[If you’re attending York S&B please see comments 32&33] - here
As usual, it is a Phi puzzle to end the weekday series.
I was pleased to see a number of clues with three or more constituent parts, the highest being the five parts involved building HARD CURRENCY.
There was a nod to Phi’s part of the world with entries for KIWI and AUSTRALIAN. There were other geographic references as well with INCHCAPE ROCK, ELBE and ROUEN
At one point, I thought the grid might be a pangram, but in the end it fell short by three letters (J, Q and X)
It took a while to sort out the parsing of SMUTTINESS because I was focusing on compass points initially, before the penny dropped onto points of a fork.
I can’t see a theme, but Phi’s themes are often very subtle, so there might be one.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| 1 | Escape carrying whip and torch (10) |
FLIGHT (an act of fleeing; escape) containing (carrying) LASH (whip) F (LASH) LIGHT |
FLASHLIGHT (torch) |
| 6 | Repeat backing of Church House (4) |
CE (Church [of England]) reversed (backing of) + HO (house) EC< HO |
ECHO (repeat) |
| 9 | Neighbour of 22 almost entirely enthralled by a European (10) |
AL AUSTR (AL) IAN |
AUSTRALIAN (neighbour of a KIWI [New Zealander], the entry at 22 down) |
| 10 | This joint, mostly twisted would lead to wail (4) |
If you reverse (twisted) NEE, the majority of letters in (mostly) KNEE [the entry] you get K EEN< (cry; wail) KNEE |
KNEE (joint in the leg) |
| 12 | Actress upset about start of play with constant sources of alarm (5,7) |
Anagram of (upset) ACTRESS containing (about) (ACT I [act one; start of play] + C [mathematical constant representing the speed of light]) SCARE T (ACT I C) S* |
SCARE TACTICS (actions or words solely intended to intimidate; sources of alarm) |
| 15 | Significant symbol, trimmed at edges, encapsulating a city after revolution (9) |
M (EMOR A)< BLE |
MEMORABLE (significant) |
| 17 | Lad taken aback about French article and other parts of speech (5) |
SON (lad) reversed (taken aback) containing (about) UN (one of the French forms of ‘a’ [indefinite article]) NO (UN) S< |
NOUNS (parts of speech) |
| 18 | Lines produced during Tuesday will provide material (5) |
LL (lines) contained in (produced during) TUE (Tuesday) TU (LL) E |
TULLE (delicate thin silk network fabric that was popularly used, especially in the 19th century, for making veils, hats, etc) |
| 19 | Mutual manoeuvring about period not concluding? This fixes an endpoint (9) |
Anagram of (manoeuvring) MUTUAL containing (about) TIM UL (TIM) ATUM* |
ULTIMATUM (final terms which fix an end point) |
| 20 | Take careful steps with stunt about to block reasonable location for lighthouse (8,4) |
INCH (move by slow degrees; take careful steps) + CAPER (escapade; stunt) + (C [circa; about] contained in [to block] OK [okay; reasonable]) INCH CAPE R O (C) K |
INCHCAPE ROCK (location of a lighthouse situated 18 km off the east coast of Angus, Scotland, near Dundee and Fife) |
| 24 | Feel Berlin is home to … not this river (4) |
ELBE (hidden word in [is home to] FEEL BERLIN) ELBE |
ELBE (German river, but not the one that flows through Berlin [that is the Spree]) |
| 25 | Symbolic fruit offering better health, clearing cold (10) |
FIG (fruit) + FIG URATIVE |
FIGURATIVE (symbolic) |
| 26 | Stop special police retreating (4) |
S (special) + MET (METropolitan police) reversed (retreating) S TEM< |
STEM (stop) |
| 27 | Consequence of strike action, say: refuses to sit and work (10) |
STANDS (does not [refused to perhaps {say}] sit) + TILL (work the soil) STANDS TILL |
STANDSTILL (complete stop which could be the consequence of strike action) |
| Down | |||
| 1 | Fat? Radical to suppress pounds (4) |
FAB (marvellous; radical is slang for excellent or fine, so FAB is a synonym of radical) containing (to suppress) L (pounds sterling) F (L) AB |
