We have the usual end to the Independent working week with a puzzle from Phi.
Phi liked his ‘container and contents’ clues today. Half of the clues had some form of this clue type with 7 ‘about’, 2 ‘covered / covering’, 2 ‘outside’, 1 ‘during’, 1 ‘accepted by’, 1 ‘in’ and 1 ‘bottling’ indicating the containment.
I can’t see a theme, but as often said by Phi bloggers, that’s no guarantee that there isn’t one. I did look for BLOODSUCKING CARMELITE OCEANOLOGISTs on the web but I couldn’t find any. There was a cat (TABITHA), a carnivorous mammal (STOAT), a bird (SNOW GOOSE), a dog (LURCHER) and an insect (MOTH) in the grid plus a deer in the clues, so perhaps there is some link to the world of fauna.
I liked the clue for OCEANOLOGIST with its links to marine life.
I’m not too sure about the parsing for ALTOGETHER at 8 down. The ALTO bit is fine, but I struggle with the relationship between GET HER and ‘what’s she like’. I have suggested in the table below that there is some use of slang in the wordplay, but I’m not convinced.
Phi’s use of the word absurd when describing a mullet in the clue for ANTEBELLUM is supported by Chambers Dictionary which defines a mullet as ‘a hairstyle that is short at the front, long at the back, and ridiculous all round‘
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| Across | 1 What may be used to display alarm and conflict (4,3)
BELL JAR (bell-shaped glass cover, used to protect ornaments or flower arrangements; item used to display fragile things) BELL (warning signal; alarm) + JAR (clash; conflict) BELL JAR |
| 5 | Potter character somewhat covered by that? Not entirely (7)
TABITHA (reference TABITHA Twitchit, the name of a fictional cat who features in the works of Beatrix Potter [1886 – 1943]) (A BIT [somewhat]) contained in (covered by) THAT excluding the final letter (not entirely) T T (A BIT) HA |
| 9 | Monarch’s retinue about to receive English vegetable (9)
COURGETTE (a vegetable) (COURT [the body of persons who form the sovereign’s suite or council; monarch’s retinue] containing [about] GET [to receive]) + E (English) COUR (GET) T E |
| 10 | Political publication King used during diplomacy (5)
TRACT (political pamphlet) R (Rex; king) contained in (used during) TACT (diplomacy) T (R) ACT |
| 11 | Rapacious swaggering dandies avoiding losing head (12)
BLOODSUCKING (predatory; extortionate; rapacious) BLOODS (swaggering dandies) + DUCKING (avoiding) excluding the first letter (losing head) D BLOODS UCKING |
| 15 | Vehicle that would change hands for fan of the goldfield? (4,5) water
LAND ROVER (vehicle) RAND [abbreviation for WitwatersRAND [a rocky ridge in NE South Africa which contains the richest gold deposits in the world] + LOVER (fan) with the R (right hand) and L (left hand) changing places (changing hands) to form LAND ROVER LAND ROVER |
| 17 | Kids taken aback about a villain in Wind in the Willows? (5)
STOAT (animal that is portrayed as a villain in the Wind in the Willows, written by Kenneth Grahame [1859 – 1932]) TOTS (kids) reversed (taken aback) containing (about) A STO (A) T< |
| 18 | Old note terminating military commission early (5)
BREVE (obsolete long musical note, twice as long as the commonly used semi-breve) BREVET (a military commission entitling an officer to take rank above that for which he receives pay) excluding the final letter (terminating early) T BREVE |
| 19 | Religious person‘s money accepted by the best class of drivers? (9)
CARMELITE (friar of the order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, in Palestine; also, a member of a contemplative order of nuns founded in 1452; religious person) M (money, as an abbreviation when referring to money supply indices such as M1, M2 etc) contained in (accepted by) (CAR ELITE [descriptive of the best class of drivers]) CAR (M) ELITE |
| 20 | Marine expert travelling to cooling sea (12)
OCEANOLOGIST (marine expert) Anagram of (travelling) TO COOLING SEA OCEANOLOGIST* |
| 24 | Roofing expert in row about line (5)
TILER (roofing expert) TIER (row) containing (about) L (line) TI (L) ER |
| 26 | Arctic bird heading for Spitsbergen currently pursued by fool (4,5)
SNOW GOOSE (white Arctic American bird) S (first letter of [heading for]) SPITZBERGEN) + NOW (currently) + GOOSE (stupid silly person; fool) S NOW GOOSE |
| 27 | Greek goddess encountered in symbol of Diana? (7)
