When is Phi anything other than sound and enjoyable? I can never see his devilish Ninas, so perhaps these are less than enjoyable, for me. But not for all.
Definitions underlined and in maroon.
If there’s a devilish Nina I can’t see it as usual. Everything looks perfectly normal.
| Across | ||
| 1 | PASTA | Food type identified in historic article (5) |
| past a | ||
| 4 | ABSIT OMEN | Boat is at sea with people on, touch wood (5,4) |
| (Boat is)* men — not a phrase I knew although perhaps I should have: it’s in both Collins and Chambers. Had to look it up because it seemed that the second word was amen and I knew no expression that fitted. It means ‘may the evil omen not be present’, or something like that. | ||
| 9 | CHARLATAN | Impostor to clean computer network receiving thanks (9) |
| char LA(ta)N — I have no idea what a LAN is, but it always seems to be the answer when a clue talks about a computer network — Google tells us that it is a local area network, although there seem to be lots of other types of computer networks | ||
| 10 | MOTOR | Tense, entering space, backing car (5) |
| (ro(t)om)rev. | ||
| 11 | NOD | Assume backing for agreement (3) |
| (don)rev. | ||
| 12 | OPERATIONAL | Functional Old English sound involves piano (11) |
| O (p) E rational | ||
| 13 | WORDLESS | Vocal argument about the French staying silent (8) |
| word(les)s | ||
| 14 | AKIMBO | With arm bent, I’m hitting head of boxer in a conclusion to fight (6) |
| a K(I’m b{oxer})O | ||
| 16 | NUANCE | Religious figure retaining a church distinction (6) |
| nu(a)n CE | ||
| 18 | THANKFUL | Henry put in quantity of petrol with gratitude (8) |
| t(H)ankful | ||
| 21 | MIDDLE-EARTH | Part of auditory equipment obscured half of that Tolkien creation (6-5) |
| middle ear th{at} — I think the word ‘obscured’ refers to the fact that the middle ear is hidden behind flesh and bone, rather than being an inclusion indicator | ||
| 22 | DIG | Understand Government papers should be returned (3) |
| (G ID)rev. | ||
| 24 | KEDGE | Anchor used in getting docked, generally (5) |
| Hidden in docKED, GEnerally — the usual injunction that a hidden should contain no extra words looks as if it might be being ignored here, but you could make a case for the ‘getting’ as being part of the indication of the inclusion — not all that elegant a part, but adequate, and necessary for the surface | ||
| 25 | FLOOR PLAN | Scheme to bring down a lot of aircraft (5,4) |
| floor plan{e} | ||
| 26 | REPRESENT | Play about current situation (9) |
| re present — I couldn’t quite see how play = represent, since you play for a team when you represent it. but I think it’s to do with actors: he is playing Hamlet/he is representing Hamlet | ||
| 27 | YORKS | Heavens, upset about golden bowls? (5) |
| (sky)rev. round or — to york someone in cricket is to bowl them with a type of ball that lands in the crease — I made heavy weather of this for two reasons: I couldn’t read my writing and thought it began with a g, and for a long time I had 23 down wrong as GENIE but quite justifiably wasn’t sure that it worked | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | PECAN | Nut about to stab writer (5) |
| pe(ca)n | ||
| 2 | SLANDER | Man’s man possibly overlooking current actionable comment (7) |
| {i}slander — a Man’s man is possibly a man on the Isle of Man | ||
| 3 | ALL SOULS COLLEGE | Lolls around with colleagues in educational institution (3,5,7) |
| (Lolls colleagues)* | ||
| 4 | ACTRESSY | Bill regarding hair appropriate for a performer (8) |
| ac tressy — I was very uncomfortable with tressy = regarding hair. and uncomfortable, but less so, with actressy = appropriate for a performer, but both are supported by Collins and Chambers | ||
| 5 | SUNDAY | 24 hours for one to grasp German conjunction (6) |
| s(und)ay — the German conjunction is und = and | ||
| 6 | TOM DICK AND HARRY | People in general observing idiot coming between cat and hound (3,4,3,5) |
| tom (dick) and harry — tom = cat, dick = idiot, harry = hound | ||
| 7 | METONYM | Figure of speech in my jotting picked up by Member (7) |
