Quiptic 1,328 by Carpathian

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The only cryptic Sunday offering from the Guardian after the Observer split is here …

.. and comes from Carpathian, a usually dependable and precise setter, but I cannot account for one letter in one of the clues this week – solved that one after the first comment.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1 RECONSTRUCTION
Tourist concern about reenactment (14)
anagram of (TOURIST CONCERN)* with anagrind of “about”
9 CLING FILM
Food wrapping around fish with thin skin (5,4)
charade of C (around) LING (fish) + FILM (thin skin) – if you haven’t come across it, LING is a useful fish for crossword puzzles (yes, it’s also a name for a heather)
10 BUTCH
Tough yet outwardly childish (5)
charade of BUT (yet) + CH (outwardly ChildisH) – outwardly here is an instruction to take the outer letters
11 YEAST
Unknown direction for fungi (5)
charade of Y (unknown in maths – often x, y and z) + EAST (direction)
12 SINCERELY
From that time count honestly (9)
charade of SINCE (from that time) + RELY (count – you can rely/count on me)
13 OVERPAID
Six deliveries by Penny and Grant more than amply rewarded (8)
OVER (six deliveries / balls in cricket) + P (penny – currency) + AID (grant) – with misleading capitals for Penny and Grant to suggest names, not their usual meanings.
14 FIESTA
Heads of financial institute enjoy stimulating team-building adventure holiday (6)
acrostic (heads of) Financial Institute Enjoy Stimulating Team-building Adventure
17 NEGATE
Deny entrance following new rule finally (6)
charade of N (new) E (rulE finally) + GATE (entrance – following)
19 SIMPLEST
Small, magical creature in case is most crude (8)
charade of S (small) + IMP (magical creature) + LEST (in case – lest/in case this happens …)
22 APATHETIC
Indifferent alien in charge following a direction (9)
A (from the clue) PATH (direction) + ET (crosswords favourite alien – following) + IC (in charge – often written i/c)
24 RECCE
Explore recreation ground by church (5)
charade of REC (abbreviation for RECreation ground) + CE (church – Church of England)
25 NYMPH
Echo New York politician heard initially? (5)
charade of NY (New York) + MP (politician) + H (Heard initially) – for this NYMPH
26 IMPROMPTU
I am on time, posh and spontaneous (9)
charade of I’M (I am) + PROMPT (on time) + U (posh – from the Alan Ross/Nancy Mitford U and Non-U books)
27 PRIME MINISTERS
Leaders of failing strip-mines welcoming revolutionary Islamic leader (5,9)
anagram of (STRIP–MINES + EMIR – reversed (revolutionary Islamic leader)* with anagrind of “failing” where R I come from Revolutionary Islamic leader, but I cannot account for the second M PRIME MINISTERS
DOWN
1 ROCKY MOUNTAINS
Criminal aunty nicks room somewhere in North America (5,9)
anagram of (criminal) (AUNTY NICKS ROOM) = ROCKY MOUNTAINS
2 COINAGE
Firm in time gets currency (7)
charade of CO (firm – short for company) + IN (from the clue) + AGE (time)
3 NIGHTSPOT
Things upset Kitty in discothèque? (9)
anagram (upset) of (THINGS) + POT (kitty – with misleading capital)
4 TAILSPIN
Follows Peg into dive (8)
charade of TAILS (follows) + PIN (peg – again a misleading capital)
5 UNMANS
Alarms peacekeepers with article in manuscript (6)
UN (peacekeepers) + AN (article) in MS (manuscript) = UN M AN S
6 TABLE
Propose panel (5)
double definition
7 OUTLETS
Revealed rents for shops (7)
charade of OUT (revealed) + LETS (rents)
8 CHRYSANTHEMUMS
Distribute merchant’s mushy plants (14)
anagram (distribute) of (MERCHANT’S MUSHY) = CHRYSANTHEMUMS
15 IMPERIOUS
Haughty setter’s promises about exercise regime’s start (9)
charade of I’M (setter’s) + E R (Exercise) PE (exercise) + R (Regime’s start) + IOUS (promises) with the about giving the order of the sections – with thanks to the bloggers below
16 LINCHPIN
Left creep quietly at home as essential part of plan (8)
charade of L (left) INCH (creep) + P (quietly – from musical instructions) + IN (at home)
18 GRAMMAR
School measurement getting knock back (7)
charade of GRAM (measurement) + RAM< (knock back – so RAM reversed to give MAR) – the UK still has GRAMMAR schools
20 ESCAPEE
One getting away from European headland in South East (7)
E (european) + SE (south east) around CAPE (headland) = ESCAPEE
21 ATRIUM
Signorina triumphs exhibiting hall (6)
hidden (exhibiting) in signorinA TRIUMphs
23 HO-HUM
Dull house with unpleasant smell (2-3)
charade of HO (house – from maps) + HUM (unpleasant smell)

