Guardian Quick Cryptic 9 by Carpathian

This is the ninth Guardian Quick Cryptic, a series of 11 x 11 crosswords designed to support beginners learning cryptic crosswords.  The whole point of these crosswords is support and encouragement of new solvers, so special rules for these crosswords apply – see here.  The puzzle can be found here.

Fifteen Squared uses several abbreviations and jargon tricks, there’s a full list here, of which I’ve used the following in this blog:

  • underlining the definition in the clue – this is either at the beginning or end of the clue
  • CAPITALS to indicate which bits are part of the answer, eg R in CEASE means that ‘in’ is not part of the answer
  • surface – the meaning from reading the clue – so often cryptic clues use an English that could only be found in a cryptic crossword, but a smooth surface is a clue that has a meaning in English, which can be pointed or misleading.

TODAY’S TRICKS – from the crossword site – which can be found at  www.theguardian.com/crosswords/quick-cryptic/9

Clues begin or end with a definition of the answer. The rest is one of these:

    1. Double definition Both halves are definitions! ‘
      Search scrub (5)’ gives SCOUR
    2. Insertion One word inside another makes the answer
      ‘In favour of republican entering Post Office (3)’ gives PRO
    3. Hidden word Answer is hidden in the clue’s words
      ‘Some have altered meat (4)’ gives VEAL
    4. Charade A combination of synonyms
      ‘Qualify to get drink for ID (8)’ gives PASSPORT (pass + port)

ACROSS
6 BORE
Carried drill (4)
double definition – BORE as in carried in pregnancy or otherwise and BORE as death watch beetles BORE through joists
7 CORRAL
Head of ranch in orange-pink cattle pen (6)
insertion of  R (head of ranch) into CORAL (orange-pink) to give COR(R)AL
A CORRAL is an enclosure of animals (or an enclosure formed by wagons)
8 BLITHE
Born supple and merry (6)
charade of  B (born) and LITHE (supple) to give an old fashioned word for merry – as in:
The child that’s born on the Sabbath Day
Is bonny and blithe and good and gay
9 BUST
Break  vehicle with base of ratchet (4)
charade of  BUS (vehicle) and (with) T (base of ratcheT) = BUST
base of ratchet is a way of telling the solver to use the last letter of the word, in this case T
10 DREAM
Fancy shot of alcohol with ecstasy in (5)
insertion (with .. in) of DRAM (shot of alcohol) with E (ecstasy) in to give DR (E) AM
E for ecstasy is one of many drug related abbreviations used in crosswords – E for ecstasy, C for cocaine and H for heroin are all used.  Cannabis and its related language is often used too – pot, reefer, joint all get clued in.
12 TENSE
Kitten seems a bit uptight (5)
hidden in (a bit) in kitTEN SEems
15 BUGS
Annoys insects(4)
double definition to BUG someone is to annoy them and BUGS are insects.
17 HASTEN
Aghast engineers concealing tear (6)
hidden (concealing) in agHAST ENgineers
They tear / hasten along the seafront to meet the tide.
19 NETTLE
Goad weed (6)
double definition –  to goad someone is to NETTLE them as in irritate and some people see NETTLEs as weeds, but many insects, such as the small tortoiseshell and peacock butterflies would disagree, as their caterpillars rely on the foodstuff nettles provide.
20 RATE
Charge traitor with extortion at first (4)
charade of RAT (traitor) and (with) E (from Extortion at first) to give RATE
As in something charged at a RATE of £20 per kilo
RAT appears as both the verb and noun to indicate acting traitorously and a traitor.
DOWN
1 BOWLER
Hat left in arbour (6)
insertion of (in) L (left) in BOWER (arbour) to give BOW(L)ER
for the rounded protective hat, so called as originally made by a firm called BOWLER (because I looked it up)
2 VEST
Animal doctor clutching small garment (4)
insertion of (clutching) S for small in VET (animal doctor) to give VE(S)T
S as in clothing sizes, which also gives XS, M, L and XL
3 SCREW
Cheat prison officer (5)
double meaning to SCREW someone is to cheat them and in prison slang a prison officer is a SCREW (as heard in Porridge)
4 TREBLE
Part of theatre blessed singer (6)
hidden (part of) theaTRE BLEssed
for the pre-pubescent boy’s voice used in choral settings
5 BARS
Prohibits pubs (4)
double meaning the surface conjures up Peggy Mitchell as acted by Barbara Windsor screaming from behind the bar at the Queen Vic in EastEnders “You’re barred!”
11 ASSETS
Extras set sights hiding strengths (6)

