The crossword may be found at http://www.guardian.co.uk/crosswords/quiptic/705.
I found this fairly easy; although quite a few of the definitions did not warrant close scrutiny, and a couple of anagrinds owed a little too much to the surface, the intention was generally clear.
| Across | |||
| 1. | Carriage for mail to old town (English) (7) | ||
| POSTURE | A charade of POST (‘mail’) plus UR (‘old town’) plus E (‘English’). | ||
| 5. | Storage units for pants (7) | ||
| DRAWERS | Double definition. | ||
| 9. | Longed for some of the peach Edward sliced (5) | ||
| ACHED | A hidden answer (‘some of’, and ‘sliced’ for good measure?) in ‘the peACH EDward’. | ||
| 10. | Endeavour, for example, to cook chips and peas (9) | ||
| SPACESHIP | An anagram (‘cooked’) of ‘chips’ plus ‘peas’. How about ‘mushy peas and chips’? | ||
| 11. | Antidote for checkout procedure (14) | ||
| COUNTERMEASURE | A charade of COUNTER (‘checkout’) plus MEASURE (‘procedure’). | ||
| 13. | Returning graduate bends over backwards to form musical group (4) | ||
| ABBA | The answer is obvious, but how does the wordplay work? AB is ‘returning graduate’ – and then repeated, reversed again (‘bends over backward’)? | ||
| 14. | Fit model in ethical dilemma (8) | ||
| ATHLETIC | An envelope (‘in’) of T (Ford ‘model’) in AHLETIC, an anagram (‘dilemma’?) of ‘ethical’. | ||
| 17. | Kind of blue bird, one that plummets to Earth (8) | ||
| SKYDIVER | A charade of SKY (‘kind of blue’) plus DIVER (‘bird’). This reminds me of a web site which offered for sale one April 1st “Refurbished parachutes – used only once, never opened”. | ||
| 18. | Bill, you said, is banned (4) | ||
| TABU | A charade of TAB (‘bill’) plus U (‘you said’). | ||
| 21. | Go where Ginger’s dancing with Ira’s brother (6,8) | ||
| GEORGE GERSHWIN | An anagram (‘dancing’) of ‘go where Gingers’), with a neat surface reference to Ginger Rogers. | ||
| 23. | Like an animal, left yard rapaciously (9) | ||
| WOLFISHLY | A charade of WOLFISH (‘like an animal’) plus L (‘left’) plus Y (‘yard’ yd is a more common abbreviation, but my Chambers gives both). | ||
| 24. | Craft from Poole, unfinished, returned by son (5) | ||
| SLOOP | A charade of S (‘son’) plus LOOP, a reversal (‘returned’) of ‘pool[e]’ ‘unfinished’. | ||
| 25. | Railway worker at length reaches the fellow (7) | ||
| YARDMAN | A charade of YARD (‘length’) plus MAN (‘the fellow’). | ||
| 26. | Scrambles when seen out, catching fish (7) | ||
| ENCODES | An envelope (‘catching’) of COD (‘fish’) in ENES, an anagram (‘out’) of ‘seen’. | ||
| Down | |||
| 1. | Utter resentment at the top (4) | ||
| PEAK | A homophone (‘utter’ as an imperative) of PIQUE (‘resentment’). | ||
| 2. | Bad mistake to teach son and monkey together (9,6) | ||
| SCHOOLBOY HOWLER | A charade of SCHOOL (‘teach’) plus BOY (‘son’) plus HOWLER (‘monkey’). | ||
| 3. | Not finished with German and me (6) | ||
| UNDONE | A charade of UND (‘German and’) plus ONE (‘me’; not an equivalence often used by one). | ||
| 4. | It follows us, seen in disarray (6) | ||
| ENSUES | An anagram (‘in disarray’) of ‘us seen’. | ||
| 5. | Not hearing silent one with disability (4,4) | ||
| DEAF MUTE | A charade of DEAF (‘not hearing’) plus MUTE (‘silent’). | ||
| 6. | The last word can be “willing” (8) | ||
| AMENABLE | A charade of AMEN (‘the last word’ of a prayer) plus ABLE (‘can be’; wrong part of speech. A little holey, Moley, I think). | ||
| 7. | Drain many an engine part (7,8) | ||
