Phi in his usual Friday slot.
An enjoyable puzzle: there are a few loose definitions, but all clear enough when you see them. I liked the distictly topical 12a and the sadly true 14d; 2d is clever but rather unpleasant. My favourite has to be 7d, for both the anagram and clue-as-definition; a great song which is now firmly in my head, though it’s slightly disconcerting to find it’s about 50 years old now. Thanks Phi as always.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | DOVECOT |
The same check is catching firm making a birdhouse (7)
|
| DO (do = old-fashioned abbreviation for ditto = the same) + VET (as a verb = check = verify), containing (catching) CO (abbreviation for company = firm). | ||
| 5 | CAMPHOR |
Strongly smelling substance affected half of horses (7)
|
| CAMP (affected = showy) + first half of HOR[ses]. | ||
| 9 | PER ARDUA AD ASTRA |
Difficulty in getting up in an ancient language (3,5,2,5)
|
| Cryptic definition. Latin phrase meaning “through struggles to the stars”, used as the motto of the Royal Air Force. | ||
| 10 | LEARN |
Comprehend inclination to bag runs (5)
|
| LEAN (inclination: it’s not usually a noun but the dictionaries say it can be), containing (bagging) R (abbreviation for runs, in cricket scoring). | ||
| 11 | BELLY-FLOP |
Call carvery at last: turkey? It’s not what you would call swan! (5-4)
|
| BELL (as in “give me a bell” = slang for a telephone call) + last letter of [carver]Y + FLOP (turkey = slang for a failed project, especially a film or stage show).
A failed attempt at diving into water, in which the diver lands flat – as distinguished from a swan dive (also called a swallow dive), which is the classic style. |
||
| 12 | REDACTION |
Republican intervention – item that’s edited out? (9)
|
| RED (the colour associated with the US Republican political party, as in “red states and blue states”) + ACTION (intervention). | ||
| 14 | READY |
Study year all set to go (5)
|
| READ (study, as a verb) + Y (abbreviation for year). | ||
| 15 | TRACE |
Tower to be evacuated? Excellent suggestion (5)
|
| T[owe]R (evacuated = inner letters emptied out) + ACE (slang for excellent).
Trace = suggestion = a barely-detectable flavour or scent. |
||
| 16 | FLEDGLING |
Small bird hurried to good heather (9)
|
| FLED (ran away = hurried) + G (abbreviation for good) + LING (another name for the heather plant). | ||
| 18 | PARAMOUNT |
Film company having value after good performance of course? (9)
|
| AMOUNT (value = financial quantity) after PAR (a standard score, representing a reasonably good performance, on a golf course), | ||
| 21 | THORA |
Norse girl that mostly welcomes soldiers (5)
|
| THA[t] (mostly = all but the last letter) containing (welcoming) OR (abbreviation for “other ranks” = soldiers who aren’t officers).
Woman’s name of Scandinavian origin, derived from the Norse god Thor. |
||
| 22 | AMOR VINCIT OMNIA |
In a romantic move, dropping English, I garbled romantic Latin phrase (4,6,5)
|
| Anagram (garbled) of IN A ROMANTIC MOV[e] I, dropping the E (abbreviation for English).
Latin phrase meaning “love conquers all”; also seen as “amor omnia vincit”, because Latin can be fairly flexible about word order. |
||
| 23 | TRAPEZE |
Skill in twirling shown by last character in number one circus act (7)
|
| ART (skill) reversed (twirling), then Z (the last character of the alphabet) in PEE (number one = slang for an act of urination). | ||
| 24 | ECSTASY |
City of London to stop importing second drug (7)
|
| EC (postcode of the East Central London area known as the City of London) + STAY (stop = to hold back, as in “stay your hand!”), containing (importing) S (abbreviation for second).
Psychoactive drug also known as MDMA or E. |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | DOPPLER |
Austrian physicist, active person, adopting very quiet line (7)
|
| DOER (someone who gets things done = active person), containing (adopting) PP (pp = abbreviation for Italian pianissimo = musical notation for very quiet) + L (abbreviation for line).
Austrian physicist Christian Doppler, who described the “Doppler effect” in which the observed frequency of a wave changes with the relative velocity of the source and the observer (for example the perceived change in pitch of an emergency vehicle’s siren as it drives past you). |
||
| 2 | VERBAL DIARRHOEA |
An excess of words for this in an anagram? (6,9)
|
| A rather cryptic definition: “this” is an anagram of SHIT, so perhaps a verbal representation of “shit out of control” = diarrhoea.
Slang for talking rapidly and/or at length, especially when not actually saying anything worth listening to. |
||
| 3 | CHRONICLE |
Rector in church suspended about half of LP record (9)
|
| R (abbreviation for rector), in CH (abbreviation for church) + ON ICE (suspended = delayed or held in reserve), around the first half of L[p]. Though I can’t help thinking that “half of a two-letter abbreviation” is a rather odd way to clue a single letter.
Chronicle = a historical record of events. |
||
| 4 | THUMB |
Corporation getting billions after introducing hard part of glove (5)
|
| TUM (corporation = slang for a fat belly) + B (abbreviation for billions), with H (abbreviation for hard) inserted. | ||
| 5 | CHALLENGE |
Object to everybody entering cold prehistoric area (9)
|
| ALL (everybody) inserted into C (abbreviation for cold) + HENGE (a prehistoric structure, as in Stonehenge). | ||
| 6 | MEATY |
Significant expression of surprise about lunch? (5)
|
| MY (an expression of surprise) around EAT (definition by example, indicated by the question mark: lunch, as a verb = to eat one’s lunch). | ||
| 7 | HOTEL CALIFORNIA |
Once and for all a hit, I fancy? (5,10)
|
| Anagram (fancy) of ONCE + FOR ALL A HIT I.
Clue-as-definition: the 1970s song Hotel California by the Eagles, which is one of their best-known hits. |
||
| 8 | REAPPLY |
Work steadily after harvest to try again (7)
|
| PLY (to work steadily, as in “ply one’s trade”) after REAP (harvest, as a verb).
To make a second attempt at a job application or similar. |
||
| 13 | INFLUENCE |
Pub and church restricting chimney’s sway (9)
|
| INN (pub) + CE (abbreviation for Church of England), containing FLUE (chimney). | ||
| 14 | RIGHTEOUS |
Supporting justice is tougher, unfortunately (9)
|
| Anagram (unfortunately) of IS TOUGHER. | ||
| 15 | TOPMAST |
Leading politician blocking most admired person for key spot on board? (7)
|
| PM (abbreviation for Prime Minister = leading politician) inserted into (blocking) TOAST (as in “the toast of the town” = someone who is much admired).
Upper part of the mast of a sailing ship (on board). |
||
| 17 | GRANARY |
Old American seen around North Arkansas food store (7)
|
| GRAY (American spelling of grey = grey-haired = old, so “old American”) around N (abbreviation for north) + AR (abbreviation for the US state of Arkansas).
A grain store. |
||
| 19 | MOVIE |
Film version that is suppressed by Missouri (5)
|
| V (abbreviation for version) + IE (i.e. = abbreviation for Latin id est = that is), after (below, in a down clue = suppressed by) MO (abbreviation for the US state of Missouri). | ||
| 20 | TRITE |
A lot of attempts to keep time may be unconvincing (5)
|
| TRIE[s] (attempts) without the last letter (a lot of . . . ), containing (to keep) T (abbreviation for time). |
Normally, I take so long to solve that it’s too late for me to comment. I found this a fairly gentle 5d from Phi, but very enjoyable.