Thank you to Carpathian. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1. Leo possibly seeing good chieftains travelling around end of Suez (4,2,3,6)
SIGN OF THE ZODIAC : Anagram of(… travelling) GOOD CHIEFTAINS containing(around) last letter of(end of) “Suez“.
Defn: Of which an example/possibly is ….
9. Owning commercial US college can gratify leader (9)
ADMITTING : AD(short for “advertisement”, a commercial/promotional material) + MIT(abbrev. for Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a US college) + TIN(can/a cylindrical container of metal) + 1st letter of(… leader) “gratify“.
Defn: …/acknowledging responsibility for.
10. Quickly visit Post Office to get code for debit card (3,2)
POP IN : PO(abbrev. for “Post Office”) plus(to get) PIN(abbrev. for “personal identification number”, a code used to validate a debit card transaction).
11. Group support for an unfortunate event (7)
SETBACK : SET(a group of similar items) + BACK(to support/to champion).
12. Agent and setter returning alternative ruler (7)
EMPEROR : Reversal of(… returning) [ REP(short for “representative”, an agent) plus(and) ME(the setter of this crossword using the self-referential pronoun) ] + OR(introducing an alternative/giving a choice).
13. Consume repasts regularly (3)
EAT : 2nd, 4th and 6th letters of(… regularly) “repasts“.
14. A fellow repeatedly found in home is most uncool (7)
NAFFEST : A + FF(2x/repeatedly, abbrev. for “fellow”) contained in(found in) NEST(a home/a place where, say, an insect breeds or shelters).
Defn: …/lacking taste or style.
17. Employee in rowdy taverns (7)
SERVANT : Anagram of(rowdy) TAVERNS.
19. Celebration of son getting back ending finally after one (7)
SHINDIG : S(abbrev. for “son”) plus(getting) HIND(situated at the back part of the body) + [ last letter of(… finally) “ending” placed after(after) I(Roman numeral for “one”) ].
Defn: A lively party as a celebration.
22. Revolting jerk taking part in genuine performance (7)
RECITAL : Reversal of(Revolting) TIC(a jerk/a spasm) contained in(taking part in) REAL(genuine/authentic).
24. Eggs in line for auditor (3)
ROE : Homophone of(… for auditor) “row”(a line/a number of things arranged in a line).
25. Drink sprayed initially in part of eye (7)
RETSINA : 1st letter of(… initially) “sprayed” contained in(in) RETINA(that part of the eye consisting of a layer of light-sensitive cells).
Defn: …, specifically a Greek wine flavoured with resin.
26. Section of choir on outing showing resolve (4,3)
IRON OUT : Hidden in(Section of) “choir on outing“.
Defn: To …/to come to a settlement.
28. Fruit left for gem of a girl (5)
PEARL : PEAR(a fruit) + L(abbrev. for “left”). Double defn: 1st: A spherical mass formed within the shell of a pearl oyster, prized as a gem; and 2nd: A girl’s name.
29. Outlaw party involving especially long time with Duke (9)
DESPERADO : DO(a party/a social function) containing(involving) [ ESP(abbrev. for “especially”) + ERA(a long time period) plus(with) D(abbrev. for “Duke”) ].
30. Dame’s new fantasy sadly amounts to nothing (5,5,5)
SWEET FANNY ADAMS : Anagram of(… sadly) DAME’S NEW FANTASY.
Down
1. Spartan’s strides to falter and flag (5,3,7)
STARS AND STRIPES : Anagram of(… to falter) SPARTAN’S STRIDES.
Defn: The US national ….
2. Reach old woman in boat returning (5)
GAMUT : Reversal of(… returning) [ MA(informal term for one’s mother, an old woman presumably) contained in(in) TUG(a powerful boat used to tow and push larger boats or ships) ].
Defn: …/extent.
3. Shock from power failure around end of October (7)
OUTRAGE : OUTAGE(a power failure/unscheduled shutdown) containing(around) last letter of(end of) “October“.
4. Knitter modified knick-knack (7)
TRINKET : Anagram of(… modified) KNITTER.
