Thank you to Budmo. Definitions are underlines in the clues.
Across
1. Grazing land beyond river in Yorkshire (7)
PASTURE : PAST(on the further side of/beyond) + URE(river in North Yorkshire, England).
5. Set off bouncy character taking Ritalin, primarily (7)
TRIGGER : TIGGER(fictional character in A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh books, who loved bouncing) containing(taking) 1st letter of(…, primarily) “Ritalin”.
Defn: …/cause an event to start.
10. Give out porridge on return (4)
EMIT : Reversal of(… on return) TIME(like “porridge”, an informal term for a prison sentence).
11. Fulmar gets confused in current across the pond (4,6)
GULF STREAM : Anagram of(… confused) FULMAR GETS.
Answer: A strong and swift current in the Atlantic Ocean to be found off the US East Coast, ie. across the pond.
12. Earnest camping like this? (6)
INTENT : [IN TENT](how one goes camping/living temporarily in a tent).
13. Celebrities can’t play snooker for this reason (8)
NOTABLES : [NO TABLES](without these essential requirements for a snooker game, it can’t be played).
14. Map a creek for training frontrunner (9)
PACE MAKER : Anagram of(… for training) MAP A CREEK.
Defn: …, one setting the pace in a race
16. German defeat provides sheen (5)
GLOSS : G(abbrev. for “German” – usage?) + LOSS(defeat in a contest).
17. Some males sexualised in part of eastern England (5)
ESSEX : Hidden in(Some) “males sexualised”.
19. When I am wearing gold in part of Turkey (4,5)
ASIA MINOR : AS(when, as in “when you enter the room …”) + I AM + [IN(wearing/clothed in) OR(gold/the colour yellow in heraldry).
Answer: …, also called Anatolia, the peninsula that makes up the major part of Turkey.
23. Some rugby players argue with impudence, at first (5,3)
FRONT ROW : ROW(to argue/quarrel with) placed after(…, at first) FRONT(impudence/boldness).
Defn: …, collectively, the forwards who form the first row in a scrum.
24. Student has left out source of money (6)
EARNER : “learner”(a student) minus(has … out) “l”(abbrev. for “left”).
Defn: An activity or product that provides income/a ….
26. Rub close-in when partying – this PM liked to (10)
BERLUSCONI : Anagram of(… when partying) RUB CLOSE-IN.
Answer: …, Silvio, former Prime Minister of Italy, who faced allegations of sexual misconduct (when partying).
27. Unpleasant situation of male anger (4)
MIRE : M(abbrev. for “male”) + IRE(anger/rage).
28. Why is husband claiming base is like dairy product? (7)
WHEYISH : [WHY IS + H(abbrev. for “husband”) ] containing(claiming) E(in mathematics, the constant that is the base of the natural logarithm).
Defn: …, in this case, the watery part of milk remaining after the formation of curds.
29. Absolute power of extremely tetchy grandma not good (7)
TYRANNY : 1st and last letters of(extremely) “tetchy” + “granny”(familiar term for one’s grandmother/grandma) minus(not) “g”(abbrev. for “good”).
And such grandmas could be tyrants.
Down
2. Song about blokes in former Soviet state (7)
ARMENIA : ARIA(an operatic song for a solo voice) containing(about) MEN(blokes/chaps).
Answer: A state in the former USSR.
3. Perhaps Mr T wearing hat (5)
TITLE : T contained in(wearing) TILE(slang for a hat).
Defn: An example of which/perhaps is Mr or Mister in full.
4. A cottager wanting company turned up for sporting event (7)
REGATTA : Reversal of(… turned up, in a down clue) [A + “cottager” minus(wanting) “co”(abbrev. for “company”, a commercial organisation)].
6. Change location of temporary relief, heartlessly (6)
RESITE : “respite”(temporary relief/a short period of rest from something difficult or unpleasant) minus its middle letter(heartlessly).
Answer: … or re-site, if you will.
