As usual, Phi provides the Friday puzzle in the Independent
Puzzles with only 24 entries are rare. Most puzzles have 28 to 32 entries. I think somewhere between 36 and 40 is the highest number I have come across in a standard 15 by 15 blocked grid. 24 must be close to the lowest.
Writing the blog, I was conscious of using many colours which is an indication of clues with many component parts in the wordplay. That is the type of clue that I like most, so I really enjoyed this puzzle.
As I mention in the blog, I’m not convinced that host and SERVICE PROVIDER (1 down) are interchangeable in IT terms, but I accept that in a general hospitality context, the two terms are synonymous.
Phi often provides a theme, but I can’t see one today. The best I can offer is that RIATA (2 down) and TIARA (20 down) are symmetrically placed anagrams of each other.
| No | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| Across | |||
| 1 | Immediately taking on economy, without any fancy trimmings (8-3) |
STRAIGHT (immediately) + CUT (economy) STRAIGHT CUT |
STRAIGHT-CUT (CUT in a STRAIGHT line without any fancy trimmings) |
| 7 | Style regarding publication clear: it’s always attractive (9,6) |
PERM (hairstyle) + ANENT (regarding) + MAG (magazine; publication) + NET (clear) PERM ANENT MAG NET |
PERMANENT MAGNET (a MAGNET that keeps its magnetism after the force which magnetized it has been removed; it always attracts) |
| 9 | Trouble? It’s brought in a crowd (7) |
IT contained in (brought in) (A + GATE [people paying to see a game; number of attendees; crowd]) A G (IT) ATE |
AGITATE (to stir up public feeling; to [cause] trouble) |
| 10 | Stop limiting church in extra large religious region (7) |
DIE (stop) containing (limiting) (CE [Church [of England] contained in [in] OS [outsize; extra large]) DI (O (CE) S) E |
DIOCESE (circuit or extent of a bishop’s jurisdiction; religious region) |
| 11 | Still activity at sea when the nights are drawing in (9) |
EVEN (calm; still) + TIDES (activity at sea) EVEN TIDES |
EVENTIDES (times of day when the night draws in) |
| 14 | Sorcerer retreated, having kidnapped husband in Surrey town (5) |
MAGE (sorcerer) reversed (retreated) containing (having kidnapped) H (husband) EG (H) AM< |
EGHAM (town in Surrey) |
| 15 | Laundry accessory increasingly just not opening (5) |
AIRER |
AIRER (frame on which clothes are dried; laundry accessory)
|
| 16 | Yielded, returning personnel before important meeting for major part of body (9) |
PAID (yielded satisfactory remuneration) reversed (returning) + HR (human resources; personnel) + AGM (Annual General Meeting; important meeting) DIAP< HR AGM |
DIAPHRAGM (muscular structure separating the chest from the abdomen major part of the body) |
| 17 | Requested change to divine right, ultimately (7) |
Anagram of (change to) DIVINE and T (final letter of [ultimately] RIGHT) INVITED* |
INVITED (requested formally) |
| 19 | Scoundrel’s attorney receiving a rap (3-1-3) |
RAT (scoundrel) + (ATT [attorney] containing [receiving] A) RAT A T (A) T |
RAT-A-TAT (knocking sound; rap) |
| 21 | Conservative unfortunately meddled with learning (6,9) |
Anagram of (unfortunately) MEDDLED and LEARNING MIDDLE ENGLANDER* |
MIDDLE ENGLANDER (a member of the English middle classes outside London, regarded as politically and socially conservative) |
| 22 | Regret introducing stupid new article in trial – not fully thought through (11) |
(RUE [regret] containing [introducing] DIM [stupid]) + N (new) + (A [indefinite article] contained in [in] TRY [trial]) RU (DIM) E N T (A) RY |
RUDIMENTARY (elementary; crude, primitive or makeshift; in an early or arrested stage of development; not fully thought through) |
| Down | |||
| 1 | Host for www.churchofengland.org? (7,8) |
SERVICE PROVIDER (one who provides a service, such as an innkeeper or host) SERVICE PROVIDER |
SERVICE PROVIDER (The Church of England provides [church] services) In IT terms, I usually refer to a host as a company that provides a home for a website and a service provider as a company that provides the broadband connection, but many people will interpret host in different ways) – cryptic definition |
| 2 | A sailor getting upset about one stock controller (5) |
(A + TAR [sailor]) reversed (getting upset) containing (about) I (Roman numeral for one) (R (I) AT A)< |
RIATA (lariat; lasso or picketing rope which can be used for controlling cattle [stock]) |
| 3 | Popular composer presented in edition? There’s a surprise (1,5,3) |
