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It’s Friday and Phi is here again.
A typical Phi puzzle, with a few not-quite-but-close-enough definitions and the occasional unfamiliar words given clear wordplay. One clue (as noted below) caused a bit of déjà vu because it’s very similar to one Phi used recently in another puzzle. I liked the images of the English marching band, the singer drowned out by an over-enthusiastic accompanist, the attempt to justify a dishonest poet, and the faulty map of Nepal. We also seem to have two American college girls at opposite ends of the puzzle, but that may be a coincidence.
As I’ve said before: Phi usually includes some sort of theme, but it’s often a rather obscure one that we’re not really expected to see. There may be one this time, but if so I’ll need help finding it. Thanks Phi as always.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | TESLA |
Serbian scientist fully prepared to ditch a student on returning (5)
|
| A[l]L SET (fully prepared), dropping one L (abbreviation for learner, as in L-plate = student), reversed (on returning).
Nikola Tesla, born into a Serbian family in what is now Croatia (then part of the Austrian Empire). |
||
| 4 | CLASSICAL |
Traditional girl, one attending college in California (9)
|
| LASS (girl) + I (one in Roman numerals) + C (abbreviation for college), all inside CAL (abbreviation for California). | ||
| 9 | PLUMPER |
One choosing to be more obese? (7)
|
| Double definition. Plump, as a verb (usually “plump for”) = choose; or a polite way of saying fatter. | ||
| 10 | RISSOLE |
Fried food recipe is fish (7)
|
| R (abbreviation for Latin recipe = take, in old-fashioned prescriptions) + IS + SOLE (a flatfish).
Chopped meat and/or vegetables shaped into a cake and fried. |
||
| 11 | TILDE |
Recalled correction about line in diacritical mark (5)
|
| EDIT (as a noun = a correction to printed text) reversed (recalled), around L (abbreviation for line).
The symbol ~, used as a diacritical mark (added to a letter) in various languages: for example ñ in Spanish, or ã and õ in Portuguese. |
||
| 12 | PLACE NAME |
Map feature in Nepal came misrepresented (5,4)
|
| Anagram (misrepresented) of NEPAL CAME. | ||
| 14 | FOOTPLATEMAN |
Servant carrying silverware? One’s stoked (12)
|
| FOOTMAN (male servant) containing PLATE (short form of “silver plate” = items plated with silver).
Someone who helps to drive a train; formerly corresponding to “stoker” = someone who shovelled coal into the train’s furnace to keep the engine going, hence the past tense of “one has stoked” perhaps. |
||
| 18 | SLUTTISHNESS |
Lust she isn’t distributing – just a bit of slovenly debauchery? (12)
|
| Anagram (distributing) of LUST SHE ISN’T, then the first letter (just a bit) of S[lovenly].
A hint of an extended definition, because “slut” originally meant the same as “sloven” = an untidy or lazy woman, rather than a sexually promiscuous one. |
||
| 21 | AUDITORIA |
Assessor of accounts backed excellent performance spaces (9)
|
| AUDITOR (someone who verifies financial accounts), then AI (A1 = excellent) reversed (backed).
Plural of auditorium, based on the original Latin, though “auditoriums” is also valid. |
||
| 22 | AMOUR |
Love in the morning for us (5)
|
| AM (abbreviation for Latin ante meridiem = before midday = in the morning) + OUR (for us). | ||
| 23 | OVERSET |
Deliveries dispatched overlooking new disorder (7)
|
| OVER (in cricket, a sequence of balls bowled = deliveries) + SE[n]T (dispatched), without the N (abbreviation for new).
Disorder, as a verb = overset = to throw into disarray. |
||
| 25 | CAMPION |
Fictional detective: a married investigator probing swindle (7)
|
| A + M (abbreviation for married, in genealogical records) + PI (abbreviation for private investigator), all inserted into (probing) CON (swindle).
Albert Campion, a character in detective stories by Margery Allingham. |
||
| 26 | BUTTERCUP |
Flannel enclosing cold flower (9)
|
| BUTTER UP (flannel, as a verb = talk flatteringly to someone) containing C (abbreviation for cold). | ||
| 27 | THYME |
Returned surprised comment, captivated by the flavouring (5)
|
| MY (my! = a comment expressing surprise) reversed (returned), contained in THE.
A herb used for flavouring. |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | TIPSTAFF |
Officer giving suggestion to senior officer’s group (8)
|
| TIP (suggestion) + STAFF (officers appointed to assist a senior military officer).
A court officer or a law clerk assisting a judge. |
||
| 2 | SCULLION |
Nasty character putting oar in about love (8)
|
| SCULL (an oar, generally one of a pair used by a single rower) + IN, around O (zero = love in tennis scoring).
Originally a servant employed to do dirty or unpleasant menial work in a kitchen (scullery); now used to mean a wicked or despised person. |
||
| 3 | AMPLE |
Tree area rising, becoming adequate (5)
|
| MAPLE (a type of tree), with the A (abbreviation for area) moving to the start (to the top, in a down clue = rising).
I’d have said that adequate = enough, and ample = more than enough. But it’s the same general idea. |
||
| 4 | CORN PLASTER |
Treatment for unwanted growth repaired torn carpels (4,7)
|
| Anagram (repaired) of TORN CARPELS. (Parts of a flower, if you need to ask.)
Treatment for a corn = raised area of hardened skin caused by sustained pressure and friction. |
||
| 5 | AIR |
Atmosphere in flight shunned by holy man (3)
|
| [st]AIR (a flight of steps) without ST (abbreviation for saint = holy person). | ||
| 6 | SASSENACH |
Twirling sticks carried by band from England (9)
|
| CANES (sticks), reversed (twirling), contained in SASH (band).
