Moley has been setting Guardian Quiptic puzzles since 2000, so I think we could call her a regular. She has set us another good one today: not a write-in by any means, but generally clear cluing and a nice range of devices.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Oscars distribution is over
ACROSS
(OSCARS)* with ‘distribution’ as the anagrind.
4 Queen, in fact, beside river for a break
FRACTURE
An insertion of R for ‘Regina’ or ‘Queen’ in FACT, followed by the River URE.
9 Writer absorbed in taut horror movie
AUTHOR
Hidden in tAUT HORror movie.
10 Father’s back with relative, it’s obvious
APPARENT
A reversal of PA and PARENT.
11 A curious fact: there’s a mysterious seat on French street
STRANGE BUT TRUE
I liked this one. It’s a charade of STRANGE for ‘mysterious’, BUTT for ‘seat’ (mainly American English, I think) and RUE for ‘French street’.
13 Homely dish cooked: gotta piece?
COTTAGE PIE
(GOTTA PIECE)* with ‘cooked’ as the anagrind. Don’t forget to melt mature cheddar on the top and get the HP sauce out when you’re serving it up.
14 That interminable one from the Far East?
THAI
I liked this too, but it was my last one in. THA[T] plus I for ‘one’.
16 Wild display of red, indigo or turquoise, initially
RIOT
The initial letters of Red, Indigo, Or and Turquoise. Nice surface, since RIOT OF COLOUR is the main use of the word in this context.
18 Certainly acts as though incapable of error
INFALLIBILITY In fact it’s INFALLIBLY. Thanks to those pointing out my typo.
I think this is just a cd, although I’m happy to be corrected. When speaking ex cathedra, the Pope is infallible. Allegedly.
21 A different Chevalier crest for powered tool
ELECTRIC SHAVER
(CHEVALIER CREST)* Perhaps ‘powered tool’ is a bit OTT for something that you just use to remove stubble, but the clue is fair enough.
23 Repartee degenerates as one gets older
BADINAGE
Moley is asking us to consider BAD IN AGE as a definition of ‘degenerates as one gets older’. Very much my bag, and if you haven’t come across this wonderful poem by Jenny Joseph, spend the next sixty seconds of your life reading it.
24 Publicity may lead to anger, then respect
ADMIRE
A charade of AD, M for the first letter of ‘may’ and IRE.
25 Good tragedy, perhaps, is one of many useful devices
GADGETRY
(G TRAGEDY)*
26 Border, reportedly, has very cold weather
FREEZE
One of the delights of the English language – and one of the annoyances for learners of English – is that words meaning two completely different things can be pronounced the same way. Here the homophones are FREEZE and FRIEZE.
Down
1 Alias I had to drop, unfortunately
ALAS
AL[I]AS.
2 Artist gives thanks once again to model for knocking
RAT-A-TAT
The enumeration was a big help here: it’s RA for ‘artist’, TA twice, and T for the ‘model’ T Ford.
3 Son to drag off fare dodger?
STOWAWAY
A clever charade of S, TOW and AWAY.
5 These American political adherents are undemocratic!
REPUBLICANS
A less convincing cd. Since there are only two main political parties in the US (The Tea Party doesn’t count), then if you’re not a DEMOCRAT, you’re a REPUBLICAN.
6 Vessel, unknown, is tricky
CRAFTY
A charade of CRAFT and Y for one of the mathematical ‘unknowns’ (together with x and z).
7 Disclose United Nations’ position over dry land
UNEARTH
The setter is inviting you to ‘position’ UN over EARTH for ‘dry land’. As in ‘back on dry land’.
8 Tip: this is the limit
EXTREMITY
A rather weak dd, unless I’m missing something.
12 Young redhead produces a mild spice
GREEN GINGER
A charade of GREEN for ‘young’ in its ‘inexperienced’ sense, and GINGER for ‘redhead’. Not a spice I’d heard of before, but apparently it’s just less mature ginger, making it less pungent (hence ‘mild’). And it’s not green. Also called young ginger, spring ginger, new ginger, stem ginger, pink ginger or baby ginger. The last of these would have been a favourite of the Spice Girls.
13 Fish and French carrier in a holdall
CARPET BAG
A charade of CARP, ET for the French word for ‘and’ and BAG.
15 Love Hero’s young man had for this flowering shrub
OLEANDER
A charade of O and LEANDER for Hero’s boyfriend, who should have inflated his armbands.
17 Newly divorced, about to leave but went too far
OVERDID
(DIVOR[C]ED)* The anagrind is ‘newly’; the removal indicator is ‘to leave’; and C is ‘circa’ or ‘about’.
19 Direct route taken by a flier?
BEELINE
A cd.
20 Make new ascent to the viewpoint
STANCE
(ASCENT)*
22 In the works Marlowe revised, we are diminished
WE’RE
Hidden in MarloWE REvised.
Many thanks to Moley for today’s Quiptic. On a personal note, this is my 200th Fifteensquared blog, which is a bit scary. Only seems a short time ago that I was nervously pressing the ‘Publish’ button for my first blog, which was also a Quiptic. It was a Rover. Anyone remember him?
Congratulations Pierre on your 200th blog, and many thanks for your efforts: all bloggers give a lot of pleasure and assistance to the rest of us.
I agree with your assessment of this puzzle: some very good clues, but some rather weak cryptic and double definitions. Nonetheless, overall, a good start to the week.
My congratulations too Pierre.
Alas poor Rover.
And mine. 😉
I agree with your assessment, too: EXTREMITY is barely a double definition and I don’t understand the first part of the clue for INFALLIBILITY. The other weakness was the BAG in both clue and answer in 13dn – but I did like STOWAWAY and STRANGE BUT TRUE.
[Nice to see my beloved Wensleydale river at 4ac – and in the splendid coverage of le grand départ on Saturday. Bravo, Yorkshire!]
Thanks to Moley for the puzzle.
I had “frieze” rather than FREEZE for 26ac and I think the clue has a degree of ambiguity, although I know some people would argue that it doesn’t. It would have been less ambiguous without the comma after “Border”. Clues like this really annoy me when the perceived ambiguity can’t be resolved by the checkers. EXTREMITY was my LOI, but only because I’d originally entered “infallible” at 18ac.
Minor typo: you’ve got INFALLIBILITY rather than INFALLIBLY for 18ac. I too put in INFALLIBLE first.
Many thanks for the excellent blog, Pierre.
Apologies if I’m wrong, but as pointed out, the solution to 18a is “infallibly” and I assumed the definition was “certainly”.
Thanks, Frederic – that’s why I couldn’t make sense of the first part of the clue when I made my comment @3 – I was looking at the blog, instead of my print-out of the puzzle. When I solved it, I read it as a double definition [though the two are very close]: infallibly = certainly = as though incapable of error.
Apologies for the cross, Alan.
Well done Pierre on your 200th blog. Keep up the good work.
I enjoyed this puzzle which I at first thought was very easy but then got stuck on STOWAWAY
and the SE corner. I was trying to get Blerio into 19d but suddenly saw what the answer should
be. Thanks Moley.
A delightful blog for a delightful puzzle – thanks for the pome 😉
Thanks Moley & Pierre and congrats on your 200th. Largely fine for a Quiptic.
I did like the clue for BADINAGE although I’m almost sure that this must have been done before. [e.g. Gordius in Oct 2003]
I failed with Frieze and crossing letters don’t help.
well done on the double ton old chap.