A Phi crossword of medium difficulty, I found, although it all seems perfectly straighforward now. The mark of a good setter, they say.
Definitions underlined and in maroon.
For once in a blue moon I have seen what Phi’s theme is — although you might say that it was pretty obvious, being helpfully signposted by 14 and 15 across. It’s the film The Grand Budapest Hotel. No I haven’t seen it I’m afraid, although by all accounts to do so is worth it. Google helped: the director is Wes 16ac, and 6dn, 8dn, 20dn, 21dn are characters in the film. No doubt there are more that I haven’t seen; I’m sure they’ll be pointed out.
| Across | ||
| 1 | JET-SKIERS | Mocking comments about tatty kits for watersports fans (3-6) |
| (kits)* in jeers | ||
| 6 | ZEBRA | Unknown period needed to capture black animal (5) |
| z e(B)ra | ||
| 9 | GOBLINS | Energy line fed into trashcans – pesky critters (7) |
| go b(l)ins | ||
| 10 | BERMUDA | Dumber pants initially adopted in place of shorts? (7) |
| (Dumber)* a{dopted} — I had hoped that we weren’t going to have to use ‘pants’ as an anagram indicator and that the ‘initially’ applied to it and not to ‘adopted’, but no | ||
| 11 | IN THE CLEAR | Man engaged in playing clarinet no longer considered a criminal (2,3,5) |
| he in (clarinet)* | ||
| 12 | WASH | White’s beginning to get grey in laundry (4) |
| W{hite} ash | ||
| 14 | GRAND | Student leaving university, having secured new piano (5) |
| Gra(n)d | ||
| 15 | BUDAPEST | Friend takes off, having time in European city (8) |
| bud apes t | ||
| 16 | ANDERSON | Man offering shelter and freedom to snore? (8) |
| and (snore)* — referring to the Anderson shelter of the Second World War | ||
| 18 | REJIG | Adjust most of time in office after installation of Judge (5) |
| re(J)ig{n} — I don’t think of the Queen’s reign as her time in office, but I suppose in a sense it is | ||
| 22 | MOCK | Frontless dress is fake (4) |
| {s}mock | ||
| 23 | CONSTABLES | Studies book, engaged in stories and pictures? (10) |
| cons ta(b)les — the artist John Constable, not the Police Constable | ||
| 26 | TITULAR | Sailor holding it up looks initially like Hornblower? (7) |
| (it first letters of ‘Up Looks’) in tar — ref the Captain Hornblower books by C.S.Forester | ||
| 27 | AMERICA | Articles about resolution of crime in the country (7) |
| a (crime)* a | ||
| 28 | ID EST | I stop eliminating lives, in other words (2,3) |
| I des{is)t — lives = is — in other words = i.e. | ||
| 29 | CONCIERGE | Hotel employee reducing anxiety about one gent? Not half (9) |
| conc(1)er{n} ge{nt} | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | JOGGING | Japan lumberjack’s work, not initially light exercise (7) |
| J {l}ogging — or you could equally well say that the definition is simply ‘exercise’ and ‘logging’ is losing the initial letter of ‘light’ | ||
| 2 | TABITHA | Girl somewhat enthralled by most of rapprochement (7) |
| t(a bit)ha{w} | ||
| 3 | KNIFE-EDGES | Fail to rise after consuming meal, say, setting up crucial situations (5-5) |
| (sink)rev. round (feed (e.g.)rev.) | ||
| 4 | EASEL | Stand fish after swallowing a second (5) |
| e(a s)el | ||
| 5 | SUBWARDEN | Activity displayed by absurd new college official (9) |
| (absurd new)* — ‘Activity displayed by’ the anagram indicator | ||
| 6 | ZERO | Ineffective person about to be involved in lightweight uprising (4) |
| (o(re)z)rev. | ||
| 7 | BAUHAUS | Vehicle circling gold hall, ignoring half art school (7) |
| b(au ha{ll})us — this art school | ||
| 8 | AGATHA | Range that mostly identifies crime writer to her closest fans? (6) |
| aga tha{t} — Agatha Christie — I’m not quite clear about the ‘to her closest fans’ and suspect I’m missing something | ||
| 13 | SPERMACETI | Two-thirds of simple cerate (processed waxy substance) (10) |
| (simp{le} cerate)* — anagram indicator ‘processed’ — according to Collins cerate, of which I’d never heard but it looked OK, is ‘a hard ointment or medicated paste consisting of lard or oil mixed with wax or resin’ | ||
| 15 | BISHOPRIC | I betray monarch I caught undermining British religious centre (9) |
| (I shop R I c) under B | ||
| 17 | NECKTIE | One hangs around in formal situation, possibly making a bow (7) |
| CD | ||
| 19 | JOLLIER | Happier story’s right after a good deal of shock (7) |
| jol{t} lie R | ||
| 20 | GUSTAVE | Good University staff will identify Doré? (7) |
| G U stave — ref Gustave Doré | ||
| 21 | DMITRI | Russian in Germany with German openings for Russian industry (6) |
| D [= Germany] mit [= ‘with’ in German] R{ussian} i{ndustry} | ||
| 24 | STAIN | Mark dictator eradicating Left (5) |
| Sta{l}in | ||
| 25 | SLIT | Succeeded with literary opening (4) |
| s lit. | ||
*anagram
Nice one Phi-I’ll look out for the film-and thanks for blog
Too upset at the moment to solve crosswords – some might find this article of interest, brexit and Stefan Zweig, the writings of whom inspired Wes ANDERSON and Hugo Guinness to write The GRAND BUDAPEST Hotel.
Medium difficulty? I thought some of this pretty fiendish for Phi and laboured long over the SW quarter before finally cracking it. Admired DMITRI and ANDERSON particularly.
Didn’t spot the theme, have seen the film, thought it very pleased with itself (sorry Phi).
Thanks to Phi and John.
Following the reviews I bought the film, but after one viewing took it to my local charity shop. Sorry, Phi. But Thanks John for the blog.
I, too, ground to a halt in the bottom left, although 5dn held me up for some time. Have seen the film – it was OK but not one of my favourites – and I didn’t spot the theme.
It’s dawn in Phoenix and the temperature is at last below 30C for a while. I’m on the hotel balcony watching a range of mountains turn from purple to red.
Well, I loved Grand Budapest Hotel, which we first saw in an outrageously odd cinema in Amsterdam (getting what limited globetrotting we do itemised in force today…). Not quite as good as Moonrise Kingdom, but wonderfully inventive yet operating under clear control. Just like a good crossword!