We probably get a puzzle from Phi every 9 Fridays out of 10 in the Independent. Today is no exception
A couple of the Across pairs make reasonable sounding phrases – GOLDEN AMBROSIA and ARMSTRONG GIRLS but I can’t find any theme linking them.
Flowers get into a few clues or entries, but again, they don’t seem to create a theme. Quite a few people get mentioned in clues or entries – Richard NIXON, Anais Nin and Leslie CHARTERIS – but they don’t appear to have anything in common. In other words, I can’t see a theme, but I have often failed to find one that exists.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a university loved by crossword setters and it appears again today.
I liked the clues for ECO-WARRIOR and LEGROOM
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Passing fashion pursued by editor is no longer prominent (5)
FADED (less distinct; no longer prominent) FAD (a passing fashion) + ED (editor) FAD ED |
| 4 | Call Lord stupid after rebuffing intermediary (9)
MIDDLEMAN (intermediary) (NAME [call] + LD [Lord] + DIM [stupid]) all reversed (after rebuffing) (MID DL EMAN)< |
| 9 | Wild licentious Italian family dismissing book given a lot of credit (9)
ORGIASTIC (frantically unrestrained; wild) BORGIAS (licentious Italian family) excluding (dismissing) B (book) + TICK (credit) excluding the final letter (a lot of) K ORGIAS TIC |
| 10 | Former partner is behind fake manuscript (5)
CODEX (manuscript volume) COD (hoax; fake) + EX (former partner) COD EX |
| 11 | Involved re orca row? I will step in: I fight for the planet (3-7)
ECO-WARRIOR (a person who zealously pursues environmental aims; one who fights for the planet) I contained in (will step in) an anagram of (involved) RE ORCA ROW ECO–WARR (I) OR* |
| 12 | Look over small quantity of film (4)
SCAN (look over) S (small) + CAN (a quantity of film stored in a container) S CAN |
| 14 | I desire to backtrack, about to abandon unbalanced state (8)
INEQUITY (lack of fairness; unbalanced state) I + (YEN [desire] reversed and containing (about) QUIT [to abandon]) I NE (QUIT) Y< |
| 15 | I’m back, probing three letters, covering the smallest things? (6)
ATOMIC (describing the smallest things) I’M reversed (back) contained in (probing) A TO C (three letters, abc) A TO (MI<) C |
| 18 | Most favourable target after dumping American study? (6)
GOLDEN (most favourable) GOAL (target) excluding (after dumping) A (American) + DEN (study) GOL DEN |
| 20 | Married relative filling large part of the world with good stuff (8)
AMBROSIA (any fragrant or delicious food or beverage; good stuff) (M [married] + BRO [brother; relative]) contained in (filling) ASIA (major continent; large part of the world) A (M BRO) SIA |
| 23 | Imprison a lot of sailors dodging bloodbath (4)
CAGE (imprison) CARNAGE (extensive or indiscriminate slaughter; bloodbath) excluding (dodging) (A + RN [Royal Navy; a lot of sailors]) CAGE |
| 24 | Everyone in historic city beginning to transmit good wishes (3,3,4)
ALL THE BEST (good wishes) ALL (everyone) + THEBES (an historic city) + T (first letter of [beginning to] Transmit) ALL THE BES T |
| 26 | Combined Institute backed by nobody (2,3)
IN ONE (combined) I (Institute) + NONE (nobody) I N ONE |
| 27 | Founder working air into it (9)
INITIATOR (founder) Anagram of (working) AIR INTO IT INITIATOR* |
| 28 | Space pioneer’s endeavour mostly captured in power ballad (9)
ARMSTRONG (reference Neil ARMSTRONG [1930 – 2012], first man to set foot on the moon; space pioneer) TRY (endeavour) excluding the final letter (mostly) Y, contained in (captured in) (ARM [power] + SONG [air]) ARM S (TR) ONG |
| 29 | Roughly half of schoolchildren rejected limitations to school outfit (5)
GIRLS (schoolchildren comprise approximately equal numbers of GIRLS and boys. In 2023, the population of the United Kingdom was around 68.3 million, with approximately 34.5 million women and 33.1 million men, so it is likely that distribution is also represented in schoolchildren. Apparently the worldwide ratio in 2020 was 101 males to 100 females) (SL [outer letters of {limitations to} SchooL] + RIG [outfit]) all reversed (rejected) (GIR LS)< |
| Down | |
| 1 | Blossoming fig initially having a dark look (9)
FLOWERING (blossoming) F (first letter of [initially] Fig) + LOWERING (having a sullen or dark look) F LOWERING |
| 2 | Revolted after scoundrel does for flower (3,4)
DOG ROSE (a flower) DOG (scoundrel) + ROSE (revolted) DOG ROSE |
| 3 | Rename quad foolishly? I’ll be dreadfully outraged (5,5)
DRAMA QUEEN (A person who tends to react to every situation in an overdramatic or exaggerated manner; someone who might say ‘I am dreadfully outraged’) Anagram of (foolishly) RENAME QUAD DRAMA QUEEN* |
| 4 | Full development? I may trust to ignore son misbehaving (8)
MATURITY (full development) Anagram of (misbehaving) I MAY TRUST excluding (to ignore) S (son) MATURITY* |
