Independent 11234 / Phi

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Phi ends the Independent series working week, as he usually does

 

 

 

There are some unusual entries in this puzzle – EXTRA JAM, HELIUM SPEECH, AMYGDALA, ANTEBELLUM and SCROFULA – to name but five, but I can’t see anything that links them or any other evidence of a theme.

The BULLINGDON CLUB has a chequered history, with many of it’s members filling important posts in later life, but again I can’t see a link to other entries in the grid.

I expect there is a theme I am missing, but that’s not unusual.  Four of the more obscure entries occur in the downs which implies that any theme may be found among the across entries.

The wordplay for the less common entries was clear and the crossing letters helped to position the remaining letters in the anagram of SCROFULA to form a viable word.

My only knowledge of NORWEGIAN WOOD was the Beatles song, but a bit of research showed that Murakami’s novel used the song as an important element of the story.

This was a puzzle where my general knowledge was widened.

There were quite a few complex wordplays enabling the blog to be more colourful than usual with a number of entries having 3, 4 or even 5 component parts.

No Detail
Across  
7/8

Power worker to get on with operatives, keeping ahead of tense hierarchical structure (4,10) 

LINE MANAGEMENT (system of management in which each line manager is responsible for exercising authority and responsibility within a formalized hierarchy)

LINEMAN (person who attends to the lines of a railway, telegraph, telephone, or power wires, etc) + AGE (get on [in years]) + MEN (staff; operatives) + T (tense)

LINE MAN AGE MEN T
10

Title adopted by popular churchman (8) 

MINISTER (churchman)

IN (popular) contained in (adopted by) MISTER (title)

M (IN) ISTER
11

One having a way of looking at river (6) 

ANGLER (person who fishes in a river who will have his / her own way of looking at where the fish may be)

ANGLE (point of view; way of looking) + R (river)

ANGLE R
12

Seafood racket’s very good (6) 

SCAMPI (seafood)

SCAM (swindle; racket) + PI (pious; very good)

SCAM PI
13

Minor actor having difficulty with fruity material (5,3) 

EXTRA JAM (under EU regulations, jam or marmalade containing a considerably higher percentage [by weight] of fruit than that in ordinary jam or marmalade)

EXTRA (minor actor) + JAM (difficulty)

EXTRA JAM
15

New arrangement for financing? It is irrelevant (13) 

INSIGNIFICANT (irrelevant)

Anagram of (new arrangement for) FINANCING IT IS

INSIGNIFICANT*
18

Make a mistake in recording, missing last turtle (8) 

TERRAPIN (any of various webfooted pond or river turtles of the family Emydidae)

ERR (make a mistake) contained in (in) TAPING (recording) excluding the final letter (missing last) G

T (ERR) APIN
20

Overlook British invading chic area of Paris (4,2) 

PASS BY (ignore or overlook)

B (British) contained in (invading) PASSY (chic district of Paris)

PASS (B) Y
22

Unhappy with oil, initially changing fuel (6) 

WOEFUL (sorrowful; unhappy)

W (with) + O (first letter of [initially] OIL) + an anagram of (changing) FUEL

W O EFUL*
24

Honestly? Otherwise (2,3,3) 

ON THE SLY (surreptiously; secretly not openly or honestly)

Anagram of (otherwise) HONESTLY

ON THE SLY*
25/26

Note university working with dull BBC lingo – it’s a controversial university group (10,4) 

BULLINGDON CLUB (The BULLINGDON CLUB is a private all-male dining club for Oxford University students. It is known for its wealthy members, grand banquets, and bad behaviour, including vandalism of restaurants and students’ rooms.  Recent members include David Cameron, George Osborne and Boris Johnson)

Anagram of (working with) N [note], U [university) and DULL BBC LINGO

BULLINGDON CLUB*
Down  
1

Detective, seeing that curtailed course, is put off (10) 

DISINCLINE (render reluctant; put off)

DI (Detective [Inspector]) + SINCE (seeing that) excluding the final letter (curtailed) E + LINE (course)

DI SINC LINE
2/21

He’ll give you such a different expression (6,6) 

HELIUM [SPEECH] (distorted SPEECH such as occurs in a helium atmosphere or after HELIUM is inhaled, where the voice rises several tones to become squeaky)

HELIUM SPEECH (He is the chemical symbol for HELIUM , so HE’LL can be written in full as ‘HELIUM will …’)

HELIUM SPEECH
3

Henry’s off cannabis, limiting vacation (8) 

EMPTYING (removal of contents; vacation [of the vessel] holding the contents)

HEMP (cannabis) excluding (off) H (henry; derived SI unit of  inductance) + TYING (restraining; limiting)

EMP TYING
4

Picked up narrative about hot temperature, making you horrified (6) 

AGHAST (horrified)

(SAGA [narrative] reversed [picked up; down entry] containing [about] H [hot]) + T (temperature)

AG (H) AS< T
5

Upholding a boy exercising a portion of the brain (8) 

AMYGDALA (a lobe of the cerebellum; portion of the brain)

(A + LAD [boy] + GYM [GYMnastics {a form of exercising}]) + A) all reversed (upholding; down entry)

(A MYG DAL A)<
6

Formerly suspended, one’s dismissed (4) 

