What can one say about Phi that is new? As always he has produced something that is uncontroversial, as I found when writing the blog: every clue can be explained simply, even though it is not always simple to solve in the first place. I thought this would be a record early blog, but, as so often seems to happen when I’m blogging, mild computer problems have caught up with me.
Definitions underlined, in maroon. Anagram indicators in italics.
For the past few times that I’ve been blogging Phi he hasn’t had a Nina, so — and I know this is The Gambler’s Fallacy — my guess is that there is one this time. But I can’t see it despite endless hunting.
| Across | ||
| 1 | HALBERD | Left battle disheartened, clouted by solid old weapon (7) |
| ha(L b{attl}e)rd — ‘clouted by’ the inclusion indicator, which seems a bit odd — perhaps the parsing is quite different and I’ve missed it | ||
| 5 | JERICHO | First person in France to get decorated over defeated city (7) |
| Je [I in French] rich o | ||
| 9 | RIGHT-HAND | Just beginning to help and offering crucial support? (5-4) |
| right [= just] h{elp} and | ||
| 10 | ORION | Hunter working on outskirts of major port (5) |
| o(Rio)n — the ‘on’ in the clue is nothing to do with the ‘on’ in the answer, which is ‘working’ — ‘on outskirts of’ indicates the surrounding | ||
| 11 | BECK | Live fashion logo gets the nod (4) |
| be CK — Calvin Klein | ||
| 12 | ENTERPRISE | Record force leads to concern (10) |
| enter [= record] prise [= force] | ||
| 14 | AFFLATUS | A lot of bother about uninteresting inspiration (8) |
| a f(flat)us{s} | ||
| 16 | FLYING | Very quick affair involving you at first (6) |
| fl(y{ou})ing | ||
| 19 | DORSET | Republican in party ready to represent county (6) |
| do (R) set | ||
| 20 | DUTCHMAN | European, and much distressed about Brexit ultimately (8) |
| (and much)* round {Brexi}t | ||
| 22 | ILL BE BOUND | What sado-masochist anticipates, no doubt (3,2,5) |
| 2 defs, one of them literal, one of them idiomatic | ||
| 23 | LOGE | Box offering two mathematical quantities? (4) |
| log e — the two mathematical quantities, but I happily wrote in ZONE since there are two mathematical quantities: z (a frequently-used unknown in Crosswordland) and one; still feel it’s an acceptable alternative answer, although LOGE is clearly better | ||
| 26 | SACKS | Rifles library storage, wasting little time (5) |
| s{t}acks | ||
| 27 | PERDITION | A speech not about ruin (9) |
| per [= a, as in ‘one drop a day/one drop per day’] di{c}tion | ||
| 28 | MESSIER | Eating area that is run in a more confused way (7) |
| mess ie r | ||
| 29 | PRECEPT | After pressure, proof of purchase is denied one in principle (7) |
| P rece(1)pt | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | HARDBOARD | Directors not readily persuaded, perhaps – by such material? (9) |
| The board of directors is hard to persuade, so it’s a hard board | ||
| 2 | LOGIC | Reason record is initially No. 1 in charts (5) |
| log [= record] i{s} c{harts} | ||
| 3 | EATS | Pulses at first rejected as food (4) |
| {b}eats | ||
| 4 | DRAWN-OUT | Unresolved match, not involving United, going to extra time? (5-3) |
| draw [= unresolved match] no(U)t | ||
| 5 | JUDGES | Hardy character’s absorbing good Biblical text (6) |
| Jud(g)e’s — the Hardy character Jude the Obscure and the book of the Bible | ||
| 6 | RIOT POLICE | Special force about to apprehend politico in disorder (4,6) |
| re around (politico)* | ||
| 7 | CRITICISM | Assessment: habitual response is blocking a lot of offending (9) |
| cri(tic is)m{e} | ||
| 8 | OUNCE | Condemn, dismissing study as lightweight? (5) |
| {den}ounce | ||
| 13 | PADEREWSKI | Former Polish leader wakes with pride, revived (10) |
| (wakes pride)* — not just a Polish leader, also (and I’d have thought Phi, with his musical leanings, would have mentioned this) a famous concert pianist | ||
| 15 | FORELOCKS | Congregations accepting old religious studies – highbrow things? (9) |
| f(o RE)locks | ||
| 17 | GINGER NUT | Booze – urgent to get drunk? Snap (6,3) |
| gin (urgent)* | ||
| 18 | RUNNER-UP | Sport brought up unsullied names – not the first to do so? (6-2) |
| RU (pure n n)rev. — if you’re the runner-up you’re not the first, but what is the significance of ‘to do so’ except to help the surface? | ||
| 21 | HOPPER | One aspiring to get extra power for feeder (6) |
| hop(P)er | ||
| 22 | IN SUM | Finally notes reduced uprising around North (2,3) |
| musi{c})rev. round N | ||
| 24 | OLIVE | Tree: source of oranges, as it happens (5) |
| o{ranges} live | ||
| 25 | MIME | Musical note in two forms from one you’d expect to be silent (4) |
| mi me, two different spellings of the same musical note — mime a noun | ||
*anagram
A game of 2 halves for me. The top clues went in at a brisk trot, leaving me struggling in the SW corner, but all fine in the end.
It cannot be coincidence that ‘Enterprise’ & ‘Flying Dutchman’ are both classes of racing-yacht but I can’t find any others…
We couldn’t see any theme/nina either. We saw ‘Flying Dutchman’ as the Wagner opera, knowing Phi’s musical leanings, but nothing else in that line. With the Hardy character in 5dn and ‘Dorset’ as the answer 19ac we thought there might be something more but that lead fizzled out too.
A satisfying solve nevertheless. We’d class DUTCHMAN and RIOT POLICE as semi-&lits (though no doubt someone will say there’s no such thing as a semi-&lit; either it’s an &lit or it’s not).
No real favourites, it was all good. Thanks, Phi and John
That looks OK for 1a solid being HARD. Always fun doing Phi especially when he drops a shoulder!
Maybe he’ll pop in with some cunning theme.
Thanks Phi and John.
In 1a I think “clouted” comes from clout=garment, as in the saying “ne’er cast a clout till May be out”. Chambers has clout (vb) = to cover with a cloth.
Held up in the SE, finally by the unknown LOGE, but it seemed to fit with the wordplay, so in it went, fortunately correctly. A number of potential themes as others have pointed out but I couldn’t take them any further either. Thanks to Andrew @4 for his plausible explanation of ‘clouted’ in 1a.
Thanks also to Phi and to John
LOGE and MIME are characters in Das Rheingold.
Also, just noticed that BECK and MESSIER almost combine to give BECKMESSER (Die Meistersinger).
PADEREWSKI was, as John says, a noted musician (a composer as well as a pianist): he composed an opera Manru, which was strongly influenced by Wagner.
I wonder if there are any other Wagnerian references in the puzzle apart from the ones we’ve noticed already?
By some strange coincidence, just yesterday I booked to go to a concert next month featuring a piano concerto by PADEREWSKI, the first time, I think, I’ll have heard any of his music live.
SACKS is almost someone Wagnerian as well, while HALBERD and JERICHO give you more than enough for another,
Thanks Phi and John
While it seems to be incorrect, I thought ZONE was a better answer for 23: Z and ONE are both mathematical quantities (albeit z is an unknown), as is ‘e’, but surely LOG is a function?
Phi @9
Yes, should have spotted Hans SACHS, but ALBERICH: that would have required more than the walls of JERICHO to come down!
Thanks for the fine crossword – good fun, as ever.
And there’s FLYING DUTCHMAN of course…