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!””
Agreed this was nicely pitched for a quiptic – but still satisfying for experienced solvers. Thanks, Pangakupu and scchua.
AP@10: Were you subconsciously remembering John Donne’s famour epigram: ‘John Donne, Anne Donne, undone’?
I’m surprised to see dumb used for idiotic in 17d. This seems like the kind of thing that would be advised against in the guardian style guide.
Anyway. I got there. Felt it was well calibrated difficulty-wise, and really enjoyed the appearance of THRENODY.
Thanks S & B
@Brian-with-an-eye. As I understand it, his Maori phrases generically indicate the number of crosswords he has set in a given genre – so Jan 1 (1/1) could be read as 11 quiptics – I tried to check on this site but my search skills are not good enough or I am not patient enough … .
I see that beginners are expected to speak french and german now. Oh well…
Crackers @15. I’m not a beginner, and I have a smattering of French, less so German, but the use of foreign words in an English crossword is one of my bugbears. I think we’re in a minority.
Great Quiptic, thanks Pangakupu, and excellent blog, thanks scchua. Among the many I rather enjoyed were SLANDERER and TONIC WATER – the latter such a clever anagram. Best to all, V
I think it was appropriate to include HASTE twice in a puzzle designed for solvers in a hurry.
CrispyCrackers@16,15, you seem to be assuming that beginner solvers of cryptic crosswords are also beginners in the acquisition of general knowledge. I suggest that beginner solvers improve, not primarily by increasing their general knowledge, but by learning how to apply that knowledge to the cryptic nature of the clues.
I suspect that most solvers, beginners included, are familiar with the basic pronouns in French, German, Spanish and Italian. It’s hard to avoid the them in, for example, book and movie titles.
Thanks P and S for the fun puzzle and blog, both of which were pleasingly whelming.
Cellomaniac @18. Simply saying I don’t like it. Some people don’t like the use of pi to mean good. Some people don’t like the use of cricket terms. If you like everything setters do, then that’s fine.
Spot on for a quiptic, although I still had to reveal some at the end. Thank you for the explanations, I keep learning. Absolutely agree with Cellomaniac.
Crispy@19, yes, pi=good is one of my bugbears. Now if a setter used pi to mean goody-two-shoes, I would applaud.
Actually my comment was about the assumption that cryptic beginners have less general knowledge than the rest of us. Foreign words are just one example. Whether they are a Bad Thing (1066 etc.) is a different matter.
Cellomaniac @21. Fair point.
Very close to finishing this but unfortunately I had to reveal 20d. From the crossers I thought that the river might be the EXE and then couldn’t make anything work from it.
SER as an abbreviation for “series” is new for me.
Thanks scchua and Pangakupu.
Excellent quiptic overall, even if threnody stumped me (I swear there’s a fractal amount of religious (or at least Christian) terminology that seems to be fair game – churches especially seem to have more parts than you’d ever expect to fit inside). Also TIL that the Bee Gees were brothers, unsure if that bit of GK is likely to be required again 🙂
Particularly enjoyed the wording of 25a, and 4a got the honour of being screenshot and sent to my non-crosswording partner, the highest honour a punny clue can receive. Thanks both Pangakupu and schuaa.
Crispy @22 I’m with you on finding the foreign words a bit irksome, although I think I go to the other extreme with it. In my (cantankerous) opinion, if ‘basic’ French, German, Italian, Spanish, and occasional Latin are on the table, then other languages should be too. Clue “un” as “the Welsh”, “w” as “in in Poland”, “na” as “and Swahili”. We’re here in part to broaden our volcabulary, why restrict ourselves to the GCSE syllabus?
I can speak French fairly well and am fluent in German so I like these types of clues.
But it is frequently stuff like German hat being G and not HUT so sometimes too much knowledge doesn’t help.
It doesn’t seem any more or less fair when they expect you to know about Cricket (a sport I’ve never watched) or random parts of England (where I do not live)
I’d also like to say there is no way I would ever want to increase my “general knowledge” without having a use case for it.
I wouldn’t expect anyone to know der die das (and sometimes den dem as well) means the in German, if they didn’t speak it, I bet maybe 1/100 who don’t would know that. Why would you?