A sound Quiptic from Pan. Perhaps a bit tricky in places, but I’ll put that down to having been roughed up by Radian in the Independent earlier on this morning.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
8 Be mean, withholding a drink
BEVERAGE
BE [A]VERAGE.
9 Eleven towns hosting equestrian competition
EVENT
Hidden in ElEVEN Towns.
10 Give advance notice of hostilities against Norway
WARN
A charade of WAR and N for the vehicle registration abbreviation for ‘Norway’.
11 Running mate overtaking European diplomat
PEACEMAKER
An insertion of E in PACEMAKER, the best-known example of which is probably the late Christopher Chataway, of first sub four-minute mile fame.
12 Fine down is the best
FLOWER
A charade of F and LOWER.
14 Chap on the rebound taking girl to part of France renowned for beaches
NORMANDY
A charade of RON reversed and MANDY. Referring to the D-Day landing beaches on the French coast.
15 Runs into medicine, which is helping
PORTION
An insertion of R into POTION.
17 Female welcoming bridge partners’ charm
BEWITCH
An insertion of E and W in BITCH.
20 Get intimate with kinky ref in bed covers
BEFRIEND
Sounds like a tabloid headline. (REF IN)* inserted into BED.
22 Snack for a nun finally squeezing into batman costume
CANAPÉ
An insertion of A and N for the last letter of ‘nun’ in CAPE for a posh nibble. You’d get Doritos round ours.
23 Batsman’s shots win bets pooled by gambling syndicate
SWEEPSTAKE
A charade of SWEEPS and TAKE. A SWEEP is a cricket shot; a variant is the SLOG-SWEEP, which Ben Stokes employed to such good effect yesterday against South Africa. Awesome.
24 Bundle of branches and leaves eaten for starters
BALE
The first letters of Branches And Leaves Eaten.
25 Damaged jar contains Italy’s foremost old wine
RIOJA
An insertion of I and O in (JAR)*
26 Check temperature in essential component of sports car
CORVETTE
An insertion of VET and T in CORE.
Down
1 Gaoler is molested in harem
SERAGLIO
(GAOLER IS)*
2 Marshy land providing habitat for rare plant
FERN
An insertion of R in FEN.
3 Sound of cover by musical artiste
RAPPER
A homophone of WRAPPER.
4 Organised seminar to present archaeologist’s findings
REMAINS
(SEMINAR)*
5 Run over by extremely reliable vehicle!
REHEARSE
A charade of RE for the outside letters of ‘reliable’ and HEARSE.
6 Rest with family member accepting a kiss
RELAXATION
Plenty of insertions this morning. This one is A and X in RELATION.
7 Go a couple of hours before midnight to meet date
ATTEND
A charade of AT TEN and D.
13 One serving setter’s left out lemon to cook with another fruit
WATERMELON
A charade of WA[I]TER and (LEMON)* ‘The setter’ is I.
16 In foreign parts during pullover season?
OVERSEAS
Hidden in pullOVER SEASon.
18 Naughty Paul getting into bed with Enigmatist’s first mate
COPULATE
This is one of my pet hates, a setter referencing other setters whom the majority of solvers will never have heard of. However, since it’s funny I will overlook it on this one occasion. (PAUL)* in COT plus E.
19 Progress made by one stealing fourth-rate vehicle
ADVANCE
An insertion of D VAN in ACE.
21 Prince showing journalist over in-patient area
EDWARD
A charade of ED and WARD.
22 German man tucking into peel of crunchy fruit
CHERRY
Another insertion: of HERR in CY for the outside letters of ‘crunchy’.
24 Insect given last bit of nectar to drink
BEER
A charade of BEE and R for the last letter of ‘nectar’.
Many thanks to Pan for this morning’s Quiptic.
Thanks Pan and Pierre
Anything but easy. I’m not complaining, as I found it a satisfying challenge, but it took me about twice as long as the Rufus. The “hiddens” were very deceptive, especially OVERSEAS, which was my second to last in; PORTION followed it.
18d would have been worthy of Paul himself!
Yes, a very difficult (well, for me anyway) one today but I thought 18 was fair as it didn’t require the solver to know who Paul and Enigmatist are. I did think defining diplomat for PEACEMAKER was a bit stretched for quiptic territory though. Thanks Pierre and Pan.
25a I take it Pan knows not a lot about wines, not sure the Spanish would appreciate the Italians getting credit for their wine
bugs @3
“Italy’s” is misdirection. It’s just there to give the I to be inserted.
I found this unexpectedly tricky for a Quiptic, and eventually resorted to a word-finder for PEACEMAKER. I blame it on brain fatigue from so many difficult puzzles over the past couple of weeks as it is a fair clue.
Pierre, “other setters whom the majority of solvers will never have heard of”. That seems to assume that the majority of Quiptic solvers don’t also attempt the Guardian Cryptics. Enigmatist featured only three days ago, and of course Paul sets them regularly. Anyway, as matrixmania wrote @2, no knowledge of them is necessary to solve the clue.
I know, jenny. It’s just a personal niggle of mine.
I agree about the setters name-dropping each other being kind of annoying. It makes it feel like they’ve got this crossword clique that we’re intruding on. But as you say, that clue was pretty funny, and quite in the style of Paul, so no real worries.
My personal pet peeve of the day is herein exemplified by 14A–the habit of using, e.g. “chap” to indicate “any one of the thousands of given names, Aaron to Zeke inclusive, commonly given to boys.” Narrow it down some! Better yet, indicate a famous individual (real or fictional) who bears or bore the name. In this case, how about “Reagan turns to Manilow song in French beach area (8)”? But I’m aware that almost no one feels as strongly on this one as I do. And I got the clue in reasonable time, so I can’t really complain.
I agree that this puzzle was tough for a quiptic, but I found it a fun workout. Cheated on PEACEMAKER.
Sorry, same clue but better–“Here is Juno”: Torch song sung by Manilow after Reagan casually turns away (8)
I am rather surprised to read that many of you found this puzzle tough for a Quiptic.
I did this puzzle tonight after breezing through today’s Dante in the FT (Dante = Rufus – that FT puzzle was what I call a Quiptic!!).
Starting in the NE, I found a lot of clues straightaway.
It led to my first verdict: ideal Quiptic, good surfaces with some naughtiness today (20ac, 22ac and 18d).
I do agree that setters’ name-dropping should ideally be avoided but 18d was quite brilliant.
But then I found out that completing the left hand side of the grid was much harder than the rest.
After which my first verdict had to be tweaked.
Still a pretty good Quiptic.
Top Five – hard to beat Orlando, the leader of my pack.
As someone solving the Quiptic on a print-out, I was once more annoyed by the choices the Guardian recently made.
The clues didn’t fit on one A4 – the clue for 26ac needed an extra page.
The font size is too big, the grid too small (clue numbers hardly readable for an old man like me).
Revamping the site was necessary, they said and that’s probably true.
But they should have stuck to the previous Print format, which was elegant and had a better grid/clues proportion.
Many thanks, Pierre.
Long haul but managed with a few checks. Hoping someone’s still here to clarify 12a. I inserted “flower” eventually on the assumption that there is a river Best but have failed to confirm this (Google fail). Can someone please tell me why this clue works? Thanks.
It’s F (fine)+ LOWER (down, as a verb).
The definition is no 5 in Chambers: ‘the best of anything’.
Thank you Sil. A new usage of the word for me. Learned something new. I appreciate your response.