Pan is one of the well-established Quiptic setters and invariably provides us with a good start to the week. He/she has done so here again, although the grid, with lots of clues with less than 50% checking, and one or two tricks of the trade might have presented some difficulties to a genuine beginner. But fair enough, if you progress with your cryptic solving, you’re going to come across that kind of stuff eventually.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Couple with book about beast from the east
TWOSOME
An insertion of SOW reversed (‘from the east’, since it’s an across clue) in TOME.
5 Cheerleader squeezed by composer in charge of a drunken revelry
BACCHIC
An insertion of C for the first letter of ‘cheerleader’ (so a bit of lift and separate needed) in BACH (take your pick of which one) followed by IC. After BACCHUS, the Roman God of wine.
10 Secretion from impure animal
UREA
Hidden in impURE Animal. A major component of human urine, so if you’ve had a wee already this morning you will have secreted some.
11 Polish sign found in specialist word books
GLOSSARIES
A charade of GLOSS and ARIES for one of the twelve ‘signs’ of the zodiac.
12 Owlet’s last to emerge from egg found in part of old roof
THATCH
A charade of T and HATCH.
13 Made bespoke outfit for setter wearing tatty leotard
TAILORED
An insertion of I for ‘setter’ in (LEOTARD)*
14 Unmarried ladies stress dancing round leg
SPINSTERS
An insertion of PIN in (STRESS)*
16 Relish old dance
TANGO
A charade of TANG and O.
17 Water valves turned before engineer’s first flood
SPATE
A charade of TAPS reversed and E for the first letter of ‘engineer’.
19 Scot touring habitat listed to protect Buddhist’s ultimate source of fragrant smoke
JOSS STICK
I’ve just had a flashback to the 1970s, although they are still used in certain religious rituals, including Buddhism (although that isn’t relevant here apart from giving us part of the solution). An insertion of SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) and T for the last letter of ‘Buddhist’ in JOCK.
23 Creature shot by plucky woman?
GAME BIRD
A dd cum cd.
24 Trial of alternative way to give out cards
ORDEAL
A charade of OR and DEAL.
26 Stick with excellent source of claret to get a good drink
JAMAICA RUM
I can’t quite work this out. It’s a charade, which I see as JAM for ‘stick’, AI for A1 or ‘excellent’, and C for the first letter of ‘claret’, then A; but then that leaves us with RUM for ‘good’, which I don’t fathom. Or you could have A inserted in CRU at the end, but then that leaves you with M. Some kind person will help me out here, I’m sure.
27 Plant crowns of imported rhubarb in shrubbery
IRIS
The first letters of the last four words of the clue.
28 Two articles sit uneasily with non-believer
ATHEIST
A charade of A, THE for ‘two articles’ and (SIT)*
29 Cook finally given opportunities to sleep with men on board
KNIGHTS
A charade of K for the last letter of ‘cook’ and NIGHTS. Think chess. There are a lot of first and last letter indicators in this morning’s puzzle.
Down
2 Pray for elevation of rank on vessel
WORSHIP
A reversal of ROW followed by SHIIP.
3 Clever sting?
SMART
A dd.
4 Dupes have stolen criminal’s photo
MUGSHOT
A charade of MUGS and HOT.
6 Term for antipodean with a worrying issue
AUSSIE
A charade of A and (ISSUE)*
7 Part of plant or insect found by bird …
CORMORANT
Excellent. They hang their wings out to dry, as shown in the the obligatory Pierre bird link. Not to be confused with the shag. A charade of CORM, OR and ANT.
8 … one returning to cold island in frozen water
ICEBERG
Normally the advice is to ignore ellipses, since they’re just there to connect two vaguely related surfaces. Here, however, you do have to go back to the previous clue, since ‘one’ refers to a ‘bird’, in this case the GREBE. If you reverse that and IC for ‘cold’ and ‘island’, you’ve got your answer.
9 Physician’s advice is: “Do sort records out!”
DOCTOR’S ORDERS
(DO SORT RECORDS)*
15 Remote and wild place of worship in Paris
NOTRE DAME
(REMOTE AND)*
18 23 wanting husband for countrywoman
PEASANT
This is referring to 23ac, the answer to which is GAME BIRD, of which a PHEASANT is an example (and for that reason I might have fancied ‘for example’ in the clue after ’23)’. You need to take ‘wanting’ as ‘lacking’, so it’s P[H]EASANT.
20 Sherpas now mandated to carry a cold individual
SNOWMAN
Hidden in sherpaS NOW MANdated.
21 Carriage taking tea to free-for-all
CHARIOT
A charade of CHA and RIOT.
22 Endless talk about athletics event
DISCUS
DISCUS[S]
25 Performing animal hosting “at home”
DOING
An insertion of IN in DOG.
Many thanks to Pan for this morning’s Quiptic.
Thanks Pierre. The OED gives ‘good’ as a meaning of ‘rum’: “Origin unknown. Apparently originally a cant term.” It’s a new one on me, and rather obscure for a Quiptic: Chambers only has the more familiar ‘strange’.
Thanks, Andrew. That is a bit rum for a Quiptic, I agree.
Thanks Pan and Pierre
MUCH harder than today’s Rufus. I liked JOSS STICK very much, but it’s not a Quiptic clue. Other favourites were DOCTOR’S ORDERS, NOTRE DAME and SNOWMAN. ICEBERG, clued similarly, has come up more than once recently.
Not entirely happy at UREA being defined as “secretion”. Even if you accept that urine is a secretion, urea is only one component of it – it’s mainly water.
If you see THATCH on a roof, it’s almost certainly pretty new, rather than “old”!
CORMORANT (or shag) reminds me of this.
I enjoyed this, though I share the reservations mentioned above, particularly whether 19 and 26 are really appropriate for a Quiptic. RUM as “excellent” was new to me too.
Thanks, Pan and Pierre.
Thanks Pierre.
I think I have a successful parsing for 26A. The AICA is the ‘anterior inferior cerebellar artery’, which is, of course, an ‘excellent source of claret [blood]’. That following JAM [stick], plus Andrew’s parsing of RUM [good] above gives JAMAICA RUM.
Some very tricky ones for a Quiptic this week!