As is customary, Phi is bringing this latest string of mid-week puzzles to an end today.
By Phi standards, I found this to be at the tougher end of the difficulty spectrum. Part of the difficulty that I encountered resided in the fact that a higher than usual proportion of the grid entries are long, meaning that until these get solved, many crossing letters are not available to guide the solver. In the end, I struggled most in the NE quadrant, since I did not know the entries at either 5 or 12 and also struggled to tease out the wordplay at 4.
My favourite clues today were 8 and especially 10, both for smoothness of surface.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 07 | HEROICS | Brave stuff I observed in that woman leading military bosses
I in [HER (=that woman) + OCs (=military bosses, i.e. officers commanding)] |
| 09 | DANSEUR | French ballet dancer regrets returning after Scandinavian falls short
DAN<e> (=Scandinavian; “falls short” means last letter is dropped) + SEUR (RUES=regrets; “returning” indicates reversal) |
| 10 | MANON DES SOURCES | Ascends enormous rocks in classic French film
*(ASCENDS ENORMOUS); “rocks (=shakes)” is anagram indicator; Manon des Sources is a 1986 French film, directed by Claude Berri and based on the 1966 book by Marcel Pagnol |
| 11 | NAHUM | Article backed evidence of activity in Biblical book
NA (AN=article; “backed” indicates reversal) + HUM (=evidence of activity); Nahum is a minor prophet with a book in the Old Testament |
| 12 | TRISKELIA | Son aboard bicycle to feel bad back-pedalling? It’s the three-legged features
[S (=son) in TRIKE (=bicycle, i.e. tricycle)] + LIA (AIL=to feel bad; “back-pedalling” indicates reversal); a triskelion is a figure consisting of three radiating curves or legs, as in the arms of the Isle of Man |
| 13 | INCONSEQUENTIAL | Quiet online scan possibly offering little of import
*(QUIET ONLINE SCAN); “possibly” is anagram indicator |
| 16 | SENTIENCE | A few words about one having appearance of life
I (=one) in SENTENCE (=a few words) |
| 18 | OASIS | Rock band may be nothing without change
O (=nothing, i.e. zero) + AS IS (=without change); the reference is to the English rock band Oasis, formed in Manchester in 1991 |
| 20 | EAT ONE’S HEART OUT | Brood over each way of speaking with trim solicitor
EA (=each) + TONE (=way of speaking) +SHEAR (=trim, cut) + TOUT (=solicitor, as in ticket tout) |
| 21 | CAPSTAN | Feature of boat improves on holiday expectation?
CAPS (=improves, betters) + TAN (=holiday expectation); a capstan is used for winding in heavy ropes or cables |
| 22 | TANGELO | Financial backer engaged in theatrical operations initially bearing fruit
ANGEL (=financial backer, sponsor) in T<heatrical> O<perations> |
| Down | ||
| 01 | THUMBNAIL SKETCH | Fixes boat after hitch – not so much to see here
THUMB (=(to) hitch, e.g. a lift) + NAILS (=fixes (to)) + KETCH (=boat) |
| 02 | WRENCH | Woman claiming right is a difficult change
R (=right) in WENCH (=woman) |
| 03 | CINNAMON | Never crazy about new revolutionary spice
NO! (=never!, as exclamation) + [N (=new, as in New Testament) in MANIC (=crazy)]; “revolutionary” indicates reversal |
| 04 | UNTUCK | Release boat with mischievous spirit having cut all power
<p>UNT (=boat) + <p>UCK (=mischievous spirit, in A Midsummer Night’s Dream); “having cut all power (=P)” means both letter “p”s are dropped |
| 05 | MERCALLI | Italian geologist reviewed millrace
*(MILLRACE); “reviewed” is anagram indicator; the reference is to Italian geologist, volcanologist and Catholic priest Giuseppe Mercalli (1850-1914) |
| 06 | CRYSTALLISATION | Uproar’s over English composer, one into changing – that’s becoming clear
CRY’S (=uproar’s) + TALLIS (=English composer, i.e. Thomas Tallis (1505-85)) + A (=one) + *(INTO); “changing” is anagram indicator |
| 08 | STEPTOE AND SON | Strangely tense with ads on top sitcom of the past
