It’s Friday, it’s Phi so all’s well with the world.
There were a number of literary allusions in the clues and in the grid today but I’m not sure whether that constitutes a theme as themes tend be more focused than just Literature.
There’s no message that I can see in the perimeter or in any of the unches but Phi can hide his themes and Ninas very well.
HIPPOCRENE and ALBERICH were the words least known to me today, but both were clearly gettable from the wordplay. It was just a question of checking that they fitted the definition. Even I had heard of ARTHUR DENT.
APPLETON took me back nearly 50 years to my first days at University. Sir Edward was Principal and Vice Chancellor of Edinburgh Universit for 16 years
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
|
8
|
Ocean waste down (4)
|
BLUE (sea; ocean) BLUE (depressed; down) |
BLUE (squander; waste) triple definition
|
|
9
|
Author runs into school in pursuit of box (10)
|
CHEST (box) + (R [runs] contained in [into] ETON [example of a school]) CHEST E (R) TON |
CHESTERTON (reference G K CHESTERTON [1874 – 1936], English author)
|
|
10
|
Clandestine team mostly concealed within group (6)
|
CREW (team) excluding the final letter (mostly) W contained in (within) SET (group) SE (CRE) T |
SECRET (clandestine)
|
|
11
|
Little fellow‘s tense, busy sound, drilling into mausoleum (3,5)
|
(T [tense] + HUM [busy sound]) contained in (drilling into) TOMB (mausoleum) TOM (T HUM) B |
TOM THUMB (example of a small chap; little fellow)
|
|
12
|
Political commentaries dismissing politician’s foremost misdemeanours (4)
|
SPINS (favourable slants on policies; political commentaries) excluding (dismissing) P (first letter of [foremost] POLITICIAN)
|
SINS (misdemeanours)
|
|
14
|
Inspirational fountain (hope prince is upset) (10)
|
Anagram of (is upset) HOPE PRINCE HIPPOCRENE* |
HIPPOCRENE ( fountain on the northern slopes of Mount Helicon, sacred to the Muses and Apollo, attributed to a kick of Pegasus)
|
|
16
|
I live with banishment after translating novella (3,9,3)
|
Anagram of (after translating) I LIVE and BANISHMENT THE INVISIBLE MAN* |
THE INVISIBLE MAN (science fiction novella by H G Wells)
|
|
19
|
Men (with two women) squared off for a battle here (10)
|
A CHESSBOARD is populated by 32 men to use the generic terms for chess pieces, two of whom are Queens [women]
|
CHESSBOARD [a CHESSBOARD comprises black and white squares; squared off for battle)
|
|
22
|
You might assume it’s occurred in faulty posting (4)
|
TYPO (hidden word in [it’s occurred in] FAULTY POSTING)
|
TYPO (a faulty posting may well include a typographical error [TYPO])
|
|
23
|
Know-it-all in America starts to spot many associations with ‘Flying Stars’? (8)
|
SMA (first letters of [starts to] each of SPOT, MANY and ASSOCIATIONS) + an anagram of (flying) STARS SMA RTASS* |
SMARTASS (American term for a know-it-all)
|
|
25
|
Government set to offload first growth area (6)
|
G (government) + HARDEN (set) excluding (to offload) the first letter (first) H
|
GARDEN (an area where plants grow)
|
|
27
|
Foreign articles about blow to Attorney general (a keen lawyer) (5,5)
|
(LE [French [foreign] for the definite article ‘the’] + LE [French [foreign] for the definite article ‘the’] giving foreign articles) containing (about) (GALE [blow] + AG [Attorney General]) LE (GAL E AG) LE |
LEGAL EAGLE (bright discerning lawyer, keen lawyer)
|
|
28
|
