[If you’re attending York S&B please see comments 32&33] - here
I liked this Quiptic from Hectence. It wasn’t all completely straightforward to solve or parse, but once you had a foothold I think an improving solver could be expected to work through the rest of the clues and then figure out what was going on. Some excellent surfaces and a good variety of clue types.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Find fault with door’s woodwork
CARPENTRY
A charade of CARP and ENTRY.
6 Craze on One Direction’s in decline
FADE
Thank Frith for that, as Hazel might have said. FAD plus E for one of the four main ‘directions’ of the compass.
8 Dad managed alternatively logical and unjustified suspicion
PARANOIA
A charade of PA, RAN and the even letters (‘alternatively’) of ‘logical’.
9 Was completely used to feeling lustful about Romeo
RAN DRY
Hectence is relying on the fact that you can pronounce ‘used’ two different ways: one with an ‘s’ sound and the other with a ‘z’ sound. You need the latter for the definition but the former for the surface. Romeo here is not one of the star-cross’d lovers, but a letter in the phonetic alphabet: it’s R in RANDY.
10 Naughty thing’s wearing blue that’s very revealing!
SKIMPY
IMP for a ‘naughty thing’ is covered by SKY for ‘blue’.
11 Examine underground lab equipment
TEST TUBE
A simple charade.
12 Unrestrained desire’s nothing new
WANTON
A charade of WANT, O and N.
15 Mac cartoon loses nothing in translation, having excellent content
RAINCOAT
Bit complicated to parse: you need to take O for ‘nothing’ out of ‘cartoon’, make an anagram (CARTON)* and then stick A1 for ‘excellent’ in that. Mac is indeed a cartoonist, in a paper whose name I can’t bring myself to mention. But it was the one that was forced to apologise recently – although grudgingly – for saying that the Milibands’ father hated Britain.
16 Sure about route?
OF COURSE
A charade of OF and COURSE.
19 Old coin possibly does contain copper
ESCUDO
The old Portuguese currency is an insertion of CU for the chemical symbol for ‘copper’ in (DOES)* with ‘possibly’ as the anagrind. Nice surface.
21 Very critical of scab briefly taking night shift
SCATHING
A charade of SCA[B] and (NIGHT)* with ‘shift’ as the anagrind.
22 Hurts‘ cheerful performance gets small following
UPSETS
It’s a charade of UP for ‘cheerful’, SET for ‘performance’ and S for ‘small’. I’m confused about the apostrophe, because the surface would have to suggest that there is an actor called Hurts. That surname does exist, but it’s mainly Dutch or Flemish, and I think Hectence is alluding to John HURT, who has had a long and distinguished career. So I dunno.
24 Whisks right on south, after taking M9 to Edinburgh, initially
MIXERS
R and S preceded by M IX for M9 in Roman numerals and E for the first letter of ‘Edinburgh’.
25 Astounded by nonsense and laughed uproariously
GUFFAWED
A charade of GUFF and AWED.
26 Found optical part that’s loose
UNDO
Hidden (‘part’) in foUND Optical.
27 Distract from right path
SIDETRACK
A charade of SIDE and TRACK.
Down
1 Cheesy opponent in the classroom?
CHALK
Well, it’s probably more interactive whiteboard these days, but chalk and talk is still a part of the modern classroom. Hectence is alluding to the fact that we say that people are as different as chalk and cheese, hence the ‘opponent’.
2 Enrol again to study at US university
READMIT
A charade of READ for ‘study’ and MIT for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
3 Joanna Blackwood?
EBONY
Well, EBONY is a ‘black wood’ and I think this is referring to the fact that a piano, or ‘Joanna’ in Cockney rhyming slang, is composed of IVORY and EBONY, referring to the black and white keys. But if you have a better idea …
4 Renegade‘s skill is to go about organising riot
TRAITOR
A charade of TRA, a reversal of ART or ‘skill’ and (RIOT)*
5 Duke’s rent from God’s own county!
YORKSHIRE
The Grand Old Duke of YORK takes the apostrophe S and is followed by HIRE for ‘rent’. Yorkshire is affectionately referred to as ‘God’s own county’. Mainly by people from Yorkshire, it must be said.
