Phi has given us a puzzle with good sound clueing.
If Phi has incorporated a theme into today’s puzzle, I’m not clever enough to see it.
I don’t think it is very often where we have a grid with two entries ending in IEU and a third one ending in U, as we do today with BEAULIEU, MILIEU and PARVENU.
The grid incorporates quite a wide geographical expanse with SELBY, DAUPHINOIS (I always thought this has an E on the end, but dictionaries give two spellings), BEAULIEU, a reference to BERING of Arctic exploration fame, an American spelling for SKEPTICISM, and a clue involving an American college. Yul BRYNNER was born in Vladivostok near to BERING’s area of work. ATLAS also relates to geography.
It took me a while to parse CHRONIC before I the phrase ON ICE came to mind.
I have never heard the phrase WHAT CHEER before, but the wordplay was very clear.
One of the entries illustrates a quirk of English pronunciation where the letters AUGH in ONSLAUGHT are pronounced AWT, but when they are used in the wordplay as LAUGH hey are pronounced AFF
| Detail | |
| Across | |
| 9 |
Collection of pictures almost entirely of poor quality (5) ALBUM (collection of items such as pictures) ALL (entirely) excluding the final letter L (almost) + BUM (worthless; of poor quality) AL BUM |
| 10 |
Calling out pioneering woman about career? Not acceptable (9) EVOCATIVE (calling out) EVE (first or pioneering lady) containing (about) VOCATION (career) excluding (not) ON (acceptable) E (VOCATI) VE |
| 11 |
One newly in power backing criticism applied to location mostly (7) PARVENU (someone newly into power) RAP (criticism) reversed (backing) + VENUE (location) excluding the final letter E (mostly) PAR< VENU |
| 12 |
Compelling work in the transport domain (7) DRIVING (forcing; compelling) DRIVING (example of work in the transport industry) double definition DRIVING |
| 13 |
Shortcoming not initially visible in reproduction (9) IMITATION (reproduction) LIMITATION (shortcoming) excluding (not visible) the first letter (initially) L IMITATION |
| 14 |
Hard for us for some time (5) HOURS (period of time; some time) H (hard [when describing pencil lead]) + OURS (for us) H OURS |
| 16 |
Pointer regularly indicating early afternoon? (3) ONE (time in the early afternoon) ONE (letters 2, 4 and 6 [regularly] of POINTER) ONE |
| 17 |
Terrain to have an effect on railway (7) COUNTRY (terrain) COUNT (have an effect) + RY (railway) COUNT RY |
| 19 |
Computer peripheral with no second function (3) USE (function) MOUSE (computer peripheral) excluding (with no) MO (moment; second) USE |
| 20 |
Yorkshire town certainly backed retaining pound (5) SELBY (town in Yorkshire) YES (certainly) reversed (backed) containing (retaining) LB (pound weight) SE (LB) Y< |
| 22 |
Attack dislodged tons, stifling scream? (9) ONSLAUGHT (attack) Anagram of (dislodged) TONS containing (stifling) LAUGH (scream) ONS (LAUGH) T* |
| 24 |
Half of US women’s college close to missing American Hollywood star (7) BRYNNER (reference Yul BRYNNER [1920-1985]. Hollywood star) BRYN (first four letters [of eight; half] of BRYN MAWR college, American women liberal arts college in Pennsylvania) + NEAR (close to) excluding (missing) A (American) BRYN NER |
| 25 |
Rector in church almost put off for ages? (7) CHRONIC (lasting a long time; for ages) R (rector) contained in (in) (CH [church] + ON ICE [kept, or waiting in readiness; put off]) excluding the final letter (almost) E CH (R) ON IC |
| 26 |
Timepiece always keeping hour? How’s it going? (4,5) WHAT CHEER (phrase meaning how are you?, how’s it going?) (WATCH [timepiece] + E’ER [ever; always]) containing (keeping) H (hour) W (H) AT CH EER |
| 27 |
A chore, endless, capturing latitude – in this? (5) ATLAS (an ATLAS will show lines of latitude) A + (TASK [chore] excluding the last letter [endless] K containing [capturing] L [latitude]) A T (L) AS |
| Down | |
| 1 |
