Thanks to Pan for this enjoyable Quiptic. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Clues and solutions for 16 across and 6 down have been changed.
Across
1 Short and extremely sexy movement made by a woman (6)
CURTSY : CURT(short/unduly economical with words) plus(and) 1st and last letters of(extremely) “sexy“.
How low do you have to go? And how low can you go?
4 Balance shown by officer class (6)
OFFSET : OFF(abbrev. for “officer) + SET(a class/a set of similar items).
Defn: …/to counteract.
9 Give out retro magazine (4)
EMIT : Reversal of(retro) TIME(the American weekly news magazine).
10 Women in queenly residences accepting open place to learn to use a needle (10)
HOUSEWIVES : HIVES(the residences of queen bees and the rest of their colonies) containing(accepting) [ OU(abbrev. for the Open University, the distance learning institution for undergraduate and postgraduate courses with its main campus in Milton Keynes, UK) + SEW(to use a thread and needle) ].
11 Country airs active round America (6)
RUSSIA : Anagram of(… active) AIRS containing(round) US(abbrev. for things American).
12 Mark granted a wish to go with the others, uninvited (3,5)
TAG ALONG : TAG(a mark/a label) plus(granted) A + LONG(to wish for/to want).
13 Midweek mash of swede and last of parsley (9)
WEDNESDAY : Anagram of(mash of) [SWEDE AND + last letter of(last of) “parsley“].
15 Hopeless hiding an iconic footballer (4)
PELE : Hidden in(… hiding) “Hopeless“.
Defn: … who played for Brazil.
16 Guarded silver in hollow cavity (4)
CAGY : AG(symbol for the chemical element silver) contained in(in) with all the inner letters deleted from(hollow) “cavity“.
17 Partially conscious, conservative used offensive language (9)
CONCUSSED : CON(abbrev. for a member of the Conservative Party) + CUSSED(used offensive language/profanities).
21 Obscure university hospital’s third contribution to breast reconstruction (8)
ABSTRUSE : [ U(abbrev. for “university”) + 3rd letter of(…’s third) “hospital” ] contained in(contribution to) anagram of(… reconstruction) BREAST.
22 All one’s worldly goods consist of a broken tea set (6)
ESTATE : Anagram of(broken) TEA SET.
24 At risk of death by exploding grenade (10)
ENDANGERED : END(of life, specifically/death) plus(by) anagram of(exploding) GRENADE.
25 Insect taking time to find a source of sugar (4)
BEET : BEE(an insect) plus(taking) T(abbrev. for “time”).
26 Sheath of the sword found in tent (6)
TEEPEE : 1st and last letters of(Sheath of) “the” + EPEE(a sword used in fencing).
27 Silver coins given for processed grains (6)
GROATS : Double defn: 1st: Former English silver coins; and 2nd: Grains having had their hulls removed and crushed.
Down
1 Communist on quiet journey to work (7)
COMMUTE : COM(abbrev. for “Communist”) placed above(on, in a down clue) MUTE(quiet/silent).
2 Poirot asked to get hold of duty lists (5)
ROTAS : Hidden in(… to get hold of) “Poirot asked“.
3 Drink given by school before toddlers’ sleeps (7)
SCHNAPS : SCH(abbrev. for “school”) plus(before) NAPS(toddlers’ sleeps).
5 Raise and care for chick starting to fly over ridge (6)
FLEDGE : 1st letter of(starting to) “fly” placed above(over, in a down clue) LEDGE(a ridge of rock beneath the surface of the sea).
6 Quiet – sells tins (anag) (9)
STILLNESS: Anagram of(anag) SELLS TINS.
7 Youngster getting Torquay’s first American sausage (7)
TWEENIE : 1st letter of(…’s first) “Torquay” + WEENIE(alternative of “wiener”, an American term for a sausage).
Defn: Short for “tweenager”, a youngster between about 8 and 14 years old.
8 Mad sunbathers out to get opponents of blood sports (4,9)
HUNT SABOTEURS : Anagram of(Mad) SUNBATHERS OUT.
Defn: …, fox hunting specifically.
