I think this was nearer to the level of a Guardian Cryptic than most Quiptics; perhaps aimed at a neophyte in the process of sharpening his or her solving skills.
Even if this might be a stretch for a complete beginner, I found it a fine crossword; my favourite clue is 21D. Thanks, Hectence.
| Across | |||
| 1. | Unnecessary hoo-ha spoils retired friend taking home a trophy (5,2,1,6) | ||
| STORM IN A TEACUP | A charade of STOR, a reversal (‘retired’) of ROTS (of food, ‘spoils’) + an envelope (‘taking’) of IN (‘home’) in MATE (‘friend’) + CUP (‘trophy’). | ||
| 9. | Heartless deed to entice with crack (7) | ||
| ATTEMPT | A charade of A[c]T (‘heartless deed’) + TEMPT (‘entice’). ‘Crack’ as in “I really don’t know what I’m doing, but I’ll take a crack at it”. | ||
| 10. | Having eaten nothing, Nigel’s knocked head over heels by home-made liqueur (4,3) | ||
| SLOE GIN | An envelope (‘having eaten’) of O (‘nothing’) in SLEGIN, a reversal (‘knocked head over heels’) of ‘Nigels’. | ||
| 11. | Utter stress of putting grand on horse (5) | ||
| GROAN | A charade of G (‘grand’) + ROAN (‘horse’). | ||
| 12. | Bring up to date on investigation into document carrier (9) | ||
| BRIEFCASE | A charade of BRIEF (‘bring up to date’) + CASE (‘investigation’). | ||
| 13. | Find it’s light after the party? (9) | ||
| DISCOVERY | A charade of DISCO (‘party’) + VERY (the flare, ‘light’). | ||
| 14. | Put opener on short leg at crease (5) | ||
| PLEAT | A charade of P (‘Put opener’) + LE[g] (‘short LEg’) + ‘at’. | ||
| 15. | Mocks soldiers having to live in (5) | ||
| GIBES | An envelope (‘in’) of BE (‘live’) in GIS (‘soldiers’). | ||
| 17. | Couple of pints before getting daughter installed in digs (9) | ||
| QUARTERED | A charade of QUART (‘couple of pints’) + ERE (‘before’) + D (‘daughter’). | ||
| 20. | Bully of a fly half grabs one after blunder (9) | ||
| TERRORISE | An envelope (‘grabs’) of ERROR (‘blunder’) + I (‘one’) in TSE[tse] (‘fly half’). | ||
| 22. | CGI’s more than some gadget (5) | ||
| GISMO | An answer hidden in ‘cGIS MOre’. | ||
| 23. | Plant is focal point in river bar refurbishment (7) | ||
| RHUBARB | An envelope (‘in’) of HUB (focal point’) in R (‘river’) + an anagram (‘refurbishment’) of ‘bar’. | ||
| 24. | Paddy volunteers to swap funny books (7) | ||
| TANTRUM | A charade of TA (Territorail Army, ‘volunteers’; a common abbreviation in crosswords, sometimes, as here, indicated in the plural, sometimes, presumably as following a person’s name, as a singular such as ‘volunteer’) + NT (New Testament of the Bible, ‘books’; along with its companion OT, it too makes regular appearances in crossword clues) + RUM (‘funny’), with ‘swap’ indicating the order of the particles. | ||
| 25. | Wide boys were held improperly by auditors getting to grips with large earnings, initially (7-7) | ||
| WHEELER-DEALERS | A charade of WHEELERD, an anagram (‘improperly’) of ‘were held’ + an envelope (‘getting to grips with’) of L E (‘Large Earnings initially’) in EARS (‘auditors’). | ||
| Down | |||
| 1. | Long tale has Scooby Doo, say, following master to gold hidden in farm building (6,3,5) | ||
| SHAGGY DOG STORY | A charade of SHAGGY (Scooby Doo’s ‘master’ Norville “Shaggy” Rogers. Never having seen the cartoon, that foxed me entirely until I thought to consult Wikipedia) + DOG (‘Scooby Doo, say’) + an envelope (‘hidden in’) of OR (‘gold’) in STY (‘farm building’) | ||
| 2. | Jockey used to collect old caps (7) | ||
| OUTDOES | An envelope (‘to collect’) of O (‘old’) in OUTDES, an anagram (‘jockey’) of ‘used to’. | ||
| 3. | Very important manuscript holds warning to university (9) | ||
| MOMENTOUS | An envelope (‘holds’) of OMEN (‘warning’) + ‘to’ + U (‘university’) in MS (‘manuscript’). | ||
| 4. | Can’t be famous (7) | ||
| NOTABLE | A charade of NOT ABLE (‘cant be’ – or is it just ‘cant’?). | ||
