The usual utterly sound and enjoyable crossword from Phi. Nothing at all controversial, so far as I can see.
Although Phi often has a Nina he apparently never uses this as an excuse to have less than 50% checking. OK some people don’t regard this as important, but sticklers like me do. (Some people would replace the word ‘sticklers’ by ‘pedants’.)
Definitions underlined, in maroon. Anagram indicators in italics.
After the end of a Phi crossword I’m a bit relieved, although in this case it was gentler than he sometimes is. However, I always forget to look for a Nina, and with his record there is a high probability of there being one. But I can of course see nothing.
| Across | ||
| 1 | FORGETFUL | Create air from Beethoven in recollection? Unable to recollect things (9) |
| forge (luft)rev. — luft is the German word for air | ||
| 6 | NOMAD | Traveller turned on lunatic (5) |
| (on)rev. mad | ||
| 9 | ROGUE | Unreliable parachute, not opened (5) |
| {d}rogue | ||
| 10 | TENACIOUS | Use action mistaken as firm (9) |
| (Use action)* | ||
| 11 | DETERRENTS | They stop game animals getting to openings around rear of forest (10) |
| de({fores}t)er rents | ||
| 12 | VIAL | Full of life, having given up, for some, the bottle (4) |
| vi{t’}al, t’ being a regional way of saying ‘the’, as in t’other | ||
| 14 | FROSTED | Hard to see through devious sort apprehended by US lawman (7) |
| F(rost)ed, the rost being (sort)* | ||
| 15 | EAT INTO | Use up a colour in middle of neon (3,4) |
| e(a tint)o, the eo coming from {n}eo{n} | ||
| 17 | ABSCOND | A British silver (not English) – get away! (7) |
| a B s{e}cond — a silver medal is for second place | ||
| 19 | MODESTY | Decorum in fashions? Totally gutted (7) |
| modes t{otall}y | ||
| 20 | HAUL | A lot of sound about Uruguay’s initial medal tally (4) |
| ha(U{ruguay})l{e} | ||
| 22 | LIVING WILL | Quick statement about what to do if one’s going to be late (6,4) |
| CD — or is it quick = living, [the rest of it] = will, and some &littery? | ||
| 25 | ATHLETICS | Title cash disbursed in sporting event (9) |
| (Title cash)* — I suppose athletics is a sporting event, but one also thinks of the things within athletics, such as high jump and 1500m, as events | ||
| 26 | OWN UP | Confess it hurts having wordplay rejected (3,2) |
| ow! (pun)rev. | ||
| 27 | KARMA | Time to avoid backing US railways – there’s fate to be suffered (5) |
| (Am{t}rak)rev. | ||
| 28 | SISYPHEAN | Pointlessly hard – hard and, yes, pain’s involved (9) |
| (h yes pain’s)* | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | FARAD | Inaccessible promotional material for electrical unit (5) |
| far ad | ||
| 2 | RIGHTEOUS | This rogue reforms – becoming _________? (9) |
| (this rogue)*, &lit. | ||
| 3 | EXECRATION | Curse the amount senior manager gets? (10) |
| exec. ration — a fanciful alternative definition, very nice although it does seem vaguely familiar | ||
| 4 | FATHEAD | Stupid articles probing passing craze (7) |
| f(a the)ad — stupid a noun — does this usage come originally from the statement of Roberto de Vicenzo in 1970 “What a stupid I am”? | ||
| 5 | LUNETTE | Crescent shape clear in stringed instrument (7) |
| lu(net)te | ||
| 6 | NICE | European city not very European? This one is! (4) |
| {v E}nice — ‘This one is!’ is saying that Nice is nice, so is there a second definition? | ||
| 7 | MAORI | I travel uphill to find native (5) |
| (I roam)rev. — another Phi-NZ reference | ||
| 8 | DESULTORY | Aimless role conflated with half of next (9) |
| (role study)* — you’d think that ‘half of next’ meant ne or xt but it’s referring to the next answer, the first half of which is study | ||
| 13 | STUDY GROUP | “Macho man may finally behave like adult, ignoring women”: researchers (5,5) |
| stud {ma}y gro{w} up | ||
| 14 | FLASHBACK | Recollection of showy defender (9) |
| flash back | ||
| 16 | NESCIENCE | Cine scene reconstructed in ignorance (9) |
| (Cine scene)* | ||
| 18 | DAISIES | Stops enclosing excellent source of summer flowers (7) |
| d(A1 s{ummer})ies | ||
| 19 | MEIOSIS | Is some misbehaving getting one imprisoned? That’s an understatement (7) |
| 1 in (Is some)* | ||
| 21 | USHER | That woman will support American family in American story (5) |
| US her — referring to ‘The Fall of the House of Usher‘ by Edgar Allan Poe | ||
| 23 | LUPIN | Flower in prominent position? Nothing revolutionary about that (5) |
| l(up)in, the lin being (nil)rev. | ||
| 24 | MESA | Geographical feature unchanged with halves switched (4) |
| If you switch the halves of ‘mesa’ you get ‘same’, which = ‘unchanged’ | ||
*anagram
I too wondered about LIVING WILL. Could it be living = quick in the context of the ‘quick and the dead’? Seems a touch abtruse
Otherwise a neat way to end the week and thanks to Phi and John
abstruse!
Forgot to mention failed parsing Haul, entered but not understood until now…
I can never spot Ninas either and if there is one today, I can’t see it.
I quite liked the cryptic definition/&Lit ness of 22a
Thanks to Phi and John
Less than 50% checking is totally unfair on the solver. Editors should appreciate that, but few seem to.