Guardian Quick Cryptic 74 by Dice

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

This week we have the 4th Quick Cryptic from Dice (5th counting the paper only special). Dice is only setting Quick Cryptic puzzles in the Guardian. Today we have anagrams and hidden clues with all the letters given, the other clues are double definitions and charades – all of which we’ve seen before. The charades are using a lot of abbreviations, many of which are new.

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 joke for the example.
  • anagram – letters being used shown in brackets (SENATOR)* for the clue below to give TREASON.
  • anagrind – anagram indicator – in the case below it is “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.
  • soundalike – shown using quotation marks, so “Wilde” in the example below
  • CAD or clue as definition– where the whole clue gives the definition, sometimes called an &lit. These are rare.
  • DBE or definition 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 – 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. Anagram An anagram of the answer and a hint that there’s an anagram
    ‘Senator arranged crime (7)’ gives TREASON
  2. Hidden word Answer is hidden in the clue’s words
    ‘Some haVE ALtered meat (4)’ gives VEAL
  3. Charade Combination of synonyms/abbrevs
    ‘Qualify to get drink for ID (8)’ gives PASSPORT (pass + port)
  4. Double definition Both halves are definitions!
    ‘Search scrub (5)’ gives SCOUR

ACROSS Click on “Answer” to see the solutions
1
Unexpectedly find one cat as trusted friend (10)
Answer

CONFIDANTE
Parsing

Anagram of (FIND ONE CAT)* with anagrind of “unexpectedly”

7
Follow Tesla drivers’ club, Kelvin (5)
Answer

TRACK
Parsing

charade of T (Tesla – SI unit) + RAC (driver’s club- the Royal Automobile Club) + K (Kelvin – another SI unit). SI units are basic standard scientific units agreed as the International System of Units – the Kelvin is one of the 7 base units and is the agreed standard for temperature, the Tesla is a derived unit and measures magnetic flux density. These SI units and their associated dimension symbols are all much used in crosswords.
8
Drew extract from mosquito we dissected (5)
Answer

TOWED
Parsing

hidden (extract from) in mosquiTO WE Dissected.
9
A grand old German – on the edge of her seat? (4)
Answer

AGOG
Parsing

charade of A (from the clue) + G (grand – money abbreviation, slang for £1000) + O (old – as in Old Testament) + G (German). In London pubs and around, G or grand for the thousand pounds is heard.
10
In position to stop train, having more muscles (6)
Answer

BUFFER
Parsing

double definition the first for these railway stops and the comparitive for the slang for fit.

13
Inside there’s a loo near bar (6)
Answer

SALOON
Parsing

hidden (inside) there’S A LOO Near

14
Selfish aim (4)
Answer

MEAN
Parsing

double definition – firstly as an adjective someone who is selfish/mean won’t share and secondly as a verb: to aim/mean to be understood.
16
Over 100 college and university runs take place (5)
Answer

OCCUR
Parsing

charade of O (over – from cricket) + C (100 – century in dates) + C (college) + U (university) + R (runs – from cricket)

18
Use a pick up line? That’s one way to look at it (5)
Answer

ANGLE
Parsing

double definition the first suggesting two versions of the same idea – to go fishing – adding later, and fish for angle is a cryptic crossword regular, this is a slightly quirky take on that, in both senses I was thinking skeevy chat up lines, angling for a date – and a synonym for a viewpoint
19
Move bloody obstruction husband, put it out in dining room? (10)
Answer

TABLECLOTH
Parsing

charade of TABLE (move – as in a meeting) + CLOT (bloody obstruction) + H (husband – from genealogy) and a slightly quirky definition.
DOWN
2
LOL! Nora playing; winning constantly (2,1,4)
Answer

ON A ROLL
Parsing

anagram of (LOL NORA)* with an anagrind of “playing”.
3
Sporting body with bit of kickass energy – unreal! (4)
Answer

FAKE
Parsing

charade of FA (sporting body – Football Association) + K (bit of Kickass) + E (energy – a SI unit dimension – see above). “A bit” in cryptic crosswordland often means the first letter when it isn’t indicating a hidden clue.

