Thank you to Pangakupu. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1. Informed this bit of crossword dessert should be returned (5-2)
CLUED-UP : CLUE(this bit of the crossword) + reversal of(…should be returned) PUD(short for “pudding”, a dessert).
5. Following American, notice a nitpicker (7)
FUSSPOT : F(abbrev. for “following”) + US(abbrev. for “United States” refering to things American) + SPOT(to notice/to recognise).
9. Attaching a name of the French mountains (5)
ANDES : A + N(abbrev. for “name”) + DES(in French, a contraction of “de les”, meaning “of the”, ).
Defn: … in South America.
10. One offers fake news: spacecraft appearing in series? (9)
SLANDERER : LANDER(a spacecraft designed to land on the surface of a planet or moon) contained in(appearing in) SER(abbrev. for “series”).
11. Drink ruined winter coat (5,5)
TONIC WATER : Anagram of(ruined) WINTER COAT.
12. Have dinner, ignoring latest racket (3)
DIN : “dine”(to have dinner) minus its last letter(ignoring latest).
14. Treated too well, vile underdog will turn nasty (12)
OVERINDULGED : Anagram of(… will turn nasty) VILE UNDERDOG.
18. Led by, and steered, following West? Not impressed (12)
UNDERWHELMED : UNDER(led by/managed by) plus(and) [ HELMED(steered a boat or ship) placed after(following) W(abbrev. for “west”) ].
21. Prison sentence eliminating male bond (3)
TIE : “time”(a prison sentence) minus(eliminating) “m”(abbrev. for “male”).
22. A sister wildly tucking into dessert in cake shop (10)
PATISSERIE : Anagram of(… wildly) A SISTER contained in(tucking into) PIE(a type of dessert).
25. Steamed ahead? Steam ahead, dropping an article clumsily (4,5)
MADE HASTE : Anagram of(… clumsily) [ “Steam ahead” minus(dropping an) “a”(an article in grammar ].
26. Liberal politician getting stuck into beer (5)
AMPLE : MP(abbrev. for a Member of Parliament, an elected politician) contained in(getting stuck into) ALE(a kind of beer).
27. Trivial pit running short with no aluminium around (7)
NOMINAL : “mine”(a pit dug for extracting ore) minus its last letter(running short) contained in(with … around) [ NO + AL(symbol for the chemical element, aluminium) ].
Defn: …/insignificant.
28. Source of metal retained by those people in principle (7)
THEOREM : ORE(source of metal from the ground) contained in(retained by) THEM(third party pronoun for “those people”).
Down
1. Restrained speed after crashing at the outset (6)
CHASTE : HASTE(speed/rapidness) placed below(after, in a down clue) 1st letter of(… at the outset) “crashing”.
Defn: …/simple/with no frills.
2. Seduced academic embraced by a Parisienne (6)
UNDONE : DON(an academic/a university teacher) contained in(embraced by) UNE(the article “a” as spoken by a Parisienne).
Answer: Ruined after being tempted/seduced into doing something foolhardy.
3. Curves and dots decorated book jackets (4,6)
DUST COVERS : Anagram of(… decorated) [CURVES plus(and) DOTS ].
One with a hole in it:
4. Cannelloni, perhaps, and where it appears in the dictionary? (5)
PASTA : [PAST A](after the letter “a”, stating where the word “cannelloni” appears in a dictionary).
Defn: An example of which/perhaps is cannelloni.
Just a small sample of various shapes and sizes:
5. Like the Bee Gees fan later excited about origin of rock (9)
FRATERNAL : Anagram of(… excited) FAN LATER containing(about) 1st letter of(origin of) “rock”.
Defn: …, who were brothers.
6. Some players I demand for team (4)
SIDE : Hidden in(Some) “players I demand”.
7. Airborne soldier not bright, welcoming good example (8)
PARADIGM : PARA(short for “paratrooper”, an soldier who parachutes into action after being airborne) + DIM(not bright/dense) containing(welcoming) G(abbrev. for “good”).
Defn: …/a model.
8. Drone reverberating in your Biblical song of lamentation (8)
THRENODY : Anagram of(… reverberating) DRONE contained in(in) THY(an archaic/Biblical form of “your”).
13. Prosecute criminal sequestering a very remote region (5,5)
OUTER SPACE : Anagram of(… criminal) PROSECUTE containing(sequestering ) A.
15. Tries to block genuine theatre preparation (9)
REHEARSAL : HEARS(tries in a court of law) contained in(to block) REAL(genuine).
16. Mike in Ushant, possibly Northern fellow pursuing fox? (8)
HUNTSMAN : M(letter represented by “Mike” in the phonetic alphabet) contained in(in) anagram of(…, possibly) USHANT + N(abbrev. for “northern”).
Defn: … with hounds.
17. Notice study – not entirely stupid – as an extra item (8)
ADDENDUM : AD(short for “advertisement”, a promotional notice) + DEN(a study/a person’s private room) + “dumb”(stupid) minus its last letter(not entirely …).
19. The German’s receiving charge for cloth seller (6)
DRAPER : DER(the article “the” in German) containing(…’s receiving) RAP(criminal charge/an accusation of being responsible for an offence).
20. Rescue rock group crossing river (6)
REDEEM : R.E.M.(American alternative rock band) containing(crossing) DEE(name of rivers in various locations, including Wales, Scotland and England).
23. One pawn caught in trap? That’s not very competent (5)
INEPT : I(Roman numeral for “one”) + [ P(symbol for “pawn” in chess notation) contained in(caught in) NET(a trap) ].
24. Insubstantial object, with bottom missing (4)
THIN : “thing”(an unspecified object) minus its last letter(with bottom missing, in a down clue).
Hi Scchua. You need the F for following in FUSSPOT. Thanks for the blog.
Enjoyable puzzle but I was surprised to see HASTE repeated in answers for 25ac and 1d.
9a Isn’t DES French for “of the” rather than just “the”?
The first three commenters summarised my quibbles 🙂 I’ll add another one: almost all entries in a dictionary can be described as PAST A… That aside, a witty and enjoyable puzzle perfect as a quiptic; a Maori Nina was probably too much to expect… Thanks Pangakupu and scchua!
Thanks Crispy and Crossbar. Blog corrected.
As “improving” solvers we found this to be just the right level. Thank you!
Apparently there is a Maori nina – I never spot these, has anyone else managed?
I couldn’t find a nina but 14 got me wondering why we say under- and overwhelmed but never just whelmed. Apparently we do, sometimes, but it’s archaic. See https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/19430/why-do-people-say-over-and-underwhelmed-but-never-just-whelmed.
Perfectly pitched for a quiptic and very enjoyable, with OVERINDULGED and UNDERWHELMED a very Everyman-ish element. Apparently NUA RIA is Maori for new year. But why? Thanks to setter and blogger!
A great fit for the Quiptic slot, though I too was surprised by the repeated HASTE in 1d as well as the “Attaching” in 9a ANDES, which made those two my penultimate ones in, finally yielding UNDONE and thereby confirming that UDONNE isn’t some poetic word for “seduced” 😄. Funny what the brain comes up with when you don’t actually jot all the tentative letters down in the grid!
Thanks both
Dave @8 – I can think of a number of literary examples of’ ‘whelmed’. Here’s one, perhaps not surprisingly, from Moby-Dick:
” …Ahab in the water hailed her!—“Sail on the”—but that moment a breaking sea dashed on him from Moby Dick, and whelmed him for the time. But struggling out of it again, and chancing to rise on a towering crest, he shouted,—“Sail on the whale!—Drive him off!””