A delightful Quiptic from our New Zealand based setter. A solver-friendly grid, clear clueing and some nice twists and turns along the way. I am guessing that this will have hit the spot for many folk this morning.
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 Crashed motor? Argument in the near future
TOMORROW
A charade of (MOTOR)* and ROW. The anagrind is ‘crashed’.
5 Nurse, perhaps, needing extra energy in vocation
CAREER
Pangakupu is inviting you to insert a further E in CARER, by telling you about it ‘needing extra energy’.
9 Elizabeth will swallow variety of lager in this!
BEER GLASS
An insertion of (LAGER)* in BESS with an extended definition. The insertion indicator is ‘will swallow’ and the anagrind is ‘variety of’. I became fixated on ‘Elizabeth’ being BET so couldn’t see this for a while.
11 Summary regarding EU farming policy
RECAP
A charade of RE and CAP for Common Agricultural Policy.
12 Host party before twice-yearly awards?
DO THE HONOURS
A charade of DO for ‘party’ and THE HONOURS, which are awards like the MBE, CBE and OBE given out every six months to those who have given outstanding public service. Also given to ex-politicians.
15 Monster, cornered by another goblin, retreating
OGRE
Hidden reversed in anothER GOblin.
16 Land manager redistributed most grain, keeping nothing in stock
AGRONOMIST
An insertion of O for ‘nothing’ in (MOST GRAIN)* The insertion indicator is ‘keeping … in stock’ and the anagrind is ‘redistributed’.
18 Evoked criminal before jury, not half awful prude
CONJURED UP
A charade of CON, JU[RY] and (PRUDE)* The anagrind is ‘awful’.
19 Fruit-tree, source of plums, getting attention
PEAR
A charade of P for the initial letter of ‘plums’ and EAR.
21 Disco pariahs, dancing to create ways of increasing desire
APHRODISIACS
(DISCO PARIAHS)* with ‘dancing’ as the anagrind.
24 Liberal put in excellent explanation for absence
ALIBI
An insertion of LIB in AI for A-one. The insertion indicator is ‘put in’. As pedants will assert, ALIBI is the proof of being elsewhere in a legal process.
25 Norwegian city starts to tempt reclusive US composer? Not at first
TRONDHEIM
A charade of TR for the initial letters of ‘tempt’ and ‘reclusive’ and [S]ONDHEIM.
26 Boy soprano’s a good bet?
TREBLE
A dd.
27 Taxi in Peruvian city backed up to yard in a friendly way
AMICABLY
An insertion of CAB in LIMA reversed, followed by Y. The insertion indicator is ‘in’.
Down
1 Objection raised over a brass instrument
TUBA
A charade of BUT reversed and A.
2 Timid? Startled cry after first sign of mouse
MEEK
A charade of M for the first letter of ‘mouse’ and EEK.
3 No German will get upset about one area
REGION
An insertion of I in NO GER reversed. The insertion indicator is ‘about’.
4 Someone caring for nippers relishing a toy, possibly
ORAL HYGIENIST
(RELISHING A TOY)* with ‘possibly’ as the anagrind.
6 New party invested in a transport system without purpose
AT RANDOM
An insertion of N and DO in A TRAM. The insertion indicator is ‘invested in’.
7 Oddly view six clues, cryptic – you won’t find them in other papers!
EXCLUSIVES
(V[I]E[W] SIX CLUES)* with ‘cryptic’ as the anagrind.
8 Store? Ropy store I rebuilt
REPOSITORY
(ROPY STORE I)*
10 A lot of fish without any variety – many a kid will get stuck into that
SCHOOL UNIFORM
A charade of SCHOOL and UNIFORM.
13 No French song about US city will be carefree
NONCHALANT
A charade of NON and LA inserted into CHANT. The insertion indicator is ‘about’.
14 British farm left in trouble, ultimately – no major transport access
BRANCH LINE
A charade of B, RANCH, L, IN and E for the final letter of ‘trouble’.
17 Support for text showing American car and its maximum capacity?
AUTOFILL
A charade of AUTO and FILL.
20 Sarcastic US spies turned up, apprehending detectives
ACIDIC
An insertion of CID in CIA reversed. The insertion indicator is ‘apprehending’.
22 Perhaps Basil and Sybil’s central feature?
HERB
The central letter of Sybil is B, so her ‘central feature’ could be rendered as HER B. The reference is, of course, to Fawlty Towers.
23 US prize? Judge resigning from prize in US
EMMY
[J]EMMY. To JEMMY is to prise something open. But AmEng has PRIZE for that verb, hence the ‘in US’ at the end. In fact, Americans more frequently use the verb PRY for that action, but that’s by-the-by.
Many thanks to Pangakupu for this week’s Quiptic.
An excellent Quiptic that was pitched at exactly the right level. Thanks to P and P.
Very tough puzzle.
I failed to solve 26ac & 17d and I could not parse 9ac.
New for me: CAP = Common Agricultural Policy (for 11ac); TRONDHEIM.
