This week’s Friday slot is occupied, as one might expect, by Phi.
I found this one to be towards the harder end of the Phi spectrum in terms of difficulty, and although I feel that I have completed it correctly, I am unable to parse two of the entries, at 9 and 15, despite coming back to the puzzle after a break. I look forward to being enlightened by fellow solvers later today.
The completed puzzle displays a row of As across the top of the grid and a row of Zs across its bottom, thus tying in with the A-Z/A to Z reference in 21.
My favourite clues today were 2, for topicality; 4, for smoothness of surface; 5 for splitting the wordplay from its definition in the middle of Welfare // State; and the cryptic definition at 18, for clever misdirection.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 07 | INSPIRED | Web company anger about new source of deception is impressive
{N (=new) + [ISP (=web company, i.e. Internet Service Provider) + IRE (=anger)]} + D<eception> (“source of” means first letter only) |
| 09 | DEVOTE | Commit to point East when garaging Tesla?
Wordplay? T (=tesla) + E (=east) |
| 10 | POOL | Selection of candidates left over with operation being put back
L (=left) + O (=over, on cricket scorecard) + OP (=operation); “being put back” indicates reversal |
| 11 | TAMBOURINE | Musical instrument for us in curiously ambient surroundings
OUR (=for us) in *(AMBIENT); “curious” is anagram indicator |
| 12 | TACTIC | Stratagem? Tense account about it relayed back
T (=tense, in grammar) + [TI (IT; “relayed back” indicates reversal) in ACC (=account)] |
| 13 | READ-ONLY | Describing some memories – a lecturer entering bank?
[A + DON (=lecturer)] in RELY (=to bank (on)); some computer memories are read-only, i.e. they can be consulted but not changed |
| 15 | EXCISE | Cost of business trip small? That’s about $100 too much
EXC. (=trip, i.e. excursion; “small” indicates abbreviation) + [S (=dollar) in I.E. (=that’s, id est)]; “100 too much”?? |
| 17 | PENT-UP | Emotionally-charged writer set to return
PEN (=writer) + TUP (PUT=set, place; “to return” indicates reversal) |
| 20 | O SOLE MIO | Single male, I will pursue love with love song from Napoli
O (=love, i.e. zero score) + SOLE (=single) + M (=male) + I + O (=love, i.e. zero score); O sole mio is a Neapolitan song, composed in 1898 |
| 22 | SIENNA | I’ll be enthralled by something that makes you go brown
I in SENNA (=something that makes you go (to the toilet), i.e. laxative drug) |
| 23 | KING ARTHUR | Family newspaper coming back with day featuring legendary hero
KIN (=family) + GAR (RAG=newspaper; “coming back” indicates reversal) + THUR (=day, of week) |
| 25 | REEL | Be stunned regarding US city railroad
RE- (=regarding, concerning) + EL (=US city railroad, i.e. elevated railroad) |
| 26 | SAVANT | One knows a vehicle will pass through street
[A + VAN (=vehicle)] in ST (=street) |
| 27 | POTATOES | US author’s penning old rubbish for inert people
[O (=old, as in Old Testament) + TAT (=rubbish)] in POE (=US author, i.e. Edgar Allan Poe)’S; e.g. couch potatoes are inert, inactive people |
| DOWN | ||
| 01 | ANNOTATE | Give comments to an administrative trainee in revolutionary school
AN + [AT (=administrative trainee) in NOTE (ETON=school; “revolutionary” indicates vertical reversal)] |
| 02 | APOLITICAL | I will be involved in Capitol manoeuvring almost entirely? Not if this
[I in *(CAPITOL)] + AL<l> (=entirely; “almost” means last letter is dropped); “manoeuvring” is anagram indicator; semi- & lit. |
| 03 | ARCTIC | Curve, almost instant indication of circle?
