A nice Quiptic, thanks to Hectence. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Crossing river, elk is grouchy (6)
MOROSE : MOOSE(elk;large deer inhabiting northern N. America and Eurasia) containing(Crossing …, …) R(abbrev. for “river”).
4 Exhausted by current Tory tactic to stay in government? (4,2)
USED UP : [USE D.U.P.](what you might call the Tory party’s method of forming the current minority government via the Agreement with the Democratic Unionist Party which secures the latter’s confidence-and-supply support in Parliament).
9 Neutral colour reflected in perfectly ergonomic surroundings (4)
GREY : Reversal of(reflected) and hidden in(in … surroundings) “perfectly ergonomic“.
10 Aiming quietly to come in before mother retires furious (7,3)
HOPPING MAD : HOPING(aiming for;aspiring to) containing(… to come in) P(abbrev. for “piano”, musical instruction to play quietly) placed before(before) reversal of(… retires) DAM(mother;female parent of an animal, especially a domestic mammal).
11 In the long run, we’ll get sick (6)
UNWELL : Hidden in(In the long … – with only 2 words, it’s perhaps not that long) “run, we’ll“.
12 Uneven slope did damage (8)
LOPSIDED : Anagram of(… damage) SLOPE DID.
13 Check Ford’s initial corrosion speed (9)
FRUSTRATE : The 1st letter of(…’s initial) “Ford” + RUST(corrosion) + RATE(the speed at which something moves or happens).
15 King is, with son, a soft touch (4)
KISS : K(abbrev. for “king”, in chess notation) + plus(with) S(abbrev. for “son”).
Defn: In billiards or snooker, a light touch of one ball against another in passing.
16 Picked up sound from pack of animals (4)
HERD : Homophone of(… sound) “heard”(picked up sounds and speech).
17 Call about online charge is worth it (9)
REWARDING : RING(to call on the phone) containing(about) [ E-(prefix denoting a thing that is available online on the Internet) + WARD(a charge;a person, usually a minor, put under the charge of someone else) ].
21 Long to keep Christ, but not church, unsullied (8)
PRISTINE : PINE(to long for;to yearn for) containing(to keep) “Christ” minus(but not) “ch”(abbrev. for “church”).
22 Mean to follow partner who’s absent-minded (6)
SCATTY : CATTY(mean;spiteful) placed after(to follow) S(abbrev. for “south”, who with “north” makes up one of the two partnerships in a bridge game.
24 Against fellow’s independent study on church faith (10)
CONFIDENCE : CON(against, as in “the pros and cons of …”) + F(abbrev. for “fellow”) + I(abbrev. for “independent”, as with, say, a political candidate independent of any political party) + DEN(a study;a quiet room for relaxation and privacy) + CE(abbrev. for the Church of England).
Defn: …, as in “I have no faith in the ruling party”.
25 A little open area in front of grate (4)
AJAR : A(abbrev. for “area”) placed before(in front of) JAR(to grate;to have an unpleasant or disturbing effect, as do certain sounds on the ear).
26 Locum‘s about to take wrong file (6)
RELIEF : RE(with reference to;about) plus(to take) anagram of(wrong) FILE.
Defn: One who stands in for;relieves someone.
27 Two chaps, back to back, in the doghouse! (6)
KENNEL : KEN(first of two chaps) plus(back to) reversal of(back) LEN(second of two chaps).
Down
1 Sailor to spoil liner’s first outing (7)
MARINER : MAR(to spoil;to damage) + “liner” minus its 1st letter(…’s first outing).
2 Slip her my poem (5)
RHYME : Anagram of(Slip) HER MY.
3 Academic is starting summer with short vacation in Capri, maybe (7)
SCHOLAR : The 1st letter of(starting) “summer” plus(with) [ “hols”(short for holidays;vacation) minus its last letter(short …) contained in(in) CAR(an example of which;maybe, is the Ford Capri) ].
5 Pinches small naps about midday (6)
SKIMPS : S(abbrev. for “small”) + KIPS(slang for naps;sleeps) containing(about) M(abbrev. for the Latin “meridies”;midday, as in a.m./p.m., ante meridiem/post meridiem, or, before/after noon).
Defn: Allow oneself or someone else a meagre amount, as in “to pinch on food”.
6 Plough in back meadow’s left out for August (9)
DIGNIFIED : DIG(to plough;break up or turn over earth in a field) + reversal of(… back) IN + “field”(a meadow) minus(… out) “l”(abbrev. for “left”).
