This is the forty-fifth 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 – those rules include not posting solving times. This puzzle can be found here.
Following a number of comments we now hide the answers and the wordplay descriptions too. To find that hidden information, click on “Details” and it will pop up, or you can choose to reveal everything using the new “Expand All” button. The definition is in bold and underlined, the indicator is in red.
This week we have the return of Maskarade to the Quick Cryptic, most often seen setting the big bank holiday challenges. Today we see anagrams and hidden clues with all the letters present, charades and double definitions, all of which we’ve seen many tiimes before.
There is a summary of the tricks used in the first six months here and a Guardian Crossword blog called the ultimate beginner’s guide has tips which may be useful for some solvers.
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
- indicators are in red – adding later and some of these are split.
- CAPITALS to indicate which bits are part of the answer, e.g. some haVE ALtered meat, Get A Good,
- anagram *(SENATOR) shows letters in clue being used, see clue below – in this crossword, there is a subtraction of one of the letters before it is rearranged.
- anagrind the anagram indicator (arranged)
- charades – the description below only gives the example of words being added together, but charades can be more complicated, adding abbreviations or single letters to another word. Examples previously used in this series are: Son ridicules loose overgarments (6) S (son) + MOCKS (ridicules), Get rid of dead pine (5) D(dead) + ITCH (pine) – D ITCH, and early on DR (doctor) + IVE (I have) to give DRIVE .
- CAD or clue as definition– where the whole clue gives the definition, sometimes called an &lit.
- DBE or defintion by example – e.g. where a dog might be clued as a setter – often using a question mark, maybe, possibly or e.g. to show that this is an example rather than a definition.
- 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/45 – because the clues have moved on from the clue descriptions below, I am now adding more to the descriptions above.
Clues begin or end with a definition of the answer. The rest is one of these:
- Anagram An anagram of the answer and a hint that there’s an anagram
‘Senator arranged crime (7)’ gives TREASON - Hidden word Answer is hidden in the clue’s words
‘Some have altered meat (4)’ gives VEAL - Charade A combination of synonyms
‘Qualify to get drink for ID (8)’ gives PASSPORT (pass + port) - Double definition Both halves are definitions!
‘Search scrub (5)’ gives SCOUR
| ACROSS |
Click on “details” to see the solutions | |
| 1 |
Wild chatter has teeth on edge (7)
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RATCHET
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anagram of (CHATTER)* with anagrind of “wild” for the sort of tool with teeth that allow movement in only one direction
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| 5 |
Some discarded vehicle (3)
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CAR
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hidden in (some) disCARded
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| 7 |
Note car on motorway (5)
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MINIM
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charade of MINI (car) + (on) M (motorway): UK motorways are all designated M1, M2 and etc, so M stands for motorway (and there are some that are a bit of both like the A1(M), the Mini has echoes of the swinging Sixties and the Italian Job, but is still made today. A MINIM is the name of a note, like the quaver and crotchet.
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| 8 |
New ’airdo and set (5)
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RADIO
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anagram of (‘AIRDO)* with anagrind of “new” – not sure how often radios are referred to radio sets these days, but back in their early days that was what theyw ere called
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| 9 |
Parents’ daily trip around lunch or so. Not usually! (6,3)
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SCHOOL RUN
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anagram of (LUNCH OR SO)* with an anagrind of “around” / or possibly “not usually” – but I think the “not usually” is pointing out that the SCHOOL RUN isn’t usually at lunch time.
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| 13 |
Dismantle and play a role (4,5)
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TAKE APART
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double definition – this is another of those: is it a double definition or is it a charade clues. It’s comparing TAKE APART (dismantle) with TAKE A PART (play a role) as in acting.
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| 15 |
Instrument in the flower bed (5)
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VIOLA
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double definition referencing the flower and musical instrument of the same name
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| 17 |
Ancient Brits held in police nick (5)
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ICENI
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hidden in (held in) polICE NIck – with a particularly entertaining image as the surface. Boudicca belonged to the Iceni tribe, so is remembered for that reason.
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| 19 |
Tedious routine, but deer find it exciting (3)
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RUT
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double definition of the mating season of deer (I wondered about anthropomorphism with the use of exciting) and the sort of treadmill created by a cartwheel.
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| 20 |
Bottle for hot drinks – mother’s ruin (7)
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THERMOS
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anagram of (MOTHER’S)* with anagrind of “ruin” – referencing the name for gin that comes from the 18th Century in this surface, when alcohol was a significant problem (see the Hogarth sketch of Gin Lane from 1751)
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DOWN
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| 1 | Wrong about girl (6) |
REMISS
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charade of RE (about) + MISS (girl) – REMISS is wrong
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| 2 |
Hundred weight! (3)
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TON
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double definition with one meaning a weight, and the other meaning speeding at 100 miles per hour (doing a … )
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| 3 |
Border security that can be fatal (7)
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HEMLOCK
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charade of HEM (border) and LOCK (security) to give the poison that Aristotle is reputed to have fled rather than drink as mandated suicide. It’s also the reason why not to use cow parsley stems as blow pipes – the umbellifers in the British hedgerows include many different plants, not just cow parsley, which is actually quite short lived and less common that you’d think. One of the alternatives being hemlock.
