A fine crossword from Carpathian, which hits the spot for a Quiptic nicely, I think.
A generous grid, some Easy Annies to get going with, no obscure words, a nice variety of devices. All those things would recommend this puzzle to those new to the dark art of the cryptic crossword, I would aver. And you get – as so often with this setter – a pangram into the bargain. All twenty-six letters of the alphabet feature at least once. Brava.
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 Scene from the past of vulgar rugby player
FLASHBACK
A charade of FLASH and BACK.
6 Ruler requests a refund in part
TSAR
Hidden in requesTS A Refund.
10 Be of service to one stuck in revolting volcanic discharge
AVAIL
An insertion of I in LAVA reversed. The insertion indicator is ‘stuck in’ and the reversal indicator is ‘revolting’.
11 Moralist upset about male gods
IMMORTALS
An insertion of M in (MORALIST)* The insertion indicator is ‘about’ and the anagrind is ‘upset’.
12 Part of film featuring the French soldiers
ELEMENT
An insertion of LE for one of the French words for ‘the’ and MEN in ET. The insertion indicator is ‘featuring’ and if ET had a pound for every time he’s been mentioned in a crossword, he could retire to the best Martian care home that money can buy.
13 Uniform son wears unadorned voluntarily
UNASKED
A charade of U for the phonetic alphabet ‘Uniform’ and S inserted into NAKED. The insertion indicator is ‘wears’.
14 Retaliation of noble time and time again on course
COUNTERATTACK
A charade of COUNT, ERA, T and TACK. ‘We need to take a different tack to solve this problem.’
17 Underwear containing grip popular with good farms
SMALLHOLDINGS
An insertion of HOLD, IN and G in SMALLS. The insertion indicator is ‘containing’.
21 Superficial journalist settled
LIGHTED
A charade of LIGHT and ED.
22 European facing question — competent and calm
EQUABLE
A charade of E, QU and ABLE.
24 Posh agent spread viruses?
PATHOGENS
(POSH AGENT)* with ‘spread’ as the anagrind.
25 Brown to leave dance
TANGO
A charade of TAN and GO.
26 Stone bull seen around New York
ONYX
An insertion of NY in OX. The insertion indicator is ‘seen around’.
27 Two promises and an oath
SWEARWORD
A charade of SWEAR and WORD. ‘I swear that Carpathian always gives us a pangram.’ ‘I give you my word I’ll do it tomorrow.’
Down
1 Song of fire and ice, both essentially over
FLAMENCO
A charade of FLAME, N and C for the middle letters of ‘and’ and ‘ice’ and O. Setters often use ‘essentially’ to indicate the middle letters of a word.
2 A cereal heard to surprise
AMAZE
A homophone (‘heard’) of A MAIZE.
3 Sanctimonious husband’s lie on oath hurt badly
HOLIER-THAN-THOU
A charade of H and (LIE ON OATH HURT)* The anagrind is ‘badly’. To make sense of the surface reading, you have to understand the apostrophe S as ‘husband has’.
4 Pilot found in area by hill
AVIATOR
A charade of A, VIA and TOR.
5 King and queen stifle sign of hesitation about hollowed out fruit
KUMQUAT
An insertion of UM for ‘hesitation’ in K and QU, followed by AT for the outside letters (‘hollowed out’) of ‘about’.
7 Material from extortionist’s family
SHARKSKIN
A charade of SHARKS and KIN.
8 Stay on team
RESIDE
A charade of RE and SIDE.
9 Drab debutante dancing first part of rumba routine
BREAD AND BUTTER
A charade of (DRAB DEBUTANTE)* and R for the initial letter of ‘rumba’.
15 United regularly hiding section that’s unprepossessing
UNSIGHTLY
A charade of U and S for ‘section’ inserted into NIGHTLY. The insertion indicator is ‘hiding’.
16 A drug gets one travelling through space?
ASTEROID
A charade of A and STEROID.
18 See German keeping Germany essentially cushy for residents
LODGERS
An insertion of D for ‘Germany’ in LO and GER for another ‘Germany’ followed by S for the central letter of ‘cushy’.
19 Supervise six balls with date
OVERSEE
A charade of the cricketing OVER and SEE. ‘She’s seeing/dating Tom.’
20 Drink very quietly overlooking old city
ALEPPO
A charade of ALE, PP for the musical ‘very quietly’ and O. ‘Overlooking’ works here because it’s a down clue. The city that’s well-known for all the wrong reasons.
23 Forbid Juliet’s love for music maker
BANJO
A charade of BAN, J (more phonetic alphabet) and O.
Many thanks to Carpathian for today’s Quiptic.
A Quiptic that meets the brief, accessible and enjoyable. I managed to spoil it by putting in SNAKESKIN for SHARKSKIN.
Nice crossword. Pangram alert went off with KUMQUAT, but then I forgot to check. Thanks Pierre and Carpathian.
That was a great Quiptic. KUMQUAT made me think pangram too, and helped with ONYX and AMAZE, not that they needed much help.
Thanks to Carpathian and Pierre
Excellent Quiptic. When I noticed lots (well, three is a lot) of Ks as crossers, I thought ‘pangram’, but I didn’t use that knowledge to help. I particularly liked ONYX. Thanks, Carpathian and Pierre.
Fun puzzle.
I did not know how to parse 15d.
Liked SMALLHOLDINGS, ELEMENT, KUMQUAT, UNASKED.
Thanks, both.
Just about right for a Quiptic, I thought. For the last couple of weeks I’ve finished the cryptic quicker. I couldn’t parse the second half of FLAMENCO or parts of LODGERS because I didn’t recognise ‘essentially’ as the instruction on what letter/s to extract. I’ll try to remember that.
Petert @1 – I did the same but then tried 13a and that made no sense, and quickly realised it was a SHARK not a SNAKE required…
Cheers both
Good Quiptic, suitable for beginners, I thought.
I liked the song of fire and ice, and BREAD AND BUTTER for the picture of the drab debutante dancing.
Thanks Carpathian and Pierre.
There was me thinking that Carpathian had been misrepresented in 18d. “See the German keeping Germany…” i.e. the “the” had been missed, so it was LO DER keeping G, but of course Pierre you are correct and there is no mistake.
Very appropriately weighted Quiptic. Thanks to both above….
Thanks Pierre and Carpathian. Completely agree with the assessment – a lovely enjoyable solve, as we expect from the ever reliable Carpathian.
(Today’s Indy crossword from Angel is similarly accessible and enjoyable, by the way – I recommend it.)
Perfect, thanks C & P. I thought the crossing SHARKSKIN and UNASKED were more difficult than the rest, and were my joint LOsI. Just a little extra spice for the last mouthful.
My only minor quibble is that “song” is not a good definition of FLAMENCO. Wikipedia defines it as “an artform”.
Thanks Carpathian and Pierre
Having only seen the word cumquat (Australian spelling) I didn’t see 5d for a while. Great crossword though.
Lots of fun!
Didn’t know SMALL HOLDINGS, but had fun using SMALLS, a new word for me about a month ago.
Loved KUMQUAT. (Took me awhile to remember that Queen could be QU.)
I still don’t understand the parsing of 15d. How does ‘nightly’ mean ‘regularly’? Oh, like daily, sorry. So it is indeed an excellent crossword! Thanks Carpathian and Pierre.
I could do very little of this. Picaroon’s cryptic today was far easier.
Thanks both.
Short of puzzles to do today so gave this a go, very enjoyable if not particularly difficult. Only difficulty was parsing 15d as I’ve not come across “section” being abbrevated “S” before but it could be nothing else.
12a my favourite
Thanks all