Pan has slipped in one or two tricky ones here, but I still think it’s a good Quiptic. It’s all there if you go looking for it and the cluing is clear.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Bar imam playing with percussion instrument
MARIMBA
(BAR IMAM)*
5 A recipe for herb found in collection of old documents
ARCHIVE
A charade of A, R for ‘recipe’ and CHIVE. The R for ‘recipe’ bit comes from what doctors apparently write on prescriptions, and means ‘take’ (twice a day); it comes from the imperative of a Latin verb whose infinitive I’ve forgotten.
9 Useful bits of advice given to unknown drunk
TIPSY
A charade of TIPS and Y for the mathematical ‘unknown’.
10 Gift about to be wrapped by editor proves useless
KNACKERED
A charade of KNACK (‘she’s got a KNACK for solving crosswords’) and RE in ED.
11 Psychiatrist given small quantity of drug in package with cling film
SHRINK-WRAP
A charade of SHRINK and WRAP. Here’s today’s rubbish joke, very loosely linked to psychiatry:
Q: What did the hippocampus say at his leaving party?
A: Thanks for the memories
Listen, I told you it was rubbish.
12 Pasta garnish contains seaweed extract
AGAR
Hidden in pastA GARnish. Can be used for a variety of purposes, but often found in Petri dishes.
14 Said to have more than one section
ARTICULATED
A dd.
18 Cross-dressing relative easily identified
TRANSPARENT
A rather whimsical cd cum dd.
21 Not a soul lacking energy in the middle of the day
NOON
NO-ON[E]
22 Item of furniture with unusual nacre inlay found in temple
TABERNACLE
An insertion of (NACRE)* in TABLE.
25 Two weeks in secure accommodation near the beginning of term
FORTNIGHT
A charade of FORT, NIGH and T for the first letter of ‘term’.
26 Give up putting watch back
REMIT
A reversal of TIMER. Although of course we’ve just put them all forward.
27 Bishop accepting blame for misdirecting hiker
RAMBLER
An insertion of (BLAME)* in RR for Right Reverend, or ‘bishop’.
28 Fish with beer for old woman
ALEWIFE
A charade of ALE and WIFE for ‘old woman’ in the colloquial sense. Clearly there are a lot of WIVES who are very young, like Jerry Hall.
Down
1 Model held up by relative’s inability — or refusal — to speak
MUTISM
An insertion of SIT reversed in MUM. I think that Pan has used ‘inability – or refusal’ because there are people – often children – who are known as ‘elective mutes’.
2 Fictional bear from Peru confused by first parts of railway timetable
RUPERT
Brilliant. All of the surface is pointing you towards PADDINGTON BEAR, the marmalade-loving, Peruvian bear who settled in at 52, Windsor Gardens. In fact it’s (PERU)* and RT for the first letters of ‘railway timetable’ to give you RUPERT, who was always a bit too upper-middle-class for my liking.
3 Asian with money can produce salad dressing
MAYONNAISE
(ASIAN MONEY)* The anagrind is ‘can produce’.
4 Request for two points is out of line
ASKEW
A charade of ASK and EW for two ‘points’ of the compass.
5 A clan have set out to cause danger in the mountains
AVALANCHE
(A CLAN HAVE)*
6 Drink made by company keen to drop English name
COKE
CO followed by KE[EN]
7 Angry about equipment used to supply water
IRRIGATE
An insertion of RIG for ‘equipment’ in IRATE.
8 Dole wasted taking wrong road leading to city of gold
EL DORADO
Two anagrams: (DOLE)* and (ROAD)* And two anagrinds: ‘wasted’ and ‘wrong’.
13 Doctor felt urge to include E-number in type of diet
GLUTEN FREE
I’m embarrassed to say that this was my last one in, despite having two children who are coeliacs and having cooked gluten-free stuff for the last two decades. My excuse is that I’d always hyphenate it. An insertion of E and N in (FELT URGE)*
15 Sailor holding service before a large naval battle
TRAFALGAR
An insertion of RAF, A and LG in TAR.
16 Bear is mean!
STAND FOR
More bears, but there’s nothing ursine here: it’s a dd.
17 Fellow getting hold of gas coming up with a very small amount
NANOGRAM
ARGON in MAN, all reversed (‘coming up’).
19 Something fishy found by detective associated with swindle
SCAMPI
A charade of SCAM and PI for Private Investigator or ‘detective’.
20 Cosy up to food conglomerate
NESTLE
Well, strictly it’s pronounced ‘nest lay’, but we’ll forgive Pan because those of us who are old enough to remember the song from the Milky Bar Kid advert will know that it’s Nestle’s Milky Bar. A dd.
23 Executive skill rejected as not necessary
EXTRA
A charade of EX and ART reversed. I swear on my life that this is the most common solution in crosswords.
24 Alan could be excessively fussy
ANAL
(ALAN)*
Many thanks to Pan for this morning’s puzzle.
Thanks Pan and Pierre
Some lovely clues. I’m still grinning at RUPERT!
Thanks Pan and Pierre.
Agree with muffin, and I also am still grinning at RUPERT!
Thanks both. Good stuff, especially after today’s tricky Crucible. I put in ALEWIFE straight away, purely from crossword knowledge, although I don’t think I have ever seen one at a fishmongers!
Shame about the lack of birds, Pierre. How about a pigeon to go with 15d?
…although I think they have got rid of the pigeons from Trafalgar Square now
Perhaps too many write-ins for me, but in the Quiptic slot I think erring on the side of giving too many ways into a puzzle is much better than making it too difficult. Also, as Pierre wrote, there are some trickier clues too. The RUPERT one is great fun, with its playful misdirection, and the other one I particularly liked was TRANSPARENT.
Thanks, Pan and Pierre.
Pan is one of the Quiptic stable who really understands what a Quiptic should be all about.
Just like Moley, Provis and the incomparable Orlando to name three others.
We all know that Orlando and Provis (and Arachne in the past) have different spots at different places.
But I don’t know about Pan, Moley, Hectence, Beale and Anto, for example.
If the Quiptic is one’s only place to show what one’s capable of, then it might become a problem.
I mean, if the setter’s preferred style is one step up, then we may get out of place puzzles like Anto’s or Beale’s.
I don’t know much about Pan and her ambitions but as a Quiptic setter she’s perfect.
The only quibble today (but perhaps only for me) was a technical one.
In no less than three clues (5ac, 28ac, 4d) Pan uses ‘for’ as a link word in a way I do not really like.
Yes, it may be justified as meaning ‘given to’ and, yes, even Araucaria used it this way.
However, most setters try to avoid this use of ‘for’ in a clue.
If no-one can be bothered, fine by me – I am not comfortable with it, though.
Thanks Pierre, Pan and Katie (for blowing my garden fence away).