Our regular Phiday fun.
Lots to enjoy here: I laughed at 7a when I finally twigged what sort of porter we were looking for (it’s a common crossword trick but I never remember it), and also liked the anti-tourist put-down of 24a and the very logical 8d.
We have a couple of film directors in the solutions, and several transportation references in the wordplay; could one of these hint at a theme? Apparently not, but the shape of the grid lends itself to a Nina around the perimeter, so that’s what Phi has done. The four edges show place-names from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels, although I think it’s fair to say that only three of them (the RAMTOP mountains, the kingdom of LANCRE and the empire of KLATCH) are well-known; I had to look up BETREK, which seems to be mentioned only in passing as a place to be conquered by other nations (unless I’m missing something). We also have DISC in 24d. Of course, the puzzle works perfectly well even if you’re not a fan of comic fantasy and don’t care about any of these names.
Given that the Discworld holds up a deliberately distorting satirical mirror to our own world, we might find that many of the other entries in the grid occur somewhere in the books; there’s a palace or two, some coachmen, probably a couple of parrots here and there, and definitely a lot of beer. However, I can’t help thinking that 18d might be a gentle rebuke: let’s keep the comments relevant to the puzzle, please, and not go into long digressions about other Discworld topics (much as I might enjoy that). Thanks Phi as always.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 7 | BEER-PUMP |
Worker behind importing quiet device for summoning porter? (4-4)
|
| BEE (perhaps a worker bee) + RUMP (behind = buttocks), containing P (p, in musical notation = abbreviation for Italian piano = quiet).
Porter = a dark malted beer, traditionally served (summoned) by pumping from a barrel. |
||
| 9 | REVEAL |
Uncover origins of really expensive meat (6)
|
| First letters (origins) of R[eally] E[xpensive], then VEAL (meat from very young cattle). | ||
| 10 | ETCH |
Make mark in completion of list, say, with ‘Henry’ (4)
|
| ETC (abbreviation for Latin et cetera = and the rest, indicating further elements in a list that are not specifically named) + H (abbbreviation for henry, the SI unit of electrical inductance). | ||
| 11 | CALIFORNIA |
Place where you’ll find Americans misused African oil (10)
|
| Anagram (misused) of AFRICAN OIL. | ||
| 12 | TOPPLE |
Bring down main court statement? Not entirely (6)
|
| TOP (main = most important) + PLE[a] (a statement of guilt or innocence in court) without the last letter (not entirely). | ||
| 14 | COACHMAN |
Transport worker in company leading a vessel with King on board (8)
|
| CO (abbreviation for company), before (leading) A + CAN (vessel = container), containing (with . . . on board) HM (abbreviation for His Majesty the King). | ||
| 15 | MORTAL |
Very serious additional discussion tails off (6)
|
| MOR[e] TAL[k] (additional discussion), with the last letters (tails) taken off.
As in mortal danger or mortal illness. |
||
| 17 | STATIC |
A lot of criticism about alternative technology still (6)
|
| STIC[k] (slang for criticism, as in “they gave me some stick for that”) without the last letter (a lot of . . .), around AT (abbreviation for alternative technology, as listed in Chambers).
Still = static = not moving. |
||
| 20 | RAPTURES |
Popular music genre, very French, keeping university in delight (8)
|
| RAP (popular music genre) + TRES (très = “very” in French), containing U (abbreviation for university).
The plural form is odd, but “in raptures” = in a state of delight. |
||
| 22 | PEPTIC |
Pressure on large scale around time of digestion (6)
|
| P (abbreviation for pressure) + EPIC (slang for on a large scale), around T (abbreviation for time).
Relating to the digestive system, as in a peptic ulcer. |
||
| 23 | ETON COLLAR |
Local tenor struggling – something about the throat? (4,6)
|
| Anagram (struggling) of LOCAL TENOR.
