Pasquale in the Quiptic slot, which means only one thing.
That being a sound puzzle, thoughtfully constructed with the less experienced solver in mind. Nothing to frighten the horses here, which is as it should be, of course.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
5 Fake, a new spiritual quack
SHAMAN
A charade of SHAM, A and N.
6 Male viper in plant
MADDER
A charade of M and ADDER. A herbaceous perennial plant species belonging to the bedstraw and coffee family, apparently. I had heard of it, but only through crosswords.
9 Carriage taken across America is more crowded maybe
BUSIER
An insertion of US in BIER. The insertion indicator is ‘taken across’.
10 One deserting Eden with rage out of control
RENEGADE
(EDEN RAGE)* with ‘out of control’ as the anagrind.
11 This writer’s found in the French capital
LIMA
An insertion of I’M for ‘this writer [i]s’ in LA, one of the French words for ‘the’. The insertion indicator is ‘found in’.
12 Religious ado, violent unfortunately
DEVOTIONAL
(ADO VIOLENT)* with ‘unfortunately’ as the anagrind.
13 Hater’s yells, terrible, lacking any compassion
HEARTLESSLY
(HATERS YELLS)* with ‘terrible’ as the anagrind.
18 Dull person in the belfry or someone similar
DEAD RINGER
A charade of DEAD and RINGER.
21 Talk a short time after church
CHAT
A charade of CH, A and T.
22 Fuel gets fliers flying initially when in distress
PARAFFIN
An insertion of RAF for ‘fliers’ and F for the initial letter of ‘flying’ in PAIN. The insertion indicator is ‘when in’.
23 Singer Lynn keeps performing in Italian city
VERONA
An insertion of ON for ‘performing’ in the forces’ sweetheart VERA Lynn. The insertion indicator is ‘keeps’.
24 Archdeacon in cathedral city regularly
EVENLY
An insertion of VEN in ELY. The insertion indicator is ‘in’.
25 Ride through African territory
CANTER
Hidden in AfriCAN TERritory.
Down
1 Witty talk not good during a particular period
BADINAGE
A charade of BAD, IN and AGE.
2 Shakespeare reportedly not allowed
BARRED
Aural wordplay (‘reportedly’) for BARD.
3 Business bigwigs here? A man gets excited
MAGNATES
(A MAN GETS)* with ‘excited’ as the anagrind. ‘Here’ is a bit redundant, isn’t it?
4 Girl with love ensnaring American soldier slowly
ADAGIO
An insertion of GI in ADA and O. The insertion indicator is ‘ensnaring’.
5 One who cannot get out? Shame about rudimentary accommodation
SHUT-IN
An insertion of HUT in SIN. The insertion indicator is ‘about’. Since it’s a Pasquale puzzle, I am going for the equivalence of ‘shame’ and SIN in a religious context. The fruit of the first sin in the Garden of Eden was shame, which is why they hid from God. That could be cobblers, of course.
7 Socialist with crude plan again
REDRAW
A charade of RED and RAW.
8 Time to join a composer, a fellow who organises the trip?
TRAVEL AGENT
A charade of T, RAVEL, A and GENT.
14 Artist in autumn shows weather phenomenon
RAINFALL
A charade of RA, IN, and FALL.
15 Tear apart material with speed
LACERATE
A charade of LACE and RATE.
16 Modern culture has endless requirement to accommodate witty person
NEW AGE
An insertion of WAG in NEE[D]. The insertion indicator is ‘to accommodate’.
17 Way in which mister entertains king’s sister
MANNER
An insertion of ANNE in MR. The insertion indicator is ‘entertains’. That would be our king, of course, unless you’ve signed up to #NotMyKing and got yourself arrested.
19 Beer stocked by the German shopkeeper?
DEALER
An insertion of ALE in DER, one of the many words in German for ‘the’. The insertion indicator is ‘stocked by’.
20 Noisy goings-on outside a show
REVEAL
An insertion of A in REVEL. The insertion indicator is ‘outside’. You need to read REVEL in its sense as noun.
Many thanks to Pasquale for this week’s Quiptic.
As you say, Pierre, but surprised at the judgemental ‘definition’ of 5a. Thanks to the two Ps.
Took a few clues to get into the style – that sinking feeling as you read the clues and nothing starts making sense – until about half way down the acrosses, then a steady solve.
Thank you to Picaroon and Pierre.
I didn’t know MADDER was a plant. Ven/archdeacon eluded me. And I can’t believe that I couldn’t parse CANTER. D’oh!
Angus@1, “quack” often means a fraudulent medical person, but I believe it can also mean just a medical person without the pejorative. Is that what you were alluding to?
I’ve floundered with some of Pasquale’s in the past, with too many obscure and UK-specific words, but I thoroughly enjoyed today’s.
Thanks Pasquale & Pierre.
I have a long history of calling Pasquale Quixote, Shanne, but I don’t think he’s been confused with Picaroon before …
Sorry Pierre, and Pasquale!
(I have to really think not to mix up Picaroon/Buccaneer/Rodriguez and Pasquale/Quixote/Bradman as I often complete the FT and sometimes the Independent.)
A well-pitched Quiptic as usual from Pasquale. I knew MADDER from the dye. TRAVEL AGENT was my favourite.