4
Go long way round, hiding in shade to urinate (6)
Answer

DETOUR
Parsing

hidden in (hiding in) shaDE TO URinate
5
Immediately own up (3)
Answer

NOW
Parsing

anagram of (OWN)* with an anagrind of “up” meaning excited. And I know I said this last week as well, up as an anagrind comes up a lot in cryptic crosswords as it’s usefully ambiguous or missed. It can also mean a reversal in down clues.
6
Patience cured Anne, surprisingly (9)
Answer

ENDURANCE
Parsing

anagram of (CURED ANNE)* with anagrind of “surprisingly”.
7
Move among Sumatran sportswomen (9)
Answer

TRANSPORT
Parsing

hidden word (among) in sumaTRAN SPORTswomen.
11
Fighter refurbished carriage? (7)
Answer

FREIGHT
Parsing

anagram of (FIGHTER)* with anagrind of “refurbished”.
12
Channel psychic our seminar covers (6)
Answer

COURSE
Parsing

hidden (covers) in psychiC OUR SEminar
15
Train runs over this bird (4)
Answer

RAIL
Parsing

double definition both nouns, and this is the bird – with an illustration of a moorhen, one of the family.
17
Taxi’s place to get expert advice familiarly? (3)
Answer

CAB
Parsing

double definition the second is an abbreviation for this organisation when it still had the Bureau as part of its name.

 

 

26 comments on “Guardian Quick Cryptic 74 by Dice”

  1. A few tricky ones. I liked the surfaces of CONFIDANTE, ON A ROLL and SALOON

    NHO the British C.A.B. NHO the bird RAIL, and doesn’t a train run on rails (plural)? Please do not give me monorail.

    14 MEAN is stingy which is different to selfish in my book and dictionary.

    Thanks Dice and Shanne

  2. This one will be tough for beginners, I think. I didn’t parse TRACK and didn’t know RAIL as a bird or CAB as an advise organisation. For MEAN, what Martyn@1 said, plus I don’t see the equivalence with “aim”, either: “what I mean” = “what I aim to say” is the closest I can get; doesn’t work without “to say”. Thanks Dice and Shanne

  5. Very enjoyable. A few of the clues were worthy of a Quiptic I thought: like 3d, 19a, 15d (due to the bird aspect which I didn’t know). Nice surfaces too. Thanks Dice and Shanne.

  6. Thanks Dice and Shanne, as usual, a few tricky clues to get me scratching my head. I wondered if the heavy use of one letter abbreviations should have had been listed as a “trick” in its own right, it had me looking for acronyms in the list. Partial acronyms?
    I agree with Martyn #1 about “mean” but not about “rail”; if a train runs on two rails, it must also run on both a left rail and a right rail.

  8. I enjoyed this. 9a, AGOG, could also be described as an acrostic though that wasn’t one of the specified clue types.

  9. Favourite: TABLECLOTH

    I couldn’t parse 17d until I read the comments btl at Guardian blog and then discovered via google that it was a reference to the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux (NACAB).

  10. I’m still irritated by charades – especially the ‘partial acrostic’ kind seen here. Perhaps unfairly, I get the impression of setters scraping-the-barrel for want of a better idea!
    I know clues like these are lying in wait for us out in cryptic land, but they’re a bit tricksy for a beginners’ cryptic.

  11. Always grateful to you Shanne for these helpful explanations! I got 19 across but couldn’t work out why so appreciate your insight. I look forward to Saturday mornings and can see the progress I’ve made!
    NB I think you have a surplus E in your parsing of 3 down as that’s not a bit of ‘kickass’

  12. I still don’t understand 18a even with this parsing… I get the second half but not the first part

    The rest was great. Thanks Shanne for the explanations and Dice!

  13. I needed thinking time with this today. The single letters to make up a charade I find especially tricky. Occur was one of the most challenging for me. And I didn’t see how CAB related to expert advice, although kicked myself when I realised it was C.A.B. Very grateful to Shanne’s helpful explications – I just have to try to remember the SI units. Good for brain cells I guess.

  14. Zurichwelsh @12 For the first part “use a pick up line” means try to catch a fish (the line being a fishing line). Then think of fishing = angling, so “to fish” = “to angle”.

    Ar least that’s how I got it.

