Phi gives us a good mix of entries today, most of which are well known.
I liked the long anagram with the simple definition ‘now’. Given my age, I was less enamoured with ‘of the elderly’ being the definition for DECREPIT!
SWAG being defined as a window curtain was new for me as I have always associated SWAG with loot. However, the ‘curtain’ is the first definition of SWAG in both Chambers and the Oxford Dictionary of English. Collins leads with the ‘property obtained by theft’ definition.
I enjoyed the three mentions of European in the clue for NAPOLEON.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 9 |
Master no longer wanting to be in charge? (9) OVERPOWER (subdue; overcome; master) OVER (finished; no longer) + POWER ([have] authority; be in charge) OVER POWER |
| 10 |
I left in time, moving smartly (5) AGILE (nimble; moving smartly) AGILE (I + L [left]) contained in (in) AGE (period of time) AG (I L) E |
| 11 |
Husband getting wrong fish (7) HERRING (fish) H (Husband) + ERRING (doing or getting wrong) H ERRING |
| 12 |
Bad-tempered member of comedy team finishing early before end of day (7) GROUCHY (bad-tempered) GROUCHO (reference Julius Henry [GROUCHO] Marx [1905-1976]. one of the Marx Brothers comedy act) excluding the final letter (finishing early) O + Y (last letter of [end of] DAY GROUCH Y |
| 13 |
Met, perhaps, by rear of these trees (5) COPSE (dense thicket of trees and bushes) COPS (the METropolitan Police in London is staffed by policemen [COPS]) + E (last letter of [rear of] THESE) COPS E |
| 14 |
Large piece of infrastructure, clean, mostly constructed from the rear (6,3) HOOVER DAM (concrete arch-gravity DAM in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the American States of Nevada and Arizona; large piece of infrastructure) HOOVER (clean [with a vacuum cleaner]) + MADE (constructed) excluding the final letter (mostly) E reversed (from the rear) HOOVER DAM< |
| 16 |
Now aiding any deaths at sea (2,4,3,3,3) IN THIS DAY AND AGE (at the present time; now) Anagram of (at sea) AIDING ANY DEATHS IN THIS DAY AND AGE* |
| 19 |
Respect shown by knight in honour is excellent (9) OBEISANCE (expression of respect) N (knight) contained in (in) (OBE [Order of the British Empire; honour] + IS + ACE [excellent]) OBE IS A (N) CE |
| 21 |
Holiday venue providing lots of entertainment after surprised response (5) CORFU (island in Greece that is a popular holiday destination) COR (expression of surprise) + FU (two of the three letters of [lots of] FUN [entertainment]) COR FU |
| 22 |
Sort that is stored in glasses (7) SPECIES (kind; sort) IE (id est; that is) contained in (is stored in) SPECS (SPECtacleS; glasses) SPEC (IE) S |
| 23 |
Bird: pointer given to 22A (7) SPARROW (bird) SP (SPECIES [22 across]) + ARROW (pointer) SP ARROW |
| 24 |
Attractive, but avoiding trap? Excellent (5) MAGIC (extent) MAGNETIC (attractive) excluding (avoiding) NET (trap) MAGIC |
| 25 |
An insect’s fluttering without pause (9) INCESSANT (continual; without pause) Anagram of (fluttering) AN INSECT’S INCESSANT* |
| Down | |
| 1 |
Second group of shops retaining small quantity of coffee, say ultimate in espresso coffee (10) MOCHACCINO (combination of MOCHA and cappuCCINO coffee) MO (moment) + (CHAIN [group of shops] containing [retaining] CC [cubic centimetre [small quantity of a liquid, coffee for example]) + O (last letter of [ultimate in] ESPRESSO MO CHA (CC) IN O |
| 2 |
Judicial decision curtailed by depression of the elderly? (8) DECREPIT (in the last stage of decay; of the elderly?) DECREE (judicial decision) excluding the final letter (curtailed) + PIT (depression) DECRE PIT |
| 3 |
Animosity surrounds source of Russian icon (6) SPRITE (an icon in computer graphics) SPITE (animosity) containing (surrounds) R (first letter of [source of] RUSSIAN) SP (R) ITE |
| 4 |
Small shake will do for window curtain (4) SWAG (festoon; a curtain or length of material hung in folds, especially at a window) S (small) + WAG (shake to and fro) S WAG |
| 5 |
Fellow in basic accommodation possibly mined gold in ancient city on borders of Thrace (10) TROGLODYTE (cave-dweller; person who lived in basic accommodation) Anagram of (mined) GOLD contained in (in) TROY (ancient city) + TE (outer letters of [borders of] THRACE) TRO (GLOD*) Y TE |
| 6 |
European leader giving European rejection about a European (8) NAPOLEON (reference one of the three NAPOLEONs who led France [European]) in the18th and 19th centuries) NON (French [European] word for no [rejection]) containing (about) (A + POLE [native]) N (A POLE) ON |
| 7 |
Science presented in video is likely to stick (6) VISCID (semi-fluid; sticky; likely to stick) SCI (science) contained in (presented in) VID (video recording) VI (SCI) D |
| 8 |
