Our Phiday challenge to round off the week.
There are a few unfamiliar words here, as often happens with Phi, but they’re mostly guessable and the clueing is clear. The two long anagrams down the sides are impressive. I also liked the images in 13a (a US lawyer having to defend a traitor) and 17d (a politician not to be trusted after a few drinks): I’m sure neither of those has happened in real life recently . . .
Another regular feature of Phi puzzles is that they’re usually more than the sum of their parts. Here we have a message in the unchecked letters at the top and bottom, hinting that we should look for HIDDEN GEMS; and indeed there are several instances of GEM hidden among the solutions. Thanks Phi for the fun.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 7 | ELEANOR |
Former queen, English, with spare soldiers (7)
|
| E (abbreviation for English) + LEAN (spare = slender) + OR (abbreviation for “other ranks” = soldiers who aren’t officers).
Eleanor of Aquitaine, married to a French king and then to an English one. |
||
| 8 | A BIT OFF |
American started to eat, displaying poor taste (1,3,3)
|
| A (abbreviation for American) + BIT OFF (took a bite = started to eat).
Colloquial phrase for something that isn’t very polite, or perhaps for food that’s started to spoil. |
||
| 10 | CHEER |
Less expensive, reduced by a penny? Some measure of enthusiasm here (5)
|
| CHE[ap]ER (less expensive), without A + P (abbreviation for penny). | ||
| 11 | SEDGEMOOR |
Battle stations at first beside border area after retreat (9)
|
| First letter of S[tations] + EDGE (border), then ROOM (area?) reversed (after retreat).
Battle in the Monmouth Rebellion against King James II. |
||
| 12 | UXORICIDE |
Crime in union? Union initially cross over progress involving detectives mostly (9)
|
| Initial letter of U[nion] + X (cross) + O (abbreviation for over, in cricket scoring) + RIDE (progress?), containing CI[d] (detectives) without the last letter (mostly). I’m not quite convinced by my parsing of the second half, though.
The crime of killing one’s wife = a crime within the union of marriage. |
||
| 13 | JUDAS |
Not entirely right to involve US lawyer for traitor (5)
|
| JUS[t] (morally right) without the last letter (not entirely), containing DA (abbreviation for District Attorney = US lawyer).
The disciple who betrayed Jesus, or generally a metaphorical name for a traitor. |
||
| 14 | ANY |
Some area normally left empty (3)
|
| A (abbreviation for area) + N[ormall]Y (left empty = inner letters removed).
As in “Do you have any time?” = “Do you have some time?”. |
||
| 15 | ANGERED |
Get on with Communist, keeping Nationalist annoyed (7)
|
| AGE (get on = become older) + RED (slang for Communist), containing N (abbreviation for Nationalist). | ||
| 17 | ADO |
Year that never existed for business (3)
|
| The division of history into BC and AD doesn’t have a year zero, although some people might refer incorrectly to AD 0: the year immediately after 1 BC is called 1 AD.
In the sense of “busy-ness” = activity = ado. |
||
| 18 | ENSUE |
Follow university in various points (5)
|
| U (abbreviation for university) in E N S E (various points of the compass). | ||
| 20 | LODGEMENT |
Deposit: dodgy gold, by chaps investing in film (9)
|
| Anagram (dodgy) of GOLD, then MEN (chaps) inserted into ET (the Spielberg film).
A deposit of money in a bank account; or a deposit of mud, rock etc causing a blockage. |
||
| 21 | ESPERANTO |
Exotic language playing on repeat has son engrossed (9)
|
| Anagram (playing) of ON REPEAT, with S (abbreviation for son) inserted.
An artificially-created language. |
||
| 23 | EATEN |
Some dupe at Enfield is taken in (5)
|
| Hidden answer (some . . .) in [dup]E AT EN[field]. | ||
| 24 | TALENTS |
Part of Bible engaged in stories: here’s subject of parable (7)
|
| NT (abbreviation for New Testament = part of the Bible) inserted into TALES (stories).
The parable of the talents is told in Matthew chapter 25, with a very similar parable in Luke chapter 19. |
||
| 25 | ATTIRED |
Prepared a bit of tea? No longer fresh (7)
|
| A + first letter (a bit) of T[ea] + TIRED (no longer fresh).
Attired = dressed = prepared. |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | HEGEMONY |
Dominant influence, say, breaching border on conclusion of foray (8)
|
| EG (Latin exempli gratia = for example = say), inserted into (breaching) HEM (border) + ON + last letter (conclusion) of [fora]Y. | ||
| 2 | INORDINATE |
Immoderate Frenchman dodging less important girlfriend, keeping home (10)
|
| [m]INOR (less important) without the M (abbreviation for Monsieur = Frenchman), then DATE (someone you go on a date with = girlfriend) containing IN (home). | ||
| 3 | DRESSING |
Relish what is usually a morning activity (8)
|
| Double definition. A savoury sauce; or putting on clothes. | ||
| 4 | DAWDLE |
Walk slowly and walk clumsily, with top half twisted (6)
|
| WADDLE (walk clumsily), with the first three letters (top half, in a down clue) reversed (twisted). | ||
| 5 | EIRE |
British politician leaving British dominion for another country (4)
|
| E[mp]IRE (British dominion) without MP (Member of Parliament = British politician). I don’t think either “British” is really necessary.