Aside from three words I isn’t heard of – bier, madder, ven – this was all reasonably straightforward. Thanks P+P
enjoyed this really a lot. thank you to both.
Had to laugh at the business bigwig. got myself tangled up with man and gates – as in Bill, when it’s a straightforward anagram!
Never heard of badinage, bier or madder before. Have added them to the vocabulary accordingly.
I had to finish in the NW corner, which was the last to yield.
I liked the well-hidden CANTER and the good charade to make BADINAGE.
Thanks Pasquale and Pierre.
I’m not generally someone who clutches their pearls in shock at culturally insensitive language, but some pearls did get clutched at the definition of 5ac. Does the Guardian really want to refer to practitioners of traditional medicine and/or non-European religions as a quack?
1A was controversial, but I thought the definition was alluding t the even more judgmental “:witch doctor” and the answer was quite neutral
Flawlessly fair clueing, as you would expect from Pasquale, and a blog of exemplary clarity from Pierre. Perfect difficulty level for a quiptic, with some lovely charades eg TRAVEL AGENT, RAINFALL. My favourite was LIMA, and new to me was ven=archdeacon. Thanks to both setter and blogger.
Ted@11, as GDU@3has noted, “quack” is now often used jocularly to refer to one’s doctor, with no pejorative intent. The original fraudulent meaning has been somewhat eroded.
As a lover of Dorothy Sayers’ The Nine Tailors, I found both the wordplay and solution of 18a DEAD RINGERS to be insulting and somewhat threatening to campanologists.
Thanks Pasquale for the fun and Pierre for the comprehensive blog.
It frightened me, I’m afraid.
I have questions later when I’m free.
Prepare yourselves.
Cellomaniac @14 — Thanks for pointing that out. I’d missed GDU@3’s comment, and I’d forgotten that the term “quack” was ever used non-pejoratively. (I’m in the US, where that usage doesn’t exist, as far as I know, but I have seen it before.)
New for me: Ven=Venerable (used for archdeacons) for 24ac.
Thanks both.
I agree with those who were unhappy with SHAMAN=spiritual quack.
Never heard of BIER.
11a – big struggle. Trying to use Paris, F, and finding a word within “French capital”.
18a – new word for me; it’s only ever been a golf course to me.
24a – I always look for alternate letters (even or odd). I had no chance here.
16d – where does WAG come from?
19d – would never have got this in a month of Sundays. I still get bamboozled by ‘?’
Steffen: posting responses one or two at a time, and out of order.
16d: a WAG is a witty person (often with an implication that he’s not as funny as he thinks he is).
On 19d and 11a: trick to store away: whenever you see something like “the German”, think der, die, or das; “the French” is often la, le, or les. And so on. A German is likely to be ein, the Italian might be il.
On 24: it’s a common trick to disguise a definition as wordplay. Just remember: the definition always occurs at one end of the word or the other. So you’re either looking for a word meaning “archdeacon” or one meaning “regularly”. Which one seems more likely?
25a – how can you tell this is a hidden clue?
Steffen @21: I can only speak for myself, but to me it wasn’t obvious either! I had some letters already when I solved that one, and I noticed that the sequence I had occurred in the clue. So I tried the hidden-word trick, and it worked. That was my last one solved, by the way.
Someone will tell you that “through” is the indication that it’s a hidden answer, but we all know that that’s so vague that you’d only spot it if you already knew it was a hidden answer. Ach. Remember that the setter is always trying to deceive you. Many clues are written so that even if you’ve been doing these puzzles for decades, you can’t see right away what device is being used. So…you just have to try all of them.
[mrpenney@20: For Steffen’s benefit I hope you will excuse my taking the liberty of clarifying that ‘the definition always occurs at one end of the clue or the other…’]
[ Alphalpha@23 – more liberty here – the definition ‘almost’ always occurs at one end of the clue or the other. Sometimes, for example, the whole clue can be the definition. There have also been rare occasions where the definition has been in the middle of the clue (in order to make the surface read properly). ]
Took two goes, but completed with no terrors. BADINAGE was my favourite.
Thanks both,
I knew madder from the limerick about Titian.
I’m astonished that so many people have never heard of rose madder, one of the few natural sources of red dye.
Steffen @21. My friend Nigel and I refer to these as Lurkers. Nigel says, “when in doubt, always check for a lurker”. I collected a few examples of indicators for straight lurkers Indicators include: among, coming from, constituents, contains, employing, essential to, found in, from, at the heart of, held by, holding, hugged by, imbibing, in, included, inside, most of, part of, passing through, piece, portion of, section from, share of, some, spotted among, swallowing, to reveal, to some extent
You can’t learn them, but its worth looking if you are otherwise stuck.
Quickest I’ve ever completed a quiptic. Not even Friday!!!
Pretty much the perfect level for where I’m at. Never heard if badinage or bier. I got bier from context, but badinage was the last one in. Not a scooby.
Angry with how long it took me to get Lima. I got the I but didn’t think of I’m. And I forgot French has a feminine ‘the’, so spent forever looking for LI_E.
Agree about the redundant “here” in magnates. That annoyed me. I feel like the “particular” in badinage was unnecessary too. Other than that. Very nice crossword.
I think the explanation for 9A is incorrect!!
Carriage = BUS
Across America = (ERI) IER