It’s Phiday again
Another enjoyable puzzle from Phi for the end of the week, with the expected smooth surfaces and precise clueing. We hadn’t come across the drink at 8ac before, or the slang expression for ‘excellent’ at 16ac, and we hadn’t heard of the play or playwright at 5d, but discovered, when checking online that he also wrote ‘Playboy of the Western World’ – which we have heard of. We learn something every day, even at our age!
We always look for a theme in a Phi puzzle, but, not for the first time, we can’t see anything here
BR (British) E W (East and West – bridge partners) SKIp (avoid) without the last letter or ‘forgoing latest’ – a new word for us -we had to rely on getting the crossing letters to figure our what came after ‘brew…’
TATI (Jacques Tati – French film-maker) reversed or ‘turned’ in A GO (success)
OLD (former) Nat KING COLE (US singer) without ‘nat’ (natural)
BUSh (shrub) without the last letter or ‘taking back off’
EG (for one) reversed or ‘switched’ + LIGNITE (type of coal)
SON (native) round or ‘restricting’ A X (cross)
IRAN (Middle Eastern country) in PHAt (excellent) without the last letter or ‘a lot of ‘ – we hadn’t come across the slang term ‘phat’ before and needed a dictionary search to verify it
OP (work) TED (provider of talks – online video presentations) after A D (day)
OH (surprised comment) round MAG (publication)
E (last letter or ‘end’ of nose) YES (certainly) HAD (experienced) OW (that hurts!)
RIP off (cheat) without ‘off’
An anagram (‘upset’) of BAKERY MOST round T (last or ‘latest’ letter in nutritionist)
C (first or ‘initial’ letter of contracted) AB (sailor) IE (that is) in or ‘on board’ SS (ship)
PART (a proportion) reversed or ‘backed’ + a homophone (‘radio broadcast’) of EASE (rest)
OB (old boy – ‘former student’) LOG (diary) round N (note)
An anagram (‘perturbed’) of PERU LAND – we had to check this one as well, although it was fairly obviously related to ‘pendulum’ – which was a development in clock-making
I L (left) GRIM (determined) in or ‘blocking’ PAGE (messenger)
TAO (‘the right way’, according to Confucius) round or ‘gripping’ C (cold)
An anagram (‘review’) of THEATRE DOSSIER – we had to check this after we had the crossing letters – we have never come across John Millington Synge before
Cryptic definition – a hat can be called a ‘lid’, which is obviously different from the ‘outer’ lid of a HATBOX
POISED (ready) round or ‘keeping’ ON
An anagram (‘developed’) of LATEST THING I round or ‘including’ IN (popular)
EX (retired) ACE (pilot) RATE (assess) round or ‘penning’ B (book)
PRO (favouring) G (government) pRESS (journalists) without the first letter or ‘initially withheld’
A reversal (OVER) of EDIT
APP (program) EAR (attention)
IS round or ‘apprehending’ M (male) ‘engaged’ in a reversal (‘climbing’) of YEW (tree) – a reference to Lord Peter Wimsey, Dorothy L Sayers’ fictional detective
Hidden in darK IS Sexy
Same things learned as our bloggers today – BREWSKI, PENDULAR, Synge and ‘phat’. Nice to see Lord Peter turn up – he may have been hopelessly aristocratic but I always rather preferred him to Marple and Poirot. Also lovely to be reminded of the sublime Jacques Tati. As the preamble so accurately states – smooth surfaces and precise clueing throughout.
No theme I can spot – which doesn’t mean there isn’t one 😉
Thanks Phi and B&J
I knew BREWSKI, PENDULAR & PHAT but had to guess the play for 5d from the anagram fodder and guess the detective in 22d from the wordplay. A quick check shows that Phi has used BREWSKI twice before in his puzzles – the last time being March of last year. Although I’m English, growing up in Yorkshire the term “brewski” was in common usage. Indeed, adding “ski” to the end of a word to give it an east European feel was not uncommon.
The theme is operas by Vaughan Williams. RIDERS TO THE SEA, THE POISONED KISS, PILGRIM’S PROGRESS. I can’ spot SIR JOHN IN LOVE.
Synge’s best-known work(I think) is THE PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD.
Apologies—didn’t read all of the introduction.
Well-spotted on the theme, John. I never get a Phi theme, but I enjoy trying. I felt sure there was a detective story involving poisoned eyeshadow, gelignite, a hatbox and a sting in the tail, but, alas, not.
Great puzzle and blog. Thanks.
I keep staring at TIDE OVER and wonder about another VW opera, HUGH THE DROVER.
The notion of VW as a composer of operas is as new to me as 8a and the phat part of 16a. Can’t see anything to suggest they’ve been performed recently, but Phi generally knows (much!) more than I do. As enjoyable and taxing as ever, so thanks to Phi and to Bertandjoyce for explaining.
Took a while to get this out. Couldn’t parse PIRANHA, not knowing the word phat for ‘excellent’ either and BREWSKI was only vaguely heard of. Needed to come back for a second go to get my last couple, PILGRIMAGE (stuck on “set” for ‘determined’) and finally OLD KING COLE.
No hope with the theme (good spot), but if you can’t depend on that for help, there’s always a certain ‘French film-maker’ to fall back on. Favourite was the very neat HATBOX.
Thanks to Phi and B&J
Shakespeare is referred to in Ulysses as “that chap who writes like Synge” if my memory works in any way
I liked this but couldnt make any progress in Phi’s Inqy\Thanks
Very enjoyable. Coincidentally, at 10A, today is a 70th anniversary of some sort (I didn’t catch what) of Jacques Tati’s ‘Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday’, according to the BBC Radio 3 Breakfast programme, although according to Wikipedia the film’s official release date was 25 February 1953. Thanks Phi and B&J.
More precisely stage works of RVW, who also wrote a couple of ballets, one of which was OLD KING COLE.
I have no idea why I suddenly decided to use this theme – it just occurred to me. I have seen Riders to the Sea, and recollect it as a jolly piece about a widow who, having lost a husband and six sons to the briny, sends her seventh son off to bring home that day’s catch. It doesn’t end happily. I’m sure Dormouse will correct any faulty memory, though.
We were obviously not too bright today – we got RIDERS TO THE SEA and remembered it was also an opera by RVW but failed to spot the theme, even though we’ve only just acquired a CD of RVW’s music including OLD KING COLE and the overture to THE POISONED KISS. Oh well!
Thanks, Phi and B&J.
Indeed, I have seen Riders to the Sea. English National Opera did it back in 2008. It was part of the anniversary of Vaughan Williams’ death. I remember it especially as Richard Hicox was due to conduct and he died about a few days before the first night. Several of the cast were in tears by the final curtain.
Didn’t know about Old King Cole, though.
Finally got round to this with my breakfast coffee this morning and thoroughly enjoyed it. Took a bit of untangling though.
Had no idea of the theme of course but I did learn of Synge.
Thanks to all involved with crossword and blog.