Our Phiday challenge as usual.
A few entries here took me some time to work out, particularly 9a which relied on two slang words that I only vaguely knew – and I’m still not convinced I have parsed 8d correctly because the definition seems a bit of a stretch. I enjoyed the suggestion of unsporting behaviour in 23a and the double use of “getting on” in 21d.
Phi normally starts his grids with either a theme or a hidden message – and the unchecked letters around the edges suggest it might be the latter. We have the names of three fictional detectives along three of the edges:
- CJELLI = Svlad Cjelli, the original name of the private detective who works under the name of Dirk Gently, created by Douglas Adams
- STRIKE = private detective Cormoran Strike, created by J K Rowling writing as Robert Galbraith
- GADGET = Inspector Gadget, from a 1980s animated TV series and subsequent spin-offs
I can’t make anything of the letters on the top edge, but no doubt someone will tell me if I’ve missed something there. UPDATE: Kenmac has pointed out that OLIVAW refers to R. Daneel Olivaw, a robot created by Isaac Asimov, whose ability to interpret the electromagnetic signals from human minds enables him to act as a detective’s assistant.
Thanks Phi as always.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 7 | CREAM TEA |
Mother’s heading in to make a meal (5,3)
|
| First letter (heading) of M[other] in CREATE A (make a).
Tea served with scones, clotted cream and jam. Perhaps not quite a meal, but a substantial afternoon snack. |
||
| 9 | INNIES |
Cans not opening with buttons? (6)
|
| [t]INNIES (cans of beer – originally Australian slang but becoming understood elsewhere) without the opening letter.
Buttons = belly-buttons = navels; an “innie” is slang for a recessed one, as opposed to the more prominent “outie”. |
||
| 10 | JAPE |
Trick Judge with copy (4)
|
| J (abbreviation for Judge) + APE (as a verb = copy).
Trick = jape = practical joke. |
||
| 11 | INGREDIENT |
Mistakenly tenderising steak initially not required as part of recipe (10)
|
| Anagram (mistakenly) of TENDERI[s]ING, without the initial letter of S[teak]. | ||
| 12 | ENAMEL |
Coat, Picasso’s article, in which celebrity appears (6)
|
| EL (a form of the definite article “the” for a Spanish speaker such as Picasso) with NAME (a celebrity, as in “a big name”) appearing inside it.
A glossy coating made of molten powdered glass on metal, or a shiny paint. |
||
| 14 | STAY OVER |
Don’t go and suspend deliveries (4,4)
|
| STAY (suspend = halt temporarily) + OVER (deliveries, in cricket = a series of balls bowled).
To remain rather than leaving as expected, for example to stay the night at someone’s house after a party. I had HANG OVER for a long time, until I decided that it made the crossers for 8d very unlikely. |
||
| 15 | DRUDGE |
Dickens’s foremost eponymous character is a downtrodden worker (6)
|
| Foremost letter of D[ickens] + RUDGE (eponymous character of Dickens’ novel Barnaby Rudge). | ||
| 17 | ADVERB |
Part of speech: sailor taking in Democrat version (6)
|
| AB (abbreviation for able-bodied seaman = sailor), taking in D (Democrat) + VER (abbreviation for version). | ||
| 20 | LAKESIDE |
Crazy Americans missing first fish in place for angling? (8)
|
| [f]LAKES (crazy Americans: “flake” is US slang for an eccentric or insane person) missing the first letter, then IDE (a freshwater fish very useful to crossword setters). | ||
| 22 | BONSAI |
Superior person backing classy, but unusual form of gardening (6)
|
| SNOB (someone who considers themself superior to others) reversed (backing), then AI (A1 = excellent = classy).
Gardening in miniature, with very small trees. |
||
| 23 | LEGAL EAGLE |
Cricket side allege fiddling bringing in a top lawyer (5,5)
|
| LEG (one side of the wicket in cricket) + anagram (fiddling) of ALLEGE, bringing in an extra A. | ||
| 24 | SEEK |
Look for overturned fortresses that have yielded power (4)
|
| KEE[p]S (fortresses), reversed (overturned), without the P (power). | ||
| 25 | INSIDE |
Concealed passport possibly caught in part of wash cycle, losing front (6)
|
| ID (identity documents = passport possibly), in [r]INSE (part of a wash cycle) without the first letter (front).
As in an inside pocket, or perhaps inside information. |
||
| 26 | HONEYBEE |
Single unknown item to exist in grasp of that male worker? (8)
|
| ONE (single) + Y (mathematical symbol for an unknown quantity) + BE (to exist), all inside HE (that male). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | ORDAINED |
Assigned soldiers, exhausted, to abandon river (8)
|
| OR (abbreviation for “other ranks” = soldiers who aren’t officers) + D[r]AINED (exhausted), without the R (abbreviation for river). | ||
| 2 | LAME |
Unconvincing fellow ditched by lover (4)
|
| [f]LAME (lover, as in “old flame”) without the F (abbreviation for fellow).
As in “a lame excuse”. |
||
| 3 | IT GIRL |
Sexy lady lit up about revolutionary gear (2,4)
|
| Anagram (up) of LIT, around a reversal (revolutionary) of RIG (gear = equipment). | ||
| 4 | VINEYARD |
Driven wild after young adult broached source of booze (8)
|
| Anagram (wild) of DRIVEN, with YA (abbreviation for young adult, in descriptions of books written for teenagers) inserted (broached = broke into). | ||
| 5 | ANTIPODEAN |
Hint on poem given in articles from far away (10)
|
| TIP (hint) + ODE (poem), in AN + AN (indefinite articles).
From the other side of the world – like our crossword setter Phi in New Zealand. |
||
| 6 | WEENIE |
American sausage to go with German one picked up (6)
|
| WEE (to go = to urinate), then EIN (German for “one”) reversed (picked up = upwards in a down clue).
