As usual, a Phi puzzle for Friday
There are a few cartoon and fictional characters about – PLUTO, EASTER BUNNY, SANTA and XENA, but I don’t think they are enough to constitute a theme.
The puzzle was a good example of one that could be solved on the daily commute. Perhaps CRU, ISM, KHASMSIN and TATTLINGS are unusual but they are not totally obscure and either the crossing letters helped enormously or the wordplay for them was very clear.
Writing the blog I became impressed with some of the clues. Ones I particularly liked were those for WALLFLOWER, EASTER BUNNY and DOUBLE-U
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
|
1
|
Steps down, blocked by editor’s new plans (9)
|
RESIGNS (steps down) containing (blocked by) ED (editor) R (ED) ESIGNS |
REDESIGNS (new plans)
|
| 6 | Experts bagging money for peak achievements (5) |
ACES (expert) containing (bagging) M (money) AC (M) ES |
ACMES (culminations or perfections in a career; peak achievements)
|
|
9
|
Key point that’s missed by vineyard (3)
|
CRUX (key point) excluding (missed) X (times; by)
|
CRU (vineyard)
|
|
10
|
Unpleasant odd ellipsis, out of place (3-8)
|
Anagram of (out of place) ODD ELLIPSIS ILL-DISPOSED* |
ILL-DISPOSED (unpleasant)
|
|
11
|
Ground turned up, delivers rocks (10)
|
UP reversed (turned) + an anagram of (rocks) DELIVERS PU< LVERISED* |
PULVERISED (ground)
|
|
12
|
Story linked to university place at the Sorbonne (4)
|
LIE (story) + U (university)
|
LIEU (French [Sorbonne] word for place)
|
|
14
|
Funny dog pound in position beside rear of zoo (5)
|
(L [pound sterling] contained in [in] PUT [position]) + O (last letter of [rear of] ZOO) P (L) UT O |
PLUTO (Disney cartoon dog; funny dog)
|
|
15
|
Love those people in nude, mostly looking for sex? (2,3,4)
|
O (zero; love score in tennis) + (THEM [those people] contained in [in] NAKED [nude] excluding the final letter [mostly] D) O N (THE M) AKE |
ON THE MAKE (bent on finding a sexual partner)
|
|
17
|
Right to avoid outlet stocking dodgy fish – it’s not likely to last (9)
|
(MARKET [outlet] excluding [to avoid] R [right]) containing (stocking) an anagram of (dodgy) FISH MAKE (SHIF*) T |
MAKESHIFT (temporary expedient or substitute; something not likely to last)
|
|
19
|
Whales knocking out new sound detectors (5)
|
MINKES (species of whales) excluding (knocking out) N (new)
|
MIKES (microphones; sound detectors)
|
|
21
|
Dodgy car costing little, front coming off (4)
|
CHEAP (costing little) excluding (coming off) the first letter (front) C
|
HEAP (old dilapidated car; dodgy car)
|
|
22
|
Someone unwanted at dance? Women – every female – scowl (10)
|
W (women) + ALL (every) + F (female) + LOWER (variant spelling of LOUR [scowl])
|
WALLFLOWER (a person who remains a spectator at a dance, typically a woman who cannot obtain partners)
|
|
26
|
Children’s character unknown to feisty urban teens (6,5)
|
Anagram of (feisty) URBAN TEENS + Y (a letter often used to represent an unknown value in mathematics) EASTER BUNN* Y |
EASTER BUNNY (children’s character)
|
|
27
|
Member following one’s guiding principle (3)
|
IS (ones) + M (member)
|
ISM (distinctive doctrine; guiding principle)
|
|
28
|
Commercialised version of saint, note, put forward by devilish figure (5)
|
SATAN (devilish figure) with N (note) moved forward SANTA |
SANTA (reference SANTA Claus, commercialised version of Saint Nicholas)
|
|
29
|
Soldiers turned against coming in to oppose part-timer (9)
|
(RE [Royal Engineers; soldiers] reversed [turned] + V [against]) contained in (coming in to) RESIST (oppose) RES (ER< V) IST |
