Phi’s usual excellent offering. Most of these clues can be simply parsed, although they were not all that simple to get in the first place.
The radio this morning said that it was Debussy’s birthday, and knowing Phi’s musical leanings I half expected some reference to this, but I can see none. The checkers at the top and bottom might suggest something, but apparently no. My impression is that Phi started off with intentions for them but gave up and produced a ‘normal’ crossword instead. Probably there is something there, although Phi told us recently that his crosswords often contained no Nina.
Across
9 Recalled Hill routine ending in joke Shakespeare quotation (2,2,5)
ET TU BRUTE
(butte)rev. rut {jok}e — a butte is, according to Chambers, a conspicuous and isolated hill, cliff-sided, often flat-topped, in the western USA and Canada — and there I was, thinking about Benny Hill as Phi intended — this quotation
10 Twelve letters left for island (5)
ATOLL
A to L [ABCDEFGHIJKL is twelve letters] l — a nice change from that hackneyed water clue
11 What’ll quicken if you’re full of beans? (5)
PULSE
Your pulse will quicken if you’re full of beans, and a bean is a pulse — I think this is it, but perhaps there’s more
12 Least familiar science graduate found in part of Oxbridge with others (9)
OBSCUREST
O(BSc)U rest — Oxford University is part of Oxbridge
13 Schooner, perhaps, not offering hot drink (3)
SIP
s{h}ip
14 Birds navy’s kept in view when returning (5)
ERNES
RN in (see)rev.
15 Count, Earl and Knight are mute after a shock (9)
ENUMERATE
E N (are mute)*
17,19 Millions invested in repairs to broken transport system (5,5)
PARIS METRO
m in (repairs to)*
18 Friend not on call (3)
CRY
cr{on}y
20 Fish: lands more at sea (3,6)
RED SALMON
(lands more)*
23 Subject provided as example in story (5)
LIEGE
li(eg)e
25 Predator that hurts head of lamb (3)
OWL
ow l{amb}
26 Tossing in the raw, without good pyjamas? (9)
NIGHTWEAR
(in the raw)* around g
28 Poetic vision possibly supported by cinema chain (5)
ODEON
ode on — I think the ‘possibly’ is attached to the poetic vision, because on = supported by is fairly simple — ‘he is on/supported by the ladder’
29 Record shortening applied to a remarkable racecourse (5)
EPSOM
EP som{e} — as in ‘that’s some achievement’
30 Troubled land once invaded by King shown by English historian (9)
CLARENDON
(land once)* around r — Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon (1609-74), English statesman and historian
Down
1 Plan that’s misplaced at religious building (6)
TEMPLE
templ{at}e
2 Soviet city left covered in blight: Government gets radical (10)
STALINGRAD
sta(l)in g rad — blight = stain, although I’d always thought of blighting as a matter of shrivelling, and I see Chambers does too
3 Sailor and ship beset by busy people (religious types) (8)
ABBESSES
AB be(SS)es
4 University line supporting English location of 2, 5, 6, 7, 17A, 17D, 23, 29 and 30 (6)
EUROPE
E u rope — all these places are in Europe
5 Bus trips taking precedence over railway after damp start to day in town (8)
DEWSBURY
dew (bus)* ry
6 Indifferent painting capturing North European river (6)
DANUBE
da(N)ub E
7 City church abandoning shiny fittings (4)
ROME
{ch}rome
8 Die after lethal shot in hip? (3,3,2)
ALL THE GO
(lethal)* go
16 A small amount around that place’s finally, finally prepared (2,3,5)
AT THE READY
a t(there)ad {finall}y
17 Blaze observed to rise in mountains (8)
PYRENEES
pyre (seen)rev.
18 Lady making introductions bringing in start of carriage trade (8)
COMMERCE
c{arriage} in commere (as opposed to compere)
19 The writer’s permitted to discount article with more tolerant views? (8)
MELLOWED
me {a}llowed
21 A new solution of maths problem concerning pipes? (6)
ASTHMA
a (maths)* — nice disguised definition
22 Standard computer network upset about damaged ROM (6)
NORMAL
(LAN)rev. around (ROM)*
24 Old river redirected after introduction of new weather system (2,4)
EL NINO
n in (o Nile)rev.
27 Good to take first place in race, prompting excess enthusiasm (4)
GUSH
rush with its first letter replaced by g
*anagram
Another enjoyable Phi puzzle that I found towards the easier end of his spectrum. I parsed PULSE the same way you did John. GUSH and ASTHMA were my last two in.
And just look at all the Métro stations.
Nice tight clueing as one expects. Took me a minute to see 18d!
Thx both
Thanks, John.
Another good offering from Phi. Slightly disconcerted when I saw so many clues referenced for 4dn, but in the end it was straightforward. Or maybe not.
Well done Quaiteaux. Joyce thought the clues linked to 4d were connected to the Paris Metro but Clarendon wasn’t one! Having seen your comment we both had a look and came across 8 but we may have missed some.
We’d never come across the female version of compere so it was our LOI.
Thanks Phi and John.
Hi B&J
“Having seen your comment we both had a look and came across 8 but we may have missed some.”
I was able to find ten (as direct entries, I’ve not looked to see if there are any ‘hiddens’):
23 & 28ac, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 17, & 18dn
Thanks Gaufrid, it was a long list of stations on wiki!
On my last visit to Paris I distinctly remember getting off the metro at Dewsbury … or was that just a dream?
Thanks for the blog, John. Great stuff as ever from Phi. Much obliged, sir.
Ten it is. On our last day in Paris in April, we turned the other way out of our hotel and more-or-less fell over Abbesses, much more convenient than Anvers. But there it was – a Métro station in English, and there proved to be a lot more with names usable in a UK crossword (and also in a gazetteer of Europe). Temple, of course, had to go in – the only one shared with the Tube. Research during the clue-writing turned up the implausible fact that Volgograd is still called Stalingrad on nine key dates during the year, to honour its privations during the war.