This week’s 11 x 11 crossword from the Guardian intended to teach cryptic crosswords, found here
The puzzle for this week is the 4th Quick Cryptic by Budmo. Budmo only sets the Quick Cryptic puzzles in the Guardian. Today we have hidden clues with all the letters given, which should be accessible. The other clues are swap a letter for the third time, last seen in November 2024, soundalikes and double definitions, which all need all of the letters finding and manipulating, which is more challenging.
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.
- soundalike – is indicated by “Wilde” – so in the example, Oscar “Wilde”, the playwright and author, is indicating the soundalike WILD.
- 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:
- Hidden word(s) Answer hidden in clue’s words
‘Some haVE ALtered meat (4)’ gives VEAL - Double definitionBoth halves are definitions!
‘Search scrub (5)’ gives SCOUR - Soundalike Something that sounds like answer
‘Excited, Oscar’s announced (4)’ gives WILD (from Oscar “Wilde” the playwright) - Letter swap Something suggested by clue with one letter changed
‘Female (not male) cat in mist (3)’ gives FOG (from mOG (cat, with M, male swapped to F, female)
| ACROSS | Click on “Answer” to see the solutions | |
| 1 |
Streams Posh’s husband (5)
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AnswerBECKS |
Parsingdouble definition referring to the local name for streams in the Lake District in the UK, and this celebrity couple. |
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| 4 |
Some more habit-forming treatment for addiction (5)
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AnswerREHAB |
Parsinghidden word (some) in moRE HABit-forming – the “some” is indicating “some of these letters”. |
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| 7 |
Disembarkation area at the top of stairs (7)
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AnswerLANDING |
Parsingdouble definition both nouns, both pretty much derived from the same source. |
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| 8 |
German’s good belly (3)
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AnswerGUT |
Parsingdouble definition the German for “good” is gut – so here German is telling the solver to translate the word into German. |
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| 9 |
Go off in reverse (4)
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AnswerTURN |
Parsingdouble definition – the first thinking about, say, milk – which goes off / TURNS, and Margaret Thatcher was not for turning – as her reason for not to reverse a decision on liberalisation of the economy in 1980. |
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| 10 |
Whodunit editor conceals one (6)
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AnswerUNITED |
Parsinghidden word(s) (conceals) in whodUNIT EDitor – think “as one” for this definition. |
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| 13 |
General practitioner, perhaps, and cook (6)
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AnswerDOCTOR |
Parsingdouble definition the first a noun and a straight definition, the second as a verb, as in cooking the books to alter results. |
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| 14 |
Part of probe targeted Greek character (4)
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AnswerBETA |
Parsinghidden word (part of) in proBE TArgeted – I’m sure I wrote something about it being worth learning the Greek alphabet recently. |
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| 16 |
Runner trapped by huskies (3)
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AnswerSKI |
Parsinghidden word (trapped by) in huSKIes. “Trapped by” is a new indicator for a hidden word, but fits well with the clue. |
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| 17 |
Member of Rwandan tribe picked up Dustin Hoffman film (7)
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AnswerTOOTSIE |
Parsingsoundalike (picked up) – two pieces of general knowledge here from a while ago – in the Rwandan civil war (1990-1994), the “Tutsi” and Hutu peoples were pitted against each other and TOOTSIE, the Dustin Hoffman film dates from 1982. |
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| 18 |
Child, one working down the pit, reportedly (5)
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AnswerMINOR |
Parsingsoundalike (reportedly) of “miner” (one working down the pit). |
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| 19 |
Additional payment of counterfeit note instead of £1000 (5)
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AnswerBONUS |
Parsingletter swap (instead of) – starting with BOgUS (counterfeit) with the G (£1000 – short for grand, but gets abbreviated to G) swapped (instead of) to N (note). |
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DOWN
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| 1 |
Overdue, told to replace rook with bishop (7)
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AnswerBELATED |
Parsingswap a letter (to replace) in rELATED (told) with R (rook) replaced by B (bishop – both from chess notation). |
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| 2 |
Shrinkage of gadget turning phosphorus into carbon (11)
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AnswerCONTRACTION |
Parsingletter swap (turning .. into) starting with CONTRApTION (gadget) turning P (phosphorus – chemical symbol) into C (carbon – also a chemical symbol). Chemical symbols are also worth learning, if not already known, as they are used a lot in cryptic crosswords. |
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| 3 |
On the radio, auction yacht’s propeller? (4)
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AnswerSAIL |
Parsingsoundalike (on the radio) of “sale” (auction), with a question mark as “yacht’s propeller” is a definition by example (DBE), it could be a motor (or sweeps, big oars). |
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| 4 |
Ruling not long ago good for Charlie (6)
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AnswerREGENT |
Parsingswap a letter (for) REcENT (not long ago) with G (good – as in coin condition) swapped for (C – charlie – from the NATO phonetic alphabet), for another well used sequence of letters worth learning. Regency is a type of rule, and so the ruling/regent prince in Georgian times … (using both as an adjective). |
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| 5 |
Announced cause of elevation – a serious crime (4,7)
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AnswerHIGH TREASON |
Parsingsoundalike (announced) of “height reason” (cause of elevation) – awful puns are an ongoing feature of crosswordland, particularly in soundalikes and Spoonerisms. |
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| 6 |
Mouthpiece part (3)
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AnswerBIT |
Parsingdouble definition – the first refers to the mouthpiece of a bridle (for horses). |
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| 11 |
Artists’ underwear (7)
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AnswerDRAWERS |
Parsingdouble definition the apostrophe needs to be ignored, like much punctuation, until it’s important, and a bit of history about the underwear. |
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| 12 |
Snooker player to waste time (6)
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AnswerPOTTER |
Parsingdouble definition the snooker player as in one who pots balls. For the wasting time definition, the dictionary suggests is more about relaxing rather than wasting time – the Protestant work ethic strikes again. |
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| 15 |
Make a mistake having Mike rather than Oscar providing explosive device (4)
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AnswerBOMB |
Parsingswap a letter (rather than) starting with BOoB (make a mistake) with M (Mike, NATO phonetic alphabet) replacing O (Oscar from the NATO phonetic alphabet) – the grammar of the clue should help say which way around this goes, as “providing” indicates the solution. |
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| 16 |
Add a little over the phone (3)
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AnswerSUM |
Parsingsoundalike (over the phone) of “some” (a little) |
This felt slightly trickier than usual with only the one category providing the letters in the wordplay, but was quite manageable, the letter swaps providing the greatest challenge for me.
