An unusually easy Phi today, it seemed, apart from one or two that I can’t explain properly. Rather more full anagrams than one might expect.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 7 | FORE N SIC – ‘for courts’ is not the first meaning of ‘forensic’ that comes to my mind, but the first one in Chambers |
| 9 | CAT T(a)LE |
| 10 | REF ER – the def. is ‘turn for information’ and there is I think no turning in the wordplay, despite the palindromic answer |
| 11 | LYRICISM – (I cry smil(e))* |
| 12 | INTERPLANETARY – (train re penalty)* |
| 15 | B RA(Z)IL |
| 16 | DIKTAT – kid rev., tat |
| 18 | ROCKET LAUNCHER – rock (the nuclear)* |
| 20 | FULLBACK I think, although I should have thought it was two words – I suppose if you have a full back you have a spine |
| 22 | (m)EMBER |
| 24 | CLUTCH – 2 defs |
| 25 | N ONE VENT |
| Down | |
| 1 | DOORKNOB – a CD that I probably don’t fully understand: is it ‘one has’? (One’s an opening turn preparing to make an entry) |
| 2 | BEEF – 2 defs |
| 3 | SCYLLA – sc (ally rev.) |
| 4 | SCAR(e) |
| 5 | STOCHASTIC – (it’s a Scotch)* |
| 6 | ILLS A Y |
| 8 | STRAPLINE – (prints ale)* – ‘Sense of doubt inevitable when Venus and Serena continue this family affair’ (you will understand if you bought the paper) |
| 13 | EMASCULATE so far as I can see – (males acute)*, but I can’t see how this links to ‘verb’ apart from the fact that they both have some sort of connection with English grammar (masculine) |
| 14 | EPIC UR((t)EA)N |
| 17 | TREE RING I think – a CD referring to plane trees? |
| 18 | (t)ROUBLE |
| 19 | L(ords) I KING |
| 21 | A SHY |
| 23 | B(ehav)E V(er)Y |
13 down is a very nice semi+lit – EMASCULATE being a verb that might make males acutely squirmy when they hear it.
I think your reading of 1 down is right; 17 down is the one I can’t quite see.
I think that’s the main meaning of FORENSIC all right – for a prosecution. TREE RING I pencilled in but was unsure of till I’d crossing letters – I think plane = tree definitely and maybe the crack is a description of the annual ring that would appear.
Agree with Mick H re EMASCULATE which raised a smile.
I had similar comments to the above – I liked EMASCULATE but the CDs didn’t quite work for me. 1D seemed to miss an easy reversal opportunity.
Regarding FORENSIC, concerning courts is the original meaning. It’s rather odd than ‘forensic science’ is usually abbreviated to ‘forensics’. All evidence is forensic – why don’t the police call the forensic science evidence ‘science’ if they need to shorten it?
I don’t understand the provenance of “sc” in 3d.
RG: sc is an abbreviation of [Latin] ‘scilicet’ [‘namely’]
RG, it’s an abbreviation similar to i.e. (namely) scilicet (from Latin) – in Concise OED and Collins but, I’d admit, only an occasional visitor to the daily cryptic.