| m (my note)rev. — this is a metonym and this a metonymy | ||
| 8 | NEROLI OIL | Orange-scented product in miscellany carried by liner at sea (6,3) |
| olio in (liner)* | ||
| 13 | WINEMAKER | Vigneron‘s success: tumbler missing first place, but enthralling millions (9) |
| win {b}e(m)aker — I wasn’t sure what a vigneron was but the wordplay alone told me | ||
| 15 | SHARE-OUT | Round involving live distribution (5-3) |
| sh(are)out — shout as in it’s your shout/it’s your time to buy a round/it’s your round | ||
| 17 | ADDED UP | Line erased by muddled Irish party made sense (5,2) |
| add{l}e DUP — this seemed to have too few d’s until I checked that addle = muddled | ||
| 19 | FIDDLER | Violinist, one engaged in questionable practice (7) |
| 2 defs | ||
| 20 | SELFIE | Showing up a lot of skin that is visible in snap (6) |
| (fles{h})rev. i.e. — both Collins and Chambers are up-to-date and have the word | ||
| 23 | GENUS | Kind spirit absolving one (5) |
| gen{i}us | ||
*anagram
Very enjoyable with a new phrase learnt.Phi is rather more-ish for me.
I had to guess ABSIT OMEN and had to cheat the middle bit of NEROLI OIL so a DNF, sadly.
Very enjoyable as always from Phi, although the double use of “at sea” was perhaps a tiny speck of grit.
Thanks to John and Phi, and a nice weekend to all
Pleased to see that I was in good company in not knowing 4a or the middle section of 8d.
27a – TWO cricket references in one clue – that’s just mean!
Spent a while trying to make the 15d ’round’ into a ’bout’ and 4d made me cringe a bit.
Enjoyable workout – top marks for 6&20d.
Thanks to Phi and to John for the review.
Almost crashed on 25ac, thinking of GROUND PLAN then realised it didn’t fit. ABSIT OMEN and NEROLI OIL were easily got from wordplay and crossers but needed confirmation from Chambers.
I wondered about ‘obscured’ in the clue to 21ac. Initially I took it to mean that half of ‘that’ was obscured, but then thought that it wasn’t really necessary since ‘half of that’ was all that was needed.
Not quite sure if ALL SOULS COLLEGE is really an educational establishment as uniquely among Oxford colleges it has no undergraduates. According to Wikipedia “Today the College is primarily a graduate research institution.” Incidentally, I once lived in a delightful country cottage owned by All Souls College.
Can’t see any theme or nina, but spotting them in Phi’s puzzles must be almost as difficult as the All Souls’ Fellowship Examination.
A nice puzzle, though. Favourites included AKIMBO, THANKFUL and KEDGE.
Thanks, Phi and John.
Lovely stuff as always from Phi. I had to cheat on ABSIT OMEN and YORKS had me, erm, stumped for a bit. NEROLI OIL was a write-in on account of having once spent waaaay too much time trying to clue it (with an extra O in the wordplay!) for an IQ puzzle.
Particularly enjoyed SELFIE.
Thanks to Phi and John
Hi Allan C,
I’d like to believe that All Souls is an educational establishment – otherwise all those research grants are being somewhat wasted!
Enjoyable outing and one I completed in good time save for 8d. Fave clue today was 2d as I thought it pretty amusing. As ever I couldn’t spot a theme so look forward to hearing if there is anything in there. Thanks to His Phiness for the puzzle and to John for the blog and enlightenment on 8d and the parses of 25a wot I just could not see.
This was never a Nina I expected anyone to spot. This time last year we were in Arizona – where it was upper 40s Celsius just as now – at a pet-blogging conference. So this puzzle commemorates that by referencing the other half’s cat blog (dashkitten.com) where you’ll find regular posts called Sunday Selfie, Wordless Wednesday, Thankful Thursday and (her own speciality) Middle-Earth Monday. As always, a decent list of words with which to populate a grid from scratch.
Thanks Phi and no wonder we didn’t spot it this time round. Always nice to get a bit of bonus stuff in for a special/deserving person and help with grid fill at the same time … nice cat site has your other half, BTW. 🙂