The puzzle is available to solve online or download here.
Hi all. Phi has provided an enjoyable puzzle which I found at the gentler end of his range – especially if you spot the extra feature.
If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I will let you hunt for the Easter egg if you wish. I’ll put what I found at the bottom of the blog. It was when I got to end of my first pass that I noticed it. (You could guess the exact place and you’d be right!) This led me straight to a couple more answers, helping me on my way to a breezy solve, which was very welcome in the hot weather. I don’t want to suggest this was a pushover: there were plenty of clues requiring some thought, some knowledge of crosswordese such as “are” in 13a, and I definitely had to trust the wordplay in places.
Thanks Phi, and stay cool everyone 😎.
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, most quoted indicators are in italics, specified [deletions] are in square brackets, and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER. For clarity, I omit most link words and some juxtaposition indicators.
| Across | |
| 1a | Top of the heap? Reckon reported wine collection is about second (10) |
| BESTSELLER — BET (reckon) and SELLER, which sounds like (reported) CELLAR (wine collection) is around (about) S (second) | |
| 6a | Bar not opening? Always (4) |
| EVER — Lacking its first letter (… not opening), lEVER (bar) | |
| 9a | Commit urban offence: spit on recreation ground (6-4) |
| DOUBLE-PARK — DOUBLE (spit, exact likeness) + PARK (recreation ground) | |
| 10a | Standard works, excluding chapter from unknown author (4) |
| ANON — [c]ANON (standard works) excluding C (chapter) | |
| 12a | Tolerate English entering conflict (4) |
| WEAR — E (English) entering WAR (conflict) | |
| 13a | Generosity and passion are absent in girl (7) |
| LARGESS — R[a]GE (passion) with A (are, unit of land area) absent goes in LASS (girl) | |
| 16a | Fair supply reduced by board (9) |
| EQUITABLE — EQUIp (supply) without its last letter (reduced) + TABLE (board) | |
| 18a | English author starts to grant old stories some esteem (5) |
| GOSSE — Initial letters of (starts to) Grant Old Stories Some Esteem. Sir Edmund William Gosse, 1849–1928, author critic and poet noted for the autobiographical work Father and Son | |
| 19a | Exhausted in rows, losing a source of enthusiasm (5) |
| TIRED — TI[e]RED (in rows) losing one E (a source of Enthusiasm) | |
| 21a | Enticing possibly to follow area such as certain viral treatments? (9) |
| ANTIGENIC — An anagram of (… possibly) ENTICING to follow A (area) | |
| 23a | Backed not interrupting fat old Germans (7) |
| TEUTONS — In reverse (backed) NOT going into (interrupting) SUET (fat) | |
| 24a | Opening temperature needing attention (4) |
| TEAR — T (temperature) + EAR (attention) | |
| 27a | Old dears discontented with betting shop offerings (4) |
| ODDS — OlD DearS without inner letters (discontented) | |
| 28a | Stand to leave part of sports ground quietly – it’s not upright (5,5) |
| GRAND PIANO — STAND to leave GRAND[stand] (part of sports ground) + PIANO (quietly). The definition refers to an upright piano, not a piano which is upright! | |
| 29a | Stops compensation with a million sent off (4) |
| ENDS — [am]ENDS (compensation) with A and M (million) removed (sent off) | |
| 30a | Observer recalled accommodating fools with second and further estimates (10) |
| REASSESSES — SEER (observer) reversed (recalled) taking in (accommodating) ASSES (fools) with S (second) | |
| Down | |
| 1d | Expression of enthusiasm about Ford’s latest chassis, perhaps (4) |
| BODY — BOY (expression of enthusiasm) around (about) ForD’s last letter (latest) | |
| 2d | Endless desire swamping love elevated spirit (4) |
| SOUL — Without the last letter (endless) LUSt (desire) surrounding (swamping) O (love), all going upwards (elevated) | |
| 3d | Conspicuous exotic, planted in stone (7) |
| SALIENT — ALIEN (exotic) planted in ST (stone) | |
| 4d | Some undesirable person? (5) |
| LEPER — Some undesirabLE PERson | |
| 5d | Preparation for course: note start of lessons separately introduced in Term One after review (9) |
