People have said previously that Orlando has mastered the art of the Quiptic, and I think this was another example of that. Plenty of anagrams to get you going, plenty of wit, and each clue pointing the solver unequivocally towards the answer. A super puzzle, just right for the target audience in my opinion.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Sad secret disturbed philosopher
DESCARTES
(SAD SECRET)* Je pense, donc je suis and all that.
6 True Conservatives
RIGHT
A dd.
9 Form of fungal growth
MOULD
And another.
10 Lots of cards distributed satisfactorily?
A GOOD DEAL
A dd cum cd.
11 Ethnicity lessons in Ascot, for example
RACECOURSE
If you were sent on a training course about ethnicity, you might say it was a RACE COURSE.
12 Game children might play in break
SNAP
Another dd.
14 Cuts made here where players work?
THEATRE
A dd cum cd. If you are in THEATRE, then it’s likely a surgeon is going to cut you open; and of course ‘players’, or actors, work in a theatre.
15 Brisk movement of small singer backing Australia
SCHERZO
A charade of S, CHER and a reversal of OZ. If Cher received royalties for every time she’s appeared in a cryptic, she’d be richer than she already is.
17 I’m in enclosure with last bits of hot jalapeño pepper
PIMENTO
An insertion of IM in PEN followed by the last letters of hoT jalapeñO.
19 Disease of sheep that is found by ditch
SCRAPIE
A charade of SCRAP and IE for id est. I wonder what sheep dream about at night?
20 Spellbound artist with small part
RAPT
A charade of RA for ‘artist’ and PT for an abbreviation for ‘part’.
22 Lack of progress in country where women are excluded?
STAGNATION
A dd cum cd. Women are excluded from STAG NIGHTS, so whimsically, they couldn’t be part of a STAG NATION.
25 Game of pool
WATER POLO
A cd.
26 Fool turning to dot a couple of i’s
IDIOT
(DOT I I)* with ‘turning to’ as the anagrind.
27 Come to Korea — Chinese part
REACH
Hidden in KoREA CHinese.
28 Rambling rose with sedan — what driver needs?
ROAD SENSE
(ROSE SEDAN)* with ‘rambling’ as the anagrind.
Down
1 Odd editor gets up to object
DEMUR
A reversal of RUM ED. ‘Gets up’ is the reversal indicator, which works because it’s a down clue.
2 Something funny about our dip
SOUR CREAM
Orlando’s inviting you to insert OUR into SCREAM.
3 Giving up cook, bad at icing
ABDICATING
(BAD AT ICING)* with ‘cook’ as the anagrind.
4 Vilify a number of Romans breaking ceasefire
TRADUCE
An insertion of A and D for the Roman numeral for 500 in TRUCE.
5 Southern post office applies for partners
SPOUSES
A charade of S, PO and USES.
6 Theme park attraction free before end of June
RIDE
A charade of RID and E for the last letter of JunE.
7 Immature bowlers here?
GREEN
Another dd cum cd.
8 Elope then surprisingly produce ring
TELEPHONE
A lovely story-telling surface: it’s (ELOPE THEN)*
13 Cleaners reveal a princess taken in by her husband
CHARLADIES
An insertion of A DI in CHARLES. Ex-husband, strictly, but who cares?
14 Kill artist in the highest social class
TOP DRAWER
A charade of TOP in its sense of ‘kill’ and DRAWER.
16 Like a crocodile arranging a Nile trip?
REPTILIAN
(A NILE TRIP)*
18 Alfresco exit?
OUTDOOR
Another dd cum cd (I must think of a better way of describing these …)
19 Leo, for example, or a lady abroad
SIGNORA
A charade of LEO, one of the signs of the zodiac, OR and A gives you an Italian lady. Edit: Whoops – insufficient caffeine before blogging. Of course it’s SIGN plus OR plus A. Merci, Michelle, ma belle …
21 This bread is mine, thank you
PITTA
Another cleverly constructed clue: a charade of PIT and TA.
23 In autumn it requires gunpowder ingredient
NITRE
Hidden in autumN IT REquires.
24 Month not the first that may be triumphal
ARCH
[M]ARCH. I assume that the setter is referring to the Arc de Triomphe in gay Paris.
Always a pleasure to solve and blog an Orlando puzzle.
This was a good Quiptic, neither too difficult nor too easy and with a good variety of clue types. I liked 11a, 1d, 4d, 13d, 6d and my favourites were 22a STAGNATION & 15a SCHERZO.
New word for me was SCRAPIE but it was solvable via the wordplay.
Thanks for the blog, Pierre. I needed your help to parse 25a (even though I guessed and solved the answer, it never occurred to me that water polo was played in a swimming pool – I guess I imagined it was a game played on horseback in water) & 14d (very good clue – I was mislead by ‘artist’ = RA, and did not not know what to do with the remaining DWER).
You might want to re-write the parsing of 19d as SIGN + OR + A.
Great puzzle – I could solve all but one (SCRAPIE). Don’t sneer, I’m still a novice solver. One day I will solve an entire cryptic without help – one day…
My favourites were TOP DRAWER, STAGNATION and TELEPHONE. I like clues that make me groan and laugh.
Michelle, thanks for the correction at 19dn – whoops!
Kathryn, I/we don’t do sneering at beginners on Fifteensquared. It’s lovely to hear from someone who’s a ‘novice’, especially on the Quiptic blog. We were all there once – thinking that you’d never manage a whole puzzle. But practice and a bit of help from 225 can make the difference. Keep solving and come and tell us when you’ve managed that first one!
Thanks for the blog, Pierre.
Yes, it’s always a pleasure to see Orlando’s name on a puzzle, cryptic or quiptic – he really is a master at both.
I love story-telling surfaces and, as well as the one you mention, I was tickled by the picture of the crocodile packing his bags and intrigued by the philosopher’s secret.
Glad you enjoyed it, Kathryn. Keep at it – as Pierre says, we all had to learn and some of us are far too old to have had Orlando’s Quiptics and this great site to help us!
The first arch that sprang to my mind was, naturally, this one http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arch_of_Titus but I’m not surprised that Pierre immediately thought of the French one.
Many thanks, Orlando, for a great start to the week [which actually got off to a great start yesterday ;-)].
Although I found this a top to bottom solve it was very enjoyable, and as Pierre said at the top it was an ideal puzzle for its target audience.
Thanks Orlando; yes, just right for a Quiptic, I thought.
Thanks Pierre; I unaccountably got a bit stuck on the NE corner for a while.
I liked the STAG NATION. 🙂
Kathryn @2; have you tried the Everyman crosswords? They are on the Guardian website as well. They are good fun and usually suitable for beginners (and slow solvers, like me!)
Wow! Another one! How many “just right” Quiptics on the bounce is that from Orlando? Must be some sort of record for the genre. Hats off again.