A grid with a fair number of unchecked first letters, but straightforward clue construction overcame that potential hazard.
ACROSS
8 MEMSAHIB Charade of MEMSA – anagram (‘possibly’) of ‘Emmas’ – + HI (‘greeting’) + B (‘British’)
9 GREAT Homophone (‘by the sound of it’) of grate (‘jar’)
10 TRAY Envelope of A (‘front of aircraft’) in TRY (‘attempt’). Note the split of ‘aircraft’ and the definition ‘carrier’.
11 MAINWARING Charade of MAIN (‘leading’) + WAR (‘fighting’) + IN (‘home’) + G (‘guard leader’), with the whole defining Captain George Mainwaring, of Dad’s Army. Excellent &lit.
12 RAPPED (T)RAPPED (‘cornered, but not beginning’); ‘to be is connective tissue for the definition ‘struck’. Simple once I saw it, but it was the last entry.
14 GLIBNESS Anagram (‘in disguise’) of ‘blessing’, with ‘freedom of speech’ as the slightly cryptic definition.
15 CHECK-IN Homophone (‘may be heard’) of Czech. Does not quite work. Thanks to Prolixic for pointing out that the whole is a homophone of Czech Inn.
17 LEGIONS Anagram (‘bad’) of ‘sloe gin’.
20 RABBIT ON Charade of RABBI (‘teacher’) + TON (‘not about’).
22 TO DATE Envelope (‘involving’) of DA (‘American lawyer’) in TOTE (‘betting system’).
23 SHOWJUMPER Charade of SHOW (‘appear’) + JUMPER (‘top’). The horse and its rider.
24 SOUL Double definition ‘individual’ and ‘music category’.
25 NIECE Hidden answer (’embraces’) in ‘granNIE CErtainly’.
26 EQUALITY Charade of E (‘English’) + QUALITY (‘attribute’).
DOWN
1 REPROACH Charade of REP (‘salesman’) + ROACH (‘fish’).
2 ESPY Charade of E (‘opening of estate’) + SPY (‘agent’).
3 SHAMED Envelope (‘kept in’) of AM (‘PM”s predecessor’) in SHED (‘outhouse’). Nice surface.
4 ABRIDGE Charade of A (‘Arsenal’s first’) + BRIDGE (‘game’).
5 EGG WHITE Charade of EG (‘for example’) + G (‘good’) + WHITE (‘chess player’). ‘Whisker’ is one who whisks.
6 BEAR IN MIND Double definition, one cryptic.
7 STANDS Double definition with ‘revealed’ as connector.
13 PACE BOWLER Charade of P (‘pressure’) + ACE (‘top’) + BOWLER (‘hat’).
16 INTRUDER Anagram(‘being thrown out’) of ‘I’d return’.
18 NOT QUITE Envelope (‘outside’) of QUIT (‘leave’) in NOTE (‘brief message’).
19 SNIPPET Anagram (‘out’) of STEPPIN (‘stepping, missing last’).
21 ATHENS Charade of A (‘letter from Argos’) + THEN (‘followed by’) + S (‘one from Sparta’).
22 TURN UP Charade of TURN (‘cycle’) + UP (‘at college’).
24 SALE Hidden (‘in’) in ‘JeruSALEm’.
Thank you, Peter. Orlando’s getting to be a regular in the Quiptic, then? That gets my vote because this was a lovely puzzle, probably the best Quiptic we’ve had since the blogs on 225 started. Easy but good would be the executive summary, I think: I liked RABBIT ON, NOT QUITE, MAINWARING(when I’d understood it)and, for its surface, GLIBNESS.
Like you, I can’t quite make CHECK-IN work, but that’s a small niggle in an otherwise very enjoyable Monday crossword.
Great puzzle by Orlando. For 15 across, I took the wordplay to be “where a visitor to Prague may be” as “Czech Inn” with heard on its own to be the homophone indicator.
Prolixic – That certainly makes more sense. I will adjust the blog when I have a chance.
Of course that’s what it is, Prolixic, well explained. It’s now a niggle-free crossword for me – thank you, Orlando.
Thanks Peter, and to Prolixic for clearing up the only quibble. This was a joy to solve, with some excellent surfaces which produced more than one smile.
Well done, Orlando.
Not my fastest Quiptic, but having done Rufus my energy was dropping into fuzzy brain mode. In fact I think I’ll have a quick doze before lunch! So it was probably easier than I thought.
Thanks, Peter, Prolixic and Orlando. A good puzzle, I particularly liked 20a. I better try Rufus now………
A word of advice, Derek: the quiptic is usually – though not always – a tad easier than the cryptic 🙂
I know I know. But I also know how much I can take before it all starts going fuzzy on me. I’ll be fine in a month or two, but honestly, I should have had a nap between the two puzzles, just to get the brain working again.
Iknow how that feels Derek. You are forgiven. I trust things will get better in time.
Enjoyed this one – thanks Orlando and thanks Peter for the review.
This was a good puzzle for me as I managed to complete it with just a few checks. Thanks for the blog notes – very helpful.
Castaway66 – I am happy that you found the blog helpful. The consensus seems to be that this puzzle hit just the right note, inventive without being unmanageable. I do not recall seeing your name here before; if you are new to the site, welcome. If not, welcome anyway.