Pasquale doesn’t often compile the Quiptic, but when he does, you know that it will be sound as a pound. This would be a good one to sit down and do with a beginner, if you have the inclination and patience. Why? Because it’s got plenty of anagrams to get you going, all the wordplay is clear as a bell, the grid is solver-friendly and there are no real obscurities. Happy days.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
9 Ruin peace, being terrible person living for good food and drink?
EPICUREAN
(RUIN PEACE)* Despite being an obvious anagram, this was my last one in, because I’d put THE COMMANDMENTS for 1dn, which in my defence works just as well.
10 Mistake made by Eastern bishop getting nothing right
ERROR
A charade of E, RR, O and R. RR is for Right Reverend, the title of a bishop. It’s a common abbreviation in Crosswordland (as well as B, of course).
11 Garment with classic hem is exquisite
CHEMISE
Hidden in classiC HEM IS Exquisite.
12 Where boat stops, beastly noise is coming with anger
MOORAGE
A charade of MOO and RAGE.
13 Maureen facing gym gets to be depressed
MOPE
A charade of MO for an informal, shortened form of ‘Maureen’ and PE.
14 In agreement with firm having an event
COINCIDENT
A charade of CO and INCIDENT.
15 Man’s yet to be freed, getting pardon
AMNESTY
(MANS YET)*
17 Wrap up little son needing sort of walk
SWADDLE
A charade of S and WADDLE.
19 Economist’s work I’d ask a pal about — time to get stuck into it
DAS KAPITAL
An insertion of T in (ID ASK A PAL)* The anagrind is ‘about’ and the insertion indicator is ‘to get stuck into it’. Karl Marx’s seminal three-parter (although the last two volumes were completed by Engels after his death).
22 Normal industry not entirely evident in African country
MALI
Hidden in norMAL Industry.
23 First woman to pause where there’s a stiff climb
EVEREST
A charade of EVE and REST.
24 Sound of dogs in East London location
BARKING
A dd.
26 Cake served during breakfast or tea
TORTE
Plenty of hiddens this morning: here in breakfasT OR TEa.
27 Lo, a carpet laid out for a queen!
CLEOPATRA
(LO A CARPET)*
Down
1 First ever set of instructions to be handed down?
TEN COMMANDMENTS
A cd. The first ever in the Christian tradition, anyway.
2 Fine pals excited in every minute of existence
LIFESPAN
(FINE PALS)*
3 Language of one place to the north
TUPI
A reversal of I PUT. A now extinct language of areas of Brazil. Never heard of it? That’s what crossing letters are for.
4 What gets church more disturbed — US state pomp
CEREMONY
A charade of CE, (MORE)* and NY.
5 Suiting a solitary person who went mowing with a dog?
ONE-MAN
A dd. The first part is an adjective, used in, for example a ONE-MAN SHOW or a ONE-MAN CAMPAIGN; the second is referencing the children’s counting song.
One man went to mow
Went to mow a meadow
One man and his dog
Went to mow a meadow …
6 Very short and round, not entirely pleasant — a woman
VERONICA
A charade of VER[Y], O, NIC[E] and A. The removal indicators are ‘short’ and ‘not entirely’.
7 It’s not plain talk that enthrals any number
ORNATE
An insertion of N in ORATE. The insertion indicator is ‘enthrals’.
8 American author conjuring up new nightmare, yes?
ERNEST HEMINGWAY
(NEW NIGHTMARE YES)*
16 Long-distance travellers in camp seen relaxing
SPACEMEN
(CAMP SEEN)*
17 Charlatan showed sign of injury and shuffled along
SHAMBLED
A charade of SHAM and BLED.
18 Their logs are not for burning
DIARISTS
A cd. DIARISTS write logs, and wouldn’t want them burning.
20 Supper’s beginning with fruit and broccoli?
SPEARS
A charade of S and PEARS.
21 International performance not broken up
INTACT
A charade of INT and ACT.
25 Like a twisted cord that’s not very good
ROPY
A dd, with the first definition a little whimsical.
