Phi-day comes round again!
For once we didn’t have to search for a theme – it was pretty clear from the first few entries that the weather would play a significant part in the solution.
We thought that this was at the easier end of Phi’s spectrum, but none the less enjoyable for that.
LOUD (easily picked up) in CountrY (first and last letters or ‘borders’)
FOR (supporting) E (online) CAST (performers)
ST (street) round or ‘including’ LEE (area that’s sheltered)
I’M PRO (in favour of) VISE (American spelling of ‘vice’ – tool)
YES (certainly) round or ‘accepting’ TR (first two letters of tradescantia) in WEE (little)
A (area) MEN‘S (for blokes) round or ‘touring’ I (one). Apologies to Johnnybgoode for missing out ‘for’ and thanks to Hovis for helping out.
CUratE (minister) without or ‘dismissing’ ‘rat’ (scoundrel)
A clue-as-definition: an anagram of HERE’S WHAT (anagrind is ‘at sea’) + I P (first letters or ‘starts’ of identify precipitation)
TEMPERA (paint) + an anagram of TRUE – anagrind is ‘splashed around’
BUsY (working) without or ‘offloading’ the ‘s’ (second)
A R (Republican) round or ‘covering’ N S W E (the four compass points)
Another clue-as-definition: an anagram of WET AREAS – anagrind is ‘affected by storms’
SAGE (wise) round or ‘restraining’ ELF (mischievous child) and I’M
NO (never) round or ‘accommodating’ GAIt (steps) without the last letter or ‘a lot of’. A reference to Ngaio Marsh, the New Zealand crime writer and theatre director – a new name to Bert but not Joyce who is keen on crime fiction.
S (second) UNE (French for ‘one’ – definite article) round SHIN (climb)
First and last letters or ‘limits’ to HealthY Gm-freE IndiA – we had to check this – apparently a Greek and Roman goddess of health
CU (copper) SHY (retiring)
OVER (‘several deliveries’ – in cricket) W (with) HEM (edge) round or ‘bagging’ L (50)
DETERgent (cleaner) without or ‘hiding’ ‘gent’ (man)
cOOPS (prison cells) without the first letter or ‘top’
E (energy) COERCE (force) round MM (messieurs – Frenchmen)
frAGILE (tender) with ‘fr’ (father) omitted or ‘disembarking’
O (old) OP (work) in SHY (attempt) after or ‘supporting’ THE
A MARE (crater on the moon or ‘lunar location’) NICe (pleasant) without the last letter or ‘mostly’, all reversed or ‘set up’
CAT (cool guy) HAS round or ‘accepting’ RSI (repetitive strain injury – usually suffered in the workplace)
WHEREWITHal (means) without or ‘dismissing’ ‘a’ and ‘l’ (lecturer)
USE (employ) ME (the writer) in or ‘interrupting’ HON (beloved, as in shortened form of ‘honey’)
An anagram of A BEAUT HIT – anagrind is ‘knocked for six’
ALl (everything) without the last letter or ‘almost’ ‘invested’ in SON (lad)
WIN (succeed) D Y (first or ‘initial’ letters of despite your)
AIR (bearing) reversed or ‘up’ round or ‘consuming’ OJ (American orange juice) – though we think OJ is used moreorless everywhere,not just in the USA
tRAIN (practice practise) without the first letter or ‘heading off’. Thanks to PostMark for pointing out the error.
A very enjoyable, albeit quick, solve. Learnt the American spelling for “vice”, THEOSOPHY & HYGEIA. Had heard of Ngaio Marsh from a previous cryptic but this was still my loi.
Thanks to Phi and Bertandjoyce.
good selection of themed clues, which weren’t hidden but didn’t help the solving.. for me at least… faves would be 29ac n 2dn..
thanks Phi n Bertand joyce
Didn’t really get the parsing for 13 a. The plural of bloke is men not mens?
Unless it was bloke’s, then it would be man’s
Johnnybgoode For example, clothing for blokes would be men’s clothing, so “for blokes” = “men’s” works for me.
The theme leapt out halfway through. I had never heard ‘wherewith’ so struggled at 15D, and needed B&J’s explanation for 14A and 7D. As a ship nut, weather ships always fascinated me. They no longer exist, having been replaced by giant unmanned buoys, but it must have been the least favourite posting for mariners. Thanks Phi and B&J.
Johnnybgoode @3 & Hovis @4: I’d agree with Hovis but came at it from the toilets perspective (If anyone else reads the Guardian blog/GD, you will see why I have had toilets on the mind today! And not because Paul was the setter!) Mens toilets are never written with the apostrophe in my experience. Perhaps gents rather than blokes would have served that interpretation even better but it meant I didn’t query it as I solved.
I had the same two new words in the solutions as Hovis, though I did know vise. And NGAIO was last in and a complete spark of inspiration. I didn’t manage to parse it and have never read any of her work so where it came from I cannot say.
I loved the &lit WEATHER SHIP and equally good SEAWATER. WHEREWITH is unusual, HOUSEMEN was clever (are they equating to residents in a medical context?, SUNSHINE was delightful and my COTD is probably YEW TREES for the longish but perfectly relevant surface.
One tiny observation on the blog b&j, you’ve parsed 25d using ‘practice’ where Phi used the correct ‘practise’ in his clue. (That having been said, I nearly always have to double check which one to use! )
Thanks Phi and Bertandjoyce
A pleasant solve with an easily-spotted theme (though still a ghost theme as it wasn’t necessary to know it to solve the puzzle). Thanks to Tatrasman for the update on weatherships – when we solved the clue we thought ‘do they still exist in these days of satellite imaging etc?’
And thanks of course to Phi and B&J.
I’d like to say this was a breeze, but that would be an exaggeration. WHEREWITH was my favourite, even though it brought back unhappy memories of sitting on disciplinary panels at college.
Where with. Really?
Fun and not too difficult, except that RSI was unknown to me (as was Hygeia). Thanks to Phi, as ever.
Ericw @ 9
The wherewithal is all you have wherewith to do something.
Totally stumped on ngaio! Did look up windy in the dictionary to see if it might mean nervous, but didn’t seem to be. So those two defeated us.
Other than that, like last week, one of Phi’s easier ones. We do like his crosswords. 🙂
DiBosco – we look forward to Phi’s puzzles too. Windy is in listed in Chambers under adjective 6. Frightened, nervous (informal)