Independent 11,432 / Phi

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It’s Phi-day today, so no surprise to find his latest puzzle in store for us.

What has surprised me, however, is my inability to parse two of today’s clues, which is unusual for me, since I do normally manage to tease out the wordplay if I can see the answer and its definition. In any case, I look forward to hearing back from fellow solvers to update the blog later in respect of 1A and 21D – many thanks for the explanations, blog now updated

Other than that, I found this to be an enjoyable, medium-difficulty solve on what is a fairly unusual grid with quite a few black squares.

My favourite clues today were 9, for splitting the definition from the wordplay between Circle and District; and 1D, 3, 13 and 24, all for smoothness of surface. The entries at 14 and 15 were both new to me.

*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues

Across  
   
01 QUAINT Whimsical statistician embracing imaginary number

I (=imaginary number, in mathematics) in QUANT (=statistician, i.e. quantitative analyst)
   
04 EVENTS Quits taking in tense happenings

T (=tense, in grammar) in EVENS (=quits, i.e. even money)
   
08 INTERRUPT Pause to bury first of potatoes in furrow

INTER (=to bury) + [P<otatoes> (“first of” means first letter only) in RUT (=furrow)]
   
11 UNMAN Sap courage of member of emergency troops?

A “UN (=United Nations) man” could be described as a “member of emergency troops”
   
12 DARK Daughter beside boat in shadow

D (=daughter) + ARK (=boat, owned by Noah)
   
13 ADVENTURES Exploits servant due to go off

*(SERVANT DUE); “to go off” is anagram indicator
   
15 TWO-PAIR You’ll get best atmosphere around with upstairs room

W (=with) in [TOP (=best) + AIR (=atmosphere)]; a two-pair (of stairs) is a room located on a second floor
   
16 VINTAGE Against eating rotten grapes

V (=against, i.e. versus) + *(EATING); “rotten” is anagram indicator; a vintage is a season’s yield of grapes or wine
   
19 HANDLER Noir writer omitting first officer with police dog?

<c>HANDLER (=noir writer, i.e. Raymond Chandler; “omitting first” means first letter is dropped
   
20 MELANGE Guys around US city returning for one medley

[LA (=US city) in MEN (=guys)] + G.E. (E.G.=for one, for example; “returning” indicates reversal)
   
21 SUBSEQUENT Monarch losing heart, besieged by smaller group later

QU<e>EN (=monarch; “losing heart” means middle letter is dropped) in SUBSET (=smaller group)
   
23 ZING Last character in Government to display energy

Z (=last character, i.e. last letter in alphabet) + IN + G (=government)
   
25 ALICE Heroine of children’s book in a story about college

C (=college) in [A + LIE (=story, fib)]; the reference is to the children’s books by Lewis Carroll
   
26 DEHYDRATE Dry? Heated dry, roughly

*(HEATED DRY); “roughly” is anagram indicator
   
27 GOLDEN Valuable information about elderly

OLD (=elderly) in GEN (=information)
   
28 CAFTAN Loose clothing? Rear’s covered in toilet

AFT (=rear) in CAN (=toilet, loo)
   
Down  
   
01 QUIDDITCH Amount of tobacco leading to scrap in game

QUID (=amount of tobacco) +DITCH (=scrap, drop); quidditch is a game played on broomsticks in the Harry Potter books
   
02 AFTERNOON Almost none for tea dished up – now?

*(NON<e> FOR TEA); “almost” means last letter is dropped from anagram, indicated by “dished up”; semi- & lit.
   
03 NARC Leaders in North America ring corrupting drug cop

N<orth> A<merica> R<ing> C<orrupting>; “leaders in” means first letters only; in US slang, a narc is a narcotics agent
   
05 VAUNTINGLY Ungainly TV set to change, with much showing-off

*(UNGAINLY TV); “set to change” is anagram indicator
   
06 NAMUR Rugby staff turning up in Belgian city

RU (=rugby, i.e. rugby union) + MAN (=(to) staff, as verb); “turning up” indicates vertical reversal
   
07 SINUS Cavity in small ear bone, not canine

S (=small) + IN<c>US (=ear bone; “not canine (=C)” means letter “c” is dropped)
   
09 UNDERGROUND Endlessly suffer with Circle, District, Victoria, Central etc?

UNDERG<o> (=(to) suffer; “endlessly” means last letter is dropped) +ROUND (=circle)
   
10 TWELVEMONTH Sources for this writer will have them working with novel for a year

T<his> W<riter> (“sources” means first letters only) + *(THEM + NOVEL); “working with” is anagram indicator
   
14 PAUL REVERE Apostle taking worship is one on a famous journey

PAUL (=apostle) + REVERE (=worship); the reference is to the American Revolutionary War, in which Paul Revere rode ahead to warn the American colonial militia of the arrival of British troops before the battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775
   
