I see with some surprise that I’ve been blogging of Fifteensquared for just over eleven years, but this, my 699th contribution, is the first for The Independent. Not surprisingly on a Friday, it’s a Phi, so thanks to him.
This one didn’t take me long to solve, with clear and accurate clueing throughout. It’s always worth looking for a theme or Nina in Phi’s puzzles, and here we have some PIGs, with NAPOLEON and SNOWBALL from Animal Farm, both of whom are BOARs (and who probably were never RUNTs). There’s also the TAMWORTH breed and perhaps also GLOUCESTER[shire Old Spots]. And I dare say others.
| Across | ||||||||
| 8. | LINDA | Girl rejected love given by US lawyer (5) Reverse of NIL (nothing = love in tennis) + DA (District Attorney) |
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| 9. | GRADUALLY | Former student and friend circumscribing university by degrees (9) U[niversity] in GRAD (graduate: a former student) + ALLY |
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| 10. | COWSLIP | Flower intimidates border (7) COWS + LIP |
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| 11. | WETSUIT | Use it when swimming in couple of odd bits of water? (7) (USE IT)* in W T, which are the first two “odd” letters of WaTer |
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| 12. | CAMCORDER | One may film cricket club receiving morning instruction (9) AM in CC + ORDER |
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| 15. | CREAM | Funny person, though not initially the best (5) [S]CREAM (“he’s a scream”) |
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| 16. | PIG | Difficult problem: irrational number applied to gravitational measure (3) PI (or π the ratio between the circumference and diameter of a circle, proved to be irrational by Johann Heinrich Lambert in the 1760s) + G (the gravitational constant) |
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| 17. | GINGHAM | Cloth grand to wrap drink and meat? On the contrary (7) G (grand) in GIN + HAM |
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| 19. | TAB | Key bill (3) Double definition – the tab[ulator] key on a typewriter, and more recently on computer keyboards, and a bill, e.g. in a restaurant (mainly a US usage) |
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| 21. | PLAIN | Reduction in growth around one flat region (5) I in PLAN[T] |
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| 22. | PISTON ROD | Engine part is not recalled in reminder (6,3) IS + revert of NOTin PROD |
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| 24. | SPAG BOL | Health centre with good serving, though not with pasta dish (4,3) SPA + G + BO[W]L. British slang for spaghetti bolognese |
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| 26. | POLARIS | Star of long ago abandoning Duke in European city (7) OLD (of long ago) less D in PARIS |
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| 29. | TETRALOGY | Ring Cycle, say: unreasonably large, OTT, and ultimately lengthy (9) Anagram of LARGE OTT [length]Y. Wagner’s Ring cycle consists of four operas |
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| 30. | NACHO | Chip on a chop? Only partly (5) Hidden in oN A CHOp |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1. | BLACKCAP | Bird, a sign of impending execution (8) Double definition – judges used to put on the so-called black cap (actually just a square of material) when pronouncing a death sentence |
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| 2/3. | SNOWBALL | Drink currently available in small formal event (8) NOW in S BALL |
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| 4. | TAMWORTH | Staffordshire town side lacking energy and value (8) TEAM less E + WORTH |
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| 5. | RUNT | Infantryman seeing off first little guy (4) [g]RUNT |
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| 6. | GLOUCESTER | English city courts transported with glee (10) (COURTS GLEE)* |
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| 7. | SYSTEM | Limits to safety and support process (6) S[afet]Y + STEM (support, e.g. of a plant) |
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| 9. | GAPED | Looked astonished: leader of Greece to copy Germany (5) G + APE + D |
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| 13. | MAGNA CARTA | Anagram ‘cat’ possibly for name of governmental document (5,5) (ANAGRAM CAT)* |
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| 14. | ORGAN | Instrument: agonised sound if couple of parts switched (5) GROAN with O and G swapped |
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| 15. | COMBO | Old doctor entering company group (5) O MB in CO |
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| 18. | NAPOLEON | French leader: how he refuses accepting a person from another country (8) A POLE in NON |
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| 20. | BODY SHOP | Daughter participating in lad’s dance in garage? (4,4) D in BOY’S HOP |
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| 21. | PESETA | Ready to invest in vegetable? Ready no longer (6) SET in PEA. The Peseta was the currency of Spain before it adopted the Euro (other Pesetas are available), hence “ready” (money) “no longer” |
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| 23. | SOPPY | Weak agent restricting operation (5) OP in SPY |
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| 25. | BOAR | Male Director leaving the rest of the Directors? (4) BOARD less D |
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| 27. | LAND | Secure network beginning to decay (4) LAN + D[ecay] |
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| 28. | RACE | What should be run by expert? (4) R + ACE &lit |
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Thanks Andrew for the blog and well spotted for the theme, which I missed. I wouldn’t have been surprised if there were also characters in Animal Farm called Linda, Cowslip and Gingham but apparently not. I went astray by putting grogram at 17A – well it sort of fits, being a material, with grog the drink and ram a source of meat, but then I realised the ‘grand’ was unaccounted for and corrected it. Thanks Phi also.
Thanks for blog Andrew. And Phi .I loved the Ring Cycle clue
Yes, we thought the Ring Cycle clue was great, too. And we spotted the theme for once – btw 27 & 28 give LANDRACE – another pig breed.
Welcome to the Indy blogs, Andrew – and thank you to you and Phi.
I failed to spot our porcine friends scattered around the grid, but enjoyed this nonetheless. Maybe if “Emsworth” had been included I might have twigged. I was held up at the very end by forgetting ‘grunt’ for infantryman. Would really help as you were about to go over the top to face the machine-gun fire to know that’s how you were valued – I don’t think!
Thanks to Phi and (also welcome) to Andrew
It remains only to note that in Chinese astrological terms I am a pig, as is this year.
Thanks Andrew for standing in for us. Vongratulations in advance for your 700th blog!
We have only just managed to regain internet access so we are catching up on puzzles.
We noticed the theme but missed Landacre so thanks to allan c for that one. Otherwise a rapid solve which was good as we have a few more to catch up on.