IN (popular) + (VERDI [reference Guiseppe VERDI {1813 – 1901}, Italian opera composer] contained in [presented in] ED [edition]) I N E (VER DI) D |
I NEVER DID (expression of surprise) |
| 4 | Was very much against a horrible death (5) |
Anagram of (horrible) DEATH HATED* |
HATED (disliked intensely; was very much against) |
| 5 | Cooked each short Passover meal (9) |
Anagram of (cooked) EACH SHORT CHAROSETH* |
CHAROSETH (a mixture of finely chopped apples, nuts, spices, etc mixed with wine, and eaten with bitter herbs at the Passover meal) |
| 6 | The trendy dealer works with great care (6-9) |
Anagram of (works) THE TRENDY DEALER TENDER–HEARTEDLY* |
TENDER-HEARTEDLY (compassionately; with great care)
|
| 7 | Sign of gratitude after aircraft takes one into curious view of the sky (11) |
PLANE (aircraft) + TA (thankyou; sign of gratitude) + (RUM [curious] containing [takes … into] I [Roman numeral for one]) PLANE TA R (I) UM |
PLANETARIUM ( machine showing the motions and orbits of the planets, often by the projecting of their images onto a [domed] ceiling; view of the sky) |
| 8 | Doctor satisfied in there, getting right item used in diagnosis (11) |
(MO [Medical Officer; doctor] + MET [satisfied]) contained in [in] THERE) + R [right] THER (MO MET) E R |
THERMOMETER (an item used in medical diagnosis) |
| 12 | Strangled the Duke, suppressing corruption before heartless trial (9) |
(THE + D [duke]) containing (suppressing) (ROT [corruption] + TL [letters remaining in T TH (ROT TL) E D |
THROTTLED (strangled) |
| 13 | Exotic fish goes and swims around right area (3,6) |
Anagram of (swims) GOES AND containing (around) (R [right] + A [area]) SEA D (R A) GON* |
SEA DRAGON (any of various fishes, eg the dragonet and types of seahorse’ exotic fish) |
| 18 | Imagine 500 sheets of paper (500) (5) |
D (Roman numeral for 500) + REAM (500 sheets of paper. 1 ream = 20 quires [in the past, a quire was 24 sheets, but now seems to be 25] ) D REAM |
DREAM (imagine)
|
| 20 | Revolutionary skill taking care of excellent item of jewellery (5) |
(ART [skill] containing [taking care of] AI [A one; excellent]) all reversed (revolutionary) (T (IA) RA)< |
TIARA (richly jewelled semicircular head-ornament worn by women) |
The dice didn’t roll the right way for the consonant lottery at 5d, so I failed on CHAROSETH. Still, one new word to go into the file. About mid-level difficulty for a Phi, with PERMANENT MAGNET and DIAPHRAGM giving me the most trouble to parse.
I just had REAM as ‘sheets of paper’, with ‘500’ being accounted for by the D; apparently a REAM can specifically refer to 500 sheets, previously 480, as Duncan says, or just to any large number of sheets of paper. A ‘printer’s ream’ is 516 sheets, just to make things even more confusing. (That’s enough about reams. Ed.)
I ‘fancy’ there have been quite a few home-made STRAIGHT CUT(s) in the barber-less times we’re living in (where I am anyway) at the moment.
Thanks to Phi and Duncan
Duncan, thanks for the comprehensive blog and I am very much aligned with you in enjoying clues that need patient assembly of parts. DIAPHRAGM was a joy to solve, step by step, like PLANETARIUM, THERMOMETER and RUDIMENTARY. Yet, pretty much throughout, the surfaces don’t appear particularly convoluted. I did have to look up CHAROSETH which is a dnk. I’m happy to cut some Phi some slack around SERVICE PROVIDER for the general cleverness. (I was misled to begin with: there happen to be 15 letters in ‘churchofengland’ and I wondered if the ‘.org’ was going to be a cheeky anagrind. I even glanced at the World Wide Wrestling (WWW) website to see if there was a host with a 15 letter name that fitted the anagrist. How’s that for over-complication?)
Thanks Phi and Duncan
no complaints! even though “Charoseth”, “Riata” and “…anent..” were all new to me.. sometimes those anagrams don’t lie..
thanks to Duncan n Phi
Enjoyed this overall with much to like but resisted STRAIGHT-CUT for a long time as couldn’t think of a sentence where straight meant immediately (as opposed to directly).
Best I could come up with was “go straight to bed” but even there it feels more like directly.
Not a big deal in the end though.
Thanks to Phi and Duncan (for expleining ANENT as much as anything!).
Very entertaining with some excellent long anagrams. Could not quite parse 1A until coming here, perhaps because I don’t need any sort of cut these days.
Thanks to Phi and duncanshiell.
Never heard of straight cut but otherwise a satisfying solve with a couple of unknown words, charoseth and riata.