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Chandler has produced a puzzle for us this week which fits the bill for a Quiptic well, I would aver. But as I keep saying, what the beginners and less experienced solvers thought is what we are interested in hearing.
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 Second husband beset by awful pain beginning to emerge healthy
IN SHAPE
An insertion of S and H in (PAIN)* followed by E for the initial letter of ’emerge’. The insertion indicator is ‘beset by’ and the anagrind is ‘awful’.
5 Classify businessman’s first dishonest scheme
BRACKET
A charade of B for the initial letter of ‘businessman’ and RACKET.
10 Sign of things to come found among some neighbours
OMEN
Hidden in sOME Neighbours.
11 Environmentalist of a delicate nature gets permission to go ahead?
GREEN LIGHT
A charade of GREEN and LIGHT.
12 A pair of notes by West Country banker in addition to a building
ANNEXE
A charade of A, NN for two ‘notes’ and EXE for the river (‘banker’) which reaches the sea at Exmouth.
13 Fellow following with no end of interest method of extracting gas
FRACKING
A charade of F and [T]RACKING. The T comes from the last letter of ‘interest’.
14 Manic set’s manipulated shades of meaning
SEMANTICS
(MANIC SETS)* with ‘manipulated’ as the anagrind.
16 Hard material has support in confines of school
STEEL
An insertion of TEE in SL for the outside letters of ‘school’. The insertion indicator is ‘in’.
17 Mention of wealthy people making projections
KNOBS
Aural wordplay (‘mention of’) for NOBS.
19 Separate from friend left to wander overlooking lake
DIFFERENT
(FRIEND [L]EFT)* The anagrind is ‘to wander’ and the removal indicator is ‘overlooking’.
23 Finally catch leaders of heist unsettling new director in built-up area
HUNT DOWN
A charade of HUN for the initial letters of ‘heist’, ‘unsettling’ and ‘new’ and an insertion of D in TOWN. The insertion indicator is ‘in’. You could also parse N as a simple abbreviation of ‘new’.
24 Suave Republican graduate in a French café lately
URBANE
An insertion of R and BA in UN for one of the French words for ‘a’, followed by E for the last letter of ‘café’.
26 General journalist following Barbados in a storm
BROAD-BASED
A charade of (BARBADOS)* and ED. The anagrind is ‘in a storm’.
27 Chewy meat with time gone is ready to eat
RIPE
[T]RIPE. Is tripe chewy? Personally, I couldn’t tell you, because I’ve never tried it. But given its provenance, I could imagine it is.
28 Favoured including unprofessional line in short drama
PLAYLET
An insertion of LAY and L in PET. The insertion indicator is ‘including’.
29 Female with Gary in ground describing some old clothes?
FRAYING
A charade of F and (GARY IN)* with ‘ground’ as the anagrind.
Down
2 One mobilising about pit is type proposed for office
NOMINEE
An insertion of MINE in (ONE)* The insertion indicator is ‘about’ and the anagrind is ‘mobilising’.
3 Movable joint is put in something easily
HINGE
Hidden in sometHING Easily.
4 Eccentric temping gets natural colouring matter
PIGMENT
(TEMPING)* with ‘eccentric’ as the anagrind.
6 Manage area in wide yard as feature of an airport
RUNWAY
A charade of RUN and an insertion of A in W and Y. The insertion indicator is ‘in’.
7 Richard shortly entering Crete for recreation is one playing on a square
CRICKETER
An insertion of RICK in (CRETE)* The insertion indicator is ‘entering’ and the anagrind is ‘for recreation’, which you should read as ‘re-creation’. The square is the carefully mown bit of the cricket ground where the wickets are prepared. The bit where the groundsman goes apeshit when people trample across it on the way to the pavilion because it’s the shortest route.
8 Improve education at the margins with opportunity initially missed
ENHANCE
A charade of EN for the outside letters of ‘education’ and [C]HANCE.
9 Fancy reception’s fit for one with impossibly high standards
PERFECTIONIST
(RECEPTIONS FIT)* with ‘fancy’ as the anagrind.
15 Random piece penned by a bishop on a railway
ARBITRARY
An insertion of BIT in A RR, followed by A and RY. The insertion indicator is ‘penned’ and RR is for Right Reverend, a bishop’s title.
