Quiptic 825 by Nutmeg

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A welcome appearance in the Quiptic slot of every solver’s favourite Spice Girl.

And a very pleasant rummage through the setter’s bag of tricks it is, although some of these took a little teasing out. Still, a decent work out for the old grey matter and a good start to the cryptic week.

Across
1 LIGHTING UP TIME
Dusk or thereabouts, when smokers relax? (8,2,4)

A cryptic definition
9 RADIANT
Magnificent harangue about returned benefit (7)

RANT (harangue) containing (about) a reversal (returned) of AID (benefit)
10 DEAD SEA
Diehards seen at every other Middle Eastern tourist spot (4,3)

The odd letters (every other) of DiEhArDs SeEn At
11 ON ICE
Suspended over French resort (2,3)

O (over) NICE (French resort)
12 IN THE DARK
Ignorant, like Noah’s animals about end of flood? (2,3,4)

IN THE ARK (like Noah’s animals) containing (about) D (end of, i.e. last letter of, flood)
13 TREASURED
Firm feeding tramp’s highly thought of (9)

An insertion (feeding) of SURE (firm) in TREAD (tramp)
14 SLANG
Colloquialisms used in returning signal speedily (5)

An answer hidden in (used in) a reversal (returning) of siGNAL Speedily
15 EXPEL
Slippery customer pocketing 10 pence in bar (5)

EEL (slippery customer) containing (pocketing) X (10 in Roman numerals) and P (pence)
17 LAST DITCH
Carry on with abandon — resistance ends here (4,5)

LAST (carry on) plus (with) DITCH (abandon)
20 IMMEDIATE
Current cooking item cut by TV, radio etc (9)

An insertion of MEDIA (TV, radio etc) in an anagram (cooking) of ITEM
22 CRAWL
Sycophants do it, but make slow progress (5)

A double definition. Sycophants do it = CRAWL. Make slow progress = CRAWL
23 GENTILE
Toff uncovered files of non-believers (7)

GENT (toff) ILE (uncovered files, i.e. files with first and last letters deleted)

Edit Kathryn’s Dad @ 2 points out that it makes more sense to take the def as ‘of non-believers’ rather than ‘non-believers’ as I originally had it
24 SHIN PAD
It protects part of leg and hips, surprisingly (4,3)

An anagram (surprisingly) of AND HIPS
25 YOURS SINCERELY
Transported insecurely, Roy’s letter may end so (5,9)

An anagram (transported) of INSECURELY ROYS
Down
1 LORD OF THE RINGS
Tolkein’s title for top male gymnast? (4,2,3,5)

A cryptic definition
2 GODLIKE
Superhuman boxer perhaps returning favour (7)

A reversal (returning) of DOG (boxer perhaps) LIKE (favour)
3 TRAVERSAL
Republican state stops erection of final crossing (9)

An insertion (stops) of R (republican) and AVER (state) in a reversal (erection) of LAST (final)
4 NUTTIER
Head over bank showing less stability? (7)

NUT (head) on top of (over) TIER (bank)
5 UPDATED
Elated boyfriend departs refreshed (7)

UP (elated) DATE (boyfriend) D (departs)
6 TEASE
Twit supports broadcast (5)

A homophone (broadcast) of TEES (supports)
7 MASCARA
Cosmetic mum’s used to hide a blemish (7)

MA (mum) containing (used to hide) A (a) SCAR (blemish)
8 PACKAGE HOLIDAY
Travelling adults, primarily, and a kid go cheaply thus? (7,7)

An &lit clue, where the whole of the clue is both wordplay and definition. An anagram (travelling) of A (adults primarily, i.e. the first letter of adults) plus (and) A KID GO CHEAPLY
14 SEDUCTIVE
Sexy Home Counties channel Nutmeg’s following (9)

SE (Home Counties) DUCT (channel) plus (following) IVE (Nutmeg’s = Nutmeg has = I have = IVE)
16 PIMENTO
Self-righteous tutor refusing last pepper (7)

PI (self-righteous) MENTOR (tutor) minus its last letter (refusing last)
17 LEADERS
Articles from rising editor nonsensical writer’s describing (7)

LEARS (nonsensical writer’s) containing (describing) a reversal (rising) of ED (editor)
18 STEPS IN
Intervenes as tipped favourites slip up (5,2)

