Carpathian always gives us a carefully constructed and tractable puzzle for the Quiptic slot, so UK solvers shouldn’t have needed the extra hour today to solve this one.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Trick nurse in debate
CONTEND
A charade of CON and TEND.
5 Walk back then jump into retail unit
PET SHOP
A charade of STEP reversed and HOP.
9 One possessed flipping love for state
IDAHO
A charade of I, HAD reversed and O gives you the US state.
10 Mislaid reason for hopeless endeavour
LOST CAUSE
A charade of LOST and CAUSE.
11 Feted rebel acted out
CELEBRATED
(REBEL ACTED)* with ‘out’ as the anagrind.
12 Endlessly touches fish
EEL
[F]EEL[S]
14 Resolute way Ron grimaced at first then left
STRONG-WILLED
A charade of ST for street or ‘way’, RON, G for the initial letter of ‘grimaced’ and WILLED. ‘William left/willed most of his money to charity when he died.’
18 Strangely design attire to fall apart
DISINTEGRATE
(DESIGN ATTIRE)* with ‘strangely’ as the anagrind.
21 Bird not following predator
OWL
[F]OWL and a welcome opportunity for the Obligatory Pierre Bird Link. I have gone today for the Spectacled Owl, a native of Mexico, Central and South America, mainly because it’s fairly obvious why it got that name.
22 Rubbish black tree and dead tree
BALDERDASH
A charade of B, ALDER, D and ASH.
25 Bury Post Office initially send everything to place inbetween
INTERPOSE
A charade of INTER, PO and SE for the initial letters of ‘send’ and ‘everything’.
26 Duck hit revolving stones
OPALS
A charade of O and SLAP reversed.
27 Revolting rogue regularly wearing animal skins
HIDEOUS
An insertion of OU for the even letters of rOgUe in HIDES. The insertion indicator is ‘wearing’.
28 Hold up pay out across America
SUSPEND
An insertion of US in SPEND. The insertion indicator is ‘across’.
Down
1 Embrace seal
CLINCH
A dd.
2 Peer into US city – almost
NEARLY
An insertion of EARL in NY. The insertion indicator is ‘into’.
3 Former lover on course with worker going beyond the usual limits
EXORBITANT
A charade of EX, ORBIT and ANT.
4 Greek letter infidel taxman conceals
DELTA
Hidden in ifiDEL TAxman.
5 One travelling quietly with idiot, engineer and old Queen
PASSENGER
A charade of P for the musically ‘quiet’, ASS, ENG and ER for Elizabeth Regina.
6 Food from lorry missing second element
TUCK
T[R]UCK
7 Run off after domestic pest
HOUSEFLY
A charade of HOUSE and FLY.
8 Rule out putting contralto in overture
PRECLUDE
An insertion of C in PRELUDE. The insertion indicator is ‘putting … in’.
13 Savage crossing hill and winning
VICTORIOUS
An insertion of TOR in VICIOUS. The insertion indicator is ‘crossing’.
15 Artist welcomed by poorest miserable machinists
OPERATORS
An insertion of RA in (POOREST)* The insertion indicator is ‘welcomed by’ and the anagrind is ‘miserable’.
16 Warn in notice – day is hot
ADMONISH
A charade of AD, MON, IS and H.
17 Upsetting details about duck being detached
ISOLATED
An insertion of O in (DETAILS)* The insertion indicator is ‘about’ and the anagrind is ‘upsetting’.
19 Cause harm to barrier over time
DAMAGE
A charade of DAM and AGE. ‘Over’ works because it’s a down clue.
20 Hunted and restrained we hear
CHASED
Aural wordplay (‘we hear’) for CHASTE.
23 Force dropping uniform clothing
DRESS
D[U]RESS. U for ‘uniform’ comes from the phonetic alphabet.
24 Group of players principally taking roles in operetta
TRIO
The initial letters of the last four words of the clue.
Many thanks to Carpathian for this week’s Quiptic.
BALDERDASH is a highlight, – two trees in one word! I couldn’t understand what the homophone is for CHASED – that’s not how I pronounce it 😉 Overall, a very nice and accessible puzzle with good surfaces; thanks Carpathian and Pierre!
A pleasingly gentle occupation during Sunday breakfast.
