Independent 8338 / Phi

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Phi continues to  produce good crosswords that take just the right time to solve.

 

 

 

Phi produces puzzles that have something for all solving abilities.   In my view, this puzzle was towards the easier end of the spectrum, but there’s nothing wrong with that.  Others may, of course, take a different view over the difficulty of the puzzle.

I didn’t detect a theme or nina in the puzzle today.

Regular readers will know that I favour complex clue constructions so my clues of the day were those for RANDOM ACCESS (10/24 – 5 components), TOP SECRET (18 – 4 components) and TOFFEE-NOSED (20 – 4 components).

Other clues I enjoyed for different reasons were DEFIANCE (1 across) for it’s use of ‘intended’ and CORNEAL GRAFT (4) for its definition ‘it benefits seeing’.

Across
No. Clue Wordplay Entry
1

 

 Half of demo intended confrontation (8)

 

 DE (first two of four letters of [half] DEMO) + FIANCÉ (person one is bethrothed to; intended)

 

 DEFIANCE (challenge to combat; brave attempt at opposition; confrontation)

 
5/26

 

 Drink? Nothing brands suppress (6,6)

 

 O (nothing) + RANGES (brands [think product RANGES]) + QUASH (suppress)

 

 ORANGE SQUASH (example of a drink)

 
9

 

 Matches or participants therein? (8)

 

 STRIKERS (a player picked for his/her ability to score goals when playing in sports matches)

 

 STRIKERS (to light a match you STRIKE it, hence matches can be termed STRIKERS)

 
10/24

 

 Organised circular buildings accommodating a County Council with second data retrieval system (6,6)

 

 RAN (organised) + (DOMES [circular builings] containing [accommodating] [A + CC {County Council}]) + S (second)

RAN DOM (A CC) ES S

 RANDOM ACCESS (a form of data storage and retrieval)

 
12

 

 Displaying arrogance – e.g. “No I never start to weaken” possibly (11)

 

 Anagram of (possibly) E G NO I NEVER and W (first letter of [startt] WEAKEN

 

 OVERWEENING (displaying arrogance)
15

 

 Historic fighter to chance retreating round Lake (2,3)

 

 (DICE [chance] reversed [retreating]) containing (round]) L (lake)

E (L) CID<

 EL CID (Castillian nobleman and military leader in medieval Spain; historic fighter)

 
17 Fancy a drink right now? (4,1,4)  either part of the clue could be the definition

 

 LIKE (do you want) + A + SHOT (dram) (do you want a drink?)

 

 LIKE A SHOT (right now)  double definition

 
18

 

 Hurried to limit pub’s initial dry time, keeping us in the dark? (3-6)

 

 (TORE [hurried] containing [to limit] [P {first letter of PUB} + SEC {dry}]) + T (time)

TO (P SEC) RE T

 TOP-SECRET (profoundly secret and of the highest importance; only available to those who need to know; keeping us in the dark)

 
19

 

 Motivational stuff is endless tripe (5)

 

 DRIVEL (tripe) excluding the final letter (endless) L

 

 DRIVE (to provide motive power to; motivational stuff)

 
20

 

 Snobbish Tax Officer satisfied about number that’s brought in charges (6-5)

 

 TO (tax officer) + (FED [satisfied] containing [about] [NO {number} contained in {brought in} FEES {charges}])

TO F (FEE (NO) S) ED

 TOFFEE-NOSED (snobbish)

 
25

 

 Feature of Western bar promptly involving Hollywood star (8)

 

 SOON (without delay; promptly) containing (involving) PITT (reference Brad PITT, Hollywood star)

S (PITT) OON

 SPITTOON (any container for spitting in, formerly a common feature of public houses [bars])  I’m  not quite sure what purpose Western is serving in this clue, other than providing a link to Hollywood, as the definition of SPITTOON refers to public houses in general

 
27

 

 Fumes swathing river reaching pure lake (8)

 

 (GAS [fumes] containing [swathing] R [river]) + MERE (an obsolete term for pure)

G (R) AS MERE

 GRASMERE (reference GRASMERE,one of the smaller lakes in the English Lake District)

 
Down
No. Clue Wordplay Entry
1

 

 Bad behaviour to ruin a farm building (10)

 

 DISH (ruin) + ONE (a) + STY (farm building)

 

 DISHONESTY (an example of bad behaviour)

 
2

 

 Cap fees crudely, invoking anger – here’s a get-out (4,6)

 

 Anagram of (crudely) CAP FEES containing (invoking) IRE (anger)

F (IRE) ESCAPE*

 FIRE ESCAPE (means of getting out; here’s a get-out)

 
3

 

 Interrogate bridge team?  Not true (5)

 

 ASK (interrogate) + EW (East and West, partners ina game of bridge; bridge team)

 

 ASKEW (at an oblique angle; awry; not true)

 
4

 

