Phi eases us into the weekend with today’s puzzle.
I can’t see anything obscure in the entries today. It was a component part of the wordplay for SYMBOL that struck me as the most unusual part of the puzzle. I haven’t come across LOB as a word meaning ‘clumsy person’ before.
I am not convinced that CHILL and EASY-GOING are the same parts of speech at 6 down, but it is obvious what is required when solving the clue.
I liked the quirky definition of ‘items brought out for Christmas’ in the clue for DECLINE.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1/27 |
Meagre wages, later regularly accepted (6) PAL[TRY] (meagre) PAY (wages) containing (accepted) LTR (letters 1, 3 and 5 [regularly] of LATER) PA (LTR) Y |
| 3 |
Mostly longing to hug American after outrage about American region (11) APPALACHIAN (descriptive of APPALACHIA, a cultural region in the Eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York State to northern Alabama and Georgia) APPAL (to horrify; to outrage) + (ACHING [longing] excluding the final letter [mostly] G containing [to hug] A [American]) APPAL ACHI (A) N |
| 9 |
Hesitation to enter 20, possibly, as a figure (7) NUMERAL (figure) UM (expression of hesitation) contained in (to enter) an anagram of (possibly) RENAL (entry at 20 down) N (UM) ERAL* |
| 10 |
Brief article giving common instruction to vet? (7) SNIPPET (a little piece of news; brief article in a newspaper or magazine) SNIP PET (a vet may to be asked to SNIP a PET) SNIP PET |
| 11 |
Legal society accepting support backed from the subcontinent (6) INDIAN (a person from INDIA; the subcontinent is a term usually applied to describe INDIA) INN (one of four voluntary societies that have the exclusive right of calling to the English bar [Inner Temple, Middle Temple, Lincoln’s Inn and Gray’s Inn]; apparently the term originally applied to the buildings housing the societies but now applies to the societies themselves) containing (accepting) AID (support) reversed (backed) IN (DIA<) N |
| 12 |
Beginning to acknowledge the iron is poorly wrought not an impressive figure (8) ANTIHERO (principal character in a novel, play, etc who lacks noble qualities ; not an impressive figure) A (first letter of [beginning to] ACKNOWLEDGE) + an anagram of (poorly wrought) THE IRON A NTI-HERO* |
| 14 |
Metallic bullets flying around middle of week (5-4) STEEL-BLUE (a grey-blue colour like a reflection from STEEL giving a metallic effect) Anagram of (flying) BULLETS containing (around) EE (central letters of [middle of] WEEK) ST (EE) L BLUE* |
| 16 |
Source of wool leggings initially adopted by priest (5) LLAMA (animal bred for its wool; source of wool) L (first letter of [initially] LEGGINGS) contained in (adopted by) LAMA (Buddhist priest) L (L) AMA |
| 17 |
Leading Australian tried to dodge rule (5) AHEAD (in the lead) A (Australian) + HEARD (tried, as in a case HEARD in a court of law) excluding (to dodge) R (rule) A HEAD |
| 18 |
Carol getting behind family, bringing in energy, offering catharsis (9) CLEANSING (purification; catharsis) (CLAN [family] containing [bringing in] E [energy]) + SING (to carol) CL (E) AN SING |
| 10 |
Inquire about beginner I backed as a matter of urgency? (8) PRIORITY (something that ought to be considered or dealt with in the earliest stage of proceedings; a matter of urgency) PRY (inquire) containing (about) (TIRO [novice; beginner] + I) reversed (backed) PR (I ORIT)< Y |
| 21 |
Clumsy person my son, brought back as a representative example (6) SYMBOL (sign used to represent something; representative example) (LOB [clumsy person] + MY + S [son]) all reversed (brought back) (S YM BOL)< |
| 24 |
Turned on elements of company: I’m unable to help (2,3,2) NO CAN DO (I cannot do it; I’m unable to help) ON reversed (turned) + (C AND O, the component parts of elements of] CO [company]) NO< C AN D O |
| 25 |
Refuse to accept item only brought out for Christmas? (7) DECLINE (refuse to accept) DEC (December [month including Christmas]) + LINE (products for sale) DEC LINE |
| 26 |
Brilliant priest getting loan – feel bitter about accepting that (11) RESPLENDENT (brilliant) RESENT (feel bitter) containing (about) (P [priest] + LEND [loan]) RES (P LEND) ENT |
| 27 |
See 1 [PAL]TRY |
| Down | |
| 1 |
It delivers a point in various creative disciplines (6-9) PENCIL-SHARPENER (a tool that restores a point to a PENCIL lead) PENCIL-SHARPENER (the clue is a cryptic definition as PENCIL are used by many creating artworks of various forms) PENCIL-SHARPENER |
| 2 |
Accused, after pinching book, is incapacitated (5) LAMED (disabled’ incapacitated) BLAMED (held responsible; accused) excluding (after pinching) B (book) LAMED |
| 3 |
Power, including electric current, wasn’t good – delivered from a distance? (9) AIRMAILED (sent or delivered from a long way away) (ARM [power, as in the ARM of the law] containing [including] I [electric current]) + AILED (was ill; wasn’t good) A (I) RM AILED |
| 4 |
Power lines around area become dull (4) PALL (become wearisome; become dull) (P [power] + LL [lines]) containing (around) A (area) P (A) LL |
| 5 |
Fails to be seen around a new set in big city (3,7) LOS ANGELES (major city in the United States) LOSES (fails) containing (to be seen around) (A + N [new] + GEL [set]) LOS (A N GEL) ES |
| 6 |
