Phi is back to his usual day, but for how long? Were his recent perambulations the sign of something regular? Perhaps Friday, being a random day, is just one of the days he visits.
Anyway, this was what you expect from Phi: things don’t work out instantly (apart from one or two, like 5dn or 8dn) but you know that in due course all will become clear. I found this to be easier than is usual for Phi, but none the worse for that.
Definitions in maroon, underlined. Anagram indicators in italics.
No doubt something is going on, as is common with Phi. But I can’t see it.
| Across | ||
| 1 | BORSCHT | Stop overlooking one when bringing in school soup (7) |
| {a}bor(sch)t | ||
| 5 | SARCASM | Much of investigation into small weapon gets contemptuous response (7) |
| (s ar(cas{e})m) | ||
| 9 | FAULTLINE | A unit fell out – source of a slip? (9) |
| (A unit fell)* | ||
| 10 | GRUEL | Insubstantial meal, not half horrible, getting left (5) |
| grue{some} l | ||
| 11 | TRIBE | All but goes to embrace British people (5) |
| tri(B)e{s} | ||
| 12 | SIMPLETON | Is backtracking by politician to reveal a fool? (9) |
| (Is)rev. MP let on | ||
| 14 | MERIDIAN CIRCLE | Reformed criminal cried about end of Hubble telescope (8,6) |
| *(criminal cried) round {Hubbl}e — I never knew about a meridian circle, thinking it was just a line of longitude, but it’s apparently this, and knowing Phi’s interest in astronomy, I’m sure he’s right | ||
| 17 | STOCKING FILLER | Having a store of amalgam, say, for the present (8,6) |
| A dentist might stock amalgam (the filler used for teeth) | ||
| 21 | ADENOIDAL | Contrived gland idea not good, containing nothing regarding certain glands (9) |
| *({g}land idea) round 0 | ||
| 23 | BRICK | Reliable sort has criticism after dropping bat (5) |
| brick{bat} | ||
| 24 | IN ONE | Nobody getting behind Independent as an entity? (2,3) |
| I none | ||
| 25 | SPEARMINT | Plant, exhausted, requiring introduction of power and current (9) |
| spe(arm I)nt | ||
| 26 | ECSTASY | City to stop receiving investment from Sweden – a happy state (7) |
| EC [city] sta(S)y | ||
| 27 | SPLOTCH | Plan to have church following Saint Mark? (7) |
| S plot ch. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | BEFITS | Is suitable for gambling involving motor-racing? (6) |
| be(F1)ts — Formula One | ||
| 2 | ROUTINE | About to bring in hokey-cokey options as standard (7) |
| r(out in)e — in, out, in out, you shake it all about | ||
| 3 | CATTERICK | Cows not left with pile of hay in Yorkshire village (9) |
| catt{l}e rick | ||
| 4 | THIN-SKINNED | Consider adopting son – end in tears, being easily upset (4-7) |
| thin(s)k (end in)* | ||
| 5 | SEE | Observe siege at regular intervals (3) |
| s{i}e{g}e | ||
| 6 | REGAL | Like monarchs: grand, and serious about it (5) |
| re(g)al | ||
| 7 | AQUATIC | A quantity of liquid runs out, I see, like water? (7) |
| a qua{r}t I c | ||
| 8 | MALINGER | Avoid work in translation of Germinal (8) |
| *(Germinal) | ||
| 13 | MINDFULNESS | Stress reduction technique that’s a form of mindless fun (11) |
| *(mindless fun) | ||
| 15 | ILLIBERAL | Wrong part of Europe – not Italy, Luxembourg – represented as intolerant (9) |
| ill Iber{I}a L | ||
| 16 | ASTATINE | At one point a stone goes over (8) |
| a st. a tine — At is the chemical symbol for astatine | ||
| 18 | ONEROUS | Difficult individual to bring round? Not entirely (7) |
| one rous{e} | ||
| 19 | ELITIST | Extract from novel – it is totally over the heads of most people (7) |
| Hidden in novEL IT IS Totally | ||
| 20 | SKETCH | Outline heading for sea with boat (6) |
| s{ea} ketch | ||
| 22 | OPERA | Old theatre company picked up a stage work (5) |
| o (rep)rev. a | ||
| 25 | SPY | Run from active agent (3) |
| sp{r}y | ||
*anagram
It’s lunchtime here, but where is everybody? Surely I’m not the only one apart from John to have solved this. Is there a better offer somewhere else? Mostly steady progress but I spent an awful long time on 13D as I thought ‘mindfulness’ couldn’t be the answer as ‘mind’ was in the clue – very odd. I enjoy hunting for themes or ninas (though obviously they add to the difficulty of setting), and Phi often includes a theme, but can’t see one here. Thanks anyway to Phi and John for my breakfast-time mindfulness!
Last one in was 16d because I wasn’t thinking elements. Nice misdirection. I’ll remember it now and it will never reappear, you watch.
I did like ‘At’ for 16d. It’s a while since I’ve seen it, but don’t worry, Tenerifemiller @2, it’s worth remembering as I’m sure it will be back, sometime, somewhere.
I had a few hold-ups along the way, but I finally had everything in. Favourite bit was the ‘hokey-cokey options’ in 2d. No luck with a theme or Nina apart from the grid position of (the previously unheard of but v. interesting) MERIDIAN CIRCLE.
Thanks to Phi and to John
No theme or Nina today. I had a clue jotted down for something and worked the word into the grid. And then I was exposed to rather more of the mindfulness hype than I cared to experience, in the midst of which the anagram occurred to me. It seemed fair comment, even if MIND carried through unchanged…
Well, we are always late to the Indy puzzle unless it’s our turn to blog.
16d was crafty – our LOI. Not a word we were familiar with so we were relieved when the ‘tick’ appeared.
We had all the crossing letters for 14ac, guessed CIRCLE and pressed the check button. It was then just a case of working out possible combinations for the first word. No idea that it was a telescope so we learnt something tonight.
Thanks to Phi and John.