Independent 8,978 by Phi

by

Phi’s usual nice crossword. He is good at making a clue not all that easy to solve; yet once one has done it and is looking back, it is often quite obvious. I found nothing controversial here, although I nearly elicited a whole lot of responses explaining how 16dn worked.

Definitions in italics.

I looked at it for ages to try to find one of Phi’s elusive Ninas. Without success.

Across
1 DYNAMO
Machine used in too many designs, on reflection (6)

Hidden rev. in toO MANY Designs
4 ECLIPTIC
Recalled quote about piece of film depicting zodiacal region (8)

(cite)rev. round clip
10 ANGER
Threat to bump off daughter? That gets you upset (5)

{d}anger — the definition is as here if anger is read as a verb; if as a noun, then the definition is all the last four words, although I think this isn’t what Phi meant because anger, rather than being what gets you upset, is the manifestation of being upset
11 PAREGORIC
Painkiller: cut to vanish, sprain to reduce (9)

pare go ric{k} — no me neither, but the wordplay and checkers indicated this quite clearly so it was only a matter of looking it up
12 BAROQUE
French vessel bearing nothing of ornate design (7)

bar(0)que
14 AVARICE
America mostly changed, accommodating constant greed (7)

A varie{d} round c
15 CHARIVARI
Cleaner about to contend with nearly all current racket (9)

char round (riva{l}) i
17 IDYLL
No time for neat lines in poem (5)

{t}idy l l
19 SHREK
Ogre – one lets out fearful cry? On the contrary (5)

shr{i}ek — on the contrary because it’s ‘fearful cry lets out one’ — an ogre who didn’t exist before 2001
21 CONFUSION
Not supporting nuclear power process, expressing bafflement (9)

con fusion
23 WASPISH
Desire to restrain venomous creature with a sting? (7)

w(asp)ish
24 CHEETAH
Fast runner, champion, to dislike going round after end of race (7)

ch. (rac}e (hate)rev.
25 REDEVELOP
Crimson wrap needing no new further design (9)

red e{n}velop
26 SCORN
Small quantity of old jokes getting disdainful response? (5)

s corn — I’m not sure about ‘quantity of’: it may be that s = ‘small quantity of’, but does it? It may be that corn = quantity of old jokes.
27 DIETRICH
Food, full-flavoured, for old film star (8)

diet rich — ref. Marlene Dietrich
28 SYSTEM
Limits to security support process (6)

s{ecurit}y stem
Down
1 DRAWBACKS
Ties involving football player in difficulties (9)

draw(back)s
2 NIGERIA
Excellent area, nothing less, to climb in African country (7)

(A1 regi{o}n)rev.
3,26 MARSHY
Planet hardly expressing content of a boggy nature (6)

Mars h{ardl}y — in this case expressing means getting rid of, whereas in 21ac it means something else, probably ‘reveal’ as given in Chambers
5 CIRCADIAN
Like some rhythms around bed, though cutting volume (9)

circa di{v}an — 24-hour rhythms
6 INGRATITUDE
Vaguely intrigued about a twit’s latest churlishness (11)

(intrigued)* round (a {twi}t)
7 TERRIFY
Cause petrification? Fellow doing for hill in region (7)

territory with tor being replaced by f — petrification in the figurative not literal sense
8 CYCLE
Small group ignoring taxmen for year in repeated sequence of events (5)

circle with ir [= IR, Inland Revenue] replaced by y — it’s HMRC now rather than IR but you could hardly call the IR old taxmen
9 APSE
A facade, eliminating old recess (4)

a p{o}se
13 QUICKSILVER
Mostly sickly, suffering, beset by palpitation – mercury? (11)

(sickl{y})* in quiver
16 ALCOHOLIC
A large cry of pain, gripped by stomachache related to booze (9)

a l co(ho)lic — one might question whether ho! is a cry of pain: the dictionaries seem to suggest that it is just a call for attention, but Collins says ‘used to attract attention, announce a destination, etc ‘ and perhaps the ‘etc’ gets Phi off the hook quite wrong in my interpretation: it’s a l c(oh)olic and oh! is indeed a cry of pain
18 LANTHANUM
Element in US city manhunt resolved (9)

LA (manhunt)*
20 RESIDUE
Later exam not quite scheduled for the last few participants? (7)

resi{t} due
22 INTROIT
Keen on a thing involving choir’s ultimate choral piece (7)

(into it) round {choi}r
23 WORLD
Promise to retain latitude for globe (5)

wor(l)d
24 COPE
Work in church producing garment for priest (4)

C(op)E
26 SHY
See 3 down
*anagram

9 comments on “Independent 8,978 by Phi”

  1. No, I can’t see a nina either, not that that means there isn’t one. I agree with you, too, about Phi good at making a clue not all that easy to solve, yet with hindsight, it is obvious.

    And references to chemistry two days running; zinc yesterday, mercury and lanthanum today – very nice.

    Thanks, Phi and John

  2. Four new – or perhaps old – words for me today: 11A paregoric, 22D introit, 15A charivari (I was under the misapprehension that it meant a wild mixture, but it actually means a wild racket), and 9D apse (I could find the apse in a church but hadn’t realised it was defined as a recess). Despite all these, the solution went in very smoothly, thanks, Phi. John, thanks for the explanations, and I must add that I think that “corn” in 26A does mean “quantity of old jokes” and that makes 26A my favourite for being very smooth indeed!

  3. Oof, I got thoroughly beaten by PAREGORIC and CHARIVARI. Even so, I really enjoyed 26a and its back-formed definition of corn.

    For once, I found the theme immediately – I’m a big Neal Stephenson fan, and I highly recommend all the referenced reading.

  4. Well, I knew PAREGORIC. Trouble is, I also know PANEGYRIC which isn’t a painkiller but I got the two confused and entered PANEGORIC, which really messed up 5dn. 🙂 Finally looked it up in Chambers and realised my mistake. Still took ages to get 5dn after that.

  5. For the umpteenth time a Phi theme went completely over my head, but that didn’t stop me enjoying the puzzle. I found the LHS much easier than the RHS, and I finished with the LANTHANUM/SCORN crossers. PAREGORIC was only vaguely remembered but it was clued clearly enough.

    Thanks to Cyborg@3 for the Neal Stephenson link. I may well see what is available in my local library.

  6. This all seemed OK, but a bit of a contrast with the sparkle of today’s Guardian puzzle.

    I counted five clues here which weren’t Container and/or Deletion clues!

  7. The theme completely passed me by, too – despite the fact I have all 3 volumes of the Baroque Cycle sitting on my bookshelves – thanks Cyborg for pointing it out & I second your recommendation.

    Thanks, too, to John & Phi.

  8. Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle is well worth the considerable investment of time involved. (Sadly I can’t say the same of this year’s Seveneves which I found horrendously self-indulgent and abandoned partway through.). Nine novels, brigaded in three volumes (nine too many to publish, one too heavy to lift), gave me just enough material to seed a grid. Trilogies are usefully scaled that way (if anyone wished to take that as a hint for puzzles forthcoming over the next few months, I wouldn’t dissuade them).

  9. Thanks Phi

    For themed trilogies, how about Robertson Davies? He wrote three of them, very well written, interesting subject matter, exquisite turns of phrase, and well-constructed plots…

    Sorry, but your theme passed me by completely…no doubt it’s an age thing…

    My 0.02!

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