Thank you to Pan. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
8. Get rid of club’s fuel (8)
FIREWOOD : FIRE(to get rid of/to dismiss, from a job, say) + WOOD(a type of golf club, originally with a head made of wood, but nowadays made from metal).
9. The end of Ronaldo’s last game broadcast (5)
OMEGA : Last letter of(…’s last) “Ronaldo” + anagram of(… broadcast) GAME.
Defn: …, denoted by the last letter of the Greek alphabet.
10. Vegetable acceptable with drained ricotta (4)
OKRA : OK(acceptable/without objection) plus(with) “ricotta” minus its inner letters(drained …).
11. Mathematical genius blended natural gin (4,6)
ALAN TURING : Anagram of(blended) NATURAL GIN.
Defn: English …, widely considered the father of theoretical computer science.
The man’s machine:
12. Airport employee becomes an army officer’s personal servant (6)
BATMAN : BAT(is this an acronym for British Airways or Airport Terminal; an airport in Brazil; or ? – I can’t pin this one down) + MAN(an employee/a worker).
14. Folk wisdom about weather in part of France (8)
LORRAINE : LORE(folk wisdom, held by a particular group and passed from person to person) containing(about) RAIN(an example of “the weather”, the state of the atmosphere at a specific time and place).
15. Rum drunk in place to rest on a British island territory (7)
BERMUDA : Anagram of(… drunk) RUM contained in(in) BED(a place to rest on) + A.
17. Writer married to Italian poet and philosopher endlessly producing a hanging ornament (7)
PENDANT : PEN(a writer/something to write with) plus(married to) “Dante”(Alighieri, Italian poet and philosopher) minus its last letter(endlessly).
20. Maxim about mishap involving gold (8)
APHORISM : Anagram of(about) MISHAP containing(involving) OR(the colour of gold/yellow, in heraldry).
22. Tiny tick (6)
MINUTE : Double defn: 2nd: …/a brief moment in time, as in “I’ll be ready in a tick”.
23. British awfully jealous about top-notch French wine (10)
BEAUJOLAIS : B(abbrev. for “British”) + anagram of(awfully) JEALOUS containing(about) AI(A1/top-notch grade, with the Roman numeral substitution).
24. Fish swallowing end of angler’s line (4)
CORD : COD(a food fish) containing(swallowing) last letter of(end of) “angler“.
25. Saint and top monk losing bishop’s shoe (5)
SABOT : S(abbrev. for “Saint”) plus(and) “abbot”(the top monk/the superior in an abbey of monks) minus(losing) “b”(abbrev. for “bishop”, in chess notation).
26. Hobbles along in total disorder (8)
SHAMBLES : Double defn: 2nd: A state of …
Down
1. Prison staff returning drug to Chalky or Dusty, say (8)
NICKNAME : NCK(slang for prison) + reversal of(… returning) MAN(to staff/to fill the positions in an organisation) + E(abbrev. for the drug, Ecstasy).
2. Cheese principally for epicurean travellers abroad (4)
FETA : 1st letters, respectively, of(principally) “for epicurean travellers abroad“.
3. Party chief’s area of knowledge (6)
DOMAIN : D)(a party/a social function) + MAIN(chief/principal).
4. One business transaction left Yemeni leader in a perfect situation (7)
IDEALLY : I(Roman numeral for “one”) + DEAL(a business transaction/agreement) + L(abbrev. for “left”) + 1st letter of(… leader) “Yemeni“.
5. Criminal returned seascape artist’s unfinished night scene (8)
NOCTURNE : Reversal of(… returned) CON(short for “convict”/a criminal) + “Turner”(William, an English Romantic painter, who often pained seascapes/marine art) minus its last letter(…’s unfinished).
6. Insect on river removed danger to area by a watering hole (4,6)
BEER GARDEN : BEE(a social insect) placed above(on, in a down clue) R(abbrev. for “river”) + anagram of(removed/re-moved) DANGER.
