Independent 11,012 by Phi

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The traditional Phiday challenge from one of our most prolific setters.

Not the easiest puzzle today, with one or two obscure entries and some tricky parsings. I enjoyed the two very similar long anagrams in 11a and 1d, the puns in 15a and 22d (which were both incidental reminders of my youth), and the surprising maths problem in 6d. Thanks Phi as always.

Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.

ACROSS
9 HARBOURED
Protected chap had to bring in trees (9)
HE’D (chap had), bringing in ARBOUR (trees growing together to provide a shelter).
10 STOOP
Bend over during pause (5)
O (abbreviation for over, in cricket scoring) inserted into STOP (pause).
11 CASTLES IN THE AIR
Hates recitals arranged to include popular imaginative items (7,2,3,3)
Anagram (arranged) of HATES RECITALS, including IN (popular).

Castle in the air = a daydream, or wishful thinking for something unlikely to be achieved.
12 ACOUSTICS
University getting into puzzles not right? It’s a sound study! (9)
U (abbreviation for university) inserted into AC[r]OSTICS without the R (right).
14 AUDIT
Check I’d reversed in car? Not entirely (5)
I’D reversed in AUT[o] (car) without the last letter (not entirely).
15 TINTERN
Location of abbey displaying seabird cast in metal? (7)
Definition by example, indicated by the question mark; a TERN is an example of a seabird, and one cast in metal might be a TIN TERN.

Historic ruined abbey in Monmouthshire on the Welsh borders (familiar to me from my South Wales childhood).
17 ASPIRIN
A dizzy spell? I run in for drug (7)
A SPIN (a dizzy spell), with I + R (abbreviation for run or runs, in cricket scoring) inserted.
19 STAND
Defensive position ending in defeat, occupying beach (5)
Ending letter of [defea]T, inserted into (occupying) SAND (beach).

A defensive position taken by an army, as in “Custer’s last stand” perhaps.
21 EQUATIONS
Problems to be solved? English Queen leading countries without leader (9)
E (English) + QU (abbreviation for Queen), in front of [n]ATIONS (countries) without the leading letter.

Problems in mathematics, that is.
23 LINE ONE’S POCKETS
Deny work to the tailor to amass wealth? (4,4,7)
Double definition, the first cryptic. I suppose replacing the lining in your own pockets means you’re not asking a tailor to do it for you; or (metaphorically) to acquire money, especially when done secretly or by dubious means.
25 ASSES
Fools? The ordinary people will ignore them (5)
[the m]ASSES (the ordinary people), ignoring THEM.
26 SENSITIVE
Diplomatic visit seen to be in error (9)
Anagram (to be in error) of VISIT SEEN.

Diplomatic = sensitive = taking account of someone else’s feelings.
DOWN
1 THE COAST IS CLEAR
Hates recitals arranged to involve company – get out now (3,5,2,5)
Anagram (arranged) of HATES RECITALS, including (to involve) CO (company).

Phrase encouraging the hearer to move or act now, while nobody is around to see or interfere.
2 PRESTO
Others involved in musical work picked up instruction to play fast (6)
REST (the rest = the others), inserted into OP (abbreviation for opus = Latin for work, especially in lists of musical works by a particular composer) reversed (picked up = upwards in a down clue).

Musical notation meaning “play very fast”.
3 COALESCE
Join because church welcomes alcoholic drink (8)
COS (colloquial abbreviation for “because”) + CE (Church of England), containing (welcoming) ALE (alcoholic drink).
4 PRESCIENCE
Rice’s modified, with small change externally? It shows foresight (10)
Anagram (modified) of RICE’S, with PENCE (small change) around it (externally).
5 EDEN
Former PM threatened everyone after rebuff? Only some (4)
Hidden answer (only some . . .), reversed (after rebuff), in [threate]NED E[veryone].

Anthony Eden, UK Prime Minister in the mid-1950s.
6 ASTHMA
A version of maths problem that would make you gasp? (6)
A + anagram (version) of MATHS.

Inflammatory disease that causes breathing problems.
7 POMANDER
Think about mother – something in the perfume line? (8)
PONDER (think) around MA (short for mother).

A perfumed ball traditionally carried to ward off bad smells, especially during historical plagues when people thought that the smells were what made you ill.
8 OPERATING SYSTEM
Computer company’s concern, sorting gamers into types (9,6)
Anagram (sorting) of GAMERS INTO TYPES.