6 Fiat can design for enthusiast
FANATIC
(FIAT CAN)*
7 A local fixture?
DART BOARD
A cd. A DART BOARD could well be a ‘fixture’ in your local pub.
13 Mannerism designed to impress? No thanks, love!
AFFECTION
The setter is inviting you to remove TA for ‘thanks’ out of AFFEC[TA]TION.
14 Cuss rain that’s knocked over sunflower
NARCISSUS
A charade of (CUSS RAIN)* and S for ‘sun’. What some folk call a ‘lift and separate’ clue, since you have to disabuse yourself of the idea that ‘sunflower’ should be considered as one word. These setters have no end of wiles.
17 Busy working man’s after time to take leave
ON THE GO
A charade of ON for ‘working’, THE for ‘man after time’ and GO.
18 Intending to marry with aim to secure good number of years
ENGAGED
An insertion of G and AGE in END.
20 Caught donkey very enthralled by acres of tropical food
CASSAVA
A charade of C, ASS and V in two A’s for ‘acres’. It’s a tropical root vegetable, but you knew that already.
22 Not in shape for fun run I finish fourth from last
UNFIT
Perhaps in a slightly ungainly way, Hectence is telling us to make an anagram (‘run’) of FUN, follow it by I, and then that the ‘finish’ of the word is the fourth letter of ‘last’. The surface is good, though.
23 Small alteration to model’s ineffectual
TWEAK
The Ford Model T (‘any colour you want as long as it’s black’) is followed by WEAK for ‘ineffectual’.
Many thanks to Hectence for today’s puzzle.
Just the teensiest of light-hearted quibble-ettes re 8 across.
As some of us know to our cost, paranoia is not always an unjustified suspicion. Just because we are paranoid doesn’t mean someone is not plotting against us.
Back in box, now. Cheers Pierre and Hectence.
An enjoyable QC that was set at just the right level, IMHO. It’s a shame about the placing of the apostrophe in 22ac. It needs to be where it is for the definition, but it does make the surface reading wrong because I’m fairly sure Hectence was indeed alluding to John Hurt. To be honest, I didn’t notice it during the solve. RAN DRY was my LOI.
I’m not as convinced as Pierre about some of the clues here, and, surely, it should be ‘alternate’ and not ‘alternative’ in 8a. I’m not sure that the inclusion of ‘sun’ in 14d is entirely fair, as I am not aware that ‘narcissus’ has any. ore claim to be a sunflower than any other (except, of course, a sunflower). Although it is convoluted, I did enjoy 22d.
Sorry about the typing error @3. Should, of course read ‘more’ not ‘.ore’.
George,
As the blog implies, the Sun is part of the wordplay and the definition is just flower. Personally, I think for a Quiptic, this is unfair as it relies on splitting the word sunflower.
Thanks Neal, I had not read the blog carefully enough, and also had not worked through the anagram fodder to see that the extra ‘s’ was needed. Mea culpa and apologies to Hectence, though I still don’t much like the clue for a Quiptic.
Thanks Hectence & Pierre.
I thought this was tricky in parts and probably too complicated for a beginner.
No doubt Hectence was referring to Dick Hurts! 😉 I thought Hurt’s would have been OK for the definition as we’re always being told to ignore punctuation.
Thanks, Robi. I think the actor you’ve highlighted perhaps gets Hectence out of jail. I wonder what sort of films he stars in?
Thankyou Hec and Pierre found this harder to finish than todays Indy. Raincoat took me an age to parse.
Just to clear it up – Hurts refers to the band. Sorry maybe a little obscure!
Thank you for dropping in, Hectence, to explain that. Not my type of music, I’m afraid!
Found this much too hard for a Quiptic.
Shame after a few weeks with them being set at what I consider an appropriate level (ie for beginners like me!)
Thanks though Hectence – enjoyed those I could do!
And thanks Pierre
I think this is your first comment, TheManOnTheBus. If so, welcome, keep solving and keep commenting.