Guardian Quiptic 1079 Carpathian

by

Thank you to Carpathian for a nice Quiptic. Definitions are underlined in the clues.

Across

1 Demure love note for wild beast (6)

COYOTE : COY(pretending to be shy/outwardly demure) + O(letter representing 0/love in tennis scores) + TE(syllable representing a note on the sol-fa musical scale).

Wild Wile E:

4 Difficult to swallow odd bits of Viagra in this university (7)

HARVARD : HARD(difficult/not easy, such as finding a solution to a puzzle) containing(to swallow) 1st, 3rd and 5th letters of(odd bits of) “Viagra“.

Defn: … in the US.

9 Flying ace primed to live for the moment (5,4)

CARPE DIEM : Anagram of(Flying) ACE PRIMED.

Defn: A Latin phrase, literally “seize the day”. As used by the Roman poet Horace to mean that one should enjoy life while one can.

10 Strength of some grain containing whiskey (5)

BRAWN : BRAN(some part, viz. the husk of grain separated from the flour after milling) containing(containing) W(letter represented by “whiskey” in the phonetic alphabet).

11 Start violent attack (5)

ONSET : Double defn: 2nd: … by the military.

12 Annoyed by Dire Straits, unfortunately twice missing start of song (9)

IRRITATED : Anagram of(…, unfortunately …) [“Dire Straits” minus(… missing) 2x(twice …) 1st letter of(start of) “song“].

13 Artwork is attractive but lacking in force (7)

ETCHING : “fetching”(attractive/appealing) minus(but lacking in) “f”(symbol for “force” in physics).

15 Small hen’s killer (6)

SLAYER : S(abbrev. for “small”) + LAYER(a hen is an example of one who lays/a lay-er of eggs).

17 Dances about with tool (6)

JIGSAW : JIGS(dances, well, the jig, a lively dance involving leaping) + A(abbrev. for “about”) +W(abbrev. for “with”).

19 Begin with famous sheep (5,2)

START UP : STAR(as a modifier, “famous”/outstanding) TUP(a male sheep/ram).

22 Licensed cat herder in action (9)

CHARTERED : Anagram of(… in action) CAT HERDER.

Defn: …/with rights and privileges established via a written grant.

24 Blast top of orange to get zest (5)

GUSTO : GUST(a blast of air/a strong sudden wind) + 1st letter of(top of) “orange“.

26 Fabric salesman in church (5)

CREPE : REP(short for “a sales representative”/a salesman) contained in(in) CE(abbrev. for the Church of England).

27 Bug old boy before meeting (9)

OBSESSION : OB(abbrev. for “old boy”/a former student of a school or college) plus(before) SESSION(a meeting of an official body, eg. the UN Security Council).

Defn: A keen, to the point of overwhelming, interest in something.

28 Fund defender to get revenge (7)

PAYBACK : PAY(to fund/to finance) + BACK(one who plays in a defensive position in a sporting team).

29 Laid back about praying regularly for organ (6)

LARYNX : LAX(laid back/lackadaisical) containing(about) 2nd, 4th and 6th letters of(.. regularly) “praying“.

Defn: … in one’s throat.

Down

1 Storm about in circle (7)

CYCLONE : ON(about/having a specific thing as the subject, as in “the talk was on drugs”) contained in(in) CYCLE(a series of events repeated in the same order round and round, like the points on a circle).

2 Stories of fish rising on poles (5)

YARNS : Reversal of(… rising, in a down clue) RAY(a broad flat fish with a whip-like tail) placed above(on, in a down clue) N,S(abbrev. for “north” and “south”, the geographic poles).

3 Emotional reaction shown by rich state in transition (9)

THEATRICS : Anagram of(… in transition) RICH STATE.

4 Bone queen buried in compost (7)

HUMERUS : ER(abbrev. for “Elizabeth Regina”, the Queen) contained in(buried in) HUMUS(compost/plant leaves and other material decomposed by soil micro-organisms).

Defn: … in one’s upper arm.

5 Steal books for mechanical man (5)

ROBOT : ROB(to steal/to take illegally) + OT(abbrev. for the Old Testament, the collection of books in the Bible).

