After the recent announcement about the Indy’s exclusively online future, it is hard to know what future lies in store for its crosswords. I for one have my fingers and toes crossed that as many as possible of them – concise, cryptic, general knowledge and Inquisitor alike – will find a new home online, but as we await further news, let us make the most of the last few weeks of the printed edition.
It is Phi/Friday again and I found this one to be at the easier end of the difficulty spectrum for a Phi puzzle. I managed to complete the whole puzzle unaided, although the term for “policy advisor” at 15 was new to me. I feel sure that there must be a theme here, but like most of Phi’s ghost themes, it escapes me.
My favourite clues today were 9 and 16, both for surface, and above all 14, for its & lit. content.
(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | DROP | Abandon power after party seizes rule
[R (=rule) in DO (=party)] + P (=power) |
| 04 | COVER | Insurance company’s extremely limited
CO (=cover) + VER<y> (=extremely; “limited” means last letter dropped |
| 07 | HOLD | Maintain H is at front of ‘historic’
H + OLD (=historic); e.g. I maintain/hold/assert …) |
| 09 | LABOUR-INTENSIVE | Unenviable working with tiros, requiring a lot of effort
*(UNENVIABLE + TIROS); “working” is anagram indicator |
| 10 | MYTH | Extremes of military tech are fiction
M<ilitar>Y T<ec>H; “extremes of” means first and last letters only |
| 11 | STOREHOUSE | Granary others rebuilt beside river
*(OTHERS) + OUSE (=river); “rebuilt” is anagram indicator |
| 12 | WHATSOEVER | At all events, a row developed about Hungary not Norway
H (=Hungary) in *(EVE<n>TS A ROW); “not Norway (=N)” means letter “n” is dropped from anagram, indicated by “developed”; e.g. I said nothing at all/whatsoever |
| 15 | KNOW | Be aware of return of policy advisor
WONK (=policy advisor); “return of” indicates reversal; a policy wonk is someone who has an in-depth, detailed knowledge of a particular policy field |
| 16 | SCOW | Boat’s lower, having lost stern
SCOW<l> (=lower, as verb); “having lost stern” means last letter is dropped |
| 18 | EARTHQUAKE | Calamity: attention and hard question brought into perspective
EAR (=attention) + {[H (=hard) + QU (=question)] in TAKE (=perspective, as in What is your take on the problem?)} |
| 20 | INDISPOSED | Small music labels, non-English, took stance, faring poorly
INDI<e>S (=small music labels; “non-English (=E)” means letter “e” is dropped) + POSED (=took stance) |
| 22 | RIDE | Free entry to exhibition? Go on!
RID (=free) + E<xhibition> (“entry to” means first letter only) |
| 24 | SYSTEMS ANALYSIS | My assassin worked with style and an efficient approach
*(MY ASSASSIN + STYLE); “worked” is anagram indicator |
| 25 | IDLE | Useless fish in Lake? On the contrary
L (=Lake) in IDE (=fish) |
| 26 | SIDLE | Second appearance of previous answer? A sly move
S (=second) + IDLE (=appearance of previous answer, i.e. 25A) |
| 27 | LILY | Person of great purity weakly rejecting politician
LI<mp>LY (=weakly); “rejecting politician (=MP)” means letters “mp” are dropped; cf. lily-white |
| Down | ||
| 02 | READY | Up for a bit of rumpy-pumpy with boyfriend (no saint)
R<umpy-pumpy) + <st>EADY (=boyfriend; “no saint (=St)” means letters “st” are dropped) |
| 03 | PROPHET | One predicts the change following support
PROP (=support) + *(THE); “change” is anagram indicator |
| 04 | CURBSTONE | Dog with favourite food around street? Edge of street in America
CUR (=dog) + [ST (=street) in BONE (=favourite food, i.e. of dog)]; “curbstone” is the US spelling of “kerbstone” |
| 05 | VANCOUVER ISLAND | Rocky cove vandals ruin in North American location
*(COVE VANDALS RUIN); “rocky” is anagram indicator |
| 06 | REEVE | Lecturer and I leaving to take pressure off old magistrate
RE<li>EVE (=to take the pressure off); “lecturer (L) and I leaving” means letters “l” and “i” are dropped |
| 07 | HASSOCK | Church item showing a couple of Saints breaking open wine
[A + S S (=Saints, i.e. 2 x S)] in HOCK (=wine) |
| 08 | LIVESTOCK | I have stone brought in to secure animals
[I’VE (=I have) + ST (=stone)] in LOCK (=secure) |
| 13 | HACKNEYED | Unimaginative note journalist observed going round
N (=note) in [HACK (=journalist) + EYED (=observed)] |
| 14 | REHYDRATE | Trainer finally ready with the fluid – to do this?
