A fine Quiptic from Budmo, which I fancy will appeal to newer and improving 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 Spooner’s magnificent research area: what Trump has planned for Canada?
LANDGRAB
Spooner might have the solution as GRAND LAB.
6 Single men on vacation in August
SOLEMN
A charade of SOLE and M[E]N.
9 Mature women infiltrating party
GROW UP
An insertion of W in GROUP. The insertion indicator is ‘infiltrating’.
10 Revolutionary dull way to transfer money for sheath
SCABBARD
A reversal of DRAB and BACS. BACS stands for Bankers’ Automated Clearing System.
11 Speedy male hare perhaps makes easy money
A FAST BUCK
Well, a ‘speedy male hare’ would be A FAST BUCK.
13 America determinedly protecting army trainee
CADET
Hidden in AmeriCA DETerminedly.
15 Make good broadcast on salesperson
REPAIR
A charade of REP and AIR.
17 Rejects study that is small
DENIES
A charade of DEN, IE for id est and S.
18 Second best shriek
SCREAM
A charade of S and CREAM.
19 Immediately starts to put rapeseed oil next to olives
PRONTO
The initial letters of the final six words of the clue.
21 Regulars in small town’s shop
SALON
The odd letters of SmAlL tOwN.
22 Fizzy wine left around outskirts of Dundee for procession
CAVALCADE
A charade of CAVA, L, CA for circa or ‘around’ and DE for the outside letters of ‘Dundee’.
25 Finished up like a devil
FIENDISH
(FINISHED)* with ‘up’ as the anagrind.
26 Bands of criminals pinching English holy water?
GANGES
An insertion of E in GANGS. The insertion indicator is ‘pinching’. The River Ganges is sacred to Hindus.
28 Director’s point of view close to unconscionable
ANG LEE
A charade of ANGLE and E for the final letter of ‘unconscionable’.
29 Spoil moment with appointed primate
MARMOSET
A charade of MAR, MO and SET.
Down
2 Titania, perhaps, losing wings’ feeling
AIR
[F]AIR[Y]. Titania was Queen of the Fairies in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
3 Party with Poles in rolling uplands
DOWNS
A charade of DO, W for ‘with’ and NS for the two poles.
4 American rightwinger concerning landlord
REPUBLICAN
A charade of RE and PUBLICAN.
5 Fundamental principles in stall F announced?
BASICS
Aural wordplay (‘announced’) for BAY SIX, which could be the sixth stall along.
6 Join main man’s introduction
SEAM
A charade of SEA and M for the initial letter of ‘man’.
7 Sign Iran worried individual working quietly with books?
LIBRARIAN
A charade of LIBRA and (IRAN)* with ‘worried’ as the anagrind.
8 Singer exercising Mormon ideas?
MARIE OSMOND
(MORMON IDEAS)* with ‘exercising’ as the anagrind. The Osmonds (remember them?) were, and apparently still are, devout members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, so it’s a cad.
12 Burst into tears if in emergency response centre
FIRE STATION
(INTO TEARS IF)* with ‘burst’ as the anagrind.
14 Behind park officer is someone doing reorganisation
REARRANGER
A charade of REAR and RANGER.
16 A male child needs extra love, primarily, in office at work
PERSONNEL
A charade of PER, SON and NEL for the initial letters of ‘needs’, ‘extra’ and ‘love’. More often called HR these days. ‘The pears are £1.50 a/per kilo.’
20 Understand what 6 ft is
FATHOM
A dd.
Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made …
23 Prisoner to leave course in Africa
CONGO
A charade of CON and GO.
24 Penalty is OK
FINE
A dd.
27 Back to life, back to reality, back to life, with this you can see
EYE
The last letters of ‘life’, ‘reality’ and ‘life’ again.
Many thanks to Budmo for this week’s Quiptic.
I did not fully parse 8d.
New for me: BACS = Bankers’ Automated Clearing Services (for 10ac).
A little extra context for 27d
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_to_Life_(However_Do_You_Want_Me)
Thanks for the blog! In 25a, I think that the part of the clue that should be underlined is “like a devil”.
Thanks, majortom. Corrected.
Quipticky in general, but with some obscurities, for me at least; some were guesses. Not sure about the definition of PERSONNEL (should “in” be included, maybe? and even so) and where A comes from in A FAST BUCK. DOWNS is a great clue, as is LANDGRAB. Thanks Budmo and Pierre!
Thank you Pierre. Great blog as always. I wondered how accessible was the A >per (each) in the clue for PERSONNEL, but you’ve spelt that out. It’s been commented on in the full strength cryptics, where, even knowing the trick, it’s often missed. Nicely disguised too, as it’s the first letter and capitalised.
I had a sense there may be a fairly pervasive political theme, but it was probably just my horror reading the news before the crossword came up and maybe I’m reading too much into things.
My favourites were FATHOM, MARIE OSMOND, BASICS, ANG LEE, and GANGES (thanks to a comment by Ramanath on the G site).
I’m not a new solver, Pierre, and I doubt I’m an improving one – but this quiptic appealed to me, too.
The surfaces for GANGES, REARRANGER and PRONTO made me smile – and the anagrams for FIRE STATION and MARIE OSMOND were pleasing. (My partner complained that the latter was pretty obscure: that’s the trouble with GK, isn’t it – you either know it or you don’t.)
FATHOM and LIBRARIAN were my favourites
Thank you Pierre and Budmo.
Solid and set at a nice level. 27d was good fun and will have me humming Back to Life for the rest of the day.