34 comments on “Quiptic 1,328 by Carpathian”

  1. 27A: You also have an extra E in purple! Maybe something else going on here, I also couldn’t parse it.

  2. PRIME MINISTERS
    revolutionary Islamic leader (EMIR)—>RIME
    in STRIPMINES*

    Thanks Shanne for the great blog.

  3. KVA @2 – yes, worked it out when I read the first comment on my email – what took ages was recoding the colours to correct it all. Which is why I usually limit colour use – it’s a pain to correct if I get it wrong – back into coding everything

  4. Thanks Shanne!

    I can’t see where the P in IMPERIOUS comes from. Can anyone enlighten me?

  6. Thank you so much, Shanne!
    There were a lot of words today I filled from crosses and couldn’t parse. Now I see how it was done. There is a lot to learn…
    Really a great, helpful blog!

  7. Rolo@4. IMPERIOUS: I think a tweak in the blog is needed.

    IM (setter’s) PE (exercise) R (regime’s start) IOUS (promises).
    An envelope of setter’s promises about exercise and the start of regime.

  8. Very approachable with a bit of extra challenge in SW corner

    First answers were 1a and 1d, which really helped

    I thought RECONSTRUCTION a lovely clue and great anagram. I also liked SINCERELY – nice surface and clever – and SIMPLEST

    I am sure someone will quote Chambers at me, but in my language GRAMMAR does not equal school. I do not believe they are interchangeable in a sentence.

    Nifty colour coding in the blog!

    Thanks Carpathian and Shanne

  9. Loved the blog Shanne. Great fun, especially the clever long anagrams and the misdirection of ‘in case’ in SIMPLEST.

    Ta both.

  10. Sorry – have corrected the PE in IMPERIOUS – I don’t like the clocks going forward in spring – the crosswords go up later, so I’m either blogging at ridiculously late or very early in the morning.

    Martyn – I went to what was the local GRAMMAR having passed the 11 plus. At that time both the ex-grammar and ex-secondary modern were comprehensive, but the old grammar was so much better – provisions, teachers – that my primary, which was in the catchment area of the secondary modern, kept us doing the 11 plus exam until the last possible minute to give us a chance of attending the grammar.

    Most people of my generation (and those who live in the areas where the 11 plus is still a thing) would know what all that meant, without the addition of school anywhere.

  12. Took almost an hour to get majority in.Had to make a few guesses as well.Thank you both.

  13. ALARMS = UNMANS is new/unfamiliar to me, but having looked it up I sort of see it.

    I was held up for a while in the NE corner but I think that was me rather than anything about the clueing – a really good puzzle.

  14. Here in the US, I have heard the term “grammar school” for what is now more usually called “elementary school”. But I’m fairly sure that it’s a dated usage that people any much younger than me (I’m 50) won’t be familiar with. I guess that makes sense, since so many of the schools’ graduates obviously haven’t been taught much grammar!

    [Also, it seems that “grammar” is one of those words that looks more and more misspelled the longer you stare at it.]

  16. “Somewhere” feels a bit more precise and self contained to me than a 3,000 mile mountain range. Not a barrier to solving though. Thanks Carpathian and Shanne.

  17. Very good from Carpo again. The Sunday Quiptic is always in safe hands with her elegant straightforward style. Even when I’m not convinced of the definition being precise (see 4d and 5d) the wordplay is so well constructed that it is fair for the format.

    FWIW, I read 15d as I’M PIOUS (a haughty setter’s promise) containing the leaders of Exercise Regime, but thanks Shanne, your parsing is more satisfactory.

