It’s a normal Friday for Independent solvers with a puzzle from Phi.
Phi often has a theme within his grids. I can see three occurrences of the word CORN in today’s grid RUNCORN, CORN on its own and PEPPERCORN. However, I can’t see anything that links them in any way.
I played about trying to associate some other words in the grid, but never came up with anything sensible. If there is a theme, it has gone over my head.
AUCUBA was a new word for me, but plants of many varieties are often a mystery.
It took me a while to see how BELL in BELLHOP was constructed. With hindsight I don’t why it took so long.
Thanks to Phi for a pleasant end to the working week.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 9 | Irrelevant old female never against series (2,2,11)
OF NO CONSEQUENCE (trivial, unimportant, irrelevant) O (old) + F (female) + NO (never) + CON (against) + SEQUENCE (series) O F NO CON SEQUENCE |
| 10 | Marine worms, source of each one collected by 26s (7)
NEREIDS (marine worms) (E [first letter of {source of} Each + I [Roman numeral for one]) contained in (collected by) NERDS (NERD is the entry at 26 down) NER (E I) DS |
| 11 | Hotel worker with a lot of guts taking on hotel work (7)
BELLHOP (hotel porter; hotel worker – a word mainly used in the USA) BELLy (the part of the body containing the intestines [guts]) excluding the final letter [mostly] Y) + H (hotel) + OP (OPus; work) BELL H OP |
| 12 | Rioting led unrest in the final analysis (3,6)
END RESULT (outcome; final analysis) Anagram of (rioting) LED UNREST END RESULT* |
| 14 | Vanadium is used before gold for part of armour (5)
VISOR (part of the metal coverings which protect the body in battle [armour]) V (chemical symbol for the element vanadium) + IS + OR (in heraldry, the metal gold) V IS OR |
| 15 | Encouraged, clarified removing President (5)
URGED (encouraged) pURGED (purified; clarified) excluding P (President – I can only find P used as an abbreviation for President in PP [Past President]) URGED |
| 16 | About to be dismissed by group of women, being a poor performer (3)
HAM (bad actor; poor performer) HAreM (the group of women occupying that part of a Muslim house reserved strictly for women, concubines etc) excluding (to be dismissed) RE (with reference to; about) HAM |
| 18 | Release bricks (about ton) (3,2)
LET GO (release) LEGO (brand name of the construction toy consisting of plastic bricks) containing (about) T (ton) LE (T) GO |
| 20 | Asian city keeps invading American city (5)
LHASA (capital city of the Asian State of Tibet, an autonomous region of China) HAS (holds; keeps) contained in (invading) LA (Los Angeles, an American city) L (HAS) A |
| 22 | Fluid gender, we start to suspect, in marsh bird (5,4)
SEDGE WREN (a marsh bird) Anagram of (fluid) GENDER, WE and S (first letter of [start to] Suspect) SEDGE WREN* |
| 23 | On return, intend individual to receive college commendations (7)
ENCOMIA (praises; commendations) (AIM [intend] + [ONE [individual] containing [to receive] C [college]) all reversed (on return) (EN (C) O MIA)< |
| 24 | Manage certain farm output in Cheshire town (7)
RUNCORN (town in Cheshire) RUN (manage) + CORN (an example of [a certain] farm output) RUN CORN |
| 27 | A bit reminiscent, possibly, of senior politician (7,8)
CABINET MINISTER (senior politician) Anagram of (possibly) A BIT REMINISCENT CABINET MINISTER* |
| Down | |
| 1 | Carbon or nitrogen as the result of pressure? (4)
CORN (a small hard growth chiefly on the toe or foot, resulting from thickening of the cuticle, caused by pressure or friction) C (chemical symbol for carbon) + OR + N (chemical symbol for nitrogen) C OR N |
| 2 | Unbecoming in most of battle: a sharp punch (5,3)
INFRA DIG (beneath one’s dignity; unbecoming) IN + FRAy (fight; battle) excluding the final letter (most of) Y + DIG (sharp punch, especially in the ribs) IN FRA DIG |
| 3 | Nutritious fruit mostly very good? Excellent (4)
