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It’s Phiday again.
As usual with Phi, there are a couple of unfamiliar entries – I hadn’t come across 21d or the variant spelling in 24a – but they were guessable. I liked the long anagram in 5d.
Phi’s puzzles often contain a theme or Nina, but sometimes it’s (deliberately) so obscure that only Phi could be expected to understand it. Or sometimes they don’t. I wondered about AUNTIE and NIECES in opposite corners, and then about ORFORD NESS appearing across the boundary of consecutive clues (it’s a former Ministry of Defence site, now a nature reserve), but I couldn’t find anything else to go with either of these. No doubt Phi will explain if necessary. Thanks to him as always.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | AUNTIE |
Relative’s name inscribed in gold band (6)
|
| N (abbreviation for name) inserted into AU (Au = chemical symbol for gold, from Latin aurum) + TIE (band = narrow strip of fabric). | ||
| 5 | REGISTRY |
Where files are kept concerning matter linked to railway (8)
|
| RE (concerning) + GIST (matter = the essence of something) + RY (abbreviation for railway). | ||
| 9 | OPERATIC |
Eye’s taking in historical period of musical theatre (8)
|
| OPTIC (eye’s = belonging to the eye, as in “optic nerve”) taking in ERA (historical period). | ||
| 10 | IF ONLY |
I sprint, keeping on? I wish (2,4)
|
| I + FLY (sprint = to move very fast), containing ON.
I wish = if only = expressions of a desire for something unlikely to be achieved. |
||
| 11 | FRAU |
European woman’s daughter dodging conman (4)
|
| FRAU[d] (conman), with the D (abbreviation for daughter) missing (dodging).
German title for an adult woman. |
||
| 12 | APPRENTICE |
Programme one element of education to lure trainee (10)
|
| APP (software programme, though that’s usually spelled program) + R (as in “the three Rs” = one element of basic education) + ENTICE (lure). | ||
| 13 | KASHMIRI |
Remains of fire I’m returning in anger, after setback regarding Indic people (8)
|
| ASH (remains after a fire), then I’M reversed (returning), all inside IRK (anger, as a verb = annoy) reversed (after setback).
Associated with the people group originating from the Kashmir Valley. |
||
| 14 | ORFORD |
Suffolk village supplying men for Duke (6)
|
| OR (abbreviation for “other ranks” = ordinary soldiers as opposed to officers = men) + FOR + D (abbreviation for duke).
Coastal village in Suffolk, south-east England. |
||
| 16 | NESSIE |
Monster is seen at sea (6)
|
| Anagram (at sea = confused) of IS SEEN.
Nickname for the Loch Ness Monster. |
||
| 18 | NOBILITY |
Note freedom of movement initially denied the peerage (8)
|
| N (abbreviation for note) + [m]OBILITY (freedom of movement) without its initial letter. | ||
| 20 | BREAK BREAD |
Eat, having free time and money (5,5)
|
| BREAK (free time, as in “lunch break”) + BREAD (slang for money). | ||
| 23 | SCOW |
Broadcast about launch of canal boat (4)
|
| SOW (broadcast = to scatter seed for growing) around the first letter (launch) of C[anal].
A barge or other flat-bottomed boat. |
||
| 24 | HALLAL |
Islamic ritual beginning to laud God of Islam, on reflection (6)
|
| First letter of L[aud] + ALLAH (Islamic name for God), all reversed (on reflection).
Usually spelled halal: as a verb, it means to slaughter an animal according to the ritual approved by Islamic law. |
||
| 25 | TEMPORAL |
Casual worker using voice? About time (8)
|
| TEMP (short for temporary = casual worker = someone employed on a short-term basis without an ongoing contract) + ORAL (spoken as opposed to written = using voice). | ||
| 26 | LAY WASTE |
Was number 4 in Portugal and Spain after song was devastating (3,5)
|
| WAS + fourth letter of [por]T[ugal] + E (abbreviation for Espana = Spain), all after LAY (an old word for a song).
I’m not sure the grammar is quite right in the definition. Surely “lay waste [to . . .]” is present tense, and the past tense (required by “was devastating . . .”) would be “laid waste to . . .”? But perhaps there’s a construction I’ve missed. |
||
| 27 | NIECES |
Relatives I depicted in unpleasant scene (6)
|
| I inserted (depicted?) in an anagram (unpleasant) of SCENE. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | UPPER-CASE |
Drug prosecution is the stuff of headlines? (5-4)
|
| UPPER (slang for a mood-stimulating drug) + CASE (as in court case = prosecution).
Newspaper headlines may be written in all upper-case letters (or not, depending on the newspaper’s house style). |
||
| 3 | THROUGH |
Difficulty for golfer, say, without hole finally completed (7)
|
| TH[e] ROUGH (areas of uncut grass on a golf course = difficulty for golfer) without the E which is the final letter of [hol]E. I’m not sure why we need “say”. | ||
| 4 | ESTUARINE |
Unexpectedly retain use of tidal region (9)
|
| Anagram (unexpectedly) of RETAIN USE.
Relating to an estuary (the mouth of a river where it joins the sea, typically affected by sea tides). |
||
| 5 | RECEPTION CENTRE |
Creepier content given a twist where victims are gathered? (9,6)
|
| Anagram (given a twist) of CREEPIER CONTENT.
