It wouldn’t be Friday without Phi, would it?!
I found this tougher than the average Phi puzzle and made fairly slow progress through the whole grid. The SE corner proved to be the most stubborn overall, although 26 was the last one in – it turned out that I had the right answer but just couldn’t see the wordplay. The festival at 15 was new to me, as was the US criminal at 29. I have spotted no theme or Nina, but have I missed something, I wonder?
I think I have parsed everything to my satisfaction, perhaps with the exception of 6A, for which confirmation (or otherwise) would be much appreciated. My favourites today were 10 and 13, each for its smooth surface.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in double-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | VIGILANCE | Watching crime involving booze besetting US city
[LA (=US city, i.e. Los Angeles) in GIN (=booze)] in VICE (=crime) |
| 06 | BRINK | King taking over end of sea shore?
(the) BRIN-Y (=sea); “king (=K) taking over end of sea (=briny)” means letter “y” is replaced by “k”; in that a “brink” is the edge or border of a river, it could mean “shore” |
| 09 | RENEW | Refresh frequently overlooked by Scottish town
REN<fr>EW (=Scottish town); “frequently (=fr) overlooked” means letters “fr” are dropped |
| 10 | TECHNICAL | Changes in China etc lead to lack of scientific knowledge
*(CHINA ETC) + L<ack> (“lead to” means first letter only); “changes in” is anagram indicator |
| 11 | IRRATIONAL | Unreasonable portion served during rail travelling
RATION (=portion) in *(RAIL); “travelling” is anagram indicator |
| 12 | DRUB | Difficulty after United’s latest defeat
<unite>D + RUB (=difficulty); “to drub” is “to defeat”, as a verb |
| 14 | SATINED | Like glossy fabric, blue? There’s some point in that
TINE (=point, e.g. of fork) in SAD (=blue) |
| 15 | TRUMPET | Instrument festival involving strange piano
[RUM (=strange) + P (=piano, i.e. in music)] in TET (=festival, i.e. the Vietnamese lunar new year festival) |
| 17 | REDDISH | Produced food, not black, but looking roasted?
<b>RED (=produced; “not black (=B)” means letter “b” dropped) + DISH (=food) |
| 19 | ASH-PITS | A spur of land’s occupied by hot rubbish dumps
A + [H (=hot, e.g. on tap) in SPIT’S (=spur of land’s)] |
| 20 | WIMP | Useless sort who is making problems primarily
W<ho> I<s> M<aking> P<roblems>; “primarily” means first letters only are used |
| 22 | ALTAR-RAILS | Almost every sailor reviles religious boundaries
AL<l> (=every; “almost” means last letter dropped) + TAR (=sailor) + RAILS (=reviles); altar-rails separate the presbytery from the rest of the chancel, hence “religious boundaries” |
| 25 | OFF-CENTRE | Crooked US money presented in bid with a twist
CENT (=US money) in OFF-RE (offer=bid; “with a twist” means last two letters swap places) |
| 26 | HEELS | Scoundrels taking front off car
<w>HEELS (=car; “taking front off” means first letter is dropped) |
| 27 | SKIRT | Jokey item about Queen’s garment
R (=Queen, i.e. regina) in SKIT (=jokey item) |
| 28 | PERIPHERY | US criminal concealing one beside woman’s yard’s boundary
[I (=one) in PERP (=US criminal, i.e. US slang for criminal, from “perpetrator”)] + HER (=woman’s) + Y (=yard) |
| Down | ||
| 01 | VERDI | Composer went too far with neglecting overture and finale
<o>VERDI<d> (=went too far); “neglecting overture and finale” means first and last letters are dropped; the reference is to Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) |
| 02 | GENERATED | Produced information (classified) about energy
E (=energy) in [GEN (=information) + RATED (=classified)] |
| 03 | LAWN TENNIS | Rules about new time with nine playing sport …
[N (=new) + T (=time) + *(NINE)] in LAWS (=rules); “playing” is anagram indicator |
| 04 | NET CORD | … featuring this? Clear hoax about rule
NET (=clear) + [R (=rule) in COD (=hoax)]; a net cord is a string supporting a lawn tennis net (Chambers) |
| 05 | ENCHANT | Inclination to dispense with positive charm?
