Always a sound Quiptic from Pasquale. He is a setter that I particularly recommend to newer solvers of cryptics.
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 After vehicle test I have reason to act
MOTIVE
A charade of MOT and IVE.
4 Plant grown for fibre – tricky affair
RAFFIA
(AFFAIR)* with ‘tricky’ as the anagrind.
9 Cutting tool carried by mad zealot
ADZE
Hidden in mAD ZEalot.
10 Sad brother munched biscuit
SHORTBREAD
(SAD BROTHER)* with ‘munched’ as the anagrind.
11 Lively Virginia sunk in wickedness
VIVACE
An insertion of VA in VICE gives you the musical term for ‘lively’. The insertion indicator is ‘sunk in’
12 One trade arrangement is mooted initially with unrealistic outlook?
IDEALISM
A charade of I, DEAL, IS and M for the initial letter of ‘mooted’.
13 Hindrance restricting holy person and lawyer
BARRISTER
An insertion of ST in BARRIER. The insertion indicator is ‘restricting’.
15 Expression of surprise, say, when given notice
EGAD
A charade of EG and AD. An archaic word, a mild oath.
16 Grimace shown by female star
FACE
A charade of F and ACE.
17 Chalet – it’s adapted for sport
ATHLETICS
(CHALET ITS)* with ‘adapted’ as the anagrind.
21 Produce sort of sound to interrupt fight
BRING OUT
An insertion of RING in BOUT. The insertion indicator is ‘to interrupt’.
22 Country with an extraordinary goal
ANGOLA
A charade of AN and (GOAL)* with ‘extraordinary’ as the anagrind.
24 Poet needs hard cord put around plant
HELIOTROPE
An insertion of ELIOT in H and ROPE. The insertion indicator is ‘needs … put around’.
25 Soldiers appearing after a last word of prayer
AMEN
A charade of A and MEN.
26 Midshipman’s joint
REEFER
A dd.
27 One cat to be doctored immediately
AT ONCE
(ONE CAT)* with ‘to be doctored’ as the anagrind.
Down
1 Mum has a ride around island
MADEIRA
A charade of MA and (A RIDE)* with ‘around’ as the anagrind.
2 Bit of English in that awful Greek letter
THETA
An insertion of E for the initial letter of ‘English’ in (THAT)* The insertion indicator is ‘in’ and the anagrind is ‘awful’.
3 Five Eastern saints holding a service of prayer
VESPERS
A charade of V, E and PER inserted into SS. The insertion indicator is ‘holding’. The A/PER equivalent comes up quite often. ‘The pears are £1.50 a/per kilo.’
5 A new Mass includes the piece for choir to sing
ANTHEM
A charade of A and an insertion of THE in N and M. The insertion indicator is ‘includes’.
6 Visible sign of conflagration? Escape, hiding anger
FIRELIGHT
An insertion of IRE in FLIGHT. The insertion indicator is ‘hiding’.
7 Gathered in the morning to meet idiot, paper boss
AMASSED
A charade of AM, ASS and ED.
8 Loo sprayed with antiseptic in public building
POLICE STATION
(LOO ANTISEPTIC)* with ‘sprayed with’ as the anagrind.
14 Tried once to reform? Not straightforward
RECONDITE
(TRIED ONCE)* with ‘to reform’ as the anagrind.
16 Not against confronting wild animal? Hold back!
FORBEAR
A charade of FOR and BEAR.
18 Most meagre bird’s home to south of meadow
LEANEST
A charade of LEA and NEST. ‘To south of’ works because it’s a down clue.
19 Old king embracing member in academic institution
COLLEGE
An insertion of LEG in COLE. The insertion indicator is ’embracing’. Old King Cole was a merry old soul …
20 Thus love article that makes you calm down
SOOTHE
A charade of SO, O and THE.
23 Nana eating one bit of cereal?
GRAIN
An insertion of I in GRAN. The insertion indicator is ‘eating’.
Many thanks to Pasquale for this week’s Quiptic.
Very smooth, a perfect “quiptic”. It took me a while to remember the mot in MOTIVE. HELIOTROPE was my only unknown.
Bang on for a quiptic.
Thanks Pasquale & Pierre.
