Independent 8446 / Phi

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It’s Phiday again!

We always look forward to blogging Phi’s Friday offerings, but unfortunately we didn’t enjoy this one as much as we had hoped. We can’t quite put a finger on the reason for a slight sense of disappointment – maybe it was because we solved it fairly quickly! It is a well-crafted puzzle, but just didn’t seem to offer a feeling of satisfaction when completed. There’s slight sense of deja vu in 1ac if you completed Dac’s puzzle on Wednesday!

As far as we can see, there is no theme or Nina to tie the puzzle together. Perhaps we’re missing something – it certainly wouldn’t be the first time!

Across
1   Makes pet of mammal occupying pens behind London building
DOMESTICATES CAT (mammal) in or ‘occupying’ STIES (pens) behind DOME (London building)
9   Crime skill incompletely acquired by native
ARSON ARt (skill) without the last letter, or ‘incomplete’ + SON (native)
11   Surround most of union in drink
BELEAGUER LEAGUe (union) without the last letter, or ‘most of’ in BEER (drink)
12   United abandoning defender recalled as an obstacle
DRAG GuARD (defender) with the U (universal) removed or ‘abandoned’, then reversed or ‘recalled’
13/22   Old North American concealed heavyweight round object, without hope of success
ON A HIDING TO NOTHING O (old) + NA (North American) + HIDING (concealed) + TON (heavyweight) + O (round) + THING (object)
15   Spooner’s fish and cabbage – and where it’s eaten?
CAKE HOLE A Spoonerism of HAKE (fish) COLE (cabbage)
16   Consequence of idleness I see in a peasant
RUSTIC RUST (consequence of idleness) + I + C (see)
19   Decorate outside of lavatory with spots
PIMPLY PIMP (decorate) + LavatorY (first and last letters or ‘outside’)
20   US soldier securing free run on his football field
GRIDIRON GI (US soldier) around or ‘securing’ RID (free) + R (run) + ON. The ‘his’ is needed to indicate it’s American.
22  See 13
 See 13
23   Provoke sudden speed, cutting time
SPUR SPURt (sudden speed) with the T (time) removed or ‘cut’
25   Saint’s condemnation? Act of war
SHELLFIRE S (saint) + HELLFIRE (condemnation)
26   Actor heading off for bed
LAYER pLAYER (actor) without the first letter, or ‘heading off’
27   Ace shanties spread around a marine area
EAST CHINA SEA Anagram of ACE SHANTIES (anagrind is ‘spread’) around A
Down
2   What you get from pen? Love what you have in pen
OINK O (love) + INK (what you put in pen)
3   Involves doctor in Queen’s paintings
EMBROILS MB (doctor) in ER (Queen) + OILS (paintings)
4   Hard to avoid the first selling-point?
TELE-AD ThE with H (hard) omitted or ‘avoided’ + LEAD (first)
5   Mammal, dim, treated with caution
COATI-MUNDI Anagram of DIM and CAUTION – anagrind is ‘treated’
6   Sporting prize inevitably won by the visiting team?
TOURIST TROPHY Cryptic definition – a play on the fact that the visiting team in many international sporting series are sometimes referred to as ‘tourists’
7   Youngster’s special equipment
SPRIG SP (special) + RIG (equipment)
8   First couple of hindrances better seen as obstacle
HANDICAP H AND I (first two letters of ‘hindrances’) + CAP (better)
10   Nurse’s bedside approaches displaying greed
SHARK’S MANNERS SHARK’S (nurse’s – a type of shark) + MANNERS (approaches, as in ‘bedside manners’)
14   Setter’s most recent use of tongue, mostly regarding stamps
PHILATELIC PHI (setter) + LATE (most recent) + LICk (use of tongue) without the last letter, or ‘mostly’
17   Colleague to study without paying? That’s about right
CONFRERE CON (study) + FREE (without paying) round or ‘about’ R (right)
18   Irish town doctor had ego dented?
DROGHEDA DR (doctor) + an anagram of HAD EGO (anagrind is ‘dented’)
21   Family in Book 2 revealing clothing
BIKINI KIN (family) in B (book) II (two)
22   Sample constitution has misplaced society
TASTE STATE (constitution) with the S (society) moved or ‘misplaced’
24   Picked up end of line: universal large size
GLUE E (last letter or ‘end’ of line) + U (universal) + LG (large)

 

10 comments on “Independent 8446 / Phi”

  1. I raced through most of this puzzle but I was held up at the end by SHARK’S MANNERS. The expression was new to me, post-solve I found that it isn’t in my edition of Chambers or any of the online dictionaries that OneLook searches through, and it took a while before I remembered the nurse shark. The clue for TELE-AD had also held me up briefly. The clue for CAKE HOLE made me smile and brought back memories of my mother being horrified when I used the expression as a child.

    I can’t see a nina or a theme either, with the same caveat as Bert and Joyce.

  3. I wasn’t quite as disappointed as you both; I thought this was a sound puzzle, which I enjoyed. While a beautifully prepared and presented Sole Meunière every day would be a gustatory delight, the occasional plate of Doigts de Poisson can also please …

    Like Andy, I struggled with my final two answers: SHARK’S MANNERS and TELE-AD. OINK was simple, but good.

    Thanks to B&J and to Phi.

  4. Smacked with the hubris stick today after yesterday’s romp. My excuse is that I didn’t know sharks had manners. I thought they just charged 4000% interest, take it or leave it.
    Thanks to Phi and bloggers.

  6. Did most of this on a train this afternoon. Guessed SHARK’S MANNERS from the word play; I had never heard the term. There were still four answers that I needed electronic aids for to get once I got to my hotel room.

  7. No theme in this one – other than allowing ON A HIDING TO NOTHING to sit there symmetrically. I was a little surprised to see Dac’s puzzle knowing that this was scheduled for today.

    SHARK’S MANNERS went in because I was vaguely aware of it, and the idiomatic use seemed obvious – but it seems only Chambers has it, so might not have been the best choice.

  8. It looks as though this page may make Phi responsible for increasing the number of occurrences of “shark’s manners” known to Google from zero to seven (and counting) … I wonder if this is the first time a setter has used an answer that doesn’t occur (in the sense used) anywhere on the WWW? One better than a Googlewhack?

  9. Well, of course I had to go and Google it after lurchio’s comment…

    I got 190 rather than 7. Of the top ten, seven were dictionaries (including an Anglo-Bengali), one was this page, one was a fifteensquared blog on an Azed puzzle, and one was almost entirely in Japsnese (no, hang on – dict.cn, it’s a Chinese dictionary, make that eight dictionaries). So perhaps not a phrase with much currency – yet I doubt anyone would mistake its meaning if they did come across it.

  10. Mea culpa! My search omitted the apostrophe, so drew a blank (but mysteriously did turn up “sharks’ manners”, albeit in other contexts). Phi is quite right, the usage is obvious enough, and like other solvers I was led to the answer by the word play – I was just intrigued that a phrase in common enough currency to appear in a crossword (and in my edition of Chambers, had I not been too lazy to get up and look) had apparently so little presence on the web.

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