Phi-day again and another well-crafted puzzle from our regular setter.
We have failed to spot Phi’s themes over the past few weeks (well, they have been a trifle obscure), but we were delighted to sort this one out before we had actually completed the puzzle. Eight of the across entries and most of the entry at 22 down (in green below) can be associated with 1 across. Bert admits that he had not heard of the 1ac / 30ac despite having a number of them in the garden.
| Across | ||
| 1 | Find venue for governing body (5) | |
| HOUSE | Double definition, and the ‘common factor’ for the theme. | |
| 4 | A good deal of connectivity supplied by energy partner (4) | |
| WIFE | WI–F |
|
| 6 | Hotel employee: what’s one brought in off one’s trolley? (4) | |
| MAID | I (one) ‘brought’ in MAD (off one’s trolley) | |
| 10 | Pissed off with pay, producing difficulty for consumer (9) | |
| DYSPEPSIA | An anagram of PISSED and PAY – anagrind is ‘off’ | |
| 11 | Face part of the orchestra (5) | |
| BRASS | Double defintion | |
| 12 | Restraining monarch about to go back (7) | |
| KEEPING | KING (monarch) round PEE (‘to go’) reversed or ‘back’ | |
| 14 | Quantity of water from river captured in cup (7) | |
| BREAKER | R (river) ‘captured’ in BEAKER (cup) | |
| 15 | Famous, though still to control newspaper (5) | |
| NOTED | If one’s ‘still to control newspaper’, one’s NOT yet ED (editor) | |
| 17 | Clearly show ousting leader will restrict government hostility (9) | |
| VIRULENCE | ||
| 18 | State, area involved in distribution of oil in USA (9) | |
| LOUISIANA | A (area) in an anagram of OIL IN USA – anagrind is ‘distribution of’ | |
| 20 | Sheets covering large area (5) | |
| REALM | REAM (‘sheets’ – of paper) round or ‘covering’ L (large) | |
| 23 | The Confessor, perhaps, dismissing first Duke as royal servant (7) | |
| STEWARD | ST E |
|
| 24 | Opening and much of a second provided by riot police resource (4,3) | |
| TEAR GAS | TEAR (opening, as in rip) GAS |
|
| 26 | Fish around a small stand (5) | |
| EASEL | EEL (fish) round A S (small) | |
| 27 | Damage lay all over the place in parts of the brain (9) | |
| AMYGDALAE | An anagram of DAMAGE LAY – anagrind is ‘all over the place’ – a completely new word for us, and one we think we’re unlikely to ever come across again! | |
| 29 | Hard getting on part of ship (4) | |
| HOLD | H (hard) OLD (getting on) | |
| 30 | Unpleasant look, having Knight replace Queen for national symbol (4) | |
| LEEK | LEE |
|
| 31 | Only somewhat abandoning Liberal political group (5) | |
| PARTY | PART |
|
| Down | ||
| 1 | British artist to hang on to family, embracing daughter (7) | |
| HODGKIN | HOG (hang on to) KIN (family) round or ‘embracing’ D (daughter). We had never heard of this artist, who died last year – until we read THIS article in the Independent this week. | |
| 2 | United held in, containing Poles with remaining energy? (7) | |
| UNSPENT | U (united) PENT (held in) round or ‘containing’ N and S (north and south – ‘poles’) | |
| 3 | Rising quantity of timeless source of fragrance (5) | |
| ELEMI | Hidden (‘quantity of’) and reversed (‘rising’) in tIMELEss | |
| 4 | Is no longer with a society (3) | |
| WAS | W (with) A S (society) | |
| 5 | Amaze composer after experimental area in allegro (11) | |
| FLABBERGAST | BERG (composer) after LAB (experimental area) in FAST (allegro) | |
| 7 | Question occupying a network covering US state (7) | |
| ALASKAN | ASK (question) in or ‘occupying’ A LAN (local area ‘network’) | |
| 8 | Merit sermon during day and day before festival (7) | |
| DESERVE | SER (sermon) in or ‘during’ D (day) EVE (‘day before festival’) – we’re not sure about the inclusion of ‘festival’ here | |
| 9 | Sailor climbing banks? I’m coming down (8) | |
| ABSEILER | AB (sailor) + RELIES (banks) reversed or ‘climbing’ | |
| 13 | Reciprocal offerings, say, picked up, including ornate teak divan (4,3,4) | |
| GIVE AND TAKE | EG (‘say’) reversed or ‘picked up’ round or ‘including’ an anagram of TEAK DIVAN – anagrind is ‘ornate’ | |
| 16 | One way of identifying tragic king upset former PM (8) | |
| DISRAELI | I (one) + LEAR’S ID (‘way of identifying tragic king’) reversed or ‘upset’ | |
| 18 | Lad initially is having speculation over hot girl (7) | |
| LISBETH | L (first or ‘initial’ letter of ‘lad’) IS BET (speculation) round or ‘over’ H (hot) | |
| 19 | Tool? Edges of it in use possibly (7) | |
| UTENSIL | An anagram of T, L (first and last letters or ‘edges’ of ‘tool’) and IN USE – anagrind is ‘possibly’ | |
| 21 | Pointed article as usual ignoring soldiers (7) | |
| ANGULAR | AN (definite ‘article’) |
|
| 22 | Upright and against spurning actual skill (7) | |
| MASTERY | MAST (upright) |
|
| 25 | A political party with second leader to be consistent (3,2) | |
| ADD UP | A DUP (political party) with a second D (‘leader’ of ‘DUP’) | |
| 28 | Ruminant producing gas (3) | |
| YAK | Double definition – although we had to check that the ‘gas’ (as in ‘talk’) version could be spelt without a ‘c’ | |
Well, we completed this without spotting the theme – actually we didn’t even look for one. We did know AMYGDALAE as one of us has studied the mind and brain, but we were FLABBERGASTed to discover 5dn is spelt without an H; always thought it was …ghast.
Thanks, Phi and B&J
Nice to be able to pick a Phi theme which is unusual for me. Didn’t know the ‘British artist’ and pretty well guessed ELEMI which rang only a very vague bell. Wordplay was helpful for both though so managed to finish successfully.
Thanks to Phi and B&J.
From the crossing letters, I entered HULL in 29ac, not stopping to parse it. Oops.
Struggled a bit more with this than is usual for a Phi. Putting Elk for Yak didn’t help. Hadn’t heard of Amygdalae, nor of house leek so never likely to spot a theme. Thanks to Phi and B&J.
@3 Dormouse:
I, on the other hand, entered HELM, struggling in vain to understand how “elm” was derived from “on”…
HOUSE-TRAINED was in there as well, with MODESTY instead of MASTERY, and AMYGDALUS, which is what I thought was the singular of that part of the brain. I thought AMYGDALUS was just on the wrong side of the familiarity divide, with AMYGDALAE just on the right side, though there probably wasn’t much in it…
Phi….but then ANGULAR would have to change too wouldn’t it?