It was all there to be found, but in some cases it took a bit of looking for. I enjoyed it, but did the earth move for you, darling?
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
1 A side or two director called for
PAGED
A charade of PAGE and D. Because pages have two sides.
4 Relieved husband put in all the fuel car could hold
THANKFUL
An insertion of H in TANKFUL.
8 Hot chocolate drunk 24/7
AROUND THE CLOCK
Brilliant misdirection by Nutmeg. ‘Drunk’ is not the anagrind, but part of the anagram fodder. (CHOCOLATE DRUNK)* with ‘hot’ as the anagrind.
10 Station attendant overlooking one little room
WATERLOO
WA[I]TER and LOO for ‘little room’.
11 I’m with editor, tucking into contents of open hamper
IMPEDE
English is unusual in having many words which can be both nouns and verbs, and ‘hamper’ is one of them. It’s ED inside PE for the ‘contents’ of oPEn following IM.
12 “Cheat” in Patrick’s terminology
TRICKSTER
Hidden in PaTRICKS TERminology.
15 Lit up twinkling bulb
TULIP
(LIT UP)*
17 Keep young primarily when life begins, they say
FORTY
A charade of FORT and Y for the first letter of ‘primarily’. Because life begins at forty. Which is balls.
18 It can’t hold 3, or 2s before 3
TWO-SEATER
Like my old MG Midget, a TWO-SEATER can’t hold three people. It’s TWOS before EATER, which is an American English synonym for DINER, the solution to 3dn.
19 Unlikely means of switching channels
REMOTE
A dd. There’s a remote chance of AFC Wimbledon winning against Liverpool tonight. As there was in 1988.
21 For every person involved in trial, it’s a big case
TEA CHEST
An insertion of EACH in TEST.
24 He does my job for rivals over the road with less feeling
OPPOSITE NUMBER
A charade of OPPOSITE and NUMBER as the comparative adjective from NUMB.
25 Forceful macho types held in check
VEHEMENT
An insertion of HE MEN in VET.
26 Servant finally abandons duties
TAXES
A charade of T for the final letter of ‘servant’ and AXES.
Down
1 Compete passionately but take silly risks?
PLAY WITH FIRE
A cd cum dd.
2 Less substantial army to remain in Greece
GHOSTLIER
An insertion of HOST and LIE in GR. Tough clue.
3 Reagan’s first lady set up trendy American restaurant
DINER
A reversal of R for the first letter of ‘Reagan’ and ENID. Are DINERS ‘trendy’? I always had them down as the opposite. Good surface, though.
4 Attempt to pay back fat trio swimming in Tees, you might say
TIT FOR TAT
This is (FAT TRIO)* in two letter Ts. Which you would ‘say’ as ‘Tees’.
5 Elderly impressionist turning up shortly
AGED
This was hard as well. It’s not your Rory Bremner kind of ‘impressionist’, but Edgar DEGAS, the French Impressionist. DEGA[S] ‘short’ and reversed. Although Toulouse-Lautrec would obviously have been the shortest French impressionist.
6 Distance travelled over in difficult mile trek?
KILOMETRE
An insertion of O for the cricket ‘over’ in (MILE TREK)*
7 Spotted without an older relative
UNCLE
UNCLE[AN] Might have seen this once or twice before, but hey, it’s a Quiptic.
9 Nurses take them as true, seething with rage
TEMPERATURES
A charade of TEMPER and (AS TRUE)*
13 Depression when using laptop?
KEYSTROKE
Well, I’m using my 5dn laptop now, and when I depress the keys …
14 Sole voter troubled president
ROOSEVELT
(SOLE VOTER)*
16 Slot for delivering Spooner’s advice for a safer home
LETTER BOX
A spoonerism of BETTER LOCKS. My New Year resolution is to like Spoonerism clues more. I doubt it will last past the end of the month.
20 Substantial adult going down tree
MAPLE
‘Substantial’ is AMPLE. If you put the A for ‘adult’ one place down, you’ve got your tree.
22 Curry favour with tribunal
COURT
A dd.
23 Fiji veterans taking part in dance
JIVE
Hidden in FiJI VEterans.
Many thanks to Nutmeg for this morning’s puzzle. I’m pleased that she’s continuing with her Quiptics after getting the gig for the main Guardian cryptic as well.
Thanks Nutmeg and Pierre
Very enjoyable, with some delightful clues (for AROUND THE CLOCK< WATERLOO and ROOSEVELT, for instance), but hardly a Quiptic, I think!
Degas might have been kneeling down?
This puzzle was a lot of fun. I particularly enjoyed 17a, 16d, 23d, 8a, 10a, 18a, 25a (LOI) and my favourites were 24a, 2d, 4d.
I needed some help to parse 7d.
Thank you Nutmeg and Pierre.
I didn’t really understand DINER, but I assumed that “trendy”>”IN” played some role in the wordplay. This reading makes more sense, although I don’t much like the clue either way. I thought 16d was excellent – if all Spooner clues were that good, I doubt solvers would grumble about them as much as they do!
Thanks Nutmeg & Pierre.
Nice puzzle, maybe a bit tricky in parts for a Quiptic. It seems that English diners are supposed to be a bit trendy these days; see, for example, The Electric Diner.
I enjoyed TEA CHEST and the KEYSTROKEs on my desktop.
Thanks Pierre,
I’m not normally a fan of Nutmeg but I thought this puzzle was excellent with loads of great surfaces and plenty of misdirection.
I had to use ‘Find and Fit’ to get GHOSTLIER which was indeed a tricky clue. Favourites were THANKFUL, WATERLOO, TRICKSTER, FORTY,
TAXES, AGED and LETTER BOX. For simplicity, I thought that TAXES was marvellous.
Full marks to Nutmeg.
If there is such a thing like The Book of Classic Clues, today’s 8ac (AROUND THE CLOCK) should immediately be included!
What a wonderful clue from a setter who just got it all right today.
Perhaps, a tad too hard for a Quiptic (don’t know, actually) but delightful and worth the Tuesday spot in any dead tree version.
Thanks Monsieur Pierre for a fine blog of a fine puzzle.
Well done, Nutmeg.
Please will someone explain the term “surfaces” as mentioned in comment 5 by Davy.
Thanks for all your hard work and witty comments. I love this website.