Phi has not in my opinion shone quite so brightly this week as he usually does. It seems to me that several of the definitions, both of the answers and within the wordplay, are rather tenuous, although no doubt people will explain how I am missing things.
I took a long time to finish the NW corner; Rienzi was slow to appear, even though Phi gave us plenty of help by defining it as a German opera, which immediately cut out more than half of them. 12ac was apparently unsound, but more likely never properly understood, and the double definition at 8dn was also a problem. When I gave up and went to aids my Chambers Crossword Dictionary didn’t help: Bradford may have been better.
As for a Nina, that is quite beyond me. Wouldn’t be at all surprised if there is something nice there, but equally I wouldn’t be at all surprised if there’s nothing.
Definitions underlined.
| Across | ||
| 8 | BRUTISH |
Stupid mistake about routine (7)
b(rut)ish — I was never totally confident about this because brutish and stupid don’t seem to me to mean the same thing; perhaps there is a bit of an overlap but that is all |
| 9 | CLAVIER |
Keyboard instrument‘s existence at Versailles, in possession of Councillor (7)
c(la vie)r — existence at Versailles is ‘la vie’ — in the possession of, rather than possessing |
| 10 | UNMINDFUL |
After University, I’m backing managed fund in Holland, paying little attention (9)
u N((I’m)rev. (fund)*)L |
| 11 | OBELI |
Marks in text to be listed? Only some (5)
Hidden in tO BE LIsted |
| 12 | FURTIVE |
Looking for concealment? Hide verse in hamper (7)
fur [= hide (?)] ti(v)e — but does fur really = hide? I always thought of fur as soft and hide as hard, but maybe there is some sense in which they are the same |
| 13 | RICOTTA |
Cheese? Artist gobbles it when circling function (7)
R(i(cot)t)A |
| 14 | CHEAP |
Ill-intentioned fellow hogging energy (5)
ch(e)ap — and here is another equivalence with which I’m slightly uncomfortable: cheap and ill-intentioned don’t seem to me to mean the same thing; quite |
| 16 | DON |
Foreign nobleman almost exhausted (3)
don{e} |
| 18 | EMPTY |
Meaningless gesture’s ending with surprised exclamation? Little point in that (5)
{gestur}e m(pt)y — the surprised exclamation is ‘My!’ |
| 20 | EARLDOM |
Noble rank? Attention’s given to Lord with higher honour (7)
ear ld OM |
| 23 | STARVED |
Celebrity volume: edition containing little meat? (7)
star v ed. — if something contains little meat it may well have been starved |
| 26 | IBSEN |
Extract from scenes bitterly repelled playwright (5)
Hidden rev. in sceNES BItterly |
| 27 | MOLECULAR |
Tooth containing unexpected clue regarding small particles (9)
molar round (clue)* |
| 28 | ARRAIGN |
Arab precipitate about Government put on trial (7)
Ar. rai(g)n |
| 29 | NERVOUS |
Daft souvenir one dropped, being flustered (7)
(souven{i}r)* |
| Down | ||
| 1 | SUBMERGE |
English doctor, caught up in sudden flow, is to sink (8)
surge round (E MB)rev. |
| 2 | RIENZI |
German opera: nothing to a Frenchman, mostly nothing to an American (6)
rien [‘nothing’ in French] zi{p} — Rienzi was one of Wagner’s operas, one that still divides opinion |
| 3 | THE FIELD |
Magazine entries (3,5)
2 defs, one of them referring to this magazine |
| 4 | SCALAR |
Mark includes 50, a numerical quantity (6)
sca(L a)r |
| 5 | FAROUCHE |
Unsociable expression of pain when cornered by passenger (8)
far(ouch)e — a fare is a passenger in the taxi-driver’s sense |
| 6 | SILENT |
Is uplifted over church season, like a Trappist (6)
(Is)rev. lent |
| 7 | ORDINARY |
Conservative losing head about European currency? That’s normal (8)
{T}or(dinar)y — a dinar is only just European |
| 8 | BLUFF |
Downright lie (5)
2 defs |
| 14 | CLERICAL |
Wholly ignoring a current vocation? Not entirely describing priests (8)
cle{a}r I cal{l} I think — am not entirely happy with clear = wholly [clearly] and call = vocation [calling], so maybe there is a better explanation |
| 15 | PEDANTIC |
Daughter participating in exercises and frolic, following strict patterns (8)
PE (d) antic |
| 17 | NESTLING |
Newcastle police operation captures student, youngster unable to leave home (8)
NE st(L)ing — L = student meets with disapproval from some, but it always seems perfectly OK to me |
| 19 | PAVILION |
Showy building – lot of stone underfoot – picture set up inside (8)
(oil)rev. in pavin{g} |
| 21 | ROSARY |
Bishop carrying outsize article – unknown aid to prayer (6)
R(OS a)R y |
| 22 | MOMENT |
Fellows engaged in assessment of car professing importance (6)
MO(men)T — I’m not quite sure of the definition here: it seems to be ‘importance’, but what then is ‘professing’ doing? Is it a rather flamboyant link-word? |
| 24 | ACCORD |
Account with line suggesting agreement (6)
ac. cord |
| 25 | DORIS |
Woman is supporting turnover in staff (5)
(rod)rev. is |
I couldn’t parse 14dn, but I think your explanation must be correct. 27 ac held me up for a while; I was thinking it had to be something to to with nuclei – even smaller particles. Didn’t have any trouble with the rest, although I thought some of the clueing was a bit tenuous.
Can’t see any nina or theme this time.
But thanks, Phi and John
Well, I got this one out unaided so that pleased me greatly. I agree the niggles, though. Still, many thanks to both.
I did this sitting in the bar of an SF convention in Mariehamn in the Alland Islands, a rather pleasant setting, and it fell out fairly easily. I didn’t know 5dn but guessed it and hit the check button and found I’d got it right.
Really annoyed about how long it took me to get 2dn. Rienzi is a favourite opera of mine. Of course, the full six-hour version is much more fun than the three-hour abridgement usually performed today.
Count me as another who found the NW the trickiest quadrant, although FAROUCHE was my LOI after I decided that “fare” was the ride Phi wanted and trusted the wordplay. I don’t have a problem from a definition standpoint with BRUTISH for stupid, nor with either of the definitions for BLUFF. If there’s a nina or a theme it is way over my head.
Welcome back, everyone who hasn’t been on holiday with us in the last week 🙂 I, too, found the top left the hardest, and had never heard of Rienzi, but did finish after sleeping on the problem. I wasn’t so worried about the clue precision as the others here, since it’s almost always my own brain failing to see the connection, rather than the setter failing to make it. Thank you very much, Phi, and John too.
I usually get on well with Phi but this week he was the subject of my ‘three goes and in the bin’ rule as I couldn’t get on with the NW corner at all.
Thanks to John for showing me what I couldn’t get. Thanks to Phi
Thanks Phi and John. I didn’t notice any of the niggles while solving, and 12a was actually my favourite.
Maybe BRUTISH CLAVIER in the second row is the opposite of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier? I couldn’t spot anything else to go along with that idea.
I should perhaps have put in REMOTE and INEFFECTUAL (though eleven letter words are tricky to build a grid around) to highlight the theme. But maybe that’s enough Chesterton for a while.
Never felt there was a difference between ‘fur’ and ‘hide’ myself. And ‘clear’ is surely just one of those words like ‘loud’ or ‘quick’ that can be both adjective and adverb.