(Please click here for this same blog but with a picture quiz added. Please do NOT post hereinbelow any comment relating to the picture quiz. Thank you.) Sorry for the late blog, as this puzzle was indexed wrongly on the Guardian website. It was an enjoyable puzzle, so thanks to Provis. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Offhand about injured people with no commitments (6)
CASUAL : “casualties”(injure people) minus(with no) “ties”(commitments).
4 Have responsibility for poem in Old English (7)
OVERSEE : VERSE(poem, or part of one) contained in(in) OE(abbrev. for “Old English”).
9 Mass tumult I’d fermented against Europe (9)
MULTITUDE : Anagram of(… fermented) TUMULT I’D plus(against) E(abbrev. for “Europe”).
10 Drink made with Ontario jam (5)
RIOJA : Hidden in(made with) “Ontario jam “.
Answer: Wine from the region of the same name in northern Spain.
11 On many occasions Odette favours talking initially in French (5)
OFTEN : The 1st letters, respectively, of(… initially) “Odette favours talking ” + EN(French for “in”).
12 Main points of denial he’s fabricated (9)
HEADLINES : Anagram of(… fabricated) DENIAL HE’S.
13 Online forum is primarily tedious babble (7)
TWITTER : The 1st letter of(primarily) “tedious ” + WITTER(babble;idle chatter, from dialect). And quite an accurate surface, I think.
15 Urge former partner to get hormone treatment without oestrogen at first (6)
EXHORT : EX(former partner) plus(to get) HRT(abbrev. for “hormone replacement therapy”, treatment mainly for menopausal women and trans-sexuals) containing(without) the 1st letter of(.. at first) “oestrogen “. An apt surface.
17 Two days between a drink makes sense (4,2)
ADDS UP : 2x(Two) D(abbrev. for “day”) contained in(between) [A + SUP(a mouthful of drink)].
19 Annoyed with fresh start decided on (7)
SETTLED : “nettled”(annoyed) with 1st letter replaced(with fresh start).
22 Taming her turns out to be a difficult experience (9)
NIGHTMARE : Anagram of(… turns out) TAMING HER.
24 Set on overturning records (5)
NOTES : Reversal of(… overturning) SET ON.
26 Cook in front of red-hot kiln (5)
ROAST : The 1st letter of(front of) “red-hot ” + OAST(a kiln for drying, mainly, hops).
27 Collapsed upon ropes, deliberately (2,7)
ON PURPOSE : Anagram of(Collapsed) UPON ROPES.
28 Old-fashioned father conceals time with new model (7)
PATTERN : PATER(an old-fashioned term for “father”) containing(conceals) T(abbrev. for “time”) plus(with) N(abbrev. for “new”).
Defn: … to copy or work from.
29 They say you honour Labour leader at one (6)
UNITED : Homophone of(They say) [“you” + “knight”(to honour) ] ED(Miliband, current leader of the British Labour Party).
Down
1 Relief to appear in sitcom for teenagers (7)
COMFORT : Hidden in(to appear in) “sitcom for teenagers “.
2 Divorce here in Croatia? (5)
SPLIT : Double defn: 2nd: A port and resort in Croatia.
3 Puts off introduction of annual time extensions among foreigners (9)
ALIENATES : The 1st letters, respectively of(introduction of) “annual time extensions ” contained in(among) ALIENS(foreigners).
4 Choose to limit time with sweetheart in work (7)
OPERATE : OPT(to choose) containing(to limit) ERA(a long period of time) plus(with) the central letter of(…heart) “sweet “.
5 Loner prepared to sign up (5)
ENROL : Anagram of(… prepared) LONER.
6 Rogue small business could be under control, finally (9)
SCOUNDREL : S(abbrev. for “small”) CO(abbrev. for “company”;a business concern) + anagram of(could be) UNDER + the last letter of(…, finally) “control “.
7 Broken down! Please pass (6)
ELAPSE : Anagram of(Broken down) PLEASE.