  15. TanTrumPet @14 and Zurichwelsh @12 – I was thinking also skeevy pick up lines as well as a fishing line for the first part, so someone angling for a date as well as someone angling to catch a fish. Angle for fish is a regular in cryptic crosswords, this is a slightly more cryptic take on that.

    Added that to the parsing, and also removed the spare E, thank you Kristie @11

  16. Martin@1 & Layman@2

    MEAN “ not willing to give or share things,” – not sharing is selfish. (Cambridge online dictionary)

    Martyn@1 RAIL – train runs on *this*. Rails would be ‘these’.

    Loved buffer LOI. Thanks Shanne for the blog!

  17. Tricky indeed today, but enjoyable as usual. My favourite was BUFFER. Failed to get OCCUR. Pondered AGOG for a long time as I wasn’t expecting what I thought was an unspecified clue type. I had ARGUE at 18A; thinking that persuading others to accept ones view plus a single view of something would be the answer… Just shows how valuable this blog is! Many thanks.

  19. James@16 and Arib@6, what you say about RAIL makes complete grammatical sense, but clues need to make sense logically as well. Personally, I cannot envisage a train getting very far on a single RAIL. RAILs yes, RAILway yes

  20. I like to pop in to these QC blogs now and again, just out of curiosity to see how people are finding these entry-level crosswords. Both the puzzles and the blogs continue to be an amazing resource, don’t they!

    Looks like there was plenty of fun today, with a lot of stuff you really will find in the daily cryptics. I’m commenting really just as an excuse to tip my hat to the setter for DETOUR; one of the great feelings with cryptics is when the setter distracts you from the obvious by using a sublimely natural surface, and “hiding in shade to urinate” was such a one here. It literally says “hiding in” and yet I didn’t immediately spot it as (what tends to be called) a hidden! Also, as here, hiddens tend to work best when they cover more than two words and when mentally reading the words out loud the sounds don’t give away the answer too obviously – typically due to pronunciation difference.

    Also FWIW I agree with Martyn. Sure a train must run on one rail if it runs on two, so it’s technically valid; but it’s not what I would call fair. It misleads the solver in a way that doesn’t produce a smile when the deception is uncovered. [In the daily cryptic yesterday we had TARMAC defined as “it was found over the road” which again is technically true but of course it’s still found all over the road too, so the spurious use of past tense which had us hunting from some obsolete road surfacing material was a bit irritating.] But these things happen from time to time, and there’s always plenty of other things to enjoy in each puzzle.

  21. AP @20 – when I go to Scotland in a few weeks, we’re going up by rail/train and coming back by road/coach – so I didn’t have a problem with that clue.

  23. Thanks Dice and Shanne!
    This QC wasn’t tough, but I had doubts about some of the clues.
    9A looks like an acrostic to me though there is no indicator. 16A is almost an acrostic, you just need to replace the Arabic numeral 100 with the Roman numeral C.
    I also didn’t know how to parse RA in TRACK, I guessed the word from the other letters (first letters again + K for Kelvin).
    Acrostic wasn’t on the list of tricks today, but the first letters caught my eye. And they were charades…
    How often do charades use only the first letters of the words from the clue?
    In a big Cryptic, it must be rather tricky unless it is a common abbreviation (SI units, NATO alphabet etc.) O for Old, G for German – that’s something special. (This is not a complaint, just something to learn and remember.)

    Also didn’t know about C.A.B. but that’s another story

  24. LunaLo@23 – charades often use single letter abbreviations – and those are often the first letter of the word. We’ve had a lot in this series of Quick Cryptics: not including today’s abbreviations, I’ve listed out 90 odd single letter abbreviations on my handy-dandy spreadsheet, and I know there are a lot we haven’t covered yet that are often used in full fat cryptics. You don’t usually see as many as today in one puzzle, but it’s common.

  26. Shanne@21, AP@22. I agree with Shanne on topic of travel by – air, road, rail or sea.
    My view of the noun – rail/ plural rail (or rails) is not an issue in the answer. My parsing of the Clue can be read as a double definition ‘ train runs over this’/ ‘bird’. ‘Train’ in itself is a definition of rail. I do think some flexibility in clueing expresses current language usage and not the tight grammatical agreement of a Latin lesson.

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