Chandler made his/her Quiptic debut in March of this year, so s/he’s not the new kid on the block any more.
But there are thirteen sleeps till Santa comes, so those – unlike me – who actually get excited by Christmas may feel that we have peaked a little early here. That said, in my local supermarket mince pies have been on sale since the 29th of September and Frosty the Snowman on continuous loop since what seems like an eternity. I am unashamedly in the ‘Bah! Humbug!’ camp when it comes to the C-word, but those of a different persuasion will have been delighted to find SNOWSCAPE, WINTERTIME, DECORATIONS, NUTCRACKERS, MISTLETOE and MITTEN among the solutions; and there were some additional festive references in the clues themselves. God bless us every one.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Put back a receptacle in side feature of a hotel room?
MINIBAR
An insertion of A BIN in RIM, all reversed. The insertion indicator is ‘in’; the reversal indicator is ‘put back’.
5 Range for picking up others?
EARSHOT
A cd.
9 One giving instruction thus regularly rejected rubbish
TUTOR
A charade of TU for the odd letters of ‘thus’ and ROT reversed. The reversal indicator is ‘rejected’.
10 In a merry state, saw scope to include new festive scene
SNOWSCAPE
An insertion of N in (SAW SCOPE)* The insertion indicator is ‘to include’ and the anagrind is ‘in a merry state’.
11 Women put in ground with draw to entice mass in December?
WINTERTIME
A charade of W, INTER and M inserted into TIE. The insertion indicator is ‘to entice’.
12 Ask for quiet work in retail outlet
SHOP
A charade of SH and OP.
14 Co-ordinates in order to get baubles and tinsel?
DECORATIONS
(CO-ORDINATES)* with ‘in order’ as the anagrind.
18 Enthusiast of a crazy sort for seasonal food accessories?
NUTCRACKERS
A charade of NUT and CRACKERS.
21 Solitary old liberal found in US city
ONLY
A charade of O and L inserted into NY. The insertion indicator is ‘found in’.
22 Go when given licence to acquire northern flavoured sweet
PEPPERMINT
A charade of PEP and N inserted into PERMIT. The insertion indicator is ‘to acquire’.
25 Fancy item lost close to store is evergreen at Christmas
MISTLETOE
A charade of (ITEM LOST)* and E for the final letter of ‘store’. The anagrind is ‘fancy’.
26 From the East some man, a titled figure of great importance
TITAN
Hidden reversed in maN A TITled. ‘From the East’ is crosswordspeak for ‘reversed’, since we are a left-to-right language.
27 Was first around Middle East city, bearing a lot of stuff?
LADENED
An insertion of ADEN in LED. The insertion indicator is ‘around’.
28 Improve getting two directions by luck, first off
ENHANCE
A charade of E, N and [C]HANCE.
Down
1 Word from Paris now devised for a style of music
MOTOWN
A charade of MOT, the French word for ‘word’ and (NOW)* The anagrind is ‘devised’.
2 Observing number given money? Good
NOTING
A charade of NO, TIN and G.
3 Errand best put off for those serving drinks
BARTENDERS
(ERRAND BEST)* with ‘put off’ as the anagrind.
4 Note group having to adjust again
RESET
A charade of RE for the second ‘note’ of the tonic sol-fa and SET.
5 Last of police force accepting small measure as feature of the online world?
E-COMMERCE
A charade of E for the last letter of ‘police’ and MM for ‘millimetre’ inserted into COERCE. The insertion indicator is ‘accepting’.
6 Hasten with throng avoiding cold
RUSH
[C]RUSH
7 Trouble with argument about entry to hectic airport
HEATHROW
An insertion of H for the initial letter of ‘hectic’ in HEAT and ROW. The insertion indicator is ‘about’. Thinking about getting away for Christmas from LHR? Don’t.
8 Illegally enter resort with sun twice after three in Sicily?
TRESPASS
A charade of TRE, the word for ‘three’ in Italian, SPA and S twice.
13 American stops a tense period only with difficulty
AT A STRETCH
An insertion of A in A, T and STRETCH. The insertion indicator is ‘stops’.
15 Jointly founded centre to host hundred on uncertain date
CO-CREATED
An insertion of C in CORE, followed by (DATE)* The insertion indicator is ‘to host’ and the anagrind is ‘uncertain’.
16 Where one might see students with a learner of a casual sort
INFORMAL
A charade of IN FORM, A and L.
17 Sets idly disposed are given a distinctive designation?
STYLISED
(SETS IDLY)* with ‘disposed’ as the anagrind.
19 Look around edges of thicket for a glove
MITTEN
An insertion of TT for the outside letters of ‘thicket’ in MIEN. The insertion indicator is ‘around’.
20 Opinion from left-wingers in straitened times almost never carefully examined
STANCE
The initial letters (‘left-wingers’) of the last six words of the clue.
23 Sound of tranquillity in musical work
PIECE
A homophone of PEACE.
24 Proposal put in limp language
PLAN
Hidden in limP LANguage.
Many thanks to Chandler for this week’s Quiptic. Now stop peeling back the wrapping paper on your presents under the tree and having a sneaky peek when no-one is looking.
Thanks Chandler and Pierre
Not the easiest Quiptic ever, but a lot of fun.
