Thank you to Carpathian. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
It looks as if one-word definitions in the clues are this setter’s specialty.
Across
1. Mark crossing United States to find bear (7)
SUSTAIN : STAIN(a mark/a blemish) containing(crossing) US(abbrev. for the United States of America).
Defn: …/to support without breaking or falling.
5. Grass in Foreign Office getting money for liberty (7)
FREEDOM : REED(a plant of the grass family) contained in(in) FO(abbrev. for the Foreign Office) plus(getting) M(abbrev. for “money”).
9. Ring around one twisted tree (5)
LILAC : Reversal of(… twisted) [ CALL(to ring on the phone) containing(around) I(Roman numeral for “one”) ].
10. Star having drug and drink (9)
SUNDOWNER : SUN(the star in our solar system) plus(having) DOWNER(a depressant/a tranquilising drug).
Defn: An alcoholic … taken at sundown.
11. Pleasing adage about female model making a comeback (10)
SATISFYING : SAYING(an adage/proverb) containing(about) reversal of(… making a comeback) [ F(abbrev. for “female”) + SIT(to model/to pose for a painter, say) ].
12. Label bit of tarnished silver (3)
TAG : 1st letter of(bit of) “tarnished” + AG(symbol for the chemical element, silver).
14. Metal bird covering angle on front of building that offers no privacy (8,4)
GOLDFISH BOWL : [ GOLD(metallic element) + OWL(a nocturnal bird) ] containing(covering) [ FISH(to angle/to catch fish with a rod and line) plus(on) 1st letter of(front of) “building” ].
Defn: Describing say, a house, …./that is open to full view, like a goldfish bowl, literally.
18. Rashly teeter around consultants’ place (6,6)
HARLEY STREET : Anagram of(… around) RASHLY TEETER.
Defn: …, specifically, a street in Central London where a large number of private medical specialists have their clinics and hospitals.
21. Champ regularly lost hat (3)
CAP : “Champ” minus its 2nd and 4th letters(regularly lost).
22. In favour of invitation that’s sinister (10)
FORBIDDING : FOR(in favour of, as against “con” in “pros and cons”) + BIDDING(an invitation/a request for someone to do something).
25. Intimacy of quiet road by a loch (9)
CLOSENESS : CLOSE(a quiet road/a residential street that’s not so busy as it has no through access) plus(by) NESS(specifically Loch Ness, a lake in Scotland).
26. Trouble on Royal Navy deck (5)
ADORN : ADO(trouble/a commotion) plus(on) RN(abbrev. for the Royal Navy).
27. Tough and mean boxing king (7)
STRINGY : STINGY(mean/miserly) containing(boxing) R(abbrev. for “Rex”/king).
Defn: …, as applied to food containing tough fibres and so hard to eat.
28. Conservative’s leader Liberal prematurely? Obviously! (7)
CLEARLY : 1st letter of(…’s leader) “Conservative” + L(abbrev. for a Liberal, a member of the Liberal Party) + EARLY(prematurely/before the time due).
Down
1. Publicise place in band (6)
SPLASH : PL(abbrev. for “Place”) contained in(in) SASH(a band/a long loop of cloth).
2. Greet cook crossing line (6)
SALUTE : SAUTE(to cook/to fry quickly in a little hot fat) containing(crossing) L(abbrev. for “line”).
3. Usual charge covering male director (10)
ACCUSTOMED : ACCUSE(to charge/to claim that someone is guilty a wrongdoing) containing(covering) TOM(male of various animals such as a cat – and not the other feminine meaning) + D(abbrev. for “director”).
4. Unpleasant article written about pen (5)
NASTY : Reversal of(… written about) AN(an article in grammar) + STY(a pen/an enclosure for pigs).
5. Moneyman in more elaborate clothes (9)
FINANCIER : IN contained in(… clothes) FANCIER(more elaborate/ornate).
6. God is grievously upset (4)
EROS : Reversal of(… upset, in a down clue) SORE(in archaic usage, grievously/severely).
Defn: The Greek … of erotic love.
7. Gift from party to country (8)
DONATION : DO(a party/a social function) plus(to) NATION(a country/a sovereign state).
8. Spoil setter’s yellow flower (8)
MARIGOLD : MAR(to spoil/to damage) + I(the setter of this crossword, self-referentially) + GOLD(the colour, yellow).
13. Shabby commercial block held by small number (10)
THREADBARE : [ AD(short for “advertisement”/promotional material for commercial purposes) + BAR(to block/to prevent) ] contained in(held by) THREE(a comparatively small number).
15. Record past Yankee breakthrough (9)
DISCOVERY : DISC(a musical record, in the shape of, well, a disc) + OVER(past/finished) + Y(letter represented by “Yankee” in the phonetic alphabet).