*(TENSE + ADS ON TOP); “strangely” is anagram indicator; the reference is to the BBC sitcom about a rag-and-bone business run by a father and son that ran from 1962-74 |
| 09 | DISFIGUREMENT | Warped mindset about diagram is a defect
FIGURE (=diagram) in *(MINDSET); “warped” is anagram indicator |
| 14 | CENOTAPH | European not apparent in church monument to the dead
[E (=European) + NOT + AP (=apparent, i.e. abbreviation)] in CH (=church) |
| 15 | NEOPRENE | Fenland river receiving work regarding synthetic rubber
[OP (=work, i.e. opus) + RE- (=regarding)] in NENE (=fenland river, in East Anglia) |
| 17 | INNATE | Had food when going to pub – that’s instinctive
INN (=pub) + ATE (=had food) |
| 19 | STOREY | Floor in farmyard pen filled with rock
ORE (=rock) in STY (=farmyard pen) |
This was the easier end of the Phi spectrum for me but I did get a few of the longer entries apart from the French movie, quite early. TRISKELIA is a good word and the clue for UNTUCK is clever but my top clue is STEPTOE AND SON. I don’t know about sitcom. More like work of art. Thanks both.
I found this really tough today with several nho words – NAHUM and TRISKELIA to the fore, together with MERCALLI – particularly difficult to have that last one presented as an anagram. I wondered at one point if there was significance to the multiple ‘rock’s and ‘boat’s but there doesn’t seem to be. Some very clever long anagrams. But I was well beaten today.
Thanks Phi and RR
Thank you both. I thought 12 was a bit naughty, as the whole point of a tri-cycle is that it’s different from a bi-cycle. But maybe that’s just sour grapes ‘cos I’d never heard of the word.
MERCALLI was sneaky as without specialist knowledge it had to be checked online – there might have been a MARCELLI. Otherwise well up to Phi’s usual high standard, so thanks to setter and blogger.
I found this much easier than his Graun puzzle yesterday mainly because of the long ones-almost like a different setter-no bad thing
Definitely a slow start here today. We guessed a couple of possibilities for the geologist and used the check button. Including so many long entries must have posed a problem for Phi today.
Somewhat agree with Granville about the bike.
Lovely to see the film featured though. We decided that we must dig out our DVD and watch it and the follow up film again.
Thanks to Phi and RR.
Joyce&Bert @6 – MANON DES SOURCES is “the follow up film” to Jean de Florette,
I only point this out because I wouldn’t want you to be watching “all the right films, but not necessarily in the right order”. Both lovely movies.
Is there a watery theme – boats and OASIS and the plot of the films?
Thanks Phi&RR
…or rocks and MERCALLI and the plot of the films?
I think Phi just wanted to rock the boat, thematically.
Thanks, both. The multiple long entries meant this was either easy or hard depending on whether you got them, it seems: for me, very much the latter. I was fine with the more obscure shorter entries but it took me a very long time to get *any* of the 13/15 letter ones.
An unusual grid but a satisfying solve nevertheless. INCONSEQUENTIAL was one of those instances when the anagram seems to unscramble itself but the others here took a bit more unpicking. We got everything in the end, though. We had to check TRISKELIA in Cambers but then thought we had heard of it before. The geologist was a guess but couldn’t really be anything else once we had all the crossers. We liked TANGELO, CRYSTALLISATION and NEOPRENE among others.
Thanks, Phi and RR
Thanks both. I did not know Tallis so CRYSTALLISATION took a while. Like others was hesitant to chance trike for bicycle in the unlikely-looking TRISKELIA,, which fails a spell-check on my device, and would not remember MERCALLI if he owed me money – my knowledge of geologists of any nationality and generation does not trouble he scorers