My apologies to one and all for the disgracefully late posting – I am currently on sick leave and have lost my bearings somewhat. And who would ever expect there to be a Phi in the Tuesday slot?!
Despite a lot of grid-staring, I have not found a theme today, but perhaps being ill has made me even less hawk-eyed. Any offers? Thanks to fellow solvers for spotting the operatic theme!
I think that I have parsed everything to my satisfaction, although 13 took some teasing out. My favourite clues today were 7, for smoothness of surface; 11, for including as many as three nationalities; and 29, for making me smile when the penny dropped.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | SIDECAR | One day participating in contests brought back attachment to motorcycle
[I (=one) + D (=day)] in SECAR (RACES=contests; “brought back” indicates reversal) |
| 05 | CORNCOB | Vegetable item, well-worn stuff served with some bread
CORN (=well-worn stuff, i.e. hackneyed jokes) + COB (=some bread, a loaf) |
| 09 | EGO | Eastern board-fame producing self-esteem
E (=Eastern) + GO (=board-game) |
| 10 | MISCAST | Not fully ready to enter the fog, being in the wrong role
CAS<h> (=ready, i.e. money; “not fully” means last letter is dropped) in MIST (=fog) |
| 11 | MACBETH | American subject receiving British honour from Scottish king
CBE (=British honour, i.e. Companion of the British Empire) in MATH (=American subject, i.e. how maths is referred to in the US) |
| 12 | AVID | Keen, very, to get involved on relief programme?
V (=very) in AID (=relief programme) |
| 13 | TROUBADOUR | Performer’s series of gigs bringing in large numbers, mostly wicked
[ROU<t> (=large number, i.e. pack, flock; “mostly” means last letter is dropped) + BAD (=wicked)] in TOUR (=series of gigs, i.e. concerts) |
| 16 | HEYDAY | A shade revolutionary getting stuck into grass? That was the time, perhaps
EYD (DYE=shade, colour; “revolutionary” indicates reversal) in HAY (=grass) |
| 17 | FALSTAFF | Dissolute nobleman to decline, losing one entourage
FA<i>L (=to decline, fade; “losing one (=I)” means letter “i” is dropped) + STAFF (=entourage, retinue); the reference is to the Shakespearean character |
| 19 | TOOLKITS | Sets of equipment look out of place surrounded by birds
*(LOOK) in TITS (=birds); “out of place” is anagram indicator |
| 21 | OFFICE | Function outside the hockey season in Canada?
Cryptically, you would be “off (the) ice” if you were playing outside the hockey season in Canada, say; here office refers to a function, position, post |
| 24 | CHANDELIER | Composer that is welcomed by King sees extravagant light fitting
[HANDEL (=composer, of e.g. Messiah) + I.E. (=that is)] in CR (=King, i.e. Charles Rex) |
| 25 | DISH | Daughter is taking husband, an attractive guy?
D (=daughter) + IS + H (=husband) |
| 27 | CLIP ART | Vehicle seen around edge in set of computer images
LIP (=edge, e.g. of cup) in CART (=vehicle); clip art is images made available for computer users to add to their documents |
| 28 | TWO-TIME | Cheat, put out about haul, making a return
TOW (=haul, drag) in EMIT (=put out, exude); “making a return” indicates reversal |
| 29 | TOE | Comprehensive physics explanation: digit at the base of everything
In physics, TOE is the Theory of Everything, hence “comprehensive physics explanation”; the “digit” of the definition refers to a toe on a foot! |
| 30 | OTHELLO | Turned to greeting tragic hero
OT (TO; “turned” indicates reversal) + HELLO (=greeting) |
| 31 | RINGLET | River and creek blocked by grand mass of hair
R (=river) + [G (=grand) in INLET (=creek)] |
| Down | ||
| 01 | SYMPATHETIC | Understanding type is match for a breakdown
*(TYPE IS MATCH); “for a breakdown” is anagram indicator |
| 02 | DESTINY | Works at suppressing love, leading to insignificant future
D<o>ES (=works at; “suppressing love (=O, i.e. zero score in tennis)” means letter “o” is dropped) + TINY (=insignificant) |
| 03 | CRAM | Stuff muscle pain? Not entirely
CRAM<p> (=muscle pain; “not entirely” means last letter is dropped) |
| 04 | RETIRE | Head off worry and anger – give up work
<f>RET (=worry, show anxiety; “head off” means first letter is dropped) + IRE (=anger) |
| 05 | COMMUNAL | Miners beginning to measure up in their output, having everything shared
[MMUN (NUM=miners, i.e. National Union of Mineworkers + M<easure> (“beginning to” means first letter only); “up” indicates vertical reversal) in COAL (=their output, i.e. the miners’) |
| 06 | RECLASSIFY | ‘Safe’ lyrics misjudged? Put a new label on
*(SAFE LYRICS); “misjudged” is anagram indicator |
| 07 | CREMONA | Romance developing in home of violin-making?
*(ROMANCE); “developing” is anagram indicator |
| 08 | BAH | Son ejected from party? Outrageous!
