Phi has brought yet another suite of mid-week puzzles to an end.
I found this to be a challenging puzzle, which I needed to have a number of attempts at. For me at least, the fact that the entries at 3, 7 and 17, as well as the PETA reference at 22D, were all unknown to me made completing the crossword that bit harder. Incidentally, was struck by the length of some of today’s clues, such as 1 and 2, which made for convoluted wordplay at times.
I haven’t spotted any theme today, but maybe there is something lurking in the completed grid …
My favourite clues today were 5, for its original composition; and 8 and 15, both for smoothness of surface.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 09 | HUMILIATE | Make low buzz, one recently encountered around India
HUM (=buzz) + I (=one) + [I (=India, in NATO alphabet) in LATE (=recently)]; to humiliate is to debase, degrade, hence “make (someone) low” |
| 10 | EPOCH | Manage to back husband for a time
EPOC (COPE=manage, run; “to back” indicates reversal) + H (=husband) |
| 11 | OBLIQUE | Indirect story about Queen attached to old book
O (=old, as in OT) + B (=book) + [QU (=queen) in LIE (=story, untruth)]; e.g. an oblique reference to something is an indirect one |
| 12 | MEANDER | Poor article in Bild to diverge from the topic
MEAN (=poor, meagre) + DER (=article in Bild, i.e. a German word for the) |
| 13 | GRAVE | Serious German getting excellent review
G (=German) + RAVE (=excellent review, extravagant praise) |
| 14 | SACRILEGE | Clergies will get agitated about one
I (=one) in *(CLERGIES); “agitated” is anagram indicator; semi- & lit. |
| 16 | PASS ROUND THE HAT | Authorise sequence of visits – during that the man is to solicit donations
PASS (=authorise, approve) + ROUND (=sequence of visits, by e.g. doctor) + [HE (=the man) in THAT] |
| 19 | TAKE SIDES | Join party and film extracts before a certain date
TAKES (=film extracts, as in Take One, Take Two …) + IDES (=a certain date, as in the Ides of March) |
| 21 | SCRAM | Hurriedly leave small stuff
S (=small, in sizes) + CRAM (=stuff, ram) |
| 22 | FURBISH | Make bright blunder with something attracting PETA’s attention?
FUR (=something attracting PETA (=People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals)’s attention) + BISH (=blunder, mistake) |
| 23 | GENTEEL | Fellow taking shelter, turning very polite?
GENT (=fellow) + EEL (LEE=shelter, when sailing; “turning” indicates reversal) |
| 24 | WEIGH | Assess response from horse changing direction?
NEIGH (=response from horse); “changing direction” means letter “N (=north)” becomes “W (=west)” |
| 25 | CIPHERING | Old calculation that could make Phi cringe
*(PHI CRINGE); “that could make” is anagram indicator; to cipher is an archaic verb meaning to calculate |
| Down | ||
| 01 | THROUGHPUT | Amount processed from approximate power sent into middle of factory shed
[ROUGH (=approximate, of estimate) + P (=power, in physics)] in [<fac>T<ory> (“middle of” means middle letter only + HUT (=shed, cabin)] |
| 02 | AMALGAMS | A chap reduced carbon dioxide, say, when importing foremost of modern alloys
A + MAL<e> (=chap; “reduced” means last letter is dropped) + [M<odern> (“foremost of” means first letter only) in GAS (=carbon dioxide, say)] |
| 03 | CLAQUE | Theatre’s hired support to applaud, mostly quite oblivious to it
CLA<p> (=(to) applaud; “mostly” means last letter is dropped) + QU<it>E (“oblivious to it” means letters “it” are dropped); a claque is a group of people hired to applaud a performance |
| 04 | GALE | Risk losing quantity of memory? That’s a blow
GA<mb>LE (=risk, venture); “losing quantity of memory (=MB, i.e. megabyte)” means letters “mb” are dropped |
| 05 | GERMICIDES | Medicines? 50% of bloggers will accept 75% of medicine for treatment