    Marks away this time for propagating my top two cryptic bugbears: U = Posh and Hum = Smell. Setters need to stop pretending they’re a thing. But hey, you can’t please everyone.

  18. Couple of jorums today (UNMANS and NIGHTSPOT), and I also completely missed the P in IMPERIOUS when parsing the wordplay. Thanks to Shanne for the colourful explanations

  19. Firstly, it would be nice if some other cryptic blog entries explained as fully as this one.

    I found this quiptic a challenge, but the clues are very well done but misdirect really cleverly e.g. 13a.

    Thanks Shanne and Carpathian

  20. Can I please ask for help?

    I haven’t looked at the blog yet.

    I can answer just under half the clues.

    I don’t know how to approach 1a, 10a, 12a, 22a, 27a.

    Could you give me some hints please? I’m hoping that more letter will open the door for the down clues…🤞🤞🤞

  21. Steffen @20
    1a is an anagram,
    10a is a two part charade, but with a second trick,
    12a is a two part charade, but not the first things you’re likely to think of
    22a is another charade, with instructions on ordering the four parts of the solution
    27a is an anagram with an extra bit.

  22. This took a few visits across Sunday to get through. Tricky misdirection with capitalisation in places but some lovely anagrams especially the long edge answers. A couple of things I didn’t understand. Particularly in 27a where I’d decided ‘Islamic leader’ was ‘I’ and ‘revolutionary’ was its own element which left me REM to account for after everything else. But all clear now. Thanks Shanne for the explanations and thanks Carpathian for the clever clueing.

  23. Thank you Shanne; I appreciate your time.

    I’ll come back to it tomorrow because I’m not seeing anything at the moment.

  25. Thanks Shanne and Carpathian, I enjoyed this quiptic alot. I can only see unman meaning emasculate so I’m not sure how that can be equivalent to alarm. Posh = U tells me I can’t send this puzzle to a friend who is trying to get into this difficult to get into hobby. I wish some of the more rubbish abbreviations could be abandoned.

  26. I enjoyed this quiptic. Also, very nice to see the effort by Shane to use colours to make the anagrams more easily seen.
    Thanks to Shane and Carpathian.

  27. Tachi @17 I read it as I’M PIOUS too, and concluded it was an unconvincing &lit clue.

    Thanks to Shane and Carpathian.

  28. Thanks Shanne for the really detailed explanations. Lots of “aha” moments for me.

  29. In 19A, I really liked LEST for “in case”. Usually “in case” means put something inside of a word meaning case — such as “chest”, which was a particularly tempting reading here since the clue as a whole clearly ended with “EST”.

    Thanks, S&B

  30. Shanne, I think your blogs are superb, and therefore worthy of Carpathian’s excellent puzzles. You provide very comprehensive explanations of the clues without being in the least patronizing, so beginners and more experienced solvers can equally enjoy your blogs. I agree with Frogman@26 that your colour-coding of the components of the solutions adds clarity. I also liked the way you gave Steffen useful hints at 21 without giving away the answers.

    Thanks for the work you do to make this hobby more accessible to a much-needed new audience.

  31. Loved it. Been getting into cryptics this year and consider myself a beginner on the way to intermediate. Going back over the Quiptics and finding most of them not at all beginner friendly (but the Quicks are too easy), this one seems to be a bit of a challenge but still what it says on the tin.

  32. We enjoyed this, and thanks for the explanations. We didn’t really get “I’m” for “setter’s” . “My” would seem to be the more appropriate part of speech.

  33. DavidC @ 32 – in this case setter’s isn’t the possessive for my, but an apostrophe of omission, indicating setter is, so I am – that ambiguous apostrophe is much used by crossword setters as it can mean so many things.

  34. Late to the party, as I’m working back through the Quiptics but thought I’d share a chuckle I had …

    I got to 19a after solving the crosses of 8d and 15d, leaving _ _ _ P _ _ _ T.
    Jumping straight to conclusions, I thought ELEPHANT, misdirecting myself with a non-existent wordplay involving (ELF = small magical creature) and (CASE = TRUNK).

    Obviously, presented a few challenges to completing the remainder of the SE but realised my error soon enough!

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