A Quiptic with a theme from Moley this morning.
Apologies for a brief blog – I am on a bit of a mission today. There was some stuff in here which I didn’t think really belonged in a Quiptic, but perhaps the Christmas theme was responsible for that. Anyway, let me know what you thought. Personally, if I hear Frosty the Snowman in a supermarket once more before Christmas, I may not be responsible for my own actions.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
9 Student in holy order is prickly
HOLLY
An insertion of L in HOLY.
11 Imply that annuities should be adjusted
INSINUATE
(ANNUITIES)*
13 Cook pie by the book, as a perfect example
EPITOME
A charade of (PIE)* and TOME.
15 Chap with one family, a little fellow
MANIKIN
A charade of MAN, I and KIN.
17 Alice twisted part of the small intestine
ILEAC
(ALICE)* Related to the ILEUM.
18,10,12 Most elite ensemble in a particular branch to produce a Christmas ballad
THE MISTLETOE BOUGH
Never heard of it., but MISTLETOE had to be in there and I guessed the rest. (MOST ELITE)* in THE BOUGH.
20 Boat carrying mother turned back when in range
GAMUT
An insertion of MA in TUG, all reversed.
22 Container Laura endlessly misused is cylindrical
TUBULAR
A charade of TUB and (LAUR[A])*
25 Delight when halter’s repaired with new insertion
ENTHRAL
(HALTERS)* around N.
26 Son isn’t cockney but is an exemplary character
SAINT
S plus AIN’T.
27 Sports equipment to fish in Isis, we hear
ICE SKATES
An insertion of SKATE in ICES, which is a homophone of ‘Isis’, the Thames at Oxford.
30 Hate tear — it’s horrible
ABHORRENT
A charade of ABHOR and RENT
31 Wine in cracked jar holding ten units
RIOJA
An insertion of IO in (JAR)*
Down
1 Oriental from that hair-brained lot
THAI
Hidden in thaT HAIr-brained lot.
2 Clip seal loosely to powdered flavouring
ALLSPICE
(CLIP SEAL)*
3 Sound chap of sacred song
HYMN
A homophone of ‘him’. ‘Sound’ is the homophone indicator.
4 It’s inherent when I am a person in front of a hospital department
IMMANENT
A charade of I’M, MAN and ENT for Ear, Nose and Throat, the setters’ favourite ‘hospital department’. Bit of an obscure word for a Quiptic maybe, although it’s clearly clued.
5 Could alien seem divided in this regard?
ESTEEM
Well, I think this is (ET SEEM)* in which case this clue has no place in a Quiptic.
6 Shady performance by Santa?
FLY-BY-NIGHT
A dd cum cd.
7 Wedged right in and assaulted
STRUCK
An insertion of R in STUCK.
8 Get together with the network
MESH
A dd.
13 Be a “has been” and sit around
EXIST
A charade of EX and (SIT)*
14 Sort of advance one may meet under 10
OSCULATORY
Posh word for kissing, which is what you do under MISTLETOE. Does anyone do that any more?
16 The kind of day that’s celebrated at Christmas
NATAL
Since the boy child was (allegedly) born on Christmas Day, then you could say that it was to do with birth, hence NATAL. I might have fancied a question mark here.
19 The Spanish happening to reach hospital at the last possible hour
ELEVENTH
A charade of EL, EVENT and H. As in ‘the eleventh hour’.
21 Test of endurance in ancient battle
MARATHON
A dd.
23 Noël Coward’s ghost is gay
BLITHE
Referring to BLITHE SPIRIT, the play by Coward. Listeners to The Archers will have got this straight away.
24 Spoiled rotten
RUINED
A not very convincing dd.
26 Actor in Ray Stark’s “Funny Girl”
STAR
Hidden in Ray STARk’s Funny Girl. There’s a lot of excess verbiage in the phrase hiding the solution.
28 Front runners key any red tab in racing vehicle
KART
First letters of Key Any Red Tab.
29 Secure the animal
SEAL
Another dd to finish.
Thanks to Moley for the seasonal entertainment.
Thanks Moley and Pierre
Not the easiest of Quiptics. STAR was my LOI, as I couldn’t believe it was the answer.
I suppose” Noel Coward’s ghost” is OK, as it refers to the play (Madame Arcati et al), but he was quoting Shelley’s Ode to a skylark – “Hail to thee, blithe Spirit! / Bird thou never wert”.
I have never heard of the MISTLETOE BOUGH either. FLY-BY-NIGHT was a laugh.
Season’s Greetings and thanks Moley and Pierre.
Thanks Moley & Pierre.
I think ESTEEM is SEEM divided by ET, so that’s probably OK.
I hadn’t heard of THE MISTLETOE BOUGH, but once some crossers were in it was relatively easy to fathom it.
Season’s Greetings to one and all.
Thanks Pierre – I just wanted to say that I have heard of The Mistletoe Bough, though I’m not surprised it’s obscure to many. It was included in a book of Christmas carols and songs that I had as a teenager, and is a rather gruesome tale of a young bride who gets locked in a trunk during a game of Hide and Seek, and is only discovered, many years later, as a skeleton. Merry Christmas!
Andrew @4 – that sounds much more interesting that most of the Christmas songs we are bombarded with. I’d never heard of it either, but found this a straightforward solve as you’d expect of a Quiptic. I solved this more or less clockwise, last in was ALLSPICE.
Thanks to Pierre and Moley
Andrew @4, how gruesome. I see it is woven into the popular Hitchcock film “Rope”.
‘The Christmas spirit’ precludes me from saying more than that I just hope the hedgehoggy doesn’t find this crossword – for the sake of his blood pressure!
Thanks Moley and Pierre
New words for me were ILEAC & OSCULATORY.
I needed help to parse 27a