My four-weekly blog of the Guardian Quiptic puzzle, the online only Sunday Cryptic found here
Pangakupu continues to set entertaining puzzles at all levels, from the Quick Cryptic to the Genius, plus regular appearances elsewhere.
I hope I’ve covered any contentious areas, I’m not sure how much I’m going to be around today.
| ACROSS | ||
| 4 | WRENCH |
Damsel embracing another, ultimately a hard thing to bear (6)
|
| insertion (embracing) of R (anotheR, ultimately) in WENCH (damsel), adding later, as this seems to be causing some problems, according to Chambers wrench can mean “a separation or change that is difficult to bear, or the pain of this”.It’s in the noun definitions. I’ve read it as “he gave it up with a wrench”. . |
||
| 6 | BED-QUILT |
Teaching degree? Resign about student coverage at night (3-5)
|
| charade of BED (Teaching degree – BEd) + QUIT (resign) around (about) L (student) | ||
| 9 | TROPIC |
Discussion item admitting river forms line on map (6)
|
| insertion (admitting) of R (river) into TOPIC (discussion item) – the Tropic of Cancer or Capricorn are lines on a map. | ||
| 10 | LOCALITY |
Pub and brewery finally introducing it in the area (8)
|
| charade of LOCAL (pub) + Y (brewerY finally) around (introducing) IT (from the clue) | ||
| 11 | DEMOGRAPHIC |
Protest followed by explicit part of the population (11)
|
| charade of DEMO (protest) + GRAPHIC (explict) – the “followed by” gives the order of the components | ||
| 15 | ANTONYM |
Opposite of Caesar, J? (7)
|
| whimsical double definition – one of the opponents of Julius Caesar was Mark Antony, expressed in the same format (Caesar J) becomes Antony M | ||
| 17 | BARGAIN |
Reader initially gripped by book once more – it’s a good buy (7)
|
| insertion (gripped by) of R (Reader initially) in B (book) + AGAIN (once more) – B for book is in Chambers, one of the lists further down the page listing abbreviations. | ||
| 18 | SINGAPOREAN |
Person again troubled resident of city-state (11)
|
| anagram (troubled) of (PERSON AGAIN)* | ||
| 22 | MELODIST |
Song-writer seldom getting confused with it (8)
|
| anagram (confused with) of (SELDOM + IT)* – not a word I’ve come across before, but it had to be that. MELODIST is in Chambers under MELODY. | ||
| 23 | JOSHUA |
Religious writer to ridicule leaders of Unitarian Adventists (6)
|
| charade of JOSH (to ridicule) + U A (leaders of Unitarian Adventists) – JOSHUA is one of the more militaristic books of the Bible chronicling the Jewish peoples’ conquest of the land of Canaan. | ||
| 24 | OVERVIEW |
Completed challenge with summary (8)
|
| charade of OVER (completed) + VIE (challenge) + W (with). W for “with” turns up in old handwritten manuscripts, which are full of little shortcuts, but we still use it in wrt or w/o or waiters jutting down food requests. | ||
| 25 | BROWSE |
Items often furrowed before end of intense look over the shelves? (6)
|
| charade of BROWS (items often furrowed) + E (end of intensE) – and the question mark is indicating a definition by example – the original meaning is of cattle/sheep/deer feeding on rough herbs. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | ACTING |
Account with money? Grand, though not really in the post (6)
|
| charade of AC (account) + TIN (money) + G (grand) – TIN for money is in Chambers as slang – both English and Australian workers referring to worn down silver coins that looked like tin. G for grand comes from American slang for money ($1000 = a grand). | ||
| 2 | XENOPHOBIA |
Vandalised phone-box: one’s beginning to anticipate anti-foreigner sentiment (10)
|
| anagram (vandalised) of (PHONE-BOX)* to get XENOPHOB + I (one from the clue) + A (beginning to Anticipate) | ||
| 3 | SQUAD CAR |
Police vehicle: evidence of damage seen around one in four? (5,3)
|
| insertion (around) – SCAR (evidence of damage) around QUAD (one in four). QUAD in this sense is an abbreviation of quadruplet. | ||
| 4 | WITHDRAW |
Retract intelligence on origin of huge lottery (8)
|
| charade of WIT (intelligence) on H (origin of Huge) + DRAW (lottery) | ||
| 5 | ENORMITY |
Minor yet somehow a great crime (8)
|
| anagram (somehow) of (MINOR YET)* | ||
