In his new peripatetic state Phi appears on a Wednesday and to my pleasure clashes with me. This was his usual enjoyable crossword, which I found a bit easier than usual: only 11ac and 14ac held me up, and even now I’m not totally comfortable with them.
Apologies for slight lateness of this blog. Computer problems, which are I hope more or less resolved.
Definitions in maroon, underlined. Anagram indicators in italics.
Phi often does Ninas, but the less obvious ones are usually quite beyond me.
| Across | ||
| 1 | PERIODIC TABLE | Stop one guy importing first of things for elementary arrangement (8,5) |
| period [= stop, full stop] 1 c(t{hings})able | ||
| 8 | IMPARTIAL | Tell nearly everything about Independent, balancing positive and negative? (9) |
| impart (I) al{l} | ||
| 9 | SAVED | Attacked, though, yielding silver, spared (5) |
| sav{Ag}ed — I suppose the ‘though’ is an attempt at a vaguely plausible surface: the wordplay would be better without it but the surface would then be gibberish | ||
| 11 | OBSESS | Honours son after accepting son’s rule (6) |
| OBE(s)s S — but how rule = obsess is beyond me — I suppose maybe to rule someone is to obsess them completely | ||
| 12 | EVICTION | English opinion not against expulsion (8) |
| E {con}viction | ||
| 14 | EFFUSIONS | French are enshrining France’s first union in literary outpourings (9) |
| e(F{rance} fusion [= union (?)]s — you are = tu es, although the only ‘French are’ I could think of at first was ‘sont’. | ||
| 15 | TRUCE | Corps engaged in sincere termination of fighting (5) |
| tru(C)e | ||
| 17 | IDLED | I’d gone first, and just ran (5) |
| I’d led — just ran like an engine | ||
| 19 | SHORTSTOP | Baseball player’s sports clothes? (9) |
| shorts top — not quite sure why ‘sports’ is necessary, since shorts and top are not specifically sports clothes | ||
| 21 | UNLOOSED | Where you regularly go to be enthralled by nude dancing, being released (8) |
| loos [where you regularly go] in (nude)* | ||
| 23 | MIRROR | One reflects the writer’s backing nothing in a basic education? (6) |
| (I’m)rev. RR(0)R — Reading, writing, ‘rithmetic | ||
| 25 | ELFIN | Slight contribution to novel finale (5) |
| Hidden in novEL FINale | ||
| 26 | GLISSANDI | Musical figurations, mostly smooth, encapsulating one’s polish (9) |
| gl(1’s sand)i{b} | ||
| 27 | REDISCOVERERS | They again unearth reservation about recording covering Queen (13) |
| re(disc over ER)s — it always seems a bit feeble that reservation = res, as if fee = feeble or cov = covering, but no doubt it’s some Canadian term or some such | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | PRIMOGENITURE | Arrangement for continuation of leaders routing empire, possibly (13) |
| (routing empire)* | ||
| 2 | REPOSEFUL | Initially used for sleep, otherwise promoting rest (9) |
| (u{sed} for sleep)* | ||
| 3 | ORRISES | More than one flower like 4, golden, comes up (7) |
| or rises — 4 being IRIS — for the connection between irises and orrises, see the Fragrantica club and the illiterate title to a post; this might be clearer | ||
| 4 | IRIS | Assistant virtually picked up flower (4) |
| Siri(rev.) — you can’t say the crosswords on Fifteen Squared don’t keep up with the times: Siri is Apple’s voice messager | ||
| 5 | TELEVISION | Broadcast live on set involving current set (10) |
| *(live on set) containing I | ||
| 6 | BUSH-CAT | Feline speed will involve such running (4-3) |
| bat containing (such)* — had never heard of it and bat = speed was not something I was confident of, but once the checkers were there it had to be this | ||
| 7 | ENVOI | One individual upset about verse and conclusion to verse (5) |
| (1 one)rev. round v | ||
| 10 | DINNER PARTIES | Iran President arranged evening events (6,7) |
| (Iran President)* | ||
| 13 | BOBSLEIGHS | Sudden jerk audibly does for winter transport (10) |
| bob “slays” | ||
| 16 | UTTERANCE | Total expert penning new expression (9) |
| utter a(n)ce | ||
| 18 | DROWNED | Overwhelmed daughter argued about source of noise (7) |
| d row(n{oise})ed | ||
| 20 | TRIESTE | Goes over the evacuated Italian port (7) |
| tries [= goes; over is a position indicator] t{h}e | ||
| 22 | LIFER | Prisoner, one fellow held by the French King (5) |
| l(1 F)e R | ||
| 24 | DIDO | Performed with old opera heroine (4) |
| did o | ||
*anagram
Similar experience for me. For 14a, I took the definition to be “literary outpourings” and “fusion” comes from “union”.
Wasn’t convinced by OBSESS either. I figured that you could say “computer games rule/obsess their lives”? I never would.
Although “sports” isn’t necessary in 19a, I think it makes a better clue myself.
Never heard of 1d or 3d. BUSH-CAT rang a bell but had to check bat=speed. 27a seems a clumsy agent noun but Phi was probably backed into a corner with this.
Didn’t spot a theme. Thanks to Phi and John.
Add me to the people who put a ? by OBSESS in what was otherwise a straightforward enjoyable solve
Thanks to Phi and John
Thanks John
The reason for Phi’s recent non-Friday appearances has been down to date-specific themes and today is no exception. It is the centenary of the birth of Primo Levi and the title (or part of it) of several of his works can be found in the grid.
Regarding 11ac, ‘rule’ as a synonym for OBSESS is given in both Chambers and Collins thesauri.
Thanks Hovis@1. I got a bit mixed up with 14ac. I meant to say ‘union’ not ‘outpouring’, and the definition is indeed as you say. Blog amended.
Thanks Phi and John
I enjoyed this very much, though the theme eluded me completely, despite assuming from Phi’s recent post that there must be one.
Not only are the titles of some of his works in the grid, his name appears within 1D and 5, and the second part of 1D also points to his birth. Neat!
The theme was way beyond me but at least I didn’t miss a (for me) obvious one. I’m glad I wasn’t alone in wondering about OBSESS and bat for ‘speed’.
I liked GLISSANDI for helping me with a related answer which appeared elsewhere today. The clue for IRIS was fine; I wish I could say the same about the ‘Assistant virtually’ referred to in the wordplay who picks up very little in my experience!
Thanks to Phi and John
He was going at a fair bat.
Another obsessed by 11A, but what else could it be? A quick but enjoyable solve, missed the theme.
Thanks to Phi and John.
For various reasons we didn’t start this till very late but we almost got it all – couldn’t figure out how 11ac could be OBSESS so left it unfinished. Didn’t spot the theme, of course. But 1ac was a write-in as our grandchildren (8½ and 10) had been telling us about the periodic table – in our day we didn’t learn about it till half way through secondary school.
All to Phi’s usual high standard. Thanks, Phi and John