A delightful Quiptic from Hectence, with meaningful surfaces and a good variety of clue types. What did you think?
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Warden and police finally intercepting joyrider?
CARETAKER
An insertion of E for the last letter of ‘police’ in CAR TAKER.
6 Understood one’s out for diplomacy
TACT
TAC[I]T
8 One day with English queen swilling tea’s enough
ADEQUATE
A charade of A, D, E, QU and (ATE)* with ‘swilling’ as the anagrind.
9 Sophisticated characters found in suburban enclave
URBANE
Hidden in subURBAN Enclave.
10 Brilliant in binary code
BRAINY
(BINARY)*
11 Angered by report of absurd death
MADDENED
A homophone (‘report of’) of MAD END.
12 One’s hiding key by south entrance
ACCESS
An insertion of C for the ‘key’ in ACES followed by S.
15 Waiting room for people who are late?
MORTUARY
A cd.
16 Make an assumption before umpire arrives
PREJUDGE
A charade of PRE and JUDGE.
19 Take off staff with salary protection
PARODY
An insertion of ROD in PAY with ‘protection’ as the indication to insert the word.
21 Easily fooled listener about libel order
GULLIBLE
A reversal of LUG for ear or ‘listener’ followed by (LIBEL)*
22 Stop believer in God overshadowing saint
DESIST
An insertion of S in DEIST.
24 Older person in state housing gets tax at zero rate, initially
SENIOR
A charade of the outside letters of ‘state’, NI for the ‘tax’, O and R for the first letter of ‘rate’.
25 Ravel viol duet went on longer
OUTLIVED
Well, if unravel means unravel, then ravel means … (VIOL DUET)* with the anagrind as indicated.
26 For example, put time in to give support
STAY
An insertion of T in SAY.
27 Drug’s given healthy bloom
SPEEDWELL
A charade of SPEED and WELL for the blue wildflower.
Down
1 Colour up after incapacitating heart with drink
CIDER
CI for the central letters of ‘incapacitating’ and RED reversed.
2 Want regular free paper
REQUIRE
The even letters of ‘free’ followed by QUIRE.
3 Creep like an amphibian?
TOADY
A cd.
4 Don’t say anything to delay old lady
KEEP MUM
A simple charade of KEEP for ‘delay’ and MUM for ‘old lady’, although as I keep pointing out, not all MUMS are old.
5 Going there and back to get drinks from the bar?
ROUND-TRIP
A cd cum dd. I personally wouldn’t hyphenate ROUND TRIP, but that’s of no great concern here.
6 Label on French water is an artistic scene
TABLEAU
A charade of TAB and L’EAU. To anticipate your question: L’EAU for just ‘water’ and not ‘the water’ is fine. French still uses the definite article when referring to general concepts.
Je n’aime pas l’eau gazeuse
I don’t like fizzy water
L’eau gazeuse est dans le frigo
The fizzy water is in the fridge
Other providers of advice on French grammar are available.
7 Debated criminal’s fine and made a mistake
CONFERRED
A charade of CON, F and ERRED.
13 Couple wantonly gobbling ultimate burger won’t half get fat
CORPULENT
An insertion of R for the last letter of ‘burger’ in (COUPLE)* followed by NT for only ‘half’ the letters of ‘won’t’.
14 Facial hair deficiency is burden on son
SIDEBURNS
A charade of (IS BURDEN)* and S. ‘Deficiency’ as an anagrind?
17 Short career on cash register’s over, followed by year of fun!
JOLLITY
A charade of JO[B], TILL reversed and Y.
18 Watches returning hero beheaded — it’s an ugly sight
EYESORE
A charade of EYES and [H]ERO reversed. The removal indicator is ‘beheaded’ and the reversal indicator is ‘returning’.
20 Break soldier with meanness
RESPITE
RE for Royal Engineer is followed by SPITE.
22 Very fond of little Dorothy’s notes
DOTED
A charade of DOT and E and D for two musical ‘notes’. I can’t quite make this work, since DOTED [ON] would require ‘was very fond of’, surely?
23 Bargain for least outlay
STEAL
(STEAL)* ‘The Guardian is a steal at only £2.00.’
Many thanks to Hectence for this morning’s Quiptic and Happy St George’s Day.
Thanks Hectence and Pierre
I liked CARETAKER and MADDENED. I wasn’t impressed by “deficiency” as an angram indicator either, and “key” for C in ACCESS is a bit loose (I tried to make ESC work, but couldn’t).
Thanks both. Good Quiptic.
Interesting to see clues like 3d TOADY becoming popular recently in the Guardian crosswords. Presumably the influence of I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue.
I completely agree Pierre; a very enjoyable Quiptic! Many thanks to Hectence for the puzzle and to you for the excellent blog.
I’m fairly relaxed about anagram indicators; so, whilst I take your (and muffin’s) point about “deficiency” as an anagrind in 14d, that answer went straight in without hesitation. I do agree that 22d is a bit strange however (I had DOTES initially, with Es, for EE, rather than ED, but that doesn’t really work either).
For 6 shouldn’t diplomacy be underlined rather than understood?
Thanks Hectence and Pierre.
Largely good for a Quiptic, although I found it tricky in parts. I didn’t like the ‘non-standard’ anagrinds – as well as deficiency, there was code (in the wrong place, I feel) and outlay.
I wondered about “l’eau”, but you’ve convinced me that it’s OK. A pity about DOTED, and I share the dissatisfaction with a number of anagrinds, but otherwise this was a very pleasant and well-judged Quiptic.
A very enjoyable time spent solving this. I never did get 27a as I had inserted DOTES in 22d so SPEED didn’t come to mind as a drug. I found 1 across and 10 across fun. I hadn’t heard of LUG (21A) for ear nor NI (24A) for tax, but the answers were logical and I will file those tidbits away for future reference. Thanks Pierre and Hectence.
Thanks to both.
Now that I have finally found time to do the crossword, I definitely agree with the concerns about the word missing from the 22d clue. I also had DOTES until I could not get 27a to work. Had to go a long way back in my mind to get the answer.
I also couldn’t parse SENIOR as the NI for “tax” means nothing to me. Is that because I live on the other side of the world?
Otherwise I thought it a very nicely constructed crossword with a number of new anagram approaches and I appreciated them. A nice way to spend a bit of quiet time on ANZAC Day.