Not surprisingly we find Phi as the setter for this week’s Friday puzzle
I can’t see an obvious theme although there are quite a few geographical and literary references.
It’s a very good national daily crossword with a good mix of clues, some of which have many component parts. Readers of my blogs over the years will know that I favour clues with many elements over double and cryptic definitions.
My favourite clues were those fotr NEWS AGENCY and AMSTERDAM
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| 1 | Bird requiring introduction of odd cage, note, one with many sides (9) |
(DODO [bird] containing [requiring introduction of] an anagram of [odd] CAGE]) + N DOD (ECAG*) O N |
DODECAGON (plane figure with twelve angles and sides) |
| 5 | Agreement in Berlin about a very rich sort of coffee (4) |
JA (yes [agreement] in German) containing (about) (A + V [very]) J (A V) A |
JAVA ( rich variety of coffee)
|
| 10 | Fitzgerald’s era? Generation with wits running wild is about right (7,8) |
Anagram of (running wild) GENERATION and WITS containing (is about) R (right) ROA (R) ING TWENTIES* |
ROARING TWENTIES (The Roaring Twenties refers to the decade of the 1920s in Western |
| 11 | Run, missing first place? Nothing magical about me (6) |
SMUGGLE (run) excluding the first letter [missing first place] S MUGGLE |
MUGGLE (In J K Rowling’s Harry Potter series, a MUGGLE is a person who lacks any sort of magical ability and was not born in a magical family. MUGGLEs can also be described as people who do not have any magical blood inside them. |
| 12 | Sea Horse? I’m behind it being captured (8) |
(IT + I’M) contained in (being captured) MARE (horse) MAR (IT IM) E |
MARITIME (sea) |
| 14 | Policeman at fault, taking time to wipe out fine (9) |
DEFECTIVE (at fault) with T (time) replacing (taking … to wipe out) F (fine) DE T ECTIVE |
DETECTIVE (policeman) |
| 15 | Quietly moved goalposts, initially between editions (5) |
G (first letter of [initially] GOALPOSTS) contained in (between) (ED [edition] and ED [edition] to give editions) ED (G) ED |
EDGED (quietly moved) |
| 16 | Ferdinand, say, appearing among working stars (5) |
RIO (reference RIO Ferdinand [born 1978], footballer and pundit) contained in (appearing among) ON (working) O (RIO) N |
ORION (star constellation) |
| 18 | Contrived phrase to support Reagan,say, the writer’s recalled (9) |
BACK (support) + RON (reference RONald Reagan [1911 – 2004], former President of the United States) + MY (the writer’s) reversed (recalled) BACK RON YM< |
BACKRONYM (an acronym deliberately formed from a phrase whose initial letters |
| 20 | Attractive duck board with front scrubbed (8) |
LOVE (zero [score in tennis]; duck [zero score in cricket]) + TABLE (board) excluding the first letter [with front scrubbed] T LOVE ABLE |
LOVEABLE (attractive) |
| 21 | Literary lion beginning to talk in oblique manner (6) |
ASLAN (name of the lion in C S Lewis’s Chronicle’s of Narnia series of books) + T (first letter of [beginning to] TALK) ASLAN T |
ASLANT (at an angle; in an oblique manner) |
| 24 | Though unkempt, not a bad clearing where specialist plants grow (9,6) |
Anagram of (unkempt) NOT A BAD CLEARING BOTANICAL GARDEN* |
BOTANICAL GARDEN (diverse collection of plants, maintained for educational, scientific and conservation purposes; where specialist plants grow) |
| 25 | Sentimental nonsense applied to female in error (4) |
GOO (sentimental nonsense) + F (female) GOO F |
GOOF (error) |
| 26 | Tragic ship, Italian, at sea with American on board (9,6) |
US (United States; American) contained in (aboard) an anagram of (at sea) ITALIAN L (US) ITANIA* |
LUSITANIA (ship sunk by U-boats in 1915; tragic ship) |
| Down | |||
| 1 | Cylinder filled with first of Ukraine’s wheat (5) |
DRUM (cylinder) containing (filled with) U (first letter of [first of] UKRAINE) D (U) RUM |
DURUM (kind of spring wheat) |
| 2 | Anything supplied by doctor is a dose of medicine? (7) |
DR (doctor) + AUGHT (anything) DR AUGHT |
DRAUGHT (dose of medicine) |
| 3 | Unfriendly image leading to concern about new chef’s special? (6,3,5) |
CHILL (unfriendly) + ICON (image) + (CARE [concern] containing [about] N [new]) CHILL I CON CAR (N) E |
CHILLI CON CARNE (dish that may be described as Chef’s special) |
| 4 | Suppress article making little sense (4) |
GAG (suppress) + A (indefinite article) GAG A |
GAGA (in senile dotage; making little sense) |
| 5 | PA, say, freshly appointed, learned about residing in US (4,6) |