Easy-going American left off one hot spice (5) CHILI (hot spice, alternative spelling of CHILLI) CHILL (American term meaning relax or take an easy-going attitude) excluding (off) L + I (Roman numeral for one) Are easy-going and chill similar parts of speech? Isn’t one an adjective and the other a verb? CHIL I |
| 7 |
We stage rigged primaries (9) IMPRESARI (managers of opera companies, etc; producers or organisers of entertainments; showmen who stage shows) Anagram of (rigged) PRIMARIES IMPRESARI* |
| 8 |
Display venue arranged in only art gala accommodating the French (8,7) NATIONAL GALLERY (venue that displays art) Anagram of (arranged) IN ONLY ART GALA containing (accommodating) LE (one of the French forms of ‘the’) NATIONAL GAL (LE) RY* |
| 13 |
Require Norse god to be found in confines of broken shrub (10) BLACKTHORN (dark-coloured THORNbush bearing sloes, with white flowers that appear before its leaves in March and April; shrub) (LACK [need; require] + THOR [Norse God]) contained in (to be found in) BN (outer letters of [confines of] BROKEN) B (LACK THOR) N |
| 15 |
Detective leading men, finding parts of telescope (9) EYEPIECES (parts of a telescope) EYE (detective, private EYE) + PIECES (men; chessmen for example) EYE PIECES |
| 16 |
Beach racer? Woman bagging number eight from Germany (4-5) LAND-YACHT (a wheeled boat with sails, for running on land, usually along sea-beaches) LADY (woman) containing (bagging) N (number) + ACHT (German for the number eight) LA (N) D Y ACHT |
| 20 |
Material including note about filtration system? (5) RENAL (of the kidneys; descriptive of the organs that filter waste from the blood and secrete it as urine) REAL (material) containing (including) N (note) RE (N) AL |
| 22 |
Second-rate book catalogue (1-4) B-LIST (not belonging to the most important or famous group, hence second-rate) B (book) + LIST (catalogue) B–LIST |
| 23 |
I had left, abandoning newspaper without function (4) IDLE (not working; without function) I’D (I had) + LEFT excluding (abandoning) FT (Financial Times, a newspaper) ID LE |
Plenty to like, as always with Phi, and some neat clueing – the defs for RENAL and AIRMAILED, the delightful assembly of BLACKTHORN, the fabulous creation that is IMPRESARI. I was similarly thrown by LOB but lobbed it in with a shrug. I was looking for something more in PENCIL SHARPENER, particularly as the letters for the first part are contained within ‘disciplines’ but I can’t make anything work. It seems less creative a clue than I expect from Phi – it’s almost non-cryptic – so I wonder if someone will come up with an alternative parse. I can’t see it. Although ‘chill’ is only given as a verb in Chambers with the meaning ‘relax’, I have certainly seen it used as an adjective though suspect that is modern/developing language. ‘A chill vibe’ etc. Phi has used a US indicator so maybe more prevalent across the Pond? Macmillan gives it as an adjective. So I was chill about 6d
Thanks Phi and Duncan
Liked APPALACHIAN, CLEANSING, SNIPPET, NO CAN DO and DECLINE.
PENCIL-SHARPENER: We may be missing something.
CHILI: Me too chill about the def.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pencil
pencil noun
Definition of pencil (Entry 1 of 2)
1: an artist’s brush
2: an artist’s individual skill or style
PENCIL-SHARPENER: Honer of a skill/various skills
Collins
pencil noun
5. rare
an artist’s individual style or technique in drawing
Friday always starts(well nearly) with a Phi which suits me fine.
As usual no complaints. difficult to pick a favourite but SNIPPET is a contender
Thanks Duncan and Phi
I struggled with 10 ac (I spell tyro with a y), but then I have always found it hard to sort out my PRIORITIES. Like PostMark, I enjoyed working out BLACKTHORN.
I think in America you can say “I’m a pretty chill guy”, for example, using “chill” as an adjective.
Many of the same comments as others, particularly about LOB and TIRO with an “i” rather than a “y”. Favourites were PENCIL-SHARPENER, which was cryptic enough for me, and the DEC LINE.
Thanks to Phi and Duncan
Thanks Phi – lots to enjoy today. Other commenters have already mentioned the stand-out clues.
We had CHILI in at first – didn’t read the clue carefully enough or check the spelling. We soon realised our mistake.
Thanks Duncan
A very mild theme today, occasioned by my stumbling upon BLACKTHORN winter, the opposite of an INDIAN summer. The other seasons don’t seem to be credited with late appearances in the same way, so I tossed in APPALACHIAN Spring and then struggled to find anything really familiar for autumn. I ended up with DECLINE and Fall. Hadn’t noticed it was the week of the solstice but it doesn’t hurt.
Thanks duncanshiell, my experience chimes with those above including a couple of the false starts – I also managed to misread the enumeration for 14A so entered BLUE STEEL first up which made a mess of my grid even if it caused no lasting harm.
i would be very keen to hear any real world evidence of LOB for clumsy person, presumably it is in chambers though not my limited online ref. Our US friend is very laid back and would definitely describe herself as “chill”. As well as the consensus favourites I enjoyed unravelling RESPLENDENT which is such a fine word it more than makes up for LAMED in the same grid – thanks Phi.
Thank you for the theme explanation Phi. I looked for a spring as soon as I saw APPALACHIAN but then the brain failed to make any connection to other entries. I’ve never heard of BLACKTHORN winter so thank you for that addition as well.