8 He creates hollow teeth with gold top and bottom (6)
AUTHOR : “teeth” minus all its inner letters(hollow …) contained in [ AU(chemical symbol for the element, gold)( with … top) + OR(adjective or noun for “gold” in heraldry)( with … bottom) ]. An amusing surface.
14 Mad to mix a gin and tonic without company (9)
INDIGNANT : Anagram of(to mix) “gin and tonic ” minus(without) “co”(abbrev. for “company”).
16 It’s not really cricket – especially not on the road! (3-3-3)
HIT-AND-RUN : Cryptic defn: Reference to a play in baseball, though of course, there’s some hitting and running in cricket.
Answer: It’s not only not cricket, but a criminal offence on the road.
18 Military unit also taken in by scheme (7)
PLATOON : TOO(also) contained in(taken in by) PLAN(a scheme).
19 Tired general captured by secret agent (6)
SLEEPY : LEE(any of a number of generals, though the most well-known one is Robert E., of the American Civil War – a favourite of crossword setters) contained in(captured by) SPY(a secret agent).
20 Children who don’t have social workers go downhill (7)
DESCEND : “descendants”(children, and children’s children and so forth) minus(who don’t have) “ants”(social insects of whose castes is the worker).
21 Expose cover-up by international body? (6)
UNWRAP : WRAP(cover up) placed below(by, in a down clue) UN(abbrev. for the international body, the United Nations).
23 Draw secures extremely triumphal championship (5)
TITLE : TIE(a draw, say, in a competitive match) containing(secures) the 1st and last letters of(extremely) “triumphal “. A surface that could apply to the last match in a league.
25 Recommend eating river fish (5)
TROUT : TOUT(to recommend;to solicit customers) containing(eating) R(abbrev. for “river”).
(Please do NOT post hereinbelow any comment relating to the picture quiz. Thank you.)
For anyone looking for this crossword – it’s cryptic number 775 here:
Clicky clicky
Published in 1932, apparently….
Thanks Provis & scchua.
Yes, it’s the first time I’ve done a 1932 crossword. Shame really as I think it’s an excellent Quiptic.
Thanks scchua. The most difficult part of this crossword was finding it – not that it was trivial by any means. The Grauniad will presumably get round to correcting the entry eventually, but for the moment it is at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/775, and dated 28 September 1932. When I finally tracked it down, I took a little time getting used to the setter’s style, but there are some fine clues and, as you note, several apt surfaces.
I think 16D HIT-AND-RUN refers to a variant of cricket which I knew as tip-and-run, in which, obviously, the batsmen have to run on hitting the ball.
You have a slip in 28A – N (abbreviation for ‘new’).
Thanks Will and PeterO for providing the links. I had assumed (wrongly, it seems), that The Grauniad would have corrected it by the time I posted the blog (what time do they start work over there?).
The 28across slip has also been corrected.
I thought that this was an ideal Quiptic. No quibbles, and ELAPSE was my LOI after OPERATE.
I had to wait till it actually appeared online where I am to do it (scchua had the blog up when it was still showing last week’s when I looked). Must admit I didn’t see the 1932 reference.
We’ve had a run of excellent Quiptics recently and this one by Provis continued that trend. Friendly grid; clear clueing; no unusual words. Bravo/Brava, Provis. Just need some of the target audience to delurk and tell us what they thought. We don’t bite.
I am indeed a lurker and a member of the target audience to which the quiptic is pitched. I’ve been doing cryptics for several months and I do the DT, the Times quick cryptics (and Sunday Times) and attempt the Indy with varying success. I’ve noticed a steady improvement over the months with the help of sites such as this one. I found this puzzle most enjoyable and was pleased to finish it pretty quickly (for me). Thanks to all involved here for the help.
Thanks scchua,
As a result of the late publication, I didn’t start this till late and finished about 11pm.
Just wanted to say what a marvellous puzzle it was although I didn’t notice the 1932 date.
Maybe the Guardian was having a little joke after all its previous gaffes.
I particularly liked COMFORT (very well-disguised), SPLIT (amazingly my last one in) and
ELAPSE (superb surface and so simple). Many thanks to Provis for your 82 year old puzzle.