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Standing in for BertandJoyce while they’re enjoying a holiday.
I believe that Fridays at The Independent are known as Phiday. I enjoyed doing this puzzle and I might be tempted back to The Independent one day.
Thanks Phi.
ACROSS
9. People not beginning to interrupt the old man in a dance (5)
POLKA
PA (old man) containing [f]OLK (people; not beginning)
10. Tavern that s rebuilt here, of value (4,5)
FREE HOUSE
HERE OF (anag: rebuilt)+USE (of value)
11. Curious stone associated with mountains (7)
STRANGE
12. Money accepted by the writer for one session (7)
MEETING
TIN (money) inside ME (the writer)+EG (for one)
13. Toilet observed in a bit as not engaged (2,1,5,3)
AT A LOOSE END
LOO (toilet)+SEEN (observed) inside A TAD (a bit)
15. It fills Antarctic expanses (3)
ICE
antarctIC Expanses (hidden: it fills)
&lit.
16. Juvenile solver is abandoning this (5)
YOUTH
YOU (solver)+TH[is] (IS is abandoned)
18. Meadow bound not to be supplied with power (3)
LEA[p] (bound; minus Power)
19. Stops wasting time, beginning to obey edict (3-2)
SAY SO
S[t]AYS (stops; minus Time)+O[bey] (beginning to)
21. Returned flier providing account (3)
TAB
BAT (flier; rev: returned)
22. Sets media to work, suppressing popular broadcast (11)
DISSEMINATE
IN (popular) inside SETS MEDIA (anag: to work)
24. A lot of investigation regarding Ohio is done for free (3,4)
PRO BONO
PROB[e] (investigation; a lot of)+ON (regarding)+Ohio
26. Composer, one from the UK, ahead of a larger number (7)
BRITTEN
BRIT (one from the UK)+TEN (number)
(I’m not really sure what “larger” is doing here)
Benjamin Britten
27. Energy shown by King enveloped in obvious strain? (9)
OVEREXERT
OVERT (obvious) around Energy+REX (king)
28. Quits the day before celebration by bridge team (5)
EVENS
EVE (the day before celebration)+NS (north and south – bridge partnership)
DOWN
1. A comment without complications not offering initial betrayal (8)
APOSTASY
A+POST (comment)+[e]ASY (without complications; minus initial letter)
2. Choral piece: leave with line in song rising (6)
GLORIA
GO (leave) containing Line+AIR (rev: rising)
3. Too many ailing, going to hospital in Irish town (8)
MAYNOOTH
TOO MANY (anag: ailing)+Hospital
Maynooth
4. Support, say, dessert being served with beers (10)
AFTERSALES
AFTERS (dessert)+ALES (beers)
5. Players without vigour, needing energy boosted? (4)
TEAM
TAME (without vigour) with Energy moved higher
6. Death? Subsequently died having ingested Ecstasy (3,3)
THE END
THEN (subsequently)+Died containing Ecstasy
7. Fine, functional, but pointless activity (8)
FUTILITY
Fine+UTILITY (functional)
8. Annoyance after mislaying leader when welcoming European association (6)
LEAGUE
[p]LAGUE (annoyance; minus lead letter) containing European
14. Aggravate former expert, getting second grade in degree (10)
EXACERBATE
EX ACE (former expert)+RATE (grade) around B (second grade)
17. International body mostly bonkers, sadly, but still full of fire (8)
UNBROKEN
UN (international body)+BONKER[s] (mostly; anag: sadly)
19. Declines turning up to take in service full of fire (8)
SPIRITED
DIPS (declines; rev: turning up) around RITE (service)
20. Pasta comes in Very large and Small , being honest (8)
OPENNESS
PENNE (pasta) inside OS (very large)+Small
21. Quietly move to recommend book millions ignored (6)
TIP-TOE
TIP (to recommend)+TO[m]E (book; ignoring Millions)
22. Failing party upheld protest march? (6)
DOOMED
DO (party)+DEMO (protest march; rev: upheld)
23. Article filling an opening for music, church music (6)
ANTHEM
AN+M[usic] (opening) around THE (article)
25. Admit devouring English poet (4)
OWEN
Didn’t really bother to parse YOUTH. I thought it was some kind of DD, solvers not typically being young people. Now I see the parsing it’s my top pick. Very compact. I liked MEETING as well and SAY SO as synonymous with edict was new to me and droll. Thanks very much.
