The Independent Friday slot is filled in usual fashion by Phi.
There’s one clue today that will no doubt have the ‘unindicated Americanism’ police out in force. However, SOCCER MOM (2 down) is listed in the current editions of both Chambers and Collins.
LITERS, used in the wordplay at 4 down did have an appropriate Americanism reference.
There is a range of topics covered by the entries, but I can’t see a theme linking them.
Phi is based in New Zealand, so it was not surprising to see him use his country’s capital city in the clue for TOWELLING at 16 down. When I solved the clue, I assumed it was an anagram of WELLINGTO, but when I came to write the blog, I could see that TOWELLING would be formed by simply cycling the letters in WELLINGTO, so I suspect Phi intended the cycling option by his use of recycled.
I learn the names of many plants when solving crosswords, but I tend to forget them very quickly. GODETIA will no doubt fall into that category in a few days.
SOPRANINO at 27 across is a new word for me
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Passionate American twisted foot during pause, beginning to limp off (7)
LUSTFUL (passionate) (US [United States; American] + FT [foot] reversed [twisted]) contained in (during) LULl (pause) excluding (off) one of the Ls [first letter of [beginning to] Limp L (US TF<) UL |
| 5 | Stone interrupting ballet move? One may be letting off steam (3,4)
JET PIPE (exhaust PIPE in a JET engine; an item that might be letting off steam) PIP (hard seed or a stone in a fleshy fruit) contained in (stopping) JETÉ (in ballet, leap from one foot to the other in which the free leg usually finishes extended forward, backward or sideways; ballet move) JET (PIP) E |
| 9 | Phi taking opening to include reverse of popular device (9)
MECHANISM (contraption; device) ME (Phi; the crossword setter) + (CHASM [opening] containing [to include] IN [popular] reversed [reverse of]) ME CHA (NI<) SM |
| 10 | Emptied kitchen provided with latest in fashionable kitchen tool? (5)
KNIFE (a kitchen tool) KN (letters remaining in KitcheN when the central letters itche are removed [emptied]) + IF (provided) + E (final letter of [latest in] fashionablE) KN IF E |
| 11 | Cumbrian river valley that s perceived back to front (4)
EDEN (river in Cumbria) DENE (small valley) with the final letter [back] E moved to the beginning [front] to form EDEN EDEN |
| 12 | Dispensation of your pills including MDMA, with a degree of risk (10)
PERILOUSLY (with a degree of risk) Anagram of (dispensation of) YOUR PILLS containing (including) E (MDMA is an abbreviation for methylene-dioxymethamphetamine, a drug more commonly known as ecstasy [E]) P (E) RILOUSLY*. |
| 14 | Concluding words about one French city (6)
AMIENS (city in Northern France) AMENS (final words) containing (about) I (Roman numeral for one) AM (I) ENS |
| 15 | Flowering plant: leave it to revert, surrounded by a lot of wood (7)
GODETIA (any plant of the American genus Godetia, closely related to the evening primrose [flowering plant]) GO (leave) + (IT reversed [to revert] contained in DEAl [a soft wood] excluding the final letter (a lot of) L GO DE (TI<) A |
| 18 | Husband keeps talking, dismissing foremost London team? (7)
HAMMERS (Nickname of West Ham United, a London football team playing in the EFL Championship this season) H (husband) + yAMMERS (keeps talking loudly and at length) excluding the first letter (dismissing foremost) Y H AMMERS |
| 20 | Net trimmed aboard ship – backbreaking stuff? (6)
STRAWS (reference the phrase ‘the STRAW that broke the camel’s back’; backbreaking stuff) TRAWl (a type of fishing net) excluding the final letter (trimmed) contained in (aboard) SS (steamship) S (TRAW) S |
| 22 | Athlete flailing another arm (10)
MARATHONER (an athlete who runs MARATHONs) Anagram of (flailing) ANOTHER ARM MARATHONER* |
| 24 | Give ear to piano in advertisement (4)
PLUG (a piece of favourable publicity, such as an advertisement) P (piano) + LUG (informal term for the ear) P LUG |
