When I saw Phi had been given the Saturday slot I thought we would be in for a May Day special.
But I see no theme in here. Just excellent clear clues as usual from Phi.
It seems he was bumped from his normal Friday slot by yesterday’s Silvanus offering that had Walpurgis Night across the top.
Though I knew I was going to blog this, for a change I decided to solve this “normally” rather than stopping and starting to make notes about each clue as I solve them. I was very glad I did as it was a much more enjoyable experience, and I don’t think I forgot that much of the clue impact when blogging.
Indeed I was off to an absolute flier solving the top left corner in very few minutes, and covering much of the rest of the grid in a short while before reaching “first pass” (all clues attempted) with 9 to go. Of those there were a few that fall into the “should have got it earlier” category, such as 23d Blood and 22 Halter.
Last in 18 Excision – I could not see the wordplay till working back from the answer.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | CRACK | Expert solver will do this (5) Double definition |
| 4 | GAMMA RAYS | Radiation damage in red wines (5,4) MAR (damage) in GAMAYS (Red wines) |
| 9 | NORWEGIAN | Some European is turned on wearing pants (9) ON< then (WEARING)* AInd: pants |
| 10 | BASTE | Sew? Mean to go round end of skirt (5) BASE (mean) around [skir]T. I found the “?” on the definition very helpful. Basting isn’t proper sewing, it’s just tacking pieces together to hold them in the right place to then properly sew. |
| 11 | THE FLAT | Jazzy felt hat: nothing to make you jump here (3,4) (FELT HAT)* AInd: Jazzy. You don’t have to jump any sticks on the flat |
| 12 | OUTCROP | What’s no longer grown in rocky area? (7) Cryptic Def. playing on the idea that there may be vegetable varieties not grown now because they are unfashionable |
| 13 | BITING | Piece in G sharp (6) BIT (piece) IN G |
| 15 | MIGRAINE | Remaining ill, ignoring a new headache (8) (REMAINING – N[ew])* AInd: ill. Top clue |
| 18 | EXCISION | Cut first of details from verdict about Times (8) DECISION (verdict) – D[etails] around X (times). Last one in. |
| 20 | HUNGER | Thirst? Number tapping into big river (6) N[umber] inside HUGE (big), R[iver]. Another “?” on the definition – of course Hunger and Thirst are synonymous – of course they are also very different (Try teaching this to an artifical intelligence …) |
| 23 | BROCADE | Offered to wrap big bird in silky fabric (7) BADE (offered) around ROC (big bird) |
| 24 | ANARCHY | Article craftily ignoring Liberal chaos (7) AN (article) ARCHLY (craftily) – L[iberal]. |
| 26 | ORIEL | Some trouble I routinely encountered back in college (5) Hidden Reversed in troubLE I ROutinely. |
| 27 | HATHA YOGA | Eastern philosophy recalled in the past with US actress ignoring a Western (5,4) AGO< (in the past, recalled) after [Anne] HATHAWAY – A W[estern] |
| 28 | DISHWATER | What is red, swirling? Not usually this kitchen sight (9) (WHAT IS RED)* AInd: swirling. Phi has clearly never washed up after my beetroot special |
| 29 | EARTH | Planet core that’s hot ultimately? (5) HEART (core) that has H[ot] moved to last (ultimately) |
| Down | ||
| 1 | CONSTABLE | Study enduring artist (9) CON (Study) STABLE (enduring) |
| 2 | AGREE | Get on? Get on after accommodating soldiers (5) RE (soldiers) inside AGE (get on) |
| 3 | KREMLIN | Merlin working to support King in fortress (7) K[ing] (MERLIN)* AInd: working. |
| 4 | GUILTY | Rope binding one officer that’s convicted (6) GUY (rope) around (binding) I LT (one officer, Lieutenant) |
| 5 | MANDOLIN | Chap to blow away, though carrying large stringed instrument (8) MAN (Chap), L[arge] inside DO IN (to blow away) |
| 6 | ARBITER | Judge‘s arrival about to take effect (7) ARR[ival] around BITE (take effect) |
