Guardian Quick Cryptic 109 by Dice

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

This week’s puzzle is the 9th puzzle by Dice, 10th including a paper only special. Dice has started setting Quiptic puzzles as well as the Quick Cryptics in the Guardian. All the puzzles set by Dice in the Quick Cryptic have had an additional trick – one had a Nina around the outside, another was a pangram and the rest have been themed. This puzzle has a theme, and has anagrams, naked and hidden words where all the letters are present, plus deletions where the solvers have to find the words.

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 was developed 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. haVE ALtered 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”
soundalike – is indicated by “Wilde” – so in the example, Oscar “Wilde”, the playwright and author, is indicating the soundalike WILD.
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.
reversals – the reversal element of a clue is indicated by < – so in the example clue below, VieTNAm <.
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:

Anagram Anagram of answer and hint that there’s an anagram
‘Senator arranged crime (7)’ gives TREASON – (SENATOR)* arranged
Hidden word(s) Answer hidden in clue’s words
‘Some haVE ALtered meat (4)’ gives VEAL
Deletion Remove letters from another word for answer
‘Car trip with no parking, bad thing (3)’ gives SIN from SpIN (trip)
Naked words Remove first and last letters of another word for answer
‘Called for citrus to be peeled (4)’ gives RANG, from oRANGe (citrus)

	ACROSS	Click on “Answer” to see the solutions
1	Help Lassie use sty without limits (6)	Answer ASSIST
	Parsing naked words (without limits) from lASSIe uSe sTy – a different way of using naked words here, but something seen in the full fat cryptics.
4	Speak no words, somewhat understand (4)	Answer KNOW
	Parsing hidden word(s) (somewhat) from speaK NO Words – some misleading tricks here, the definition reads as if it could be “speak no words”, especially as it ties into the theme of words.
8	Government quitting land – drinks for everyone! (5)	Answer ROUND
	Parsing deletion (Government quitting, so remove a G) from gROUND (land). “Government quitting” is an instruction to remove a G. G for government comes from G-man according to Chambers, (it’s how it’s listed in the abbreviations).
9	Come in, get into here, no outsiders! (5)	Answer ENTER
	Parsing naked word (no outsiders) of gEt iNTo hERe – the same way of using naked words as above.
10	From inside, watches crab bleakly claw about (8)	Answer SCRABBLE
	Parsing hidden word(s) (from inside) in watcheS CRAB BLEakly – and I suspect this is thematically the word game.
13	Speech from old Bangui sages, not taking sides (8)	Answer LANGUAGES
	Parsing naked word(s) (not taking sides) from oLd BANGUi sAGEs – and again the same technique as above, taking the centres of the words in the clue, but not just the middles.
16	Cold, missing female is stiff (5)	Answer RIGID
	Parsing deletion (missing female) from fRIGID (cold) where “missing female” is an instruction to drop F – F for female comes up often. M/F on forms, for example.
17	Stole from dealer’s car forecourt (5)	Answer SCARF
	Parsing hidden word(s) (from) dealer’S CAR Forecourt – and this is another tricksy playing with word meanings – the surface of the clue suggests “stole” as a verb, the past participle of “steal” or taking without consent, but the solution is using “stole” as a noun – the second meaning in Chambers.
18	Unites weak men lacking some energy (4)	Answer WEDS
	Parsing deletion (lacking some energy) from WEeDS (weak men). Lacking some energy is an instruction to remove E (E for energy comes from scientific abbreviations, e.g. E = mc²).
19	Tea set laid out – it’s my property (6)	Answer ESTATE
	Parsing anagram of (TEA SET)* with an anagrind of “laid out” and another cryptic definition.