| 26 | Discussion subject in honour of film (5)
TOPIC (discussion subject) TO (I propose a toast to [in honour of]) + PIC (picture; film) TO PIC |
| 27 | Bribe arranged in Ohio, offering notes in elevated positions? (9)
SOPRANINO (in a group of instruments, the ones higher than the corresponding soprano variants; instruments offering notes in elevated positions) SOP (bribe) + RAN [arranged] + IN + O (Ohio) SOP RAN IN O |
| 28 | Philosopher’s stratagem involving singular lines (7)
RUSSELL (reference Bertrand RUSSELL [1872 – 1970], English philosopher) (RUSE [stratagem] containing [involving] S [singular]) + LL (lines) RUS (S) E LL |
| 29 | Poem‘s energy reflected in English crossword feature (7)
ECLOGUE (a short pastoral poem) E (English) + (GO [energy] reversed [reflected] contained in [in] CLUE [a crossword feature]) E CL (OG<) UE |
| Down | |
| 1 | Tradesman avoids parking useless stuff (6)
LUMBER (anything cumbersome or useless) pLUMBER (tradesman) excluding (avoids) P (parking) LUMBER |
| 2 | Busy parent very much taken by cricket club – more perturbed over master (6,3)
SOCCER MOM (A mother who dedicates many hours to driving her children to, and supporting them at, organised recreational activities; busy parent) – both Chambers and Collins list this, but describe it as an American term SO (very [much] as in ‘the river is so [very much] polluted’) + CC (Cricket Club) + an anagram of (perturbed) MORE + M (master) SO CC ER MO* M |
| 3 | Flustered state following drink (4)
FLAP (flustered state) F (following) + LAP (drink) F LAP |
| 4 | Lingers over tucking into quantities of American wine (7)
LOITERS (stands idly; lingers) O (over) contained in (tucks into) LITERS (American term for the British litres measures of volumes or quantities] L (O) ITERS |
| 5 | Avoiding politician, elected, though held in prison (7)
JUMPING (avoiding) (MP [Member of Parliament; politician] + IN [elected]) contained in (held in) JUG (slang word for prison) JU (MP IN) G |
| 6 | Decide on a vocation to work the fast food till? (4,6)
TAKE ORDERS (be ordained; decide on a vocation in the church, for example) TAKE ORDERS (work at the till in a fast food retailer, for example) double definition TAKE ORDERS |
| 7 | Struggles to get under one collection of invasive plants (5)
IVIES (collection of creeping and invasive plants) I (Roman numeral for one) + VIES (struggles) – as this is a down entry, the letters VIES are placed in the grid under the letter I I VIES |
| 8 | Hero of morality play, extremely beset by inversion of reputation (8)
EVERYMAN (the hero of an old morality play, representing mankind) VERY (extremely) contained in (beset by) NAME (reputation) reversed (inversion; down entry) E (VERY) MAN< |
| 13 | Create place possibly from which article is taken – or where it may be stored? (10)
RECEPTACLE (a place where an article may be stored) Anagram of (possible) CREATE PLaCE excluding (from which … is taken) A (the indefinite article) RECEPTACLE* |
| 16 | NZ city almost recycled fabric (9)
TOWELLING ( a type of fabric) Anagram of (recycled) WELLINGTOn (capital city of New Zealand) excluding the final letter (almost) N or alternatively WELLINGTO with the letters moved two positions to the right and back to front [recycled] to form TOWELLING TOWELLING* |
| 17 | Old King encountered old Queen – resistance showing here? (8)
OHMMETER (an instrument for measuring electrical resistance) O (old) + HM (His Majesty, a form of address for a King) + MET (encountered) + ER (Elizabeth Regina, a title for Queen Elizabeth II [1926 – 2022], former Queen of the United Kingdom) O HM MET ER |
| 19 | America engaged in special survey, cut short, regarding the United States? (7)
SPOUSAL (describing states of matrimony, [states of union; united states]) USA (United States; American) contained in (in) (S [special] + POLl [survey] excluding the final letter [cut short]) L S PO (USA) L |
| 20 | Lovers encounter, initially under thoroughly wet part of church? (7)
