Phi day again!
As usual we started out looking at the clue for 1ac – and were stumped. However, once we worked our way into the grid, we realised that the theme revolved around FIFE (12ac) and DRUM (19ac) with places in Fife and types of drum filling ten of the entries. We eventually needed an electronic search to check the Burgh at 1ac that had foiled us at the start – Bert spent a week at RAF Leuchars in Fife when he was in the ATC at school, but he’d not come across Crail before.
We’d also not heard of the Pacific Island at 20d, but the clue was straightforward leaving no doubt as to the answer.
C (Conservative) RAIL (bar) – a town in Fife that we have never come across before
An anagram of MANY TIPS (anagrind is ‘distributed’) + T (tense)
ATT (Attorney – US lawyer) round or ‘bringing in’ TEMP (contract staff member)
EAR’S (attention’s) reversed or ‘recalled’ in or ‘captured by’ smILIng (middle letters or ‘heart’)
An anagram of RUNS COPIES – anagrind is ‘off’
IF (provided) ‘cast’ in FE (iron)
SUB (marine vessel) MED (sea) round or ‘claiming’ IT and T (time)
K (knight) after or ‘on’ CAPE (headland) – a new name for us
A DELE (‘suggestion of cancellation’ – a proofreading direction for ‘delete’)
KIRK (Starship captain – from Star Trek) C (caught) + an anagram of LADY – anagrind is ‘alien’
‘D (‘briefly had’ as in I’d) RUM (booze)
An anagram of RENT G (golf in the phonetic alphabet) HOLES – anagrind is ‘freely’
A CITE (quote) round OR (other ranks – ‘soldiers’) all reversed or ‘recalled’
RESIt (further exam) without the last letter or ‘not entirely’ DUE (expected)
QU (queen) in SEE (observe) GEES (moves by horses)
Double definition
CAMP (party) round or ‘carrying’ R (last letter or ‘end’ of wicker)
ALT (key – on a keyboard) ERA (period) BLEd w (squandered) without the last letter or ‘almost’ Thanks Wordplodder and Hovis BLEW for squandered is much better than BLED. We should have gone further with the alphabet looking for the missing letter!
LIE (story) round MO (doctor) US IN
SUIT (fit) reversed or ‘returning’ round T (Troy)
LO (look) in or ‘captured by’ an anagram of MARRIED – anagrind is ‘possibly’
AURAl (from the ears) without the last letter or ‘curtailed’
I (Independent) + IN EC (city) reversed or ‘picking up’
An anagram of WE LIKE (anagrind is ‘working’) in TRY (test)
AND (also) in STREWS (spreads)
LEAVEs (pages) without the last letter or ‘a lot of’ after TAKE (money received)
OPS (operations) in CYCLES (repeated patterns)
PO (stolid) + an anagram of HARDLY (anagrind is ‘excited’) round E (energy)
First letters or ‘starts’ to Use Planes Over Liners Usually – a new place name for us
A clue-as-definition – last or ‘ultimate’ letters of caN wE appeaR obsesseD hackerS
EVE (woman at the outset – as in Adam and Eve) IS all reversed or ‘picking up’
Hidden or ‘retained’ in preSIDEnt
23A – interesting. I parsed it as EVE (woman) preceded by (at the outset) SI (is reversed). I’d say both explanations work.
Good fun, but I gave up on SIDE since although the clue referred to 19 I kept looking at the other reference, FIFE, at 12A instead, so was stumped.
Thanks to Phi and Bertandjoyce.
I mean 23D.
Shortcomings in geographical and literary knowledge were aided by helpful wordplay. I didn’t know GEES as ‘moves by horses’ and was held up by the ‘US lawyer’, looking for the more usual ‘DA’. Thank goodness for the crossers, otherwise 6d would have gone in as ‘hair’ with barely a thought! I get pretty excited by POLYHEDRA, so I’ll go for it as my favourite.
A trivial difference, but I had ‘almost squandered’ in 2d as BLE
W.Thanks to Phi and B&J.
I also had BLE(W).
I struggled with a couple and had to resort to a word list, but got there in the end. At 17A, not sure that ‘dele’ is a proofreading abbreviation for ‘delete’: most would use the symbol that consists of a diagonal line with a hook at the top. At 27A, totally unaware of the ‘gee’ movement, I was trying to see how ‘geegees’ could fit. At 28A, I can’t see how ‘attachment’ comes into it; surely a snare drum isn’t an attachment – wouldn’t just ‘Trap 19’ have been better? All that aside, it was a great puzzle so thanks Phi and B&J.
Tatrasman. I took “attachment” in a similar fashion to “predecessor” in 24d. That is “side drum” and ‘snare drum” with the words “side” and “snare” attached to drum. I wondered if “gees’’ referred to phrases such as “gee up” for getting horse to move with the question mark denoting looseness. Could well be wrong though.
But a snare is literally, as well as verbally, an attachment to a drum, making a snare drum .
Thanks Andrew. Didn’t know that.
We were well away with 1ac, our second in (after 12, of course), having travelled through that part of Scotland a few times in recent years. SIDE was our LOI after we suddenly spotted it was a hidden – we’d been toying with ‘pike’ from P(resident) + IKE (a predecessor of the present idiot) though we couldn’t see how ‘will retain’ worked or how it related to a drum.
A very enjoyable and fairly quick solve, though we’d never heard of the Pacific island, nor had we encountered a plural form of ‘cyclops’ before. Favourite was KIRKCALDY.
We were going to comment that all the preamble was visible; fortunately we remembered to refresh before posting.
Thanks, Phi and B&J.
allan That’s weird. I played around with “pike” as well for the same reasoning. I’d only seen the plural “Cyclopes” (or cyclops as a self plural of course) but checked my Chambers.
I had ‘airs’ for 6D, a curtailment of ‘hairs’. It worked well enough to have me stumped at the end.
Looked at 1a, ok, I’d better look at 12a first. Got 12a, then got 1a. Easy for me, I live just over the Forth. Played golf at Crail (Balcomie Links). Had to check Google for CAPEK and UPOLU. Not seen ICENI for quite a while.
Not too many difficulties but there were a couple I had to check. Capek was not one of them. I visited his grave in Prague last year. He’s buried in the National Cemetery along with Smetana and Dvorak. Perhaps best known today for writing a play called RUR (first performed a century ago this year) in which he used a local word for a labourer – robot – for a type of artificial person.
Particularly enjoyed the Fife (and drum) references. Phi is, I think, a graduate of the University of St. Andrews.