Phi is in his regular Friday slot
BREWSKIS and DASHIKI were the most obscure words for me. BREWSKIS was completely new to me, but DASHIKI I have met before in crosswords. ADIABATIC was a word I have come across quite a few times before. All other entries seemed to be fairly common words. I am not convinced that every EMIGRANT (24 across) is an asylum seeker
My track record on spotting themes recently has been fairly woeful, so I’m probably tempting fate by saying I can’t see anything obvious today.
I think most people will have heard of the American publishing house given that it is a dictionary publisher. I think WEBSTER‘s is often a quoted reference for American puzzles.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| 1 | Feature of goal in remarkable pitch in attractive area (8,5) |
(NET [feature of a goal] contained in [in] MAGIC [remarkable]) + FIELD (pitch) MAG (NET) IC FIELD |
MAGNETIC FIELD (an area of attraction) |
| 8 | British team in game goes downhill? It’s the quantities of beer (8) |
BR (British) + EW (East and West form a team in a game of bridge) + SKIS (goes downhill) BR EW SKIS |
BREWSKIS (American term for a number of beers) |
| 9 | Back in a moment (6) |
SECOND (back) SECOND |
SECOND (moment) double definition |
| 10 | What to have at Chinese restaurant? It’s no great intellectual problem (3,3) |
DIM (stupid; not great intellectually) + SUM (problem) DIM SUM |
DIM SUM (selection of Chinese foods, often eaten as an appetizer, usually including steamed dumplings with various fillings) |
| 11 | Colourful shirt showing style – Kelvin investing in a couple (7) |
DASH (sparkle; style) + (K [Kelvin] contained in [investing in] II [Roman numerals for two; a couple]) DASH I (K) I |
DASHIKI (type of loose shirt worn in Africa, and also in the US)
|
| 12 | Spiteful article in Bild to have little cohesion (7) |
MEAN (spiteful) + DER (a German form of ‘the’ [definite article’]. Bild is a German newspaper) MEAN DER |
MEANDER (wander listlessly or randomly; have little cohesion) |
| 14 | Female appearing in G&S is a Welsh woman (6) |
LADY (female) contained in (appearing in) GS (G and S) G (LADY) S |
GLADYS (Welsh female name) |
| 15 | Shade, new, installed in a part of building (6) |
N (new) contained in (installed in) (A + WING [part of a building]) A W (N) ING |
AWNING (a covering, especially of canvas, to shelter eg a window, door or patio from the sun; shade) |
| 17 | Fish, mostly worthless carried by tide on drifting away (3,4) |
BAS SEA (BAS) S |
SEA BASS (fish) |
| 19 | Reduced charge securing boat at sea – evidence of docking? (7) |
BIL B (OBTA*) IL |
BOBTAIL (a short or cut tail, therefore showing evidence of docking) |
| 21 | Obscure punishment given for retreating soldiers (6) |
RA (Royal Artillery; soldiers) reversed (retreating) + CANE (old school punishment) AR< CANE |
ARCANE (secret; obscure) |
| 23 | Figures capturing university’s position in table? (6) |
STATS (statistics; figures) containing (capturing) U (university) STAT (U) S |
STATUS (position or rank within a group of figures in a table [for instance]) |
| 24 | Little space, I acknowledge, for asylum seeker? (8) |
EM (printing term of a space the same width as a letter m) + I + GRANT (concede; acknowledge) EM I GRANT |
EMIGRANT (someone who moves from one country or state and settles permanently in another. Is that necessarily an asylum seeker. I know a few people who moved to France but I wouldn’t describe them as asylum seekers) |
| 25 | Queen ousting daughter in trick to secure rotating party venue? (9,4) |
DECEPTION ROOM< |
RECEPTION ROOM (possible venue for a formal party) |
| Down | |||
| 1 / 16 | US publishing house sadly remembers a writ (7-7) |
Anagram of (sadly) REMEMBERS A WRIT MERRIAM–WEBSTER* |
MERRIAM-[WEBSTER] (American publishing house, well known for reference books and dictionaries) |
| 2 | Has to support grand formal wear (5) |
G (grand) + OWNS (has) As this is a down entry, the letters in OWNS are supporting the G G OWNS |
GOWNS (formal wear) |
| 3 | You wouldn’t say I was husky: I smoke wildly and finish coughing eventually (6,3) |
Anagram of (wildly) I SMOKE + DO (finish) + G (last letter of [eventually] COUGHING) ESKIMO* DO G |
ESKIMO DOG (one of a breed of powerful dogs with a double coat of hair, widely distributed in the Arctic regions and used for pulling sledges) There are similarities between an ESKIMO DOG and a Siberian Husky, both of which pull sledges, but I suppose a Husky originates away from ESKIMO areas. Hopefully someone will explain the difference better than me. |
| 4 | Someone with specialised knowledge in drink heard on the radio (7) |
