Phi eases us into the weekend with a puzzle that has a varied mix of entries.
With Phi’s puzzles, I often bang a few of the entries into Google as a list to see if there is any connection. I couldn’t find anything obvious today although I have a nagging suspicion there are some film titles or words / phrases in the grid that are very similar to film titles that were released over a wide time period.
I liked the WRAPPING PAPER clue at 1 across. I remember a WRINGER (11 across) in my parents’ kitchen in the early 1950s but I doubt if we would find many in kitchens today.
I never realised until solving this puzzle that PULCHRITUDINOUS (5 down) meant beautiful. It just doesn’t sound like a word with that meaning.
One of my daughters has attended BIKRAM or HOT YOGA sessions and reported that the temperature during the sessions was definitely high.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| 1 | Radio’s offering of news in musical format? It’ll do for the present (8,5) |
WRAPPING (sounds like [radio’s offering] RAPPING [delivering a rhythmic monologue over a musical background; a musical format]) + PAPER (newsPAPER; source of news) WRAPPING PAPER |
WRAPPING PAPER (material used to enclose presents) |
| 9 | Transaction securing Chrysler’s foremost car accessory (5) |
DEAL (transaction) containing (securing) C (first letter of [foremost] CHRYSLER) DE (C) AL |
DECAL (a transfer [picture or design] which can be applied to the bodywork of cars to display a message or a logo; car accessory) |
| 10 | Cancels dancing in full and finishes cancelling start of dancing (9) |
Anagram of (dancing) IN FULL + DIES (finishes) excluding (cancelling) D (first letter of [start of] DANCING) NULLIF* IES |
NULLIFIES (cancels) |
| 11 | Kitchen item that’s presented with an identical example (7) |
W (with) + RINGER (reference dead RINGER – a person or thing almost] identical to some other person or thing) W RINGER |
WRINGER (machine for forcing water from wet clothes; a common kitchen or scullery item once, but less common today as washing machines and tumble dryers have taken its place) |
| 12 | Physical discipline, very popular? Past year shows regression (3,4) |
HOT (very popular) + (AGO [past] + Y [year) all reversed (shows regression) HOT (Y OGA)< |
HOT YOGA (another name for BIKRAM YOGA [a form of yoga in which traditional exercises are performed at high temperature and humidity]) |
| 13 | Long fifth option at the ATM? (4) |
PIN E (Personal Identification Number E [fifth letter]; fifth option at the ATM to withdraw money from the bank) PIN E |
PINE (long) |
| 14 | Freak rains excited Cape Town residents? (10) |
Anagram of (excited) FREAK RAINS AFRIKANERS* |
AFRIKANERS (people born in South Africa of white parents [especially of Dutch descent who could well be residents of Cape Town) |
| 16 | Stop holding it, miss (5,2,3) |
LEAVE OUT (omit; miss) containing (holding) IT LEAVE (IT) OUT |
LEAVE IT OUT (stop) |
| 18 | A volume about what’s retained by banks? (4) |
A + V (volume) + ON (about) A V ON |
AVON (name of a river, which is retained by [river] banks) |
| 21 | Hurried in attempt to get to US city for its breakfast cereal (7) |
(RAN [hurried] contained in [in] GO [attempt]) + LA (Los Angeles; US city) G (RAN) O LA |
GRANOLA (breakfast cereal) |
| 22 | Crude advert, first to last, by Communist (3-4) |
BILL (advertisement) with the first letter B moved to the end (first to last) to form ILLB + RED (communist) ILLB RED |
ILL-BRED (crude) |
| 24 | Grandee having note provided in marvellous opening of opera (9) |
([N {note} + IF {provided}] contained in [in] MAGIC [marvellous]) + O (first letter of [opening of] OPERA) MAG (N IF) IC O |
MAGNIFICO (grandee) |
| 25 | Money putting an end to tender hearts in love (5) |
R (last letter of [put and end to] TENDER) + H (hearts)+ IN + O (zero; love score in tennis) R H IN O |
RHINO (slang for money) |
| 26 | Unusual living arrangements easier amongst freaks (7,1,5) |
Anagram of (freaks) EASIER AMONGST MENAGES A TROIS |
MÉNAGES À TROIS (household composed of three people having sexual relations, especially a husband and wife and the lover of one of them; unusual living arrangements)) |
| Down | |||
| 1 | Bereaved person needing suitable period to drop name (5) |
WINDOW (period of time when conditions are suitable for a particular activity and constitute an opportunity for it) excluding (to drop) N (name) WIDOW |
WIDOW (woman whose husband is dead and who has not remarried; bereaved person) |
| 2 | Amusing person caught appearing later in sale (7) |
CAUTION ( an alarming, amusing or astonishing person or thing) with the leading letter C (caught) moved down the word (appearing later) to form AUCTION AUCTION |
AUCTION (sale) |
