As is customary on Friday, Phi’s latest puzzle takes us gently into the weekend and all its cruciverbal challenges.
I found this to be a medium difficulty puzzle for Phi in the Indy and I made steady progress throughout, never really getting bogged down.
I am fairly happy with my parsing, but I would appreciate confirmation of 16 and 19. I also wondered if “do well” at 1D was a tad weak by way of definition. My favourites today were 3, 5D, 8, 9 and 11, all for smoothness of surface; and 10, for originality of construction. 18D and the coarse cotton at 6 were both new to me, I think.
Has anyone spotted a theme here? I certainly haven’t, but no surprises there.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are underlined; a break in underlining separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| ACROSS
|
||
| 1 | COMPASS |
Limit kindness? No one turned away (7)
|
| COMPASS<ion> (=kindness); “no one turned (=reversed) away (=dropped)” means letters “ion”, i.e. “no (=number) + i (=one)” are not used; the compass of something is its limit, the extent of it | ||
| 5 | MODICUM |
Little doctor’s pronouncement, taking temperature (7)
|
| MO (=doctor, i.e. medical officer) + DIC<t>UM (=pronouncement, i.e. something said; “taking (out) temperature (=T)” means letter “t” is dropped | ||
| 9 | NIX |
Cancel nine to begin with? Nine (3)
|
| N<ine> (“to begin with” means first letter only is used) + IX (=nine, in Roman numerals); to nix is to cancel, reject | ||
| 10 | DOUBLE-CROSS |
Cheat, repeating final letter of last answer? (6-5)
|
| DOUBLE (=repeating) + CROSS (=X, i.e. final letter of last answer, which is “nix” at 9) | ||
| 11 | UNDERWRITE |
What insurer may do, governed by legal document (European) (10)
|
| UNDER (=governed by, as in under UK law) + WRIT (=legal document) + E (=European) | ||
| 12 | SKUA |
Seabird a European country’s repulsed (4)
|
| A + UK’S (=European country’s); “repulsed” indicates reversal | ||
| 14 | RAMROD |
Staff concealing a title for man, a strict disciplinarian (6)
|
| [A + MR (=title for man)] in ROD (=staff, pole) | ||
| 16 | FREAK OUT |
Arrangement of Take Four? How Brubeck might respond (5,3)
|
| *(TAKE FOUR); “arrangement of” is anagram indicator; the Dave Brubeck Quartet, might “freak out” if its renowned performances of the jazz standard “Take Five” suddenly were to become “Take Four”! | ||
| 18 | MESSAGES |
More than one report gets old after confusion (8)
|
| MESS (=confusion) + AGES (=gets old) | ||
| 19 | HOOKED |
Under compulsion, Home Office initially agreed (6)
|
| HO (=Home Office) + OKed (=agreed; “initially” implies this spelling, with initial letters, as opposed to okayed); if you are hooked on something, you are dependent on it, hence are “under compulsion” | ||
| 22 | MACE |
Spicy stuff: hint of masochism excellent (4)
|
| M<asochism> (“hint of” means first letter only) + ACE (=excellent); mace, or nutmeg, is a culinary spice | ||
| 23 | BATTLESHIP |
Tablet’s revamped trendy element of pen-and-paper game (10)
|
| *(TABLET’S) + HIP (=trendy, fashionable); “revamped” is anagram indicator | ||
| 26 | STORYTELLER |
Fabulist, believer in markets, perhaps, keeping right-winger tense (11)
|
| [TORY (=right-winner) + T (=tense, in grammar)] in SELLER (=believer in markets, perhaps) | ||
| 27 | RUN |
One avoiding loss in delivery round? (3)
|
| RU<i>N (=loss; “one (=I) avoiding” means letter “i” is dropped); an e.g. milk run is a delivery round | ||
| 28 | NOMINEE |
Candidate: a lot of negative votes about my selection? (7)
|
| MINE (=my selection?) in NOE<s> (=negative votes; “a lot of” means last letter is dropped) | ||
| 29 | SECRETS |