A reversal (tipped) of PETS (favourites) SIN (slip up)
19 TRAIPSE
Injured parties move wearily (7)

An anagram (injured) of PARTIES
21 DRIER
More thirsty wino’s not known to quit (5)

I’m not sure I can parse this. It may be a deletion (to quit) of NK (not known) from DRINKER (wino). But I can’t find NK = not known in the dictionaries and I don’t think I’ve come across it before

17 comments on “Quiptic 825 by Nutmeg”

  1. I parsed 21 down in the way you conjecture (delete NK from Drinker). There are pages on the web that claim NK is an abbreviation for “not known” (I must admit that I didn’t check it when I solved the puzzle – I just assumed it was OK).

    I do agree that it was another great Quiptic by Nutmeg. Thanks also for the excellent blog!

  2. Thanks, nms. Our favourite Spice Girl indeed, and thanks to her too.

    She’s got the hang of this Quiptic stuff, I think. In fact, she’s had the hang of it for a long time. Just right for kicking off the week, with some nice surfaces and well-constructed clues. I liked IN THE DARK and PACKAGE HOLIDAY particularly.

    One tiny point: the definition in GENTILE is ‘of non-believers’, otherwise we’d need GENTILES, no? Adjective rather than noun, if I’ve understood the clue properly.

  3. Thanks Nutmeg and nms

    My favourites were IN THE DARK, STEPS IN, GODLIKE, ON ICE & EXPEL.

    Like nms and Rick @ 1, I parsed NK as “not known” though I did not look it up in any dictionaries.

  4. I liked this.

    NK for not known is in a few dictionaries, I only know it from NKATARTS, not known at this address return to sender, easily scribbled on unwanted mail.

  5. Thanks K’s D @ 2. I wondered about the plural in the clue. You can read GENTILE as indicating a plural but it’s a bit of a strain. Your suggestion makes much more sense.

  6. Given that you struggled (if only slightly) with a crossword that’s supposed to be aimed at beginners, would it not be more accurate to say that this crossword has actually missed its mark?

    I’m not convinced that twit and tease are synonyms at 6D. There were a couple of others where I couldn’t see the parsing.

    So, sorry to be a wet blanket, but, for me, this is not a good quiptic.

  7. I also found this more difficult than I would hope a Quiptic would be, but it could just be that I’m off form today. I missed the TEASE homophone, but “twit” and “tease” are definitely synonyms as verbs. I didn’t see “sin” = “slip up” for STEPS UP, completely misled by seeing “up” as the reversal indicator for the whole clue and somehow missing the significance of “tipped”. I was happy with NK for “not known” in 21d, though.

    Favourites were DEAD SEA, YOURS SINCERELY, TRAVERSAL and PACKAGE HOLIDAY.

    Thanks to Nutmeg and newmarketsausage.

  10. Nice quiptic, and quite fitting for a beginner, such as myself. But I find it a bit irritating that Tolkien’s name is misspelled in 1d.

  11. Lovely, elegant and fun. Many thanks Nutmeg and to newmarketsausage. Much more to my taste than Rufus today. I must remember to come back to the Quiptic more frequently. (Capture: nine X 8, the hardest I’ve had yet)

  13. Grateful for a tip-off on the cryptic site; I found this a very entertaining solve.
    Particularly liked the clever clueing of LAST DITCH and STEPS IN, smiled at the relaxing smokers and thought 8d was rather special. Lovely Nutmeg, thank you.

    I needed help with the parsing of 3d – `state` and `final` – duly noted.
    Good to see you again, `bangers`, and thanks.

  14. I rarely post here so I’m unsure of the protocol. (I’m incapable of spelling `clueing’ as `cluing` for example, the latter just looks `clunky’ and wrong, to me.)

    In reply to xjpotter @11
    Agreed.
    Resolving to try the Quiptic regularly, if they’re this much fun. Off to Nutmeg’s archive…

  15. Hello dirky. Nice to see you here in the Diogenes Club. Love to all the old folk in the snug over the way.

    PS ‘Clueing’ for me too 🙂

  16. For what it’s worth, I consider myself to be a perennial quiptic level solver and I struggled with this. Finally got there but Roget was required and failed to parse 5 of the down clues to some extent. I did learn something so that’s good. Still, very enjoyable and thanks to both setter and blogger. Captcha listened to xjpotter. I got 1 x one… 🙂

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