5. Young flyers, say, holding adult licences (7)
EAGLETS : EG(abbrev. for “exempli gratia”/for example/say) containing(holding) A(abbrev. for “adult”) + LETS(allows/licences – is the distinction between “licence” and “license” a thing of the past?)
6. In theory working daily (2,5)
ON PAPER : ON(working/functioning, as with an electrical appliance, say) + PAPER(an example of which is the daily, a newspaper printed daily).
7. Bring in worker for chief (9)
IMPORTANT : IMPORT(to bring into one’s country products bought in another country) + ANT(a social insect, one of whose castes is the worker).
8. Well done ragout contains head of lettuce chopped up (15)
CONGRATULATIONS! : Anagram of(… chopped up) [RAGOUT CONTAINS + 1st letter of(head of) “lettuce” ].
15. Dash around after blonde European, thus giving producers a proper deal (4,5)
FAIR TRADE : [ Reversal of(… around) DART(to dash/to move quickly) placed below(after, in a down clue) FAIR(blonde/pale yellow) ] + E(abbrev. for “European”).
16. Heads of South Korean institute go downhill fast (3)
SKI : 1st letters, respectively, of(Heads of) “South Korean institute“.
18. Oddly envies the first lady (3)
EVE : 1st, 3rd and 5th letters of(Oddly) “envies“.
Defn: … in the Bible.
20. Film following flyer sent up and left to drop (7)
DRIBLET : ET(or E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, the sci-fi film) placed below(following, in a down clue) [ reversal of(… sent up, in a down clue) BIRD(a flying creature) plus(and) L(abbrev. for “left”) ].
21. Great secretary is a relative (7)
GRANDPA : GRAND(great/excellent) + PA(abbrev. for “personal assistant”, a secretary).
22. Controls regarding home trespass (5,2)
REINS IN : RE(regarding/with reference to) + IN(home, as in “I’m in if you want to visit”) + SIN(to trespass/to commit an offence).
23. The French overwhelmed by roach-spread disease (7)
CHOLERA : LE(“the” in French) contained in(overwhelmed by) anagram of(…-spread) ROACH.
27. Old Ford carrying it into city (5)
OSAKA : O(abbrev. for “old”) + KA(once a Ford car model) containing(carrying) SA(abbrev. for “sex appeal”/it).
A quiptic that really was quick! And very enjoyable. Didn’t know KA was a Ford — I don’t think it was here.
Thanks Carpathian & scchua.
Thank you for your detailed and beautifully illustrated blog, scchua. That’s the reddest roe I’ve ever seen.
I did enjoy the perimeter clues, very clever. CHOLERA, ironically, made me laugh.
I agree that felt like a Quiptic, a straightforward, cleanly clued crossword.
Interesting anagrams for the long outside edges.
Thank you to Carpathian and sschua.
Lovely quiptic. Completed quite quickly for me. Good mix of clues with the four long perimeter ones being very helpful. As always for me, did them first.
Thanks Carpathian and sschua
Thanks Carpathian and scchua
I was tempted to write in KING OF THE JUNGLE from the enumeration for 1a, but fortunatley solved 1d!
As usual from Carpathian an enjoyable Quiptic that meets the brief.
Apart from failing to parse OSAKA, I enjoyed this, especially the big anagrams (I’ll remember the Spartan’s Strides). Not sure about resolve=iron out: I took it in the sense of ironing out / resolving a problem.
Very quiptic, that. The long perimeter clues went in quickly and helped hugely. Definitely the right level for “beginners and those in a hurry” 🙂
Thanks both.
This should kake Steffan happy,, Beginner friendly grid and nicely structured easily gettanle clues, Very enjoyable!
Quickest I’ve completed a Quiptic, only a couple where I had to trial & error. Lovely puzzle.
Thanks to Carpathian and to scchua for shining light in unexplained corners.
It was hard for me to get started on this puzzle but once I solved two of the long answers I felt like it be more doable. Enjoyable but a bit tough for a Quiptic.
I could not parse 27d OSAKA = city apart from O+ SA – what is the KA = Ford- it is a type of car? (yes, thanks google!)
