It’s Friday today and Phi is occupying his usual compiling slot.
I found that I made swifter progress through this one than is usual for me with a Phi puzzle. I was, however, stalled at the end by the intersecting 13 and 15, although I finally worked both out, albeit solely from the wordplay in the case of the latter, which was a new word for me. Also new to me was 25, which I initially solved wrongly as “cynosare”, with “care” for “treatment” rather than “cure”; had I not had the blog to write, I might never have realised my mistake. My clue today is the & lit. at 18.
Although I have been known to miss latent themes and Ninas in Phi’s puzzles in the past, I have not spotted anything in this one despite scrutinising the completed grid at length. Please let me know if, yet again, I have failed to see what is staring everyone else in the face!
*(…) indicates an anagram
| Across | ||||
| 7 | RUTABAGA | A (=article) in [RUT (=furrow) + BAG (=to secure) + A]; rutabaga is the North American word for Swede | ||
| 9 | APERCU | R<ing> (“leader of” means first letter only) in [APE (=copy) + CU (=copper)]; an aperçu is a glimpse or insight (from French) | ||
| 10 | RIDER | R<a>IDER (=attacker); “dispatching a” means letter “a” is dropped | ||
| 11 | DAYDREAM | Y (=unknown, from algebra) in [DAD (=father) + REAM (=paper)] | ||
| 12 | PARTIAL ECLIPSE | *(I.E. SPACE TRIP – ALL); “excited” is anagram indicator | ||
| 15 | HOAGIE | [O (=round, i.e. pictorially) + A + G (=good)] in HIE (=hurry); hoagie is another name for the club sandwich in North America | ||
| 16 | AVALON | AL<l> (=entirely; “almost” means last letter dropped) in AVON (=river, i.e. in UK); Avalon is the mythical island in Arthurian legend | ||
| 18 | THIRTY YEARS WAR | *(TARRY + THIS WEARY); “sadly” is anagram indicator | ||
| 20 | DINOSAUR | [NOS (=numbers) in DIA (AID=support; “backing” indicates reversal)] + UR (=ancient city) | ||
| 22 | HUMUS | HUM (=smell) + US (=our group) | ||
| 24 | CHOICE | CHO<c>-ICE (=cold dessert); “with centre scooped out” means middle letter is dropped | ||
| 25 | CYNOSURE | [Y (=year) + NOS (SON=boy; “recalled” indicates reversal)] in CURE (=treatment); a cynosure is anything that strongly attracts attention or admiration, from the constellation “the dog’s tail” | ||
| Down | ||||
| 1 | OUTREACH | OU (=university, i.e. Open University) + [R (=right) in TEACH (=act as educator)] | ||
| 2 | SAND | N (=note) in SAD (=blue, i.e. down, depressed) | ||
| 3 | CANDLE | CAN<oo>DLE (=show affection); “with no expression – O – of love – O” means letters “oo” are dropped | ||
| 4 | EASY | Hidden (“filling”) in “puzzlE AS Yet” | ||
| 5 | NECROPOLIS | SILO (=chamber, i.e. for storage) + [CE (=church) in PORN (=obscene material)]; “turned up” indicates (here full) vertical reversal | ||
| 6 | ICE AGE | I (=one) + [<lat>E (“end of” means last letter only) in CAGE (=protection for fruit, i.e. in garden)] | ||
| 8 | AERIALIST | ERI A (A + IRE (=passion); “kept up” indicates vertical reversal) in A-LIST (=top-ranking, e.g. of celebrities); aerial skiing is a form of freestyle skiing | ||
| 13 | TRAGICOMIC | [RAGIC (CIGAR=smoked; “raised” indicates vertical reversal) in TOM (=chap, i.e. a man’s name)] + I<ncreased> C<oughing> (“openings for” means first letters only) | ||
| 14 | LEVIATHAN | I (=one) in *(THE NAVAL); “manoeuvres” is anagram indicator | ||
| 17 | NOAH’S ARK | [A (=one) in NOH (=exotic drama, i.e. from Japan)] + SARK (=island, i.e. in the Channel Islands) | ||
| 18 | T’AI CHI | [A1 (=excellent) + C<o-ordination> (“introduction to” means first letter only)] in THI<s> (“most of” means last letter dropped); & lit. | ||
| 19 | YORICK | [I + C (=caught)] in YORK (=Northern city, i.e. of UK) | ||
| 21 | APEX | AP (=apparently) + EX (=no longer); an APEX fare is an Advance Purchase EXcursion fare | ||
| 23 | MASH | <s>MASH (=a big success); “after first showing’s discounted” means first letter is dropped; the reference is to M*A*S*H, the US TV series running from 1972-83 about army doctors in the Korean War | ||
Proscenium appears, aptly, as an arch over the top of the grid.
Sorry, but a hoagie is nothing like a club sandwich (except that it is also a sandwich). Synonyms might include submarine, sub, grinder, poor boy, etc., (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_sandwich#Other_names), all of which are enlongated, but not club sandwich, which is square and double-decked.
Otherwise, thanks for the excellent blog to an enjoyable puzzle.
All very nice — this is how to do it! I liked the throw-away nature of the ‘Nina’ too, no big deal, just a bit of fun.
Cheers
Rowly.
The sticking point for me was the bottom left corner, specifically 20, 21 and 24, none of them particularly obscure but I just couldn’t see them. Finally did a word search on 20 which gave me the way in. (Kept thinking it ought to be “Minotaur” possibly because I’d just seen an opera with that name.)
I fairly raced thru most of this but sometimes you get stuck in a thought rut (or furrow!): 24 ac is so obvious but I was stuck thing thinking that it was a C(cold) + a dessert scooped out. And I was likewise stuck thinking that 17 dn was some sort of urn so never saw ark. I hadn’t heard of Hoagie, nor an aerialist as a skier, nor rutabaga
All gettable though as good cluing as always from Phi
Not sure that we made swift progress through this one! We needed help for 7ac although it has appeared in crosswords before. Held up in SW corner by 20ac but then as always with Phi, we wondered why it took so long.
Spotted the proscenium early on but we can’t see any related feature.
Thanks RR for the blog and Phi for another Phine puzzle!
Missed the over-arching nina but otherwise a fine puzzle, cho(c)ice held me up as per pennes.
Thanks RR & Phi
I was expecting to find a nina relating to the date – “Burns Night” would have fitted a couple of rows of unches, so completely missed the nina that was there. But there was a passing nod, intentional or otherwise, to the date. RUTABAGA is otherwise known as Swede – the ‘neeps’ of ‘tatties and neeps’ served with your haggis and washed down with a glass of malt whisky.
Thanks, Phi and RR.