Thank you to Chandler. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1. Heed secretary initially desiring thing for scribbling (7)
NOTEPAD : NOTE(to heed/to pay attention to) + PA(abbrev. for “personal assistant”, aka “secretary”) + 1st letter of
(initially) “desiring“.
5. Cop, say, getting agitated about last part of controversial Caribbean song (7)
CALYPSO : Anagram of(…, getting) COP, SAY containing(about) last letter of(last part of) “controversial“.
9. Chapter by English poet is easy to understand (5)
CLEAR : C(abbrev. for “chapter”) plus(by) LEAR(Edward, English poet known for his literary nonsense).
10. Leaden cop messed up a means of controlling crime (5,4)
PENAL CODE : Anagram of(… messed up) LEADEN COP.
11. Retired group touring Paris, perhaps as a climax (2,3,2,3)
TO CAP IT ALL : Reversal of(Retired) LOT(a group of similar items) containing(touring) CAPITAL(the city that is the seat of government of a nation, such as/perhaps Paris is).
12. Part of formal inspectorate in here in Africa (4)
MALI : Hidden in(Part of) “formal inspectorate“.
Defn: …, ie. an African country.
14. Artist much appreciated struggle by the French to defend refined dish of theirs (11)
RATATOUILLE : RA(abbrev. for for an artist who is a member of the Royal Academy of Arts) + TA!(short for “Thank you!”/”Much appreciated!”) + TOIL(a struggle/a hardship) plus(by) LE(French for the article “the”) containing(to defend) U(letter denoting things refined/upper class).
Defn: …/of the French, perhaps prepared by a rodent chef of the same name:
18. Go with person, say, after work to find cheap cafe (6,5)
GREASY SPOON : Anagram of(…, after work) [GO plus(with) PERSON, SAY].
21. Right-winger in Barking breaking valuable material is monstrous type (4)
OGRE : Last letter of(Right-winger in, in an across clue) “Barking” contained in(breaking) ORE(valuable material from which even more valuable substances are extracted).
An atypical monstrous type:
22. Foot expert is pictured at work (10)
PEDICURIST : Anagram of(… at work) IS PICTURED.
25. Description of second person’s past military command? (2,3,4)
AS YOU WERE : Double defn: 1st: Describing the state of you(the second person pronoun) in the past; and 2nd: … to soldiers to return to their previous position.
26. Small drink obtained before a litre as full amount (5)
TOTAL : TOT(a small alcoholic drink) plus(obtained before) A + L(abbrev. for “litre”).
27. One trailing first to last conversationalists (7)
TALKERS : STALKER(one trailing/shadowing stealthily) with its 1st letter moved to the last position(first to last).
28. Now idle, adjusted to a spell in retirement? (3-4)
LIE-DOWN : Anagram of(…, adjusted) NOW IDLE.
Down
1. Subtle detail in French city today at the margins (6)
NICETY : NICE(French city) + 1st and last letters of(… at the margins) “today“.
2. Swimmer skirts river channel? (6)
TRENCH : TENCH(a swimmer, specifically a European freshwater fish) containing(skirts) R(abbrev. for “river”).
3. In other words, soldier over period accepting a right (10)
PARAPHRASE : PARA(short for “paratrooper”, a soldier trained to parachute into operations) placed above(over, in a down clue) PHASE(a distinct period in a series of events) containing(accepting a) R(abbrev. for “right”).
4. Dorothy hoards old record in storage site (5)
DEPOT : DOT(a diminutive for the name Dorothy) containing(hoards) EP(abbrev. for an extended play record, an old form of music recording).
5. Preserve a form of service in honour of noted artist (9)
CANALETTO : CAN(to preserve food in, well, a can) + LET(a form/sort of a tennis player’s serve/service which is nullified and has to be retaken) + TO(in honour of, as in “the award was given to/in honour of …”).
The Grand Canal by Canal…:
6. Lieutenant, appearing about middle of film, has a pleasing accent (4)
LILT : LT(abbrev. for “lieutenant”) containing(appearing about) inner letters of(middle of) “film“.
7. No amateur, Welsh footballer pockets first of bonuses? That’s likely (8)
PROBABLE : PRO(short for “professional”, an expert and not an amateur) BALE(Gareth, Welsh football player) containing(pockets) 1st letter of(first of) “bonuses“.
8. Telephone connection in US city on reflection is a joke! (3-5)
ONE-LINER : LINE(a telephone connection, as in “the line went dead in the middle of our conversation”) contained in(in) reversal of(… on reflection) RENO(city in Nevada State, USA).
13. Flip over comic performer given large reptile (4,6)
TURN TURTLE : TURN(one who performs a short act as part of a variety show, say, a comedian) plus(given) TURTLE(a large reptile).
Literally …
15. Crude lies about unorthodox set beginning to suffer (9)
TASTELESS : [ TALES(lies/untruths) containing(about) anagram of(unorthodox) SET ] + 1st letter of(beginning to) “suffer“.
16. Pointer initially ignored by soldiers and worker? That’s ill-mannered (8)
IGNORANT : “sign”(a pointer/an indicator) minus its 1st letter(initially ignored) plus(by) OR(abbrev. for “other ranks”, non-commissioned soldiers) plus(and) ANT(an example of which is the worker/one in the worker caste).