| 5. | Feisty fashion model’s brought in to give evidence (7) | ||
| TESTIFY | An envelope (‘brought in’) of T (‘model’ T Ford, another chestnut) in TESIFY, an anagram (fashion’) of ‘feisty’. | ||
| 6. | Stuck up a fine outside toilet (5) | ||
| ALOOF | An envelope (‘outside’) of LOO (‘toilet’) in ‘a’ + F (‘fine’). | ||
| 7. | Argued about small change in improved software (7) | ||
| UPGRADE | An envelope (‘in’) of P (penny, ‘small change’) in UGRADE, an anagram (‘about’, which would be doing double duty as the envelope indicator unless you accept the convoluted positioning of ‘in’). | ||
| 8. | They hold dialogue with company taking millions as net drive development goes ahead (8,6) | ||
| INVERTED COMMAS | A charade of INVERTED, an anagram (‘development’) of ‘net drive’ + CO (‘company’) + MM (‘millions’) + ‘as’. I like the cryptic definition. | ||
| 14. | For beating a pinata go to part of South America (9) | ||
| PATAGONIA | An anagram (‘for beating’) of ‘a pinata go’. | ||
| 16. | Old boy’s upset by seedy part of city (7) | ||
| BOROUGH | A charade of BO, a reversal (‘upset’ in a down clue) + ROUGH (‘seedy’). | ||
| 17. | Nit-picking question about Bible (7) | ||
| QUIBBLE | A charade of QU (‘question’) + IBBLE, an anagram (‘about’) of ‘Bible’. | ||
| 18. | Colluded with a boy about wager (7) | ||
| ABETTED | An envelope (‘about’) of BET (‘wager’) in ‘a’ + TED (‘boy’). | ||
| 19. | Erupt again about doctor not working (7) | ||
| RESURGE | A charade of RE (‘about’) + SURGE[on] (‘doctor’) without ON (‘working’) | ||
| 21. | Legally grown ordinary cigarette’s drug, too! (2,3) | ||
| OF AGE | A charade of O (‘ordinary’) + FAG (‘cigarette’) + E (‘drug’). Excellent surface. | ||
Thanks PeterO and Hectence. Yes, agree – a nice crossword, pitched for a not-so-beginner.
COD 8D INVERTED COMMAS, liked the definition – when it dawned on me.
7D UPGRADE, I think the position of “in” is okay if one reads it as “Argued about {comma or pause} small change in {comma or pause} improved software” – just a bit convoluted, as you say.
Thanks, Peter. Not so sure I agree about the difficulty level; I thought it was eminently solvable because of the clear definitions in most clues, as well as in some cases with the enumeration. I do agree though that it was a Quiptic where you arrived at the answer through crossing letters and the definition more often than through teasing out the wordplay, which in some clues was tricky. I needed you to explain a couple today, and I didn’t see that SLOE GIN is in fact a reversal and not an anagram.
I laughed at SHAGGY DOG STORY and also liked INVERTED COMMAS.
Nice crossword, considerably easier than today’s cryptic. Perhaps next time I should start with the Quiptic to get my brain working.
Thanks, PeterO; I had some trouble with RESURGE until I gave up on dr, mb etc for doctor in the clue and realised it was SURGEon. I thought the ‘up’ in 6d was nicely misleading.
K’sD – Certainly the puzzle was solvable; I just feel that many complete beginners would lack the confidence to go with half-understood answers, and there are enough of them here to make life difficult. Incidentally, the above is the second published version; in the first, I threw up my hands over SHAGGY in 1D. After a break for Downton Abbey, I returned to sort that one out, and noted that I had described the wordplay in 10A as an anagram rather than a reversal. Of course, that is not wrong – a reversal is a particular case of an anagram.
Thanks, PeterO. I thought this was more difficult than the usual quiptic. I needed your explanation of 13a which I had got but couldn’t parse, mainly because I had never heard of Edward Very.
I loved 8d.
Thank you, Hectence.
Yeah, a bit of stretch for a Quiptic, but do-able.
A couple of decades back The Times used the most succinct clue for 8d, to whit “Sammoc”. A serious groaner!