Plunder brought back – it’s something to work with (4)
|
LOOT (plunder) reversed (brought back) TOOL< |
TOOL (something to work with)
|
| Down | |||
|
1
|
Opera villain, bass, tucking into beer with full flavour (8)
|
(B [bass] contained in [tucking into] ALE [beer]) + RICH (with full flavour) AL (B) E RICH |
ALBERICH (villain in Wagner’s operas The Ring of the Nibelungen)
|
|
2
|
Appreciation of music – loud above all – is a worry (4)
|
F (forte; loud) + EAR (faculty of distinguishing sound; appreciation of music)
|
FEAR (worry)
|
|
3
|
Put a stop to locating bed in school (6)
|
COT (bed) contained in (locating … in) SCH (school) S (COT) CH |
SCOTCH (put a stop to)
|
|
4
|
Line abandoned by fast runners? (4)
|
FLEET (fast) excluding (abandoned by) L (line)
|
FEET (part of the body used to run; runners)
|
|
5
|
Introduction of advice to doctors about old source of radiation (4,4)
|
A (first letter of [introduction to] ADVICE) + TO + ([MB {Bachelor of Medicine; doctor}+ MB {Bachelor of Medicine; doctor} giving doctors] containing [about] O [old]) A TO M B (O) MB |
ATOM BOMB (source of radiation)
|
|
6
|
Farflung hitchhiker, very keen about Thursday (6,4)
|
ARDENT (very keen) containing (about) THUR (Thursday) AR (THUR) DENT |
ARTHUR DENT (character in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams)
|
|
7
|
Very familiar swindle, netting old money repeatedly (6)
|
CON (swindle) containing (netting) (O [old] + M [money] + M [money] to give old money repeatedly) C (O M M) ON |
COMMON (very familiar)
|
|
13
|
Closely follow sister with lamp at war (10)
|
Anagram of (at war) SISTER and LAMP SLIPSTREAM* |
SLIPSTREAM (to follow (another car, bicycle, etc) closely and thus benefit from the decreased wind resistance)
|
|
15
|
Foodstuff clearly behind answer in the dictionary? (5)
|
PAST (behind) + A (answer)
|
PASTA (example of a foodstuff)
|
|
17
|
Book following volume one assessed as ‘offered pulsating stuff‘ (8)
|
V (volume) + I (one) + B (book) + RATED (assessed)
|
VIBRATED (resounded; offered pulsating stuff)
|
|
18
|
Computer program betrayed British Nobel physicist (8)
|
APP (application; computer program) + LET ON (reveal; betray)
|
APPLETON (reference Sir Edward APPLETON [1892 – 1965], winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1947). The first lecture I attended at Edinburgh University in 1966 was in the newly opened APPLETON Tower.
|
|
20
|
Lay into poor actor: "Simply half-cut" (6)
|
HAM (poor actor) + MERELY (simply) with half of the letters removed (half cut) ELY
|
HAMMER (criticise severely; lay into)
|
|
21
|
Weapon threat? Good to replace nuclear (6)
|
DANGER (threat) with G (good) replacing [to replace] N (nuclear) DAGGER |
DAGGER (weapon)
|
|
24
|
Notice picked up in Hayling Island (4)
|
SIGN (hidden word reversed [picked up] in [in] HAYLING ISLAND) SIGN< |
SIGN (notice)
|
|
26
|
Service just on the radio? (4)
|
RITE (sounds like [on the radio] RIGHT [just])
|
RITE (ceremonial form or observance; service)
|
If no one else is commenting… I’d like to say I really enjoyed this-Arthur Dent, Alberich, Tom Thumb, The Invisible Man.,Hippocrene.. and thats just the top half!
I wonder if there’s a typo in 22 across? The clue would make a little more sense if that “it’s” we’re an “its”; a typo, in other words. Didn’t the Times once make a similar mistake in a clue for MISSPELL?
Enjoyable solve anyway, I liked CHESSBOARD in particular.
Thanks to Phi & Duncan.
