Guardian Quiptic N° 709, by Pan

by

The puzzle may be found at http://www.guardian.co.uk/crosswords/quiptic/709.

I found this plain sailing, as befits a Quiptic.

Across
1. Peer said to be infertile (6)
BARREN A homophone of BARON (‘peer’). As often, the clue by itself is ambiguous, but here the enumeration resolves it.
4. Lazybones giving bread to monarch (6)
LOAFER A charade of LOAF (‘bread’) plus ER (Elizabeth Regina, ‘monarch).
9. Beer ingredient found in springs (4)
HOPS Double definition.
10. Superficial knowledge of The Origin of Species making a difference? (10)
SMATTERING A charade of S (‘the origin of Species’) plus MATTERING (‘making a difference’).
11. Saint has a day to produce artistic representation (6)
STATUE A charade of ST (‘saint’) plus ‘a’ plus TUE (s’day’).
12. Pound on Shivering Ghost is a risky bet (4,4)
LONG SHOT A charade of L (‘pound’) plus ‘on’ plus GSHOT, an anagram (‘shivering’) of ‘ghost’.
13. Time to sit back after drink with a playwright (9)
DRAMATIST A charade of DRAM (‘drink’) plus ‘a’ plus TIS, a reversal (‘back’) of ‘sit’ plus T (‘time’).
15. Waved wand at sunrise (4)
DAWN An anagram (‘waved’) of ‘wand’.
16. Ex-president in transport to hospital (4)
BUSH A charade of BUS (‘transport’) plus H (‘hospital’).
17. Windy accommodation loaned by university (9)
FLATULENT A charade of FLAT (‘accommodation’) plus U(‘university’) plus LENT (‘loaned’).
21. Holiday rents for groups of three (8)
TRIPLETS A charade of TRIP (‘holiday’) plus LETS (‘rents’).
22. Go round for crumble before tea, for a change (6)
ROTATE A charade of ROT (‘crumble’) plus ATE, an anagram (‘for a change’) of ‘tea’.
24. David lay collapsed, having taken turn with naked female rider (4,6)
LADY GODIVA An envelope (‘having taken’) of GO (‘turn’) in LADYDIVA, an anagram (‘collapsed’) of ‘David lay’.
25. Producer of pork pies returning to bar (4)
RAIL A reversal (‘returning’) of LIAR (‘producer of pork pies’; ‘pork pies’ in rhyming slang is LIES).
26. Lend European beginning to embroider faulty sewing equipment (6)
NEEDLE An anagram (‘faulty’) of ‘lend’ plus E (‘European’) plus E (‘beginning to Embroider’).
27. Antelope‘s nasty smell masked by another (6)
REEBOK An envelope (‘masked by’) of BO (body odour, ‘nasty smell’) in REEK (‘another’ nasty smell).
Down
1. Straw hat contains large fish (7)
BLOATER An envelope (‘contains’) of L (‘large’) in BOATER (‘straw hat’). A bloater was a herring, before it was smoked.
2. Doctor tries to take exam again (5)
RESIT An anagram (‘doctor’, verb) of ‘tries’.
3. In dotage a siesta is most tranquil! (7)
EASIEST A hidden answer (‘in’) in ‘dotagE A SIESTa’.
5. Tour offered by ticket dealer not starting in entrance to gallery (6)
OUTING A charade of [t]OUT (‘ticket dealer’) without its first letter (‘not starting’) plus ‘in’ plus G (‘entrance to Gallery’).
6. Prevent everyone visiting wooded area (9)
FORESTALL A charade of FOREST (‘wooded area’) plus ALL (‘everyone’).
7. Not in great condition, having been hit by a car? (3,4)
RUN DOWN Double definition.
8. Address points put by girl to Ras Tafari? (5,8)
HAILE SELASSIE A charade of HAIL (‘address’) plus ESE (‘points’ of the compass) plus LASSIE (‘girl’). Before Haile Selassie became Emperor of Ethiopia (back when he was only moderately Selassie) he was known as Ras Tafari; his name was Tafari Makonnen Woldemikael, and, as most crossword solvers know, Ras, when it is not a headland, is an Abyssinian Prince. He gave his name to the Rastafari or Rastafarians, who revere him as the messiah.
14. Plant requiring average amount of water produced by empty hose, strangely (9)
MESOPHYTE An anagram (‘strangely’) of ’empty hose’.
16. Strip to get contract (7)
BARGAIN A charade of BAR (‘strip’) plus GAIN (‘get’).
18. Sailors start to eat sauce served with fish (7)
TARTARE A charade of TAR (‘sailor’) plus TAR (another one for the plural) plus E (‘start to Eat’).
19. Find fault with prison containing pit for torturing (7)
NITPICK An envelope (‘containing’) of TPI, an anagram (‘for torturing’) of ‘pit’ in NICK (‘prison’).
20. Stagger back from run against East wind (6)
RECOIL A charade of R (‘run’) plus E (‘east’) plus COIL (‘wind’ with a long i).
23. Pitch mostly used by bass emitting rhythmic beat (5)
THROB A charade of THRO[w] (‘pitch’) ‘mostly’, plus B (‘bass’).

5 comments on “Guardian Quiptic N° 709, by Pan”

  1. I agree that for the most part this was plain sailing, apart from the new words that I learnt today: MESOPHYTE & “Ras Tafari’ = HAILE SELASSIE both of which required a bit of “research”. And I was pleased that I could parse all of the clues, as befits a Quiptic.

    I liked a lot of the clues, especially 1a, 16a, 17a, 10a, 13a, 19d & 25a (last in).

    Thanks for the informative blog, PeterO.

  2. Thanks, Peter. I agree – one of the best-set Quiptics we’ve had for a while. Just right as an hors d’oeuvre for the main courses to come for more experienced solvers, and a good challenge for improvers.

    There were some lovely clues today – FLATULENT made me smile, and I also liked REEBOK. And if you don’t know your bloaters from your kippers from your herring, well …

    Bravo, Pan.

  3. Good Quiptic, although a pity that MESOPHYTE had to make an appearance.

    Thanks PeterO; I particularly liked FLATULENT and TARTARE, the latter had me scratching my head when I seemed to have ‘tar’ but no ‘s!’

  4. Thanks Peter, I needed you explanations for “rail”, “recoil” and ” Haile selassie”.I didn’t find this quiptic as easy as Rufus in the Telegraph today.

  5. Thanks peter and pan, mesophyte a bit awkward but it’s a way to get new solvers into a more arcane world. Just about right I felt

Comments are closed.