A delightful puzzle from Carpathian which is perfect for the Quiptic slot. I’ve nowt more to say, other than to deconstruct the clues for you.
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 Disillusion sailor surrounded by neglect
DISABUSE
An insertion of AB for one of the several crosswording options for ‘sailor’ in DISUSE.
5 Look around terraces in outskirts of Basingstoke
BROWSE
An insertion of ROWS in BE for the outside letters of ‘Basingstoke’.
9 Miserable wife gagged
WRETCHED
A charade of W and RETCHED.
10 Accompany old car
ESCORT
A dd, referencing the old Ford.
12 Bookies never returned to cover bet
EVENS
Hidden reversed in bookieS NEVEr.
13 Alpine sun melted strip of land
PENINSULA
(ALPINE SUN)*
14 Bird living in lodgings for sport
KITEBOARDING
A charde of KITE and BOARDING gives you the (admittedly minority) sport.
18 Disgruntled whip’s rage set aside
STAGE WHISPER
(WHIPS RAGE SET)* with ‘disgruntled’ as the anagrind.
21 Repossess frothy coffees
ESPRESSOS
(REPOSSESS)*
23 Humble home with acre in front
ABASE
A charade of A for ‘acre’ and BASE.
24 Worthless attempt to cover up remains
TRASHY
An insertion of ASH in TRY.
25 Teeth make an impression on your outspoken son
DENTURES
A charade of DENT for ‘impression’, URE for a homophone (‘outspoken’) of ‘your’ and S.
26 Blackens small and medium corncobs
SMEARS
A charade of S, M and EARS.
27 Hard-working boss promises to pay back money
STUDIOUS
A charade of STUD for ‘boss’ and IOUS.
Down
1 Daughter admitted being drunk
DOWNED
A charade of D and OWNED.
2 Heads to slay King Edward with enormous rolling pin
SKEWER
The first letters of the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth words of the clue.
3 Stern about left showing return to old habits
BACKSLIDE
An insertion of L in BACKSIDE.
4 Overpriced contract to include church in cross-country race
STEEPLECHASE
A charade of STEEP and CH inserted into LEASE.
6 Almost sit in gum
RESIN
A charade of RES[T] and IN.
7 Story with house deserted initially by one
WHODUNIT
A charader of W for ‘with’, HO, D for the first letter of ‘deserted’ and UNIT.
8 Antagonise wayward sergeant
ESTRANGE
(SERGEANT)*
11 Determined to keep trick unpredictable
INCONSISTENT
An insertion of CON in INSISTENT.
15 Put off holding stick when rising in repeated performance
REENACTED
A reversal (‘when rising’) of DETER with CANE inserted. The insertion indicator is ‘holding’.
16 Insulating material, like top of seals’ heads
ASBESTOS
A charade of AS, BEST in its verbal sense and OS for the first letters of ‘of’ and ‘seals’.
17 Bend track for flyer
WARPLANE
A charade of WARP and LANE.
19 Hard atmosphere at party in Barnet
HAIRDO
A charade of H, AIR and DO. ‘Barnet Fair’ is rhyming slang for ‘hair’.
20 Count caught us hiding three bridge players
CENSUS
An insertion of E, N and S for three of the bridge positions in C and US.
22 Air film with that woman
ETHER
A charade of ET for the setters’ fave film and HER.
Brava, Carpathian – a pleasure to solve and blog.
Very enjoyable. My favourites were STAGE WHISPER, REENACTED, WARPLANE.
Thank you Carpathian and Pierre.
Thanks Carpathian and Pierre
Yes, a good Quiptic. My favourite was HAIRDO.
I didn’t parse ASBESTOS or RESIN, and I think the latter was a bit weak.
Thanks for the blog. I couldn’t parse “resin” either, looking for a letter on the end of resin. aether and whodunnit would be my preferred spellings. Good puzzle.
Not keen on ‘whodunnit’ with one ‘N’ and ‘abase’ for humble, but not suggesting I could be a perfect setter. I enjoyed the puzzle. Thank you, Carpathian.
A very good Quiptic. Favourites were 1d DOWNED and 19d HAIRDO.
peter @4: what’s wrong with “abase” for humble? Chambers gives, for “humble”: “vt to bring down to the ground; to lower; to abase; to mortify; to degrade”.
(It annoys me intensely when people accepting awards say they are “humbled”. Do they feel mortified and degraded?)
I think you need to include “in” as part of the definition in 15d. Otherwise, the parts of speech don’t match. (I’m not 100% sure they match even with that inclusion, but it’s closer.)
The only slight flaws in this very enjoyable puzzle were a few loose definitions. In addition to the above, a corncob is only part of an ear of corn, and to me, “estrange” and “antagonise” seem significantly different. But these are minor concerns.
I confess that I failed to finish this one. I needed the help of a word search program to get “reenacted”, and even with all the crossers I failed to figure out “kiteboarding”. The latter is 100% my fault, and the former is mostly my fault, although I might attach a bit of blame to the not-very-precise definition.
As often occurs, right after posting I have doubts about whether what I said is accurate. I still think that “repeated performance” doesn’t work as a definition of “reenacted”, but it’s not so much a part-of-speech issue as the fact that one includes the direct object and one doesn’t. I still think it’s possible that “in repeated performance” and “reenacted” might match better, when both are considered as adjectival expressions.
I agree, Ted – “in repeated performance” seems a slightly better match for REENACTED.