| ENROLMENT — N (note) and the first letter of (start of) Lessons are separately inserted into (separately introduced in) an anagram of (… after review) TERM ONE | |
| 7d | Vampire hunter leading group over shifting shingle (3,7) |
| VAN HELSING — VAN (leading group) above (over) an anagram of (shifting) SHINGLE | |
| 8d | Unsettled near uproar about Conservative revival (10) |
| RENASCENCE — An anagram of (unsettled) NEAR + SCENE (uproar) around (about) C (Conservative) | |
| 11d | Origin of daily newspaper is a dull affair (4) |
| DRAG — The first letter of (origin of) Daily + RAG (newspaper) | |
| 14d | Butterfly possibly following butterfly spurning latest effect of the sun? (10) |
| HEATSTROKE — STROKE (butterfly possibly) following HEATh (butterfly) without its last letter (spurning latest). I had to check the heath butterfly, which may refer to more than one species including the small heath and the large heath | |
| 15d | Almost certain regarding approximate quantities under blockade? (10) |
| SURROUNDED — Almost SURe (certain) + ROUNDED (regarding approximate quantities) | |
| 17d | Money European country raised for restaurant (9) |
| BRASSERIE — BRASS (money) + EIRE (European country) reversed (raised) | |
| 20d | Decline surgery overseen by doctor? (4) |
| DROP — OP (surgery) underneath (overseen by) DR (doctor) | |
| 22d | Greek technology company in struggle (7) |
| GRAPPLE — GR (Greek) + APPLE (technology company) | |
| 24d | Hard to avoid straps in gripping tool (5) |
| TONGS — H (hard) to avoid T[h]ONGS (straps) | |
| 25d | Performing group, half taken aback, in stage show … (4) |
| CATS — ACTS (performing group) with half reversed (taken aback) | |
| 26d | … pursues note concluding Mikado (G & S) (4) |
| DOGS — The musical note found at the end of (note concluding) MikaDO + G & S | |
The four letter entries can all be paired, linked with “and”, to give phrases: BODY and SOUL, EVER and ANON, ODDS and ENDS, CATS and DOGS, WEAR and TEAR, DRAG and DROP.
I guessed some letters but I didn’t think guessing would get me to the point where only two entries were unsolved. Didn’t get HEATSTROKE at all, and forgot that synonym of supply… I don’t know why the synonyms I know suddenly vanish from my memory when the time comes to answer a crossword.
I like 19a and 3d.
Thanks Kitty + Phi
I did spot the themed words – nice job done by Phi. VAN HELSING was not the trickiest solution but it made me smile – and I was pleased to remember it.
Thanks Phi and Kitty.
Very enjoyable, thanks Phi and Kitty. GRAND PIANO was my favourite for the definition.
A classic Phi, with difficulty going from easy to tricky.
A seasoning of “oddities”, LARGESS and RENASCENCE, for the spelling.
I enjoyed the couplets, in each quarter: BODY+SOUL, EVER + ANON, CATS + DOGS, ODDS+ ENDS.
Phi’s surfaces are always clever, no change here.
I may be off piste, but Van Helsing may be the fly in the ointment? Netflix?
Nice puzzle, Phi.
But, GOSSE? really??
Thanks, Phi & Kitty
E.N.Boll&. What did you have against WEAR+TEAR, DRAG+DROP?
Thanks Phi and Kitty
IanB @ 4 – VAN HELSING: Bram Stoker, from memory. Certainly Herzog.
Hovis@5 I have nothing against them !
It’ s the final day of Royal Ascot, so I was pickin’ me ‘orses.
But, thanks for putting me, on the money!
Simon@6 I may be inventing, because themes are not my thing, but, I think that Van Helsing might be a theme starter.
But, still, GOSSE?
thanks, both, IanB
I finished this over coffee on our back patio, after having abandoned Paul’s Guardian offering about 3/4 done, just in time to avoid the heat of the day. (It’s going to be a scorcher here in Chicago.) I agree that this was on the gentler end of the spectrum for Phi, but none the worse for it. I did not see the theme, which should have been obvious to me.
Dare I say “nice and easy”?
But I agree with E.N.Boll& about Gosse.
Many thanks to Phi and Kitty
Well, I’d heard of Gosse. There was a Dennis Potter television version of Father and Son as recently as 1978.
Certainly easier than yesterday.
Didn’t find it as easy as others but completed with no checks or reveals. Maybe it was the beer garden pint and the hot weather. I spotted CATS and DOGS and BODY and SOUL but the others passed me by.
Liked HEATSTROKE which held out nearly to the point where I became a victim of it.
Thanks Kitty and Phi