7. Tin and nickel originally covering old gun (6)
CANNON : CAN(a tin/a cylindrical container made of metal) plus(and) 1st letter of(… originally) “nickel” + ON(covering/placed over and touching)
13. Confusing words by mother to child endlessly on plane (5-5)
MUMBO JUMBO : MUM(familiar term for a mother) plus(to) “boy”(a male child) minus its last letter(endlessly) placed above(on, in a down clue) JUMBO(… jet, nickname for a very large airliner/plane, originally the Boeing 747).
16. Record holder going to fight in independent island state (8)
DJIBOUTI : DJ(abbrev. for “disc jockey”, one who announces and plays music records, and hence could be called a record holder) plus(going to) { BOUT(a fight/a boxing or wrestling match) contained in(in) [I(abbrev. for “independent”/not belonging to any political party) + I(abbrev. for “island”) ] }
18. Legal officials working overtime on sign (8)
NOTARIES : Reversal of(… over) ON(working, as with an electrical appliance, say) + T(abbrev. for “time”) placed above(on, in a down clue) ARIES(the first sign of the zodiac).
19. Stalemate as setter’s out of date (7)
IMPASSE : I’M(“setter’s”/”setter is”, with our setter using the self-referential pronoun) + PASSE(out of date/no longer fashionable).
21. Delight to hear statements from the defendant (6)
PLEASE : Homophone of(to hear) “pleas”(statements from a defendant in court, stating guilt or innocence or other points with regard to the trial)
22. Second head of security upset secret service (6)
MOSSAD : MO(short for “moment”, a short period of time/a second) + 1st letter of(head of) “security” + SAD(upset/unhappy).
Defn: … of Israel.
24. Youngster given drug on lump of sugar? (4)
CUBE : CUB(a youngster/the young of a carnivorous mammal such as a fox) plus(given) E(abbrev. for the drug, Ecstasy).
Defn: …, usually in the shape of, well, a cube.
Very good Quiptic for beginners. Solved NW corner last.
I did not parse 12ac BATMAN = airport employee, but I understood the definition as ‘an army officer’s personal servant’. I was guessing that maybe a batman is British slang for a baggage handler, haha.
Thanks, both.
… or maybe Robin’s boss needed a holiday job …
Great pics as ever scchua; always thought the man’s machine was a theoretical kind of thing … so much for what I know …
Isn’t the batman the guy who directs planes to their stop position waving ping-pong bats?
Chambers has “Batman” … A man on an airfield or aircraft-carrier who assists planes to taxi to position using a pair of lightweight bats
Thanks, Jay@5 – ah, so that is what the batman is!
My online version of Chambers is less complete than yours.
fenix26 @4 / Jay @5: Good thinking, Bat-people! All I could find was Batman Airport.
Thanks Pan and scchua. Very enjoyable and properly Quiptic level puzzle, and a nice illustrated blog to go with it. Good way to start the day. (Don’t think I’ve ever seen okra in their natural state before – I would have assumed they grew pointing downwards.)
As has been said, an enjoyable and well pitched Quiptic. The ones that held me up at the end (NICKNAME, DJIBOUTI) were entirely reasonable once the penny dropped. I too had thought of the bloke waving the bats for 12a. FIREWOOD, BERMUDA, APHORISM were all very good, and it was nice to see the species that always immediately leaps to my mind when a clue mentions ‘fish’ was, for once, the right one. Thanks, Pan and scchua.
Well done those for tying BATMAN down (not an easy feat). Very nice QUIPTIC and interesting to see 3 Js grouped so closely together.
Ta Pan & scchua for the super blog.
Michelle @6 – odd that the paper version of Chambers should be more complete than the online version (my 2008 edition has this definition of BATMAN)
I liked the clue for OMEGA as well. At this rate it could be a very long time before we see Ronaldo’s last game. BEAUJOLAIS was neat and I smiled at ‘Hobbles along’ coming after SABOT, which to me, scchua’s illustration confirms.
BATMAN eluded me, as both definitions are a little obscure. I was trying for a charade of BA and G-MAN. Thanks scchua and Pan.
For once, a Quiptic that does what it says on the tin, Was NICKNAME harder because we are not used to “to” introducing a definition.