| 7 | IRIS |
Flag of European country getting trimmed (4)
|
| deletion (getting trimed) of IRISh (of European country) – the IRIS is often called a flag or flag iris – apparently from Old English where flagge means rushes or reeds. | ||
| 8 | TOYS |
Component of extravagant oyster trifles (4)
|
| hidden word (component of) in extravaganT OYSter | ||
| 12 | ADMINISTER |
Run a diocese, at first followed by member of clergy (10)
|
| charade of A (from the clue) D (Diocese at first) + (followed by) MINISTER (a member of clergy) | ||
| 13 | GAME SHOW |
Was home, excited to support good TV programme? (4,4)
|
| anagram (excited) of (WAS HOME)* supporting G (good) – so G in front. G for good comes from second-hand coin or book grading on sale catalogues. | ||
| 14 | INUNDATE |
Popular time to go round a French swamp (8)
|
| ordered charade – IN (popular) + DATE (time) around UN (a French – “a” in French) | ||
| 16 | NOSEDIVE |
Decline instantly: one’s worried over dodgy bar (8)
|
| anagram (worried) of (ONE’S)* to get NOSE over (ordering instruction in a down clue) DIVE (dodgy bar) | ||
| 19 | ODOURS |
Party, upsetting for us, stinks (6)
|
| charade of OD (DO = party, upsetting) + OURS (for us) | ||
| 20 | AMMO |
Material to support attack in backgammon (4)
|
| hidden word (in) backgAMMOn | ||
| 21 | GLUE |
Limits to general use adhesive (4)
|
| outside letters (limits to) GeneraL UsE – limits is an instruction to use the outer letters – here to use them to make a word. |
Nice Quiptic. I especially liked 15a ANTONYM – ingenious clue. I missed a couple of details of the parsing but saw most of it. Thanks for the clear explanations, Shanne.
Thank you for a fun Quiptic, Pangakupu, and for the blog, Shanne! ANTONYM a standout for me.
Can someone help me see why WRENCH is something hard to bear?
Calabar Bean @2 – according to Chambers wrench can mean “a separation or change that is difficult to bear, or the pain of this”. I’ve read it as “he gave it up with a wrench”. It’s in the noun definitions.
I failed to solve 4ac, 1d, 4d. I usually manage to finish the regular Cryptics during the week but this “puzzle for beginners and those in a hurry” defeated me.
I could not parse 24ac.
Favourite: ANTONYM.
Calabar Bean@2 – one of the definitions of WRENCH is: a feeling of sadness or distress caused by one’s own or another’s departure.
When I got XENOPHOBIA and JOSHUA I was certain there would be a pangram (something I never usually spot) but alas no Z appeared.
Thanks to setter and blogger.
I’d convinced myself that wrench meant spanner – a hard tool you carry (bear). I think the other meaning is more likely the intention though.
Antonym was brilliant
ANTONYM stands out, even if some on the Guardian site say it’s been used before. Some tricky ones, including the definition of ACTING and a hitherto unknown to me WENCH. Thanks Pangakupu and Shanne
Thanks Pankakupu and Shanne
Nice puzzle, with some good touches. I liked “another, ultimately” for the R in WRENCH.
A pity that the solution to 20d wasn’t OMMA, to use the “back” of backgammon!
I really liked Antonym. Thanks to Shanne for the excellent blog and to Pangakupu for the well pitched Quiptic.
ANTONYM reminded me of
Friend of Caesar, J? The opposite (7)
I searched for it in this site and found lots of references to the clue. Eventually I found the original. It’s from Independent 9174 by Klingsor, March 10th 2016!
Michelle #4 – same here, pretty much as far as difficulty level goes. An identical set of reveals and couldn’t parse OVERVIEW until I got here.
Good puzzle, but another one which felt a notch or two above quiptic level.
Nice steady solve.
I only spotted the brilliance of ANTONYM after completing the whole thing. Much else to like, but that was a standout.
Thanks Pangakupu & Shanne.
First attempt at a quiptic having got into Parseword and then the quicks – felt more involved than others I’ve tried.
Got all but 6a and 7d – being a teacher I focussed on PGCE rather than an undergraduate course, so obvious in hindsight – had the quilt bit parsed but couldn’t distinguish between different options.
7d is evidently one of those obscure uses that one comes across.
