The usual experience with Phi: clues whose answer is not always obvious, yet after solving one wonders where the problem lay. There are no clues here where I am asking for help in the parsing (which is not to say that all will be perfectly correct. It seldom is).
Definitions underlined and in maroon.
Phi’s Ninas are rather similar to his crosswords generally: one tends to look at them in disbelief that there is anything special there, yet once it is pointed out it is quite obvious. One or two of the answers suggest a theme: Four Seasons suggests something musical; Augusta something golfing (or Graham Greene); Gates something to do with computers. But none of these has any weight so far as I can see. Somebody will have to come along and point out what is happening.
Of course it may well be that there is nothing; or that the theme is some collection of books that I don’t know.
| Across | ||
| 1 | ACROSTIC | A largely aggravated mannerism provides a puzzle (8) |
| a cros{s} tic | ||
| 5 | MAGIC | Remarkable assistance for speaker besetting a Government (5) |
| m(a g)ic [as gwep@3 says, this is slightly wrong: the definition is simply ‘remarkable’ and a mic is assistance for speaker] | ||
| 9 | HIDE-AND-SEEK | Man’s cry of surprise about academic degree – it involves hunting around (4-3-4) |
| (hi(dean d)s eek!) | ||
| 10 | TUM | Corporation mostly not commenting after setback (3) |
| (mut{e})rev. | ||
| 11 | DRASTIC | It’s brought back in The Return of the King, perhaps – must be radical (7) |
| (it’s)rev. in (card)rev. — King as in Queen, King, Ace | ||
| 12 | AUGUSTA | Major golf venue in well-respected area (7) |
| august a — Augusta is the golf course on which one of the four Majors is played | ||
| 13 | CHIN | Boxer’s weakness possibly gets one knocked out of series (4) |
| ch{a}in | ||
| 14 | PINA COLADA | Fix a drink, father – cocktail? (4,6) |
| pin a cola da | ||
| 18 | OVEREXERTS | Tires excessively by pushing into gnarled trees (10) |
| over (x in (trees)*) | ||
| 19 | EMIT | Period recalled in broadcast (4) |
| (time)rev. —the usual problem with this sort of construction: you don’t know what is being reversed — but the fact that ‘Period’ and ‘recalled’ are next to each other without any intrusive preposition there makes it significantly more likely that it’s this, not the other way round | ||
| 21 | SAFFRON | Small, almost slight, having orange colouring (7) |
| s affron{t} | ||
| 24 | PARSNIP | Vegetable available in standard and bargain price (7) |
| par snip | ||
| 26 | ARK | Boat mischief, line being cut (3) |
| {l}ark | ||
| 27 | FOUR SEASONS | Soon to be involved with sea and surf for a year? (4,7) |
| (soon sea surf)* | ||
| 28 | THREE | A crowd, it’s said, about to appear in article (5) |
| th(re)e — ‘two’s company, three’s a crowd’ | ||
| 29 | WORDPLAY | Heading off activity cutting anagrams etc (8) |
| {s}wordplay — swordplay = activity cutting | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | APHID | A petal at first concealed plant pest (5) |
| a p{etal} hid | ||
| 2 | RADIATIVE | Diffusing energy in sex-appeal – a help when turning up in music party (9) |
| (it aid)rev. in rave — it = sex-appeal, a common visitor to crosswords although nowadays its only use really is in the term ‘it-girl’ | ||
| 3 | SHANTY | Insect infesting secluded hut (6) |
| sh(ant)y | ||
| 4 | INDUCTIVE | Vice unit working to apprehend Duke following certain reasoning (9) |
| (vice unit)* round d | ||
| 5 | MAKE GOOD | Repair a barrel when in temper (4,4) |
| m(a keg)ood | ||
| 6 | GATES | Openings to pick up collection of cutlery, say (silver) (5) |
| (set Ag)rev. — I believe that ‘set’ has more dictionary definitions than any other word, and this one refers to a set of cutlery, say | ||
