Quiptic 977 by Carpathian

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Carpathian’s turn in the Quiptic slot this week.

Across
1 DRAWING PIN Attract doctor with fashionable fastener (7,3)
DRAW IN (attract) GP (doctor) plus (with) IN (fashionable)
6 CHEW Revolutionary with bite (4)
CHE (revolutionary) W (with)
9 IMPATIENCE Intolerance of empty idiom applied to card game (10)
IM (empty idiom, i.e. the first and last letters only) plus (applied to) PATIENCE (card game)
10 APES Mimics monkeys (4)
Two definitions. Mimics = APES. Monkeys = APES
12 CROSS-EXAMINE Closely question angry divorcee with a charge that’s explosive (5-7)
CROSS (angry) EX (divorcee) plus (with) A (a) MINE (charge that’s explosive)
15 COMMITTEE Promise support for selected group (9)
COMMIT (promise) TEE (support)
17 DOGMA Belief in the morning deity from the East (5)
A reversal (from the East) of AM (in the morning) GOD (deity)
18 ROOTS Origins of automatons not British (5)
ROBOTS (automatons) with the B = British deleted (not British)
19 RATIONALE Share drink grounds (9)
RATION (share) ALE (drink)
20 INTRODUCTION Doctor in unit reassembled for formal presentation (12)
An anagram (reassembled) of DOCTOR IN UNIT
24 OWNS Has touching second, holding wife (4)
ON (touching) and S (second) containing (holding) W (wife)
25 DISTRIBUTE Deliver detective’s gift (10)
DIS (detective’s, DI’s) TRIBUTE (gift)
26 SPEW Bring up small bench (4)
S (small) PEW (bench)
27 RELENTLESS Persistent seller sent off (10)
An anagram (off) of SELLER SENT
Down
1 DAIS Stage regularly featured in diaries (4)
The odd letters (regularly featured in) od DiArIeS
2 ASPS Snakes, like heartless politicians (4)
AS (like) PS (heartless politicians, i.e. first and last letters only)
3 INTERMISSION Break and bury embassy (12)
INTER (bury) MISSION (embassy)
4 GUESS
 Visitors taking time to speculate (5)
GUESTS (visitors with the T = time deleted, taking time)
5 INCLEMENT Harsh client upset about workers (9)
An anagram (upset) of CLIENT containing (about) MEN (workers)
7 HOPPING MAD Wishing to maintain quiet, mother rises in a rage (7,3)
HOPING (wishing) containing (to maintain) P (quiet) and a reversal (rises) of DAM (mother)
8 WASTE PAPER Destroy rag that’s destined for recycling (5,5)
WASTE (destroy) PAPER (rag)
11 CARDIOLOGIST Doctor is one in suit I love to register with first (12)
CARD (one in suit) I (I) O (love) LOG (to register) plus (with) IST (first)
13 SCURRILOUS Vulgar and expensive car with ludicrously luscious upholstery (10)
RR (expensive car) contained in (with … upholstery) an anagram (ludicrously) of LUSCIOUS
14 IMPORTANCE Ship in champion holding national significance (10)
IMPORT (ship in) ACE (champion) containing (holding) N (national)
16 TURQUOISE Quite sour, distressed and blue (9)
An anagram (distressed) of QUITE SOUR
21 TITHE Article about object for levy (5)
THE (article) containing (about) IT (object)
22 CUBE Starts to cut under bedrock, encountering solid (4)
The first letters (starts) of Cut Under Bedrock Encountering
23 FEES Charges up with immense effort (4)
An answer hidden (with) in reverse (up) in immenSE EFfort. I’m not sure that ‘with’ is a terribly good indicator of a hidden answer.

 

12 comments on “Quiptic 977 by Carpathian”

  1. Thanks Carpathian and nms

    Quite hard in places – I gave up and revealed SPEW (though it’s perfectly fair). CARDIOLOGIST was also difficult to get and harder to parse.

    DRAWING PIN was favourite.

    I raised an eyebrow at “gift” = TRIBUTE, but it is there in Chambers. However I didn’t like APES, as the “mimic” sense derives from ape behaviour, and anyway apes aren’t monkeys.

  2. Thanks for blog – 10 is egregious. Apes and monkeys are both types of primate, but a monkey is not an ape.

  3. Compared with some past Quiptics, I thought this was a walk in the park. Thanks Carpathian.

    Now for the cryptic, the FT, the Independent on Sunday plus today’s independent. What else can you do when the temperature in this part of France is in the 40s centigrade?

     

  4. Thanks to newmarketsausage for the blog. I always find that I have missed a subtle bit of the parsing so getting these wonderful explanations will help me in future puzzles. Also thanks to Carpathian. The surfaces were such that I was heading down the wrong path and only a careful study of the clues revealed the right answer. A good challenge and satisfying to complete.

  5. muffin @1 and andysmith @2 — You’re both taxonomically correct regarding 10, but Carpathian can point to dictionary support: one of the definitions of APE in Chambers is “2 non-technical any monkey or primate.”

    I’m glad to hear that muffin @1 also found CARDIOLOGIST and SPEW difficult, as I had a hard time with those two as well.

     

  6. Ted @5

    Descriptive rather than prescriptive again!

    Even so, I’m not convinced that Chambers has it right. I’ve heard apes referred to as “monkeys”, but I don’t think anyone would describe a monkey as an “ape”.

  7. muffin — I agree with you: I’ve never seen this usage, and it sounds odd to me.

    Here’s the OED’s first defintion for “ape”:

    An animal of the monkey tribe (Simiadæ); before the introduction of ‘monkey’ (16th cent.), the generic name, and still (since 1700) sometimes so used poetically or rhetorically, or when their uncouth resemblance to men and mimicry of human action is the main idea (due to reaction of the verb ape upon the noun whence it was formed).

    This explains things a bit better than Chambers, but it’s still pretty weak.

    On the other hand, I’m generally willing to say that a usage is fair game in a crossword if a dictionary sanctions it. It seems only fair to the setter.

     

  8. I’d not heard of DAM for mother before. Figured that’s what it must be from the rest of the clue. Is that a common crossword thing? Feels like it would be.

    Took me a couple of goes to fill this one in, but got there in the end. Thanks for the explanations as always.

  10. @ Matt #8. Sire and dam are frequently used in horse breeding circles to refer to the male and female parents respectively. Also used for other animal breeding, but mainly horse breeding.

  11. @Muffin & Christopher: Thanks! I googled DAM and saw that definition. It definitely had the feel of a regular cryptic clue word. Will remember both of them for future puzzles.

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