	DOWN
1	So, cars needing repair on the other side (6)	Answer ACROSS
	Parsing anagram of (SO CARS)* with an anagrind of “needing repair” and another cryptic definition – to get to the other side, or the other side of the puzzle.
2	Naked ass, squat, try and pee at a right angle (6)	Answer SQUARE
	Parsing naked word(s) (naked) from aSs sQUAt tRy and pEe – with another little trick along the way. The list of words to be stripped includes the “and pee”, but the “and” has been added in to make the surface work. It conjures up the boys at my primary school using an outside wall as a urinal to see how high they could pee.
3	So sad bride dismantled items of furniture (10)	Answer SIDEBOARDS
	Parsing anagram of (SO SAD BRIDE)* with an anagrind of “dismantled”.
5	Perhaps fa or la some Slipknot enthusiastically (4)	Answer NOTE
	Parsing hidden word(s) (some) from SlipkNOT Enthusiastically. Fa and la are part of the sol-fa scale and Slipknot are one of the bands my daughter used to play at me at full volume as a teenager, when cross with me and the world. I’m not linking, because nu metal is not my favourite music genre.
6	Noun, perhaps, for blade, not small (4)	Answer WORD
	Parsing deletion (not small) from sWORD (blade). S for small comes from clothing sizes.
7	In translation losing some modern words (10)	Answer NEOLOGISMS
	Parsing anagram of (LOSING SOME)* with an anagrind of “in translation” – Chambers defines the answer (singular) as a new word or new use of a word or phrase.
11	Captivated by Elphaba, Nan abandoned fruit (6)	Answer BANANA
	Parsing hidden word(s) (captivated by) in ElphaBA NAN Abandoned. The surface is riffing on “Wicked” with a link to the stage show, not the film, because I’ve seen the stage show and wasn’t impressed enough to want to see the film. At the time I was working with someone whose sister had seen Wicked repeatedly; apparently the staging I’d seen wasn’t the best cast, according to this fan who’d seen every cast change.
12	E-file’s malfunctioned – it was me, I snapped it (6)	Answer SELFIE
	Parsing anagram of (E-FILE’S)* with an anagrind of “malfunctioned” and a cryptic definition.
14	Take out odd prawn, peeled (4)	Answer DRAW
	Parsing naked word(s) (peeled) from oDd pRAWn – for the definition think of preparing whole fish for cooking where the guts have to be taken out.
15	Charlie deserting locked-up geriatric (4)	Answer AGED
	Parsing deletion (Charlie deserting) cAGED (locked up), where C deserting as an instruction to remove C. C for Charlie is not in Chambers, but C for cocaine is, and both are drug slang for marching powder.

10 comments on “Guardian Quick Cryptic 109 by Dice”

Jen

#1 - Sat 2nd May 26, 08:59

Lots to like. Well-pitched. Helped me to practise naked clues. As a Scrabble lover, it is a great theme. 7D a new word for me.

Thanks Shanne & Dice.
DangerMouse

#2 - Sat 2nd May 26, 09:11

I didn’t expect to see Slipknot referenced in a cryptic clue, it had me chuckling for a while 🙂 My offspring played Slipknot (and the Offspring as well) on high volume, too 🙂

Loved the grid, the clues definitely needed some thinking to annotate them properly, and I’m happy with the practice.

Ta, Dice & Shanne!
Mary

#3 - Sat 2nd May 26, 09:22

As I didn’t understand ‘naked words’ at from the trick description I managed most of the crossword but didn’t understand why the answers worked. Now from all the explanations I think I might manage naked words next time.
I also found some of the relations difficult. And I’d never heard of slipknot except in the naval cadets! Thanks very much for a challenging morning Dice and Shanne
Janet Mundy

#4 - Sat 2nd May 26, 09:28

Ouch! I struggled with the naked words – need more practice.
Sarah

#5 - Sat 2nd May 26, 09:31

Enjoyed that one, only got stuck on Neologisms because I have never heard of that word.

Favourite clue was Naked ass, squat, try and pee at a right angle… hilarious
thecronester

#6 - Sat 2nd May 26, 10:01

Nice puzzle. I still don’t see that there is a theme, I must be missing something. Quite a chewy set of clues and it took me some time to understand that all the naked word clues had all the letters present – I was looking for synonyms mostly. Luckily there were some good anagrams and hidden-words to get traction. Ta, Dice, good exercise, and thanks Shanne for your blog.
Amma

#7 - Sat 2nd May 26, 10:12

I caught on to the naked words clues quickly and did them first. The deletions took longer and I needed crossers to come up with weeds for weak men. I was puzzled by stole for scarf though only because I was stuck on thinking of possible alternative meanings of the verb steal. Good clue. Thanks, Dice and Shanne.
Andrea

#8 - Sat 2nd May 26, 10:19

For a change an easy one. I am sure tomorrow will be another story…
18 loi. I am not familiar with that word usage.
Shanne

#9 - Sat 2nd May 26, 10:33

thecronester @6 in SCRABBLE the WORD game, you DRAW letters, ENTER them on SQUAREs on the BOARD, hopefully placing higher scored letters on coloured SQUAREs with double or triple letter or WORD scores. If the WORD is challenged, they can be checked in the agreed dictionary for that game, internationally in Collins Scrabble Words, which is faster at NEOLOGISMS than the American version. Different SCRABBLE BOARDS exist in different LANGUAGEs (the German board doesn’t score Z at 10), but house rules sometimes include rude SCRABBLE or any other variant that group plays.

(It’s word generally, I think – but SCRABBLE is word game.)
thecronester

#10 - Sat 2nd May 26, 11:11

Shanne#9 I know Scrabble is a word game, my wife is an avid player 🙂. I just didn’t see all the other associations (apart from maybe board) but yes I see what you’re saying about drawing letters, and squares and word. Thanks.