It’s Phi-day again.
For once, we tumbled to the theme, but not until we had completed the puzzle and looked long and hard at the solutions.
We found this to be a fairly straightforward, but very enjoyable solve. We were flummoxed for a while by 22d – a word we had not come across before.
As we expect there to be a theme in most of Phi’s puzzles, we searched for possible connections and then realised (out of the blue) that five of the across solutions could be associated with BIT and five of the down solutions with PIECE.
We noticed the five PIECES first, (CONVERSATION, MASTER, COLLECTOR’S, MUSEUM and SHOW) As they are all in down entries, we guessed that Phi would not have left it at that – so we looked at the across entries, thinking that ‘bits and pieces’ might be the connection – DRILL bit leapt out at us and we were aware that a SNAFFLE is a horse’s bit, but we had to check the TRAY, GAG and RING bits – ‘Traybit’ turning out to be a threepenny coin, the other two are types of horse’s bits.
All good fun – thanks Phi.
HIS (chap’s) + C (first or ‘initial’ letter of ‘convicted’) in TRIAL (court case) round or ‘with earlier involvement of’ O (nothing)
TRY (go) round or ‘carrying’ A
POLE (European) VAULT (wine store)
DR (medic) ILL (disease)
C (Conservative) + BRA (supporter) in or ’embraced by’ AMI (French for a male friend)
REST (support) ART (creative works)
Hidden in (‘some’) totalLY CRAzy
GAnG (group) without the ‘n’ (name) – one definition of ‘one’ is ‘a joke’ – as in ‘that’s a good one’
OAR (‘one in a row’) round IT, all reversed or ‘recalled’
IT IS ‘found’ in ELM (a tree)
Some Tolkien readers might be described as ELF FANS – reversed or ‘taken aback’
T (last or ‘ultimate’ letter or ‘foot’) ALONe (by itself) with the ‘e’ (last or ‘final’ letter of ‘draftee’) omitted or ‘eliminated’
SAUCES (relishes) round or ‘holding’ IN + S (first letter or ‘a bit’ of ‘smart’)
teaRING (rushing) without or ‘abandoning’ ‘tea’ (drink)
An anagram of DANTE NOT UP – anagrind is ‘for translation’
As a suffix, SHIP indicates rank or status, as in ‘lordship’
Y L (first letters or ‘leaders’ of ‘youth likely’) ‘invested’ in A SUM (total)
CONVERSION (refit) round or ‘involving’ A T (tense)
MUSING (thinking) round I (one) S (section)
MAST (support, as on a ship) + RE (about) reversed or ‘turned up’
IRe (anger) without the last letter or ‘a lot of’ + RANT (rage) round IT
A homophone (‘in radio play’) of I + LET (allowed) HOLE (a difficult situation)
Cryptic definition – an anagram of ROADSIDE SIGN – anagrind is DISORGANISED – the solution, which ‘makes it what it is’
COLLECTS (prayers) round OR (other ranks or ‘men’)
sCHILLING (former currency of Austria) without the first letter or ‘leader’
An anagram of RAGE and LUST – anagrind is ‘showing some combination’
MUM (‘keep quiet’) round USE (employment) – the ‘8’ refers to 8ac – ‘historical’
FLEA (‘nipper’) + D H (first letters or ‘starts’ to ‘dance happily’) – a new word for us
HOW (‘methodological approach’) after or ‘supporting’ (in a down clue) S (small)
Missed the theme as usual. I wondered for a while what the 2nd word in 7d was, as I thought an eyelet was a hole in itself. Otherwise straightforward, thanks to Phi and B&J.
Well, that’s a theme I wouldn’t have spotted in a month of Sundays, so well done and thanks B&J. I had to come here to understand 26A and 1D. I did parse 16A correctly but thought it a bit of a stretch. Thanks Phi for your usual high standard – how do you manage it every week?
Great theme spotting! I wouldn’t have had a hope – even less than Tatrasman @2.
Not so straightforward for me. I found a few hard to parse, including the old ‘one’ for GAG. I liked the ‘methodological approach’ and the new word FLEADH.
One day I’ll get one of these themes. Or then again, I probably won’t!
Thanks to Phi and B&J
This started out with the PIECEs in the acrosses and the BITs in the downs until I realised it would make sense to flip the grid.
When I lived in London and was at the mercy of the weird Victoria Line timetable I always saw at least one imminent fleadh advertised at Seven Sisters. Reading the ads while wondering if there would ever be another train to Blackhorse Road helps words stick…
Went to the 22d in Finsbury Park back in ooh 1987 so that wasn’t so bad for me. Thanks bert and Joyce. And indeed phi. I seem to have been away for a while.