7. Content to snog a ribald Italian revolutionary (9)
GARIBALDI : Hidden in(Content to) “snog a ribald Italian”.
Answer: …, Giuseppe, Italian general, revolutionary and republican.
8. People who dodge adverse exercises (7)
EVADERS : Anagram of(… exercises) ADVERSE.
9. Twit canoodles with action film director (5,8)
CLINT EASTWOOD : Anagram of(… with action) TWIT CANOODLES.
Answer: American film director and actor.
15. Superficially less cross, for ever (9)
ETERNALLY : “externally”(on the outside/superficially) minus(less) “x”(letter representing a cross).
18. High pitched squawk rocks church (7)
SCREECH : SCREE(small loose rocks forming or covering a mountain slope) + CH(abbrev. for “church”).
20. So be it: sex with unknown for convenience (7)
AMENITY : AMEN(“so be it”, an utterance at the end of a prayer or hymn) + IT(a euphemism for “sex”/sexual intercourse) + Y(symbol for an unknown quantity, in mathematics).
Defn: …/a useful feature.
21. Go on too long in swamp (7)
OVERRUN : Double defn: 1st: … in time, past the scheduled end; and 2nd: …/overwhelm.
22. Seizes power in shop (6)
GRASPS : P(symbol for “power”, in physics) contained in(in) GRASS(to betray to the police/shop).
25. Dance in strange bar, mostly (5)
RUMBA : RUM(strange/odd) + 1st 2 letters of(…, mostly) “bar”.
New for me: in 28ac E = base (Euler’s number, a fundamental mathematical constant approx 2.71828); FRONT ROW rugby players.
I only know G=German from cryptics and have never seen it used elsewhere.
Thanks Budmo and scchua
I thought some of this was rather hard for a Quiptic. I used an anagram solver for BERLUSCONI, who wouldn’t have sprung to mind as PM. LOI was WHEYISH, which I found difficult to believe was actually a word.
Some nice clues, though. TITLE and ASIA MINOR favourites.
I thought 25 needed an elegant variation rather than having “bar” in the clue. Otherwise all was good. Particularly liked 7d, one of my favourite historic Italians (but can you still get his biscuits anywhere?)
I couldn’t account for the ‘e’ in WHEYISH (I doubted the word too but it definitely exists) and I’ve never heard of ‘tile’ as slang for hat. I got 15d, ETERNALLY, from the definition and crossers because I didn’t spot the connection between ‘superficially’ and ‘externally’. Otherwise the answers went in remarkably smoothly. Very nice on a rainy Sunday morning.
Good quiptic and in my view not one of the harder ones. Particularly liked the well hidden Garibaldi and the less cross device in eternally Thanks to Budmo and blogger.
There are quite a few comments on the site itself about the level of difficulty, whereas for me this felt very well-pitched and navigable. The converse is often true, though. Anyway, I found it most enjoyable.
I found it pretty straightforward as well. Like someone above I have never heard of tile as slang for hat but G is the usual abbreviation for German in crosswords. Odd, as you’d think it would be D, but there you go.
Whij@3
You can get the biscuits in Tesco (other supermarkets are available). There are also plenty of recipes online. But I’m afraid they will always be squashed fly biscuits to me.
I found this one very straightforward. Raised an eyebrow at “wheyish”, but yes, it’s a word. Thanks scchua and Budmo
This was a paradox. I sailed through without leaving the app, but all the way along there were little things I thought were tricky for a Quiptic. I’m not surprised it has split opinion. Very much in my wheelhouse though and I enjoyed it.
PS. WHEYISH, can’t see me using that one!
Thanks Budmo and scchua
Tile for hat. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aR2UtzqZ7Yk
Some nice anagrams here, even for the unsavoury BERLUSCONI (the man, not the clue.)
WHEYISH? Really? But it’s in the dictionary and can be worked out from the clue, so it’s fair game even if nobody knew it existed. Perhaps not the best choice for a Quiptic.
