Well, a Phi puzzle with a theme that we don’t have to search for this week!
The fact that it involves particle physics meant that several of the eight thematic entries were new to us, but all were clearly clued and not too mind-numbing. We still can’t parse 24ac – any thoughts out there?
All good stuff, although while writing up the blog we did notice that there were two anagrammatic clues using the same anagrind, which is rather unusual.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | Get rid of a lot of hospital gear (5) | |
| SCRUB | SCRUB |
|
| 4 | Yorkshire resort favoured regarding high-class treatment? (3-6) | |
| RED-CARPET | REDCAR (Yorkshire resort) PET (favoured) | |
| 9 | It acknowledges the focus of Madison Avenue? (9) | |
| ADMISSION | Madison Avenue is renowned for being the centre of American advertising – it’s focus could be said to be an AD MISSION | |
| 10 | Beds overturned after introduction of one patient (5) | |
| STOIC | COTS (beds) reversed or ‘overturned’ round or ‘introducing’ I (one) | |
| 11 | 14 very much accepted by soldiers (5) | |
| MESON | SO (much) in or ‘accepted by’ MEN (soldiers) | |
| 13 | Fruit levy varied without announcement? (9) | |
| FURTIVELY | An anagram of FRUIT LEVY – anagrind is ‘varied’ | |
| 14 | Small component, not entirely frozen, circling lake (8) | |
| PARTICLE | The gateway clue – PART ICE (not entirely frozen) round or ‘circling’ L (lake) | |
| 16 | 14 that will be found behind pub (6) | |
| BARYON | YON (that) ‘behind’ BAR (pub) | |
| 18 | 14 shot North (6) | |
| PHOTON | PHOTO (shot) N (north) | |
| 19 | 14 sabotaged new routine (8) | |
| NEUTRINO | An anagram of N (new) and ROUTINE – anagrind is ‘sabotaged’ | |
| 22 | Hot, barren, rocky, dreadful (9) | |
| ABHORRENT | An anagram of HOT BARREN – anagrind is ‘rocky’ | |
| 23 | Hunt it, leaving pretty street (5) | |
| QUEST | QU |
|
| 24 | Fashion in place, turning to look smart (3,2) | |
| TOG UP | We’re puzzled by this one – it looks like GO (‘fashion’?) in PUT (place) all reversed or ‘turning’, but we can’t come up with any way that ‘go’ can be a synonym of ‘fashion’ | |
| 25 | In East we are primarily correctly positioned (9) | |
| TAIWANESE | A cryptic definition – an anagram of IN EAST WE and A (first or ‘primary’ letter of ‘are’) – anagrind is ‘correctly positioned’ | |
| 27 | Abuse any second revealing recreational drugs? (4,5) | |
| NOSE CANDY | An anagram of ANY SECOND – anagrind is ‘abuse’ | |
| 28 | Show reverence, note, when boarding poet’s ship (5) | |
| KNEEL | N (note) in or ‘boarding’ KEEL (ship) | |
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | Navigational aid: marks by sailor concealed by fool (4,3) | |
| STAR MAP | M (marks) after or ‘by’ TAR (sailor) in or ‘concealed by’ SAP (fool) | |
| 2 | Ass with tail docked – curious (3) | |
| RUM | RUM |
|
| 3 | Gift to receive singular 14 (5) | |
| BOSON | BOON (gift) round or ‘receiving’ S (singular) | |
| 4 | Precipitate a move for the Summer Exhibition? (8) | |
| RAINFALL | This would be very tricky without the crossing letters – the Summer Exhibition is held at the RA (Royal Academy) – so a move might mean that it would move to the RA IN FALL (autumn) | |
| 5 | Actor, one not accepting losing an English Oscar (2,4) | |
| DE NIRO | DENI |
|
| 6 | Attacker inclined to circumvent most of sea trip (9) | |
| ASSAILANT | ASLANT (inclined) round or ‘circumventing’ SAI |
|
| 7 | Spread the word: polyester is peculiar (11) | |
| PROSELYTISE | An anagram of POLYESTER IS – anagrind is ‘peculiar’ | |
| 8 | Working after river swallows chapter 14 (7) | |
| TACHYON | ON (working) after TAY (river) round or ‘swallowing’ CH (chapter) | |
| 12 | Archaeological find: group with cash unexpectedly supporting it (11) | |
| SARCOPHAGUS | An anagram of GROUP and CASH (anagrind is ‘unexpectedly’) after or ‘supporting’ SA (sex appeal – ‘it’) | |
| 15 | Rocky tors captured in satellite image from all directions (9) | |
| ISOTROPIC | An anagram of TORS (anagrind is ‘rocky’) ‘captured’ in IO (satellite – a moon of Jupiter) PIC (image) | |
| 17 | Improve information provided in test (8) | |
| GENTRIFY | GEN (information) + IF (provided) in TRY (test) | |
| 18 | Father carrying Henry to school in carriage (7) | |
| PHAETON | PA (father) round or ‘carrying’ H (Henry) + ETON (school) | |
| 20 | Duck, a duck bearing tail of uniform brownish colour (7) | |
| OATMEAL | O (duck – nothing) A TEAL (duck) round or ‘bearing’ M (last letter or ‘tail’ of ‘uniform’) | |
| 21 | 14 pounced upon, we hear (6) | |
| LEPTON | A homonym of LEAPT ON (pounced upon) | |
| 23 | Idiosyncrasy with change of heart for 14 (5) | |
| QUARK | QU |
|
| 26 | Sheep: not so many getting sheared? (3) | |
| EWE | ||
In 24, is it go’ as in ‘all the go’ for fashion?
