Phi eases us into the weekend with the usual eclectic mix of clue types and general knowledge.
There was one entry that was a new phrase for me – BRACKET CREEP – at 12 across, but I understand the concept. I had vaguely heard of DEO GRATIAS at 9 across.
It’s years since I used a CARTRIDGE PEN (3 down). I was never a fan of fountain pens or anything with wet ink. In fact, for me, the INK-ERASER (16 down) was a constant companion if I ever had to use wet ink pens, with the net effect usually being nasty smudges.
I can’t really see a theme, though I suppose you could have a meal of SHEEP’S EYES, DORY and ESKIMO ROLL, all washed down with an ICE-CREAM SODA.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| 1 | Medicine and place to rest. taking in line in notes (5,3-2) |
TONIC (medicine) + (SOFA [place to sit and rest] containing [taking in] L [line]) TONIC SO (L) FA |
TONIC SOL-FA (a system of notation and teaching devised by Sarah Glover [1785 -1867] and developed by John Curwen [1816 – 1880], using modified sol-fa syllables and their initial letters for the notes of the scale with doh as the keynote for the major keys and lah for the minor, and dividing the bar by colons, dots and inverted commas.; notes) |
| 6 | Support after dumping leader is just what you observe (2,2) |
BASIS (foundation; support) AS IS |
AS IS (as it stands; unaltered) |
| 9 | Response to divine intervention – it’s area involved with God (3,7) |
Anagram of (involved) IT’S AREA and (with) GOD DEO GRATIAS* |
DEO GRATIAS (thanks to God; an appropriate response to divine intervention) |
| 10 | Hot temper expressed in employment arrangements (4) |
H (hot) + IRE (anger; temper) H IRE |
HIRE (an arrangement by which use or service is granted for payment. |
| 12 | Alert about scam linked to credit and tax problem (7,5) |
BEEP (sound indicating an alert) containing (about) (RACKET [scam] + CR [credit]) B (RACKET CR) EEP |
BRACKET CREEP (an inflationary phenomenon whereby a salary rise makes a taxpayer less well-off by pushing him or her into a higher tax BRACKET)
|
| 15 | Time to study philosopher – it’s routine work (9) |
T (time) + READ (study) + MILL (reference John Stuart MILL [1806 – 1873], British philosopher) T READ MILL |
TREADMILL (routine drudgery)
|
| 17 | Island shape excluding area (5) |
CREATE (make, form, shape) excluding (excluding) A (area) CRETE |
CRETE (Greek island)
|
| 18 | Some smoke exclusive drug (5) |
PLUM (first class; excellent; exclusive) + E (ecstasy; drug) PLUM E |
PLUME (thin wisp of rising smoke)
|
| 19 | Varied intake including that woman or this woman? (9) |
Anagram of (varied) INTAKE containing (including) HER (that woman) KAT (HER) INE* |
KATHERINE (a woman’s name; this woman)
|
| 20 | I.e. men in charge relinquishing source of hegemony, possibly (6,6) |
Anagram of (possibly) IE MEN IN CHARGE excluding (relinquishing) H (first letter of [source of] HEGEMONY) ANCIEN REGIME* |
ANCIEN RÉGIME (the old order [before the French Revolution] the leadership [hegemony] of which relinquished power to the revolutionaries)) |
| 24 | Cook ready after gutting fish (4) |
DO (cook) + RY (letters remaining in READY after the central letters EAD are removed [after gutting] ) DO RY |
DORY (golden-yellow fish) |
| 25 | Turnover, say – or some sort of frozen dessert? (6,4) |
ESKIMO ROLL (in canoeing, a complete roll through 360°, enabling recovery after capsizing; turnover) ESKIMO ROLL |
ESKIMO ROLL (some sort of frozen dessert) double definition |
| 26 | Put out books have to be pulled from river (4) |
RIBBLE (river in North West England) excluding BB (books) RILE |
RILE (annoy; upset; put out) |
| 27 | Ruling blocking work in expectation (10) |
REGNANT (reigning; ruling) contained in (blocking) PLY (work) P (REGNANT) LY |
PREGNANTLY (expectantly; in expectation) |
|
Down |
|||
| No | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| 1 | Substantial recall of sex definitely heartless (4) |
IT (sex) reversed (recall of) + DY (letters remaining in DEFINITELY when all the central letters EFINITEL are removed [heartless]) TI< DY |
TIDY (considerable, significant as in a TIDY sum) |
| 2 | Refusal of permission to create niche (4) |
NO (refusal) + OK (permission) NO OK |
NOOK (narrow place formed by an angle; recess; niche) |
| 3 | Recipient of charge going to prison is a writer (9,3) |
CARTRIDGE (case containing the charge for a gun) + PEN (penitentiary; prison) CARTRIDGE PEN |
CARTRIDGE PEN (something to write with; writer) |
| 4 | Describing vision of certain Christians eschewing leader (5) |
