A Phi puzzle in the Independent on a Thursday is not normal.
Is Phi celebrating something today or has Phi been bumped from his usual Friday slot for an anniversary tomorrow?
The first thing I noticed in the completed grid was the presence of ADAM and BEDE in symmetrical down positions at 1 and 25, so I looked up characters in George Eliot’s novel ADAM BEDE but drew a blank in terms of other entries in the grid.
I then tossed in some combinations of two entries in the grid into Google, but again nothing came up except lots of jewellery items whenever SOLITAIRE was one of the entries I used. With hindsight, I obviously didn’t enter an appropriate pair of entries.
As a final attempt, I looked at the first letters of the clues as Phi has used an acrostic in the past to highlight a theme. Success! The initial letters of the first seven across clues spell out MALCOLM and the first six down clues generate ARNOLD
Today is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Sir MALCOLM ARNOLD (died 23rd September 2006). ARNOLD was an English composer who wrote ballet, opera, symphonic and film music amongst many other pieces. There are seven identifiable pieces in the grid which are variously classified as ballet, opera and overtures on different websites. I can see SWEENEY TODD, SOLITAIRE, ELECTRA, TAM O’SHANTER,The SMOKE, SUSSEX and SUNSHINE. ARNOLD aficionados may spot more. I couldn’t find a link between ARNOLD and ADAM BEDE, NIMROD or TIVOLI.
I liked the surfaces of the clues for MUM, MINCEMEAT and NIMROD.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 9 |
Make some kind of table decoration? Get away (2,1,6) DO A RUNNER (to run away, especially to leave a shop, restaurant, etc quickly, without paying) DO (make) + A + RUNNER (strip of cloth, usually embroidered, as a table ornament) DO A RUNNER |
| 10 |
American attempt to accept one Hispanic friend (5) AMIGO (Spanish [Hispanic] word for friend) (AM [American] + GO [attempt]) containing (to accept) I (Roman numeral for one) AM (I) GO |
| 11 |
Lady with kids least set to ditch car (3) MUM (mother; lady with children [kids]) MINIMUM (lowest; least) excluding (to ditch) MINI (brand of car) MUM |
| 12 |
Crazed barber needs to dye head of woman, possibly (7,4) SWEENEY TODD (fictional character known as the demon barber of Fleet Street; crazed barber) Anagram of (possibly) NEEDS TO DYE and W (first letter of [head of] WOMAN) SWEENEY TODD* |
| 13 |
Odd bits of ordeal forgotten with a kiss producing calm (5) RELAX (weaken, muscles for instance, thereby producing calm) REL (letters remaining when letters 1, 3 and 5 ODA of ORDEAL are excluded [forgotten]) + A + X (symbol for a kiss) REL A X |
| 14 |
Loosely, it is a role for a recluse (9) SOLITAIRE (recluse) Anagram of (loosely) IT IS A ROLE SOLITAIRE* |
| 15 |
Mythological heroine chosen by artist (7) ELECTRA (heroine of Greek mythology) ELECT (chosen) + RA (Royal Academician; artist) ELECT RA |
| 17 |
Offer initially withdrawn after intervention by American customer (3-4) END-USER (recipient of a product being sold; customer) TENDER (offer) excluding the first letter (initially withdrawn) T containing (after intervention by) US (United States; American) END (US) ER |
| 19 |
How to give mate a treat at Christmas? (9) MINCEMEAT (chopped, spiced mixture of dried fruit, peel, suet and other ingredients, usually steeped in brandy and served in small tarts or pies at Christmas) MINCE (anagram indicator) MEAT (anagram fodder) could be a cryptic crossword clue (how to give) for MATE MINCE MEAT |
| 21 |
Insect seen around November or similar? (5) MONTH (November is an example of a MONTH, of which there are 11 others [similar] in a standard year) MOTH (insect) containing (around) N (November is the International radio Communication codeword for the letter N) MO (N) TH |
| 22 |
Burns character – panicked horseman that gets horse docked (3,8) TAM O’SHANTER (character created by the Scottish poet Robert Burns) Anagram of (panicked) HORSEMAN THAT excluding (docked) H (heroin [horse]) TAM O’SHANTER* |
| 24 |
Somewhere to warm up tramp, nothing less (3) HOB (surface on which pots are placed to be heated) HOBO (tramp) excluding (less) O (character representing nothing) HOB |
| 26 |
