It’s Phi-day again!
We found this rather trickier than we had expected, but no less enjoyable. We are still not sure about the parsing of 14ac.
As we were solving the puzzle we realised that there is a Nina in the perimeter unches and this helped us with the last few entries. However, initially we could not work out the connection between the four seemingly random 7-letter words. It was only when we started to write up the blog that we realised that you can add 27ac to each of them to make new words – an original twist and a very satisfying conclusion.
MOST (majority) URE (river) round or ‘containing’ I (one)
Double definition – the second referring to Moses
I DO Like (assertion of admiration) missing Ike (President Eisenhower)
Hidden (‘some’) and reversed (‘recalling’) in specIFIC Subgenre
G (government) ‘invested’ in a reversal (‘after revolution’) of ORE (mine output)
SEETHe (smoulder) missing the last letter or ‘endlessly’ ROUGH (without refinement)
We’re not too sure about this one – we think it has to be SEE (‘match’) M (millions), but we cannot figure out how ‘see’ can be a synonym for ‘match’ – unless Phi is being devious enough to think of ‘see’ as a synonym for ‘meet’ and ‘meet’ as a gathering for a sporting competition or ‘match’? Any other suggestions out there?
An anagram (‘smashing’) of DISSENT
MY (gosh) THIS M (first letter or ‘source’ of miracles)
fINCH (bird) missing the first letter or ‘heading off’
LA (look) + CHELsea (area of London) without ‘sea’ (ocean) in ROLE (part)
OR (other ranks – ‘regular soldiers’) + A (are) after or ‘pursuing’ C (college)
vARIES (changes) omitting ‘v’ (version)
MINE (source of material) with the ‘E’ (Spain) moved to the front or ‘put foremost’
N (note) ASS (fool) AU (gold)
An anagram (‘flying’) of NOT ACUTE
D (daughter) + pOODLE (dog) losing the first letter or ‘lead’
ISOLDe (opera heroine) missing the last letter or ‘mostly’ with ATE (worried) inside
CURSORy (superficial) missing the last letter or ‘trimming the end’
An anagram (‘edited’) of E (English) and STUDIO
IS H (hard) in or ‘probing’ IMPLY (intimate)
OS (Ordnance survey – ‘map agency’) + IS round or ‘pinning down’ ER (Queen Elizabeth – ‘former monarch’)
A reversal (‘overturned’) of GIN (drink) + an anagram (‘spilled’) of LaGERS without of ‘wiping’ the ‘a’ (area)
An anagram (‘new’) of BANNER AD
SELL UP (prepare to move out, perhaps) round or ‘harbouring’ AP (apparently)
An anagram (‘possibly’) of I AM HERE round or ‘accepting’ A
VIE (strive) in or ‘beset by’ an anagram (‘deformation’) of ROOT
HEAR (pick up) S E (last or ‘final’ letters of hikers here)
CU (copper) S (sulphur) repeated
LOT (fate) round or ‘engaging’ IRE (passion)
Nau mai haere mai ki Aotearoa. I like SEE-THROUGH because it was fun, and OSIER because it’s my favourite tree, and MOSAIC/Bitmap because it’s a great image but my top is HEARSE. I liked the clue. I thought Phi must mean match as in I’ll see you and raise you in a poker bid. Tino pai e korua. Kia ora.
SEE as in poker?
pipped at the post again
FrankieG@2
I think you have the correct parsing.
Yep, another one piling in on the SEE as in poker point.
As usual, a lovely puzzle from Phi. IDOL held out til the very end. Funnily enough, I came across one cunning clue here when doing a test solve late last night: almost word for word. Pure coincidence but it did make it a write in this morning. Only in crosswordland could one close by saying HEARSE made me laugh!
Thanks Phi and B&J
Liked IDOL, LA ROCHELLE (took me time to treat ‘looking like’ as link words), SELL A PUP and HEARSE.
Thanks, Phi and B&J!
Needed OneLook for HAERE MAI but Merriam-Webster & Collins Have it as one word HAEREMAI. I suppose Phi knows better, It means ‘come hither’.
Is this Phi’s last Zodiac theme? It’s the first one I’ve remembered to look out for.
KVa@4 yes but Sofamore@1 got in before me.
Thanks to everyone for the comments so far and the justification of ‘see’. It’s a long time since Joyce played poker. As kids we used acorns instead of cash!
Well done to FrankieG too for remembering the Zodiac theme. We had forgotten about looking out for the next one.
FrankieG@8
You are right.
Sorry, Sofamore@1. I missed it.
Well, I’m just pleased we are in agreement.
Well done B&J for spotting the Nina link. I also struggled at first but got going in the SW corner and the rest followed from there. Now that others are showing off their prowess in Maori, I offer the following:
Taumatawhakatangihangakoaouturipukapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu
or something like that, which I learned as a measles-struck child from the Guinness Book of Records; it was claimed as the world’s longest place name and remains my party piece. I believe it’s quite rude. Thanks Phi and B&J.
PostMark@5 That’s because only in crosswordland do we see the FUN in FUNERAL. I thought this was a clever and subtle way to include another Zodiac theme. Is that all of them now? Thanks both.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taumatawhakatangi%C2%ADhangakoauauotamatea%C2%ADturipukakapikimaunga%C2%ADhoronukupokaiwhen%C2%ADuakitanatahu
‘The name “Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu” translates roughly as “The summit where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, the slider, climber of mountains, the land-swallower who travelled about, played his k?auau (flute) to his loved one”. Parsed by individual words: Taumata whaka tangi hanga koauau O tamatea turipukaka piki maunga horo nuku pokai whenua ki tana tahu.’
FrankieG and others: So much for Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch!
Great puzzle, though. Thanks, Phi and B&J.
Toucanets, osiers, cuscus spelt like that and harem Mai new to us. All gettable but a bit obscure.
And the spellcheck curse refuses to accept haere mai, which seems sensible of it!
FrankieG @ 14: I understood ‘knees’ and ‘flute’ were euphemisms for parts of the body that are not to be mentioned in polite company.