A fairly challenging Friday puzzle by Phi today, on a grid accommodating a good few longer entries.
This was far from a quick solve today, with quite a few of the entries, once they were found, taking quite some parsing. The hardest of all was 20A, where I was unaware of “phat” for “excellent”. I think that I have parsed 22 successfully, but I would appreciate others’ confirmation. I thought “amateur” wasn’t quite right for “superficial” in 25, but it appears to be confirmed by Chambers.
As for my favourite clues today, I rather liked 1D and 5A, both for surface reading and 1D also for definition; 6 for its ornithological content; and 17, for the surface reading and unexpected solution from the given definition.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| ACROSS
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||
| 1 | VIRUSES |
Six stratagems in sneaky codes (7)
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| VI (=six) + RUSES (=stratagems, ploys); the definition refers to computing, where viruses are sneaky, harmful codes | ||
| 5 | LOGICAL |
Pub storing a lot of booze? That’s making sense (7)
|
| GI<n> (=booze; “a lot of” means all but last of letters are used) in LOCAL (=pub, tavern) | ||
| 9 | ROBIN GOODFELLOW |
Wood goblin lore possibly encompasses fine woodland sprite (5,10)
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| F (=fine) in *(WOOD GOBLIN LORE); “possibly” is anagram indicator; the reference is to a woodland sprite in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream | ||
| 10 | IDIOTISM |
Old foolish state? It’s uncomfortably seen in way of speaking (8)
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| *(IT’S) in IDIOM (=way of speaking); “uncomfortably” is anagram indicator; in archaic English, idiotism is the state of being an idiot | ||
| 11 | JERSEY |
Material considered new in the US? (6)
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| Jersey is a fine knitted fabric in cotton, nylon, etc, while there is a state in the US called New Jersey | ||
| 13 | ROD |
Republican Party brought back the cane (3)
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| R (=Republican) + OD (DO=party, function; “brought back” indicates reversal | ||
| 14 | RAISING CAIN |
Fruit profit involves Conservative getting very angry (7,4)
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| C (=Conservative) in [RAISIN (=fruit) + GAIN (=profit)] | ||
| 17 | SAUSAGE MEAT |
Unchanged admin trainee accepting employment? It’s being put through the grinder (7,4)
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| USAGE (=employment) in [SAME (=unemployment) + AT (=administrative trainee)] | ||
| 19 | BAG |
Trouser gossip with a twist (3)
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| GAB (=idle talk, gossip); “with a twist” indicates reversal; bags are trousers | ||
| 20 | TOP HAT |
Heads for the old excellent Astaire-Rogers film (3,3)
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| T<op> (“head for” means first letter only) + O<ld> (“head for” means first letter only) + PHAT (=excellent); Top Hat is a 1935 film starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers | ||
| 22 | KIRIBATI |
Mountaineer finally a bit misguided, probing K2 in quite the wrong country (8)
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| [*(<mountainee>R (“finally” means last letter only) + A BIT] in K + I I (=2, i.e. I + I); Kiribati is an island nation in Micronesia, so the wrong country to be home to the mountain K2, which is located in Pakistan | ||
| 24 | BLANKET COVERAGE |
Lapse in concentration and so on – too old for the job? It’s seen everywhere (7,8)
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| BLANK (=lapse in concentration) + ETC (=and so on) + OVER-AGE (=too old for the job?) | ||
| 25 | AMATEUR |
American adult shifting energy in a superficial way? (7)
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| A (=American) + MATEUR (MATURE=adult, fully developed; “shifting energy (=E)” means letter “e” moves to another position in the word) | ||
| 26 | DROP OUT |
Withdraw doctor: operation unacceptable (4,3)
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| DR (=doctor) + OP (=operation) + OUT (=unacceptable, not to be considered); to withdraw from a competition is to drop out of it | ||
| DOWN
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| 1 | VERDIGRIS |
Composer is following old king in green coat (9)
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| VERDI (=composer, from Italy) + GR (=old king, i.e. George Rex) + IS; verdigris is a green coating that forms on copper when exposed to the atmosphere | ||
| 2 | REBUILD |
British upset about European artisan group ignoring initial reconstruction (7)
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| [E (=European) in RB (BR=British; “upset” indicates vertical reversal)] + <g>UILD (=artisan group; “ignoring initial” means first letter is dropped) | ||
| 3 | SANATORIA |
Soprano leading song about political grouping and health resorts (9)
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| NATO (=political grouping) in [S (=soprano) + ARIA (=song)] | ||
| 4 | SHOP-SOILED |
