Phi has once again supplied the Friday puzzle – no surprises there!
I found this to be of medium difficulty overall and made steady progress throughout. In the end, I was left with the long entry at 9A and with 26, both of which were new to me, but I was able to tease them both out from the wordplay and confirm them in Chambers.
I haven’t spotted any kind of theme today, but perhaps others have …
My favourite clues today were 6, for making me smile; 19, for playing on the two types of analyst; and 27, for smoothness of surface.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | BLAST | Bishop to survive explosion
B (=bishop, in chess) + LAST (=to survive, endure) |
| 04 | RED CARPET | Description of special treatment favoured by Yorkshire resort
REDCAR (=Yorkshire resort) + PET (=favoured, favourite) |
| 09 | GLOBULAR CLUSTER | Group of stars round California primarily having renown in Hollywood
GLOBULAR (=round, spherical) + C<alifornia> (“primarily” means first letter only) + LUSTER (=renown, distinction; “in Hollywood” implies US spelling); a globular cluster is a spheroidal conglomeration of stars that is bound together by gravity |
| 10 | TRANSEPT | Tutor skipping one month to see part of church
TRA<i>N (=tutor, coach, as verb; “skipping one (=I)” means letter “i” is dropped) + SEPT (=month) |
| 11 | STRATA | Station with rodent penetrating layers
RAT (=rodent) in STA (=(railway) station) |
| 13 | IMMIGRANT | Frenchmen, I allow, will pursue one person new to the country?
I (=one) + MM (=Frenchmen, i.e. Messieurs) + I + GRANT (=allow, admit) |
| 16 | RADIO | Recalled row about detective’s call
DI (=detective, i.e. detective inspector) in RAO (OAR=row, as verb; “recalled” indicates reversal); to radio in to base is to call in |
| 17 | ROUSE | Stimulate American to import eggs? On the contrary
US (=American) in ROE (=eggs, of fish) |
| 18 | SUPERNOVA | Power seen in sun over a cataclysmic stellar explosion
P (=power, in physics) in *(SUN OVER A); “cataclysmic” is anagram indicator |
| 20 | PSEUDO | Work involving payments recalled as sham
DUES (=payments, fees) in OP (=work, i.e. opus); “recalled” indicates reversal |
| 21 | CAMBODIA | A doctor is among company backing support for Asian country
[A + MB (=doctor)] in CO (=company)] + DIA (AID=support; “backing” indicates reversal) |
| 25 | FIREWORK DISPLAY | Encourage toil and all but destroy relaxation? Many reports shedding light here
FIRE (=encourage, stimulate) + WORK (=toil) + DIS<h> (=destroy, ruin; “all but” means last letter is dropped) + PLAY (=relaxation); the “reports” of the (cryptic) definition refer to the noise of bangers, rockets, etc and the “shedding light” to the bright colours that are spewed out many fireworks |
| 26 | SUPERUSER | Country in South America having little hesitation getting control of system
PERU (=country) in [S (=south) + US (=America)] + ER (=little hesitation); a superuser is a special facility giving unrestricted access to a system |
| 27 | COAST | What angler will do, catching nothing in seaside area
O (=nothing, zero) in CAST (=what angler will do, with rod and line) |
| Down | ||
| 01 | BUGATTI | Italian engineer having problem with mindset? Not half
BUG (=problem, glitch) + ATTI<tude> (=mindset; “not half” means half of letters are dropped); the reference is to the Italian-French automobile designer Ettore Bugatti (1881-1947) |
| 02 | AROMA | A love for Ancient Rome reflected peculiar charm
A + ROMA (AMOR=love for Ancient Rome, i.e. Latin word for love; “reflected” indicates reversal) |
| 03 | TRUSS | Support hospital governance arrangements later time will abandon
TRUS<t>S (=hospital governance arrangements; “later time (=T) will abandon” means second of two “t”s is dropped) |
| 04 | REAPPRAISE | Gain power and more money in review
REAP (=gain, harvest) + P (=power, in physics) + RAISE (=more money, rise) |
| 05 | DUCK | Avoid ‘upper-class’ in description of current king
U (=upper-class) in [DC (=description of current, i.e. direct current) + K (=king, in cards)] |
| 06 | ADULTERER | My breeding activity’s frowned upon, possibly producing ultra-deer?
*(ULTRA-DEER); “possibly producing” is anagram indicator |
| 07 | PUT PAID TO | Audit top person’s initially scuppered
*(AUDIT TOP + P<erson>); “initially” means first letter only is used in anagram, indicated by “scuppered”, which also serves as a definition |
| 08 | TORNADO | Nasty sort collaring navy over threat to shipping?
