A fine puzzle from Pan. Full of charades, anagrams, hidden answers and insertions, with nary a cryptic or double definition in sight (well, maybe just one …) Just what a Quiptic should be.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
4 Fish, when pursued by duck and angry mob in coastal area
BOMBAY
An ingenious clue to get us going. It’s referring to BOMBAY DUCK, which despite its name is a fish, and a delicacy in Indian cuisine. For younger readers (is that an oxymoron?) BOMBAY is the old word for MUMBAI. It’s an insertion of (MOB)* in BAY, with ‘angry’ as the anagrind.
6 Egad! Ark’s relaunched before second part of European history
DARK AGES
Confusingly, this is (DARK AGES)* but to make it work you have to make an anagram of (DARK AGE)* and then add S for ‘second’. ‘Relaunched’ is the anagrind.
9 Linda upset about valentine’s ultimate rejection
DENIAL
An insertion of E for the last letter of ‘valentine’ and (LINDA)* ‘Upset’ is the anagrind this time.
10 Sailors walked this to get 100 tiny sea creatures
PLANKTON
A charade of PLANK and TON gives you baleen whales’ favourite food.
11 Chef’s third job after money made from dessert
PROFITEROLE
A charade of PROFIT, E for the third letter of ‘chef’ and ROLE for the artery-clogging dessert.
15 Thin pieces of small organs
SLIVERS
A charade of S and LIVERS.
17 Spirit learning to beg
IMPLORE
A charade of IMP and LORE.
18 Adore the owl flapping about in tree
LEATHERWOOD
Great surface. It’s (ADORE THE OWL)* with ‘flapping about’ as the anagrind. Never heard of it, but if you suspect that ‘tree’ is the solution and you’ve got W, O, O and D in the anagram fodder …
22 Press report of grave eco-development
COVERAGE
Another clue I especially liked. (GRAVE ECO)* with ‘development’ as the anagrind.
23 Emperor concealed in phrase actor rejected
CAESAR
Hidden reversed (‘rejected’) in phRASE ACtor
24 One may be fired in official report
BULLETIN
A charade of BULLET and IN.
25 Ex-PM, captured during battle, escaped
ATTLEE
Hidden in bATTLE Escaped.
Down
1 With exclamation of regret, setter’s brought up sausage!
SALAMI
‘Setter is’ is I’M; an ‘exclamation of regret’ is ALAS; reverse all that and you’ve got your sausage. ‘Brought up’ works as the reversal indicator because it’s a down clue.
2 Seize eastern European’s make-up
NAIL POLISH
I wouldn’t have said that ‘seize’ and NAIL were particularly close synonyms, but it’s a charade of that and POLISH for ‘eastern European’.
3 Style in returned letters is shallow
SKIN-DEEP
An insertion of KIND in SEEP for a reversal of PEES, as in ‘mind your Ps and Qs’. I am on record as saying that I don’t much like these letter abbreviations, and I know of other setters who would have clued the PEES bit quite differently. Pan is obviously an upright citizen.
4 Mate’s a nuisance in capital city
BUDAPEST
A charade of BUD, A and PEST.
5 Chap going to party with large fashionable instrument
MANDOLIN
A charade of MAN, DO, L and IN for ‘fashionable’. ‘Polka dots are in/fashionable at the moment.’
7 Unpleasant person at European holiday home
GITE
A charade of GIT and E for ‘European’ gives you the French holiday cottage. It comes from Old French giste, which was the past participle of gésir, to lie down. Which is what you do in a GÎTE, at night at least. That’s why it’s spelt in modern French with the circumflex accent – gîte – because said accent often means there is an ‘s’ missing. Hôpital, hôtesse, and so on. Yer, I thought you’d be well fascinated by that.
8 Gritty French novelist?
SAND
More French, and I suppose this is a dd cum cd. Referring to Georges SAND, the pseudonym of Amantile Dupin, the nineteenth century French author, whose other claim to fame was that she had it away with the composer Frédéric Chopin.
12 Large part of England turning against ale
EAST ANGLIA
As if. (AGAINST ALE)* with ‘turning’ as the anagrind.
13 Energy provider accepting failure on a large scale
COLOSSAL
An insertion of LOSS in COAL.
14 Inside information leads to bad dream for police officer
GENDARME
Dites donc! I swear on my life that Pan was on holiday in Provence when he/she set this one. A charade of GEN and (DREAM)* with ‘bad’ as the anagrind. Nice surface.
16 After training, green lad increased in bulk
ENLARGED
(GREEN LAD)* ‘After training’ is the anagrind.
19 Money given to Venetian district
RIALTO
A charade of RIAL and TO. The RIAL is the currency of Saudi Arabia.
20 Strike breaker has shilling for taxi
SCAB
S for the abbreviation of ‘shilling’, part of the pre-decimal currency, and CAB.
21 Shape of Colorado valley
OVAL
Hidden in ColoradO VALley.
Thanks to Pan for this one. I enjoyed solving and blogging it.
I particularly liked 14d, 19d, 13d, 15a, 11a, 4a and my favourites were 5d MANDOLIN, 1d SALAMI, 2d NAIL POLISH, 7d GITE, 8d SAND & 3d SKIN-DEEP.
New for me was BOMBAY duck / ‘bummalo fish’.
Thanks Pan and Pierre.
Thanks, Pierre. I’d never heard of leatherwood but the wordplay made it easy to guess.
Could you please explain why 6a is an anagram of DARK AGE+S? I thought it was an anagram of EGAD ARKS but didn’t understand the second half of the clue.
Of course, crosser. I too got a bit confused with this one. EGAD ARK is ‘relaunched’ giving you DARK AGE; then you need to add S for the abbreviation for ‘second’ (hours, minutes, seconds) to lead you to the solution. So DARK AGE is ‘before’ S for second.
Hope that helps.
It does help, Pierre, many thanks. It was the word “second” in “second part of European history” which flummoxed me and now I get it.
Number 23 stumped. I was thinking ti had to be in the actual word phrase “actor rejected” instead of in “phrase actor rejected”