<p>ENCHANT (=inclination); “to dispense with positive (=p)” means letter “p” is dropped |
| 06 | BUNK | It’s done by people hurriedly leaving // bed
Double definition: “to do a bunk” is “to leave hurriedly” |
| 07 | INCUR | Expose yourself to popular treatment (though not final drug)
IN (=popular) + CUR<e> (=treatment; “not final drug (=E, i.e Ecstasy)” means the letter “e” at end (“final”) of the word is dropped) |
| 08 | KILOBYTES | It’s blokey to reconfigure computer memory
*(IT’S BLOKEY); “to reconfigure” is anagram indicator |
| 13 | AUTHORSHIP | Writing version of Utah religious service excluding women
*(UTAH) + <w>ORSHIP (=religious service; “excluding women (=W)” means letter “w” is dropped) |
| 14 | SCREWTOPS | Ceases stocking company’s beer bottles
CREW (=company, e.g. on vessel) in STOPS (=ceases) |
| 16 | PRIVILEGE | Puritan, English, retaining unpleasant advantage
VILE (=unpleasant) in [PRIG (=puritan) + E (=English)] |
| 18 | HILLTOP | Successful operation, seizing lines in exposed position
LL (=lines) in [HIT (=successful, as in hit record) + OP (=operation)] |
| 19 | AMATEUR | A fellow sure getting stripped for pleasure
A + MATE (=fellow) + <s>UR<e> (“stripped” means first and last letters dropped) |
| 21 | MUFTI | Male uniform fit is adjusted for civilian wear
M (=male) + U (=uniform, i.e. in radio telecommunications) + *(FIT); “is adjusted” is anagram indicator |
| 23 | SASSY | Indolent fool taking heart out of Society
ASS (=fool) in S<ociet>Y; the letters “ass” replace the middle letters (“heart”) of “Society” |
| 24 | PERT | Insolent soldier on ditching girl
PER<sis>T (=soldier on); “ditching girl (=sis)” means letters “sis” are dropped |
Thanks to Phi for an entertaining puzzle that I also found a bit tougher than normal and to RatkojaRiku for the exemplary blog.
Did wonder if the “final” was necessary in 7D – could it have just been worded ” … not with a drug” or “without a drug”?
I enjoyed this one; a nice mix, LOI was ALTAR RAILS which took me a while to see, but nicely clued.
I’m no good at spotting ninas etc etc, and quite good at finding them where they don’t exist(!), but I did notice CENTRE across the middle of the grid…….
Thanks to Phi and RR
ps – CENTRE in both directions – across and down.
Thanks. Couldn’t parse PERT, and I still don’t see how the verbal phrase “soldier on” signifies the adjective “persistent.”
Done and dusted but quite tricky. Funnily, the SE corner was my starting point and NW my ending. Held up by convincing myself that ‘blue’ in 14ac had to be ‘sky’. Can’t pick a favourite – all enjoyed except perhaps 24d.
Thanks.
Ian@4 – “soldier on” = “persist” and that’s what RR has written in his blog, unless he edited it before I got here.
I found this to be about average difficulty for a Phi puzzle, although I was held up slightly by HILLTOP/PERIPHERY and the BUNK/BRINK crossers which were my last ones in. I didn’t see the nina but on refelection I should have looked there because of the grid layout.
Oh yes ‘soldier on’ is ‘persist’, of course!
Quite pleased to get a non-themed puzzle from Phi after the Indy offerings earlier this week. Okay, it’s got CENTRE, CENTRE and OFF-CENTRE, but I didn’t of course spot that so for me it’s a non-theme.
No particular favourites; all good, and what a daily cryptic should be. IMHO, of course.
Thanks to S&B and a good weekend to all.
Andy @4,
Quite right. My brain is obviously playing up today. Sorry.
As well as the two ‘centres’ in the centres, we have ‘brink’, ‘skirt’ and ‘periphery’ round the edges. Some positional theming going on?
Geebs@10 – quite right. Not sure why I didn’t spot that either, other than the general nina/theme blindness I often suffer from.
Thanks RR and Phi, Mr & Mrs flashling did this in a pub in the village of Ashling.
The centres were only spotted post solve.
Thanks for explaining pert, just couldn’t see that one.
6ac & dn defeated me. Even after doing a word search for 6ac and seeing BRINK in the possibilities, I couldn’t see how it fitted in with the clue.
Geebs might have completed a good spot by noticing that 1 down should have been VERGE… But I do these things as much to help me seed the grid and I won’t obsess about them if I’m painted into a corner! I’m putting up a little more about ghost themes on the blog later this weekend (should be up by Sat morning UK time).
We couldn’t parse PERT either so came here to find the answer so many thanks to RR.
Bert spotted the CENTRES while Joyce checked the blog and noticed the other linked words.
Thanks Phi for our Phriday Phun!