DEMETER (Ancient Greek goddess of the harvest) MET (encountered) contained in (in) DEER (symbol associated with Diana, Roman goddess of the hunt) DE (MET) ER |
| 28 | Fast dog – sudden move – about to return (7)
LURCHER (a dog with a distinct cross of greyhound, especially a cross of greyhound and collie; fast dog) LURCH (sudden move) + RE (with reference to; about) reversed (to return) LURCH ER< |
| Down | 1 |
| 1 | Composer having disgusted sound about contralto (4)
BACH (There are many composers with the surname BACH) BAH (expression of disgust or contempt.) containing (about) C (contralto) BA (C) H |
| 2 | Dull, taking top off, becoming flashy (4)
LOUD (flashy or showy in a vulgar way) CLOUD (to dull) excluding the first letter (top of) C LOUD |
| 3 | Pitcher? A vile urn, smashed where 11 might crop up (7,4)
JUGULAR VEIN (one of the large VEINs on each side of the neck; possibly somewhere where a BLOODSUCKING [entry at 11 across] vampire might feast) JUG (pitcher, both are vessels for holding and pouring liquids) + an anagram of (smashed) A VILE URN JUG ULAR VEIN* |
| 4 | 25 allocated to satellite in comparative measurement (5)
RATIO (the relation of one thing to another of which the quotient is the measure; comparative measure) RAT [entry at 25 down) + IO (satellite of the planet Jupiter) RAT IO |
| 5 | Finance expert curtailing indulgence? More likely (9)
TREASURER (a person who is in charge of collected funds; a financial expert [not always]) TREAT (indulgence) excluding the final letter (curtailing) T + SURER (more likely) TREA SURER |
| 6 | Temptation to dismiss one MCC player? (3)
BAT (a cricketer, possibly a Marylebone Cricket Club [MCC] player) BAIT (temptation) excluding (to dismiss) I (Roman numeral for one) BAT |
| 7 | Thomas bottling smoke up, I see seriously funny? (5-5)
TRAGI-COMIC (descriptive of a play or story in which grave and comic scenes or themes are blended; seriously funny) (TOM [Thomas] containing [bottling] CIGAR [a smoke] reversed [up; down entry]) + I + C (see [the third letter of the alphabet]) T (RAGI C<) OM I C |
| 8 | Deep-voiced female singer: what’s she like as a whole? (10)
ALTOGETHER (as a whole) ALTO (the lowest female voice; deep-voiced female singer) + GET HER! (possibly a slang phrase meaning ‘what’s she like’?) ALTO GET HER |
| 12 | Performers argue vaguely about limitations to roles? It’s sweet (6,5)
CASTER SUGAR (white granulated sugar crushed to form fine grains; a sweet substance) CAST (performers in a play) + (an anagram of [vaguely] ARGUE containing [about] RS [outer letters of {limitations to} ROLES]) CAST E (R S) UGAR* |
| 13 | Wildly flout code about book, like Lord Byron? (4-6)
CLUB-FOOTED (Lord Byron was reputed to be CLUB-FOOTED) Anagram of (wildly) FLOUT CODE containing (about) B (book) CLU (B) FOOTED* |
| 14 | An absurd hairstyle, upswept, covering heads of Brits and Europeans before the war (10)
ANTEBELLUM ([happening in] the time before the war) AN + (MULLET [defined by Chambers as a hairstyle that is short at the front, long at the back, and ridiculous all round; absurd hairstyle] reversed [upswept; down entry] and containing [covering] BE [first letters of {heads of} each of BRITS and EUROPEANS) AN TE (BE) LLUM< |
| 16 | Unusually social Minister turning up outside, one given to speechifying? (9)
VOCALISER (one to articulates by voice; one given to speechifying) REV (REVerend; minister) reversed (turning up; down entry) containing (outside) an anagram of (unusually) SOCIAL V (OCALIS*) ER< |
| 21 | Morbid person to pull up outside house (5)
GHOUL (morbid person) LUG (pull) reversed (up; down entry) containing (outside) HO (house) G (HO) UL< |
| 22 | Insect turning up in cloth tomorrow (4)
MOTH (insect) MOTH (reversed [turning up; down entry] hidden word in [in] CLOTH TOMORROW) MOTH< |
| 23 | Try, with courage running short (4)
HEAR (try, in court) HEART (courage) excluding the final letter (running short) T HEAR |
| 25 | Right about a treacherous sort (3)
RAT (a treacherous person) RT (right) containing (about) A R (A) T |
I parsed ALTO GET HER exactly the same as you, duncan. Nothing wrong with that imho. The intersecting and linked BLOODSUCKING and JUGULAR VEIN held out a bit at the end but the former eventually fell with the unlikely looking (and slightly concerning) UCKING in place before the BLOODS revealed themselves. COURGETTE, LAND ROVER, STOAT, TREASURER, ALTOGETHER and ANTEBELLUM get my ticks today withe lovely anagram for OCEANOLOGIST making that one COTD.