A facility set up to provide services to victims of a disaster. |
||
| 6 | GRIME |
Dirt the writer has got on Hanoverian king (5)
|
| ME (the writer) added on to GR I (King George the First, of the House of Hanover). | ||
| 7 | SHORT OF |
Henry’s coming in kinda lacking (5,2)
|
| H (abbreviation for henry, a unit of electrical inductance) inserted into SORT OF (kinda = more or less, but not exactly). | ||
| 8 | RELIC |
Item from past apparel I carefully will conceal (5)
|
| Hidden answer (. . . will conceal) in [appa]REL I C[arefully]. | ||
| 14 | OMBUDSMAN |
Government official imprisoning millions with germs in Arab state (9)
|
| M (abbreviation for millions) + BUDS (germs = first signs of something, as in “the germ of an idea”), inserted into OMAN (Arab state). | ||
| 15 | RATIONALE |
Thinking lead role in Asia will be seized by some form of Oriental (9)
|
| Initial letter (lead role?) of A[sia], contained in (seized by) an anagram (some form) of ORIENTAL.
As in “what’s the thinking / rationale behind that decision?”. |
||
| 17 | SWALLOW |
Accept reason for pig being found outside border of sty? (7)
|
| SOW (female pig) around WALL (possibly the border of a pigsty).
To swallow an excuse is to accept it without questioning. |
||
| 19 | LISSOME |
Flexible story covering rise in growth (not complex) (7)
|
| LIE (story = slang for an untruthful account), containing MOSS (a simple plant = non-complex growth) reversed (rise = reading upwards in a down clue). | ||
| 21 | RIATA |
Rising atmosphere and cheers for feature of rodeo (5)
|
| AIR (atmosphere) reversed (rising = upwards in a down clue), then TA (cheers = slang for thank you).
Another word for a lasso, from Latin American Spanish. |
||
| 22 | BOLES |
Start to gibber, running from goblins in tree trunks (5)
|
| BO[g]LES (Northern and Scots dialect for bogeys = goblins), with the G (starting letter of G[ibber]) removed (running from . . .). |
Now there you go – I always thought HALAL was the variant since I’ve tended to see it written as HALLAL.
6d should be plural. of course…
Thanks, Phi and Quirister. Stumped by BO(g)LES and floundered about before begetting ESTUARINE, but otherwise quite satisfying, apart from the notes tense mismatch in 26. I was not readily able to tweak the clue (are/am devastating would ruin the surface), but as we know, these things are easier said than done.
*noted. Blast! If only there were a way to edit an errant post!
Thanks Phi and Quirister!
Liked THROUGH, SHORT OF and LISSOME.
LAY WASTE: Past of ‘Lie WASTE’?
THROUGH: The ‘say’ is there to say there are other difficulties for a golfer like water traps and bunkers. OR ‘The rough’ is also related to other sports or places (Cricket commentators talk about the ball hitting the rough)?
Phi @1: thanks for the hint – now I think I know what you mean. Benjamin Britten’s OPERATIC work Peter GRIMEs is set in an unnamed village on the Suffolk coast, and includes characters called ORFORD, SWALLOW, BOLES, AUNTIE and her NIECES, and two APPRENTICES who die in suspicious circumstances. I thought there must be something there . . .
KVa @4: I wondered about the past tense of “lie waste” (to be in a derelict or destroyed state), but that would require “was devastated” not “devastating” I think.
Quirister@5
LAY WASTE
I agree. Maybe we are missing something. Let’s see what others suggest.
Well spotted Quirister, I should have seen that. I struggled to parse 19D but everything else slotted nicely into place. Thanks to setter and blogger.
IanSW3 @3. When I post, an option to amend it within 3 minutes comes up.
I didn’t see such an option, Tatrasman. Let’s see if I do now.
Nope.
Ian, that’s interesting – let me check something.
Yes, I get a “Click to Edit” link for 3 minutes after posting. What browser are you using? I can check with the site admin whether there’s a problem with this facility.
I can’t get the tenses to work for LAY WASTE either. Apart from that, a very good puzzle, with ticks for SWALLOW, SHORT OF and THROUGH.
Quirister @10, I use Firefox on an iPhone. Apple seem to like hiding options and defying logic, but Firefox is usually pretty reliable.
Where on the screen is “Click to Edit”? Sometimes options only appear if I turn my phone sideways, but that does not seem to help here.
Spotted, as Quirister, the AUNTIE & NIECES, and ORFORD NESSIE:
“now a nature reserve”, so you might spot a SWALLOW or two there. And I’m sure there’s a RECEPTION CENTRE, for “victims” of the National Trust.
There’s a radio station there. too, once owned by the BBC, affectionately known as AUNTIE Beeb, especially by Kenny Everett (& “Julian and Sandy”, apparently).
But then I couldn’t think of anything else to shoehorn in. Read (past tense) Phi@1 and all became clear.
Ian: the link should appear immediately below the comment after you’ve posted it, and stays there for 3 minutes with a countdown timer. Maybe there’s some issue with this option on phones; I’ll ask. But I’ll take this discussion to the “Site Feedback” page so it doesn’t clutter up this page.
I usually get the Guardian delivered and read it first before attempting the Indie crossword but today there seemed to be no Guardians available so I started the crossword early and finished it quite quickly.
I’ve seen GRIMES many times, most recently only a few months ago, so the theme became obvious very early on.
Thanks both. I neither knew BOLES nor bogles, so in vain tried bills in case they would fit the …..bill. There is an ORFORD in Warrington, though inevitably it is less ‘chocolate box’ than he one I was previously unaware of in Suffolk.
Missed the theme but loved the puzzle. Answers flew in for a change.
Thanks Phi for a great crossword and Quirister for explanatory blog