A pleasing cryptic from Hectence to herald in the new format Guardian (at least I think it’s today, and the style of the header has changed online).
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
8 Issue with changing of the guard
DAUGHTER
(THE GUARD)* DAUGHTER is one type of ‘issue’.
9 Working couple collect island vegetable
ONION
Hectence is asking you to use ON for ‘working’, double it, and put I for ‘island’ in the middle.
10 Poet changed heart of Mr Pitt
BARD
No, not William the Younger; this is your new, improved, contemporary, down with the kids Grauniad, so it’s BRAD. Change the middle two letters and you’ve got your answer.
11 One extends journey to trade with Jamaica
TRAFFIC JAM
A charade of TRAFFIC and JAM for the abbreviation for the island state.
12 Bit of fish on plate topped with garnish
FINISH
A charade of FIN and [D]ISH.
14 Feel sorry for a VIP, they are suffering!
HAVE PITY
(A VIP THEY)*
16 Bicycle’s hollow wheel rod is custom-made
BESPOKE
A charade of B[ICYCL]E and SPOKE.
18 Bands are rubbish aboard ship
STRIPES
An insertion of TRIPE in SS. If you haven’t come across this before, then ‘aboard ship’ is usually a setter’s invitation to insert something into SS for what a lot of folk think is the abbreviation for ‘steamship’ but is in fact a shortening of ‘single-screw steamship’. Anyway, whatever you insert will be ‘aboard’ or ‘on board’.
21 Visual aid for leader on track?
GUIDE DOG
A charade of GUIDE for ‘leader’ and DOG for ‘track’, with a whimsical definition of ‘visual aid’.
23 Scholar abandoned tattered Baedeker that smelt awful
REEKED
([BA]EDEKER)* He of travel guide fame, not that it matters.
24 Three regular soldiers make America great
TREMENDOUS
A charade of TRE for the first, third and fifth letters of ‘three’, MEN, DO and US. Three regular soldiers would make a considerably better fist of it than the coiffured one, methinks.
26 Notice retiring politician’s a bit wet
DAMP
A charade of AD reversed and MP.
27 Knights go in swinging axe and conquer
ANNEX
An insertion of NN for two ‘knights’ in chess in (AXE)*
28 Scottish landowner touring Germany returned by Beetle
LADYBIRD
An insertion of D for ‘Germany’ and BY reversed in LAIRD for the spotted one.
Down
1 Arsenal‘s publication
MAGAZINE
A dd.
2 Matured by a good education
AGED
A charade of A, G and ED.
3 Pain caused by a bit of sewing!
STITCH
A dd.
4 Inspire to live, concealing heart condition
BREATHE
An insertion of (HEART)* in BE.
5 Gush over animal
WOLF
A reversal of FLOW. ‘Over’ works as a reversal indicator because it’s a down clue.
6 Self-control and a bit of spine give rise to good ancestry
DISCIPLINE
A charade of DISC, PI reversed and LINE. You’re lurking, don’t know what PI = good means, and are afraid to ask? Don’t lurk; ask. But just this once: PI is short for ‘pious’ or ‘good’ and is pretty much only found in crosswords.
7 Child at home has cooler time
INFANT
A charade of IN, FAN and T.
13 Check naughty child’s revision, including primarily music, English and numeracy
IMPEDIMENT
A charade of IMP and M, E and N inserted into EDIT.
15 Check on old soldier
VET
A dd. Hectence is checking on us a lot this morning.
17 Work I did to protect little one
KID
Hidden in worK I Did.
19 Love Vermeer’s work for all time
EVERMORE
(O VERMEER)* The cryptic grammar doesn’t quite work for me here, since we really need ‘Love Vermeer’, don’t we, if ‘work’ is the anagrind?
20 I belong to rebel base
IGNOBLE
(I BELONG)*
22 Clamour for leading river rower
UPROAR
A charade of UP, R and OAR for ‘rower’.
23 Live with desire for change …
RESIDE
(DESIRE)*
25 … following web coverage of unknown
NEXT
An insertion of X in NET. Still lurking, asking yourself ‘what is these ellipses doing?’ Stop it and delurk. They’re doing nothing other than making the surface reading more sensible. Ignore them.
26 Retirement place goes west with ton of money owed
DEBT
A Grauniad puzzle without an editing error to usher in the new format? Don’t be silly. A reversal of BED for ‘retirement place’ and T. ‘Goes west’ is a reversal indicator, but only for an across clue. This is, er, a down clue.
Many thanks to Hectence for this morning’s Quiptic.
Thanks Hectence and Pierre
An excellent Quiptic, I thought. You have mentioned two points I was intending to (wrong Pitt, and debt).
Favourites were DAUGHTER (I’m surprised I haven’t seen this before), FINISH, BESPOKE and IGNOBLE.
My favourites were INFANT + FINISH. Pity about 26 down but it was a fun puzzle apart from that.
Thanks Pierre and Hectence.
Thanks Pierre and Hectence,
5d eluded me, I read it first as a dd, and put FAWN, but there we are!
I enjoyed both the crossword and the blog – many thanks.
Reading 24a too quickly& already having the first two crossers I leapt to the conclusion that the current inhabitant of the White House was to be in the answer. All I can say is 14a for those of us who did not vote for him.
Thanks Pierre. Can you please blog every day? As a relative novice lurking here I found you explanations fantastically helpful.
And thanks to Hectence of course.
I’ll delurk briefly to thank Hectence and Pierre, the latter especially for “pi” which I’d failed to understand in 6D. I’d hit the solution but not the explanation. I didn’t know that “pi” could operate as a separate word in that sense. I had heard it in constructions such as “pi-jaw” which I think people like Biggles used. For further confusion I must admit that even in the Biggles usage I’d assumed geometry not piety, somit was interesting and illuminating to be put right on that one.
Best wishes to all
V
*so it
Thanks Hectence and Pierre.
I think some setters justify the use of an across reverser in a down clue by saying that as it is solved, it is written BED<T. However, ‘down’ reversers certainly don’t work in an across answer!
Good Quiptic, I thought, at just about the right level.
Thanks Hectence and Pierre. Would anyone mind clarifying 12 across a bit further? In particular, is “topped” here to be read as “take the top off” (and hence get ISH from DISH)? I haven’t previously come across this usage.
pfalloon @9
Yes – “topped”as “beheaded”
DISC in 6… It can’t be “a bit of” , so where did it come from?
Nina, the DISC in 6d comes from “a bit of spine” (there are 23 vertebral discs in the human spine, so one of them could be referred to as “a bit of spine”).
(Given that I’m posting this over two years after your question, I know that chances are slim that you’ll ever read this, unless you also re-visit old quiptics as I do.)