Very good Quiptic from Pan for our bank holiday entertainment – or at least for those of us who are enjoying a bank holiday today.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Licence to make product for iodine-deficient hospital inmate
PATENT
PAT[I]ENT
4 Virtual image representing oneself as woman meeting sailor
AVATAR
AVA followed by TAR. I suppose AVA GARDNER was the most famous AVA.
9 Backing favourites a short part of the way
STEP
A reversal of PETS. Think ‘teacher’s pet’.
10 Creature found in surprisingly edible stew
WILDEBEEST
(EDIBLE STEW)*
11 Trip on choirboy’s cloak
PONCHO
Hidden in triP ON CHOirboy. You have to read it as ‘trip on choirboy has’. Lovely surface.
12 A new key used by sergeant major to go into bar with musician
BANDSMAN
An insertion of A, N, D for the ‘key’ with two sharps and SM in BAN.
13 Record complication with figure
RECTANGLE
This is a bit ambiguous, in my opinion. I stuck in PENTANGLE, which works because PEN, ‘write’, ‘record’. But when I did a check before writing the blog, it turns out to be REC for ‘record’ and TANGLE.
15 Plant hidden by giant reeds
TREE
Hidden in gianT REEds.
16 Name of place reported
CITE
A homophone of SITE.
17, 16 down Author trading in her cocoa tokens?
CATHERINE COOKSON
(IN HER COCOA TOKENS)* for the North-East author. A canny lass and one of the best-selling authors ever.
21 Embroidered initials for American relative accepting organ transplant
MONOGRAM
An insertion of (ORGAN)* in MOM for the American English spelling of MUM.
22 Vegetable grown by police officer covered in spots
RADISH
You need to insert DI for Detective Inspector or ‘police officer’ in RASH.
24 Help donkey transporting saint to church
ASSISTANCE
A charade of ASS, (SAINT)* and CE.
25 Speaker’s massage requirement?
NEED
A homophone of KNEAD.
26 Return weapon and receive piece of gold
NUGGET
GUN reversed followed by GET.
27 A religious group embracing party leader’s view
ASPECT
An insertion of P for the first letter of ‘party’ in A SECT.
Down
1 Engineer to help over old hazard for road users
POTHOLE
An insertion of O for ‘old’ in (TO HELP)* with ‘engineer’ as the anagrind.
2 Subject to endless choice
TOPIC
A charade of TO and PIC[K]
3 Women upset about stage in monthly cycle
NEW MOON
Amusing surface (although yes, ladies, I know periods can be painful – but listen, we men have to get shaved every day, and that can involve bleeding as well, in my case anyway). It’s (WOMEN)* and ON for ‘about’. There are theories that the normal human menstrual cycle of around 28/29 days evolved to match the lunar cycle, but the jury seems to be out on whether this is in fact the case.
5 Incredibly naive about northern capital city
VIENNA
An insertion of N in (NAIVE)* with ‘incredibly’ as the anagrind.
6 Heartless trader welcomes note by a certain person in charge of the money
TREASURER
Pan is asking you to take TR for the outside letters of ‘trader’ and insert RE for a ‘note’ in the tonic sol-fa, A and SURE.
7 Once more assert right to large piece of property
RESTATE
A charade of R and ESTATE.
8 Reform gambling law, or cause a threat to temperate living?
GLOBAL WARMING
(GAMBLING LAW OR)*
14 Making lacework to cover old, originally oriental, body staining
TATTOOING
TATTING (‘the process of making knotted lace with a small shuttle’) has O for ‘old’ and O for the first letter of ‘oriental’ inserted.
18 Restraint shown by daughter not sharing in excessive insensibility
HARNESS
HAR[D]NESS
19 Start to notice a smell developing
NASCENT
N for the first letter of ‘notice’, A and SCENT.
20 Worm I threw away
WRITHE
(I THREW)*
23 Viking capturing heart of Latin poet
DANTE
An insertion of T for the middle letter of ‘Latin’ in DANE
Well done, Pan – good puzzle.
Thanks Pan and Pierre
Quite a good Quiptic. I had never heard of Catherine Cookson so google helped me with that clue.
I could not parse 18d.
No favourites – maybe WILDEBEEST.
Thanks, Pierre.
I entered PENTANGLE for 13ac without a second thought until I read your blog.
Apart from that, I thought this was an excellent Quiptic – great surfaces for NEW MOON and GLOBAL WARNING. Thanks, Pan.
Hello Eileen,
I had ‘pentangle’ too. After reading your comment, I went back and pressed the ‘check’ buttons and pentangle was o.k. I then pressed ”reveal all’ and the grid came up with pentangle.
Thanks Pan and Pierre
Very good Quiptic. I was a PENTANGLE before checking too. The only other I had a problem with was GLOBAL WARMING, and this only because I counted the letters in “gambling law or” three times before making it 13!
Favourite was POTHOLE for the misdirecting “Engineer”.
Very minor point – “Viking” was more a profession than a nationality, though many were Danes, of course.
George @3
Odd – “check” removed the P and N for me, and “Reveal all” (I’ve just tried it) left RECTANGLE as correct.
I was going to say that “cloak” seemed to be doing double duty for PONCHO, but your “has” explains it, Pierre.
Thank you Pan and Pierre.
A good Quiptic, most enjoyable – PONCHO was great!
Re “we men have to get shaved every day”.
Nobody helps me. I shave myself.
I’ll give you the contact details for my batman if you like, Rishi. His hands are a bit unsteady though, hence the bleeding.
Thanks Pan and Pierre.
While appreciating the surface,I appreciate Pierre’s concern about the possible offence to 50% of our membership in 3d. I thought “phase” instead of “stage” might have been better but that may have been too obvious.
Also on 3d, some men,myself included, choose not to shave each day but to have a beard. Five minutes extra in the morning to complete the crossword.
A generally nicely pitched Quiptic, good relaxation after a long busy day. However, I agree with Pierre about 13a. I hadn’t used Check or Check All, so I hadn’t realised that “pentangle” was ‘wrong’, but I think it parses better than RECTANGLE. I too thought that the clue for NEW MOON was amusing, but my favourites were WILDEBEEST and CATHERINE COOKSON.
Thanks, Pan and Pierre.
Like everyone else, I put “pentangle” for “rectangle”; it was only when I hit CHECK ALL at the end that I discovered “pentangle” was rejected and so “rectangle” (which earlier hadn’t crossed my mind) must be the answer sought. To judge by the experience of George@3, there may have been some vacillation on the matter going on at t’Grauniad too.