It’s Friday, so it’s a puzzle from Phi
The grid contains the word THEME, but that’s the closest I get to a theme for the puzzle. There are a couple of pairs of opposites – INEBRIATE and TEETOTAL, plus ELEMENTARY and ELLIPTICAL but I can’t see any more.
The words in the grid were all ones I have come across fairly regularly. Perhaps RHIZOME is the most obscure for me.
The cluing was fair. I thought the clue for THEME with its reference to the border between Spain and Gibraltar was good.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| 9 | Greeting zone in European city that supplies stock (7) |
(HI! [a greeting] + Z [zone]) contained in (in) ROME (a European city) R (HI Z) OME |
RHIZOME (rootstock) |
| 10 | Disease? Pass period around hospital (7) |
(COL [pass] + ERA [period]) containing (around) H (hospital) C (H) OL ERA |
CHOLERA (a disease) |
| 11 | Show of hesitation, blocking return of mischevous child in pool attraction (5) |
UM (expression of hesitation) contained in (blocking) ELF (mischievous or fairy-like being, especially a child) reversed (return of) FL (UM) E< |
FLUME (chute with flowing water down which people slide to a swimming pool) |
| 12 | Brevity and imperfect sense in half of chapters (9) |
Anagram of (imperfect) SENSE contained in (in) TERS (half of the letters [half of] of the word CHAPTERS) TER (SENES*) S |
TERSENESS (brevity) |
| 13 | One anti-beer? That’s wrong (9) |
Anagram of (that’s wrong) I (Roman numeral for one) and ANTI-BEER It may be parsed as I and then an anagram of ANTI-BEER INEBRIATE* |
INEBRIATE (a drunk person; definitely not one who is anti-beer) &Lit clue |
| 16 | European to express anger? It happens (5) |
E (European) + VENT (express an emotion, such as anger) E VENT |
EVENT (anything which happens)
|
| 17 | That woman‘s daughter leaving Slough (3) |
SHED (slough) excluding (leaving) D (daughter) SHE |
SHE (that woman) |
| 18 | A lot of activity and start of lessons accepted by the German child (7) |
TO-DO (bustle; stir; activity) excluding the final letter (a lot of) O + (L [first letter of {start of} LESSONS] contained in [accepted by] DER [one of the forms of ‘the’ in German]) TOD D (L) ER |
TODDLER (child) |
| 19 | Beat early curtailment of light (3) |
LAMP (light) excluding the final letter (early curtailment) P LAM |
LAM (beat) |
| 21 | What’s central to Gibraltarians and Spain about border topic? (5) |
T (middle letter of [what’s central to] GIBRALTARIANS + E (International Vehicle Registration for Spain]) containing (about) HEM (border) T (HEM) E |
THEME (topic) |
| 22 | Mechanic, perhaps, one calling back about a couple of items (9) |
NAMER (one calling) reversed (back) containing (about) PAIR (couple [of items]) RE (PAIR) MAN< |
REPAIRMAN (person who does REPAIRs, especially on something mechanical) |
| 24 | Head back with stream and river beginning to inundate leaves, petals etc. (9) |
TOP (head) reversed (back) + POUR (stream) + R (river) + I (first letter of [beginning to] INUNDATE) POT< POUR R I |
POTPOURRI (fragrant mixture of dried petals, leaves, spices, etc used to scent a room, etc) |
| 26 | Failure to do shoe repairs, mostly, on reflection (5) |
RESOLE (do shoe repairs) excluding the final letter (mostly) E and then reversed (on reflection) LOSER< |
LOSER (a failure) |
| 28 | Set aside energy and power to be supplied to boat (7) |
E (energy) + ARM (power) + ARK (boat) E ARM ARK |
EARMARK (set aside for a particular purpose) |
| 29 | Military leader invading continent left without friends (7) |
(OC [Officer Commanding; military leader] contained in [invading] ASIA [continent]) + L (left) AS (OC) IA L |
ASOCIAL (disinclined to mix with other people; without friends) |
| Down | |||
| 1 | Tense and largely flashy, securing constant deals (8) |
T (tense) + (RAFFISH [flashy] excluding the final letter [largely] H containing [securing] C [constant, indicating the speed of light]) T RAFFI (C) S |
TRAFFICS (deals) |
| 2 | Fabrication to get university place (4) |
LIE (fabrication) + U (university) LIE U |
LIEU (place or stead) |
| 3 | Hint of shabbiness? Try out fashion perhaps (3-3) |
DO (try out, perhaps not a strict dictionary definition, but we know what is meant) + GEAR (young people’s fashion) DO G EAR |
DOG-EAR (scruffy; hint of shabbiness) |
