It’s Friday so we have a puzzle set by Phi which is the usual case for a Friday
I wondered if there was some theme based on SYMMETRIC (5d) or IDENTICAL (15d) but I can’t see one. MINUTES and SECONDS are placed symmetrically, but other possible pairs such as MOSES / DAVID or SYMMETRIC / IDENTICAL aren’t symmetrically placed.
I liked the clue for THIRTY THREE using simple arithmetic and speeds of revolution and I also liked the clue for CUE which also involved simple arithmetic.
My last one in was the dreaded Blank A Blank E at 29a which I narrowed down to CAGE or GATE. I reckoned OVER (deliveries) would be in the wordplay somewhere, but it took me a while to hit on C (OVER) AGE.
Thanks to flashing and Quirister who covered my scheduled Independent blogs whilst I was away for the past two weeks.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | University engaged in supporting a quartet (4)
FOUR (quartet) U (University) contained in (engaged in) FOR (supporting) FO (U) R |
| 3 | A sample reduced vomit, but only just (2,1,7)
AT A STRETCH (with difficulty; only just) A + TASTE (sample) excluding the final letter (reduced) E + RETCH (vomit) A T A ST RETCH |
| 10 | Continue to caress back, leading to a doctor’s initial set of comments? (7)
NOTEPAD (block of paper for writing a set of notes or comments) (PET ON [continue to caress]) all reversed + A + D (first letter of [initial] DOCTOR) (NO TEP)< A D |
| 11 | Detailed section in record of meeting (7)
MINUTES (written record of discussions and decisions at a meeting) MINUTE (miniature and exact; detailed) + S (section) MINUTE S |
| 12 | Simple programme about energy plant (5,4)
APPLE TREE ([large] plant) APPLET (simple computer programme) + RE (with reference to; about) + E (energy) APPLE T RE E |
| 13 | Drunk and frustrated after female’s left (5)
OILED (drunk) FOILED (frustrated) excluding (after … left) F (female) OILED |
| 14 | What’ll fill gap between 45 and 78? (6-5)
THIRTY-THREE (originally, records made of shellac played at 78 rpm, then, in later years, vinyl singles and EP [extended play] discs played at 45 rpm and LP [long playing] vinyl records played at 33 rpm, so 33 fills the gap in the given set of 45 and 78) THIRTY-THREE (78 minus 45 equals 33; gap between 78 and 45) – double definition THIRTY THREE |
| 17 | Help papers in getting behind article (3)
AID (help) A (indefinite article) + ID ([identity] papers) A ID |
| 19 | Perhaps 8 ball initially dispatched – with this? (3)
CUE (rod used in playing a version of pool, a game where you can pot the 8 ball with the CUE) CUBE (8 is the cube of 2) excluding B, the first letter of [initially dispatched] BALL CUE |
| 20 | Scents sheik dispersed, offering vague sensation (11)
SKETCHINESS (descriptive of a vague outline or sensation) Anagram of (dispersed) SCENTS SHEIK SKETCHINESS* |
| 22 | Satisfied about Old Testament setting for church (5)
MOTET (polyphonic choral composition, usually unaccompanied, with a biblical or similar prose text; loosely, an anthem or church cantata; setting of music for church) MET (satisfied) containing (about) OT (Old Testament) M (OT) ET |
| 23 | Editor, sound as a bell, not backing English scientist (9)
EDDINGTON (reference Sir Arthur EDDINGTON [1882 – 1944], English astronomer, physicist and mathematician) ED (editor) + DING (sound like [as] a bell) + NOT reversed (backing) ED DING TON< |
| 26 | Supports a further course? (7)
SECONDS (backs; supports) SECONDS (additional course or helping of food; a further course) double definition SECONDS |
| 27 | Unoriginal article found in Roman dwelling (7)
VANILLA (ordinary; not fancy or quirky; unoriginal) AN (indefinite article) contained in (found in) VILLA (Roman dwelling) V (AN) ILLA |
| 28 | Considerate approach misinterpreted as idle coitus (10)
SOLICITUDE (considerate approach) Anagram of (misinterpreted as) IDLE COITUS SOLICITUDE* |
| 29 | Restrict attention from the press, declining deliveries (4)
CAGE (restrict) COVERAGE (media [press] attention) excluding (declining) OVER (a set of deliveries of a ball in cricket) CAGE |
| Down | |
| 1 | Shifted one at 20 ft? Excellent (9)
FANTASTIC (excellent) Anagram of SATANIC (entry at 20dn) and FT (feet) FANTASTIC* |
| 2 | Put out over work in the attic? (2,3)
UP TOP (in the space under the roof; in the attic) Anagram of (out) PUT + OP (opus; work) – as this is a down clue the letters of the anagram are placed over the letters OP UP T* OP |
| 4 | Overthrow overthrown, with involvement of daughter in royal house (5)
TUDOR (a royal house) ROUT (defeat utterly; overthrow) reversed (overthrown) containing (with involvement of) D (daughter) TU (D) OR < |
| 5 | Balanced analysis may form, finally, a standard of measurement (9)
SYMMETRIC (showing same pattern either side of an axis; balanced either side of an axis) SYM (last letters [finally] of each of ANALYSIS, MAY and FORM) + METRIC (a standard or system of measurement) SYM METRIC |
| 6 | British author published a few (7)
RANSOME (reference Arthur RANSOME [1882 – 1944], English author and journalist, probably best known for writing Swallows and Amazons) RAN (published) + SOME (a few) RAN SOME |
| 7 | Encourage sexual stimulation in gallery? It’s wrong internally (9)
TITILLATE (to stimulate gently, especially in a sexual way) TATE (reference TATE galleries [a network of four art galleries in England]) containing (internally) (IT + ILL [evil; hurt; wrong]) T (IT ILL) ATE |
