This week’s Quiptic is by Pasquale who is an experienced setter, producing crosswords at different levels.
A good range of clues here, with some general knowledge required
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | PRECAUTIONS |
Pure actions, properly organised safeguards (11)
|
| Anagram of (PURE ACTIONS)*, properly organised is the anagrind | ||
| 9 | NONSTOP |
No points sadly, with one missing out all the time (7)
|
| Anagram of (NO PONTS)* where PONTS is POiNTS with I missing out, anagrind |
||
| 10 | PRAETOR |
Old magistrate altered a report (7)
|
| Anagram of (A REPORT)* anagrind altered to give an annually elected magistrate of the Roman republic. I’ve looked up exactly what a PRAETOR is because it’s a word I’ve come across in crosswords before | ||
| 11 | CLIMACTIC |
Concerned with intense experience regarding long-term weather keeping cold (9)
|
| An insertion of C (cold) in CLIMATIC (regarding long-term weather) to give CLIMACTIC, the adjective relating to climax – which could be described as an intense experience | ||
| 12 | OPIUM |
One has little hesitation after work to get drug (5)
|
| Charade of I (one) UM (little hesitation) after OP (work) to give OP I UM the drug.
OP for work comes from opus, usually referring to pieces of music or other artworks. |
||
| 13 | SUSS |
Realise American has boarded ship (4)
|
| Insertion of US (American) in SS (boarded ship) to give S (US) S.
Putting SS around letters being described as on board a ship is a regular crossword trick, the SS comes from steamship as in the SS Hispania, a wreck near Mull. It was used to distinguish between sail and steam when that was a thing, but has stuck. I’ve seen discussions arguing that putting the letters between doesn’t make sense, but it’s now such an embedded convention it’s something to learn as a trick worth knowing. |
||
| 14 | BELL RINGER |
One of those knowing the ropes in church? (4,6)
|
| Cryptic definition – bell ringers know the ropes as they swing them to ring the bells – and they are usually found in the church tower to do so. | ||
| 16 | DIAGNOSTIC |
Female uncertain about God? That is symptomatic (10)
|
| Charade of DI (female) and AGNOSTIC (uncertain about God).
Female as a definition of any random female name gets criticism in these blogs, but DI is a very useful abbreviated female name, often also clued as princess for the late Diana, Princess of Wales. |
||
| 19 | SHUN |
Resist Sergeant Major’s demand (4)
|
| Double definition – to resist is to SHUN and the Sergeant Major’s demand is a bellowed ‘SHUN – from attention. | ||
| 21 | INPUT |
Home place for stuff entering (5)
|
| Charade of IN (home) and PUT (place) | ||
| 22 | CHASTISED |
His cadets being naughty may be punished (9)
|
| Anagram of (HIS CADETS)*, anagrind being naughty | ||
| 24 | PENANCE |
Act of contrition in Cornish location – character at the end released (7)
|
| Deletion of Z (character at end released) from PENzANCE, a town at the southernmost end of Cornwall, so Cornish location. | ||
| 25 | EARNEST |
Serious listener at front of home (7)
|
| Charade of EAR (listener) at front of NEST (home) | ||
| 26 | RESPECTABLE |
Trustworthy creeps about to join the board (11)
|
| anagram of (CREEPS)* anagrind about – giving RESPEC to join TABLE (board), producing RESPECTABLE | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | PENCIL SHARPENER |
With which writer makes a point? (6,9)
|
| Cryptic definition – PENCIL (writer) SHARPENER (makes a point) | ||
| 2 | EXTRA |
Additional bit of text rarely seen (5)
|
| Hidden (bit of) in tEXT RArely | ||
| 3 | AMPUTEE |
One lacks a full compliment of members (7)
|
| Cryptic definition – members as in limbs, so if one lacks a limb, one is an AMPUTEE
I didn’t notice this, concentrating on solving and parsing the clues, but it’s been pointed out that it should be complement |
||
| 4 | TYPICAL |
As you’d expect to see in pretty pic always (7)
|
| Hidden (to see in) pretTY PIC ALways | ||
| 5 | ORATORIO |
Old scoundrel coming to old port with something sung (8)
|
| Charade of O (old) RAT (scoundrel) coming to O (old) RIO (port) giving O RAT O RIO
– as in Handel’s Oratorio Messiah (to choose one of many) |
||
| 6 | SETTING THE SCENE |
Working on stage and giving background information (7,3,5)
|
| Double definition – as stage workers putting the scenery up and authors writing a description to set the scene | ||
| 7 | KNOCKS |
Criticises Scottish reformer audibly (6)
|
| Soundalike indicated by audibly (to borrow the term from the quick cryptic crosswords) of John Knox the Scottish Protestant reformer | ||
| 8 | TREMOR |
Small earthquake upsetting Italian capital after short time, right? (6)
|
| Charade of EMOR (upsetting Italian capital – so ROME<) after T (short time) R (right) to give T R EMOR | ||
| 15 | INSTANTS |
Moments when example is read out (8)
|
| Soundalike (read out) of instance (example) | ||
| 16 | DRIPPY |
One very quiet, outwardly boring and a bit wet (6)
|
| Insertion of I (one) PP (very quiet) in DRY (outwardly boring) to give DR (I PP) Y
Dry as in a dry as dust textbook, PP from musical terminology, the abbreviation of pianissimo, meaning very quiet on sheet music. |
||
| 17 | SECRETE |
Hide in prosperous region somewhere in the Med (7)
|
| Charade of SE (prosperous region – of the UK) and CRETE (somewhere in the Med)
The SE – south east – of the UK / England is where London is found and the more affluent part of the country. |
||
| 18 | INANEST |
Most stupid,like a feathered friend laying an egg? (7)
|
| Double definition – a feathered friend laying an egg could be IN A NEST | ||
| 20 | NUDITY |
Condition of bare folk, terribly untidy (6)
|
| Charade of (UNTIDY)* anagrind terribly | ||
| 23 | THROB |
The short boy gets pound (5)
|
| Charade of TH (the short) ROB (boy)
Pound as in I’ve got a throbbing headache. ROB for boy is another of those random boy’s names, could be anything, e.g., Len, Reg, Ted, Des – all get used. |
An excellent Quiptic. Favourite was INANEST which has probably been used before, but this crossword is aimed at novices.
