Phi usually appears on Friday rather than today (Thursday). Wondered if there was a date-specific reason for this, but cannot see a theme. Quite an easy puzzle, I found. Solving time, 15 mins
* = anagram < = reversed
ACROSS
1 FLIP S IDE(a) Favourite clue. The B side of a record.
5 WE (I’M) AR
10 GO (T – rear of Baptist CH – church) A Cleverly worded to make the solver wonder at which end of the clue the definition lay.
12 A S(SAY) ABLE “Ready for trying time, perhaps, in a fur coat” I think it’s ‘say’ = perhaps surrounded by a fur = a sable ie in a fur coat, but ‘time’ seems to have no function so I may have missed something.
17 MAN OF THE MATCH Excellent pun on striker and match in two separate contexts ie football (striker = attacking player) and those you find in a match box.
20 DON (put on) CARLOS (carols)*
21 SO (very much) NAR ran< ran = organised
23 MODE RAT(i)O ref music
25 HEL(P) D ESK p = paratroops’ initial. The last I solved.
DOWN
1 FE (D) E RACY Definition = allied forces
2 I ASK YOU “What I do to get your opinion, really!” A cracking clue.
6 E COSY STEM
7 MA (CAB) RE
16 S HER LOCK Holmes
18 TON (NAG) E
19 (Comm.)ODIOUS
21 SHE EP
I thought “assayable” was “assumable”. That seemed to make sense because “assume” can mean to put on an item of clothing and “sum” could be short for “summer”. I don’t see how “say” can be mean “time”.
I don’t think it could be ASSUMABLE because the Y comes from 6 down ECOSYSTEM. ‘Ready for trying’ does seem OK as definition for ASSAYABLE but not so much for ASSUMABLE, i’d say.
Yes, obviously I realized it wasn’t correct. I’m just saying that I thought it made more sense than the actual answer.
I see what you mean. If it was clothes though ‘try on’ might be more accurate that ‘try’ – also not sure if sum = summer is a standard abbreviation. It might not get past a crossword editor.