Budmo has produced a number of crosswords for the Guardian Quick Cryptic slot, but this looks like their first foray into Quiptics. An excellent debut it was too, in my view.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Most modest, I agree to get into bed
COYEST
An insertion of YES in COT. The insertion indicator is ‘to get into’.
4 One goes up for flowers
IRISES
A charade of I and RISES.
9 Senior don peels orange, I suspect
OLD-AGE PENSIONER
(DON PEELS ORANGE I)* with ‘suspect’ as the anagrind. OAP is a bit dated these days; crinklies like myself are generally more comfortable with SENIORS. Leave out coffin-dodgers, though.
10 Intimate snuggling is generally nice after lunch, first of all
SIGNAL
The first letters of the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh words of the clue. You need to consider ‘intimate’ as a verb and not an adjective (in other words with the stress on the last rather than the first syllable). ‘He intimated/signalled that the relationship was over.’
11 Item of underwear found in drinks carrier, leading to mockery
TRAVESTY
An insertion of VEST in TRAY. The insertion indicator is ‘found in’.
12 Wine professionals picked up reverberation
PROSECCO
A charade of PROS and ECCO, aural wordplay (‘picked up’) for ECHO.
14 Ragtime in China?
TEA SET
We need to perform a ‘lift and separate’ manoeuvre on ‘ragtime’ to turn it into ‘rag’ and ‘time’. Then it’s a charade of TEASE for ‘rag’ and T for time.
15 There’s a hip joint near here where The King is on piano
PELVIS
A charade of P for the abbreviation for the musical term ‘piano’ (softly or quietly) and ELVIS.
18 Milk producer Ian is after chips
FRIESIAN
A charade of FRIES and IAN.
21 Start to attack feature of some old front rooms
OPEN FIRE
A dd. A fair enough clue: you won’t find open fires in new-builds because they are energy inefficient and allow all the warm air to escape up the chimney. They are psychologically warming, though.
22 Stuff in itemised boxes limited in nature
FINITE
Hidden in stufF IN ITEmised.
24 For certain, ruled out one working in the dead centre?
FUNERAL DIRECTOR
(FOR CERTAIN RULED)* with ‘out’ as the anagrind.
25 Hard to enter dark and depressing boat
DINGHY
An insertion of H in DINGY. The insertion indicator is ‘to enter’.
26 Record boring joke for credulous husband?
JOSEPH
An insertion of EP for ‘record’ in JOSH. Being told by via archangel that your chaste betrothed is pregnant by a supernatural being does require a certain suspension of disbelief.
Down
1 Miner’s dog runs
COLLIER
A charade of COLLIE and R.
2 12 months with Braverman, ultimately, is long
YEARN
A charade of YEAR and N for the last letter of the Tory leader politician’s surname. Far too long for many in the party, as Robert Jenrick will witness.
3 That woman will account for gramophone record
SHELLAC
A charade of SHELL (for SHE’LL) and AC. Shellac was popular for making records until the late 1940s, when vinyl/PVC became the material of choice, so ‘gramophone’ points you in that direction.
5 Resumption of relaxation with paintings, perhaps
RESTART
A charade of REST and ART.
6 Fish is rock singer with a low voice
STONE BASS
A charade of STONE and BASS.
7 Respect supply staff
SCEPTRE
(RESPECT)* with ‘supply’ (in a supple way) as the anagrind.
8 Almost alongside
NEXT TO
A dd. The only problem with this clue is that NEAR TO works just as well (‘I was near to/almost crying’) and I stuck that in at first, which only became clear as an error when I couldn’t solve 11ac.
13 A number observed around incident
SEVENTEEN
An insertion of EVENT in SEEN. The insertion indicator is ‘around’.
16 Describe former unit of currency
EXPOUND
A charade of EX and POUND.
17 Boisterous chaps taking home vegetable
SPINACH
An insertion of IN in (CHAPS)* The insertion indicator is ‘taking’ and the anagrind is ‘boisterous’.
18 Pals ignoring first of rebellious devils
FIENDS
F[R]IENDS
19 Free of inner hell
INFERNO
(OF INNER)* with ‘free’ as the anagrind.
