One of Phi’s easier offerings I thought (but none the worse for that). On the first pass through I, unusually for me, solved nearly half of the clues, which are as usual excellent.
Definitions underlined and in DarkMagenta, which I fear will look a bit odd but let’s see.
I can’t see any theme here. But with Phi I never can.
| Across | ||
| 1 | EASEL | Support women abandoned by scoundrel (5) |
| {w}easel | ||
| 4 | ACONCAGUA | Mountain account about to be overwhelmed by guano supply (9) |
| ac then ca in (guano)* | ||
| 9 | PRINCETON | Pop singer leading fashionable people in US town (9) |
| Prince ton — ton = fashionable people, one of those words I don’t think we ever use in real life but which crop up from time to time in crosswords | ||
| 10 | MEANS | Provides staff for securing energy facility (5) |
| m(e)ans | ||
| 11 | RAINDROP | Runs operation after incursion to secure new bit of water (8) |
| rai(n)d r op | ||
| 12 | ARMOUR | Romance involving right knightly attire (6) |
| a(r)mour | ||
| 14 | IGNORANT | I leave after receiving new tirade not affected by knowledge (8) |
| I g(n)o rant | ||
| 16 | SLADE | Learner restricted by unhappy English art school (5) |
| s(L)ad E | ||
| 18 | HOUSE | Government ministry to employ all the numbers? (5) |
| H.O. use — all the numbers as in Bingo, where so far as I know you shout ‘house’ when you get all the numbers — the government ministry is the Home Office | ||
| 20 | TABBY-CAT | Key beside C: @? Strokes may be applied here (5-3) |
| tab [= key] by [= beside] C at | ||
| 23 | PICARD | Very good character shown by Starfleet captain (6) |
| pi card — a character from Star Trek | ||
| 24 | CELERITY | Speed shown by reality TV winner releasing book (8) |
| cele(b)rity | ||
| 27 | OPERA | Garden display, say, recalling some particular epoch (5) |
| Hidden reversed in particulAR EPOch — the garden is Covent Garden and the ‘say’ is because it could also be the Met or Sadlers Wells or … | ||
| 28 | SHANGRI-LA | Mum, in a temper, cut down article from Himalayan valley (7-2) |
| sh! angril{y} a — this is where the name of those nice little houses in the country originated | ||
| 29 | DARK HORSE | Mysterious figure rode shark at sea (4,5) |
| (rode shark)* | ||
| 30 | RIGHT | Fine to avoid unnerving experience? Agreed (5) |
| {f}right | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | EXPORT | Wine now becoming vinegary, say, to sell overseas (6) |
| If it’s no longer port, but ex-port, i.e. has been sitting there for too long, it is probably becoming vinegary | ||
| 2 | SHINING | Daughter leaving party after irruption by number rather lit up (7) |
| shin{d}i(n)g | ||
| 3 | LUCID | A lot of fortune I had, not 19 (5) |
| luc{k} I’d — 19 being UNCLEAR, this is the opposite — you go to 19 and it sends you back to 3 and you go round and round, but it’s fairly clear that they are opposites and the wordplay is simple enough, so no trouble. Actually I prefer this to those maddening clues that send you somewhere else and that somewhere else is unsolved. | ||
| 4 | ASTRONAUTS | They may be travelling to a sun/star (10) |
| (to a sun/star)* — semi &lit. | ||
| 5 | OINK | Animal sound emanating from zoo in Knaresborough (4) |
| Hidden in zoO IN Knaresborough | ||
| 6 | CAMERA-SHY | Turned up with artist’s attempt, being averse to pictures (6-3) |
| came [= turned up] RA shy [= attempt] | ||
| 7 | GRANOLA | Breakfast food: elderly relative has duck, look! (7) |
| Gran 0 la! | ||
| 8 | ASSORTED | Various redesigns to a dress (8) |
| (to a dress)* | ||
| 13 | STABLEMATE | Impasse about black horse nearby? (10) |
| sta(b)lemate | ||
| 15 | OVERREACH | Go too far – slip up over every single old volume at first (9) |
| err each [= every single] with o v coming first | ||
| 17 | SHIPLOAD | Hospital, losing time, treated 500 – everybody on the liner? (8) |
| (Hospi{t}al)* D | ||
| 19 | UNCLEAR | Not 3 regarding some power needing movement of uranium (7) |
| 3 being LUCID, this is the opposite — nuclear with the u moved up one space | ||
| 21 | ABIDING | A requirement at auction that’s one day discontinued for ever (7) |
| a bidding with only one d | ||
| 22 | TYRANT | Tense year with soldier becoming despot (6) |
| t yr ant | ||
| 25 | EIGER | Male avoids diet, climbing mountain (5) |
| (regi{m}e)rev. | ||
| 26 | TSAR | Senior public official setting limits to this area, right? (4) |
| t{hi}s a r | ||
*anagram
Thanks Phi and John.
