Phi is in his usual place in the Indie roster this week
I think this is just a straightforward crossword without a theme, but I’m never sure with Phi’s talent for hiding themes. The only glimmer of a pattern I can see is that we have clues involving FEASTER, EASTER and ASTER, but I don’t see a continuation to STER, TER, ER and R. Writing the blog, I see that ESTER is in the clues as well. Given that today is Good Friday there may be something in this idea.
I am defeated by the parsing for ENTRACTE at 17 down as I can’t see how the leading E is clued, unless the direction is East North East (ENE) being clued as ‘close to [near to] Eastern direction’.
I wondered in Elon Musk and Bill Gates, referenced in the clue for MUSKETRY at 21 across were contemporaries given that they were born 16 years apart, but dictionaries and the web tell me that two people simply have to alive at the same time to be considered contemporaries.
I don’t think I have seen TRUNCATION ERROR as an entry in a crossword before, but it’s good to see the mathematicians getting a mention, even if it’s a reference to a failure.
PARTERRE was a new word to me, but the wordplay was fairly clear given that our French colleague PIERRE is a frequent visitor to British crosswordland.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Old coin, one blocking vent (5)
DUCAT (gold or silver coin of varying values, formerly [old] much used in Europe) A (one) contained in (blocking) DUCT (air passage [vent]) DUC (A) T |
| 4 | Article recording introduction from historian supports collections of letters (9)
ALPHABETS (systematic collections of letters used in a language) A (indefinite article) + LP (long playing record; recording) + H (first letter of [introduction from] HISTORIAN) + ABETS (acts as a back-up; supports) A LP H ABETS |
| 9 | Prevent one leaving less riotous feaster (9)
BANQUETER (feaster) BAN (prevent) + QUIETER (less riotous) excluding (leaving) I (Roman numeral for one) BAN QUETER |
| 10 | Opening extracted from report Nixon backed (5)
INTRO (INTROduction; opening) INTRO (reversed [backed] hidden word in [extracted from] REPORT NIXON) INTRO< |
| 11 | Henry to appear in a short time and again and again? (6)
THRICE (three times, so ‘again and again’ after the first time) H (symbol for the derived SI unit of inductance known as the ‘henry’) contained in (to appear in) TRICE (a short time) T (H) RICE |
| 12 | Relative getting taxman releasing money unexpectedly – a source of ease (8)
RELAXANT (a source of ease) REL (relative) + an anagram of (unexpectedly) TAXMAN excluding (releasing) M (money when used in abbreviations such as M1, M2 etc [monetary indices]) REL AXANT* |
| 14 | Nobel prize winner – second person in France to feature twice (4)
TUTU (reference Desmond TUTU [1931 – 2021], South African Anglican theologian who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984) TU (form of address for the ‘second person’ [you] in French) + TU (form of address for the ‘second person’ [you] in French) – i.e. TU is featuring twice TU TU |
| 15 | Eastern India restricted by old regular payment (8)
ORIENTAL (eastern) (O + RENTAL [regular payment]) containing (I [India is the international radio communication codeword for the letter I) O R (I) ENTAL |
| 18 | Carbon, oxygen and phosphorus in heap forming ester? (8)
COMPOUND (an ester is a compound formed by the condensation of an alcohol and an acid, with elimination of water) C (chemical symbol for carbon) + O (chemical symbol for oxygen) + (P [chemical symbol for phosphorus] contained in [in] MOUND [heap]) C O M (P) OUND |
| 19 | What’s earlier than foxtrot in dance choice? (4)
ECHO (both ECHO and FOXTROT are international radio communication codewords, with ECHO [E] coming earlier in the alphabet than FOXTROT [F]) ECHO (hidden word in [in] DANCE CHOICE) ECHO |
| 21 | Contemporary of Gates, B, to attempt firearms practice (8)
MUSKETRY (firearms practice) MUSK E (reference Elon MUSK [born] 1971, a contemporary of Bill GATES [Gates, B – born 1955] in the world of science, computing and business) + TRY (attempt) MUSK E TRY |
| 22 | Poet overlooking British and our enthusiasm (6)
ARDOUR (enthusiasm) BARD (poet) excluding (overlooking) B (British) + OUR ARD OUR |
| 24 | Festival putting out special meal for me? (5)
EATER (one who eats a special meal; the write , me[?]) EASTER (religious festival) excluding (putting out) S (special) EATER |
| 26 | Aster? Write music about it (9)
COMPOSITE (a term to describe any plant of the Aster genus of Compositae) COMPOSE (write music) containing (about) IT COMPOS (IT) E |
| 27 | Metal tip lead? (9)
SPEARHEAD (tip of a SPEAR [weapon made from metal) SPEARHEAD (lead an attack) double definition SPEARHEAD |
| 28 | Money returned regarding fertiliser ingredient (5)
NITRE (ingredient of fertiliser) TIN (informal term for money) reversed (returned) + RE (regarding) NIT RE |
| Down | |
| 1 | Discussion not up to be raised before closing parts of summit conference (6)
DEBATE (discussion) ABED (still in bed; not up) reversed (raised; down entry) + TE (final letters [closing parts] of each of SUMMIT and CONFERENCE) DEBA< TE |