ONCE (formerly)

ON ICE (suspended) excluding (dismissed) I (Roman numeral for one)

ON CE
9

Reading now, shocked about court in Japanese novel (9,4)

NORWEGIAN WOOD (novel by the Japanese author Haruki Murakami [born 1949])

Anagram of (shocked) READING NOW containing (about) WOO (court)

NORWEGIAN (WOO) D*
14

A new corporation importing English alarm of prewar design (10) 

ANTEBELLUM (happening in the time before the war [whichever is in mind])

A + N (new) + (TUM [stomach; corporation]) containing [importing] [E {English} + BELL {alarm signal}])

A N T (E BELL) UM
16

Our calf’s butchered for consumption (8) 

SCROFULA (former name for tuberculosis or consumption)

Anagram of (butchered) OUR CALF’S

SCROFULA*
17

I’m taking drug to part of hospital that’s without power (8) 

IMPOTENT (powerless)

I’M + POT (cannabis; drug) + ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat department of a hospital)

IM POT ENT
19

Fourth suggestion about old European state (6) 

POLAND (European country)

PLAN D (fourth suggestion) containing (about) O (old)

P (O) LAN D
21

See 2 

[HELIUM] SPEECH
23

Work over: turn up to drink (4) 

OPUS (work)

O (over) + SUP (drink; turn up [down entry])

O PUS<

 

17 comments on “Independent 11234 / Phi”

  1. Hardest Phi I’ve done for a while with the nho NORWEGIAN WOOD, HELIUM SPEECH and EXTRA JAM all defeating me, even with all or the majority of crossers.

    I am still struggling with MINISTER. The blog parses it as IN adopted by MISTER but the clue says ‘Title adopted by popular’ = MISTER adopted by IN. Please could someone explain?

    Thanks Phi and duncan

  3. I have never heard of HELIUM SPEECH as an expression but a brilliant clue once penny had dropped. I enjoyed POLAND and PASS BY, though I had to check if ‘Passy” was a Parisian district.
    I can’t quite square 11a either but there is a lot to like so I will let it pass until enlightened by someone else.

    A theme escapes me, as usual. I did notice that SAD appears in the bottom row not far under WOEFUL and thought I was on to something, but no. All will be revealed I am sure.

    Thanks as ever to Phi and to duncanshiell

  5. duncan @2: thanks – but I simply cannot see it. There are only four words to play with: ‘Title adopted by popular’ and ‘adopted by’ is hard to read in any sense other than ‘taken into’. If ‘Title’ is to have done the adopting, given the past tense ‘adopted’ , IN has to be clued as ‘by popular’ and I do not recognise that construct. I find it equally hard to imagine Phi making a mistake, though. I do hope, if he pops in as he often does, that he’ll be able to clarify. I am probably being very dim and failing to see something obvious.

  6. I’ll have another go at 11a as MISTER taken on by (adopted by) IN with the clue read as MISTER, (comma) adopted by IN. That seems a bit more likely than my rather poor attempt to clarify at 2 above

  9. Thanks both. A distinct struggle for me, with a number of unknowns and obscurities, but as usual worth the time dedicated to it. I am aware ANTEBELLUM carries some modern racial sensitivities, and am minded that 7/8nacross uses two separate gender stereotypes, which I only point out from the perspective they are difficult to avoid

  10. I also struggled with 11a, but wondered if there is a world where ‘by’ could mean ‘reversed’, making the clue parse as MISTER adopting NI. I’m no shepherd, but maybe come-by means go round?
    I’m also unsure about HELIUM SPEECH, as I don’t see how to parse the SPEECH bit. I would have thought the clue works just as well for HELIUM on its own.
    An excellent distraction nonetheless.

  11. With regard to 11ac it makes a bit more sense to think “adopt” in the sense of take on. If you adopt a stance, it sort of surrounds you???

  12. I took 2/21 to be a cryptic def but agree that only the HELIUM part is there in the wordplay. Unless ‘expression’ is supposed to equate to ‘speech’. Hmm, not sure, but I liked being tricked by ‘He’ for the element.

  13. MoldyOwl @ 10
    I think that ‘to express’ can be defined as ‘to speak’. Bardfords Crossword Dictionary lists ‘express’ as a synonym of ‘speak’, I so took the word ‘expression’ in the clue to refer to ‘SPEECH’, but I admit I didn’t spell out the connection in the blog.

  14. Petert @11. That will do to stop me thinking about it. It was a bit like one of those “that man’s father is my father’s son’ phrases, so I thank you.

  15. Thanks duncanshiell and Phi.
    This was tough but satisfying.
    INSIGNIFICANT and AGHAST are favs.
    Didn’t parse HELIUM SPEECH, As I He always trip me.

  16. Definitely a toughie. I needed word searches to complete HELIUM SPEECH and EXTRA JAM, neither of which are obvious phrases, although I see they are both in Chambers.

  17. Hi duncan
    Rare for me to comment the following day but I believe, as blogger, you still get an alert? It came to me late yesterday evening that if you adopt a disguise you put it on or clothe yourself in it. Which is, I think, close to though not quite the same as Petert’s suggestion. Just not requiring the ‘sort of surrounds you’.
    ATB
    PM

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