I found this very straightforward except for the southwest.
Had to reveal 26a. Surely a TREBLE is a big bet, rather than a good bet.
Thanks Panga and Pierre
Thanks Pangakupu and Pierre
Very nice Quiptic. I took a long time seeing where the definition was for CONJURED UP.
Favourites BEER GLASS and the very neat HERB.
A perfect Quiptic. I am always impressed by Pangakupu’s ability to set everything from Quiptic to Prize. Definitely a name I’m always please to see.
I agree with others that it’s a perfect Quiptic – very enjoyable. I only know three cities in Norway and fortunately TRONDHEIM is one of them.
I didn’t fancy this puzzle as a Quiptic (supposedly for beginners) – the clues seemed overly wordy to me and there were a couple of quite esoteric references (e.g. SONDHEIM – reclusive US composer, CAP for Common Agricultural Policy, JEMMY – has anyone in the UK ever heard of this?). Not exactly ‘quiptic’ fodder, but perhaps better suited for standard puzzles. So, not surprised some found this at the difficult end for a Quiptic.
IC @7
I’ve certainly heard of “jemmy”. Pierre isn’t saying that it’s US usage.
I meant to add that a TREBLE is only a good bet if the three are winners!
IC @7. I’m another in the UK that’s heard of JEMMY.
I found most of this quite easy, except for a couple of clues I really struggled with (9ac, 26ac, and 17d) that I had to reveal. BEER GLASS should have been gettable, but I’d dismissed Bess already, and never drink, so was trying to think of an event. Came up with BEER GALAS eventually (wasn’t suprised when that was wrong).
Never heard of: CAP regarding policy, the bet, prise spelt with a z, Bess for Elizabeth, ‘do the honours’ in this sense or The Honours as six-monthly awards.
Have heard of vaguely: treble (the singer), Sondheim, Trondheim.
Don’t really like AUTOFILL meaning ‘support for text’, perhaps someone could enlighten me? I certainly wouldn’t call it a ‘support’, but maybe other people would.
22 and 23 down were both a bit harsh (in my opinion).
Tough to start with but I soon got into my stride and really enjoyed this one. BEERGLASS: I assume ‘Elizabeth’ was referring to the late queen and got to the answer via BESS and ERGLA (anagrammed as REGAL).
Queen Elizabeth I was known as “Good Queen Bess”.
I thought this was a cryptic puzzle not a quiptic! From my perspective quiptics are getting harder to solve. Leaves me will no enthusiasm to carry on with Guardian puzzles if I can’t make a fist of a quiptic what chance have I got with usual crosswords.
I thought that the clue for one of either 12 or 6 should have been tweaked. BEER GLASS my favourite. Found it all perfectly Quiptic until reaching the bottom.
Yoakam@14 I’ve always found that sometimes the Quiptic seems harder than the Monday Cryptic and sometimes vice-versa. Keep at it and keep reading these blogs!
For me this was in the ‘good puzzle, but cryptic more than quiptic’ category.
As a US solver, I must have run across “prise” mostly from British authors, because I was surprised to see that “prize’ is the American spelling. M-W dictionary agrees that prize is American, but it would more commonly be just “pry”. Jemmy is definitely UK. In the US that would be jimmy. I’m familiar with both, but my vocabulary is biased by 100-year old crime fiction.
I’m another American who was a bit nonplussed by the clue for EMMY. I can second everything Zifmia @18 said about it, except that I don’t read crime fiction.
One of the most regular differences between AmEng and BrEng is the -ise and -ize ending. Almost all dictionaries and style guides have -ise as the preferred ending on this side of the pond: criticise, emphasise, conceptualise. Zifmia and mrpenny would no doubt write criticize, emphasize and conceptualize. So I guess prise and prize follow the same pattern, except you don’t see it very often since you prefer pry anyway.
What mrpenney said, except that like Zifmia I do read crime fiction, but UK and US, of many decades. But speaking of “American,” what is American doing in the clue for AUTOFILL?
Thanks Pangakapu and Pierre (no birds today?)
Eek! A mouse! Lots of fun ftom Pangakupu this morning, and no complaints about the clues. Like Pierre, I got stuck on Elizabeth being “Bet” or “Beth” until I remembered my auntie Bess and the BEER GLASS fell into place. And I have visited TRONDHEIM so it didn’t take long for that to fall into place either.
Very enjoyable, and a couple of cracking anagrams. No Maori nina?
Valentine @21 could it be because in the US people tend (or tended) to say automobile (or auto?) rather than car?
Pierre @20 – Not that simple. For the three examples you give, Chambers (sorry if I’ve offended anyone by saying that!) lists the -ize version first. Wikipedia (even more sorry for saying that) says that in Oxford English (such as in the OED) uses the -ize suffix where the word has Greek origins. No doubt the usual suspects who “know” more about the English language will come and tear me to shreds. I’m just saying what I’ve read.