Thanks both
Compliment should be complement in 3d, surely.
Dr WhatsOn @2 – almost certainly, but it’s a misprint in the paper – this blog just scraped the information from the newspaper, I added the answers and the commentary, didn’t even notice that as I went through, although it was my last one in.
First thought Oh bleep, what Cornish towns do I know … something -mouth with that water-driven cable thingy? … no that’s Devon. Then of course, with a couple crossers, it was good old G&S to the rescue, Pirates of .. Nice Sundy puzzle, cheers Pasquale, and nice job Shanne.
Why is a TREMOR a small earthquake? When I was a volcanologist, we talked about minor tremors and major ones – i.e. big earthquakes. Thanks, Pasquale and Shanne.
TassieTim @5 – as a non-volcanologist, I can only go by what the dictionaries say:
earthquake – a quaking or shaking of the earth, a heaving of the ground, a disruptive event, upheaval
tremor – a quiver, a quavering, a thrill, an involuntary agitation, a vibration
both from Chambers (1998). From that a tremor sounds smaller than an earthquake.
Favourite: DRIPPY.
I couldn’t parse 19ac apart from SHUN = resist. Never would have thought of the Sergeant Major’s demand as a bellowed ‘SHUN – from attention.
3d – I agree with Dr. Whatson@2 that it should be ‘complement’ rather than ‘compliment’ in the clue.
Thanks, both.
Shanne@3 yes, that’s what I meant, didn’t mean to suggest the typo was yours.
Thanks Shanne and Pasquale. Nice and gentle. I do love the way you explain things Shanne. So many to like but top three in no particular order: PRECAUTIONS; TYPICAL; and INANEST. All lovely for different reasons 😎.
Reporting in from yesterday’s quick cryptic thread to say thanks to Shanne for recommending this. Didn’t manage all of it, but got a good 80% of the clues. Several new tricks that hadn’t come up in the quick cryptics yet, including SS for boarded ship, TH for the short, and the random boy/girl names. However I was able to properly parse PENANCE, ORATORIO and NONSTOP, which were definitely helped by understanding the tricks better from the quick cryptics.
Looking forward to next weekend!
@2 DrWhatsOn .. I’m glad someone else spotted the compliment/complement mistake – I had wondered whether it was something I needed to take account of in the clue once armless / legless wouldn’t fit. Pasquale does everything with intention – so I assumed it was just me not being surew of which version it should be!
Decent Quiptic from Pasquale albeit had to include his trademark “let’s bung in a word you probably won’t know” giving you the letters in an anagram for “PRAETOR”. There must be six possible rearrangements of R/E/O into the open slots and probably only two can be ruled out with certainty (the ones ending in “TRR”).
Had a good laugh at IN-A-NEST and liked DIAGNOSTIC among others.
@10 Marc – well done for stepping up, giving it a go and getting 80% done.
Well done Marc @10!
(The other suggestion on the Quick Cryptic, I’d definitely have a go at today’s Everyman and see how you get on, but there’s no check button so you’ll be solving it on your own.)
Fine blog Shanne! Thanks.
Nice puzzle. Thanks Pasquale.
TREMOR
Though seismologists and volcanologists may understand TREMORs and earthquakes in a different way, in common parlance, I feel the distinction made by the setter (and supported by the blogger with dictionary references) seems all right.
DIAGNOSTIC
I think the def is only ‘symptomatic’.
Marc@10
Great!
Hello! Fairly new solver here. Question on 2d – the word “seen” seems unnecessary as it doesn’t form part of the hidden clue. Is it generally acceptable to add extra words to help the surface reading?
marmite22@15. Yes, it does happen. That EXTRA bit made me pause as well.
Aha! so that’s how NONSTOP works! I got as far as NO N S (the points) and then no further.
