Quite naturally, it falls to Phi to round off this latest set of mid-week puzzles.
For me, this was perhaps harder than the average Phi crossword, although I am under the weather at the moment and perhaps not on top solving form. I found it very difficult to make inroads into this puzzle, eventually solving my first clues in the bottom right quadrant and building from there.
I think that I have correctly solved and parsed all the entries, although I am not that confident about the wordplay in 11. My last-one-in was 21, as I didn’t know the word. My favourite by far today was the & lit. at 3.
And, by the way, has anyone spotted a theme today? Needless to say, yours truly hasn’t!
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | MOONBEAM | Active mine boom ignoring one about a late shaft?
A in *(M<i>NE BOOM); “ignoring one (=I)” means letter “i” is dropped from anagram, indicated by “active”; the “shaft” of the definition is a shaft of light |
| 05 | WEAPON | No place in church to carry a retracted blade?
NO + [A in PEW (=place in church)]; “retracted” indicates (here full) reversal |
| 10 | MOTOR | Vehicle has men following its assessment?
MOT (=its assessment, i.e. MOT test for vehicle) + OR (=men, i.e. Other Ranks) |
| 11 | TROUBLING | Transactions rising fast after initial disinvestment? That’s causing concern
TR (=transactions) + <d>OUBLING (=rising fast; “after initial disinvestment” means first letter dropped) |
| 12 | CANCERIAN | Member of house sees anger ebbing, engrossed by revealing dance
ERI (IRE=anger; “ebbing” indicates reversal) in CANCAN (=revealing dance); the “house” of the definition refers to the Zodiac |
| 13 | WASN’T | Society in need never existed
S (=society) in WANT (=need, lack) |
| 14 | DWINDLE | Dead calm – missing ship to become insignificant
D (=dead) + WINDLE<ss> (=calm, of sea; “missing ship (=SS)” means letters “ss” are dropped) |
| 16 | BEGONIA | Continue to request one American flowering plant
BEG ON (=continue to request) + I (=one) + A (=American) |
| 18 | ALBERTA | Warning about billions being given to a province
[B (=billions) in ALERT (=warning)] + A |
| 20 | ACADEME | A Democrat settling into excellent intellectual surroundings
[A + DEM (=democrat)] in ACE (=excellent) |
| 21 | EWOKS | Aliens? Our group backed sanctions
EW (WE=our group; “backed” indicates reversal) + OKs (=sanctions, approves); ewoks are small mammaloid bipeds in the Star Wars universe, resembling teddy bears |
| 23 | RESIDUALS | Mostly refuse to accept paired statistical data
DUAL (=paired) in RESIS<t> (=refuse; “mostly” means last letter dropped); residuals are the differences between the observed values of dependent variables and their predicted values |
| 26 | ILL-GOTTEN | Telling off about religious texts of dubious origin
OT (=religious texts, i.e. Old Testament) in *(TELLING); “off” is anagram indicator |
| 27 | LABEL | Lines about article happen to indicate brand name
[A (=article) + BE (=happen)] in LL (=lines) |
| 28 | GLOOMY | Good place to go, given the writer’s despairing
G (=good) + LOO (=place to go, i.e. toilet) + MY (=the writer’s, i.e. Phi’s) |
| 29 | BESMIRCH | Cast aspersions on revision of Chambers? I for one will intervene
*(CH<I for A (=one)>MBERS); “I for one (=A)” means letter “i” replaces “a” in anagram, indicated by “revision” |
| Down | ||
| 01 | MIMIC | Copy operatic heroine (contralto)
MIMI (=operatic heroine, of Puccini’s La bohème) + C (=contralto) |
| 02 | OFTEN | Ready to accept newspaper article’s conclusion in many cases
[FT (=newspaper, i.e. Financial Times) + <articl>E (“conclusion” means last letter only)] in ON (=ready) |
| 03 | BARTENDER | I show skill surrounded by a lot of drinking
ART (=skill) in BENDER (=a lot of drinking); & lit. |
| 04 | ASTRIDE | Mounted, heading off on final trip
<l>AST (=final; “heading off” means first letter dropped) + RIDE (=trip) |
| 06 | ELBOW | Nudge energy arc to contain luminance
L (=luminance) in [E (=energy) + BOW (=arc)] |
| 07 | PUISSANCE | Power is retained by America? Agreeable to see removal of current power
P (=power) + [IS in USA (=America)] + N<i>CE (=agreeable; “removal of current (=I)” means letter “i” dropped) |
| 08 | NEGOTIATE | Arrange to eat roughly about 1 after information turns up
NEG (GEN=information; “turns up” indicates vertical reversal) + [I (=1) in *(TO EAT)]; “roughly” is anagram indicator |
| 09 | HOBNOB | Much of pastime will involve no associate
NO in HOBB<y> (=pastime; “much of” means last letter dropped) |
| 14 | DEAFENING | Justifying evicting Duke to house American in very strident terms
A (=American) in DEFEN<d>ING (=justifying; “evicting Duke (=D)” means letter “d” is dropped) |
| 15 | IMBROGLIO | I’m right to block nasty blog over supporting one tangled situation
I’M + [R (=right) in *(BLOG)] + I (=one) + O (=over, in cricket) |
| 17 | GRAND SLAM | First and last of results in lovely sequence of victories
[R AND S (“first and last of results” means first and last letters only)] in GLAM (=lovely) |
| 19 | AERATE | A reprimand seeing book thrown is to be exciting
A + <b>ERATE (=reprimand; “book (=B) thrown” means letter “b” is dropped) |
| 20 | ABSENCE | Measure of deficiency: muscles subsequently not hard
ABS (=muscles, i.e. abdominals) + <h>ENCE (=subsequently; “not hard (=H)” means letter “h” is dropped) |
| 22 | STORM | Endless romance, with male passion
STOR<y> (=romance; “endless” means last letter dropped) + M (=male) |
| 24 | AMBER | Shaping of road requiring no carbon resin
<c>AMBER (=shaping of road); “requiring no carbon (=C)” means letter “c” is dropped |
| 25 | SYLPH | Husband dallies heartlessly, taking up slender young thing?
H (=husband) + PL<a>YS (=dallies; “heartlessly” means middle letter dropped); “taking up” indicates vertical reversal |
Thanks, RR. You’re not alone in finding this difficult – I didn’t get any across answers on the first pass and there were a lot I couldn’t parse when I eventually got them. I ended up using ‘reveal’ to check 14dn which I thought had to be DEAFENING but couldn’t parse, before getting my LOI, 21ac.
Can’t see any nina or theme, either.
Thanks, too, to Phi
About the same here, although I did complete it, unlike yesterday. There were several I guessed and used the check feature to confirm, and even then I couldn’t parse several, including 5ac, my LOI. Obvious now that you explain it.
The presence of WASN’T is an indication that I was trying to squeeze something in – I try to avoid contractions if possible. This one is designed around Shakespearean coinages, though for the life of me I can’t recall which nine they are: pretty sure BESMIRCH and MOONBEAM are among them. When I get back to my desk I’ll dig out the list.