A wide stiff buttoned collar, as in the traditional school uniform of Eton College. |
||
| 24 | DOUR |
Follow archaeological tourists, perhaps, becoming glum (4)
|
| DO UR = perhaps slang for “visit the ancient archaeological site of Ur as a tourist”. The phrase tends to imply casually ticking a place off a list rather than going with any great interest in seeing it properly, as in the itinerary of an overseas tourist who might “do” Oxford today and Cambridge tomorrow. | ||
| 25 | KARATE |
Martial art – weak art? Not weak, quite wrong (6)
|
| Anagram (quite wrong) of [w]EAK ART, without the W (abbreviation for weak, in particle physics). | ||
| 26 | SCORSESE |
Film director lands first in Europe, after securing second (8)
|
| SCORES (lands, as a verb = achieves) + first letter in E[urope], containing (after securing = grabbing) S (abbreviation for second).
US film director Martin Scorsese. |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | REST ROOM |
Others with memory about old American toilet (4,4)
|
| REST (the rest = the others) + ROM (abbreviation for read-only memory, in computing), around O (abbreviation for old).
American phrase for toilet facilities in a public building. |
||
| 2 | ARCH |
Rock formation, perhaps, dry, but without phosphorus (4)
|
| [p]ARCH (dry, as a verb) without P (chemical symbol for phosphorus). | ||
| 3 | MUSCLE |
Body tissue – ponder finding chlorine inside (6)
|
| MUSE (ponder), with CL (Cl = chemical symbol for chlorine) inside. | ||
| 4 | TRUFFAUT |
French director contracted to include element of Elizabethan costume (8)
|
| TAUT (contracted = tightened), containing RUFF (a stiffened collar often seen as part of Emizabethan costume).
François Truffaut, 20th-century French film director. |
||
| 5 | OVER-THE-TOP |
Outrageous location of circus flags? (4-3-3)
|
| Definition and cryptic definition. Over-the-top = excessive or outrageous; or flags at a circus would typically be flown above the Big Top (the large tent used for performances). | ||
| 6 | PATINA |
40% of panel receiving a metal coating (6)
|
| The first two letters of five (40%) in PA[nel], containing (receiving) A + TIN (metal).
A surface layer that develops with age and handling, especially on metal or wood. If you like the way bronze darkens or copper goes blue-green, you call it patina; otherwise you probably call it tarnish. |
||
| 8 | PALACE |
China’s excellent Forbidden City? (6)
|
| PAL (China, from Cockney rhyming slang China plate = mate = slang for friend) + ACE (slang for excellent).
Extended definition: Forbidden City = the imperial-era palace complex in Beijing, or possibly an earlier one in Nanjing. |
||
| 13 | PERITONEAL |
Membrane’s elasticity accepted? There’s risk about that (10)
|
| TONE (elasticity, as in muscle tone) + A (abbreviation for accepted), with PERIL (risk) around it.
Relating to the membrane lining the abdominal cavity. |
||
| 16 | AIR-TO-SEA |
Flying to areas around island, like many marine rescues? (3-2-3)
|
| Anagram (flying) of TO AREAS, around I (abbreviation for island).
As in air-to-sea rescue = using an aircraft, typically a helicopter, to rescue casualties from a boat or from open water. |
||
| 18 | CLIQUISH |
Daughter avoiding tea and coffee inter alia in church – very exclusive (8)
|
| LIQUI[d]S (tea and coffee inter alia), without the D (abbreviation for daughter), inside CH (abbreviation for church).
Cliquish = keeping to one’s own private group (clique) and not welcoming newcomers = very exclusive. |
||
| 19 | PSALMS |
Religious book with additional writing on charity (6)
|
| PS (abbreviation for postscript = additional writing at the end of a document) + ALMS (money or food given to the poor = charity).
Book of songs in the Old Testament. |
||
| 21 | AMTRAK |
US transport system: inclination to reduce amount up front (6)
|
| RAK[e] (inclination = slope, as in rows of seats on an upwards slope away from a stage), with AMT (abbreviation for amount) before it (up front).