A lovely Quiptic from Pasquale as usual. Pity about the two NESTs in INANEST (ha ha) and EARNEST, but I enjoyed PENCIL SHARPENER; BELL RINGER and the Old Rat of Rio.
marmite22 @15 – sorry, I did spot the extra seen in 2d and thought the surface makes no sense without it, so it has to be there for the surface as sometimes happens, but with the Quiptic I’m trying not to teach solvers to suck eggs.
KVa @14, I dithered about that is symptomatic as a definition for DIAGNOSTIC and came down on including that is as diagnostic and symptomatic are not great synonyms, meaning slightly different things, I thought including that is gave the better definition.
Like marmite22 @15, I wondered about the extra “seen” in 2dn, but I decided that it could be taken to have a meaning in the cryptic reading: a bit of “text rarely” is seen in the answer.
I can’t quite see how “sypmtomatic”, with or without “that is”, works as a definition for DIAGNOSTIC. But that’s a minor flaw in a highly enjoyable Quiptic.
I continue to be impressed that Pasquale can dial the difficulty level up or down, reliably producing both well-judged Quiptics and (in my experience) quite difficult cryptics.
Enjoyed this very much. A few clues felt more firmly cryptic than quiptic but provided a good balance rather than a barrier to solving.
A well done from me to Marc @10, too.
Shanne@18
DIAGNOSTIC (Chambers App)
noun
1. That by which anything is known.
2. A symptom
I think you have chosen the better of the two possible definitions.
Thanks for your clarification.
Delightful and humorous throughout.
Ta both.
Shanne, I thought your blog was superb. You provided comprehensive explanations, and you flagged common cryptic tricks (e.g. SS) for novices to tuck away for for future use. Well done.
I echo Ted’s comment at 19 – Pasquale does a great job of modifying the degree of difficulty of his puzzles to suit his intended audience, while still producing witty and satisfying clues. This was a fine example.
Silly of me: I forgot that “diagnostic” can be used as a noun. I withdraw my objection, and agree Shanne that “that is” should be included as part of the definition.
Thanks Shanne. One very minor point, I think the anagrind in 9a is “sadly” and “missing out” refers to the absent i.
Thanks DuncT @25 – I’ll correct it.
Thanks for the blog.
I solved 11 clues.
23d…I am probably being stupid, but how does TH = SHORT?
TH is short for THE 😉
Steffen @27 – one of the crossword tricks is giving part words to get letters to build a the new word. Short usually means taking a letter off the end, so THE becomes TH when it’s short, but it could also be clued as endlessly (without an end) or detailed, as it was in the Paul earlier in the week.
There are other tricks, like discovered or undressed – so another puzzle I blogged this morning clued
Go and get undressed, and so forth (3) – which is FETCH with both ends removed – to get ETC.
Thank you Ben and Shanne
SUSS. I think ‘boarded’ is the insertion indicator and just SS represents ‘ship’.
Lovely quiptic, some delightful clues, excellent explanation.
Thanks Pasquale and Shanne
Thanks for this Shanne, I completed this at a pace which didn’t feel too quick, but also wasn’t frustrating. Couple I didn’t grasp but guessed from the definitions and crossers – so here I came to see what you came up with. Most grateful – and also to Pasquale, naturally!
“DI” being clued as “Female” is absolutely unconscionable as far as I’m concerned.
If the setter wants to clue a specific name, they should clue a specific name. Clueing “Man” to mean “Eric” or whatever is not satisfying in any regards.
Fru @33, I’m flagging this post as coming very close to contravening the second point in the Site Policy:
2. Any criticism of a puzzle or clue must be valid, constructive and presented in a polite manner. The reason for any dissatisfaction should be clearly indicated. Comments that do not comply with these criteria may be removed.
My comment is a valid criticism that I have presented in a manner that is not rude to any individual. You not agreeing with it doesn’t mean it contravenes site policy. There is absolutely a conversation to be had about the (lack of) merit in clueing the non-specific clue “man” or “woman” just to mean any man or woman’s name.
The problem is that this is a really common crossword clue trick in British cryptic crosswords and accepted in all the crosswords I regularly solve – Guardian / Independent / FT. I acknowledged in the blog that posters on the blogs often don’t like it, but trying to insist that something that is accepted should be changed is likely to be a losing battle.
My understanding is this is a difference between British and American crossword setting, but although the Guardian has Australian and American editions, it is an English paper based in London, and the crossword is one of those things that doesn’t change between editions.
I enjoyed this, despite not being able to finish (couldn’t manage 3, 15, 18 or 25). Plus I had to Google the Scottish reformer.
Favourites were SHUN and NUDITY (and INANEST, despite my not being able to solve it).
For what it’s worth, I also find that man/woman meaning a random name feels really unfair, but it comes up so often it’s just a case of putting up with it.
Thanks Shane and Pasquale.
Decided to have a go at this puzzle today, (Wednesday), and completed it without using check or reveal buttons. I could even parse all the clues, something of a first for me. Thankyou Pasquale for the puzzle and Shanne for the blog.
Clues like 16a, “Female…” and 23d, “The short boy…” I always find difficult. With a near infinite number of possible names to choose from, it’s not until I get some crossing clues in or solve the rest of the clue can I see the name required.