it’s his way of railing against the imposition.

  43. Thank you Lin@42 for a different perspective on heroic failure. I suppose this has been the case since some caveman first decided that he fancied some woolly mammoth steak to go with his nuts and berries for tea. Of course if he managed to bring home the bacon his wife might have had a different opinion of him.

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