It’s the end of the week and all is well – we have a Phi puzzle to solve and blog.
We both have difficulty with the spelling of 5ac so were pleased that the parsing of the clue was clear. We’d never heard of the cocktail in 26ac but our guess from the anagram was correct. It’s me, Joyce blogging today and my favourite clue was 23ac.
We couldn’t see a theme today but with Q, Z and V appearing in the completed grid, we thought it may be a pangram. However after checking we found that J, W and X are missing.
Thanks Phi.
Looking forward to seeing some S&Bs at York tomorrow.
BAND (party) AGE (a long time)
A reversal (‘recalled’) of LIE (story) I’D inside or ‘encountered in’ CH (church)
A reversal (‘on reflection’) of CRIB (simple dwelling) + H (hard)
An anagram (‘rocks’) of AIRLIFTED. We only knew EID rather than the longer version of the festival.
E (energy) THE (article) REALLY (are you sure?)
A clue as definition – First and last letters only or ‘lacking content’ of HeavilY PromotE
PASH (infatuation) ‘about’ R (Rector) and I (one)
A reversal (‘rebounding’) of R (right) AZAN (call from Muezzin) and an anagram (‘bustling’) of THE
An anagram (‘differently’) of EQUIPS around or ‘taking on board’ H Y (first and last letters or ‘extremes’ of hardy)
DAME (woman) around or ‘accepting’ AG (silver)
PROM (concert) with P (piano) moved to the end
An anagram (‘restating’) of OUR MUSICAL
An anagram (‘shaken’) of AVOID IT kID (missing first letter or ‘not initially’) Kid Not initial letters only or ‘initially’ Thanks KVa
FARE (get on) around or ‘securing’ L (line)
REST (others) YaLE (American University) without or ‘but not’ A (American)
EN (space) between H (husband) and PECK (kiss)
BILE (spiteful comments) ‘about’ (B (book)
NO RLY (railway) around or ‘covering’ THE R (first letter or ‘start’ of oute)
An anagram (‘a variety’) of RICH PATOIS
A (first letter or ‘beginning’ to adjudicate) in N and S (north and south – ‘points’) after (‘supporting’ in a down clue) EVE (first lady)
ILL (unfortunate) AC (account) after CAD (scoundrel)
IDEa (plan) missing last letter or ‘falling short’ around or ‘keeping’ L (fifty)
sICILY (Mediterranean locale) missing first letter or ‘not initially’
R (Romeo) in HOSE and SHOE (different items of footwear)
RAG (newspaper) A MUFFIN (cake)
PA (father) PE (exercising) ROVER (dog)
ORATE (harangue) after (‘under’ in a down clue) a reversal (‘inverted’) of PAVE (flag)
UNIT (team) I’VE (I have) after P (first letter or ‘opening’ of prison)
sLAVISH (mindlessly following) without S (first letter or ‘source’ of success) Thanks KVa again
A ‘reversal’ of SAD (drab) I’M
S (first letter or ‘heading’ to Swansea) PEAK (busiest time)
B (bishop) in BAY (recess)
VODKATINI
A minor error in the blog:
AVOID IT K N (kid not initially)
LAVISH
SLAVISH is mindlessly following (rather than mindlessly), I think.
My top faves: HYPE and ROMP.
Thanks, Phi and B&J!
Thanks KVa – we lost the plot somewhere, probably due to blogging and checking York puzzles for tomorrow.
We will sort out the blog out this afternoon when we are back from bird watching at Frampton Marsh.
Have a great time B&J!
First failure for some time on the Indy puzzle. ‘Nazareth’ was my comeuppance.
Regular solvers will know that I have been making my way through the rhyming words of Louis MacNeice’s Bagpipe Music to seed my grids, and we’ve reached verses 6-8:
It’s no go the gossip column, it’s no go the Ceilidh,
All we want is a mother’s help and a sugar-stick for the baby.
Willie Murray cut his thumb, couldn’t count the damage,
Took the hide of an Ayrshire cow and used it for a bandage.
His brother caught three hundred cran when the seas were lavish,
Threw the bleeders back in the sea and went upon the parish.
It’s no go the Herring Board, it’s no go the Bible,
All we want is a packet of fags when our hands are idle.
Verses 9 and 10 will follow next year, I shouldn’t wonder…
Thanks Phi and BnJ
I’m probably being extremely dense but I see no instruction to drop the ID from KID, and as far as I’m aware KID = K isn’t a standard abbreviation.
Help please.
Simon S@8
VODKATINI
kid not initially=the first letters of the words ‘kid’ and ‘not’ i.e. K N
Simon, it is as KVa said @1. K N is Kid Not initially (initial letters).
https://www.fifteensquared.net/2011/03/02/inquisitor-1165-a-favourite-poem-by-phi/ – The ‘no go’ lines
https://www.fifteensquared.net/2022/09/23/independent-11216-phi/ – Verses 1 & 2
…and https://www.fifteensquared.net/2022/11/18/independent-11264-phi/ – Nobody spotted this at the time – Verses 4 & 5
Thank you – I was indeed being dense!
…”Nobody spotted this” – not even Phi, himself: ‘No theme in this one…’
Annie MacDougall went to milk, caught her foot in the heather,
Woke to hear a dance record playing of Old Vienna.
It’s no go your maidenheads, it’s no go your culture,
All we want is a Dunlop tyre and the devil mend the puncture.
The Laird o’Phelps spent Hogmanay declaring he was sober,
Counted his feet to prove the fact and found he had one foot over.
Mrs Carmichael had her fifth, looked at the job with repulsion,
Said to the midwife ‘Take it away; I’m through with
over-production’.
Seeing the R and Allah, I bunged in Ramallah instead of Nazareth, which slowed me down, but I liked EVAPORATE and LAVISH. Thanks, all.
Thanks both. Just as I was congratulating myself for remembering Eid Al-Fitr, NAZARETH exposed my ignorance of the words Muezzin and azan, the definition for which I knew as Adhan, thanks mainly to Yusuf Islam a.k.a. Cat Stevens. Solved the clue nonetheless, and thankfully wasted not very much time trying to make more connections given that BIBLE had already made an appearance
A nice straightforward solve with no knowledge of the theme required. Took ages to see the parsing of VODKATINI but the penny did eventually drop. Patrivularly liked PHYSIQUE and HORSESHOE among others.
Sadly, I won’t be able to make it to York tomorrow.
Thanks, Phi and B&J.
Happy that we finished this, so feel we can justify being there this evening!
Raced though most and then struggled with this last seven or so. Got the anagram wrong with 26 at first, we also started with kid without the k and it was LOI.
Really liked horseshoe. 🙂
Thanks Phi and B&J.
Thanks to everyone for the comments. KVa – we have amended the blog AND we had an interesting time at Frampton Marsh. Now near York with friends ready for tomorrow!
Thanks Phi for dropping by. We will try and be on the lookout next year for the next part of the series.