I didn’t understand how “Ask for” fits in 12a.
If you ‘ask for quiet’, you say SH!
Muffin @1. I think “ask for quiet” gives “Sh!”
Thanks Pierre. We crossed in the ether. Merry Christmas!
Thanks both.
A personal first on my ten year cryptic journey – completed and parsed without external aids. Glad to hear it wasn’t the easiest! Thanks to Chandler and indeed Pierre, even though I didn’t need the help of the blog today.
Well done TimW! A nice seasonal puzzle.
Thanks, Chandler, for another fine entry in the Quiptic series.
Thanks also to Pierre for the blog and well done, TimW! You did better than me – I couldn’t make sense of TRESPASS and needed Pierre’s explanation to see what was going on there. S isn’t an obvious abbreviation for sun but I’ve probably seen it before.
Christmas doesn’t start until the 24th for me.
Yes, bravo to TimW. My main pleasure in blogging the Quiptic is helping newer solvers to improve, and there’s always a good feeling when you finish your first one unaided. I am happy to be redundant today.
Loaded I know, and laden I recognise, but LADENED is surely overkill?
Mostly enjoyable, with a fair number of smiles. I didn’t think 5a was cryptic. I thought “laden” was a past participle, and was unaware that it could be built upon, but when I consulted the dictionary, sure enough, it can.
Thanks Chandler and Mr Scrooge.
Nice Quiptic, but I’m with Gladys @ 10 re LADENED.
Enjoyable — though I’ll join the”ladened” pile-on. Top me, “laden” means “loaded”. “Laden” must mean “loaded”. It draws a blank in Collinsdictionary.com and the Oxford Dictionary app on my phone. Examples here show that it does get used — though the first illustration is telling:
“`ladened’ is not current usage”
Augh! Gremlins ate my homework. “Ladened” must mean “loadeded”. Even autocorrect says “no” to it.
Good Quiptic from Chandler.
Once you’ve got L?D???D, there’s not much else to choose – ladhood or Ludford perhaps? Stylists would have given lassoed or lasered. Good anagram spot for DECORATIONS. I wonder how Paul would have clued NUTCRACKERS? The surface for HEATHROW is timely.
Thanks Chandler and Pierre.
The example in Merriam-Webster is: heavily ladened with equipment.
I enjoyed this despite the dreadful theme, except for agreeing with Gladys about LADENED. Chambers gives the past as LADEN or LADED. Horrible word.
Thought this just about spot on in terms of difficulty & nicely themed.
Good job Chandler.
Nice puzzle.
Liked MOTOWN.
Thanks, both and well done TimW!
Good fun but I do not think ONLY works. The letter pairs are interspersed rather than one pair inserted in the other – the instruction gives NOLY.
Thanks for the blog.
Mystogre @20. Funnily enough, I was explaining to Anna how 21a might work, to get us started and said “for example, if the city were New York, we would get NOLY” when the penny dropped. I think you can (indeed, have to) lift-and-separate old from liberal so the O is written, then the L is inserted. Misdirection rather than an error. Just a matter of the range covered by ‘found in’.
Mystogre @20 : English ordering is ambiguous:
old (liberal found in US city)
My problem with 5a is that earshot is almost an anagram of others with picking up as the anagrind.
[bonangman@14. Would you be a boganman? Hope you’re not flooded tonight.]
So ZweiBieren @22, you would prefer 5A to read “Range for picking up others as found” or other suitable anagram indicator? The problem is you need an end to the sentence after the as, or clue the letters a different way.
For the laden argument, isn’t ladened the adjective from the past participle, not a past tense?
I found this a nicely placed Quiptic. Thank you to Chandler and Pierre.
Nice quiptic I thought. Some of us are in full-on card-writing/pressie-buying mode (and given the postal strikes I’ve probably left it too late!), so no objections from me about the seasonal theme, and the timing of SNOWSCAPE was pretty spot-on for the UK. Also liked the Wise Men from the East bearing gifts (26/27ac), or at least one of them.
Otoh I’m in the ‘bah humbug’ camp re LADENED. Prompted by Robi @16 I looked it up in Merriam-Webster, and yes, alas it is there. It even quotes the New York Times: “But that context… has ladened it with pernicious meaning in particular quarters.” Maybe laden sounds odd in the active voice? The same author, had he used a passive construction, might have said “[The word] is now laden with pernicious meaning”.
And while I’m quibbling – surely STYLISED is wrong? ‘Given a distinctive designation’ is STYLED, not STYLISED. Wiktionary gives as an example: “On these coins he [Edward the black Prince] invariably styles himself, Primogenitus Regis Angliæ, et Princeps Aquitaniæ”.
STYLISE on the other hand, or STYLIZE in the aforementioned Merriam-Webster, means “to conform to a conventional style, specifically : to represent or design according to a style or stylistic pattern rather than according to nature or tradition”.
That’s my quibble quota for the week. Thanks for the festive fun Chandler, and Joyeux Noël to Pierre.
[Shanne @24, normally the adjectival form is the same as the past participle, eg a given name, a broken bone. And M-W (I just happened to be on that site!) gives laden as an adjective first, with ‘confectionary-laden landscapes’ as an example.]
Rather than ONLY, I had SELF and was trying to figure out how Old could be “e”?!