She’s good at this Quiptic stuff, you know. All clearly clued and some light-hearted moments.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Puzzled when fellow sailor capsized and scarpered
BAFFLED
A reversal of F and AB followed by FLED.
5 Debs’ semi-celebration at court is not done any more
DEFUNCT
I’m not keen on this for a Quiptic. It appears to be half of DE[BS], FUN for ‘celebration’ and CT.
9 Son quietly studies broadcasts
SPREADS
A charade of S, P for the musically ‘quiet’ and READS.
10 Trailer for vehicle (a light goods vehicle)
CARAVAN
A charade of CAR A VAN. I’m voting for the Remain campaign because I want the EU to pass legislation banning bloody caravans from the roads except between 0100 and 0600.
11 Reckless to hoodwink Nelson’s mate
FOOLHARDY
A whimsical way of saying how you could FOOL HARDY. ‘Kiss me, Hardy’ and all that, although he probably didn’t say it.
12 Improvise notices back to back, abridging the last
AD-LIB
Hectence is asking you to think of AD and BILL for two ‘notices’ and put them ‘back to back’ after removing the last letter of the latter.
13 Insects come from this river in volcanic rock
LARVA
An insertion of R in LAVA.
15 Could love in Shakespeare’s play be trivial pursuit?
BOARD GAME
An insertion of O for ‘love’ in BARD followed by GAME. Referring to Trivial Pursuit, the family game with the little plastic cheeses.
17 Sample a smaller amount, when flavour’s lacking
TASTELESS
A charade of TASTE and LESS. A kind of cd cum dd.
19 Daughter best sort out what’s owing
DEBTS
A charade of D and (BEST)* with ‘sort out’ as the anagrind.
22 Criticise severely, when cutting corruption
ROAST
An insertion of AS for ‘when’ in ROT.
23 Ben running race in wild weather
HURRICANE
Ben HUR followed by (RACE IN)* with ‘running’ as the anagrind.
25 Unsettle dicky birds round bath briefly
DISTURB
An insertion of TU[B] in (BIRDS)*
26 Popular princess in a state
INDIANA
A charade of IN and DIANA, the people’s princess who still appears on the front page of the Sunday Express despite the fact that she’s been dead for nearly two decades.
27 Put trimmed joint in to cook without any frills
FRANKLY
An insertion of of ANKL[E] in FRY. ‘Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.’
28 Deadly beast on island is captured by common sense
NOXIOUS
An insertion of OX and I in NOUS.
Down
1 Dwarf who’s up for a fight?
BASHFUL
Of all Snow White’s little adopted friends, BASHFUL would be most likely to be ‘up for a fight’, wouldn’t he?
2 Rove about in mink for warmth
FERVOUR
An insertion of (ROVE)* in FUR.
3 Keeps dog from running off to fields over the hilltop
LEASH
A charade of LEAS for ‘fields’ and H for the first letter of ‘hilltop’. Some folk don’t like this ‘hilltop’ mechanism, but I’m fine with it.
4 Helpful to have rebels’ aid in revolution
DESIRABLE
(REBELS AID)*
5 Heard Donna Karan tops don’t last
DECAY
If you didn’t like ‘hilltops’ then presumably you won’t like this either. The ‘tops’ of Donna Karan are D and K, or DEE and KAY. And if you ‘heard’ them, it would be DECAY. Geddit? Donna Karan is an American fashion designer also known as DK. I so knew that.
6 Sent on by car with journalist to cover fighting
FORWARDED
An insertion of WAR in FORD and ED.
7 Short book number five by Ms Fitzgerald
NOVELLA
A charade of NO, V and ELLA (Fitzgerald). Hectence is being kind to us by inserting Ms; otherwise we’d all be going down the F Scott Fitzgerald garden path.
8 Credible chart about space
TENABLE
Plenty of insertions this morning. This one is EN for the printer’s ‘space in TABLE.
14 Lost for words at a stitch-up over lorry
AWESTRUCK
I guess I’d usually go for DUMBSTRUCK, but AWESTRUCK works as well. A charade of A, SEW reversed and TRUCK.
16 Claim first son has trouble in store
ASSERTION
A for the ‘first’ letter of the alphabet, S and (IN STORE)* with ‘trouble’ as the anagrind.
17 No longer interested in plan for diet
TIRED OF
(FOR DIET)*
18 Coastal city‘s main support for bird
SWANSEA
Since it’s a down clue, it’s SWAN over SEA for ‘main’.
20 Second-rate artist getting V&A event? Empty boasting!
BRAVADO
A charade of B for ‘second-rate’, RA for ‘artist’, V&A and DO for ‘event’.
21 Looks at regulations first off for play equipment
SEESAWS
A charade of SEES and [L]AWS.
23 Flier for leisure activity
HOBBY
A dd. The first bit is referring to Falco subbuteo, which will cause flashbacks to the 1960s for those boys who had the football game back then. Here’s the obligatory Pierre bird link.
24 Scale for one finger
INDEX
Another dd.
Many thanks to Hectence for today’s Quiptic.
Thanks Hectence and Pierre
I found this quite tricky – mostly at least daily crossword standard.
In what context does INDEX = SCALE?
muffin @1
“In what context does INDEX = SCALE?”
Try this from Chambers under ‘index’: “17. A numerical scale showing the relative changes in the cost of living, wages, etc, with reference to some predetermined base level”.
Thanks Gaufrid
I enjoyed this, but I agree with muffin @1 that some clues are rather complicated for a Quiptic. AD-LIB was the one I particularly noticed. DECAY was actually my favourite clue.
Thanks, Hectence and Pierre.
Thank you Hectence and Pierre.
This was quite tricky, but enjoyable. I especially liked FOOLHARDY, BOARD GAME, BASHFUL and HURRICANE!
Thanks Hectence and Pierre.
Top half went in quickly but bottom half took longer. First = a is perhaps a bit obtuse for a Quiptic.
Thanks Pierre and Hectence
I needed help to parse 12a, 22a
My favourites were BRAVADO, BOARD GAME
Isn’t there a singular/plural problem in 13A? Insects is plural but larva is singular.
This seemed very tough to me, for a quiptic.
I found this hard going due to some fairly tricky constructions but that just made it the more enjoyable.
The northwest corner held me up the longest with 1a being my last in. I’m not sure that ‘capsize’ works for me as a reversal indicator in an across clue. I can see it would work in a down clue though?
Donna Karan’s fashion label is DKNY so her initials are familiar to those who (unlike me) are up to date with the fashion industry.
‘BEN’ to give ‘HUR’ in 23d seems unacceptable surely since it is part of the surname Ben Hur (hence frequently written Ben-Hur) and indicates ‘son of’ rather than being a name itself? Would be like using ‘GERALD’ to generate the word ‘FITZ’. I also agree with Alistair on 3d Larva/larvae. Unsatisfying and undermined my confidence in the compiler – not helped by a typo of ‘sort’ for ‘short’ in the clue for 7d in the online version of the crossword.
Sorry – 13a, not 3d!