Phi provides the usual Friday challenge.
I can’t see a theme or any link between any of the entries, all of which are words or phrases in common usage.
The most obscure word for me was in the wordplay for TALLOW where I was unaware of the definition of TOW as fibres of flax, hemp or jute.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 |
Citadels soon tumbling down (12) DISCONSOLATE (very sad or disappointed; down) Anagram of (tumbling) CITADELS SOON DISCONSOLATE* |
| 8 |
Hospital period leaving doctor initially in charge of arms (8) HERALDIC (descriptive of [coats of] arms) H (hospital) + ERA (period of time) + LD (first letters of [initially] each of LEAVING and DOCTOR) + IC (in charge_ H ERA LD IC |
| 9 |
Material for candles entirely wrapped in fibres (6) TALLOW (rendered fat, esp of cattle and sheep, used eg for making soap and candles) ALL (entirely) contained in (wrapped in) TOW (prepared fibres of flax, hemp or jute) T (ALL) OW |
| 10 |
Exploited special education supplied by university (4) USED (exploited) U (university) + S (special) + ED (education) U S ED |
| 11 |
Keep preserving the standard (5) CANON (standard or criterion) CAN (preserve) + ON (continue; keep doing) – keep preserving CAN ON |
| 12 |
Confusion about large fortune (4) PILE (great amount of money; fortune) PIE (confusion) containing (about) L (large) PI (L) E |
| 13 |
Question 10 about food unopened and kept in store (10) WAREHOUSED (kept in store) (WHO [example of a question] + USED [entry at 10 across]) containing (about) FARE (food) excluding the first letter F (unopened) W (ARE) HO USED |
| 15 |
Not forthcoming about page in issue (4) COPY (an issue of a magazine, for example) COY (withdrawn; not forthcoming) containing (about) P (page) CO (P) Y |
| 16 |
Experts showing no duplication in approach? (4) ACES (experts) ACCESS (approach), excluding one of the Cs and one of the Ss (no duplication) The Cs and the Ss are the only duplicated letters. ACES |
| 18 |
Political party affected punishment regime (6,4) LABOUR CAMP (penal institution where the inmates are forced to work; punishment regime) LABOUR (political party) + CAMP (affected) LABOUR CAMP |
| 20 |
Book with sticker not good to waste (4) BLUE (squander; waste) B (book) + GLUE (something that sticks; sticker) excluding (not) G (good) B LUE |
| 22 |
Five hundred pounds, but apparently not a thousand? (5) MONEY (five hundred pounds for example) MONKEY (slang for five hundred pounds) excluding ([apparently] not) K (1,000) MONEY |
| 23 |
Another net trapping seabird (4) ERNE (sea-eagle; seabird) ERNE (hidden word [trapping] in ANOTHER NET) ERNE |
| 24 |
I brought in £2, readily offering cash (6) LIQUID (of assets, readily converted into cash) I contained in (brought in) (L [pound sterling] + QUID [slang for a pound sterling] giving £2) L (I) QUID |
| 25 |
Concerns about the things sported by 23 (8) FEATHERS (an ERNE [23 across] is covered in FEATHERS) FEARS (concerns) containing (about) THE FEA (THE) RS |
| 26 |
Transaction securing flat, disposing of article in sections (12) DEPARTMENTAL (in sections) DEAL (transaction) containing (securing) APARTMENT (a flat) excluding (disposing of) A (indefinite article) DE (PARTMENT) AL |
| Down | |
| 1 |
English expedition picked up American following Cousteau’s example? (4-3) DEEP SEA (reference Jacque Cousteau [1910 – 1997], French naval officer, explorer, conservationist, filmmaker, innovator, scientist, photographer, author and researcher who studied the sea and all forms of life in water. He also developed the aqualung) (E [English] + SPEED [expedition]) reversed (picked up; down entry) + A (DEEP S E)<A |
| 2 |
Support topless Scottish dress in Scottish city (2,7) ST ANDREWS (town in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland renowned for its University, beaches and its golf courses. ST ANDREWS is not named as one of the seven cities in Scotland in the official lists maintained by the Government) STAND (support) + TREWS (Scottish tartan trousers; Scottish dress) excluding the first letter T (topless) ST AND REWS |
| 3 |
Traditional congregation not beginning with fish (3-6) OLD-SCHOOL (descriptive of those whose ways, thoughts or attitudes are such as prevailed in the past; traditional) FOLD (a church or its congregation) excluding the first letter F (not beginning) + SCHOOL (shoal of fish) OLD SCHOOL |
| 4 |
Screw being ill? (8,7) SICKNESS BENEFIT (money paid to someone who is out of work through illness) SICKNESS BENEFIT (‘screw’ is slang for salary or wages, hence SICKNESS BENEFIT can be defined as the ‘screw’ in lieu of normal wages) cryptic definition SICKNESS BENEFIT |
| 5 |
Latest to arrive, ditching singular old language (5) LATIN (an old language) LAST IN (latest to arrive) excluding (ditching) S (singular) LAT IN |
| 6 |
Flower recommendation around middle of July (5) TULIP (a flower) TIP (recommendation) containing (around) UL (central letters of [middle] JULY T (UL) IP |
| 7 |
Mass survey, perhaps, upheld after swindle (6) DOLLOP (small shapeless mass) DO (swindle) + POLL (survey) reversed (upheld; down entry) DO LLOP< |
| 14 |
Sport and railway line interrupting Hamlet, say, in a number of theatres (5,4) DRURY LANE (street in London with a number of theatres) (RU [Rugby Union; sport] + RY [railway] + L [line]) contained in (interrupting) DANE (Hamlet was Prince of Denmark, a Dane) D (RU RY L) ANE |
| 15 |
