Predictably, the job of compiling today’s puzzle has fallen to Phi.
I found I had to work steadily away at these one, from beginning to end, with no single solution triggering a slew of other entries. Perhaps the grid, with few long entries, lent itself to a slower, more gradual solve?
I have a problem with the parsing of 7, where the answer surely has to be SIGNPOST and where the wordplay seems to be telling us to be a “g” inside an anagram of “point is”, but this doesn’t seem to work out. Please set me straight on this, fellow solvers!
As for my favourite clues today, I particularly liked 26A, for maintaining a musical theme through definition and wordplay alike. I also thought that 21 was a clever spot by Phi, and appreciated the social comment expressed in 26D. Incidentally, I had a mental block for a long time over the parsing of 16, where I was convinced that “sea” was the “quantity of salty water” referred to.
Needless to say, there is probably a theme lurking here somewhere, which I have yet again failed to spot! I look forward to being enlightened.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 09 | ASININE | Foolish crime in US state not initiated
SIN (=crime) in <m>AINE (=U.S. state; “not initiated” means first letter dropped) |
| 10 | MOSAICS | Wall decorations, say, excellent hint of culture, though covered in plant growth
[A1 (=excellent) + C<ulture> (“hint of” means first letter only)] in MOSS (=plant growth) |
| 11 | HOTEL | House, rented out, done over as inn
HO (=house) + TEL (LET=rented out; “done over” indicates reversal) |
| 12 | FRAGMENTS | Fellow totters beside the way, tumbling over bits and pieces
F (=fellow) + RAGMEN (=totters, rag-and-bone men) + TS (ST=way, i.e. street; “tumbling over” indicates reversal) |
| 13 | NOSEGAY | No influence about – for instance – flowers
NO + [E.G. (=for instance) in SAY (=influence)] |
| 14 | ENVIOUS | Resentful former priest dismissed about note
N (=note) in <pr>EVIOUS (=former; “priest (=PR) dismissed” means letters “pr” are dropped) |
| 16 | TEA | Drink most of quantity of salty water
TEA<r> (=quantity of salty water; “most of” means last letter dropped) |
| 18 | ELASTIC | Much of urban demand falls back, affected by price changes
CIT<y> (=urban, used attributively; “most of” means last letter dropped) + SALE (=demand, volume of selling); “falls back” indicates (here full) reversal |
| 21 | TOE | Lug (as in hearing) or another part of the body?
Homophone (“as in hearing”) of “tow” (=lug, as verb, i.e. drag, haul) |
| 22 | NETBALL | No decision yet in girl’s sport
TBA (=no decision yet, i.e. to be arranged) in NELL (=girl, i.e. a girl’s name) |
| 24 | EARMARK | Carefully identify each marine vessel in flood
EA (=each) + RM (=marine, i.e. Royal Marine) + ARK (=vessel in flood, i.e. Noah’s ark) |
| 26 | SYMPHONIC | Recalled my special arrangement of Chopin for orchestra?
SYM (MY + S (=special); “recalled” indicates reversal) + *(CHOPIN); “arrangement of” is anagram indicator |
| 27 | TWAIN | Hint of weakness one found in metal brace
[W<eakness> (“hint of” means first letter only) + A (=one)] in TIN (=metal); here “brace” is a noun meaning pair or couple, hence “twain” |
| 28 | UP A TREE | Possibly on plane in trouble
Cryptically, you could be “up a tree” if you were “on (top of a) plane (tree)”; cf. “up a gum tree” |
| 29 | GANDALF | Wizard twisted genetic material in flower
DNA (=genetic material) in FLAG (=flower, i.e. iris); “twisted” indicates (here full) reversal; Gandalf is a wizard in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings |
| Down | ||
| 01 | WASHINGTON | President is no longer hard in government, not facing uprising
WAS (=is no longer) + H (=hard) + IN + G (=government) + TON (NOT; “facing uprising” indicates vertical reversal); the reference is to George Washington, the first President of the United States from 1789-97 |
| 02 | HIATUS | Opening success involving American and America
[A (=American) in HIT (=success)] + US (=America) |
| 03 | DIALOGUE | Discussion expected to secure one a diary
[I (=one) + A + LOG (=diary)] in DUE (=expected) |
| 04 | BELFRY | Youngsters following band reduced source of ringing in ears?
BEL<t> (=band, e.g. of leather; “reduced” means last letter dropped) + FRY (=youngsters, i.e. freshly spawned fish); a belfry is a bell tower, hence “source of ringing in ears” |
| 05 | IMMANENT | I’m going to Barnet, not losing love dwelling within
I’M + MANE (=Barnet (fair), the cockney rhyming slang for hair) + N<o>T (“losing love (=0, i.e. zero score)” means letter “o” is dropped) |
| 06 | ASIMOV | US writer’s version of Bible including disciple but overlooking name
SIMO<n> (=disciple; “overlooking name (=N)” means letter “n” is dropped) in AV (=version of Bible, i.e. Authorised Version); the reference is to US writer Isaac Asimov (ca 1920-92) |
| 07 | SIGNPOST | Point is remade, retaining good pointer
G (=good) in *(POINT IS)?; “remade” is anagram indicator – alas, this doesn’t appear to give the answer “signpost” |
| 08 | USES | Employs charges after account goes missing
<acc>USES (=charges, with crime); “after account (=ACC) goes missing” means letters “acc” are dropped |
| 15 | STEAK KNIFE | Chuck blade here?