| 7 | COMBATANT | Chap clutching club in bed is a fighter (9) |
| co(m(bat)an)t | ||
| 8 | MESA | A lot of confusion over a weathered landscape feature (4) |
| mes{s} a — this is a mesa | ||
| 13 | CROISSANT | Cast iron’s out of place as a breakfast item (9) |
| (Cast iron’s)* | ||
| 15 | ANTIPASTO | Article with suggestion: chopped oats for part of meal (9) |
| an tip (oats)* | ||
| 16 | ALMOND-OIL | In mood, possibly, to tuck into every individual fruit product (6-3) |
| (in mood)* in all — Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis, as everyone knows | ||
| 17 | PEA-RIFLE | Small-bore weapon identified in translation of Pale Fire (3-5) |
| (Pale Fire)* — pea-rifle is another word of which I wasn’t 100% sure — better surface than might meet the eye since ‘Pale Fire’ is a 1962 novel by Vladimir Nabokov, although it was written in English | ||
| 20 | ERRAND | Commission functioned as bridge between queen and daughter (6) |
| ran bridging ER and d | ||
| 22 | FAKIR | Just retaining King’s ascetic (5) |
| fa(k)ir | ||
| 23 | NOUS | Futile cut in sound thinking (4) |
| no us{e} | ||
| 25 | PUSHY | Quietly blocking agreement being upheld, applying pressure (5) |
| sh in (yup)rev. | ||
*anagram
I think there is bit of a party going on at the Four Seasons restaurant.The almond oil, parsnip and saffron could go towards a tum-filling risotto which would be accompanied by pina coladas. Croissants and antipasto could start the occasion off followed by fun and games (magic, wordplay, hide and seek, acrostics and a guest Fakir)
Thats opened the bidding!
Can’t see anything. A good puzzle though, with long-ish clues!
Perhaps the compilers have let it all hang out for the week-end.
Also can’t see any message, nina etc. As usual, a pleasant puzzle from Phi.
5A definition is simply “magic” – assistance” refers to the mic.
Thanks to Phi and John.
Enjoyable stuff and a goldilocks zone solve for me (though I did miss ‘mesa’). No clue to the theme, but I like the Copmus party idea so I’ll add my plus one to that. No particular favourite clue today so my honours go to the solve itself wot was perfectly pitched for my skills (or lack of ’em). Thanks to Phi for the puzzle and to John for the blog.
Can’t see any real theme/nina either – although ACROSTIC and WORDPLAY suggest something might be afoot. So just a pleasant plain crossword as far as I’m concerned. Oh, there is the setter’s name contained in 1dn, but that’s probably just coincidence.
gwep@2: I think you meant ‘remarkable’ is the definition in 5ac. Anyway, you’ve disposed of what would have been my little niggle that a microphone (‘mic’) is not the same thing as a (loud)speaker, but it’s fine as ‘assistance for speaker’ – so thanks for that.
Thanks, too, to Phi and John
Very enjoyable. I liked that I didn’t have to look anything up. I always enjoy crosswordy clues (1a, 29a).
I liked FOUR SEASONS.
Many thanks Phi and thanks John
I wasn’t really expecting anyone to spot this plundering of a source for a set of words to seed a grid, except perhaps Dormouse. There’s a contemporary classical composition entitled Akrostichon-Wortspiel by the South Korean composer Unsuk Chin, and a few of her movement titles also appear. Think of it as the complement of me spotting album titles or soccer players… But you don’t need to know the theme to solve the puzzle, of course.
Thanks gwep@3. You’re right of course. Blog amended.
OK, I finished the puzzle with no problems, but I didn’t spot the theme. I’d heard of Unsuk Chin, but I’m not familiar with her works. The BBC made her the subject of one their composer days at the Barbican a few years back but I didn’t get on with her music.
@5allan_c – whoops, yes. Just shows how easy typos etc are to perpetrate.