What one always experiences with Phi: a slow start, but then after a while everything runs smoothly, with a whole lot of good clues whose explanation is fairly straighforward and one wonders why they ever presented any difficulties.
Definitions in maroon, underlined. Anagram indicators in italics.
Of course I can see nothing, as usual on Fridays.
| Across | ||
| 1 | FLORESCENCE | Flowering closer somehow in garden boundary (11) |
| (closer)* in fence | ||
| 8 | GROOVE | What the hippies sought: extra love amongst the trees? (6) |
| grove with an extra o | ||
| 9 | NORMALCY | No railway includes line maintained by Scotsman? That’s the usual state of affairs (8) |
| no r(Ma(l)c)y | ||
| 10 | CUL-DE-SAC | Hints Bill embraces lady in odd positions in closed-off area (3-2-3) |
| cu(l{a}d{y})es ac. | ||
| 12 | EROTIC | Old Testament filling American’s heart regarding sex (6) |
| er(OT)ic, the eric being {Am}eric{an} | ||
| 14 | DEFINITE ARTICLE | Certain skill Liberal held in reserve for part of speech (8,7) |
| definite [= certain] art ic(L)e | ||
| 17 | RESURRECTIONIST | Hare? Scut entire, sir, or somewhat damaged (15) |
| (Scut entire, sir, or)* — I couldn’t think what on earth the connection was between hares and resurrectionists, but then found that a resurrectionist is an old facetious term for a body snatcher, as in Burke and Hare | ||
| 18 | FLUENT | Easily flowing in pipe, not empty (6) |
| flue n{o}t | ||
| 20 | MINISTER | Chap embracing elected parliamentarian (8) |
| m(in)ister | ||
| 22 | INACTION | Popular group heading off lack of engagement (8) |
| in {f}action | ||
| 24 | CLOUDY | Obscure flash in college yard (6) |
| c (loud) y — flash (an adjective) = loud | ||
| 25 | NOT MY PIGEON | Homer’s error is someone else’s problem (3,2,6) |
| 2 defs — the Homer is a homing pigeon | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | FORTUNE-TELLING | What the crystal ball presages: money will get crucial (7-7) |
| fortune [= money] telling [= crucial] | ||
| 2 | OVOID | Nothing very old, mind (odd bits excepted) – like the curate’s egg? (5) |
| 0 v o {m}i{n}d — but what has the ‘good in parts’ curate got to do with it? Isn’t it just an egg? | ||
| 3 | EWE | Sheep being trimmed in smaller numbers (3) |
| {f}ewe{r} | ||
| 4 | CONSCIENCE MONEY | Study research funding, say, as a means of atonement (10,5) |
| con (science money) — science money is research funding, say | ||
| 5 | NERVE | Note monarch, in time before festival, displaying self-possession (5) |
| n e(R)ve | ||
| 6 | ERA | Time and space mostly set up (3) |
| (are{a})rev. | ||
| 7 | ACHILLES TENDON | Halts indolence if this is damaged? On the contrary! (8,6) |
| (Halts indolence)* — I’m not absolutely sure what the definition is here, but at any rate it’s a sort of &lit. | ||
| 11 | SKIER | Winter sportsman very quietly easing away from captain (5) |
| ski{pp}er | ||
| 13 | ONION | Vegetable, something not to be considered, on reflection? I will tuck in (5) |
| I in (no-no)rev. — Phi doesn’t do what poor setters do and say things like ‘I tuck in’ when what he means is ‘I tucks in’ — something that is not always observed: I’ve even seen a competition winner making this mistake | ||
| 15 | INURE | Judge, escaping harm, has to get tougher (5) |
| in{j}ure | ||
| 16 | REIGN | Government in control in time in power (5) |
| rei(G)n | ||
| 19 | TAINT | Explosive pervaded by a current contamination (5) |
| T(a I)NT | ||
| 21 | SNORE | Affliction around night-time, primarily (5) |
| s(n{ight-time})ore — &lit. and a good one | ||
| 23 | CON | Against clubs playing? (3) |
| C on | ||
| 24 | CHI | Life-force a bit reduced (3) |
| chi{p} — I suppose a chip is a bit of something, but maybe there’s some other word: not chid, chin, chit, … | ||
*anagram
I found this tougher than the average Phi but exceptionally enjoyable. (I think) 1a is a new word for me but it was easily derivable from the wordplay. There are too many excellent clues to try to pick a single favourite but I particularly enjoyed all of the longer ones.
Many thanks to Phi and to John.
Needed to don the thinking cap for a few of the clues but enjoyed the solve.
I particularly liked the references to Hare and Homer.
Thanks to Phi and to John for the blog – I can’t think of anything other than ‘chip’ for the bit in 24d.
I hadn’t heard of NOT MY PIGEON but it can be found on the Web. I’m never sure why NORMALCY is used in the US rather than normality; does anyone know?
Entertaining puzzle – I liked the Hare although I didn’t understand it before reading the blog.
Thanks Phi and John.
This was a lite Friday with a pathetic Mask in the Graun and a friendly but nice Bradman in the FT.
So this was my pick. Phi is pretty reliable. Never heard of 25 but had to be.
The long ones made it a bit easier, but as usual an enjoyable solve
thanks Phi and John
We’d agree this was a bit tougher than some Phi puzzles but we got there in the end. LOI was 17ac – we spent too long trying to make an anagram of ‘hare scut entire’ having miscounted the number of letters – a facepalm moment when we got the right answer and realised what ‘Hare’ referred to.
In 2dn we thought the surface of ‘nothing very old, mind, (odd bits excepted)’ might be seen as referring to the curate’s egg – the parts that weren’t good could have been old.
In fact 2dn was one of our favourites, along with 25ac and 13dn.
Thanks, Phi and John
PS: Failed to spot any theme, of course.
All went in fairly quickly but at the end I was stuck on 25ac and 24dn. I could immediately think of three meanings for “Homer” – the Greek poet, Mr Simpson, and a home run in baseball – and I spent ages trying to bend the clue to those. Only then did I wonder if there were other meanings.
A slow solve but enjoyable. My printout is covered in “workings out” as I struggled with the longer ones like 17a and 7d, but got there in the end. Favourite was the pigeon. Thanks Phi and John.