It’s Friday, so, as with most Fridays, we have a puzzle from Phi in the Independent.
As I haven’t heard a police WHISTLE for a long time, I did a bit of research and found that they are rarely used these days given the increase in other forms of communication. However, I learnt that they are still used occasionally in crowd control and noisy situations.
KARATEIST is a fairly ugly word, but it is listed in Chambers.
For GATECRASH, I thought the definition could have been stronger than just ‘arrive without a ticket’. To GATECRASH you surely have to get into the event, admittedly without a ticket, rather than just hang around outside without a ticket.
The association between COOT and Nellie was new to me. ALEMBIC and STATIM were words I hadn’t come across before, but crosswords are a good way of learning new things. I liked the use of real malt whiskies in the clue for MALT. I also liked the definition for ALIMONY
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Rules regarding language ultimately applying to crash damage (7)
GRAMMAR (the art of the right use of language by grammatical rules) G (last letter of [ultimately] applyinG) + RAM (strike or dash violently; crash) + MAR (damage) G RAM MAR |
| 5 | Sound from police, perhaps, sealing off street in time (7)
WHISTLE (police officers often use WHISTLE to attract attention) WHILE (time [and trouble spent]) containing (sealing off) ST (street) WHI (ST) LE |
| 9 | Manner adopted by officer backing court-martial? (5)
TRIAL (a court-martial is a TRIAL for offences against armed service laws) (AIR [manner] contained in [adopted by) LT (lieutenant; an officer rank]) all reversed (backing) (T RIA) L)< |
| 10 | Chopper whirling at a strike (9)
KARATEIST (an exponent of KARATE, a traditional Japanese form of unarmed self-defence using blows / chops and kicks; chopper) Anagram of (whirling) AT A STRIKE KARATEIST* |
| 11 | Nellie getting twice the love in bed (4)
COOT (a COOT is a foolish or silly person, as is a Nellie) COT (bed) containing an additional O (character representing zero, the love score in tennis) thereby getting 2 [twice] ‘loves’ inside the bed) CO (O) T |
| 12 | Mains out of sync with hydro makes for conflict (10)
DISHARMONY (discord; conflict) Anagram of (out of synv) MAINS and [with] HYDRO DISHARMONY* |
| 14 | An old article about cricket side, no matter who’s involved? (6)
ANYONE (anybody whosoever; no matter who’s involved) AN + (YE [old form of the definite article ‘the’, as in ‘ye olde oak’] containing [about] ON [one of the sides of a cricket pitch, the other being the off side]) AN Y (ON) E |
| 15 | One flies in America? Low offer’s about right (8)
BLUEBIRD (an American bird; one flies in America) BLUE (sad; low) + (BID [offer] containing [about] R [right]) BLUE BI (R) D |
| 18 | A good many brought in to hound prostitutes activity (8)
HARLOTRY (the activity of prostitutes) LOT (a good many) contained in (brought in) HARRY (to hound) HAR (LOT) RY |
| 20 | Display cut including promotional item (6)
PARADE (a display) PARE (cut) containing (including) AD (ADvertisement; promotional item) PAR (AD) E |
| 23 | Doing well in town, following the crowd (10)
CONFORMITY (adherence to the norm; following the crowd) ON FORM (doing well) contained in (in) CITY (large town) C (ON FORM) ITY |
| 24 | Eatery in Times Square (4)
MESS (an eating place, usually associated with the armed forces) MESS (hidden word in [in] tiMES Square) MESS |
| 26 | Living to accommodate mass emotion (9)
SENTIMENT (emotion) SENTIENT (conscious; living) containing (to accommodate) M (mass) SENTI (M) ENT |
| 27 | Bone somewhat twisted? I should probe that (5)
TIBIA (a bone in the leg) I contained in [should probe] A BIT (somewhat) reversed (twisted) TIB (I) A< |
| 28 | Military leader acceptable – that is, beginning to supply biscuits (7)
COOKIES (biscuits) CO (Commanding Officer; military leader) + OK (okay; acceptabl;e) + I.E. (id est; that is) + S (first letter of [beginning to] Supply CO OK IE S |
| 29 | Group of motorists in the distance for amazing experience (7)
MIRACLE (a marvel; a wonder; an amzing experience) RAC (Royal Automobile Club; group of motorists) contained in (in) MILE (a distance) MI (RAC) LE |
| Down | |
| 1 | Arrive without a ticket and go down after those attending (9)
GATECRASH (to enter without paying or invitation; arrive without a ticket) GATE (the number attending or those attending) + CRASH (fall go down) GATE CRASH |
| 2 | Post-match expense? Some will involve flash car (7)
ALIMONY (an allowance for support made by one spouse to the other pending or after their divorce or legal separation; expenses incurred after the failure of a marriage [match]) ANY (some) containing (will involve) LIMO (LIMOusine; flash car) A (LIMO) NY |
| 3 | Whisky? Macallan, Ardbeg, Lagavulin, Talisker, for starters (4)
MALT (a type of whisky) MALT (first letters of [for starters] each of Macallan, Ardberg, Lagavulin and Talisker, which are all brands of malt whisky) M A L T |