STEEPLE (part of a church) STEEP (wet thoroughly) + LE (first letters [initially] of each of Lovers and Encounter) – as this is a down entry, the letters L and E are positioned under the letters STEEP STEEP L E |
| 21 | Shun Italian guy doffing cap (6)
IGNORE (shun) sIGNORE (Italian word for a gentleman; Italian guy) excluding (doffing) the first letter (cap) S IGNORE |
| 23 | Drunken person leaving new parties on a mountain (5)
ROPES (a term to describe climbing parties roped together on a mountain) Anagram of (drunken) PERSOn excluding (leaving) N (new) ROPES* |
| 25 | Poor bats: upside down amid defoliation (4)
TAIL (the cricketers allocated the lower position in the batting order are known collectively as the TAIL. They tend to be specialist bowlers rather than quality batters) TAIL (reversed [upside down; down entry] hidden word in [amid] defoLIATion) TAIL< |
Couple of short ones — Eden and ivies — held out longest. Couple of dnks — the plant, and the soprano diminutive. Dnk a trawl was a thing, so took net and trawl as verbs. And I always thought lumber was felled timber, as in lumberjack. But no great bother, nice job Phi and duncan.
LUMBER first one in as fortunately I didn’t know the def as cut wood, only the lumber room one. Liked TOWELLING and made an educated guess at SOPRANINO once I had some crossers, but find charades like this the most difficult kind of clue to spot, esp when surfaces are as smooth as Phi’s. dnf as I had to reveal a few to avoid getting stuck but enjoyable as always. Thanks Phi and duncan
[[Amiens struck a chord with me as I went there with my son in 1999 to see the total solar eclipse. Having done that meant that Wednesday’s partial was a bit of an anticlimax]]
Beaten by JET PIPE even though I saw the jeté. TOWELLING was my favourite. As usual, I spent a pleasant twenty minutes looking for a theme, and going down rabbit holes [The Song of Amiens Is a good poem, but isn’t the theme]
I was in Rouen for the 1999 eclipse. So were clouds. If I stay where I am in NZ till 2035 an annular eclipse comes to me!
Five across entries can be prefaced by Jack and five down entries can be followed by Jack. Our ginger cat Jack passed on recently at somewhere upwards of 20 years of age.
Now, anyone for burgers…?
Phi@5 – I am sure I have come across a SPOUSAL JACK before but I can’t remember its function …
Sorry to hear about the cat. Nice tribute.
PM @6 🙂
Last one is a phrase I think, every man jack.
Thanks both. Short of time but suspect some of this would have been tough anyhow. I neither knew nor care for SOPRANINO, GODETIA (did not think of deal for wood) or ECLOGUE which I read is the preserve of shepherds, all of whom I trust will be as horrified as I to see SOCCER MOM – just awful!
Well above my pay grade.
LUMBER was among my last in, since AmEng doesn’t use any definition for that word other than the wood one.
I was as surprised as anyone to see SOCCER MOM show up; this tireless soul has been long courted as a hypothetical voting bloc by both parties, despite an utter lack of evidence that all or even most soccer moms think alike, politically or otherwise. Hence the phrase’s transition out of green-paint territory. (One of the ongoing mysteries of the US is that we’ve had soccer moms for enough generations that we ought to have a decent soccer team, but while the US women’s team is world-class, the men have stalled out at honorably mediocre. Not even honorably anymore, but let’s not go there.)
Sad to hear about Jack, and I hope he is frolicking on the other side of the rainbow bridge.
Oh, also: SOPRANINO took forever, since I’m used to OH for Ohio. Just O for Ohio has fallen into disuse (though I’m old enough to have seen it), except in combinations such as OSU for The Ohio State University (whose graduates never fail to remind you of that definite article in their alma mater’s official name).
The wordplay for TOWELLING has to be the circular ‘cycling’ version, doesn’t it, or else it would be an indirect anagram?