20 Opposed to Oscar being supported by church in ancient city
ANTIOCH
A charade of ANTI, O for the phonetic alphabet ‘Oscar’ and CH. ‘Being supported by’ works because it’s a down clue.
23 Drunk announcement of relative’s specialism
NICHE
Someone who was a bit mullered might slur their speech and pronounce NIECE as NICHE.
Many thanks to Budmo for this week’s Quiptic. I could handle some more like this in this slot.
Pierre – I must have had a long sleep. When did Cruella Braverman become the leader of the Conservatives?
I had the same problem with 8 down. Otherwise a very enjoyable Quiptic. Thank you Budmo and Pierre.
Hawa@2. And me
Obviously the fish was a something-bass, but the STONE BASS was new to me. I also nearly had NEAR TO, but never mind, this was a very entertaining Quiptic: I liked the TEA SET and Elvis playing the piano in the hip joint down the road. Budmo is a welcome addition to the Quiptic roster.
Same problem with 8d/11a – ended up checking word on 11a to verify the crossers which revealed the error on 8d.
I’d never heard of antioch, but got it from the charade and crossers.
Good puzzle for those progressing from the Quick Cryptics.
Crispy @1, it is me that is clearly suffering from lack of sleep. Braverman, Badenoch … seen one Tory, seen them all. Blog amended.
I enjoyed this very much, especially after battling with the last few cryptics. I’m not sure I’ll ever find much pleasure in the cryptics with tortuous and absurd clues. I do like a smooth surface. More from Budmo, please.
Much the same as others had wrong ‘right’ answer for 8d which caused me a similar hold up with NE corner. And started with CENTRAL for 24a which didn’t help either…
Thank you Budmo and Pierre
Echoing (Proseccoing?) others’ thoughts, I really enjoyed this. Same issue with 8d but will tolerate it for the lovely ‘hip joint’ clue.
Thanks to Budmo and to Pierre – the latter especially for parsing TEA SET for me; still not great at spotting L&S clues.
This was the first time I’d encountered Budmo – and what a pleasant experience it was! A host of satisfyingly smooth surfaces and pleasing clues.
FRIESIAN, DINGHY, PROSECCO and PELVIS all made me smile; I also liked the brevity of COLLIER and INFERNO.
I’m yet another who started out trying “near by/to” for 8D: saw my mistake when I got 11A. A teeny quibble which fades to insignificance compared to the rest of this classy crossword.
Thank you Pierre for the blog, thank you Budmo for the fun.
I’m with Amma: more from Budmo please!
Excellent Quiptic debut, with the bottom half taking a bit of extra thought. PROSECCO, TEA SET, FUNERAL DIRECTOR and JOSEPH were my favourites. I smiled at your choice of ‘a bit mullered’ in NICHE.
Ta Budmo & Pierre.
8d. I think NEXT TO works a lot better for alongside and almost. You can be near to something without being actually alongside. And “I’ve NEXT TO nothing left in my purse”.
Thanks to Budmo and Pierre.
A slow start and feeling like it was going to be another one of *those* quiptics, but that was my brain taking its time to get into gear, as well as getting used to a new (to me) setter. After that it was a really good solve (though I too initially had NEXT TO for 8d).
Worked from top left to bottom right so finished with the laugh out loud credulous husband.
A fine quiptic.
Thanks both.
Thanks to Budmo, I now have a seemingly ineradicable earworm of Janis Ian’s song ‘At SEVENTEEN’. I hadn’t thought about it for years, but it is extremely adhesive. I shall have to go to the works of Miles Davis or Sonny Rollins to seek out a cure.
Same for next to! Thoroughly excellent quiptic. Loved tea set and pelvis and Joseph!
Balfour @15: bizarrely I had @17 in my head, while trying to nod off a couple of nights ago, for no apparent reason that I can fathom.
There now follows a needless literary anecdote, copyright Balfour Towers Inc.
Regarding the credulous husband, in the third (‘Proteus’) section of Joyce’s Ulysses, Stephen Dedalus recalls a snippet from Leo Taxil’s irreverent and anti-Catholic La Vie de Jesus:
– Qui vous a mit dans cette fichue position?
– C’est le pigeon, Joseph.
