It’s Phi-day again.
Another great puzzle from our ‘regular’ Friday setter. We found this one a little trickier than usual, but no less enjoyable.
For once we succeeded in finding the theme – a Nina in the top and bottom rows. Admittedly, we had to ‘investigoogle’ ‘La Donna è Mobile’ to find that it is the title of an aria from Verdi’s opera ‘Rigoletto’. We don’t think there are any other thematic entries, but we are not opera-lovers, so we could easily have missed something.
IRE (anger) in (‘suppressed by’) FAR
TEA (US slang for marijuana) CADDY (‘clubman’ – at a golf club)
An anagram (‘breaking down’) of RELIABLY – a new word for us
SA (sex appeal – ‘it’) in (‘entering’) INNEr (interior) missing the last letter (‘most of’)
STreET (road) with ‘re’ (about) omitted (‘leaving’)
B (book) LAME (not generating interest)
hAVER (hesitate) missing (‘ousting’) the first letter (‘leader’)
RE (Royal engineers) ‘brought’ in BATH (city)
MAINE (US state) round (‘home to’) R (river)
SEabED (bottom of ocean) with ‘ab’ (sailor) omitted (‘escaping’)
Hidden (‘a part of’) in canaPES TOday
G (first letter or ‘kick-off’ of game) ATE (upset)
HR (hour) in TEES (river) – a reference to ‘three’s a crowd’
LEAS (meadowlands) in (‘contributing to’) PURE (unalloyed)
STUTTER (impediment) round (‘bringing in’) R (right)
TWIT (Charlie) Y (last or ‘final’ letter of slowly) round (‘absorbing’) S (section)
An anagram (‘to be edited’) of LABEL MEANT
bARMY (bubbly) missing the first letter (‘no opening’)
DRILL (routine) BIT (took effect)
A reversal (‘taken up’) of A WATT (measure of power) after (‘under’ in a down clue) O (old)
NAIVE (simple) round (‘swallowing’) T (‘half of it’) – apparently, according to Chambers, ‘native’ can mean ‘native oyster’
A (area) in (‘amidst’) N (Northern) U (university) SEATING (accommodation)
DEN (study) after (‘supporting’) A (Australian)
LED (guided) in (‘through’) TWEED (river) UM (hesitation)
MUMps (disease) missing ‘ps’ (additional comment)
rECTOR (minister) missing the first letter (‘leader’) ‘getting in’ ELATE (cheer)
HUgE (excessive) missing (‘avoiding’) ‘g’ (good)
An anagram (‘frenetically’) of AT IT with MORE (increasingly) inside (‘under covers’)
ASH (remains) in PTO (‘read more’)
SUPERBowl (US sports event) missing (‘not getting’) ‘owl’ (bird)
HAsTE (expedition) missing (‘leaving’) ‘s’ (south)
SnAIL (mollusc) missing (‘spurning’) ‘n’ (new)
I went for (w)aver rather than (h)aver but either works.
Thanks both. My 16 was (w)AVER, but heh! Plus ça change …
For once, I spotted the NINA, but only after completing. I’m a Verdi fan, but I can’t see any links, other than, the libretto is rather repetitive, and so are Phi’s clues.
Out of 32 wordplays, 11 are letter-deletions, and 7 are letter-insertions.
I think that there was a performance of Rigoletto this year to celebrate its 175th birthday, but that’s a bit of a red herring, surely?
It’s a good puzzle, but not a classic. I think the clue for 26(ac) could have been a bit more arch.( THREES).
“Barmy” as used in 2(d), however, is very crafty, ( a la frothy), …..but, yet another single-letter deletion.
One thumb up, only, but the second thumb is up for B&J.
Missed the nina, but guessed from Strutter that Phi had been listening to Alive! by Kiss.
Thanks all three.
Needed the song title or I would never have got NATIVE – so very pleased with myself for spotting it. Last one in, Tweedledum, was a great penny drop moment.
No theme entries? Haven’t got my copy in front of me, but I think there were eight mobile donnas included. Think anagram.
Thanks Phi for dropping by. We think the eight may be – BERYL, MABEL, VERA, GETA, MARNIE, MARY, EDNA, LISA and THEA.
We would never have noticed these without your help although you could say that the NINA was a hint!
I enjoyed this without noticing the Nina, and to see the multiple anagrams of female names on top of that makes the puzzle very impressive.
I didn’t find it repetitive but, even if I had, would not have said so – particularly if I’d missed the deeper layers of the puzzle.
Late to the party as I only picked this up on Saturday night. An enjoyable solve, although there were a few delayed PDMs. I spotted that there appeared to be a nina from the bottom unches and then I saw the top unches to complete it. I didn’t spot the mobile donnas in the grid , though. Curiously, there was a Phi reprint in The i Paper a few days ago and that had a nina with related entries elsewhere in the grid which I didn’t spot. An interesting coincidence.
Thanks, Phi and B&J.