Independent 11,468 by Phi

by

Phi on a Friday as usual.

A few slightly obscure entries and loose definitions here, as we often get from Phi, but all close enough to be gettable.

Phi usually starts his grid-fill with a theme, but often a somewhat obscure one that we might not be expected to spot. Today I saw ORANGES and LEMONS, but couldn’t find anything else that seemed to be related, until I asked Google for help. We’re looking at the works of author Christopher Fowler, who died earlier this year; apart from FOWLER himself, the titles (from his Bryant and May detective series) include STRANGE TIDE, WILD CHAMBER, HALL of MIRRORS, and ORANGES and LEMONS.

Thanks Phi for the fun as always.

Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1 HALL
Love lost in greeting students (4)
HALL[o] (a greeting) without the O (zero = love in tennis scoring).

I’m not sure about the definition. “Hall” can be a college, or the building where students live, or the room where they eat; but even as “college” it seems a bit of a stretch to equate it with “students”.
3 VOCAL MUSIC
I’ll abandon vicious rocking, embracing quiet songs? (5,5)
Anagram (rocking) VIC[i]OUS “abandoned by” one letter I, around (embracing) CALM (quiet).
9 WILD
Angry with line presented in papers (4)
W (abbreviation for with), then L (abbreviation for line) in ID (identity documents = papers).
10 SAUERKRAUT
Turks are confused, finding gold in vegetable dish (10)
Anagram (confused) of TURKS ARE, with AU (Au = chemical symbol for gold, from Latin aurum) found in it.

Pickled cabbage.
12 SAPLING
Youngster father held back, seizing catapult? On the contrary (7)
PA (father) reversed (held back), inside SLING (catapult). “On the contrary” tells us that we need SLING containing (seizing) AP and not the other way round.

A young tree, or metaphorically a young person.
13 CHAMBER
Indication of caution linked to church room (7)
AMBER (a light indicating “caution” in the red-amber-green system) after CH (abbreviation for church).
14 OLD NORSE
Viking text indicating treatment of one’s lord (3,5)
Anagram (treatment) of ONE’S LORD.

Language used in Scandinavia during the Viking Age.
16 FOWLER
Bird-catcher with bird in iron ring, initially (6)
OWL (bird), in FE (Fe = chemical symbol for iron, from Latin ferrum) + initial letter of R[ing].
18 REMEDY
Rather thin, requiring millions invested in cure (6)
REEDY (describing a “rather thin” high-pitched sound like a reed pipe) with M (abbreviation for millions) inserted (invested).
20 BRIGHTON
Resort book’s absolutely correct (8)
B (abbreviation for book) + RIGHT ON (absolutely correct).

Seaside resort in southern England.
24 STRANGE
Stone cooking system is unusual (7)
ST (abbreviation for stone = measure of weight = 14 pounds) + RANGE (large kitchen cooker).
25 MIRRORS
Mistakes – letting European escape – by British spies: they prompt reflections (7)
[e]RRORS (mistakes) without the E (abbreviation for European), next to MI (as in MI5 = Military Intelligence = British spies).
26 TRAGICOMIC
Regalia, say, returned – very small wrapping, tip removed – so sad you could laugh (10)
CIGAR (for example regalia, which is an old name for a type of large cigar) reversed (returned), with [a]TOMIC (very small) around it (wrapping), with the first letter (tip) removed.
27 TIDE
Obliged, we hear, to supply tabulated item (4)
Homophone (we hear) of TIED (obliged).

As in tide tables = published lists of the expected times of high and low tides at a particular location. Though “something listed in a table” seems a loose definition.
28 PATTER-SONG
Version of G’n’S operetta not seeing an end to me? (6-4)
Anagram (version) of G N S OPER[e]TTA without one E which is the end letter of [m]E.

Clue-as-definition: Gilbert and Sullivan operettas frequently contain patter-songs = comic songs with a lot of words, usually delivered rather fast.
29 OMIT
Forget nothing provided by US university (4)
O (zero = nothing) + MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology = US university).
DOWN
1 HAWKSMOOR
English architect tries to sell space, after suffering reversal (9)
HAWKS (as a verb = advertises goods for sale in public = tries to sell), then ROOM (space) reversed.

