Chandler provides our Quiptic challenge today.
Perhaps towards the trickier end of the Quiptic range, but with some more straightforward clues to get started. There seems to be a recurring image of someone becoming 1a, being 26a, creating a 8d, and generally being a 9d; the last of these is a wonderful anagram. Thanks Chandler for the fun.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | UPTIGHT |
Leading description of someone intoxicated getting anxious (7)
|
| UP (leading, as in a sports match: “England are 2-1 up at half-time”) + TIGHT (slang for intoxicated). | ||
| 5 | ATTEMPT |
Endeavour made by casual worker to infiltrate a motorcycling event (7)
|
| TEMP (casual worker rather than a permanent employee), inserted into (infiltrating) A + TT (abbreviation for time trial, |
||
| 10 | LEAF |
A natural growth amid considerable affluence (4)
|
| Hidden answer (amid . . .) in [considerab]LE AF[fluence]. | ||
| 11 | CHARITABLE |
Kindly companion with largely parched set of diners (10)
|
| CH (abbreviation for Companion of Honour) + ARI[d] (parched) without the last letter (largely) + TABLE (a group of people eating together in a restaurant). | ||
| 12 | BARREL |
Relative seen behind counter gets keg (6)
|
| REL (abbreviation for relative) after (behind) BAR (counter where drink and/or food is served). | ||
| 13 | NEGATIVE |
Local concealing, for example, statement of opposition (8)
|
| NATIVE (local to a specific area) containing (concealing) EG (e.g. = for example, from Latin exempli gratia). | ||
| 14 | GLYCERINE |
Lee crying spilt colourless liquid (9)
|
| Anagram (spilt) of LEE CRYING. | ||
| 16 | WEARY |
Sport by yard makes one tired (5)
|
| WEAR (sport, as a verb = be dressed in or adorned with) +Y (abbreviation for yard = measure of length). | ||
| 17 | SPARK |
Bright person in southern recreational area (5)
|
| S (southern) + PARK (recreational area). | ||
| 19 | CHORISTER |
One in singing group is given time to interrupt tedious task, right? (9)
|
| IS + T (abbreviation for time), inserted into (interrupting) CHORE (a tedious task), then R (right).
The modern form of my blogging name. |
||
| 23 | DEMOTION |
Downgrading protest, element accepts first of orders (8)
|
| DEMO (short for demonstration = protest) + TIN (metallic element with atomic number 50) containing (accepting) the first letter of O[rders]. | ||
| 24 | PELLET |
Little ball to chuck around edges of lake (6)
|
| PELT (to chuck = throw) around the outer letters (edges) of L[ak]E. | ||
| 26 | THEATRICAL |
Trail cheat spoiled? That’s exaggerated (10)
|
| Anagram (spoiled) of TRAIL CHEAT.
Theatrical, outside the context of theatre = overdone for effect = exaggerated. |
||
| 27 | VEIN |
By the sound of it, futile mood (4)
|
| Homophone (by the sound of it) of VAIN (futile).
As in “continued in a similar vein”. |
||
| 28 | EPITHET |
First signs of English player in team hating especially this nickname (7)
|
| First letters of E[nglish] P[layer] I[n] T[eam] H[ating] E[ssentially] T[his].
Originally a description added to someone’s name, as in “Alfred the Great” or “Ming the Merciless”; but it can also mean a similar phrase used instead of the name = a nickname. |
||
| 29 | GEOLOGY |
Field for scrutinising faults etc? (7)
|
| Cryptic definition: field = area of study, and geology includes studying fault lines in rock formation. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | PREVAIL |
Quiet priest facing trouble gets to succeed (7)
|
| P (p = abbreviation for Italian piano = musical notation for quiet) + REV (short for Reverend = title for a priest) + AIL (trouble). | ||
| 3 | INFER |
Deduce information on euro at odd points (5)
|
| INF (abbreviation for information) + odd-numbered letters of E[u]R[o]. | ||
| 4 | HECKLER |
One disrupting a speaker? That fellow upset clerk (7)
|
| HE (that fellow) + anagram (upset) of CLERK. | ||
| 6 | TRIAGE |
Cut short journey over time for medical assessment (6)
|
| TRI[p] (short journey) without the last letter (cut), before (over, in a down clue) AGE (time). | ||
| 7 | EXACTNESS |
Treatment of next cases requires precision (9)
|
| Anagram (treatment) of NEXT CASES. | ||
| 8 | PALAVER |
Old man, former court champion Rod, makes a fuss (7)
|
| PA (old man = colloquial term for father) + LAVER (the former tennis-court champion Rod Laver).
Unnecessary worry or complication: “It’s all under control – don’t make such a palaver about it.” |
||
| 9 | PAIN IN THE NECK |
Penance, I think, in order for annoying type (4,2,3,4)
|
| Anagram (in order) of PENANCE I THINK.
