No surprise this morning to have Phi’s latest offering to grapple with over breakfast.
I found this a tougher than average Phi solve, not least since the three clues that I was unable to solve unaided were all to words that I was unfamiliar with, i.e. 2, 18 and 22. I don’t think I would have worked any of these out without searching in Chambers or on Google, at least not quickly enough to have produced a blog in good time.
I hesitated over my parsing of 2, so I would be interested to know how others unravelled the wordplay. 18 seems like such an improbable word to me that I might not have considered it worth looking up in the dictionary even if I had worked it out myself from the wordplay! That said, having solved 9, I might have suspected that Phi was giving this puzzle something of a Latin flavour …
I have probably missed some theme or other yet again, so I look forward to reading what other solvers have spotted.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in double-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | EXACT | Demand and get something repealed?
EX ACT (=something repealed, i.e. former legislation) |
| 04 | METABOLIC | Description of organic chemicals misapplied to lab mice
*(TO LAB MICE); “misapplied” is anagram indicator |
| 09 | CUI BONO | Who benefits? Youngster bagging one on heading over
[I (=one) in CUB (=youngster)] + ON + O (=over, i.e. in cricket) |
| 10 | AQUATIC | A question applied to a movement of water
A + QU (=question) + A + TIC (=movement) |
| 11 | LEO | Plastic building material not good for sign
LE<g>O (=plastic building material, i.e. children’s toy); “not good (=G)” means letter “g” is dropped |
| 12 | PERSISTENCE | Reworked scene with priest’s resolution
*(SCENE + PRIEST); “reworked” is anagram indicator; resolution here is resolve, determination |
| 14 | BUDAPEST | University residence recalled amongst most successful in city
[U=university + DAP (PAD=residence; “recalled” indicates reversal)] in BEST (=most successful) |
| 16 | BOTTLE | Courage //– traditional presentation of beer?
Double definition: “bottle” is courage, nerve AND recipient for e.g. beer |
| 19 | ROCKET | Move fast // to see salad plant
Double definition: “rocket” is to move fast, race AND a leafy salad plant |
| 20 | RUSHMORE | Move even faster to see US monument
RUSH MORE (=move even faster); Mount Rushmore in South Dakota bears the sculpted faces of four US Presidents |
| 22 | DISCOMMODED | Acted about second toilet being ‘inconvenienced’
[S (=second) + COMMODE (=toilet)] in DID (=acted) |
| 24 | AWE | Fear getting in the way when reversing
Reversed (“reversing”) and hidden (“in”) in “thE WAy” |
| 25 | CHOLERA | Cold before holiday period: a nasty thing to catch
C (=cold) + HOL (=holiday) + ERA (=period) |
| 27 | UNTWIST | Straighten out fool in humanitarian mission around South
S (=South) in [UN (=humanitarian mission) + TWIT (=fool)] |
| 28 | FANTASTIC | Not entirely against wine being consumed by soccer team? That’s marvellous
[ANT<i> (=against; “not entirely” means last letter dropped) + ASTI (=wine)] in FC (=soccer team, i.e. Football Club) |
| 29 | ROYAL | Monarch’s Queen, true – one line dying out
R (=queen, i.e. regina) + <l>OYAL (=true; “one line (=L) dying out” means one letter “l” is dropped) |
| Down | ||
| 01 | EXCALIBUR | Historic cutter last seen sinking in lake
Cryptic definition, referring to the sword (“cutter”), thrown into the lake and caught, in Arthurian legend |
| 02 | ADIRONDACKS | Suggest more rides, heading off to take in hard US mountains
IRON (=hard, as in iron will) in [ADD (=suggest more) + <h>ACKS (=rides, i.e. on horseback; “heading off” means first letter dropped)]; the Adirondacks are mountains in NE NY State, with Mount Marcy as their highest peak |
| 03 | TROOP | Time without resources upset soldiers
T (=time) + ROOP (POOR=without resources; “upset” indicates vertical reversal) |
| 04 | MOONRISE | Low blast of siren indicates astronomical event
MOO (=low, i.e. of cattle) + *(SIREN); “blast of” is anagram indicator |
| 05 | TRAGIC | Disastrous instant almost blocked by newspaper
RAG (=newspaper) in TIC<k> (=instant; “almost” means last letter dropped) |
| 06 | BLUETOOTH | Viking chief unhappy to organise the horde, initially
BLUE (=unhappy) + TO + O<rganise> T<he> H<orde> (“initially” means first letters only); the reference is to Harald “Bluetooth” Gormsson, a 10th century King of Denmark and Norway |
| 07 | LOT | Went down after dropping second group
LO<s>T (=went down, i.e. was defeated); “after dropping second (=s)” means letter “s” is dropped |
| 08 | CYCLE | Country’s borders initially closed to the French transport
C<ountr>Y (“borders” means first and last letters only) + C<losed> (“initially” means first letter only) + LE (=the French, i.e. the French word for the) |
| 13 | NATIONALITY | Source of patriotism making half of no sense? Not at first
N<o> (“half of” means one of two letters only) + <r>ATIONALITY (=sense; “not at first” means first letter dropped) |
| 15 | PHENOMENA | Father’s written about love between woman and men and other events
{O (=love, i.e. zero score) in [HEN (=woman) + MEN]} in PA (=father); the definition could be read to cover love (…) and other events, although events alone would suffice |
| 17 | ELEMENTAL | Basic line in Early English not making sense?
