A fine Quiptic from Chandler which I think will appeal to newer solvers.
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 Remove dirt from winding lanes in borders of Cheshire
CLEANSE
An insertion of (LANES)* in CE for the outside letters of ‘Cheshire’. The anagrind is ‘winding’.
5 Son slowly moves illegible pieces of handwriting
SCRAWLS
A charade of S and CRAWLS
10 Lack success following trouble
FAIL
A charade of F and AIL.
11 Cricket side with individual batters lately plucky and playing well
ON ONE’S GAME
A charade of ON, ONE, S for the last letter of ‘batters’ and GAME.
12 Group not up to much in brief fall of rain
SHOWER
A dd.
13 Put forward number in team possibly
NOMINATE
A charade of NO and (IN TEAM)* The anagrind is ‘possibly’.
14 Bid lawyer formulated to get track for riders
BRIDLEWAY
(BID LAWYER)* with ‘formulated’ as the anagrind.
16 Secure day avoiding area affected by gusts?
WINDY
A charade of WIN and D[A]Y.
17 Secret consignment put in chest as highlighted
STASH
Hidden in cheST AS Highlighted.
19 Dub a lefty misguided through lack of positive action?
BY DEFAULT
(DUB A LEFTY)* with ‘misguided’ as the anagrind.
23 A grim era sadly for union
MARRIAGE
(A GRIM ERA)* with ‘sadly’ as the anagrind.
24 Mist in Virginia – and rain
VAPOUR
A charade of VA and POUR.
26 Southern sailor, one in Baltic at work, has period of leave
SABBATICAL
A charade of S, AB and an insertion of I in (BALTIC)* The insertion indicator is ‘in’ and the anagrind is ‘at work’.
27 Badgers and horses in poor condition
NAGS
A dd.
28 One covertly placed in overnight train
SLEEPER
Another dd.
29 Special form of therapy to do with ghostly figure
SPECTRE
A charade of SP, ECT for Electro Convulsive Therapy and RE.
Down
2 State of agitation about origin of exotic material made from skin
LEATHER
An insertion of E for the initial letter of ‘exotic’ in LATHER. The insertion indicator is ‘about’.
3 Permit shown in general lowdown
ALLOW
Hidden in generAL LOWdown.
4 Celt almost on impulse is cause of great trouble
SCOURGE
A charade of SCO[T] and URGE.
6 Best shop principally for ointments
CREAMS
A charade of CREAM and S for the initial letter of ‘shop’.
7 Rent again varying in Spanish-speaking country
ARGENTINA
(RENT AGAIN)* with ‘varying’ as the anagrind.
8 Was dishonest about US college of a narrow nature
LIMITED
An insertion of MIT for Massachusetts Institute of Technology in LIED. The insertion indicator is ‘about’.
9 Barrier between properties beyond furnace needs rebuilding
BOUNDARY FENCE
(BEYOND FURNACE)* with ‘needs rebuilding’ as the anagrind.
15 Attractive bread is baked with glee essentially
DESIRABLE
(BREAD IS)* followed by [G]LE[E]. The anagrind is ‘baked’.
18 A first sign of visitor in nature walk in ordeal
TRAVAIL
An insertion of A and V for the initial letter of ‘visitor’ in TRAIL. The insertion indicator is ‘in’.
20 Cover even stewed prune
ENVELOP
A charade of (EVEN)* and LOP. The anagrind is ‘stewed’.
21 Turn in more extensive comfortable chair
LOUNGER
An insertion of U (‘turn’) in LONGER.
22 Unnerve judge describing case for trial
RATTLE
An insertion of TL for the outside letters of ‘trial’ in RATE. The insertion indicator is ‘describing’.
25 Old man leading name in charge produces alarm
PANIC
A charade of PA, N and IC.
Many thanks to Chandler for today’s Quiptic.
My iPad wouldn’t download The Observer this morning but the usual puzzles were there. As a relatively new solver, I loved Chandler’s Quiptic and didn’t miss the newspaper at all. I might go straight to the crosswords every day.
Thanks PeterO. The one I couldn’t parse was the first def in SHOWER. Guessed it might be British slang, so looked it up, and it was. Unknown to me.
The surfaces for BY DEFAULT, SCOURGE, MARRIAGE and LEATHER made me chuckle.
Sorry, I mean thanks Pierre. Bedtime for me. Glad to see you here before I turn into a pumpkin.
Thanks Chandler and Pierre
I found this easier than his Quick Cryptic yesterday (though that was harder than usual).
This was a fabulous Quiptic, which I managed to solve in a one-er for first time, showing progression.
Liked to use of ‘trouble’; and marriage was certainly an ordeal and ‘a grim era’!
Short but sweet. Nothing to complain about here.
I liked the anagram for MARRIAGE, though MrsTheSheep was less impressed when I read it out to her…
Many nice surfaces, but a special up-tick for BRIDLEWAY.
Thanks Chandler & Pierre.
Enjoyable effort from Chandler. Pierre, you made a slight error in your parsing of SABBATICAL in 26a, the “one” in the clue gives an A not an I.
Why is “cricket side” “on”?
MrsSandgrounder @8
The “on” side is another way of describing the leg side – the side the batsman’s legs are on. The other side is always the off side.
Remember it – it often turns up in puzzles.
muffin@9 thanks for explaining that. I wondered too but, knowing nothing about cricket, couldn’t figure it out.
One or two unparsed until I got here, but I thought this was a really nice puzzle.