Women collectively behave very heartlessly (4) BEVY (company of larks, quails, swans, roes or ladies) BE + VY (letters remaining in each of BEHAVE and VERY when the central letters EHAV and ER are removed [heartlessly]) BE VY |
| 14 |
Noticed his bent towards pleasure (10) HEDONISTIC (descriptive of the pursuit of pleasure; towards pleasure) Anagram of (bent) NOTICED HIS HEDONISTIC* |
| 15 |
Fitting to get informed about encounter (4,2,4) MEET UP WITH (encounter) MEET (be suitable for; fitting) + UP WITH (abreast of; informed) MEET UP WITH |
| 17 |
Fools picked up, taken to Court, following popular response (8) INSTINCT (natural response) IN (popular) + NITS (fools) reversed (picked up; down entry) + CT (court) IN STIN< CT |
| 18 |
Uppity attitude adopted by a relative about running the farm (8) AGRARIAN (relating to land, or its management, uses or distribution; about running the farm) AIR (attitude) reversed (uppity; down entry) contained in (adopted by) (A + GRAN [grandmother; relative]) A GRA (RIA<) N |
| 20 |
Go strangely green with envy ultimately (6) ENERGY (vigour; go) Anagram of (strangely) GREEN + Y (last letter of [ultimately] ENVY) ENERG* Y |
| 21 |
Rough vehicles heading east, circling Ohio (6) COARSE (rough) (CARS [vehicles] + E [East]) containing (circling) O (Ohio) C (O) ARS E |
| 22 |
Sport over following result (4) SUMO ( traditional Japanese sport, a form of wrestling,in which a contestant wins if he succeeds in forcing his opponent out of the ring or causes him to touch the ground within it with any part of his body other than the soles of his feet) SUM (result of an addition) + O (over) SUM O |
| 23 |
Feeling unwell? No time for criticism (4) SICK (feeling unwell) STICK (criticism) excluding (no) T (time) SICK |
Fortunately I clued SWAG myself not very long ago so was aware of the curtain but I did allow myself one reveal for the coffee: I’d worked out all the elements but, being a drinker of plain white coffees, I have lost touch with all the variations so had no idea in which order those elements needed to go. Other than the M at the beginning and the O at the end.
This felt a little trickier than Phi’s normal fair but there was, as duncan has said, a lovely variety of devices. In particular, I felt there were some nice off beat/unexpected definitions like AGRARIAN, HEDONISTIC, BEVY, TROGLODYTE and DECREPIT(Sorry, duncan – though I’m pretty much there myself!) And, yes, the long anagram was a lovely spot.
Thanks Phi and duncan
My cognitive DECREPITude is the reason I failed on 2d – my excuse anyway – even though I’m not yet (quite) ‘elderly’; more of a TROGLODYTE really.
As expected from Phi, very clearly clued with some harder ones and unknowns such as SWAG for ‘window curtain’ as pointed out by Duncan. The triple ‘European’ NAPOLEON was my favourite too.
Thanks to Phi and Duncan
The long anagram sprang to mind quickly so that was a good start. I didn’t understand SPRITE so thanks Duncan for that explanation. I took far too long to work out the various combinations of ‘European’ but got there in the end. Thanks Phi and Duncan.
Excellent even by Phi’s standards-loved TROGLODYTE
Thanks all
Thanks both. All eventually fell into place once i’d broken down the previously unknown coffee. I could equate meet to ‘fit’ but not ‘fitting’ in MEET UP WITH otherwise I am only left with my usual nil return on any possible theme
Another fine puzzle from Phi. TROGLODYTE, DECREPIT NAPOLEON were all good. It is interesting (to me) that Bluth felt the lead to use “leading lady once” for EII yesterday, but we don’t need an indicator for Napoleon being a past leader.
Felt the need not felt the lead.
And it was Nutmeg not Bluth.
We failed on the coffee and Napoleon (for the latter we were trying to think of a particular European country as a dbe). Otherwise an enjoyable challenge, with 16ac helping to get things going, although we concur with our blogger’s comment on DECREPIT.
Thanks, Phi and Duncan.
Meanings of both SPRITE and SWAG were unknowns for me, and it took me a while to fully parse 1d until I spotted the CC.
Thanks Phi for a pleasant crossword. For once I could solve and mostly parse all the clues without much angst. I guess I’m not that DECREPIT after all. Favourites included NAPOLEON (great surface), BEVY, and my LOI, AGRARIAN. Thanks Duncan for the blog.
Thanks Duncan for explaining 15d and confirming 4d which rang a very dim bell. My reading of 23d confused me as it suggests the opposite to what is needed I thought, and I always thought that a sprite was animated and an icon not but on reflection happy that the former could be a subset of the latter and always good to see a modern sense to the definition. Thanks Phi for a good challenge and copmus for recommending it!
Very enjoyable. An unaided finish marred by my incorrect spelling of MOCHACCINO & a couple of parsing blips.
Thanks all.