A Hindi soup cooked in the style of potato dish (10) DAUPHINOIS (potatoes [or other vegetables] sliced and cooked in milk, typically with a topping of cheese) Anagram of (cooked) A HINDI SOUP DAUPHINOIS* |
| 2 |
Mug in musical kept up being unsuccessful (8) ABORTIVE (unsuccessful) (ROB [mug {attack with the intention of ROBbing}] contained in [kept] EVITA [title of a musical]) all reversed [up] and (A (BOR) TIVE)< |
| 3 |
Simple creature, European, amongst crowd accepted by drivers’ club (6) AMOEBA (protozoan of ever-changing shape; simple creature) (E [English] contained in [amongst] MOB [crowd]) all contained in (accepted by) AA (Automobile Association; drivers club) A (MO (E) B) A |
| 4 |
Happen a story in universities will identify motor museum (8) BEAULIEU (a village in the South of England that is the home to the British National Motor Museum) BE (happen) + A + (LIE [story] contained in [U + U, together being universities) BE A U (LIE) U |
| 5 |
Information about earlier shining (6) GOLDEN (shining [like GOLD]) GEN (information) containing (about) OLD (earlier) G (OLD) EN |
| 6 |
Has girly twirls using bright colours (8) GARISHLY (using bright colours) Anagram of (twirls) HAS GIRLY GARISHLY* |
| 7 |
One in distance beginning to upset environment (6) MILIEU (environment) (I [Roman numeral for one] contained in [in] MILE [distance]) + U (first letter of [beginning to] UPSET MIL (I) E U |
| 8 |
Arctic explorer who’s lost in ice formation (4) BERG (iceBERG; an ice formation) BERING (reference Danish / Russian explorer Vitus BERING [1681-1741], who worked in the northern reaches of Russia and American. The BERING Strait between the Russian Far East and Alaska is named after him) excluding (who’s lost) IN BERG |
| 15 |
Picks items out, showing doubt in LA (10) SKEPTICISM (American (Los Angles [LA]) spelling of scepticism [doubt]) Anagram of (out) PICKS ITEMS SKEPTICISM* |
| 17 |
Uproar over medicines dropping temperature? Temperature well dropped in this (8) CRYONICS (the practice of preserving human corpses by freezing [temperature well dropped] them, with the idea that advances in science may enable them to be revived at some future time) CRY (uproar) + TONICS (medicines) excluding (dropping) T (temperature) CRY ONICS |
| 18 |
Eccentric person following big game producing visual chart (4,4) TEST CARD (a transmitted chart with lines and details to indicate particular characteristics of a transmission system, used in TV for general testing purposes) TEST (reference TEST match, an important game in many sports) + CARD (eccentric person) TEST CARD |
| 19 |
You are texting cautiously – or otherwise? (8) URGENTLY (immediately; opposite [otherwise] of cautiously) U R (text speak for you are) + GENTLY (cautiously) U R GENTLY |
| 21 |
No expert bet – lots of people going short (6) LAYMAN (a non-professional; a non-expert) LAY (bet) + MANY (lots of people) excluding the final letter Y (going short) LAY MAN |
| 22 |
Irish writer working to consume cheese (6) O’BRIEN (reference Edna O’BRIEN [born 1930], Irish author) ON (working) containing (to consume) BRIE (cheese) O (BRIE) N |
| 23 |
At sea? Runs up to see location after sea-voyage, perhaps (6) ABROAD (overseas; where a sea voyage may end) ABOARD (on a sea-going vessel) with the R (runs) moving up this down entry to form ABROAD ABROAD |
| 24 |
Book with a weak line making you cry (4) BAWL (cry loudly) B (book) + A + W (weak) + L (line) B A W L |
Thanks Duncan, I was having trouble with ABROAD as the online version has ‘sea-‘ twice, giving ‘sea- sea voyage’ so I wondered if I was missing something.
DAUPHINOIS was my COTD, what a wonderful anagram.
Thanks Phi.
A note for theme hunters: there’s more than one Irish writer called O’Brien…
My Chambers doesn’t have the 1d spelling but accept that it must be an alternative. Also not heard “what cheer” but “wotcha” must be the common (?) abbreviation. Thanks Duncan for the explanations, I got stuck in the NE quadrant and gave up on it.
