It’s the end of the week and we have a Phi puzzle to solve. No complaints here – lots of smooth surfaces as always.
Joyce blogging – this is our 804th blog – a few including no 800 are in the wings, waiting to be published after tomorrow’s S&B in York.
We liked 18ac for its definition. I checked BUTTERNUT as I only know of it as a squash. It is however an American white walnut tree or a Guiana tree with edible nuts.
We cannot find a theme within the completed grid but that’s nothing unusual. We will be in Harlow Carr during the day so if there are any omissions or errors, we may not be able to deal with them until the evening.
Initial letters or ‘starts’ to Swish Their ROBE (gown)
ACT (undertaking) inside or ‘blocking’ a reversal or ‘backing’ of OF TUM (corporation)
HEAR (try) TESS (Polanski film) around or ‘including’ L (line)
TED (online talk provider) around or ‘bringing in’ UN (a in French)
ALIT (came down to earth) around or ‘about’ MEN (blokes)
Double definition
P (priest) AGAiN (once more) without or ‘dismissing’ I (one)
An anagram (‘translated’) of TALK OF LE (French article – as Proust was born in Paris)
FL (flourished) ETCHER (engraver) – a quarrel can also be an arrow
cITY (town without first letter or ‘leader’) around or ‘snatching’ CH (children)
HUCK (Twain hero) inside or ‘beset by’ CUP (drink)
AGA (big stove) IN S (small) T (last letter of tenement or ‘ultuimately’)
DIE (stop) behind IN (popular)
N (note) an anagram (‘dreadful’) of LION NEAR (close by)
MORe (increasingly) missing last letter or ‘cut down’ A LIST (celebrity)
T (time) in SA (South Africa) N (new) ZA (another form of South Africa)
NAPS (goes out) after SCH (school) around or ‘clutching’ P (soft)
RING (circular ripple) around OAR (boat propellor)
B (last letter or ‘ending’ of climb) UTTER (absolute) NUT (idiot)
An anagram (‘reforming’) of ALLIANCES ARE around first and last letters only or ‘border’ of OldeR
TO ThEM (as those people see it) without or ‘short’ of H (height)
TIN (money) on FOIL (stump)
FIDO (a common name for a dog) reversed or ‘turning up’ inside or ‘interrupting’ MY
We are not sure how to parse it – a double definition perhaps?
T (tense) RIG (outfit) A (American) MIST (obscure)
An anagram (‘wild’) of HAIRSTYlE without or ‘trimming’ L (length)
UNDER (subject to) following LA (Legislative Authority)
CAN (charge – as in depth charge apparently) TEEN (adolescent) – we had to check this
CH (chief) IS inside or ‘protected by’ SM (Sergeant-Major)
K (King) NELL (King’s mistress)
Surely 24 down is KNELL not KNEEL? Online version says KNEEL but that seems wrong to me.
I had SEAT OF THE PANTS as DD, B&J. I note the software – and the blog – give us KNEEL as the answer to 24d though it is clearly KNELL as per the parse. I liked TUNED, FOLK TALE, AGAINST and HYSTERIA
Thanks Phi and B&J
@AJ agreed. Bet that will particularly annoy the folks who like to collect the points for the league table! 😄
We have a total of 8 blogs over this weekend – 2 scheduled Indy crosswords and 6 that were submitted for tomorrow’s S&B. What I am trying to say is that with so many blogs, Joyce (and Bert who was proofreading) never noticed the error for KNELL.
We’ll leave the blog as it stands.
[No criticism of the blog intended, B&J. I imagined the solutions are taken straight from the puzzle and it’s there that the error originates. With 800+ blogs behind you, who are we to criticise???!!!]
To put the record straight – Bert admits that he forgot to check the blog!!
Parsed the definitions in 27a NON-LINEAR as “taking a twisting route”, and 29a STANZA as just “verse”.
804!!? That’s a labour of love… bien joué!!
The KNELL thing was only vaguely annoying, we knew we were right!
Needed the blog for FACTOTUM, but it was the only thing that made any sense. I had CHUCK IN to begin with, as I’ve always considered the UP version to be vomiting, but patently CIN isn’t a drink, except as a shortening of Cinzano..
Thanks Phi n Bertandjoyce …
No theme in this one, and definitely KNELL in my original.
For 21d CANTEEN, I couldn’t think of a way CAN CAN be “charge”, but “It’s in Chambers” (and nowhere else) ‘… ; a depth charge (naval slang) ; …’
oed.com has ‘ASHCAN … 2. Military slang. … 2.a. 1918– A depth charge.’
Some of the citations are hyphenated, but even if it were two words, CAN a CAN be a depth charge without its ASH? (I don’t think it CAN.)
In any case, could a charge be a depth charge without its depth? [Note that Chambers (’93) defines ‘ash … -can’ as just ‘a receptacle for ashes …’]
[Didn’t even notice the KNEEL typo. I click on Reveal Word, when absolutely sure of a solution.] Thanks Φ & B&J
I’m glad Phi tolled them it was KNELL, because it was a great clue. STROBE was my other favourite. Thanks all.
🙂
Favourite is 18a for getting quarrel in the clue.
I wonder why Nell is the go-to mistress? There’s been many kings and I bet even more mistresses of kings. (I’ll make my own way to The Tower…)
Thanks all.
A fun and pretty gentle ride, save for FACTOTUM which I had to reveal.
Other NHOs were FLETCH as arrow (which made for a lovely clue in hindsight; I couldn’t figure out why the guy was argumentative), CHUCK UP for give in, BUTTERNUT as anything other than a squash, (ash) CAN for (depth) charge, and TRIGAMIST (though eminently plausible) – but all were reachable for me via wordplay and checkers.
I too had KNELL of course (another lovely clue), and was surprised when it was apparently wrong…
[I’m curious about whether there’s a human step in the process. I would have assumed that the setters submit the puzzle in a certain data format (I’ve heard of the Crossword Compiler app for example) and then that simply gets imported into the Indie’s app – in which case I can only assume that there’s an unhelpful autocorrect step somewhere. If I were typing it on my phone I guarantee it would have been changed to “kneel” or probably worse!]
Favourite was SEAT-OF-THE-PANTS.
Thanks both.
Very much enjoyed this, despite spending a ridiculous amount of time trying to work out which solution I’d got wrong before grudgingly pressing the “check puzzle” button and finding it wasn’t my mistake.
I thought the quarrelsome craftsman was a great definition.
Thanks to Phi and B&J
Bit late to mention it but as I walk past Nell’s cottage several times a week, she’s always the mistress I think of first.
Thanks P, B and J