Guardian Quiptic N° 649 by Pan

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I found this slow going at first, because of the lack of answers which leapt out at me, but it came out handily in the end.

Across
1. Attack garden pest with empty skillet (6)
MOLEST A charade of MOLE (‘garden pest’) + S[kille]T (’empty skillet’).
4. Lips coated with Tory colour (7)
CRIMSON An envelope (‘coated with’) of RIMS (‘lips’) in CON (Conservative, ‘Tory’).
9. Special attention given to animal making nest for rook: something to keep it off the crops (9)
SCARECROW A charade of S (‘special’) + CARE (‘attention’) + CROW, an envelope (‘making nest for’) of R (‘rook’, chess notation) in COW (‘animal’). I spent some time wondering how a CROW was an ‘animal making nest for rook’ before the penny dropped. ‘It’ in the definition refers to the ‘rook’ (not the chess notation).
10. Awfully bright leaders of Labour usually relapse in detox (5)
LURID First letters (‘leaders’) of ‘Labour Usually Relapse In Detox’.
11. So-called convert is part of the furniture in church (5)
ALTAR A homophone (‘so-called’) of ALTER (‘convert’, verb).
12. Capacity to endure hardship with no treacle, unfortunately! (9)
TOLERANCE An anagram (‘unfortunately’) of ‘no treacle’.
13. Typical example of drug and letter found by book (7)
EPITOME A charade of E (ecstacy, ‘drug’) + (‘and’) PI (Greek ‘letter’) + (‘found by’) TOME (‘book’).
15. Little dog’s favourite toy that dangles on a string (6)
PUPPET A charade of PUP (‘little dog’) + PET (‘favourite’).
17. Woman is happy to meet unknown son (6)
GLADYS A charade of GLAD (‘happy’) + (‘to meet’) Y (‘unknown’) + S (‘son’).
19. Mr Stone destroyed fabulous beast (7)
MONSTER An anagram (‘destroyed’) of ‘Mr Stone’.
22. Able to visit, carrying post to temporary shelter (9)
COMPETENT An envelope (‘carrying’) of P (‘post’; by itself, not a common abbreviation, although PO for Post Office is) in COME (‘visit’) + TENT (‘temporary shelter’).
24. Chief of Scandinavians going from first to third place in mountains (5)
ANDES DANES (‘Scandinavians’), with the first letter (‘chief’) ‘going from first to third place’. This strikes me as slightly clumsy wordplay.
26. Sign held by Bengali Brahman (5)
LIBRA Hidden answer in ‘BengaLI BRAhman’.
27. Vehicle in which to catch dog? (9)
LANDROVER A charade of LAND (‘catch’, a fish for example) + ROVER (‘dog’). The question mark covers the dodgy definition of the second part, and possibly the use of a trade name, and enumerating it as a single word.
28. Dead set on becoming awkward, so tranquillised (7)
SEDATED An anagram (‘on becoming awkward’) of ‘dead set’.
29. Setter returned to British Library with retired setter’s badge (6)
EMBLEM A charade of EM, a reversal (‘returned’) of ME (‘setter’, the writer of this clue) + B L (‘British Library’) + EM (same again).
Down
1. Manipulate crowd, given time (7)
MASSAGE A charade of MASS (‘crowd’) + AGE (‘time’).
2. Newly formed petal sprang forth (5)
LEAPT An anagram (‘newly formed’) of ‘petal’.
3. Display reined in by weapon is bloody, possibly (9)
SWEARWORD An envelope (‘reined in by’) of WEAR (‘display’) in SWORD (‘weapon’). ‘Possibly’ here points to an indication by example rather than definition.
4. Flower found in bad tempered woman’s border (7)
COWSLIP A charade of COW’S (‘bad tempered woman’s’) + LIP (‘border’).
5. Good-for-nothing violinist ignoring first and third parts (5)
IDLER [f]I[d]DLER (‘violinist’) with the first and third letter removed (‘ignoring first and third part’).
6. Inflexible length of twine ruined net (9)
STRINGENT A charade of STRING (‘length of twine’) + ENT, an anagram (‘ruined’) of ‘net’.
7. German embraced by naked daughter is gently prodded (6)
NUDGED An envelope (’embraced by’) of G (‘German’) in NUDE (‘naked’) + D (‘daughter’).
8. Squirm when legal document’s served to His Excellency (6)
WRITHE A charade of WRIT (‘legal document’) + H E (‘His Excellency’; the formal address of a British ambassador, so that HE is often indicated in a clue as ‘ambassador’, but here Pan gives you the term explicitly).
14. Setter to criticise a nasty city (9)
ISLAMABAD A charade of I (‘setter’) + SLAM (‘criticise’) + ‘a’ + BAD (‘nasty’).
16. Star with five points in enclosure identifying sign on animal (9)
PENTAGRAM A charade of PEN (‘enclosure’) + TAG (‘identifying sign’) + RAM (‘animal’).
18. Fired ammunition at second home of 25 used by editor (7)
SHELLED A charade of S (‘second’) + HELL (‘home of 25’, the answer to 25 down being DEVIL)+ ED (‘editor’).
19. Water supply contaminated by silt finally gets a service (6)
MATINS An envelope (‘contaminated by’) of T (‘silT, finally’) in MAINS (‘water supply’), for a morning church service.
20. King and old saint on strange platform (7)
ROSTRUM A charade of R (Rex, ‘king’) + O (‘old’) + ST (‘saint’) + RUM (‘strange’).
21. On which to weigh bits of fish? (6)
SCALES Double definition.
23. Specific thing used to chop up disembowelled convict (5)
EXACT A charade of EXA, a reversal (‘up’) of AXE (‘thing used to chop’) + C[onvic]T (‘disembowelled convict’).
25. Wretched creature died corrupt (5)
DEVIL A charade of D (‘died’) + EVIL (‘corrupt’).

3 comments on “Guardian Quiptic N° 649 by Pan”

  1. Thanks, Peter.

    While I agree with you about ANDES, I thought there was some nice clueing elsewhere here from Pan. I liked ISLAMABAD and COWSLIP particularly.

    Overall, a well-produced Quiptic, I think. Thanks to Pan.

  2. Having failed miserably with Orlando I thought I’d have a bit of light relief. Wrong. Struggled with it. Got there eventually though. So for me this the tough end of Quiptics.

  3. I thought this was about right for a Quiptic.

    Thanks PeterO; last one in was SWEARWORD. Took me a little while to see LURID and tried lucid at first.

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