Thanks to Moley. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Options to change the indigenous population (12)
ALTERNATIVES : ALTER(to change) + NATIVES(members of the indigenous population).
8 Look back at student amid applause for the Netherlands (7)
HOLLAND : [ Reversal of(… back) LO(to look, as in “lo and behold”) plus(at) L(letter displayed by and signifying a learner;student driver) ] contained in(amid) HAND(applause, as in “please give a hand for the next performer”).
9 Rotten coaching without a reference to Italian food (7)
GNOCCHI : Anagram of(Rotten) “coaching” minus(without … reference) “a“.
11 Church features in play about old Greek capital (7)
DRACHMA : CH(abbrev. for “church”) contained in(features in … about) DRAMA(a play).
Defn: …, ie. currency, before the country joined the Eurozone.
12 Untidy pair: Meg makes a witty remark (7)
EPIGRAM : Anagram of(Untidy) PAIR: MEG.
13 Retirement remit cancelled and re-arranged to go in (5)
ENTER : Anagram of(… and re-arranged) “Retirement” minus(… cancelled, the letters in) “remit“.
14 In favour of having been tried, but complained (9)
PROTESTED : PRO(in favour of, in contrast to “anti”) + TESTED(having been tried).
16 It’s the page, briefly, for cooking pasta (9)
SPAGHETTI : Anagram of(…, for cooking) [IT’S THE + “page” minus
its last letter(briefly) ].
19 Road maker‘s quiet, say (5)
PAVER : P(abbrev. for “piano”, musical direction to play quietly) + AVER(to say;to declare).
21 Awfully bad sign for part of the body (7)
ABDOMEN : Anagram of(Awfully) BAD + OMEN(a sign portending the future).
23 Fruit found travelling to Capri (7)
APRICOT : Anagram of(found travelling) TO CAPRI.
24 Crowds run in underwear (7)
THRONGS : R(abbrev. for “run” in cricket scores) contained in(in) THONGS(very brief underwear).
25 It’s important to cut off end of circular and redistribute (7)
CRUCIAL : Anagram of(… and redistribute) “circular” minus
its last letter(to cut off end of …).
26 Blame puny Leo, perhaps, for not being able to find work (12)
UNEMPLOYABLE : Anagram of(…, perhaps) BLAME PUNY LEO.
Down
1 Not less, if nothing else (2,5)
AT LEAST : Double defn: 1. … than; and 2nd: As in “he should, if nothing else, be doing that”.
2 Cheater embarrassed tutor (7)
TEACHER : Anagram of(… embarrassed) CHEATER.
3 Old Russian vehicle, darling, used for celebrity’s reception (3,6)
RED CARPET : RED(a Communist, a Russian of the older generation, perhaps) + CAR(a motor vehicle) + PET(a darling;a favourite).
4 Marguerite lost merit in debate (5)
ARGUE : “Marguerite” minus(lost) “merit“. No anagram necessary for either word.
5 Worship of a false god is oriental (7)
IDOLISE : IDOL(a false god) + IS + E(abbrev. for “eastern”;oriental)
6 Passage from former partner’s chapter’s unfairly pert (7)
EXCERPT : EX(one’s former partner) + C(abbrev. for “chapter”) + anagram of(unfairly) PERT.
7 Test case I hid clumsily: there’s no turning back! (3,3,2,4)
THE DIE IS CAST : Anagram of(… clumsily) TEST CASE I HID.
10 I am pretty likely to act in a way that’s over the top (12)
IMMODERATELY : I’M(contraction of “I am”) + MODERATELY(pretty;kind of;sort of, as in “a pretty successful actor”.
15 Perhaps go charily with this form of rule (9)
OLIGARCHY : Anagram of(Perhaps) GO CHARILY.
17 Firedog is also metal (7)
ANDIRON : AND(is also;too) + IRON(a metal element).
18 Word that sounds like another primate (male) around New York (7)
HOMONYM : HOMO(with a capital “H”, a genus of primates of which Homo sapiens are the present-day representatives) + M(abbrev. for “male”) containing(around) NY(abbrev. for New York).
19 Each time, rub out trouble (7)
PERTURB : PER(each, as in “per person”) + T(abbrev. for “time”) + anagram of(… out) RUB.
Defn: …, as a verb.
20 Immunising agent that vice can ruin (7)
VACCINE : Anagram of(… ruin) VICE CAN.
22 Alan’s trick through the nose (5)
NASAL : Anagram of(… trick) ALAN’S.
I found this one of the easiest Quiptics of recent weeks, probably meaning that it fits the bill perfectly well.
While I liked quite a lot of this crossword, there were a few things that caught the (read: my) eye.
I don’t see why Moley used ‘about’ in 11ac as there is already an inclusion indicator (‘featured in’).
Some ‘purists’ (but most solvers aren’t, I assume) will find that 13ac needs a second anagram indicator as the letters of ‘r-e-m-i-t’ are not deleted in that order. Mind you, the deletion comes first, then the anagram. In 9ac (GNOCCHI) there is a similar situation but there the anagram indicator comes first (and yes, there’s only letter to be deleted, true). A third example is 4d in which ‘Marguerite’ loses ‘m-e-r-i-t’ – indeed in the order of that word!
