Phi makes his usual Friday appearance today.
It’s a while since I have seen the crossword world’s favourite church screen, so welcome back REREDOS.
I am not sure why ANGLED in the wordplay at 27 across is clued as a ‘sudden’ turn.
In yesterday’s Independent crossword we had E (energy) lowered in the wordplay for WAKE. Today we have energy boosted in the wordplay for TEAM.
There are quite a few double letter pairs, but I think that just coincidence rather than a theme. We have a symmetric pair of rhyming answers of the same length – DULL and FULL, but again I think that is coincidence. However, I will be happy to proved wrong if there is a theme.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 9 | Chaotic situation is cool in America, on reflection (5)
SNAFU (chaotic situation) (FAN [cool] contained in [in] US [{United States of} America]) all reversed (on reflection) (S (NAF) U)< |
| 10 | Bird expected to throttle feline? Teach again (2-7)
RE-EDUCATE (teach again) REE (female of the ruff [bird]) + (DUE [expected] containing [to throttle] CAT [a feline]) RE-E DU (CAT) E |
| 11 | What will secure front of major clock feature is ornament (9)
EMBELLISH (to make beautiful with ornaments; to ornament) EH (what?) containing (will secure) (M [first letter of {front of} MAJOR] + BELL [the sound made by an instrument or device showing the hours or marking the beginning or end of a period of time; feature of a clock] + IS) E (M BELL IS) H |
| 12 | Recycled ropes – used many at first beside tree (5)
OAKUM (old, usually tarred, ropes untwisted and teased out for caulking the seams of ships) OAK (tree) + UM (initial letters [at first] of each of USED and MANY) OAK UM |
| 13 | Obsessive type showing shiftiest moves (9)
FETISHIST (person obsessively devoted to an object or activity) Anagram of (moves) SHIFTIEST) FETISHIST* |
| 16 | Display bear (5)
STAND (counter that enables object to be displayed; a display of such objects) STAND (tolerate; bear) double definition STAND |
| 18 | Still looking young, suitable for artist’s sketching? (7)
UNLINED (without wrinkles; still looking young) UNLINED (descriptive of plain paper without rules or lines, forming a blank canvas for an artist to use for sketching) UNLINED |
| 20 | About to suppress hesitation with computer system for screen in church (7)
REREDOS (screen or panelling behind an altar or seat; a choirscreen; screen in church) (RE [with reference to; about] containing (to suppress] ER [expression of hesitation]) + DOS [Disc Operating System; computer system]) R (ER) E DOS |
| 21 | Historic reception the day before festival, captured in article for Paris Match (5)
LEVEE (archaic [historic] word for a morning, or comparatively early, reception of visitors, especially by a person of distinction) EVE (the night or the whole day before a festival or notable event) contained in (captured in) LE (one of the French [Paris Match] forms of the definite article ‘the’) L (EVE) E |
| 22 | Musical effect is smooth, pervading warm feeling? Not entirely (9)
GLISSANDO (the musical effect produced by sliding the finger along keyboard or strings) (IS + SAND [to smooth]) contained in (pervading) GLOW (warm feeling) excluding the final letter (not entirely) W GL (IS SAND) O |
| 24 | African region not found in Gabon at all? Yes and no (5)
NATAL (region of South Africa, so not found in Gabon – no) NATAL (hidden word in (found in) GABON AT ALL, so – yes)) NATAL |
| 25 | Classic actress getting her brand sorted on time (9)
BERNHARDT (reference Sarah BERNHARDT [1844 – 1923], French stage actress; classic actress) Anagram of (sorted) HER BRAND + T (time) BERNHARD* T |
| 27 | Confused, left without wife, taking a sudden turn? (9)
ENTANGLED (confused) WENT (left) excluding (without) W (wife) + ANGLED (bent in a different direction; taking a [sudden] turn of direction) ENT ANGLED |
| 28 | Incline to take in element of basic education? (5)
LEARN – (gain knowledge of; take in element of basic education) LEAN (incline) containing (to take in) R (one of the three Rs [Reading, {w]Riting and {a}Rithmetic – elements of basic education) LEA (R) N |
| Down | |
| 1 | Life so harassed? Ponder remote part of Scotland (4,2,4)
ISLE OF MULL (island location in Scotland) Anagram of (harassed) LIFE SO + MULL (ponder) ISLE OF* MULL |
| 2 | Gossip had an effect after lawyers upset (6)
RABBIT (chatter; gossip) BAR (legal profession; lawyers) reversed (upset) + BIT (had an effect) RAB< BIT |
| 3 | Most of expected lines will be boring (4)
DULL (lacking in interest; boring) DUE (expected) excluding the last letter (most of) E + LL (lines) DU LL |
| 4 | Porridge I put out to catch a squirrel (7,3)
PRAIRIE DOG (North American ground squirrel) Anagram of (put out) PORRIDGE I containing (to catch) A PR (A) IRIE DOG* |
