Guardian Quiptic 1,202/Bartland

by

My first opportunity to blog a Bartland Quiptic. I’m a fan already.

I thought this was thoughtfully constructed, with the beginner and improving solver clearly in mind. It conforms to what for me are some of the basic principles of setting a Quiptic: a solver-friendly grid, clear instructions, no obscurities or fancy tricks, and a nice variety of clue types. Well done to our new setter.

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 Could be a Mexican fancy chair ornament
NORTH AMERICAN
(CHAIR ORNAMENT)* with ‘fancy’ as the anagrind.

10 Someone getting even with a vice principal before green revolution
AVENGER
A charade of A, V and (GREEN)* The anagrind is ‘revolution’ and you have to read ‘vice principal’ as the instruction to give you your V.

11 Upstart is temporarily hiding performer
ARTISTE
Hidden in upstART IS TEmporarily.

12 Start working with clique
ONSET
A charade of ON and SET.

13 They hang around it or reel around on Sunday
LOITERERS
A charade of (IT OR REEL)* plus S for Sunday. It’s on calendars, innit? And in some dictionaries. The anagrind is the second ‘around’.

14 Protection for first of ministers to be airbrushed from explosive images
AEGIS
(I[M]AGES)* The removal indicator is ‘to be airbrushed from’; the anagrind is ‘explosive’.

16 Undertaking talk about school sport
OPERATION
An insertion of PE in ORATION. The insertion indicator is ‘about’.

18 Grips mouths
ENTRANCES
A dd.

19 Gun lobbyists accept first rate funds in Nigeria
NAIRA
An insertion of AI for ‘first rate’ in NRA for National Rifle Association. The insertion indicator is ‘accept’ and the solution is the currency of Nigeria.

20 Understanding an address about workers
AGREEMENT
An insertion of MEN in A GREET. The insertion indicator is ‘about’.

23 Reportedly remained sober
STAID
A homophone (‘reportedly’) of STAYED.

24 Antique pamphlet clipping
EXTRACT
A charade of EX and TRACT.

25 Opening in it, I joined up with a novice
INITIAL
A charade of IN, IT, I, A and L.

26 Solids hardened, so doc set to work
DODECAHEDRONS
(HARDENED SO DOC)* with ‘set to work’ as the anagrind.

Down

2 Government error
OVERSIGHT
A dd.

3 Tense little bird hiding garish wings
TIGHT
An insertion of GH for the outside letters (‘wings’) of ‘garish’ in TIT. The insertion indicator is ‘hiding’.

4 Laura goes mad, according to hearsay
AURAL
(LAURA)* with ‘goes mad’ as the anagrind.

5 Candidates name exes I harassed
EXAMINEES
(NAME EXES I)* with ‘harassed’ as the anagrind.

6 Almost all at sea?
IN THE MAIN
A cd cum dd.

7 Corridor is drenched in beer
AISLE
An insertion of IS in ALE. The insertion indicator is ‘drenched in’. What the bride doesn’t walk down. That would be the nave. But I’ve given up telling folk that.

8 Probability governs this torture for a wage slave
LAW OF AVERAGES
(FOR A WAGE SLAVE)* with ‘torture’ as the anagrind.

9 Freedom fighter lends a lone man ingredients
NELSON MANDELA
(LENDS A LONE MAN)* with ‘ingredients’ as the slightly suspicious anagrind.

15 Separate people struggle for universal supremacy
SPACE RACE
A charade of SPACE and RACE.

16 Musicians put together alternative cabinet in conjunction with artist
ORCHESTRA
A charade of OR, CHEST and RA for ‘artist’.

17 False mitigation strangely lacking in gravity
IMITATION
(MITI[G]ATION)* The anagrind is ‘strangely’ and the instruction to remove the G is ‘lacking in’.

21 Components of immigration quota
RATIO
Hidden in immigRATIOn.

22 Opener for Kent is dismissed from dodgy wicket more than once
TWICE
(WIC[K]ET)* Another subtractive anagram: the removal indicator is ‘dismissed from’ and the anagrind is ‘dodgy’. Great surface.

23 More diffident heirs relaxed
SHIER
(HEIRS)* with ‘relaxed’ as the anagrind.

Lovely Quiptic from Bartland. More like this, please. As an aside, this is my eight hundredth blog for Fifteensquared.

35 comments on “Guardian Quiptic 1,202/Bartland”

  1. Thanks Bartland and Pierre
    Very heavy on anagrams, though the one for NELSON MANDELA was very nice.
    I don’t think 20a works, as “greet” is a verb, so “a greet” doesn’t make sense. The noun is “greeting”.
    I would spell 23d with a Y, but SHIER seems to be a valid, though rarer, form.
    We’ve discussed before whether PE is a sport!

  2. Congrats on your 800th!

    I found this to be perfect quiptic level. Some setters are most definitely better than others at distinguishing the difficulty levels of cryptic vs quiptic.

