Quick Cryptic 49 by Carpathian

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This week’s 11 x 11 crossword from the Guardian, intended to teach cryptic crosswords, found here

Carpathian sets this week’s Quick Cryptic, one of the two setters who have set the most of these puzzles. This one means she and Picaroon have both set 16 Quick Cryptics. Today we see alternate letter and acrostic clues with all the letters present in the clue, plus double definitions and charades, which require the solver to work out the word(s) to manipulate, so can be less accessible.

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 blog continues to develop in response to suggestions. We hide the answers and the wordplay descriptions (parsing) too.   To find the solution click on “Answer” and to find how the word play works, click on “Parsing” which will reveal the hidden information. You can choose to reveal everything using the “Expand All” button. If you have partially revealed the page, refreshing it will clear that, and allow you to expand all. The definition is in bold and underlined, the indicator is in red.

For additional help click here

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

For abbreviations and clue tips click 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
  • indicators are in red.
  • CAPITALS to indicate which bits are part of the answer, e.g. Get A Good for the acrostic example, EnViEd for the alternate letters.
  • 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. These are rare.
  • 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 here – because the clues have moved on from the clue descriptions below, I am now adding more to the descriptions hidden above.

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

  1. Acrostic The first letters of the answer
    ‘Initially get a good joke (3)’ gives GAG
  2. Double definition Both halves are definitions!
    ‘Search scrub (5)’ gives SCOUR
  3. Charade A combination of synonyms
    ‘Qualify to get drink for ID (8)’ gives PASSPORT (pass + port)
  4. Alternate letters Choose every other letter for the answer
    ‘Oddly envied First Lady? (3)’ gives EVE

ACROSS Click on “Answer” to see the solutions
1
Urges group of journalists (5)
Answer

PRESS
Parsing

double definition the first definition is a verb, the second a noun – in this case a collective noun.
4
Second supporter making witty remark (5)
Answer

SALLY
Parsing

charade of S (second – SI unit) + ALLY (supporter). SI units are the standard units used in science, and many of them turn up in crosswordland – s for seconds is the basic unit for measuring time.
7
In favour of sparrow having odd bits removed (3)
Answer

PRO
Parsing

alternate letters (having odd bits removed) sPaRrOw, only the even letters are used here, so odd letters removed.
8
Games star finding tranquility (5)
Answer

PEACE
Parsing

charade of PE (games – physical education as a school subject) + ACE (star – as in tennis ace) – the finding here is to make the surface of the clue make sense, it does also link the grammar of the clue, but there are purists who would prefer not to see extra words like this.
9
Leaders of society’s highest yielding lotteries yelp in coy manner (5)
Answer

SHYLY
Parsing

acrostic (leaders) of Society’s Highest Yielding Lotteries Yelp
10
Provide flexibly (6)
Answer

SUPPLY
Parsing

double definition this time with a verb and adverb, as in the clue.
12
Chief stud (4)
Answer

BOSS
Parsing

double definition both nouns this time in the answer, whereas the clue has an adjective and noun. Stud as in the surface decoration, say on a door.
14
Fixed aspect evenly (3)
Answer

SET
Parsing

alternate letters (evenly) of aSpEcT as in fixed glue.
16
Stalk someone that eluded me at first (4)
Answer

STEM
Parsing

acrostic (at first) of Someone That Eluded Me misleading with different meanings of “stalk” in the clue surface and answer.
17
Observe warning sign (6)
Answer

NOTICE
Parsing

double definition with one referring to a verb, the second to a noun, as in the clue.
20 Silver next to corroded stone (5)
Answer

AGATE
Parsing

charade of AG (silver – chemical symbol) + ATE (corroded).

