“The seven unclued entries are the names of an eponymous character whose nickname (55) should be written below the grid. With one exception, all clues contain a superfluous word which should be removed before solving; the initial letters of these words give the character’s location. The normal clue’s number gives the age of the character. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.”
The seven names of the eponymous character are OCTAVIAN MARIA EHRENREICH BONAVENTURA FERNAND HYACINTH ROFRANO. His ‘location’ is DER ROSENKAVALIER – RICHARD STRAUSS, and he is 17.
His nickname is QUINQUIN, which gives us the title of the puzzle.
Please post a comment if the explanations are not clear.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| D | 1 | Dancers EXERT (no longer perform) [incorporating] S (special) project (6) | EXSERT |
| E | 5 | Mineral BIT (part) [in] English ALE (beer) (6) | ALBITE |
| R | 9 | Old hedge bird’s rare eye disease (3) | HAW |
| R | 11 | HEAR YE! [Not A (about)] rousing praise for Ed (5) | HERYE |
| O | 12 | {OC (Only child) S (son)} [taking over] {EM (space) – open A (area)} [in] FEMALE crew quarters (6) | FO’C’SLE |
| S | 13 | According to the exigencies of the case RN (nut) [replaces] simple R (rule) [in] ERRATA (list of mistakes) (7, three words) | E RE NATA |
| E | 14 | Load-carrying part of balloon encloses [60% of] CARGO (3) | CAR |
| N | 15 | Bard’s intimation necessitates impression (4) | NOTE |
| K | 16 | OVATORS (Those keenly applauding) ([nowhere O (old), but A (adult)]) divine manifestations (7) | AVATARS |
| 17 | Method of cooling [cracked] {INFERIOR GRATE}* (13) | REFRIGERATION | |
| A | 21 | Measure EP (record) H (height) A (before) accepting (4) | EPHA |
| V | 22 | Virginian river pub (3) | INN |
| A | 24 | TAIN (Highland town) abandons TED (spread) – gone bad (7) | TAINTED |
| L | 26 | Knead e.g. Lindt chocolate: {H (hot), C (cold) ONCE}* [kneaded] (6) | CONCHE |
| I | 27 | Impudent pig: PECCAVI (‘I have sinned!’) ‘[Take] RY (lines) ([not] VI (six))’ (7) | PECCARY |
| E | 28 | Department [heads enamoured of] V |
VAR |
| R | 29 | Indian rushes LEG (on) [in] TE ([first half of] TEST) U (for all to see) (6) | TELEGU |
| R | 30 | Nancy’s schools L |
LYCEES |
| Down | |||
| I | 2 | {ENN ([Inside of] PENNE) FEELS WET}* in [tossed] salad ingredient (11, two words) | SWEET FENNEL |
| C | 3 | Wage slave comforts ARNE (composer) [in] ER (Emergency Room) (6) | EARNER |
| H | 4 | TREAT (Handle) [withdrawing] A huge buyer’s allowance (4) | TRET |
| A | 5 | < RAFA[’s back] [covering] FE ([first two of] FEDERER’S) aces to frighten, according to poet (6) | AFFEAR |
| R | 6 | BACCO (Snout) [loses] O (ordinary) rôle, [getting] A raspberry perhaps (5) | BACCA |
| D | 7 | IN (During) SCRIPT (writing) I’VE (Augeas has) dreams of a dedication (11) | INSCRIPTIVE |
| S | 8 | Small weight in |
TOLA |
| T | 10 | {‘DEARS’ SNEER}* [terribly], teasing sub-fenestral musical suitors (10) | SERENADERS |
| R | 18 | GU (G |
GATEAU |
| A | 19 | TEN (X), REC (“WRECK” (a physically ruined person) [from the sound of it]), abuses animal (6) | TENREC |
| U | 20 | Short preliminary survey unearths CC (200) [in] REE (kye’s overwintering place) (5) | RECCE |
| S | 23 | No way South American [butchered] PEON* (4) | NOPE |
| S | 25 | AMY (Beloved girl) suits L (liberal) radical (4) | AMYL |
| E | X | S | E | R | T | B | A | L | B | I | T | E |
| H | A | W | A | H | R | O | F | R | A | N | O | S |
| R | H | E | R | Y | E | N | F | O | C | S | L | E |
| E | R | E | N | A | T | A | E | C | C | C | A | R |
| N | O | T | E | C | A | V | A | T | A | R | S | E |
| R | E | F | R | I | G | E | R | A | T | I | O | N |
| E | F | E | R | N | A | N | D | V | E | P | H | A |
| I | N | N | E | T | T | T | A | I | N | T | E | D |
| C | O | N | C | H | E | U | M | A | R | I | A | E |
| H | P | E | C | C | A | R | Y | N | E | V | A | R |
| T | E | L | E | G | U | A | L | Y | C | E | E | S |
QUINQUIN
Well, apart from the unclued entries I had a full grid, but couldn’t make head or tale of the location (probably due to mistakes on my part), or any likely entries, so a miserable fail on my part. Oh well, up to that point it had been a thoroughly enjoyable solve.
An excellent crossword with a variety of good clues and a well-executed theme. The grid-fill was impressive, as was the two-way symmetry, especially considering that there were five long answers (two of them thematic) and that the theme took up more than one-third of the grid.
E RE NATA at 9a, an unfamiliar phrase to me, would have been very tough if I hadn’t come across ‘nut’ meaning ‘en’ very recently (together with the equivalent ‘mut’ for ’em’). It’s a strange-looking phrase, whose literal meaning I understand from knowledge of Latin, and it was interesting to look up how it is used in practice. (Incidentally, there is a typo in the blog: it is EN, not RN, that replaces R in the word ERRATA to make E RE NATA.)
I noticed that the setter likes to use the umpteenth definitions in the dictionary of some words, which tend to be the obscure or obsolete ones. More importantly, though, the clues’ definitions were often taken verbatim from the dictionary, giving me extra confidence in the answers. E RE NATA is one example of that.
Thanks to both blogger and setter.