[L (=line) in EE (=early English)] + MENTAL (=not making sense, i.e. mad) |
| 18 | QUIDNUNC | Perhaps gossip columnist’s money’s good woman’s introduction to corruption
QUID (=money) + NUN (=good woman) + C<orruption> (“introduction to” means first letter only); a quidnunc is an inquisitive, gossiping person |
| 21 | UMLAUT | Two points cropping up in actual murders
Reversed (“cropping up”) and hidden (“in”) in “acTUAL MUrders”; an umlaut is a diacritical sign consisting of two dots (“two points”), modifying vowel sounds in e.g. German |
| 22 | DECAF | Drink? Mug with a bit of Darjeeling brought up
FACE (=mug, i.e. colloquially) + D<arjeeling> (“bit of” means first letter only); “brought up” indicates (here full) vertical reversal |
| 23 | DETER | Cleaner, abandoning most of toilet is put off
DETER<gent> (= “cleaner”, i.e. cleaning product); “abandoning most of toilet (=GENT<s>)” means the letters “gent” are dropped |
| 26 | OWN | Hold that hurts Norman’s head
OW (=that hurts, i.e. as an exclamation) + N<orman> (“head” means first letter only) |
I agree that this seemed on the harder side for a Phi puzzle and I was happy that I managed to finish it without resort to aids. Your parsing of 2dn looks good RR, but because I knew the range in question I didn’t bother to parse the clue once I had enough checkers. I took me a while to see QUIDNUNC, and it only fell into place once I had the U checker from UNTWIST. The excellently hidden UMLAUT was my LOI after DISCOMMODED (I had been trying, unsuccessfuly, to justify “discomfited”).
There is a theme. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone still looking so I’ll just say it’s cinematic.
Well done, Geebs, who I’m sure would agree Darjeeling is in the clues for a reason
Well, I can see one or two answers which might fit the theme, but as with all good themed puzzles not spotting the theme doesn’t matter as the puzzle is solvable without it.
One minor quibble about 4ac. This isn’t the place for a chemistry lecture, but not all organic chemicals are metabolic. I’d agree that it was definition by example, but maybe there should have been a question mark.
Quite a few clues today where having put in a tentative answer the parsing was immediately obvious just from seeing the word in front of me. Funny how that happens sometimes.
CoD was UMLAUT
Thanks, Phi and RatkojaRiku
It would be a kindness to an old man if someone would tell me what is going on. I can see two film titles but that’s it. And I have no idea what Darjeeling has to do with it.
Conrad
Theme is the films of Wes Anderson, including
The ROYAL Tenenbaums
BOTTLE ROCKET
FANTASTIC Mr Fox
The Life AQUATIC …
Grand BUDAPEST Hotel
RUSHMORE
And the bonus in clue 22D of The DARJEELING Limited.
There’s also one including Troop but I can’t recall it right now ..
G.
Oops
Forgot MOONRISE Kingdom ..
Geebs
Thanks so much. No wonder I couldn’t get it. Never heard of Wes Anderson. It seems a lifetime among my books and my music has left me ill-prepared to deal with what the current generation take for granted.
Having considered the alternative, I think I will see my time out with my collection of shrunken heads and my memories.
Even now the theme has largely passed me by. Unfamiliar words do shout Nina or theme but too obscure for me. Two days running I’ve struggled.
Thanks RR for parsing some I’d just entered on definition only.
Conrad @8
Thank you for seemingly lumping me in with the ‘current generation’ but I’m pretty close to entering my 7th decade :-).
I stumbled on Wes Anderson’s films a few years ago and they are a joy. They appeal to the cruciverbalist in me – they are artfully structured, beautifully choreographed, and unfold rather like a puzzle. They have multiple themes – Moonrise Kingdom is set around a performance of Britten’s Noye’s Fludde, which is not your usual Hollywood fodder. Worth leaving the shrunken heads to fend for themselves for an evening, I’d say…
We are glad that we weren’t the only ones to find this a struggle. It’s late so we resorted to some aids to finish it. Theme passes us by but we did wonder, given the number of unusual words.
Thanks to setter and blogger.