A fine Quiptic from Matilda this morning. One or two clues to stretch the target audience of ‘beginners’, but all fair. I have tried to explain in detail how all the clues work, but if you have questions, just ask.
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 Broadcast substandard feature image (8)
PORTRAIT
A homophone (‘broadcast’) of POOR and TRAIT. POOR and the first syllable of PORTRAIT aren’t homophones in my accent, but they are in many, so I don’t think we need to re-open the Great Homophone Debate again this morning, do we?
5 Retreat welcomed by queasy lumberjack (6)
ASYLUM
Hidden in queASY LUMberjack.
9 Privates stealing bananas (8)
GENITALS
(STEALING)* Funny clue.
10 In agreement for a French crash diet (6)
UNITED
A charade of UN for one of the words for ‘a’ in French and (DIET)* with ‘crash’ as the anagrind.
12 Pair taking in two points haven’t a clue (5)
DUNNO
An insertion (‘taking in’) of NN for two ‘points’ of the compass in DUO.
13 Care to sound like a bird? (4,1,4)
GIVE A HOOT
A dd cum cd.
14 Prosaic and dull, cart off roughly (6,2,4)
MATTER OF FACT
A charade of MATTE and (CART OFF)*
18 Fake Monet, one returned in tasteless frame, showing flowers (6-2-4)
FORGET-ME-NOTS
This took me a while to see. It’s a charade of FORGE for ‘fake’, then MENOT in TS for the outside letters (‘frame’) of ‘tasteless’. You get to MENOT from MONET by reversing (‘returning’) ‘one’.
21 Capricious leaders of Wyndham’s hail iconic non-U musical (9)
WHIMSICAL
A charade of WHI for the first letters of ‘Wyndham’s’, ‘hail’ and ‘iconic’ and M[U]SICAL.
23 Pull gag (5)
HEAVE
A dd, the second in its ‘throwing up’ sense.
24 Significance of devil’s work? (6)
IMPACT
A charade of IMP and ACT.
25 Usual street with a road adjoining (8)
STANDARD
A charade of ST, AND, A and RD.
26 Still not odd then (4,2)
EVEN SO
A charade of EVEN for ‘not odd’ and SO for ‘then’.
27 I’ve gone after ghastly shade that’s tacky (8)
ADHESIVE
A charade of (SHADE)* and IVE. The anagrind is ‘ghastly’.
Down
1 Temple locking up sea dog apparently (6)
PAGODA
Hidden reversed (‘locking up’, since it’s a down clue) in seA DOG APparently.
2 Spoils include new spats (3,3)
RUN INS
An insertion of N in RUINS.
3 Motivation to share drink (9)
RATIONALE
A charade of RATION and ALE.
4 Matilda will say it: she’s being held up by current Yankee leader being a bastard (12)
ILLEGITIMACY
A bit of convolution, and I think this is how it works. A charade of ILL (I’LL) for ‘Matilda will’, EG for ‘say’, IT, I’M for ‘she’s’ (referring again to Matilda), AC for ‘current’ and Y for the first letter of ‘Yankee’.
6 Imminent arrival primarily seen as not too athletic (5)
SANTA
Matilda referenced the C-word. Naughty. There are 23 sleeps left yet. The first letters of the last five words of the clue.
7 Baked tortilla by the seaside (8)
LITTORAL
(TORTILLA)*
8 Referee taking time to think (8)
MEDITATE
An insertion of T in MEDIATE.
11 Find elevator potentially too big (12)
OVERINFLATED
(FIND ELEVATOR)*
15 No way for solid opportunity (3,6)
FAT CHANCE
A charade of FAT and CHANCE.
16 Unlikely of thief to pocket whisky and cream (3-5)
OFF-WHITE
An insertion (‘to pocket’) W in (OF THIEF)* Since Matilda is clueing W using the phonetic alphabet, you could argue that the clue is faulty, since the spelling used in said alphabet is ‘whiskey’.
17 Half frugal item — three and a bit euros for a dessert (5,3)
FRUIT PIE
A charade of FRU and IT for the first halves of the second and third letters of the clue, followed by PI (which mathematically and approximately is ‘three and a bit’) and E.
19 I am sadly returning a sausage (6)
SALAMI
A reversal (‘returning’) of IM ALAS.
20 Push part of bike, we hear (6)
PEDDLE
An undoubted homophone of PEDAL.
22 Gets rid of bags (5)
SACKS
A dd.
Many thanks to Matilda for this morning’s Quiptic.
Thanks Matilda and Pierre
Lovely puzzle – grins from beginning to end. Favourite ASYLUM, as I took ages to see it – LOI in fact.
Thanks for the blog. I struggle to see how ILLEGITIMACY = being a bastard – ILLEGITIMATE would be OK for me.
I think ILLEGITIMACY is a word describing the state of being a bastard, Andy. I was okay with it and didn’t think to give it further comment.
Lovely puzzle. I liked the clever construction of FORGET-ME-NOTS, and the surface of ILLEGITIMACY was thoroughly enjoyed by this Yankee. I thought that RUN INS in the sense of ‘spats’ should have been clued as 3-3, and I’d argue that the longer phrase in 1d is ‘locking up’ PAGODA rather than the other way around, but those are minor quibbles.
Thanks to Matilda and Pierre.
Super Quiptic; I liked the fake Monet, bastard and the privates.
Thanks Matilda and Pierre.
23a HEAVE means “push,” not “pull.” Sea chanties, by which I mean sailors’ songs sung to coordinate work, not any song that happens to mention a boat, use “heave” for capstan work, which involves pushing on the capstan bars as you walk around it, and “haul” for work involving lines (not “ropes”) raising or moving sails.
I think that 2d and 14a should have hyphens not commas.
Great fun from Matilda.
Thanks Pierre for parsing FORGET-ME-NOTS, which I missed or rather forgot to go back to – once I got the M from illegitimacy the flowers in question seemed unmistakable.
Like DaveinNCarolina I had a bit of a query over PAGODA. If ‘locking up’ is doing double duty as both a containment indicator and a reversal indicator, then as Dave says it should be the ‘sea dog apparently’ locking up the temple, not the other way round.
Or is Matilda suggesting that the ADOGAP, because it straddles the three words, is in effect ‘locking’ them together?
On a second look, I think you are both right about the use of ‘locking up’ to give us PAGODA. It’s not quite right, is it?