As always from Phi a crossword that doesn’t initially fall particularly easily but eventually does, and one looks back at the solutions and says how simple, how on earth did I miss that. Which is of course as it should be.
Definitions underlined and in maroon.
When I saw the unchecked letters at the top and the bottom of the grid I thought ah yes, there’s going to be a little message there. But evidently not and as usual with Phi I see nothing and await sharper observations from people. Of course he may be bluffing but although he says he sometimes does, I can’t remember the last plain Phi cryptic.
| Across | ||
| 9 | ENRAGED | Angry? Need to recollect holding onto what one’s lost, perhaps (7) |
| (Need)* round rag — if one is angry one has perhaps lost one’s rag | ||
| 10 | HERBAGE | Vegetation is secure in this location (7) |
| her(bag)e | ||
| 11 | RECTO | The right page? Clergyman not reaching the end (5) |
| recto{r} — the recto is the right-hand page, as opposed to the verso, the left-hand page | ||
| 12 | EPHEDRINE | Letter by German poet accepting doctor’s asthma treatment (9) |
| ep. He(dr)ine — I think ep. is epistle; for a while I was muttering about the lack of equivalence of the extended play record and a letter | ||
| 13 | ELEVENTHS | The heartless school exercises including – still – fractions (9) |
| even in (The s{choo}l)* | ||
| 15 | INFRA | It’s classically below part of mainframe (5) |
| Hidden in maINFRAme | ||
| 16 | LENGTHS | Little new in support: I will abandon this exercise for swimmers (7) |
| le(n)g th{i}s | ||
| 18 | AFGHANS | Asians following investing in silver, backed by German? (7) |
| A(f)g Hans — Hans is the German although all the Hanses I know are Dutch or Danish | ||
| 20 | BLINI | I love batter, primarily when flipping pancakes (5) |
| (I nil b{atter})rev. | ||
| 22 | READJUSTS | Further tunes only encountered in studies (9) |
| read(just)s | ||
| 25 | TRICKIEST | Strain to split bonds, getting tense – it’s most complicated (9) |
| t(rick)ies T | ||
| 27 | COLOR | American paint left over in centre when finishing early (5) |
| co(l o)r{e} — American to give color not colour | ||
| 28 | RUMMEST | Millions in Middle East in decline – most curious (7) |
| ru(M(m)E)st — I wasn’t quite comfortable with rust = decline but close enough perhaps | ||
| 29 | TANNERY | Attempt to hide Queen? Certain things must be done to hide here (7) |
| T(Anne)ry — the first hide in the sense of conceal, the second in the sense of skin | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | HEARSE | Male to be resurrected after one leaves funeral conveyance (6) |
| He ar(i)se | ||
| 2 | DRY-CLEAN | Ace laundry, possibly overlooking a source of usual work in laundry (3-5) |
| (Ace laundry – a u{sual)* | ||
| 3 | IGNORE | Fail to register anger about Government refusal (6) |
| i(G no)re | ||
| 4 | ADVERTISER | Varied rates putting off a dodgy purchaser of space in newspaper (10) |
| (Varied rates – a)* | ||
| 5 | SHAH | Former ruler‘s debacle, allowing son to take precedence (4) |
| hash with its s taking precedence | ||
| 6 | DRUDGING | Working hard, daughter with booze getting stuck into cannabis, say (8) |
| dru(d gin)g | ||
| 7 | TARIFF | Cheers repeated figure in charges (6) |
| ta riff [a short repeated phrase in rock or jazz music] | ||
| 8 | FEDERALS | Union supporters playing false about German article (8) |
| (false)* round der | ||
| 14 | STALACTITE | Rock formation, mostly milky in condition (10) |
| sta(lacti{c)te | ||
| 16 | LOBSTERS | After making a switch, supports seafood (8) |
| bolsters with the b and the l switched | ||
| 17 | THICKSET | Stocky countryman, in challenging situation, being done over (8) |
| hick in (test)rev. | ||
| 19 | ABSOLVED | Pardoned lab meddling with doves? (8) |
| (lab doves)* | ||
| 21 | IDIOMS | Is accepting nothing framed in stupid colloquialisms (6) |
| i(di(0)m)s | ||
| 23 | JOCUND | Cheerful Scotsman cut a Parisian dead (6) |
| Joc{k} un d — a Parisian is ‘a’ as a Parisian would say it, i.e. in French | ||
| 24 | STRAYS | Sins, poking end of finger into female underwear (6) |
| st({finge}r)ays | ||
| 26 | EATS | Takes in bridge player, delaying appearance of spades (4) |
| East with its s delayed until the end | ||
*anagram
A record-time solve for me today and, no, I’m not telling you my time because I’m a shamefully snail-like solver who perversely enjoys the slow teasing out of The Truth of a clue. There was plenty to enjoy today. Just to be picky – as aren’t we all – 2d (DRY-CLEAN) appears to need an A (as well as the U) to be removed from the anagram fodder.
Thanks to John & Phi and I can’t see a theme either.
Nice puzzle which was on the tougher side of things for me. I missed 12a (poet now hopefully stored in the brain for later use) and was thankful the Latiny words were clued easily. COD was 29a for the misdirection of the def so thanks to [themeless?] Phi for the puzz and to John for the enlightenment.
BTW GB@1, was it a record fast or slow solve? I’m guessing fast, which, as I found it tougher, makes me wonder what it is about some puzzles that can split solvers in how they find difficulty levels. Methinks it’s prolly style, wavelength, and vocab/GK/slang used in clues and answers and also the condition the solver is in: hungover/in the process of creating a hangover for future use/time of day etc. Anything else I’ve missed?
Not too tricky, certainly not the 25ac from this setter, but some nicely misleading surfaces. And I can’t see any theme or nina either. Agree with Grant@1 that the anagram fodder in 2dn needs one of the a’s as well as the u removing.
Thanks, Phi and John
To Hoskins @2:
Because of the grid-shape, I started with the Down clues for once and they went in with scarcely a pause: the first guesses all just seemed to work. Then the ‘crossers the same, practically completing it at the same speed as a Concise. Just happens that way sometimes. But only sometimes.
To Grant @1 I read it as overlooking.a (and) source of usual. This removes the second a. But I never like clues with words like laundry repeated.
Thanks all.
A couple of hints for Nina hunters
All the 14 across entries are an odd number of letters in length.
The letters O through to Z are not involved.
Cheers Phi – very clever stuff as always (though I do declare it twasn’t me who spotted what you’d done).
GB@4 – thanks, I’ll have to try that method meself next time around and see if it works for me.
Does Nina like both ATONal and ‘MIDDLE of the road’ music?
For some reason the site won’t let me log in, so I can’t alter the parsing of 2dn, but everyone who has pointed it out is quite right: there should be another a removed, and that’s done as Grandpapatee@5 says.
Very odd. As soon as I posted the above I was logged in. So now I’ll alter the parsing of 2dn.