I am still slightly glum about the loss of the Independent daily cryptic from the paper. Pangakupu’s alter ego Phi was a regular Friday contributor to that series of puzzles, so I cheered up when my first Quiptic blog after that loss turned out to be one from our New Zealand based setter.
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 Last month I live beside Lake – the level of noise
DECIBEL
A charade of DEC, I, BE for ‘live’ and L.
5 Figure page will display part of plant
FIG LEAF
A charade of FIG and LEAF.
9 Small piece in Czech’s beginning odd book
CRUMB
A charade of C for the initial letter of ‘Czech’, RUM and B.
10 Very first zodiac sign includes obligation for different types
VARIETIES
A charade of V for the initial letter of ‘very’ and TIE inserted into ARIES. The insertion indicator is ‘includes’.
11 Wild turnip scam presented in document
MANUSCRIPT
(TURNIP SCAM)* with ‘wild’ as the anagrind.
12 Academic supporting French
PROF
A charade of PRO and F.
14 Something overheard: ‘Small white grapes crushed’
STAGE WHISPER
(S WHITE GRAPES)* with ‘crushed’ as the anagrind.
18 Church’s initial organ trend disrupted around introduction of cool piano
CONCERT GRAND
A charade of C for the first letter of ‘church’ and C for the first letter of ‘cool’ inserted into (ORGAN TREND)* The anagrind is ‘disrupted’ and the insertion indicator is ‘around’.
21 Tablet computer father identified in documents
IPAD
An insertion of PA in ID. The insertion indicator is ‘identified in’.
22 Not giving up modifying prettiness
PERSISTENT
(PRETTINESS)* with ‘modifying’ as the anagrind.
25 Leader, perhaps – hence bowing and scraping?
VIOLINIST
A cd.
26 A swindle involving Republican – source of greater things later?
ACORN
An insertion of R in A CON. The insertion indicator is ‘involving’. Mighty oaks from little acorns grow.
27 Parisian is into boxing, not working in the theatre
RESTING
An insertion of EST, the French word for ‘is’ (il est, elle est, c’est) in RING. The insertion indicator is ‘into’. Pangakupu is referring to actors disguising the fact that they are out of work by using this expression. ‘I’m resting, luvvie, I’m resting.’ The alternative is ‘I’m just between jobs’.
28 Revised reply about article rejected in full assembly
PLENARY
An insertion of AN reversed in (REPLY)* The insertion indicator is ‘about’ and the anagrind is ‘revised’.
Down
1 Openings to develop economic confidence – a politician has to sneak away
DECAMP
A charade of DEC for the initial letters of ‘develop’, ‘economic’ and ‘confidence’ and A MP.
2 Church vessels, containers of milk?
CHURNS
A charade of CH and URNS.
3 Child-minder disgruntled about area beside front of sofa
BABYSITTER
An insertion of A, BY and S for the initial letter of ‘sofa’ in BITTER. The insertion indicator is ‘about’.
4 Bar in wild party getting overturned
LEVER
A reversal of REVEL, which works because it’s a down clue.
5 Sack with flour, perhaps, daughter dropped – how much damage could be done?
FIREPOWER
A charade of FIRE and POW[D]ER.
6 Information about loch and valley
GLEN
An insertion of L in GEN. The insertion indicator is ‘about’.
7 Motto for book, no end of a long story and plot
EPIGRAPH
A charade of EPI[C] and GRAPH.
8 Sole business for a dab hand?
FISH FARM
A charade of FISH for ‘sole’ and FARM for ‘business’ and a cad, relying on the fact that a ‘dab’ is also a fish.
13 New Orleans – his for the most part
LION’S SHARE
(ORLEANS HIS)* with ‘new’ as the anagrind.
15 Beginning to gabble, pronouncing ‘rain run-offs’
GUTTERING
A charade of G for the initial letter of ‘gabble’ and UTTERING.
16 Excellent – installing central heating always a success
ACHIEVER
A charade of CH inserted into AI (for A one) and EVER. The insertion indicator is ‘installing’.
17 One with common sense circumvents family of ill-repute
INFAMOUS
A charade of I and an insertion of FAM in NOUS. The insertion indicator is ‘circumvents’.
19 Explorer on screen found under iron hat
FEDORA
A charade of FE, the chemical symbol for ‘iron’ and DORA. Dora the Explorer is a children’s TV series, featuring the intrepid Dora and Boots the Monkey.
20 Mean and causing some pain?
STINGY
A dd, but the words are not homophones: the first has a soft G, the second a hard G.
23 Position is inverted in this form of exercise
SIT-UP
A reversal of PUT for ‘position’ as a verb and IS.
24 Partner reduced current internet access?
WI-FI
A charade of WIF[E] and I, the SI symbol for ‘current’.
Many thanks to Pangakupu for this week’s Quiptic.
Very enjoyable. I couldn’t figure out the parsing of BABYSITTER and I’m unclear about SIT-UP – isn’t the definition ‘this form of exercise’ and how does ‘position’ become ‘put’? Otherwise all completed and understood. Thanks both.
Amma @1, POSITION here is a verb.
Thanks for the blog, Pierre, and to Pangakupu for a neat, accessible and enjoyable puzzle
Stella@2 Yes I see that now. I suppose put and position (as verb), are close enough in meaning for the needs of a crossword setter.
I don’t understand why farm = hand. Pierre mentions farm = cad which I also don’t understand or get the step to hand.
Other than that, this was a perfect quiptic.
