Independent 9151 / Phi

by

 This is a Phi puzzle with the usual ingredients.

 

 

 

I have two or three indicators that usually tell me if there is a hidden theme in a crossword.  Firstly I assess how many rather obscure words there are and secondly I look to see how many proper nouns or names are in the grid.  A third is the number of three letter words in the grid.

Today we have LECITHIN [16 down], SHWAS [24 down] and OJIBWAS [7 down] in the obscure category and NICOLA [15 across], BARKER [21 across], JAMES [26 across], ISABELLA [18 down] and KAMPALA [22 down] in the second category.  This crossword therefore fulfilled both of the first two criteria so I reckoned there was a theme.

The majority of the obscure words and proper nouns are in the Downs which implied to me that the theme would be found mainly in the Acrosses.  Theme words tend to constrain the choice of words that can be fitted into the relevant crossing letters hence the more unusual entries.  STEP DANCING [11 across] is a also an unusual phrase to me, and as can be seen below it crosses two Down theme words.

The theme here is the novels of NICOLA BARKER. English novelist and short story writer, born 1966.  Her novels include REVERSED FORECAST (17 across and 19 across), WIDE OPEN (5 down), CLEAR (4 down), DARKMANS (28 across and first 4 letters of 29 across, shortlisted for the Man Booker prize) and The CAULIFLOWER (26 across).

I wondered about ISABELLA JAMES and have tracked down a lady of the same name [1884 – 1965] described by Wikipedia as a New Zealand Presbyterian Missionary.  Given Phi’s location I suspect this is not a coincidence.

Of course, it is not necessary to know anything about the theme to solve the crossword though I guess it would help if you were aware of the works of Ms BARKER.  I’m afraid I wasn’t.

Across
No. Clue Wordplay Entry

1

 

Ace crossword – no indication of alternative – cryptic?  Such may be beyond criticism (6,4)

Anagram of (cryptic) ACE CROSSWORD excluding (no indication of) OR (alternative)

SACRED COWS*

SACRED COWS (institutions, customs, etc, so venerated that they are above criticism)

 

6

 

Son engaged in reverse of best job (4)

 

S (son) contained in (engaged in) (TOP [best] reversed [reverse of])

PO (S) T<

POST (job)

 

10

 

Vehicle maintenance left incomplete (3)

 

CARE (maintenance) excluding the final letter (left incomplete) E

 

CAR (vehicle)

 

11

 

Skilful footwork, pending cast changes (11)

 

Anagram of (changes) PENDING CAST

STEP DANCING*

STEP DANCING (DANCING involving an effective display of STEPs by an individual; skilful footwork)

 

12

 

Ghastly party, no skill, very uneven (5)

 

BUM (awful; ghastly) + PY (PARTY excluding [no] ART [skill])

 

BUMPY (very uneven)

 

13

 

Part of church entrance knocked over by haulage expert? (4-5)

 

DOOR (entrance) reversed (knocked over) + TOWER (haulage expert)

ROOD< TOWER

ROOD-TOWER (the TOWER over the crossing of a church)

 

15

 

Woman backed fashionable drink (6)

 

IN (fashionable) reversed (backed) + COLA (soft drink)

NI< COLA

NICOLA (woman’s name)

 

17

 

Backed poetry penned by radical (8)

 

VERSE (poetry) contained in (penned by) RED (revolutionary or person who favours sweeping changes, variously applied to RADICAL, republican, anarchist, socialist, communist, etc)

RE (VERSE) D

REVERSED (backed)

 

19

 

Expected outcome of returning with different actors (8)

 

OF reversed (returning) + RECAST (with different actors)

FO< RECAST

FORECAST (expected)

 

21

 

Fairground worker and drink supplier not turning to go (6)

 

BAR KEEPER (drink supplier) excluding (not) (PEE [to go] reversed)

 

BARKER (fairground worker)

 

23

 

Glassware and barrels rolled over into river (4,5)

 

BUTTS (barrels) reversed (rolled cover) and contained in (into) TEES (English river)

TE (ST TUB)< ES

TEST TUBES (glass cylinders closed at one end, used in chemistry, bacteriology, etc)

 

25

 

Anglophile US writer crowds around English (5)

 

JAMS (crowds) containing (around) E (English)

JAM (E) S

JAMES (reference Henry JAMES [1843-1916], American writer who spent a lot of time in Britain)

 

26

 

US state, not so mountainous, containing source of unique vegetable (11)

 

(CALIF [US State of California] containing [containing] U [first letter of {source of} UNIQUE]) + LOWER (not so mountainous)

CA (U) LIF LOWER

CAULIFLOWER (vegetable)

 

27

 

Cut most of lines on graph (3)

 

AXES (lines on a graph) excluding the final letter (leaving most of) S

 

AXE (cut)

 

28

 

Unilluminated vessel on Dee (4)

 

D (Dee) + ARK (vessel)

 

DARK (unilluminated)

 

29

 

Member of staff very gripped by tirade from minister? (10)

 

MANSE (an ecclesiastical residence, especially that of a parish minister of the Church of Scotland.) + (V [very] gripped by RANT [tirade])

MANSE R (V) ANT

MANSERVANT (member of staff)

 
Down
No. Clue Wordplay Entry

1

 

Money going into the pockets of bad people? (4,7)

 

