Guardian Quiptic 866/Hectence

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Our Manchester City supporting setter invariably provides us with a good Quiptic challenge, but I had one or two niggles today.  Could just be me, and the fact that it’s still early on Monday.  But without being funny, I normally wouldn’t have to trawl through dictionaries to confirm answers in a Quiptic.

 

 

 

Abbreviations
cd  cryptic definition
dd  double definition
(xxxx)*  anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x]  letter(s) removed

definitions are underlined

Across

1  Nationalist Irishman’s in charge after civil unrest
PATRIOTIC
A charade of PAT for the stereotypical ‘Irishman’, RIOT and IC.

6  Have no medicine that contains poison
VENOM
Hidden in haVE NO Medicine.

9  Baby seal’s over popular as poster subject
PIN-UP
An insertion of IN in PUP.

10  Talked incessantly to academic on walk
RAMBLED ON
A charade of RAMBLE and DON.

11  Producer’s chasing costume for seamstress
DRESSMAKER
A charade of MAKER for ‘producer’ after DRESS for ‘costume’.  You need to read ‘chasing’ as ‘coming after’.

12  New game’s wicked
MEGA
(GAME)*  Yoofspeak, although my children’s preferred synonym is now ‘sick’.  ‘That film was sick.’

14  Nothing to prevent a bird from flying, in theory
OPINION
A charade of O for ‘nothing’ and PINION, which – I discovered – is a verb meaning to ‘make a bird incapable of flight by removing a part of the wing’ (Collins).  Hmmm.

15  Highest of everybody in exam
TALLEST
An insertion of ALL in TEST.

17  Novel, The Slap, has many ups and downs
THE ALPS
Not a great clue, in my opinion, because it has THE in the surface and in the answer.  And surely THE ALPS ‘have’, rather than ‘has’ many ups and downs. You wouldn’t say ‘The Alps is in Switzerland’.

19  Goes with brush to clean toilet
DUSTPAN
A charade of DUST and PAN for a slang word for ‘toilet’.

20  Record change of life
FILE
(LIFE)*

22  One brain cell mutation results in genius
BRILLIANCE
(I BRAIN CELL)*

25  Jack’s belly is upset by a rotten sweet
JELLY BABY
A charade of J for the card ‘Jack’, (BELLY)* and (BY A)*  The two anagrinds are ‘is upset’ and ‘rotten’.

26  Setter’s heard to inform on cake decoration
ICING
A charade of I for ‘setter’ and CING, a homophone (‘heard’) of SING for ‘to inform on’.

27  Rasher coming over without taxi?
BACON
A reversal of NO CAB, so a dd cum cd.

28  Criminal betrayed when 500 found inside cuddly toy
TEDDY BEAR
D for the Roman numeral for ‘500’ inside (BETRAYED)*  I’m from that era that associates ‘cuddly toy’ with The Generation Game.

Down

1  Brought in by tube, Johnny’s back about one
PIPED
An insertion of I in (Johnny) DEPP reversed.

2  Argentine cultivated fruit
TANGERINE
(ARGENTINE)*

3  With road up, meeting could be out of the question
IMPOSSIBLE
A charade of a reversal (‘up’) of M1 and POSSIBLE for ‘could be’.

4  Prepare Queen to come in to land
TERRAIN
An insertion of ER for Brenda in TRAIN for ‘prepare’.

5  Company’s top man meant heartless remark
COMMENT
A charade of CO for ‘company’, M for the first letter of ‘man’ and ME[A]NT.

6  Quarrel over housing for climbing animal
VOLE
Hidden reversed in quarrEL OVer.

7  Push on out of crumbling dungeon
NUDGE
Hectence is asking you to take ON out of DUNGE[ON] and then make an anagram.

8  Island that developed a new cocktail?
MANHATTAN
The ‘Island’ is the Isle of MAN, then you need (THAT)* and A and N.

13  Town’s supporting return of its beer in spring
ELASTICITY
Since it’s a down clue, it’s CITY ‘supporting’ or holding up a reversal (‘return’) of ITS ALE.  Is a ‘town’ a CITY?  Not always.  Although Manchester is a city.

14  Sacked when blooming oaf botched task
OUT OF A JOB
A charade of OUT for ‘blooming’ in the flower sense, (OAF)* and JOB for ‘task’.

16  Dear old love’s thoughtful
EXPENSIVE
A charade of EX and PENSIVE.

18  Help in seedy taverns
SERVANT
(TAVERNS)*

19  Put off action capture amateur
DELAYED
An insertion of LAY for ‘amateur’ (mainly in the church sense) in DEED; but surely the surface needs ‘captures’?

21  Purple patch regularly follows ill wind
LILAC
A charade of (ILL)* and AC for the even letters of ‘patch’.  The anagrind is ‘wind’, as in wind a watch rather than a strong wind.

23  Very willing listener welcomes good ending to tale
EAGER
An insertion of G and E for the last letter of ‘tale’ in EAR.

24  Sing praises of that man on the radio
HYMN
A homophone of HIM.  HYMN can be a verb, according to Collins, although that usage might not be ideal for a Quiptic.

Many thanks to our setter today.

15 comments on “Guardian Quiptic 866/Hectence”

  1. Thanks Hectence and Pierre
    A very good Quiptic, I thought, though I share your dislike of THE ALPS, and I didn’t parse MANHATTAN as I took it to be the island as well as the cocktail. ELASTICITY was my favourite.

  2. This was one Monday where there was a vast difference in difficulty between the Quiptic and the cryptic (if indeed you could track down the latter). I think thats how it should be

  5. Thank you Hectence and Pierre.

    I agree with muffin @1, a very good Quiptic. I did not think to parse MANHATTAN either.

    PATRIOTIC, BRILLIANCE, NUDGE, ELASTICITY and BACON were my favourites.

  6. Muffin and I were on the same wavelength for MANHATTAN. Whiskey, sweet vermouth and bitters, anyone? Thank you for explaining HYMN which I had not seen as a verb before.

  7. I could not parse 3d (did not think of M1) and did not consider to parse MANHATTAN further.

    I thought this is a good Quiptic for beginners.

    Thanks Pierre and Hectence.

    NB I was looking forward to Rufus today! I will skip the Cryptic – I’m not keen on doing it as a PDF and I also suspect that the theme may not appeal to me.

  10. Thanks both. Good stuff. Agree re 19d – surely a misprint?

    [michelle – have a go at the Tramp puzzle, although tough the “theme” deliberately misleading]

  13. Perhaps not Hectence’s best Quiptic, given the quibbles already mentioned, but I still enjoyed it. Favourites were MANHATTAN (which I did parse) and ELASTICITY, even though I thought both were rather tricky for a Quiptic.

    Thanks, Hectence and Pierre.

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