Today is Friday and thus Phi-day for the Indy crossword.
I found this one towards the tougher end of the Phi spectrum and had to chip away at it for longer than I would the average Phi. There were quite a few proper nouns in the grid (at 8, 21, 22 …), most of which were unfamiliar to me. I suspect that there must be some theme around these entries, but I haven’t worked it out. Furthermore, I had never come across 16 in that particular derivation.
I wondered for a long time if the completed grid would be a pangram, but we ended up with no X and no Y in the solution. My favourite clues today were 1D and 15, both for smoothness of surface; and 6, for concision.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | JIBED | Scoffed at Judge? One gets sack
J (=judge) + I (=one) + BED (=sack, as in in the sack) |
| 04 | HEADACHES | Problems? Man’s accommodating each involving father
[DA (=father, i.e. dialect form of dad) in EACH] in HE’S |
| 09 | KIRBIGRIP | Drink taking large cut? One should keep locks in order
KIR (=drink) + BIG (=large) + RIP (=cut); a kirbigrip is a kind of hair grip, hence “should keep locks (of hair) in order” |
| 10 | SMITH | Quiet about most of period backing metalworker
MIT (TIM<e>=period; “most of” means last letter dropped; “backing” indicates reversal) in SH (=quiet) |
| 11 | MEEK | Head of mouse leading to startled cry? That’s timid
M<ouse> (“head of” means first letter only) + EEK (=startled cry) |
| 12 | ARCHDUKE | Crafty king stabbing expected nobleman
ARCH (=crafty) + [K (=king) in DUE (=expected)] |
| 16 | AFTERMATH | Working at the farm may produce this
*(AT THE FARM); “working” is anagram indicator; an aftermath is a second mowing of grass in the same season; semi- & lit. |
| 17 | GHOST | Head of Greek army is an insubstantial type
G<reek> (“head of” means first letter only) + HOST (=army, host) |
| 19 | ATRIA | Entrances student to abandon a test
A + TRIA<l> (=test); “student (=L) to abandon” means letter “l” is dropped |
| 20 | EQUIPOISE | English witticism is put into Old English for balance
E (=English) + QUIP (=witticism) + [IS in OE (=Old English)] |
| 21 | HOFFNUNG | Anglo-German humorist suspended, having penned dodgy number
[OFF (=dodgy) + N (=number)] in HUNG (=suspended); the reference is to Gerard Hoffnung (1925-59) |
| 23 | BOON | Half of publishers benefit
Boon is one half of the romantic publishers Mills & Boon |
| 26 | NORMS | Sequence of monarchs dismissing a knight’s standards
NORM<an>S (=sequence of monarchs); “dismissing a knight (=N)” means letters “an” are dropped |
| 28 | CHARIVARI | Opponent left off occupying rickety chair to make a racket
RIVA<l> (=opponent; “left (=L) off” means letter “l” is dropped) in *(CHAIR); “rickety” is anagram indicator |
| 29 | RAIN CHECK | Spooner’s destruction of links? Here’s ticket for later event
Spoonerism for “chain (=links) wreck (=destruction)” |
| 30 | EMEND | Edit concluding section the writer’s put in
ME (=the writer) in END (=concluding section) |
| Down | ||
| 01 | JOKE | First person in France to grab passable quip
OK (=passable) in JE (=first person in France, i.e. the French word for I) |
| 02 | BAROMETER | Warning not entirely accepted in trade: a sign of things to come?
OME<n> (=warning; “not entirely” means last letter dropped) in BARTER (=trade) |
| 03 | DÁIL EIREANN | Adrenaline unexpectedly surrounding one European Parliament
I (=one) in *(ADRENALINE); “unexpectedly” is anagram indicator; Dáil Eireann is the lower house of the Irish Parliament, hence a “European Parliament” |
| 04 | HARP | Instrument not entirely problematic with piano
HAR<d> (=problematic; “not entirely” means last letter is dropped) + P (=piano) |
| 05 | AMPERE HOUR | Charge that could be arranged to harm Europe
*(HARM EUROPE); “that could be arranged to” is anagram indicator; an ampere hour is a unit of electrical charge |
| 06 | ASS | Behind a ship
A + SS (=ship, i.e. steamship); an ass is a person’s “behind”, posterior |
| 07 | HAIKU | Verse mostly covering rise of Britain?
