Always a pleasure to see Pangakupu in the Quiptic slot.
If we are being tribal about crosswords (and let’s face it, lots of us are) then I am an Independent groupie. That’s the crossword I did (and still do) every day once I’d got good enough to attempt a daily cryptic. Phi (Pangakupu’s alter ego in the Indy) has been a Friday fixture in that paper since forever, and he’s one of my favourite setters in that stable. I blog the Indy on Mondays, so never get the chance to cover his puzzles over there. Here he is in beginner-friendly mode with a fine Quiptic: solver-friendly grid, no obscurities, clear clueing and meaningful surfaces throughout.
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 Appearance of Bond’s boss in Germany shows quick thinking
PRESENCE OF MIND
The ‘appearance of Bond’s boss’ could be rendered as PRESENCE OF M. Add IN and D for ‘Germany’ to that and you’ve got your long answer across the top of the grid with lots of helpful starting letters for the down clues.
9 Life perturbed sixteen attending church
EXISTENCE
A charade of (SIXTEEN)* and CE. The anagrind is ‘perturbed’.
10 In the Bible, you will accept King or triumvirate
THREE
An insertion of R for Rex or ‘king’ in THEE, the archaic second person singular object pronoun, most often encountered these days in the Bible. The insertion indicator is ‘will accept’.
And He said, who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? (Genesis, 3:11)
11 Way of speaking I’d associated with Man?
IDIOM
A charade I’D and IOM for Isle of Man.
12 Picked up source of reek entering near the ceiling?
OVERHEARD
An insertion of R for the initial letter of ‘reek’ in OVERHEAD. The insertion indicator is ‘entering’.
13 Blunt? Use ‘blunt’ to anagram this answer
UNSUBTLE
(USE BLUNT)* The unsubtle anagrind is ‘to anagram this answer’.
14 Glum, single fellow losing heart
SOLEMN
A charade of SOLE and M[A]N.
17 By the sound of it, inclined to interfere in the mix
MEDLEY
A soundalike clue (‘by the sound of it’) for MEDDLY.
19 On fire and sexy, absorbing English writing skill?
LITERACY
An insertion of E in LIT and RACY. The insertion indicator is ‘absorbing’.
22 Monks requiring long robes, a difficult request
TALL ORDER
A cd cum dd. The first definition is whimsical; the second is the phrase being referenced.
24 Short extract from Easter service
TERSE
Hidden in EasTER SErvice.
25 Flat party needing change of direction at the outset
LEVEL
Pangakupu is inviting you to replace the R in REVEL with L.
26 No repeats after translating language
ESPERANTO
(NO REPEATS)* with ‘after translating’ as the anagrind.
27 Vehicle experimenter’s tool wrecked the cars way before misleading move
CRASH-TEST DUMMY
A charade of (THE CARS)* ST and DUMMY. The anagrind is ‘wrecked’.
Down
1 One probing clumpiest ores dug up gold, silver, etc.
PRECIOUS METALS
An insertion of A in (CLUMPIEST ORES)* The insertion indicator is ‘probing’ and the anagrind is ‘dug up’.
2 Extracts what’s allowed between bridge opponents?
ELICITS
An insertion of LICIT in E and S, who would be opponents in the game of bridge.
3 Excellent meals with bite, possibly
ESTIMABLE
(MEALS BITE)* with ‘possibly’ as the anagrind.
4 Surrounded by low light, loves to snog
CANOODLE
An insertion of OO for ‘loves’ in CANDLE. The insertion indicator is ‘surrounded by’. One letter O would be ‘love’; so two of them would be ‘loves’.
5 I bat first – training at school brought in single run
OPENER
An insertion of PE in ONE R. The insertion indicator is ‘brought in’.
6 Striker in soccer game?
MATCH
A dd. We can all go back to calling it footie now the World Cup is over.
7 Hurried up, supported by judge, to tell story
NARRATE
A charade of RAN reversed (‘up’ since it’s a down clue) and RATE.
8 Rely on army demo to spoil computer data
READ-ONLY MEMORY
(RELY ON ARMY DEMO)* with ‘to spoil’ as the anagrind.
15 Clear anger shown by daughter – exhausted?
OVERTIRED
A charade of OVERT, IRE and D.
16 Puts out? Duke puts Sir out
DISRUPTS
(D PUTS SIR)* with ‘out’ as the anagrind.