Lovely, something not too difficult for once. Thank you Chandler and Pierre.
As a newer solver, I thought that was at just the right level… I had to work at it, but I got all of it and could parse everything except LOUNGER (which is obvious with Pierre’s explanation) and SCOURGE (where I got URGE but struggled with SCO as “Celt”. I now see that it comes from “Scot” or “Scotland” but I’m still not sure the cryptic grammar works.) Thanks Pierre for the very helpful blog!
A nice quiptic. Needed help with a couple of parsings. Thanks Chandler and Pierre!
Nice Quiptic for a newish solver. I too didn’t get “on” for cricket side. My husband (who doesn’t like cryptic crosswords) guessed right and then gave me a lovely demonstration 🤣
About “on” in cricket. As muffin@9 says, it’s the same as the “leg” side. That’s because that’s the side of the wicket towards which it’s easier for the batsman to strike the ball with mighty force. Fielders on the “on” side are rather more in the firing line than those on the “off” side: especially at the position known as “silly mid on” – close to, and halfway down the pitch, about 6 metres away from the batsman, smack in the middle of the target zone.
Thanks Pierre. Too many I’s and too few A’s in SABBATICAL?
Really enjoyable puzzle from Chandler this week.
Very enjoyable. Lots of anagrams and part anagrams to get some traction across the grid and also some neat charades. Forgot ‘on side’ was a term in cricket and that it was equivalent to ‘leg side’ (which I’m more familiar with) so thanks to muffin and DerekTheSheep for the cricketing insights. TRAVAIL was my last in which I got from crossers and the definition having missed how the A and V worked. Thanks Chandler for the weekend double (with yesterday’s QC) and Pierre for the blog.
Very enjoyable, and precise cluing.
Thanks both
I’m still confused by the first def of SHOWER as my attempts at googling are just finding me communal showers! I assume it’s as in one who shows but my only definition for that is quite individual….
You might say if the team you support has failed badly “what a shower!”
“What a shower” always makes me think of Sergeant-Major types in 1950s/1960s comedies, probably played by Lionel Jeffries. I was told that it was derived from Cockney rhyming slang: “shower of rain = pain” i.e. annnoying person(s). May not be true…
Can anyone link a dictionary giving the “group not up to much” definition of “shower” in 12A? Because I can’t find a source on that being used anywhere
c @24
Look at definition 5 here
C@24, etc.: I think the original armed forces phrase is “a shower of s**t”.
Rachel#13. SCOURGE
Celt> Scot almost indicates it’s not complete/almost all of the word, and instructs to delete the last letter >SCO
on indicates the position of the particles, in this case in a down clue.
I think you have the rest. URGE (impulse) is (link word) > SCOURGE
Muffin@25 thank you
I’m another who didn’t know this meaning of SHOWER, but now I do.
As someone who knows nothing about cricket and remembers being a new solver, I’ll urge new solvers to remember that ON = LEG. You’ll definitely see it again.
SHOWER was unparsed for me too
Very approachable with some nice surfaces. I also felt this easier than yesterday’s quick cryptic
Thanks Chandler and Pierre
Great stuff from Chandler.
Also didn’t parse SHOWER until spelt out in the comments. I actually use it quite regularly but I couldn’t put two and two together. I see its definition #10 in my version of Chambers as well. The ‘Group not up’ also made it look like we needed gro. I did mentally try other words before coming up with nothing better than SHOWER.
Liked SPECTRE AND SABBATICAL
Thanks Pierre and Chandler.
Didn’t get to this until (my) Monday morning. Delightful Quiptic!
Re “shower”. Those of us of a certain age may recall Windsor Davis as the Sergeant Major in “It ain’t half hot, Mum” referring to the rest of the concert party as “you ‘orrible shower”. Definitely a show of its era, it wouldn’t get a run today.
Thanks Pierre & Chandler.
I got 22 down from crossers and “unnerve” but have no idea how I would have got the beginning and end letters of trial into rate (judged)? Any help for this newbie?
Thanks!
Phew. Just managed to complete this one with the help of the answer check function to ensure I was on the right track. More guesswork than parsing but a solve is a solve I guess. Really not sure about 26A. Where does the other ‘A’ come from? and I don’t see more than one I in the answer…. I am sure I will kick myself once you enlighten me, but until then I am stumped.
Jmac, case is a word used in cryptics that means to take the outside letters of a word. You can’t be 100% sure where those letters have to go, but it’s just a case of figuring it out from the definition. That narrowed it down enough for me to get RATTLE, but to he honest, RATTLE was the first thing that popped into my head before I even began to figure out the wordplay. Sometimes an early spark helps.
Thanks as always Pierre for fantastic explanation & Chandler for another great puzzle.
Thanks Sakenotabibito!
Yes quite a few of these were kind of instinctive and then I got the parsing afterwards
Sakenotabibito @34 —
The other A comes from “one”, which can be either A or I as needed. As hobnob pointed out @7, there’s an (uncharacteristic!) error in Pierre’s parsing.
Late to the party here!
Did not parse 22d (missed the “case” for TriaL)
29 ac: did not get the ECT for therapy
12 ac: a “Shower” of people in the US would be like a baby shower or bridal shower, where the hono(u)red individual is “showered” with gifts, so missed the first part of that.
All went in fine with the crossers though. Thanks Pierre and Chandler!
Re: shower – wasn’t it also a Terry Thomas catchphrase – “You’re an espsolute sharr!”
Thanks Chandler and Pierre. Took me a while but a very pleasant experience.