Perhaps for the last time for me as an Indy blogger, Phi brings this week’s suite of mid-week puzzles to an end.
I found this to be an easy-to-medium difficulty puzzle from Phi, with a lot of clues that I could solve as I went along, but then a few that kept me guessing for quite some time, such as 5 and then 15, which I didn’t know as an expression.
I would appreciate confirmation of my parsing at 11, since I may be missing something here, and of 14. 19A took me back to what seemed like an interminable, but no doubt highly worthwhile, school history project in the 1980s.
My favourite clues today were 7, 22 and 26, all for ingenuity and for making me smile when the penny dropped. There have been many such moments in the multiple Phi crosswords that I have solved and blogged over the last decade and a half, for which many thanks.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are underlined; a break in underlining separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| ACROSS
|
||
| 8 | FORGIVE |
Excuse one very into fashion (7)
|
| [I (=one)] in + V (=very)] in FORGE (=(to) fashion, shape) | ||
| 9 | OCARINA |
Wind instrument caught in row in Australia (7)
|
| [C (=caught, on cricket score card) in OAR (=(to) row, a boat)] + IN + A (=Australia) | ||
| 10 | LANTHANUM |
US city manhunt disturbed hard-to-find element (9)
|
| LA (=US city, i.e. Los Angeles) + *(MANHUNT); “disturbed” is anagram indicator; lanthanum is a metallic element, often found together with rare earth elements, hence “hard-to-find” | ||
| 11 | SPEAK |
Lecture head of state attending summit (5)
|
| S<tate> (“head of” means first letter only) + PEAK (=summit, top, of mountain); to speak, as in to make a speech, could be to lecture | ||
| 12 | OVARY |
Zero change in location of eggs (5)
|
| O (=zero, nothing) + VARY (=(to) change) | ||
| 13 | OUTDOORSY |
You do tors, being active – being this? (9)
|
| *(YOU DO TORS); “being active” is anagram indicator; semi- & lit. | ||
| 15 | FROM STEM TO STERN |
Completely stop becoming severe, it seems? (4,4,2,5)
|
| FROM (=becoming, together with “… to”) STEM (=stop, e.g. flow of blood, tide) TO (=becoming, together with “from …”) STERN (=severe, harsh) | ||
| 19 | SUTTON HOO |
Archaeological dig, extravagant, held back in good weather – most of ring visible (6,3)
|
| [TTO (OTT=extravagant, i.e. over-the-top; “held back” indicates reversal) in SUN (=good weather)] + HOO<p> (=ring; “most of … visible” means last letter is dropped); Sutton Hoo is an Anglo-Saxon archaeological site in Suffolk | ||
| 21 | CYMRU |
Recalled surprised comment, passing through vineyards in Wales (5)
|
| YM (MY (=surprised comment, like wow, cor; “recalled” indicates reversal) in CRU (=vineyards) | ||
| 22 | HANDS |
The limitations of hopeless workers (5)
|
| H and S are the “limitations (=first and last letters) of hands“! | ||
| 24 | REGULATOR |
Watchdog’s list with pistol to be returned (9)
|
| ROTA (=list, roster) + LUGER (=pistol); “to be returned” indicates reversal | ||
| 25 | MASCARA |
Old woman’s about right, needing a cosmetic (7)
|
| MA’S (=old woman’s) + CA (=about, i.e. circa) + R (=right) + A | ||
| 26 | TREASON |
“I’m making a cuppa”? Bringing in drop of ristretto would be a subversive act (7)
|
| R<istretto> (“drop of” means first letter only) in TEA’S ON (=I”m making a cuppa!) | ||
| DOWN
|
||
| 1 | BRING ABOUT |
Arrange a fight overseen by British boxing? (5,5)
|
| B (=British) + RING (=boxing, i.e. sport referred to as the place where it takes place) + A + BOUT (=fight) | ||
| 2 | MIGHTY |
Strong male entering ninth decade perhaps losing energy (6)
|
| M (=male) + <e>IGHTY (=entering ninth decade, of one’s life; “losing energy (=E)” means letter “e” is dropped) | ||
| 3 | BEANPOLE |
Head leading staff is a thin person (8)
|
| BEAN (=head, i.e. body part, colloquially) + POLE (=staff, rod) | ||
| 4 | COMMIT |
Pledge company millions will go to university (6)
|
| CO (=company) + M (=millions) + MIT (=Massachusetts Institute of Technology) | ||
| 5 | NAUSEOUS |
Clear thinking may accept a purpose regarding sickness (8)
|
| [A + USE (=purpose, as in to serve a purpose)] in NOUS (=clear thinking) | ||
| 6 | LIFE |
Biography: story containing minimum of fun (4)
|
| F<un> (“minimim of” means first letter only) in LIE (=story, untruth); cf. A Life of Charles Dickens | ||
| 7 | LACKEY |
Servant to be unable to open door having lost duplicate? (6)
|
| (to) LACK <k>EY (=to be unable to open door; “having lost duplicate” means that one of the two identical letters is dropped) | ||
| 8 | FALL OFF |
Decline to have an accident? (4,3)
|
| Double definition: to fall off is to decline, decrease, of temperature, say AND to fall off e.g. a bridge, motorbike is to have an accident | ||