HAI<r> (=covering; “mostly” means last letter is dropped) + KU (UK=Britain; “rise of” indicates vertical reversal) |
| 08 | SCHWEITZER | German missionary zeal not half is misdirected with wretch
*(ZE<al> + IS + WRETCH); “not half” means half of letters only are needed; “is misdirected” is anagram indicator; the reference is to Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) |
| 13 | HIGH-PROFILE | Drunken academic that is keeping lecturer in prominent position
HIGH (=drunken) + PROF (=academic) + [L (=lecturer) in I.E. (=that is)] |
| 14 | MARATHONER | Runner – hurt overcoming one on the terrible run
MAR (=hurt) + A (=one) + *(ON THE) + R (=run); “terrible” is anagram indicator |
| 15 | TABERNACLE | A celebrant at work in place of worship
*(A CELEBRANT); “at work” is anagram indicator |
| 18 | ORIENTATE | Dishevelled attire one has to adjust
*(ATTIRE ONE); “dishevelled” is anagram indicator; to orientate oneself is to adjust to, grow accustomed to |
| 22 | FERMI | I control game, upsetting Italian scientist
I’M REF (=I control game, of e.g. football); “upsetting” indicates vertical reversal; the reference is to Enrico Fermi (1901-54), who created the world’s first nuclear reactor |
| 24 | LARK | River entering larger body of water, mostly for some entertainment
R (=river) in LAK<e> (=larger body of water; “mostly” means last letter is dropped) |
| 25 | BIRD | Sentence exemplified by previous answer
Bird is a prison sentence, from Cockney rhyming slang (doing) bird (lime) for (doing) time (in prison); a lark (=entry at 24, i.e. the previous answer) is an example of a bird |
| 27 | SAC | Almost ready to pick up pouch
CAS<h> (=ready, money; “almost” means last letter dropped); “to pick up” indicates vertical reversal |
I suspect a musical theme: ARCHDUKE and GHOST are nicknames of Beethoven piano trios; LARK and BIRD are string quartets by Haydn, and I’m sure there must be more along those lines. Also, Gerard HOFFNUNG was a musician, who produced JOKE concerts at the Royal Festival Hall in the 1950s.
(Hoffnung is also well-known for his speech at the Oxford Union, including the Bricklayer’s Lament. I was astonished to discover recently that he was only 33 years old when he did this, and that he died less than a year later, aged 34.)
I agree with you re Hoffnung, who had a great wit.
It is strange to have the X and Y missing in a puzzle that features a word like SCHWEITZER. I believe it is called a lipogram when you deliberately omit letters from the 26.
Did Phi do that here?
Musical joke maybe. No x or y = “no scales”
🙂
NHS @2 I think SCHWEITZER is a soul mate of Phi’s, “There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats”.
A most enjoyable puzzle, nicely blogged; thanks to both.
My musical taste is a bit less classical than other commenters and I found myself looking at the track listing for Aftermath (Rolling Stones) alas to no avail, thematically.
Nice weekend, all
Very good. There’s no doubt a theme, but it passed me by and I don’t mind, because I just enjoyed solving the puzzle. I thought the European Parliament link was clever, and I liked HAIKU for no other reason than it’s a word I haven’t seen for ages.
Thanks to S&B and good weekend to all.
Quite a toughie for me, but pleasurable nethertheless. Didn’t quite complete it and was thematically ignorant (as well as my usual generally ignorant) though there was lots to enjoy so thanks to Phi for the puzz and RR for the blog.
@1Andrew – not surprised you were surprised, the Hoffnung fellow looks in his 50s in the Wikipedia page pic!
Enjoyable, though it took a little longer than the average Phi. Held up mostly on 9ac, thinking of ‘Kirsch’ as the drink with the ‘large cut’ meaning half of the word had to be cut so that the rest of the clue didn’t make much sense and it was ages before I tumbled to it – and that then led to several others I was stuck on.
One little moan, though, about 6dn. If we must have vulgar synonyms for body parts (and I don’t object) then let them be English, not American.
HOFFNUNG brought back some memories: from the foreign hotelier offering “a French widow in every bedroom” to the concert where Sir William Walton conducted an excerpt from his Belshazzar’s Feast – the excerpt was the single shout of “Slain!” by the chorus.
Thanks Phi and RatkojaRiku
There are three trios going across (there is a Hoffnung trio by Stockhausen, and it seemed a good reason to invoke memories of a very funny man) and four quartets going down (Joke is another by Haydn, and there’s Beethoven’s Harp quartet). All the quartets are four letters long – three-lettered trios were a bit short on the ground.
It should be noted, for full effect, that Walton conducted with a fly-swatter.
I’ve just got back from seeing Richard III in German at the Barbican. I completed it on the train and as I was walking to the Barbican, I realised what the theme was. I did wonder if SMITH and SCHWEITZER were also theme answers as there are musical ensembles the Smith Quartet and the Albert Schweitzer Quintet. I have many of the latter’s recordings of the Reicha wind quitets.