Anto has the Quiptic for us 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 Important fringe event starting time?
BIG BANG
A charade of BIG and BANG, the latter word being an informal word for ‘fringe’ in the hairstyle sense. The ‘event’, of course, is the creation of the universe.
5 Rogue state needs to be buried
CADAVER
A charade of CAD and AVER.
9 Question decision of union boss trusting leaders
DOUBT
The initial letters of the middle five words of the clue.
10 Working version of credit
ON ACCOUNT
A charade of ON and ACCOUNT.
11 Chimney cleaner’s earnings are a bit if a lottery
SWEEPSTAKE
‘No Guardian crossword is published unedited’, it was claimed recently. Really? I’ll edit this one, then: ‘if’ needs to become ‘of’. Then it’s a charade of SWEEPS and TAKE.
12 Seaside resort starts to restrict hosing your lawn
RHYL
The initial letters of the last four words of the clue.
14 Record order keeps creating misgivings
DISCOMFORTS
A charade of DISC, OM for Order of Merit and FORTS.
18 Criminal nearing flat, caught doing something wrong
IN FLAGRANTE
(NEARING FLAT)*
21 Low-down humour
MOOD
A charade of MOO (‘the cattle are lowing, the baby awakes’) and D.
22 Writes for right-winger creating unsettling narrative
GHOST STORY
A charade of GHOSTS and TORY. The first element is referencing a ‘ghostwriter’.
25 Outsider provides rescue vessel, when surrounded by rampaging hordes
DARK HORSE
An insertion of ARK in (HORDES)*
26 Central parts of Slough utterly peripheral
OUTER
The middle letters of slOUgh and utTERly.
27 Rule out dropping contralto for opening
PRELUDE
PRE[C]LUDE
28 Compared social media approval, having sent back study
LIKENED
A charade of LIKE and DEN reversed. I can’t really imagine you don’t know, but LIKE is an option on social media posts, particularly Facebook, to indicate that you ‘approve’ of the content.
Down
1 Unpleasant idiot Americans say is tough
BADASS
A charade of BAD and ASS. American slang, hence the description.
2 Too much eaten outside — some people can’t take it
GLUTEN
A charade of GLUT and EN for the outside letters of ‘eaten’. People who suffer from coeliac disease can’t tolerate GLUTEN. Others choose to avoid it for dietary reasons.
3 Maori perhaps painted on a bust
ANTIPODEAN
(PAINTED ON A)*
4 Relish old money changing hands
GLOAT
The setters is asking you to replace the R in GROAT with an L.
5 Firm action reduced cocaine supply?
CRACKDOWN
A cd cum dd.
6 Keep your head down for nothing
DUCK
A dd.
7 They validate expression of pain in short poem
VOUCHERS
An insertion of OUCH in VERS[E].
8 The slurs being broadcast are really brutal
RUTHLESS
(THE SLURS)*
13 Dessert wine brings on more tremors
AFTERSHOCK
A charade of AFTERS and HOCK.
15 Penalty payment, if cleaner punctures balloon
SURCHARGE
An insertion of CHAR in SURGE.
16 Enthused when master entered and made concrete
FIRMED UP
An insertion of M in FIRED UP.
17 Score four playing without right winger, naturally
OF COURSE
(SCORE FOU[R])* The instruction to remove the R is ‘without right winger’, in other words the last letter on the right.
19 Return later for some Chinese food
WONTON
A reversal of NOT NOW.
20 Shy bride holding cross
HYBRID
Hidden in sHY BRIDe.
23 Superior mushroom spread
SWELL
A charade of S and WELL.
Edit: see comments below for an alternative parsing of this clue.
24 Only half grand? That’s the old you!
THOU
THOU[SAND].
Many thanks to Anto for this morning’s puzzle.
Thanks both. Not much (for once!) to moan about here. Just 23d (mushroom = well?) seems a bit loose to me
Hello Shirl – I took it to be a (loose-ish) threefold definition: spread and swell being synonyms, ditto mushroom, when a verb – and a person who’s “a swell” considers themselves superior to you…
I know. But I did say loose-ish.
Actually I thought there was lots to like in this – and not in a shallow, Facebooky way: 1a, 22a, 2d, 13d & 17d were very satisfying – and 25a, 4d & 24d were truly splendid. Thank you Anto for the fun – and thanks to Pierre for my d’oh! moment: the parsing of WONTON…
I agree Shirl @1, mushroom and swell seemed a bit off to me, enjoyed the rest though!
WONTON and BADASS were my favourites.
Thanks Anto and Pierre!
This wasn’t particularly difficult (a Quiptic shouldn’t be), but was well-constructed (the Graun typo in 11ac excepted) and enjoyable. Far more so than this morning’s Cryptic which included one of the worst clues I’ve seen for ages.
Thanks to Anto and to Pierre
An enjoyable Quiptic.
Thanks to Anto and to Pierre
I went for the 3d: superior (Us slang, as in he’s such a swell guy), then as per Wellbeck in that both mushroom and spread mean increase.
I also agree with Wellbeck @2 – but I’m not sure it’s really “-ish”: -ishish at worst?
I enjoyed this puzzle, and once again am delighted to see Anto producing some elegant clues in a well-judged Quiptic.
