Independent 9271 / Phi

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Phi has given us an interesting puzzle today

 

 

 

 

First look at the grid suggests it is a classic design for a message round the outside.

However, Phi is only too well aware of where people look for messages so he has put his message in a different place this time.  Reading the unchecked letters in rows 3, 5, 11 and 13 we see:

A MESSAGE AVOIDING THE PERIMETER

As with the most effective themes and Ninas [messages] it is not necessary to know the theme or see the message to solve the puzzle.

There were though one or two slightly obscure entries required to help Phi get his message into the gird.  I’m thinking here of PIROGI [11 across], SCHLEP [15 across], ECCLES [25 across] and AXLE TREE [20 down].  I don’t find GRETNA obscure as I live less than 50 miles from the town, but some solvers may include GRETNA on their list of less well known words.

I thought that the clues for the more obscure words were fair once the checking letters were in place to help.

Across
No. Clue Wordplay Entry

8

 

Deplore security with our team getting back inside (6)

 

(WE [our team] reversed [getting back]) contained in (getting inside) BAIL (security [usually given in monetary form] given to procure the release of an accused person by assuring his or her subsequent appearance in court)

B (EW<) AIL

BEWAIL (deplore)

 

9

 

Expression of relationship quite in error about a cricket side (8)

 

(Anagram of [in error] QUITE containing [about] A) + ON (one of the sides in cricket, the other being OFF)

EQU (A) TI* ON

EQUATION (expression of relationship)

 

10

 

 

Collections of gifts – jokes about priest dropping one (4-4)

 

 

GAGS (jokes) containing (about) (RABBI [priest] excluding [dropping] I [one])

G (RAB B) AGS

GRAB BAGS (American term for a bag from which gifts are drawn)

 

11

 

Polish dumplings I brought in for American soldier (6)

 

I contained in (brought in) (PRO [for] + GI [American soldier])

P (I) RO GI

PIROGI (traditional Polish dish, a semicircular filled dumpling, originally savoury, now also sweet, boiled and then briefly sauteed and served with melted butter)

 

12

 

Marked by liquid inside tank, sloshing around (3-7)

 

Anagram of (sloshing around) INSIDE TANK

INK-STAINED*

 INK-STAINED (marked by liquid)

14

 

What setter may have to deal with – a selection of unhelpful names (4)

 

ULNA (hidden word in [a selection of] UNHELPFUL NAMES)

 

ULNA (the inner and larger of the two bones of the forearm; something a [bone-]setter may have to deal with if the arm is broken)

 

15

 

School bound to exclude a stupid person (6)

 

SCH (school) + (LEAP [bound] excluding [to exclude] A)

 

SCHLEP (stupid person)

 

18

 

Scottish town sees soldier with work unit returning (6)

 

(ANT [social; insect of proverbial industry; worker] + ERG [CGS unit of work])

(GRE TNA)<

GRETNA (Scottish town)

 

21

 

Wife being embraced by lover will make you cringe (4)

 

W (wife) contained in (embraced by)  FAN (devotee or enthusiastic follower; lover)

FA (W) N

FAWN (cringe)

 

23

 

A policeman returning to apprehend church board – that’s OK? (10)

 

A + (PC [{police} constable}] reversed [returning] containing [to apprehend] CE [Church {of England}]) + TABLE (board)

A C (CE) P< TABLE

ACCEPTABLE (OK)

 

26

 

Judge Independent’s backed working newspaperman (6)

 

J (judge) + OUR (Independent’s, this being an Independent crossword) +  (ON [working] reversed [backed])

J OUR NO<

JOURNO (journalist; newspaperman)

 

27

 

Thin letter from Greece – one arrived after going round about (8)

 

(ETA [letter of the Greek alphabet] + I [one] + CAME [arrived]) all reversed (after going round about)

(EMAC I ATE)<

EMACIATE (to make extremely thin)

 

28

 

After move to new stop, I sold various newspapers (8)

 

TAB (move to a new stop in a line of a document) + an anagram of (various) SOLID

TAB LOIDS*

TABLOIDS (newspapers)

 

29

 

Area of Greater Manchester suitable for religious folk in brief (6)

 

ECCLES (abbreviation for [in brief] ECCLESIASTICAL [relating to the clergy or the church; religious folk)

 

ECCLES (an area of Greater Manchester)

 
Down
No. Clue Wordplay Entry

1

 

Certainly tears when audit reports are due? (4-4)

 

YEA (certainly) + RENDS (tears)

 

YEAR-ENDS (audit reports are due at financial YEAR-ENDS)

 

2

 

One avoiding harm, staying ahead of a lot of mean snakes (6)

 

MAIM (harm) excluding (avoiding) I (one) + BASE (mean) excluding the last letter (a lot of) E

 

MAMBAS (snakes)

 

3

 

Most of holiday locked in prison? That leads to split (8)

 

LEAVE (holiday) excluding the final letter (most of) E contained in (locked in) CAGE (prison)

C (LEAV) AGE

CLEAVAGE (split)

 

4

 

Independent avoiding stories on native teaching (6)

 

LIES (stories) excluding (avoiding) I (independent) + SON (native)

 

LESSON (teaching)

 

5

 

Chewing item involving a lot of saliva and tooth (6)

 

CUD (food brought back from the first stomach of a ruminating animal to be chewed again) containing (involving) (SPIT [saliva] excluding the final letter [a lot of] T)

CU (SPI) D

CUSPID (tooth with a single point)

 

6

 

Beginning to accept America after Democrat’s Hollywoodised vision? (8)

 

