I blog Independent puzzles on a Friday, Thursday, Wednesday, Tuesday and back to Friday series, so I always look on the Friday blog as the start of a new cycle. As is usual this cycle begins with a puzzle from Phi.
There are eight three-letter words in the grid today but I can’t see anything linking them. There are also four fifteen letter words or phrases round the perimeter, but again nothing I can see in terms of a theme.
It’s just an enjoyable crossword without anything too difficult. TONE ROW at 26 across was a new phrase for me, but the wordplay was clear.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| 1 |
Reluctance if rim buckled for describing rim (15) |
Anagram of (buckled) RELUCTANCE IF RIM CIRCUMFERENTIAL* |
CIRCUMFERENTIAL (relating to the boundary line or rim) |
| 9 |
Child nursed by famous mother, depicted in stonework? (7) |
SON (child) contained in (nursed by) MARY (mother of Jesus; famous mother) MA (SON) RY |
MASONRY (building work in stone) |
| 10 | Identifier – encountered one carried by horse (4,3) |
(MET [encountered] + A [one) contained in (carried by) NAG (horse, especially a small or inferior one) NA (MET A) G |
NAMETAG (example of an identifier) |
| 11 | Odd observation originating in university should be rejected (3) |
(OF [originating in] + U [university]) all reversed (should be rejected) (U FO)< |
UFO (unidentified flying object; if seen, it is an odd observation) |
| 12 | Supplier of electricity – entertainment venue closing early before it’s provided (7) |
CIRCUS (entertainment venue) excluding the final letter (closing early) S + IT CIRCU IT |
CIRCUIT (the path, complete or partial, of an electric current; supplier of electricity) |
| 14 | Understand fellow abandoning name (3) |
GENT (man; fellow) excluding (abandoning) N (name) GET |
GET (understand) |
| 15 | The common soldiers and so on including head of infantry as a hypothesis (9) |
THE + OR (other ranks; ordinary [common] soldiers) + (ETC [et cetera [and so on] containing [including] I [first letter of {head of} INFANTRY]) THE OR ET (I) C |
THEORETIC (based on a hypothetical idea; as a hypothesis)
|
| 17 | Runs bagged by you – not quite a boundary shot (5) |
R (runs in cricket scoring notation) contained in (bagged by) THEE (you) TH (R) EE |
THREE (a number one less than FOUR which is a score for a boundary in cricket where the ball hits the ground before crossing the boundary line; not quite a boundary shot) |
| 18 | Independent and Times probing news item, dismissing alternative number (5) |
(I [independent] + X []multiplication sign; times]) contained in (probing) (STORY [news item] excluding [dismissing] OR [alternative]) S (I X) TY |
SIXTY (a number) |
| 20 | Checked in with expedition to take in Court (9) |
IN + (SPEED [expedition] containing [to take in] CT [court]) IN SPE (CT) ED |
INSPECTED (checked) |
| 22 | Odd cut to backside (3) |
RUMP (backside) excluding the final letter (cut) P RUM |
RUM (odd)
|
| 23 | Penalty from misusing this sporting technique (3-4) |
Anagram of (misusing) PENALTY NET-PLAY* |
NET-PLAY (in tennis, a strategy that involved PLAYing near the NET) |
| 25 | Free trip not completed (3) |
RIDE (journey; trip) excluding the final letter (not completed) E RID |
RID (free) |
| 26 | Wrote shakily about old note or series of notes (4,3) |
Anagram of (shakily) WROTE containing (about) (O [old] + N [note]) T (O N) E ROW* |
TONE ROW (in serial music. the basic set of notes in the chosen order) |
| 28 | Big announcement in stadium catering? (7) |
FAN (supporter; someone who will go to a stadium to support their favourite team or artist, for example) + FARE (food; catering) which taken together could refer to stadium catering FAN FARE |
FANFARE (ostentatious publicity which could accompany a big announcement) |
| 30 | Landlord yells "Stores!" after arranging sources of catering (7,8) |
HOST (landlord [of a public house]) + an anagram of (after arranging) YELLS STORES HOST ESS TROLLEYS* |
HOSTESS TROLLEYS (TROLLEYS with electronically heated compartments for keeping food warm while it is brought to the table) |
| Down | |||
| 1 | Do what’s needed, as irritated divers have to? (4,2,27) |
COME UP TO SCRATCH (if a diver has an itch (be irritated) he / she may have to COME UP TO [the surface] to SCRATCH it) COME UP TO SCRATCH |
COME UP TO SCRATCH (reach an expected standard; do what’s needed) |
| 2 | Bring back support over mining output (7) |
REST (support) + ORE (solid, naturally-occurring mineral aggregate,; mining output) REST ORE |
RESTORE (bring back) |
| 3 | Show agitation after dropping church vessel (3) |
CHURN (agitate) excluding (after dropping) CH (church) URN |
URN (vessel for water) |
| 4 | Entrance hall supporting accommodatiing you, as before (5) |
FOR (in favour of; supporting) containing (accommodating) YE (old term [as before] for you) FO (YE) R |
FOYER (entrance hallway) |
| 5 | Prophet, upset about word attached to commandment, initially gives up (9) |
SEER (prophet) reversed (upset) containing (about (NOUN [word used as the name of a person, animal, thing, place or quality] + C [first letter of {initially} COMMANDMENT) RE (NOUN C) ES< |
RENOUNCES (gives up) |
| 6 | Shakespearean character in many movies (3) |
NYM (hidden word in [in] MANY MOVIES) NYM |