Good puzzle tho’ a bit straightforward once the key word was in.
Good Friday fare, thanks to all.
Am I liking this? You bet your sweet arse I am. Finally a themed puzzle on science. I got TACHYON, which gave me the gateway clue, and after that it was all plain sailing (which is something I don’t often say these days about the Indy puzzles).
Excellent end to the Indy week. I fancy Dormouse will like this one too.
For 24ac, I took it as ‘it’s all the go’/it’s all the fashion’, but that could be cobblers. I care less, because I really enjoyed this one.
Thanks to our astrophysicist setter and to B&J for the blog. Good weekend to all.
If Grant and I both think that’s how 24ac works, then it can’t be cobblers … or not complete cobblers.
Thanks to Phi for a great puzzle and to B&J for the blog.
I do like a good three-letter clue and what a gem 26 is
Thank you Phi and Bertandjoyce.
A most enjoyable puzzle for me since I live on top of the LHC and can see one of the “points” at the end of the field – my neighbour works on the NEUTRINO project, and I think there are a few others, the quark UP…
Particle physics maybe, but even as a (retired) chemist I knew all these; at least spin, up and down weren’t involved.
NOSE CANDY was a new expression to me but easily deduced from crossing letters. And I didn’t see the parsing of RAINFALL, though it was obvious once pointed out; my best effort – not very convincing – was that a (not ‘the’) summer exhibition somewhere might be in the open air so that rain might precipitate a hasty move indoors.
Re 28ac, KEEL is not just a literary/poetic word for a boat. Chambers gives it, separately from the usual meaning, as ‘a low flat-bottomed boat, a barge’.
CoD was EWE – brilliant!
Thanks, Phi and B&J.
I was in a bit of a rush to get out to work this morning when I posted, so I’ll just drop back in to share a memory, of when Professor Peter Higgs, he of Higgs BOSON fame, was at the press conference when CERN announced that they had finally found evidence of the HIGGS BOSON. Cue huge applause, and the cameras focusing on Professor Higgs. An intensely publicity-shy man (he went walking in Scotland without a mobile phone when the results of the Nobel Prize for Physics were being announced) he pretended that he had something in his eye, but was in fact crying. Who says scientists are cold fish?
And having been born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, he’d be no doubt aware of the North-Eastern song THE KEEL ROW, which Allan alludes to:
‘O, weel may the keel row,
The keel row, the keel row,
O weel may the keel row
That my laddie’s in.’
As KD says, rather a pleasant stroll for me, once I cracked the theme. The only one I had trouble with was 24ac, a phrase I don’t think I’m familiar with, and I couldn’t see the word play (as, it appears several here couldn’t).
I am reminded of a book review I read recently that referred to the “Higg’s bosun”. (I checked. That mistake was not in the book, but was introduced by the reviewer.)
i only did it today-very nice indeed
A possible interpretation, still quite a stretch, for TOG UP: OG (slang for “Original Gangsta,” could be interpreted as hip-hop fashion) inside PUT reversed.
I assumed for 24a that OG is equivalent to ogee – the style (=fashion?) of moldings seen in late Victorian/Edwardian houses.