Phi is in his spiritual home today, i.e. the Friday Indy slot.
I found this quite tough, towards the harder end of the Phi spectrum. There were no particularly long entries in this grid or clues leading to multi-word phrases, which probably meant that I progressed more slowly than if a 15-letter entry or two had provided lots of crossing letters.
Could this possibly be a Phi crossword without a theme? It looks that way to me, but fellow solvers have no doubt identified something glaringly obvious that has passed me by completely.
I think that I have parsed this to my satisfaction, with the exception of the definition in 26 – I am struggling to find a sentence in which “see” could be synonymous with “match”. I was puzzled for a long while by the definition at 16, although I think the penny has now dropped. 18D was a new word for me, but it was thoroughly gettable from the wordplay.
I appreciated the Shakespearean flavour running through 3, despite the answer being a tad obscure for a daily cryptic. However, my favourite clue today has to be 25, for making me smile – if you take “his” to be mean “his own”, it could almost be described as & lit!
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | COLLEGE | Pass English, covering stage in educational institution
LEG (=stage, of race) in [COL (=pass, in mountains) + E (=English)] |
| 05 | TIE-CLIP | Match speed in producing clothing accessory
TIE (=match, as in cup-tie) + CLIP (=speed, as verb, of a vessel) |
| 09 | LUNGS | Bears introducing component of atmosphere – into these?
N (=component of atmosphere, i.e. nitrogen) in LUGS (=bears, carries) |
| 10 | POISONING | Bad smell surrounding couple (including boy) producing pollution
[SON (=boy) in II (=couple, i.e. 1 twice)] in PONG (=bad smell) |
| 11 | BRIGHT | Clever book offering the correct opinion?
B (=book) + RIGHT (=offering the correct opinion) |
| 12 | FALSETTO | Argument after endless decline in singing voice
FAL<l> (=decline; “endless” means last letter dropped) + SET-TO (=argument) |
| 14 | SAFARI SUIT | A habit you may get into while trekking
Cryptic definition, in which “habit” refers to clothing |
| 16 | DAYS | Revolutionary periods confuse on the radio
Homophone (“on the radio”) of “daze” (=confuse); a day is the time is takes the earth to make a revolution on its axis, hence “revolutionary periods” |
| 18 | PARK | Original idea to dismiss first reserve?
<s>PARK (=original idea); “to dismiss first” means first letter is dropped; a game reserve can be a park where animals are kept (for hunting) |
| 19 | CLEMENTINE | Temperate tree yielding soft fruit
CLEMENT (=temperate) + <p>INE (=tree; “yielding soft (=P, i.e. piano in music)” means letter “p” is dropped) |
| 22 | EYEBROWS | They may show surprise I sample books audibly
Homophone (“audibly”) of “I + BROWSE (=sample books)”; something surprising raises eyebrows |
| 23 | MERINO | Only partially warmer in ordinary wool
Hidden (“only partially”) in “warMER IN Ordinary” |
| 25 | MASOCHISM | Perverted pleasure taken from correcting his commas
*(HIS COMMAS); “correcting” is anagram indicator |
| 27 | TANGO | Dance in South America – recollection of summer that has to fade
TAN (=recollection, i.e. memory, of summer) + GO (=to fade) |
| 28 | ELEMENT | Component set to roll over, trapping soldiers
MEN (=soldiers) in ELET (TELE=set, TV; “to roll over” indicates reversal) |
| 29 | GORMLEY | Tree knocked over is framed by bloody artist
MLE (ELM=tree; “knocked over” indicates reversal) in GORY (=bloody); the reference is to UK sculptor Anthony Gormley (1950-) |
| Down | ||
| 01 | CELEBES | A-listers touring Eastern Sulawesi in the past
E (=Eastern) in CELEBS (=A-listers); Celebes is the former name of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi |
| 02 | LINDISFARNE | Finer island rocks – here?
*(FINER ISLAND); “rocks” is anagram indicator |
| 03 | ENSPHERE | Pen debut for Shakespeare possibly? Look at this set in Globe
*(PEN + S<hakespeare>) + HERE (=look at this, i.e. to attract attention); “possibly” is anagram indicator; “debut for” means first letter only; to ensphere is to enclose in a sphere, hence “set in (a) globe” |
| 04 | ESPY | See edifices partly gutted
E<difice>S P<artl>Y; “gutted” means all but first and last letters are dropped |
| 05 | TRIBALISM | Island’s in good order following behaviour of groups
BALI’S (=island’s) in TRIM (=good order, trim condition, as in to be in trim) |
| 06 | EGOISM | High sense of self, say, is entrenched in old money
E.G. (=say, i.e. for example) + {IS in [O (=old) + M (=money)]} |
| 07 | LEI | Collection of flowers that is left to come up
I.E. (=that is, id est) + L (=left); “to come up” indicates vertical reversal |
| 08 | PIGEONS | Greedy person a long time finding contents of pies?
