Another set of mid-week puzzles is brought to an end by Phi’s latest creation.
I found this to be at the hard end of the Phi spectrum for the Indy. The main issue for me was that there was just so much unfamiliar vocabulary – at 6, 7, 9A, 15, 18, 25, in here that I kept doubting that I had found the right answer even when I had! That said, with the exception of 9A, where I needed to search Chambers to find the answer, I was able to tease out all those other solutions from the wordplay, which says something about the standard of the clueing. Furthermore, I would appreciate fellow solvers’ confirmation (or otherwise) of my parsing at 17A.
As for my favourite clues today, I rather liked 3, 19 and 23, all for smoothness of surface; 9D, for making me laugh out loud; and 20, for the Scrabble theme maintained through definition and wordplay alike. Incidentally, I haven’t spotted any ghost theme here, but perhaps others have …
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are underlined; a break in underlining separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| ACROSS
|
||
| 1 | PHONEY |
Call latest from Zoffany a fake (6)
|
| PHONE (=(to) call, ring) + <zoffan>Y (“latest from” means last letter only) | ||
| 4 | HARASS |
Severe cut allowing incursion by a second badger (6)
|
| [A + S (=second)] in HARS<h> (=severe, rough; “cut” means last letter is dropped); to badger is to pester, harass | ||
| 8 | LAPTOP |
Computer suitable for use in large operation (6)
|
| APT (=suitable for use) in [L (=large, of sizes) + OP (=operation)] | ||
| 9 | CUTWORMS |
Caterpillars stayed away from historic German city (8)
|
| CUT (=stayed away from, in Chambers) + WORMS (=historic German city, as in Diet of Worms); cutworms are caterpillars that feed on the leaves of new plants near ground level | ||
| 10 | CARILLON |
Visit taking in first couple of ringing bells (8)
|
| RI<nging> (“first couple of” means first two letters only are used) in CALL ON (=visit, drop in); a carillon is a set of bells for playing tunes | ||
| 11 | REIGNS |
Stays in power, to abdicate after son moves (6)
|
| RESIGN (=to abdicate); “after son (=S) moves” means letter “s” is switched to a different position in the word | ||
| 12 | SETH |
Third child fixed to get husband (4)
|
| SET (=fixed, established) + H (=husband); in the OT, Seth was the “third child” of Adam and Eve | ||
| 14 | RE-EXAMINE |
King with a bomb brought about end of battle? Observe again (2-7)
|
| <battl>E (“end of” means last letter only) in [REX (=king, in Latin) + A + MINE (=bomb)] | ||
| 15 | FOUR-FLUSH |
Pair of couples look embarrassed? It’s the basis of a bluff (4-5)
|
| FOUR (=pair of couples, i.e. 2 x 2) + FLUSH (=look embarrassed); a four-flush is four cards of the same suit in a (useless) five-card poker hand, hence “basis of a bluff” | ||
| 17 | TIER |
Row of seats: new design gutted after reflection (4)
|
| RE<f>IT (=new design); “gutted” means that middle letter is dropped; “after reflection” indicates reversal | ||
| 18 | SURETE |
Certain to involve Parisian and Calais police once (6)
|
| ET (=Parisian and, i.e. the French word for and) in SURE (=certain); Sûreté is the former French criminal investigation department, hence “Calais police once” | ||
| 19 | INTREPID |
Courageous Republican probing international documents (8)
|
| REP (=Republican) in [INT (=international) + ID (=documents)] | ||
| 22 | HIGH FIVE |
Middle of night – female entering busy area – enthusiastic welcome (4,4)
|
| [<n>IGH<t> (“middle of” means middle letters only) + F (=female)] in HIVE (=busy area) | ||
| 23 | LAMBDA |
Innocent daughter linked to a character in Homer (6)
|
| LAMB (=(an) innocent) + D (=daughter) + A; lambda is a letter of the Greek alphabet, hence “character in Homer”! | ||
| 24 | MOANED |
Complained article suppressed by second editor (6)
|
| AN (=article) in [MO’ (=second, moment) + ED. (=editor)] | ||
| 25 | LES SIX |
Group of composers with nine missing? (3,3)
|
| Something that is “less IX” is “with nine (in Roman numerals) missing”, cryptically; Les Six is a group of composers that lived and worked in Montparnasse in the early 20th century | ||
| DOWN
