It’s Phi-day again
We always look for a theme or Nina in Phi’s puzzles, and only occasionally find one – this isn’t one of those occasions.
Is there a theme? There are one or two entries that we have not come across before, but we can’t see any connections. Hopefully, if there is a theme, someone out there will spot it.
Across
1 Prince needing good fortune and courage (5)
PLUCK
P (prince) LUCK (good fortune)
4 Substantial part reduced by end of day and cut back by start of year (4-4)
ROLY-POLY
ROLe (part) without the last letter or ‘reduced‘ Y (last letter or ‘end’ of ‘day’) LOP (cut) reversed or ‘back’ Y (first letter or ‘start’ of ‘year’)
8 Group of stars unravels inside, becoming dysfunctional (6,8)
ISLAND UNIVERSE
An anagram of UNRAVELS INSIDE – anagrind is ‘becoming dysfunctional’ – ww’d never come across this phrase before – could it be thematic?
10 Most of players will need support of course, and supply of drink (3-5)
TEA-CADDY
TEAm (players) without the last letter or ‘most of’ + CADDY (‘support of course‘ as in a caddy on a golf course)
11 Book band having no status but retaining skill (6)
QUARTO
QUO (the band Status Quo, ‘having no status’) round or ‘retaining‘ ART (skill)
12 Dampness in the air to get on part of instrument (9)
FRETBOARD
FRET (dampness in the air) BOARD (get on)
15 Rough country area that is an uneven place (5)
SCRUB
SC (that is) RUB (an uneven place – a new one for us)
17 Contributor to plastics industry prepares individual bottles (5)
RESIN
Hidden or ‘bottled’ in ‘prepaRES INdividual’
18 Limit of French horse, tolerating intrusion of cat (9)
DEMARCATE
DE (French for ‘of’) MARE (horse) round or ‘tolerating intrusion of’ CAT
19 Bar selection having no opening for rum (6)
EXCEPT
EXCErPT (selection) without the ‘r’ (first letter or opening of ‘rum’)
21 Write off to armies after a rout (8)
AMORTISE
An anagram of TO ARMIES – anagrind is ‘after a rout’
24 Vehicle to decline and stop moving – despite such inducements? (6,3,5)
CARROT AND STICK
CAR (vehicle) ROT (decline) AND STICK (stop moving)
25 French are bagging new logo, mostly for chamber group? (8)
ENSEMBLE
ES (French for ‘are’) round or ‘bagging’ N (new) + EMBLEm (logo) without the last letter or ‘mostly‘
26 I’ve heard you run round Germany (5)
ROGER
R (run) O (roun) GER (Germany)
Down
1 Something querying the abbot’s aim? (5,2,5)
POINT OF ORDER
One could fancifully say that the ‘abbot’s aim’ could be the POINT OF the ORDER (as in an order of monks), but sadly we don’t really think this works very well
2 Deliverymen bringing ales round, possibly (9)
UNLOADERS
An anagram of ALES ROUND – anagrind is ‘possibly‘
3 Amount of knowledge always on the rise in African country (5)
KENYA
KEN (amount of knowledg) + AY (always) reversed or ‘on the rise’
4 Deliveryman, perhaps, making a fist of it? (9)
ROUNDHAND
A HAND (man) who does a ROUND (series of regular deliveries) could be described as a ‘roundhand’ – we’d not come across this description of a style of handwriting or ‘fist’ before
5 No good in access to computer getting cut (4)
LOIN
LOg-IN (access to computer) without the ‘g’ (good)
6 Forerunner’s power returns with support of soldiers (9)
PRECURSOR
P (power) RECURS (returns) OR (other ranks – soldiers)
7 Reverse of determination not half shown by this failure (5)
LOSER
Half of RESOLution (determination) reversed
9 Head of Union drained employee, initially blocking stevedore’s transport (6-6)
DOUBLE-DECKER
U (first letter or ‘head’ of ‘union’) BLED (drained) E (first or ‘initial‘ letter of ‘employee‘) in or ‘blocking’ DOCKER (stevedore)
13 Working with a role in live French costume drama may involve me (9)
BONAPARTE
ON (working) A PART (role) in BE (live)
14 Sort of acted upset over daughter being engaged by a shady group (4-5)
DEMI-MONDE
MIMED (‘sort of acted’) reversed or ‘upset’ + D (daughter) in or ‘engaged by’ ONE (a)
16 Becoming aware of powder blowing top in revolution (9)
REALISING
mEAL (powder) without the first letter or ‘blowing top‘ in RISING (revolution)
20 Tea popular in a number of shops (5)
CHAIN
CHA (tea) IN (popular)
22 One getting up English volume overlooked by student at exam time? (5)
RISER
RevISER (‘student at exam time’) without or ‘overlookikng’ the ‘e’ (English) and ‘v’ (volume)
23 Objections after picking up last of the tab in Newcastle? (4)
STUB
BUTS (objections) reversed or ‘picked up’ – we weren’t sure about the definition here until we found that a ‘tab’ in the Northeast is a cigarette
Sorry, I can’t help with the theme. I found this hard, with a couple I didn’t quite understand, namely 1d and 23d, some new words / terms such as ISLAND UNIVERSE and still a few more unparsed.
The unusual takes on ‘Deliveryman/men’ were good – not an obstetrician or bowler in sight. Even though my parsing was a bit iffy, I was pleased to eventually solve DEMI-MONDE.
Thanks to Phi and B&J
I grew up in the north-east and remembered “tab”. Caused some confusion when I was at university. I complained about someone leaving their tab ends on the bathroom floor in a communal bath room. However, the friend I mentioned this too, tabs was a slang term for the male genitals.
Thanks Phi and BnJ
TAB was also slang for a cigarette in the North West, Cheshire/Lancashire at least.
We thought we’d come across the phrase ISLAND UNIVERSE somewhere before, and googling is came up with this link among others. But it doesn’t seem to help with any theme. An enjoyable solve although we didn’t understand the clue for 23dn even though the answer was obvious.
Thanks, Phi and B&J.