| 5 | Network confusion, according to Connery? (4)
MESH (network) MESH (Sean Connery [1930 – 2020], actor best known for playing James Bond, would probably have pronounced MESS [confusion] as MESH given his Scottish drawl) MESH |
| 6 | Not well and unable to offer entertainments, barring piano (3,2,5)
OUT OF SORTS (not in normal good health; not well) OUT OF (no longer having, therefore unable to offer) + SPORTS (entertainments) excluding (barring) P (piano) OUT OF SORTS |
| 7 | Support worker, as seen in court? (8)
BACKHAND (a stroke in tennis; something seen in a [tennis] court) BACK (support) + HAND (worker) BACK HAND |
| 8 | Squad, underpowered, needing boost to energy? (4)
TEAM (squad) TAME (without vigour; underpowered) with the E (energy) raised (boosted) within the word to form TEAM TEAM |
| 14 | Section governed by young man seizing Northern port (10)
SUNDERLAND (port city in the North East of England) S (section) + UNDER (governed by) + (LAD [young man] containing [seizing] N [Northern]) S UNDER LA (N) D |
| 15 | "Slow-paced" : Arab’s barbed comment during deal (10)
TARDIGRADE (slow-paced) (AR [Arab] + DIG [a barbed comment]) contained in (during) TRADE (deal) T (AR DIG) RADE |
| 17 | Unhappiness, note, in pop festival location? (10)
DISCONTENT (dissatisfaction; unhappiness) N (note) contained in (in) (DISCO TENT [pop festival location]) DISCO (N) TENT |
| 19 | Float art gallery supporting garment-maker (8)
LEVITATE (float) LEVI (reference LEVI Strauss & Co. is an American clothing company known worldwide for its brand of denim jeans; garment maker) + TATE (art gallery – there are four galleries bearing the name) LEVI TATE – as this is a down entry, the letters in TATE are ‘supporting‘ the letters in LEVI |
| 23 | No train service around noon, when I must go? That’s commonplace (6)
NORMAL (standard; commonplace) NO + (RAIL [train service] excluding [must go]) I containing (around) M (meridiem; noon) NO R (M) AL |
| 24 | Story overlooking core element in Christmas (4)
NOEL (Christmas) NOVEL (story) excluding (overlooking) the central letter (core element) V NOEL |
| 25 | Rush line in internet program (4)
BOLT (run; rush) L (line) contained in (in) BOT (an autonomous computer program that performs time-consuming tasks, especially on the internet) BO (L) T |
| 26 | Frame’s hard and complete but not fine (4)
HULL (frame of a vessel) H (hard, when describing pencil lead) + FULL (complete) excluding (but not) F (fine) H ULL |
One day Screen in Church will be Rood – but until then we get Reredod fairly regularly.
I think Sudden is there to describe a course with a distinct point of direction change (angled) rather than gradual (curved)
Lovely Phi crossword. Will look in vain for theme
Thanks Phi and Duncan
DULL & HULL, of course. That’s two of the six…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSA5C8mQcLQ
Noel Coward’s There Are Bad Times Just Around The Corner (1952) from “The Globe Revue” – (too slow to edit).
I think LEARN is &lit?
FrankieG – I have no idea how you spot these things! You either have a phenomenal GK/memory or a very effective Google search algorithm! Nicely done both you and Phi.
ISLE OF MULL, BERNHARDT and PRAIRIE DOG were my podium today. My sole raised eyebrow: BELL is not the first thing to come to this solver’s mind when considering parts of a clock.
Thanks Phi and duncan
ENTANGLED
ANGLED (vocabulary.com)
Something at a sharp angle, slant, or incline can be described as angled. An angled ramp makes skateboarding
more fun.
PostMark@5
Even after FrankieG identifies the theme and posts it here, I still take some time to understand what the theme is. 😀
LEARN: I thought it was an intended &lit clue too. That said, does the complete clue work satisfactorily as the def?
Given the significance of fungi to trees, it was tempting to write SPORE for OAKUM but it didn’t seem quite right. Congratulations to FrankieG on spotting the theme and to Phi for an entertaining puzzle.
Yes. Congratulations all round for the fun. My vote goes to SUNDERLAND since I was working there when they won the FA cup. Happy days.
What an apposite theme too. Rallying song for the election?
Thanks to P, DS and FG
FrankieG @3&4 – I guess we need to keep eyes peeled for verses 2&3 in future editions.
The attraction here was the length pairings OUT OF SORTS/SUNDERLAND, DULL/HULL, ISLE OF MULL/DISCONTENT – two pairs of 10s and a pair of 4s.
Working my way through some NOEL Coward as a belatedly nod to last year’s anniversary. Nina from Argentina has some potential, I feel…
Excellent – thanks Phi. A great thing about your themes is that I really don’t feel bad about missing them. Cheers for explaining
On the same day we had Aretha F in the G, Tina T in the FT – I was expecting Gladys K, Diana R, Dionne W, Martha R, or Donna S in the I. 😉