This is my first Phi puzzle of 2023 and one that I would rate as a medium-difficulty puzzle.
I have not spotted any particular theme today, but perhaps other solvers have and will enlighten me/us in due course.
My favourite clues today were 13, 17, 19A and 23, all for smoothness of surface; and the longer entries at 8, for quirkiness of construction, and at 24, for making me smile when I realised what the definition was.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | VAMP | Veal and mashed potatoes for starters with uninspiring accompaniment
V<eal> A<nd> M<ashed> P<otatoes>; “for starters” means first letters only; in music, a vamp is a simple and uninspired improvised accompaniment |
| 03 | PROBABLE | Favouring half-hearted chatter? More than likely
PRO (=favouring) + BAB<b>LE (=chatter; “half-hearted” means one of letter “b”s in the middle is dropped) |
| 10 | PORK SCRATCHINGS | “Swine – S” indicating something you get in a bar?
PORK (=swine) + SCRATCHING (= -, i.e. minus) + S |
| 11 | RE-EXAMINE | King keeping English a source of wealth? Check again
[E (=English) in REX (=king, in Latin)] + A + MINE (=source of wealth, i.e. goldmine) |
| 12 | NAIL | Pin down nothing about American
A (=American) in NIL (=nothing) |
| 13 | UMBRAGE | Anger following university doctor’s offence
U (=University) + MB (=doctor) + RAGE (=anger); to take umbrage is to take offence |
| 15 | TATTOO | Display poor quality stuff in antique shop as well
TAT (=poor quality stuff in antique shop) + TOO (=as well) |
| 17 | PERIOD | Stop holding back passion in school
ERI (IRE=passion; “holding back” indicates reversal) in POD (=school, e.g. of whales); period is a full “stop” at the end of a sentence |
| 19 | BEEF TEA | Worker’s success, getting earlier time for drink
BEE (=worker) + FTEA (FEAT=success; “getting earlier time (=T)” means letter “t” moves to an earlier position in the word) |
| 20 | SKUA | A European country’s returned bird
A + UK’S (=European country’s); “returned” indicates reversal |
| 21 | CHERISHED | Much-loved US singer – is he dead?
CHER (=US singer) + IS + HE + D (=dead) |
| 24 | PULL SOMEONE’S LEG | Actively loosen plums with glee for kid?
*(LOOSEN PLUMS + GLEE); “actively” is anagram indicator; in the definition, “(to) kid” is to tease |
| 25 | RAGGEDLY | Hazy Grey Lady mostly seen around front of Grange irregularly?
G<range> (“front of” means first letter only) in *(GREY LAD<y>); “mostly” means last letter is dropped in anagram, indicated by “hazy” |
| 26 | STUN | Shock reduction in publicity activity?
STUN<t> (=publicity activity); “reduction in” means last letter is dropped |
| Down | ||
| 01 | VAPOROUS | Very active and open to things, but insubstantial
V (=very) + A (=active) + POROUS (=open to things, of substances) |
| 02 | MORSE | Limitation of mysterious English code expert
M or S (=limitation of mysterious, i.e. the first or last letter + E (=English) |
| 04 | RETREAT | French to be taken in by sneak in religious centre
ETRE (=French to be, i.e. the French verb to be) in RAT (=sneak, snitch) |
| 05 | BEHIND THE TIMES | Reading newspaper reports but not-up-to-date?
Cryptically, a person “reading newspaper reports” could well be “(physically) behind (his copy of) The Times”! |
| 06 | BANDICOOT | Marsupial doing nasty things to obtain cod
*(BANDICOOT); “doing nasty things to” is anagram indicator; a bandicoot is a small marsupial mammal native to the Australia-New Guinea region |
| 07 | EASY | Ill without question, though free from pain
<qu>EASY (=ill); “without question (=QU)” means letters “qu” are dropped |
| 08 | AS FAR AS I CAN SEE | Religious office in Abuja randomly interrupted by leaders of atheists and scoffers? Looks like it to me
“leaders (=first letters) of atheists and scoffers” means that letters “a” and “s” are each added twice to AFRICAN SEE (=religious office in Abuja)! |
| 09 | PRAISE | Priest getting extra money for church activity?