18 Grey person with no allegiance to either side
NEUTRAL
A dd.
20 One establishing an institution gets to be unsuccessful
FOUNDER
Another dd.
21 Figure before ten has secure thing put in an alley?
NINEPIN
A charade of NINE and PIN.
22 Twin has drink twice the normal measure
DOUBLE
A dd.
25 Heavily built liberal in part of Greater Manchester
BURLY
An insertion of L in BURY. The insertion indicator is ‘in’.
Many thanks to Chandler for this week’s Quiptic.
Nicely done indeed. Perfectly pitched with no obscurities apart from BURLY maybe.
Ta Chandler & Pierre.
Difficult in my opinion.
25d L for liberal. NHO
15d I thought B = bishop (maybe they just cover up all the options…)
8d – beyond me
4d – I am embarrassed to say I didn’t see this
3d – I didn’t know this was a hidden clue
Almost all the lower half (other than BROAD-BASED) beat me.
ANNEXE particularly brutal.
I found this quite tough for a Quiptic. I guess I would class an a less experienced solver as I have only been doing cryptics for about 10 years, maybe 15 years or longer (I forget when I started).
I could not parse 19ac – I guess it was partly an anagram of FRIEND +?
New for me: BURY = part of Greater Manchester.
whoops, should have edited my post above. What I meant above is:
I guess I would class as a less experienced solver as I have only been doing cryptics for 10 years, maybe 15 years or longer (I forget when I started).
Steffen @2 B for bishop is chess notation, church it’s likely to be RR for Right Reverend, but there are other things clued using bishop.
L for liberal is election terminology and does turn up regularly.
My last one in was BURLY and needed the crossers, but otherwise I thought a reasonable step up from the Quick Cryptics.
Thank you Pierre and Chandler.
Did anyone notice this?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinge_and_Bracket
AlanC@6 – I never heard of them. Are they considered to be famous?
Michelle @7: I wouldn’t say famous but a reasonably amusing comedy duo on British TV and radio from the 70s.
I certainly didn’t spot it, AlanC, but I can’t imagine it’s coincidence.
Too tough for me. I have found Quiptics too difficult recently
Last night I thoroughly enjoyed this one as it’s about my level, and managed to complete with just a couple of checks, although I did get a good few of them from definitions and cross letters. Reading this blog and some of the parsing it seems much tougher than I thought (to me anyway). Still, a solve is a solve I guess!.
About the same level as the Prize yesterday!
I found this well-pitched and enjoyable. I see one or two have found it more difficult: there were certainly elements of it that weren’t straightforward (ANNEXE, for one – ‘banker’ being more obscure than merited for quiptic level). But for me, overall, this hit the spot nicely.
As someone who’s only really got in since the quick cryptics started, I managed to complete it more quickly than many, with only a few checks, but found some seemed a bit loose to my reading.
For 13a I would assume that ‘no end of interest’ indicated a letter removed from the end, not just taking the last letter
For 23a it seemed like UNTD should be inserted not just the D
Thanks to Chandler and Pierre for this week’s quiptic and parsing. I thought it was on the trickier side for quiptics but overall I think it still fits the brief. It did teach me the words urbane and playlet, which I have never heard before.
Just to check, am I correct in saying that favoured = pet should be thought of in the context of teacher’s pet (i.e. favoured by the teacher)?
GrumpyBear @15: nearly, but you need “pet” to be an adjective rather than a noun, so think of phrases like “pet project” or “pet peeve.”
As a less experienced solver, I enjoyed this alot, it was the perfect difficulty for me. The only problems were with having to Google to figure out Exe the banker, although if I had all the crossers I could have figured out the word so I don’t think that’s too hard. Didn’t know the other meaning of FOUNDER or the word URBANE at all but both were easy to figure out, the only clue I’m not a fan of was 23across, the fact that you need to not use the initial letters indicator for director and use the fact it can be directly abbreviated to D seems like an unintentionally mean trick if you’re not so fluent in abbreviations, as it made figuring out the parsing a nightmare.
I did greatly enjoy the rest of the clues however, thanks Chandler and Pierre
scraggs@13: anyone learning to do cryptic crosswords needs to become familiar with the clichés routinely used to indicate:
rivers – banker, flower or runner
birds – winger, singer or flyer
composers – scorer or barman
and probably a few others that I’ve forgotten.