Crispy @25
In practice it’s easier than that. Some words must have the -ise ending; all can have, so spelling them all with -ise avoids having to remember which need it.
I got through this once I realised that many of the clues were of the slice-and-dice ‘assembly-kit’ variety, which some setters specialise in and some solvers enjoy apparently. However I find these put a Quiptic at the more challenging end of the scale.
Crispy @25 – I still stick to the -ize when it’s Greek, -ise when it’s Latin rule, but I honestly thought I was the last person in the world to be doing that! I am, it is true, a classicist.
“Auto” for car in the US is not common today. It survives in businesses–insurance agents call it auto coverage, and places that sell e.g. mufflers and windshield wipers call themselves auto parts stores. But no one calls their car an auto anymore.
Forgot to mention for those unfamiliar with the late Stephen Sondheim: besides writing music and lyrics for numerous musicals, he also set cryptic crosswords back in his early days. If you poke around online you can find some of his puzzles.
He wrote only lyrics for West Side Story and Gypsy, and music and lyrics for (to list just the best-known shows) A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, A Little Night Music, Company, Sweeney Todd, and Into the Woods.
Muffin @26 – that sounds like a splendid idea!
I found it all to be at the easy end until spending ages on TREBLE (what’s good about it?) and AUTOFILL. I see I’m not alone with those two.
I liked ACIDIC, HERB and NONCHALANT.
Thanks Pierre and Pangakupu.
For the first time I have managed to finish it on the day!!
Some I couldn’t parse at all (Sybil… American prize and I still don’t get “alibi”)
Really enjoyable and just about the right level for me. I seemed to have gone around the corners of the grid moving from SE to NW to NE and then finally the SW which I found the most trouble (with AUTOFILL being my last in). Loved the charades like TRONDHEIM and the sneaky double duty of Sybil in HERB, but really all of it was spot on IMO. Thanks Pangakupu, and Pierre for your blog.
Andrea @32
A1 is “excellent”. LIB (for liberal) is inserted into that, resulting in a word (alibi) that means an explanation for absence. The original Latin meaning of the word is simply “elsewhere”.
Well done Andrea @32. A1 comes up quite often for excellent and the one is represented by I. (It also happens with M1 for road.) I realise this is still confusing if you’ve never heard anyone refer to anything as A-One. You solved the whole thing though so the mansplaining stops here! (Beaten to it.)
Martin @35…mine was womansplaining, which is just as bad!
Thank you, Pierre.
I couldn’t parse Sybil’s… and NHO Jemmy and treble=bet.
Thanks @29 mrpenny. It is really interesting.
Rabth3Cat @36 😄
Seriously though, we’re supposed to be helping so it’s all good
I found it on the tougher side, with a couple that I didn’t fully parse at the time.
I enjoyed that and thought it was well pitched as a newish solver. AUTOFILL was a bit of a struggle, but I guess we need a few chewy clues!
Finally I have caught up with my crosswords. Now I can comment in timely fashion if I have anything interesting to say, which I don’t so I won’t.
Thanks P&P for the pretty puzzle and perspicacious parsing.
Thanks Pangakupu and Pierre for a lovely Quiptic and great blog. I made a good start on the puzzle but then stumbled over a few later clues. This wasn’t because they were hard or unfair but just that I was on the wrong wavelength for a while. Generally very enjoyable.
For example, Basil and Sybil … I got it on Basil and the crossers but the Sybil part remained way over my head till I read about it here. Doh!
Mostly pleasant, with a sad finish — ended up revealing AUTOFILL (too clever for me), HYGIENIST (not encountered either definition) and half of 4d (no excuse on that one, just missed the anagrind). Jemmy also new for me, as was AGRONOMIST (was pleasantly surprised when the check button told me that it was in fact a word).
Had to come here to understand the parsing for BEERGLASS too (I’d assumed that Elisabeth = ER and was baffled by the rest) Also spent far too long wondering if there was such a thing as a ‘beer dress’ — maybe a feminine counterpart to a smoking jacket?
No, I don’t think that there is such a thing as a ‘beer dress’, but there should be! Made of waterproof materials, washable at high temperatures, and with large concealed secure pocket for purse, mascara and any personal security devices considered necessary for the venue. Startup?
An enjoyable Quiptic from Pangkapu.
It is always a treat to solve Quiptic by Pangkapu. Thanks Pierre for the explanations.
An enjoyable Quiptic from Pangkapu. Thanks Pierre for the explanations.
Gave up after 14d.
3 substitutions then knowing to use ‘in’ directly rather than as an indicator is beyond me.
Some good clues in here but I’m not there yet.
A lot of outrageous cheating on my part!
I enjoyed this puzzle a great deal. One could quibble that it’s inelegant (although certainly not wrong) to clue DO as “party” twice in the same puzzle, and I still find the clue for AUTOFILL confusing.
As an American, I can report that I don’t recall ever seeing “prize” used to mean “pry / prise”, although that doesn’t mean that this usage doesn’t exist.