[RN (=navy, i.e. Royal Navy) in TOAD (=nasty sort)] + O (=over, in cricket) |
| 12 | STEPLADDER | Less happy about cat, say, climbing large item in tool shed?
[TEP (PET=cat, say; “climbing” indicates vertical reversal) + L (=large, in sizes)] in SADDER (=less happy) |
| 14 | MOUSETRAP | Way of working to exploit actor’s role turning up in play-within-a-play
MO (=way of working, i.e. modus operandi) + USE (=to exploit) + TRAP (PART=actor’s role; “turning” indicates reversal); the reference is to the play-within-a-play in Shakespeare’s Hamlet |
| 15 | GLENDOWER | Welsh hero’s fierce expression about death
END (=death) in GLOWER (=fierce expression); the reference is to Owen Glendower, a medieval Welsh leader and military commander (1354-1415) |
| 17 | RIP-OFFS | Things improvised to restrict Post Office swindles
PO (=Post Office) in RIFFS (=things improvised, in music) |
| 19 | ANALYST | One engaged in breaking down or treating breakdowns
Double cryptic definition: a statistical analyst is involved in breaking down data, while a psychoanalyst would help to treat those who have suffered a mental breakdown! |
| 22 | BASIC | Standard article, and second, written in pen
[A (=article, in grammar) + S (=second)] in BIC (=pen) |
| 23 | DELTA | Tense, absorbed in endless waiting for fourth in line
T (=tense, in grammar) in DELA<y> (=waiting; “endless” means last letter is dropped); “fourth in line” refers here to the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet |
| 24 | ARES | God is loving, ignoring Catholic
<c>ARES (=is loving); “ignoring Catholic (=C)” means letter “c” is dropped |
Thanks Phi and RR!
ElectriPHIing puzzle. Illuminating blog!
Liked FIREWORK DISPLAY, TRUSS (the surface has an NHS-TRUSS story?), ADULTERER (nothing to do with TRUSS) and RIP-OFFS (topical surface).
Is there a theme around BLAST, FIREWORK, SUPERNOVA (maybe even TORNADO)…or am I wrong as usual?
PUT PAID TO
Is the surface related to the PO scandal?
For the Latin wordplay in 2d AROMA there’s this Italian restaurant in Holloway Road, London N7
FrankieG@3
Thanks.
At the end, ‘love’ is reflected! 🙂
KVa@2 – I think the theme is the Horizon scandal. The Fujitsu system was full of 1a BUGATTIs
It had 26a SUPERUSERs, changing balances at will remotely, incriminating the poor victims.
15d GLENDOWER – “Welsh hero” – is this Mister (Alan) Bates, subpostmaster at Craig-y-Don, Llandudno?
1a BLAST “Bishop to survive explosion”- Paula Vennells was was shortlisted to be Bishop of London…
FrankieG@5
Thanks. I could smell a couple of references to the above scandal in the surface readings but couldn’t spot the theme.
I remember those ‘MISTER BATES’ and PAULA VENNELLS clues (from the Tees puzzle which appeared just 3 days ago).
Was there some bungling by the auditors too (PUT PAID TO)?
I was imagining entries in the Wellington Burger Festival which Phi sometimes draws inspiration from, but the Post Office might make sense, especially as the Welsh hero was Owen Glendower, indicating the money the PO thought was … dodgy homophone alert…. owing.
I wasn’t familiar with the anglicised/Shakespearean spelling of Glynd?r, so that held me up slightly, but only slightly. Very enjoyable puzzle, and slightly trickier than Phi’s alter ego elsewhere today.
KVa – oh yes, the auditors don’t come out of this covered in glory, to put it mildly.
Thanks Phi. Despite a few stumbles I enjoyed this with DUCK, STEPLADDER, GLENDOWER, RIP-OFFS, DELTA, and ARES being my top picks. I was also amused by ADULTERER, so aptly clued by “ultra-deer,” a dear beyond the norm. Thanks RR for the blog.
No theme today, and I work a bit too far in advance to keep pace with the developing PO story. What’s sad, therefore, is that whenever you write a clue about some sort of human frailty, there’s generally an egregious example around when that clue appears.
A fun puzzle and seeing Phi’s comment I am glad I didn’t spend time looking for theme.
Thanks for letting us know Phi – otherwise with a mixture of confirmation bias and the crossword solvers’ perculiar imagination we would have completed constructed of the post office theme.
Thanks Setter and Blogger