Thanks Phi and duncan
Thanks Phi and Duncan
Good Phi crossword – maybe none of his one of a kind superb clues but all very good
Antebellum and Oceanologist were standouts for me.
ALTOGETHER
PostMark@1
Should we read it like this?👇🏻
What’s she like?=GET HER?
Or is it to be read another way?
Not clear to me.
With both my thumbs, I welcome any help.
I too am happy with ALTOGETHER. At 18A the BREVE is still used in musical notation so not ‘old’ (= former), except in the sense that it has been around a long time. Very nice, so thanks Phi and Duncan.
Hmm. Not entirely sure I understand your query on this, KVa. Yes – I think that is what duncan said and I agreed. ‘Get her’, often said with a particular intonation that I clearly cannot convey in writing, is certainly a phrase – applied when someone is a little big for their boots, perhaps. Acting high and mighty. ‘What’s she like’ is perhaps more sympathetic in tone but could certainly – in my book – be used in the same circumstances. Both are idomatic so it’s not surprising they might not be clear and quite possibly not in use outside of the UK.
ALTOGETHER
PostMark@5
I wanted to ask if it could be a straightforward sense rather than idiomatic. Ended up
asking something else. 🙂
Thanks for your explanation.
BREVE is given as ‘obsolete’ in Chambers so I was playing it safe. It’s fairly rare in most scores.
Not something you’d play in Bagpipe Music, but we’ve moved on from that here…
Nice puzzle, ta both. I took ‘get her!’ In 8d as imperative, like ‘look at her!” But yes, doesnt quite work. The bell jar is also the shape of the normal curve, a display of the distribution of characteristics (height, say) in populations.
Grantinfreo, “What’s she like!” and “Get her!” are interchangeable in a certain demotic style, so it’s a fine clue for me.
Maybe you haven’t come across it, but What *IS* she like?! and Oooh, get her! would be the same sort of thing.
Lous MacNeice’s Prayer Before Birth…
…”I am not yet born; O hear me.
Let not the bloodsucking bat or the rat or the stoat or the
club-footed ghoul come near me.”
Sergeant: “Squad – camp it up!”
Squad: “Ooh Get her!, whoops I’ve got your number, ducky you couldn’t afford me dear Two, three I’ll scratch your eyes out
Don’t come the brigadier bit with us dear We all know where you’ve been, you military fairy Two, three One, two, three, four, five, six
Whoops, don’t look now, girls The major’s just minced in with that dolly colour sergeant Two, three, Ooh.”
Well-spotted FrankieG! ANTEBELLUM and OCEANOLOGIST are my clues of the day. Interesting how “Get her”and”what’s she like are clear to some of us but not to others.
Thanks both. Well done indeed for identifying a theme based on 8 randomly spaced words – it’s an example of why I tend not to look too hard. BLOODSUCKING eventually occurred to me, though the swaggering dandies bit remains beyond my understanding, and my knowledge of Lord Byron was never likely to confirm he was CLUB FOOTED though I read he once played cricket at Lords.
[typo@10 – Louis MacNeice – I was wondering why Google couldn’t find him in this blog…]
And I forgot to say: Thanks Φ&DS – Where were my manners?
[Oops – Google is still failing to find him, so just Louis MacNeice – without the bold italic “i“]