Independent 11,991 by Phi

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Yes, it’s us blogging again. Phi was kicked off his normal slot yesterday so we had PI-DAY not PHI-DAY.

Another well-crafted puzzle from Phi. A few took a bit longer to parse than normal. We kept thinking that IST in the middle of 11ac was ‘initial’. 7d was another one – we missed the fact that TURN and BOUT could each be a sudden attack.

We cannot see a theme today but maybe someone else can spot one.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Bribes generated amidst suspicious behaviour (7)
SUBORNS

BORN (generated) ‘amidst’ SUS (suspicious behaviour)

5. Shakespearean figure backed genuine revolution in scenery etc (7)
LAERTES

REAL (genuine) reversed or ‘backed’ and SET (scenery etc) reversed or ‘in revolution’

9. Displaying knowledge? English not polite about it (7)
ERUDITE

E (English) RUDE (not polite) about IT

10. German composer replaces note with a show of hesitation, I bet (7)
WAGERER

WAGnER (German composer) replacing ‘n’ (note) with ER (show of hesitation)

11. Government obscurations concealing initial main points (5)
GISTS

G (Government) mISTS (obscurations) missing or ‘concealing’ first letter or ‘initial’

12. Drop name outrageously before end of some walk (9)
PROMENADE

An anagram (‘outrageously’) of DROP NAME before the last letter or ‘end’ of somE

13. Parasites understand about new publican (8)
LICENSEE

LICE (parasites) SEE (understand) about N (new)

16. Low period interrupted by river in flood (5)
DROWN

DOWN (low period) around or ‘interrupted by’ R (river)

18. Settled opinion piece about Tesla (5)
OPTED

OP-ED (opinion piece) about T (tesla)

20. Things that can pierce old fishing gear beside coastal region (8)
BAYONETS

O (old) NETS (fishing gear) beside BAY (coastal region)

23. Agitate and resist delay (9)
TARDINESS

An anagram (‘agitate’) of AND RESIST

25. Donkey‘s over being attached to sticky part of plant (5)
BURRO

O (over) ‘attached’ to BURR (sticky part of plant)

27. Acquisitive financiers I discovered amongst brokers, wasting time (7)
RAIDERS

I inside or ‘discovered amongst’ tRADERS (brokers) missing or ‘wasting’ ‘t’ (time)

28. Excellent and fast, suppressing male illness (7)
AILMENT

AI (excellent) LENT (fast) around or ‘suppressing’ M (male)

29. Adds to writings, erasing beginning but including conclusion (7)
EXTENDS

tEXTS (writings) ‘erasing’ the first letter or ‘beginning’ around or ‘including’ END (conclusion)

30. Hides rocky rubble next to rear parts of garden beds (7)
SCREENS

SCREE (rocky rubble) next to N S (last letters or ‘rear parts’ of garden beds)

DOWN
1. Winter transport requiring a lot of dexterity (6)
SLEIGH

SLEIGHt (dexterity) missing last letter or ‘a lot of’

2. Rudimentary matters around American measures of speed (5)
BAUDS

BUDS (rudimentary matters) around A (American) – a BAUD is a measure of the speed by which computers pass information or a signalling speed

3. Regret impounding European spaceship for subsequent release (7)
REISSUE

RUE (regret) around or ‘impounding’ E (European) ISS (spaceship as in International Space Station)

4. Excessive pace requiring extra energy (5)
STEEP

STEP (pace) with an extra E (energy)

5. Produced farmyard noises, incorporating common vulgarity ultimately – this? (3,6)
LOW COMEDY

LOWED (produced farmyard noises) around or ‘incorporating’ COM (common) + Y (last or ‘ultimate’ letter of vulgarity)

6. Say good leader of teachers should be intellectual (7)
EGGHEAD

EG (say) G (good) HEAD (leader of teachers)

7. Sudden attacks securing Australian policy change (9)
TURNABOUT

TURN and BOUT (both ‘sudden attacks’) around A (Australian)