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| 4 |
One of the high points in history (3)
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TOR
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hidden in (in) hisTORy – Mam Tor in the Peak District comes to mind.
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| 5 |
Can Azed rework solo performance in a concerto? (7)
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CADENZA
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anagram (CAN AZED)* with anagrind of “rework” – Azed referencing the crossword setter for the barred Sunday crossword in the Observer.
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| 6 |
Shout for a kind of beer (4)
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ROOT
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double definition one referring to the sort of beer preferred by Snoopy and Charlie Brown and the other to the shouts of supporters encouraging their team
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| 10 |
In great haste, having stolen trotter (7)
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HOTFOOT
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charade of HOT (stolen) + FOOT (trotter) – hot for stolen goods comes up in various places.
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| 11 |
Accomplish mixture of ale, sire (7)
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REALISE
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anagram of (ALE SIRE)* with anagrind of “mixture of”
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| 12 |
Steps with street tunes (6)
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STAIRS
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charade of– ST (abbreviation for street – from maps) + AIRS (tunes) as in the air of Greensleeves.
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| 14 |
Completed deliveries (4)
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OVER
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double definition with the deliveries referring to cricket – one of many bits of cricket jargon we learn in crosswordland.
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| 16 |
Worker in tartan trousers (3)
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ANT
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hidden clue (in) tartAN Trousers – ANTs and bees tend to turn up as workers a lot in cryptic crosswords, I’m not sure we’ve met the ant as a worker before.
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| 18 |
Tree in Chelmsford (3)
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ELM
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hidden clue (in) chELMsford – for one of many tree names. Unfortunately with this one my immediate reaction was that I was pretty certain there were no elm trees in Chelmsford following the Dutch Elm disease in the 1970s which wiped out most of the English elm population. One of the other bits of information to absorb with crosswords is names of trees – oak, ash, elm, pine are all useful and turn up regularly, as do the holly, hazel, rowan and beech for ambiguity.
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Favourite was RATCHET – nice surface and anagram.
A couple of meanings I did not know this week. And, LOI was ROOT, given root beer is not actually a beer.
Thanks Muskrade and Shanne
Thanks Shanne for the detailed and neat blogs you are coming up with week after week after week. I have been sharing them with a lot of friends who are beginners and they have gained immensely from these blogs. Thanks again for the great service.
Martyn@1. RATCHET was a favourite for me as well, for the same reasons. The surfaces for RUT, RADIO and THERMOS also tickled me.
Two of the common soft drinks in my childhood were root beer and ginger beer. While they may not be alcoholic what they have in common is the fermenting process. Sarsaparilla was my favourite, and now I’ve discovered it’s very similar to root beer in its ingredients, or it was then.
Thought that had a few clues which were more challenging than in previous weeks. Should be a good challenge for those who say they’ve been getting easier; will be interesting to see what the beginners think of it.
My talkthrough video available at … https://youtu.be/t-kWH9jb7k4 … where I explain my approach and what I’m seeing with the clues. Lots of tips and tactics!
This required more thought, which was great, as I’d been finding them too easy recently. Lovely mix including fun hidden words. Favourite was HOTFOOT.
Not being a cricket fan, re 14D – I took it that OVER came from ‘Over and out’, as in the message had been delivered.
Thanks for the interesting blog Shanne and Maskarade for the crossword.
Thanks Shanne and Maskarade.
A pedantic point – 3d is linked to Socrates rather than Aristotle!
A beginner’s comment here- I was able to complete it enjoying iceni, hemlock, and hotfoot. I was unsure about 7A and 14D but I am beginning to see that cricket often has references and I always forget that ´note ´ can reference to music (doh!). So everything getting easier but still reliant on explanations some of the time. Thanks both.
Re 2d, a ton means a hundred in cricket, not just speeding!
cynikel @6 – you’re right Socrates died from drinking hemlock, but when I checked, Aristotle was also told to drink it, and fled instead. Apparently the Ancient Greeks used hemlock to poison condemned prisoners, and Socrates was not the only known Ancient Greek to die by this means. Both Socrates and Aristotle were accused of impiety and corrupting the minds of the young men of Athens.
Jen @5 – an over is six balls, so six deliveries, and that’s the only way I could make OVER match deliveries. I think the over bit in radio messages is a clearer way of saying completed through static, so another meaning of completed. Over and out means completed that comment + finished the conversation.
Mark @8 – what I know about cricket comes from cryptic crosswords, pretty much, and although I did know a ton means 100 in lots of other spheres (I’ve heard it used in money although that’s not the usual slang for £100), speeding came to mind.
I had dinner with some American professional musicians, none of whom knew MINIM. On further research it appears to be British usage not used in US.
PM@3: it appears that root beer is no longer fermented – it is just another carbonated soft drink now.
I loved the clue for THERMOS. My first thought was to gin as well!