Cryptic definition in which “chuck” is to be read as “a cut of beef extending from the neck to the shoulder blade” |
| 17 | AUTUMNAL | Corporation investing in gold, note, almost entirely heading for fall?
{[TUM (=corporation, belly)] in [AU (=gold, i.e. chemical formula) + N (=note)]} + AL<l> (=entirely; “almost” means last letter dropped); cryptically, “heading for (the) fall” suggests autumn |
| 19 | ALLEN KEY | Agreement about ringing up to get self-assembly item
KNELL (=ringing, of bells) in YEA (=agreement); “up” indicates (here full) vertical reversal |
| 20 | CAROTENE | Memory in stick identifying vitamin source
ROTE (=memory, as in learn by rote) in CANE (=stick) |
| 23 | ASHORE | Results of blaze: contents of mine on the beach
ASH (=results of blaze) + ORE (=contents of mine, i.e. where metal is mined) |
| 24 | ENCAGE | Impound all but first of coins, seizing silver
AG (=silver, i.e. chemical formula) in <p>ENCE (=coins; “all but first” means first letter dropped) |
| 25 | AVATAR | MMORPG character, a sailor, following senior naval officer
A + VA (=senior naval officer, i.e. Vice-Admiral) + TAR (=sailor); avatars are moving three-dimensional characters in e.g. Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games or MMORPGs |
| 26 | SLUM | Residential consequence of endless economic failure?
SLUM<p> (=economic failure; “endless” means last letter dropped); & lit. |
Sorry RR, but I had the same problem with the clue for SIGNPOST as you did.
I was confused by 7D Signpost too. I was a bit surprised by needing to make “going to Barnet” synonymous with “mane” in 5D immanent, but I did write it in. Of course, this is a Phine puzzle, thanks Phi, and thanks to RatkojaRiku for explaining all the details I missed. Is it right to make “sale” synonymous with “demand” in 18A Elastic? That’s not a word I’d use in that way. But I’m usually wrong, one gets used to it after a while.
Does this blog work with Greek characters? This is supposed to be a greek Phi: -> ?
No, this blog doesn’t work with Greek characters, it seems. The greek phi shows properly as I enter it, and properly in the preview, but not in the blog. Oh, well. I write as someone who has spent the morning fiddling with databases just so that people can use exotic characters like this one.
Thanks Phi and RR.
Emrys @ 2: elasticity of demand is a standard term in economics referring to how demand responds to price flucuations (or at least was when I was studying it). I share your reservation about demand = sale, though.
I found this quite tough, especially the top right corner. Now I see why it took me ages to work out the anagram at 7dn. (When I finally got it, I didn’t go back to check the anagram fodder.) There were several I couldn’t parse so thanks for all the explanations.
Phi said something last week to the effect that this one was aimed at me although I can’t see anything overall. True I have read Lord of the Rings and do like symphonic music, and I even met Isaac Asimov once (who was Russian by birth).
Amusingly, I was watching a DVD of The Curse of the Were Rabbit whilst doing this, which gave me a hint for 20dn.
I notice “Mark Twain” appears in the bottom right corner.
Indeed the mark twain bit can’t be accidental but I still can’t see anything more. If this is for you dormouse it’s an obscure one. 7d has to be a mistake Shirley?
Not having my copy to hand at the moment I will have to join in the general surmise that I got SIGNPOST wrong (I imagine that even when it comes to hand it will still have muddled Is and Ss). Sorry about that.
I’m always on the lookout for lists of words around which I can build a grid. So a composer who subtitles his symphonies ‘Washington Mosaics’ or ‘Autumnal Sketches’ or even ‘Dreams of Gandalf’ gives me a lot of material for a puzzle, but (importantly) a puzzle where this underpinning is entirely irrelevant to almost every solver. It’s an indulgence for me but quite a key one as trying to decide what the first word in a blank grid should be is a perennial problem.
Incidentally the Finnish composer Aulis Sallinen (the subtitler in question, and 80 this year) also wrote a symphony ‘From a New Zealand Diary’, which I perhaps perversely chose to ignore. I suspect Dormouse let out some sort of exclamation on hitting the word ‘Mosaics’ in the last paragraph.
Don’t know the symphonies of Sallinen, but I have seen a couple of his operas: The Red Line and The King Goes Forth to France.
Of course, as I’ve mentioned, I was in Finland just a couple of weeks ago.
Oh, and the musical piece called Mosaics that first came to mind to me was by Howard Hanson.