Independent 10,857 / Phi

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Phi is back in his usual Friday spot this week.

I found this quite a challenging puzzle by Phi standards and had to chip away at this in a couple of sittings. In the end, I needed to search Chambers for 20D and 27, neither of which I actually knew but both of which were clued fairly. I also struggled to solve and then parse 12. I would be interested to hear if others parsed 27 as I did.

I haven’t clearly identified a theme, although I briefly wondered if there might be something around Ireland going on here. Did anyone else spot anything, I wonder?

My favourite clue today by some margin was the semi- & lit. at 29.

*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues

Across    
     
01 LIMERICK Comic verse’s pace interrupted by setter’s hesitation

[I’M (=setter’s, i.e. Phi is) + ER (=hesitation)] in LICK (=pace, speed)
     
05 FIASCO Provided backing when encountering company failure

FI (IF=provided, as conjunction; “backing” indicates reversal) + AS (=when, as conjunction) + CO (=company)
     
10 CONSCRIPT What actor must do to appear as regular soldier

CON SCRIPT (=what actor must do, where con=study)
     
11 LIONS Pride on being included in roster? Not quite

ON in LIS<t> (=roster; “not quite” means last letter dropped)
     
12 DEAD Apathetic date appeared heartless

D<at>E A<ppeare>D; “heartless” means middle letters of both words have been dropped
     
13 UNDERTAKER Function organiser expecting attendees to be late

Cryptic definition: “late” refers to the deceased, dead
     
15 COUNTRY Rural matter linked to railway

MATTER (=count, be important) + RY (=railway)
     
16 TURNING Possibly a big decision point to retire? Good

TURN IN (=to retire, go to bed) + G (=good); a turning point is when a big decision is made
     
18 AVENUES Approaches a beautiful woman, full of energy

A + [E (=energy) in VENUS (=beautiful woman)]
     
20 JACKSON Former President working with sailors

JACKS (=sailors) + ON (=working); the reference is to Andrew Jackson, the 7th President of the United States.
     
21 UNHALLOWED Secular state maintained by University with permission

U (=University) + NH (=state, i.e. New Hampshire) + ALLOWED (=with permission)
     
23 LAMB Labour to secure source of meat – such as this?

M<eat> (“source of” means first letter only) in LAB (=Labour, as party); a lamb is a source of meat
     
26 ACUTE Serious injury from blade brought into A&E

CUT (=injury from blade) into A + E (=A&E)
     
27 GOODFELLA Gangster’s work activity recalled – it involves death-dealing

GO (=work, e.g. of machine) + [FELL (=death-dealing, as in in one fell swoop) in ODA (ADO=activity, bustle; “recalled” indicates reversal)]
     
28 TWEETS Rather quaint: recalled 9 online messages

TWEE (=rather quaint) + TS (ST=street, entry at 9; “recalled” indicates reversal)
     
29 OPERA HAT Dressed up to hear a bit of Puccini? This may be part of it

*(TO HEAR A + P<uccini> (“bit of” means first letter only)); “dressed up” is anagram indicator; semi- & lit.
     
Down    
     
01 LUCID Copper turning up in helmet, that’s clear

CU (=copper, i.e. chemical formula) in LID (=helmet, top)
     
02 MINIATURE Small arrangement of minuet and air

*(MINUET + AIR); “arrangement of” is anagram indicator
     
03 RACE Run one?

R (=run, on cricket scoreboard) + ACE (=one, in cards); & lit.
     
04 CHIMNEY Caught that fellow longing to climb cleft in rock-face

C (=caught, on cricket scorecard) + HIM (=that fellow) + NEY (YEN=longing; “to climb” indicates vertical reversal)
     
06 ILLITERACY Inability to read unpleasant article, mostly risqué

ILL (=unpleasant) + ITE<m> (=article; “mostly” means the last letter is dropped) + RACY (=risqué)
     
07 SPOOK Spy agreed to support revolutionary operations

SPO (OPS=operations; “revolutionary” indicates reversal) + OK (=agreed)
     
08 OESTROGEN Tenor goes astray – this defines the female

*(TENOR GOES); “astray” is anagram indicator
     
09 STREET Rising river surrounds edger of tackier thoroughfare

T<ackie>R (“edges of” means first and last letter only) in SEET (TEES=river, in N England; “rising” indicates vertical reversal)
     
14 AT FULL PELT Time to invest in a complete coat with all haste

T (=time) in [A + FULL (=complete) + PELT (=coat, fur)]
     
15 COAGULANT Cut along, running to secure a treatment for blood

A in *(CUT ALONG); “running” is anagram indicator
     
17 INSHALLAH I note Eastern ruler will accommodate everyone, God willing

I + N (=note) + [ALL (=everyone) in SHAH (=Eastern ruler)]
     