Religious groups gathering about things to be revealed? (7)
|
| RE- (=about, regarding) in SECTS (=religious groups) | ||
| DOWN
|
||
| 1 | CONQUER |
Do well to study question, eliminating unknown component (7)
|
| CON (=to study) + QUER<y> (=(to) question; “eliminating unknown component (=Y, in algebra)” means letter “y” is dropped) | ||
| 2 | MIXED |
The writer’s upset Times editor in confusion (5)
|
| MI (I’M=the writer’s, i.e. Phi; “upset” indicates vertical reversal) + X (=times, as in 6 x 4 = 24) + ED (=editor) | ||
| 3 | ALDERWOMAN |
Civic dignitary possibly now alarmed (10)
|
| *(NOW ALARMED); “possibly” is anagram indicator | ||
| 4 | SQUIRM |
Knight embracing Queen and maiden, making you feel uncomfortable (6)
|
| [QU (=queen) in SIR (=knight)] + M (=maiden, on cricket scorecard) | ||
| 5 | MILITARY |
Landed area in muddy surroundings for the army (8)
|
| [LIT (=landed (on) + A (=area)] in MIRY (=muddy, boggy) | ||
| 6 | DUCK |
Avoid coarse cotton, dear (4)
|
| Triple definition: (to) “duck” is to dodge, evade AND a kind of coarse cotton or linen AND dear, i.e. as a term of endearment | ||
| 7 | CLOCKWORK |
Face elevated argument over last of steampunk machinery (9)
|
| CLOCK (=face, mug, colloquially) + WOR (ROW=argument; “elevated” indicates vertical reversal) + <steampun>K (“last of” means last letter only) | ||
| 8 | MISCAST |
One starts to seem crazy, drilling section of yacht with the wrong part (7)
|
| [I (=one) + S<eem> C<razy> (“starts to” means first letters only are used)] in MAST (=section of yacht); if you are miscast, you have been given “the wrong part” in a play, say | ||
| 13 | BAROMETRIC |
Describing pressure arising from wandering of erratic mob (10)
|
| *(ERRATIC MOB); “from wandering of” is anagram indicator | ||
| 15 | MUSIC ROOM |
American mother keeping various curios in playing area (5,4)
|
| *(CURIOS) in MOM (=American mother, i.e. an American way of saying mum) | ||
| 17 | LEGALESE |
Storms penetrating sheltered zone? Here’s the small print on policy (8)
|
| GALES (=storms) in LEE (=sheltered zone, on vessel) | ||
| 18 | MU MESON |
Particle’s energy absorbed by quiet child (2,5)
|
| E (=energy) in [MUM (=quiet, as in to keep mum) + SON (=child)]; mu meson is a kind of subatomic particle | ||
| 20 | DAPHNIS |
Famous lover‘s lust for one with husband – apartment overturned (7)
|
| SIN (=lust for one, i.e. one of the seven deadly sins) + H (=husband) + PAD (=apartment, as in bachelor pad); “overturned” indicates vertical reversal; the reference is to Daphnis, a famous lover in Greek mythology | ||
| 21 | STYLUS |
Pen, mostly attractive – digital pen? (6)
|
| STY (=pen, for pigs) + LUS<h> (=attractive; “mostly” means last letter is dropped) | ||
| 24 | HORDE |
Lots of people taking road through garden (5)
|
| RD (=road) in HOE (=(to) garden, weed) | ||
| 25 | HYMN |
Song – again my heart will soar? Not entirely (4)
|
| Reversed (“will soar”) and hidden (“not entirely”) in “agaiN MY Heart” |
I’m sure there are others, but DOUBLE CROSS, RAMROD, STORYTELLER, MILITARY & SECRETS would all appear to be part of the annual theme, as hinted at by the setter last week.
I found this a surprisingly quick solve – maybe I was just in a hurry to get something to eat.
Thanks to Phi and RR
Well, I had question marks on a few here, and I still have, ( not the blogger’s fault ).
FREAK OUT 16(ac), doesn’t work at all. But hey, TAKE 5, will be today’s earworm.
SKUA, 12(ac) , weak.
HOOKED, 19(ac) weak.
23(ac), I thought the game was BATTLESHIPS?
28(ac) NOMINEE…..no way.
5(d) MILITARY , weak.
So, 1(d), “do well”, = CONQUER, does it?
MU MESON, no comment.
By Phi’s standards, not a good day at the office.
Blog appreciated, RR