 It benefits seeing a longer craft at sea (7,5)

 

 Anagram of (at sea) A LONGER CRAFT

 

 CORNEAL GRAFT (a surgical operation in which healthy corneal tissue is grafted onto a patient’s eye to replace diseased or damaged tissue; it benefits seeing)

 
6

 

 Defensive debate mostly brought in to hold up Democrat (9)

 

 (ARGUE excluding the final letter [mostly] E contained in [brought in)] REAR [hold up]) + D (Democrat)

RE (ARGU) AR D

 REARGUARD (defensive [position])

 
7

 

 Prompt to oust Government rejecting coverage? (4)

 

 NUDGE (prompt) excluding (to oust) G (Government)

 

 NUDE (unclothed; rejecting coverage)

 
8

 

 A theatre performer expressing one uppity heroine of novel (4)

 

 (A + [MIME {an actor in a play without dialogue; theatre performer} excluding {expressing} I {one}])

 

 EMMA (heroine of novel by Jane Austen)

 
11

 

 Bad goalie, with change of character, appearing in another sport? (12)

 

 WICKED KEEPER (bad goalie) with the letter D changed to (change of character) T

WICKETKEEPER

 WICKETKEEPER (player in a game of cricket, a different sport from any involving a [goal]keeper)

 
13

 

 Shop isn’t involving son in tedious work (5,5)

 

 (AINT [isn’t] containing (involving) S [son]) contained in (in) CHORE (tedious work)

CH (AIN (S) T) ORE

 CHAIN STORE (shop)

 
14

 

 A tense soccer team losing one ball – how many are watching?

 

 A + T (tense) + TEN (a soccer team has 11 players, so 10 will be a team losing one) + DANCE (ball)

 

 ATTENDANCE (the number of people who are watching)

 
16

 

 Performing couple: sexy male embracing short model turned up (9)

 

 (STUD [sexy male] containing (embracing) SITTER excluding the final letter [short] R) all reversed (turning up)

 

 DUETTISTS (performing couple)
21

 

 Observes one leaving without obligations? (5)

 

 NO TIES (having no obligations) excluding (leaving) I (one)

 

 NOTES (observes)

 
22

 

 Indication of answering correctly or not at all? (4) PASS (score enough marks to succeed; answer correctly)

 

 PASS (a response to a question indicating the respondent does not know the answer or wishes to try a different question) double definition &Lit clue

 
23

 

 No bright colour picked up in our ceremony (4)

 

 ECRU (hidden word [in] reversed [picked up; down clue] in OUR CEREMONY)

 

 ECRU (off-white or light greyish-brown colour; not a bright colour)

 

10 comments on “Independent 8338 / Phi”

  1. My favourite was 19a.

    New for me was GRASMERE lake.

    Thanks for the blog, Duncan. I needed your help to parse 16d, 21d, 14d, 8d.

  2. Thanks, Duncan – usual fine blog.

    I got stuck in one or two places, but then there were enough gettable ones to get you going again; so towards the easier side of Phi on Friday. But a solid daily cryptic, reflected in the fact that I didn’t really have a favourite today.

    WICKETKEEPER (or WICKET-KEEPER, I think both are correct) was a good clue however. Not that it has anything to do with the clue, but in my experience of club cricket, keepers in the summer game were often keepers in the winter game as well.

    Thanks to Phi for this one.

  3. Odd how sometimes the simple ones take ages to see – as today with my last ones in, NUDE and ECRU.

    No nina that I could see. Several answers have double letters in them, e.g. OVERWEENING, TOFFEE-NOSED, but they don’t seem to have any pattern to them or be connected in any way so I guess it’s just coincidence.

    Thanks, Phi and Duncan.

  4. I struggled to get going with this one. I got there in the end but from the comments above it sounds like I was just having a bad morning. DISHONESTY and PASS were my last two in, which probably demonstrates how much I was off Phi’s wavelength today. No, I couldn’t see a nina either, but I rarely do.

  5. Ezxcellent stuff, with many interesting, if noty unknown words.

    New druhgs kicking in btw, which is helping huge ly.

  6. Thanks Phi for an enjoyable puzzle and Duncan for the blog.

    The three-level containment clues take a bit of working out, but are all the more satisfying when you get there.

    11dn: I raised a (virtual) eyebrow at the use of a participle to define a noun here, but if you think of the sentence “He is wicketkeeper”, you could replace “wicketkeeper” by “appearing in a cricket match”, which then matches the clue quite well.

  7. All very nice, but I couldn’t see why in 6dn rear = hold up. Probably quite obvious, but I can’t think of a sentence where one can be replaced by the other.

  8. Finished this one ths morning.

    A good end to the week or as in this case a good start to the weekend!

    Thanks Phi and Duncan.

  10. 10A Minor point “fiance” is strictly male intended, as opposed to “fiancee”, female intended, so “person” is too inclusive in the blog explanation.

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