14 Arrange to tie one tag in knots (9)
NEGOTIATE : Anagram of(… in knots) TIE ONE TAG.
16 In taxi, I take home a piece of furniture (7)
CABINET : CAB(in a taxi/to travel in a taxi) + I + NET(to take home/to have left after all deductions, as say, wages after tax, social insurance, etc. deductions).
18 Caught editor tucking into awfully hard cheese (7)
CHEDDAR : C(abbrev. for “caught”, in cricket scores) + [ ED(abbrev. for “editor”) contained in(tucking into) anagram of(awfully) HARD ].
19 Space given to plants in dishes (7)
ENTREES : EN(a unit measurement of space used in typesetting) plus(given to) TREES(plants – large ones).
Defn: … at the start of a meal in modern French cuisine and in most English-speaking parts of the world, except in the US and parts of Canada where they are the main courses of meals.
20 Give way about setter as a pet (6)
BUDGIE : BUDGE(to give way, as in “he refused to budge from the doorway”) containing(about) I(pronoun used self-referentially by the setter).
23 Turned up perfect piece of bone (5)
TIBIA : Reversal of(Turned up, in a down clue) [ AI(A1/perfect/the best, with the Roman numeral substitution) + BIT(a piece of something) ].
Thanks Pan and scchua
I mostly enjoyed this, but it was a DNF as neither I nor Chambers Word Wizard knew TWEENIE.
I don’t think the “ins” in 26a, 16d and 19d work particularly well.
Favourite was CAGY.
In 1917, the physicist and optics specialist R.W.Wood wrote his most famous book, How to tell the Birds from the Flowers. Here is BEE, BEET and BEETLE.
Thank you scchua.
Unfortunately, stilleto is not a word. The crossword has now been corrected.
Thanks to Pan and scchua
I enjoyed this, but found some of the spellings unusual, and surely STILLETOS is wrong.
I thought STILLETOS looked odd, but I thought my form must have been poor, as I had initially carelessly ASSETS @22a!
I also thought stilettos looked odd and put it down to a variant spelling
My favourite was HOUSEWIVES.
Thank you scchua and Pan
The reformulated 6d (“Quiet – sells tins (anag)”) was almost my last one in, as it seemed too “quick”-ish even for a Quiptic.
Thanks jvh for alerting me. Blog is accordingly amended.
I’d be interested in knowing what the original clues for 15A and 6D were?
Chris Clifton @8
6d was “Shoes, nevertheless, dislocated toes (9)”
This gave STILLETOS, not a valid spelling.
The alteration meant one of the crossers needed changing. 15a was “Hasty examination reveals inflammation of a gland (4)”
Oh. How odd. The one in the iOS app is still wrong so I’m still looking at the misspelt heels/daggers and the annoying sore eye! Can’t they retrospectively fix the app content like they can the web? Anyway I still enjoyed both the Quiptic and this blog, so thanks, both. Only a very very very sad person would point out that in the amendment note you mean 15a not 16a so, er, I won’t. 🙂 Thanks again.
I find the quiptic more to my liking than the Monday cryptic.
However, I’ve never seen a clue in a cryptic crossword with (anag) in it. Poor show.
Also, never heard of tweenie (surely a 13 or 14 year old is a teenager) or weenie (is it really a small hotdog?).
NNI @11
Substituted clue as a rush job – see previous discussion. I agree that (anag) is more like the Quick.
How about “retort head exemplifies quiet”?
Any other offers?
btw did anyone follow my Bee Beet Beetle link? It leads to a really funny book!
A tweenie is a housemaid.
Muffin @12 – yes I’ve got it now, thank you! It’s brilliant. 🙂
Muffin@1 and 12. As usual it was after 11pm when I reached this blog so I read most of your link this morning. I enjoyed it. It made me think that Ogden Nash must have read it, and possibly Dr Seuss.
Thanks to Pan and sccchua. This took about the same time as yesterday’s Vulcan and I slightly preferred it.
Re 10a. I remember my dad referring to the small sewing set issued to him as part of his kit when he was called up to the RAF as a housewife. That was my way into this one
3d: Isn’t the correct spelling Schnapps, not Schnaps? Thanks in advance for clarifying!