Guardian Quiptic 1,354 by Chandler

11 comments on “Guardian Quiptic 1,354 by Chandler”

1. So teeth can be called ivories? New to me. I couldn’t parse ASSURED, not twigging that there was a UK film classification lurking in it. Everything else fell into place very smoothly, and was over almost too soon.

2. Being a beginner I still find myself having to use the check about 2/3rds the way through for all but Carpathian’s quiptics and this was no different. However, I consider it a win that I was able to see the correct parsing of all but ASSURED, FLAMINGO and ULTIMATUM! As with Geoff Down Under@1, I did not know the UK film classification. Also, lingo evaded me and I’m hopeless with names in and out of crossword land. Particularly liked SNIPER and ADIEU!

   Thanks to both Shanne and Chandler for the weekend double duty! Also to the blog in general, it’s how I’ve managed to get into this hobby!

3. Smooth puzzle, ta both. You can exclaim excitedly and delightedly as well as indignantly, but getting cross with Alice* + M is pretty neat.

4. gif@3. 🙂 Agree.

5. Short and sweet. I liked BEDLAMP, BALCONIES and TERRACED HOUSE.

   Ta Chandler & Shanne.

6. Also couldn’t parse ASSURED, so many thanks to Shanne for elucidating and of course to Chandler for a lovely puzzle!

7. Having struggled to master Guardian cryptic crosswords for a number of years I like to do the Quiptic each week as a more relaxed solve. However, am I alone in thinking that most of the time it should be possible to get an answer by parsing a clue rather than guessing the answer and then parsing it? I found myself doing the latter for many of the clues today.

8. Enjoyable crossword. Favourite clues were FLAMINGO and the TERRACED HOUSE. We could not parse AVIATE or ONE TIME. I did not spot ‘vie’, which I think I thought was spelt ‘vye’ as you usually see it as ‘vying’, ie ‘vying for the title of…’. Still confused as to why ‘tie’ is a synonym of ‘game’. They are related, as a game could end in a tie, but that doesn’t make them synonyms in my book. Any thoughts??

9. We use the phrase “cup tie” for knockout competitions (especially football), so a tie is one of those games.

10. Mintteabag @8 – I thought of a cup tie – as in “a match, esp one at any stage of a tournament in which losers are eliminated” as defined by Chambers (98) – it’s the penultimate definition of the noun options under tie¹. (and crossed with Lin @9)

    GeoffDownUnder @1 – Ivory, according to Chambers, means dentine – and “ivories” can be used for “objects of, or resembling, ivory, e.g. piano-keys, dice, teeth, and formerly billiard balls and dominos (slang)”

    Ridgeowl @7 – I did build most of these clues from the wordplay, I find using wordplay helps me solve and like LEGO clues (there were a few here). Then I usually have enough crossers to see more of the word and work backwards. I quite often have bits of clue entered as I go through because I can see that bit of the wordplay, but not everything – so I knew on first reading that TRA was part of MANTRA, but couldn’t work the rest out until I had some crossers – because I wasn’t sure if that section was surrounded by the other part of the wordplay or at one end, I didn’t pencil any letters in. I tend to cold solve – so read through the clues in order and answer anything I can without any crossers, although this does mean I usually have crossers from the down clues, then go back through and add in anything else where the crossers help. As more gets filled in, I tend not to keep reading through all the clues, but concentrate on areas that have more gaps. I, generally, find cryptic clues the hardest, so TOOTHPASTE needed all the crossers.

11. Along with GO SPARE, there is also (FLAMIN)GO PLACES, just an idle thought.

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