26 BRITTEN the ten is larger than the one in the clue
typo in 7: “Bine”
15 Did you mean to underline the whole clue to indicate the &lit?
Theme: Anthem for Doomed Youth by Wilfred Owen
The poem is among those set in the War Requiem of Benjamin Britten.
Strange Meeting is another poem by Owen.
Found this a lot easier than his outing in the Guardian yesterday. Didn’t bother with 3d. Never liked this sort of clue. You either know it or you are face with 24 permutations of the non-crossing letters for an Irish name. Apart from that minor peeve, I enjoyed solving this.
Futility is another.
The End too.
I never thought to look for a theme. I remember doing Dulce et Decorum est and Anthem for Doomed Youth at school. I don’t think I knew any others.
I’ve corrected “bine”, it looks like I accidentally did a shift-b instead of ctrl-b.
Unlike Hovis @8 I enjoy clues that test my knowledge of geography, or lack of it. In this case, I had heard vaguely of Maynooth and solving the clue enabled me to look it up and learn that it’s a university town in County Kildare, 15 miles west of Dublin. All very enjoyable so thanks to Phi for the puzzle and Kenmac for stepping in.
Thanks Frankie.
Reminds me to play War Requiem again
That was two Phis in a row what with him in the Graun yesterday
(Thats not a complaint)
Thanks to Frankie G for the additional insight. A lovely puzzle. Having struggled with Phi’s evil twin yesterday, this was more to my liking and Phi at his best. So much to like. FREE HOUSE, ICE, YOUTH, BRITTEN, GLORIA, AFTERSALES, DOOMED and ANTHEM were all faves – so pretty much all of the title of the poem. A fabulous theme incorporation. Chapeau.
Thanks Phi and Kenmac
Missed the theme – thanks to FrankieG for pointing out all the thematic references, as well as what ‘larger’ was doing in 26a. Had no idea about the ‘Irish town’ at 3d but MAYNOOTH seemed to be (marginally) the most likely place name fitting the available letters.
Thanks to Phi for an enjoyable puzzle with an original theme and to kenmac
Thanks both. APOSTASY was an unknown as was MAYNOOTH for which I am sure both residents of the town are grateful to see it here. Went chasing the wildest of geese to support a The Doors theme having seen THE END, GLORIA and STRANGE (indeed)
“Just one more thing” to quote Columbo:
the word TIPTOE appears in Owen’s poem The Sleeping Beauty.
“And another thing” :
The word GLORIA appears in Britten’s War Requiem.
It goes to show that you can enjoy a puzzle without spotting the theme, though it’s great to come here and be enlightened. I don’t quite get how “use” is “value” in FREE HOUSE. “Of use” makes a bit more sense, but then “of” is doing double duty. Thanks to Phi, kenmac and FrankieG
I think “What use/value is this?” is close enough.
As Petert@19 says, “It goes to show that you can enjoy a puzzle without spotting the theme, though it’s great to come here and be enlightened.” We didn’t spot it either, even though both Owen and Britten were there in the grid.
Thanks, Phi and kenmac.
Thanks Phi for the fun, kenmac for parsing, and FrankieG for the theme revelation. Except for MAYNOOTH, which I got through trial-and-error, this went in fairly easily especially when compared to yesterday’s crossword in the G. YOUTH was my top pick.
Does anyone else have a tiny issue with O for Ohio, as there are two othef O states?
Thanks all.
O=Ohio is the first entry in Chambers.
Last time I listened to the War Requiem I looked at the poem titles, and Strange Meeting jumped out as one of those (7,7)s that will fit across the grid, and away we went. TIPTOE was not a conscious inclusion.
Not sure I’d say I have an evil twin since I am not aware of varying my style when I set out to produce a puzzle. And the amount of editing needed to have an impact would, I think, be too onerous for an editor to want to keep me on. The simple fact of changing a pseudonym and thereby changing solvers’ perceptions is fascinating.
If you want three in a row, there’s always the Saturday Jumbo in The Times today (it’s Saturday here).
Damn! The War Requiem is a favourite of mine and I never noticed the theme.
Re: MAYNOOTH
I had no problem getting it, being from around there.
But if you look up ?A?N?O?H on OneLook.com the only possible reputable word is MAYNOOTH.
The clue is a nice hint at the theme “Too many ailing, going to hospital”
And serendipitously it rhymes with and almost contains the letters of YOUTH.
Thanks kenmac for standing in for us. Apologies for the extended delay but we have only just got around to solving the puzzles we missed when we were away.
Thanks Phi too – completely missed the theme. We struggled somewhat with this one – not sure why.