It’s Friday so it must be Phi. Usual good stuff and for me a pretty quick solve certainly under 20 minutes without really trying.
No obvious (to me at least!) theme here. As an aside what’s happened to the Ninas, we used to get one every other day and haven’t seen any for ages.
Across:
| 1 | DESCARTES | SET + S(econd) in RACED all reversed |
| 6 | CUPID | CUP + (b)ID |
| 9 | (Tony) GREIG | Ok hands up those that tried to get Grace to fit. RE in GIG |
| 10 | A CAPPELLA | A + CAP + P(iano) + ELLA (fitzgerald) |
| 11&12 | THREE SPEED GEAR | [eg her desperate]* |
| 14 | IRON ORE | ON + OR (gold) in IRE (passion) |
| 15 | PROMPTS | PT in PROMS |
| 17 | SADISTS | SAD + (g)ISTS |
| 19 | DESERTS | Double Definition |
| 20&22 | GOOD NEIGHBOURS | [boroughs doing (littl)e]* |
| 25 | NEURAL NET | No T in NEUTRAL + NET(work) or (inter)NET |
| 26 | RIDER | No A in RAIDER |
| 27 | SWEEP | (politician)S + WEEP |
| 28 | MARTYRDOM | Y(ea)R in MART + DO, + M(oney) |
| Down: | ||
| 1 | DIGIT | DIG + IT |
| 2 | SWEARWORD | WEAR in SWORD |
| 3&24 | ANGLEPOISE LAMP | [People signal + A + M(edium)]* |
| 4 | TRAIPSE | [Step + air(ily)]* &lit-ish |
| 5 | SHAKE UP | HAKE in SUP |
| 6&13 | CAPE GOOSEBERRY | C(ommon) A(gricultural) P(olicy) +E(uropean) + GOOSE (fool) + ERR in BY(past) |
| 7 | PULSE | Cryptic/Double Definition |
| 8 | DIAERESIS | D(eutsch) + [is easier]* |
| 14 | ISSIGONIS | Inventor of the Mini car. O in SIGN in 2 * IS |
| 16 | PERSUADED | [U(rgency) + R(o)AD SPEED ]* |
| 18 | STERNUM | STER(n) + NUM(b) |
| 19 | DOG STAR | You can’t be Sirius etc… DOGS(follows) + TAR(sailor) |
| 21 | OF USE | 0 (nothing) + FUSE |
| 23 | SERUM | E.R. in SUM |
Thanks flashling and Phi. 4d (TRAIPSE) was last in for me – I was tempted by “trample” but couldn’t make sense of it. Can’t match you for speed but a good work-out!
Thanks, flashling. As I’ve said before, I can always handle a Nina-free Phi, and while it detained me for more than twenty minutes, I was in no great rush, enjoying the wordplay and surfaces. ANGLEPOISE LAMP was a nicely constructed anagram; SWEARWORD and DIAERESIS also hit the spot.
I too was in the TRAMPLE and GRACE camp to begin with.
Usual enjoyable stuff from Phi.
Thanks, flashling. I too spent a while looking for a nina, sure with Phi that there must be one. I found it easy as well, which was surprising since there were several words I had not encountered before. There’s certainly a sense of accomplishment to solve wordplay for ISSIGONIS, for example, and then confirm that that mess of letters really is someone’s name. Thanks, Phi, for a well-clued, enjoyable puzzle.
I too am surprised not to find SOMETHING going on in a Friday Independent puzzle. But it was still good! Thanks to Phi and to Flashling for excellent work.
Thanks flashling and Phi. Only missed out on 5d where I put SCALE UP (change of plans – seems OK to me – and I’m sure there’ll be a fish called a CALE somewhere in the world :))