| 7 | ABSORBING | Very interesting sailor to celebrate circling globe (9) AB (sailor), SING (to celebrate) around (circling) ORB (globe) |
| 8 | SHEEP | Congregation notice Priest around hospital (5) SEE (notice) P[riest] around H[ospital] |
| 14 | TECTONICS | Detectives receiving boost, source of a big shift (9) TECS (Detectives) around TONIC (boost) |
| 16 | EARLY BATH | Sadly hear about lately gutted cricketer’s unwanted departure from game? (5,4) (HEAR)* AInd: sadly, around L[atel]Y and BAT (cricketer). Oh, to hear Eddie Waring describing a rugby player who’s just been sent off: “Ee’s gone for the early bath” |
| 17 | SOMEWHAT | Does it matter about me? Rather (8) SO WHAT (does it matter?) around ME |
| 19 | SHALLOW | Superficial broadcast about manor-house? (7) SOW (broadcast) around HALL (manor-house) |
| 21 | UNAWARE | Ignorant article in Le Monde is about a conflict (7) UNE (article in Le Monde, i.e. “a” in French) around A WAR (a conflict) |
| 22 | HALTER | One who dislikes stocking line offering backless dress (6) HATER (one who dislikes) around (stocking) L[ine] |
| 23 | BLOOD | Lineage’s length included in startling comment supported by daughter (5) L[ength] inside BOO (startling comment), then D[aughter] |
| 25 | CHOIR | A lot of work evident around one church feature (5) CHOR[e] (work, a lot of) around I (one) |
The weekend starts well, thought we’d missed Phi this week.. many favourites.. perhaps EARLY BATH hit the spot best.. Eddie Waring..legend!.. also loved the double-speak of HUNGER.. lol..
Thanks Phi n beermagnet
Minor error in blog for 15a. It is an anagram of REMAINING – N. The A in the clue is to indicate that only one of the 2 N’s is removed.
Must be a while since we’ve had Phi on a Saturday. A few new words here in GAMAY, HATHA YOGA and the non-cooking sense of BASTE, so I took a while to get this out. I liked the ‘source of a big shift’ and ‘unwanted departure from game?’ defs for TECTONICS and EARLY BATH. Obvious now, but EARTH only parsed post-solve.
Thanks to Phi and beermagnet
GAMMA RAYS my favourite-but I liked all the rest too
Thanks Phi and beermagnet
Thanks Hovis, fixed that
Tectonics and gamma rays my favourites, but all good. Very enjoyable, apart from a pang of guilt at the sight of G sharp (minor or major, they’re both killers) Really should be playing that fiddle. Thanks to Phi and Beermagnet.
All very straightforward but we were surprised not to see a fairly obvious date- ot bank holiday-related theme. Maybe there is one but just not obvious.
We too liked TECTONICS and GAMMA RAYS – as well as EXCISION.
Thanks, Phi and beermagnet.
Very enjoyable. My only hang-up was HATHA YOGA, for which I had to search online for types of yoga, not immediately thinking of Anne Hathaway. Thanks Phi and Beermagnet.
Always enjoy Phi, whatever the day. I suppose instead of the obvious May Day, we had Walpurgis Night yesterday.
Thanks, Phi and beermagnet.
I started well, but then struggled for a while. Excision and Hunger were both “Of course!” moments when I cracked them but with others my general knowledge wasn’t quite up to scratch – didn’t know the sewing meaning of baste, didn’t get brocade until I realised that’s how it’s spelled not brocaid as I always thought, wasn’t aware of halter as the name of that type of dress and had no idea at all for Hatha Yoga.
Didn’t spoil the enjoyment though, and as ever respect for Phi’s cluing.
Definitely more 7d than 28ac. It feels like Phi has been reading reviews of a crime novel (perhaps by Peter May??) about which people cannot agree. Some thought it SHALLOW and dull as DISHWATER and likely to give you a MIGRAINE. Others found it BITING and ABSORBING to find out who was GUILTY of the BLOOD-BATH. With no independent ARBITER they just can’t AGREE.
This puzzle was set up to find a home for such wonderful old compounds as SHEEP-BITING, CRACK-HALTER, EARTH-HUNGER and BLOOD-GUILTY. Always good to remember some of the weird stuff…