Independent 9415 / Phi

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A standard puzzle from Phi today.  Well I think it is; I can’t see any themes or messages.

 

 

 

This was a good example of a national broadsheet puzzle that solvers could make good progress with on the train to work (if the company is not on strike) or over coffee / lunch.

I wonder how many anagrams transform one thirteen letter word into another single word rather than a phrase?  There was a good example at 15 across.

Crosswords often offer a gateway to new knowledge, especially if you’re blogging one.  I’ve now learnt the difference between CENTIGRADE and Celsius as a result of looking up the definition of CENTIGRADE.

There was a bit of German in the grid today at 13 down..  The one language I made an attempt to learn about 55 years ago was German so I coped with that entry.  K’s D will no doubt tell me if I’ve translated it properly or not.

 

Across
No. Clue Wordplay Entry

6

 

Lack of power?  Indignation after Republican’s sent packing (6)

 

OUTRAGE (indignation) excluding (sent packing) R (Republican)

 

OUTAGE (loss of power supply)

 

7

 

Witnessed attorney getting defeated, Bishop getting off (8)

 

ATT (attorney) + BESTED (defeated) excluding (getting off) B (bishop)

 

ATTESTED (witnessed)

 

9

 

Animal to risk swallowing arsenic (5)

 

BET (risk) containing (swallowing) AS (chemical symbol for arsenic)

BE (AS) T

BEAST (animal)

 

10

 

Religious place, ploughed yard supplying special earth (8)

 

PI (obtrusively religious) + (an anagram of [ploughed] PLACE] + Y (yard)

PI PECLA* Y

PIPECLAY (fine white, nearly pure, kaolin, free from iron, used for making tobacco pipes and fine earthenware; special earth)

 

11

 

Rabbit seen around river or smaller waterway (4)

 

BUN (playful name for a rabbit) containing (around) R (river)

BU (R) N

BURN (watercourse, smaller than a river)

 

14

 

Australian inclined to rhapsodise about tree-trunk making excuses (10)

 

A (Australian) + (POETIC [inclined to rhapsodise] containing [about] LOG [fallen tree trunk])

A PO (LOG) ETIC

APOLOGETIC (defensive; making excuses)

 

15

 

Containerised awkwardly, without much thought (13)

Anagram of (awkwardly) CONTAINERISED

INCONSIDERATE*

INCONSIDERATE (without much thought)

 

17

 

Church with new denunciation about Government temperature measurement (10)

 

CE (Church [of England]) + N + (TIRADE [denunciation] containing [about] G [Government])

CE N TI (G) RADE

CENTIGRADE (descriptive of a scale, esp the Celsius temperature scale, having a hundred degrees between the freezing and boiling points of water)

 

19

 

Item on string solver cut twice (2-2)

 

YOU (solver) excluding the final letter (cut) + YOU (solver) excluding the final letter (cut) – giving cut twice

 

YO-YO (toy consisting of a reel wound with an attached length of string which is held in the hand while the reel is dropped to fall and rise under its own weight)

 

20

 

Cease getting upset about cut or slice of meat (8)

 

Anagram of (getting upset) CEASE containing (about) LOP (cut)

ESCA (LOP) E*

ESCALOPE (boneless slice of meat, cut thin and often beaten out still thinner)

 

21

 

Shouts euphemism after losing penny (5)

 

CRIPES (euphemism for Christ) excluding (after losing) P (penny)

 

CRIES (shouts)

 

24

 

A long time when leaving oriental conurbation, heading off (8)

 

EASTERN (oriental) excluding (leaving) AS (when) + CITY (conurbation) excluding the first letter (heading off) C

 

ETERNITY (extremely long time)

 

25

 

Religious followers leading soldiers in group (6)

 

SECT (religious followers) + OR (other ranks; soldiers)

 

 SECTOR (group [of economic operations], e.g. an industry SECTOR)
Down

1 / 23

 

Adds words to question about Dame’s third pantomime (8)

 

(DUBS [adds a new soundtrack or words in a different language to a film for instance] + HOW? [example of a question) containing (about) M (third letter of [‘s third] DAME)

DU (M) B S HOW

DUMBSHOW (pantomime)

 

2

 

American supporting flag legend (4)

 

SAG (move in a slow laboured manner; flag) + A (American)  This being a down clue, the final A is supporting the first three letters (SAG)

 

SAGA (epic; legend)

 

3

 

Hold back regarding line of descent (8)

 

RE (regarding) + STRAIN (line of descent)

 

RESTRAIN (hold back)