We have met the use of chemical symbols in this series, Cu for copper, but not for a while. Ag for silver is another that’s worth remembering, along with Au for gold, As for arsenic, but many others are used. ATE for worried or corroded is another much used crossword equivalence.
22 Reclining telling stories (5)
Answer

LYING
Parsing

double definition – think of the reclining models in French paintings.
23 Regularly fleeces shelter (3)
Answer

LEE
Parsing

alternate letters (regularly) of fLeEcEs for a word for shelter that often turns up in marine situations.
24 Film fire (5)
Answer

SHOOT
Parsing

double meaning film as in the verb and fire as in something out of a gun/cannon.
25 Looks after those establishments needing desirable surroundings principally (5)
Answer

TENDS
Parsing

acrostic (principally) of Those Establishments Needing Desirable Surroundings – as in the shepherd with their sheep.
DOWN
1 Young creature like young insects (5)
Answer

PUPAS
Parsing

charade of PUP (young creature) + AS (like) for the stage in insect development. As for like is another cryptic crossword staple (and at the beginning of a clue may be a hidden reference to arsenic)
2
Old, plump model (7)
Answer

EXAMPLE
Parsing

charade of EX (old) + AMPLE (plump) – ex for old is another cryptic crossword regular
3
Magic formulae shifts (6)
Answer

SPELLS
Parsing

double definition I found this one difficult to see until I had crossers. But both make sense – adding later – taking a spell/shift at work.
4
Moderate cry for help by Oscar (2-2)
Answer

SO-SO
Parsing

charade of SOS (cry for help) + O (Oscar stands for O in the NATO phonetic alphabet). Again we haven’t had much of the NATO phonetic alphabet recently, but much time doing crosswords and those letters become familiar.
5
Oddly leafy place (3)
Answer

LAY
Parsing

alternate letters (oddly) of LeAfY – place as in the verb here.
6
Every other piece of synonymous toys (2-3)
Answer

YO-YOS
Parsing

alternate letters (every other piece of) sYnOnYmOuS
11
Desire money from Japan (3)
Answer

YEN
Parsing

double definition for another regular in cryptic crosswords often clued as variations on desire (and reversed), with the currency from Japan.
13
Old Truss belief (7)
Answer

OPINION
Parsing

charade of O (old) + PINION (truss – as in the verb). The capital letter on Truss here is misleading with reference to Liz Truss the short-lived PM. To pinion someone is to truss them as in tie them up.
15
Work hard with alien for convenience (6)
Answer

TOILET
Parsing

charade of TOIL (work hard) + ET (crosswordland’s favourite alien) – lots of different words for convenience in English, including euphemisms and all are used for their ambiguity in crosswords.
16
Settles aquatic mammals (5)
Answer

SEALS
Parsing

double definition for the first in settling a deal, the second more obvious
18
Initially everyone dislikes gardeners establishing seasonal borders (5)
Answer

EDGES
Parsing

acrostic (initially) of Everyone Dislikes Gardeners Establishing Seasonal
19
Hide shower (4)
Answer

PELT
Parsing

double definition and this one has mixed up the parts of speech – the clue has verb then noun and the solution the meanings are noun and verb.  Adding later: To pelt/shower someone with rotten fruit and veg, and an animal hide/pelt
21
Heads of Academies decry Ofsted fuss (3)
Answer

ADO
Parsing

acrostic (heads of) Aacademies Decry Ofsted

 

 

17 comments on “Quick Cryptic 49 by Carpathian”

  1. Thamks Shanne. I’m more familiar with the plural of pupa as pupae, but online checks give PUPAS as an alternative.
    I stumbled over AGATE. Got the AG for silver, but parsed the AT as next to, and couldn’t account for the E, until ATE came to me for corroded.

    STEM was a lovely misdirection in the surface reading with stalk.
    And YO-YOS was a great find in sYnOnYmOuS.

    I’m not clear about the double definition in SPELLS. Does shifts relate to a time spent at work?

    I liked EXAMPLE, Old, plump model, and OPINION, Old Truss belief.
    .

  2. Pdn@1: I don’t think SHIFT and SPELL are truly synonymous, but you can see a shift as a spell of time at work.

  3. It may be the result of a long day, but I found this challenging in parts.

    I thought EXAMPLE was a great clue. I agree with nichbach@2 and about SPELL and found a few of the other DDs a stretch.

    Thanks Carpathian and Shanne

  4. Enjoyed this one, and that’s not because I found it easy. Challenging, but I got on the same wavelength as the setter pretty early on. A few of the less familar ones for me this time were SALLY (more familiar with it’s use in the phrase sally forth), AGATE (it rings a bill but this is not a word I am super familiar with), and PELT (it’s second definition of hide). Thankfully, I was able to figure these out through the parsing. The hardest was probably PUPAS, but for some reason I just naturally had this in my mind when I saw the clue for young insects. Perhaps, because I recently did some marketing work for a sake brand in Japan that uses a dragonfly logo and in one of their series, they show different stages of the life cycle of a dragonfly on the label, but the pupa stage is missing so I was trying to explain this in Japanese, which is sanagi btw. I do think this week’s puzzle brought the difficulty level back down more to where it should be after a run of quite challenging ones. But then again, perhaps I just found my groove this week. Thanks Carpathian and Shanne.

