Today’s challenge is set by Phi
Phi often has a theme running through his puzzles. There is a slight hint of Charles Dickens in the grid, but I may be clutching at straws. Clearly Dickens wrote The Mystery of EDWIN DROOD (28 across) If you run 24 and 25 across together you get BRIDEWELL, the name of a notorious prison that was still open during Dickens’ lifetime, but I can’t find any reference to BRIDEWELL in Dickens’ works. Apparently though there is a plaque to Dickens on the wall of The BRIDEWELL pub in Liverpool. Finally I found that Dickens wrote the libretto of an OPERA (8 down), entitled The Village Coquettes, but I don’t think I have come up with anything concrete that could justify a theme.
There were also a few Japanese references, e.g. RAMEN, NOODLE and AKIHITO, as well as a few musical entries
There were some complex wordplay constructions in the puzzle with SUBROUTINE, OARSMAN, OPTIMISM and AKIHITO being good examples.
This was a good puzzle to end the working week.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 |
German brought in to give tour of fair venue (10) SHOWGROUND (plot of land on which an outdoor show or fair is held) G (German) contained in (brought in to) SHOW ROUND (give tour of) SHOW (G) ROUND |
| 6 |
Recalled expression of surprise with church having acoustic feature (4) ECHO (reverberating effect; acoustic feature) (OH [expression of surprise] + CE [Church {of England}]) all reversed (recalled) (EC HO)< |
| 9 |
Positive force in building? That’s the ideal state (10) PERFECTION (an ideal state) P (positive) + (F [force] contained in [in] ERECTION [building]) P ER (F) ECTION* |
| 10/27 |
Pipe came up with lumps or swellings (8) TUBE[ROSE] (tuberous [with lumps or swellings]) TUBE (pipe) + ROSE (came up) TUBE ROSE |
| 12 |
Japanese broth recipe’s the last word (5) RAMEN (Japanese dish of clear broth containing vegetables, noodles and often pieces of meat) R (recipe) + AMEN (the last word) R AMEN |
| 13 |
Rejected intent to import English ways in Pacific region (9) MELANESIA (group of Pacific islands lying North East of Australia) AIM (intent) reversed (rejected) containing (to import) (E [English] + LANES [paths; ways]) M (E LANES) IA< |
| 14 |
Fellow among celebrities is a top performer (8) FINALIST (a player or candidate reaching the FINAL will be a top performer) F (fellow) + IN (among) + A-LIST (descriptive of the current people rated as celebrities) F IN ALIST |
| 15 |
Villa well placed in court (6) CHALET (wooden villa) HALE (healthy; well) contained in (placed in) CT (court) C (HALE) T |
| 18 |
Scoundrel receiving award from Queen leads to trouble (6) CUMBER (trouble or hinder) CUR (scoundrel) containing (receiving) MBE (Member of the British Empire [award from the Queen]) CU (MBE) R |
| 20 |
Meal parts too well cooked? (3,5) POT ROAST (a meal) Anagram of (cooked) PARTS TOO POT ROAST* |
| 23 |
My son returned in a measured way, completing a sort of pattern? (9) SYMMETRIC (having exact correspondence of parts on either side of a straight line or plane, or about a centre or axis; a sort of pattern) (MY + S [son]) reversed (returned) + METRIC (quantitative; in a measured way. Also descriptive of a decimal system of weights and measures) (S YM)< METRIC |
| 24 |
Happen to catch free union member (5) BRIDE (important member of a marriage [union] ceremony) BE (exist; happen) containing (catch) RID (free) B (RID) E |
| 25 |
Healthy expression of group intent (4) WELL (healthy) WE’LL (we [descriptive of a group] will [intend to]; expression of group intent) double definition WELL |
| 26 |
Component of program revised by best in our university (10) SUBROUTINE (component of a computer program) Anagram of (revised) BEST IN OUR and U (university) SUBROUTINE* |
| 27 |
See 10 [TUBE]ROSE |
| 28 |
Hero of novel: edition, with twist, reversed opening (5,5) EDWIN DROOD (titular character of a Dickens’ novel entitled ‘The Mystery of EDWIN DROOD) ED (edition) + WIND (twist) + DOOR (opening) reversed (reversed) ED WIN D ROOD< |
| Down | |
| 1 |
Poor sci-fi turned out to be dull (9) SOPORIFIC (inducing sleep; dull) Anagram of (turned out) POOR SCIFI SOPORIFIC* |
| 2 |
Chap in boat, a second seen round river in Arab state (7) OARSMAN (person rowing a boat) ([A + S {second}] containing [round] R [river]) contained in (in) OMAN (an Arab state) O (A (R) S) MAN |
| 3 |
Song identifying salad items one’s merely heard (12) GREENSLEEVES (title of a traditional English folk song) GREENS (vegetables that could be used in salads) + LEEVES (sounds like [heard] LEAVES [another salad item]) Only [merely] one of the component salad items is a homophone [heard] GREENS LEEVES |