| 14 | RHEUMATISM |
Amuse with mirth when suffering aches and pains (10)
|
| *(AMUSE + MIRTH); “when suffering” is anagram indicator | ||
| 16 | SCOTSMAN |
Berth aboard ship on ocean not occupied by one guy from Leith? (8)
|
| [COT (=berth, i.e. canvas bed for sailors) in SS (=ship, i.e. steamship)] + MA<i>N (=ocean, seas; “not occupied by one (=I)” means letter “i” is dropped) | ||
| 17 | THOUGHTS |
Views allowing stone to be overturned (8)
|
| THOUGH (=admitting, allowing, as conjunction) + TS (ST=stone; “overturned” indicates vertical reversal) | ||
| 18 | NEUTRON |
Human cell impeded by introduction of tritium particle (7)
|
| T<ritium> (“introduction of” means first letter) in NEURON (=human cell, i.e. nerve cell) | ||
| 19 | SCHEME |
Small church accommodating border plan (6)
|
| HEM (=border, edge, of clothing) in [S (=small, in sizes) + CE (=church, i.e. Church of England)] | ||
| 20 | HURRAH |
A lot of pain, mostly difficult turning over? Here’s encouraging response (6)
|
| HUR<t> (=pain; “a lot of” means last letter is dropped) + RAH (HAR<d>=difficult; “mostly” means last letter is dropped; “turning over” indicates vertical reversal) | ||
| 21 | CALDER |
Magical Derwentwater, fed by Yorkshire river (6)
|
| Hidden (“fed by”) in “magiCAL DERwentwater” | ||
| 23 | NOSH |
Boy turned up with hot food (4)
|
| NOS (SON=boy; “turned up” indicates vertical reversal) + H (=hot, on tap) |
I can’t see anything wrong with the parsing of SPEAK and RHEUMATISM but in both cases you could argue about the definition. Chambers defines “lecture” in more specific terms than “speak”, but of course it’s hard to give a lecture without speaking. And I’d say that rheumatism is a condition characterised by aches and pains rather than being the aches and pains themselves. You can have aches and pains – as I do – without being rheumatic.
Fussed over a couple of equivalences. In 1d, I thought you needed the ring to = boxing; but no, “this bout will be a great ring event” works ok. But for allowing = though, in 17d, I can’t think quite how. No tworry, enjoyed the puzzle, thx Phi and RR. Be nice to see you both elsewhere, along with your colleagues, after the Cwindie dies.
RR, and Hector @1, totally agreed on your parsings and comments.
FROM STEM TO STERN , 15(ac), gave me some trouble, I sort of translated it, via ” the full gamut of emotions, from A to ZEE”, ( excuse the Americanism ), so “from stop to severe”.
NOSH, 23(d): the final clue: always a “down”, always short, always a setter’s afterthought, always easy. So of course, I always start there.
I will only say….DHAL/ DISH /MASH and many more. So that’s my theory down the pan.
LANTHANUM, 10(ac), is usually found encased by UNOBTAINIUM, so difficult to find, and it comes from the Greek language, “lanthanein”/λανθανειν, meaning literally “hard to find”, and is now used to describe expert Greek plumbers. ( don’t ask! )
This is a superb puzzle from Phi, as ever: it tested me and entertained me in equal measure.
It’s time for the “PHINDEPENDENT” cryptic crossword to arise from the flames.
I salute you, Phi & Riku
Usual Phi, so making usual allowances, I didn’t have any real quibbles… I’ve come to accept LECTURE=SPEAK, in a verbal sense, “he lectured me/ he spoke to me”…
Many were straightforward enough, but was thankful that the archaeological dig referred to was also the archeological dig that I was aware of… took a little too long to realise that the def for 15ac was just COMPLETELY, not COMPLETELY STOP, made much more sense after that…
Thanks Phi n RatkojaRiku
As someone who sometimes speaks/lectures at conferences I didn’t have any problem with 11
Roger@5 – that’s the sense I thought of as well – seems fine.
Thanks to Phi and RR
I did have some thoughts around the indistinguishability of ‘stem’ and ‘stern’ to early computer text readers, but couldn’t get that to work.
The theme was rather ghostly. Back to Louis MacNeice’s poem ‘Prayer before Birth’ and a selection of words from the verse ‘I am not yet born, FORGIVE me’.
I have several verses still to go. I am considering maintaining Phidays on my site (I have a number of puzzles either clued or gridded, though no more Macneice as yet) and seeing how many of you follow me. More of an announcement next week.
Phi@7 – At work in the mid-nineties I ran a list of river names through our new text reader. Being in Scotland, an awful lot of them included the word ‘burn’. We didn’t show the results to our boss.
Hope you do keep things going.
What’s harder to find than LANTHANUM, Ian? I need a word to describe Spanish plumbers of any ability let alone expert.