Never a dull moment with the Grauniad. I wasn’t really expecting a Quiptic on 25th December, and on checking first thing, there wasn’t one. Later in the day, there was: the numbering was correct but the date shown was 1 January 2018 and there was no check button. Since it’s in the public domain, I’ve blogged it, but there may not be a different one next Monday. Or there may be. Whatever, good Quiptic.
It’s a pangram, which for new solvers I will explain. It’s just a puzzle where all 26 letters of the alphabet feature at least once. Setters do it just for fun. If you suspect one, because you’ve got a lot of the less common letters (J, K, Q, V, W, X, Y, Z) in the bits you’ve solved already, it’s sometimes worth considering which ones are missing if you are struggling for your last few in.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Priest, unusually small, delicate person
SPRITE
(PRIEST)*
4 Deliberate doctor made nursing safe
MEASURED
Nutmeg is inviting you to insert SURE for ‘safe’ into (MADE)* The anagrind is ‘doctor’ and the insertion indicator is ‘nursing’.
9 Part of body minor gangster protects
ORGAN
Hidden in minOR GANgster.
10 Reduced TUC backing depressed outsiders in Oregon
CUT DOWN ON
A reversal of TUC, DOWN for ‘depressed’ and ON for the outside letters of ‘Oregon’.
11 Temporary preference for lazy teachers?
SHORT-TERM
A cd cum dd.
12 Hours taken in restaurant prove irritating
CHAFE
An insertion of H in CAFE.
13 He’s likely to hit crooked dealer’s nose
SHARPSHOOTER
A charade of SHARPS and HOOTER for ‘nose’. The first element is referring to a CARD SHARP.
17 Where bar snacks may be served on large white crackers?
WATERING HOLE
(ON LARGE WHITE)* A fairly loose definition, but fair enough.
20 An attack of illness in the vicinity
ABOUT
A simple charade of A and BOUT.
21 Coming together to raise standard
UNION JACK
Another charade: of UNION and JACK.
23 Fielder of 49, possibly 50, say
SQUARE LEG
The cricket position facing the batsman’s arse is a charade of SQUARE, because 49 is 7 squared, L for ‘fifty’ and EG for ‘say’.
24 After six, everyone returns home
VILLA
More Roman numerals. VI followed by ALL reversed.
25 Go down with Tory leaflet
CONTRACT
A charade of CON and TRACT.
26 Means of getting over game
BRIDGE
A dd.
Down
1 Film director succeeded in ’20s — early starter
SCORSESE
An insertion of S for ‘succeeded’ (in the nobility or royal sense, I think) in SCORES for ’20s’ followed by E for the first letter of ‘early’.
2 District‘s “number one” in beer coming up
REGIONAL
Another insertion: of NO I in LAGER, all reversed.
3 Note clear two-way principle
TENET
TE for the seventh ‘note’ of the tonic sol-fa, followed by NET for ‘clear’ (mostly used to describe profit). ‘Two-way’ is in there just for fun because TENET is a palindrome.
5 Playing impromptu, former speed’s hotting up
EXTEMPORISING
A charade of EX, TEMPO and RISING.
6 Eliminate urge for deep-fried food
SCOTCH EGG
A charade of SCOTCH (as in ‘scotch a rumour’) and EGG (as in ‘egg on’).
7 Strip and leg it, avoiding area
RUNWAY
RUN [A]WAY
8 Teacher essential for this dimwit
DONKEY
A charade of DON and KEY.
10 Report of vet concerning exposed EU state
CZECH REPUBLIC
A homophone of CHECK for ‘vet’ followed by RE and PUBLIC.
14 Scuttering rat repels building worker
PLASTERER
(RAT REPELS)*
15 Came to wooded valley, a little one running north
TOTALLED
A reversal of DELL, A and TOT.
16 Spike under pet’s collar, for instance
NECKLACE
A charade of NECK for ‘pet’ in its kissing sense and LACE. ‘Under’ is the instruction because it’s a down clue.
18 Voyager ultimately in space, flying an enormous distance
PARSEC
An insertion of R for the last letter of ‘voyager’ in (SPACE)* with ‘flying’ as the anagrind. A PARSEC is 31 trillion kilometres, which is indubitably an enormous distance.
19 Nelson tops one detachment of servicemen
COLUMN
A dd. Think Trafalgar Square.
22 New Republican First Lady’s given up? I don’t believe it!
NEVER!
A charade of N and R EVE reversed. EVE is the First Biblical Lady, of course, and it doesn’t really matter whether she’s reversed or not, but it allows for a lovely surface.
Brava, Nutmeg.
Too much Christmas food perhaps, but I found this hard going and didn’t quite finish. Some good clues though.
Thanks Pierre and nutmeg
Thanks, Pierre, for keeping up with the Grauniad’s zigs and zags.
So bowled over by Nutmeg’s elegance (esp in a quiptic) that I missed the pangram.
Thanks all.
Thanks Nutmeg; good Quiptic.
Thanks Pierre for a good blog. I liked the SHARPSHOOTER.
Thanks Nutmeg and Pierre
I did this yesterday, despite raising an eyebrow at the “publication date”. Very smooth; PARSEC my favourite. Wasn’t sure that “go down” was a good definition for CONTRACT (which is immediately followed by BRIDGE….)
Technical points: a parsec is the distance of an object that the angle between its direction at either extreme of Earth’s orbit around the sun is a second of arc (easier to explain with a diagram!). The Union Flag is only a “Union Jack” when flown on a jackstaff, a small pole at the bow of a ship. It’s still a “standard”, though.
I’ve had family visiting so haven’t had a chance to do crosswords for a week or so. I was glad to see a Quiptic to ease me back in. Maybe I’ve just gotten out of practice, but I found this far more difficult than the usual Quiptic, although in hindsight I can’t see anything unfair about a single clue.
@ Muffin #5. To put it another way, a parsec is the height of a triangle where the base of the triangle is the (average) diameter of the earth’s orbit, and the angle at the apex is one second (1/3600 of a degree). A very tall thin triangle indeed!
muffin @5 and Pierre: in 25ac I took the definition to be “go down with” (as in, “go down with — or contract — flu”), rather than “go down”. Does that help?