Gaelic term (often derogatory) for a person from England; usually a noun, but it can also be an adjective (as it is here). |
||
| 7 | CHORAL |
Large part of work – nearly the entirety – requiring singers (6)
|
| CHOR[e] (tedious work) without the last letter (large part of . . .), then AL[l] (the entirety) without the last letter (nearly . . .).
Phi is repeating himself: a couple of months ago he clued the same word as “A lot of hard work by nearly everybody regarding singing”. I think I prefer the earlier version, which definitely reminded me of some choir rehearsals I’ve been in. |
||
| 8 | LIEDER |
Songs? Prominent violinist is what’s heard (6)
|
| Homophone (what’s heard) of LEADER (the principal violin player in an orchestra).
German word for “songs”, generally used in English to mean songs written for solo voice and piano (whether in German or in any other language). |
||
| 13 | AMERICA’S CUP |
I’m USA caper, possibly, around cold water? But NZ are the holders! (8,3)
|
| Anagram (possibly) of I’M USA CAPER around C (symbol on a cold water tap).
Extended definition: the trophy for an international sailing challenge, so named because it was first won by a yacht named America from the New York Yacht Club. The Royal New Zealand Yacht Club are the current holders, at least until the next challenge in October. |
||
| 15 | POLITESSE |
Poet’s lies reinterpreted as a matter of good manners (9)
|
| Anagram (reinterpreted) of POET’S LIES.
French-derived term for formal politeness or courtesy. |
||
| 16 | FEROCITY |
Official upset over urban savagery (8)
|
| REF (short for referee = an official in a sports match) reversed (upset = upwards in a down clue), then O (abbreviation for over, in cricket scoring) + CITY (as an adjective = urban). | ||
| 17 | ESTRANGE |
Is French movement set apart? (8)
|
| EST (French for “is”) + RANGE (movement). | ||
| 19 | HABOOB |
Disgusted comments on the rise in sandstorm (6)
|
| BOO + BAH (both expressions of disapproval), reversed (on the rise = upwards in a down clue).
Strong winds carrying sand and dust in a desert. |
||
| 20 | ADVERT |
Foil wrapping tail of bird in TV promotion (6)
|
| AVERT (foil, as a verb = prevent or deflect) around the last letter (tail) of [bir]D. | ||
| 22 | ADMIT |
Allow a daughter to attend US institute (5)
|
| A + D (abbreviation for daughter) + MIT (abbreviation for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology). | ||
| 24 | TIC |
Response in an instant on the radio (3)
|
| Homophone (on the radio) of TICK (an instant = a short time, as in “I’ll be back in a tick”).
An involuntary muscle response. |
Lovely Phi puzzle. I saw three small flowering plants (buttercup campion thyme) but no more
I love looking up a new word like haboob and finding it in the dictionary just where I had hoped it might be.
Thanks Phi and Quirister
Quite gentle for Phi, I thought. I did look for a theme but as usual can’t see one. Campion, buttercup and thyme are all plants but I can’t see any others. Odd that the Scots refer to the English as Sassenach (Saxons) when it’s the Angles they would have encountered. Thanks Phi and Quirister.
2d SCULLION – a word first heard in history lessons (and never since) to refer to a pretender. Perkin Warbeck? No. Lambert Simnel. Dnk he could be “Nasty”.
Liked 19a HABOOB – LOi, nho, a jorum, a TiLT, and fun WP 😉
22d ADMIT – “institute” giving away one of the letters of the acronym (like LAN ususally does with “network”) 😐
[Coincidentally 27a THYME also appeared diagonally in yesterday’s G by Harpo: “PIECE IN OUR…” – spotted by Nina-nonymous@51]
Thanks P&Q
Thanks both. I was pleased to correctly guess HABOOB, pictures of which are spectacular. FOOTPLATEMAN looked initially too long for me on a Friday, but I eventually confirmed the answer by recalling the song I think from Watch with Mother’s Chigley ‘Time flies by….’. In ESTRANGE I haven’t been able to think of a context where ‘movement’ becomes ‘range’.
It might be a piece of serendipity (though knowing Phi I rather doubt it), but Campion, Buttercup and Thyme are all both flowers and detectives – Campion from Marjorie Allingham and TV derivatives, Buttercup PC was a 1913 short comedy, and Thyme from the ITV series Rosemary and Thyme.
I echo Matthew@1 regarding the sandstorm.
I watched Stewart Scullion play for Watford on a fortnightly basis. Neither despised (by the home fans) nor a menial worker.
Thanks Phi and Quirister.
I think there was a Detective Scullion, too. A tipstaff also a sort of crime fighter. But still not really enough for a theme. Thanks, both.
17d DCS ESTRANGE – Morse’s boss (James Grout). A PC then DS in Endeavour (Sean Rigby).
My vote is that we’re barking up the wrong tree. Or maybe there is no tree. Phi gave us Campion as a fictional detective in the clue.
Maybe we’ll never know.
No tree. I accumulate lists of words that look like they might be interesting to clue (they often turn out not to be) and base a grid around a selection of them.
I do keep planning to work my way through the Allingham novels one day.
Was I the only one who got derailed by the otto fish?
beery hiker @11: no, you weren’t the only one!
@phi №10
If you can work Magersfontein Lugg into a grid I will find a hat to wear just so I can raise it in acknowledgement