This is quoted, again as from Taxil, in a slightly different form in the later ‘Oxen of the Sun’ episode.
Sorry, I don’t have many excuses these days to flex my knowledge of Ulysses, and this barely constitutes one, in truth. But hey-ho, it’s Sunday and the Quiptic doesn’t usually garner much attention.
An enjoyable quiptic for me. Fell into the same trap with 8d/11a. Favourite and LOI was TEA SET. I remember trying stone bass a few years ago and found it quite disappointing.
Many thanks Budmo and Pierre
A good first Quiptic from Budmo. Top half seemed to come out for me easily but then the bottom half was a little trickier in places. FUNERAL DIRECTOR was my last one and I needed all the crossers as I didn’t spot the anagram until reading Pierre’s blog, Doh!
I think invoking the spirit of Sean Connery announcing a relative would fit 23d in a more fun way than ‘drunk announcement’ but maybe that would have been too easy 😄.
Thanks Budmo and Pierre.
I enjoyed the two long anagrams of OLD AGE PENSIONER (that’s me bang to rights, guvnor) and FUNERAL DIRECTOR. Good laughs from PELVIS, NICHE and JOSEPH, and I also enjoyed the constructions of TEA SET and ANTIOCH. (Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it.)
Same problems as others with 8D; and I thought just “rock singer” for STONE in 6D was a bit vague.
All good fun and satisfyingly sorted in good time to get on with the rest of the day.
Thanks, Budmo & Pierre.
[Balfour@15 .. but it is a lovely song. I first heard it, performed live by Janis Ian, on the Old Grey Whistle Test. I was only a little older myself at the time (19, checking the release date online just now). An absolute heart-stopper.]
I had the same problem with 8d, but was not sure and checked. When only “ne.. to” remained, I got the right answer. 18a took me too long. I tried to remember the breed of milk cows of the neighbouring farm, vaguely remembering there are a Dutch breed, but only remembred them when I got f for the first letter. Similarly, 17d took me too long considering we had it for dinner last night…
Thanks for an enjoyable puzzle, Budmo and Pierre
DerekTheSheep#21 Love the Monty Python reference 😂
I parsed 6d “rock” as “stone” and “singer with a low voice” as “bass”. That seems not so vague maybe?
thecronester@24 – yes, good point. I’d broken it into “rock singer” with a “low voice”, hence my comment; now retracted. Sometimes I don’t see what’s staring me straight in the face.
thecronester@24 I thought the same for 6d. Otherwise the clue is vague and there are few contenders for rock singers called Stone; neither Sly nor Joss really fits the bill.
Welcome to the cryptic slot, Budmo! A really fun puzzle, a hefty serving of chuckles with the clue for PELVIS a particular standout.
Thanks to Budmo and Pierre!
Balfour@18 you reminded me of the only (deeply blasphemous, so people of a delicate disposition look away now) French limerick I know:
Il y avait un jeune homme de Dijon
Qui n’avait que peu de religion.
Il disait “Quant à moi
Je déteste tous les trois:
Le père, et le fils, et le pigeon”.
Agree with other bloggers – a really enjoyable and humorous quiptic. Pitched perfectly for my age, ability and political leanings. Felt 17 D also gave a nod to Popeye who was quite a boisterous chap .Please let’s have more from Budmo.
Great cryptic! More from Budmo please.
My favourite was Pelvis. I smiled when I realised why “The” was capitalised. Thanks for this blig too. You are all really helping me develop my cryptic solving skills.
[DTS @21 If you are around again later today, that performance on TOGWT is still on YouTube if you want to revisit it.]
I’m clearly in a minority finding this extremely difficult, not enjoyable, and certainly not humorous. I felt it was way more difficult than the last two weeks’ Quiptics.
I didn’t spot the anagrams nor the hidden words until towards the end which may explain why – that said long anagrams usually take some crossers anyway and aren’t always that much help!
Did get there though apart from the husband of Our Lady. And I had correctly assumed it ended with H for Husband, without which I wouldn’t have got Antioch, without which I would probably have ground to a halt earlier. But it did leave me needing a five letter synonym for credulous which proved rather impossible…
Thank you Pierre for elucidation.