PIG (=greedy person) + EONS (=a long time) |
| 13 | TRADITIONAL | Supporting the old ways? Time to take on Latin radio broadcast
T (=time) + *(LATIN RADIO); “broadcast” is anagram indicator |
| 15 | SOLO WHIST | Mean chap’s cuddled by drunk in game
[LOW (=mean, base) + HIS (=chap’s)] in SOT (=drunk) |
| 17 | INVESTOR | Person looking to make a profit very engaged by one source of wise counsel
V (=very) in [I (=one) + NESTOR (=source of wise counsel, from the Greek hero at Troy)] |
| 18 | PREEMIE | Early arrival about to get space in confusion
[RE (=about, regarding) + EM (=space, in printing)] in PIE (=confusion, mess); a preemie is a premature baby (“arrival”) in US slang |
| 20 | ECOLOGY | Observe cut limiting firm with record in green issues
[CO (=firm, i.e. company) + LOG (=record)] in EY<e> (=observe; “cut” means last letter is dropped) |
| 21 | CRECHE | Supervision spurned by a revolutionary nursery
C<a>RE (=supervision; “spurned by a” means letter “a” is dropped) + CHE (=revolutionary, form Argentina) |
| 24 | SMUG | Inordinately pleased – having upped sticks?
GUMS (=sticks, glues); “upped” indicates vertical reversal |
| 26 | SEE | Appear to miss latest match
SEE<m> (=appear); “to miss latest” means last letter is dropped; to “see” is to “match” someone’s bet in gambling (??) |
MASOCHISM and TANGO were my way in to the theme…
Agree with your parsing of ‘see’ , but in 1d Celebes is the former name of Sulawesi.
Didn’t spot a theme, as per normal. Will have look again with Andrew’s tip, but not too hopeful. Thanks RR and Phi
This being a specialist subject of mine because I sing all these songs more-or-less daily for money including the expanded version of 28a, prestissimo, I leave it to others to fill out the theme. A fine puzzle.
D’oh! Failed to see a theme staring me in the face. Though I’m not familiar with the full canon, now I see it I can connect 10, 8 and 18ac; 28 is memorable for its outrageous rhyming of ‘discovered’ with ‘Harvard’, and I remember a version of 19 but no doubt I’ve missed some others.
Incidentally in 3 there’s a possible extra layer of meaning referring to the rock band of that name. And in 25 could ‘correcting’ be seen as part of the wordplay as well as the anagrind? 😉
CoD, though, was EYEBROWS.
Thanks, Phi and RatkojaRiku
As usual with Phi, didn’t (and don’t) see the theme but that’s neither here nor there, but obviously somewhere. Mostly a quick solve. Several words were new to me but the clueing made them all easy to guess so a nice learning experience. New-to-me were: CELEBES, ENSPHERE and PREEMIE. Liked CLEMENTINE and EYEBROWS.
The rock band reference is to 2, not 3, in case anyone’s mystified.
I just did the puzzle and liked it. Still don’t see the theme, but that’s of no consequence. PREEMIE had to be that (or something similar) so I stuck it in and hoped for the best (although it sounded to me like Aussie slang). Favourite today was LINDISFARNE. Love the island; loved the band and was there at the time.
Thanks both and good weekend to all.
Thanks for pointing out the slip, Paul A – now corrected!
I never spot Phi’s musical themes, but that’s my fault, not his. I am glad that others enjoyed tracking down all the references.
For anyone still in the dark, enlightenment as to the theme may be found here.
I thought Grant B would have slid far enough down the razor blade of life (from Bright College Days) to spot this. I do now look for thematic pairs that are (7,7) or (9,5) and thus fit a single row/column. I am capable of delivering Tom Lehrer lyrics at the drop of a hat – or is that someone else…?
PS
Grant B @3
The expanded version? I’ve come across one that gets up to lawrencium but only via translation into Japanese. Surely not that…
To Phi @11:
I was being a bit literal – (The) Element(s) – but a friend of mine has actually written another coupla lines to fill in the isotopes and little chaps with very short shelf-lives which have been dis-cah-card since TL’s lyric. He’s still with us, btw.