Phi brings the working week to an end with his latest Phi-day puzzle.
I found this to be towards the harder end of the Phi spectrum, and I needed to come back to it a few times. In the end, I was stuck in the NE quadrant with 3, 5 and 7, needing to search Chambers to get me started again.
I haven’t spotted any particular theme today, but Phi will doubtless enlighten us if nobody else does.
My favourite clues today are 13 and 15, both for smoothness of surface; 17, for construction; and 26, for including “cow”, “sheep” and “agricultural” in the wordplay to the clue.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | BUS | Number disembarking from rear American vehicle
BU<n>S (=rear, backside, bottom, in US English, hence “American”); “number (=N) disembarking” means letter “n” is dropped |
| 03 | FICTITIOUS | Bird, externally loud and malignant, having head bitten off –such as the roc?
TIT (=bird) in [F (=loud, i.e. forte in music) + <v>ICIOUS (=malignant; “having head bitten off” means first letter is dropped)]; the roc was a mythical bird in Arabian legend |
| 10 | SCAMP | Fiddle player’s leader, the 16
SCAM (=fiddle, fraud) + P<layer> (“leader” means the first letter is dropped); a scamp is a rogue (=entry at 16) |
| 11 | JABBERING | Prattling on, making sudden attacks about former monarch
ER (=former monarch, i.e. Elizabeth Regina) in JABBING (=making sudden attacks) |
| 12 | EMPEROR | Ruler, in rage, decapitated soldiers
<t>EMPER (=rage; “decapitated” means first letter is dropped) + OR (=soldiers, i.e. other ranks) |
| 13 | TSARIST | Former supporter of empire in dire straits
*(STRAITS); “dire” is anagram indicator |
| 14 | PROTOZOAN | Two Australians separately splitting atomic particle? It is a simple thing
OZ (=Australian) + A (=Australian) inserted separately into PROTON (=atomic particle); a protozoan is a simple, even unicellular, form of animal |
| 16 | ROGUE | German invested in unstable euro not following expected course
G (=German) in *(EURO); “unstable” is an anagram indicator; e.g. a rogue aircraft will not follow the expected course |
| 17 | ISLES | Areas of land: is a smaller quantity further reduced?
IS + LES<s> (=a smaller quantity; “further reduced” means last letter is dropped) |
| 19 | SIGNBOARD | Advert, perhaps, shows a songbird flying
*(A SIGNBIRD); “flying” is anagram indicator |
| 21 | CURIOUS | Copper, uncontrollable, not given to supporting investigation
CU (=copper, i.e. chemical formula) + RIO<to>US (=uncontrollable; “not given to” means letters “to” are dropped) |
| 24 | TAIL OFF | Stop explaining consequence of docking
Cryptically, e.g. a dog that has been subjected to docking has had its “tail (cut) off”! |
| 26 | DOCUDRAMA | Work at something for cow and sheep: start of agricultural programme
DO (=work at) + CUD (=something for cow, as in to chew the cud) + RAM (=sheep) + A<gricultural> (“start of” means first letter only) |
| 27 | ARIEL | Shakespearean spirit I observed in live opening in London
[I in ARE (=live, exist)] + L<ondon> (“opening in” means first letter only); Ariel is a spirit in service to Prospero in Shakespeare’s The Tempest |
| 28 | MELANCHOLY | Intend to restrict large source of continuing religious gloom
[L (=large, of size) in MEAN (=intend)] + C<ontinuing> (“source of” means first letter only) + HOLY (=religious) |
| 29 | LAY | Arrange // song // for the people
Triple definition: to lay (out) is to arrange AND a lay is a song AND lay means non-professional, as in layman, lay reader, hence “for the people” |
| Down | ||
| 01 | BASTE | Beat discrimination with a change of leader
<t>ASTE (=discrimination); “with a change of leader” means that the first letter is changed; to baste is to beat with a stick |
| 02 | SHAMPOO | Picked up apologetic comment about poor actor in treatment of Hair
HAM (=poor actor) in SPOO (OOPS=apologetic comment; “picked up” indicates vertical reversal) |
| 04 | INJURIOUS | I note Judge without money bumping off writer – painful
I + N (=note) + J (=judge) + <pen>URIOUS (=without money; “bumping off writer (=pen)” means letters “pen” are dropped) |
| 05 | TIBET | Mountainous territory tense? Feels like it to me
T (=tense, in grammar) + I BET (=feels like it to me) |
| 06 | THETA | Articles about saint’s last historic letter
<sain>T (“last” means last letter only) in [THE + A (=articles, in grammar)] |
| 07 | OPINING | Thinking debut requires one to conceal energy
OPENING (=debut); “requires one (=I) to conceal energy (=E)” means letter “e” is replaced by “i” |
| 08 | SIGHT-READ | Have no time for rehearsal? Sound unhappy and move deliberately, perhaps
SIGH (=sound unhappy) + TREAD (=move deliberately, perhaps) |
| 09 | SPURIOUS | Fraudulent to encourage evidence of debt?
