This Friday brings us the latest offering from Phi, who is occupying his customary slot.
I made steady progress through this (in my view, medium-difficulty) Phi puzzle, only to come unstuck at the end with the intersecting 15 and 6. I didn’t know the word at 15 and had mistakenly entered MEGOER, with ER for Queen; as such, I made an imaginary ALPINE BELL fit 6; only when referring to Chambers to confirm 15 did I realise my mistake!
My clue of the day today, by coincidence the first I solved, has to be 8, for its & lit-ish surface. I am not sure that I have correctly identified the definition at 11.
As far I can tell, there is neither a theme nor a Nina to be found in this puzzle, but perhaps other solvers have been more observant than myself.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in double-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 07 | STOP-GO | Very much restricting leading Government policy offering mixed messages?
[TOP (=leading) + G (=government)] in SO (=very much) |
| 09 | PLUG-UGLY | Nasty-looking dog biting ear lately losing heart
[LUG (=ear) in PUG (=dog)] + L<atel>Y (“losing heart” means all central letters dropped) |
| 10 | AREA | Time recalled by Australian topic
ARE (ERA=time; “recalled” indicates reversal) + A (=Australian) |
| 11 | PLANETARIA | Tree, black, one with advanced views of the sky
PLANE (=tree) + TAR (=black) + I (=one) + A (=advanced) |
| 12 | MAGNETIC | Attractive trap, enmeshed in sorcery
NET (=trap) in MAGIC (=sorcery) |
| 15 | MEGOHM | Male personality to meet Queen, showing a good deal of resistance
M (=male) + EGO (=personality) + HM (=Queen, i.e. Her Majesty); a megohm is a million ohms, i.e. units of resistance |
| 16 | A WHALE OF A TIME | Healthy, round and plump? I’m held in wonderment, having marvellous experience
[HALE (=healthy) + O (=round, i.e. shape) + FAT (=plump) + I’M] in AWE (=wonderment) |
| 18 | VULCAN | Hot guy university lecturer caught in vehicle
[U (=university) + L (=lecturer) + C (=caught)] in VAN (=vehicle); Vulcan is the Roman god of fire and metal-working, hence, cryptically, “hot guy” |
| 20 | SECRETLY | Half of it’s hidden in dry bank, without telling anyone
<i>T (“half of” means one of two letters only) in [SEC (=dry, of wine) + RELY (=bank(on)) |
| 21 | ANALYTICAL | Bit of arithmetic I can tally up, being systematic
A<rithmetic> (“bit of” means first letter only) + *(I CAN TALLY); “up” is anagram indicator |
| 23 | PONY | Pretend to get rid of horse (girl’s pet, perhaps)
P<h>ONY (=pretend, i.e. fake); “to get rid of horse (=H)” means letter “h” is dropped |
| 25 | MIRTHFUL | Choppy firth in Scottish location, not entirely amusing
*(FIRTH) in MUL<l> (=Scottish location, e.g. Mull of Kintyre; “not entirely” means last letter dropped); “choppy” is anagram indicator |
| 26 | DUGOUT | Parisian of taste, in canoe
DU GOÛT (=Parisian of taste, i.e. “of (the) taste” in French) |
| Down | ||
| 01 | STAR | Climbing rodents appear above others?
RATS (=rodents); “climbing” indicates vertical reversal; to star is to top the bill, i.e. to appear above other actors in film credits |
| 02 | HOSPITAL | Endless problem about replica article in health centre
[SPIT (=replica, as in He’s the spit of his brother) + A (=article)] in HOL<e> (=problem; “endless” means last letter dropped) |
| 03 | APIA | A capital in Pacific area, I turned up?
A + P<acific> (“capital in” means capital, here first, letter only) + IA (A=area + I; “turned up” indicates vertical reversal); semi-& lit, since Apia is the capital of Samoa |
| 04 | MUSEUM | Institution silent about application
USE (=application, e.g. of technology) in MUM (=silent, as in to keep mum) |
| 05 | HUMAN GUINEA PIG | Mild racket over a new coin, one carried by lodger as test subject
[HUM (=mild racket, i.e. not a loud noise) + A + N (=new) + GUINEA (=coin)] + [I (=one) in PG (=lodger, i.e. paying guest)] |
| 06 | SLEIGH BELL | Creator of jingle advertising winter holiday?
Cryptic definition: “jingle” is to be read as sound of bell, rather than as music used in e.g. a radio advert |
| 08 | PLAIN CHOCOLATE | Confectionery’s power – all in the cocoa, possibly
P (=power) + *(ALL IN THE COCOA); “possibly” is anagram indicator; semi-& lit. |
| 13 | AMANUENSIS | A man with various uses in secretarial post
A MAN + *(USES IN); “various” is anagram indicator |
| 14 | CROSS | Describing other clues? Not a burden
<a>CROSS (=describing other clues, i.e. 14 is a down clue); “not a” means letter “a” is dropped); the definition is “burden”, as in We all have our crosses to bear in life |
| 17 | ACCOLADE | Praise expert nursing one in grip of chill
[A (=one) in COLD (=chill)] in ACE (=expert) |
| 19 | NOTIFY | Suitable for use in that rising alert
FIT (=suitable for use) in YON (=that); “rising” indicates vertical reversal |
| 22 | CULT | Economy’s sustaining pound, they believe
L (=pound, as in lsd) in CUT (=economy, i.e. saving) |
| 24 | NOUS | Sense absence of Americans?
NO US (=absence of Americans) |
I couldn’t see theme or nina either, apart from a few odd words in the perimeter which are probably just by chance.
A toss-up for Cod between A WHALE OF A TIME and DUGOUT – and the latter gets it by a short head.
Thanks, RatkojaRiku and Phi.
I would be surprised if there isn’t a theme or a nina with it being a Phi puzzle, but I can’t see one either. Maybe CROSS has got something to do with it but I can’t see it.
APIA was my LOI when I decided to trust the wordplay.
I didn’t parse HOSPITAL correctly when I solved it; I saw it as “IT” (article) in “SPA” (health centre) surrounded by “HOL” (endless problem), with the “health centre” doing double duty much like “capital” does in 3dn. Of course, that didn’t take replica into account ……….
V minor point – I think that in APIA (my favourite clue) that ‘capital’ refers to the capital letter in Pacific, rather than the first letter. Tks, RR and Phi.
After a quick first pass, had very little. Settled down later and got going. Didn’t know MEGOHM either and as it was the last one, cheated. In 20A it is T rather than I, ie “t” is the half of “it” that is used in SECRETLY.
Thanks to Phi and RatkojaRiku.
Don’t know that last bit got italicised.
I’m not sure about 11a. Chambers defines planetarium as a machine showing the orbits of planets etc. or a hall containing such a machine. So a planetarium can offer various views of the (night) sky, but the plural PLANETARIA is a number of such machines or buildings. So like RR I’m not sure that we’ve identified the correct definition.
I knew 15a – or rather I thought I did as I would have spelt the word as MEGAOHM. So thanks to Phi for sorting that one out for me!
I also tried to fit alpine bell so failed on megohm. Thanks RR and Phi to whom I offer condolences, I’ve lost a cat recently too. See his blog via the links for details.
Thanks Phi and RR.
Not much to add except that we couldn’t spot a theme either. When we saw the grid we were expectng something but maybe that’s what Phi wanted us to think!
I liked 16a, 26a, 17d, 7a, 14d, 4d and my favourite was 13d AMANUENSIS.
New words for me were PLUG-UGLY, APIA.
Thanks Phi and RatkojaRiku.
My apologies for the “slip of the pen” at 20 – no time to print out and prooof-read, alas! Now corrected.