RESERVIST (member of a military force kept out of action until occasion requires them; part-timer)
|
| Down | |||
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
|
1
|
Go over requirement for cardinal, having skipped first of duties (5)
|
RED CAP (Cardinals in the Roman Catholic wear a RED CAP) excluding (having skipped) D (first letter of [first of] DUTIES)
|
RECAP (go over the man points again)
|
|
2
|
French navy possibly supporting party initially under leader at Waterloo? (6-1) |
DO (party) + U (first letter of [initially] UNDER) + BLEU (French for blue; navy is a shade of blue)
|
DOUBLE-U (the letter W, the first letter [leader] of WATERLOO)
|
|
3
|
Tower to lease, in coastal area round South (5,5)
|
(HIRE [lease] contained in [in] SHORE [coastal area]) all containing (round) S (south) S (HIRE) HOR (S) E |
SHIRE HORSE (a powerful draught HORSE used for towing ploughs and other agricultural items in days gone by)
|
|
4
|
One’s cut up after French cut down in wartime arena (9)
|
GALLIC (French) excluding the final letter (cut down) C + ([I {one} + LOP {cut}] reversed [up; down clue]) GALLI (POL I)< |
GALLIPOLI (scene of fierce fighting in World War 1)
|
|
5
|
Collection of items go to court – one item in particular involved (5)
|
IT (a particular item) contained in (involved) SUE (prosecute at law; go to court) SU (IT) E |
SUITE (collection of items, usually furniture)
|
|
6
|
Current measures so far blocked by politician (4)
|
AS (so far) containing (blocked by) MP (Member of Parliament; politician) A (MP) S |
AMPS (measures of electric current)
|
|
7
|
Chaos in a city on Sicily (7)
|
MESS (chaos) + IN + A
|
MESSINA (city in Sicily)
|
|
8
|
Jewish traditionalists mention cut in religious areas (9)
|
ADDUCE (cite; quote; mention) excluding the final letter (cut) E contained in (in) SEES (religious areas representing the office of a Bishop) S (ADDUC) EES |
SADDUCEES (members of a Jewish priestly and aristocratic party of traditionalists)
|
|
13
|
Collaborative worker, one occupying no permanent level? (4,6)
|
(A [one] contained in [occupying] TEMP (temporary; not permanent]) + LAYER (level) TE (A) M P LAYER |
TEAM PLAYER (collaborative worker)
|
|
14
|
Help out with stamp booklets (9)
|
Anagram of (out) HELP and STAMP PAMPHLETS* |
PAMPHLETS (booklets)
|
|
16
|
Gossip, say, indicating length in lace-workers’s output (9)
|
L (length) contained in (in) TATTINGS (knotted lace edging made by hand with a shuttle from sewing-thread; lace-worker’s output) TATT (L) INGS |
TATTLINGS (gossip)
|
|
18
|
A lot of hot air from bad actors in family (7)
|
HAMS (bad actors) contained in (in) KIN (family) K (HAMS) IN |
KHAMSIN (a hot South or South Easterly wind in Egypt; a lot of hot air)
|
|
20
|
European country picked up delay linked to one from Arab country (7)
|
UK (United Kingdom; European country) reversed (picked up; down clue) + WAIT (delay) + I (one)
|
KUWAITI (a person from KUWAIT; from Arab country) the definition could be ‘one from Arab country’ with the ‘one’ doing double duty in the wordplay and the definition
|
|
23
|
Warning signal sees children leaving room (5)
|
CHAMBER (room) excluding (leaving) CH (children)
|
AMBER (colour of a warning signal)
|
|
24
|
Send last component of 29 up (5)
|
TIMER (last part word [component] of the clue to 29 across) reversed (up; down clue) REMIT< |
REMIT (send)
|
|
25
|
Royal fighter intervening in tax enactment (4)
|
XENA (hidden word [intervening] in TAX ENACTMENT)
|
XENA (reference the television series XENA Warrior [fighter] Princess [royal] broadcast in the late 1990s and early 2000s)
|
Thanks for blogging, Duncan.
