Independent 11,438 by Phi

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Bert has been completing most of our blogs for a while, leaving Joyce to carry out the final checks. Today however, it’s Joyce blogging the Phi puzzle ……..

…. although neither of us can see a theme despite plenty of searching using random selections of entries.

There was lots into enjoy here though. Smooth surfaces as expected throughout and a few that needed teasing out – just the way to end the week.

Thanks Phi.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Rude university lecturer penning chapter 4 (7)
UNCIVIL

UNI (university) and L (Lecturer) round or ‘penning’ C (Chapter) IV (4)

5. Crooked video shocked America (7)
DEVIOUS

An anagram (‘shocked’) of VIDEO + US (America)

9. Dull poor works amongst bad sci-fi (9)
SOPORIFIC

An anagram (‘works’) of POOR inside an anagram (‘bad’) of SCI-FI

10. Ends of feet are covered in loose stretchy material (5)
LATEX

T E (last letters or ‘ends’ of feeT arE) inside or ‘covered by’ LAX (loose)

11. Understand awkward character should be rebuffed, when embracing women (4)
TWIG

GIT (awkward character) reversed or ‘rebuffed’ around or ’embracing’ W (women)

12. What mathematicians crave, such as a quiet place to work? (10)
SOUNDPROOF

Double definition although for the first part you need to separate the two parts into SOUND PROOF – ‘what mathematicians crave’

14. Bank security, say, with expression of surprise about individual expenditure on luxuries (3,5)
PIN MONEY

PIN (bank security) MY (expression of surprise) round ONE (individual)

15. Accept timeless regret may be repressed? I’ve done it (6)
EUREKA

tAKE (accept) missing T or ‘timeless’ RUE (regret) all reversed or ‘repressed’? We weren’t that sure about ‘repressed’ being a reversal indicator though – maybe that is why Phi has included the question mark . Can anyone suggest what we are missing?

17. Watch section being removed from adhesive label (6)
TICKER

s (section) removed from sTICKER (adhesive label)

19. The Parisian wants to bag a kiss – game? (8)
LACROSSE

LE (French word for ‘the’) around or ‘bagging’ A CROSS (kiss or X)

22. Drunk in the corner not entirely unintelligible (10)
INCOHERENT

An anagram (‘drunk’) of IN THE CORNEr missing last letter or ‘not entirely’

23. Groom horse that’s to carry maiden (4)
COMB

COB (horse) around or ‘carrying’ M (maiden)

26. Right to be captivated by instant gift (5)
TRICK

R (right) inside or ‘captivated by’ TICK (instant)

27. Brig remains at sea, offloading popular product of whale hunting (9)
AMBERGRIS

An anagram (‘at sea’) of BRIG REMAinS without or ‘offloading’ ‘in’ (popular)

28. A sticky substance runs into church – it blocks passages (7)
CATARRH

A TAR (sticky substance) R (runs) inside or ‘into’ CH (church)

29. Tool used by railway undergoing a wash? (7)
LATHERY

LATHE (tool) RY (railway)

DOWN
1. Leading part of match at Wimbledon? A surprising result (5)
UPSET

UP (leading) SET (part of match at Wimbledon)

2. Better with money, but securing nothing? It’s something of a joke (7)
CAPTION

CAP (better) TIN (money) around or ‘securing’ O (nothing)

3. Change seen in French heroine after American guy leaves (4)
VARY

boVARY (as in Madame Bovary – the French heroine) missing BO (American guy)

4. Port deliveries not dealt with? (8)
LEFTOVER

LEFT (port) OVER (deliveries – in cricket)

5. Pretty good evidence of accident involving church (6)
DECENT

DENT (evidence of accident) around or ‘involving’ CE (church)

6. Broadcast our TV play about university libertine (10)
VOLUPTUARY

An anagram (‘broadcast’) of OUR TV PLAY around U (university)

7. Banned old plane after losing tail in consequence (7)
OUTCOME

OUT (banned) COMEt (old plane) missing last letter or ‘losing tail’

8. Version of ‘London Pride’ with wind instrument provided passion (9)
SAXIFRAGE

SAX (wind instrument) IF (provided) RAGE (passion)

13. Uninspiring vehicle, British, about a playwright, but stopping well short! (10)
BONESHAKER

BR (British) round ONE (a) SHAKEspeare (‘playwright’) missing lots of letters or ‘stopping well short’

14. Snapshot that captures attending demo supporting the country (9)
PATRIOTIC

PIC (snapshot) around or ‘capturing’ AT (attending) RIOT (demo)

16. Writer in thrall to channel, one getting through a lot of people? (8)
CANNIBAL

NIB (writer) inside or ‘in thrall to’ CANAL (channel)

18. Owner of 13, clearly discontented, not being in the front rank? (7)
CYCLIST

ClearlY (first and last letters only or ‘discontented’) C LIST (‘not in the front rank’ – as in A-List)

20. Press in pursuit of small company producing pandemic, say (7)
SCOURGE

URGE (press) after or ‘in pursuit of’ S (small) CO (company)

21. Give lectures with power and range (6)
PREACH

P (power) REACH (range)

24. Like beards, but mostly wary of speaking up? (5)
BUSHY

BUt (missing last letter or ‘mostly’) SHY (wary of speaking up)

25. Determination? Old king seen with it (4)
GRIT

GR (King George – ‘old king’) IT

 

22 comments on “Independent 11,438 by Phi”

  1. Enjoyed this puzzle. Clues like BONESHAKER, CANNIBAL, EUREKA, and LATHERY made it an entertaining Friday solve. Thanks to B&J for the blog and thanks to Phi.

