Thanks Hectnce for a Quiptic that fits the bill. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
There are 3 birds and a couple of bird references in the solutions, but that’s probably of no significance.
Across
1 Kudos! You finally solved a puzzle (6)
SUDOKU : Anagram of(… solved) [KUDOS + last letter of(… finally) “You“].
4 Resist engagement being cancelled? (5,3)
FIGHT OFF : FIGHT(an engagement, eg. between two armies) + OFF(has been/is being cancelled, as in “the wedding’s off”).
9 One time performance is flawless (5)
EXACT : EX-(prefix denoting “once”/formerly/one time) + ACT(a performance on stage or film).
10 Game over before getting to grips with first level is not fun (9)
CHEERLESS : CHESS(the board game) containing(over) [ ERE(before, in time) containing(getting to grips with) 1st letter of(first) “level“].
11 Hurry to watch son on instrument (4,5)
LOOK SHARP : LOOK(watch/behold) + S(abbrev. for “son”) plus(on) HARP(the stringed instrument).
12 Trendy article about space is mindless (5)
INANE : IN(trendy/in fashion) + A(article in grammar) + reversal of(about) EN(a unit measurement of space between characters in typesetting).
13 Bird box sheltered by terrace? (5,7)
HOUSE SPARROW : SPAR(to box without landing heavy blows, as a form of training) contained in(sheltered by) [HOUSE ROW] (a row of, well, terrace houses).
17 Naughty child set fire to model, given permission by mistake (6,6)
LITTLE TERROR : LIT(past tense of “light”/set fire to, as “the candle was lit”) + T(the model of an early car manufactured by Ford Motors) + LET(given permission/allowed to) plus(by) ERROR(a mistake).
20 Kingdom has bona fide munificent leader (5)
REALM : REAL(bona fide/genuine) + 1st letter of(… leader) “munificent“.
21 Annoyed, when unscrupulous journalist and editor get zero fines (6,3)
HACKED OFF : HACK(a journalist producing dull unoriginal work, who would be described as unscrupulous if he/she hacked into a computer system, as has happened before) plus(and) ED(abbrev. for “editor”) plus(get) O(letter representing 0/zero) + FF(two x abbrev. for “fine”, as used by coin collectors when grading the condition of old coins).
23 Retired and moved to live with daughter (4,2,3)
WENT TO BED : [WENT TO](moved to) + BE(to live/to exist) plus(with) D(abbrev. for “daughter”).
24 For example, going back round edge reveals dirt (5)
GRIME : Reversal of(…, going back) EG(abbrev. for “exampli gratia”/for example) containing(round) RIM(the edge/the boundary, of something circular or roughly circular).
25 Elegant citadel’s destroyed by end of battle (8)
DELICATE : Anagram of(…’s destroyed) CITADEL plus(by) last letter of(end of) “battle“.
26 Joins forces with foreign gendarmes extracting DNA (6)
MERGES : Anagram of(foreign) [“gendarmes” minus(extracting) “DNA“/NDA ].
Down
1 Sneaky to rip off your former following (8)
STEALTHY : STEAL(to rip off/to take illegally) plus(… following) THY(archaic/former term for “your”).
2 Look in a guide about communication (8)
DIALOGUE : LO(look/behold) contained in(in) anagram of(about) A GUIDE.
3 Birds briefly peck around the edges (5)
KITES : “kiss”(to peck/to kiss lightly) minus its last letter(briefly …) containing(around) 1st and last letters of(… edges) “the“.
5 Popular finishing round on practice green (13)
INEXPERIENCED : IN(popular/in fashion) + [last letter of(finishing) “round” placed after(on) EXPERIENCE(knowledge or skill from practical experience/practice) ].
6 Woman gets bad vibe eating alternative to rabbit, for instance (9)
HERBIVORE : HER(that woman) plus(gets) anagram of(bad) VIBE containing(eating) OR(term introducing an alternative to).
Defn: An example of which/for instance, is the rabbit.
7 Last letters heading off from Rome reflected decline (6)
OMEGAS : 1st letter deleted from(heading off from) “Rome“+ reversal of(reflected) SAG(to decline/to get pulled down).
Defn: Plural of the last letter of the Greek alphabet.
8 Some of life’s terrors get worse (6)
FESTER : Hidden in(Some of) “life’s terrors“.