COPTIC (descriptive of or relating to Christian descendants of the ancient Egyptians) excluding (eschewing) the first letter (leader) C OPTIC |
OPTIC (relating to sight; describing vision) |
| 5 | Put marker on overturned box containing old instrument (9) |
FLAG (draw attention to by putting marker on) + (TELE [television; box] reversed [overturned] containing [containing] O [old]) FLAG E (O) LET< |
FLAGEOLET (small high-pitched flute with two thumb holes; musical instrument) |
| 7 | Star upset about family of very material kind (3,7) |
SIRIUS (the Dogstar) reversed (upset; down clue) containing (about) GENE (the hereditary determinant of a specified difference between individuals, shown by molecular analysis to be a specific sequence or parts of a sequence of DNA – is that really a definition of family? I suppose heredity is ancestry is family, but that’s the closest I get) SUI (GENE) RIS< |
SUI GENERIS (of its own kind, the only one of its kind.; of very material kind) |
| 8 | Amorous look supposedly revealing delicacy to an Arab? (6,4) |
SHEEP’S EYES (a dish favoured in Arabic cuisine) SHEEP’S EYES |
SHEEP’S EYES (wistful amorous look.) double definition |
| 11 | Sweet drink America does badly, extra cold internally (3-5,4) |
C (cold) contained in (internally) an anagram of (badly) AMERICA DOES ICE (C) REAM SODA* Either C could be the one contained |
ICE-CREAM SODA (carbonated water with ICE-CREAM added; sweet drink) |
| 13 | No repetition in expensive damage to hose and DIY accessory (10) |
STEEP (expensive) excluding one of the two Es( no repetition) + LADDER (damage to stocking [hose]) STEP LADDER |
STEPLADDER (a Do it Yourself accessory)
|
| 14 | Dismal chapel slur trashed (10) |
Anagram of (trashed) CHAPEL SLUR SEPULCHRAL* |
SEPULCHRAL (gloomy; dismal) |
| 16 | Something to obliterate popular times with King and Queen around ((3-6) |
IN (popular) + (K {king} + ER {Elizabeth Regina; queen}] containing [around] ERAS [times]) IN K (ERAS) ER |
INK-ERASER (something to rub-out [obliterate] INK marks) |
| 21 | Old King that is taking on good composer (5) |
GR (Georgius Rex; any one of King Georges I to VI; old king) + IE (id est; that is) + G (good) GR IE G |
GRIEG (reference the Norwegian composer Edvard GRIEG [1843 – 1907]) |
| 22 | Nothing added to vehicle test is open for debate (4) |
O (zero; nothing) contained in (added to) MOT (Ministry of Transport vehicle test) MO (O) T Either O could be the one contained |
MOOT (debatable; open to debate) |
| 23 | Power to set amount of freedom (4) |
P (power) + LAY (set) P LAY |
PLAY (amount of limited freedom of movement) |
12a. This is a new expression for me too and I read that it is an Australian term. In the UK the phenomenon is known as “fiscal drag”, that is, the Government does not raise tax rates and allowances in line with inflation.
Thank you both.
Thanks Phi and Duncan
I’mnot sure where your clue for 7D comes from Duncan, as the online version reads “Star upset about family material of very individual kind (3,7)”, so GENE is ‘family material’, which seems fine to me.
Simon S @ 2
You are right – I can’t transcribe a clue properly. The clue is as you say and everything makes sense.
I’ll leave the error in the blog so that people can understand your comment at 2
Damn fine as usual fromPhi-thanks to him an duncansheil
We’re not so sure that Phi has eased us into the weekend – we found this towards the harder end of the Phi spectrum; in fact we had to use a wordfinder for BRACKET-CREEP (hyphenated in Chambers) and ESKIMO ROLL (a facepalm moment when we saw the latter!)
Plenty to like, though, including the foreign phrases, ANCIEN RÉGIME, DEO GRATIAS and SUI GENERIS. Favourite, though, was ICE CREAM SODA, appropriate for the current UK weather, although a pint of real ale would be better.
Thanks, Phi and Duncan
Yes, I found this on the medium difficult side. There were still two left to get when I went out for the evening – 12ac and 25ac – and when I got back I was able guess the first from the word play (once I was able read my own writing in 8dn). Not a phrase I knew. I started to do a word search for the other and I got a suggestion for the first word before I finished typing that gave me the answer.
16dn reminded me of this bizarre death report I came across recently:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/atlas_obscura/2014/10/03/george_spencer_millet_kissed_to_death_in_1909.html?via=gdpr-consent
I don’t think an Eskimo Roll is an actual frozen dessert, but rather a fanciful, punny name for something else that sounds like a dessert but is actually a kayaking manoeuvre.