As usual, a super puzzle from Phi and thanks to Duncan for the blog – we could have made a double act, since I hadn’t heard of Arthur Dent nor Appleton (both very gettable though due to Phi’s craft) but I am familiar with Alberich…I’m not a Wagnerian (far from it) but one iteration of Germany’s top crime show “Tatort” features an eccentric pathologist with a female assistant played by an actress of limited growth – his nickname for her is “Alberich” and not for the first time I found myself thinking I had been beamed back to the 1970s from a PC perspective
@2Grant Baynham 22A “it’s” is here a contraction of “it has”, so I don’t think we need to worry about the possessive “its” being spelled with an errant apostrophe (though you may have a point as the clue would just about work with “it” and may be more subtle than I thought).
10A I may be the only one, but I assumed that “team mostly” was CRE(WE {Alexandra}) and did not even think about CREW until I came here.
Thanks to Phi and duncanshiell.
Thanks both. Lots to enjoy.
I (and I suspect Eileen) was familiar with Hippocrene from Keats’ Ode to a Nightingale.
O for a beaker full of the warm South!
Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,
With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,
And purple-stainèd mouth;
And talking of a beaker full of the warm South, just as soon as the sun is over the yardarm…. (Actually it is always over the yardarm somewhere in the world!)
@gwep, 4.
That’s sort of the point. I’m thinking it SHOULD be its – a deliberate misprint, in other words – and that the ‘misprint’ has been erroneously corrected somewhere in the edit process. Only Phi can tell us…
It occurs to me at this rather late stage that ‘it’ by itself was probably the best option. Also I do feel I should note that, in the Adamsiverse Arthur Dent couldn’t actually get the hang of Thursdays.
No-one has spotted the theme yet, though if you cast your mind to an author I’ve plundered before, you’ll find he’s in the grid. Think futuristic novel set in 1984, if you want to be somewhat misled…
Phi, from the hint and seeing Chesterton and Thursday I suspect it is The Man Who Was Thursday, although I had no idea it was set in 1984, so I may be barking up the wrong tree.
Great puzzle, with no need to know the theme (which is as it should be). I wondered if 16ac indicated there was a man (in the widest sense of the word) hidden in the grid, which I suppose there must be from Phi’s hint @7, but I’m still mystified.
Too many superb clues to nominate a CoD.
Thanks, Phi and Duncan
Conrad@8: I think you could be right. Although The Man Who Was Thursday doesn’t seem to be set at a particular date (Chesterton is often vague about time) it is certainly futuristic and sub-titled A Nightmare. And 1984, hinted at by Phi, certainly qualifies as a futuristic nightmare.
Thank you Phi and duncanshiell.
I enjoyed this crossword, as I always do with Phi. HIPPOCRENE was a new, or forgotten, word, but gettable from the crossers.
All I can think of as regards the theme is Chesterton’s novel “The Napoleon of Notting Hill, which is set in 1984, but the only character I can come up with is Auberon, a variation of Oberon who is the same as ALBERICH…
correction, I meant to say that HIPPOCRENE was gettable from the word play, and confirmed by the crossers.
Excellent puzzle, blog the same. Thanks both. I’m a bear of little brain, so the appearance of HIPPOCRENE in Keat’s Ode was no help to me solving the clue, unlike my learned friends. Football annuals were the extent of my reading as a child, so if there was something referencing Charlie Hurley, I could get that.
Good weekend to all.
Napoleon is the ‘other’ 1984 novel (though a consciously Edwardian 1984), but Chesterton also wrote The Invisible Man. Oh, yes, he did. That’s one in the first volume of Father Brown stories and there are references to something like another nine from that book dotted around. Including The Flying Stars, of course – no-one seems to have worried about what on earth 23 was talking about.
Doh! I’d forgotten about Chesterton’s Invisible Man. For the record, now Phi has spilled the beans, I’ve found another 8 references, viz: The Blue Cross, The Secret Garden, The Queer Feet, The Sins of Prince Saradine, The Hammer of God, The Sign of the Broken Sword, The Arrow of Heaven, and The Dagger with Wings. And I may be thinking of another author altogether, but is there a character called Appleton in one of the stories?
DAGGER is a sneak preview for when I reach book 3, actually…