Independent 8230 / Phi

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No complaints from us today with a Phi puzzle to blog!

Often with Phi there is a nina or as in last week’s puzzle, linked clues. We cannot find anything this week but perhaps someone else can! What we like about Phi’s linked clues is that they are not usually needed to help solve the puzzle. They often take some teasing out afterwards though!

We are on our way up to Carlisle today so if there are any omissions, errors or comments we will not be able to respond until later.

Across
6   It’s a punishing event
HIGH JUMP A play on the fact that a high jump can be a punishment as well as a field event!
8   Not still cold, like beer
CHOPPY C (cold) + HOPPY (like beer)
10   Many women live vainly, without heart
BEVY BE (live) + VY (VainlY without the middle letters or ‘heart’)
11   Those people, English, heading off French actress right at the start
THE YEAR DOT THEY (those people) + E (English) + BARDOT (French actress) without the first letter or ‘heading off’)
12   Pillage is optional when rioting
SPOLIATION Anagram of IS OPTIONAL (anagrind is ‘rioting’)
14   King dismissed in defeat
ROUT R (King) + OUT (dismissed)
15   Win big – what bowler aims to do, getting trophy
HIT THE JACKPOT HIT THE JACK (what bowler tries in the game of bowls) + POT (trophy)
17   Monstrous creature Oliver Goldsmith holds back
OGRE Hidden backwards in the clue OlivER GOldsmith
18   Plot is derived from such use of weapon?
PISTOL SHOT An anagram of PLOT IS. The use of ‘shot’ in the answer is the anagrind rather than in the clue!
19   Arrogant personal quality, boarding boat, and tucking into trifle
HOITY-TOITY IT (personal quality) inside or ‘boarding’ HOY (boat) and then repeated again in TOY (trifle)
20   Conceal China’s money
PALM PAL (china as used in Cockney rhyming slang – china plate mate) + M (money). The capital letter is not needed but it did mislead us as intended!
21   Sudden move securing university house
STUART START (sudden move) around or ‘securing’ U (university)
22   Rear of store window not initially giving right of access to adjacent area?
EASEMENT E (last letter or ‘rear’ of storE) + cASEMENT
Down
1   Fail to go on – let someone else play Hamlet’s father?
GIVE UP THE GHOST A lovely play (sorry about the pun!) on the fact that Hamlet’s father appeared as a ghost in Shakespeare’s play
2   Question about English dairy product
WHEY WHY (question) about E (English)
3   Sparrow spruce-up? Had but to flatter round street?
DUST BATH Anagram of HAD BUT (anagrind is ‘flutter’) around ST (street)
4   Cinema feature rocks Norway
SCREEN SCREE (rocks) + N (Norway)
5   Curmudgeonly attitude our former monarch copies after start of service
SOUR GRAPES OUR + GR (former monarch as in George Rex) + APES (copies) after S (initial letter or ‘start of’ Sour)
7   Author leading movement, only with reserve – a fitting response
POETIC JUSTICE POE (Author) + TIC (movement) + JUST (only) + ICE (reserve). The word ‘leading’ is needed for the smooth reading of the clue but does indicate that POE comes first.
9   Factory process inclined to pour out
PRODUCTION LINE Anagram of INCLINED TO POUR (anagrind is ‘out’)
13   It helps Tom go indoors
LITTER TRAY ‘Tom’ refers to a cat which may need one of these to ‘go’ inside! When we had a few crossing letters we did contemplate KITTEN FLAP using a different use of the word ‘go’ – surprisingly nothing else seemed to fit in!
16   Dubious appointments aroused my scorn, with Independent getting involved
CRONYISM Anagram of MY SCORN (anagrind is ‘aroused’) around I (independent)
18   Relative of nightshade producing drug, not entirely a small amount
POTATO POT (drug) + A + TOt (small amount with last letter removed or ‘not entirely). The potato belongs to the Solanum genus which includes certain deadly nightshades. Thanks to the late comment from Graham Pellen for pointing out that we hadn’t removed the final ‘t’ in TOT!
20   Live in a tree, say, climbing – a cat?
PUMA AM UP (reversed or ‘climbing’). Presumably if you were ‘up’ you could be living in a tree!

 

7 comments on “Independent 8230 / Phi”

  1. Thank you Bertandjoyce. There were a few I had got without being sure why. An unusual occurrence was that I got an answer wrong but the words around it all fitted! I had petite instead of potato.

  2. Thanks, both. It’s been an excellent week in the Indy this week, and Phi’s Friday offering has finished it off nicely. I think this is just a vanilla puzzle from our Antipodean-based setter, but it was perfectly tasty vanilla and not too fiendish once I’d realised that there isn’t such a word as SPOILATION.

    Thought THE YEAR DOT and POETIC JUSTICE were cleverly clued today.

    Thanks to all the setters this week (and the ed, of course).

  4. Got through most of this very quickly this afternoon but had to go out with just four left.

    19ac I just couldn’t see and resorted to a word search. There was only one possibility but even then I couldn’t parse the clue, so thanks for explaining that. Obvious now, with hindsight.

    20ac I put in PALL – PAL + L as an abbreviation for pounds sterling.

  5. Busy all day, out in the evening. Back around 11 pm and managed to wrap this up in about half an hour – a nice way to round off the day. Thanks, Phi and B&J. CoD was THE YEAR DOT.

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