DRESS and BALDERDASH were my faves, and OPALS took me way longer than it should have done.
Nice one, Carpathian!
Thanks for the blog, Pierre – and for the owl.
Nice puzzle! DRESS held me up for longer than I would have expected, but getting it unlocked the rest of the SE corner to finish the puzzle. I needed the blog for WILLED = left 🙊. LOI was OPALS.
Faves were INTERPOSED for “Bury Post Office” and HIDEOUS for the surface.
Thanks both
Excellent Quiptic standard with some entertaining charades. Thanks Carpathian & Pierre.
@Pierre: Your explanation of 27a should state “OU” not “OG”.
Good fun. Proof that you don’t need any obscurities to make a crossword enjoyable.
Concise and beautifully constructed. BALDERDASH was my top of the trees. Now to enjoy the extra hour in the sunshine.
Ta Carpathian & Pierre
If I had only known that duck==o. Now I`ll never forget.
@5-DITTO.
Robjoswel @7: Duck is cricket slang for being put out without scoring any runs–rare and embarrassing in the top levels of the game. So it’s a 0 rather than an O, but crosswordland always ignores that distinction (see also “love” from tennis). Anyway, you should always associate duck with O–it’s way more common in British crosswords than actual ducks.
I echo the positive comments. An enjoyable puzzle with lots of ticks, namely DISINTEGRATE, HIDEOUS, VICTORIOUS, and BALDERDASH
For me, the NW corner held out at the end. Tell me, 8dn Why is contralto = c? I could not find it on the dictionary.
Thanks Carpathian and Pierre
Lovely puzzle, suitable for beginners/improvers as a quiptic should be, but also enjoyable for experienced solvers. W eliked BALDERDASH, and also the OPBL.
Thanks, Carpathian and Pierre.
Enjoyable puzzle – neither too hard nor too easy and agree with Balderdash as favourite. However although I wrote in OWL I have still not understood the parsing
Not sure I’ve ever seen C for Contralto in a musical score, logical as it may be.
Dior@12, No idea who uses f for following, but that abbreviation is in my dictionary
Thanks Martyn Still took me a while to see that owl is the predator not the bird.
Good Quiptic. Liked BALDERDASH and ADMONISH. Thanks to Carpathian and Pierre.
Thanks Carpathian and Pierre.
Great one for me as an improver (a category I’ve inhabited for several years!) and I appreciate the tightly constructed charades with nice surfaces (BALDERDASH and PASSENGER were great examples here). Need to think more laterally and realize that “nurse” doesn’t always mean RN.
Ange Mlinko’s epic poem Arethusa, Swallowtail, Contranym includes the lines
Arethusa, chased not chaste,
was taken by her water waist
forever
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v42/n18/ange-mlinko/arethusa-swallowtail-contranym
Also maybe a vague theme of the US shutdown from 28A? A large number of non-positive thoughts going on here:
Balderdash, strong-willed, preclude, hideous, exorbitant, lost cause, disintegrate, admonish, isolated?
I’m curious about how Layman @1 pronounces CHASTE and CHASED. I had thought this might be the rare non-controversial homophone!
I thought this was an excellent, well-judged Quiptic. I particularly liked BALDERDASH, but there were plenty of others to enjoy.
Only one I couldn’t parse was 21A. Is following being F common?
Peter @21 — Yes, it is. I think it usually refers to pages in a book: “See p. 21f” means “See page 21 and the following page”. You use two fs if you mean more than one following page. So “p. 21f” means pages 21 and 22, while “p. 21ff” means pages 21, 22, and 23 (and possibly more).
Having done this nice and pleasing puzzle a day late, due to travelling, I don’t expect anyone to read the blog anymore…. I must confess I needed this site for explanation for owl. I had owl immediately for the bird, so was looking for a predator, not another bird… Very good misdirection. I also couldn’t think why willed is left. I understand it now…. Thanks, Carpathian and Pierre
I’m late too. Busy times. Loved this Quiptic. LOVED it (including the fowl misdirection which is why I came to this site. Thank you C & P
Another late to the party but only wanted to add this has been one of my favourite Quiptics of the year – Carpathian excels in this slot, imo. Thanks all.
It took me a long time, but I made it, bar a couple. Thank you to all, mostly the solvers, very encouragi g.