19 SLOUGH Cast off in small body of water around Dublin

S (=small, of sizes) + LOUGH (=body of water around Dublin, i.e. Irish version of loch); to slough is to cast off an old skin, of snake
     
20 JOE SOAP One on latrine duty, say, gags, losing heart over work involving one

JO<k>ES (=gags; “losing heart” means middle letter is dropped) + [A (=one) in OP (=work, i.e. opus)]
     
22 HOUSE Family, our people, seen in garden

US (=our people) in HOE (=garden, weed, as verb); cf. the House of Windsor
     
24 BLAST Bishop to endure tirade

B (=bishop, in chess) + LAST (=to endure)
     
25 AFAR A ranch perhaps not miles in the distance

A + FAR<m> (=ranch; “perhaps not miles (+m)” means letter “m” is dropped)
     

15 comments on “Independent 10,857 / Phi”

  1. I found this weirdly straightforward in many ways.. maybe I’ve become inured to Phi’s general wiliness? Makes a change for sure… n I’m certain normal service will be resumed all too soon… Of course the usual issues with a few parsings 10, 21, 23 ac for instance but enough crossers n clear definitions to allow a solve.. faves were 19 n 17dn .. for simplicity of clueing n a touch of multiculturalism from both West n East..
    Thanks Phi n RatkojaRiku

  2. On the whole I found this on the easier side for Phi, getting through most of the clues more quickly than usual (admittedly several were from definition and enumeration without full parsing). The final few I did need some help with but as RatkojaRiku says, fairly clued.

  3. A mix of the fairly accessible and some trickier ones for me. I too, found the parsing of 27ac tricky. I had FELL as in fell a tree. TWEE came to mind easily as we are staying in the Cotswolds. Thanks, both.

  4. I enjoyed this but couldn’t parse GOODFELLA, I think you must be right in the blog RatkojaRiku. I certainly can’t see anything else that makes sense. Re a theme Maybe Ireland/Irish, with the British and Irish LIONS and Paddy JACKSON and Ryan LAMB both play(ed) for London Irish. I’ll freely admit that’s extremely tenuous and probably a coincidence.

    I particularly liked INSHALLAH.

    Thanks Phi and RatkojaRiku

  5. We started this at lunchtime and rattled through the top half and wondered whether this would be a record ‘solve time’ for a Phi. Pride goes before a fall and we then ground to a halt.

    We finished this over a meal this evening and looked for a theme. We couldn’t find one but that’s not unusual.

    Thanks Phi – always a pleasure to solve one of your puzzles at the end of the week.

    Thanks RR for the blog.

  6. I think JACKSON LAMB might be our theme: author of the Mick Herron thriller series including: DEAD LIONS, SPOOK STREET, JOE COUNTRY and SLOUGH HOUSE? I may be wrong, of course.

    Thanks Phi and RR

  8. Not too difficult, although we couldn’t parse GOODFELLA – it fitted and the ‘gangster’ definition was found in Chambers. Favourites included CONSCRIPT, CHIMNEY, ILLITERATE and COAGULATE. Never heard of JACKSON LAMB so we naturally didn’t spot the theme.
    Thanks, Phi and RatkojaRiku.

  9. Oops, I entered AT FULL BELT for 14dn, but couldn’t parse it.

    I’d never heard of JACKSON LAMB, either, so I looked him up. Turns out that Lamb is the character, Mick Herron the author.

  10. Managed to get it all but still don’t get 27 even when you tell me (death dealing=fell?, why?) Also not sure why Joe Soap is on latrine duty. Is either Jackson Lamb or Mick Herron famous (clearly not in this house)? Having said all this the clues are good enough that we could solve even the incomprehensible.

  11. Mick Herron’s Jackson Lamb books have been a great pleasure over the last few years and I’m not generally a fan of spy fiction. But Lamb is too outrageous and hilarious a character to ignore. There is a TV series coming which may allow him to qualify as famous.
    Books, however best-selling, never quite seem to be considered popular, do they? I recall doing a Terry Pratchett puzzle a couple of decades ago and getting a ‘Who he?’ response, even though he was outselling a certain J K Rowling at the time.

  12. Any chance of a link to that puzzle Phi? I’m a complete Terry Pratchett-ophile. I haven’t come across Mick Herron before but a quick google after PM’s post and it looks like the books are worth a gander.

  13. Back when I was about to retire in 2004, I was sent on a retirement course by my company. When the lecturer suggested finding something new to do on retirement, I mentioned someone I knew who’d worked at the company and left to become a writer. Turned out, the lecturer had never heard of Terry Pratchett.

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