| 4 | Acquire Ecstasy, mostly sloping around (4,2)
RAKE IN (acquire rapidly and in great quantity) RAKINg (sloping) excluding the final letter (mostly) G containing (around) E (ecstasy tablet) RAK (E) IN |
| 5 | Old military group blocking entire interstellar transport option? (8)
WORMHOLE (a hypothetical tunnel in space-time, serving as a shortcut between widely distant parts of it) (O [old] + RM [Royal Marines; military unit]) contained in (blocking) WHOLE (entire) W (O RM) HOLE |
| 6 | Bizarre triangle involving former Queen before another ruler is named? (10)
INTERREGAL (between monarchs; a period before another ruler is named) Anagram of (bizarre) TRIANGLE containing (involving) ER (Elizabeth Regina; former Queen of the United Kingdom) INT (ER) REGAL* |
| 7 | African city s mistake over distribution of oil (7)
TRIPOLI African city, the capital city of Libya) TRIP (slip or lapse; mistake) + an anagram of (distribution of) OIL – as this is a down entry, the letters TRIP are placed above (over) those of OLI TRIP OLI* |
| 8 | Nobles offering no Government access (5)
ENTRY (access) gENTRY (nobility) excluding (offering no) G (government) ENTRY |
| 13 | An agreement over small car for the present time (4,6)
ANNO DOMINI (in the year of our Lord; the present time) AN + NOD ([inidcation of] agreement) + O (over) + MINI (small car) AN NO D O MINI |
| 16 | Hurry twice, in different directions, to reach interplanetary region (4,5)
DEEP SPACE (the area of space beyond the moon’s orbit; an interplanetary region) SPEED (hurry) reversed (read in a backwards direction) + PACE (speed of movement) read in a forward direction – two instances of ‘hurry ‘reading in different directions DEEP S< PACE |
| 17 | Tories gutted after politician among Right blares (8)
TRUMPETS (blares) (MP [Member of Parliament; politician] contained in [among] TRUE [right]) + TS (letters remaining in TorieS after the central letters orie are removed [gutted]) TRU (MP) E TS |
| 19 | Come across dispute – wife leaving couple (3,4)
RUN INTO (come across) RUN IN (an argument; a dispute) + TwO (a couple) excluding (leaving) W (wife) RUN IN TO |
| 21 | Smart guy keeping IBM unsettled still (7)
ALEMBIC (old-fashioned type of distilling apparatus; still) ALEC (reference a smart ALEC [a would-be clever person]) containing (keeping) an anagram of (unsettled) IBM ALE (MBI*) C |
| 22 | Gloves picked up, going round area right now (6)
STATIM (immediately; at once; right now) MITTS (gloves) reversed (going up; down entry) containing (going round) A (area) ST (A) TIM< |
| 23 | Little time to support company function (5)
COSEC (trigonometric function) CO (company) + SEC (second, a little period of time) – this being a down entry, the letters SEC are placed below and therefore support the letters CO CO SEC |
| 25 | Look hard, endlessly – glower? (4)
STAR (an object that glows; glower) STARe (look hard) excluding the final letter (endlessly) E STAR |
I thought the same thing about GATECRASH at first but then I thought of it as a whimsical def, droll. Liked it and liked ENTRY and DEEP SPACE (another droll surface). Thanks.
When I encountered, fairly early on, the pseudonyms of two good friends, both of them excellent setters, I thought Phi had gone for a theme very close to home. But it was not to be. ALEMBIC and WORMHOLE would be splendid pseudonyms, one feels. KARATEIST, perhaps not. I found this quite a tricky Phi – particularly in the far NE where I struggled with both WHISTLE and the afore-mentioned martial artist.
Thanks both
I liked ALEMBIC because I could construct it from the wordplay, but it took a moment to see the definition. A very enjoyable puzzle.
PostMark @2 I had the same thought. There’s another setter if you include My crossword regulars.
It seems that, in the Independent, Thursdays’ and Fridays’ puzzles are not the most difficult. Gratias for the Latin! Also liked DEEP SPACE and GRAMMAR. Thanks Phi & Duncan!
Nice puzzle! I particularly liked the lesser-seen “while” for “time”.
Layman@5, that’s right, Phi’s Friday puzzle in particular is a known springboard for the full-fat weekday cryptics. I myself started here as a progression from the Guardian’s Quiptics, and I’d say that they’re more or less Guardian Monday fare although Phi’s wont to include a larger number of unusual words and a wider range of wordplay.
Cheers both
I’ve always assumed that “stat” meaning immediately (usually heard in a medical context) was short for statim , but as I came to say that I realise I’ve never checked that assumption.
Thanks for an enjoyable crossword and an excellent blog.
Any cookies looking for a (musical) miracle?
Phi@8: …so there’s a theme?!
Okay, found it after quite some search – Anyone Can Whistle, a musical… didn’t know about it.
And the number of times I have googled Sondheim musicals in search of imaginary themes!
Ah, a Sondheim musical I’ve never seen. Think I’ve got one of the songs on a Dawn Upshaw CD.