Guardian Quiptic 717 / Orlando

Greetings from a newcomer to 15^2, where I am joining the Quiptic team. I’m delighted to be here, since the Quiptic is a splendid institution, and doubly so to be starting with this excellent puzzle from Orlando, which is all a Quiptic should be: straightforward, thoroughly fair, and with a good helping of wit.

Thanks to the author of the splendid crossword blogging tool in evidence here, an awesome machine once I’d learnt to use it properly.

Across

1 Mince pies first for old fighters (9)
SPITFIRES
The instruction ‘mince’ tells you to take an anagram of PIES FIRST.

6 Singular stuff? Beat it! (5)
SCRAM
S = ‘singular’ (as opposed to plural) CRAM (‘stuff’).

9 Quash urban legend started by girl (5)
ANNUL
UL (‘urban legend’), with ANN as the girl who ‘starts’ the answer off: ANN UL. I hadn’t come across the abbreviation UL before, but once the L was in place it was clear enough. (Edit: See Eileen’s comment #1 for a better reading.)

10 Adding nothing new after changing course (7,2)
TACKING ON
O (zero, ‘nothing’) N (‘new’) after TACKING, which entails changing course, as every sailor knows.

11 In favour of supporting patient (10)
FORBEARING
FOR (in favour of) BEARING (supporting). (Oh, that; kind of ‘patient’!)

12 Guitarist puts his finger on this worry (4)
FRET
Double definition. Don’t FRET if you forgot about the kind of FRET found on a fretboard.

14 Marked? Indeed not! (7)
DENOTED
In DEED, we are to find NOT: DE(NOT)ED. A trifle edgy, you think, using ‘indeed’ to mean ‘in deed’? Orlando thinks so too, and helpfully flagged up that he was doing something a little piquant with that exclamation mark.

15 Football player beginning to sob? Crybaby! (7)
SWEEPER
The beginning, or start, to SOB is S, and a crybaby is a WEEPER. I know nothing of the Beautiful Game, so I had never heard of a SWEEPER, which apparently is a kind of defender more popular on the continent.

17 Eels can swim to get clear of dirt (7)
CLEANSE
Anagram (the words ‘swim’ about) of EELS CAN.

19 Pained expression covered by reporters showing skill (7)
PROWESS
OW! is indeed a pained expression, and it is ‘covered by’ (contained in) reporters, namely the PRESS.

20 American tug (4)
YANK
Double definition. (Oh, that kind of ‘tug’!)

22 Disturbed soil — not bad clue for Holmes, perhaps (10)
BLOODSTAIN
‘Disturbed’ is one of those red flags which scream ‘anagram’ – if flags can scream – and duly disturbing SOIL NOT BAD leads to this possible clue for the great detective. Indeed, a BLOODSTAIN was all he needed in The Norwood Builder or The Second Stain.

25 Orlando’s on time, you say, needing no preparation (9)
IMPROMPTU
I’M (‘Orlando’s’) PROMPT (on time) U (a homophone (‘say’) of ‘you’). Why is ‘Orlando’s’ I’M, you ask? Did you look at the name of the crossword setter?

26 Fancy sort of ticket (5)
DREAM
Double definition – to imagine something is to fancy or DREAM it, and the best kind of ticket is a DREAM ticket.

27 Nymph not serving alcohol, extremely awkward (5)
DRYAD
DRY (not serving alcohol) followed by the outer ‘extremes’ of AwkwarD.

28 Damned business bigwig given assessment (9)
EXECRATED
EXEC (our business bigwig) RATED (given assessment).

Down

1 Employees held in the utmost affection (5)
STAFF
The answer is indeed ‘held in’ the utmoST AFFection.

2 Bliss, perhaps, composing nice organ pieces? (9)
IGNORANCE
An anagram (‘composing … pieces’) of NICE ORGAN. It’s slightly unusual to have an anagram indicator being split up like this, but it makes sense (the ‘pieces’ being composed are the letters), and leads to a nice misleading surface. Whoever said ‘IGNORANCE is bliss’ was certainly not thinking of Sir Arthur.

3 People heading for England put on weight in this port (10)
FOLKESTONE
FOLK (‘people’) E (the ‘heading’, or start, of England), put on (i.e. above) STONE, a weight.

4 Engineers, worn out, went to bed (7)
RETIRED
The Royal Engineers (RE) are the favourite regiment of every crossword setter. Today they are worn out or TIRED.

5 Not much time for another helping (7)
SECONDS
Double def: Only SECONDS left to eat your SECONDS, in fact.

6 Leave out refuse container (4)
SKIP
Another double def: ‘leave out’ = SKIP = a large refuse container.

7 Acknowledgement that may be jolly? (5)
ROGER
ROGER is an acknowledgement (‘I have received your transmission’). The Jolly ROGER is far from a jolly sight to law-abiding seamen, but –
Better far to live and die
Under the brave black flag I fly,
Than play a sanctimonious part
With a pirate head and a pirate heart!

8 Armaments ordered for soldiers (3-2-4)
MEN-AT-ARMS
An easy anagram – if you ‘order’ the letters of ARMAMENTS, this is what you get.

13 Think again about drink old bridge partners brought in (10)
RECONSIDER
RE (‘about’, that curious Latin ablative that graces so many business letters and is so beloved of crossword setters) CIDER (‘drink’), with O (‘old’) NS (North and South sit as partners at the bridge table) ‘brought in’: RE C(O NS)IDER. Such bits-and-pieces clues are more common in non-Quiptic crosswords, but Orlando has wisely limited them to this one today.

14 Word for young Robin, say? (5,4)
DICKY BIRD
Double definition. Don’t say a DICKY BIRD – you might frighten off the DICKY BIRD …

16 Stop protecting Capone — it’s very common (9)
PREVALENT
PREVENT (‘stop’) containing (‘protecting’) AL (Capone), the famous Chicago gangster.

18 Period of darkness expected at first after energy cuts (7)
ECLIPSE
E, the first letter of (‘at first’) EXPECTED, appears ‘after’ E (‘energy’) CLIPS (‘cuts’).

19 Obtain professional medical treatment (7)
PROCURE
PRO (‘professional’) CURE (‘medical treatment’).

21 Like a crab that’s cold? (5)
NIPPY
Double definition. Cold = NIPPY, and a crab certainly nips, doesn’t it? Doesn’t that make it NIPPY? Ever scrupulous, Orlando has furnished a question mark to warn that a slightly strained interpretation may be needed.

23 Not any nuts for Land Rover? (5)
NOMAD
NO (‘not any’, as in ‘Yes, we have no bananas’) MAD (nuts). A NOMAD certainly roves over land, hence ‘Land Rover?’

24 Golf club for Sir Henry, would you say? (4)
WOOD
With a flourish to finish, Orlando provides three indications of this word: the WOOD which is a type of golf club, Sir Henry WOOD the conductor and composer and originator of the Proms, and a homophone (‘you say?’) of WOULD.