ACAI (a berry that grows on palm trees in the Brazilian rainforests. Because it is rich in nutrients, it is used to make energy drinks; nutritious fruit) ACe (very good) excluding the final letter (mostly) E + AI (A one; excellent) AC AI |
| 4 | New head of company is human so far (8)
INASMUCH (so far as) Anagram of (new) C (first letter of [head of] Company) and IS HUMAN INASMUCH* |
| 5 | Children’s writer reduced home a small amount (6)
NESBIT (reference Edith NESBIT [1858 – 1924], English author of books for children) NESt (home) excluding the final letter (reduced) T + BIT (small amount) NES BIT |
| 6 | Tedium of the French lines on Spanish city, ignoring a mention of Spain (10)
DULLSVILLE (the state of being bored; tedium) DU (French for ‘of the’) + LL (lines) + SeVILLE (a Spanish city) excluding one of (a) the Es (International Vehicle Registration for Spain) DU LL SVILLE |
| 7 | Takes careful steps in board game, losing last piece (6)
INCHES (takes careful steps) IN + CHESs(a board game) excluding the final letter (losing last piece) S IN CHES |
| 8 | Trivial hackneyed stuff after spicy stuff (10)
PEPPERCORN (something trifling; trivial) PEPPER (a spice; something spicy) + CORN (an idea, song, etc regarded as banal or sentimental; hackneyed stuff) PEPPER CORN |
| 12 | Nonsense that is involved in change, sapping power and enthusiasm (10)
EBULLIENCE (overflowing with enthusiasm) (BULL [nonsense] + IE [id est; that is]) contained in (involved in) pENCE (change) excluding (sapping) P (power) E (BULL IE) NCE |
| 13 | Last blokes to accept attention and bit of touching affectionate banter (10)
ENDEARMENT (affectionate utterances; affectionate banter) ([END {last} + MEN {blokes}] containing [to accept] EAR [attention]) + T (first letter of [bit of] Touching END (EAR) MEN T |
| 17 | Idiot turned up? Refuse to receive one contribution to thinking, perhaps (8)
MIDBRAIN (a part of the brain that may contribute to thinking) DIM (idiot) reversed (turned up; down entry) + (BRAN [husks of cereal grain separated from the flour by sifting; refuse] containing [to receive] I [Roman numeral for one]) MID< BRA (I) N |
| 19 | Election concerns? Recommends including ballot box (8)
TURNOUTS (politicians and analysts are often concerned about the level of turnout in each constituency in elections) TOUTS (recommends) contains (including) URN (a ballot box) T (URN) OUTS |
| 21 | Japanese plant university introduced to a Caribbean island (6)
AUCUBA (any plant of the Japan laurel genus Aucuba) U (university) contained in (introduced to) (A + CUBA [Caribbean Island]) A (U) CUBA |
| 22 | Inadequate to examine terms in theology (6)
SCANTY (scarcely sufficient; inadequate) SCAN (examine) + TY (outer letters or terminals {terms} of TheologY) SCAN TY |
| 25 | Fix group of ships heading in opposite direction (4)
NAIL (fix) SAIL (a group of ships) with the direction or heading S (South) replaced by N (North – the opposite direction to South) to form NAIL NAIL |
| 26 | Awkward character during dinner-date? (4)
NERD (person lacking social skills; awkward character) NERD (hidden word in [during] dinNER-Date) NERD |
A dnf for me today, just couldn’t see MIDBRAIN. Idiot as an adjective? Fair enough. Bran as refuse? Perhaps, although its good press going back many decades didn’t help me there. And googling tells me that that part of the brain is not used in conscious thought. Hmmm, I must be missing something. Otherwise plenty to like, favourite DULLSVILLE.
Thanks phi and ds
CORN is certainly part of it, though one part of it doesn’t involve any of the CORNs.
The three CORNs all run on into an -ER. I’ve mused over Le Tricorne and The Three Cornered Hat ballet but come up empty.
Enjoyable puzzle though.
Thanks both.
PeteHA3 @3 There’s also a BEND in the other “corner” of that symmetrical set?
The fourth corner is a BEND (EBULLIENCE bending into END RESULT).
Is Dullsville not an Americanism? Horrible word anyway.