NEW (freshly appointed) + SAGE (wise, learned) + (C [circa; about] contained in [residing in] NY [New York, city and state in the United States]) NEW S AGE N (C) Y |
NEWS AGENCY (PA [Press Association] is an example of a NEWS AGENCY) |
| 7 | Helping to keep Bishop standing (7) |
AIDING (helping) containing (to keep) B (bishop) A (B) IDING |
ABIDING (tolerating; standing) |
| 8 | English occupying street and road during two mornings in European city (9) |
(E [English] contained in [occupying] [ST {street} + RD {road}]) all contained in (during) (AM [ante meridiem {morning}] + AM [ante meridiem {morning}], to give two mornings) AM (ST (E) RD) AM |
AMSTERDAM (European city) |
| 9 | A source of uplift making Satan President possibly (14) |
Anagram of (possibly) SATAN PRESIDENT ANTIDEPRESSANT* |
ANTIDEPRESSANT (drug used to counteract feelings of helplessness; source of uplift) |
| 13 | Ugly boil about to appear in face – very unpleasant (10) |
(Anagram of [ugly] BOIL + CA [circa, about]) contained in (to appear in) DIAL (face) DIA (BOLI* CA) L |
DIABOLICAL (very shocking or unpleasant) |
| 14 | Mania for cartooning as a form of weapon (9) |
DOODLE (scrawl, scribble, cartoon) + BUG (mania) DOODLE BUG |
DOODLEBUG (World War II flying bomb, technically known as the V-1) |
| 17 | Request reduced openings for research officers using test-tubes (2,5) |
INVITE (request) excluding the final letter (reduced) E + RO (first letters of [openings for] each of RESEARCH and OFFICERS) IN VIT R O |
IN VITRO (in the test tube) |
| 19 | Daughter engaged in relaxation in new North London location (7) |
(D [daughter] contained in [engaged in] EASE [relaxation]) all contained in (in) (N [new] + N [north]) N (EAS (D) E) N |
NEASDEN (south western suburb of London) |
| 22 | Historic garment seen around origin of native island state (5) |
TOGA (outer garment of a Roman citizen; historic garment) containing (around) N (first letter of [origin of] NATIVE) TO (N) GA |
TONGA (island state in the Pacific Ocean) |
| 23 | Endless luxury is a bonus (4) |
PLUSH (luxury) excluding the final letter (endless) H PLUS |
PLUS (bonus) |
Very enjoyable and nicely challenging, but what a horrible manufactured word 18a is. It’s not in my ageing copy of Chambers but, in its defence, it is in Collins online and is very easily derivable from the clue.
There are several nice charades in evidence and also some excellent anagrams, but for elegant simplicity I’ll pick 11a as my favourite.
Many thanks to Phi and to Duncan.
This was a reassuring cruise after the shellacking in Phi’s Opera puzzle!
RD @1, the odd thing about BACKRONYM in Collins online is that it appears to be just an unofficial word suggestion. Needs updating perhaps – it’s in Oxford online, and in the OED (whose first citation for the word is 1983).
I think this is the most enjoyable puzzle of the week so far. BOTANICAL GARDEN was ace. Though a complete anagram, it was very nicely disguised.
Blorenge @3. It just shows how unobservant I can be. I didn’t spot in Collins that it was just a New Word Suggestion.
Neasden is North West London, per the clue, not South West.
I really enjoyed this. Thanks to Phi and Duncan.
When I only had the A and the E of the 2nd word I so wanted 5D to be PARK AVENUE though even then I wasn’t sure that Phi would be aware of Bradford P. A.!
Most enjoyable apart from 18a which I hadn’t heard of and thought was fairly dire!
11a made me smile and other podium places went to 21a plus 7,14 & 23d.
Many thanks to Phi and thanks to Duncan for the very informative blog.
Very enjoyable. I realise on reading the blog that I failed to parse my last one in – MUGGLE, so thanks for explaining that. It took me a while to get going on this, but the answers started to flow eventually. I liked BACKRONYM and thought it might provoke some mutterings. DODECAGON took me a while – there are so many 9 letter words meaning “one with many sides” and I didn’t think of DODO for the bird for too long. DIABOLICAL my favourite. Thanks Phi and Duncan.
Yes, I liked DIABOLICAL too, but it was a pity it had to be ‘in’ rather than ‘on’. Although I suppose a boil does start under the skin, ‘in the face’ doesn’t sound natural to me. A very minor point though.
Well, absent-mindedly entering ROARING THIRTIES for 10ac didn’t help with the solving. No idea what I was thinking when I came up with that. Once I’d spotted my error, I eventually sorted out the north-west corner.