It’ll keep you covered in location of ultimate defeat? (6,3) COCKED HAT (old fashioned three-cornered HAT that will keep you covered) COCKED HAT (reference the phrase ‘knock into a COCKED HAT‘ meaning to outdo or defeat, so when defeated your location will be in the COCKED HAT) cryptic definition COCKED HAT |
| 17 |
Military commander bagging English officer for squad in Scotland (6) CELTIC (CELTIC Football Club, based in Glasgow [Scotland] has a squad of players) CIC (Commander in Chief; military commander) containing (bagging) (E [English] + LT [Lieutenant [officer]) C (E LT) IC |
| 19 |
Hybrid mushroom – no good tucking into that (7) MONGREL (animal, especially a dog, of a mixed breed; hybrid) NG (no good) contained in (tucking into) MOREL (type of mushroom) MO (NG) REL |
| 21 |
Study Birtwistle’s latest duet in an arrangement (5) ETUDE (musical composition intended either to train or to test the player’s technical skill; musical study) E (last letter of [latest] Birtwistle. Sir Harrison Birtwistle [born 1934], British composer, described as a modernist composer) + an anagram of (arrangement) DUET E TUDE* |
| 22 |
I accepted having to follow sea channels (5) MEDIA (communication channels – newspaper, radio, television, films, internet [social MEDIA] etc) MED (Mediterranean sea) + I + A (accepted) MED I A |
Fairly straightforward solve … but needed some explanation… not familiar with BLUE in that sense… LIQUID now explained… on the other hand I had heard of TOW! As in tow-headed at least.. swings n roundabouts… enjoyed many.. maybe OLD SCHOOL was my favourite..
Thanks Phi n duncansheill
Well, I managed to complete this somehow but needed a fair amount of online assistance. Even then I couldn’t parse WAREHOUSED and wasn’t sure of several others, so thanks Duncan for those explanations. Yet TALLOW was one of my first entries. And thanks Phi of course.
This alumnus of St Andrews has no doubts that it is a city (and one of the oldest in Scotland). It’s unlikely the government has caught up with the fact.
You might want to consider that some Across answers are down. (and vice versa).
Even when Phi’s hidden theme isn’t obscure, he still nearly always manages to get it past me. Nicely done, as expected.
I thought COCKED HAT might have been worn by Napoleon on his last gig
Thanks for parsing of 13-I was thinking WHERE HOUSED
It almost goes without saying I missed the theme and at the end I became stuck in the SE corner and couldn’t get COPY (should have) or COCKED HAT (never would have). TOW sounded vaguely familiar for ‘fibres’ at 9a, but I solved this more from the def. It was helpful that the ‘waste’ sense for BLUE had appeared in Another Place not long ago. I didn’t know ‘screw’ for salary or wages so SICKNESS BENEFIT went in mainly from the crossers.
Thanks to Phi and Duncan for his usual detailed and helpful blog.
Didn’t have time to do this justice, mostly because I decided the thing that would keep you covered ultimately was a coffin lid. Made sense to me. Favourites were to keep preserving by canning on and the marvellously brief 4d. Thanks to Phi and Duncanshiell
These senses of PIE, TOW, SCREW and BLUE were all new to me (kept wondering where the homophone indicator was for BLUE!) so I only finished with quite a lot of help. 1A and 8A were both favourites.
Thanks both. The hidden theme was so well hidden, I still can’t really see it!…..
Phi @ 3
As a mere alumnus of the much younger University of Edinburgh (founded 1583), I hesitate to challenge the views of an alumnus of the older University of St Andrews (established by Papal Bull in 1413), but the seven official cities of Scotland are just Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee, Inverness, Stirling and Perth. Scotland, of course has been awash with Royal Burghs in the past including St Andrews and my current home town of Jedburgh, but that designation was abolished in law in 1975. Thousandsa of years of history abolished by the politicians of today.
Thanks for pointing out that some across entries are down (I can see DISCONSOLATE, PILE, BLUE and FEATHERS which could all be defined as ‘down’ of some kind in the acrosses. Also, I expect you feel ‘down’ if you are in a LABOUR CAMP.
I am struggling a bit to see entries related to ‘across’ or ‘a cross’ in the downs, but with a bit of research I can see ST ANDREWS, LATIN, CELTIC and MONGREL
I remember reading an article about the designation of cities in England and there is a line you can take there about “official” cities as well.
At that point someone steps up and says “But X has a cathedral, doesn’t it?” Just another form of official designation, of course.
Got it all eventually though 4d is completely lost on me even when you explain it. But I’m happy to agree that St Andrews should be a city!
I remember a discussion of city status coming up here for another Indie crossword a few years ago, Coincidentally I had just been explaining to an American friend why Guildford where I live is not a city, even though I live right next to both Guildford cathedral and the University of Surrey. Apparently, you need a charter from the monarch to call yourself a city.; Every so often another town is granted city status. (A friend who comes from Tasmania and now lives in Reading is amused that Reading is bigger than Hobart but is not a city, whereas there are four cities in Hobart.)
There is a Wikipedia article listing all the cities in the UK:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_the_United_Kingdom
I found this puzzle a bit on the hard side but got through it eventually.