Independent 11546 / Phi

18 comments on “Independent 11546 / Phi”

1. 

   Phi

   #1 - Fri 13th Oct 23, 07:00

   
   

   I sent the editor a few references showing that the opera is spelled both ways (even found a few suggestions that Hofmannstahl’s original had the C).

   Yes, there’s a theme, btw.

2. 

   KVa

   #2 - Fri 13th Oct 23, 07:28

   
   

   Thanks, Phi and duncanshiell!
   Enjoyed it all.
   Is the theme ‘magazines and publishing houses’?

3. 

   Mw7000

   #3 - Fri 13th Oct 23, 07:31

   
   

   A few Martin Amis novels in there…

4. 

   duncanshiell

   #4 - Fri 13th Oct 23, 07:43

   
   

   Mw7000 @ 3

   Well spotted – I wouldn’t have got that in a month of Sundays without a nudge towards Amis in the clues or the grid.

5. 

   Tatrasman

   #5 - Fri 13th Oct 23, 07:56

   
   

   I’m with Duncan in the matter of Elektra v Electra: although a ‘c’ may be used for the mythological character, in the case of the opera a ‘k’ is how the composer would have spelled it. Otherwise all very nice, and pleased to learn ‘ticking’ as a material. The theme meant nothing to me, but thanks anyway to Phi and Duncan.

6. 

   Widdersbel

   #6 - Fri 13th Oct 23, 09:08

   
   

   I’m with Phi on the opera. Should we only ever refer to Die Zauberflöte and Der Fliegende Holländer or is it acceptable to anglicise them? If the latter, why would it not also be acceptable to anglicise Elektra?

   Didn’t spot the theme (I never do) but it’s blindingly obvious now it’s been mentioned, of course.

   Lots of good stuff here – faves were TIMES, SATURATED, TRAIN. Thanks, Phi and Duncan.

7. 

   FrankieG

   #7 - Fri 13th Oct 23, 12:38

   
   

   Where TERRAIN, INANIMATE, & TRIBALISM cross you can find all the contiguous letters of MARTIN AMIS

8. 

   PostMark

   #8 - Fri 13th Oct 23, 13:05

   
   

   I have read some Martin Amis but did not recognise the titles, let alone spot the hidden author nina identified by FrankieG. I just took this as a nice, clean, typical Friday Phi. I share the same favourites as Widdersbel and would add SWANSONG. To my shame, I did not actually recognise LONDON as a University. I am familiar with many of the establishments that are a part of the wider federation but didn’t think of them as part of that bigger entity.

   Thanks Phi and duncan

9. 

   allan_c

   #9 - Fri 13th Oct 23, 13:16

   
   

   A bit slow to start but then finished quite quickly; missed the theme, of course. We did raise an eyebrow about ELECTRA, and don’t really see how ‘Pampers’ = BABIES – OK, Pampers is a brand name for nappies and other baby products but is that sufficient to equate the two?
   Thanks, though, to Phi and Duncan.

10. 

    FrankieG

    #10 - Fri 13th Oct 23, 13:38

    
    

    https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/baby#Verb (transitive) To coddle; to pamper somebody like an infant.
    (transitive) To tend (something) with care; to be overly attentive to (something), fuss over.

11. 

    Mw7000

    #11 - Fri 13th Oct 23, 13:40

    
    

    Baby – literally, to pamper (ie as a verb) in Chambers.

12. 

    nicbach

    #12 - Fri 13th Oct 23, 14:44

    
    

    Thankyou both.
    If I went into a shop to ask for some rasps, wouldn’t an ironmonger be more appropriate than a greengrocer? While Iwas there, I doubt I would have much hope of ordering a quantity of straw, but I might get a tin of black.

13. 

    PostMark

    #13 - Fri 13th Oct 23, 14:54

    
    

    nicbach @12: RASP is in Chambers for Raspberry with (now informal and Scot) as the rider. I am inclined to agree with you: I wonder if Messrs Barker and Corbett considered it for the famous Fork Handles sketch! Another of those words that only crops up in crosswords, at least with that def.

14. 

    allan_c

    #14 - Fri 13th Oct 23, 16:17

    
    

    Thank you, FrankieG and Mw7000.

15. 

    Xmac

    #15 - Fri 13th Oct 23, 16:19

    
    

    Mostly quite hard for my GK, but these lines have stuck in my memory for some reason (Iolanthe) …

    Then the blanketing tickles – you feel like mixed pickles – so terribly sharp is the pricking,
    And you’re hot, and you’re cross, and you tumble and toss till there’s nothing ‘twixt you and the TICKING

    Thanks both

16. 

    Petert

    #16 - Fri 13th Oct 23, 18:38

    
    

    Couldn’t help seeing a phantom greengrocer’s apostrophe on the rasps.

17. 

    Dormouse

    #17 - Fri 13th Oct 23, 19:01

    
    

    I did wonder about the spelling of ELECTRA. By a nice coincidence, I’ve just booked to see the opera in the new year. I had booked to see it in 2020, but it was cancelled due to the pandemic. Let’s see if I have more luck this time.

18. 

    FrankieG

    #18 - Sat 14th Oct 23, 10:11

    
    

    I’m a fan of MARTIN AMIS so I’ll spell out the theme: Dead Babies(1975), Money (1984), London Fields (1989), Time’s Arrow (1991), & Night Train (1997).
    My favourites: Other People (1981) – “‘…Gob less.’ ‘I’ll try’…” & The Zone of Interest (2014).
    Coincidentally, I recognised Dexter Fletcher being photographed at last Saturday’s LFF Scorsese premiere, looked him up in the BFI Mediatheque, found and watched The Rachel Papers(1989) based on Amis’s debut novel published in 1973 by Jonathan CAPE
    celebrating it’s Golden Anniversary – making a nice change from…&c – Amis’s later verdicts: “crude…incredibly cack-handed…clumsily put together”
    ‘Amis was knighted in the 2023 King’s Birthday Honours for services to literature, with the knighthood being backdated to the day before his death.’
    inaniMate inanimAte terRain inanimaTe terraIn terraiN… …inanimAte inaniMate tribalIsm tribaliSm
    Requiescat In Pace – he was an agnostic, not an atheist. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Amis#Agnosticism

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