  5. Sakenotabibito @4. You probably learnt this in the course of your work, but the Odonata ( dragonflies and damseflies) are hemimetabolous and so don’t have a pupal stage (like the lepidoptera, for example). The adults emerge from the final instar of the nymph.

  6. Well pitched QC for me, a few trickier ones but mostly fully understood. YOYOS and SOSO I particularly enjoyed.

    I do find that the Acrostics often stick out rather too easily in these puzzles, especially when most other clues only have 3 or 4 words and there are Acrostics for 5+ letter answers requiring at least 7 words in the clue. Rather telegraphs the clueing technique used. Good to have easy clues in the QCs, but I enjoy having the double challenge of “what clue type is this” as well as “what’s the answer”, which long Acrostics become very straightforward for both.

  7. I found this challenged my vocab in a few places (SALLY, SUPPLY=flexibly, SEALS=settles, PINION=truss ) but got there without too much trouble once other answers were in place. I guess that’s the point of a cryptic – getting support from the other half of the clue when you can’t get it from the def.

    My talkthrough available at https://youtu.be/iKfWcN5aoLk with tips and tactics on how to solve and explanations of clues and answers.

  8. I found most of this crossword easy and amusing but got totally stumped by the top left corner. I thought of pupas but as I had DEPLOY for 10A I got hoisted by my own petard and could not get 1D or 3D. A lesson here- if things can’t be solved check all your previous solutions!! Thanks Shanne for the explanations and to Carpathian for a puzzle of two parts!

  10. When I saw that there were no anagrams this week, I thought I might struggle but I found it easier than the last quick cryptic. All solved and parsed. It was a relief after yesterday’s ‘magazine’ cryptic which defeated (and irritated) me.

  11. This puzzle was very enjoyable! I started by solving the acrostics and alternate letters clues, and then I filled in most of the rest. I then hit a couple of snags on 17a and 20a, even with crossers. I thought 17a was a charade instead of a double def, so that threw me off for a while. And with 20a, I put in AR instead of AG for ‘silver,’ so that was another hold-up. But then two ‘aha!’ moments led me to the solution. Thanks, Carpathian, for the perfect level of quick cryptic clueing, and to Shanne for the usual helpful wordplay explanations.

  12. Found this a bit more challenging this week, but very enjoyable. Finished it on my second viewing (post coffee). Also, amused by the thought of someone trying to explain the missing pupal stage of the dragonfly. How educational this blog is!

  13. Another great QC from Carpathian, some nice charades well pitched to challenge learners but perfectly fair. Thank you Shanne for the blog.

  14. I’m clearly over my illness as I found this relatively easy. Acrostics and alternate letters were first in as, once I’ve spotted the wordplay, it’s straightforward. Most difficult are the charades as I can be uncertain about which is the definition; also when double definitions are different parts of speech ( and sometimes pronounced differently ).
    But I managed to parse everything so on the whole a satisfying crossword for me today. Thank you .

  15. This was a delight to solve. I am bad at getting my head round double definitions if I don’t see them instantly, so the SW was a bit tricky. But this was pitched at the right level; all gettable, almost all giving a smile at the ingenuity of the wordplay, and exercising the brain just enough. Great job, Carpathian!

  16. Marc@6. I agree with you about acrostics telegraphing their clue type. Everyman is obviously aware of that and blatantly uses the word ”primarily”, so it’s just a matter of enjoying the clue for what it is. Carpathian similarly creates very good surfaces for acrostics.

    Regarding the challenge of identifying the type of clue in the Quick Cryptics (apart from acrostics), which is a very good strategy I’d say, others similarly-minded have said they don’t look at the instructions.

  17. Enjoyable and fun, Stem, Examples and Opinion were all nicely formed. Stem gave me time to dunk a biscuit.
    Thanks Carpathian this one briefly let me feel more than a beginner.

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