| 2 | Unusually competent, suppressing Right with singular argument (11)
CONTRETEMPS (minor disagreement; argument) Anagram of (unusually) COMPETENT containing (suppressing) R (right) + S (singular) CONT (R) ETEMP* S |
| 3 | Panic about count I ran perversely having mistake in the maths (10,5)
TRUNCATION ERROR (an error in mathematics when too many significant digits are deleted from a number such that further calculation with that number introduces more errors) TERROR (panic) containing (about) an anagram of (perversely) COUNT I RAN T (RUNCATION*) ERROR |
| 4 | Political group out of power supporting the creative industries (4)
ARTY (in favour of the arts; supporting the creative industries) PARTY (political group) excluding (out of) P (power) ARTY |
| 5 | Frenchman, perhaps, showing skill for one in theatrical area (8)
PARTERRE (the pit of a theatre, especially the part under the galleries) PIERRE (name of a French male) with ART (skill) replacing (for) I (Roman numeral for one) P ART ERRE |
| 6 | What could give cinema a darn toot? Where’s Yosemite Sam when you need him? (8,7)
ANIMATED CARTOON (Yosemite Sam is a cartoon character in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of short films produced by Warner Brothers) Anagram of (what could give) CINEMA A DARN TOOT ANIMATED CARTOON* |
| 7 | Amphibian departed, abandoning lake (3)
EFT (newt; example of an amphibian) LEFT (departed) excluding L (lake) EFT |
| 8 | Discussion of work, hard work, interrupting attempt to follow game (8)
SHOPTALK (discussion about one’s own business, especially when carried on outside business hours) (H [hard, when describing pencil lead] + OP (opus; work]) contained in (interrupting) STALK (follow game keeping under cover) S (H OP) TALK |
| 13 | Compiler is busy tonight also (11)
ANTHOLOGIST (one who compiles a collection of writings, songs or paintings) Anagram of (is busy) TONIGHT ALSO ANTHOLOGIST* |
| 16 | Hurries holidaymaker aboard ship (8)
SCAMPERS (hurries) CAMPER (holidaymaker) contained in (aboard) SS ([steam]ship) S (CAMPER) S |
| 17 |
Musical performance from area in close to eastern direction? (8) ENTRACTE (piece of music or other performance between acts in a play) TRACT (area of land) contained in (in) (N [last letter of {close to} EASTERN] + E [East {direction}]) – I can’t see where the first E is referenced in the clue although I have suggested a possibility in the introduction above. E N (TRACT) E |
| 20 | Easy thing or easterly thing? (6)
BREEZE (informal term for something that is easy to do) BREEZE (descriptive of a light wind from the East) double definition BREEZE |
| 23 | Surrounded by support, receiving millions (4)
AMID (surrounded by) AID (support) containing (receiving) M (millions) A (M) ID |
| 25 | How far will five letters get you in extremity? (3)
TOE (a person’s extremity) TO E (E is the fifth letter of the alphabet, so moving through the first five letters will get you TO E) TO E |
I parsed ENTR’ACTE as in your introduction, Duncan.
A few NHOs for me too but Phi’s immaculate cluing made them quite doable. A complete contrast with Paul in Grunniad in terms of precision of cluing but just as much fun. A great start to a long weekend -my two favourite setters. Unfortunately both polished off over brekkie; so at a loss for usual crossword entertainment over elevenses and afternoon tea
Thanks Duncan and Phi.
Will be interested to see theme if there is one. Phi’s are normally so buried I do not recognise even when explained
A BUNch of fine clues with nothing to get hot or cross about.
Petert@3 Bunny punny funny!
Thanks Phi and duncanshiell for the lovely puzzle and the excellent blog!
Top faves: MUSKETRY, DEBATE (nice surface), BREEZE and TOE!
EATER
In the wordplay, the meal seems to be hanging loose. Otherwise, the clue works somewhat
like an extended def.
I wondered whether Phi was using “contemporary” in a loose sense of “someone working in roughly the same business” – I don’t think it really means that, but it’s how we need to think in order to solve the clue. Or did these two men ever work in the same organisation at the same time? – I don’t know. The definition “someone who was alive at the same time, but not necessarily a similar age” only really works if you’re going back a century or so; it’s pretty unhelpful for living people. A pity, because it’s a very good clue otherwise! Thanks Phi.
Petert
A Bun Dance perhaps?
I parsed ENTREACTE as per the introduction. ORIENTAL was today’s forehead slapper for me as I spent too long expecting the solution to be a regular payment.
Thanks Phi for restoring my faith in my solving ability after my total fail with today’s labyrinthine affair in the Grauniad.
Thanks Phi and duncanshiell.
In 24a, I think the definition is “meal for me”: an eater is someone who has a meal. It’s a little odd grammatically but I think it works.
AndyB 🙂
I can’t be absolutely sure I can remember them all but you have FEASTER, ASTER, EASER, ESTER, EASTERLY, EATER and a couple of appearances of EASTERN dotted around.
I would note as well that Yosemite Sam was particularly famous for saying ‘Darn tootin’’.