We cannot believe that it is time for us to blog a Phi again – where does the time go these days?
We found this a fairly straightforward solve which was very helpful, as time is at a premium at the moment. Our favourite clue was 3d, partly because it raised a smile and also gave us the opportunity to include the link to the Monty Python sketch which is worth watching again even if you know all the words – which we do.
24ac was a write-in as the clue was very similar to one in the Radian puzzle we blogged last week.
Our LOI was 1ac and we had to resort to a word search. Chambers dictionary did not list it because we did not include the hyphen when searching. We had decided by this time that we were looking for the name of an island – LEA (middle of bleak) around the outside with ‘dogs’ in the middle. Using an on-line search which includes proper names revealed the answer.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | Dogs penetrating heart of bleak island (4-4) | |
| SHAR-PEIS | SHARP (penetrating) E (middle letter or ‘heart’ of bleak) IS (island) | |
| 5 | Two versions of American edition entertained (6) | |
| AMUSED | AM (American) US (American) ED (edition) | |
| 9 | Urge one politician to take lecturer in employment (7) | |
| IMPULSE | I (one) MP (politician) + L (lecturer) inside USE (employment) | |
| 10 | Work to unify engaging one member of military (7) | |
| SOLDIER | SOLDER (work to unify) around or ‘engaging’ I (one) | |
| 11 | Firms crazy, that is, about cold confectionery (7,3) | |
| COCONUT ICE | CO CO (companies – ‘firms’) NUT (crazy) + IE (that is) around C (cold) | |
| 12 | Inviting axes to be applied to last of trees here (4) | |
| SEXY | X Y (axes used in graphs) on S E (last letters of trees here) | |
| 14 | Bit of mud taken off leg? Some remains (5) | |
| EMBER | ||
| 16 | Actor discomfited at reading (9) | |
| TRAGEDIAN | An anagram of AT READING – anagrind is ‘discomfited’ | |
| 18 | Realistic snap put about by newspaper getting some coverage? (9) | |
| PRAGMATIC | PIC (snap) around or ‘put about’ RAG (newspaper) MAT (‘some coverage’) | |
| 19 | Painter, say, probing revolutionary use of blue (5) | |
| DEGAS | EG (say) inside or ‘probing’ SAD (blue) reversed or ‘revolutionary’ | |
| 20 | Man about second turning in (4) | |
| HOME | HE (man) about MO (second) reversed or ‘turning’ | |
| 21 | US 10 cracked following British 10s under a military arrangement (10) | |
| REGIMENTAL | GI (US soldier -10ac) MENTAL (cracked) following RE (British soldier- 10 ac) | |
| 24 | Court getting behind composer in decision (7) | |
| VERDICT | CT (court) behind VERDI (composer) | |
| 25 | Stop toilet malfunctioning (3,4) | |
| BOG DOWN | BOG (toilet) DOWN (malfunctioning) | |
| 26 | Nut, as used in confectionery item (6) | |
| CASHEW | AS ‘used’ inside CHEW (confectionery item) | |
| 27 | Two members of brigade – not the ones here – are comrades (8) | |
| BROTHERS | BR (first two letters or ‘members’ of Brigade) OTHERS (not the ones here) | |
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | Movement of earth – pieces roll endlessly around (4,5) | |
| SOIL CREEP | An anagram of PIECES ROL |
|
| 2 | A lot of exotic flavour in jelly (5) | |
| ASPIC | A SPIC |
|
| 3 | Italian friend capturing Dutch linguistic curiosity (10) | |
| PALINDROME | PAL IN ROME (Italian friend) around or ‘capturing’ D (Dutch). We cannot resist adding THIS link. One of our favourite sketches and worth the wait for the palindrome of BOLTON! | |
| 4 | Crime: I do injury to computers and they ruined newspaper (8,5) | |
| IDENTITY THEFT | I DENT (do injury to) IT (computers) + an anagram of THEY – anagrind is ‘ruined’ + FT (newspaper) | |
| 6 | Spy that is right to avoid French writer (4) | |
| MOLE | MOL |
|
| 7 | Breaking up small active area supported by cartel (9) | |
| SHIVERING | S (small) HIVE (active area) above or ‘supported by’ RING (cartel) | |
| 8 | Local match times requiring left-winger to turn up first (5) | |
| DERBY | BY (times) with RED (left-winger) reversed or ‘turned up’ at the start | |
| 10 | Conservative, flexible in support of party, is an upstart (6,7) | |
| SOCIAL CLIMBER | C (Conservative) LIMBER (flexible) under or ‘supporting’ SOCIAL (party) | |
| 13 | Assessment of ship as not operational leading to delay, we hear (4-6) | |
| DEAD-WEIGHT | DEAD (not operational) WEIGHT – sounds like or ‘we hear’ WAIT (delay) | |
| 15 | French husband’s chasing lover in Welsh town (9) | |
| BEAUMARIS | MARI (French for husband) ‘S after or ‘chasing’ BEAU (lover) | |
| 17 | More than one small bird gets in line, flying between poles (9) | |
| NESTLINGS | An anagram of GETS IN L (line) – anagrind is ‘flying’, inside or ‘between’ N S (poles) | |
| 20 | It’s a lot of chaos and very chaotic! (5) | |
| HAVOC | An anagram of CHAO |
|
| 22 | Figure of speech in poet’s last line (5) | |
| TROPE | T (last letter in poet) ROPE (line) | |
| 23 | Impact on main match involving Germany (4) | |
| TIDE | TIE (match) around or ‘involving’ D (Germany) | |
SHAR-PEIS defeated us, too. Otherwise all pretty straightforward; no theme or nina that we can see, though no doubt someone will uncover one. We liked the reference to 10 in 21, and were mildly surprised that Phi didn’t have ‘Reading’ with a capital in 16 as a misdirection. No real CoD, but we liked PALINDROME and BEAUMARIS.
Thanks, Phi and B&J
Phi is getting to be even more of a treat on Friday.I loved this but was clutching at straws in 1a as i never knew it was two words.
This one kept me on my toes for quite a while before I saw how my last one in SHAR PEIS worked. I’d vaguely heard of the dog and once I had the crossers, it eventually came to mind. I started fairly quickly with ASPIC, but soon became bogged down and had to extract answers pragmatically. I was amused when I got the coconut sweet and linked the band of brothers together. I shivered at the havoc caused by soil creep and identity theft, but my overall verdict is that this was a most enjoyable puzzle. Thanks Phi and B&J.
LOI was SHAR-PEIS but with checkers it was a question of working out the parsing then checking chambers. Annoyingly my chambers app did not respond to the plural but it did to the singular.
A very enjoyable puzzle, loved PALINDROME and IDENTITY THEFT, BOG DOWN and many others.
Thanks Phi and B&J
I had about half a dozen clues left to solve before going out for the evening and when I got back, 1ac was my LOI too. Suddenly the word play clicked and I guessed the answer and my guess was correct.