I had tripe once, and it’s staying that way, and it was more like blancmange, not at all chewy!
Generally straight forward, nice quiet Sunday filler.
I completed this and could parse most, though not all, of the answers. As a newbie who only started when the Quick Cryptics appeared, I thought it was fair.
I ate tripe quite regularly as a child; it isn’t chewy. Before I knew what it was, I quite enjoyed it. ‘Chewy meat’ wasn’t at all helpful.
For 12d I was pleased with myself for recognising that ‘banker’ referred to a river. I know the River Exe very well.
Held up on 7d as I assumed Dick not Rick would be the short form of Richard.
I have dabbled in Cryptics for a few years but the Quick Cryptics on a Saturday have encouraged me to try more Cryptics and these Quiptics.
I thought this was pitched really well. A few straightforward, some harder and only a couple a bit beyond me.
One technique that works well for me is where I think I have got part of the clue is to check that part on its own. If that’s right then solving the rest of the clue becomes a much smaller, often simpler problem.
Thanks Chandler and Pierre
Levenite @21 – I do exactly the same, partially filling in an answer and checking that I’m right. It works well!
Really enjoyed this Quiptic. It seemed level-set very well in the opinion of this improving beginner. I was able to parse pretty much all of the clues although there was some looseness I thought (like chewy tripe, and knobs being projections), and there were a lot of single-letter charades. Favourites were ANNEXE and ARBITRARY.
Thanks Chandler for the puzzle and Pierre for the blog.
Gladys @18 – absolutely. I’m a long-time solver who enjoys quiptics too, but just thought the clue in question was firmly within cryptic rather than quiptic territory. Not a complaint either, just an observation.
As experienced solvers (60+ years) we’re probably not best qualified to comment but we would put this in the quiptic category, although perhaps more for improvers than beginners. And as a bonus there are Pierre’s clear explanations.
An enjoyable solve for us, although we had to think about some of the parsing. Favourite was NINEPIN.
Thanks, Chandler and Pierre.
I did not find this difficult, but did not find it a push over either. Perhaps it was due to lack of familiarity with the setter. Additionally, a lot of clues seemed wordy and a bit clunky, which I find more difficult
One tick – for PERFECTIONIST. Great anagram and lovely surface
Thanks Chandler and Pierre
Feel Wheels @ 14
“Following with no end of interest” is parsed in two stages. End of interest is t. Then we have tracking for following, which leaves us with tracking with no t = racking.
perfect level, thanks
I’ve been trying cryptic since January. Thank god for solving on phones because it’s so helpful to check (okay yes cheat but I figure I am always learning techniques). I hope I’m getting better. Some of these were hard ish and some were lovely. Thanks for this blog. Invaluable as ever. Especially for the recent tricky Everyman!!
Good to hear that most enjoyed this one and found it approachable, and nice to see some contributions from those who have started out on the Quick Cryptic and are now having a crack at the Quiptics. That makes the blogging seem like its doing its job too …
I started on the Quick Cryptics back in September and have been working on Quiptics and Cryptics for a free weeks. Unlike most I found this one quite difficult!
Had to reveal ANNEXE and PLAYLET. Was unfamiliar with banker for river, but at least I know it now.
Returning in the last month to cryptic crossword solving after maybe 40 years away. I cut my teeth on the likes of Araucaria and the tricks are gradually returning; Quiptic, Everyman and Monday about my level. A Quiptic I got through in forty minutes, which is my best effort, so I guess it was on the easier side (or my mind and Chandler’s mesh well).
As to 27: a) tripe is not chewy if cooked right and b) neither is it IMHO ‘meat’. Meat is the muscle flesh of an animal, the organs are offal. This was my LOI and if misdirection was the aim then it certainly worked!
That quibble aside I thoroughly enjoyed this. Thanks Chandler.
Enjoyed this. Relatively new to cryptic, especially as a regular habit. I’ve been working hard at practicing quicks to get the definition ideas going; some of the more complicated parsing trips me up with the time I have available.
Thoughts on the harder parts:
‘Playlet’ was very complicated – unusual word and ‘favoured’ requires very careful reading.
‘Knobs’ being defined by projections seemed very hard for a homophone indicator when the homophone was slang.