8. Police officer not losing heart after quantity of work in the main (8)
SERGEANT

NoT (first and last letter only or ‘losing heart’) after ERG (quantity of work) in SEA (the main)

14. Bird is caught by international physician (9)
INTERNIST

TERN (bird) IS inside or ‘caught by’ INT (international)

15. Mess Rebus sorted out is overwhelming (9)
SUBMERSES

An anagram (‘sorted out’) of MESS REBUS

17. No performance in church for romantic piece (8)
NOCTURNE

NO + TURN (performance) in CE (church)

19. Pathetic person curtailed streak where moviegoers gather (5-2)
DRIVE IN

DRIp (pathetic person) missing last letter or ‘curtailed’ + VEIN (streak)

21. Cloudy, close to covering most of large structure? (7)
NEBULAR

NEAR (close to) around or ‘covering’ BULk (large structure) missing last letter or ‘most of’

22. Large vessels? Possible limitation to arrangement with a small (6)
AORTAS

A OR T (the ‘possible limits’ or ends of arrangement) + A S (small)

24. Doctors run from fountains (5)
SPAYS

SPrAYS (fountains) without ‘r’ (run)

26. Always upset about end of brave deceased actor (5)
REEVE

A reversal (‘upset’) of EVER (always) about E (last letter or ‘end’ of brave)

15 comments on “Independent 11,991 by Phi”

  1. I did wonder whether a space station could be termed a spaceship. I guess it probably can although it seems a bit like calling a house a car.

  2. Tortuous and torturous, in equal measure, for me.
    A bit beyond my solving ability, a few; and like my horses at Cheltenham this week, not my best performance. Let’s just say, DNF, and move on!
    I thought 26(d) was a bit tasteless, REEVE, until I reconsidered the clue, and found it quite poignant, and elegant.
    The use of SUS, from suspicious, in 1(ac), seems a bit weak?
    I had a few other issues with ” degrees of separation”, but that’s my bad, not the setter’s.
    Best play? “A or T”, in 22(d). Nice.

    Good puzzle, good blog, I tug my forelock, Phi & BJ

  3. A few problems in the SE: I could not parse AORTAS and did not see the BUL(k) necessary to solve NEBULAR plus nho INTERNISTS which, if I came across it in the wild, I would have assumed was something to do with interns rather than medics. DROWN, SLEIGH, STEEP and NOCTURNE my favourites today.

    Thanks Phi and B&J

  4. Enjoyable as ever from Phi. Is there some NOCTURNE that is the ghost theme? Or is it a LOW COMEDY with a SERGEANT and some BAWDS? LOW COMEDY my favourite.

  5. Thought 14d INTERNIST might need a US indicator, but oed.com says it’s only “Chiefly U.S.” — 2d BAUDS: seldom seen in the plural after about 1969.

  6. Always thought suss was verb, suss it out, or adjective a bit suss (both with two esses), but ‘behaviour’ makes it a noun. Then again it’s vernacular, so who knows. Burr as sticky part is cute, but baud was a total non-geek nho. Lots to like, ta both, and a nice reminder of Christopher Reeve, a great contributor both before and after his injury.

  7. gif @ 6

    In UK, ‘stop and search’ laws for suspicious behaviour, introduced in the 70s and currently making an unwelcome comeback, were often referred to as ‘the sus laws’.

    Thanks Phi and BnJ.

  8. Thanks both. Needed thesaurus assistance to crack the intersecting nhos SUBORN and BAUDS before some hopefully momentary insanity had me searching for a bird to fit INTERNIST once I had decided ‘int’ could only be relevant at the start of the word. As least with it being a Phi puzzle, I know tomorrow is Saturday….

  10. S.U.S. as in “we got you with S.U.S.” – The Ruts, 1979.

    Glad we didn’t miss out on the weekly Phi. I got a bit stuck in the NW, but all fair.

    Thanks Phi and B&J.

  13. Petert@12, You beat me to the punch. My Chromebook took ages to wake up, and then I had to be recognised as human. 😉

  15. Been busy today so didn’t finish, but annoyed I didn’t get AORTAS, having had mine repaired a few years ago.

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