I don’t really get 8D either. I parsed it as “fish farm”=”sole business” for the definition, then dab=fish which left farm=hand which doesn’t seem to work. Business=farm seems very very loose, and if it’s a sole farm, then what use is a hand who works with dabs?
Thanks, Pierre for explaining 27ac which I did not fully parse (the theatrical sense).
I did not fully understand the ‘hand‘ bit of 8d although I understood that fish farm = sole business and that a dab is also a fish.
New for me: Dora the Explorer TV series (for 19d).
Thanks for the blog, Pierre.
I’d not heard of the kiddies’ TV character, but the hat was a no-brainer, after FE.
I agree about the unsatisfactory nature of FISH FARM. I’d have thought “sole business” would have sufficed by itself.
I quite liked the succinctness of GLEN.
For FISH FARM, I took it as a cad – a clue as definition, where the entire clue is the definition, but there is also wordplay within it to lead you to the answer. ‘A dab hand’ is an phrase for someone who’s really good at something – an expert. So someone like that might appropriately have a ‘sole business’ which could be a FISH FARM. It works for me, but I can see that newer solvers might find it difficult to unpick.
Position is inverted in this form of exercise
I think this is better parsed with position (v) = PUT, IS = IS, that all being inverted to give definition SIT UP.
Good Quiptic. Also not 100% clear about FISH FARM.
Is there a theme of musicals perhaps?
Thanks Pierre.
Lovely, thank you Pangakupu.
I especially enjoyed 20D STINGY.
I needed help to complete the parsing of 3D BABYSITTER and 19D FEDORA, thank you Pierre.
Did anyone else think 8D could be fish firm since that would be a sole business? I agree fish farm is a better answer but I wasn’t sure the clue directed me to it
I think the explanation of 23d is not quite correct. The definition is “this form of exercise” and so should be underlined, rather than ‘Position’. The word play is PUT[=position, as per Stella #2] + IS reversed.
Dafyydd@12 “Hand” is a word that can be used for a farm labourer, so a “dab hand” could be a labourer on a fish farm producing dabs.
Thank you, PhilC. I underlined the wrong part of the clue. Now corrected.
Thak you, Pangakupu and Pierre. Except for 8d, a very enjoyable Quiptic and blog. I was at an Alpaca farm yesterday which was run as a business, but I still found 8d difficult to solve and parse.
Possibly for most of my fellow cruciverbalists here, their children were grown up before the era of Dora the Explorer. I had children late (in my 50s) and I watched many of Dora’s explorations with them. In our household, ‘Swiper, no swiping.’ Dora’s admonition to Swiper the fox, became a family mantra, repeated to anyone whose hand was close to the literal or metaphorical cookie jar.
That was a lot of fun with some delightful surfaces. Looked in vain for a theme. Many thanks Pangakupu and Pierre.
Very enjoyable, and right on the Quiptic sweet spot in my opinion. Like others the FISH FARM wordplay felt a bit strange to me. Thanks Pangakupu, and Pierre.
I had FISH SHOP until it didn’t work.
Thanks Pangakupu and Pierre. FISH FARM has to be clue as definition, doesn’t it? A fish hand (dab hand) might (?) work (for a) at a FISH FARM (sole business). But if it is a charade, then the definition has to be dab hand, a guru, which I can’t square with a fish farm.
Now I reread the FISH FARM clue, I agree with Pierre that it’s fine. I found the whole thing slightly harder than some Quiptics but perfectly fitting. I liked INFAMOUS.
Thanks Pangakupu and Pierre.
Pierre, re 4d LEVER, I think the ‘overturned’ would still work in an across clue. It can be a synonym for reversed: “the decision was overturned/reversed”.
I agree with commenters that 8d FISH FARM was tricky, and with Pierre that it worked as written.
Thanks P&P for the pleasing puzzle and parsings.
Thank you, Pierre. I needed help with parsing of FEDORA and with theatric reference in RESTING.
And thanks to Pangakupu for the really nice puzzle.
I really enjoyed that and thought it was mostly perfectly pitched. In 8 down “sole” gave me “fish” and then I thought of “firm” for business, but that made no sense. Then I thought “dab hand” meant a farmhand who looks after the dabs, which got me to the answer. However, I looked up “hand” in the dictionary afterwards and discovered it doesn’t necessarily imply farmhand, so maybe that wasn’t actually the intention.
R
All very pleasant fare. Dora the Explorer was unknown to me, but the hat could be nothing else, so in she went. I can’t help but see a mental image of this as a Viz comic strip, along the lines of Roger Mellie, the Man on the Telly, or Paul Whicker the Tall Vicar.
I wasn’t entirely convinced by FISH FARM, but CONCERT GRAND was a very satisfying clue, as were many others.
Thanks, P & P !
Enjoyable puzzle with just the right amount of difficult clues. The north west corner went in fast and then I started to slow down and found the real challange in the southern quarters. That being said, EPIGRAPH was the last to go in and I didn’t quite figure out the right parsing, so always great to be able to come on here and check. For 27A I thought it might be STING as in “sting like a bee” in boxing, but no, RING is obvious. Did okay with the CDs but didn’t really understand them completely like some of the other commenters. CDs are definitely not my favourite type of Crypitic clue. I appreciate there not being too many trivia based clues on this one. It’s nice not to have to think of the name of an obscure river. Thanks as always to Pangakupu and Pierre
I suppose the two vertical “Nina”s of CARP and THAI are purely happenstance but if others have a causal explanation I’d like to hear it.
I’m not utterly sure that RING is an acceptable synonym for boxing in 27A – to me it needed something like “where boxing happens” or similar to make it fair.