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.