16. Selection includes cold small desserts (4,4)
CHOC ICES : CHOICE(selection/pick) containing(includes) C(abbrev. for “cold”) + S(abbrev. for “small”).
17. Review cross section making exit from stage (8)
TRAPDOOR : Reversal of(Review) [ ROOD(cross/a crucifix) + PART(section/piece of a whole) ].
Defn: …, used by actors, and also used by magicians for their disappearing tricks.
19. Energy displayed in Spanish port and ancient city (6)
VIGOUR : VIGO(port in north-western Spain) plus(and) UR(city in ancient Mesopotamia).
20. Period caught in New York office (6)
AGENCY : AGE(a distinct time period in history) + [ C(abbrev. for “caught” in cricket scores) contained in(in) NY(abbrev. for New York) ].
23. Part of revolutionary rubric is absolutely fundamental (5)
BASIC : Hidden in(Part of) reversal of(revolutionary) “rubric is absolutely“.
24. Runner perhaps started to lose heart (4)
BEAN : “began”(started/initiated) minus its middle letter(to lose heart).
Defn: A family of plants, an example of which/perhaps is the runner bean. Also, a runner is a twining plant, an example of which is the bean plant.
The plant, pods and beans:
Thanks Carpathian and scchua
Lots of fun. Particular favourites ADORN and SALUTE.
I couldn’t account for the TO in 3d, and you haven’t either, scchua!
The usual Carpathian mix of some fairly easy clues with a few to make you think a bit more. I liked THREADBARE, VIGOUR (intentionally self-referential as she is VIGO elsewhere) and BEAN.
I think the male in ACCUSTOMED is TOM rather than M, thius accounting for the TO.
muffin,
I had it when solving, but reverted to the obvious when posting. Blog amended. Thanks for pointing out.
Thanks both – that makes sense.
Much more like it for the Quiptic, thanks to Carpathian and scchua. I can actually recommend this one to my beginner friends!
Nice Quiptic.
Liked THREADBARE, ACCUSTOMED, LILAC.
Thanks, both.
Lovely pics scchua. I thought Go down to Kew in lilac time … Masefield? Wrong … Noyes (hey ho, six decades …). Sundowner a familiar, but it’s been a while. Roodpart reversed is pretty neat. Thanks both.
I enjoyed that more than i usually do with a Quiptic.
Just one small quibble. In 17d TRAPDOOR I’m not sure that you can really use “review” to indicate reversal. Doesn’t quite mean that, does it?
Thanks Carpathian and scchua (lovely horticultural theme to your pics today 🙂 )
I found this rather hard, but at least fair and free from mistakes, unlike last week’s offering. CHOC ICES stumped me—in the States we call them ice cream sandwiches. Didn’t know a runner BEAN was a thing, or that a quiet street was a CLOSE. I never figured out the parsing for ACCUSTOMED, and I totally missed the reversal for TRAPDOOR, which incidentally I think of as two words. Even the easy ones took me longer than they should have, like FREEDOM, CLEARLY and DONATION. Good puzzle; many thanks to scchua for the blog.
Crossbar@9 17D: “review” is commonly used a a reversal indicator. The justification is given by the meaning given in Chambers Dictionary – “to look back on or over”.
Thanks Rudolf@11. I get it, I just don’t like it very much. Doesn’t seem to convey the process of turning the word around enough.
For me, harder than Cryptic.
I found this a satisfying solve, and I know guardian crosswords can sometimes be tough.
When you do the Guardian crosswords online, the check/reveal buttons etc are LILAC, and the clue you’re working on in the grid is highlighted in MARIGOLD, sort of. I preferred the old blue but never mind.
I liked the fact that the (runner) BEAN intersected with STRINGY (the ones at school certainly were) and enjoyed the mental image of senior medics teetering rashly around HARLEY STREET.
You can always rely on Carpathian; thanks to her and scchua.
Hard, but got there in the end. Surely ‘setter’s’ in 8 must be ‘my’ rather than ‘I’?
redrodney@16: ‘setter’s’ can also stand for ‘setter has’: then ‘setter’ gives the ‘I’ and ‘has’ just tells you to connect the ‘I’ with ‘GOLD’.
That was tough, at least in my case. But as others have mentioned, entirely fair. Thanks C and S
Excellent Quiptic, thanks Carpathian. Only decided to do this just now.
NICK@10, choc ices in the UK are not sandwiches, but an ice cream covered in chocolate on a wooden stick! The ice cream sandwiches are ‘wafers’! Two countries separated by a common language!
Harder than a quiptic should be, but satisfying.
Very enjoyable with nothing too taxing. No particular favourites.