Nicholas Hawksmoor, architect who worked alongside Christopher Wren.
2 LILY PAD
Play restaged in top lakeside spot? (4,3)
Anagram (restaged) of PLAY, in LID (top).

The large floating leaf of a water lily, often depicted as a place for frogs and/or fairies to sit.
4 ORANGES
Sources of Cointreau or spirits, dispensing litre (7)
OR + ANGE[l]S (spirits) without (dispensing with, surely?) the L (abbreviation for litre).

The French liqueur Cointreau is flavoured with orange rind.
5 AGENCY
Long time Conservative occupying US city office (6)
AGE (long time, as in “it seems an age since . . .”), then C (Conservative) inserted into NY (New York = US city).
6 MAKE A LONG ARM
Reach instruction for knitting a giant sweater? (4,1,4,3)
Definition and cryptic definition. A phrase meaning to stretch out for something at a distance; or something you’d have to do (twice) as part of making a very big sweater.
7 SPAG BOL
Trattoria food shortcomings turning up? Eat quickly, finishing early (4,3)
GAPS (shortcomings) reversed (turning up = upwards in a down clue), then BOL[t] (eat quickly) without the last letter (finishing early).

Short for spaghetti bolognese – though that’s a British concept. An Italian trattoria would probably serve bolognese sauce with flat pasta such as tagliatelle, or tube-shaped pasta such as penne, rather than with spaghetti.
8 CATER
Worried, interrupting king’s supply (5)
ATE (worried), inserted into (interrupting) CR (abbreviation for Carolus Rex = King Charles).
11 VIN ORDINAIRE
Plonk second of toes into foaming Indian river (3,9)
Second letter of [t]O[es] inserted into an anagram (foaming) of INDIAN RIVER.

Plonk = slang for basic cheap wine = vin ordinaire in French. (Allegedly it’s a corruption of vin blanc = white wine.)
15 EBB
Retreat observed in the BBC (3)
Hidden answer (observed in . . .) in [th]E BB[c].
17 RENASCENT
Bird heading off, soaring, showing new life (9)
[w]REN (a bird) with the first letter (heading) taken off, then ASCENT (soaring, as a gerund).
19 MORDANT
Second tirade about department is caustic (7)
MO (short for moment = second), then RANT (tirade) around D (abbreviation for department).
21 RAMPION
Inclination to have one regularly consuming salad vegetable (7)
RAMP (slope = inclination) + I (one in Roman numerals) + ON (as in “I’m on antibiotics” = regularly consuming a particular medication).

An edible plant also known as lamb’s lettuce or corn salad.
22 THORIUM
Radioactive element, hot, decaying – bound to involve uranium (7)
Anagram (decaying) of HOT, then RIM (outer edge = bound) including (involving) U (chemical symbol for uranium).
23 LEMONS
Disappointing items shown by telescope component capturing only half of Moon (6)
LENS (component of a telescope) containing (capturing) the first half of MO[on].

Lemon = slang for something not as good as you expected, such as a film you really didn’t like or a car that keeps going wrong.
24 SET UP
Organise a number of games at university (3,2)
SET (a series of games in tennis) + UP (of students, in residence at university rather than home for the holidays).

18 comments on “Independent 11,468 by Phi”

  1. Thanks Qurister. I found HALL for students online otherwise nho. Couldn’t parse RAMPION. It was well disguised. Appreciate your explanation. TIDE was also a hidden reversal in 27a. I enjoyed the puzzle. I found it difficult but satisfying to complete. Thanks Phi.

  2. Thanks to Phi for the lovely puzzle and thanks to Quirister for the detailed and neat blog (as always)!

  3. HALL
    I didn’t know it meant students too. I could not verify it myself but I take Sofamore’s word.
    TIDE
    Share Quirister’s view on the definition.
    PATTER-SONG
    The whole clue is used for the wordplay but is the whole clue used for the definition?
    Someone may help.

  4. Pleasing to have an obscure theme so unobtrusive that it can be blissfully ignored, and yet it was the reason behind some obscure entries. I did wonder, as a result, and in the very nice blog I was answered.