SICK BENEFIT (a cryptic definition based on SICK meaning bad.  This BENEFIT is made available as money)

 

SICK BENEFIT (money paid to someone who is out of work due to illness)

 

2

 

China caught America mostly in disarray (7)

 

C (caught) + (an anagram of [in disarray] AMERICA excluding the final letter [mostly] A)

C ERAMIC*

CERAMIC (china)

 

3

 

French are for one extended article (5)

 

ES (French form of ‘are’) + SAY (for one)

 

ESSAY (extended [written] article)

 

4

 

Certain Catholic King involved in tragedy (5)

 

C (Catholic) + LEAR (reference Shakespeare’s play the TRAGEDY of King LEAR)

 

CLEAR (certain)

 

5

 

Wayward ball and golf tournament’s winnable by anyone (4,4)

 

WIDE (wayward ball in cricket) + OPEN (golf tournament)

 

WIDE OPEN (winnable by anyone)

 

7

 

Some Americans noticed cut jewel being lifted (7)

 

(SAW [noticed] + BIJOU [jewel] excluding the last letter [cut] U) all reversed (being lifted; down clue)

(OJIB WAS)<

OJIBWAS (Native American people originally concentrated round Lakes Superior and Huron)

 

8

 

Draw canal upwards (3)

 

GUT ([alimentary] canal) reversed (upwards; down clue)

TUG<

TUG (draw)

 

9

 

National border within confines of Asia – something abhorred (8)

 

(NAT [national] + HEM [border]) contained in (within) AA (first and last letters of [confines of] ASIA)

A (NAT HEM) A

ANATHEMA (object of abhorrence)

 

14

 

Medical organisation regarding councillor in decline (3,8)

 

RE (regarding) + (CR [Councillor] contained in [in] DESCENT [decline])

RE D (CR) ESCENT

RED CRESCENT (humanitarian movement with strong medical focus)

 

16

 

Lipid in blood and eggs – it’s found in lichen, unexpectedly (8)

 

IT contained in (found in) an anagram of (unexpectedly) LICHEN

LEC (IT) HIN*

LECITHIN (complex phospholipids found in the yolk of an egg, in the brain, blood, etc)

 

18

 

One deception taking in sailor over a girl (8)

 

I (one) + (SELL [deception] containing [taking in] AB [able seaman; sailor]) + A

I S (AB) ELL A

ISABELLA (girl’s name)

 

20

 

Regret about key river salvage worker (7)

 

RUE (regret) containing (about) ESC [ESCape key on a computer keyboard]) + R (river)

R (ESC) UE R

RESCUER (salvage worker)

 

22

 

Some current on a line fed into outskirts of Kinshasa (African city) (7)

 

(AMP [unit of electric current] + A + L [line]) contained in (fed into) KA (first and last letters of [outskirts of] KINSHASA)

K (AMP A L) A

KAMPALA (African city, capital of Uganda)

 

24

 

Indistinct sounds used to be observed after silence (5)

 

SH (quiet!; silence) + WAS (used to be)

 

SHWAS (indistinct vowel sounds)

 

25

 

Judge’s indignation seeing stripping person in courtroom (5)

 

J (judge) + (FURORE [indignation] excluding the first and last letters [stripping] FE)

 

JUROR (person in a courtroom)

 

26

 

Line not required for Arctic fish (3)

 

COLD (Arctic) excluding (not required) L (line)

 

COD (fish)

 

9 comments on “Independent 9151 / Phi”

  1. Really shouldn’t jump in at the outset like this, but the simple sum (?x1=1) is a bit irresistible. This came from rereading Darkmans and realising quite how outrageously good it was, and shortly afterwards discovering The Cauliflower was due out later this year. That seemed to signal a theme. However, I can state that Isabella James is a new name to me!

    Duncan has a pretty good diagnostic there. I’ll have to see what I can slip past it.

  2. I stand amazed. Duncan’s diagnostics are beyond clever and any chance (I had none) of spotting the theme were obviated by my complete inability to parse BARKER, last clue in and entered only because of obvious definition. (I’d observe that that is another common feature of themed puzzles but only as a contribution to salve my wounded pride).
    Looks as tho’ this may among our few last chances of doing this with paper & biro. Very sad.

  7. No technical reason, surely, why the crosswords can’t be kept online; and if they are then you can always print your own to do with biro.

    But to return to the crossword, I found this quite a lot harder than your average Phi, but I got there in the end. OJIBWAS was a new word for me, although I guessed from the clue that some native Americans were indicated. SHWAS was not so obscure, I’d come across the term in relation to language studies.

    I guessed, too, that there was a theme, as usual with Phi, and the name NICOLA BARKER suggested itself as a suitable starting point for googling – and there it was!

    Thanks, Phi and Duncan

  8. Came here to find out which native American people were the answer to 7D (my LOI, which I couldn’t work out).
    The announcement of the demise of the print edition isa sad day indeed – what the ecky thump am I going to buy now?

    But what’s all this talk of Biros?
    As any fule kno, the best tool for attempting a crossword on dead tree is a fountain pen! 😉

  9. Agreeable puzzle, not familiar with the works of Nicola Barker but, as Duncan says, not necessary to solve.

    19A – the second word of the clue, outcome, should be underlined as part of the definition.

    Thanks to Phi and duncanshiell.

Comments are closed.