As usual, Friday sees us solving a puzzle set by Phi
I can’t see a theme linking any of the entries, but I don’t have a good track record identifying themes in Phi’s puzzles.
There are no obscure words in the grid either; we just have a good example of a national daily cryptic crossword.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Artist coming in accompanied by ill-looking person (6)
WRAITH (a person of spectral thinness and pallor; an ill-looking person) RA (Royal Academician; artist) contained in (in) WITH (accompanied by) W (RA) ITH |
| 4 | Bad response: Liberal remains chasing support (8)
BACKLASH (reaction or consequence, especially if violent; bad response) BACK (support) + L (Liberal) + ASH (remains) BACK L ASH |
| 9 | An American recalled consuming a Finnish speciality (5)
SAUNA (Finnish form of steam bath) (AN + US [American]) reversed (recalled) containing (consuming) A (SU (A) NA)< |
| 10 | US state released no inmates (9)
MINNESOTA (one of the States of America) Anagram of (released) NO INMATES MINNESOTA* |
| 11 | Request access to bring in a lot of food (8)
ENTREATY (desperate or earnest request) ENTRY (access) containing (to bring in) EAT (food) – I don’t know what purpose ‘a lot of’ is serving on the clue. Perhaps ‘a lot of food’ indicates ‘a portion of food ‘ which is what an EAT is. ENTR (EAT) Y |
| 12 | Put out about curtailment of long sentence offering enlightenment (6)
UPLIFT (moral elevation; enlightenment) Anagram of (out) PUT containing (about) LIFe (a long sentence) excluding the final letter (curtailment of) E UP (LIF) T* |
| 14 | Singular right-wing policy narrative (9)
STORYLINE (narrative) S (singular) + TORY (Conservative) + LINE (policy) S TORY LINE |
| 15 | Divine party? Sensible to abandon one (5)
DOWSE (to search for underground water, etc, especially with a divining rod) DO (party) + WiSE (sensible) excluding (to abandon) I (Roman numeral for one) DO WSE |
| 17 | Trips I had, interrupting a lot of relaxation (5)
RIDES (journeys; trips) I’D contained in (interrupting) RESt (relaxation) excluding the final letter (a lot of) T R (ID) ES |
| 19 | Inflammation? Skill is to limit brief time with it (9)
ARTHRITIS (inflammation of a joint) (ART [skill] + IT) containing (to limit) (HR [abbreviation for {brief}] hour [period of time] + IS) ART (HR) IT IS |
| 21 | American dietitian reduced interest associated with meat (6)
GRAHAM (Google tells me that there are many American dietitians with the surname GRAHAM, but I think the reference is to Sylvester GRAHAM [1794 -1851] who was an American Presbyterian minister and dietary reformer) GRAb (interest, as in ‘the subject GRABs me’) excluding the final letter B (reduced) + HAM (meat) GRA HAM |
| 23 | Wild din swamped by forward flourish (8)
BRANDISH (flourish) Anagram of (wild) DIN contained in (swamped by) BRASH (bumptious; forward) BRA (NDI*) SH |
| 26 | Liberation in two- thirds of ladies possibly linked to sexual urge (9)
LIBIDINAL (relating to sexual urges) Anagram of (possibly) LIB (LIBeration) and IN and LADI (4 [2/3] of the 6 letters in LADIes) LIBIDINAL* |
| 27 | I turn down accepting ordinary way of speaking (5)
IDIOM (a mode of expression peculiar to a language; a way of speaking) I + DIM (turn down) containing (accepting) O (ordinary) I DI (O) M |
| 28 | Routine line adopted by British pianist without consideration (8)
RUTHLESS (feeling or showing no mercy; without consideration) RUT (routine) + (L [line] contained in [adopted by] HESS [reference Dame Myra HESS [1890 – 1965], British concert pianist) RUT H (L) ESS |
| 29 | Verses of the speaker held back amongst hers, sadly (6)
RHYMES (short pieces of verse) MY (belonging to or of the speaker) reversed (held back) contained in (amongst) an anagram of (sadly) HERS RH (YM) ES* |
| Down | |
| 1 | Liquid running short around South – leakage? (5)
WASTE (loss; leakage) WATEr (a liquid) excluding the final letter R (running short) containing (around) S (South) WA (S) TE |
| 2 | Drunken lout had excessive drugs? That’s maturity? (9)
ADULTHOOD (maturity) Anagram of (drunken) LOUT HAD + OD (overdose; excessive drugs) ADULTHO* OD |
| 3 | Attempt to suppress historic disaster (7)
TRAGEDY (disaster) TRY (attempt) containing (to suppress) AGED (old; historic) TR (AGED) Y |
| 5 | Relative looking haggard? Not good (4)
AUNT (a relative) gAUNT (haggard) excluding (not) the letter G (good) AUNT |
| 6 | Pay for ongoing promotion, having received new support (7)
KNEEPAD (protective cover or support for the KNEE) (KEEP [money paid for food and lodging; pay for ongoing{?}] + AD [ADvertisement; promotion]) all containing (having received) N (new) K (N) EEP AD |
| 7 | Unwell – a third reduced – after consuming old garlic dressing (5)
AIOLI (garlic-flavoured mayonnaise; garlic dressing) AILI (4 of the 6 [1/3 reduced] letters in AILIng [ill]) containing (after consuming) O (old) AI (O) LI |
| 8 | That chap’s simple and cruel (9)
HEARTLESS (cruel) HE (that chap) + ARTLESS (simple) HE ARTLESS |
| 10 | My lecture, cut short, interrupted by drunken noise of legendary stature (8)