  5. Like our blogger, I found some of these a bit of a stretch, but managed to get everything in the end. The theme was totally lost on me, despite which much enjoyed, so thanks Phi and Quirister.

  6. As usual, I missed the theme, through I love the Bryant and May books.
    Knowing the setter’s interests I suspected a musical theme – (music) HALL, VOCAL MUSIC, CHAMBER, PATTER SONG, perhaps MIRRORS (as in mirror canons), pun on “mordent”, RENASCENT (relating to Renaissance), O&L children’s song.
    Perhap Phi wil drop in to let us know whether he intended both!

  7. Thanks both. Dismayed to get HALL as my third attempt after hill and hell, as had forgotten ‘hallo’ can be the greeting, not just a call directed at animals. RAMPION was unknown, and would never have seen ‘regularly consuming’ as the 844th meaning of ‘on’. Saw ORANGES and LEMONS early and was awaiting the addition of farthings, whilst realistically suspecting it might relate to some artistic work yet to come my way

  8. We missed the Bryant and May theme, although one of us has enjoyed the books (but not read all of them – memo: seek them out). That didn’t spoil the pleasure of solving, though, one or two tricky parsings notwithstanding such as TRAGICOMIC till we looked up ‘regalia’ in Chambers.
    Favourite was PATTER-SONG and we think there might be an extra shade of meaning in the clue. Possibly the best-known patter-song is Ko-ko’s As some day it may happen from The Mikado in which, as Lord High Executioner, he has a “little list” of undesirables. An updated version might include something like “the cryptic crossword setter who writes impenetrable clues”; could “not seeing an end to me” be expressing Phi’s hope that he’s not on that list? At any rate we rarely find any of his clues impenetrable.
    Thanks, Phi and Quirister.

  12. Simon @11 – the intention was not lost on me….I just hadn’t thought of it, and particularly in its extended format ‘regularly consuming’ rather than e.g. ‘using’. Would you honestly say ‘I’m regularly consuming drugs’?….I’d be slightly concerned if someone did. I’m also all for variety, so absolutely not a complaint, just my thoughts on how wide-ranging a two-letter word can be

  13. I have to say this was a bit of a slog. I failed on HALL and found plenty of other clues very difficult, especially TRAGICOMIC which I had no hope of parsing. PATTER-SONG, MAKE A LONG ARM and RAMPION were all new and took a long time in coming. Also missed the themes but that doesn’t bother me with Phi’s puzzles; well done to those who did see them, especially FrankieG @9.

    Phi’s alter ego in the G today was a bit less difficult but still pretty tough; worth a go if you haven’t done it.

    Thanks to Phi and Quirister

  14. Unlike others, I progressed through this more fluently than I did with the Guardian offering from the same setter. Though, as there, I was defeated by one with HAWKSMOOR being a NHO. I did need the blog to help understand what a PATTER SONG is and I am completely unaware of the theme so, apart from noticing ORANGES and LEMONS, there was nothing to see there.

    Thanks Phi and Quirister

  15. Christopher Fowler’s Bryant and May series, with their contemporary takes on Golden Age detective stories, with the solving being done by extremely elderly policemen (nonagenarians at least by the last few), has given me so much pleasure over the years that his passing had to be marked.

  16. “Make a long arm” is a weird unheard of phrase for us. And I don’t get hall at all. So the usual mix of fun and mystery.

  17. Haven’t read his other books but greatly enjoyed “The Book of Forgotten Authors”. A journey into those literary parts that we don’t normally reach. Recommended …
    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Book-Forgotten-Authors-Christopher-Fowler/dp/1786484900/ref=asc_df_1786484900/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=310817435886&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=5276240582420860647&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006886&hvtargid=pla-563230191100&psc=1&th=1&psc=1

  18. Always love Phi, but I’d like to express extra thanks to Quirister today for taking the time to expand on his parsing. In particular 17, where I started to doubt “soaring” and “ascent” being the same until I saw the “gerund” explanation. Of course – but I totally missed it at the time. Many thanks!

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