It’s the end of the week. Surprise, Surprise! We have a Phi to blog.
We missed the theme last week and mentioned that we hoped we would spot any theme this week. Well if there is one, we cannot see it. A search using random words in the grid revealed nothing. We tried linking some of the names together as well but no joy there either.
Anyway, thanks Phi for ending our week with a very pleasant puzzle.
STOP (finish) around or ‘hosting’ M (mass)
JEERS ON (continues to mock) around or ‘interrupted by’ FF (couple of fellows)
RATS (scoundrels) around or ‘seizing’ IN (popular) CO (firm)
RELEnT (show kindness) without or ‘forgetting’ ‘n’ (name)
SIDE (team) reversed or ‘backed’ + NO (never) reversed or ‘taking a different direction’
MANN (German writer) around or ‘penning’ a reversal (‘after reflection’) of A MOT (‘word’ in French)
DICY (risky) around or ‘accepting’ HOT (dangerous) OM (‘order’ – of merit)
MO (doctor) with an anagram (‘troubled’) of AIR
RE (regarding) MIT (University in Cambridge in the USA)
An anagram (‘handled roughly’) of N (new) TRAIN SET
PACY (rapid) around or ‘limiting’ HARM (damage)
CU’S (copper’s) and TOMe (volume) missing last letter or ‘reduced’
PRIM (precise) O (over)
LIT (drunk) around or ‘throttling’ ON (working) HEAR (judge)
An anagram (‘disrupted’) of MAIN TEMPO
DulY (missing the middle letters or ‘abandoning core’) LAN (network)
SURER (increasingly guaranteed) around or ‘suppressing’ REND (tear)
BIRO (pen) reversed or ‘erected’ + I (electric current)
COL (officer) in PIC (photo) O (old)
First letters or ‘at the outset’ of Just One Acting Nobly – we had to check this. Pope Joan is now widely considered to be fictional apparently according to AI and Wiki.
FEAR (concern) round I (one) SCALY (shabby)
RUE (regret) reversed or ‘picking up’ + A TO M (half the letters in the alphabet)
An anagram (‘whirling’) of ELON M IS in SpacE (first and last letters only or ’empty’)
NOON (midday) around or ‘about’ T (time)
ICE (reserve) L (litre) inside or ‘during’ BOTTLIng (‘finishing off beer production’) without or ‘dismissing’ ‘ng’ (no good)
C (conservative) ONION (head) around or ‘bracketing’ MP and A
A (accepted) UN (French article) around TOMATO (fruit)
TOMB (a grave) sOLO (by itself) without or ‘losing’ ‘s’ (first letter of ships)
SHUt (closed) missing last letter or ‘all but’ + SHED (garden building)
OP (work) ‘appearing’ in PUP (youngster)
TAIL (follower) around or ‘crossing’ R (river)
ROME (Catholicism) with the first three letters or ‘most of it’ reversed or ‘upset’
Quite a few Toms, no? Great fun. Best thanks to Phi and B&J.
Thanks ALP – how did we miss that?
Not only Toms, but also Thomas several times: Jefferson, Edison, Mann, More, Trail as forenames, Dylan and Joan as surnames.
Thanks Bert and Joyce and Phi.
Well, I was on the wrong trail for the theme. I saw (Bob) DYLAN (rock star?) and JOAN (Baez), COMPANION, and DICHOTOMY. Thought it was about their fractured relationship, looking for song titles. Joan Baez’s Diamonds and Rust is incomparable as a break-up/revenge song.
STOMP really is a mass dance, a bit like line dancing. Was it also well known in the UK? It was very popular in Oz. They even tried to ban it for fear buildings would crumble. Wiki says it’s from First Nations Peoples of the Americas.
Laughed out loud at the surface of LION-HEART.
Words less familiar to me such as ORIBI, TOMBOLO and EUROATOM all gettable from the wordplay.
I really enjoyed this. JOAN, LION-HEART, SHUSHED, MAN-TO-MAN were all great. For once there was no doubt about the theme.
Paddymelon – you weren’t the only one trying to connect JOAN and DYLAN!
Nice to complete one after abandoning today’s Grauniad early on.
paddymelon@4 Stomp! toured UK theatres ad nauseam, maybe in the 90’s or 00’s. Don’t forget Bron-Y-Aur Stomp by Led Zep. Maybe not a dance. And I’m certainly not having Dylan as a rock star. Although, as my friend in Melbourne says, I like a lot of his songs, but other band’s versions. 😊
Thanks Phi and B&J.
Thanks both. Theme missed of course, but didn’t look too hard. I will further endorse Baez’s Diamonds & Rust. Only issues were the spelling of ‘dicy’ in DICHOTOMY which I can’t find confirmed, and the ‘bottling’ element in BOTTICELLI mainly as I wasted time going through the brewing process – splitting hairs, surely it’s post-production, and why pick beer when it’s most often put into barrels, kegs, cans etc.?
I found a lot of the wordplays poorly put together.
Contrived surfaces, meaningless, to arrive at very poor definitions.
13(down) BOTTICELLI sums up this puzzle.
Horrible construction, and the artist is ” source of artwork” Ugh.
11(ac), a trite definition, yet the setter needs to employ two reversals, and both stink.
Euratom, 6(d), is about as bad it gets, for me.
Come on…
This puzzle commemorates our cat Thomas who died very suddenly of a saddle thrombus a few weeks ago. Rushed to the vet, but there was nothing to be done. He was only about eight.
Phi @10: how very sad to hear. We have one who is 16 and still hanging in there despite a growing list of issues, and every day I think there’s a chance an emergency vet visit is in our future. Anyway, what a lovely tribute.
And knowing that, it’s clear that COMPANION and LION-HEART are theme words too.
So sorry for your loss, Phi. A very sweet tribute.
Lovely Phiday as usual – just the right level of challenge, and the words that were (to me) nho were gettable from the wordplay…so I learned a few new things. What more can one ask for? Thanks so much to Phi and B&J