P (=priest) + RAISE (=extra money) |
| 14 | BREAK A LEG | Thespian’s wish in acting, getting on after lucky opportunity
BREAK (=lucky opportunity) + A (=acting, as in acting director) + LEG (=on, i.e. side in cricket) |
| 16 | CARDIGAN | ‘Good area swamped in vehicle noise’ – English view of Welsh region
[G (=good) + A (=area)] in [CAR (=vehicle) + DIN (=noise)]; Cardigan is the English name for the Welsh town of Aberteifi |
| 18 | DECIMAL | Hundred I’m investing in transaction, supplied in tens
[C (=hundred, in Roman numerals) + I’M] in DEAL (=transaction) |
| 19 | BRETON | Run into hazard over working description of some French
[R (=run, on cricket scorecard) in BET (=hazard, wager, as verb)] + ON (=working, of machine) |
| 22 | HELOT | Everything puts off top slave
<t>HE LOT (=everything); “puts off top” means first letter is dropped; a helot was one of a class of Spartan serfs |
| 23 | SPAR | Second mate overlooking one part of rigging
S (=second) + PA<i>R (=mate, couple; “overlooking one (=I)” means letter “i” is dropped) |
Very enjoyable. I didn’t expect to find a word when I removed the t from “The lot”, so HELOT was my favourite among many good clues. Thanks, both.
PORK SCRATCHINGS
to go with wine (Swine – S). Not a bad idea, I guess. Loved the clue.
Also liked BEHIND THE TIMES, BANDICOOT and AS FAR AS I CAN SEE.
Thanks, P and RR!
Apart from slight hesitation as to whether probable is more than likely or simply likely I absolutely whizzed thorugh this – my brain must have been in crossword mode.
21 a clear favourite for me
Thanks Phi and RR
As is often the case, KVa, your thoughts on PORK SCRATCHINGS exactly mirrored mine. Wonderful clue.
Great stuff, as usual. Thanks, Phi. Such a reliable setter but it’s good to see some more inventive, experimental clueing techniques among the more standard fare – PORK SCRATCHINGS and AS FAR AS I CAN SEE are both wonderful.
And thanks for the blog, RR.
An enjoyable and not too difficult puzzle from Phi today. Of the long answers PULL SOMEONE’S LEG and BEHIND THE TIMES were just about write-ins (and the latter something of an old chestnut, we think). AS FAR AS I CAN SEE went in from definition and enumeration but we did eventually see the parsing. PORK SCRATCHINGS, though, was in a class of its own for its simplicity and neat cluing.
We were not quite happy with the clue for CARDIGAN. Whilst that is the English name for Aberteifi, the clue refers to a Welsh region, which implies the answer ought to be ‘Cardiganshire’ which is the former English name for what is now officially Ceredigion in both Welsh and English.
As well as the long answers we also liked UMBRAGE, PERIOD and BREAK A LEG – incidentally, does anyone know how the latter came to be a way of wishing an actor good luck?
Thanks, Phi and RR.
One of Phi’s more gentle offerings, though I struggled to solve and parse PORK SCRATCHINGS, at first working on swine – S = wine, but it eventually fell into place. Thanks Phi and RatkojaRiku.
We agree that this was one of Phi’s more gentle offerings too.
Bert had no trouble with PORK SCRATCHINGS as they are one of his favourite snacks. He has to eat them away from Joyce though as she cannot stand the noise!
AS FAR AS I CAN SEE took a bit of teasing out with the parsing.
Thanks to Phi and RR.
We whizzed through this, but couldn’t parse as far as I can see and didn’t quite get how pork scratchings worked.
Thanks RR 🙂