Independent 7895 by Phi – The last post (for a while)

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[If you’re attending York S&B please see comments 32&33] - here

Friday rolls along and normality returns from Phi’s very rare ventures into Saturday prize position, well me hearties what do we have here…

There seems to be a small naval theme maybe some stuff Phi hadn’t meant as such, found 14ac and the reasoning for 13d tricky although having twigged I’m a little bemused as to why it took so long for the latter  – having thought of the solution and discarded it to begin with. Thematic words aren’t required however and this seems to be otherwise a normal crossword with ghost links being a bonus for the solver to spot. Unless of course someone can see more in this.

All this leads on to my sabbatical for a while from blogging, I believe my expected replacements – somehow I did convince them to do it – will do a fine job but I just need a break to recharge the batteries after a year or so.

Across:

1 Wildfire Fir (tree) in (Oscar) WILDE
5 Drake (Sir Francis) DRAKE – D + RAKE
9 Megaphone ME + GAP + HONE
10 Staid ST(ate) + AID
11 You Leading letters of Years Of Unhappiness
12 Freethinker K(ing) in [FINE THREE]* + R (queen)
13 Sultan Lawn Tennis Association in SUN
14 Anacreon OK this took a bit of working out! A NACRE ON is what oysters have.
17 Cerebral BR(eakfast) in CEREAL
18 Circle L in CIRCE
20 Deoxygenate [TEENAGE DOXY]*
22 Lot No nothing (not a double negative really) in LO(0)T
24 Eat in (s)EAT IN(g)
25 Genuflect (F in CLUE*) in GENT
27 Stone S + TONE Stone ships were Viking burial ships but is this just serendipity and not part of a theme at all?
28 Frigates FRI + GATES. This took me too long due to misreading passages as passengers – oops.
Down:    
1 Wimpy Another initial letter job like 11 ac. I always thought it a poor name for any shop but the idea of going for a wimpy burger as opposed to a Whopper! Marketing is everything I guess…
2 Leg-puller P in GULL all in LEER
3 Fop P(ower) OF reversed
4 Rhodes RHO + no I in D(i)ES
5 Distinctive ITS reversed in DIN + CIVET*
6 Aback Ahh the NZ connection – All Ls removed from A(ll) B(l)ACKS
7 Endurance I think this a triple definition although I can’t find nurse meaning it in my dictionaries – if there’s wordplay please explain as I’ve spent quite a while looking for it.
8 Neptune Ne + P + TUNE more sea stuff.
12 Flamboyance [FALCON MAYBE]*
13 Sack dress SACK (fire) + not the second in D(u)RESS – took me ages to spot this
15 Excellent Whenever I see this word I hear from The Simpsons Montgomery Burns saying “Smithers release the hounds!” but I digress, C(100)X(times) reversed in EEL + LENT
16 Raleigh But not the King’s favourite it seems. RIGH(t) about ALE.
18 Banner DD
21 Out do Party DO not elected OUT and a DD of sorts
23 Titus A bit hackneyed methinks – Groan, TIT + US
26 Fog DD OK second definition was new to me but it’s as the clue says – grass growing after hay is cut.

 

13 comments on “Independent 7895 by Phi – The last post (for a while)”

  2. Yes, a naval theme is there, but a rather obscure one I just happened to stumble on, and thought was interesting. One row of the grid is the key.

  4. Have a good rest flashling and thanks for all your blogs.

    Thanks too to Phi for this. I presume the bottom line is the theme referring to naval shore stations. The inclusion of Endurance seems a bit tongue in cheek.

    One small point, don’t oyster shells have nacre in them?

  5. Thanks for this blog and all your blogs, flashling. Thanks, Phi, for the puzzle which I found a little trickier than usual from him but as always clear in the end.

  6. Hi flashling!
    Completed this on the flight and had to guess a few. Have never heard of fog before but now we have it will no doubt turn up again.
    We presume the row Phi mentions is stone frigate unless someone knows otherwise.
    Thanks flashling for everything and Phi for a good end to the week.

  7. I think the thematic answers are 1a, 5a, 13a, 8d, 15d 16d and possibly reference to 7d not likely to float again. Very clever.

  8. Sidey nailed this, stone frigates are land based naval bases, Drake Raleigh and Excellent among them. After Phi’s comment I looked up cerebral circle – which does exist but are arteries in the brain which didn’t quite fit somehow.

    @B&J hope you enjoy Norway and the Lights, never seen them myself.

    @Sidey thanks, I thought nacre was in rather than on, but after they’ve been opened then the difference is somewhat moot I guess.

  9. I must confess I didn’t spot the theme, but that didn’t mar my enjoyment. I vaguely remembered that FOG had something to do with grass. Since the second definition is obscure, is 26d &lit?

    14a a very satisfying groaner, though—nitpick alert—NACRE is a mass noun, so you can’t really have A NACRE, whether ON or in.

    Thanks, flashling, and enjoy your break.

  10. flashling, re your comment on 1d, according to Chambers the trade name Wimpy was originally taken from that of a hamburger-loving character in a cartoon strip. If I remember rightly his name was actually Wellington Wimpy, hence the WWII RAF nickname of Wimpy for the Wellington bomber.

  11. Allan I knew that, just unfortunate for them, about the name as with cars the Pinto (small male member) and Nova(Won’t go) which don’t quite work right outside of the US.

    @UncleAda I suspect you’re right but my Chambers also has Endurance as arch. for captivity and didn’t look further – mea culpa perhaps.

  12. Thanks, Flashling (hope to see your blogs again, in the future) and Phi, but …

    When I solved 11a I felt a twinge of despondency. Couldn’t we have been promised Years Of Uplift rather than Unhapppiness?

  13. I wasn’t being terribly serious flashling, I rarely am. And I suppose the cerebral circle is quite important in theme spotting.

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