(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.) I made more headway with the down clues than the across ones. Par for a Quiptic in terms of difficulty. Thanks to Pan. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
7 Lad taking £2 to join club for film-makers (9)
BOLLYWOOD : BOY(lad) plus(taking) L,L(2 x symbol for £) plus(to join) WOOD(a sort of golf club).
Defn: …, collectively, from India, from a combination of Bombay (as Mumbai was previously) and Hollywood. Known for movies like this.
8 Castrated animal returned with buttocks round, plump and comely (5)
BUXOM : Reversal of(… returned) OX(an adult castrated bull) contained in(with … round) BUM(buttocks;rear end).
9 Purgative for use when badly cooked roast contributes to wind (6,3)
CASTOR OIL : Anagram of(badly cooked) ROAST contained in(contributes to) COIL(to wind in spirals). A WIWD (wordplay intertwined with definition) clue.
10 Greek letter written backwards in fat ledger (5)
DELTA : Reversal of(written backwards) and hidden in(in) “fat ledger “.
12 Failing head about to get stick (6)
ADHERE : Anagram of(Failing) HEAD + RE(with reference to;about).
13 Soothing cream prescribed during appointments (8)
OINTMENT : Hidden in(during) “appointments“.
14 Shoulder to shoulder, as sailor takes his last bearing (7)
ABREAST : AB(abbrev. for “able-bodied seaman”;a sailor) + the last letter of(… takes his last) “sailor” + EAST(a compass bearing).
17 Sweet affectionate creature (7)
FONDANT : FOND(affectionate) + ANT(a creature).
Used to make the brain here:
20 Trot about visiting sick with a savoury pancake (8)
TORTILLA : Anagram of(… about) TROT plus(visiting) ILL(sick) plus(with) A.
22 A bit of a fry up is not so wise (6)
RASHER : Double defn: 1st: A thin slice of bacon that you might fry.
24 Examined the rabble orally (5)
HEARD : Homophone of(… orally) “herd”(rabble;a multitude of ordinary people, as a derogatory term).
Defn: …, as in a court of law.
25 Fried potato cooked a lot with a sausage (9)
CHIPOLATA : CHIP(a slice of fried potato) + anagram of(cooked) A LOT plus(with) A.
26 Stocky social worker’s extremely friendly (5)
BEEFY : BEE(one of social insects, one of whose castes is the worker) plus(…’s;contraction of “has”) the 1st and last letters of(extremely) “friendly “.
27 Fines, which are taken on the spot (9)
PENALTIES : Cryptic defn: Reference to penalty kicks in football, say, which are taken from or on the spot.
Down
1 Set up raffle for old cold chicken (6)
COWARD : Reversal of(Set up, in a down clue) [ DRAW(a raffle) plus(for) O,C(abbrev. for “old” and “cold”, respectively) ].
2 A full set of marbles for everyone present (3,5)
ALL THERE : Double defn: 1: A complete set of intact mental faculties; and 2: Everyone attending;present at that event or location.
3 Move to avoid delivery of ball, securing wide (6)
SWERVE : SERVE(the delivery of ball at start of play, in tennis, say) containing(securing) W(abbrev. for “wide”, in cricket scores, say).
4 Police officer gets one chance to be the captain(sic) assistant (2-5)
CO-PILOT : COP(slang for a police officer) plus(gets) I(Roman numeral for “one”) + LOT(the use of lots to make a choice by chance, as in “the order of appearance shall be by lot;chance”).
5 Not divulging information about purpose of cultural institution (6)
MUSEUM : MUM(not divulging information) containing(about) USE(purpose;what something is used for).
6 Get material for the Opposition leader close to election (6,2)
COTTON ON : COTTON(a fabric material) plus(for) the 1st letter of(… leader) “Opposition ” + the last letter of(close to) “election“.
Defn: To grasp the meaning of.
11 Working at Foreign Office intelligence (4)
INFO : IN(working at) FO(abbrev. for the Foreign Office).
15 Traded on behalf of others without money to get wine? (8)
BROKERED : BROKE(without money;penniless) plus(to get) RED(an informal term for red wine).
16 Oils processed in large farm container (4)
SILO : Anagram of(… processed) OILS.
18 Lonely miss stood up during tryst (8)
DESOLATE : Reversal of(… stood up, in a down clue) LOSE(to miss, as in “to lose;miss one’s one and only chance”) contained in(during) DATE(a tryst).
19 Riches spread about to trap a person with access to the till (7)
CASHIER : Anagram of(… spread about) RICHES containing(to trap) A.
21 How to save money for plant? (6)
THRIFT : Double defn: 1st: Wisdom and caution in managing money.
22 Another chance to watch priest taking part in race (6)
REPLAY : P(abbrev. for “priest”) contained in(taking part in) RELAY(a race between teams, each of whose members participates in only a set part of the race before handing over to the next member).
23 Book set in West Herefordshire (6)
ESTHER : Hidden in(set in) “West Herefordshire “.
Defn: … in the Old Testament of the Bible.
(Please do NOT post hereinbelow any comment relating to the picture quiz. Thank you.)
Thanks scchua,
I thought this was pretty hard for a quiptic. A couple of examples are 9ac (tricky wordplay) and 14ac (“sailor” used twice – for AB and R).
Thrift as a plant was new to me and I also hadn’t seen p for priest. Interestingly, p was also used in today’s cryptic for man (p = pawn = man.
I failed to solve 8a and 5d, and needed help to parse 14a.
My favourites were BOLLYWOOD, BROKERED.
Thanks scchua and Pan
Thanks Pan and scchua
I found this extremely difficult for a Quiptic – it took much longer than the Chifonie in the paper. A bit off-putting for new solvers, I would have thought.
matrixmania @1 – you may know thrift as “sea pink”.
Thanks Pan and scchua
For those who can remember pre-decimal currency, thrift was the plant that was shown on the twelve-sided bronze three-penny coin.
Thank you Pan and scchua.
I also found this difficult for a Quiptic. PENALTIES was the last in. I liked BOLLYWOOD, MUSEUM, CHIPOLATA, BROKERED and COTTONED ON.
Thanks Pan & scchua.
I think this was relatively difficult because of the horrible grid, which IMHO should not be used for Quiptics because of the dearth of starting letters and the less than 50% checkers in some answers.
I liked CHIPOLATA among others.
What Robi said. This Grauniad grid is a mare: four puzzles in each quarter for the price of one and so many lights with less than 50% checking. If a setter wants to use this grid to hide a message around the exterior of the grid, then okay; but for a Quiptic, no thank you.
I too found this a little tough for a Quiptic, though I liked the many good surfaces. My favourite was CASTOR OIL for the misdirection caused by the surface suggesting a different pronunciation of “wind” to the one required.
Thanks, Pan and scchua.