    Liked ORCHESTRA for a novel (to me) way of clueing a commonly seen word.

    Tiny query: why ‘components’ plural in 21d RATIO? Singular would have worked. I was overthinking the plural thing for a couple of minutes before the obvious penny dropped.

    Thanks both!

  3. I liked this as a Quiptic level with a lot at write in level, but others a bit chewier.

    Muffin @1 – Greet works as the verb for welcome, the problem is suggestion that it’s a noun – Maybe it should be Understanding one to address inclusion of workers?

    Thank you to Pierre, with congratulations on your 800th blog, and to Bartland for another sparkling Quiptic.

  4. NAIRA seems fairly obscure to me, but I only had to check it after working it out straightforwardly from the wordplay.

    Overall about as easy as they come for me (I like anagrams!) but it took a while to get DODECAHEDRONS.

  6. Nice quick solve and although heavy on anagrams, there were some gems in there. Congrats on your anniversary.

    Ta Bartland & Pierre.

  7. Spot-on Quiptic. I’m sure I’ve come across situations where a word is a different part of speech in the wordplay to the solution before. Do we not just have to separate the “a” from “greet”? Congratulations on the 800. How many have had birds?

  8. Enjoyable puzzle.

    New: SHIER (I usually see it as shyer).

    Liked ENTRANCES, SPACE RACE (loi).

    Thanks, both.

    Congrats to Pierre on 800 blogs. I have always enjoyed reading your blogs whether with birds or birdless!

  9. Just right, I thought. Will be interested to see what the genuine beginners made of it. I agree with Petert @7 about separating the “a” from the “greet”.

    Thanks Bartland, and our blogger from Birdland. (Good job getting your eight cents in 😉 )

  10. I’ve not tackled a Bartland oeuvre before – and thoroughly enjoyed this introduction to his/her skills. TIGHT, AISLE, AEGIS and NAIRA were very satisfying solves, and I was particularly fond of the surface to TWICE.
    Thanks to Bartland for the fun – and to Pierre for another entertaining blog, and congrats on the 800th! (Would that be an Octcentenary??)

  11. Good Quiptic, the second I think from Bartland.

    I liked the LAW OF AVERAGES because of the use of ‘for’ as part of the anagrist, and a refreshing different way to clue ORCHESTRA.

    Thanks Bartland and Pierre (and congrats for the octocentenary).

  12. Thanks, Bartland, another fine Quiptic. I liked the long anagrams.

    And thanks for the blog, Pierre – and well done on the milestone. Stirling work.

    Petert @7 – that’s how I looked at it. It works fine as long as you accept that AN = A. Which it does.

  13. Thanks for the info on AISLE/nave, Pierre. That was news to this pedant. I look forward to saying, when someone mentions a bride walking down the aisle, “I think that you’ll find…..”

  14. Nice neat puzzle.
    Brides walk up the aisle that is in the nave. The nave is not the space between the pews, it’s the space between the columns.
    A few raised eyebrows: EX and antique seem barely related, CHEST and cabinet closely related but distinguishable. Novice for L in INITIAL seems better than student which is the usual, but why not use learner? unless it is to prepare novice solvers for the fact that learner is rarely used even by otherwise sensible setters.
    Thanks both, congrats to Pierre on another ton

  16. Thankyou Pierre for another fine blog, and your outstanding contribution to the 15sq community.
    Just one question about the explanation for SPACE RACE. I saw ‘struggle for’ as part of the definition.

    Another fan of Bartland here. I really enjoyed the contemporary feel of the language in the surfaces, innovative indicators, humour, and word pictures, eg in LOITERERS, TWICE, HEIRS.

    There are 2 ‘hidings’, but one is a hidden and the other is an insertion indicator. I fell for the wrong one in ARTISTE, took a while to see the hidden, even with the word ‘hiding’ waving at me, so fair enough, no quibble, lesson learned, credit to Bartland for the clue that led me down that path..

    Favourites AEGIS (every bit of it), ENTRANCES (for the novel way of cluing that trick), LAW OF AVERAGES, loved the ‘torture’, and IN THE MAIN and OVERSIGHT for the chuckles.

  17. 24a EX can mean “old,” and “old” can mean “antique,” but can “ex” mean “antique”? Can “former” mean “aged”?

    Pierre@7d Where is the aisle then, or is there one?

    muffin@1 There’s no reason a word has to be the same part of speech in the wordplay as in the assembled answer. “An” + “address” = A + GREET, even though “address” is a noun in the wordplay and GREET is a verb in the light. (I think I’m using the word “light” correctly, I’ve never dared use it before.)

    Congratulations on 800 good’uns, Pierre. And thanks to Bartland for a good ‘un as well.

  18. More on aisles: I note the passage between rows of seats meaning is a later development from the original area flanking the nave meaning (from Latin/French word for ‘wing’), so it does seem a little perverse to use it in a church context. There are plenty of descriptions out there of naves as ‘central aisles’ which is a bit like a middle leg, but then again maybe not. I wonder whether brides being walked up the aisle pre- or post-dated the development?