 
4 High note coming in very much on an intermittent basis (4-2)

(TOP G [high note]) contained in (coming in) SO (very much)

S (TOP G) O

STOP-GO (alternately discouraging and encouraging forward movement; on an intermittent basis

5

 

Crucial English is taken up in bank?  More or less (10)

 

([VITAL {crucial} + E {English}] all reversed [taken up]) contained in (in) RELY (bank)

R (E LATIV)< ELY

RELATIVELY (somewhat; more or less)

 

7

 

Mix-up in reassessment of Tory appeal?  More or less (13)

 

MIX reversed (up) contained in (in) an anagram of (reassessment of) TORY APPEAL

APPRO (XIM)< ATELY*

APPROXIMATELY (more or less)

 

8

 

Ministerial support not disclosed by a railway (9)

 

SECRET (not disclosed) + A + RY (railway)

 

SECRETARY (The office of a Government Minister is managed by a Private SECRETARY [PS]. In most cases, the Minister is also managed by the PS)

 

12

 

Residents ignoring student in one academic institution (10)

 

LIVERS (residents) excluding (ignoring) L (learner; student) contained in UNITY (one)

UN (IVERS) ITY

UNIVERSITY (academic institution)

 

13

 

German words of enquiry which aren’t neglecting English, sadly (5,4)

 

Anagram of (sadly) WHICH AREN’T excluding (neglecting) E (English)

NICHT WAHR*

NICHT WAHR (a German phrase that can be translated as ‘isn’t that so?’; German words of enquiry)

 

16

 

Military activity originated by Irish, involving islands further south (8)

 

EX (direct from; originated) + (ERSE [sometimes used for Irish Gaelic, as opposed to Scottish Gaelic; Irish] containing [involving] CI [Channel Islands; islands further south than Ireland)

EX ER (CI) SE

EXERCISE (military drill or manoeuvre)

 

18

 

Try studio device, introducing note of concise form (6)

 

(GO [try] + MIC [microphone; studio device]) containing (introducing) N (note)

G (N) O MIC

GNOMIC (in a pithy and sententious form; of concise form)

 

22

 

Lift, with power failing, to move slowly

 

PINCH (steal; lift) excluding (failing) P (power)

 

INCH (move slowly

 

7 comments on “Independent 9415 / Phi”

  1. Thanks to Duncan & Phi for his usual steady Friday work-out.
    Interestingly, 22 down (INCH) seems to work equally well with WINCH (‘lift’) without its ‘W’ (for Watt, the SI unit of ‘power’) although now I see [P]INCH I think I prefer it for its extra layer of crypticism.

  3. To Phi…
    And there we have a convincing example of why I will never have that degree of applied obsessiveness so necessary to the natural setter.
    (Was it WINCH or PINCH, btw?)

  4. When blogging a Phi crossword I usually type into Google a few entries that I think might be linked, but I didn’t hit upon the right combination this time.

    I see now that I just needed the three words ‘beat burn cries’. Typing those three in together, the top of the Google offerings is indeed the list of metal words

  5. I parsed 22dn as [w]INCH, then had a moment’s misgiving before thinking of W = watt, but [p]INCH never occurred to me.

    Re 17ac, CENTIGRADE simply means ‘divided into 100 degrees’ and my understanding is that the Fahrenheit scale as originally devised was a centigrade scale with 100 degrees from the lowest temperature its inventor could obtain (in an ice/salt mixture) as zero and the normal human body temperature as 100 – but it soon became more convenient to re-define it by the freezing and boiling points of water (and as a consequence body temperature is slightly less than 100°F). As for the common confusion between Celsius and Centigrade, it’s just unfortunate that both words begin with ‘C’.

    Hard luck on non-linguists, but my CoD is NICHT WAHR, although I also liked STOP-GO.

    Missed the theme, of course.

    Thanks, Phi and Duncan

  6. DUMBSHOW had me beat, I’m afraid, and I struggled with quite a few others. I’d like to think that this was because I couldn’t finish it this morning before going to work, and solving post-work never, er, works for me. Dunno why – brain not in gear.

    Some good stuff in here, but I think NICHT WAHR is a big stretch for your average Joe solver. I got it, because I do speak some German, and yes, I know it’s an anagram, but …

    Duncan’s translation is fine; it literally means ‘not true?’ and is an end of phrase question marker roughly equivalent to the French ‘n’est-ce pas?’ It’s probably part of the theme, which I still don’t get.

    Thanks to S&B and Schönes Wochenende to all.

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