18 Work as postman? Hated getting up
DELIVER
A reversal (‘up’) of REVILED.
20 A Member bringing in friend for quango, for example
ACRONYM
An insertion of CRONY in A and M. The insertion indicator is ‘bringing in’. Quango is an ACRONYM for quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisation.
21 Be emotional after promotional item in Church season
ADVENT
A charade of AD and VENT. The Christian season leading up the birth of Christ, although most folk these days will associate it with opening a box on the calendar every morning from the start of December and eating a chocolate.
23 Looks longingly at bit of ginger in battered sole
OGLES
An insertion of G for the initial letter of ‘ginger’ in (SOLE)* The insertion indicator is ‘in’ and the anagrind is ‘battered’.
Many thanks to Pangakupu for this week’s Quiptic.
1D *insertion of A
Not particularly easy or quick but enjoyable anyway. More Cryptic than Quiptic.
New for me: READ ONLY MEMORY, CRASH-TEST DUMMY.
Favourite: ACRONYM.
Thanks, ozof. Blog amended.
I don’t attempt this setter’s full cryptics but thought I’d give this a go. It all fell into place and was enjoyable, but I was unable to parse PRESENCE OF MIND & IDIOM.
I struggled with several of the later offerings in the Grauniad last week, so it was a pleasure to reset with this very nice quiptic. I especially liked the “single entendre” of UNSUBTLE.
TALL ORDER was an excellent dad-joke clue.
Thank you, Pangakupu for the gentle and engaging breakfast entertainment, and Pierre for the blog.
I loved the clue for PRESENCE OF MIND and was able to do the other three long clues just from definitions and a few crossers: CRASH-TEST DUMMY, PRECIOUS METALS and READ-ONLY MEMORY. The rest of it fell into place quite easily. TALL ORDER was fun. My last one, which I revealed, was OPENER – couldn’t see it for some reason, maybe because it was sport-related. I still remember the horrors of school PE.
DerekThe Sheep@5 – I’m with you there. I became quite disheartened last week with a run of impenetrable cryptics and was beginning to think I’d learnt nothing in the past two years or so.
Spot on Quiptic, thank you Pangakupu – always like seeing you in the Quiptic spot, and to Pierre for the blog. 17a is my one contentious point. I could see the sound-alike, mainly as I spotted the answer from crossers, but MEDDLY doesn’t work for me and online Chambers and another online dictionary/thesaurus I use doesn’t have it as a word! Apart from that it was a lot of fun. The long outer clues were the first ones in for me and then I was able to chip away all over, with lots to like across the grid.
25 Flat party needing change of direction at the outset
LEVEL
Pangakupu is inviting you to replace the R in REVEL with L.
Why? Explanation makes zero sense to me (although I had worked out the answer from the crossers).
Morning Mac. ‘Flat’ is the definition, meaning LEVEL. ‘Party’ is REVEL. Left and right are ‘directions’ and if you change the R at the beginning (‘at the outset’) to L, then you’ve got your answer.
Comment #11
Thanks both, a great crossword. I thought 20d, acronym, was superb, such a smooth and brilliant surface. It makes you realise how some setters write such gobbledygook presumably trying to be too clever by half by using overly obscure words/gk and tenuous at best synonyms while losing focus from writing clues that have at least a semblance of reading like sentences (think particularly Enigmatist here).
The hardest quiptic for some time IMO, but still an enjoyable challenge, and a good blog. Thanks both.
BTW: Spain and Argentina would (at time of writing) dispute the claim that the world cup is over.
Straightforward and enjoyable. I liked the long clues around the perimeter which were all very gettable without crossers. PRESENCE OF MIND is lovely. Other likes include OVERHEARD, MEDLEY and TALL ORDER.
Good Quiptic. Thanks Pangakupu and Pierre.
Loved this! Clever, yet crystal clear. Fav: UNSUBTLE; like: DISRUPT. Two quibbles: a) READ ONLY MEMORY (ROM) is not computer data, it is hardware that holds data. b) Didnt quite vibe with the ‘gentle’ sense of OGLE, which is considered a nasty thing today!
Thanks setter and blogger for your signal service – making life interesting!
Thanks Pierre!
I found that pretty tricky but managed to solve it all and parse everything. Given I’m still something of a newbie, that probably means it was quite well judged in terms of level. I really liked some of the anagrams but really didn’t like MEDDLY as a soundalikes for MEDLEY. I just don’t think it’s a word! That was my LOI.