Quiptic 943 by Pan

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Pan’s turn in the Quiptic slot this week.

Across
7 NEGOTIATE Arranged to get Ian drug deal (9)
An anagram (arranged) of TO GET IAN followed by E (drug)
8 ARGON A nurse inhales oxygen and another gas (5)
A (a) RGN (nurse) containing (inhales) O (oxygen
9 POPPYCOCK Nonsense talked by one crowing next to flower? (9)
COCK (one crowing) beside (next to) POPPY (flower)
10 STUDY Analyse fertiliser close to dairy (5)
STUD (fertiliser) Y (close to = last letter of dairy)
12 NESTED Soprano and tenor in poverty prepared to have babies (6)
S (soprano) and T (tenor) contained in (in) NEED (poverty)
13 ENVIRONS Locality with space for opening of volleyball clubs (8)
EN (space) V (opening = first letter of volleyball) IRONS (clubs). Don’t know what the ‘for’ is doing here
14 DARLING Doctor catching a fish for sweetheart (7)
DR (doctor) containing (catching) A (a) followed by LING (fish)
17 ENRAGED Furious to see untidy English garden (7)
An anagram (untidy) of E (English) and GARDEN
20 SCHUBERT Composer‘s arrangement for butchers (8)
An anagram (arrangement) of BUTCHERS
22 THEORY Conservative pinching the other fellow’s idea (6)
I assume this is TORY (conservative) containing (pinching) HE (the other fellow)
24 INDIA Country returning financial help to Northern Ireland (5)
A reversal of AID (financial help) next to NI (Northern Ireland)
25 ATTENDANT Escort coming in at 10 (Danish time) (9)
AT (at) TEN (10) DAN (Danish) T (time)
26 PECAN Envelope cannot contain nut (5)
An answer hidden in (contain) enveloPE CANnot
27 GOLD MEDAL Fashion model glad to get first prize (4,5)
An anagram (fashion) of MODEL GLAD
Down
1 REMOTE Right to reject poet’s third book as inaccessible? (6)
R (right) followed by a reversal (to reject) of E (third letter of poet = poet’s third) and TOME (book)
2 HOSPITAL Pilot has crashed into medical centre (8)
An anagram (crashed) of PILOT HAS
3 MINCED Dug round opening in consecrated ground (6)
MINED (dug) containing (round) C (first letter of = opening in consecrated)
4 STACKED Piled up special riding kit to give to leaders of equestrian display (7)
S (special) TACK (riding kit) next to (to give to) ED (first letters = leaders of equestrian display)
5 CRATER Large hole made by large box found by river (6)
CRATE (large box) next to (found by) R (river)
6 CONDENSE Fish swallowing Jonah’s heart seen, strangely, to get smaller (8)
COD (fish) containing (swallowing) N (middle letter = heart of Jonah) followed by an anagram (strangely) of SEEN
11 OVEN Cooking facility used by topless witches (4)
COVEN (witches) with the first letter deleted (topless)
15 ASCENDER A correspondent welcoming the beginning of chatty part of letter (8)
A (a) SENDER (correspondent) containing (welcoming) C (first letter = the beginning of chatty)
16 NEED Want to give maiden name to daughter (4)
NEE (maiden name) next to D (daughter)
18 ABERDEEN Dancing bear, 16, climbing in Scottish city (8)
An anagram (dancing) of BEAR followed by a reversal (climbing) of NEED (the solution to 16 down)
19 STETSON Instruction to keep writing on relative’s hat (7)
STET (instruction to keep writing) above (on) SON (relative)
21 URINAL Where men go to ruin pants with a lager top? (6)
An anagram (pants) of RUIN followed by A (a) L (first letter = top of lager)
22 TRENDY Tear into empty takeaway that’s fashionable (6)
An insertion (into) of REND (tear) into TY (takeaway with the middle letters removed = empty)
23 RENTAL Learnt about leasing arrangement (6)
An anagram (about) of LEARNT

 

18 comments on “Quiptic 943 by Pan”

  2. Thanks for the crossword and the blog. Dan for Danish troubled me a little but it’s in Chambers as such. Was more hung up on 3 down where, like an old hippy, I had LIKED for DUG, and was trying to believe that LICKED as in beaten could mean ground as in down. Easier than recent Quiptics, so here I am at 9am on a rainy day with nothing to do but ramble on here. Have a good week, everybody!

  3. Thanks Pan and nms

    Fun, despite the unhelpful grid for the second week in a row. I liked the unexpected anagrams for SCHUBERT and HOSPITAL (I’m surprised I haven’t seen them before), STUD for “fertiliser”, MINCED and URINAL.

    I didn’t know RGN for “nurse”, but it had to be ARGON. I took ages to see ASCENDER, my LOI.

  6. Thanks Pan and nms

    For 8a I am familiar with RN (registered nurse) and EN (erolled nurse), as used in Australia, but RGN is new to me. I was wondering where the G came from.

    This one took me longer than Rufus.

  8. Thanks Pan and nms.

    Same comment as last week; this is a very unfriendly grid for a Quiptic.

    I kept reading ‘drug’ instead of ‘dug’ for 3d, which made life more difficult than it needed to be.

    Mostly OK, but I didn’t much like ‘stud’ for fertiliser; in what sense is that?

  10. I liked this a lot and found it satisfyingly challenging in parts, and unexpectedly so for a Quiptic. Great surfaces. Bravo Pan and thanks Newmarketsausage for the blog.

  14. Thanks muffin @13; yes, I know that also. According to Wiki: ‘The word “stud” comes from the Old English stod meaning “herd of horses, place where horses are kept for breeding”‘ Macho men are not necessarily fertilisers, I think. Anyway, it’s probably not worth continuing the dialogue. We all got the solution to the clue, so I guess it’s just an allusive definition.

  15. I thought that “fertiliser” for “stud” was brilliant. At risk of belaboring it, a stud is a horse whose job is to fertilise (mares), hence a “fertiliser.”

    ASCENDER and INDIA were my last two. The former is probably one of the more difficult clues here (although perfectly fair), but my inability to see the latter is a bit embarrassing in hindsight.

  16. 21D is a great clue. I love them when they get just to the limit of good taste, almost scatological, but not quite. Thanks, Pan for that one.

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