Pan always provides ‘beginners and those in a hurry’ with a well-constructed and entertaining Quiptic. The NW corner took a bit of teasing out, but the whole puzzle fell out nicely in the end.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
8 Fish dish taken to church in an old man’s pouch
CODPIECE
A charade of COD, PIE and CE. Nice misdirection, since you automatically read ‘old man’ as one idea; but of course it’s the device itself that’s ‘old’ (at least it is where I live).
9 Epithet always contains a Greek letter
THETA
Hidden in epiTHET Always.
10 Satirical piece featuring Swift’s first clothes
SKIT
A charade of S and KIT.
11 Special circle linked, they say, to period of high water
SPRING TIDE
A charade of SP, RING and a homophone (‘they say’) of TIED.
12 Where Winston Churchill was taught to break up ploughed land
HARROW
A dd. Winnie did indeed go to school in HA1.
14 Stand around the last queen seen in cheap accommodation aboard
STEERAGE
An insertion (‘around’) of E for the last letter of ‘the’ and ER for Her Maj in STAGE.
16 Recognise personal smell, something that may have an effect in itself
PLACEBO
A charade of PLACE and BO for body odour. ‘I couldn’t place/recognise her.’
18 Money received upfront from Victor in a ball
ADVANCE
An insertion (‘in’) of V from the phonetic alphabet in A DANCE.
21 Fit tree into small container
MATCHBOX
A charade of MATCH and BOX.
24 Tabour smashed by churlish minstrel
TROUBADOUR
A charade of (TABOUR)* and DOUR.
26 Republican returning to university here in South America
PERU
A charade of REP reversed and U.
27 Setter and mistress finally take legal action against the children
ISSUE
Sounds rather harsh. A charade of I, S for the last letter of ‘mistress’ and SUE.
28 Irritating demand by Heather
NEEDLING
A charade of NEED and LING. ‘Heather’ is almost always LING in crossword land. Except when it’s ERICA.
Down
1 Kay’s evening drink?
COCKTAIL
You need to read ‘Kay’ as the letter K, which is the ‘tail’, or last letter, of COCK. I can already hear ‘too complicated for a Quiptic’; but it’s one clue out of 29, has some very helpful crossing letters and an unambiguous and clear definition. So if you haven’t come across this device before, here’s your introduction to it and an invitation to store it away for future use.
2 Mark needs regular support
SPOT
The even letters of SuPpOrT.
3 Notice saying ‘Go Up and Down‘
SEESAW
A charade of SEE for ‘notice’ and SAW for ‘saying’ in its ‘adage’ sense.
4 The French get commonplace disease
LEPROSY
A charade of LE and PROSY, which means ‘plain, dull, tedious’ according to my Chambers.
5 Pugilist unsportingly content with KO
STUN
Hidden in pugiliST UNsportingly.
6 More suitable amount of beer for the wife?
BETTER HALF
A simple charade of BETTER and HALF.
7 Try to get Dutch friend to return a pampered pooch
LAPDOG
A reversal (‘to return’) of GO, D and PAL.
13 Vehicle turned up to rescue suspect seen round old track
RACECOURSE
A charade of CAR reversed and O inserted into (RESCUE)* The reversal indicator is ‘turned up’ (since it’s a down clue); the insertion indicator is ‘seen round’; the anagrind is ‘suspect’.
15, 23a Doctor airlifted to a Muslim festival
EID AL-FITR
(AIRLIFTED)* Clever spot for the anagram (which I don’t recall having seen before) and a nice surface reading. In Islam, the festival to mark the end of Ramadan, the date of which varies every year because it’s based on the lunar cycle.
17 Hairstyle for a small gent?
BOB
A dd, relying on the crossword convention of ‘small gent’ meaning a shortened forename, in this case of ROBERT.
19 Providing food for pet close to Alice with a strange grin
CATERING
A charade of CAT, E for the last letter of ‘Alice’ and (GRIN)* The allusion is to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, of course, and the feline from the North-West.
20 Spell out fully the thinking behind old money
EXPOUND
A charade of EX and POUND.