| 4 | Sinister operative dropped off components for her (4-6) |
LEFT (dropped off) + (H AND ER [the components of the word HER) LEFT H AND ER |
LEFT-HANDER (sinister is a term to indicate the LEFT side; sinister operative) |
| 5 | Cut applied to face, leaving mark of wound (4) |
SCARP (steep slope; face) excluding the final letter (cut applied) P SCAR |
SCAR (mark left by a wound) |
| 6 | Warning to support predecessor? (8) |
FORE (warning on a golf course to beware of the ball flying towards you) + BEAR (support) FORE BEAR |
FOREBEAR (ancestor, predecessor) |
| 7 | Strange clue about refractory bit of material in part of the brain (10) |
(Anagram of [strange] CLUE containing (about) REBEL (refractory can describe someone unmanageable, such as a REBEL]) + M (first letter of [bit of] MATERIAL) CE (REBEL) LU* M |
CEREBELLUM (lower posterior part of the brain) |
| 8 | Bone, primarily something beneficial for a dog (6) |
B (first letter of [primarily] BONE) + ASSET (something beneficial) B ASSET |
BASSET (breed of dog) |
| 14 | Basic alert with enemy on the move (10) |
Anagram of (on the move) ALERT and (with) ENEMY ELEMENTARY* |
ELEMENTARY (simple; basic) |
| 15 | Obscure regarding the motion of planets (10) |
ELLIPTICAL (cryptic; obscure or dubious) ELLIPTICAL |
ELLIPTICAL (descriptive of the orbital path of planets) double definition |
| 18 | Avoiding booze offers little support over crash (8) |
TEE (support for a golf ball; small [little] support) + TOTAL (destroy completely; crash) TEE TOTAL |
TEETOTAL (abstaining from alcoholic drinks; avoiding booze) |
| 20 | Primate, note, standing in boiling stream (8) |
(N [note] contained in [standing in] MAD [furious with anger; boiling]) + RILL (stream) MA (N) D RILL |
MANDRILL (large W African baboon with a red and blue muzzle and hindquarters; primate) |
| 21 | No opening for plug hat (6) |
STOPPER (plug) excluding the first letter (no opening for) S TOPPER |
TOPPER (top HAT) |
| 23 | I head for Greenland, free to dismiss latest in polar residences (6) |
I + G (first letter of [head for] GREENLAND) + LOOSE (free) excluding (to dismiss) the final letter (latest) E I G LOOS |
IGLOOS (dome-shaped Inuit houses made of blocks of hard snow; polar residences) |
| 25 | Progress was visualised for one garden tool (4) |
RAKE (reference The RAKE‘s Progress, an opera by Igor Stravinsky [1882 – 1971]; progress visualised for one) RAKE |
RAKE (garden instrument) |
| 27 | Bargain haberdashery items picked up (4) |
PINS (items sold in a haberdashery) reversed (picked up; down clue) SNIP< |
SNIP (bargain) |
There is a nina on THE MAIN DIAGONAL.
Thanks, Hovis we missed that. We were too busy trying to find a nina in the 2nd and 7th rows of unches which gave us A E G FARR’S PATACONI. We googled AEG Farr and got references to a Farr Festival linked to AEG; then googling Pataconi gave references to a musician of that name, but we couldn’t link him to the festival.
An enjoyable solve, though. We liked the two pairs of opposites that Duncan has pointed out. But we couldn’t parse SCAR properly – the best we came up with was scar{f}, thinking that a scarf might sometimes be worn across (applied to) one’s face. Doh!
Thanks, Phi and Duncan
Ta Hovis.He did set an Inquy recently so maybe that explains it.
But this puzzle was rhizomely straightforward (unlike his Inquy which had us rank &file solvers battered and bruised like a rookie surfer at Pipeline.
And thanks again to kenmac for blogging the latter.Not to mention dunc…
Hogarth’s painting series is probably a better known Rake’s Progress than Stravinsky’s musical adaptation of it, and fits with “visualised” better. Thanks, Phi and Duncan.
Couldn’t parse 5dn and 25dn. I’m not sure I’d agree with Ian@3 that the paintings are better known than the opera – I’ve seen the opera many times but don’t really know the paintings at all – but I agree his parsing is more likely what Phi intended.
Very late in but just wanted to thank Duncan for the full parsing of 18a (the activity had fooled me) and also 5d where I couldn’t get the ‘face’.
Thanks also to Phi for the puzzle.
Thanks to duncanshiell and Phi
I wonder if the intersecting ELEMENTARY and THEME signify anything. And perhaps even CEREBELLUM EVENT (\).
Probably not.