Phi is occupying his usual Friday slot today.
I found this to be an easier than average puzzle by the standards of Phi in the Indy. Perhaps the solving process was helped by the presence of as many as four 15-letter entries, which I solved fairly quickly.
I haven’t spotted any particular theme, but that is par for the course (!) for me.
My favourite clues today were 18, for ingenuity; 8, for the amusing wordplay; and 23, for smoothness of surface. I would appreciate confirmation of my parsing at 24, where I am not that familiar with the use of “wheel” as a synonym for “cheese”.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 09 | PAR FOR THE COURSE | Cut some lessons, holding out for usual score
FORTH (=out, into the open) in [PARE (=cut, slice off) + COURSE (=some lessons)] |
| 10 | REVUE | Cancel, getting OK to be replaced by university show
REV<ok>E (=cancel); “getting ok to be replaced by university (=U)” means letters “ok” are replaced by “u” |
| 11 | PRAGMATIC | Realistic photo capturing two bits of fabric
[RAG + MAT (=two bits of fabric)] in PIC (=photo) |
| 12 | DEAD AS A DOORNAIL | Agitated Britten finally added a solo aria with no life at all
*(<britte>N + ADDED A SOLO ARIA); “finally” means last letter only is used in anagram, indicated by “agitated” |
| 15 | TWISTED | Tense women with exotic diets getting misrepresented
T (=tense, in grammar) + W (=women) + *(DIETS); “exotic” is anagram indicator |
| 16 | EXPRESS | Newspaper produced by retired journalists?
Cryptically, “retired journalists” could be described as “ex- (=former) press” |
| 18 | ANY PORT IN A STORM | No party, it seems, will offer emergency response
The solution is itself a cryptic clue to part of the actual clue, since “any port” is an anagram, indicated by “it seems”, of “no party” |
| 21 | PENTAGRAM | Source of ink to mark sheep – arcane symbol?
PEN (=source of ink) + TAG (=to mark) + RAM (=sheep) |
| 24 | WHEEL | Little left after eating husband’s cheese
H (=husband) in [WEE (=little) + L (=left)]; I imagine that a wheel and a cheese can be similar in shape |
| 25 | OUR MUTUAL FRIEND | Literary figure we both know?
Cryptically, “our mutual friend” is someone that “we both know”; the reference is to Charles Dickens’ 1865 novel Our Mutual Friend |
| Down | ||
| 01 | SPARED | Well, Communist should be allowed to live
SPA (=well, spring) + RED (=Communist) |
| 02 | TRIVIALITY | Insignificant stuff – I bottle it in test
[I + VIAL (=bottle) + IT] in TRY (=test) |
| 03 | COVENANT | Desire to include grandma in agreement
NAN (=grandma) in COVET (=desire, long for) |
| 04 | STOP | Condescend to remove an old feature of organ
STO<o>P (=condescend, deign); “to remove an old (=O)” means one letter “o” is dropped |
| 05 | GET A MOVE ON | Gave nothing to men at sea? Hurry up!
*(GAVE + O (=nothing) + TO MEN); “at sea” is anagram indicator |
| 06 | FORMER | Creator? // Not now
Double definition: a “former” is a “creator, maker” AND “former” means previous, earlier, hence “not now” |
| 07 | GRIT | Persistence beginning to rankle in annoying character
R<ankle> (“beginning to”) in GIT (=annoying character) |
| 08 | HERCULES | Line in what actress responds to indicates heroic figure
L (=line) in HER CUES (=what actress responds to) |
| 13 | AUDITORIUM | Financial officer has some hesitation about one location of speech
I (=one) in [AUDITOR (=financial officer) + UM (=some hesitation)] |
| 14 | ANEMOMETER | Weather device: article chaps set up before remote storms
A (=article) + NEM (MEN=chaps; “set up” indicates vertical reversal) + *(REMOTE); “storms” is anagram indicator |
| 15 | TEASPOON | Redrafted one post about a source of stir
A in *(ONE POST); “redrafted” is anagram indicator; cryptically, a teaspoon is a source of stir, since we stir our tea with one |
| 17 | PASSWORD | Item to be kept secret? Mostly dull fool slipping up
DROWS<y> (=dull; “mostly” means last letter is dropped) + SAP (=fool); “slipping up” indicates vertical reversal |
| 19 | OPAQUE | Hard to understand ordinary old man quite without attraction
O (=ordinary, as in O-level) + PA (=old man) + QU<it>E (“without attraction (=it, as in She’s got it)) |
| 20 | MELODY | Elevated benefit in my song?
ELOD (DOLE=benefit; “elevated” indicates vertical reversal) in MY |
| 22 | NERD | Some stoner dude?
Hidden in “stoNER Dude”; semi- & lit. |
| 23 | MILK | Kind to support military’s first exploit
M<ilitary> (“first” means first letter only) + ILK (=kind) |
very pleasant [and swift for me] solve.. wheel of cheese definitely works..applied to big flattish round cheeses even included in Norah Jones song Sinkin’ Soon
thanks RatkajaRika n Phi
Definitely on the easier side of Phi puzzles for me. I normally start to struggle at about 70% complete and rarely finish one without resorting to guessing. This one went in fairly easily though.
Was surprised when the 100% complete pop up didn’t pop up so had to go back and check spellings. Then remembered that I had an unparsed PRAT at 7d. The correct answer came fairly quickly on the second reading of the clue.
All solid work and as usual some lovely setting.
Thanks Phi and RR
This was definitely my best performance on a Phi puzzle, largely from getting most of the long answers from definition and enumneration before parsing, so definitely easier than usual but fun.
Thanks to Phi as for the usual Friday entertainment, and to RR for blogging.
Special praise from my co-solver for 18ac and 25ac.
I wasn’t sure about the definition part in 22dn – there’s no particular link in my mind between a NERD and a stoner?
We failed to spot any theme – no surprise there for a Phi puzzle – but look forward to further enlightenment later.
We did rather rattle through this, helped by the enumeration for the long answers. Talking of which, ‘doornail’ (12ac) is enumerated as 8, as in Chambers, but re-reading A Christmas Carol during the recent festivities (such as they were in current circumstances) we noticed that Dickens hyphenates it in “Marley was as dead as a door-nail” so 12ac could be (4,2,1,4-4).
But back to the puzzle: In 18ac we took ‘in a storm’ to be the anagram indicator although we weren’t quite sure then what part ‘it seems’ played.
Lots to enjoy. ANEMOMETER was our favourite, if only because one of us helped to run a weather station at school over 60 years ago.
Thanks, Phi and RatkojaRiku
Entertaining and not too difficult, apart from the parsing of 18A, at least for me. The enumeration made some of the long clues readily accessible.
Don’t think we’ve ever finished a Phi so quickly! Either we’re getting better or this was easier than usual. 🙂
Still not sure I fully understand Any Port In A Storm even if we got it quite quickly.