Thanks to Budmo and Shanne!
Thanks Budmo and Shanne. Yeah, I found this harder – prefer to have some anagrams and/or charades to get myself on the grid, since I tend to find soundalikes and letter replaces harder. Don’t know if it’s aging, but I do struggle with thinking of synonyms!
(@Shanne – typo in the answer part of 16D?)
This I felt was really difficult,for me at least.Couldn’t parse BECKS.Favourites were CONTRAPTION ,TOOTSIE and DRAWERS.Thanks to Shanne and Budmo.
Pauly @2 – yes, corrected. Thank you.
Got stuck on 13a – I guessed the answer but couldn’t see why. 17a was fun once I realised it was a soundalike. More difficult without anagrams but I only had to look up one answer in the end.
Thought that was a tightly constructed puzzle from Budmo. Not easy for pure beginners but really meeting the QC framework. Good opportunity to have some of the standard abbreviations and clueing tricks reinforced.
As ever, I’ve done a talkthrough solve available at … https://youtu.be/pR8uzrbpNIM … including tips and tactics on how to solve. I forgot to relook at #9 where I misdefined “go=turn” and was left wondering what to do with “off” in the clue – so apologies for that.
I must admit to being a fan of awful puns, so enjoyed 5d. A most satisfying solve, none the worse for being a little more demanding than usual. Thanks Shanne for your blog (we have becks in Yorkshire too), and thanks Budmo.
Humble Tim @7 – I couldn’t remember where it changed to becks as you move north, so went for where I knew they were definitely becks, not streams, brooks, burns or bournes.
Height reason / high treason pleased me a lot! Found this one quite hard, letter substitutions are tricky for me.
I confidently entered Usk in at 16a , a river (a runner) hidden in “huskies “, muttering to myself about the use of crossword jargon in a puzzle for beginners. Consequently, could not discover the contraption/ contraction switch. The irony is that I’m an avid skier
I thought USK a better answer than SKI but left it blank for future confirmation.
On the other hand DIAPER was a good fit for 11D being both underwear and a technique in art. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diapering
And there was no way of telling from the crossing letters which one it was. And I didn’t think of the right answer!
Felt like I wasn’t on Budmo’s wavelength here, but still enjoyable with some tricky ones to get. Sail my LoI.
I found this hard. I stumbled on 2D as CINEFACTION means to reduce to ashes and might be the product of something turned to carbon, and neither this nor CONTRACTION satisfied what I thought was a double definition. My confusion was compounded by not parsing 9A correctly – having got TURN from just “go” in the clue (as in my turn) and failing to understand what could replace “off in reverse” I didn’t write it in.
Definitely needed Shanne’s blog today. Many thanks.
I also felt this was quite difficult. I had to look up BECKS, knowing neither part of the definition. Others have pointed out some ambiguous clues. In addition , I agree with Shanne that POTTER does not mean waste time either to me or my SOED. What does Chambers say? I do not understand how “in reverse” is TURN – isn’t the point of reversing that you go the opposite direction without turning?
I liked REHAB (nicely hidden), UNITED (nice surface) and BONUS (nice surface also)
Thanks Budmo and Shanne
Thanks Shanne and Budmo
My daughter and I both found this harder than it should have been. BECKS was pretty obscure; TOOTSIE doubly obscure!
Got about half the clues and then gave up. Obviously not in the mood today. Excellent blog by Shanne and I now feel I have learnt a lot this week.
Got all the answers but certainly didn’t fully or properly parse them. Slightly chewy for me
Thanks Budmo and Shanne
Thankyou Shanne. I don’t know if this is at my end, but when I clicked on your link in the parsing of DRAWERS regarding the history of the underwear, I get a WordPress screen which says This domain is parked. Other links iok
paddymelon @18 – I’ve just tested on my phone and the link works for me. I get a cookie screen first.
Yes like others I found this harder to start without anagrams. Got many without being sure why (not good with puns) and sound-alikes partly depend on how you think – I got bogged down by thinking about ‘lots’ for auction, rather than sale. I got TOOTSIE from cross letters but didn’t think of Tutsis. Enjoyed almost all the across clues today and 11 and 15 down. Thankyou both for a challenging morning and more education
Paddymelon@18 works for me
Found this tricky with the letter swaps and soundalikes and had to reveal a couple. Thanks Budmo and Shanne.
I was another “Usk”-er. I can’t help feeling that the setter or editor should have caught this (maybe used another indicator for skis – “gliders”, perhaps). It’s all very well to say that crossers will disambiguate, but a wrong answer shouldn’t be so clearly right.
Other than that, a nice Quick Cryptic. I, also, enjoyed the elevation rationale.
Like others i found this one a bit harder than usual. I managed to fill the grid but was not able to completely parse some of the solutions. High treason is a case in point but now i have had it explained i think it’s a great clue!
I am stumped as to the possible answer of USK for 16? I only know it as a river in Wales – is that what you mean? Thanks in advance!