This week’s 11 x 11 crossword from the Guardian intended to teach cryptic crosswords, found here
This week’s puzzle sees the 10th Quick Crytic from Budmo and back to familiar clue types. This puzzle has anagrams and hidden words with all the letters in the clues, and charades and soundalikes where the words and letters need to be found by the solver.
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.
- anagram minus – letters being used are shown as capitals in brackets, with the unused letter in lower case and square brackets – so fluttering (OWLET[s])* becomes TOWEL.
- 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 (crime) - Hidden word(s) Answer hidden in clue’s words
‘Some haVE ALtered meat (4)’ gives VEAL - Charade Combination of synonyms/abbrevs
‘Qualify to get drink for ID (8)’ gives PASSPORT (pass + port)
(see also above as this description misses abbreviations). - Soundalike Something that sounds like answer
‘Excited, Oscar’s announced (4)’ gives WILD
from Oscar “Wilde”, the playwright.
| ACROSS | Click on “Answer” to see the solutions | |
| 1 |
Men lose it, rocking important event (9)
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AnswerMILESTONE |
Parsinganagram of (MEN LOSE IT)* with an anagrind of “rocking” – and rocking is another of those words used to indicate an anagram, here in the clue surface it’s suggesting someone “rocking” their outfit, rather than rocking the boat, which is the cryptic grammar meaning. |
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| 7 |
Another bag eventually contains cattle feed (7)
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AnswerHERBAGE |
Parsinghidden word(s) (contains) in anotHER BAG Eventually, which is defined as cattle feed in the Cambridge dictionary here. |
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| 8 |
Party time for Dorothy? (3)
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AnswerDOT |
Parsingcharade of DO (party) + T (time – abbreviation from science/physics) with a question mark as this is one of the possible nicknames of Dorothy, along with Doll and Dottie. |
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| 9 |
Record different tone (4)
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AnswerNOTE |
Parsinganagram of (TONE)* with an anagrind of “different” – think of making a record. |
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| 10 |
Person carrying coffin is more exposed, it’s said (6)
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AnswerBEARER |
Parsingsoundalike (it’s said) of “barer” (more exposed), so the hilltop was barer/more exposed to the weather. The cryptic grammar here says the definition is (sounds like) something that is “barer” (more exposed) with the soundlike indicator (it’s said). |
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| 12 |
Nick allowed piece of meat (6)
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AnswerCUTLET |
Parsingcharade of CUT (nick) + LET (allowed) to give this piece of meat. |
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| 14 |
Fight useless party hosts (4)
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AnswerSPAR |
Parsinghidden word(s) (hosts) in uselesS PARty – with clue surface that makes sense and “hosts” as an indicator as it adds to the surface reading. “Hosts” is used as a indicator for a hidden word fairly regularly in the full fat cryptics, but I’m not sure we’ve come across it before in the Quick Cryptics. |
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| 17 |
Reportedly queue for fish eggs (3)
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AnswerROE |
Parsingsoundalike (reportedly) for a “row” (queue) (not an argument, where the pronunciation is different) – there’s a row of people waiting at the busstop, so this meaning is a noun, whereas the clue surface meaning is a verb (to queue). The cryptic grammar for this clue is – soundalike of something that sounds like “row” (queue) means fish eggs (definition). |
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| 18 |
Items of headwear found in vast urban sprawl (7)
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AnswerTURBANS |
Parsinghidden word(s) (found in) in vasT URBAN Sprawl for items of headwear, so more than one. |
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| 19 |
Old friend in deadlock (9)
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AnswerSTALEMATE |
Parsingcharade of STALE (old) + MATE (friend) for this sort of deadlock which comes from chess originally but is used metaphorically more widely now. |
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DOWN
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| 1 |
Value in summer items (5)
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AnswerMERIT |
Parsinghidden word(s) (in) in sumMER ITems with a suggestion that things from summer have value (like sunshine, ice-creams, droughts and wildfires?)/details> |
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| 2 |
According to hearsay, was first metal used in pipes by Romans (4)
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AnswerLEAD |
Parsingsoundalike (according to hearsay) “led” (was first), and sorting out where the indicator, soundalike and definition are in this clue is the trick to parsing it. It reads as a comment on Roman architecture, but it wasn’t hearsay, it’s true, and there are theories that the lead poisoning caused by this practice led to the downfall of the Roman Empire. |
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| 3 |
Country we send jerks (6)
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AnswerSWEDEN |
Parsinganagram of (WE SEND)* with an anagrind of “jerks”. |
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| 4 |
Instruction for dermatology nurses (5)
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AnswerORDER |
Parsinghidden word(s) (nurses) in fOR DERmatology. We have come across “nurses” as an indicator for a hidden word in this series before, but not for a while. It works well here with dermatology as part of the word play. |
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| 5 |
Go into winkle business (10)
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AnswerENTERPRISE |
Parsingcharade of ENTER (go into) + PRISE (winkle) – and having eaten them, winkles really need prising out of their shells. |
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| 6 |
Horny individual is hornier, ‘cos drunk (10)
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AnswerRHINOCEROS |
Parsinganagram of (HORNIER COS)* with an anagrind of “drunk” – and this creature isn’t more sexually aroused as suggested by the clue, but it has a horn. |
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| 11 |
Recent changes for netball player (6)
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AnswerCENTRE |
Parsinganagram of (RECENT)* with an anagrind of “changes” for one of the netball positions (using English spelling). |
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| 13 |
Article thanks Greek character (5)
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AnswerTHETA |
Parsingcharade of THE (article) + TA (thanks) – article for the or a (the definite and indefinite articles in English) or their equivalents in other languages come up all the time in crosswordland. |
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| 15 |
Calm section announced (5)
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AnswerPEACE |
Parsingsoundalike (announced) of “piece” (section) for a clue that has definition soundalike and then soundalike indicator, which makes it straightforward to work out which is which of soundalike and definition. |
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| 16 |
Part of Far East region (4)
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AnswerAREA |
Parsinghidden word(s) (part of) in fAR EAst. |
There was a Quick Cryptic in the Guardian Puzzle special last weekend. I have access to it, but not to anything I can point to now, and a solution, but the last special Quick Cryptic was an exercise in frustration as no-one else had seen it, and I couldn’t point to a live link. Did anyone do it? And do they want a published solution with parsing? If so, if my internet is better tomorrow, I’ll put a blog together.
Hi Shanne. I was away and haven’t done the special yet. I will try it tomorrow. Budmos offering was very difficult to get into but once I got started I was able to tap into the style! Mildly amusing and I didn’t really see the point of 8A so thanks for the parsing explanation. Perfectly doable finally for me as a beginner so thankyou Budmo.
I think 12a would work perfectly well without the “allowed” which is the word that gave me pause. A nick is a small cut, so a cut-let as in piglet.
Couldn’t parse 2D. Didn’t see the hidden word in 4D. Otherwise, quite good fun!
I did not see the special at all.
I have now checked the website and the only special I can find is the “us style” thing, but it is not cryptic.
Where should I look?
Very enjoyable puzzle. I thought the charades had the right level of trickiness for the QC slot to give a bit of challenge. All in all a perfect QC, thanks Budmo. And thanks Shanne for the detailed blogging as ever.
PS Shanne#1 was the puzzle special QC online? I never spotted but would love to try it.
Thanks Budmo and Shanne
I thought ORDER was exceptionally neat, and ENTERPRISE a bit hard for this slot.