6 Last word about section tenor delivers flat (9)

APARTMENT : [AMEN(the last word in a prayer) containing(about) PART(a section of a whole)] + T(abbrev. for “tenor”).

Defn: A set of rooms forming an individual residence.

7 Strip guy smuggling drug to Norway (6)

DENUDE : DUDE(slang in N.America for a guy/man) containing(smuggling) [E(abbrev. for the drug, Ecstasy) + N(the International Vehicle Registration code for Norway)].

8 Pirate victory over independent ruler (6)

VIKING : V(abbrev. for “victory”) placed above(over, in a down clue) [I(abbrev. for “independent”, as with an election candidate not belonging to any political party) + KING(a male ruler)].

Defn: … from Scandinavia; one of those who plundered the European coasts in the 8th to 10th centuries.

14 Weep about husband I am able to engage initially in deceit (9)

CHICANERY : CRY(to weep/to shed tears) containing(about) [H(abbrev. for “husband”) + I + CAN(am able to) + 1st letter of(… initially) “engage“].

16 Angel travelling in Asia to provide relief from suffering (9)

ANALGESIA : Anagram of(… travelling) ANGEL contained in(in) ASIA.

Defn: Medication …

18 Sorcerer returning natural hair (7)

WARLOCK : Reversal of(… returning) RAW(natural/unprocessed) + LOCK(a literary term for one’s hair).

19 Brute causes a disturbance internally (6)

SADIST : Hidden in(… internally) “causes a disturbance“.

Defn: … who derives pleasure from inflicting pain or humiliation on others.

20 Mythical creature somewhere in Arizona (7)

PHOENIX : Double defn: 1st: … that arose from the flames of its own funeral pyre, again and again; and 2nd: The state capital of Arizona, USA.

21 One called initially to step up to create glacial mass (3,3)

ICE CAP : I(Roman numeral for “one”) + 1st letter of(… initially) “called” plus(to) reversal of(… up, in a down clue) PACE(a single step).

Defn: A covering of ice over a large area.

23 Letter of thanks following article (5)

THETA : TA(“Thank you!”, informally) placed below(following, in down clue) THE(an article in grammar).

Defn: … in the Greek alphabet.

25 Lustrous, quiet, fashionable and unknown (5)

SHINY : SH!(an exclamation to request for quiet) + IN(fashionable/trendy) plus(and) Y(symbol for an unknown quantity in mathematics).

29 comments on “Guardian Quiptic 1079 Carpathian”

  3. Agreed, good Quiptic. Lots of clearly indicated answers, in a wide variety of clue types. Were the Vikings pirates? Not sure about that, but the answer was clear. In 21d, scchua, the “One’ represents I – not its first letter. Congratulations on a very clear blog, and thanks to Carpathian for the fun.

  4. Very solid and accessible Quiptic as we’d expect from Carpathian. SLAYER and CHICANERY were my favourites

  6. Nice Quiptic although after Anto’s rather splendid cheeky Cryptic this felt a little workmanlike, but had I done them the other way around I’d have probably loved this. Very good Quiptic level and no quibbles from me. Thanks Carpathian and scchua

  7. Excellent Quiptic.

    Could not parse the A in JIGSAW. I never knew that A is an abbreviation of about.

  9. Ditto michelle re A for about, but no doubt it’s ok’ed somewhere. Dumbledore’s 20d was Mrs ginf’s favourite HP character, while reading the books to keep company with our nieces (who are now 27 and 30!). Fun puzzle, ta both.

  10. Took far too long to see SLAYER, but otherwise a quick solve and smooth as usual from Carpathian. Thanks to her and to scchua for the thorough blog.

  11. A fun and relatively straightforward solve, and a pleasant way to pass my lunch-break. Tassie Tim at 3: you may be correct in saying Vikings weren’t technically pirates, but they generally arrived in force, slaughtered anyone who got in their way, created mayhem, grabbed anything of any value and went their way leaving bloodshed and death in their wake. Which is close enough, I’d say. Mind you, quite a few were moved to create epic verse about their exploits – and I’m pretty sure no pirate ever did that.
    I liked the famous sheep (a rival to Shaun, perhaps?)
    Thanks to Carpathian and Scchua

  12. Thanks Carpathian and scchua

    A nice Quiptic, as we have come to expect from Carpathian. Favourite was IRRITATED.

