It’s Phi-day again…..
Another excellent puzzle from Phi, with a good range of clue difficulty and the usual smooth surfaces. However, for the first time in a long time, we had to admit defeat on our last clue in (15ac) – there are so many possibilities for -A-E, and we just could not see a combination that fitted the clue. We had to cheat to find the answer and then puzzled over the parsing – which, in the end, was perfectly fair.
Once again, we have looked unsuccessfully for a theme – perhaps someone out there will spot something – or maybe Phi will enlighten us later?
AIL (feel bad) C (circa – ‘about’) in or ‘entering’ MAR (damage)
S (special) EGO (self-confidence) VIA (Latin for road)
D and E are large cup sizes for a BRA (lingerie item)
An anagram (‘after fermenting’) of GAINS BEER
LOG (record) round or ‘including’ EX (half of exam) I COL (pass) + Y (variable)
T and T (tees) with ES (‘are’ in French) inside or ‘diving in’
A clue-as-definition: an anagram (‘thrown’) of SAD PICTURE – a custard pie would be thrown (yes), but probably not in a ‘sad’ picture (no)
We were beaten by this – thinking that it might be ‘name’ (N A – not available – + ME) but couldn’t see a definition. We had to cheat to find the solution – then finally parsed it as: SAMplE (selection) with ‘pl’ (place) omitted or ‘not available’
NUB (central point) round M (monsieur – Frenchman)
A reversal (‘recurrence’) of TICS (habitual responses) round U (universal) CROSS (religious symbol)
IN (popular) between N and E (north and east – opponents in bridge)
B (British) RAIN STORM (weather on the wet side)
An anagram (‘reorganising’) of RIGHT CASE
I’M (the writer’s) in SON (young man)
MITER (‘headdress for bishop in US’ – the American spelling of mitre) round or ‘retaining’ N and S (north and south – ‘a couple of points’)
TOT (small child) ALLY (friend)
A reversal (‘upset’) of LAD (boy) ‘EM (‘those people briefly’)
I + NB (nota bene – note well or ‘definitely note’) + O (nothing) + a reversal (‘turning up’) of SEX
CHAR (person engaged by cleaning) CO (company) A L (line)
B (first letter or ‘bit’ of Birtwistle) in or ’embraced by’ REEL (rock)
SOS (cry for help) round or ‘involving’ E (Spain) and an anagram (‘mixed up’) of A GIRL
GAG (restriction on commenting) round N (new)
S (last or ‘final’ letter of churches) in VIC (vicar) ERA (time)
PART (split up) MEN (soldiers) in A T (tense)
COD (jokey) RUM (odd) round NUN (religious figure)
DEC (December – ‘late in year’) ORATOR (speech-maker)
H O (initial letters of Head Office) USES (employs) IT (InformationTechnology – ‘computers etc’)
O (love) in or ‘amongst’ MEN (blokes) TIN (can)
M (money) ‘invested’ in CLONE (duplicate) L (Lough)
Hidden (‘only to a certain extent’) in servING OThers
Removing the middle letters or ‘content’ from ‘mercifully’ leaves M AND Y
Double definition
I needed our bloggers’ help for some parsing today: SAME beat me as well and I didn’t spot ‘clone’ in CLONMEL. I wondered whether 26a should have been signalled as old European Parliament though the anagram was not difficult; it stopped being the Reichstag at the end of WW2. And I didn’t know SCISSOR CUT was a Thing. Other than those two minor points, a typically enjoyable Friday morning outing and no theme I can spot – but then we don’t know what half dozen objects Phi spotted from his bedroom window, the favourite authors of the friend he bumped into in a bar of the names of the pet dogs owned by the NZ cabinet. Any or all are potential prompters of a Phi theme!
Favourites today include: SEGOVIA, TEST, CHARCOAL, VISCERA, MENTION and MANDY (cruel … but fair!)
Thanks Phi and B&J
Enjoyed. DECORATOR was my #1. Likewise with SAME. Such a good clue when the penny drops. My #2. Thanks all.
PM Ardern had a cat, of course – which reminds me to point you at the middle row, and to note that I was forced to make use of those curious words MANDYLION and TELEOST; the other six are more familiar.
Does Bering Sea count? Stuck on 5 otherwise
Getting there … but, Gosh, that took some headscratching and the help from James’s hint. I’ve got MEDAL, REBEL, GANG, MANDY with LION and NINE, TEST, SIMON with LEO. There are plants called NELUMBO but that’s an anagram of LEO and NUMB not an insertion/addition.
Ah, Simon, thanks. That is not familiar. The one you’ve missed is easier.
Thanks both. I did an Eric Morecambe on SERAGLIOS as it was unfamiliar, and like others could not parse SAME, as had assumed the ‘me’ in the clue accounted for the last two letters
I liked SEGOVIA and MANDY-in fact i liked all of it
Thanks Phi and B&J
Is the other one MINSTER – as in the Herefordshire town of Leominster? (Pronounced Lemster, with the usual quirkiness of English place-names.)
That is so annoying – we were waiting for another of Phi’s Zodiac signs which he warned us about. Can’t believe we missed it. Sorry Phi!
SAME here (sorry!) with 15ac – and we also failed on 24dn, fooled again by the A AND B device for first and last letters (we might have got it if we’d googled for BM’s hits).
Otherwise an enjoyable solve untroubled by any theme as we didn’t look for one.
Plenty to like, including CUSTARD PIE, MINSTER and SERAGLIOS.
Thanks, Phi and B&J.
Oh well spotted Quirister. Of course it is. And it’s no great distance from me so I should have seen that.
We enjoyed the crossword (though Clonmel seems rather obscure, smaller than the town I live in). But the discussion about the theme is really annoying as I have no idea what you are talking about.
Ericw – Apologies. Back in May, Phi set a Zodiac themed puzzle and told us all to be aware that there would be more to follow. So, we have been on the look out for the next instalments. This one was LEO (LION) which was in the middle of the grid. The thematic entries can have LEO or LION added to them to make new words as Phi and Postmark alluded to in their comments.
Even though CLONMEL may be small, for some reason or other we both knew it so it did not seem obscure.
@bertandjoyce Don’t apologise. And thanks for explaining. I’m really just admitting my ignorance. I don’t even recognise half the words Postmark gives (simon, test, mandy). Ah well just be pleased we did complete the puzzle.
Hi ericw @15: I’ve no idea if you’ll see this but, in case you pop back. In my comment @1 I referred to Phi’s ability to base a theme upon almost anything and he kindly responded a couple of posts later advising me to look at the middle row (wherein lies LEO) and noting that he had to make use of the unusual MANDYLION and TELEOST. Spotting – after some time I admit – what that hint meant – I was able to work out five of the six clues he suggested remain. The word MANDY was obviously in the grid – and LION was added. It was less obvious that LEO had been inserted into TEST but, of course, it had. The top row delivered the starts of three with MEDAL, REBEL and GANG, all of which worked with LION. I ran out of likely candidates to add to LION but spotted that NINE would work with LEO. It was hard work to find the fifth – a SIMO LEO N is a word for a US dollar. And I did not find the sixth contributed by Quirister – LEO MINSTER. Sorry for a long explanation but hope that a) you see it and b) it’s clear.