Not surprisingly, given that it is a Friday, we have a puzzle from Phi.
Phi often has themes within his grids and today he gave us one . I doubt if I was the only solver to see THREE BANSHEES and CAULDRON and think Macbeth!, but that was a red herring and I managed to spot the real theme even though it was related to films.
There are references to the title of three films directed by Martin McDonagh [born 1970] . One is spelled out in full:
THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING MISSOURI (released in 2017)
while two others are mentioned in part
The BANSHEES of Inisherin (released 2022); and
In BRUGES (released 2008)
It’s not McDonagh’s birthday today, so I can’t say why the puzzle appeared today..
Phi has managed to avoid the use of obscure words elsewhere in the grid given the constraints imposed by the crossing letters of the theme words. ECHT is fairly common in crosswords and SENESCENT is fairly well known I think,
I have got to the stage now that the appearance of the word ‘man’ or ‘Man’ in a clue immediately triggers a thought of ISLE, ISLAND or ISLANDER, so 26 across went in fairly easily.
| Across | |
| 1 |
About to be absorbed into the crowd, as they say (5) THREE (reference the phrase ‘two’s company, THREE’s a crowd; crowd as they say) RE (with reference to; about) contained in (absorbed into) THE TH (RE) E |
| 4 |
Don’t allow ghostly coverings, say, with no time for wailing spirits (8) BANSHEES (female spirits who wail and shriek before a death in a household) BAN (don’t allow) + SHEETS (ghosts are often portrayed as covered in a SHEET; ghostly coverings) excluding (with no) T BAN SHEES |
| 9 |
City, European, swathed in black carpets (6) BRUGES (city in Belgium) E (European) contained in (swathed in) (B [black, when describing pencil lead] + RUGS [carpets]) B RUG (E) S |
| 10 |
Caught dancing around, around large witch’s accessory? (8) CAULDRON (large kettle for boiling or heating liquids, often depicted being used by witches) C (caught) + (an anagram of [dancing] AROUND containing [around] L [large]) C AU (L) DRON* |
| 12 |
Real German playwright, German, not British (4) ECHT (genuine; real) BRECHT (reference Bertolt BRECHT [1898 – 1956], German playwright) excluding (not) BR (British) ECHT |
| 13 |
Charge lots of directors for advertising material (10) BILLBOARDS (advertising hoardings; advertising material) BILL (raise an invoice; charge) + BOARDS (groups of [lots of] company directors) BILL BOARDS |
| 15 |
Look at new type of cinema, returning in middle of week (7) EXAMINE (look closely at) (N [new] + IMAX [system of widescreen cinema presentation]) reversed (returning) and contained in (in) EE (central letters of [middle of] WEEK) E (XAMI N)< E |
| 16 |
Awkward customer to toss back endless throws (7) BOLSHIE (informal term for an awkward person or customer) LOB (toss) reversed (back) + SHIES (throws) excluding the final letter (endless) S BOL< SHIE |
| 18 |
Afropop in bar, endlessly (3) RAI (modern, North African form of popular music; Afropop) RAIL (bar) excluding the final letter (endlessly) L RAI |
| 19 |
Not a member of group possibly facing follow-on? (7) OUTSIDE (not a member of a group) OUT SIDE (a SIDE in cricket that is all OUT after its first innings, for a score that is substantially less than their opponents who batted first, may be asked to bat again [follow-on] before their opponents) OUT SIDE |
| 20 |
Meadow hired out after fine bit of advertising (7) LEAFLET (piece of [bit of ]advertising material) LEA (meadow) + F (fine) + LET (hired out) LEA F LET |
| 21 |
Discriminatory treatment, not primarily excellent standard (10) INEQUALITY (example of discriminatory treatment) FINE (excellent) excluding the first letter (not primarily) F + QUALITY (standard) INE QUALITY |
| 23 |
Happen to get cheers for version under test (4) BETA (a BETA test, is a test in normal working conditions of a product [or new computer software] before it is marketed) BE (happen) + TA (thank you; cheers) BE TA |
| 26 |
One special lunar vehicle? Man provides home for one (8) ISLANDER (reference the Isle of Man which provides a home for the ISLANDERs who live there) I (Roman numeral for one) + S (special) + LANDER (reference a lunar LANDER, a vehicle used by astronauts to LAND on the moon) I S LANDER |
| 27 |
Declining upholstery material if front’s absent (6) EBBING (declining) WEBBING (woven strip of hemp, used for belts, etc, for various purposes in upholstery) excluding the first letter (front’s absent) W EBBING |
| 28 |
Malta is getting peevish with independent state (8) MISSOURI (American State) M (International Vehicle Registration for Malta) + IS + SOUR (irritable; peevish) + I (independent) M IS SOUR I |
| 29 |
Dude showing extremes of duplicity (5) DANDY (for or dude) D AND Y (D and Y are the outer letters of [extremes of] DUPLICITY) D AND Y |
| Down | |
| 1 |
Put down a quantity of food (5) TABLE (put forward a proposal for discussion; put down) TABLE (a supply or quantity of food) double definition TABLE |
| 2 |
Rowdy company, somewhat plastered? (9) ROUGHCAST (coated with plaster mixed with small stones or shells, used to coat the outside walls of buildings; somewhat plastered) ROUGH (turbulent; rowdy) + CAST (a company of actors) ROUGH CAST |
| 3 |
Cumbrian river: pike’s last refuge (4) EDEN (river in Cumbria that flows into the Solway Firth) E (final letter of [last] PIKE) + DEN (hideaway; refuge) E DEN |