FLAB (excess body fat) |
| 2 | A rope, but not a second as well (4) |
A + L A LSO |
ALSO (as well) |
| 3 | Tough blighter regarding US city accepting source of corrupt cash (4,8) |
HARD (tough) + CUR (scoundrel; blighter) + RE (regarding) + (NY [New York; US city] containing [accepting] C [first letter of {source of} CORRUPT]) HARD CUR RE N (C) Y |
HARD CURRENCY (metallic money; cash) |
| 4 | Current line in article from Frankfurt? One’s not seriously engaged (5) |
I (electric current) + (L [line] contained in [in] DER [one of the German [Frankfurt] forms of ‘the’ {definite article}]) I D (L) ER |
IDLER (person who wastes time or is reluctant to work) |
| 5 | Try to tuck in after disease – a sign of life? (9) |
HEAR (try judicially) + TB (tuberculosis; disease) + EAT (tuck in) HEAR TB EAT |
HEARTBEAT (pulsation of the HEART; sign of life) |
| 7 | Concern of film study – money provided by actors’ union – ignoring European question (10) |
CON (study) + TIN (money) + ( CON TIN UITY |
CONTINUITY (the ordering or arrangement of film or television shots and scenes, or of parts of a radio broadcast, in a correct or consistent way; a concern of the film industry) |
| 8 | Writers in Old English having identical magic phrase (4,6) |
(PENS [writers] contained in [in] OE [Old English]) + SAME [identical] O (PEN S) E SAME |
OPEN SESAME (spell or other means of making barriers fly open; magic phrase) |
| 11 | But this one at LSE won’t be the cheapest available! (7,5) |
ECONOMY CLASS (attendance at a CLASS of this nature at the London School of ECONOMics [LSE] will attract a fee that will be higher than that for a similar CLASS at other colleges or universities) ECONOMY CLASS |
ECONOMY CLASS (cheapest and least luxurious type of seating for travel) |
| 13 | Black marks about points exhibiting vulgarity (10) |
SMUTS (black marks) containing (about) TINES (points of a fork) SMUT (TINES) S |
SMUTTINESS (vulgarity) |
| 14 | I’m set to apprehend a bad lot initially allowing no opposition (10) |
I’M + (PLACE [set] containing [to apprehend] [A + BL [first letters [initially] of each of BAD and LOT]) IM PLAC (A BL) E |
IMPLACABLE (allowing no appeasement or opposition) |
| 16 | Plan example of 13? |
BLUE (indecent or obscene) + PRINT (publication) together forming an example of SMUTTINESS (entry at 13 down) BLUE PRINT |
BLUEPRINT (detailed plan) of work to be done |
| 21 | Most of circuit taking in English and French city (5) |
ROUN ROU (E) N |
ROUEN (city in northern France) |
| 22 | Resident of islands keeping in with islanders initially (4) |
KIWI (first letters [initially] of each of KEEPING, IN, WITH and ISLANDERS) K I W I |
KIWI (resident of New Zealand which is formed primarily of two large islands, North Island and South Island) |
| 23 | Craze always involves such keenness (4) |
ZEAL (hidden word [involves] in CRAZE ALWAYS) ZEAL |
ZEAL (keenness) |
Ended up using a word fit to get FIGURATIVE. Pleased to work out INCHCAPE ROCK, having never heard of it. Took far too long getting HEARTBEAT. Also took ages to get CONTINUITY as I had a mental block on the name of the actors’ union.
In 12a, I took C to be just a general constant rather than the speed of light. For example, when doing indefinite integration we are always reminded to add “+C” for the arbitrary constant.
Very nice puzzle. My favourites were CONTINUITY, INCHCAPE ROCK.
Thanks, Duncan and Phi
FIGURATIVE was our LOI too; we were on the point of using a wordfinder when the penny suddenly dropped.
We knew the INCHCAPE ROCK from the poem by Southey encountered at school many years ago. The rock itself, also known as the Bell Rock, is a reef in the Tay estuary off Arbroath (Aberbrothok in the poem) and the lighthouse is known as the Bell Rock lighthouse.
Like Duncan, we can’t see a theme but, as he says, Phi’s themes are often very subtle, so there might be one.
Thanks, Phi and Duncan.