10 I bet that potential winner in front is raring to go (5,2,3,3)
CHAMP AT THE BIT : Anagram of(… potential) I BET THAT placed after(… in front) CHAMP(short for “champion”/winner).
14 I get manic about puzzling! (9)
ENIGMATIC : Anagram of(… about) I GET MANIC.
15 Worrying about looking after eggs (8)
BROODING : Double defn.
16 German article about break point for Rolling Stones? (8)
DRIFTERS : DER(the article “the”, in German) containing(about) RIFT(a break/a split in something) + S(abbrev. for “south”/a compass point).
Defn: … without the capitals.
18 Boasted that credit’s due (6)
CROWED : CR(abbrev. for “credit”) + OWED(describing something that is due to someone).
19 Lewd about sailors half-stripped! (6)
CARNAL : CA(abbrev. for “circa”/about/approximately, especially when refering to dates) + RN(abbrev. for the Royal Navy, sailors, collectively) + “half” minus its 1st and last letters(…-stripped).
22 Eel artfully pierced by silver bird of prey (5)
EAGLE : Anagram of(… artfully) EEL containing(pierced by) AG(in chemistry, the symbol for the element, silver).
Thanks both. Good Quiptic. I managed to temporarily derail myself by entering HEDGESPARROW at 13a.
So many birds, and no Pierre to blog – is the Guardian doing this deliberately?
I have my suspicions, Shirl. I must have misbehaved in a previous life. Good puzzle and blog – thanks to both.
Thanks Hectence and scchua.
Good Quiptic, although I really don’t think that ‘first level’ should be used in a Quiptic to mean L. First of level, level’s first or initially level etc are some of the standard ways of giving the L. I know that some other setters in the Guardian use this but it really isn’t grammatical IMHO.
I managed to go astray twice with “look smart” for “look sharp” and “charmless” for “cheerless” although I did wonder where the instrument was. But at 11a doesn’t “watch” simply mean “look” rather than “lo”? Otherwise where do you get the “ok” in look from?
Ooops! forgot tos ay thanks for the puzzle and the blog- how rude!
Thanks Hectence and scchua
Several clues were a bit tough for a Quiptic, I thought – CHEERLESS, as Robi says, and INEXPERIENCED in particular. Satisfying solve though. KITES was my favourite.
I had HEDGE SPARROW first too Shirl, though I did think “Why is a hedgerow a terrace?”. I suppose it’s because we tend to think of House Sparrows as just “sparrows”.
Confess I looked up hedgesparrow thinking ‘can hedgerow=terrace?’, saw housesparrow among the hits and went ‘ah yes, better’, so a dnf. Hey ho.
Thanks bira@4. Oversight corrected.
Thanks Hectence and scchua. I liked 1a and 14d for their nice comments on this activity.
I’m not sure the grammar at 10d is right. If the definition is “is raring to go”, shouldn’t it be “champs” rather than “champ”? And if it’s just “raring to go”, shouldn’t it be “champing”?
I agree about the grammar of 10d; I firmly refused to enter ‘champ’ until obliged to do so. Good puzzle, though – it took me longer than today’s Cryptic (I was also waylaid by ‘charmless’ until I had a proper go at 6d).
As others have pointed out, the grammar of the surface doesn’t match the grammar of the solution for 10d. ‘Would be raring to go’ is a batter match than ‘is raring to go’.
typo: better match!
I’m another who wondered why a hedgerow was a terrace.
23a could just as easily be “gone to bed” until you get the first crosser. I’m not bothered by this — I know that some people feel a clue should be unambiguous without crossers, but I’m not one of them. I just thought I’d mention it.
Thanks to Hectence and scchua!
Once again I find myself echoing previous comments: as soon as I spotted birds all over the place I thought, “this’ll please Pierre!”; I, too, feel CHAMP AT THE BIT isn’t quite right; and I also started with HEDGEROW – which sort of parses, almost, as a terrace is a row, and a hedge sort of is. Well, i figured it was no more of a stretch than other parsing I’ve encountered. And even though the crossers made HOUSE SPARROW inevitable, I’m not wild about it: we’ve lived in a terrace for years and years – and have never once heard it described as a House Row…. hey ho. My fave was STEALTHY: a very neat clue! Thanks to Hectence and Scchua
I was unable to parse 5d.
My favourites were CHEERLESS + CARNAL (Loi)
Thanks Pierre and Hectence