Like JaMaNh, I found this difficult for a Quiptic, with two jorums (jora?) — that is, words I didn’t know but had to work out from the wordplay (friesian and stone bass) — as well as some other tricky bits. But I enjoyed it nonetheless.
I confess to some surprise at the definition for 26ac (JOSEPH), but that’s largely because I live in the USA, where even gentle mockery of Christianity would be out of bounds in a mainstream publication.
[Balfour@31: thanks! I find I also have it on disc – I have TOGWT DVDs 1-3; it’s on disc 3. Lots of good stuff on them. I should rewatch. Though nowadays that performance would likely make me rather emotional for different reasons than it did 50 years ago. 50 years! Now I have Sandy Denny’s “Who knows where the time goes?” in my head.]
I enjoyed this Quiptic a lot, and after working out 24A with the help of the crossing letters, spotted that the anagram was in there.
Full marks for 7D and 19D which were clever anagrams in a handful of words. Much appreciated.
Can someone explain the pigeon reference?
re #36: See #18, #28, #32 and #33
Hey, Timb @33. The third person of the Divine Trinity, the Holy Spirit, or Holy Ghost, is routinely symbolised by a dove or is described in scripture as being present in the form of a dove – e.g, at Christ’s baptism, as in this wonderful mosaic from Ravenna –
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptism_of_Jesus#/media/File:Battistero_degli_ariani,_int,_mosaico_della_cupola_08_battesimo_di_cristo.jpg
In the Leo Taxil text quoted by Joyce, and in RabTheCat’s French limerick, the dove is irreverently vulgarised as a pigeon. Does that help?
I was one of many who had the alternative 8D solution until the crosser was obviously wrong.
I had brown bass pencilled in (electronically) for 7D until the crosses didn’t work, which has left me hearing James B as my earworm for a part of the day.
This was next to/near to perfect for a Quiptic. I also had the wrong one originally.
PELVIS and JOSEPH leading the favourites pack today.
Thanks Pierre and Budmo.
Balfour #38 – aha that explains it! Thanks!
I found this challenging but manageable. I couldn’t parse TEA SET at all, so thanks for the explanation, Pierre!
Also, I’d tried to link NICHE to neice knowing there was a soundalike element, but the slurring like a drunk person thing didn’t occur to me. Is that a common trick??
Not very common, Rachel. As thecronester #20 mentions, sometimes Sean Connery is mentioned in a clue to indicate that an S sound should become more of an SH – it was one of the features of his pronunciation.
Many thanks Pierre and Budmo.
A good mix of clues for me as an improving solver with some lovely surfaces. Particularly enjoyed FUNERAL DIRECTOR.
Was tripped up by my inability to read SUPPLY and BORING in the intended way, hopefully lesson learned.
Thank you for the blog.
In 14a TEASET, is there anything about the clue that tells us to do this ‘lift and separate’ thing?
I’m also stumped by the link between ragtime and tea set. Could somebody help the penny to drop please?
Seensaw – Ragtime can be split to rag time. The verb ‘to rag’ means to tease. Time can be abbreviated as t. Putting it together gives ‘tease t’ leading to tea set, which could of course be made of china.
Steffen – I revealed the clue, but in retrospect the hints to ‘lift and separate’ were there, even though there is no direct indication in the clue as for an anagram.
1/ I had no success at all in finding a synonym of ragtime, so a double definition wasn’t working.
2/ The word can be split into two other words.
Hopefully next time.
Oh! OK! Thank you Philinch.
Some pretty advanced elements in here alongside some of the more obvious tricks. The lift and separate doesn’t come up too often at Quiptic level! But I thought this was great. Really liked SIGNAL – the intimate misdirection was most satisfying. Thanks both!
Very much enjoyed – thanks Budmo! Another fan of PELVIS, but also TRAVESTY only clicked when I stopped over complicating it.
Question: 26ac JOSEPH – does that make “boring” an insertion indicator? Not sure I’ve heard that one before.
Thanks Budmo and Pierre for a great Quiptic and blog. I didn’t find it an easy one – maybe just a question of wavelength? – but very fair and enjoyable. I liked NICHE and JOSEPH especially; the latter took me forever!