22 Scared of American fellow mounting attack
AFRAID
A charade of A, F and RAID. ‘Mounting’ works as a positional indicator because it’s a down clue.
23 Consented to a deadly sin
AGREED
A charade of A and GREED.
25 Timeless recordings of animals
APES
[T]APES
26 Chuck it down and hide
PELT
A dd.
Many thanks to Pan for this morning’s Quiptic.
Thanks Pan and Pierre
I loved the unexpected anagram for EID AL FITR. I wasn’t keen on “small gent” for BOB.
I was a bit surprised to encounter the reverse clue for COCKTAIL, but as Pierre says, it was clearly defined and obvious from the crossers. The entire puzzle was smoothly clued and would make a good tutorial for beginners. Thanks to Pan and Pierre.
Yes this was fun and perhaps a little more challenging than today’s Vulcan cryptic. I agree with muffin that EID AL FITR was an unexpected gem even if I had to play around with the spelling in my own mind before entering it. I also liked RACECOURSE once I had teased out the wordplay! And, CODPIECE. Thanks Pan and Pierre. Pierre you mean to say you DON’T wear a codpiece!!
21 Fit tree into small container – MATCHBOX
A charade of MATCH and BOX.
I can see FIT and MATCH, but I can’t work out how TREE becomes BOX. Is it related to e.g. a dog TREEing a cat?
Tim @4, I read it as short for box elder, but I now learn that there is “a dense slow-growing evergreen tree or shrub” called a box.
Tim @ 4: a BOX is a type of tree.
Thanks! Never too old to learn something new 🙂
I had no idea how to parse COCKTAIL although the solution was obvious
thanks B+S
From time to time, when consulting this site, I’ve read commenters referring to the crossword in question as having been a write-in, and I’ve envied their skills. Well, this has been my first ever write-in – and around halfway through I realised there’s a snag to them: the blasted things are over far too soon and the fun is therefore only fleeting. I actually stopped and went off to do some of the host of tasks I usually put on hold till the crossword’s done (which I’m guessing must be counter-procrastination) but on returning, polished the rest off in what, for me, is record time. I don’t recall Pan being this solvable before, so I presume it’s just a happy one-off. Needless to say, I couldn’t parse all – so I’m grateful, as ever, to Pierre for today’s lessons, especially lings and the cocktail-construction.
In a host of clues that made me grin, HARROW PLACEBO, CODPIECE and LEPROSY were particularly pleasing. Big thanks to Pan for the entertainment.
I shall be insufferably smug for the rest of today, but know perfectly well that tomorrow I’ll be back to staring blankly at parts of the grid, waiting for inspiration….
Well done, Wellbeck. You have earned your little bit of smugness, so enjoy. As you so rightly say, there’s always tomorrow …
‘Old man’ can be a euphemism for penis, although I don’t know if that was in the setter’s mind …
Good Quiptic; I knew EID but not the rest of it, but just put it in hopefully from the anagram.
Thanks Pan and Pierre.
That is another interpretation, Robi. Only the setter knows.
Oh dear, that shows what a smutty mind I have: it never occurred to me not to use the interpretation that Robi mentions.
I’ve never seen a clue like the Cocktail one before and don’t fully understand the explanation given – can someone enlighten me even more…? Thanks!
It is a bit unusual, Binkletron. You have to understand ‘Kay’ as representing the letter K in the alphabet. The definition is ‘evening drink’, so COCKTAIL. The cryptic bit is to separate out COCKTAIL into COCK TAIL. The setter is alluding to the fact that K is the last letter, or ‘tail’ of COCK. So you’ve got the usual definition plus cryptic instruction, just in a slightly unusual way. All fair though.
Does that help?
There were a few clues that I did not comprehend and could only guess the answers from the crossers, only realising after the fact that they fitted part of the clue e.g. SEESAW, APES and NEEDLING. EID AL was easy to guess, but I missed the anagram airlifted and googled EID AL, knowing that the last word was F-T-. Otherwise no reveals and a pleasant way to avoid a cool early morning.
My favourite was 16, when it dawned on me. Thanks Pan.