The basic software that manages a computer’s resources, supporting all the useful things you want it to do.
13 SWAN-UPPING
Pale, after engaging in drinking, doing work on the Thames (4-6)
WAN (pale) inserted into (engaging in) SUPPING (drinking). “After” doesn’t seem to serve any useful function here.

The traditional annual census and health-check for all the swans on the River Thames.
16 NEATNESS
Ecstatic about turning up in home with no end of efficient order (8)
This one is tricky! I think it’s SENT (ecstatic, as in the song “You Send Me” = you make me very happy) + A (abbreviation for about, according to Chambers), reversed (turning up = upwards in a down clue), in NES[t] (home) without the T which is the end letter of [efficien]T.
18 PETECHIA
Red spot exercises each with it needing treatment (8)
PE (short for Physical Education = exercise classes in school) + anagram (needing treatment) of EACH + IT.

A red spot on the skin, caused by breakage of a capillary blood vessel; the condition is more usually described using the plural form petechiae. Rather obscure, unless you happen to be a medical professional or watch medical / forensic science programmes on TV (the latter is the only place I’ve ever come across this word).
20 DROWSE
Drop off quantities of plants, perhaps filling gardener’s heart (6)
ROWS (quantities of plants, perhaps, as in “we planted three rows of beans”) inserted into the middle letters (heart) of [gar]DE[ner].

Drop off = drowse = fall asleep.
22 ONEGIN
Leading figure in Russian opera not exactly roistering? (6)
Roistering = engaging in noisy (and often alcohol-fuelled) merrymaking; someone only drinking ONE GIN is probably having a less riotous celebration.

Title character in Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin. (My late father used to joke about the opera as Eugene One-Gin, so this brought back a few memories.)
24 EASY
Offering no problems when probing limits of energy (4)
AS (when, as in “I’ll deal with that as it happens”) inserted into (probing) the outer letters (limits) of E[nerg]Y.

11 comments on “Independent 11,012 by Phi”

  1. I didn’t parse ONEGIN or NEATNESS and PETECHIA was a dnk and, fortunately, I plumped for the right order, given the crossers. And I spotted no theme today … though one never knows. I enjoyed the long anagrams and nice to encounter SWAN UPPING. ASSES was cleverly done.

    Thanks Phi and Quirister

  2. Thanks Phi and Quirister

    I thought ‘after’ in 13 was OK, as you onlly get the solution after engaging the two parts of wordplay, and I included ‘doing’ in the definition.

  3. Rather on the easy side of Phi, I thought, everything fell nicely into place except for PETECHIA, for which I had to consult a wordlist. I agree with Quirister’s parsing of NEATNESS. Clever double anagram at 11A and 1D. Thanks Phi and Quirister.

  4. The apt answer for 24d helped me get a foothold for this one which was slow to yield up its secrets at the start. Everything then went in OK without too much trouble, though I have to thank a puzzle in Another Place last week (I think) for SWAN-UPPING, which I’d never come across before.

    Ticks for ONE GIN and for the wordplay for NEATNESS, including the not commonly seen A for ‘about’.

    Thanks to Phi and Quirister

  5. Like Simon S I think the ‘after’ in 13 is fine. I read it as ‘after a certain process, WAN becomes SWANUPPING’. I did not like PETECHIA much though, as it is an anagram, if partial, of an unfamiliar word. Perhaps it got lost on its way to the Mephisto.

  7. Yes, an enjoyable Phiday puzzle. I think the one gin’ idea was my favourite for today. Thanks setter and Quirister.

  9. TINTERN, PETECHIA and SWAN-UPPING all new to us. And not sure we’ve seen a=about before. But otherwise a relatively straightforward and pleasant solve for a Phiday evening.

    Thanks to Phi and Quirister!

  10. Thanks Phi for a relaxing crossword. I managed to complete this but I did check to see if TINTERN was a real place and I couldn’t parse NEATNESS. I knew PETECHIA from decades of hospital work; I hadn’t heard of SWAN-UPPING but that’s the only answer that I could derive from the clue. I liked ASSES, DROWSE, ONEGIN, and EASY and I was impressed with the double use of “hates recitals.” Thanks Quirister for the blog.

  11. 15A I parsed as TERN* (seabird “cast”) in TIN. Perhaps the ? in the clue favours Quirister’s parsing.

    Thanks to Phi, very entertaining with the two long anagrams and many other goodies and to Quirister for the blog.

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