We have a normal end to the Independent weekday set of puzzles with a crossword set by Phi
I wonder if I was the only solver who bunged in AGITATO instead of ANIMATO at 25 across, only to run into problems when trying to parse it.
I’m not sure what propose the word ‘possibly’ is serving in the clue for AILOUROPHILIA. OUR PHI is not anagrammed, so ‘possibly doesn’t apply to that bit of the wordplay. Of course, I don’t know whether Phi is a cat-lover or the opposite, so maybe ‘possibly’ is describing his relationship with cats. Having said that, I thought the construction of the component parts of that entry was excellent.
Today is the first time I have come across the word SCREENAGER (29 across) and I’m not sure I want to see it again. It doesn’t feature in my 2005 version of Chambers App, but I note it is in all the commonly used crossword dictionaries today. That’s progress and evolution of the language for you.
YGGDRASIL (22 across) is a splendid word that I have met before in barred crosswords.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Companies disturbed boundaries of healthy game (7,3)
COCONUT SHY (game played at a funfair) (CO [company] + CO [company], giving companies) + NUTS (crazy; disturbed) + HY (outer letters of [boundaries of] HealthY) CO CO NUT S HY |
| 6 | Current force not high-powered? (4)
FLOW (current) F (force) + LOW (not reaching a high level; not high-powered) F LOW |
| 10 | Quick – put out improper poem (2-5)
UP-TEMPO (played at a fast pace; quick) Anagram of (out) PUT + an anagram of (improper) POEM UP- T* EMPO* |
| 11 | Soothing comment about a tense scene of operations (7)
THEATRE (scene of operations in a hospital) THERE (example of a word expressing reassurance; a soothing comment) containing (about) (A + T [tense]) THE (A T) RE |
| 12 | Tree dweller with flightless bird in both hands (5)
LEMUR (long-tailed mammal related to the monkeys, forest dwellers, mainly nocturnal, common in Madagascar; tree dweller) EMU (flightless bird) contained in (in) (L [left hand] + R [right hand] – both hands) L (EMU) R |
| 14 | Acknowledgement everyone will attend old washed-out church (9)
ALLOWANCE (admission, acknowledgement or permission [Chambers says this is a Shakespearean definition]) ALL (everyone) + O (old) + WAN [pale; washed-out] + CE (Church of England]) ALL O WAN CE |
| 15 | Unidentified prison sentence after nabbing a railway predator (9,4)
SECRETARY BIRD (long-legged snake-eating African bird of prey; predator) (SECRET [unidentified] + BIRD [slang for a prison sentence]) containing (after nabbing) (A + RY [railway]) SECRET (A RY) BIRD |
| 18 | Our Phi possibly in trouble two ways around love – love of cats? (13)
AILOUROPHILIA (love of cats) ([OUR + PHI] contained in [possibly in] [AIL {trouble} + AIL {trouble}] reversed, giving trouble in two ways) all containing (around) O (character representing zero [love score in tennis]) – I am not sure what purpose the word ‘possibly’ is serving in the clue AIL (OUR (O) PHI) LIA< |
| 22 | Heartless young lads rig up link between heaven and hell (9)
YGGDRASIL (the ash tree binding together heaven, earth and hell, and extending its branches over the whole world and above the heavens; link between heaven and hell) YG (letters remaining in YounG when the central letters OUN are removed [heartless]) + an anagram of (up) LADS RIG YG GDRASIL* |
| 24 | City enthralled by return of a German relative (5)
NIECE (relative) EC (postcode including the City of London)] contained in (enthralled by) EIN (German for the indefinite article ‘a’) reversed (return of) – note that this could also have been clued as (EC EIN) all reversed, but that’s not what the wordplay indicated NI (EC) E< |
| 25 | Bird returned at start of October with a lively manner (7)
ANIMATO (musically, with a live manner) MINA (any of various related sturnoid Asiatic birds of which the species Gracula religiosa, black with white spots on the wings, can be taught to imitate human speech; alternative spelling of MYNA) reversed (returned) + AT + O (first letter of [start of] October) ANIM< AT O |
| 26 | Travelling Hollywood actor returned in car initially (7)
NOMADIC (wandering; travelling) DAMON (reference Matt DAMON [born 1970], American film actor; Hollywood actor) reversed (returned) + IC (first letters [initially] of each of In and Car) NOMAD< I C |
| 28 | Some nautical gases – seaweed? (4)
ALGA (seaweed) ALGA (hidden word in [some] nauticAL GAses) ALGA |
| 29 | Rocky debris aroused anger in young computer expert (10)
SCREENAGER (young person skilled in the use of computers and the internet) SCREE (rocky debris) + an anagram of (aroused) ANGER SCREE NAGER* |
| Down | |
| 1 | Romantic partners perhaps stroke and love, yielding heart (6)
COUPLE (romantic partners) COUP (stroke) + LE (letters remaining in LovE when the central letters OV are removed [yielding heart]) COUP LE |
| 2 | Whip around and start to threaten (3)
CAT (CAT-o’-nine-tails; whip) CA (circa; around) + T (first letter of [start to] Threaten) CA T |
| 3 | International body upset America, releasing articles regarding figures (7)
NUMERIC (relating to NUMBERs [figures]) UN (United Nations [international body]) reversed (upset) + aMERICa excluding the two indefinite articles A and A (releasing articles) NU< MERIC |
| 4 | Decorator ruined part of Paris (9)
