How time Phlies – it’s Friday again – another Phi to solve!
We normally look forward to Phi’s puzzles but this one had too many anagrams for our liking. However, one of them (8d) conjured up a wonderful picture of a life in a beauty salon!
The other clues had smooth surfaces as one would expect! Phi often includes a theme or nina but we cannot find anything. We did google the names that appeared within the grid to see if there was a connection and came up with a list of hurricanes. We began to wonder if these had caused problems in 10ac but we think we are clutching at straws.
Our LOI was 16d which we had to search for electronically. Joyce was hooked on the fact that the circus rings were filled with sand!
We’ll be away from internet access for the rest of the day so if there are any errors in the blog we will not be able to correct them until later.
| Across | ||
| 1 | Tramp’s foot worn down going around heart of Alabama? | |
| HOBO | HOO |
|
| 3 | Lad following racecourse information and activity | |
| GOINGS-ON | SON (lad) after or ‘following’ GOING (racecourse information) | |
| 10 | Returned mailbag after crash in notorious location | |
| BERMUDA TRIANGLE | Anagram of RETURNED MAILBAG (anagrind is ‘after crash’) | |
| 11 | Entrance one with touch of luxury in lacy stuff | |
| INLET | I (one) with NET (lacy stuff) around L (first letter or a ‘touch’ of Luxury) | |
| 12 | Story’s a brief comment about City Director | |
| ANECDOTE | A NOTE (brief comment) around EC (city) + D (Director) | |
| 13 | Passage runs into bar | |
| EXCERPT | R (runs) inside EXCEPT (bar) | |
| 15 | Throw shade over boat in hideaway | |
| DARKEN | ARK (boat) inside DEN (hideaway) | |
| 17 | Doctor leading surgery in (informal) call | |
| DROP IN | DR (doctor) + OP (surgery) + IN | |
| 19 | Apparently has one advanced problem with words | |
| APHASIA | AP (apparently) + HAS + I (one) + A (advanced) | |
| 20 | Swede with routine articles, including sack | |
| RUTABAGA | RUT (routine) + AA (articles) around or ‘including’ BAG (sack). Rutabaga is a North American term for swede. | |
| 21 | Nobleman’s study, say, leading to degree | |
| LAIRD | LAIR (study, say) + D (first letter or ‘leading’ to degree) | |
| 24 | Nothing mandates way Fens should be treated | |
| SWEET FANNY ADAMS | An anagram of MANDATES WAY FENS (anagrind is ‘treated’) | |
| 25 | Presentation of anagram is arranged in time | |
| DISARRAY | IS + ARR (arranged) inside DAY (time) | |
| 26 | Painful account – hardly heartless | |
| ACHY | AC (account) + HY (first and last letters of HardlY or ‘heartless’) | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | What horseman does in circling black Scottish region | |
| HEBRIDES | HE RIDES (what a horseman does) around or ‘circling’ B (black) | |
| 2 | Woman, to live like a Queen, disposing of old article | |
| BERYL | BE (to live) + RoYaL (like a Queen) without O (old) and A (article) | |
| 4 | Marine stuff to go in road after storm | |
| OARWEED | WEE (to go) inside an anagram of ROAD (anagrind is ‘after storm’) | |
| 5 | Primitive hominid that’s carved a remnant (handle) | |
| NEANDERTHAL MAN | An anagram of A REMNANT HANDLE (angrind is ‘carved’) | |
| 6 | Sound happier, perhaps, admitting initially to having no view | |
| SIGHTLESS | SIGH LESS (sound happier perhaps) around or ‘admitting’ T (first letter of To or ‘initially’) | |
| 7 | Spanish city keeping up this festival | |
| NOEL | A reversal of LEON (Spanish city) | |
| 8 | Skin treatment prepared by dermal upstarts? | |
| MUSTARD PLASTER | An anagram of DERMAL UPSTARTS (anagrind is ‘prepared’) | |
| 9 | Wise person was positioned around the forefront | |
| SAVANT | SAT (was positioned) around VAN (forefront) | |
| 14 | Roundabouts with zero application left to impede vehicles | |
| CAROUSELS | O (zero) + USE (application) + L (left) inside or ‘impeding’ CARS (vehicles) | |
| 16 | Maxim, rather outdated, describing circus rings? | |
| SAWDUSTY | SAW (maxim) + DUSTY (outdated) | |
| 18 | Rain storms enveloping range and falls | |
| NIAGARA | An anagram of RAIN (anagrind is ‘storms’) around or ‘enveloping’ AGA (range) | |
| 19 | Move on once relative has secured Volume One | |
| AVAUNT | AUNT (relative) around or ‘securing’ V (volume) + A (one). ‘Once’ is needed as avaunt is described in Chambers as being ‘moving on – archaic’. | |
| 22 | Asimov, say, is current around America | |
| ISAAC | IS + AC (current) around A (America). The reference is to Isaac Asimov – a sic-fi writer we both liked during our college days. | |
| 23 | Declined to dismiss umpire being exploited | |
| USED | ||
Sawdusty? Ugh I guess nothing else would fit and that often means Phi is up to something and “Goings on”,well, implies something is going on but I can’t see it.
Thanks B&J – on holiday again?
Lots of wit and fun today! I needed quite a few from the blogger, though. Thanks to both.
Another enjoyable Phi puzzle IMHO, and count me as another who can’t see a theme or a nina. I raced through most of this one but my last few answers took a while to tease out. I finally got OARWEED, SAWDUSTY and DISARRAY, and was left with the 1dn/11ac crossers which took much longer to see than they should have done. The inclusion of “in” in the clue for 1dn threw me somewhat, and I don’t think its exclusion would have hurt the surface reading. Having said that, why HEBRIDES didn’t occur to me as a Scottish area for ages is a mystery. Once I got it INLET was my LOI, and that was another answer I should have seen much quicker but I didn’t lift and separate the elements in the wordplay in the correct way until I had all the checkers.
Thanks, both. I can only count four full anagrams in the puzzle, so I don’t think it’s overloaded. Phi in vanilla mode, which suits me well: I really liked this one. SAWDUSTY I did see, and thought it was funny in a Xmas cracker kind of way. OARWEED and AVAUNT were new to me, but perfectly gettable once I had the crossers.
I must however pick up Phi on describing NEANDERTHAL MAN as ‘primitive’. Neanderthals were certainly not primitive: they were socially advanced, probably had language, and were users of sophisticated tools. They were also built like brick shithouses, so you wouldn’t have wanted to argue with one. Recent research shows that Neanderthal DNA is 99.5% – perhaps even more – identical with modern human DNA. And if the interbreeding theory proves to be true, then we’re all carrying bits of Neanderthal DNA around with us this very day. So if they’re primitive, then so are we.
I’ll stop now. Thank you to Phi for today’s puzzle and good weekend to everyone.
We really are all different – the only clue I ticked was “sawdusty”! Very nice. Otherwise, efficient…
For me, felt more like a Monday than a Phiday
Nice blogging B and J
There’s not much Nina-wise…but not nothing. Merely a whim occasioned by having a Wikipedia page open at the time. Dr Asimov may guide you.
Did anyone else think of GALA for 7dn (reverse hidden in Malaga) I wonder?