Jim@13 I too had BAGMAN thinking it was a double definition involving baggage handler and officer’s side-kick. I knew the latter meaning from binge watching episodes of Endeavour and assumed it might be used in the army as well as the police force.
Petert @14 – I didn’t have a problem with ‘to’ as a link word, though I was held up for a bit trying to think of famous Chalkies/Dusties… Chalky seems a strange choice of example but I’m guessing the intention with this clue was to make us think of synonyms for ‘dusty’ or ‘chalky’ but the necessary capitalisation spoiled that somewhat.
Good puzzle – at just the right level for a quiptic
LORRAINE and NOTARIES made me smile
Thanks Pan and scchua
Good Quiptic puzzle at just the right level.
Congratulations for DJIBOUTI, which is not the easiest word I could think of to clue. I liked NICKNAME with the dusty and chalky misdirection.
michelle @6, widdersbel @11; the free online Chambers is not complete. For a complete electronic version one needs either the app or the WordWeb Pro versions.
Thanks Pan and scchua.
Robi @18 – the paid-for version of Chambers online isn’t complete either (see comments on yesterday’s Azed blog)
I enjoyed both Cryptic and Quiptic today. A very pleasant Monday morning. Thanks Pan and scchua. I didn’t have a problem with Chalky and Dusty but after widdersbel@16’s comment I wondered if that was because I’m an old fogey and whether the practice of giving the same nicknames to everyone with certain surnames has died out. I immediately thought of Messrs. White and Miller and recalled being taught geography by “Pongo” Roberts and physics by “Nobby” Clark…but that was a very long time ago. I must say I can’t think of any current Chalky Whites.
widdersbel @19; you are right, although striate as an adjective is in the electronic Chambers Thesaurus.
Rooftrouser @20 – yes, it was just the slightly old-fashioned nature of those examples that threw me, but they work perfectly fine for the purposes of the clue. And I can’t think of any better examples, to be honest!
I knew about the BATMAN at the airport, but not that s/he was really called that: the answer was clear from the other definition. Failed to get MOSSAD, and DJIBOUTI was my last in.
Really enjoyed the puzzle though I thought it quite chewy in places for a Quiptic. DJIBOUTI was my last in & can’t say the penny dropped quickly.
Thanks all.
I had a different take on 7dn, just as valid in my opinion: CAN (tin), followed by: ‘N’ (and) + N[ickel], together around O (old) – definition: gun.
A very pleasant puzzle, loved the misdirection of top notch French wine/BEAUJOLAIS.
A triumph of marketing over substance.
Chalky had me trying to shoehorn White in somehow, NICKNAMES was very clever.
Thanks Pan and scchua.
Never in a month of Sundays was I going to get Djibouti
Like Sil@25 we also thought the definition in 7dn was simply ‘gun’ but we failed to parse it as we couldn’t account for the third N. An enjoyable puzzle nevertheless. Thanks, Pan and scchua.
I found this rather tougher than recent Quiptics, but then I always find grids with fewer first-ever crossers more tricky to get going. Got there in the end though, and some lovely clues. Djibouti is my favourite.
Thanks P and S.
_first-letter_
Usual issue of “never heard of it”, but only one or two “how did you get that?” answers – but none of the answers were both!
I did horribly on this one so thank goodness for this website.
6d “removed/re-moved” as an anagram indicator seems a bit . . . farfetched. (And if re-moved, then they’ve already been moved . . . confusing.)
Apart from that, a lovely quiptic, perfect pitch.
Leafy 33, perfect pitch being a banjo and an accordion being thrown into a skip 🙂
Long week at work so thought I wouldn’t finish, but here I am. Thanks Pan and scchua. My little iPhone Chambers is really daft over “batman” as it ignores the aircraft meaning in its definitions but then mentions it in passing in definitions for “bat” itself! How odd. My last in were nickname and Djibouti – great stuff!
As a new solver I struggled with this one.
I’d worked out a couple despite not being able to parse them fully. . The A1 / AL in Beaujolais wasnt soemthing I’d seen before, and the use of OR for Gold in one of the others is totally alien to me.
I too was confused by batman. Almost caught up….