I’ll tell you what, I think this setter has got the hang of compiling a Quiptic. I enjoyed solving and blogging this one. One or two quibbles, but overall a well-crafted puzzle for beginners with a few Easy Annies to get you going, but then a good variety of clue devices. And some delightful surfaces.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Chance of crop pest being dispersed
PROSPECT
(CROP PEST)*
5 Victoria was famously not so pleasantly occupied
AMUSED
A dd, referring to Queen Victoria’s (alleged) statement: ‘We are not amused.’
9 A fellow’s half-sister has everything, contrary to expectations
AFTER ALL
A charade of A F [SIS]TER and ALL.
10 ’70s trousers are appearing in films regularly
FLARES
An insertion of ARE in the odd letters of FiLmS. I am old enough to have worn them, but my excuse is that everyone else was wearing them too.
12 Goods travel on the back of a small vehicle
CARGO
A charade of CAR and GO.
13 Keep an eye on American-backed reps I’ve employed
SUPERVISE
A charade of SU (reversal of US) and (REPS IVE)* with ’employed’ as the anagrind.
14 Poor little devil with more than one cast off
IMPOVERISHED
A clever charade of IMP, OVER I and SHED.
18 Betrayals come from unbeliever, it is said
INFIDELITIES
I hope I’m wrong in parsing this as INFIDEL and a homophone of ‘it is’, because the only way I can make that work is to put on a broad Brummie accent when saying ‘it is’. Cue homophone debate.
21 Favour prig over depraved candidate, ultimately
PRIVILEGE
An insertion of VILE in PRIG, followed by E for the last letter of ‘candidate’.
23 Give lessons in corporate achievement
TEACH
Hidden in corporaTE ACHievement.
24 Captured knight was in poor health
NAILED
N for the chess ‘knight’ followed by AILED.
25 Catholic admitted to weakness in using violence
FORCIBLE
My last one in: it’s RC in FOIBLE.
26 Amazingly, Len is on time to sign up
ENLIST
(LEN IS)* plus T.
27 Loyal supporter is beginning to accept crazy law
STALWART
An insertion of (LAW)* in START.
Down
1 Change the start of a country trip
PRANCE
Provis is asking you to change the start of FRANCE. Slightly vague clue for which I think you’d need the crossers before having a stab. Well, I needed them, anyway.
2 Widespread public disapproval of demand made by cricketers?
OUTCRY
A rather whimsical way of describing a ‘Howzat?’ appeal by a cricketing team. Because they’re asking the ump to give him OUT.
3 Did agent put up with behaviour by journalist?
PERFORMED
A reversal (‘put up’ because it’s a down clue) of REP, FORM and ED.
4 Do dull chores badly to show lack of interest
COLD-SHOULDER
(DO DULL CHORES)* I personally wouldn’t hyphenate it, but I can’t get excited about it.
6 Good to swap hands used for grinding
MOLAR
You need to change L and R (‘hands’) in MORAL.
7 Rear section of orchestra might not be seen to start immediately
STRAIGHT
It’s – I think – a charade of [ORCHE]STRA and [M]IGHT. Some folk won’t like this, because there’s no indication of how much the ‘rear section’ of ‘orchestra’ is; and I can’t think of a sentence where I’d substitute STRAIGHT for ‘immediately’. STRAIGHT AWAY, fine.
8 Steps down as director before essential service contract initially expires
DESCENDS
A charade of D, ESC for the first letters of ‘essential service contract’ and ENDS.
11 Put sheet carelessly on vessel and capsize
UPSET THE BOAT
(PUT SHEET)* on BOAT. Not sure this is a phrase I’ve ever come across or used, but it makes perfect sense.
15 Order in dialect is the same in every way
IDENTICAL
(IN DIALECT)*
16 Give out drugs for heartless disease gripping writers
DISPENSE
This would appear to be PENS in DIS[EAS]E, but again, some folk won’t like it because there’s no indication of exactly how ‘heartless’ ‘disease’ has to be.
17 Authorised chemical company to separate waste parts of carcass
OFFICIAL
An insertion of ICI in OFFAL. ICI was Imperial Chemical Industries; since it no longer exists, some setters clue it as ‘old chemical company’.
19 Am in a big muddle in Africa
GAMBIA
An insertion of AM in (A BIG)*
20 Source of danger that surrounds soldiers
THREAT
And a further insertion: of RE for Royal Engineers or ‘soldiers’ in THAT.
22 Some laid Easter plans
IDEAS
Hidden in laID EASter.
Many thanks to Provis for a fine puzzle.
Thanks Provis and Pierre
Exactly the same reservations as you, Pierre. PRANCE was LOI, and I suppose it means “trip” as in “trip lightly”. INFIDELITIES, STRAIGHT and UPSET THE BOAT also raised eyebrows.
Not as easy as some Quiptics, I thought, but fair enough.
Thanks Pierre
I’m sorry but I cannot agree with your quibble about 16dn because ‘heartless’ indicates removal of the middle, hence DI[sea]SE.
I must now go straight/immediately to the Captcha.
Thanks Provis and Pierre.
Found this quite hard going, and the blog very helpful
7d the OCED gives STRAIGHT, archaic, at once or immediatley.
Thanks Gaufrid, you are right about DISPENSE. Got confused with my esses.
I found this slightly harder than the last few Quiptics and I share some of Pierre’s reservations, so the target audience may not be too happy with the puzzle as a whole. Having said that, I enjoyed it. I finished in the SW with PRIVILEGE after OFFICIAL.
16d, being picky, I still don’t see how this works. Gaufrid @2 DI[sea]SE gripping PENS, but is “gripping” writers an anagrind? Oh well, the heart is on the left side (right side facing us) so Pierre’s DIS[eas]E gripping PENS seems OK by me.
Hi Cookie
The parsing is still the same with gripping being an containment indicator (Pierre just removed the wrong ‘s’).
DI[sea]S PENS E
Cookie @6
I agree, mostly, about DISPENSE. The only way it works if you remove the “heart” of DISEASE (sea), then the PENS doesn’t fit back in to where you took the sea from (though an anagrind isn’t needed).
i.e. DIseaSE > DISE, then DISpensE
We crossed, Gaufrid.
Thanks Provis and Pierre.
I enjoyed this and found it about right for a Quiptic. The only slight quibble I shared with others was over ‘trip’ = PRANCE.
‘Immediately’ doesn’t just mean ‘without delay’, it also means ‘directly, with nothing intervening’ or, put another way: STRAIGHT.
Cookie @6 and muffin @8: You need to separate the containment instruction from the removal instruction. It is not necessary for PENS to be contained in the exact same location from which ‘sea’ was removed.
Thanks Gaufrid @7, muffin @8 and Angstony @10, I understand now.
I agree about ‘heartless’ being a bit approximate. Not necessarily here, but wherever it is used, unless it just means the very central letter. Here, if you are removing SEA, then could that not be indicated somehow?
I enjoyed this and rattled through it quite quickly in the bath.
II wasn’t keen on prance but everything else came and went without incident.
Oh and thanks to Provis and Pierre.
I enjoyed this puzzle and I thought that the level of difficulty was just right for a Quiptic.
Thanks Provis and Pierre.
Thanks – a bit after the event! – to setter and blogger both. I had trouble with PRANCE too, and found a few others tricky-but-ok; in general I thought it was a lovely Quiptic.