Phi is in his usual Phiday slot today.
With yesterday’s sad news it’s perhaps a little unfortunate that we have references to both Queen and King in today’s clues, particularly in 18d – but of course Phi must have set the puzzle some time ago. From what we’ve heard of her character, I venture to suggest Her Majesty would have been more amused than offended.
There are some less familiar words here; 15d isn’t a word I’d use much, though it’s clearly related to a common enough one, and 22a is surely crossing the boundary from general into rather specialist knowledge. But both are guessable from the clear wordplay.
I particularly liked 10a and 7d, though I know some readers get fed up with crossword setters repeatedly having a go at politicians and their dubious actions / decisions. Special mention also to 23d, which was my last in; the solution was clear enough from the crossers, even though I’m no fan of motor racing, but it took me far too long to remember the abbreviation IMO.
As always, Phi may or may not have included a theme, and if he did it may or may not be one we can be expected to find. My track record in spotting them isn’t great, but someone will probably step in if there’s something I should have seen. Thanks Phi for an enjoyable challenge.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | FOURSOMES |
Sporting groups in university coming in for a little soccer, initially (9)
|
| U (abbreviation for university) coming into FOR + SOME (a little = a small amount) + initial letter of S[occer].
A golf competition between two pairs of players, where the players in each pair take alternate shots. |
||
| 6 | TWIG |
Get tense reprimand (4)
|
| T (abbreviation for tense) + WIG (to reprimand or criticise severely; perhaps better known in the noun form, as in “to give someone a wigging”).
Get, as in “I get it” = twig = come to understand. |
||
| 10 | ADIEU |
Announcement of exit from excellent group of countries including Germany? (5)
|
| AI (A1 = excellent) + EU (group of countries), including D (abbreviation for Deutschland = Germany). Nothing to do with the much-discussed upheavals of the last few years. | ||
| 11 | LUNCHTIME |
Concocted clue/hint about start of meal now? (9)
|
| Anagram (concocted) of CLUE + HINT, around the starting letter of M[eal].
Extended definition: lunchtime = time to start a meal. |
||
| 12 | FANATIC |
Ardent supporter agitated to miss Queen when touring area (7)
|
| F[r]ANTIC, missing the R (abbreviation for Latin Regina = Queen), around (touring) A (area). | ||
| 13 | INSULIN |
Hormone not entirely causing offence, containing no tritium (7)
|
| INSUL[t]IN[g] (causing offence), without the last letter (not entirely), and without the T (chemical symbol for tritium = a variant form of hydrogen).
Hormone involved in the metabolism of carbohydrates. |
||
| 14 | SPINE-TINGLING |
Bottle and bell placed beside heather, inspiring fear? (5-8)
|
| SPINE (bottle = slang for courage) + TING (the sound of a bell) + LING (another name for the heather plant). | ||
| 17 | PIECES OF EIGHT |
Treasure for the GI? (6,2,5)
|
| Reverse anagram: the letters THE GI could be PIECES OF the word EIGHT.
Old silver coins worth eight Spanish reales, popularly associated with pirate treasure. |
||
| 21 | VIS-A-VIS |
Facing travel document, travel document that’s incomplete (3-1-3)
|
| VISA (travel document) + VIS[a] (the same but incomplete = without its last letter).
Vis-a-vis = French expression literally meaning “face to face”, but used in English to mean “in comparison to” or “with reference to”. |
||
| 22 | HAHNIUM |
Stink about a hydrogen-nickel compound? Unsuccessful name for element (7)
|
| HUM (slang for stink = bad smell) around A + H (chemical symbol for hydrogen) + NI (Ni = chemical symbol for nickel).
A name originally proposed for the element with atomic number 105, by one of the two research groups claiming to have discovered it; the other group wanted to call it nielsbohrium. It was eventally called dubnium. |
||
| 24 | CHURCHILL |
Body of followers not good for politician (9)
|
| CHURCH (a body of religious followers) + ILL (not good). | ||
| 25 | EWOKS |
We backed agreements to produce Star Wars critters (5)
|
| WE reversed (backed) + OKS (plural of OK, as a noun = agreement). | ||
| 26 | TIER |
Row about it is recalled (4)
|
| RE (about = on the subject of) + IT, all reversed (recalled).
As in a row of seats in a theatre = tier. |
||
| 27 | GRAVEYARD |
London police attending good party in spooky location (9)
|
| YARD (colloquial shortening of Scotland Yard, the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, and hence used as a nickname for the police), after G (good) + RAVE (a party). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | FLATFISH |
Flounder, perhaps, in search in pursuit of accommodation (8)
|
| FISH (search, as in “fishing for information”) after (in pursuit of) FLAT (a small one-storey home = accommodation). | ||
| 2 | UNION |
University on top of feasible merger (5)
|
| UNI (short for university) before (on top of, in a down clue) ON (feasible, as in “is the game still on?”). | ||
| 3 | SHUTTLE SERVICE |
Close clever site to be revamped for regular traffic? (7,7)
|
| SHUT (close, as a verb) + anagram (to be revamped) of CLEVER SITE.
