Independent 10,648 by Phi

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Phi-day is here again….

… and another great puzzle from our regular Friday setter.
We always look for a theme in Phi’s puzzles, and we couldn’t help thinking that 1ac/5ac might be the key, as it is the title of a novel by David Mitchell about a fictitious folk-rock band in the 1960s. However, we couldn’t see any other David Mitchell titles in the grid, so we wondered whether we were barking up the wrong tree. Not wishing to give up, Joyce did a bit more electronic digging and realised that there are other thematic entries related to 1ac/5ac, which are titles of some of the band’s fictitious recordings – apparently the titles of chapters in the book: albums titled ‘3d is the 24d to 3d’ and ‘2d/20d’, and tracks ’10d’ and ’17d’. There may be more, but we haven’t been able to find any more detail, as we don’t have a copy of the book.
Anyway, all good fun – perhaps Phi will enlighten us later with any more connections?

image of grid

ACROSS
1. United, with excellent scoring shot, back in the perfect place to be (6)
UTOPIA

U (united) + A1 (excellent) POT (shot) reversed or ‘back’

5. Street’s bare, with daughter leaving after greeting (6)
AVENUE

NUdE (bare) without the ‘d’ (daughter) after AVE (greeting)

8. Church support overlooking holy man’s tweet (7)
CHIRRUP

CH (church) stIRRUP (support) without or ‘overlooking’ st (saint – holy man)

9. Gets thanks when filling ordinary containers (7)
OBTAINS

TA (thanks) in or ‘filling’ O (ordinary) BINS (containers)

11. Superior American performed in US city (2-2-2)
LA-DI-DA

A (America) DID (performed) in LA (Los Angeles – US city)

12. Enhancement for viewers almost crazy to get odd vegetable (8)
KOHLRABI

KOHL (a type of eye shadow – ‘enhancement for viewers’) RABId (crazy) without the last letter or ‘almost’. We’re not sure why Phi describes this as an ‘odd’ vegetable.

14. Temporary worker at home perhaps resentful about curtailed opening (4-6)
BABY-SITTER

BITTER (resentful) round ABYSs (opening) without the last letter or ‘curtailed’

16. Network has me next to mum (4)
MESH

ME SH (mum)

18. Item of poetry penned by William Blake (4)
IAMB

Hidden in or ‘penned by’ WillIAM Blake

19. Lot of material going off with TNT? It would cause explosions (10)
ANTIMATTER

An anagram of MATERIAl (without the last letter or ‘a lot of’) and TNT – anagrind is ‘going off’ – although we’re not sure that ANTIMATTER is necessarily explosive

21. Island secures contract with Georgia for chemical quantity (5,3)
IDEAL GAS

IS (island) round or ‘securing’ DEAL (contract) GA (Georgia)

22. Record endorsements involving Judge back in Balkan capital (6)
SKOPJE

EP (record) OKS (endorsements) round J (judge) all reversed or ‘back’

25. Contralto’s ending, say, in lower part of duet (7)
SECONDO

The ending of ‘contralto’ is its SECOND O

26. Old party to get excited endlessly, making a stink (7)
ODOROUS

O (old) DO (party) ROUSe (get excited) without the last letter or ‘endlessly’

27. Legal document getting that chap to squirm (6)
WRITHE

WRIT (legal document) HE (that chap)

28. Girl showing staunch character, mostly (6)
DAMSEL

DAM (staunch) SELf (character) without the last letter or ‘mostly’

DOWN
2. Time in employment erasing end of idle interval (5)
THIRD

T (time) HIReD (in employment) without or ‘erasing’ ‘e’ (last letter of idle)

3. Ideal place is available in March? (8)
PARADISE

IS in PARADE (march)

4. Article promoted in drinks range? (4)
ALPS

LAPS (drinks) with the ‘a’ moved to the front or ‘promoted’

5. Clubs supporting distressed top goalie offering explanations (10)
APOLOGETIC

C (clubs) after or ‘supporting’ (in a down clue) an anagram of TOP GOALIE – anagrind is ‘distressed’

6. Praises kinky sex, keeping a large number upset (6)
EXTOLS

An anagram of SEX (anagrind is ‘kinky’) round or ‘keeping’ LOT (a large number) reversed or ‘upset’

7. Describing some bonds slipping in value? Not yielding nothing (9)
UNIVALENT

An anagram of IN VALUE (anagrind is ‘slipping’) + NoT without or ‘yielding’ the ‘o’ (nothing)

8. Names rebel at work in towns (11)
CELEBRITIES

An anagram of REBEL (anagrind is ‘at work’) in CITIES (towns)

10. Son looks round that place, finding lots of pieces (11)
SMITHEREENS

S (son) MIENS (looks) round THERE (that place)

13. Unconnected item in footwear – half a pair? Tip of toe to probe that (5-5)
STAND-ALONE

SANDAL (item in footwear) ONE (half a pair) round or ‘probed by’ T (first letter or ‘tip’ of toe)

15. Large amount of drink – reduced concern – one’s driven wildly (6,3)
BUMPER CAR

BUMPER (large amount drink) CARe (concern) without the last letter or ‘reduced’

17. Vessel runs into catastrophe in developing area (8)
DARKROOM

ARK (vessel) R (runs) in DOOM (catastrophe)

20. Map possible Martian’s origin (6)
PLANET

A sort of clue-as-definition, with the middle words doing double duty – PLAN (map) ET (extra-terrestrial – ‘possible Martian’)

23. Writing in support of case of sabotage (5)
PROSE

PRO (in support of) SabotagE (first and last letters or ‘case’)

24. Staff on both sides of a street (4)
ROAD

ROD (staff) round or ‘on both sides of’ A

 

17 comments on “Independent 10,648 by Phi”

  1. Lovely crossword from Phi today. As usual, the theme was lost on me but, also as usual, no knowledge of the theme is required, which is how I like it.

