The first puzzle of this new month has been provided by Phi, occupying his usual Friday slot.
I found this to be an enjoyable, medium-difficulty puzzle, with not that many write-ins to get you started. I needed to chip away at it, all the more so since so many first letters of entries were unchecked. In the end, Phi had the last laugh, since I needed to search Chambers to find 13 and to get me restarted in the NE corner of the puzzle. That said, all the clues were scrupulously fair and ought to have been well within my grasp.
My favourite clues today were 10, for reading almost as an & lit., and 15, for sheer ingenuity.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 07 | NOVA | Star appearing late in year, near start of Advent
NOV (=late in year, i.e. November) + A<dvent> (“start of” means first letter only) |
| 08 | LILIACEOUS | Left queasy (not at first) after swallowing one of flowering plants
L (=left) + [ACE (=one, in cards) in <b>ILIOUS (=queasy; “not at first” means first letter is dropped)] |
| 10 | ODYSSEAN | Like a long journey, taking days, eons possibly
*(DAYS EONS); “possibly” is anagram indicator |
| 11 | DEPUTY | American law officer you had once taken aback about post
PUT (=post, place) in DEY (ye’d=you had once, i.e. obsolete form; “taken aback” indicates reversal) |
| 12 | METRIC | While lacking heart, moving fast as regards rhythm
MET<eo>RIC (=moving fast, as in a meteoric rise to fame); “lacking heart” means the middle two letters are dropped |
| 13 | APPROVAL | Regard program: competitor has nothing for one
APP (=program, i.e. application for e.g. iPad) + ROVAL (RIVAL=competitor; “has nothing (=O) for one (=I)” means letter “i” becomes “o”); “regard” is approval in the sense of esteem, admiration |
| 15 | IDENTITY THEFT | What indicates event from evident modern crime?
“ID” (=identity) is “stolen”, i.e. dropped, from “evIDent” to leave “event”! |
| 18 | DECANTER | Put off carrying tin – this is more like a bottle
CAN (=tin) in DETER (=put off) |
| 20 | REGIME | Government, say, will block historic poem
E.G. (=say) in RIME (=ancient poem, i.e. obsolete form of “rhyme”) |
| 22 | PSEUDO | Fake work securing subscriptions is rejected
DUES (=subscriptions, membership fees) in OP (=work, i.e. opus); “is rejected” indicates (here full) reversal |
| 24 | ALL-SORTS | Subtle tricks to import lines: very good sweets
[LL (=lines, i.e. 2 x l=line) + SO (=very good)] in ARTS (=subtle tricks, wiles) |
| 25 | MOUTHPIECE | Spokesperson likely to suffer a blow?
Cryptic definition: a mouthpiece is also the part of a musical instrument that is held to the mouth and blown into, hence “likely to suffer a blow” |
| 26 | GLEE | Part song, part jungle EP
Hidden (“part”) in “junGLE Ep”; a glee is a song sung in parts, usually unaccompanied |
| Down | ||
| 01 | BOWDLERISE | Rewrite badly bewilders character most often seen in Hollywood
*(BEWILDERS + O (=character, i.e. letter most often seen in Hollywood); “badly” is anagram indicator |
| 02 | HAWSER | Cable of a ship, perhaps, was twisted internally
*(WAS) in HER (=of a ship, where a ship is referred to using feminine pronouns, as in “God bless this ship and all who sail in her”) |
| 03 | ALLEY CAT | A cry rising around rear of tenement – from this?
A + LLEY (YELL=cry; “rising” indicates vertical reversal) + CA (=around, i.e. circa) + <tenemen>T (“end of” means last letter only is used) |
| 04 | HARD-UP | Brought before court around end of October, being forced to beg?
<octobe>R (“end of” means last letter only) in HAD UP (=brought before court) |
| 05 | PEEPHOLE | Go with staff to cover hospital observation point
PEE (=go, to toilet) + [H (=hospital) in POLE (=staff, rod)] |
| 06 | QUIT | Go in peace, no end of peace
QUI<e>T (=peace); “no end of peace” means the last letter – “e” – is dropped); to quit is to go, leave, depart |
| 09 | LANCASTER GATE | Tube station rebuilt for a central stage?
*(A CENTRAL STAGE); “rebuilt” is anagram indicator |
| 14 | ANTIMATTER | A gossip accepting guy is something quite unreal
TIM (=guy, i.e. an informal version of the man’s name Timothy) in [A + NATTER (=gossip)]; in physics, antimatter is matter containing particles which are the opposite (or antiparticles) of those making up real matter |
| 16 | EVALUATE | Assess Greek character turning up during English Depression
UAT (TAU=Greek character, i.e. letter of the Greek alphabet; “turning up” indicates vertical reversal) in [E (=English) + VALE (=depression, i.e. geographically speaking)] |
| 17 | THRILLER | Hour in control of ship – an exciting event
HR (=hour) in TILLER (=control of ship, helm) |
| 19 | TROUPE | Start missing from account written up about university performers
U (=university) in TROPE<r> (<r>EPORT=account; “start missing from” means first letter dropped; “written up” indicates vertical reversal) |
| 21 | GROGGY | Gross – 3 heading off the worse for wear
GR (=gross, as abbreviation) + <m>OGGY (=alley cat, i.e. entry at 3; “heading off” means first letter is dropped) |
| 23 | SPOT | Promoted best place
TOPS (=best); “promoted” indicates vertical reversal |
Medium-difficulty? I found this the hardest Phi puzzle ever. Took ages to get more than handful, then a few dribbled in and finally got some momentum. Brilliant and amusing stuff – 15A, 24A, 1D, 3D, 5D to name a few.
Let’s have more Phi in this vein. Thanks to him and RatkojaRiku.
Just one nitpick – ANTIMATTER is not “quite unreal”, though it is rare: the asymmetry between the amounts of matter and antimatter is one of the major unsolved problems of physics.
We too found this quite tough and eventually had to resort to a wordfinder for METRIC (which we couldn’t parse), MOUTHPIECE and QUIT – and groaned when we got them. Others we struggled with but thought quite brilliant included LILIACEOUS, IDENTITY THEFT and BOWDLERISE.
Thanks, Phi and RatkojaRiku
Actually, I found this considerably easier than yesterday’s Klingsor and finished the whole thing without aids, although I see I spelt 8ac wrong – I was wondering why I couldn’t parse it. 12ac was my LOI. I’d finished all but that when I went off to do something else and saw the answer as soon as I got back. Couldn’t parse that one, either, so thanks for all the explanations.
IDENTITY THEFT is a spiffing example of why we do this. Thank you.