My four-weekly blog of the Guardian Quiptic puzzle, the online only Sunday Cryptic found here
Pangakupu continues to set entertaining puzzles at all levels, from the Quick Cryptic to the Genius, plus regular appearances elsewhere.
I hope I’ve covered any contentious areas, I’m not sure how much I’m going to be around today.
| ACROSS | ||
| 4 | WRENCH |
Damsel embracing another, ultimately a hard thing to bear (6)
|
| insertion (embracing) of R (anotheR, ultimately) in WENCH (damsel), adding later, as this seems to be causing some problems, according to Chambers wrench can mean “a separation or change that is difficult to bear, or the pain of this”.It’s in the noun definitions. I’ve read it as “he gave it up with a wrench”. . |
||
| 6 | BED-QUILT |
Teaching degree? Resign about student coverage at night (3-5)
|
| charade of BED (Teaching degree – BEd) + QUIT (resign) around (about) L (student) | ||
| 9 | TROPIC |
Discussion item admitting river forms line on map (6)
|
| insertion (admitting) of R (river) into TOPIC (discussion item) – the Tropic of Cancer or Capricorn are lines on a map. | ||
| 10 | LOCALITY |
Pub and brewery finally introducing it in the area (8)
|
| charade of LOCAL (pub) + Y (brewerY finally) around (introducing) IT (from the clue) | ||
| 11 | DEMOGRAPHIC |
Protest followed by explicit part of the population (11)
|
| charade of DEMO (protest) + GRAPHIC (explict) – the “followed by” gives the order of the components | ||
| 15 | ANTONYM |
Opposite of Caesar, J? (7)
|
| whimsical double definition – one of the opponents of Julius Caesar was Mark Antony, expressed in the same format (Caesar J) becomes Antony M | ||
| 17 | BARGAIN |
Reader initially gripped by book once more – it’s a good buy (7)
|
| insertion (gripped by) of R (Reader initially) in B (book) + AGAIN (once more) – B for book is in Chambers, one of the lists further down the page listing abbreviations. | ||
| 18 | SINGAPOREAN |
Person again troubled resident of city-state (11)
|
| anagram (troubled) of (PERSON AGAIN)* | ||
| 22 | MELODIST |
Song-writer seldom getting confused with it (8)
|
| anagram (confused with) of (SELDOM + IT)* – not a word I’ve come across before, but it had to be that. MELODIST is in Chambers under MELODY. | ||
| 23 | JOSHUA |
Religious writer to ridicule leaders of Unitarian Adventists (6)
|
| charade of JOSH (to ridicule) + U A (leaders of Unitarian Adventists) – JOSHUA is one of the more militaristic books of the Bible chronicling the Jewish peoples’ conquest of the land of Canaan. | ||
| 24 | OVERVIEW |
Completed challenge with summary (8)
|
| charade of OVER (completed) + VIE (challenge) + W (with). W for “with” turns up in old handwritten manuscripts, which are full of little shortcuts, but we still use it in wrt or w/o or waiters jutting down food requests. | ||
| 25 | BROWSE |
Items often furrowed before end of intense look over the shelves? (6)
|
| charade of BROWS (items often furrowed) + E (end of intensE) – and the question mark is indicating a definition by example – the original meaning is of cattle/sheep/deer feeding on rough herbs. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | ACTING |
Account with money? Grand, though not really in the post (6)
|
| charade of AC (account) + TIN (money) + G (grand) – TIN for money is in Chambers as slang – both English and Australian workers referring to worn down silver coins that looked like tin. G for grand comes from American slang for money ($1000 = a grand). | ||
| 2 | XENOPHOBIA |
Vandalised phone-box: one’s beginning to anticipate anti-foreigner sentiment (10)
|
| anagram (vandalised) of (PHONE-BOX)* to get XENOPHOB + I (one from the clue) + A (beginning to Anticipate) | ||
| 3 | SQUAD CAR |
Police vehicle: evidence of damage seen around one in four? (5,3)
|
| insertion (around) – SCAR (evidence of damage) around QUAD (one in four). QUAD in this sense is an abbreviation of quadruplet. | ||
| 4 | WITHDRAW |
Retract intelligence on origin of huge lottery (8)
|
| charade of WIT (intelligence) on H (origin of Huge) + DRAW (lottery) | ||
| 5 | ENORMITY |
Minor yet somehow a great crime (8)
|
| anagram (somehow) of (MINOR YET)* | ||
| 7 | IRIS |
Flag of European country getting trimmed (4)
|