I enjoyed this puzzle, not too difficult for me. EXPORT, SHINING, TYRANT, EIGER and TABBY-CAT among others made me smile.
I see a theme, perhaps not the one that was meant, but will leave it to the boys for now.
Nice clues: OPERA was a favourite, for surface and sneaky def. Thanks to Phi & John.
Hanged if I can see a theme even after being told there there is one, which is infuriating, like a chess prob where one knows there is a solution but is simply too dim to see the wretched thing. Go on, Cookie, give us a hint.
Agreed all the above!
I can’t say fairer than the above!
Grant Baynham @2, it might be just a theme I dug out, not the one intended – I did say it was for the boys, which meant I had to google a lot, 23a is relevant… My captcha is eight – ? = 0, not promising…
Thank you for blogging, John.
Most enjoyable puzzle, which fell out nicely apart from ACONCAGUA, which I couldn’t even see when I had all the crossers. So I’m guessing that’s part of the theme.
I still can’t see GRANOLA. I put in GRAN+O+LO, since look! is always lo! in crosswords. How does LA equal look!?
Thanks to Phi and good weekend to all.
Went in very quickly. Had to google 4ac and I can’t believe 27ac was my LOI. I kept on seeing OMEGA but I couldn’t see why and ended up doing a word search. Ironically, in a couple of hours I’m off to the first night of Akhnaten – at English National Opera, not the Garden. (Contains nudity, not suitable for children, says the ENO website. Sounds fun.)
K’s D: Chambers gives “la”= “lo! see! behold! ah! indeed!” (sounds like a Frankie Howerd show). It quite often comes up in this sense in Azed and the like, but I don’t remember seeing it in “regular” puzzles.
The theme could be Star Trek, Starships in particular, NCC-1754 (and 2517) SHANGRI-LA, NCC-1593 PRINCETON, NCC-785 ACONCAGUA, NCC-1031 EIGER, I found CELERITY earlier before realising it would be a good idea to take the number (there are thousands of Starships!). Then there is Captain PICARD of course, SLADE Bender and the TABBY-CAT of Martin Sand.
Thank you for explaining, Andrew. Perhaps it should have been kept in Frankie Howerd/Azed territory … or maybe I’ll use it down the pub this weekend. ‘La! The Pedigree is on special offer at only £2.50 a pint tonight – do you fancy one?’
I have done Star Trek captains in my time, but not here. Here we have David Mitchell”s novel Slade House with references to its five sections. I can’t say whether Mitchell intended the Star Trek references (I believe he’s more of a Whovian), but I’m sure Dormouse would be able to identify the librettist of a recent ENO premiere, Sunken Garden.
Oh, for goodness’ sake.
I am – as the aged judge said upon hearing lengthy argument from learned counsel on both sides – better informed but none the wiser. Time I started compiling on my own account and getting me own back…
Thanks again Phi for the fun, at least my “theme” kept me busy – one of our cats had to be put to sleep yesterday…
RIP cat. Never a good time.
Printed it off and took it with me to do while on grandparent duties – and finished it without any aids while the other half took them to the park. Even ACONCAGUA which I’d never heard of – knowing where Phi is domiciles I thought it might be in NZ, but apparently it’s in Argentina. Couldn’t see the theme, intended or unintended; only a couple of apparently tenuous links in that 4ac and 25dn are mountains, and PICARD is an ASTRONAUT.
Thanks, Phi and John
Always sad to hear of a cat’s passing. With the other half being plugged into so many cat blogging networks we hear of quite a few and they always generate lots of commiserations.
I did indeed see Sunken Garden, although it didn’t appeal much too me, although as it happens I’ve just bought a CD of vad der Aa’s violin concerto. I also have read Cloud Atlas, which I found disappointing.