BA<s>H (=party, do; “son (=S) ejected” means letter “s” is dropped) |
| 14 | REFRESHMENT | Quite a few amongst immature freshmen taking the food?
Hidden (“quite a few amongst”) in “immatuRE FRESHMEN Taking” |
| 15 | MASKED BALL | Requested opening of bar in shopping centre for celebration
[ASKED (=requested) + B<ar> (“opening of” means first letter only)] in MALL (=shopping centre) |
| 18 | STILETTO | Knife shown by drunk turning up in fight
TIL (LIT (up)=drunk; “turning up” indicates vertical reversal) in SET-TO (=fight, scrap) |
| 20 | OBADIAH | Religious book, old book, one I had translated
O (=old, as in OT) + B (=book) + A (=one) + *(I HAD); “translated” is anagram indicator; Obadiah is the shortest book in the Old Testament |
| 22 | INITIAL | Old Roman I upset touring capital of Italy at first
I<taly> (“capital of” means first letter only) in INITAL (LATIN=old Roman + I; “upset” indicates vertical reversal) |
| 23 | JESTER | Poor audience response stifling street comedian
ST (=street) in JEER (=poor audience response, boo) |
| 26 | JOAN | Miro, say, just on arts news in lead items
J<ust> O<n> A<rts> N<ews>; “in lead items” means first letters only; the reference is to the Catalan artist Joan Miró (1893-1983) |
| 27 | COO | Gosh! A representation of carbon dioxide
C (=carbon) + O O (=dioxide, i.e. 2 x O=oxygen); coo, like cor, is an expression of surprise, hence “gosh” |
Verdi operas. Macbeth, Ot(h)ello, the Masked Ball, Falstaff, the Force of Destiny, Rigoletto was a jester.
Completed this fairly early for me, only for there to be no blog.
Sorry you are not feeling well. Hope you improve soon.
We thought we were blogging this before realising our mistake yesterday. We looked at the completed grid looking for a theme. After a bit of googling we found that OTELLO (not Othello), MACBETH and FALSTAFF were Verdi operas. We thought there must be more but itv was difficult to find a website which had an English translation.
We think the other links to Verdi operas are : TROUBADOUR, JESTER, DESTINY, MASKED BALL and JOAN. There may be more.
Lots to enjoy so thanks to Phi.
Get well soon RR.
Had a couple of different parsings to the blog. In 17a, I had FA(I)L, losing I (one) and in 2d, I had D(O)ES (works at).
Hovis@3, like minds on those two.
A strange puzzle, for me, this one. Completed about half of it, finding both the clues and the definitions very nicely done.
Then fell out of love with both.
Joan Miro, unknown to me.
Can’t like, that MASKED BALL is a good fit for “celebration”.
Nor, that ringlet = a “MASS” of hair.
13(ac) TROUBADOUR, I can only surmise that ROU comes from ROUT, a very obscure reference to a mob.
Not pleasing, if so.
OFFICE = ” off ice” , in 21(ac), i.e. ” outside the hockey season in Canada”. Hmmm.
A game of two halves. Super start, dodgy Phinish
regards PHI &; RatkojaRiki
A series of operas that aren’t too long, surely that’s a RINGLET?
I found this much less obscure than a Friday Phi. I think the fact that there weren’t any NHO (except OBIDIAH – went in easily once I had all crossers) meant even if I couldn’t immediately work out the worldplay I could get enough crossers to bash the word in and feel comfortable enough it was right.
Under a cricket lunch length solve for me is definitely on the easier side/on my wavelength.
Thanks for the blog RR (hope you’re feeling better soon, and thanks to Phi for the fun and the confidence boost.
Oh, James @6 You are my hero
Thanks Phi. For me the right side went in easily, the left took longer. I didn’t like ‘from’ in the clue for MACBETH (wordplay from definition seems backwards) but otherwise no issues for me. My top picks were SIDECAR, TOOLKITS, MASKED BALL, and STILETTO. Thanks RR for the blog.
I knew it had to be more than Shakespeare. James#6, 🙂
There were some goodies here, including COMMUNAL, TROUBADOUR (took me a while to justify the ROU though), OFFICE, STILETTO and OBADIAH.
I parsed DESTINY as per Hovis@3; “odes” for “works” is neat but it leaves the “at” unaccounted for, and that wouldn’t be typical of Phi.
Like E.N.Boll&@4, I wasn’t enamoured by some of the surfaces though. And I query INITIAL for “at first”: isn’t the latter and adverbial phrase and the former an adjective? I left this guess unfilled for ages until the checkers made it inevitable (and forced me to concentrate on parsing it properly; I confess that on my first attempt I was using the wrong “i” as the capital of Italy and couldn’t make sense of the resulting faux Roman!)
I enjoyed the hidden REFRESHMENT… it always amazes me how such hiddens can pass under the radar so easily. In hindsight one would think this one unmissable.
Thanks both, and a speedy recovery to RR
Many thanks to Hovis @3 for improving on the parsings. I have amended the blog accordingly.
And to James @5 for the first laugh of the day 🙂