I think, the clue at 20d should have done without ‘that’ – although, perhaps just about.
Old Russian, RED? Mmm.
My main gripe is the definition of HOMONYM (18d). Saying “Word that sounds like another” is surely not right (or at least, half the story). It looks like Moley confuses ‘homonym’ with ‘homophone’. Homonyms are words that sound and look the same but have different meanings, like e.g. ‘just’ meaning ‘fair’ and ‘only’.
Butan apt Quiptic, altogether.
Many thanks to scchua & Moley.
Thanks both. This was pretty straightforward, with nothing to frighten the horses, as a good Quiptic should be. Quite nice surfaces mostly.
Good Quiptic; thanks Moley and scchua.
Sil @1; I take your points but the Collins definition of homonym is: ‘one of a group of words pronounced or spelt in the same way but having different meanings.’
I know, Robi, that dictionaries use the words ‘or spelt etc’ but then we are in homophone territory, aren’t we?
I’m not a linguist – perhaps, one should stand up – but to me it still feels like Moley told us half the story (which IMO is not enough).
As you say, Sil, a very easy quiptic – and although I agree with your quibbles, the fact that I raced through it without having to think too hard about any of the clues (a very rare event, for me!) the faults, such as they are, can’t be too grave…
Thanks to Moley for a gentle start to the week, and to Scchua for the blog.
Over half of the clues in this puzzle involved anagrams as either all or part of the wordplay. There’s not necessarily anything wrong with that, but I think that a greater variety of clues would have made the puzzle more interesting.
The pedant in me objects to HOLLAND as a synonym for “The Netherlands”.
Other than that, an enjoyable Quiptic. Many thanks to Moley and Scchua.
I’m from the Netherlands and I’m fine with it.
I confess that I never knew there was a distinction between Holland and the Netherlands. According to Wikipedia
The name Holland is also frequently used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. This usage is commonly accepted in other countries, and sometimes employed by the Dutch themselves. However, some in the Netherlands, particularly in other regions of the country, may find it undesirable or misrepresentative.
If Wikipedia says that it’s commonly accepted in other countries (such as the one in which these puzzles are produced, presumably), and Sil van den Hoek is OK with it, then I can’t get too worried.
This reminds me of the frequent use in puzzles of Ulster to clue N[orthern] I[reland]. The error there is actually the reverse: to use the mathematical terminology, Holland is a subset of the Netherlands, where as (if I’m not mistaken) Ulster is a superset of Northern Ireland.
SvdH: I said it was the pedant in me. Possibly also oversensitivity from growing up in Scotland, and having “Angleterre” etc. used as a synonym for Britain or the UK. I know from my 15 years in the Netherlands that it doesn’t appear to bother the Dutch.
Groetjes. Beer van kleine hersens.
Sil @1,4: Homonym for “word that sounds like another” doesn’t bother me. It’s not a complete synonym for the clue, but it does satisfy it, in the same way that, for example, CAMEL would be a reasonable answer to “animal… (5)”. All homonyms are words that sound like another. The fact that they’re also spelled like the same is a bonus. My two cents anyway.
And while we’re talking about these things, 19a took me a while because “quiet, say” had me convinced I was looking for a homophone for a word meaning quiet, rather than P and a synonym for “say”. I’m newer at cryptics, so I’m easily thrown by something that looks like a classic clue construction but isn’t.
Fun puzzle, though. Took me less time than my average.
Matt @11, I see what you’re saying and I also know what the dictionaries say about this matter (which can be pretty confusing too).
Moley’s definition is, however, only half the story. Now, that is not always a problem (and surely not in Crosswordland). But in this case, I found it too minimalistic, emphasising the wrong thing. Homonyms may sound the same (and most of the time be spelt the same) but the main feature is that they have a different meaning, which is exactly what Moley left out. Putting the spotlight just on ‘sound’, his definition is an apt one for ‘homophone’.
By the way, every now and then even some bloggers qualify what I call a homophone as a ‘homonym’. It’s a mixed-up world, isn’t it? [as if we didn’t know that already]
Sil @12 I hear you, and homophone would definitely be a more specific answer for that clue. But a homophones are a subset of homonyms, so every homonym is still a word that sounds like another. The clue satisfied me anyway, but I see why that’s not a universal opinion.
Matt @13, that’s what I feared someone would tell me, that homophones are a subset of homonyms.
And yes, that is supported by the dictionaries, too, if you look at their specific definitions.
Yet, I can’t help seeing the two as separate things, one next to the other (with no overlap).
Nice discussion (at least for you and me) that cleared things up (at least for me).
End of story?
I think this was a perfect Quiptic.
My favourites were 3d and 26a.
Thanks Moley and scchua
Sil @14 Me too! I had them as separate before a bit of googling, but that’s because I’d forgotten about homographs. So I guess it’s homograph + homophone = homonym? Anyway, fun chat for sure! See you on a future fifteensquared forum.
michelle @15 Yup, I really enjoyed it. Gentle enough for a relative novice like me to wade through, but a few that threw me for a while, and some fun and playful clues.
This is the first crossword I’ve completed without needing this site (although I did need this post to explain quiet, say) so I liked it very much.