| 8 | Beginning to dry after stockings covered in water? (5)
HOSED (covered in water) HOSE (stockings) + D (first letter of [beginning to] DRY) HOSE D |
| 9 | Optimistic Bishop invested in universal fuel source (6)
UPBEAT (optimistic) B (bishop, in chess notation) contained in (invested in) (U [universal {film designation}] + PEAT {source of fuel]) U P (B) EAT |
| 15 | Unchanged in dialect after reinterpretation (9)
IDENTICAL (the very same; unchanged) Anagram of (after reinterpretation) IN DIALECT IDENTICAL* |
| 16 | High-fliers not favouring white chess pieces? (3,3,3)
THE JET SET (wealthy social set whose members travel frequently and widely for pleasure; high fliers) THE JET SET (descriptive of a chess SET with pieces made of JET [rich black variety of lignite], or more simply a SET of black chess pieces; a SET that doesn’t have any white pieces [there must be some other way of distinguishing the opposing pieces]) THE JET SET |
| 18 | Separate working gains edge (9)
DISENGAGE (separate or free from) Anagram of (working) GAINS EDGE DISENGAGE* |
| 20 | Devilish selection of moves at an ice-rink (7)
SATANIC (devilish) SATANIC (hidden word in [selection of] MOVIES AT AN ICE-RINK) SATANIC |
| 21 | Harvest successful, though failing at outset (6)
INNING (ingathering; especially of crops; harvest) WINNING (successful) excluding (failing) the first letter (at the outset) W INNING |
| 22 | Biblical figure’s way of working: marine areas one cleared (5)
MOSES (Biblical figure) MO (modus operandi; way of working) + SEAS (marine areas) excluding (cleared) A (one) MO SES |
| 24 | Biblical figure keen to follow God ultimately (5)
DAVID (another Biblical figure) D (last letter of [ultimately]) + AVID (keen) D AVID |
| 25 | American city beginning to turn Liberal in America(5)
TULSA (city in Oklahoma; American city) T (first letter of [beginning to] TURN) + (L [Liberal] contained in [in] USA [{United States of] America]) T U (L) SA |
Had to notice 4’33” to help solve 29a John C[over]AGE – my last one in.
CUE
eight ball
a form of pool using two sets of seven coloured or patterned balls, together with one black ball and one white cue ball, the aim being to pocket all of one’s own balls followed by the black, which is numbered eight.
An extended def?
Nice spot, FrankieG. I left 29a unanswered as I felt I would waste too much time working it out (and I would have).
I spotted Cage’s notorious no-music piece early on – a surprising number of ‘recordings’ have been made thereof, how do they get away with it? Can’t see anything else but won’t be surprised if Phi pops in to tell us there is. Thanks Phi and Duncan.
Definitely the 4’ 33” theme – but the 1D/1A pair can’t be coincidental, surely?
Our blogger did one better than me in that, like Hovis, I ended up with 29a unanswered. I wanted to remove ‘over’ from something but ‘coverage’ never came to mind. And FrankieG did 4 min 33 sec better than me in spotting the theme. I even looked for one. I am aware of both the piece and the composer but it did not chime. Otherwise, everything else went in smoothly – apart from the nho EDDINGTON which I hopefully entered as ED RING TON (ring/ding both being bell sounds) until being disabused by DAVID.
APPLE TREE, CUE, MOTET, VANILLA, SOLICITUDE (ha ha), HOSED, SATANIC, INNING and the aforementioned DAVID were my big ticks today. Not convinced by ‘set of comments’ = NOTEPAD; the one may well comprise the other but I’m not sure it qualifies as a definition.
Thanks Phi and duncan
Enjoyable, as always for Phi. Lots of pairs. Will spend five minutes fruitlessly looking for deeper theme
Thanks Phi and Duncan
Other numbers and units of time: Bacharach & David’s Twenty FOUR Hours From TULSA sung by Gene Pitney (1963 – can’t believe it’s 61 years ago)
Everything fine until it wasn’t with CAGE.. needed the blog to explain that..
So thanks Phi n duncansheill
And?
“And?”? – Reed Richards of (The) FANTASTIC FOUR’s superpower is that he can STRETCH. (1961 – can’t believe it’s 63 years ago)
Favourite 22d. I can add Henry VIII’s brother Arthur TUDOR to the two menrioned in the blog. And apparently there’s a footballer Arthur MOSES…?
Cheers Duncan and Phi.
Enjoyable solve today, favourite being 16d The jet set,
Thanks duncansheill and Ph
THE JET SET
Wanted to add this but forgot.
Jet means jet-black (Chambers and other dictionaries). THE JET SET could just mean THE BLACK CHESS PIECES (not necessarily made of lignite).
As a scientist my reaction to 14a was “but that’s just maths, where’s the clue?” Which only shows that I completely missed the point. Afraid the theme is just double Dutch to me but well done to those who saw it.
Whereas I was so familiar with the old record speed of 33 1/3 that I never noticed the arithmetic (and I like maths).
Actually, early record speeds could be anything and the speed controller would be adjusted accordingly. My parents had records marked as 80rpm.
Totally missed the John Cage reference and didn’t know the others.
Well, since Dormouse missed the Cage reference…
But I’m sure he knows it was premiered by David Tudor.
I’d forgotten that. But Tudor did inspire some odd works. I remember at the old Almeida Festival a piece written for him by La Monte Young that required feeding a bale of hay to the piano, (it didn’t eat it.)