 hidden (hiding) in extrAS SET Sights

13 SWEATS
Wife surrounded by stools perspires? (6)
insertion (surrounded by) W (wife) in SEATS (stools) to give S(W)EATS
W is often indicated by wife, from genealogy, or with regularly
14 CHIEF
Archie folded envelopes first (5)
hidden (envelopes) in arCHIE Folded
First / chief among equals
16 USED
Employed American editor (4)
charade of  US (American) ED (editor)
America(n) regularly gets abbreviated as US or A or USA.  ED for editor is another heavily used abbreviation, seen in often slightly tongue-in-cheek asides in publications.
18 SARK
Small vessel going to Channel Island(4)
charade of  S (small) and ARK (vessel) to give SARK, one of the smaller Channel Islands, this one is car-free.
Ark as vessel is another regular, when it’s not an urn, pot or pan, other equally useful letter chains.

 

23 comments on “Guardian Quick Cryptic 9 by Carpathian”

  1. Thank you for the blog.

    Everything seems so simple with the explanations!

    I struggled today and solved only 6/7 clues!

    It rounds off a fairly disastrous and frustrating week of crossword solving for me.

    Do you know of anyone who does a “watch-a-long” of Guardian crosswords so that you can see/listen to their thinking/tips in real time?

  2. This isn’t the most helpful of grids, it’s what Roz calls a sticklebrick grid, with the useful first letters outside the crossers, for the most part. And other than the hidden clues, it’s all synonyms you have to think of to solve the clues.

    Admittedly I was half asleep, but I found I took longer than normal to solve this.

  3. Got there eventually! The grid layout and the number of synonym clues (including some obscure ones – what is an arbour?) didn’t help, but when I finally remembered that hidden words were one of the clue types I managed to find enough of those to get the hints I needed for the rest.

  4. Almost gave up on completing this one, it was quite tough.

    I needed help from wikipedia re names of the various Channel Islands which I have only heard of for being tax havens, eg Jersey.

    Thanks, both.

  5. I said back on week 1 they need to ensure these stay simple if it really is going to encourage beginners and the standard already seems to be getting harder. I’m an experienced solver and could get nothing in the top left on first look. If I recall correctly, Carpathian has consistently been tougher than the other setters.

    Having a high level of success is paramount to beginners sticking with these and progressing. I thought SARK clue was a good example of how to mess this up. If you don’t have the Channel Islands knowledge, you’re never going to think of ARK=vessel and bang goes your successful completion. The clue needed something about Noah for beginners. Likewise a double-def like SCREW is hard if you’re not familiar with its prison officer slang and cheat isn’t going to get a beginner to it.

    On the flipside, I thought BARS, BUST, BUGS, VEST, SWEATS were good clues because there’s a good chance of getting them from the definition.

    Not sure why I’m saying this as the 15×15 site don’t set the puzzle!

  6. Really appreciate these, for explaining and liked the extra details (nettle appreciation) and tips too. This crossword I got almost all of, for the first time, showing this new type is helping some new solvers like me.

  7. For me this probably was the toughest so far, I’m a complete beginner and this was my ninth ever solved cryptic. I scanned the clues and thought to myself this is impossible and stomped my tiny foot. And then on second reading something weird happened. I’m unsure if this is a documented phenomenon but I seem to get the answers without being sure how or why. I’d read the clue and somehow know the answer. Normally then I could work out why but for a few I had to read the excellent analysis here. Anyway thanks to Shanne for the walkthrough. And maybe thanks to the check facility on the Guardian website, I’m hoping to solve one soon without using it.

  8. KevinGrimes@8: I don’t know if it’s documented, but I’m sure it’s a common occurrence. Going away and coming back , then seeing through the previously unsolvable clues is another frequently observed phenomena.

  9. Steffen@1, I did suggest Zoom calls a few months ago, but it’s setting them up. It depends what you want to solve? Posts on these threads come to my inbox, with the email address used showing. I see and delete them, because I don’t need to know, but with your permission, I could contact you directly with Zoom links.