MYTHICAL (of legendary stature) MY + (TALk [lecture] excluding the final letter K [cut short] containing [interrupted by] HIC [a word representing the sound sometimes made by a drunken person]) MY T (HIC) AL |
| 13 | After ingesting cocaine, favoured examination of the chest (8)
PECTORAL (of the chest) (PET [favoured] containing [ingesting] C [cocaine]) + ORAL (a form of examination) PE (C) T ORAL |
| 14 | Murderer with change of heart? One wanders all over the place (9)
STRAGGLER (one who wanders from the main group; one who wanders all over the place) STRANGLER (murderer) with the central letter (heart) N replaced by G (change of heart) STRAGGLER |
| 16 | Wisecrack? Habitual response is following it in West Midlands at first (9)
WITTICISM (joke; wisecrack) (IT + TIC [habitual response] + IS) contained in (W [West] + M [inital letter of {at first}] Midlands) – we have TIC ‘following’ IT when we read left to right. W (IT TIC IS) M |
| 18 | Small and reduced amount of light about a disgraceful act (7)
SCANDAL (disgraceful act) S (small) + (CANDLe [form of light] excluding the last letter E [reduced] containing [about) A) S CAND (A) L |
| 20 | Bleed, part of leg cut at top – seem likely to overflow? (3,4)
RUN HIGH (seem likely to overflow) RUN (bleed) + tHIGH (part of the leg) excluding the first letter T (cut at the top) RUN HIGH |
| 22 | A black stain seeing removal of second religious leader (5)
ABBOT (person in charge of an abbey; religious leader) A + B (black, when describing pencil lead) + BlOT (stain) excluding the second letter L [seeing removal of second] A B BOT |
| 24 | Chairperson losing time touring Middle Eastern houses (5)
HOMES (houses) HOSt (chairperson) excluding (losing) T (time) containing (touring) ME (MIddle East) HO (ME) S |
| 25 | Responsibility sees our team supporting cricket side (4)
ONUS (responsibility) ON (the two sides in cricket are the off side and the ON side) + US (descriptive of our team) – as this is a down entry, the letters US are ‘supporting’ the letters ON ON US |
ENTREATY
I thought food=EATs—->a lot of EATs=EAT
KVa @ 1
That’s a much better parsing of ‘a lot of food’ than the rather poor suggestion I made in the blog. Thanks
Very gentle throughout – with the exception of GRAHAM which defeated me both with the definition – I don’t think I could name a single American dietician – and with the parse – interest = GRA(b) is a tough one. LIBIDINAL was last of those I entered into the grid with crossers needed to confirm the anagram fodder.
Thanks Phi and duncan
You needed to be crackers to get Graham, I fancy.
I have noted that I am attracted to titles that are (8,6) or (9,5) as bases for single rows or columns. Here we have a title that is (8,6) for (9,5), and a classic of English light verse.
Anyone else getting ‘Error establishing a database connection’ about 80% of the time when trying to access the site?
You needed to be crackers to get Graham, I fancy.
I have noted that I am attracted to titles that are (8,6) or (9,5) as bases for single rows or columns. Here we have a title that is (8,6) for (9,5), and a classic of English light verse.
Anyone else getting ‘Error establishing a database connection’ about 80% of the time when trying to access the site? And often when in the site.
Phi @ 4
Unfortunately, the database connection error is a routine occurrence at the moment. Kenmac is trying to establish the cause and rectify the problem.
Bottom row/right column by an author whose real name is Harry 21.
Phi: yes, the site is decidedly poorly this morning (or evening for you).
Yes Graham is a cracker. Grab = interest is not at all semantically oblique, in fact it’s common, but the clue surface makes it hard to hook out.
Enjoyed much today. SAUNA was favourite. Followed this link and had a few smiles too
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35051/35051-h/35051-h.htm
Thanks both
Thanks both. Agree this was relatively gentle, without obscure answers, albeit perhaps a couple of lesser known people in the fodder, namely pianist Hess in RUTHLESS (shame she was not called Ruth) and GRAHAM – I didn’t try very hard with this one as I knew no dietary reformers, unless we count Old McDonald, who once owned a farm, but we all know what happened next….
Thanks Phi and duncanshiell for the treat and blog. Last ones in were GRAHAM (like the others I didn’t know of the dietician) and ENTREATY (my mind was insisting ENTENTE even though it would never fit at all).
My reading for 6 was to take the entire first half as a single expression – if you pay for an ongoing promotion, you’re keeping the ad as opposed to canceling it, hence “keep ad”. I know the more proper way to approach clues is to split them as much as possible in most cases, but as a relatively new solver, I sometimes find that keeping the parts together provides a smoother interpretation.
The theme is “Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless Homes,” by Harry Graham (Col. D. Streamer).
And now I see above that Phi tipped us off! Sorry to be repetitive.
Yes, the GRAHAM cracker, similar to an English digestive biscuit, as I understand it. Nobody sane over the age of five eats them straight any more; they’re an ingredient in other better desserts.