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An excellent Quiptic from one of our most experienced setters.
Pasquale provides clear wordplay as always, especially for the few less-familiar words. Among lots of well-crafted clues, I liked the deceptively simple 5a (at first I thought “it can’t be CIRCLE, can it?” but I wasn’t far wrong) and the image of an unpopular planning application in 12a. I think I’ve seen 7d and 23d before, or at least something very similar, but they’re good enough to deserve repetition. Thanks Pasquale as always.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | MENACER |
Someone threatening? Chaps race confusedly (7)
|
| MEN (chaps) + anagram (confusedly) of RACE. | ||
| 5 | SPHERE |
What’s round a field? (6)
|
| Double definition. A round object; or sphere = field = area of responsibility or interest. | ||
| 9 | BROWNING |
Poet provides something for the gravy (8)
|
| Double definition. One of two Victorian poets, Robert Browning and his wife Elizabeth Barrett Browning; or a mixture of caramel and salt used to darken the colour of gravy. | ||
| 10 | CASSIS |
Conspirator against Caesar not socially acceptable or cordial (6)
|
| CASSI[u]S (one of the conspirators in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar) without the U (socially acceptable, as in “U and non-U”).
French blackcurrant cordial (or liqueur). |
||
| 12 | COMPLAINANTS |
New monastic plan gets people grumbling (12)
|
| Anagram (new) of MONASTIC PLAN. | ||
| 15 | FIRST LIGHT |
Dawn sees bird activity, including frantic stir (5,5)
|
| FLIGHT (bird activity), including an anagram (frantic) of STIR. | ||
| 17 | TAR |
Sailor — deserter heading west (3)
|
| RAT (slang for a deserter), reversed (going west = reading right to left). | ||
| 19 | LAC |
Something sticky in place (3)
|
| Hidden answer (in) in [p]LAC[e].
Sticky secretion from insects, the raw material for shellac varnish. |
||
| 20 | APPRENTICE |
A very quiet centre adapted to accommodate one learner (10)
|
| A + PP (pp = musical notation for very quiet, from Italian pianissimo) + anagram (adapted) of CENTRE, containing I (one in Roman numerals). | ||
| 22 | CHATTERBOXES |
They talk a lot about fights involving mad member of party (12)
|
| C (abbreviation for Latin circa = about = roughly) + BOXES (as a verb = fights using the fists), including HATTER (as in the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party in Alice in Wonderland). | ||
| 26 | IAMBUS |
The writer is vehicle for poetic form (6)
|
| I AM (the writer is) + BUS (vehicle).
A genre of ancient Greek poetry (including verse in iambic metre, but not exclusively) that seems to have consisted mostly of insults and personal attacks. A precursor of the modern diss track, perhaps? |
||
| 27 | MEASURED |
Assessed honeyed drink — certainly can be swallowed (8)
|
| MEAD (honey-based alcoholic drink) containing (swallowing) SURE (certainly). | ||
| 28 | NODDED |
End of contribution strange — editor made a mistake? (6)
|
| End letter of [contributio]N + ODD (strange) + ED (abbreviation for editor).
One of the less common meanings of “nod” = to be momentarily inattentive or careless (perhaps as if nodding in the sense of drowsing). |
||
| 29 | TANGENT |
Line established by man on beat (7)
|
| GENT (short for gentleman = man) added to TAN (beat = flog). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | MOBS |
Participating in film, obscure crowds (4)
|
| Hidden answer (participating in . . .) in [fil]M OBS[cure]. | ||
| 2 | NOON |
Small number performing in middle of the day (4)
|
| NO (abbreviation for number = “small number”) + ON (performing on stage). | ||
| 3 | CONSORTS |
Study types who can act as companions (8)
|
| CON (study intently or learn by rote) + SORTS (types). | ||
| 4 | RUN-UP |
Manage at university to make approach (3-2)
|
| RUN (manage, as in “run a company”) + UP (resident at a university, as opposed to “down” = at a student’s home). | ||
| 6 | PLAINS |
Flat areas I located in maps (6)
|
| I located in PLANS (maps). | ||
| 7 | EISENSTEIN |
Film-maker and scientist embracing opponents at table (10)
|
| EINSTEIN (Albert Einstein, scientist) containing (embracing) S + E (South and East = opponents playing games such as bridge at a card table).
Sergei Eisenstein, Soviet film director. |
||
| 8 | EASY STREET |
No hard way for the idle rich? (4,6)
|
| Cryptic definition: slang for a state of comfortable financial security = “living on Easy Street”. | ||
| 11 | LATHER |
Frothy stuff subsequently outside hospital (6)
|
| LATER (subsequently) outside H (abbreviation for hospital). | ||
| 13 | AFFLICTION |
Adversity of a female, untrue story engaging learner (10)
|
| A + F (female) + FICTION (untrue story) including L (learner, as in L-plates on a car). | ||
| 14 | PROCLAIMED |
Announced calm period in broadcast (10)
|
| Anagram (broadcast = scattered) of CALM PERIOD. | ||
| 16 | IMPURE |
Corrupt mischief-maker floating on river (6)
|
| IMP (mischief-maker) before (above, in a down clue = floating on) URE (river in North Yorkshire). | ||
| 18 | ANDERSEN |
Storyteller nears end that’s complicated (8)
|
| Anagram (complicated) of NEARS END.
Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, best known for his fairy tales. |
||
| 21 | ATTUNE |
Adapt a melody for the audience (6)
|
| Homophone (for the audience) of A TUNE (a melody). | ||
| 23 | OVERT |
Hidden? With lid off, open to view (5)
|
| [c]OVERT (hidden) with the first letter (top, in a down clue = lid) taken off. | ||
| 24 | TRUE |
Time to regret being loyal (4)
|
| T (time) + RUE (to regret). | ||
| 25 | ADIT |
Passage — notice surmounts it (4)
|
| AD (abbreviation for advertisement = notice) before (above, in a down clue = surmounting) IT.
An entrance passageway, particularly a near-horizontal entrance to a mine. |
Thanks Pasquale and Quirister
Very nice puzzle, but I thought 10a and 7d were a bit obscure for a Quiptic. Lots to like; FIRST LIGHT was favourite.
My sticky ones were LAC, EISENSTEIN, CASSIS & NODDED. The latter was obvious from the wordplay but I’ve never heard of the definition.
Otherwise easy but satisfying. I even remembered the Ure River.
I like Pasquale in Quiptic mode – even the obscure-ish words are very precisely clued (ADIT was a new one on me).
FIRST LIGHT is just lovely.
Thanks Pasquale and Quirister.
I forgot to say that “Homer nods” is a familiar expression for someone making an unexpected mistake.
Enjoyed this – lovely clues as always.
Favourites included: CHATTERBOXES, MEASURED, AFFLICTION, CASSIS
Thanks Pasquale and Quirister
Perfect Quiptic level, I thought.
COMPLAINANTS and FIRST LIGHT were the ones I most enjoyed.
Thanks Pasquale and Quirister.
Delightful Quiptic. CHATTERBOXES and FIRST LIGHT were excellent.
Ta Pasquale & Quirister.
Nice and straightforward, nothing to worry about here. SPHERE threw me momentarily and CASSIS was my favourite.
What AlanC said. Thanks.
Beautifully clued puzzle with some excellent anagrams.
Nothing here outside my knowledge, fortunately – in his non-Quiptic guise Pasquale usually throws in a rarity or two (muffin @1: I wouldn’t have thought EISENSTEIN and particularly BROWNING were any more ‘obscure’ than CASSIS, LAC and ADIT, but we all have our lacunae 🙂 )
Thanks to S&B
[The aperitif now known universally as Kir, after the post-war mayor of Dijon, was originally called, in its native Burgundy, by the more transparent name of ‘vin blanc-cassis’]
I tend to think of [crème de] cassis the liqueur rather than [sirop de] cassis the cordial (imagine putting Ribena in your white wine!) but that’s probably a sad reflection on my lifestyle.
Can only echo what everyone else has said – exemplary Quiptic, very enjoyable. Thanks, Pasquale and Quirister.
Pasquale’s Quiptics are always spot
on: I didn’t know LAC or IAMBUS but the clues were nice and clear. Liked SPHERE and COMPLAINANTS.
Muffin @4: apparently the Chinese equivalent of “even Homer nods” is “even monkeys fall from trees”.
New for me: NOD = make a mistake (28ac); Soviet film director EISENSTEIN; ADIT.
Thanks, both.
Well that’s the quickest I’ve ever done a quiptic so I must have found the setter’s wavelength perfectly. Even words I wasn’t familiar with (LAC, ADIT, that meaning of NODDED) couldn’t be anything else from the clear wordplay. EISENSTEIN was in Cryptic 28,941 by Imogen in December with a similar-but-different play on EINSTEIN and SE.
Now to see if the cryptic is much more of a challenge…
Thanks both.
Beautifully pitched Quiptic, with lots of fun. I knew everything but LAC, but assumed that it was linked to shellac. Poirot was into his sirops, of which CASSIS is one and one of the more pleasant.
Thank you to Pasquale and Quirister
Nothing to frighten the horses, we thought, although SPHERE kept us guessing for a while. Most enjoyable.
Thanks, Pasquale and Quirister.
I echo the praises mentioned above. All I would say, is that I needed Bradford for a couple of clues, whereas I didn’t need any help of any kind for todays Cryptic which I completed very quickly at breakfast. This took rather longer!
Thanks for the link to that bit of erudition, muffin @4. And thanx PnQ, nice puzzle.
A few too many new-to-me words for comfort: adit, lac, Eisenstein, iambus, and those senses of nod and con. But all were just about within reach thanks to the crossers.
Thanks P and Q.
Great quiptic. Thanks Pasquale. Thanks for your thorough blog too Quirister. I startled on this while cooking supper and the only slow up was TANGENT which I got after turning out the light in bed. I still think ‘established’ is rather strong as just a link word. I wasted time trying to shoehorn EST into the last three letters!
I think it’s good for quiptics to have a smattering of obscurities like ADIT so long as they are clearly clued as everyone needs to learn their GK has boundaries if they are going to enjoy cryptics!