I think one is more likely to read “what cheer?” in literature of a certain age than to hear it these days, and I always took “wotcha” as derived fro”what are you [doing]?”
Dauphinois is not so much an alternative spelling as just the masculine form of Dauphinoise. Potatoes, of course, are feminine, while gratin is masculine.
Thanks for dropping in, Phi. I’ll go have a hunt now for another thematic O’Brien.
Phi @2. Thanks for that- I’ll go get my bicycle.
Sorry, didn’t mean to sound sarky or prescriptive in my comment on grammatical gender. I should have said, “Traditionally, most French potatoes have identified as feminine.”
Phi @ 3
Thanks for the nudge.
It took me a while to track it down, but I have found Flann O’BRIEN and some Wikipedia notes:
De SELBY (spelled “de SELBY” in The Third Policeman and “De SELBY” in The Dalkey Archive) is a fictional character originally created by Flann O’BRIEN for his novel The Third Policeman in which the nameless narrator intends to use the proceeds of murder and robbery to publish his commentaries on de Selby — a savant who theorizes, among other things, that the earth is actually shaped like a sausage.[1]
O’BRIEN‘s text and footnotes mention a number of de Selby’s works including GOLDEN HOURs, The COUNTRY ALBUM, A Memoir of Garcia, LAYMANs ATLAS and the Codex.
All the words highlighted in bold are in the grid. I think this is the first theme I have come across where we are not just looking for characters created by the relevant author, but instead we are looking for works written by a character created by the author!
I’ve long given up on finding themes in Phi puzzles but I am pretty happy with them as they are.
Always a nice start to Friday. Thanks Phi and Duncan
DAUPHINOIS refers to the style of the potato dish, rather than the dish itself. Bryn Mawr eluded my fading memory, making the SW corner harder than the rest of the crossword.
ALBUM went in first and BRYNNER was last. NHO the college, but I knew Yul. Years of watching Car SOS made BEAULIEU a write in, although I was grateful for the wordplay to get the spelling correct. I liked DAUPHINOIS, but finished up with EELBY when I entered it as I thought it was spelt. Spotted before any damage was done though. Thanks Phi and Duncan.
The Third Policeman is one of my favourite books, and written descriptions don’t really do justice to how strange and wonderful it is.
Dicho may like to try “What a Carve-Up!” by Jonathan Coe, which has some very clear homages to Policeman, as well as being a very funny and serious book in its own right.
(This theme stuff is meant to be didactic as well as filling my grids, you know…)
Quick question Phi, which of Chambers 3 definitions of didactic are you using there? 😉
But seriously although your themes are often beyond me, I usually take note as I’m sure many others do, for instance I’ve just borrowed Mick Herrons’ “Slow Horses” from the library having been prompted to add it to my reading list from your July 30th theme. Had to wait quite a while to get it.
Phi@11 I second your recommendation of What a Carve Up. Slow Horses was fun too, so I must get into Flann O’Brien
I failed on BRYNNER. Needed a word search. Never heard of the college.
Flann O’Brien is one of those authors I’ve been meaning to read. I saw a Ken Campbell staging of The Third Policeman back in the seventies and I’ve since bought a copy (in Dublin, as it happened). It’s working its way up my to-be-read pile.
Phi @ 11 [Didn’t mention that my bicycle has a blue (not tory) light to keep all sensible people out of my way. J Coe can wait- until I’ve finished the bios of J Osborne. I’m a slow reader]
Thanks for the journey.
Wonderful — a puzzle with a theme of the “Third Policemen”. Thank you, Phi! I consider that book an absolute masterpiece, the funniest part perhaps being the footnotes quoting the idiotic writings of de Selby. I forget which of his critics commented that after having read some of de Selby’s output one could at least be satisfied that one was not, of all nincompoops, the greatest.
Policeman, I mean.
Duncan @7, Phi did something similar a year ago (Independent 10, 624); the solutions featured works by Ms D Audrey-Gore, a character created by American illustrator Edward Gorey.
http://www.fifteensquared.net/2020/10/30/independent-10624-by-phi/#more-145493
We failed this week, just could not work out Brynner and had never hard of the college. In general thought it was a real toughie. Guessed at Berg really and the NE took an age to get!