The weeks are going by so quickly – we have another Phi to solve.
There were a few tricky ones here. BONY didn’t leap out as a synonym for SPARE but we thought it must be EBONY. Even with some of the crossing letters DOG-LEG took a while to sort out – no idea why.
We couldn’t spot any theme -maybe Phi just wanted to include the delightful word DISCOMBOBULATE in the grid!
Thanks Phi.
SPECIEs (a sort of thing) missing last letter or ‘runs short’
SAT (positioned) ‘returned’ MAN (Queen say, as on a chess board)
MORAL (upright) CAST (performers) in BALLEt (dance) missing last letter or ‘curtailed’
OGLE (bad look) inside or ‘suppressed by’ DG (Director General – head of BBC)
PERE (French for ‘father’ – parent) E (English) around or ‘gathering’ DIG (sharp comment)
V (very) SO (well) around or ‘accommodating’ IR (Irish) and a reversal (‘backing’) of OUT
FR (French) APPEal (attraction) ‘not having’ ‘ale‘ without the last letter (‘a lot of’)
SIRI (computer assistant) in OS (operating system)
An anagram (‘circulating’) of STORIEs missing the last letter or ‘endless’ in EC (European Community)
An anagram (‘confused’) of SO and CLUE followed by or ‘leading to’ AU (gold)
An anagram (‘changes’) to USERNamE without ‘am’ (in the morning)
B (bass) inside or ‘interrupting’ DISCO MOB (large number of dancers) before U (text speak for you) LATE (near the end)
LAYER (course) after or ‘taken by’ P (piano)
DEN (study) I (one) A L (pupil)
SOLID (sensible) with PLATONIC (not having sex) on top – in a down clue
AM (live) inside or ‘hosted by’ CE (church) LOT (group)
An anagram (‘punished’) of ROGUE IS around EG (9d)
Double definition – Musk is reputedly the richest person in the world
HR (personnel) ‘intervening regularly’ (in other words separately) in SAD (unhappy)
ANTI (not supporting) GUAm (pacific island) missing last letter or ‘most of’
An anagram (‘what might be’) of A TRIPLE X IMAGE
LOWER (meaner) B (first letter or ‘bit’ of Brooklyn) inside or ‘cased by’ FED (agent in the USA)
ROUSE (provoke) L (line) around S (southern)
A reversal (‘kept up’) of NOPE (refusal) around (‘accepting’) L IS
E (last or ‘final’ letter of tie) BONY (spare)
I liked the disco mob and the DG dealing with an Ogle. I had to solve EGREGIOUS to get the penny to drop for 9d.
Very tricky. Like Petert@1, “e.g.” was a key solution, but eluded for me for too long. Roussel ditto, never heard of him
SPECIE, 1(ac): I’m not sure I agree with the definition. As a retired accountant, my understanding was “in specie” was the transfer of an asset as a substitute for money. In a company liquidation, for example, the shareholders might receive its physical assets (stock, plant etc.), in specie, rather than money.
Once again, a solid puzzle but no fireworks.
Thanks, Phi, and BJ
Chambers:
specie
noun
Coined money
in specie
1. In coin
2. In kind
My immediate thought for 5d was “irrational number” (which seemed very fitting for Musk and his gazillions of pay) but the letter count didn’t oblige. I thought 15d was very fairly clued as “French composer” rather than just composer, because he isn’t the most well-known. Enjoyed this very much. Thanks to Phi and to Bertandjoyce
KVa@3
Ah! Chambers again.
It means “in kind”, as in, it may not be money, but you are getting the money’s worth, as an asset.
That’s the problem with Dictionaries. And setters.
They are not accountants.
I jest, of course.
Phidays continue to challenge me and expand my vocabulary.
Could not get this at all. Usually I complete phis with a few reveals, this was 80% revealed.
But why is Musk’s pay a telephone number? Is this a reference to the number of digits?
Quodlibet #8 – this is what AI came up with –
Elon Musk’s wealth is often described as a “telephone number” because the sheer scale of his net worth—expected to exceed $500 billion to $700 billion by late 2025/early 2026—is so large it resembles a long string of digits, comparable to a phone number with country codes. This astronomical figure is primarily driven by the surging valuation of his companies, particularly Tesla and SpaceX.