Quiptic 789 by Orlando

by

Just what the doctor ordered.  Orlando in the Quiptic slot with his trademark precision, elegance and wit.

His gift to us is a perfectly judged rummage through the setter’s bag of tricks.  A lovely way to see out the Quiptic year.

Across
1 CHARGE
Make someone pay for accumulation of electricity (6)
A double definition to start us off
4 NOTICED
Seen as plain cake? (7)
A plain cake may be one that is NOT ICED
9 WANDERING
Nomadic marshal ending war (9)
An anagram (marshal) of ENDING WAR
10 EATEN
Dined in college, by the sound of it (5)
A homophone (by the sound of it) of ETON (college)
11 RASTA
Russian ruler backing a member of a religious group (5)
A reversal (backing) of TSAR (Russian ruler) followed by A (a)
12 MARATHONS
Honours after revolutionary races (9)
HONS (honours) following (after) MARAT (revolutionary).  Marat was famously murdered in his bath
13 DESTINY
Leaders in Dar es Salaam — very small lot (7)
The first letters (leaders in) of Dar es Salaaam followed by TINY (very small)
15 ASSESS
American bottoms second rate? (6)
ASSES (American bottoms) S (second)
17 BEARER
Indian servant who is payable on demand? (6)
A double definition with a cryptic twist.  It took me a while to see the reference, which is to the promise inscribed on our banknotes
19 CORINTH
Greek city in the Adriatic or in Thessaly (7)
An answer hidden in (in) AdriatiC OR IN Thessaly
22 CANVASSER
Solicitor sails southeast? Right! (9)
CANVAS (sails) followed by SE (southeast) R (right)
24 PASTA
Former airline’s first fare from Italy (5)
PAST (former) A (airline’s first = first letter of)
26 ROOMS
Accommodation no good for newly married men (5)
A subtraction of G (no good) from GROOMS (newly married men)
27 DETERGENT
Cleaner put off by man (9)
DETER (put off) next to (by) GENT (man)
28 DEFENCE
Half-dead criminal provides justification (7)
DE (half dead = half the letters of) FENCE (criminal)
29 SNAPPY
Irritable agent going without sleep (6)
SPY (agent) around (going without = going outside) NAP (sleep)
Down
1 COWERED
One who is yellow, say, did this? (7)
A homophone (say) of COWARD (one who is yellow).  The definition here extends to the whole clue:  a coward might indeed cower
2 AGNES
Patron saint of virgins has name in Times (5)
N (name) contained within (in) AGES (Times)
3 GRENADIER
Soldier rereading novel (9)
An anagram (novel) of REREADING
4 NIGERIA
One country or another on the borders of India (7)
NIGER (another country) placed above (on) IA (borders = first and last letters) of India
5 TWEET
Online message taking precious time (5)
TWEE (precious) T (time)
6 COTTONS ON
Material child begins to understand (7,2)
COTTON (material) SON (child)
7 DANISH
Like Hans Christian Andersen and his flaky pastry? (6)
A double definition
8 DISMAY
Consternation caused by vegetables I’d raised (6)
A reversal (raised) of YAMS (vegetables) and ID (I’d)
14 SEEING OFF
Bidding farewell to defective vision? (6,3)
A double definition with a cryptic twist.  If your vision is defective, your seeing might be said to be off
16 SCRAP IRON
Material for recycling in Fight Club? (5,4)
SCRAP (Fight) IRON (Club, as in golf club)
18 RESIDUE
Rest cut short? One expected rest (7)
RES (rest cut short = minus its last letter) I (one) DUE (expected)
19 CURATE
Artist embraced by charming clergyman (6)
RA (artist) contained in (embraced by) CUTE (charming)
20 HEALTHY
Mend your old-fashioned well (7)
HEAL (mend) THY (your old-fashioned)
21 SCORED
20 down initially put the ball in the net (6)
SCORE (20) D (down initially = first letter of)
23 ARSON
Burglars only taking part in crime (5)
An answer hidden in (taking part in) burglARS ONly
25 SHEEP
Dickensian villain following small animals (5)
HEEP (Dickensian villain) going after (following) S (small).  The reference is to Uriah Heep in David Copperfield

12 comments on “Quiptic 789 by Orlando”

  1. Thanks, newmarketsausage.

    As you say, an absolute master class in cryptic setting.

    7dn is also an anagram [flaky] of AND HIS – a lovely clue.

    Many thanks to Orlando for a perfect puzzle – please come back to the cryptic side!

  2. Thanks Orlando and nms
    This took me considerably longer than the main Rufus, but it was just as enjoyable. Loved the misdirection of “20 down” in 21d. As Eileen points out, DANISH was exceptionally clever.

  3. Like muffin I was at first misdirected by the ’20 down’ in 21d.
    Took a while to see the pastry clue answer, was misled by ‘flaky’ (Danish pastries tend to be soft in my experience), then realised it was an anagrind for ‘AND HIS’.
    So many favourites, WANDERING, BEARER, NOTICED, DISMAY, HEALTHY…

    Thank you Orlando and newmarketsausage, and Happy New Year.

  5. Eileen @ 1

    I see what you mean by your last comment. Just checked on the Guardian site. No cryptic from Orlando since 22 August, and only six all year. That’s far too few.

  7. Thanks Orlando, nice puzzle but a bit tricky in parts for a Quiptic.

    Thanks nms, who knows that St AGNES is the patron saint of virgins?

    I liked the NOT ICED.

  8. Lovely! Wouldn’t have thought to do this if it weren’t for the comment in the discussion of the Rufus puzzle that hedgehoggy enjoyed it. Thanks!

  9. Well, I know now that St Agnes is the patron saint of virgins … by St Agnes’ fou-oun-tain. But why would virgins need a saint? They are saintly already by nature.

    Fine puzzle, fine blog. Thanks to nms and Orlando. And yes, please come back to the cryptic side with a puzzle or two in 2015.

    All best to Quiptic setters, bloggers and solvers for 2015.

  10. Thanks nms,

    Just finished this now after remembering that it was unfinished. To me, it doesn’t matter who the intended audience is for this puzzle, it’s just a marvellous puzzle. I didn’t find some of the clues that easy either and it took me ages to see NOTICED. I also thought that GRENADIER and NIGERIA were very clever. Three cheers for Orlando.

  12. Thanks Orlando and nms

    Enjoyable puzzle although I failed to solve 20d and 16d, and needed help to parse 17a, 24a.

Comments are closed.