Phi is occupying his usually Friday slot this week.
This was towards the easier end of the Phi spectrum for me, and I made steady progress throughout. The entries with which I wasn’t familiar – at 4, 12, 21 and 26 – could be worked out with confidence from the wordplay. I haven’t spotted a theme at all today, but perhaps others have …
My favourite clues today were 2, 4 and 13, all for smoothness of surface; 9, for overall construction; and 1D, for topicality. 22 was my last-one-in, solved thanks to the crossing letters and only subsequently parsed.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01/27 | TURN INTO | Become very interested in following a performer
TURN (=a performer, as in a star turn) + INTO (=very interested into, as in She’s really into dancing) |
| 03 | ECHINODERM | “Marine creature” misrepresented hen and dormice
*(HEN + DORMICE); “misrepresented” is anagram indicator; an echinoderm is a marine invertebrate, such as a starfish or sea-urchin |
| 10 | LAPSE | Decline energy drinks at the outset
LAPS (=drinks, as in The cat laps (up) the milk) + E (=energy); a lapse is a fall, worsening, decline, as in The country has lapsed into chaos. |
| 11 | LECHEROUS | Promiscuous champion probing cryptic clues
HERO (=champion) in *(CLUES); “cryptic” is anagram indicator |
| 12 | BLUE RUIN | Squander progress after one’s swallowed gin
BLUE (=squander, waste) + [I (=one) in RUN (=progress, as verb)] |
| 13 | POSER | Problem contributor to blog – time to be banned?
POS<t>ER (=contributor to blog); “time (=T) to be banned” means letter “t” is dropped |
| 14 | SCIENCE | Liberal avoiding lack of communication about source of certain knowledge
C<ertain> (“source of” means first letter only) in SI<l>ENCE (=lack of communication; “Liberal (=L) avoiding” means letter “l” is dropped) |
| 15 | EMOTION | Conference’s last item for discussion provokes strong feeling
<conferenc>E (“last” means last letter only) + MOTION (=item for discussion, at meeting) |
| 17 | RUN OVER | Quickly explain // spill
Double definition: to run over the details is to quickly explain (them) AND The bath ran over means that it spilled over, overflowed |
| 19 | BOUNCES | Dismisses heads securing entry to university
U (=university) in BONCES (=heads, nuts, colloquially); to bounce is to turn out, eject, dismiss |
| 20 | SOBER | Serious gloomy American disposing of millions
SO<m>BER (=gloomy; “American” means in US spelling); “disposing of millions (=M)” means letter “m” is dropped |
| 22 | PUNCTURE | Pressure point having ignored initial opening
P (=pressure, in physics) + <j>UNCTURE (=point, as in at this juncture; “having ignored initial” means first letter is dropped) |
| 24 | FERMANAGH | Irish county farmer mostly exercised horse with Henry
*(FARME<r>) + NAG (=horse) + H (=Henry); “mostly” means last letter is dropped from anagram, indicated by “exercised” |
| 25 | ON ICE | Old French city still to be experienced?
O (=old, as in OT) + NICE (=French city) |
| 26 | LLOYD’S LIST | Silly sod going wild, enthralled by officer’s shipping news
*(SILLY SOD) in LT (=officer, i.e. lieutenant); Lloyd’s List is a weekly online shipping journal |
| Down | ||
| 01 | TALL | Everyone supporting leader of Tories? That’s not credible
T<ories> (“leader of” means first letter only) + ALL (=everyone); a tall story is not a credible one |
| 02 | REPULSION | Slop urine around, leading to sense of disgust
*(SLOP URINE); “around” is anagram indicator |
| 04 | CULTURE | Fashion overlooking nothing about Latin lifestyle
L (=Latin) in C<o>UTURE (=fashion, as in haute couture; “overlooking nothing (=O)” means letter “o” is dropped) |
| 05 | INCENSE | Anger: popular part of play has start delayed
IN (=popular) + CENSE (SCENE=part of play; “has start delayed” means first letter moves to later in the word) |
| 06 | OVERPRODUCTION | Finished with stage event? It’s more than one can take
OVER (=finished, done) + PRODUCTION (=stage event); overproduction is production in excess of demand, hence “more than one can take” or use |
| 07 | ETONS | French are monopolising fashion on boyswear
TON (=fashion) in ES (=French are, i.e. the French for (you) are, i.e. (tu) es); Eton suits are boys’ suits with full-buttoned short coats and short trousers that were once worn at Eton college |
| 08 | MISPRINTS | I’m upset over some Olympic events – errors in programme?
