Guardian Quiptic 980/Hectence

Hectence is a long-time setter of the Quiptic and she has compiled a delightful puzzle for us this morning. It’s well-constructed, with one or two challenging clues, but eminently tractable with a bit of brain engagement. Because it’s intended for those new(ish) to this kind of stuff, I have given full parsings, so experienced solvers and commenters should probably look away now to avoid boredom. If you are lurking and there is anything I haven’t explained fully, stop lurking and ask.

The puzzle is a pangram. Experienced solvers won’t need telling, but that means it’s a puzzle with all 26 letters of the alphabet present. This is something and nothing, really: you can solve the puzzle without realising or knowing it’s a pangram, but if you do suspect that it could be one, with a few clues left any less common letters that haven’t appeared yet might get you over the line. Why do setters do pangrams? Because they can.

 

Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed

definitions are underlined

Across

1 Gateway for large number to get aboard wonderful ship
ACCESS
An insertion of C in ACE SS. SS is the standard crossword abbreviation for ‘ship’ and when clued as ‘on board ship’ is often asking you to insert something into SS. Here it’s on its own. The insertion indicator is ‘to get aboard’. C is the Roman numeral for a hundred, hence ‘large number’. Like D. Or M.

5 Visit state pupils at home
CALL IN
A charade of CALL and IN for ‘at home’. I think Hectence is referring to a ROLL CALL for pupils in school.

Edit: as Shirl and matrixmania explain, this is in fact CA for California or ‘state’ and LL for two learners or ‘pupils’.

8 Warrior almost takes old city with a display of great spirit
BRAVURA
A charade of BRAV[E], UR and A. ‘Old city’ in crosswordland is almost always UR, so if you are new to all this, this two letter combination – like SS – is worth moving into long-term memory.

9 Steal from artist’s new bag
RANSACK
Oh, and add RA for ‘artist’ to that list. A charade of RA, N and SACK.

11 The day’s leading entomologist has limited skill with lice treatment
DEFINITE ARTICLE
It’s the setter’s duty to mislead: first reading of this clue would never suggest that ‘the’ is the definition. A multi-part charade: D for ‘day’, plus E for the first letter of ‘entomologist’, plus FINITE, plus ART, plus (LICE)*

12 Kisses for old lovers
EXES
A dd. How much you like this clue will depend on how much you like the use of transliteration for letters of the alphabet: CEE for C, ESS for S, or – here – EX for X.

13 Cheese a little while before sleep’s rejected every time
MOZZARELLA
A charade of MO for moment or ‘a little while’, ZZ for ‘sleep’, and ALL ERA reversed (‘rejected’).

17 Commission agent’s backing money to mature
PERCENTAGE
A charade of PER for REP reversed (‘backing’), CENT and AGE.

18 Ordinary fellow describes king in jest
JOKE
An insertion of K for ‘king’ in [Ordinary] JOE.

20 Coach online
RAILWAY-CARRIAGE
A cd. I wouldn’t normally write this with a hyphen, but you can if you want to.

23 Kilometre in, end run injured and wasted
DRUNKEN
An insertion of K in (END RUN)* The anagrind is ‘injured’.

24 Greedyguts is large in stomach and a heavyweight
GLUTTON
An insertion of L in GUT followed by TON.

25 Lapse with catch turned the game
TENNIS
A reversal of SIN and NET. The reversal indicator is ‘turned’.

26 Passion for teacher’s indeed unending
DESIRE
An insertion of SIR in DEE[D]. This type of clue is sometimes referred to as ‘lift and separate’: that’s what you have to do to ‘indeed’, to turn it into ‘in deed’. Then ‘in’ is your insertion indicator and ‘unending’ tells you to remove the last letter of ‘deed’. Seemples. Some folk don’t like lift and separate clues because they are ‘against the rules’. I’m not one of them: I think Hectence has written an unequivocal clue here with a good surface.

Down

2 Let others see expensive coat picked up by driver
CHAUFFEUR
A homophone of SHOW FUR, with ‘picked up’ as the homophone indicator.

3 Queen’s worried about one of horses
EQUINE
An insertion of I in (QUEEN)* The anagrind is ‘worried’.

4 Sets off to Stuart’s bash
STARTS OUT
(TO STUARTS)* with ‘bash’ as the anagrind.

5 Back in charge, taking car out and about
CIRCA
To go back to the ‘abbreviations and short words you need to remember’ theme, a setter will often use ‘about’ in the wordplay to indicate C or ‘circa’. Here it’s the solution: you need to make a reversal (‘back’) of IC for ‘in charge’ (add that to your list as well), then add (CAR)* The anagrind is ‘out’.

6 Nitrogen’s good in Merlot bottled for the future
LONG-TERM
An insertion of N and G in (MERLOT)* with ‘bottled’ as the anagrind.

7 Patriarch from Asia running riot gets caught
ISAAC
The same structure as 6dn: C in (ASIA)* C for circa; C for caught. So much choice, and we haven’t even been to church today.

8 Cross with poor casual worker before the start of day
BAD TEMPERED
A charade of BAD, TEMP, ERE for the archaic/poetic word for ‘before’ and D for the first letter of ‘day’ (although as we’ve seen, D can be ‘day’ just by itself).

10 Take care of castle, working under one with vision
KEEP AN EYE ON
A charade of KEEP for ‘castle’, AN EYE for ‘one with vision’ and ON for ‘working’ (‘the dishwasher is on/working’). Hectence is indicating the word order with ‘under’, since it’s a down clue, and that’s where ON comes.

14 Criss-crossed unknown island and gazed around astride horse
ZIGZAGGED
More one- and two-word elements to remember: ‘unknown’ will be always be the mathematical X, Y or Z; ‘horse’ can be GG (say it out loud if you don’t get it); I can be ‘island’. It’s a charade of Z, I, and GG inserted into (GAZED)* The anagrind is ‘around’ and the insertion indicator is ‘astride’.

15 Peer’s father — sick but not hard to take care of
LOOK AFTER
A charade of LOOK and (FAT[H]ER)* The anagrind is ‘sick’; the removal indicator is ‘but not’; the single-letter abbreviation is H.  ‘Take care of’ as the definition in two clues in the same crossword is not ideal.

16 Knew area could be made to revive again
REAWAKEN
(KNEW AREA)* with ‘could be made’ as the anagrind.

19 Teams of doctors cover our organisation
GROUPS
An insertion of (OUR)* in GPS. The anagrind is ‘organisation’.

21 Raise tax on custom working
IN USE
A reversal of NI (National Insurance, a ‘tax’ by any other name) followed by USE for ‘custom’. The reversal indicator is ‘raise’, because it’s a down clue.

22 Tugs at last sadly sank at sea
YANKS
The last letter of ‘sadly’ followed by (SANK)* with the classic anagrind of ‘at sea’.

Brava, Hectence. Good Quiptic.