Enjoyable Quiptic I thought. I had no problem with WHEYISH as a word unlike some other commenters although I couldn’t spot how the E worked so thanks sschua for explaining that, and for the rest of the blog. NOTABLES (NO TABLES) made me smile. Thanks Budmo.
Martin@10 My thoughts exactly. TITLE is a great clue and the anagram for the Bunga-bunga PM was s great find.
I found the top half to be a quick write-in, the bottom half a bit less so: it would have helped if I had been able to spell BERLUSCONI correctly. I’m not sure CLINT EASTWOOD is who leaps first to mind as a director, being better known to me anyway as an actor, but fair enough – it’s not like you could make STANLEY KUBRICK or MARTIN SCORCESE out of that anagram fodder. Not good, not bad, just maybe a little ugly.
Thanks scchua for putting me right on why “e” is a base – seeing everything in upper-case doesn’t help!
Much to like, but TITLE gets the gold medal.
Thanks both!
Very good Quiptic. A few needed a second maybe third visit which for me is well pitched.
Liked BERLUSCONI and NOTABLES
Thanks Budmo and scchua
I found this one quite pleasant, enjoyed ASIA MINOR and the anagrams in BERLUSCONI and CLINT EASTWOOD. NOTABLES made me laugh and as a German I spent way too much time thinking of a translation for “defeat” – how am I supposed to fit NIEDERLAGE into five letters?!
As for the abbreviation G for German, the GDR, the German Democratic Republic springs to mind.
Thanks to Budmo and scchua!
Enjoyed this although I did find it harder than usual. NOTABLES made me chuckle. I have never heard of WHEYISH. Was very sure it started with Whey so had to look it up in the end
I couldn’t come up with Tile for hat either but was easy enough to figure out from the definition.
Thoroughly enjoyed this one and perhaps because of the high number of anagrams, I didn’t really feel this was overly hard for a Quiptic, but as always it’s about getting on the wavelength of the setter and this time I guess I was just in the right mind set from the off. NOTABLES made me chuckle too. Got WHEYISH through the parsing but that word was new to me. Also never heard of a TILE hat. Figured E must mean the base of something but thought that was a bit too obscure. Still learned something new, so that’s fine. Last ones to go in where the bottom right corner, so for me that was definitely the hardest part of the puzzle. Thank you Budmo and Scchua
Great Quiptic and blog, thanks Budmo and scchua. I’m ashamed to say that I’ve never knowingly come across “tile” for “hat” though I agree it was findable without this knowledge.
I’ve only ever come across ’tile’ for hat in cryptic crosswords where it makes regular appearances, so it occurred to me to wonder when it was last used. According to the OED, it made its first appearance in 1813 where it’s used to refer to a mortarboard, which makes sense. It transmuted into a general slang word for hat over the next twenty years or so (it appears in Pickwick), and was last used in 1873. So how did the first cruciverbalist come across it? And is there evidence for its later appearance? I’d really like to know!
I didn’t know E was Euler’s number. I’d have thought Euler’s number would have started 07, same as everyone else’s!
Thanks to setter and blogger.
I found this tricky in some places. Got about half the answers on a first run through, then got a few more but had trouble in the SE. I ended up revealing the Italian(!) PM after trying hard to fit Disraeli in because of the I at the end.
Also revealed wheyish – it might be a real word, but in what sort of circumstance would one ever use it? Plus the use of E for base… Didn’t like that one!
I agree with the divided opinion. I couldn’t solve a lot of the clues but enjoyed the ones I could. Thank you for the elucidations.
A pleasant solve for a sunny tuesday afternoon. Thanks as ever to Budmo and scchua. Now for a quail egg 🙂
thanks sschua. ’tile’ for hat, ‘porridge’ for prison time and ‘shop’ for inform all new devices for me. One’s toolkit is ever expanding, I suppose
I’ve had a very busy week so came to this late, but found it more straightforward than most Quiptics, except for WHEYISH. Like others, I didn’t know TILE for hat, but that one was guessing