Slang for an annoying person that you’d like to be rid of. There is of course a less polite version of this phrase. |
||
| 15 | CORMORANT |
Diving bird has inclination to circle wild moor and river (9)
|
| Anagram (wild) of MOOR, then R (abbreviation for river), with CANT (inclination = slope) around it all (to circle). | ||
| 18 | PIE SHOP |
Greek character assumed attitude in turn about hot place selling baked food? (3,4)
|
| PI (the Greek character corresponding to the letter P), then POSE (assumed attitude) reversed (in turn) around H (abbreviation for hot). | ||
| 20 | REPULSE |
Drive back person put up by two universities (7)
|
| PER (abbreviation for person, I think in the grammatical sense as in “first person singular”) reversed (put up, in a down clue), then U (abbreviation for university) + LSE (London School of Economics = another university). | ||
| 21 | EVENING |
Part of a day still in front of gathering (7)
|
| EVEN (still = undisturbed) + IN + front letter of G[athering]. | ||
| 22 | FIERCE |
Intense fellow with little hesitation cracking problem in winter (6)
|
| F (abbreviation for fellow), then ER (a brief sound expressing hesitation = little hesitation) inserted into (cracking) ICE (a problem in winter). | ||
| 25 | LEVEL |
Drawing floor in a multi-storey building? (5)
|
| Double definition. With scores level in a sports match, as in “drawing 1-1”; or another word for floor numbers in a building, especially in a multi-storey car park. |
Thanks Chandler and Quirister
I agree that it was quite hard for a Quiptic, but a nice puzzle, mush more fun than today’s Cryptic. CHORISTER was favourite from a number of pleasing clues.
Only tiny quibble – “colourless” is completely superfluous in 14a.
Quite a few three-letter “abbreviations” … INF for information (I’m more familiar with INFO), PER for person and REL for relative. That last one I’m OK with, as it’s commonly used (“I’m visiting the rels.”), but PER is a bit unusual.
I can never remember the Isle of Man time trials, but vaguely recall being flummoxed by them at least once before.
Thanks Chandler & Quirister.
Thanks for the blog (and to Chandler for the puzzle). One correction – I had thought “TT” was “tourist trophy” for the IoM race? Confusingly the TT races are a time-trial event!
Jack @3: yes, it appears you’re right, though it is confusing! Thanks – I’ll update the blog.
I could not parse 25d or 20d – rev of PER = person + U = university + LSE = London Scool of Economics. But why does PER = person? I never saw that abbrevation before.
New for me: CANT – inclination.
Thanks, both.
michelle@5
‘PER=person’ gets used every now and then. I remember seeing it in a recent Guardian puzzle (I don’t remember the setter but the blogger was Eileen).
Pangakupu July 14
muffin@1: GLYCERINE 14a. You know about these things. I would never attempt to describe it otherwise
As I solved CHORISTER, I thought it would be appropriate for Quirister to blog this, and lo and behold, she did. I still think Chandler meant the TT rather than a time trial, but both work. Having been misdirected by an image of artists in attics for LEVEL, I took ages to see the other meaning of “drawing”. Thanks, both.
pdm @8
Just “liquid” would be fine. It is colourless, more less, but “colourless” doesn’t make it easier, as most liquids are.
KVa@6 and 7 – thanks for the info on PER=person. This is a word/abbreviation that will not stick in my memory. I would never use it in speaking or writing 😉
Muffin @10: If you have solved 26a in the Prize this weekend you might be, like me, similarly annoyed at an equivalence where there is actually a very important distinction. Obviously no spoilers…
Jack @12
Yes, that one annoyed me!
J & M@12 &13: It puzzled me.
This was toward the harder end of the Quiptic scale, but that’s fine with me. A very entertaining puzzle.
My only tiny quibble is that CHUCK and PELT don’t seem quite equivalent to me. CHUCK is transitive, taking as its object the thing thrown, but PELT isn’t. You can pelt a person with stones, but you chuck the stones at person.
But we are supposed to be commenting on this one, which I agree was on the hard side for a cryptic, but I thought it still qualified’ It took me about an hour which is quick for me.
Shouts for GEOLOGY, REPULSE and PITA, Sorry PITN. We had a pony called Pita, but only when catching her.# Thanks to theChorister and theship supplier, is he/she also a candle maker?
Ted @15: I wondered about the transitive / intransitive mismatch too. But in describing the weather, I could say that earlier today it was “chucking it down”, and “pelting it down” would probably work too.
Quirister @17
That was how I justified it too, but on reflection it doesn’t quite work for me. I would say “chucking it down”, but just “pelting”, or “pelting with rain”.
Muffin @10: Tea? Beer? Mercury? Tincture of iodine? Lava? Pepto-Bismol (or whatever they brand that as in the UK)? “Colourless” does at least narrow it down a bit, though I agree it’s not strictly necessary for the clue to work.
I couldn’t parser LEVEL and still don’t really get it but all very doable. A nice start to the week.
PER – maybe as in the police jargon for a missing person – “misper”?
Tripped up on a couple here due to time constraints. Otherwise I thought it was fine.
Enjoyable. Thanks, Chandler.
Thanks Chandler, Quirister, and of course the commentistas.
Quirister, it’s a bit late and you may not care anyway, but you have an unusual spelling, “permanenet”, in your text for 5A. But my pointing it out might just be annoying … .
vogel421 @24: thanks, now fixed.
Tough but we’ll clued. Thanks to both.
I still don’t quite agree with vein = mood (continue in a similar mood??) but otherwise entertaining. Cant was new to me.
Bit late to this, I’m working my way through some of them, but I noticed this :
23a : Downgrading protest, element accepts first of orders (8) – DEMOTION == Downgrading
Shouldn’t the tenses etc match in cryptic crosswords? A demotion is a noun, downgrading is a verb, you wouldn’t say “I’m demotion the mark in your essay”. Maybe I’m wrong here and it’s an approximation? And that’s ok?
Any clues welcome, thank you !
~Caesura~
Caesura @27: “Downgrading” in the surface of the clue is indeed a verb, but we have to take it as a gerund (the noun form of the verb) for the solution. As in “I object to the downgrading of my exam result”, where you could substitute “demotion” for the same meaning.
Quirister @28 : Doh! Yes, of course you are right. And thank you for your swift reply, I feel better with it now!