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||
| 1 | PRADA |
Acting students under pressure from fashion house (5)
|
| P (=pressure, in physics) + RADA (=acting students, i.e. Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) | ||
| 2 | OSTRICH |
Someone avoiding the truth making surprised comment about precise cut (7)
|
| STRIC<t> (=precise, exact; “cut” means last letter is dropped) in OH (=surprised comment); an ostrich buries its head in the sand, hence “someone avoiding the truth”, not facing reality | ||
| 3 | EXPEL |
Better to have change of heart and drive off (5)
|
| EX<c>EL (=better, outdo); “to have change of heart” means middle letter is changed | ||
| 5 | AFTERMATH |
Period in a substantial hospital – and what follows? (9)
|
| TERM (=period) in [A + FAT (=substantial, large, of e.g. salary) + H (=hospital)] | ||
| 6 | AMORINI |
Shade of gold seen in a small group of cupids? (7)
|
| OR (=shade of gold, in heraldry) in [A + MINI (=small)] | ||
| 7 | SEMANTEME |
Source of idea almost appeared to enthral male soldier (9)
|
| [M (=male) + ANT (=soldier)] in SEEME<d> (=appeared; “almost” means last letter is dropped); a semanteme is a unit of meaning, a word that conveys a definite idea | ||
| 9 | CONSECUTIVE |
Tory having a lot of sex with a lot of babes including five in a row (11)
|
| CON (=Tory, i.e. Conservative) + SE<x> (“a lot of” means last letter is dropped) + [V (=five, in Roman numerals) in CUTIE<s> (=babes, beauties; “a lot of” means last letter is dropped)] | ||
| 13 | EFFLUVIUM |
Swear, dear? I will have show of hesitation: it pollutes the air (9)
|
| EFF (=(to) swear, as in to eff and blind) + LUV (=dear, darling) + I + UM (=show of hesitation); effluvium is disagreeable vapours rising from decaying matter, hence “it will pollute the air” | ||
| 14 | REFLEXIVE |
Official, as it happens, embracing former lover by instinct (9)
|
| REF (=official, i.e. referee) + [EX (=former lover) in LIVE (=as it happens, of e.g. TV coverage)] | ||
| 16 | URETHRA |
You are getting over treatment for heart and internal duct (7)
|
| U R (=you are, in textspeak) + *(HEART); “treatment for” is anagram indicator | ||
| 17 | THERMOS |
Going around Channel Island, drunk overturned source of drink (7)
|
| HERM (=Channel Island) in TOS (SOT=drunk, lush; “overturned” indicates vertical reversal); a thermos flask is a source of drink | ||
| 20 | TILDE |
Mark on letter – Scrabble letter – covering two-pointer? (5)
|
| D (=two-pointer, in Scrabble) in TILE (=Scrabble letter); a tilde appears over the letter “n” in the Spanish word España, say) | ||
| 21 | INDEX |
Finger one subsequently cut handling tip of dagger (5)
|
| I (=one) + [D<agger> (“tip of” means first letter only) in NEX<t> (=subsequently; “cut” means last letter is dropped)] |
I agree that the unfamiliar words made this harder than the usual Phi. SEMANTEME in particular gave me a lot of grief, both as an unheard of word and for the difficult parsing; I was surprised to get the “Well done” (or whatever it is) message at the end as I was fully expecting it to be incorrect. I parsed PIER as RR did.
There is something else going on here; I’ll leave it for others to reveal except to give a hint that it’s not totally unrelated to RR’s laugh out loud clue.
Thanks to Phi and RR
Hard work today. As RR says, lots of unknowns. I ended up pressing Reveal on a couple at the end out of frustration.
Thanks both
Similar here, a dnf due to needing a few letter reveals for the SE and for semanteme, which I quite like — goes with phoneme, morpheme, grapheme etc. Thanks Phi and RR.
I think I struggled on the same ones as others. Revealed AMORINI to my shame.
I do now see what WP@1 has spotted. I’ll let the day wear on before spoiling.
Thanks to both
Thanks both. Just when I thought it was safe after the prior 2 days….perhaps the theme is obscure vocabulary, as I counted 9 unknown solutions, which I can’t confirm as a record, but I’ve never felt compelled to count them before. AMORINI and SURETE are about as likely to come up in conversation this weekend as URETHRA (though I knew that one).
Thanks all.
I would not have spotted the extra without the hint, but much appreciated that it wasn’t given away.