Head of school and the writer accepting satisfactory fag (5) SMOKE (cigarette; fag) S (first letter of [head of] SCHOOL) + (ME [crossword setter] containing [accepting] OK [okay; satisfactory]) S M (OK) E |
| 27 |
Accounted for former priest backing rejection (9) EXPLAINED (accounted for) EX (former) + P (priest) + DENIAL (rejection) reversed (backing) EX P LAINED< |
| Down | |
| 1 |
Article on rising enthusiastic Scottish architect (4) ADAM (reference any one of William,Robert or John ADAM, members of a family of Scottish architects active from the mid 1600s to the mid 1700s) A (indefinite article) + MAD (enthusiastic) reversed (rising; down entry) A MAD< |
| 2 |
Rule may lead to kepi’s redesign as specialist headgear (8) YARMULKE (skullcap worn by Jewish males, especially during prayers or ceremonial occasions; specialist headgear) Anagram of (redesign) RULE MAY and K (first letter of [lead to] KEPI) YARMULKE* |
| 3 |
Nookie identified in pursuit of suspicious behaviour in part of southern England (6) SUSSEX (area of Southern England) SUS (suspicious behaviour) + SEX (nookie) SUS SEX |
| 4 |
OK – can the brasserie finally produce a joint? (4) KNEE (joint) KNEE (last letters of [finally] each of OK, CAN, THE and BRASSERIE) K N E E |
| 5 |
Lines confused with trick, becoming most uneven (10) CRINKLIEST (most uneven) Anagram of (confused with) LINES and TRICK CRINKLIEST* |
| 6 |
Dairy with cat sculpted to form supporting column (8) CARYATID (female figure used instead of a column to support an entablature) Anagram of (sculpted) DAIRY and CAT CARYATID* |
| 7 |
Amusement park? First book on it turned up (6) TIVOLI (reference TIVOLI Gardens, an amusement park in Copenhagen) IT reversed (turned up; down entry) + VOL I (Volume One; first book) TI< VOL I |
| 8 |
Contention for every one receiving right puzzle (10) WORDSEARCH (type of puzzle) WORDS (verbal contention) + (EACH [every one] containing [receiving] R [right]) WORDS EA (R) CH |
| 13 |
Sadly I must hear about male medical condition (10) RHEUMATISM (medical condition characterized by pain and stiffness in muscles and joints) Anagram of (sadly) I MUST HEAR containing (about) M (male) RHEU (M) ATISM* |
| 14 |
Embarrassed with fake source of Ethiopian coffee popping up (10) SHAMEFACED (embarrassed) SHAM (fake) + E (first letter of [source of] ETHIOPIA) + DECAF (DECAFfinated coffee) reversed (popping up; down entry) SHAM E FACED< |
| 16 |
Trophy remains held by you, once foremost in sport (3,5) THE ASHES (cricketing trophy played for by England and Australia) (ASH [remains] contained in [held by] THEE [former {once} form of ‘you’]) + S (first letter of [source of] SPORT) THE (ASH) E S |
| 18 |
Special article from Mont Blanc, capturing climb in good weather (8) SUNSHINE (example of good weather) S (special) + (UNE [one of the French {Mont Blanc} forms of the indefinite article] containing [capturing] SHIN [climb]) S UN (SHIN) E |
| 20 |
He hunted revolutionary military force involved in murder (6) NIMROD (a great hunter) (RM [Royal Marines; military force] contained in [involved in] DO IN [kill; murder]) all reversed [revolutionary] (NI (MR) OD)< |
| 21 |
Person of virtue accepting half of it (6) MORTAL (human being; person) MORAL (virtuous [of virtue]) containing (accepting) T (one of the two letters of [half of] IT) MOR (T) AL |
| 23 |
Some security personnel use keys (4) TYPE (use keys on a keyboard) TYPE (hidden word in [some] SECURITY PERSONNEL) TYPE |
| 25 |
Early historian, qualified teacher, English (4) BEDE (reference the Venerable BEDE [died 735], English Benedictine monk and historian of earlier times) BED (Bachelor of Education, a degree held by many teachers) + E (English) BED E |
An initially testing offering from Phi today – and, yes, I did a double-take when I saw his name and wondered if it had magically become Friday. I give myself half a tick for the theme – I knew SWEENEY TODD, TAM O’ SHANTER and ELECTRA to be operas and a search threw up the others in the grid so I had Malcolm Arnold but I didn’t spot the acrostic. I suspected a theme – we haven’t had one for a week or two and Phi had suggested there might come a time when he inadvertently themes something. Somehow I suspect this is not that occasion. (Either that or we have the dubious statistical contention about an infinite number of monkeys with an infinite number of typewriters – no offence intended!)