| deletion (getting trimed) of IRISh (of European country) – the IRIS is often called a flag or flag iris – apparently from Old English where flagge means rushes or reeds. | ||
| 8 | TOYS |
Component of extravagant oyster trifles (4)
|
| hidden word (component of) in extravaganT OYSter | ||
| 12 | ADMINISTER |
Run a diocese, at first followed by member of clergy (10)
|
| charade of A (from the clue) D (Diocese at first) + (followed by) MINISTER (a member of clergy) | ||
| 13 | GAME SHOW |
Was home, excited to support good TV programme? (4,4)
|
| anagram (excited) of (WAS HOME)* supporting G (good) – so G in front. G for good comes from second-hand coin or book grading on sale catalogues. | ||
| 14 | INUNDATE |
Popular time to go round a French swamp (8)
|
| ordered charade – IN (popular) + DATE (time) around UN (a French – “a” in French) | ||
| 16 | NOSEDIVE |
Decline instantly: one’s worried over dodgy bar (8)
|
| anagram (worried) of (ONE’S)* to get NOSE over (ordering instruction in a down clue) DIVE (dodgy bar) | ||
| 19 | ODOURS |
Party, upsetting for us, stinks (6)
|
| charade of OD (DO = party, upsetting) + OURS (for us) | ||
| 20 | AMMO |
Material to support attack in backgammon (4)
|
| hidden word (in) backgAMMOn | ||
| 21 | GLUE |
Limits to general use adhesive (4)
|
| outside letters (limits to) GeneraL UsE – limits is an instruction to use the outer letters – here to use them to make a word. |
Nice Quiptic. I especially liked 15a ANTONYM – ingenious clue. I missed a couple of details of the parsing but saw most of it. Thanks for the clear explanations, Shanne.
Thank you for a fun Quiptic, Pangakupu, and for the blog, Shanne! ANTONYM a standout for me.
Can someone help me see why WRENCH is something hard to bear?
Calabar Bean @2 – according to Chambers wrench can mean “a separation or change that is difficult to bear, or the pain of this”. I’ve read it as “he gave it up with a wrench”. It’s in the noun definitions.
I failed to solve 4ac, 1d, 4d. I usually manage to finish the regular Cryptics during the week but this “puzzle for beginners and those in a hurry” defeated me.
I could not parse 24ac.
Favourite: ANTONYM.
Calabar Bean@2 – one of the definitions of WRENCH is: a feeling of sadness or distress caused by one’s own or another’s departure.
When I got XENOPHOBIA and JOSHUA I was certain there would be a pangram (something I never usually spot) but alas no Z appeared.
Thanks to setter and blogger.
I’d convinced myself that wrench meant spanner – a hard tool you carry (bear). I think the other meaning is more likely the intention though.
Antonym was brilliant
ANTONYM stands out, even if some on the Guardian site say it’s been used before. Some tricky ones, including the definition of ACTING and a hitherto unknown to me WENCH. Thanks Pangakupu and Shanne
Thanks Pankakupu and Shanne
Nice puzzle, with some good touches. I liked “another, ultimately” for the R in WRENCH.
A pity that the solution to 20d wasn’t OMMA, to use the “back” of backgammon!
I really liked Antonym. Thanks to Shanne for the excellent blog and to Pangakupu for the well pitched Quiptic.
ANTONYM reminded me of
Friend of Caesar, J? The opposite (7)
I searched for it in this site and found lots of references to the clue. Eventually I found the original. It’s from Independent 9174 by Klingsor, March 10th 2016!
Michelle #4 – same here, pretty much as far as difficulty level goes. An identical set of reveals and couldn’t parse OVERVIEW until I got here.
Good puzzle, but another one which felt a notch or two above quiptic level.
Nice steady solve.
I only spotted the brilliance of ANTONYM after completing the whole thing. Much else to like, but that was a standout.
Thanks Pangakupu & Shanne.
First attempt at a quiptic having got into Parseword and then the quicks – felt more involved than others I’ve tried.
Got all but 6a and 7d – being a teacher I focussed on PGCE rather than an undergraduate course, so obvious in hindsight – had the quilt bit parsed but couldn’t distinguish between different options.
7d is evidently one of those obscure uses that one comes across.
Lippy @13 – I actually call irises flags and know the flag iris, we have a couple of local ponds where they grow, so have never seen why anyone struggles with that equivalence.