I’d have liked to say that 5d was rather fittingly my LOI, it was actually my second. With no crossers to guide me, I briefly put “CWT” the abbreviation for hundredweight in 2d. The mini car soon put me right there!
Thanks Shanne@10 – that makes sense!
Martyn@1, Chris@13 – what do you mean by ‘LOI’?
Jenn @14 – LOI – last one in
There’s a glossary of regularly used terms in the FAQ here – I see Ken’s been using the same drop down menu tricks as we’ve got on this blog (we’ve been working on some of the coding behind the scenes.) It’s under abbreviations.
I was going to say the same as @8 about making an immediate connection for ton with cricket not speeding.
Also, for me, in 6D, root was to shout for, not just shout.
Overall a very clear set of explanations that helped me confirm my thinking was correct. Thanks both.
I made heavy weather of this but got there in the end. The Quick Cryptics are definitely getting harder, unless I don’t have my brain in gear this morning. Thanks Shanne for the clear explanations. I figured out the parsings but it’s good to have them confirmed – some reinforcement of learning!
I thought this was maybe the toughest QC so far, but scrupulously fair with fitting the stated definitions. Some nice exercises in misdirection that take a bit longer but are more gratifying when you get it. Thanks Maskerade and Shanne for the comprehensive blog.
Googled Cadenza as I knew it was an anagram but had never heard of it. Revealed 17A even though I had the E and honestly just gave up there.
I see someone comments talking about Hemlock as well. Again, never heard of this.
Great clues and answers but never a QC. Completed the last 2 as well.
Some chewier clueing this week which was enjoyable. Liked SCHOOL RUN and HEMLOCK and ICENI. Thanks Maskarade and Shanne.
Martin @11 American notation has much more sensible note naming than our European naming, in my opinion, with quarter-note (crotchet), half-note (minim), three-quarter note (dotted minim) and whole note (semibreve).
Tricky one today, but nothing unfair to my mind.
9a I was confused by the “Not usually!” addition – it seems the clue would work just fine without it since lunch is in the fodder, not the definition (and it’s not an &lit). Can you consider “around” to be a linking word?
10d I had in HOTHOOF, which I kinda prefer to the real answer.
19a Shanne, I don’t think humans have a monopoly on excitement, although I’d assumed that excitement was meant more literally but in the sense of “to arouse someone sexually” since rutting is associated with the mating season (although I expect it’s an effect, not a cause).
LOI was 3d – I was stuck on HAMMOCK, even though I knew it was wrong.
I can feel my improvement – I now start the Quick Cryptic fully expecting to complete. Agree with others this was at the harder end, but what I really liked about it was how you could build into the puzzle.
For me, the SW was the trickiest, but with good setters I find double definitions can be hard to write in immediately – I suspected RUT, for example, but didn’t know that it has a connection to deer and wanted to wait for checking letters. But OVER and HOTFOOT in turn also needed the checkers for me. (Great use of HOTFOOT but for a Quick Cryptic 2 out of 3 steps we’re on the obscurer side.)
Thanks, Shanne – these blogs are excellent.
Thank you, Shanne, for these so detailed comments with historical and cultural references! Special thanks for the story of Aristotle; for me, like for many others, hemlock is associated with Socrates, and Aristotle has somehow been forgotten, perhaps because he had luckily fled the execution.
Comments above lead me to make this. A non-cricket person’s guide to cricket terms often encountered in crosswords.
Over = O. A set of six bowls (aka deliveries or balls)
Runs = R (also works in the baseball lands)
Catch or caught =C (also baseball)
Maiden = M (an over with zero runs)
On=leg –you see this one both ways–if I understand correctly, it’s the half of the field the batter’s arse is pointing to
Duck = 0 (and thus O). The embarrassing phenomenon when a batter is out without tallying even a single run.
Wide and bye are both extras (comes up decently often in all directions)
There are many, many others, but I think that covers the most common. I still come across clues, after over a decade of doing these, where I work out the solution and I realize that it’s more cricket [stuff–euphemism deleted]. I seriously want to set a cryptic based entirely on baseball just for revenge purposes.
This was the toughest QC I can remember. I had to come back to a few once or twice . I think it was balanced out by the liberal use of hiddens and anagrams so within the ‘fair range’ for me.
Liked SCHOOLRUN especially as this is the time I seem to have my most fruitful cryptic solving.
Thanks Shanne and Masksrade
Definitely the toughest to date and dare I say, a little too difficult for a QC. However, It seems the difficulty level doesn’t apply to the actual answers, just to the clues. The clue mechanics were probably about the right level. Never heard of RUT in the deer context and ICENI was a new one. Did enjoy the wordplay of SCHOOLRUN, HOTFOOT, and TAKEAPART . Having been on a run with the Quiptic and Everymans, this one brought me back down to reality with a thud and it is the first in a while I couldn’t complete. That’s on me though. Thank you Shanne and Maskarade.
Late to the party but I also found this very hard. Had to reveal 5 of them and there were a couple I got without understanding why. Favourite was 13.
Thanks Shanne and Maskarade.