Overall, a very nice and easy quiptic, however there are a few obscure words, which I luckily vaguely remembered from previous crosswords, but newer solvers may not necessarily know. Thanks Pasquale and Pierre!
Found it hard to get any traction in the south west corner but got there eventually. Thank you, Pierre, for the clear explanations and Pasquale for the brain workout.
Pasquale hits the Quiptic mark with this grid, but perhaps no surprises there. Very clear clueing. REEFER was last in for me as I didn’t know it could be a synonym for midshipman and needed all the crossers to see how it worked (joint). Lots to enjoy though. Thanks to Pasquale and Pierre for your blog.
Very much enjoyed this. I’m probably what would be classed as an improving cryptic cruciverbalist, having gained experience in the basics primarily from the Grauniad’s Quick Cryptic. This was my first serious attempt at a more demanding difficulty level. I still struggle with the charades (perhaps I didn’t play enough of those en famille when younger), but managed all of today’s puzzle without a great deal of cheating. Thank you Pasquale.
A suitable quiptic, but one or two bits were not so easy. I failed to see the parsing of 3D.. synonyms for ‘a’ are tricky.
I also tried MORE THAN once to solve the obvious anagram at 14D, before seeing that it was a word not found in my generally straightforward language usage
Still not clear about 3d. Where are saints?
Perfect, I haven’t enjoyed a quiptic so much for a long time. I could do most of it! Thank you to setter and blogger.
Kirsty@8
The SS before and after “per” are the saints
This took about as long as a milder cryptic, which is the general idea. I thought a couple of clues were quite intricate; HELIOTROPE is certainly a cryptic level clue. For some reason ATHLETICS took me ages to get. I liked BARRISTER and SOOTHE.
Thanks all.
Agree SW corner was tricky. Not sure in 15a how AD = when given notice?
Thanks!
Thanks P & P.
Elegant charades today I thought, such as 3, 5, 7, 15, 20, 22. I want to quibble with grimace at 16, but Chambers states best not to.
@12. I parsed it as given = e.g. & notice = ad as in advertisement.
An excellent Quiptic as usual from Pasquale. I’m always impressed at his ability to set puzzles at different difficulty levels: I find his non-Quiptic offerings to be quite difficult (but always fair).
REEFER held me up for a while, as I didn’t know the nautical meaning. I thought there was probably some word for a sailor that was a synonym for a joint in anatomy or carpentry.
Bright and breezy, I liked the anagram for POLICE STATION and the structure of HELIOTROPE. RECONDITE is a great word.
Ta Pasquale & Pierre.
I enjoyed that a lot, although there were a couple I struggled to parse. I didn’t think “member” was a word for “leg” (see college) but I have now looked it up and it is a synonym for “limb” apparently.
Thank you for this Pasquale. I consider myself not much more than a beginner – having worked my way through the Grauniad’s Quick Cryptics, this was my first serious go at the Quiptic – definitely a step up in difficulty for me, and I struggle with the charade clues, but I managed today’s solve with almost no help.
MOT isn’t a thing outside the UK as far as I’m aware, might be worth explaining. And how is “AD” “given notice”?
Hadn’t seen anagrinds in the middle of the relevant fodder before (“Loo sprayed with antiseptic”), figured that one out from the crossers and definition.
Dylan N, AD is, as explained at #14, an abbreviation for advertisement, so a ‘notice’, for example, in a local newspaper. There used to be a thing called the small ads, or classified ads, section in local newspapers, when they existed. So EG given AD equals EGAD, the solution.
Thanks Pasquale and Pierre.for a great Quiptic and blog. I got VESPERS in but failed to parse it. My last in was HELIOTROPE which took a lot of mumbling and head-shaking and the pursuit of wrong approaches. Very satisfying to finally get it. Oh and I rather loved EGAD too!
As a beginner I rated this one a pretty good difficulty level. I failed to get VIVACE, as I’ve never heard of that term before and couldn’t find it anywhere, IDEALISM and ANTHEM. For ANTHEM, how do you know you are supposed to use the initials of new and mass, I don’t see any indicator word for this? I also struggled with RECONDITE as it’s not a word I was familiar with.