Ireland in its own language. |
||
| 6 | NO GOOD |
Useless grant producing rant if so? (2,4)
|
| Reverse wordplay: GRANT becomes RANT if you take away the G (abbreviation for good). | ||
| 7 | ENCOURAGEMENT |
Augment encore, possibly, crying for more? (13)
|
| Anagram (possibly) of AUGMENT ENCORE.
Crying as a noun, in the sense of “a loud shout”. |
||
| 9 | FORESHORTENED |
Given new perspective, therefore nods after reconsideration (13)
|
| Anagram (after reconsideration) of THEREFORE NODS. | ||
| 13 | JUDGEMENTS |
Opinions intended to dismiss article probing Biblical book (10)
|
| ME[a]NT (intended), dismissing the A (the indefinite article), inserted into JUDGES (book in the Old Testament). | ||
| 16 | RADIO HAM |
Broadcaster had Maori in broadcast (5,3)
|
| Anagram (in broadcast = being scattered) of HAD MAORI.
Slang for an amateur radio operator. |
||
| 17 | ALEATORY |
After beer a politician is unpredictable (8)
|
| A TORY (a Convervative politician) after ALE (beer).
Random, dependent on chance: from the Latin word aleator = a dice-player. |
||
| 19 | SUPPLY |
Work steadily in pursuit of drink in amount provided (6)
|
| PLY (work steadily, as in “ply one’s trade”) after (in pursuit of) SUP (drink). | ||
| 20 | LANOSE |
Woolly old sheep’s heading into track (6)
|
| O (old) + first letter (heading) of S[heep], inserted into LANE (track).
Not a familiar word, but guessable via “lanolin” = oily substance from wool. |
||
| 22 | RING |
Singer in Germany may include this tetralogy (4)
|
| Hidden answer (. . . may include this) in [singe]R IN G[ermany].
Extended definition: the Ring is a short name for a very long musical composition, German composer Richard Wagner’s four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen. |
5d did seem a bit odd. I took it as the two “British” cancelling, i.e. B & MP leaving B & EMPIRE.
Hi, Quirister – typo at 8a “started” is underlined.
Thanks FrankieG – no idea how that happened, but now fixed.
Beaten by two in the far NW; the interlocking HEGEMONY and ELEANOR. Both are things I do know but the first is a word I’ve never actually used myself and the second, a queen I rarely encounter. Frustrating. Yes, quite a few tricky words; as Quirister says, they were gettable from the cluing. I did not spot the nina or, therefore, the jewels disguised within.
DRESSING, SEDGMOOR, JUDAS and CHEER my favourites for today.
Thanks Phi and Quirister
On EIRE…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89ire
…Wikipedia tells me it needs an acute accent over the first E, or it’s a different word, with a different pronunciation meaning “a burden, load or encumbrance”.
I parsed it as BRITISH EMPIRE without the BRITISH and without a British MP as distinct from an Irish TD.
Thanks both. I didn’t look for a Nina once the two letter ys were uncovered at the bottom, and ultimately failed on UXORICIDE which will delight Mrs TFO as I felt it was 50/50 containing a ‘c’ or an ‘x’. Always pleased to see ELEANOR, which is the name of Miss TFO
For ESPERANTO I thought It a bit strange that Phi was adding “ON” to the anagram, then subtracting “ON” from the “SON” but I suppose that was for the surface.
Thanks Phi & Q
RADIO HAM reminded me of long ago when Phi, in his other guise of the Guardian’s Pangakupu
HAD a MAORI Nina that went slightly wrong. No – it was just 3 days ago. 🙂
Good to see the apt Nina(s) – HIDDEN GEMS indeed. No hope with the parsing of EIRE for which I had to do a fruitless alphabet trawl to make sure it wasn’t something else. I parsed UXORICIDE as in the blog but admit I didn’t give the finer details of the parsing too much thought once I had what looked like the correct answer.
It’s strange but my instant word association for Aquitaine is ELEANOR of, even though I know virtually nothing about her (or did know virtually nothing about her until I just looked up Wikipedia?).
Thanks to Phi and Quirister
Well, we almost got it all. For 2dn we thought there was a word ‘inorminate’ (there isn’t – not in Chambers, anyway) which would parse with ‘mate’ for ‘girlfriend’. Shame, really, as it would have provided anothe hidden GEM diagonally down to the right ftom the G of HEGEMONY.
No problems otherwise. We liked SEDGEMOOR, NO GOOD and FORESHORTENED.
Thanks, Phi and Quirister.
WP @9 same here re Aquitaine. I recall listening to a radio programme about her whilst on a long drive. Fascinating lady. But I still just don’t automatically think of her when I’m thinking queens.
Thanks Phi and Quirister.
Saw the nina and put together ONY(nearby)X in NW before seeing the not so hidden gems.
Couldn’t parse 2d and thought Sedgemore was a civil war battle so many thanks to Quirister.
Liked 4d. Thumbs up to the ever reliable Phi. One day I’ll remember to look for the Nina. I understand it’s a Friday tradition?
Nick @13: Phi is usually the setter on Fridays and he likes to include some sort of theme or Nina, but it’s a Phi tradition rather than a Friday one. There’s generally some sort of theme or Nina on a Tuesday, whoever the setter is.
Nick@13 – snap re SEDGEMOOR, but Google told me I must be mixing it up with EDGEHILL – they both have EDGEs in.
I’m with WordPlodder at 9 supra in not giving the parsing much thought when I ‘get’ what bodily feels right as the answer.