Informs against drunk looking the worse for wear? (4-6)
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| SHOPS (=informs against, grasses up) + OILED (=drunk, tanked up) | ||
| 5 | LODE |
Verse, after initial line, a source of precious stuff? (4)
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| L (=line) + ODE (=verse); a lode is a vein containing metallic ore, hence “a source of precious stuff” | ||
| 6 | GREBE |
Bird’s head seen amongst half the bushes etc? This is a diving bird (5)
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| B<ird> (“head” means first letter only) in GREE<nery> (= the bushes, etc; “half” means half the letters only are used) | ||
| 7 | CELESTA |
Musical instrument in case, seen in church area (7)
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| LEST (=in case) in [CE (=Church of England) + A (=area)] | ||
| 8 | LOWRY |
British writer depressed over really vacuous British painter too (5)
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| LOW (=depressed) + R<eall>Y (“vacuous” means all but first and last letters are dropped); double definition: the reference is to British writer Malcolm Lowry (1909-57) and to British painter L. S. Lowry (1887-1976) | ||
| 12 | MISERICORD |
Church ledge near person, one with binder? (10)
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| MISER (=near, i.e. ungenerous, person) + I (=one) + CORD (=binder, rope); a misericord is a bracket on a turn-up seat in a choirstall, allowing the user some support when standing | ||
| 15 | GET WISE TO |
Nasty egotist we learn about (3,4,2)
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| *(EGOTIST WE); “nasty” is anagram indicator | ||
| 16 | NEGLIGENT |
Lingerie item getting no exclamation? Chap paying insufficient attention (9)
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| NEGLI<gee> (lingerie item; “getting no attention (=gee)) means letters “gee” are dropped) + GENT (=chap, fellow) | ||
| 18 | UPPSALA |
Swedish city in revolt, regrettably uprising in pursuit of power (7)
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| UP (=in revolt) + P (=power, in physics) + SALA (ALAS=regrettably; “uprising” indicates vertical reversal) | ||
| 19 | BRAVADO |
Underwear source of vulgar fuss and swagger (7)
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| BRA (=underwear) + V<ulgar> (“source of” means first letter only) + ADO (=fuss, bother) | ||
| 20 | TABLA |
Bill left with a set of drums (5)
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| TAB (=bill, amount to settle, check (US)) + L (=left) + A; a tabla is an Indian percussion instrument, a pair of small drums | ||
| 21 | ANKLE |
New kids initially seen in beer joint (5)
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| [N (=new) + K<ids> (“initially” means first letter only) ] in ALE (=beer) | ||
| 23 | STAR |
Famous performer’s fixed look, dropping tab (4)
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| STAR<e> (=fixed look; “dropping tab (=E, i.e. an ecstasy tablet)” means letter “e” is dropped”) |
Thanks both. I came upon MISERICORD by accident, while researching a different potential answer, so I award myself only half-marks for at least spotting the ‘miser’ element. RAISING CAIN I knew as a film title, otherwise I’ve never heard it said. I did know but had forgotten phat, however TOP HAT surfaced in the grey matter, though I wonder how long before titles of said era disappear in the main from memory.
Well, I fairly romped through this, which is not to say it was by any means a write-in – it was probably just the sheer relief of a well constructed and doable Phi after the Wiglaf yesterday, from which I retired baffled. Liked the VERDIGRIS/VIRUSES corner and the longer answers, and was pleased to get the “blue questions”, geography not being my strongest suit. Many thanks to Phi and to Ratkojariku
The only real problem I had with this was transposing the letter count in my head in 12dn and therefore looking for a two-letter word ending in ‘i’.
Is there a theme?
TFO @1: TOP HAT is one of those movies that it can safely be said at this point will never really disappear. Cinema has a canon now, and that one’s pretty firmly canonical. (Worth the price of admission for “Cheek to Cheek” alone.) But whether “phat” (dated slang at this point) might disappear is another question.
Thanks all. In 22a Kiribati is certainly “quite the wrong country” for a mountaineer.
Happy to solve most of this from wordplay, especially where my GK was lacking for the definition, and grateful to have encountered ”near” for ”miserly” only in the past week.
Chuckles at the surfaces of GET WISE TO, NEGLIGENT, BRAVADO, SHOP-SOILED, AMATEUR.
Liked ANKLE for the misdirection with ”beer joint” and the association between ”new kids” and ankle-biters, which I imagine was in Phi’s mind too.
Special mention for KIRIBATI, a nation in Oceania, equidistant from Australia and New Zealand. I could see Phi chuckling to himself: Mountaineer finally a bit misguided, probing K2 in quite the wrong country , conjuring up the word picture of Edmund Hillary, another Kiwi, climbing Qomolangma (Mount Everest) by accident while looking for Chhogori (K2).