Also spelt wienie, from the German word wiener = American word for a sausage. |
||
| 8 | AUGUST |
Grand university in Australia, displaying learning? (6)
|
| I think the intention here is G (grand = slang for £1000 or $1000) + U (abbreviation for university) in AUST (abbreviation for Australia). But neither Chambers nor Collins recognises “learned” as a definition of “august”. The definition might be “grand” (august = imposing, dignified or venerable), but then I can’t make the wordplay work. Any better ideas? | ||
| 13 | MAURETANIA |
Main area out at sea, nothing less? That’s where you’d have seen me! (10)
|
| Anagram (at sea = confused) of MAIN AREA [o]UT, without the O (zero = nothing, so “nothing less”).
Extended definition. There have been two ocean liners named Mauretania, but neither of them still exists – so you might have seen one of them out at sea in the past, but you won’t now. |
||
| 16 | GAITERED |
Wearing certain hosiery as variety of diet gear (8)
|
| Anagram (variety) of DIET GEAR.
Gaiters = garments worn on the legs = hosiery. |
||
| 18 | BRACELET |
Couple departed having removed fine jewellery item (8)
|
| BRACE (couple = a pair) + LE[f]T (as a verb = departed) without the F (abbreviation for fine). | ||
| 19 | LENGTH |
Period of fasting: hour covers good duration (6)
|
| LENT (period of fasting before Easter) + H (hour), containing G (good). | ||
| 21 | AGEING |
Getting on? Getting on, even after soldiers are withdrawn (6)
|
| AG[re]EING (getting on = being good companions) without RE (Royal Engineers = Army regiment = soldiers).
As in “getting on a bit” = becoming old. |
||
| 22 | BOEING |
Indication of rebound protecting European aerospace company (6)
|
| BOING (the sound of something rebounding) containing E (abbreviation for European). | ||
| 24 | SKYE |
Where you’ll find some Scots broadcaster superior to English (4)
|
| SKY (UK broadcaster and telecoms company) before (superior to = above, in a down clue) E (abbreviation for English).
Island in north-west Scotland. |
Possibly:
Olivaw
Thanks Ken – not one I’d ever come across. I’ll update the blog.
Re 8d I’d be inclined to go with your parsing, particularly as the question mark gives the setter a degree (pardon the pun) of leverage on the definition. Venerable or the solution points to someone being given respect due to to their great wisdom.
Thanks both. Short of time so needed to partially reveal LAKESIDE as I did not know of the Americanism ‘flakes’ and there so many fish in the sea, we are told. Saw the two parts of the Nina recognisable as words, but dismissed the other two as not remotely likely to mean anything
Can’t claim to have been able to make any sense of those parts of the Nina I could identify. I noticed STRIKE and GADGET at the periphery but didn’t know how they were related and had no idea about CJELLI and OLIVAW.
Failed on the Nina ID and needed to sleep on INNIES, bunging it in from the wordplay this morning and having no idea what the word referred to; I thought INNIES might be some sort of zippered items of clothing, but clearly not! See what you mean about AUGUST for ‘displaying learning?’. Favourite was the surface for LEGAL EAGLE.
Thanks to Phi and Quirister
I thought this was excellent though I confess to a tad of e-help. 95% unaided, got to be happy with that, especially as all parsed too.
I particularly liked CREAM TEA, LEGAL EAGLE, ANTIPODEAN and GETTING ON.
Many thanks to Phi and Quirister.
Late to comment today. Another smooth puzzle and another failure to notice a nina. Only one of those detectives is known to me but I should have spotted the two ‘normal’ words. Doh!
I liked ENAMEL, RUDGE, LEGAL EAGLE, HONEYBEE, VINEYARD, AGEING, BOIENG and SKYE. Funnily enough, the simple ‘with’ gave me two problems today. I thought the US sausage was the weiner – which I don’t know how to pronounce – and that the parse was ‘US sausage to go’ as def because it’s often a takeaway item; ‘with’ = W and ‘German one picked up’ being a homophone indicator for the German A = EINE. How wrong can you get?
The other ‘with’ intrigues me: the link word between WP and def in INNIES. I’ve encountered a lot of opposition to ‘WP with def’ as a structure; more acceptance – but even then not 100% – of ‘def with WP’. Personally, I have always felt the former should work but test solvers and general solvers on MyC have not liked it and have knocked me back. So it did not strike me that ‘buttons’ was likely to be the def (even though I had wondered about (t)INNIES!) I ended up revealing that one – and kicking myself.
Thanks Phi and Quirister
I am beginning to get a grip on the group of Dickens-related clues we have had recently, so it was nice to see RUDGE. I just saw STRIKE as subliminal political activism. Thanks, both.
Fictional detectives are always good for a theme, and I thought some of the more obscure ones might be fun. And the remarkable prevalence of 6-letter surnames (HOLMES, MARPLE, POIROT, ALLEYN, FRENCH, WIMSEY – there’s even another GENTLY) might tempt people to try one or two to help solve.
Olivaw ends up as rather more than a detective’s assistant in the Asimov universe, of course.
We made good progress at first but were completely defeated by innies and weenie both words we have never heard of.
We’d never heard of INNIES or WEENIE, either. And although we saw GADGET and STRIKE in the periphery we couldn’t make head or tail of the rest of the nina. And we only got LAKESIDE after revisiting the anagram fodder in 16dn to realise it was GAITERED and not ‘gartered’. So not a very satisfying solve, although we did like VINEYARD and BONSAI.
Thanks, Quirister, and muted thanks to Phi.
COTD: WEENIE. 🙂
LOI: INNIES. -PDM
Thanks Phi & Q.
Read the books, seen both series, didn’t know CJELLI.