Phi on a Tuesday!!? What is the world coming to?
Tuesday is theme day, and Phi is known for his (often obscure) themes in his regular Friday slot, so we were on the lookout for a theme from the outset. As soon as we had solved 1ac and 1d, it was apparent that there was likely to be a musical instrument theme (although the definition for 1ac needed checking). 3d and 5ac confirmed the theme and we had to admire the crafty definitions for several of the instruments.
We were however really surprised that the entry for the homophone at 21d was not the musical instrument (if a cymbal can be considered ‘musical’) when it would have fitted perfectly well with the crossers.
Was there a reason behind the choice of instruments. We had a quick search online but couldn’t come up with anything. Any thoughts out there?
CORoNETS (ornamental headwear) missing or ‘lacking’ the second of the two ‘o’s (nothing once) – we had to check this – a CORNET was a cavalry officer up to 1871, afterwards called a sub-lieutenant
BOON (something useful) round A SS (ship)
LIP (‘sarky comments’) RICE (grain) round or ‘containing’ ST (stone)
LOCUSt (insect) missing ‘t’ (time)
OUT (dismissed) L (Liberal) O (over) OK (mediocre)
SLAM (criticise) P (first letter or ‘source’ of Paris) round or ‘importing’ UN (French for ‘a’)
IN ‘investing in’ CLARET (wine)
FILE (dossier) round DD (designated driver – ‘man staying sober’)
I N (note) CO (company – ‘firm’) ME (‘the writer’)
An anagram (‘in translation’) of RE: BON MOT – another one we had to check as we did not learn this during O-level French!
FI (‘component of Sc-fi’) RELY (bank on) round or ‘including’ F (fine) – apparently, FIREFLY is an American ‘Space Western Drama’ TV series set in the year 2517 – we had never heard of it!
CD (recording) round or ‘ensnaring’ A + DISH (beautiful person)
AI (excellent) EU (group of nations) round or ‘including’ D (Germany)
E (English) LEAGUE (teams) in BR (Britain)
An anagram (‘form’) of UN-METAL
RENT (opening) RY (railway – ‘lines’) round E (last or ‘ultimate’ letter of capsule)
O (nothing) after or ‘supporting’ CELL (activist group)
ROTA (list of duties) round or ‘touring’ SET (fixed)
An anagram (‘jazzily’) of I HUM ONE round or ‘interrupted by’ UP (top)
L (line) in STICKER (display material)
A (accepted) in BREST (French port)
S (son) ALONe (without friends) missing or ‘ditching’ ‘e’ (European)
A reversal (‘soaring’) of CROw missing the last letter or ‘endlessly’ + HARD (rigid)
A homophone (‘we hear’) of KNOWS (is aware of) PEACE (Armistice)
An anagram (‘manipulated’) of FAITH IN CE
MEDIA (‘magazines etc’) ‘investing’ in an anagram (‘relaunch’) of TIME
jOCULAR (using humour) missing or ‘abandoning’ the ‘j’ (judge) round RA (artist)
An anagram (‘trembling’) of FIR in (‘circled by’) COOT (waterbird). A person living in Corfu is a Corfiot.
U (university) CT (court) after or ‘supporting’ OVID (poet)
A homophone (‘sound of’) CYMBAL (percussion instrument)
LUTe (instrument) missing the last letter or ‘trimmed’ in FE (iron) – FLUTE is one of the ‘Rude Mechanicals’ in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’
Double definition
Was thinking maybe 76 Trombones from The Music Man? But No: the trumpets are missing, and the fiddle, flute & cello don’t go.
I will confirm that it’s a game of Name That Tune…
I reckon the instruments are knowingly selected from the lyric of Floral Dance
https://www.jiosaavn.com/lyrics/the-floral-dance-lyrics/LwpcAhJAVls
Thank you Phi and B&J
Thanks Phi for an early heads-up.
The dulcet tones of Sir Terence Wogan…and of course no CYMBAL
Something something big bass drum
Flute bassoon euphonium
Is that the one, a snatch of memory from somewhere …I’ll go check Flea’s link …
It was, omg that’s so long, Peter Dawson on the radio in the ’50s
Here’s another link – the great revival published by me – a TOG – one of Terry’s Old Geezers – the 70’s this time
https://youtu.be/Y58FNspUMA8?si=poaZr-u4M7oaG5No
What a fun reminisce! Thanks Phi, and Flea, and Bandj (nho Firefly either, but din madder none 🙂 )
I badly needed the theme (in its general “musical instruments” form) to get me over the line here, but over the line I got. Avoided the sneaky CYMBAL/SYMBOL elephant-trap – on another day I’m sure I’d have biffed the instrument instead. The egg supplier made me laugh!
Thanks both.
Firefly is hilarious. Well worth watching if you get the chance.
I went off at a tangent by putting ‘Ringo’ at 1D – well he was a member of a quartet and a ring could be an activist group. Soon corrected. Missed the floral dance connection. Thanks Phi and B&J.
[I hope you mean unintentionally hilarious Hovis. I was suckered into watching the cobbled together movie and came to the conclusion that sometimes fans are wrong and network execs are right to cancel a series.]
Beaten by ORACULAR and BELEAGUER. Teams/clubs = league is one I always overlook.
Odds on PHI being displaced this week to make way for a special devoted to some sporting (sort of) jamboree that starts on Friday?
Thanks Phi and B&J.
Thanks both. I struggled quite a lot today, probably owing to me more than anything, though it felt a little contrived to accommodate the theme. Not helped by CORFIOT and NUTMEAL not appearing in my dictionary, but at least I was entertained to learn the French angle for TROMBONE. Also made a really bad start, being another missing CELLO having entered RINGO without a hint of low confidence for several minutes….delighted II was not alone, as it much more suits my musical taste than the frankly terrible version of the Floral Dance which I now need to remove from my brain.
Pete HA 3 @12. No. The Tv series was deliberately funny. The movie sequel not so much although I still liked it.
Firefly was new to me. I prefer clues to normal words not to refer to people or cultural matters that many solvers will not recognise.
An odd day to choose for this puzzle. The Floral Dance is performed at Helston in Cornwall on “Furry Day”, the 8th May
I convinced myself that a dragon (dragoon with one “o” had to be a kind of ornamental headgear. I am not sure I would have got the oblique definitions without the theme.
Although I got the instruments if was only when I came here and saw the highlighted entries I realised the Floral dance connection.
Firefly was one of my favourite shows, the Serenity film was rather good. (I saw it twice in one week when it came out.) The bit near the end of the film where River turns to her injured brother and says, “All my life you’ve protected me. Now it’s my turn.” and she then proceeds to take out a horde of baddies, still sends shivers down my spine.
Still took me ages to get the answer, though.