“Marmoset” always makes me think of the phrase to craunch the marmoset from the flamboyantly substandard phrasebook English As She is Spoke which I was made aware of my Stephen Pile’s 1979 The Book of Heroic Failures.
A very approachable crossword. Thanks Budmo and Pierre.
I enjoyed this. A bit of disappointment at the repeat of AIR near to REPAIR, but really that’s nitpicking.
As a newish solver, I found this to be mostly at a good level and was very amused by the “Back to Life” clue. I was particularly pleased to get CAVALCADE – I found that a very satisfying process! My LOI was FATHOM. I had no clue a fathom was 6 ft. Overall, a fun puzzle.
Thanks for the blog, Pierre!
A very nice Quiptic, as long as you know all about BACS, FATHOMS and MARIE OSMOND!
Very enjoyable and spot on for the Quiptic slot I felt. Steady progress made top to bottom. Lots to like: CAVALCADE being one of my favourites, and 8d MARIE OSMOND where the surface is perfect in terms of its reading and answer IMO. Thanks Budmo, and Pierre.
I was watching a Soul II Soul video of this last night in a friend’s house, saying how much I adored the song, so this was a pleasant coincidence. I liked FIRE STATION, CAVALCADE and thought MARIE OSMOND was a great clue and I must confess to a teenage crush, while all the girls at school were fawning over Donny and David Cassidy. Excellent Quiptic.
Ta Budmo & Pierre.
Nice crossword and blog. But a couple newbie-ish of questions. In what sense is ‘feeling’ a definition of AIR? And is UP an acceptable anagrind?
Bingo @16 -Air / feeling of dissatisfaction.
A spot on Quiptic with a few spicier bits.
Enjoyed GANGES
Thanks Pierre and Budmo
Top marks for MARIE OSMOND. Compact and with a spot-on surface.
Thanks Budmo and Pierre.
I started well but then got into trouble. Kicking myself seeing your explanations Pierre!
6a – does vacation indicate taking out the middle of the word?
Thanks very much
Yes, Richard, that’s what ‘vacation’ means in this sense.
Bingo Little: air/feeling is as Crispy explains and yes, UP is a common anagram indicator.
Spot on. An excellent Quiptic and pitched perfectly for the many of us who have graduated from Quiptics to Cryptic puzzles a few moons ago. .
I ought to thank Anto as well who’s Quiptics drove me around the bend at the time but I now look forward to his cryptic puzzles as well.
Right now I’m struggling with Paul snd Araucaria who take great pleasure in keeping me up nights sigh
Many thanks
I don’t usually do the Quiptic but I thought this was harder than today’s Vulcan Cryptic.
Great Quiptic and blog, thanks both.
Could someone explain to me what solemn has got to do with August?
Enjoyed this one and found the answers quite satisfying. Some really clever ones. I particularly liked LAND GRAB, SCABBARD, and a AFASTBUCK. Like others, I didn’t really get the more obscure parsing like A for per. But all in all, I thought the clues were fair and there weren’t too many general knowledge ones. I too would like to know what solemn has to do with August. Is it a religious reference perhaps? Is it me, or is there something quite cool about the word CAVALCADE. Thanks as always for the thorough and concise blog and fun challenge, PIERRE and BUDMO.
@TaichiSue “august”, not necessarily capitalised, and with stress on the second syllable rather than the first, means solemn, dignified etc.
Ah yes of course re august. Thanks AlanT #29
A step up from the usual, but very enjoyable. Could not finish without reveling lots.
@29, ah thanks. I was about to ask that.
Can someone explain 6D to me? Is “main” another word for sea??
Anyway, it took me only 2 days to finish this. Didn’t reveal any, but I have to do plenty of checking…
Thanks goodness for this blog. I would have never been able to parse some of the clues otherwise.
Andrea @32
Yes, main is another word for sea. Keep a lookout for it – it’s quite common in crosswords.
Andrea@32, following muffin’s comment : “Main” as in “The Spanish Main” in any number of tales of piratical derring-do. AAARRR!
@32, @33
Thank you both. That’s me learning a new word 😉
(Along with “scabbard” that is 😉 )
Thanks Pierre and Budmo, what a corker! Perfect after a chili supper 🙂
I found this a very satisfying Quiptic by a new (to me, anyway) setter. I didn’t know BACS, but now I do. I don’t recall ever seeing the FIENDISH / FINISHED anagram. It’s quite nice.
Personally, I don’t much care for “up” as an anagrind, but it is indeed common.
I looked at A FAST BUCK for 11a but couldn’t find anywhere that said a male hare was anything other than a jack so this one confused me.
My entire knowledge of rabbits comes from Watership Down. They refer to the males and females as bucks and does in that book.
And Collins’s definition 1a for BUCK is “the male of various animals including the goat, hare, kangaroo, rabbit, and reindeer”.
Been trying to move onto quiptics from the quicks. Found this a good level though I’m yet to complete one fully! We’ll get there. these blogs are a massive help!
Can someone explain the deletion of the E in 6a and the definition?
Thanks Budmo and Pierre
Hello HennHawk. In 6d ‘men on vacation’ tells you to vacate, or empty out, ‘men’, which leaves you with MN to add to the SOLE.
August is explained by AlanT at comment no 29. Capitalisation can be ignored in the surface reading – often the setter will use it, as here, to mislead. ‘It was an august/solemm occasion.’
I’m pleased to hear that the blogs are proving useful for you. Your first completion will come soon, I’m sure.