17. Something that might be laid on two men in short showing bad faith (8)
BETRAYAL : BET(something that might be laid/placed, as in “Lay your bets please ..” at a casino table) placed above(on, in a down clue) RAY,AL(short forms for the two masculine names, Raymond and Alan, respectively).
19. British trio’s refurbished inexpensive eatery (6)
BISTRO : Anagram of(… refurbished) [ B(abbrev. for “British”) + TRIO’S].
20. Soviet leader left in sign of disgrace (6)
STALIN : L(abbrev. for “left”) contained in(in) STAIN(a sign of disgrace/a blot on someone’s reputation).
23. Perfect introduction by a croupier? (5)
IDEAL : “I DEAL”(a croupier/one in charge of a gambling table who pays and collects money bets, might say this when introducing himself/herself).
24. Attractive cruet set seen every now and again (4)
CUTE : 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th letters of(… every now and again) “cruet set“.
Thanks Chandler and scchua
I don’t like IGNORANT being defined as “ill-mannered” by itself. “Ignorant of accepted behaviour”, perhaps.
Nicely done. RATATOUILLE was a bit fiddly to parse. Particularly liked the anagrams for PENAL CODE and PEDICURIST.
Thanks scchua and Chandler.
@muffin In Ireland at least ignorant would often be used as a synonym for rude.
I was looking for something a bit more convoluted initially with large reptile, but the letters gave it away.
I enjoyed this and thought it was a good quiptic.
muffin and heracles – I would use “ignorant” as meaning ill-mannered or rude – it’s used that way in Scotland.
I liked TO CAP IT ALL, RATATOUILLE, DEPOT, CANALETTO, BETRAYAL
Thanks Chandler and scchua
And sometimes we say someone is pig-ignorant meaning rude
Chandler is proving to be a reliable purveyor of fine Quiptics and I enjoyed this one very much. Thanks, Chandler! And thanks for the blog, scchua.
A good Quiptic; I solved the NW last as there are too many swimmers.
I liked RATATOUILLE because it’s a difficult word to clue and, although the clue was rather long, it did work. I also liked IGNORANT, a good charade.
Thanks Chandler and scchua.
Muffin @1 – in my Chambers, def 5 of IGNORANT is “Discourteous, rude, ill-bred”. It’s certainly used that way in my old neck of the woods (northern England).
As an aside, I thought including the word ‘ignoring’ in a clue for IGNORANT was a little odd.
Other than that, a nice quick quiptic. Chandler is one of the setters who knows how to do them well!
Cheers both.
muffin @1, Heracles @3, Fiona Anne @4 and Rob T @8 – to complete the set, IGNORANT is used to mean RUDE here in (South) Wales!! Nevertheless, I agree with you in disliking it, muffin 🙂
Nice Quiptic. I got STALKER and TALKERS the wrong way round at first.
Pleasant puzzle.
The anagram clues for PEDICURIST and GREASY SPOON (particularly the latter) are very well done, but it’s a pity that ‘work’ was used in the anagrinds for both.
IGNORANT was a late entry for me because, like Rob T @8, I thought the word ‘ignoring’ in the clue was strange and therefore the solution had to be something different.
Thanks to S&B
Like Gervase and others, I, too, was momentarily thrown by ignored being in the clue for IGNORANT. I spent a while
convinced there simply had to be another solution – until the crossers made it unavoidable. Hey ho
Thanks to Chandler and to scchua for the blog, especially – since I hadn’t heard of the Welsh footballer – the assistance in completing the parsing for 7D.
Nice puzzle.
New TURN TURTLE.
I did not parse 13d.
Thanks, both.
Very nice. Ta both.
Lovely Quiptic again from this setter – many thanks. Dad used to sail Fireflies and Merlin’s in the River Adur at Shoreham back in the 50s. After one of the regular competitors turned turtle while trying to cut in and turn too close to a buoy, we changed the phrase to “doing a Tommy Lance” in his honour. 😉
Enjoyable Quiptic. Thanks Chandler. Re the ignoring/ignorant debate I felt issue resolved from longer term etymology perspective e.g. As per “socratic.org — While both ignore and ignorant have similar etymologies, their meaning has diverged throughout their development. While ‘ignore’ refers to not paying attention to something, ‘ignorance’ refers to a lack of knowledge of something.10 Jun 2022 “.
I found this harder than the usual Quiptic, although looking back over it I’m not sure why. Maybe I’m just slower than usual today. Certainly there was nothing unfair about it.
I raised an eyebrow at the definition of IGNORANT, but apparently that usage is widespread enough and is supported by dictionaries. I’d never heard of the footballer in 7dn, but I’ve hardly heard of any footballers, so Chandler’s not to blame for that.
This was a delight. A little tougher than usual for a Q, but not unfairly so.
TO CAP IT ALL, RATATOUILLE and GREASY SPOON were my particular favourites, but nearly all the clues were spot on.
An excellent Quiptic, enhanced by an especially well-illustrated blog. Thanks, s & C
The ‘rodent chef’ isn’t called Ratatouille by the way, his name is Rémy 😉
Very late – I’ve been on a long cruise and wasn’t prepared to pay the obscene amount Royal Caribbean were charging for iffy internet connection. Re “ignorant”: nearly 70 years ago, when I was at primary school in Hull, In a test I put “rude” as a definition for “ignorant” and was told I was probably thinking of “insolent”, since “ignorant” meant “not knowing”.