Since today is Friday, there is no surprise in having Phi’s latest puzzle to grapple with. Incidentally, this is something of a landmark puzzle, being puzzle 11,000 in the Indy series.
I found this one to be towards the easy end of the Phi spectrum, perhaps because the fairly accessible longer entries at 1D and 8 provided a lot of first and last letters. Nevertheless, I would appreciate fellow solvers’ confirmation (or otherwise!) of my parsing at 4.
My favourite clues today were 1D, for incorporating the two references to cricket; 13, for smoothness of surface; 19, for the humour in “members’ contributions”; and 22, for the inclusion of “nose” in definition and wordplay alike.
Hawk-eyed solvers will have noticed that the top row of the completed grid spells out WILLIAM GILBERT, the English physician and philosopher (1544-1603), while the bottom row gives STANLEY SPENCER, the English painter (1891-1959). I don’t know if there was any particular reason for honouring these two figures in today’s grid, and I don’t know if there are any further references to either in the grid. Curiously, Google tells me that Stanley’s younger brother was artist Gilbert Spencer (1892-1979) and that their father was a William!
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | WILLIAM | Royal figure not quite intent to have post redirected
WIL<d> (=intent, frantic; “not quite” means last letter is dropped) + LIAM (MAIL=post; “to have … redirected” indicates reversal) |
| 05 | GILBERT | Possibly Chesterton’s book on Queen bound in gold
[B (=book) + ER (=Queen, i.e. Elizabeth Regina)] in GILT (=gold(en)); the reference is to English writer Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) |
| 09 | ANGST | Heartless Governments contributing to worker uneasiness
G<overnment>S (“heartless” means all but first and last letters are dropped) in ANT (=worker) |
| 10 | APOLOGISE | A stance maintained about journal leading one to say sorry
[LOG (=journal) + I (=one)] in [A + POSE (=stance)] |
| 11 | SET ON FIRE | Observes overturned sack, light
SET ON (NOTES=observes; “overturned” indicates reversal) + FIRE (=sack, dismiss) |
| 12 | CAN-DO | Cobalt, as it were, is prepared for action
C and O together give CO, the chemical formula for “cobalt” |
| 13 | VAPORISE | Spray proves air is contaminated
*(PROVES AIR); “is contaminated” is anagram indicator |
| 15 | BASIS | Singer needing one in support
I (=one) in BASS (=singer) |
| 17 | RESET | Making a new start, gaining energy in time off
E (=energy) in REST (=time-off) |
| 19 | METACARPI | Carpet? Aim for replacement with members’ contributions, perhaps?
*(CARPET AIM); “for replacement” is anagram indicator; cryptically, as bones in the hand, metacarpi could be described as “members’ contributions, perhaps” |
| 21 | LLAMA | Source of wool a lot of shops rejected
A + MALL (=lot of shops); “rejected” indicates reversal |
| 23 | ACROBATIC | Cricketer, one cornered by a reptile, must be agile
[BAT (=cricketer) + I (=one)] in [A + CROC (=reptile, i.e. crocodile)] |
| 25 | ANOMALIES | Unexpected items in a serving of semolina
A + *(SEMOLINA); “serving of” is anagram indicator |
| 26 | ANGLE | View given by theatrical sponsor backing a couple
ANGEL (=theatrical sponsor, i.e. provider of finance); “backing a couple” means the last two letters change places |
| 27 | STANLEY | Journalist-explorer worn-out after going round New York at first
[N (=new) in STALE (=worn-out)] + Y<ork> (“at first” means first letter only); the reference is to Sir Henry Morton Stanley (1841-1904), of Stanley and Livingstone fame |
| 28 | SPENCER | Royal name offering small change in second rule
[PENCE (=small change)] in [S (=second) + R (=rule, in law)]; the reference is to the Spencer family, from which Lady Diana Spencer hailed |
| Down | ||
| 01 | WEAR SEVERAL HATS | Be an all-rounder – certainly more than a bowler, it seems
Since a bowler is just one type of hat, an all-rounder would certainly wear more than that! |
| 02 | LOGOTYPES | Kind to put in Greek word for ‘printing units’
TYPE (=kind, sort) in LOGOS (=Greek word, i.e. the Greek word for word) |
| 03 | INTONER | Very interested in historic fiddler, mostly, in singer
INTO (=very interested in) + NER<o> (=historic fiddler, i.e. Roman emperor; “mostly” means last letter is dropped) |
| 04 | MIAMI | Frozen singer welcoming a warm place to retire?