START (beginning) containing (to accept) (D [Democrat] + US [United States {of America])

STAR (D US) T

STARDUST (an imaginary dust that blinds the eyes to reality and fills them with romantic illusions; Hollwoodised vision)

 

7

 

Boundless amorous activity – it’s a capital sort of thing! (6)

 

SNOGGING (amorous activity) excluding the first and last letters [the outside; letters; boundless] S and G

 

NOGGIN (informal term for the head; capital [relating to the head]  sort of thing)

 

13

 

Say "Good cheer" (3)

 

E.G. (for example; say) + G

 

EGG (urge on; cheer)

 

16

 

I left, after entering country American abandoned eagerly (8)

 

(I + L [left]) contained in (HUNGARY [country] excluding [abandoned] A [American])

HUNGR (I L) Y

HUNGRILY (eagerly)

 

17

 

Select in audio or visual? (3)

 

PIC (sounds like [in audio] PICK [select])

 

PIC (picture; visual)

 

19

 

Gun salesman having US gun with cap off (8)

 

REP (representative; salesman) + (HEATER [old American slang for a gun or pistol] excluding the first letter [with cap of] H)

 

REPEATER (firearm that REPEATs)

 

20

 

Exeter flailing around line under a crossbar (4-4)

 

A + (an anagram of [flailing] EXETER containing [around] L [line])

A X (L) E TREE*

AXLE TREE (crossbar or shaft fixed across the underside of a cart or similar vehicle, on each rounded end of which a wheel rotates)

22

 

Nerdy expert right about an English symbol? On the contrary (6)

 

(AN + OAK [a symbol of England]) containing (about) R (right).  This is opposite of Right about (AN + OAK), hence ‘on the contrary)

AN O (R) AK

ANORAK (someone who has an obsessive interest in the statistics and trivia associated with a subject; nerdy expert)

 

23

 

Three letters enthralling me, outlining description of bomb? (6)

 

A TO C (three letters – A, B and C) containing (enthralling) MI (variant spelling of ME [anglicised spelling of the thirds note of the tonic sol-fa)

 A TO (MI) C

ATOMIC (description of a type of bomb)

 
24

See about following cook after cutting dairy product … (6)

CHEF (cook) excluding the last letter (cutting) F + ESE (anagram of [about] SEE)  I think that’s how the parsing works.  I reckon the anagram is ‘following’ cook, so ‘about’ must be the anagram indicator.  If ‘about’ is indicating a reversal of SEE to form EES I don’t understand how the containment of EES with CHE is indicated.

CHE ESE*

 CHEESE (diary product)

25

 

… for each dish eaten by expert (6)

 

PIE (dish) contained in (eaten by) ACE (expert)

A (PIE) CE

APIECE (for each [person])

 

 

 

9 comments on “Independent 9271 / Phi”

  1. Thanks, Duncan.

    Maybe GRAB BAGS and PIROGI were a bit obscure (but the former will please our American contributors since it’s solvers from the newly separate UK who will have struggled with it). Otherwise all good.

    No way I would have spotted the nina, but then again I didn’t go looking for it. From memory, Virgilius (or it might have been Brendan in Another Place) once hid a message that said THERE IS NO THEME. Or something like that.

    Good weekend to all.

  2. 24D is I think SEE* after CHE[f] with “about” as anagrind in the sense of out and about. I was hoping I could find a more convincing example! How’s “he flung his money about”?

  3. Anyone who saw the first Men in Black film will know that aliens vary in their tastes, but they all love pirogi.

    And FWIW the Louis de Funes comedy Les Grandes Vacances has a hilarious scene in Gretna, so that may also have helped some people.

    With K’s D in not spotting the nina, but as soon as my significant other gets back from her life class I shall challenge her to find it.

    Thanks Phi and Duncan.

  4. I have had a previous Nina avoiding the perimeter so I hope this wasn’t too much of a repeat performance. PIROGI for me was one of those words which I knew existed but which I might have struggled to define beyond ‘foodstuff’. I don’t use ‘about’ as an anagram indicator very often but it seems broadly OK.

    Normally I write these replies on a Saturday morning early on, so it seems a little odd to be doing it 24 hours earlier, as it’s Friday here in San Francisco. And it’s the Independence Day holiday weekend, and my birthday tomorrow so it may all get quite interesting. I can’t say how next week’s jetlag will affect things.

  6. I solved the puzzle and was just about to come here when I thought, “hang on a minute, I can’t see a theme, what about a nina?”, looked at my completed grid again and there it was! I knew PIROGI because we have a Polish deli near here, and Lidl sometimes have them too. (One of the benefits of being in Europe!)

    A minor quibble re 10ac – A rabbi is a teacher rather than a priest.

    Agree with you Conrad about Le Tour.

    Thanks, and Birthday Greetings, Phi; thanks, too, to Duncan.

  7. Happy Birthday Phi, and thank you for a fun puzzle, and thank you duncanshiell for a super blog.

    I kept looking for A MESSAGE AVOIDING THE PARAMETER, all I could come up with was SCHLEPIC E.G. GRETNA, and started to wonder which of your under-age relatives had created trouble through an ill-advised union…

  9. Happy Birthday Phi.

    We competed the puzzle from Another Place yesterday and have only finished this one this evening. It looked as if it may be a pangram but there is no Z.

    Joyce has made PIROGI but she couLdn’t remember how to spell them – she was sure that the word had a W in it.

    We spotted the hidden message but not until the very end. Very impressive.

    Looking forward to Le Tour now to hopefully cheer us up.

    Thanks Duncan and Phi.

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