    Didn’t object to definition of ANTIMATTER. You could argue that any explosive wouldn’t necessarily explode unless you make it and antimatter doesn’t do well with matter. I did think the “odd” in 12a was odd. (Sounds a bit tautological.)

    Wasn’t keen on 20d but that’s a minor gripe. Favourite was SMITHEREENS. Thanks to Phi and Bertandjoyce.

  2. Congratulations once again to B&J for spotting such an obscure theme.  I did think that Utopia and Paradise might lead to something but couldn’t see anything more.  I thought some elements were a bit of a stretch, e.g self = character, bumper = large amount OK but why ‘of drink’?  But great fun anyway so thanks Phi and B&J.

  4. Now I’m getting more accustomed to the rhythms of the Indy, I find myself rather looking forward to a Phi that, as Hovis points out, will probably have a theme but one that I don’t need to solve the puzzle.  Thank Goodness for our bloggers and — occasionally – posters who have the combination of erudition, tenacity and luck to identify the themes – even when they’re not actually there (Duncan, a couple of weeks ago).  Well done b&j, given the relative obscurity of the theme.  If we had needed it for some of the answers, I’d have been lost.

    I can see why Hovis didn’t like PLANET; clue as definitions and, as b&j point out, two words doing double duty will always be contentious but, I guess, I could see where Phi was coming from.  I also wondered about BUMPER and entered it with shrug.  Thanks for the additional definition H.

    Ticks from me for quite a few including CHIRRUP, AVENUE, APOLOGETIC (lovely anagram and surface), EXTOLS (cheeky surface), UNIVALENT (lovely misdirectional surface) and the already mentioned SMITHEREENS which is nicely clued and a lovely word to boot.  I wondered whether there might be criticism of towns=cities – with all the fuss entailed in being promoted from one to the other and understanding what separates one from another, they might not be strict synonyms.  Rather like PLANET, it certainly didn’t prevent a solve.

    Thanks Phi and Bert&joyce

  5. I always enjoy my Phiday puzzles but I’ve never read anything David Mitchell wrote despite (or because of)seeing him on telly countless times.

    I do have a couple of albums by the Smithereens and saw them live-a down to earth honest rock band with interesting songs

  6. Copmus @5, it’s a different David Mitchell.  I knew there was such a writer but missed the theme as usual.  Phi’s always an easy solve, though, so it didn’t metter.  Thanks all round.

  7. All good fun, as usual with Phi.  And as usual, I learnt something, as I didn’t know the word SECONDO, but that was still my favourite clue of the day.

    My only quibblet was with 21a.  Is an IDEAL GAS (a hypothetical gas with “perfect” properties) a chemical quantity?

    Thanks to B+J for explaining the theme, which went completely over our heads, not being at all familiar with the works of that David Mitchell.

  8. PostMark @4. I wouldn’t say I disliked the clue for PLANET – I just wasn’t keen on it. Would have preferred something like “Map alien world”. As it stands, origin is the definition with an extension in the preceding couple of words. Ok, but not an &lit nor, by my definition anyway, a semi &lit, though I’m sure that wasn’t the intention. It’s a type of clue that one sees on occasion, so I’m not objecting to it, just mentioning that it’s not a construction that floats my boat.

  9. We’re with DavidO in querying if an IDEAL GAS can be a chemical quantity.  And we took ages to get SECONDO, mainly because for a long time the word was ‘secUndo’ and therefore couldn’t parse it.

    Otherwise it was a steady and enjoyable solve; we didn’t get the theme but that wasn’t necessary for solving.  We liked SKOPJE once we had mentally gone through a list of Balkan capitals, but favourite was BABY-SITTER.

    Thanks, Phi and B&J.

  10. You’ll always get a puzzle based on a new David Mitchell novel. I am always faintly irked when people think something based on contemporary literature is obscure when something referencing contemporary film isn’t. No doubt there’d be plenty who’d have preferred something on (say) The Matrix.

    Perhaps I should do a puzzle about the writer of The Matrix IV?

  11. Thought i’d take the comments in double figures for phi-day (loving the pun there). Enjoyed the puzzle while listening to a Dylan Theme time Radio Hour my current source of joy. Couldn’t decode Chirrup convinced that RR was involved somehow and Secondo clever there but didn’t stop me finishing. Since it’s late in the day and i’m unlikely to be read  myself I’ll take the opp to diss David Mitchell who seems to me to be a poor mans Thomas Pynchon (and there are a few) someone who deserves the xword treatment and has evaded it i think as it does publicity generally . . .

  13. Ha, Phi, I’d be much less likely to cotton on to a contemporary film theme than a contemporary literature one. The good thing is, you don’t need it to enjoy the crossword, which is, I would say, your genius. So thanks. And thanks to B&J

  15. I’ve just done this crossword with my teenage daughter – her first forray into cryptic crosswords.

    She’s now busily trying to write her own clues – perhaps you’ll see her in print in several years time : )

    [She has asked me to give her first clue:

    Horse shouts at article before backward ring finding famous bear (6,3,4)]

  16. Well done to Katherine’s daughter. Tell her to keep up the good work and keep solving! Perhaps we will see more of her comments.

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