New for me: DRIBLET.
Thanks, both.
Thanks, scchua. To respond to your remark about the spelling of licence, I should have thought that the verb was still spelt license in British English. Is this not so?
Perfect for beginners. I too was thinking of KING OF THE JUNGLE/BEASTS before STARS AND STRIPES put me straight.
Ta Carpathian & scchua.
Nice and straightforward, very enjoyable. Taught me who Fanny Adams was too – what a sad story! Especially as her name is now used to mean ‘nothing’ … perhaps she should be rehabilitated.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanny_Adams
I enjoyed this, and yes, it was quick. Loved the long anagrams. Another here who didn’t know the Ford KA.
The appearance of RETSINA is an opportunity to mention that it’s the best Scrabble holding (in some ways). It can be anagrammed into several things: RETAINS, RETINAS, ANTSIER, NASTIER, STAINER, RESTAIN, and some obscure ones I’m forgetting, making the most possible seven-letter words from any holding. These letters also form the most words with the other letters out there. So if you’ve got a choice of words to play, and you wonder what letters to leave in your rack, when in doubt retain the letters in RETAINS.
As a beginner I’ve been struggling with some of the recent Quiptics, so it was lovely to find today’s at the perfect level for me – enough of a challenge, without making me feel like I’ll never crack cryptics! Does anybody know where I might find a selection of truly beginner cryptics (Quiptic or otherwise)? Or could recommend the most beginner-friendly setter? Thank you!
Pretty much a write-in, but as mentioned, recent Quiptics have been a lot tougher, so a change of pace is always welcome. CHOLERA was my favourite.
After the issue with Googling tits on last Sunday’s Everyman, maybe best not to look up a PEARL necklace …
ariadne @16
My route into cryptics was through Rufus, usually the Guardian cryptic setter on Mondays. The Guardian archive of his puzzles goes back to January 2000 – plenty of material!
The archive can be reached through the Guardian Crossword page – a bit fiddly, but it does work. I suspect you need to have a Guardian identity to use it. Best of luck!
ariadne @16:
Here’s a link to Rufus crosswords galore.
crosser @12 – yes, that’s exactly the problem. In America, as I understand it, the spelling is ‘license’ for both noun and verb, but in British English it’s noun = licence, verb = license.
As scchua implies in the blog, there’s a mismatch: the surface of 5d requires the noun ‘licences’ (and that is indeed what appears in the clue), but the parsing requires LETS = ‘licenses’, which only works as an equivalent if it’s a verb meaning ‘allow’.
The only way round it that I can see is if we regard a property ‘let’ (= noun) as a kind of ‘licence to occupy’ – but that’s a stretch.
A minor blemish on a lovely Quiptic, thanks C & s.
It’s perhaps a bit late but thank you, essexboy, for putting my problem into words and for finding a possible, if far-fetched, explanation!
Both verb and noun are spelled licence in British English.
“SA” for sex appeal? Is that common? It seems like too many steps you be fair.
1. Parse ‘it’ to refer to attraction
2. Consider ‘sex appeal’
3. Now abbreviate it?
Since when was SA a common abbreviation?
#StillLearning
“SA” for sex appeal? Is that common? It seems like too many steps to be fair.
1. Parse ‘it’ to refer to attraction
2. Consider ‘sex appeal’
3. Now abbreviate it?
Since when was SA a common abbreviation?
#StillLearning
Andy
SA for sex appeal or “it” is very common…..in crosswords!
Ed @22 – see Collins
Re the licence/ license debate, is not a let (e.g. in tennis) a licence (noun).
The way I remember whether it’s a C or S for practice/ practice or licence/ license, etc. Is to think what would fit better in a sentence- advice or advise, as they are not pronounced the same.
Charlie @27, I wondered about that too, but it turns out a ‘let’ in tennis refers to the hindrance/obstacle of the net – same derivation as ‘without let or hindrance’ – rather than ‘let the point be played again’.
In the 1980s a licence was a weak letting contract for residential property. So this would work for lets as a plural noun. I don’t know if licences are still used – they were said to offer as little tenure as a ticket for a seat in a cinema!