| 5 |
I should be promoted in duty following a very advanced state of readiness (12) AVAILABILITY (state of readiness) A + V (very) + A (advanced) + LIABILITY (duty) with the first I raised up this down entry [promoted] to form ILABILITY A V A ILABILITY |
| 6 |
A line in some plan revised feature of dam? (6,4) SALMON LEAP (waterfall which SALMON ascend by leaping, often built into some dams to allow the fish to continue to spawn in their native habitat) (A + L [line]) contained in an anagram of (revised) SOME PLAN S (A L) MON LEAP* |
| 7 |
Annoying child denied first wrong act (5) ERROR (wrong act) TERROR (annoying child) excluding the first letter (denied first) T ERROR |
| 8 |
Getting old, observes small amount of money, having claimed pension at last (9) SENESCENT (verging on or characteristic of old age; getting old) (SEES [observes] + CENT [small amount of money]) containing (having claimed) N (final letter of [at last] PENSION) SE (N) ES CENT |
| 11 |
Possibly release diary – it covers 365 days or so (8,4) SIDEREAL YEAR (the period required by the sun to move from a given star to the same star again, having a mean value of 365 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes, 9.6 seconds; 365 days or so) Anagram of (possibly) RELEASE DIARY SIDEREAL YEAR* |
| 14 |
Foolish insinuation, overlooking a new decline? (10) DIMINUENDO (musical direction indicating decrease or decline in loudness) DIM (foolish) + INNUENDO (insinuation) excluding (overlooking) one of the (a) Ns DIM INUENDO |
| 15 |
Isometric exercises? Sexy stuff (9) EROTICISM (amorous temperament or habit; sexy stuff) Anagram of (exercises) ISOMETRIC EROTICISM* |
| 17 |
Associated with detective, hansom lies mostly free (9) HOLMESIAN (relating to Sherlock Holmes [fictional detective created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) Anagram of (free) HANSOM and LIES excluding the final letter (mostly) S HOLMESIAN* |
| 22 |
Novel listing includes literary pseudonym (5) ELLIS (reference ELLIS Bell, the literary pseudonym of Emily Bronte [1818 – 1848]) ELLIS (hidden word [includes] in NOVEL LISTING) ELLIS |
| 24 |
Old King, trapped in a US city, in a rage (5) ANGRY (livid; in a range) GR (George Rex, one of many old British Kings) contained in (trapped in) (A + NY [New York, US city]) A N (GR) Y |
| 25 |
A necklace item one lost among the sheets? (4) ABED (among the [BED]sheets) A + BEAD (necklace item) excluding (lost) A (one) A + BED |
Another excellent Phi outing. Didn’t know RAI but easy to get with the crossers. Messed up the bottom right by entering BEAD for 25d. I took the definition to be ‘A necklace item’ with A ‘in bed’ (‘lost among the sheets’). It sort of worked but I should have seen my error. As such, I didn’t get EBBING.
Thanks, Phi and duncanshiell!
I made the same mistake as Hovis (BEAD) but corrected it when I got EBBING.
I may not have fallen into the same trap as Hovis and KVa but I have nothing to be smug about having totally failed with the theme. I have certainly heard of the BANSHEES movie and am vaguely aware of the EBBING one but only because it is such an odd title. The film-maker in question certainly enjoys using the letter B in his titles: there was a right buzzing of them in this puzzle.
Favourites today include THREE, BRUGES, OUTSIDE, LEAFLET, EDEN, SALMON LEAP and EROTICISM.
Thanks Phi and duncan (you can be assured your colourful blogs are always appreciated here)
Postmark@3
I agree with you about duncanshiell’s blog quality. The presentation makes it quite pleasant for the readers. And hardly ever anything is left unexplained.
Spotting themes:
The blogger or someone else spots them for me (Had to outsource!!!). It’s always like pressing the ‘reveal’ button! 🙂
For once I spotted the theme quite early after solving BILLBOARDS and EBBING.
That helped with the anticipated THREE, OUTSIDE and MISSOURI, which otherwise would have been trickier to get.
Noticed the extra BANSHEES and BRUGES too.
Bruges in Spanish is Brujas = witches, to go with THREE and CAULDRON for the Macbeth misdirection/coincidence.
BOLSHIE, I thought was a bit naughty – it’s an adjective when used of an “awkward customer”.
As a noun it’s “(derogatory, Britain, dated) A government leftist, especially a communist, socialist, or labour union leader.”
Merriam-Webster has it as “noun or adjective”, disagreeing with Collins, Chambers, OED, Green’s Dictionary of Slang and wiktionary.
Unless Phi thinks all socialists are awkward customers? (I certainly am, and I think I’ve just proved it.)
Liked DIM INNUENDO. loi RAI – first guess, so a jorum.
Thanks Phi & d.
Totally failed on the theme (I fell for the Macbeth trap) and had never heard of RAI which was my last in as the central letter of the word and the grid.
I was pleased to get DIMINUENDO; everything I know about musical terminology I’ve learnt from crosswords. As pointed out by Duncan, ECHT was another good crossword word, even if I’ve never met it in real life.
Thanks to Duncan – great blog as ever – and to Phi
Thanks both. DIMINUENDO needed a ‘reveal word’ as I assumed it was an anagram of insinuation missing an ‘n’ and I rarely know musical terms formed from other languages. Left a little puzzled why German appears twice in ECHT which I consequently overworked trying to include something representative of German, even though I remember reading Brecht’s story of Arturo Ui which parodies the rise of Hitler