I disagree with you. Well done to those that solved this on the daily commute, because I gave up with only two-thirds done before I set off to work.
TATTLINGS is seriously obscure, both in definition and solution; KHAMSIN fair enough, but if you’re on the bus you’d need to check it, I think; unlike you, I wasn’t impressed by DOUBLE-U; and where I come from ON THE MAKE is to do with looking to earn some money, and not about getting your leg over.
There’ll be a theme in there somewhere which will explain all this, no doubt.
Thanks to our setter and good weekend to all.
All due respect K’s D but I am definitely with Duncan on this.
I solved it before I got up this morning, only guessing at Xena, which I had never heard of.
Not too difficult and definitely enjoyable, but I am positive there is something going on. But, of course, can’t see it, and await enlightenment.
Duncan has been remarkably observant – the first four words he lists in his preamble are indeed the thematic ones. Everything else is rather more hidden… But the them’s a belter for astronomers.
Many are DOUBLES, e.g. CRU LIEU, MESSINA GALLIPOLI …
XENA was the nickname given temporarily to the dwarf planet Eris, the larger sister of the dwarf planet PLUTO.
I wonder if the theme is to do with ice dwarfs, e.g. SANTA, EASTER BUNNY, XENA, PLUTO …
MAKEMAKE is another…
Phi’s hint at 3 and a bit of online research throws up the Kuiper belt as the likely theme. The Kuiper belt is a region of the solar system beyond the planets. I haven’t found one site that lists all the various theme words together but looking at a number of sites I can see that PLUTO, EASTER BUNNY, SANTA and XENA have all featured or continue to feature within the Kuiper belt. As Cookie points out at 5 the official name of XENA is Eris.
Thanks Phi and Duncan. I thought the more obscure words were clued in a nice friendly fashion, and happily took a guess at KHAMSIN with no checkers in place. The grid was also quite helpful, which leads me to believe that there is no theme, and Phi and Duncan must be mistaken. Although by a strange coincidence, the dwarf planet HAUMEA is hidden in row 2.
Well done Cyborg, that then makes six ice dwarfs in the Kuiper Belt.
Wikipedia gives makemake and haumea too – both hidden in the grid. I can’t see Kuiper itself though.
Sorry, too late to be any use there.
Here is a list http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_possible_dwarf_planets
Thank you Phi and duncanshiell.
A most enjoyable puzzle and great blog. I failed to get SADDUCEES (I might have heard it before) and XENA.
CRUX, SANTA and DOUBLE-U, among others, were fun.
The official name of XENA is Eris, that of SANTA is HAUMEA and that of EASTER BUNNY is MAKEMAKE.
Just found ERIS in pulvERISed.
Reading some of the reporting around the New Horizons mission, I found a list of the nicknames given to newly-discovered objects before official naming takes over. (Dwarf planets are lucky: some stars never move on from things like EFQ2014 +60.4500987t.). The challenge then was to work the unfamiliar official names into the grid. That meant containment within entries or unchecked letters and so on. The grid that emerged wasn’t so bad. Xena was my main concern: mentioned quite regularly over here (Lucy Lawless, who plays her, is a Kiwi), but rather cultish for most.
I found googling that the Xena series was filmed in NZ. I have not seen any of the episodes. Thank you again Phi and duncanshiell.
Xena cultish? Depends what circles you move in. I thought it was well know. (It was my FOI.)
Now, if you want cultish TV, there’s the New Zealand show The Almighty Johnsons, one of my favourites in recent years.
Made a mess of this, being sure at 27ac that there was some meaning of IMP that I wasn’t aware of and put that in.
And having finished the crossword, I started reading this week’s New Scientist – which had an article about the Kuiper Belt. Including what is hoped to be the next target for New Horizons, 2014 MU69, which I don’t think was in the grid today.