‘Annexe’ wordplay was totally brutal but checking letters and definition revealed it.
Wordplay comments: will remember notes can be N, not just musical A-G. And RR for bishop seemed to go against the clearest path, B. Both clues gettable by definition but wordplay getting obscure.
Like Amma @20, I was convinced the short form of Richard was Dick, even though I knew CRICKETED couldn’t be right…
Enjoyable quiptic, more like this please
Managed all but 6 of these, without understanding a couple that I did get. Reminder to self: learn British rivers. I guessed that “west country banker” would be one but the only three letter river I could think of was WYE, which is Welsh.
NHO: Broad-based, Ninepin, KNOB=projection, TEE=support, PLAYLET. Also what I know about cricket can be written on the back of a stamp, so I had no idea what the square refers to.
Cheers Chandler and Pierre.
Perfect level quiptic for me. Challenging but not toooo much. Grateful for the explanations here as I don’t always parse the wordplay (yet!)
I would encourage beginners and newer solvers also to attempt this week’s Prize set by Carpathian. I found it only a little more difficult than this puzzle, and a mite easier than today’s Pasquale. Please accept my apologies if this post is considered off topic or a spoiler, which is not my intent – simply trying to flag an accessible puzzle to newer compadres.
@38 Thanks, and I can only speak for myself but I’d really appreciate it if people let me know of other Guardian cryptics that are at least attemptable for newbies. After I finish the Quick Cryptic and the Quiptic I will only go as far as attempting the Monday Cryptic, since the others in my experience are far too hard to bother with. I’ve been doing the Telegraph puzzles instead because they’re easier than the Guardian, but visiting the Telegraph website makes me feel a bit dirty.
@39. I’d appreciate such guidance too. I thought this about right for a Quiptic: I needed a few reveals but at least I could parse all but one. Thanks to Pierre for the explanation.
The clueing was fair and good. I iked it.
Much easier than last week’s where I had to come here to get half the answers. Nothing that made me shout at the screen (derogatory) but also nothing that made me shout at the screen (positive).
I will never intentionally learn anything about cricket and was surprised to learn that there is a square as well as an oval.
Night shifts delayed me starting this one.
To be honest i found it difficult going.
I solved it eventually, several cups of coffee along the way.
I struggle still identifying things such as, ” EXE for the river (‘banker’) “;
and, the removal indicator is ‘overlooking’.
I would also not think of Tripe as being meat, offal, yes but not meat.
As always a relief and a pleasure to finnish, Many thanks Chandler and Pierre.
Thought this one was difficult, but, as I got there, not too difficult (unlike last week, which I found impossible and unpleasant).
Had to look up areas of Manchester, and surmised the existence of a PLAYLET (having never heard of one before).
Didn’t parse ANNEXE or FRACKING, though the answers were clear enough (when will I remember “banker = river”!), and I’d forgotten that FOUNDER could mean to fail.
The nice thing about coming to this one late is that the next one is coming out tomorrow. Yay!
Thanks S&B
Found this difficult as a less experienced solver. I had to reveal/punt ‘playlet’ and ‘knobs’ and failed to parse a few others.
Haven’t come across the latter meaning of ‘founder’ while ‘Banker’ is also new to me. And still struggling with how/why:
How ‘lay’ comes into playlet? Unprofessional? Don’t see the connection
How Knobs means projections? Separately I found the oral wordplay on this one pretty tenuous.
Enjoyable but have certainly found other quiptics easier to solve.
Thank you
@45 lay is unprofessional as in a layperson, a non-expert (or originally, not a member of the clergy)
Thank you to Chandler and Pierre for a great grid and blog.
Complete beginner here – I started a few months ago when I was introduced to cryptics via “Minute Cryptic” (a clue a day released and explained by Angas Tiernan on social media). I graduated from that to the Guardian Quick Cryptic (which I’ve found immensely helpful as a total newbie) and have just started trying my hand at the Quiptic.
With that context; the Quiptic is certainly a step up for me, but I really enjoyed this grid (it’s the fifth Quiptic I’ve tried). I definitely had to do some googling and checking, but was especially pleased with 1a, 12a, 24a, 7d and 8d which I managed on my own. I’m a little confused as to why “knob” could refer to “projection” (but I’ll chalk that up to inexperience and poor general knowledge!).