17 ANNUITANT An obsessive soldier besetting one person with regular payments

I (=one) in [AN + NUT (=obsessive, die-hard fan) + ANT (=soldier)]; an annuitant is in receipt of an annuity
   
18 EVERGREEN Space for printer to include border round about? It’s always around

[RE- (=about, regarding) in VERGE (=border)] in EN (=space for printer)
   
21 SLANG Word on the street is “Inclined to give away money”

SLAN<tin>G (=inclined, tilted; “to give away money (=tin)” means that letters “tin” are dropped)
   
22 BRILL Marvellous actor’s last in order of appearance

<acto>R (“last” means last letter only) in BILL (=order of appearance)
   
24 IDEA Political assistant’s first to drop plan

AIDE (=political assistant); “first to drop” means first letter moves to end of word
   

 

22 comments on “Independent 11,432 / Phi”

  1. Thanks, Phi and RR

    Liked UNMAN, QUIDDITCH, UNDERGROUND and EVERGREEN.

    QUAINT
    statistician=QUANT
    i imaginary number (square root of -1)
    I in QUANT

    SLANG
    inclined=slanting
    tin=money
    SLANtinG giving away tin

  3. Oops – too late – KVa@1 got in before me.
    Is there a theme?
    ALICE’s ADVENTURES UNDERGROUND – original title of Alice In Wonderland – or is this misdirection from the real theme?

  4. Also enjoyed the clue for UNDERGROUND for the reason pointed out in the blog and SLANG for the extraction. A good challenge for me. Thanks both.

  6. Alice is certainly in there, but there’s a further nuance that Dormouse, if he drops by, may elucidate. Let’s just say that I chose a rather obscure cache of words for my source material.

  11. Thanks to FrankieG for shedding light on the elusive theme. A lovely offering from Phi as usual with some clues that fell easily and some that took a long time to tease out or to parse – UNDERGROUND and SLANG in particular. New terms learnt today were QUANT and TWO-PAIR.

    Thanks to Phi and RR. I do look forward to a Friday.

  13. Thanks both. The crossing QUIDDITCH and QUAINT took me as long as the rest, where I was looking for a real sport, and did not know the abbreviated statistician, with which in mind I was working with the author of Alice’s adventures in Sunderland being a north-east mathematician

  14. KVa@10: Got the theme @5 before Phi’s hint @6
    I think Phi is alluding to the character in the book, but maybe indirectly suggesting Dormouse – an occasional poster on 225 – may be a music buff?
    Hi, Phi: I can’t help thinking QUANT should have been clued with Mary, but you probably set this months before she died.
    Thanks Phi & RatkojaRiku

  15. Financial slang, eh? That’ll be why I didn’t know quant – though the solution was obvious enough from the definition and crossers. Also oblivious to the theme but that’s par for the course.

    Enjoyable solve, thanks, Phi and RR, and well-spotted, FrankieG.

  17. Well done FrankieG; spotting the theme, even the ALICE and UNDERGROUND bits, was beyond me. As expected, plenty of clever clues from Phi, with the at first sight overlapping wordplay and def for UNDERGROUND, as pointed out by RR, being my favourite bit today. Learnt a new word in QUANT as well.

    Thanks to Phi and RR

  18. Thanks Phi & RR. I had fun with thid despite missing the theme. I liked MELANGE, ALICE, CAFTAN, and PAUL REVERE. There were a number I couldn’t parse including SLANG and UNDERGROUND. I’ve never liked IDEA being defined as “plan” but I’m sure it’s in the sacred text called Chambers. I’ll leave with a quote from the song White Rabbit: “Remember, what the Dormouse said, feed your head, feed your head.”

  19. Got stuck on the bottom left corner and failed to finish.

    Didn’t spot the theme, although I’ve heard several of the Alice pieces. Even went to the UK premiere of Final Alice, with its part for theremin. The BBC had found a retired music hall artist to play the solo.

    And, by some strange coincidence, I’d been listening to Bernstein’s recording of Tattoo by Deltredici before starting the crossword.

    Also, my username is a corruption of my surname and nothing to do with Lewis Carroll.

  20. I enjoyed this crossword as always with Phi, but the discovery of https://www.daviddeltredici.com/alice/ (thank you Phi and FrankieG) is a revelation! I see he abandoned serialism after about a year of studying it. I have always wondered whether anyone has ever truly, honestly, enjoyed listening to it. Perhaps it’s possible with enough brain training/neural plasticity.
    I completely missed the theme myself, unfortunately, while solving.

  21. Actually, there’s a lot of serial music I enjoy. I started listening to classical music in the late sixties when the BBC play a lot and not only the second Viennese school. The Frankel symphonies were played on Radio 3 and I’ve bought recordings of them. Frankel made his living writing film music and is reckoned that his score for The Curse of the Werewolf was the first ever serial film score in a British film.

  22. Thank you Dormouse for the suggestion to listen to the Frankel symphonies. They are indeed quite remarkable. I still don’t really understand serialism but Frankel certainly shows that it can be powerful.

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