    I’ve always regarded “Viking” as a profession rather than a race – see Guy Gavriel Kay’s “The last light of the sun“!

  13. STAR TUP and SLAYER raised a smile, rest of it was a pretty smooth Quiptic and for once I managed to parse everything for myself. Along with comet Neowise I’m hoping it’s not an omen of ill-fortune…

    Ta to Scchua and Carpathian.

  14. Wellbeck @11 and muffin @12 – I guess I think of pirates as operating at sea – taking other ships – and Vikings as landing on a far coast and raiding on land there. But I agree that ‘Viking’ was an activity that Scandinavians of the time did in between farming and fishing and the like, rather than an ethnic group (at least, until they became full time professionals).

  17. I think this the first solve I can claim with no outside help…maybe. I didn’t know that ‘tup’ meant sheep, but the crossers made it pretty clear that it had to be. I’m guessing that’s a word that I’ll see in more than few of these crosswords and not many other places. Getting better and better as I build up a very specific vocabulary. Thanks so much for this blog!

  18. Congrats BenR

    “Tup” is a northern dialect word for a male sheep (“ram”), so it’s quite commonly used in normal speech where I live.

  20. [Thanks for the link, Tassie Tim.
    As I understand it, the old Norse word Vik meant “bay” (it gave us sundry place-names such as Norwich, Ipswich, Aldwych) though that may mean that the Vikings were people who’d set out from a bay, or possibly arrived at a bay….]

  21. Wellbeck @20

    I think you might have given better examples, as none of those are on bays!

    How about Randwick, Berwick, Sandwich, Harwich?

  22. I too was curious about the context in which “about” would be abbreviated “A”, but presumably there’s dictionary support for it somewhere. And I also wondered about whether Vikings and pirates were the same.

    I thought that this puzzle fit the bill for a Quiptic quite well: clearly clued, entertaining, and about the level of difficulty I’ve come to expect in this slot.

  23. Hello Muffin @21! Those were simply the first places that came to my mind! I do know they’re no longer on a bay, but they must have been when the name was originally given to them. Aldwych in London is, of course, is at the end of The Strand – so the river Thames must have had its northern bank along there at the point when both acquired their respective nomenclatures….
    Going back to Tassie Tim’s original comment, re-iterated just now by Ted: pirates were chiefly interested in personal financial gain, weren’t they? Whereas the groups of attackers and invaders who later came to be known as Vikings were equally keen on conquest of land and property. Nit-picking, I know, and none of this should be seen as criticism of a likeable clue…

  24. This was a clean, good ten minutes of fun.  Of course, for those of us who’ve been doing cryptics for decades, that’s what the Quiptic ought to be, so that’s not a complaint.  It’s exactly the sort of puzzle I should bookmark to show to people who have never done a cryptic before–no dodgy clues, no unusual devices, and no obscure words (except tup, of course).  I too raised an eyebrow at “viking” = “pirate” and A = about (I have never seen that use of the letter), but I’m not letting either of those things get in the way.  Then again, I once wrote the clue “Edward Tudor and George Windsor were marauders (7),” so.

  25. That’s very cute, myrpenney@24! I certainly wouldn’t have solved it in a hurry without the context of this discussio.

     

  26. Thanks, muffin! I’m in the US, so I’m often missing context for clues. And thanks for the link, it sparked a vague memory of my Irish great grandmother knitting and using that to count!

  27. I’ve never seen TE used to represent a sol-fa note. Wikipedia (and everywhere else I saw given a cursory search) just has TI.

    mrpenney@24: 10 minutes! Maybe one day…

  29. Catching up now that I have a new phone My old one was so old that the Guardian app stopped being supported.
    Held up by trying to think of a Texan city called Pegasus… Duh… Belated thanks to both.

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.