I thought this one hit the spot nicely. You?
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Student meets someone adrift without friends in LA?
LONESOME
A charade of L for learner or ‘student’ and (SOMEONE)* I think Provis has put the ‘in LA’ bit there because this is more an American English than British English adjective. Are you lonesome tonight?
5 European travel is beginning to modify a selfish attitude
EGOISM
A charade of E, GO, IS and M for the first letter of ‘modify’.
9 Vegetarians may eat this fruit bake
NUT ROAST
A charade of NUT and ROAST. Some nuts are, botanically speaking, fruits, so the setter is on firm ground.
10 Dad’s nipple is redundant
PAST IT
I’m sure I’ve seen this before, but it still made me smile. PA’S TIT. Are TIT and ‘nipple’ interchangeable? You decide. ‘The baby is on the tit’, I suppose.
11 Devil-may-care underground explorer without any life insurance, initially
CAVALIER
The first letters of ‘any life insurance’ in CAVER.
12 Encourage theatre worker who’s lost his head
URGE ON
Nothing to do with luvvies: it’s the hospital worker who’s losing his head. [S]URGEON.
14 Engineer readied bog to decompose naturally
BIODEGRADE
(READIED BOG)* with ‘engineer’ as the anagrind.
18 Starts a trial of quiet routes touring southeast Cuba
PROSECUTES
A charade of P and SE C in ROUTES.
22 Inspired a considerable number to go after euros, unfortunately
ROUSED
(EUROS)* followed by D for five hundred, seemingly the setters’ ‘considerable number’ of choice.
23 Rush by politician to fill new seat on outskirts of Dundee
STAMPEDE
The setter is inviting you to put MP in (SEAT)* and then follow it with the outside letters of ‘Dundee’.
24 America’s more rational to retreat in stages
ARENAS
A charade of A and a reversal (‘to retreat’) of SANER.
25 Guess some suggest I’m a temptress
ESTIMATE
Hidden in suggEST I’M A TEmptress.
26 Strong feelings against that beheaded Commie
HATRED
[T]HAT and RED.
27 Hero rumoured to take on head for doing nothing
IDLENESS
IDLE is a homophone of idol, which would be a ‘hero’. The homophone indicator is ‘rumoured’. Then you need NESS for ‘head’ in the geographical sense to get your answer.
Down
1 It’s extreme folly for girl to welcome an uprising
LUNACY
‘Uprising’ is a reversal indicator, since it’s a down clue. So it’s NA in LUCY.
2 Home-grown musical makes a comeback after first night
NATIVE
The first letter of ‘night’ is followed by another reversal, of EVITA.
3 Wrecked without a topsail at sea
SPOILT
The anagrind is ‘at sea’ and the anagram fodder is (TOPS[A]IL)*
4 Intriguing story I use in translation by Frenchman
MYSTERIOUS
The ‘Frenchman’ is M for Monsieur; then it’s (STORY I USE)*
6 Posh clothes made from cheerful scraps of material
GLAD RAGS
A simple charade of GLAD and RAGS. It’s an expression I know well, but have no idea where it comes from.
7 Bottom part of drain fell in river, creating an obstruction
IN THE WAY
Well, maybe a bit convoluted for a Quiptic. The bottom part of ‘drain’ is IN (but how much of its bottom do you want me to pinch?), then you need HEW for ‘fell’ in the River TAY.
8 Dumb democrat detained in Italy took part in insurrection
MUTINIED
MUTE D is the ‘dumb democrat’; you need to insert IN and I in that.
13 Drew attention to desired VAT reform
ADVERTISED
(DESIRED VAT)*
15 Attitude of a professional with a stutter leads to endless pain
APPROACH
Some beginners might have found this a bit novel, but why not? ‘Professional with a stutter’ is suggesting P-PRO. Put A before that and ACH[E] after it, and Robert est votre oncle.
16 Record you intended to listen to after party at college
DOCUMENT
A charade of DO, C and U MENT for a homophone of YOU MEANT, or ‘you intended’.
17 Produce a note to supplement information about retiring
GENERATE
A charade of GEN for ‘information’, ER for a reversal of RE for ‘about’ and A TE for the seventh note of the tonic sol-fa.
19 MEP whipped up rage at what Britain once had
EMPIRE
(MEP)* plus IRE. Nice surface. Not a UKIP MEP by any chance?
20 Threaten half the human race on to a winner
MENACE
Allegedly 50.24%, but we won’t quibble. MEN followed by ACE.
21 Secluded spot for a break
RECESS
A dd to finish.
Many thanks to Provis for this morning’s Quiptic.
Thanks Provis and Pierre
PAST IT made me smile, but is it really synonymous with “redundant”?
Thanks Provis and Pierre.
Yes, IN THE WAY had quite a difficult construction.
I liked MENACE & EMPIRE
Thanks Provis and Pierre
I liked so may of these that it would make a tiring list to read.
PA’S TIT made me smile (males can in fact lactate under certain conditions).
9 Across: I took fruit to be nut in the crazy sense.
Thanks Pierre. I assume GLAD RAGS comes from “glad” + “rags”, meaning, er, “cheerful scraps of material”, which makes 6d rather weak in my opinion (I can’t find any evidence for the etymology, but the OED’s first citation of the phrase is from 1902). 9a suffers from the same problem, and the grid is horrible, but apart from all that I enjoyed this.
I shared Andrew’s dislike of GLAD RAGS, and had similar qualms about NUT ROAST (barely a cryptic clue at all), but there were some really smashing clues (ESTIMATE, PAST IT, EMPIRE, DOCUMENT) which definitely outweighed the weaker clues. What’s the opposite of a curate’s egg?
It’s better than the cryptic, if somewhat compromised here and there for proper technique.
This certainly seemed closer than usual, with most of it ‘hitting the spot’ as you say Pierre.
I thought the SW was a bit much for a Quiptic though. And things like ‘head = ness’ could surely be avoided for beginners – ‘large number = D’ can be worked out, but no one will get ‘head = ness’ without having seen it before.
Some nice and well-judged stuff in there though.
In my opinion, one of the best Quiptics that we recently had.
Nothing outrageous, mainly standard devices and everything embedded in generally fine surfaces. Apart from the odd clue like 21d (RECESS) nothing’s too blatantly obvious.
My last one in was NUT ROAST (9ac), perhaps the weakest of the set.
Although, GLAD RAGS (6d) was also not brill for the reason Andrew mentioned.
But you can’t have it all, can you?.
Pierre, you put a (soft) question mark to Provis using “bottom part of drain” for IN and I do see why. However, I found this acceptable enough. Today’s compiler also sets for the FT (as Magwitch) and while I enjoy her crosswords, the thing I do not like there is a similar thing as what happens in 7d. Magwitch often wants us to take a part of a word without making clear how much. For example, in her last FT puzzle she gave us “Plenary starts” for PLE.
She is also a setter who has no objections to “first night” for N (2d). Many solvers don’t object either but I am one who’s not very keen on this. That said, I am possibly a hypocrite as I cannot fully rule out using it myself. Actually, the one clue I am actually really proud of (and blew Anax off his chair in an S&B meeting in, I think it was, 2011) was just as “impure”. Sorry, but I am not going to tell you what the clue was ….
So, top marks to Provis.
And to you, Pierre.
Fine blog.
Amazing how quick it was on Fifteensquared (early morning?).
Not really sure why but I found this Quiptic very difficult. Maybe I just could not get onto the setter’s wavelength.
I failed to solve 9a, 11a, 24a, 27a, 1d, 2d.
My favourite was 10a.
Thanks Provis and Pierre.