Excellent crossword as usual from Phi. Some of the clues were very good, and sometimes one didn’t for a long time know where to go.
Definitions underlined in maroon. Anagram indicators in italics.
Surprise surprise, I’ve seen a Phi Nina. Or at least some of it. Across the top is ANCIENT LIGHTS, a right in law to have one’s view not suddenly impeded (I think), but I don’t think the crossword is about this; rather, it is a whole lot of different types of windows (lights): oriel windows, sash windows, louvre windows, French windows, plate glass windows, stained [-glass] windows, blinds (?), lancet windows, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there were more.
But of course I solved it without knowing this.
| Across | ||
| 1 | ANCIENT | Not up-to-date concerning incorporating European region (7) |
| This seems to be an(CI)ent — anent = concerning and CI the European region — ah yes, after some searching I see that Zone C I (or is it C 1?)comprises the French regions of Bordeaux, Burgundy, Provence, Rhône and Sud-Ouest, some areas in the far north of Italy, some areas in northern Spain, most of Portugal, Hungary, and parts of Slovakia and Romania, all to do with EU wine growing | ||
| 5 | LIGHTS | Items on runway heading off arrivals at airport (6) |
| {f}lights | ||
| 9 | LAODICEAN | Variety of i.e. a cold one? Neither hot nor cold (9) |
| (i.e. a cold)* an — this word, which I knew from Thomas Hardy, not that I’ve ever read ‘A Laodicean’, has a meaning that I didn’t really know | ||
| 10 | ORIEL | Love upset, relegating lecturer in college (5) |
| 0 rile with the l being relegated — moved to the right, which is I suppose a sort of relegation, although it would have been rather clearer if this had been a down clue; however, if the whole were reflected in the leading diagonal then the clue for 24dn would be wrong | ||
| 11 | SASH | Section remains in band (4) |
| S ash | ||
| 12 | SLEEPY-HEAD | Delay sheep jumping – I won’t need them! (6-4) |
| (Delay sheep)*, &lit. — the sleepy-head won’t need to count sheep in order to go to sleep | ||
| 14 | LONDONER | Leader of gangsters stabbing solitary type resident in city (8) |
| lon(Don)er | ||
| 15 | LOUVRE | Historical knowledge about invisible radiation in gallery (6) |
| lo(UV)re — ultra-violet radiation | ||
| 18 | FRENCH | Fiercer European clash disheartened European people (6) |
| F{ierce}r E{uropea}n c{las}h | ||
| 19 | MANDARIN | Make-up of marine tailless duck breed (8) |
| m and arin are the parts that make up marin, or marin{e} | ||
| 21 | PLATE GLASS | Chap’s last “nightcap” is something readily seen through (5,5) |
| {Cha}p late glass — a nightcap is a late glass of something | ||
| 23 | PITH | Central region about to be discounted in playing area (4) |
| pit{c}h — the c is ‘about’ | ||
| 26 | EXACT | Nice times with Australian, involved in swimming etc (5) |
| (X A) in (etc)* — X is times/multiplied by | ||
| 27 | NEOLOGISM | New concoction of some lingo? (9) |
| (some lingo)*, another &lit. and a really good one (but at the back of my mind is the suspicion that it has been done before) | ||
| 28 | CHORUS | Difficult work cut down when given to American singers (6) |
| chor{e} US | ||
| 29 | STAINED | Religious figure revived idea about new description of light in church? (7) |
| st [= saint] (idea)* round n — the light is a noun equivalent to window, so stained-glass window | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | ATLAS | Major supporter sadly accepting closure of outfit (5) |
| a({outfi}t)las — I’m a bit vague about the major supporter bit, but this seems to confirm what I half-thought. If you Google the two words Atlas and supporter you get sent to a whole lot of video games, which clutters the list. | ||
| 2 | CLOISONNE | Decorative work: studied endlessly, framing various oils (9) |
| c(lois)onne{d}, the lois being (oils)* | ||
| 3 | EPIC | Large-scale film downloaded to computer? (4) |
| Fancifully, a film downloaded to the computer might be an e-pic | ||
| 4 | THE BLUES | Most of the people here will accept indecent music (3,5) |
| the(blue)s{e} | ||
| 5 | LANCET | Medical journal allowed to include an opening for chiropractor (6) |
| l(an c{hiropractor})et — leading medical journal | ||
| 6 | GOODY-GOODY | Smug pair of heroes (5-5) |
| I think this is just goody as a hero in a story, like the more common baddy — I’d have thought they were goodie/baddie but you can probably have either. Initially I wondered if there was someone like Jade Goody who was a hero withough my knowing it. | ||
| 7 | TRIPE | Response to drug preceding drug? Nonsense (5) |
| trip E | ||
| 8 | BLUDGEON | Shift position as a result of being around large weapon (8) |
| b(l)udge on — on = as a result of as in “On our exit from the EU, things may become more expensive” — I’m not saying they will, just using this as an example sentence (don’t want a whole lot of people criticising my politics!) | ||
| 13 | DORCHESTER | Artist leaving musicians in the German town (10) |
| d(orchest{RA})er | ||
| 14 | LIFE PEER | Legislator to look narrowly after long sentence (4,4) |
| life [= long prison sentence] peer | ||
| 16 | VERMILION | Lover getting entangled with Mini, becoming scarlet (9) |
| (Lover Mini)* — this seems to be the standard spelling, although vermillion is allowed in British, according to Collins | ||
| 17 | NAUSEOUS | Feeling unwell about employment? Show some sense about that (8) |
| n(a use)ous — the first about = a, the second one is an instruction to surround | ||
| 20 | BLINDS | Luminance in difficult situations dazzles (6) |
| b(l)inds | ||
| 22 | AWASH | No longer is embraced by a husband – extremely tearful? (5) |
| a (was) h — ‘was’ = no longer ‘is’ | ||
| 24 | HUMID | Stink over documents? Close (5) |
| hum ID | ||
| 25 | SODA | Drink something between espresso and daiquiri? (4) |
| Hidden in espresSO DAiquiri | ||
*anagram
I saw through this. Very neat as usual from Phi.Tough call between him and Wanderer today.I did like TRIPE.
Thanks Phi and John.
Thanks Phi and John. I guessed ORIEL but couldn’t parse it: agree that “relegation” is a bit unclear. Liked PLATE GLASS and NEOLOGISM though. And the windows theme.
In 1ac, I think CI = Channel Islands.
We saw the theme, which sort of helped when we realised some of our guesses could relate to windows. But we couldn’t parse NAUSEOUS as we didn’t know ‘a’ as an abbreviation for ‘about’, and we took ages to see the parsing of LONDONER with ‘don’ as a mafia boss. Otherwise we got most of it without help though it often took a while for the penny to drop.
Thanks, Phi and John.
Managed to miss the theme – probably too preoccupied with figuring out the new words at 9a & 2d along with ‘concerning’ in 1a!
Tough solve for me but worth the effort.
Thanks to Phi and to John, particularly for help with the parsing of 1&19a.
Atlas is the man who holds up the world on his shoulders. Hence major supporter.