  19. Thank you, Pierre, for your kind words within this excellent blog, and congratulations on reaching the 800 mark!

    Thanks also to all of the solvers for the useful feedback, which will help me to hone my skills going forward.

    Looking forward to entertaining you with my next one soon – watch this space 🙂

  20. Thanks Bartland for dropping in. Looking forward to your next one. Will watch with bated/baited breath. I’m already hooked. 🙂

  21. Valentine@17 the way to generally resolve the problem where the two words in question are both synonyms of some intermediate word is to ask if they are synonyms of the same sense of the intermediate word. In the case of “old” here, these are different senses – check any dictionary.

  22. I agree that this was a very nice Quiptic. Thanks to Bartland! I don’t remember seeing this setter’s name before but will be glad to see it again.

    As an American, I am all too familiar with our NRA, a particularly baleful institution. I see that there is a UK National Rifle Association as well, but Wikipedia makes it sound like a much less vile organization than the US version. I’m curious: do you (UK people) think the clue is referring to your NRA or to ours? If it’s the latter, then I am, once again, embarrassed on behalf of my country that our worst institutions are prominent enough to draw intercontinental notice.

  23. Well, my memory is clearly going! I did do Bartland’s previous Quiptic, quite recently. I even commented on it on this site.

  25. Ted @22 – yes, I’m afraid it was the US version that came to mind. I didn’t even know we had one in the UK! When I see NRA I think Charlton Heston.

  27. Does anyone else think RATiO is not the same as quota? I’d have thought a quota could be a ration but not a ratio. 1/3 is a ratio. I guess a quota could be 1/3 too??

    But maybe I’m missing something. Or being too pernickety about the mathematical usage for ratio.

    I enjoyed this quiptic. Thank you Bartland. Now I’m trying to justify RATIO to a novice solver with mathematical knowledge who is baulking at RATIO despite seeing that’s the required answer.

    Congrats on a landmark blog Pierre. I always enjoy your explanations.

  28. [essexboy @22 — Thanks for that confirmation. I thought that was probably the case, especially as the UK NRA seems quite anodyne. The fact that people overseas know about the NRA is yet another addition to my list of reasons I’m tempted to try to pretend to be Canadian when I travel abroad. (The time I felt this most strongly was the day after our 2020 election, when I happened to be in Paris.)]

    I had the same thought as CanberraGirl @27 regarding ratios and quotas, but I looked in at least one dictionary, and the first definition of QUOTA justified the usage.

  29. Muffin@1, “greet” is a noun (as in “meet and greet”, as ginf@5 notes). It is an apocopation of “meeting”. I point this out only so I can use this new word that I learned from paddymelon@24 on fifteensquared, November 9.

    Thanks, Bartland for the fun, and Pierre for the 800th. Pierre, I for one would be happy if you would loosen your rule for including bird illustrations, so that today you could have illustrated 3d, the little bird with garish wings.

  30. My friend and I really enjoyed this one: our thanks to Bartland! We’ve been doing the quiptic regularly for a couple of years now and often think we’ve never made any progress. This is the first time we didn’t use the check feature at all and we got them all in.

    Can anyone help me understand why in AI means first rate (19a)?

  31. GutsyGecko@30 – it’s slightly naughty, but FIRST RATE is referred to by military types as A-ONE which can be written as AI.

    Thanks to Bartland for the challenge and to Pierre for enlightenment where I had all the answers, but some of the fine detail as to WHY still eluded me…

  32. Congrats GutsyGecko@30.
    It’s A I with the I meaning ‘one’, so it’s the first class of the first class. Not sure where it comes from, maybe academia.

    There are quite a few lists of abbreviations for cryptic solvers, but this one gives various possible meanings for AI, or Ai.

    https://cryptics.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_abbreviations
    ai: ace, capital, first class, good, high class, main road, sloth

    And if you look up Wiki disambiguation for AI there’s heaps, but AI to clue first class is usually a safe bet in cryptics, but as an answer or part thereof, it might be the motorway or the sloth. 🙂

  33. Ah, thanks Hungry Dragon@31. Didn’t know it was from the military, and still don’t know why it’s slightly naughty.

    And I should add GutsyGecko@30 there are stacks of British military abbreviations I had to learn to do cryptic crosswords. I find them a bit tedious TBH, and one of the things I’ve liked about Bartland is that he doesn’t tend to use those boring old abbreviations (except for this one, according to Hungry Dragon.)

  34. Against the run of most comments here, and as someone dipping their toe in the water of Cryptics, we found this too hard whereas previous quiptics have been enjoyable, challenging but solvable.

  35. Thanks! A bit late, but I just solved this and it’s my first ever cryptic done start to finish (albeit with checks and some dictionary action) so I’m feeling chuffed!

    Also thanks to hungry dragon for explaining ai.

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