| EXHAUST MANIFOLD | A charade of EXHAUST (‘drain’) plus MANIFOLD (‘many’). | ||
| 8. | Society’s weapon deployed after the meal (6,4) | ||
| SUPPER CLUB | A charade of SUPPER (‘the meal’) plus CLUB (‘weapon’). ‘Deployed after’ indicates the order of the particles. | ||
| 12. | Tour plan in lobby (10) | ||
| PASSAGEWAY | A charade of PASSAGE (‘tour’) plus WAY (‘plan’). Loose definitions all round. | ||
| 15. | Stirred Jim’s gin with love and flag-waving pride (8) | ||
| JINGOISM | An anagram (‘stirred’) of ‘jims gin’ plus O (‘love’). Jingo is a word with an interesting history. | ||
| 16. | Extend false new leg afterwards (8) | ||
| LENGTHEN | A charade of LENG, an anagram (‘false’) of N (‘new’) plus ‘leg’; plus THEN (‘afterwards’). | ||
| 19. | Checks gravy boat (6) | ||
| ARGYLE | Double definition, both named for the 4th Duke of Argyll. The gravy boat is new to me, and I am not happy with ‘checks’ for the sock pattern, even if it is adapted from a tartan. | ||
| 20. | Hot, spicy, boiled medication (6) | ||
| PHYSIC | An anagram (‘boiled’?) of H (‘hot’) plus ‘spicy’. | ||
| 22. | Soup prepared for work (4) | ||
| OPUS | An anagram (‘prepared’) of ‘soup’. | ||
I enjoyed this Quitic and found it easier than the Rufus today. My favourite clues were 21a, 1a, 3d, 7d, 26a & 2d.
Re 19d, ARGYLE = ‘gravy boat’ was new for me. I thought that the Argyle tartan looked close enough to a checked pattern that I did not think about it further.
I parsed 13a as you have noted above.
Thanks for the blog, PeterO.
I’m in the minority of one so far because I found this more difficult than the Rufus, although that may be because I attempted it after a long lunch and I wasn’t switched on properly.
I even made a pig’s breakfast of 5ac (my last in) first time around when I missed the straightforward DD and went instead for DIAPERS as a sort of Rufusesque cryptic definition. When the check button showed me the error of my ways I saw the proper answer almost immediately.
Add me to the easy list! Which of course means it did it’s job.
Well except for Argyle, neither definition of which I knew. My attention to clothing never rises above, yeah that’ll do, and a gravy boat never gets beyond, pass the gravy please.
Didn’t like passageway, rather loose all round tbh, argyle I failed on, no complaints, just didn’t see it.
Thanks Peter and Moley
difficult for a quiptic.
Thanks, Peter. I wouldn’t say easy; like grimalkin I found this tricky. Some good stuff, but as has been mentioned already, some loose stuff too. But as has been said many, many times, setting a Quiptic is probably the most difficult task for setters.
I don’t think 6 is quite that holey. The definition is “be willing” and can = able.
Leroy @7
The point is that ABLE is an adjective, while can – or can be – is a verb. Many crossword enthusiasts regard such a mismatch as a drawback (to put it mildly; if you have followed 225, you might have seen that some of our more vocal contributors raise it nearer the level of a mortal sin). The commonly accepted relationships are that the answer, or part of it, should be indicated in the clue by a dictionary definition, or that the two should be interchangeable in some reasonable sentence, although Araucaria for one does quite often use more allusive indications. It would seem that, since you introduce a further mismatch by moving ‘be’ to the definition part of the clue, you regard it as a sufficient indication that the the portions of clue and answer revolve about the same concept. If so, so be it.