IN + SIDER (sounds like [heard on the radio] CIDER [drink]) IN CIDER |
INSIDER (someone with specialised knowledge) |
| 5 | Things used to assault son during attacks (5) |
S (son) contained in (used during) FITS (attacks) FI (S) TS |
FISTS (clenched hand, used in attacks involving punches) |
| 6 | A European upset about Hispanic country (not Spain) and Hispanic food (9) |
(A + DANE [example of a European]) reversed (upset) containing (about) CHIL EN (CHIL) AD A< |
ENCHILADA (Mexican [Hispanic] dish consisting of a rolled stuffed tortilla cooked with a chilli-flavoured sauce) |
| 7 | Refuse to acknowledge adopting position out of such stupidity? (7) |
DENY (refuse to acknowledge) containing (adopting) SIT (position) DEN (SIT) Y |
DENSITY (stupidity) |
| 13 | Opera upset bass with a sudden movement involving no warmth (9) |
AIDA (opera by Verdi) reversed (upset) + B (bass) + A + TIC (sudden movement) ADIA< B A TIC |
ADIABATIC (without transference of heat; without warmth) |
| 14 | Good disposal of heat, perhaps, dropping one degree (9) |
G (good) + RAD G RADATION |
GRADATION (degree or step) |
| 16 | See 1 down | See 1 down | [MERRIAM]-WEBSTER |
| 17 | Composer capturing romance in various airs (7) |
LIE (fictitious tale; romance) contained in (in) an anagram of (various) AIRS SA (LIE) RI* |
SALIERI (reference Antonio SALIERI [1750 – 1825]. Italian composer) |
| 18 | Curiously nosy, turned up my name or an equivalent term (7) |
Anagram of (curiously) NOSY + (MY + N [name]) reversed (turned up) SYNO* (N YM)< |
SYNONYM (word having the same meaning as another in the same language; an equivalent term) |
| 20 | Fabulous writer with a revolutionary attitude (5) |
A + POSE (attitude) reversed (revolutionary) A ESOP< |
AESOP (author of fables; fabulous writer) |
| 22 | Material on board game presented with a lot of attention (5) |
CAR CAR GO ‘board’ could go with either of both of the definition of the entry and the game in the wordplay. |
CARGO (goods carried by a ship or aeroplane; material on board) |
I think the ‘?’ at the end of 24a signifies that an emigrant does not have to be an asylum seeker.
Not sure whether I would class “em” as a little space. It’s all relative of course. “en” is a little space but “em” is somewhat larger.
Quite a few unknowns for me today but all gettable from the clues making a very enjoyable solve.
Thanks to Phi and Duncan.
Got it all except BREWSKIS – which we thought was unfair; it’s not in Chambers or Collins. Apart from that quite enjoyable; we particularly liked ENCHILADA, ADIABATIC and GRADATION.
Thanks, Phi and Duncan.
Oddly, I got BREWSKIS early on. It was commonly used where I grew up in Yorkshire so I was surprised that it is a US term and not in Chambers. Maybe it’s more local than I thought.
Never heard of BREWSKIS or ADIABATIC, both of which had to go in from wordplay. I always think of “Camptown Races” whenever I see BOBTAIL. Sorry, can’t help with ESKIMO DOG.
Good to see SALIERI getting a guernsey. His reputation took a bit of a hammering with “Amadeus” but he wrote some very pleasant music and I gather he wasn’t really the baddie he was made out to be.
Thanks to Phi and Duncan
Do we need a little more explanation re 17A ? I thought “ on drifting away” might be needed because season is used as being synonymous with tide.
Enjoyed the solve. Thanks to Phi and Duncan.
Kryptickate. Yes, I had SEASon for TIDE (ON drifting away). Didn’t spot discrepancy with blog.
I spent some time determining the distinctions between Eskimo dog, husky and malemute and they do seem to be distinct but similar breeds. It would have been nicer to have just used ‘husky’.
This is actually last week’s puzzle, swapped to avoid the same answer occurring in consecutive daily puzzles. There is a word nerd anniversary commemorated within it: Merriam-Webster’s announcement that DORD was not a SYNONYM for DENSITY, but instead a mistranscription of ‘D or d’ from an earlier edition. I didn’t think it so significant an anniversary to be worth arguing the point for.
This went in very quickly, starting with seeing the anagram at 1/16 at the get-go. BREWSKIS I knew and had seen in a previous crossword, although the only occurrence I’ve found for it on this site was back in 2010, also for a Phi crossword. ADIABATIC I knew from university thermodynamics and the Carnot cycle. 11ac was my LOI, got from the crossers and the word play.
24ac held me up for a while as I was expecting small space to be an en, half the size of an em.
Thanks all. Enjoyed it though had the usual annoyance that a UK Indy crossword asks me to know an obscure US term like brewskis.