Lippy @13 – I actually call irises flags and know the flag iris, we have a couple of local ponds where they grow, so have never seen why anyone struggles with that equivalence.
ANTONYM was wonderful, and seems to have pleased everyone. I thought IRIS was easily the hardest, because you either know flag for iris (it’s a crosswordland favourite) or you (probably?) don’t, and then the trimmed country turns out (cleverly) to require the adjectival form. I’d be interested to know how many people deduced the answer as a jorum from the wordplay! A good step above Quiptic, that one, I thought.
The level across the rest of the puzzle seemed appropriate although I too found the NW the trickiest. I wanted TROPIC to be ISOsomething so that held up WITHDRAW somewhat.
Thanks to Shanne for the parsing of OVERVIEW! D’oh.. that w for “with” so often catches me out by not always being merely a juxtaposition filler word.
LD@5, didn’t think to look for a pangram (another d’oh). So I saved myself some trouble!
muffin@8, that was exactly my thought re backgammon! Would have been classy – though decidedly unQuiptic!
Thanks both
Spot on for a Quiptic although I think some definitions were a bit loose – 5d for example, and also maybe 4a, although Shanne has now explained that one. For me ENORMITY isn’t, or isn’t just, a great crime could be many great things to my mind. ANTONYM was my favourite, very neat clue, but there was lots to like throughout. Thanks Pangakupu, and to Shanne for the detailed explanations.
Thank you to compiler and blogger. Chewy in parts but fun. I do have a few minor quibbles. I’ve never heard of a bed-quilt (6a). It’s just a ‘quilt’ in my house. What other kind of quilt is there?? I appreciate other items can be quilted, ie jackets, but I don’t refer to them as jacket-quilts. Somebody will no doubt tell me it’s in Chambers…
Also, I’m no Bible scholar but I doubt Joshua (23a) actually wrote the book which bears his name. Stinks (19d) is a verb and odours is a plural noun, so not synonyms unless someone can explain otherwise. And I agree that ‘enormity’ on its own does not bring to mind a crime and is descriptive of many over-sized things.
Mintteabag @17
Stink can be a noun. “There’s a terrible stink from that dump – I do hate these stinks”.
Although it is frequently misused, “enormity” correctly means “extreme wickedness”, and is not related to its size.
I stand corrected on enormity, Muffin. Thank you. Jury is still out on ‘stinks’ though….
– I came to praise the setter regarding 15a, but as so many have already done so I can bury that comment.
– As others have also said, a wrench is more than just a hard thing to bear, it should refer to a separation.
– I don’t think B for book is ok, even if it is in some dictionary.
Trivial quibbles, otherwise, all very enjoyable.
Mintteabag @17 – stink is in Chambers as a noun.
Bedquilt isn’t in Chambers, but it is in Collins noted as archaic.
I don’t know why B = book, but it’s in various dictionaries I have lying around, so it’s obviously accepted across various disciplines.
The Book of Joshua was originally ascribed to Joshua, but hasn’t been for centuries, but that’s true of many Biblical books, Moses was originally supposed to have written Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, but we don’t think that now.
Mintteabag@17 you might enjoy reading about The Great Stink.
A very enjoyable and nicely pitched Quiptic. However, I don’t think Joshua was ever thought to have written the Book of Joshua. Also, “Enormity” does not, not, not mean “enormousness” – but so many people now think it does that before long the dud definition will appear in a dictionary and the battle will be lost. At least Pangakupu has it defined correctly.
I still don’t quite get 15A. Is it a double definition, a semi-&lit, or both? Not a fan but that’s probably because I had to reveal it along with most of its crossers 🙄
Also don’t know how the definition in 1D relates to “ACTING”
The word enormity began to be used to mean “immense” or “hugeness” around 1765–1792 according to Merriam-Webster. The meaning that Pangakupu used predates that and remains current.
C @24 an “acting” head deputies in a role. Acting CEO etc.
Thanks. I like the popular clue. I also likes SINGAPOREAN.
c @24
As I remember, Mark Antony was actually a supporter of Julius Caesar, against Brutus and Cassius and the other conspirators, so I’m not sure if it (and the one I quoted earlier) actually works.
ACTING is fine though – I’m the acting Director General while he is off on holiday?
Great stuff. I share the admiration for ANTONYM which took me a few minutes after writing it in to understand.