TROCADERO (a district across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower, known for its gardens, fountains, and the Palais de Chaillot) Anagram of (ruined) DECORATOR TROCADERO* |
| 5 | Vehement line about English inn (5)
HOTEL (an inn) (HOT [impassioned; vehement] + L [line]) containing (about) E (English) HOT (E) L |
| 7 | Photographer’s concern working metal (tin) a long time (6,5)
LATENT IMAGE (the invisible image produced by the action of light on the sensitive chemicals on a film, etc, which becomes visible after development; something of concern to a photographer) Anagram of (working) METAL TIN + AGE (a long time) LATENT IM* AGE |
| 8 | Degree of knowledge probing garden issues in time off from work? (8)
WEEKENDS (a period of time off from work for many people) KEN (a range of [a degree of] knowledge) contained in (probing) WEEDS (unwanted plants [garden issues]) WEE (KEN) DS |
| 9 | Go up, entering place offering a degree of freedom (6)
LEEWAY (room to manoeuvre; degree of freedom) WEE (urinate; go) reversed (up; down entry) contained in (entering) LAY (to place) L (EEW<) AY |
| 13 | I’m upset over nearly everything in new player adjusting poorly (11)
MISALIGNING (adjusting poorly) I’M reversed (upset) + (ALl [everything] excluding the final letter L [nearly] ) contained in (in) SIGNING (a new SIGNING is a new player added to a team squad) MI< S (AL) IGNING |
| 16 | Bald and not quite honest, misrepresenting colour of wig? (3,6)
ASH BLONDE (colour of hair that could be used to make a wig) Anagram of (misrepresenting) BALD and HONESt excluding the final T (not quite) ASH BLONDE* |
| 17 | Source of protein found in island, except for a rodent (8)
CAPYBARA (the largest living rodent, a native of South America) (P [first letter of {source of} Protein] contained in [found in] CAY [a low island]) + BAR (except for) + A CA (P) Y BAR A |
| 19 | What supporters are, following United with a right great clamour (6)
UPROAR (great clamour) U (United) + PRO (in favour of, which is what supporters are in relation to the person supported) + A + R (right) U PRO A R |
| 20 | Telecommunication worker to call love up (7)
LINEMAN (a person who attends to the lines of a telegraph or telephone wires) (NAME [call] + NIL [zero [love score at tennis]) all reversed (up; down entry) (LIN EMAN)< |
| 21 | Cloth dealer mostly happy about outer items in cashmere (6)
MERCER (a dealer in textiles and cloth) MERRy (happy) excluding the final letter Y (mostly) containing (about) CE (first and last letters [outer items] of CashmerE) MER (CE) R |
| 23 | A lot of criticism about old follower of Zeno (5)
STOIC ( a follower of the Hellenic philosopher Zeno of Citium [334 – 262 BC], founder of STOICism) STICk (criticism) excluding the final letter K (a lot of) containing (about) O (old) ST (O) IC |
| 27 | Leave daughter climbing track (3)
DOG (tail; shadow; track) (GO [leave] + D (daughter]) all reversed (climbing; down entry) (D OG)< |
I read “possibly” as an anagram indicator, and it could work as such if you read as AIL+O+UROPHI+LIA, though now that you mention it, the letters can also go in without rearranging.
I thought COCONUT SHY was very neatly constructed. I parsed AILUROPHILIA as Ian SW3. By the way, you have ALLUROPHILIA in the completed grid. Thanks, both.
Petert @ 2
Thanks – grid corrected now
Never seen “ailurophilia” with that first O added but such a spelling is more faithful to the Greek origin. Strangely, I parsed it as the first 2 posts and didn’t even notice no anagram was required, mainly due to not knowing the alternative spelling.
Only six of the eleven cats in the room with us at the moment…
For the theme, stick with the cat and think Latvia (to which we have sent a copy of the puzzle).
Unfinished, but my favorites were 10A UP TEMPO and 20D LINEMAN.
Entertainment seems to teach phobias first, so in my experience I have encountered the word AILUROPHOBIA first before AILUROPHILIA. But of course it’s not hard to convert the “fear of” form into the “love of” form and also not hard to guess the British spelling.
So…the movie FLOW (very charming Latvian animated film with no dialogue), in which a CAT, a DOG, a CAPYBARA, a LEMUR, and a SECRETARY BIRD team up to survive an apocalyptic flood. The cat, naturally, is the star of the show. Aren’t they always, as my own two cats would say.
Thanks both. Another to construct agitato instead of ANIMATO slightly ahead of the first hatching of the Tiga bird. Not heard of the film though I knew SECRETARY BIRD as a wine, which tells you everything you need to know
Well spotted mrpennney. I was misled by The House of Cats in Riga.
Well, chapeau to mrpenney for that piece of research! I’ve been wondering all afternoon what on earth Phi@5 meant by referencing Latvia, so thank you for putting my mind at rest.
Thanks–to be fair, not research, since I’ve seen the film. It’s less twee than my description makes it sound. It’s surreal, kind of mesmerizing, pretty deep, and definitely not primarily aimed at children (though they’ll enjoy it too). I mean, of course it’s surreal–those animals don’t even belong on the same continent, let alone the same boat. Incidentally, it was the first Latvian film to win an Oscar (best animated feature last year) or even be nominated. (It was also nominated for best foreign film, but didn’t win). There is now a statue in Riga of the cat from Flow.