*(MEDICI<ne> (“75% of” means 6 of 8 letters only are used) in <blog>GERS (“50% of” means 4 of 8 letters only are used); “for treatment” is anagram indicator |
| 06 | MEGALITH | Made light rocks, disposing of deserted heavy rock
*(MA<d>E LIGHT); “disposing of deserted (=D)” means letter “d” is dropped from anagram, indicated by “rocks” |
| 07 | BOODLE | Dodgy cash? Scorn benefit payment, yielding nothing
BOO (=scorn, mock) + D<o>LE (=benefit payment; “yielding nothing (=O)” means letter “o” is dropped); colloquially, boodle is counterfeit money, hence “dodgy cash” |
| 08 | CHAR | Cleaner’s plan to eradicate last of dirt
CHAR<t> (=plan, map); “to eradicate last (=last letter) of dirt” means letter “t” is dropped |
| 14 | SOUNDCHECK | Mike’s assessment: valid way to pay in America
SOUND (=valid, right) + CHECK (=way to pay in America, i.e. US English for cheque); the “mike” of the definition is a microphone |
| 15 | ENTOMOLOGY | Science’s gloomy tone, in crisis
*(GLOOMY TONE); “in crisis” is anagram indicator |
| 17 | RESPIGHI | Italian composer nearly quit about piano, hard one
[P (=piano, i.e. soft, in music) in RESIG<n> (=quit, i.e. a job; “nearly” means last letter is dropped)] + H (=hard, of pencils) + I (=one); the reference is to Italian composer Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936) |
| 18 | HERMETIC | Dissident keeping millions sealed in
M (=millions) in HERETIC (=dissident) |
| 20 | KERMIT | Frog’s name for apparatus around old Euro-finance system
ERM (=old Euro-finance system, i.e. Exchange Rate Mechanism) in KIT (=apparatus); Kermit the Frog was a character in the TV comedy series The Muppet Show |
| 21 | SUNSET | Hardy heroine upset about a French evening?
UN (=a French, i.e. a French word for a) in SSET (TESS=Hardy heroine, i.e. Tess of the D’Urbervilles; “upset” indicates vertical reversal) |
| 22 | FOWL | Movement of water shifting lake bird
FLOW (=movement of water); “shifting left (=L)” means letter “l” moves to a different place in the word |
| 23 | GAPE | Surprised expression: output of vineyard not red initially
G<r>APE (=output of vineyard); “not red initially (=first letter)” means letter “r” is dropped |
What! No comments. I found this quite hard too but pleased to complete 90% without help. I solved quite a lot from the definitions once I’d got a few crossing letters. As RR says, clues were quite wordy. Thanks Phi and RR
In 5d, I felt that only MEDICI was to be anagrammed. In 22d, L is ‘lake’ not ‘left’.
CLAQUE & BOODLE (sound nice together) were new to me and only know the composer from previous cryptics.
Never seen furbish without ‘re’ before, but why not. Knew boodle, claque and the composer but not ERM, though the lovable frog was a gimme. Cipher as calculate vaguely familiar, probably from one of mrs ginf’s history novels. Lots to enjoy, thanks Phi and RR.
Super stuff from Phi as ever. BOODLE is a lovely word that I know well from the Raffles stories.
ginf@3 – yes, if you can refurbish something, I guess that implies that it must have once been furbished for the first time! Looks very odd without the RE though.
I found this not too difficult.
Fun fact about Respighi. His 1924 tone poem, The Pines of Rome, is probably the first case of sampling. The sound of a nightingale is played on a gramophone record. And the the final movement, The Pines of the Appian Way, with its triumphal brass is very stirring. Of course, Mussolini had just appeared at the time.
Kermit first appeared nearly 20 years before The Muppet Show started.
Thanks both. I felt I had seen RESPIGHI before and the helpful search function here confirms his appearance in a Maize puzzle this January, however last clued by Phi in 2015 – as composers are not my thing, let’s put him away for another decade, by which time, who knows, like vinyl, the humble gramophone may have seen a revival.