Non-theme favourites include SHAMEFACED, RHEUMATISM, MONTH and YARMULKE (a dnk – even with the crossers I still had to use an anagram solver to find the word I’m afraid. Somewhat SHAMEFACED at my lack of cultural awareness!) COTD is a toss up between SUNSHINE which was delightful and MUM – so short a word and possibly a device I’ve seen before but I had to resolve it from scratch today and enjoyed it.
Thanks Phi and Duncan
Back on Oct 5, Hoskins did say he was taking over the Friday slot tomorrow.
I did spot the acrostic but didn’t take it any further – not my field of interest.
Good spot of ADAM BEDE – wish I had spotted it first…
And an amazing spot of the mini-acrostic which I think I reckon only to attempt rarely
I have spent a pleasant day with plenty of Sir Malcolm’s music including Sweeney Todd and Tam O’Shanter. Years ago I remember co-attending a Malcolm Arnold Festival with Dormouse, so I’m waiting to see if he cottoned on…
I had no hope of spotting the acrostic or related theme, so well done. About as far as I got was seeing HOB and NIMROD (even if I couldn’t parse it) and wondering if there may be a setter theme, but of course that was way off the mark. The two items of ‘headgear’ didn’t lead anywhere either.
Appropriately enough, WORDSEARCH was my last in. I like those reverse anagram clues so MINCEMEAT was my favourite today.
Thanks to Phi (and as always thanks for your comments above) and Duncan
When we saw it was Phi today we guessed there was probably a theme for today’s date (unless Phi had been bumped in favour of a theme from someone else tomorrow). And knowing Phi’s interests we also guessed it would be Malcolm Arnold.
So this was right up our street and everything went in fairly easily. The clue for TAM O’SHANTER is &lit-ish, by the way – in Burns’ poem Tam’s horse loses its tail in Tam’s flight from a coven of witches.
Thanks, Phi and Duncan.
I had a few errors and several where I needed help, but overall I found this relatively easy (by my standards!) for a Phi, in part because several I got straight from the definition. I expected a theme, but was nowhere near spotting it.
I really enjoyed this and despite knowing that there was a theme I did not spot it until Nimrod, my penultimate answer. Thank you Phi for very skilfully integrating a theme without force- feeding it to us.
LOTSW @7: that must have been enormously frustrating. Unless you’ve abandoned your practice of dispensing with a crossword once you’ve identified a theme, discovering it with your penultimate solution must be worst case scenario. I hope you’ve relented – in which case you were able to enjoy a master of the genre who can incorporate themes far more obscure than this!
Yes, when I saw it was Phi today, and Radio 3 having something of an Arnold festival the last few days – fascinating radio documentary last Sunday – I guessed what the theme would be. But the only answer I spotted was 22ac. Pity there wasn’t a reference to St. Trinians.
Didn’t spot the acrostic.
There’s an awful lot of his music I don’t know. As they said on the radio, he may have written as many symphonies as Beethoven, but he wrote many more film scores.
I can’t remember an Arnold festival although I do remember a Prom performance of the guitar concerto with Arnold in the audience. Alas, his physical and mental health was not good most of his life.
I have actually done supply work in the Malcolm Arnold Academy in Northampton (his birthplace), but don’t know enough about him to have spotted the theme
It’s funny but when I saw the acrostic I thought to myself “where have I heard that name?”. I don’t tend to know conductors unless they have appeared in previous cryptics (or on Morecambe & Wise). It has finally dawned on me. I have the CD of Deep Purple live with the LSO, conducted by the man himself.
Romped through the solving but completely blind-sided by the theme. The only Malcolm Arnold I know at all well are the fabulous Cornish Dances. Spotted Adam Bede but…..Must try harder. Got the reverse anagram! So that’s my CoD. Thanks to Phi and Duncanshiell
PostMark. I don’t think that you understand. I knew that there was a theme. Phi had previously advertised this. I have no problem when its subtle. On some occasions I have only been aware of a theme when I read the blogger’s comments.
I object to having the theme forced into every clue or most clues. If Phi started a themed crossword on LOTSW with 1a using ‘wrinkled’ as an anagram indicator and the solution to 1d being ‘foggy’ I would abandon it there and then.
More generally, I have been railing against the uncritical love-in of comments about cryptic crosswords. I believe some are less good than others and I would like bloggers to be much clearer about this. It would, in the end, raise standards, I think. Relent? Not on your nelly.
LOTSW@13: Not all bloggers and commenters are uncritical. For example see the blog on today’s FT.
Catching up on the week again this weekend, armed with the fact that Phi had explicitly stated there would be a theme, I stared fruitlessly at the completed grid before resorting to google. A theme outside my wheelhouse I’m afraid, but as usual with Phi that doesn’t affect the solving.
Never thought to look for an acrostic.
Thanks Duncan and Bravo Phi!