NYM (Corporal NYM is a character in two Shakespeare plays – The Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry V) |
| 7 | Number, say, in cold period missing source of warmth (7) |
EG (for example; say) contained in (in) WINTER (cold period) excluding (missing) W (first letter of [source of] WARMTH) INT (EG) ER |
INTEGER (any positive or negative whole number, including zero) |
| 8 | Components of car feature switched – sensed unsettled dizzy feeling (5-10) |
HEADLIGHT (feature of a car) with the component parts HEAD and LIGHT switched in position + an anagram of (unsettled) SENSED LIGHT HEAD EDNESS* |
LIGHT-HEADEDNESS (giddy; delirious; dizzy feeling)
|
| 12 | Uproar regarding aircraft baggage? (5-2) |
CARRY-ON (fuss; uproar) CARRY-ON |
CARRY-ON (descriptive of baggage that can be CARRied ON to an aircraft rather than stored in the hold) double definition |
| 13 | Unsteady attempt to catch tailless mammal (7) |
TRY (attempt) containing (to catch) OTTER (example of a mammal) excluding the final letter (tailless) R T (OTTE) RY |
TOTTERY (shaky; unsteady) |
| 16 | Reproach has to encompass new pair of locations (4,5) |
(TWIT [a reproach] + OWNS [has]) containing (to encompass) N (new) TWI (N) T OWNS |
TWIN TOWNS (TOWNs paired with another foreign TOWN of similar size for the purpose of social, cultural and commercial exchanges)
|
| 19 | Inquisitor tortured six men around Spain (7) |
Anagram of (tortured) SIX MEN containing (around) E (International Vehicle Registration for Spain) XIM (E) NES* – either of the Es could be the one contained |
XIMENES (Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros, (1436 – 1517), known as XIMENES de Cisneros in his own lifetime, and commonly referred to today as simply Cisneros, was a Spanish cardinal, religious figure, and statesman. Starting from humble beginnings he rose to the heights of power becoming a religious reformer, twice regent of Spain, Cardinal, Grand Inquisitor. Also the pseudonym of crossword setter Derrick Macnutt [1902 – 1971], predecessor of Axed in the Observer newspaper) |
| 21 | Mistake in opening of ten excellent houses (7) |
ERR (mistake) contained in (in) (T [first letter of {opening of} TEN] + ACE [excellent]) T (ERR) ACE |
TERRACE (row of houses) |
| 24 | Long-term prisoner turning up in secure files (5) |
LIFER (hidden word reversed in [turning up in; down clue] SECURE FILES) LIFER< |
LIFER (person sentenced to imprisonment for LIFE [long term prisoner]) |
| 27 | Regret scheme to oust son (3) |
RUSE (trick; stratagem; scheme) excluding (to oust) S (son) RUE |
RUE (regret) |
| 29 | Duck, one found in Holland (3) |
I (Roman numeral for one) contained in (found in) NL (International Vehicle Registration for The Netherlands [Holland]) N (I) L |
NIL (nothing; zero; duck score in cricket) |
I think Phi’s after a new film called
Carry on Ximenes” Leslie Philips looking over a puzzle with Liz Frazer standing provocatively alongside…..TBC
For some reason the phone app would only take ‘cAme’ at the start of 1d, which put me off for a bit. Otherwise steady progress, and theme-wise, maybe ‘round/circles’, with THREE and SIXTY, 1a, CIRCUIT, an Integer is a round number.
Thanks to S&B.
A straightforward and enjoyable puzzle. The grid is unusual and very pretty, with that ring in the middle, isn’t it? It seems there is something going on, because the tops of both the outer and inner rings have words to do with circles, and there are number things going on (sixty, three, integer). But I can’t put it together.
The online grid seems to want CAME in 1d, but obviously the answer is COME, as you say.
Ah yes, we overlapped but Paul @2 must be right – three-sixty, not sixty-three.
The usual enjoyable Phi Friday offering with the equally usual feeling that I’m missing something. Doubtless someone will crack it.
I didn’t know TWIT for ‘Reproach’ and TONE ROW was new to me too. Unusual to see ‘catering’ in two consecutive clues.
Thanks for the reminder of Leslie Phillips, copmus @1. Well, hello…
Thanks also to Duncan (BTW, a minor typo in the XIMENES explanation) and Phi
Just to add to above: NIL also relates to a round figure. A hostess trolley could easily lead to a round figure, but let’s not go there. As a mathematician, I should have seen the three sixty (degrees) but didn’t.
A hostess trolley could do the rounds….
A nice steady solve with no problems, but we failed to spot the theme. Favourites were THEORETIC and INTEGER.
UFO could be another thematic entry – saucers, flying or otherwise, are usually round.
Thanks, Phi and Duncan.
Ever since The Independent allowed us to design our own grids, I have kept a record of the ones I come up with. Some are one-offs to accommodate a theme but others are more reusable and, indeed, get reused. To keep track, I number them, as did the paper with its original thirty-three. Today’s was no. 360, so I felt a bit of thematic content was called for.
Now there’s a coincidence. Tone rows are associated with the music of Arnold Schoenberg and his school and I’d just finished listening to music by Luigi Non when I did this, and as everyone surely knows, None was married to Schoenberg’s daughter.
Went in very smoothly, although I didn’t spot the theme. Getting it yesterday was enough for one week.