Guardian Quick Cryptic 115 by Budmo

This week’s 11 x 11 crossword from the Guardian intended to teach cryptic crosswords, found here

This week’s puzzle is the 9th puzzle set by Budmo, who is now setting both Cryptics and Quick Cryptic puzzles for the Guardian. This puzzle has anagrams and acrostics with all the letters in the clues, plus soundalikes and charades, where the words and letters need to be found by the solvers. We have seen all of these clue types several times before.

Sorry this one is being hurled together in a hurry before I’m out for the day – I will be back later this afternoon, but can’t do much before then.

The whole point of these crosswords is support and encouragement of new solvers, so special rules for these crosswords apply – see here – those rules include not posting solving times.

This blog was developed in response to suggestions. We hide the answers and the wordplay descriptions (parsing) too. To find the solution click on “Answer” and to find how the word play works, click on “Parsing” which will reveal the hidden information. You can choose to reveal everything using the “Expand All” button. If you have partially revealed the page, refreshing it will clear that, and allow you to expand all. The definition is in bold and underlined, the indicator is in red.

For additional help click here

There is a summary of the tricks used in the first six months here and a Guardian Crossword blog called the ultimate beginner’s guide has tips which may be useful for some solvers.

For abbreviations and clue tips click here

Fifteen Squared uses several abbreviations and jargon tricks, there’s a full list here, of which I’ve used the following in this blog:

underlining the definition in the clue – this is either at the beginning or end of the clue
indicators are in red.
CAPITALS to indicate which bits are part of the answer, e.g. haVE ALtered for the example.
anagram – letters being used shown in brackets (SENATOR)* for the clue below to give TREASON.
anagrind – anagram indicator – in the case below it is “arranged”
soundalike – is indicated by “Wilde” – so in the example, Oscar “Wilde”, the playwright and author, is indicating the soundalike WILD.
charades – the description below only gives the example of words being added together, but charades can be more complicated, adding abbreviations or single letters to another word. Examples previously used in this series are: Son ridicules loose overgarments (6) S (son) + MOCKS (ridicules), Get rid of dead pine (5) D(dead) + ITCH (pine) – D ITCH, and early on DR (doctor) + IVE (I have) to give DRIVE.
reversals – the reversal element of a clue is indicated by < – so in the example clue below, VieTNAm <.
CAD or clue as definition– where the whole clue gives the definition, sometimes called an &lit. These are rare.
DBE or definition by example – e.g. where a dog might be clued as a setter – often using a question mark, maybe, possibly or e.g. to show that this is an example rather than a definition.
surface – the meaning from reading the clue – so often cryptic clues use an English that could only be found in a cryptic crossword, but a smooth surface is a clue that has a meaning in English, which can be pointed or misleading.

TODAY’S TRICKS – from the crossword site – because the clues have moved on from the clue descriptions below, I am now adding more to the descriptions hidden above. Clues begin or end with a definition of the answer. The rest is one of these:

Anagram Anagram of answer and hint that there’s an anagram
‘Senator arranged crime (7)’ gives TREASON
Charade Combination of synonyms/abbrevs
‘Qualify to get drink for ID (8)’ gives PASSPORT (pass + port)
This definition is brief – more above.
Soundalike Something that sounds like answer
‘Excited, Oscar’s announced (4)’ gives WILD from Oscar “Wilde” the playwright
Acrostic First letters of answer
‘Initially Get A Good joke (3)’ gives GAG

	ACROSS	Click on “Answer” to see the solutions
1	Select Ms Crosbie and Ms Bening for show, reportedly as music producers (9)	Answer CASTANETS
	Parsing soundalike (reportedly) of “cast” (select … for show) plus “Annettes” (Ms Crosbie and Bening) – for these musical producers. Not the easiest of clues to start with.
7	Number of voters become sour away from home (7)	Answer TURNOUT
	Parsing charade of TURN (become sour) + OUT (away from home) – and it’s the sort of number announced after any election – there was a 35% turnout.
8	Main spot for an audience (3)	Answer SEA
	Parsing soundalike (for an audience) of “see” (spot) – main for SEA is a regular in crosswordland – they sailed upon the main.
9	Fool caught with character whose wife became salty (4)	Answer CLOT
	Parsing charade of C (caught – from cricket) + LOT (character whose wife became salty). In the Bible, Lot’s wife was turned into a pillar of salt as she looked back at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
10	Medical condition has exasperated registered nurses in America, to begin with (6)	Answer HERNIA
	Parsing acrostic (to begin with) of Has Exasperated Registered Nurses In America.
12	Cola is drunk in informal gathering (6)	Answer SOCIAL
	Parsing anagram of (COLA IS)* with an anagrind of “drunk”.
14	Business leaders in France intuitively reject modernisation (4)	Answer FIRM
	Parsing acrostic (leaders) of France Intuitively Reject Modernisation – with a surface that summons up French farmers protesting some modernisation moves. The other trick here is splitting the phrase of “business leaders” into definition and indicator.
17	Cold water is cold, especially at first (3)	Answer ICE
	Parsing acrostic (at first) of Is Cold Especially and another neat surface reading of the clue.
18	Authoritarian figures are suppressing criticism in southern Texas, primarily (7)	Answer FASCIST
	Parsing acrostic (primarily) of Figures Are Suppressing Criticism In Southern Texas – for a word that is being used as a verb, when we usually hear it as a noun.
19	Narrow ray of light alarms bee terribly (5,4)	Answer LASER BEAM
	Parsing anagram of (ALARMS BEE)* with an anagrind of “terribly”.

	DOWN
1	Freight from Charlie and Jason’s mythical ship (5)	Answer CARGO
	Parsing charade of C (Charlie – from the NATO phonetic alphabet) + ARGO (Jason’s ship).
2	Hose getting tangled up in footwear (4)	Answer SHOE
	Parsing anagram of (HOSE)* with an anagrind of “getting tangled up in”.
3	Learnt to play horn (6)	Answer ANTLER
	Parsing anagram of (LEARNT)* with an anagrind of “to play”.
4	Overheard Poles, in short, in German city (5)	Answer ESSEN
	Parsing soundalike (overheard) of S N (the poles of magnets or the Earth), as said, so “ess” and “en” for this German City.
5	At times, lag changes – it’s slowly growing (10)	Answer STALAGMITE
	Parsing anagram of (AT TIMES LEG)* with an anagrind of “changes” and a cryptic definition.
6	Fills cash register without moving (5-5)	Answer STOCK-STILL
	Parsing charade of STOCKS (fills – as in shelves) + TILL (cash register).
11	Cock-up by Republican boss (6)	Answer GAFFER
	Parsing charade of GAFFE (cock-up) + (by) R (Republican – from US electoral materials)
13	Groups of shipworkers announced holiday on ship (5)	Answer CREWS
	Parsing soundalike (announced) of “cruise” (holiday on ship)
15	Dialect starts to irritate day-trippers in old marketplace (5)	Answer IDIOM
	Parsing acrostic (starts to) of Irritate Day-trippers In Old Marketplace.
16	I will broadcast in land surrounded by water (4)	Answer ISLE
	Parsing soundalike (broadcast) of “I’ll” (I will).

2 comments on “Guardian Quick Cryptic 115 by Budmo”

STEFFEN

#1 - Sat 13th Jun 26, 08:06

Thank you for the explanations.

I had no idea how to solve 1a, 7a, 9a or 6d.
michelle

#2 - Sat 13th Jun 26, 08:08

This was an enjoyable puzzle.

Favourite: CASTANETS.

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2 comments on “Guardian Quick Cryptic 115 by Budmo”

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