A train or bus that provides a frequent direct service between two locations. |
||
| 4 | MALACHI |
Generator of boom surrounding the French prophet (7)
|
| MACH I (Mach 1 = the speed of sound; an object reaching this speed or greater generates a sonic boom), around LA (feminine form of “the” in French).
Old Testament prophet (the last book in the OT). |
||
| 5 | SINKING |
Failing Soho supremo? (7)
|
| The Soho area in London was formerly associated with somewhat disreputable entertainments, so a supremo there might have been considered a SIN KING. | ||
| 7 | WHIRLIGIG |
One distraught girl embraced by old politician leading to wild sequence of events (9)
|
| I (one in Roman numerals) + anagram (distraught) of GIRL, contained in (embraced by) WHIG (member of an old political party). I hope Phi wasn’t thinking about any recent accusations of improper behaviour in Parliament.
Whirligig = a spinning top toy or merry-go-round, but also used for an exciting time generally. |
||
| 8 | GREENE |
Thriller writer about to fill in family connection (6)
|
| RE (about = on the subject of) inserted into (to fill in) GENE (a biological element passed down through families). | ||
| 9 | CHESHIRE CHEESE |
Dairy product, something of high quality, taken on by type of cat? (8,6)
|
| CHEESE (slang for something that is excellent or important), added to CHESHIRE (as popularised by the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland, though the phrase “grinning like a Cheshire cat” seems to pre-date the book). | ||
| 15 | IMPOSTURE |
Cheating behaviour surprising to umpires (9)
|
| Anagram (surprising) of TO UMPIRES.
The action of an impostor = causing a deception by pretending to be someone else. |
||
| 16 | ATOMISED |
Unusual idea most readily disseminated? (8)
|
| Anagram (unusual) of IDEA MOST.
In the form of small particles or drops that can be easily distributed using a spray, such as a perfume atomiser. |
||
| 18 | ENSUING |
Guaranteeing to oust King next? (7)
|
| ENSU[r]ING (guaranteeing) without the R (abbreviation for Latin Rex = king). | ||
| 19 | OPHELIA |
Work hard with adapter of Shakespeare to depict tragic heroine (7)
|
| OP (abbreviation for Latin opus = a musical or literary work) + H (abbreviation for hard) + ELIA (pen-name of Charles Lamb, who with his sister Mary wrote an adaptation of Shakespeare as children’s stories).
Character in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, who dies by drowning. |
||
| 20 | AVOCET |
A former soldier collars military leader, giving the bird (6)
|
| A + VET (short for veteran = former soldier), containing (collars = grabs hold of) OC (abbreviation for Officer Commanding = military leader).
A wading bird with a long curved bill. |
||
| 23 | IMOLA |
I think US city will provide racetrack (5)
|
| IMO (Internet and text-message shortening of “in my opinion” = I think) + LA (Los Angeles = US city).
Motor racing circuit in the town of Imola in northern Italy; its full name is Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari but it’s more often just known by the name of the town. |
I failed at 6A/8D, though shouldn’t have done, and needed Quirister’s explanations to understand 24A, 19D and 23D. I’m annoyed that an online search didn’t bring up ELIA as the pen-name of Charles Lamb. Nevertheless, well up to Phi’s usual standard so thanks to setter and blogger.
I initially had TRAP for 6a, which I think works almost as well, and caused me some trouble in that corner..
A pleasant solve; we can’t see any theme either. IMOLA sounded as if we’d heard the name before and googling confirmed its existence – but it took a few minutes for the penny to drop about the parsing. One of us used to be a chemist so HAHNIUM was vaguely familiar but we didn’t realise the name is no longer used. We liked OPHELIA and AVOCET.
Thanks, Phi and Quirister
Thanks both. Eventually got there, delayed mainly by having entered nerve- instead of SPINE TINGLING though I concede my version fits the definition less well. but nerve can mean bottle at least. Had no idea of the alternative slang meaning of CHEESE
Thanks Quirister and Phi.
Good puzzle.
I was thrown briefly by 2d UNION with an ‘on’ in clue itself….
Thanks Phi. My top choices were PIECES OF EIGHT and OPHELIA. I had to reveal HAHNIUM and IMOLA. I had a number of gaps in my parsing so thanks Quirister for the blog.
Just to confirm there’s no hidden theme or message despite the apparent recourse to.an oddity like HAHNIUM. I bunged it in thinking it was just another element (you can get a bit blasé about things ending in -IUM) but when I came to clue it I found the rather curious history of the name.