SPUR (=encourage, incite) + IOUs (=evidence of debt) |
| 14 | PRINCEDOM | Considered cost of high honour after receiving number: it’s no great state
N (=number) in [PRICED (=considered cost of) + OM (=high honour, i.e. Order of Merit)]; a princedom is not as “great (a) state” as a kingdom! |
| 15 | NIGHT MAIL | Auden poem: close to the end when master interrupts
NIGH (=close, imminent) + [M (=master, as in MA) in TAIL (=the end)]; the reference is to the 1936 poem by British-born poet W H Auden |
| 16 | RUBAIYAT | Verses disseminating air and beauty (non-English)
*(AIR + B<e>AUTY); “non-English (=E)” means letter “e” is dropped from anagram, indicated by “disseminating”; a rubai is a Persian verse form, composed of four-line stanzas |
| 18 | LYRICAL | Song-like carillon not working, sadly, having variable interior
Y (=variable, in algebra) in *(CARILL<on>); “not working (=ON)” means letters “on” are dropped from anagram, indicated by “sadly” |
| 20 | ASOCIAL | Not friendly? That’s very much US spies in Albania
[SO (=very much) + CIA (=US spies)] in AL (=Albania) |
| 22 | OLDEN | Historic Ohio, burdened, abandoning America
O (=Ohio) + L<a>DEN (=burdened, loaded; “abandoning America (=A)” means letter “a” is dropped) |
| 23 | STASH | Hoard remains under street
ST (=street, i.e. abbreviation) + ASH (=remains) |
| 25 | FOLLY | Twisted of friend to dispose of a distinctive building
FO (FO; “twisted” indicates reversal) + <a>LLY (=friend; “to dispose of a” means letter “a” is dropped) |
Liked PROTOZOAN, SIGHT-READ and FOLLY.
Thanks, Phi and RR!
Couldn’t parse BUS but it is quite logical. SHAMPOO got a laugh also liked FOLLY, LYRICAL, MELANCHOLY and PROTOZOAN (Oi! Oi! Oi!). Enjoyable and entertaining. Liked the nod to Auden. Thanks RR and Phi.
Three words rhyme, as do two others…
Thanks, Phi! If you PEER at the grid for a PERIod, the theme might appear; maybe in a hotel.
G&S Iolanthe:
To say she is his mother is an utter bit of folly!
Oh, fie! our Strephon’s not a rogue!
Perhaps his brain is addled, and it’s very melancholy!
Taradiddle, taradiddle, tol lol lay!
I wouldn’t say a word that could be reckoned as injurious,
But to find a mother younger than her son is very curious,
And that’s a kind of mother that is usually spurious.
Taradiddle, taradiddle, tol lol lay!
Well done to FrankieG @5 (and ?Quizzy_Bob @4) for working out the theme which was way beyond me; I saw those -IOUS words but didn’t know what (if anything) they meant.
Enjoyable puzzle, even if I didn’t get off to a good start by not being able to parse BUS; a three-letter word, what could be simpler? Worked my way through the rest but then mucked things up at the end by mis-spelling RUBAIYAT. I was lucky with NIGHT MAIL which was mentioned as an ‘Auden poem’ in another crossword only a few days ago.
Thanks to Phi and RR
Just a quick note to record thanks to both Phi and RR. Like WP, I recalled the poem from a recent blog but, unlike him, I simply did not recall RUBAIYAT. Nice use of the Iolanthe stanza.
Thanks both. Needed to guess RUBAIYAT as my Persian is weak these days, and had paste instead of BASTE which for me works just as well, which corrected using the ‘check’ feature to discover that apparently those across the pond have ownership of ‘buns’ meaning rear, which I thought was also established here
I got stuck with 1ac and dn. Couldn’t quite see them.
Is The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam totally unknown these days? The moving finger writes, etc. I remember coming across it in a small book my parents had, and there’s a fine musical setting by Granville Bantock (a mere three hours long).
Dormouse@9 : The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam Was a pub in Byres Road popular with students (and schoolboys) in the 60s ‘The Ruby’ will be well remembered by those of a certain age. Probably better remembered than the poem!
Today was tough going for me but fair, as always. Thanks to all involved.
Quizzy_Bob@4:
I didn’t understand your post at the time, but now I see the subtitle and the anagram. Very gneiss! 🙂
And belated thanks to Phi and RR