    I did say somewhere in General Chat I used to solve the Guardian crossword, sitting at the Union Bar when I was a student, together with various other reprobates. I went to one of that number’s funeral on Friday, and he was still solving the Guardian crossword daily, “always under 15 minutes”, according to the address. I definitely remember him taking longer back in the day, and I’m certainly not that quick, by orders of magnitude.

  10. I agree with HG – both that it is essential these are kept easy and “doable”. This was neither.

    I am a regular attempter at the daily Guardian cryptic – sometimes completing it (or very nearly) usually getting about half. I could not complete about half of this (though I should have got a couple more clues).

    It would be a great shame if this pleasing initiative by the Guardian failed due to the compilers making the puzzles too hard.

  11. This was definitely the hardest of these quick cryptics so far, we struggled with four of the clues. No anagrams this week which didn’t help. But still very much enjoying them.

  12. Shanne@10 I appreciate the offer.

    I would love a Zoom call help session to be honest; I agree finding the time is the hard bit.

  13. Got there in the end this week, with everything falling into place in the end before coming here to check. BUGS, USED and TREBLE all came straight away, which I don’t think they would have in week 1. SARK also came easily to me. But CHIEF fooled me for too long distracted by “first” which didn’t mean what it does in 20 across, doh… Thanks for the expanded explanations.

  14. New to me: GOAD = NETTLE
    Why the question mark in 13d?
    CHIEF, BOWLER, CORRAL were tough. In fact, overall – slightly harder than last week.

  15. Very little on the first pass, more on the second, one left after the third, used a thesaurus for the last (bugs).
    So I too found it harder.
    ‘tear’ is an example of what’s the most unusual or last meaning of a word that anyone can think of being the answer.
    Sark I knew. There’ll always be gaps in our general knowledge. I do not feel bad about using technology for a few.
    Could there be a website which could give a hint on the press of a button, akin to ‘phone a friend ‘

  16. I’m so glad not to have been the only one who struggled with this one, the second I was unable to completely solve from the 9 so far. Definitely the most difficult. Appreciate the explanations.

  17. I couldn’t quite finish this, had to reveal 10a. In theory hidden clues are the easiest to find but for some reason they are a massive blind spot of mine, so it’s nice to have some practise.

    I’d heard of SARK before as in cutty sark, but didn’t know it was a channel island, and had to use the dictionary for arbour/bower.

    Steffan@1 – I don’t know if you’re still checking the comments on this as it would appear I’m a few days late, but check out a guy called Pat Cousins on YouTube, he does solve-alongs to the Guardian quiptics, cryptics and everymans (everymen?)

  18. My verdict: way too difficult for a Quick Cryptic. Didn’t enjoy this one at all, which I think is the shared sentiment? In general, I have found a steep increase in the difficulty curve of Guardian cryptics of late. And where did the anagrams go? I was expecting at least one. I like a challenge though and will just accept that these weren’t a good fit for my ability level. Never heard of SARK before and needed to search the net to find the answer. I think BLITHE has come up before with an almost identical clue, so that helped. Didn’t know NETTLE could mean goad. I guess I learned a lot so shouldn’t grumble too much. Thank you Shanne and Carpathian.

  19. @Steffen, the YouTube channel “Cracking the Cryptic” mostly focuses on one of two lovely gents solving complex Sudokus. However on a Friday Simon solves the Times cryptic, with live narration as to his thoughts processes, tips, cryptic tricks used, acronyms etc. It’s a really good source, and how I started having a go.

    @Shanne, not too sure if people are aware of it, but it could be a useful source to point beginners to. The crosswords themselves are rock hard for a beginner, but it’s a great way to access the mind of a cryptic solver.
    (Didn’t post a link as not sure if permitted).

  20. I just started working my way through these the other day, and found this one a real bump in the road, and had to give up on 5 clues. I revealed 19a, because even though I was pretty certain what it was, I’d never heard of the other meaning of NETTLE. Niggle, hassle and needle, yes, but never nettle. 1d I should have guessed, but didn’t know what arbour or bower meant, so I was otherwise pretty scuppered. 8a I just couldn’t bring the appropriate synonym to mind, 4d was a “kick myself” moment and I just couldn’t unravel 7a. Still, onwards. See you all when I catch up!

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