US national passenger railway company. |
||
| 22 | PARROT |
Pirate’s associate arriving aboard vessel (6)
|
| ARR (arr. = abbreviation for arriving, in railway timetables) inserted into (aboard) POT (vessel = container).
In the novel Treasure Island, the pirate Long John Silver is usually accompanied by a pet parrot perching on his shoulder; many popular depictions of pirates since then use similar imagery. |
||
| 24 | DISC |
Gambling accessories, mostly, including small coin? (4)
|
| DIC[e] (gambling accessories) without the last letter (mostly), including S (abbreviation for small). |
Double Phiday today. Oh Frabjous day…
I even saw the theme! I should buy a lottery ticket right now. Lovely crossword – would have been much easier I I hadn’t misspelled Scorsese and put in Dice unparsed.
Thanks Phi and Quirister
Enjoyed it.
I enjoyed the Disc World series but did not spot the outer nina – and would certainly not have recognised BETREK if I did. Neatly done mini theme. CLIQUISH was the word that beat me today – I got fixated on tea, coffee inter alia being (D)RINKS rather than LIQUI(D)S so, even with crossers, was not on the right track.
DO UR is amusing and a nice bit of misdirection in BEER PUMP for which BELL PULL was a tantalising, if wrong, option. PALACE and COACHMAN my other favourites.
Thanks Phi and Quirister
[Tim C @2: having just seen your comment on the G blog, I note you are in loquacious mode today …]
Do Ur! Groan… very good, Phi. It had to be that solution but I quickly gave up trying to parse it, so thanks for the unravelling, Quirister.
I’ve read a couple of the Discworld books but wouldn’t have recognised the Nina even if I’d thought to look for one. But as you say, it makes no difference to the solving experience – just a nice bonus for fans.
[Just a couple of Sir Terry’s books: Mort{al} & Moving Pictures (for which François & Martin would’ve deserved to win an Oswald.) Sorry, Q – I’m a fan.]
Very nice, with educated guesses for AMTRAK (wasn’t certain of ‘rake’, although I was pretty confident from the definition) and the constructed PERITONEAL (‘tone’/elasticity as in muscle tone was in my head, but again not a meaning I particularly know). Relieved to see the streamers!
I thought something might be going on around the perimeter, but haven’t read enough of the novels for it to have been any assistance.
Thanks both.
If it’s Tuesday it must be Ur … no, I didn’t pick it, dour was a bung and shrug, a very sly clue. Have picked up that Pratchett is part of the narrative landscape, but know absy fa about his oeuvre, so ditto re nina and theme. Ntl, quite fun, ta Q and I.
Like Amoeba, we thought something was going on around the perimeter but instead of searching online we came here instead.
We also looked at BELL PULL for a few minutes before we sorted things out and also tried DICE (unparsed) because we had the wrong spelling for SCORSESE.
Last one in was PERITONEAL which started with a memory of peritoneum and we gradually sorted out the parsing.
Thanks Phi for a good end to the week – have never read any Terry Pratchett books but our son enjoyed them. Thanks for the blog Quirister – it saved us some time searching online for the theme that we knew must be there!
In a bit of a meta moment, I did the puzzle and filled in AMTRAK while traveling on an Amtrak train from NYC to Washington DC
Thanks both!
Just to note that I may dip into the Discworld Atlas again. The amount of detail could power any number of Nina’s.
Late today. Wanted to note that the REST ROOM euphemism (usually rendered as a single word these days) started out during the era when public lavatories in many classier establishments actually had anterooms with chairs and couches, into which a woman who simply needed a sit-down could retire for a few minutes. Corsets, you know. (It was always a rarity in the men’s room.) Anyway, that detail meant you could ask for the restroom without being indiscreet about what exactly you needed to do there. Then the phrase survived the extinction of the actual thing.
[Yes, PM@4, I couldn’t see what the problem was with having the same setter in two different papers on the same day, nor why it was the Guardian editor’s fault. I thought I’d register my enjoyment of both on here. Prolixity has never been a strong point, but I get better with some C2H6O in my system. 🙂 ]