| 4 |
Work beginning to thrill? The writer’s repeatedly nursing source of some hope (8) OPTIMISM (hopeful view of things) OP (opus; work) + T (first letter of [beginning to] THRILL) + ([I’M {I am; the writer’s) + I’M {I am; the writer’s}] hence’ the writer’s repeatedly’, containing [nursing] S [first letter of {source of}] SOME) OP T IM I (S) M |
| 5 |
Stupid new hanger-on missing opening (6) NOODLE (stupid [as a noun]) N (new) + POODLE (lackey; servile hanger-on) excluding the first letter (missing opening) P N OODLE |
| 7 |
Advice to have effect mostly on individual? Mostly (7) COUNSEL (advice) COUNT (to have effect) excluding the final letter (mostly) T + SELF (individual) excluding the final letter (mostly) F COUN SEL |
| 8 |
Picked up some rare Poulenc stage work (5) OPERA (a musical work for the stage) OPERA (reversed [picked up; down entry] hidden word in [some] RARE POULENC) OPERA< |
| 11 |
Working in that place leads to restriction that’s reactive (2,3,7) ON THE REBOUND (reacting against a setback; reactive) ON (working) + THERE (in that place) + BOUND (restriction) The words ON THERE precede BOUND and therefore ‘ON THERE‘ leads to ‘BOUND‘ ON THE RE BOUND |
| 16 |
Property document: hint of trouble it conveyed about river (5,4) TITLE DEED (property document) T (first letter of [hint of] TROUBLE) + IT + (LED [guided; conveyed] containing [about] DEE [name of one of many rivers]) T IT LE (D EE) D |
| 17 |
Endless worry? Lifted it with classical pieces (8) CONCERTI (classical music pieces) CONCERN (worry) excluding the final letter (endless) N + IT reversed (lifted; down entry) CONCER TI< |
| 19 |
Welsh location is unclear (7) MUMBLES (headland sited on the western edge of Swansea Bay on the southern coast of Wales; Welsh location) MUMBLES (does not speak clearly; is unclear) double definition MUMBLES |
| 21 |
A conclusion to fighting securing one success for former Emperor (7) AKIHITO (reference AKIHITO [born 1933], member of the Imperial House of Japan who reigned as the 125th Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession, from 7 January 1989 until 30 April 2019; former Emperor) A + (KO [knock-out; conclusion to a boxing match] containing [securing] [I {Roman numeral for one} + HIT {success}]) A K (I HIT) O |
| 22 |
Regretted involving Government after American put the case (6) ARGUED (put the case) A (American) + (RUED [regretted] containing [involving] G [Government]) A R (G) UED |
| 23 |
Pipe we included in series (5) SEWER (pipe for receiving the discharge from house-drains and streets) WE contained in (included in) SER (series) SE (WE) R |
I liked the SOPORIFIC sci-fi and GREENSLEEVES, but fell a little short in my knowledge of Japanese emperors, though, once you see it the word play is obvious enough. I’m sure there’s a musical theme in there somewhere (Edwin Drood was also a musical) but I can’t see it.
That was enjoyable. Thanks to Phi and to duncanshiell.
We hadn’t previously come across the word CUMBER, except in compounds such an encumbered.
Clutching at straws, is there a theme in that you can make new words or phrases by putting homophones of letters before certain solutions, i.e. cu(Q)CUMBER, tea (T) ROSE, and You(U)Tube??
Intriguingly, a Google search reveals that The Mystery of Edwin Drood is about to be performed at the Bridewell theatre. I was hoping that Mumbles Pier was about to feature performances of Greensleeves, opera and concerti, but alas not.
I was roasted by using TOP instead of POT for my meal. The Welsh location was obscure too – but still an enjoyable puzzle. Thanks Phi and Duncanshiell
Thanks both.
A pleasant entertainment, not too gnarly apart from SUBROUTINE which took a while. I enjoyed the surface of SOPORIFIC which says a lot about my literary tastes.
No theme today, just using up a few odd words from an old list I kept for Beelzebub. If you have a Chambers to hand you might want to check up COUNSEL OF PERFECTION and CUMBERGROUND.
Also BRIDEWELL which it looks like I could have got away with in full. The Bridewell Theatre was where I saw the world premiere of Sondheim’s Saturday Night, though I think the building itself was a converted swimming pool.
Phi always makes me a bit worried, but managed to ‘get’ most of it today.
Brilliant puzzle by Phi, by which I mean “it was hard but I could ultimately get and parse every answer after first feeling quite lost, which is not usually the case” – many thanks to him and Duncanshiell.