MI (I’M; “upset” indicates vertical reversal) + SPRINTS (=some Olympic events) |
| 09 | NEVER-NEVER LAND | Most of novel by French writer, avoiding the sea, heading off for imaginary territory
NE<w> (=novel, as adjective; “most of” means last letter is dropped) + VERNE (=French writer, i.e. Jules) + <o>VER LAND (=avoiding the sea; “heading off” means first letter is dropped) |
| 14 | STRESSFUL | Small agitated flusters indicative of pressure
S (=small, of sizes) + *(FLUSTERS); “agitated” is anagram indicator |
| 16 | INCURSION | Becomes liable to Independent regarding attack
INCURS (=becomes liable to (pay)) I (=independent) + ON (=regarding, on the subject of) |
| 18 | RAPHAEL | Painter, artist bound to rise, capturing origin of humanity
RA (=painter, i.e. Royal Academician) + [H<umanity> (“origin of” means first letter only) in PAEL (LEAP=bound, spring; “to rise” indicates vertical reversal)]; the reference is to the Italian Renaissance painter Raphael (1483-1520) |
| 19 | BUNCHES | Batches in bread box mainly
BUN (=bread (roll)) + CHES<t> (=box; “mainly” means last letter is dropped) |
| 21 | BARDO | Poet on love and what follows death
BARD (=poet) + O (=love, i.e. zero score in tennis); in Tibetan Buddhism, bardo is the intermediate stage between death and rebirth |
| 23 | ZERO | About to probe Australia, turning up nothing
RE- (=about, concerning) in OZ (=Australia); “turning up” indicates vertical reversal |
No theme that I could spot though someone will probably identify something obvious that I missed. Seemingly a random collection of nicely clued words with favourite constructions including: POSER, EMOTION, FERMANAGH, LLOYDS LIST, REPULSION, MISPRINTS and – COTD – RAPHAEL. BARDO was a nho but came together from the wordplay though I did allow myself a use of the Check button after entering. One small quibble: ‘fashion’ appears twice in wordplay in pretty much the same sense. Mind you, same in the G today and also two days ago. Duplication doesn’t ruin a puzzle in any way but it’s a surprise when it appears.
Thanks Phi and RR for a nice early (late?) blog
I wondered for a while whether there was a poet called Limb, but then remembered the wonderful George Saunders book Lincoln in the Bardo. A brief run through of the other answers revealed none of his other major works or any other Booker Prize winners. RAPHAEL was my favourite too.
I found this a bit of a struggle but got there in the end. At 3A, could someone please explain what purpose the quotation marks serve in “Marine creature”? They seem superfluous to me. Many thanks Phi and RatkojaRiku.
Tatrasman@3 I wondered about that too. Maybe because it’s a class of marine creatures rather than just one????
It’s so that the clue reads as ‘Marine creature is not a term that properly describes hen and dormice’ rather than ‘A marine creature told porkies about hen and dormice’
Thanks Phi & RR. I found this enjoyable, as the reliable Phi always is, and agree it was on the whole towards the easier end of his range. Completely ran aground on BLUE RUIN though – not familiar with that term, and didn’t know that meaning of blue either, so I didn’t have a chance. I entered BARDO from the wordplay and crossing letters but not with great confidence – again, not a term I’m familiar with.
Still, I liked the ones I did solve, which mercifully was most of them!
Enjoyable and fairly straightforward. There were a few write-ins (for us, anyway) which we didn’t bother to parse but on the other hand we only got BLUE RUIN and BARDO from the wordplay and had to confirm them in Chambers.
Thanks, Phi and RR.
A mixed bag. Mainly done quickly but then completely stopped by blue ruin and etons, for both of which I didn’t know the main definition or one of the components (blue and ton).
No theme in this one. But I take the hint about Mr Saunders, whose Liberation Day I’m currently rationing out to make it last. Lincoln in the Bardo an absolutely astonishing novel.
Before today we’d never heard of BARDO. Then after finishing the crossword we found a full page advert in our paper for this film. We assume it has some relevance to Bardo as defined in the dictionary.
Thanks Phi & RR for the learning experience. I failed with BLUE RUIN, not knowing that meant “gin” nor was I aware that blue = squander. I figured out BARDO but did not fully understand it and I guessed ETONS, not knowing that ton = fashion. All else made sense; my top choices were LECHEROUS, RAPHAEL, and REPULSION for its apt surface.
Never heard of TON = FASHION (or ETON for a type of suit) or BLUE = SQUANDER (or BLUE RUIN for GIN) so unfortunately my GK meant I couldn’t possibly complete this one. Hopefully I can get thoe to stick for when they show up again.
It’s a double edged sword when you find out that you were never going to get to the correct answer legitimately because of your lack of knowledge.
4 dn defeated me but really shouldn’t have.
For me it was a puzzle of extremes. Which is a so and so because it keeps me going for hours thinking I should know the ones I don’t.
Thanks Phi and RR
Tony Santucci @11 and I appear to have been in the same boat. Also didn’t know BARDO but had to be that from crossers and worldplay. Glad I wasn’t the only one!
what ericw and rocket @12 (in 1st sentence) said mirrors my experience.
Disappointing not to be able to finish on that basis.