A in MIMI (=the character in Puccini’s La bohème, whose tiny hand is frozen) |
| 05 | GLOBE-TROT | Follow jet-setter, having dollop of cream, say, on upside-down cake
GLOB (=dollop of cream, say) + ETROT (TORTE=cake; “upside-down” indicates vertical reversal) |
| 06 | LION CUB | Hero with weapon avoiding large young feline
LION (=hero, courageous person) + C<l>UB (=weapon; “avoiding large (=L, in sizes)” means letter “l” is dropped) |
| 07 | EVIAN | Water I consumed in rising church centre
I in EVAN (NAVE=church centre; “rising” indicates vertical reversal); Evian is a type of French mineral water |
| 08 | THE COAST IS CLEAR | Storm’s moved inland – you can leave now
Cryptically, if the “storm’s moved inland”, then the coast is clear! |
| 14 | SUMMARILY | Without delay, text offering affection after total damage
SUM (=total) + MAR (=damage) + ILY (=text offering affection, i.e. I LOVE YOU in textspeak) |
| 16 | STRATEGIC | English to avoid nasty cigarettes, following a plan
*(CIGAR<e>TTES); “English (=E) to avoid” means one letter “e” is dropped from the anagram, indicated by “nasty” |
| 18 | TRAVAIL | Openings of three roads use a lot of labour
T<hree> R<oads> (“opening of” means first letters only) + AVAIL (=use, make use of) |
| 20 | CABBAGE | Sailor leading pack into church for harvest festival item
[AB (=sailor, i.e. able-bodied seaman) + BAG (=(to) pack)] in CE (=church, i.e. Church of England) |
| 22 | AROMA | Nose? A sort of nose, almost entirely
A + ROMA<n> (=sort of nose; “almost entirely” means last letter is dropped); the nose of a wine is its aroma |
| 24 | RUSTS | Regular behaviour patterns into which son declines
S (=son) in RUTS (=behaviour patterns); to rust is to decline, become inefficient by inaction, e.g. of skill |
I thought the theme might be painters, RR. The problem I had is that several of the names can be either forenames or surnames. And only the four obvious ones leaped out. Seton is another hidden in SET ON FIRE. A couple seem to have the Slade School of Art in common and a couple have galleries or collections named after them.
I agree with you on GLOBE TROT. One of many excellent clues with Phi on top form. Amongst a host of worthy clues, I’d highlight ANGST, CAN-DO, ACROBATIC, MIAMI, TRAVAIL and AROMA.
Thanks Phi and RR
Thanks both. A rarity today that I solved a Phi puzzle unaided, though was unable to fully parse ANGLE and MIAMI – the latter remains a mystery, as I fully suspect there is a deeper truth. Long since gave up trying to decode the setter’s themes, usually something obscure from the arts, though I did spot the two names, neither of whom have any relevance in my little world
Apart from 2d, I found this to be an excellently constructed crossword. I had WIL(L) not WIL(D)for 1a. My niggle with 2d is only that the LOGO part of LOGOTYPES comes from the Greek “logos”. Not wrong but I felt a better construction would be expected.
We couldn’t see any obvious theme linking William Gilbert and Stanley Spencer and decided it was probably just that Phi happened to be aware of those two names at the time and decided to seed the grid with them. An enjoyable solve with plenty of excellent clues.
Thanks, Phi and RR.
William Spencer (a music teacher and organist) had two sons, Gilbert and Stanley who were both artists.
Thanks RatkojaRiku especially for plausible Mimi (of whom I had never heard and wondered if it was something to do with the cartoon Frozen) and the reasoning behind CAN-DO, I couldn’t remember the symbol for Cobalt and still don’t think “as it were” is very helpful but can’t think of anything better! Thanks also trenodia@5 for the full rationale behind those names. PREECE appears in the central column and Patricia of that name seems to have been Stanley Spencer’s wife, which surely can’t be a coincidence – the wonders of Wikipedia. Thanks Phi for a challenge that proved very rewarding.
A very rewarding puzzle with excellent clues. I especially liked CAN-DO. I did not find this to be at the easy end of the Phi spectrum though, and took quite a bit longer than usual for some reason.
This is one of the oddest corners of English artistic history. Patricia Preece caused the death of W S Gilbert when he rescued her from drowning. She went on to a career in art which was largely fraudulent, ending up in a strange ménage a trois with Spencer (his second wife), and appearing in several of his more challenging pictures (as well as one by his first wife…) Well worth reading her Wikipedia entry – the wedding day photo is reward enough.
Would be nice to have tried a Phi puzzle again, of only the Independent puzzle page would work properly on Android; however, for the foreseeable future, not only Phi, but other great setters such as Bluth and Eccles, must be consigned to the bin of inaccessibility 🙁
Very satisfying, thanks Phi. Favourites included ANGST, CAN-DO, LLAMA, STANLEY, and GLOBE-TROT. Missed SPENCER and the theme, still I found the crossword worthwhile. Thanks RR for the blog.
Can’t really see how ‘backing a couple’ leads to swopping the last 2 letters (or moving the last one back 1 place)…..
Am surprised there’s not more praise for 1 and 8 down which we thought were brilliant. Misdirection on 1 down was great and when we finally worked out 8 there was a groan of appreciation.
SE corner really had us struggling at the end and we put in angle even though we couldn’t parse it. 19, for ages, we didn’t spot as an anagram.
Thanks, Phi and Rat.