Many thanks to Pasquale for this morning’s puzzle.
Definitely on the easy side for a Pasquale – as one would expect for a Quiptic. My only unknown was TUPI: while the clue was pretty clear, not having a consonant as a crosser left me with the feeling that there might be other possibilities. Pierre, wouldn’t you agree that consonant crossers are much more useful for confirming a possible answer than vowels? The NE was a bit more challenging for me than the rest, but didn’t delay me too long. It seemed to me that both of today’s crossies were pretty equal as to difficulty level. Thanks, Pasquale and Pierre.
We agree with everything TassieTim has said!
EPICUREAN and VERONICA were favourites
Thanks Pierre and Pasquale!
TUPI was a bit obscure for me as well, but I always forget about north indicating reversal in vertical clues. I realise I have been misspelling Hemingway for years. Thanks to Pierre and Pasquale
Thanks Pasquale and Pierre
TUPI a guess-and-check for me too; the rest went in easily. DIARISTS was a bit odd.
CLEOPATRA was favourite as, according to Shaw at least, Cleopatra was delivered to Julius Caesar wrapped in a carpet!
For sure, TassieTim – consonant crossers are (for me anyway) always more welcome than vowels. That said, if you’d got the I in as the last letter, then that was one part of the wordplay suggested. My personal least favourite is being left with ?A?E, where there are endless (well, 160 actually) possibilities.
1d TEN COMMANDMENTS doesn’t really seem to be cryptic to me – or am I missing something? Apart from that I thought there were some great Quiptic-level clues here, for example 26a TORTE and 17d SHAMBLED. And muffin I agree that 27a CLEOPATRA was brilliant!
Thanks Pasquale and Pierre.
A perfect beginners’ crossword, and I’d expect nothing less from Pasquale. Sound as a pound, as you rightly say. MOORAGE and ONE-MAN my favourites. Shame about having to sit in the shadow of Paul’s excellent DAS KAPITAL clue a few weeks ago.
Am trying to work out whether ROPY is a great double-def or just a mediocre one…
I think TEN COMMANDMENTS is cryptic, Lord Jim, in the sense that they were ‘handed down’ to Moses on Mt Sinai. Tablets of stone and all that. I quite liked ROPY, Boffo. A bit like describing octopuses as ARMY.
Thanks Pierre, that’s actually the way I read “handed down”. But I suppose the point is that “handed down” can have a slightly less literal meaning, as in handed down from generation to generation. That’s sometimes the problem with cryptic definitions – you can see the cryptic reading first without noticing the intended surface reading.
I’m with Lord Jim regarding TEN COMMANDMENTS. I also have a quibblet about CHEMISE, where the lack of a hidden-word indicator struck me as uncharacteristic of Pasquale. Both were clear, through, and didn’t spoil what was otherwise a fine Quiptic. I agree with Pierre and others that it would make a perfect beginner’s puzzle. Thanks to P & P.
I thought it was pretty perfect and well pitched for the Quiptic slot with a lot of wit and fun gentle misdirection.
Re 11ac I agree it’s missing an indicator although “hem” sent my brain looking in (despite hem being part of the hidden fodder). I also had a few second’s surprise when I misread it and missed the ‘I’ giving the far more smutty (and un-Pasquale-like) CHEMSEX as a solution.
Good Quiptic with a variety of clues.
I would agree, however, that ‘with’ in 11A does not seem to be a kosher hidden indicator.
Thanks Pasquale and Pierre.
We have had “with” as an inclusion indicator before, eg “Tribe with the magic lantern (4)”, Philistine 27,334. Is it justifiable along the following lines? If you get chips with every meal, chips are included in every meal. You get CHEMISE with “classic hem is exquisite”, meaning CHEMISE is included in “classic hem is exquisite”.
OK, Lord Jim @13, I think your example lets Pasquale off the hook.
Thanks to both, very straightforward. I think 2d is anagram of FINE PALS, Pierre.