ARC (=curve, in geometry) + TIC<k> (=instant, moment; “almost” means last letter is dropped) |
| 04 | ADVOCATE | Champion with poster about to appear in election
AD (=poster, i.e. advert) + [CA (=about, circa) in VOTE (=election)]; to champion a cause is to defend, promote, advocate it |
| 05 | AVER | Hesitate to ignore origin of Welfare State
<w>AVER (=hesitate, vacillate); “to ignore origin of (=first letter) welfare” means letter “w” is dropped; to aver is to state, to affirm |
| 06 | ATONAL | Fourteen letters on a line offering no key
A to N (=fourteen letters, of alphabet) + A + L (=line) |
| 08 | DEMURE | Disagree with European without causing offence
DEMUR (=to disagree, object) + E (=European); demure is modest, sober, hence “without causing offence” |
| 14 | ON THE FRITZ | Half of that rift zone is rocky, non-functional
*(TH<at> + RIFT ZONE); “half of” means two of four letters are needed in anagram, indicated by “rocky”; in US slang, on the fritz means in a bad way, out of order, on the blink, hence “non-functional” |
| 16 | ST MORITZ | Most upset with hotel in Swiss resort
*(MOST) + RITZ (=hotel, in London); “upset” is anagram indicator |
| 18 | PINCE-NEZ | They’ll take position on the bridge without recourse to arms
Cryptic definition: the “bridge” in question is that of the nose and the arms those of spectacle frames |
| 19 | NOSH-UP | Big meal and no drink? Hard to tuck into that
NO + [H (=hard, as in HB pencils) in SUP (=drink)] |
| 21 | SHIRAZ | Grape variety in rural area finally overlooked by characters in street maps?
SHIR<e> (=rural area, of e.g. England; “finally overlooked” means last letter is dropped) + AZ (=characters in street maps, as in A to Z of Bradford) |
| 22 | SPRITZ | Spray of water from river accepted by famous swimmer
R (=river) in SPITZ (=famous swimmer, i.e. the US swimmer Mark Spitz (1950-)) |
| 24 | GRAZ | Minor surface damage reduced in Austrian city
GRAZ<e> (=minor surface damage, i.e. to skin; “reduced” means last letter is dropped) |
My take on the ones not parsed:
DEVOTE
EV (Tesla?) in DOT E
EXCESS (my take)
Cost of business trip=EXES (short for expenses)+S(small) about C (100 $)
Def: Too much
Thanks Phi and RR!
Thanks both. Like RR I went for excise as it loosely relates to the cost of a business, instead of EXCESS, so grateful to KVa@1 for the parsing, which makes sense excluding the $ which I guess is for the benefit of the surface. The A/Z patterns helped somewhat, and hardly difficult to spot once a couple had gone in at the bottom. ON THE FRITZ is yet more US slang which I was previously unaware of, and don’t intend to use for at least the next 174 years.
One of those puzzles where one’s admiration for the construction is tempered by the difficulty in completing. I agree with KVa about EXCESS rather than excise, though the puzzle as a whole was taxing.
TACTIC
I read it a bit differently
T+AC+ {C (about) IT} reversed
That said, RR’s parsing is fine.
Parsed D(EV)OT+E, EX(C)ES+S as KVa@1. Either parse of TACTIC works.
Managed to deliberately ignore the Nina until my Loi – 18d PINCE-NEZ, and now I’ll never know if I’d’ve been able to solve it without the “Z”.
Thanks P&RR
Spotting the gradual emergence of As and Zs certainly helped to solve this. Thanks Phi and RatkojaRiku.
I had EXCESS as per KVa, and TACTIC as per RatkojaRiku. But I was grateful for some assistance with DEVOTE. Having got T=Tesla in my head, I couldn’t get past that. Should have realised the question mark opens up a DBE.
Astonishing to find that I actually spotted the theme before I’d finished my first sweep, but by that point, I did have 3x RITZ at the bottom of the grid, so even for me, that was a bit obvious. After that, it all seemed to go in quite smoothly for a Phi. Favourites were APOLITICAL and O SOLE MIO for apt surfaces, SIENNA for the “go brown” split and PINCE-NEZ as a lovely CD.
Thanks Phi and RR.
Mark me down as another who couldn’t work out how DEVO = point.
Peronally I didn’t find this was all that much harder than a normal Phi. I think I usually get something like 70% done without too much trouble and grind away at the rest. Todays was definitely aided by the AZ thing.
I got to KVa’s parsing of EXCESS although the EXES was an assumption having not seen the abbreviation before.
Thanks to setter and blogger (and KVa) for the fun and enlightenment
Found this enjoyable, as we always do with Phi; thought it was on the easier side for him other than the last few such as sienna, devote and excess.
We were amused by the As and Zs, half expected to see something similar on the left and right once we spotted it
Thanks Phi and RR.
Not too much difficulty, except I guessed POLL for 10ac.
TFO@2: Chambers give C as N. Amer. slang for $100.
Groan! I didn’t even notice the As and Zs until reading above and went back to lock at grid.
Thanks Phi and RatkojaRiku
09A: Point [dot] East [e] when garaging Tesla [electric vehicle=ev] makes “devote”. Any puzzle without a Brit homophone is okay by me.