| 3 | Source of his support filling senior politician with stoic indifference (6) |
(H [first letter of {source of} HIS] + LEG [support]) contained in (filling) PM (Prime Minister; senior politician) P (H LEG) M |
PHLEGM (stoic indifference) |
| 4 | Like charities for 6, possibly, supported by royal (3-6-6) |
Anagram of (possibly) FOR and POINT MAN (the entry at 6 down) + KING (royal). As this is a down clue, the letters in KING are acting as a supporter for the earlier letters that form the anagram NON-PROFIT MA* KING |
NON-PROFIT-MAKING (Charities should exist to invest all their funds [less legitimate management expenses] in the business of providing support and investment for research rather than earning a PROFIT for shareholders) |
| 5 | Redrawn Sunlit Hour with Cupid – beautiful (15) |
Anagram of (redrawn) SUNLIT HOUR and CUPID PULCHRITUDINOUS* |
PULCHRITUDINOUS (beautiful) |
| 6 | Hint army’s lacking rearguard and lead soldier (5,3) |
POINT (hint) + MANY (multitude of people; an army) excluding the final letter (lacking rearguard) Y POINT MAN |
POINT MAN (a soldier at the head of a body of troops or patrol) |
| 7 | Underground material greeting last character entering European city (7) |
(HI [a word of greeting] + Z [final letter {last character} of the alphabet]) contained in (entering) ROME (European city) R (HI Z) OME |
RHIZOME (an underground stem producing roots and leafy shoots) |
| 8 | Murderer showing nerve for an American engaged in a crime (8) |
SASS (American term for impertinent talk or behaviour; nerve) contained in (engaged in) (A + SIN [crime]) A S (SASS) IN |
ASSASSIN (murderer) |
| 13 | Many a hitch with this attitude to unions? (8) |
POLYGAMY (the word play is a cryptic definition where hitch refers to marriage as well as referring to legal problems in most countries associated with multiple marriage partners at the same time) POLYGAMY |
POLYGAMY (the rule, custom, or condition of marriage to more than one person at a time) |
| 15 | Love it, going climbing in county, returning again and again? (8) |
(O [zero; love score in tennis] + IT) reversed (climbing; down clue) contained in (in) DEVON (English county) DEVO (TI O)< N |
DEVOTION (strong affection or attachment often exhibited by returning again and again to the object or person that is the focus of the affection) |
| 17 | A term of respect encountered around large compound (7) |
A + (MA’AM [madam; term of address or respect to female royalty] containing [around] LG [large]) A MA (LG) AM |
AMALGAM (mixture of mercury with other metal; any soft mixture; compound) |
| 19 | Dizzy sensation to check one attempt? That’s about right (7) |
(VET [examine thoroughly and critically; check] + I [Roman numerical for one] + GO [attempt]) containing (that’s about] R (right) VE (R) T I GO |
VERTIGO (dizziness) |
| 20 | Red wind instrument’s not popular (6) |
CLARINET (wind instrument) excluding (not) IN (popular) CLARET |
CLARET (dark red colour; red wine) |
| 23 | Medic heading off manager’s nonsense (5) |
DR (doctor; medic) + BOSS (manager) excluding the first letter (heading off) B DR OSS |
DROSS (rubbish; nonsense) |
If no-one else is going to thank Phi I’ll be the first.Not only is he consistent but he is also available before the others (here in Oz anyway)
Always enjoyable
I’ll thank Phi too, also duncanshiell. How does Phi churn out such excellent puzzles week after week? Must be the invigorating surroundings of NZ. SW corner held me up but all fair.
Not all that straightforward a solve for us, but we got eveything in the end. We couldn’t parse DEVOTION as we thought the definition was ‘love’. POINT MAN was our LOI, after eliminating ‘for’ and ‘king’ from 4dn and fitting the remaining letters to suit the crossers in 6dn. And we were confused by 16ac as not being familiar with LEAVE IT OUT meaning ‘stop’ it appeared to mean just the same as ‘leave out’.
No nina or theme that we could see.
Thanks, Phi and Duncan.
What? So few people around today. We have only just started and finished the puzzle and came here to see what others thought.
We couldn’t see a theme or nina today either.
When Dac was around there were very few comments on his consistently very good puzzles. Perhaps this could explain the lack of comments on the blog for Phi’s puzzle. Our only concern was also about a WRINGER being found in a kitchen.
Thanks Phi and Duncan.
I ve only just got round to solving this and as always I am saddened by the poor turnout at the Indy’s blogs.
I am also a fan of Phi’s puzzles and enjoyed this very much.
My only quibble and I know it’s a petty one; PIN E cannot exist as an option as surely after three attempts the card is swallowed up 🙂 🙂
Until I got polygamy I was thinking the answer had to involve YEN