It’s fairly unusual to see Phi on a Monday, so this was a rare treat for me. After a run of quite difficult Monday puzzles, it was also nice to have something a little easier to get one’s teeth into. I thought this was very enjoyable and was able to keep going without long periods of getting stuck.
Surface readings were generally good, if occasionally a little clumsy-sounding (as in 4 across). 20 down was maybe too obscure and easy to go wrong with. My only real dislike was 19 across which, as with most CDs, I found a too vague. 23 across was my favourite just on the amount of time it took me to realise it wasn’t a CD.
| Across | ||
| 1/9 | START THE BALL ROLLING | Open startling brothel, freely allowing everyone admission (5,3,4,7) |
| (Startling brothel)* around all | ||
| 10 | ORIGAMI | Folding business? Start finishing early, around morning (7) |
| Origi[n] around AM | ||
| 11 | BLACKSMITH | Forger wants money in coin? Hard (10) |
| Lacks M(oney) in bit + h(ard) | ||
| 12 | CHIC | Smart military leader seizing entry to harbour (4) |
| CIC around h[arbour] | ||
| 14 | INTONING | Keen on turning in? No good chanting (8) |
| Into + ni< + NG | ||
| 15 | HONSHU | Part of Japan, hard-working, not quite secure (6) |
| H(ard) + on(=working) + shu[t] | ||
| 17 | GASBAG | Source of much comment as book is restricted by restraining order (6) |
| As b(ook) in gag | ||
| 19 | LIFEBELT | A main source of support? (8) |
| CD – a bit vague, I felt. The nautical theme was obvious from the main ref, but there are plenty of things on boats that it might have been. | ||
| 22 | ROOM | Memory containing zero space (4) |
| ROM around O | ||
| 23 | QUEENSTOWN | Men sadly won’t appear in New Zealand resort (10) |
| Queens(=chess men) + won’t*, although with a neat secondary indication that gives it the appearance of a CD | ||
| 25 | STILTED | Poorly expressed section, with a bias (7) |
| S(ection) + tilted | ||
| 26 | AVESTAN | Some have standing regarding exotic scriptures (7) |
| Hidden in hAVE STAnding | ||
| 27 | OPEN MARRIAGE | Relationship arrangement possibly revealing a prior ménage (4,8) |
| (A prior menage)* | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | SCRUBBING-BRUSH | Place for waste good to be situated between areas of vegetation – it keeps things clean (9-5) |
| Bin + g(ood) in scrub + brush | ||
| 2 | AT LEAST | Finally grasping English, if nothing else (2,5) |
| At last around E(nglish) | ||
| 3 | TWICKENHAM | The man arranged to acquire Scottish town’s rugby ground (10) |
| (The man)* around Wick | ||
| 4 | HEGEMONY | Leadership, say, blocking border regarding piracy, ultimately (8) |
| EG in hem + on + [pirac]y | ||
| 5 | BRONTE | Name’s held in memory after book from literary family (6) |
| B(ook) + n(ame) in rote | ||
| 6 | LAIR | Hide line associated with song (4) |
| L(ine) + air | ||
| 7 | PATHOS | Ways to secure love in a pitiable state (6) |
| Paths around O | ||
| 8 | DISCOUNTENANCE | Discourage allowance over punishment? Not initially (14) |
| Discount + [p]enance | ||
| 13 | WOMENSWEAR | Welsh sign pledge – not something you expect blokes to adopt (10) |
| W(elsh) + omen(=sign) + swear | ||
| 16 | CINERAMA | Distribution of American movie format (8) |
| American* | ||
| 18 | STOLID | Stone with offensive smell not likely to be moved (6) |
| St(one) + olid | ||
| 20 | E CONTRA | No trace found at sea, conversely (1,6) |
| (No trace)* – seems to be Latin, although I can’t say I’ve heard it before. I did think for a while it might be “a contre”. | ||
| 21 | SUDDEN | Odd bits of sound study rather unexpected (6) |
| Odd letters of sound + den | ||
| 24 | STOP | End sinks after rising (4) |
| Pots< – I think it’s used in the snooker sense of pot (or sink) a ball | ||
*anagram
Well that’s telegraphed that Friday will be a theme day…
Most enjoyable, thanks to Phi and NealH, although agree about 19 being a little on the loose side. A new word for me in olid.
My favourite, OPEN MARRIAGE, for the surface.
Something must be going on. As sidey says, Phi on Monday suggests a ‘special’ for Friday – a setter’s significant birthday, maybe? And a less usual grid today, symmetrical about the SW to NE diagonal. But I can’t see a theme, not that Phi’s themes are that easy to spot.
An enjoyable coffee-time solve, though. ‘Olid’ needed checking in Chambers, though STOLID was fairly obvious. I don’t have an issue with 19ac – from checking letters in 13dn and 16dn it was obviously LIFE**** and whether the rest was ‘belt’, ‘boat’ or ‘buoy’ emerged soon enough once I got 20dn.
Some nice clues – I particularly liked INTONING and WOMENSWEAR.
Thanks, Phi and NealH
Definitely a game of two halves, as they say. Everything north-west of the diagonal went in quickly, and then I got stuck. Needed help to get 19ac and 23ac.
Lifevest fits and seems just as legit to me.
This started off having START THE BALL ROLLING as the first across entries and COME TO A SUDDEN STOP as the last down ones. But the online puzzle template cannot take three (or more) entries for a single clue. Crossword Complexity 1, Technology 0.
An even more egregious example awaits in December.