7 People who pretend to be influential? (7)
PLAYERS : Double defn: 1st: … to be characters on stage or screen; and 2nd: People who are influential, or cause things to happen in a particular field of activity.
8 Accidentally leak article on runners? (5,3,5)
SPILL THE BEANS : SPILL(leak liquid from out of a container) + THE(article in grammar) placed above(on, in a down clue) BEANS(I presume “runners” is a reference to runner beans).
“leak” is doing double duty.
14 Accent’s on ample detailed testing (9)
STRESSFUL : STRESS(accent;emphasis placed on a syllable or word in speech) placed above(…’s on, in a down clue) “full”(ample;broad, as in “… had full hips”) minus its last letter(detailed;removed the tail).
16 In time, revolutionary supporter finds safe haven (7)
HARBOUR : HOUR(a period of time) containing(In …, …) reversal of(revolutionary, in a down clue) BRA(supporter for the feminine breast or chest).
18 Down under, tree cultivation’s simple (7)
AUSTERE : AUS(abbrev. for “Australia”, nicknamed “down under”) + anagram of(… cultivation) TREE.
19 Rising number having great time in a sport (7)
NETBALL : Reversal of(Rising, in a down clue) TEN(a number between 9 and 11) plus(having) BALL(a great time;a tremendously enjoyable time, as in “he was having a ball at college”).
20 Lied recklessly about direct debit swindle (6)
DIDDLE : Anagram of(… recklessly) LIED containing(about) DD(abbrev. for “direct debit”).
23 Close to losing way once more (5)
AGAIN : “against”(close to, in fact touching on) minus(losing) “st”(abbrev. for “street”;a way;a thoroughfare).
In 10ac, DAM (mother in horse-breeding) is reversed to give MAD.
Thanks Hectence and scchua
A bit of a mixed bag for me. To start with, I found it much harder than the Rufus. I took ages to see AJAR, which became one of my favourite clues, along with (the wonderful) USED UP, REWARDING, MARINER and HARBOUR.
Downsides: I don’t think “aiming” is the same as “hoping”; HERD doesn’t work as the “Picked up sound” is doing double duty as both “heard” and its own homophone indicator; “partner” for S is correct but feeble; similarly Capri is a car, but from 50 years ago; I don’t see the equivalence of SKIMPS and “pinches” in any of its senses; PLAYERS doesn’t work as a DD because if one definition is “People who pretend”, the other must be “to be influential”, which lacks “People” to mean “players”.
Thanks peterM. You’re right. In writing the blog, I began correctly with “reversal of” but got distracted with MA/mother. Blog corrected.
muffin@2, in the order you raised them:
How about “We’re hoping/aiming/intending/aspiring to complete the project in record time”.
The homophone indicator is “sound” and the indicatee is “picked up”, so don’t think there is double duty.
Again, how about the example I gave: “They had to skimp/pinch on food…” continuing with “… to make ends meet”
Like you, I had difficulty indicating the double defn. I had “People” underlined twice, but that doesn’t show in the blog. Another way of classifying the clue is perhaps as a Double Cryptic Definition: “People who pretend to be influential” are players on stage or screen, and “People who pretend to be influential?” with the question mark are players/people who are influential and who might or might not pretend to be such.
Hi scchua
“aiming” implies actually doing something, while “hoping” could be entirely passive.
I agree on “sound” by itself being the homophone indicator, so that works.
Sorry, “they had to pinch on food” simply doesn’t make any sense to me! I would always say “skimp” or “cut back on” or something similar, never “pinch”.
muffin @5, the COED gives for pinch “be niggardly with money, food, etc.).
Thank you Hectence and scchua.
An enjoyable Quiptic. I did not know the billiards/snooker meaning of KISS for “a soft touch”. My favourite clue was that for USED UP.
An excellent cryptic by Hectence – and I’m grateful for scchua’s elucidations – I just didn’t see 25a.
Good introduction to lots of cryptic devices, so presumably also a good Quiptic? I would rate it as at the difficult end of the scale. Still, if you can’t cope with this you’ll never learn to love Enigmatist!
As muffin and Cookie have said, 4a USED UP is superb – a real LOL (unusual in a Quiptic?)
4a is best clue of the month for me. This was tougher than Rufus today and I agree with JohnR – good intro to different types of clues
Thanks both.
This struck me as at least as difficult as some of the cryptics. E.g. ‘Scholar’ required a cd for car and hold and then to put one inside the other. I should have thought one cd would be enough for a Quiptic. OTOH, a thoroughly enjoyable cryptic.