  2. An enjoyable puzzle though I was beaten in the far NE. dnk SAXIFRAGE was London Pride, knowing only of the beer and neither was I close to solving EUREKA. I suspected ‘rue’ – it’s automatic when I see the word ‘regret’ but I thought I was looking for a container and, tbh, I didn’t recognise that def of the solution. I thought it was going to be something like ‘clued’ but could not make anything work. And I only got SOUNDPROOF after revealing SAXIFRAGE. So, a victory to the setter today. I did enjoy my second CANNIBAL of the week, along with INCOHERENT, COMB, LATHERY, VOLUPTUARY and BUSHY. Slight raised eyebrow over demo = RIOT.

    Thanks Phi and B&J

  3. I struggled to understand EUREKA too, but maybe ‘repressed’ could be interpreted as ‘pushed back’? Couldn’t see ‘TRICK’ as ‘gift either: I thought of ‘trick or treat’ but surely it’s the treat that’s a gift, not the trick? Much enjoyed anyway, so thanks Phi and B&J.

  5. You beat us to it FrankieG – it’s in Chambers Thesaurus under ‘trick = knack = gift’

  6. I see TRICK CYCLIST in there but no idea if it has anything to do with a theme.

    Great Friday stuff as ever.
    Thanks to Phi and B&J

  7. Good challenging puzzle from Phi. I couldn’t parse VARY and SAXIFRAGE was just recognised. VOLUPTUARY is also an unusual word. BONESHAKER was my favourite today; I’ve had a few in my time!

    Thanks to Phi and B&J

  8. Thanks both. Particularly grateful for the clear cluing of SAXIFRAGE as I was also exclusively in the ale house rather than the garden. For LACROSSE I can’t quite see why ‘wants’ features in the clue, as the Parisian simply bags a kiss as I read it.

  9. I enjoyed this. A minor quibble is that London Pride is a version of saxifrage, rather than vice versa.

  10. An Uncivil, devious, incoherent, cyclist claiming to be patriotic, producing, or at least not doing nearly enough to prevent a pandemic made me think of someone, but I am sure it’s unintended.

  12. Petert @10 – also, from the clues:
    Rude; Crooked; Dull; awkward; should be rebuffed, when embracing women; unintelligible; Tool; something of a joke; libertine;
    Uninspiring; getting through a lot of people (ministers); clearly discontented, not being in the front rank.
    Give(s) lectures at £250,000 a pop.
    Clearly that’s Phi’s theme today.

  13. Doesn’t possess a comb – or doesn’t know how to use one. And is £250,000 just pin money?

  14. You make a convincing case FrankieG with a great extra from allan_c. I’m sold!…and highly amused.

  15. Repressed = held or pushed back seemed OK to me.

    No theme today, just one of the periodic puzzles where the construction is around a collection of words amassed because they look as if they would be interesting to clue.

  16. Thanks, Phi and B&J. Nice set of clues. SOUNDPROOF is especially neat.

    I had no problem with repressed as a reversal indicator – it’s not really what the word means but you can say about so much we take for granted in crosswords.

  17. Given the events of today, we are wondering if the ‘someone’ that Petert is talking about read the comments made by Petert, allan_c and FrankieG and decided that he needed to move on!

  18. Thanks Phi for a great puzzle that I did not find particularly easy! Today has also been wonderful for the departure of one liar and the indictment of another.

  19. Nice one allan_c@13! 🙂
    The theme must have been in your subconscious, Phi. So many “interesting to clue” words that could apply to the nameless one.
    And there’s EUREKA alluding to his education in the classical greats. I’m surprised he hasn’t yet decided to mark his own homework and give himself the first he was so disappointed not to get. And the final clue contains “king” – his childhood ambition to be king of the world.
    Thanks Phi & B&J

  20. …I posted that before hearing the latest news, alluded to by Bertandjoyce@17 and Alliacol@18.
    I’ll be celebrating today. But “…very sad to be leaving Parliament – at least for now…” He’ll be back, like some cut-price Terminator.

  21. I don’t understand pin money (14 across) as being “expenditure on luxuries”. Surely pin money is the opposite: expenditure on essentials?

  22. Sussexguyuk@21

    Chambers has the following:
    pin money noun
    1. Orig money allotted by a man to his wife or female dependants for private expenses
    2. Extra money earned by a man or woman to spend on incidental or luxury items
    3. A trifling amount of money

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