Thanks also to Pierre
Better than the cryptic but Vulcan is doing the task asked of him and there quite a few Rufus fans still out thyere
This was a pleasant reminder that Anto can be quite good when he avoids an excess of cd/dd clues. (I don’t mind a few per puzzle, and CRACKDOWN and DUCK were well constructed.) Thanks to Anto and Pierre.
Thanks to Anto and Pierre for a very pleasant start to the day. Pierre: please continue to explain technical jargon; I, for one, am still in the dark ages.
I thought this was a bit of a cracker, actually. Lots of well-constructed clues, including WONTON, MOOD and BADASS.
I’m pretty sure SWELL is just a straightforward triple-definition: ‘Swell’ meaning great (if you’re in in 1980s America, anyway), to mushroom (=expand), and spread (which almost means the same thing as mushroom)
I also thought that SWELL was a straight forward triple definition. In the alternative parsing, how do you get WELL from “mushroom”? I don’t understand.
Thanks Anto and Pierre
I thought this was Anto’s best puzzle to date. I had lots of favourites – SWEEPSTAKE if the typo were corrected, GLUTEN (LOI), AFTERSHOCK, and WONTON (though this would have beeen better as an across clue); there were more I appreciated too.
I had the triple definition parsing for SWELL too.
Ditto on the triple definition for SWELL. Not so sure about BANG for fringe. Isn’t it (a) always ‘bangs’ and (b) only used in that sense in America? I could be wrong on both counts (for years I thought when Americans were talking about bangs in connection with hair, they meant pigtails). I liked this – nothing that held me up too long, but plenty of pleasure along the way, like constructing DISCOMFORTS and WONTON, and finding the hidden HYBRID. Thanks, Anto and Pierre.
I thought that this was a delightful crossword, with lots of wit and invention. Which is more than could be said for today’s Cryptic…..
Most enjoyable. The only one I had difficulty parsing was SWELL but the triple definition makes sense to me. Many thanks Anto and Pierre.
Thanks Pierre for explanations, also to everyone above for parsing SWELL which was my last in. Took some time for the penny to drop re FORTS = KEEPS, a good clue I thought, and the typo in SWEEPSTAKE had me assuming it was there for the purposes of an anagram so misled me up the garden path for a while. When will I learn that it’s not known as the Grauniad for nothing? Lots more to enjoy and some amusing surfaces, thanks Anto.
Thanks pierre for DISCOMFORTS and to Anto for a bit of a tour de force. DUCK, WONTON, HYBRID – I could go on. Thoroughly entertained over dinner. Supper.
Perhaps a bit too difficult for “those in a hurry”? But who cares about those guys…. gals… peeps.
Excellent crossword, much smarter & more fun than today’s rather dreary cryptic
I can confirm TassieTim’s comment about BANG. In the US, the term is always BANGS. The singular BANG has no hair-related meaning to us. I don’t know about other parts of the world.
Other than that possible minor flaw (and the typo at 11ac), I thought this was an excellent Quiptic. I particularly enjoyed the simple and elegant construction of 21ac (MOOD).
Didn’t do this till today but wished I’d done it yesterday instead of the cryptic. Lots to like. Thanks all for the parsing of SWELL which had alluded me.
For what it’s worth ( given l’m not sure how many will read this), like Tassie Tim, I used to read bangs as pigtails (banging at the sides of one’s head). I have not heard the word in any other context meaning fringe and as Ted notes only ever in the plural. I am still puzzled how fringes bang but there you are.
Thanks to Anto for the fun and Pierre for the blog.
Also American. Never heard ‘bangs’ used as a singular. Strangely enough, the first time I looked at the clue I noted to myself ‘okay remember fringe=bangs’. I still didn’t parse the answer until very late, though. I suppose the clue could’ve read something like “Seconds away from important fringe event starting time”.
2d and 5d should’ve been way easier than they were, alas. For 17d, I assumed ‘without right-winger’ indicated I should get rid of an ‘r’ rather than a specific ‘r’. 23d was the last answer I got, mostly via guess and check. My brain got stuck on ‘okay, I need a dd for “superior” and some brand of truffles’. In the other direction, my easiest were 12a, 19d, and 24d
Britishisms:
12a RHYL – Even though I’d never heard of Rhyl before, I was able to get the answer by parsing the clue.
14a Bah, this is, like, the twelfth time I’ve seen order=OM=’order of merit’ and I still haven’t committed it to memory. Got sidetracked here because I thought ‘order’ was an anagram indicator
3d – Not sure if ‘antipodes’ is a Britishism or just unusual. I’ve definitely heard it before, but can’t remember the context
4d – Remembered ‘groats’ seconds after I hazarded GLOATS. I don’t really think of gloating as relishing, though they are related, hmm.
6d – If I had remembered DUCK=’zero’ this would have been way easier.
13d – Pretty much everything in this clue save for the straight part. AFTERS=’dessert’ I’d heard, maybe in a Harry Potter novel or some such, but to me HOCK is a leg joint or pawning something (such as it’s used in Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer”)
15d – Now that I look it up again, CHAR=’cleaner’ is something I’ve definitely encountered in a puzzle once before and promptly forgot.
Words:
Characters:
Brilliant Quiptic and blog, thanks Anton and Pierre. Swell had me stuck for ages – gah!!
*Anto sorry. Autocorrect.