| 5 | Fix entrance, allowing Court to enter (6)
DOCTOR (tamper with; fix) DOOR (entrance) containing (allowing … to enter) CT (court) DO (CT) OR |
| 6 | Courage yielding power and fortune (4)
LUCK (fortune) PLUCK (courage) excluding (yielding) P (power) LUCK |
| 7 | A little approach to work taking on timeless maxim (7)
MODICUM (a small amount; a little) MO (modus operandi) + DICTUM (popular maxim) excluding (-less) T MO DICUM |
| 8 | Erotic writer retaining kiss and hug for former President (5)
NIXON (reference Richard NIXON [1913 – 1994], former President of the United States) NIN (reference Anais NIN [1903 – 1977], French-born American writer of short stories and erotica) containing (retaining) (X [symbol for a kiss] + O [symbol for a hug] as in XOXO representing ‘hugs and kisses’) NI (X O) N |
| 13 | Dream character upset re TV signal (10)
STARVELING (reference Robin STARVELING, a character in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s DREAM (1596), one of the Rude Mechanicals of Athens who plays the part of Moonshine in their performance of Pyramus and Thisbe) Anagram of (upset) RE TV SIGNAL STARVELING* |
| 16 | Saintly writer is supporting rights document (9)
CHARTERIS (reference Leslie CHARTERIS [1907 – 1993], author of the Saint [Simon Templar] series of books) CHARTER (a document of tights) + IS – as this is a down entry, the letters IS are ‘supporting’ the letters of CHARTER CHARTER IS |
| 17 | Forgetting US university money’s invested in other governments initially (8)
OMITTING (forgetting) (MIT [Massachusetts Institue of Technology, US university] + TIN [money]) contained in (invested in) OG (first letters of each of [initially] Other and Governments) O (MIT TIN) G |
| 19 | Left unable to accommodate feet? Prepare space to stretch out (7)
LEGROOM (space to stretch out) (LEFT excluding [unable to accommodate] FT [feet]) + GROOM (prepare) LE GROOM |
| 21 | Promise to hem edges of teenage clothing item (7)
SWEATER (clothing item) SWEAR (promise) containing (to hem) TE (first and last [outer] letters of TEENAGE) SWEA (TE) R |
| 22 | Ocean process taking different line before turning active (2,4)
EL NINO, a periodic large-scale warming of the surface of the Eastern Pacific Ocean, especially off the coast of Peru and Ecuador, associated with extreme meteorological phenomena in the Pacific region; ocean process) Anagram of (different) LINE + ON (active) reversed (returned) EL NI* NO< |
| 23 | Church in America, a friendly kind (5)
CHINA (mate; friendly person, derived from Cockney slang ‘CHINA plate’ for mate) CH (church) + IN + A (America) CH IN A |
| 25 | Where the dying go, we stay? Not half (4)
WEST (reference the phrase GO WEST meaning ‘to die’, believed to refer to people going WEST from prison to the Tyburn gallows) WE + STAY excluding the last 2 of 4 [half] letters AY leaving us without (not) half of STAY WE ST |
I think the theme is John Adams’ compositions – Doctor Atomic, Nixon in China, El Nino etc
Good Spot, David White@1 …A Flowering Tree (2006), Girls of the Golden West (2017)…
Well-spotted, David White. GIRLS was neat as was MODICUM. Thanks both.
I was thinking The Golden Girls (1985-92) [a 40th anniversary] with Betty White as Rose, plus Sweater Girls, Flower Girls, and Iggy & Bowie’s China Girl (1977&83)
There was an opportunity for a triple definition at 8D by adding ‘naked’ before ‘erotic’ or after ‘hug’ (= nix on). Thanks Phi for the inevitable fun, and Duncan of course .
It’s like surfing through the cosmos in one of those psychedelic comics, solved all the clues but totally lost.
And Adams influenced by John 23a.
It’s not often I spot a theme. I’m off to buy lottery tickets just in case my 6d is in.
1a 1d had me hoping for a Shriekback theme, but Adams will do.
Thanks both.
Solved 16d by wordplay before recognising the ‘saintly writer’. Doh! We had the Saint books in the school library for some reason and I lapped them up when I was 11. I wonder if they’ve lasted. Probably totally non-PC nowadays. Nice puzzle, thanks Phi and D.
This Phi puzzle was easier for me compared to his previous ones. Nevertheless, I unfortunately didn’t get my last ones in, 2 down and 9 across, right the first time (for the former I had forgotten the synonym for scoundrel, and for the latter I had no idea what the word was at first and even after getting there, I had no idea what the wordplay was). I like the clues for MIDDLEMAN (clean), ATOMIC (creative cluing), and GIRLS (plus points for clues where the definition takes up more of the clue than expected).
Thanks Phi and duncanshiell!
I’m a great fan of John Adams and I totally failed to spot the theme!
A steady solve, but without spotting the theme. Couldn’t parse CAGE, ARMSTRONG or LEGROOM, although they couldn’t be anything else.
Thanks, Phi and Duncan.