We’ve not seen Orlando in the Quiptic for ages, but this is a very welcome return visit. Immaculately clued and perfect for this slot.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Phone feature increases values
APPRAISES
A charade of APP and RAISES, and a clue that Orlando couldn’t have written early in his career.
6 Second-rate auction item — dry piece of writing
BLOT
A charade of B and LOT.
8 Drink ruined a nice hat
CHINA TEA
(A NICE HAT)*
9 Talk too much about one buccaneer
PIRATE
An insertion of I in PRATE. PRATE is not a very common word, but it’s cognate with the Dutch PRATEN, which just means ‘to speak’. Where the ‘too much’ bit meaning comes from, I know not. I’m guessing that it’s also the root of PRATTLE.
10 Tomfoolery? Not for Civil Service leaders
ANTICS
A charade of ANTI and CS for the first letters of ‘Civil Service’.
11 Oldies at dance left alone
ISOLATED
(OLDIES AT)*
12 Type of shoe, in a manner of speaking
BROGUE
A dd.
15 Unstretched? Not any more!
NO LONGER
A dd cum cd.
16 Gourmets prepared to give us recipe
EPICURES
(US RECIPE)*
19 Dubious about name for mixed drink
SHANDY
An insertion of N in SHADY.
21 Condemn poor scholar holding one back
DENOUNCE
An insertion of ONE reversed in DUNCE.
22 Phrase translated for mountain guide
SHERPA
(PHRASE)* Tenzing is the best-known, I guess.
24 Slowly going round a sort of shed
LEAN-TO
An insertion of A in LENTO, for the musical term for ‘slowly’.
25 Heavy metal item damaged? Wait for delivery
LEAD TIME
The setter is exploiting the fact that English is wonderful for having a word with the same spelling but a different pronunciation. Are they homonyms or homographs? I can never remember.
26 Endlessly examine poker
STUD
STUD[Y]
27 Team thrills close friends
SIDEKICKS
A charade of SIDE and KICKS.
Down
1 Very pale, like a bird?
ASHEN
If it was ‘like a bird’ it would be AS HEN, wouldn’t it?
2 Piano finale up in the air
PENDING
A charade of P and ENDING.
3 Choir members in cathedral to sing
ALTOS
Hidden in cathedrAL TO Sing.
4 Terminal position in society?
STATION
A dd.
5 Dramatist playing polo and chess
SOPHOCLES
(POLO CHESS)*
6 Advantageous purchase provides pub with profit
BARGAIN
A charade of BAR and GAIN.
7 Getting better, don’t possibly include macho types
ON THE MEND
An insertion of HE MEN in (DONT)*
13 What agents do about gift
REPRESENT
A charade of RE and PRESENT.
14 Wrong, or sure one’s wrong
ERRONEOUS
(OR SURE ONE)*
17 Bird with Kelly hit on the head
CROWNED
A charade of CROW and (NED) ‘Kelly’. Will someone please tell me that they also spent ages trying to shoehorn GENE into the clue.
18 Under fire, as nuts may be
SHELLED
A dd.
20 Space — it could be germ-free
ASEPTIC
(SPACE IT)*
22 Drug found in fishing vessel
SMACK
A dd. I fancy SMACKS are a bit outdated now, but I’m no sailor.
23 Turning up with mother’s cats
PUMAS
A reversal of UP followed by MA’S.
Fine Quiptic from Orlando. Thank you to him.
Thanks Orlando and Pierre
My favourites were SOPHOCLES, BARGAIN, ISOLATED, NO LONGER, BLOT, DENOUNCE & ANTICS (LOI). As an Australian, I was pleasantly surprised to see Ned make an appearance in CROWNED as I initially assumed that the Kelly would be Gene or Grace.
New words for me were stud = poker (can someone explain please), and SMACK = fishing boat.
I thought that prate is fine as “talk too much” – one definition of prate is “talk foolishly or at tedious length about something”.
Evening Michelle
STUD is just a type of poker, so the definition is a bit loose, I suppose. I don’t know anything about poker, so that’s the best I can do. I wasn’t suggesting that Orlando’s definition of PRATE was wrong; it’s spot on, as you have explained. I was just musing about how we’ve taken a Germanic word meaning ‘talk’ and use it now to mean ‘talk too much’.
Thanks, Pierre. [No obligatory photograph for HEN? – only joking.]
Can’t improve on ‘perfect’ – many thanks, as ever, to Orlando
But please, please, when can we have an Orlando Cryptic?
hello Pierre@2
Thanks for the explanation – stud poker had not occurred to me so now I understand the parsing.
Sorry if I sounded “snappy” about PRATE – and it is quite the day for words of Dutch origins. I discovered that the fishing boat “smack” is from Dutch smak, of unknown ultimate origin.
Not at all snappy, Michelle: I didn’t explain it very well on the blog. Interesting about SMAK. It’s a day for Sil van den Hoek to help us out, I think, if he drops in.
Thanks Orlando and Pierre.
I did like APPRAISES, DENOUNCE, LEAN-TO, PENDING and REPRESENT.
Michelle, we had STUD = poker in the Everyman of 21st June, but it was not explained; I though it was a type of poker for stirring a fire, never thought of the game!
hi Cookie @ 6 – I am sure I did the 21 June Everyman – unfortunately, it seems that I have a memory like a sieve 🙁
NEAT = cattle came up in one of the crosswords today – obviously I no longer remember which one (Rufus or Quiptic) and will not take the time to check. I was going to mention it as a new word but decided not to as I probably came across it in crosswords before (but never in real life). Maybe it is better from now on if I never mention which are new words for me 😉
Do you really need me?
‘To prate’ is, according to the ODE, ‘to talk foolishly or at tedious length about something’ [as michelle @1 told us].
Collins: ‘to talk idly and at length’.
Therefore Orlando’s addition ‘too much’ seems fine to me.
I wasn’t familiar with this word which derives, like quite a few English words, from Dutch.
But, Pierre, you are right that the meaning has changed.
In Dutch, ‘praten’ just means ‘to talk’ or ‘to speak’ – a very common word with a very ‘neutral’ meaning.
I am not a fisherman eitherbut ‘smack’ seems to come the Dutch word ‘smak’.
Here is a picture of a ‘smak’ in a painting by the Dutch artist Mesdag (1831-1915): https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smak#/media/File:H.W._Mesdag.Marine_met_visserssloep.JPG
As to this welcome Orlando puzzle: exemplary!
A nice start to the week, ERRONEOUS being my favourite clue. Thanks to Orlando and Pierre.
As to whether 25a is a homonym or homograph, the answer seems to be definitely the latter but the former is debatable: vocabulary.com.
Cheers Pierre, classy classic quiptic. A few old chestnuts but this really does what quiptic says on the tin.
Thanks Orlando and Pierre
Very enjoyable. APPRAISES was my LOI – “app” simply didn’t occur to me as a phone function (my phone doesn’t do them!). I briefly had OXFORD instead of BROGUE – works just as well in isolation, but of course not with the crossers.