Thanks both
c@24, this version of the ANTONYM clue is indeed unusual; I take it as a combined simple definition (opposite) and whimsical &lit, but for the latter it’s not really clear in what way MA was an “opposite” of JC (see also muffin@26).
The version muffin@10 has unearthed is more robust I think. There the “friend of JC” is the wordplay – and if as per muffin@26 again we assume MA was (at least) not an enemy then the clue is definitely not &lit but rather just standard definition plus wordplay. I prefer that version.
Caesar J Antony M ….first appeared in Minute Cryptic about a year ago…. nice clue nonetheless
A difficult quiptic for me. I’m finding it challenging to navigate between fifteen squared, where, I thought, all discussion of the answers should be, and the comments section where, this week, there is also a lively discussion with what could be regarded as spoilers. I look at the comments to gauge how difficult a puzzle is but I go to fifteen squared for the answers. Thank you to the puzzle setter and blogger.
Devonhousewife@30 I don’t typically read the comments on the G page but I have always had the strong impression that the “community” is pretty strict about no spoilers there so I’m surprised that was not the case. Don’t hesitate to post a “please, no spoilers here” comment there; I would.
AP – there isn’t anything in the Guardian community rules about posting spoilers so there is no policing of spoilers from the moderators below the line at the G, just other posters. Who can then get criticised by other posters. I’ve tried highlighting blatant spoilers for removal, and they haven’t been removed.
The rules say no links, so moderators are hot on links – links to fifteen squared or talk through vlogs get deleted, but not spoilers. And because I’ve posted links to fifteen squared anything I post to the Guardian is pre-moderated.
(I tend to check for crosswords I’m blogging to see if the below the line comments gel with my impressions.)
I wrote in PANDA CAR for 3d without trying to parse it, feeing pleased with myself and wondering how many younger solvers would know that phrase… until it didn’t fit at all!! And now I’m trying to remember why we called them that in the first place.
Granny JP @ 33: I fell into the same trap! According to wikipedia: “The term ‘panda car’ was first used to refer to black police cars with panels that had been painted white to increase their visibility. It was later applied to blue and white police cars.” (I presume they mean “blue-and-white”, as while white panels on a black car would work OK, white panels on a white car would be… umm… camouflage ?”)
Some really excellent clues like ANTONYM, WITHDRAW, LOCALITY and XENOPHOBIA. Had to come here, though, for 6A: although I got QUIT, I failed to parse L for student. 7D I didn’t get at all, and new to me. 1D – I got the AC, the G, but TIN new to me.
Thanks Shanne for the helpful blog and Pangakupu for the work out.
It’s fine to refer to fifteensquared in the Guardian comments, but actual links are liable to be deleted. The moderators don’t seem to be at all bothered about spoilers, but they are usually quite well policed by other contributors – though less strictly for the easier crosswords.
Thanks, DerekTheSheep, for saving me from some research! I thought it was something to do with the cars being black & white, and I don’t remember blue being involved – but then everything was in black & white in those days, wasn’t it? 😉
I had many of the same quibbles & did-not-parses as many here, so thanks Shanne for the detailed explanations. And Pangakupu for the puzzle. I was, however, fine with WRENCH, as a separation can be hard to bear, and wrenches on your heart.
LOI was 15a ANTONYM, and only from the crossers. Even then, I did not twig the Mark Antony reference.
I did have to reveal 7d IRIS. Never heard of a flag iris, and I was going through a list of all the EU countries looking for one that had I_I in it. There were none!
Thanks Muffin, @10. I am quite sure that clue was on minute cryptic some months ago too.
I am ever so glad that on the Guardian so many solved this in double quick time. I am here to see some of the parsings as I just don’t get them at all.
Older South Walians will know all about this use of ‘wrench’ as ‘separation that is difficult to bear’. On the M4, on the Eastern end of the Brynglas tunnels there used to be a hoarding which displayed the thoughts of ‘Moley’, the personification of Newport’s late lamented Mole Wrench company, including the immortal “Every time a mole leaves Newport it’s a wrench”.
Great Quiptic and nice clear blog. Many thanks to Pangakupu and Shanne.
I’m still new to cryptic crosswords, but I do find the Quick Cryptics ok. The Quiptics normally feel like a big step up, but I raced through this once I got started. Only real sticking point was NW corner, with 2 or 3 reveals. I’m taking that as a victory!