Thanks to Hectence for a Quiptic, that I found a bit on the easy side. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Amount of leave worker’s taken in year (8)
QUANTITY : QUIT(to leave) containing(…’s taken in) ANT(a social insect, one of whose castes is the worker) + Y(abbrev. for “year”).
5 In Paris I lost out in the push and shove (6)
JOSTLE : JE(French for “I”, as spoken in Paris) containing(… in) anagram of(… out) LOST.
9 Rose fragrance briefly retained in dead potpourri (8)
ASCENDED : “scent”(fragrance)minus its last letter(briefly) contained in(… in) anagram of(… potpourri) DEAD.
10 Tries key in car for person who’s late (6)
HEARSE : HEARS(tries in a court of law) + E(a musical scale based on the note E, ie. the key of E, or E major).
Defn: …, ie. dead.
12 Subject those people to drug (5)
THEME : THEM(pronoun refering to those people, not us) plus(to) E(abbrev. for the drug, Ecstasy).
13 Wrong file edited out (9)
FLOWERING : Anagram of(… edited) WRONG FILE.
Defn: …;open, said of flowers, as in “the daffodils are out”.
14 Is worker getting scraps after fine supper? (4,3,5)
FISH AND CHIPS : [IS + HAND(a worker, usually in a manual job) plus(getting) CHIPS(scraps from woodworking) ] placed after(after) F(abbrev. for “fine”).
18 Rang technology aid centre – not there always, gave up (6,2,1,3)
CALLED IT A DAY : CALLED(rang on the phone) + IT(abbrev. for “information technology”) + “aid” minus its central letter(centre – not there) + AY(always;ever)
21 Very slender and pale, keeping her fit’s problematic (5-4)
WAFER-THIN : WAN(pale;drained of colour) containing(keeping) anagram of(…’s problematic) HER FIT.
23 Bring back memories of night before, going round fair (5)
EVOKE : EVE(the night before) containing(going round) OK(okay;fair;acceptable).
24 Eager to get under canvas? (6)
INTENT : [ IN TENT ](to be in a tent, usually made of canvas;under canvas).
25 Ordinary doctor eating nothing’s regularly true (8)
MEDIOCRE : MEDIC(a doctor) containing(eating) O(letter for 0;nothing) + the 2nd and 4th letters of(regularly) “true“.
26 Tagged dodgy device (6)
GADGET : Anagram of(… dodgy) TAGGED.
27 Left embassy to organise rally (8)
ASSEMBLY : Anagram of(… to organise) [ L(abbrev. for “left”) + EMBASSY].
Down
1 Queen gets tzar’s collection of crystal (6)
QUARTZ : QU(abbrev. for “queen”) plus(gets) anagram of(…’s collection) TZAR.
2 Enthralled by Joan of Arc, heroic warrior with a bow (6)
ARCHER : Hidden in(Enthralled by) “Joan of Arc, heroic“.
3 Flavour her wine topped with fruit (9)
TANGERINE : TANG(a strong flavour) + “her wine” minus the respective 1st letters(topped).
4 Play what you will when Christmas ends (7,5)
TWELFTH NIGHT : Cryptic defn: Reference to the night of the last day of Christmas festivities.
Answer: …, alternatively called “What You Will”.
6 Daisy‘s neat study (5)
OXEYE : OX(neat;a bovine animal) + EYE(to sudy;to look at closely and intently).
7 Frighteningly good? (8)
TERRIFIC : Double defn: 1st: Causing terror.
8 Motivate English singer to perform Glyndebourne’s finale (8)
ENERGISE : E(abbrev. for “English”) + anagram of(… to perform) SINGER + the last letter of(…’s finale) “Glyndebourne“.
11 Writers‘ souvenirs from Trevi perhaps? (8,4)
FOUNTAIN PENS : Cryptic defn: Reference to pens;items a tourist might buy as souvenirs, from, say, the Trevi Fountain in Rome, an example;perhaps of a tourist attraction.
From the elegant past:
15 About to relax by heater in a state of peace (9)
CEASEFIRE : C(abbrev. for “circa”;about, used with dates or certain periods in time) + EASE(to relax) plus(by) FIRE(a source of heater).
16 Glowering hood comes in to inform (8)
SCOWLING : COWL(a large loose hood, especially one that is part of a monk’s habit) contained in(comes in) SING(to squeal;to act as an informer to the police).
17 Doomed to be sick, overweight and even dead (3-5)
ILL-FATED : ILL(to be sick) + FAT(overweight) plus(and) the 2nd and 4th letters of(even) “dead“.
19 Confuse male rabbit shortly returning for youngster … (3,3)
FOX CUB : FOX(to confuse;to baffle) + reversal of(… returning, in a down clue) [ “buck”(a male rabbit) minus its last letter(shortly) ].
20 … in haste, leave it out a bit of salad (6)
CELERY : “celerity”(haste;speed) minus(leave … out) “it“.
22 Weird losing way in mountains (5)
RANGE : “strange”(weird) minus(losing) “st”(abbrev. for “street”;a way).
Thanks both. Slight typo in 18ac – the centre of AID is missing, not the last letter
Thanks, scchua and Hectence. This took me a bit longer than usual with FISH AND CHIPS my last one in. OXEYE also took awhile – I suppose it’s good for beginners to learn about this meaning of “neat” which I’ve only encountered in crosswords.
Not often you see a pangram in a quiptic crossword
Thanks Hectence and scchua
Very nice crossword, though I didn’t find it particularly easy. TANGERINE was my favourite. I thought “souvenirs” for PENS was a bit of a stretch.
I did spot the pangram!
Shirl @1: Not the centre of AID
Sorry Shirl, just realised it was the blog you were correcting.
I dont know why dots between 19 & 29 d
Thanks for blogging, scchua.
A puzzle that fitted nicely into the Quiptic slot, I thought. FISH and CHIPS and OXEYE were favourites this morning.
I did see the pangram (for those who don’t know, it’s simply a puzzle where the setter uses all 26 letters of the alphabet, just for fun mostly).
I think there’s another dimension to TWELFTH NIGHT, since its alternative title is WHAT YOU WILL. So for me it was a kind of triple definition.
pex, you can – as almost always – ignore the ellipses between 19 and 29d and treat them as two separate clues. Here Hectence is using them to make something of the surface reading, suggesting the rabbit might like a bit of salad.
Well done, Hectence. Good start to my cryptic crossword week.
Thank you Hectence and scchua.
I enjoyed this Quiptic, but missed the pangram!
Favourite clue was that for TWELFTH NIGHT, there is another dimension to it, as Kathryn’s Dad @7 points out. .
Thanks Shirl@1. Typo corrected.
perfect Quiptic.
Surprised others found this easy. Took me three times as long as the Rufus.
I had a moan about Rufus this morning, so in fairness I am going to say “Well done” to Hectence.
Quite a lot of the clues very straightforward (as one would wish for a Quiptic) but a few that took longer to spot (though I am kicking myself for not remembering that OX-EYE is another name for a daisy). Mixture just about right, I would say.
No Paul-style mind-benders, but several which appealed by being taut and neat, the favourite I think being 4dn; and all of them accurately constructed with a definition present and the wordplay parsing properly (another implied moan at Rufus, I am afraid).
Missed the pangram. One of the delights of this site is that people point such things out.
Thank you Kathryn’s Dad, got it now. I should have realised especially as while I was doing the crossword there was a wild rabbit on my lawn eating some lettuce that I left out for it.