<traine>R (“finally” means last letter only) + *(READY + THE); “fluid” is anagram indicator |
| 17 | WHISTLE | Referee’s intervention in game getting lot of support
WHIST (=game, of cards) + LE<g> (=support, e.g. of table; “lot of” means last letter dropped) |
| 19 | UNROYAL | Republican bet on university getting upset about Republican
R (=Republican) in UNOYAL (LAY=bet + ON + U; “getting upset” indicates vertical reversal) |
| 21 | PUMAS | Cats turned up – a great many, but not all
PU (UP; “turned” indicates reversal) + MAS<s> (=a great many; “not all” means last letter dropped) |
| 23 | DRILL | Medic feeling sick will identify procedure
DR (=medic, i.e. doctor) + ILL (=feeling sick) |
Thanks Phi and RR.
In a certain sense this was an enjoyable puzzle, however, it brought memories back which I think the theme is about, I can see 5 or 6 possible references…
I had not heard of a “policy wonk” before. Many neat clues, in particular SCOW, RIDE and IDLE.
A puzzle of two halves – the top half went in quite quickly, even LABOUR INTENSIVE without detailed checking of the anagram fodder; then the bottom half was much slower. Can’t see the theme, though.
I thought ‘policy’ was superfluous in the clue for KNOW. A wonk is a person (often young and enthusiastic) who’s knowledgeable about a particular subject, and hence can be turned to for advice – in short an advisor.
Thanks, Phi and RatkojaRiku
Here is a reference if anyone wants to see what the theme is probably about.
Used this one to explain cryptic x-words to a French friend, which excercise simply confirmed her view of our national sanity.
I can see the theme, but is there some event which inspired it which I am missing?
Enjoyed it anyway: WHISTLE wordplay had the kind of subtly vicious decoy we expect from Phi. Thanks to him and RatkojaRiku whose name I’m very pleased to say my phone now predicts unprompted.
Ah. Thanks, cookie.
Grant Baynham @4, there was a recent relatively minor event, but probably after Phi submitted this puzzle.
Thanks Phi and RR. I also found it a little easier than usual today, probably because of the long anagrams. 14d was my favourite.
Cookie @1, the theme seems to be a Kiwi test – obvious but also rather grim for locals and expats. I thought much as you did.
Cyborg @7, the 22 February will be a five year anniversary. The word DRILL, along with what seemed a possible theme, made me suspicious, then the three words following each other, I didn’t remember those, so I googled.
Good stuff from Phi – just right for a daily cryptic. I would never have got the theme in a million years (well done to those who did) but the fact that the themed words are common ones didn’t add to the difficulty level.
For those who don’t know, Phi is English, but lives in New Zealand. If I remember well, he said that he wasn’t personally affected by the big quake five years ago.
Thanks to RR for the blog and good weekend to all.
This really came about when we had an earthquake drill a few months ago and it struck me that DROP COVER HOLD would fit in a row. The drill required someone to blow a whistle to let everyone know they should drop to the floor, get under cover and hold on to something. It did occur to me that a quake strong enough to require protective action probably wouldn’t need a whistle to alert you to it.
That said there was a quake (5.4 or so) while I was attending a conference in Wellington last week and a single attendee tried to get under her chair. The speaker managed to ignore quake and kerfuffle in audience for half a minute before lamely asking if something had happened. So maybe a whistle is needed!
Missed the latest Christchurch quake as I was driving at the time and it wasn’t that strong up here. But perhaps I’ll lay off seismic Ninas now.
Do sign the petition if you haven’t already done so.
Thanks again Phi, among many other things as a child, I remember driving somewhere North of Wellington on a lovely calm sunny day and seeing cabbage trees on either side of the road doing strange acrobatics…
This was quite an entertaining one to have in the background over a few beers – quite tough in places but quite fair.
Thanks to Phi and RR