1d The ten commandments were hardly the first ever, seems to me that God was quite free with instructions in Genesis: ‘let there be light!’; ‘don’t eat the fruit; ‘go forth and multiply’ and the instructions on expulsion from Eden: “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Never mind a good quiptic thanks to setter and blogger
Thanks, Ian.
Almost 100% completion without checking! Last answer completed was 14a; I had CO-N-I-E-T and struggled filling in the remaining letters given how common Ns and vowels are. Eventually got a foothold by reasoning that the letter after N was probably a consonant, so the letter before N could either be a vowel or something that could make a consonant cluster with -N.
Didn’t know RR for Right Reverend, but the answer fit. Same with TUPI for 3d; I think I might’ve heard of them once before, but don’t remember the context.
Britishisms:
13a – MO for Maureen. Perhaps this is merely antiquated (like ‘Sally’ for ‘Sarah’); regardless, it’s not a nickname I’ve heard often, if at all.
24a – BARKING; the clue sounded like it was hinting at a dd, though I’m not familiar with the area of London.
5d – This one tripped me up because I’d never encountered that counting song before, so I was expecting the answer to be cryptic-ier than the seemingly obvious ONE-MAN.
25d – ROPY meaning ‘not very good’ is something I’ve encountered in British fiction but isn’t used in the States afaik
Thanks, everyone!
Words:
Characters:
Khitty Hawk @18
Mo for Maureen is hardly a Britishism; I knew it from Maureen Connolly – “Little Mo” – an American tennis player.
muffin@19 – Gotcha. Wikipedia says Connolly was active in the ’50s, so it’s probably just fell out of use or I simply don’t know (of) enough people named Maureen for ‘Mo’ to register as a known quantity. Thanks!
Words:
Characters:
Thanks to Pasquale – very enjoyable. And to you Pierre. This is my second post here after some serious stalking for the past three months. Your explanations have been very helpful into making my way into cryptics. I managed all of them today apart from diarists even with all of the crossers.
Well done, Khitty Hawk, on the (near) completion. You’re going to carry on meeting Britishisms, of course, but look on the bright side – if you ever wish to apply for UK citizenship, you’ll pass the test with ease …
Connolly was the only one who came to mind for me too, khittyhawk.
That’s a pleasure for me to know that I have helped you a little bit, TCarroll. Stick to serious commenting rather than serious stalking from now on – it’s always interesting to see what newer solvers thought of the puzzle. Have you tried the Everyman series yet? Easy-end Sunday puzzle in the Guardian stable (and available via the website) which is also blogged (by me and others) here.
Yes. Been doing those as well with variable success Pierre. Managed week before entirely but other weeks have struggled to get going. Haven’t done this weeks yet. Had to work yesterday and they take me a while. I’m back to 968 on the Quiptics now. Feel like I’m making progress since start of lockdown when could only get a couple of clues.
It’s a nice feeling when you start to get near to finishing, or finishing. It’s like learning a new language, I think. Keep practising, keep making mistakes, feel better when someone compliments on how well you’re speaking it. You learn a lot of random stuff as well, which may or may not be useful.
18d DIARISTS I might add that one of the most famous of diarists,
Samuel Pepys, wrote about one of the most famous burnings, the Great Fire of London.
Valentine @27
Didn’t he record burying a cheese is his garden to protect it from the fire? Was it parmesan?
I feel like I’m being dense on TUPI, but I don’t get where the “put” comes from – can anyone throw me a bone?
@Paz put as a synonym of place.
@TCarroll Ah, yeah, I was completely misdirected by the other meaning of place. Thanks!
Have done this today, having run out of time yesterday. Lots to enjoy and more fun than yesterday’s cryptic – must remember to do Quiptic first on a Monday. TILT TUPI. Fav CLEOPATRA. I would have said 1d was first in the Judeo-Christian tradition, though I take Andrew@16’s point, which makes the clue not so cryptic.
Thanks to Pasquale for the fun and Pierre for the blog.
Mo is more likely to be short for Mohamed than Maureen these days, but it’s one of those classic old fashioned crossword abbreviations that everyone is expected to know, so it’s worth Pasquale teaching it.