It’s the end of a week – it’s Phi again who sets the challenge.
Regulars will be aware that Phi often has a theme. Sometimes these are very personal to Phi such as the names of his cats. Some include fun names from a local BBQ competition. Part of the joy of a Phi is trying to work out whether there is or isn’t a theme. We may be seeing a theme here that doesn’t exist.
It wasn’t until Joyce came to write up the blog that we realised that 16d and 17d both used ‘ENGAGED’ as an inclusion indicator. When we are solving we often don’t see connections as one of us solves one clue whilst the other one solves the next. Not that it worries us to see the word used twice. If the two down clues hadn’t been next to each other, we would not have noticed at all.
We noticed that there were various words connected with space in the grid. there was also FIFTIETH included so we wondered whether the theme could be the Anglo-Australian telescope (AAT) which is the largest optical telescope in Australia. It was opened just over 50 years ago by HRH Prince Charles.
You could say that the telescope provides ‘SURFACE’ ‘DETAIL’.
This could however be a complete red herring. Hopefully Phi will drop in and let us know.
It was! Thanks Mallimack for your help.
An anagram (‘nasty’) of LUNCH OOZES EGG
APP (computer package) LIED (misled)
SIMMER (to seem angry) around or ‘about’ W (weight)
LES (French for ‘the’) COP (policeman) in TEE (support). We had to think about this one – telescope is being used as a verb here, not a noun.
Hidden (‘some’) in EmperoR A STAr – Rastafarians regard Haile Selassie, the former Emperor of Ethiopia, as divine.
ROSTER (list) around or ‘including’ AD (promotional item)
RAF (airmen) in STEw (difficult position) missing last letter or ‘mostly’
WAY (routine) LAY (song)
WIND (twist) WARD (dependent child)
A RUE (regret) around or ‘without’ G (good)
EXTRA (run, in cricket) aVERT (forestall) ‘missing’ ‘a’
A reversal (‘back’) of R (runs) A CO (company) followed by IN A (America)
A reversal (‘recall’) of ITEM E (fifth article – item a, item b….etc) round RI (Royal Institution)
An anagram (‘development’) of FORETASTE THAT – we’re not sure why Phi has included ‘electronic’ in the definition here – anything to do with a theme?
CRY (exclaim) round or ‘about’ A PILL (bit of medicine) and A
NIT (idiot) inside or ‘blocking’ US (American)
A HYDRO could be a health centre so information (GEN) about this could be HYDRO GEN
OrdinarilY (first and last letters only or ‘gutted’) and an anagram (‘cooked’) of REST
EMIt (put out) missing last letter or ‘largely’ + GRATED (vexed)
G (grand) nAMES (titles) missing or ‘declining’ the first letter
SURe (certain) missing last letter or ‘almost’ + FACE (aspect)
MATER (mother) with an extra T – the middle letter or ‘heart’
PACE (speed) inside a reversal or ‘elevation’ of IT’S + ME (the writer)
An anagram (‘out’) of I MADE inside or ‘engaged in’ an anagram (‘dubious’) of ACTS
I (one) inside or ‘engaged in’ an anagram (‘unfortunate’) of THEFT IF
WE APrONS (protective gear) missing ‘r’ – the last or ‘latest’ letter in nuclear
D (last letter or ‘rear end’ of old) E (English) TAIL (dog)
HE (that chap) inside or ‘beset by’ FLAB (excess weight) all reversed or ‘taken up’
GUV (governor) A (about) around or ‘swallowing’ A
A (area) RENAl (around the kidneys) missing last letter or ‘not entirely’
It’s Iain Banks, author of books including Look to Windward and Surface Detail. I’m sure there’s more.
The State of the Art, Use of Weapons, The Player of Games,The Hydrogen Sonata, and Matter. All science fiction which suggests some of the other fill.
Many thanks Mallimack – we thought we were wrong but it was fun looking. Joyce read a couple of his novels ages ago but has even forgotten the names of them. There is no way we would have spotted them in the grid.
I don’t really care about themes. Nice if you can spot them but I think they’re more useful to a setter than a solver.
I think this may be the first Phi that I’ve solved and I am so impressed by the smooth clueing and great surfaces. No tired old crossword tropes here. Great stuff.
Nicely done theming by Phi – who appears in the G as well so plenty of exposure to this setter today. I enjoyed all of Ian Banks’ work though there is a dark underbelly to most of it. His sci-fi was very imaginative. Well spotted, Mallimack. OYSTER, SPACE TIME and WEAPONS my podium.
Thanks Phi and B&J
Ok, I’m a dummy (PM @5) and didn’t realise Phi was Pangakupu (so I’ve obviously solved a lot more than I realised). Somehow this one seemed to proceed a lot easier than I remember from solving Pangakupu. I wonder if he sets differently under the different dumpynoses.
Pacing myself through a reread of Iain M Banks (his SF side) and have just finished Matter which might well be the gloomiest of the set. A useful set of titles to mine for grid material!
I recall COUGH LOZENGES as being a fairly horrible set of letters…
[You are certainly no dummy, Tim C @6 🤣 I have always found Phi’s G alter ego to be more difficult to attune to. No idea why.]
Thanks Phi and BertandJoyce
Great crossword as always on Phiday
Read all the books multiple times and still missed the theme. Great reads and mostly pretty dark (I would put Use of Weapons as the darkest) – his non SciFi (without the M – Iain Banks) is even more disturbing. He died too young
[Funnily enough, one of my favourite Banks works is his only (?) non-fiction piece. Raw Spirit: in search of the perfect dram. Which catalogues a series of whisky tasting journeys around the Highlands. A very worthwhile read.]
I parsed 6d as G + (D)AMES. I wondered if it was meant to be parsed as DAMES after the first letter of ‘declining’.
Maybe HYDROGEN should be included in the theme, since it makes up around 75% of matter. Excellent puzzle, so thanks Phi and B&J.
Iain M Banks one of my favourite sci-fi suthors too. Agree they’re dark but the names of the spacecraft always raise a smile and his imagination is unparalleled. The description of travelling through the atmosphere of one of the gas giants is amazing (sorry – can’t remember the book). Despite this didn’t spot the theme of course. Nearly finished this one without help which is a good day for me.
Thanks B&J and Phi
Iain M Banks one of my favourite sci-fi suthors too. Agree they’re dark but the names of the spacecraft always raise a smile and his imagination is unparalleled. The description of travelling through the atmosphere of one of the gas giants is amazing (sorry – can’t remember the book). Despite this didn’t spot the theme of course. Nearly finished this one without help which is a good day for me.
Thanks B&J and Phi
I didn’t spot the theme, but found the puzzle enjoyable nonetheless. There were several NHOs for me: TELESCOPE to mean shut up (I would have thought it would mean to extend out); HYDRO as a (presumably hydrotherapeutical) health spa; LAY as a song/poem from medieval French literature (and apparently Chaucer), and EXTRAVERT spelt with an A. Consequently I had to reveal the first and last of those.
Faves were WINDWARD, MATTER and SPACETIME.
The surface for STATE OF THE ART is indeed curious; it almost feels like Phi was clueing for a third E!
Thanks both
AP @15. I thought that about 28a as well. Also never seen that spelling for extrovert. Live and learn.
I am never sure about the spelling of extravert. I always thought extra made more sense. Nice puzzle for once slightly harder than his namesake, I thought. One of those days to make you think of a Midsummer Night’s Dream. “Fie, Fie, you counterfeit.”
Me@17 alter ego not namesake
Many years ago I included EXTRAVERT in an Independent puzzle and the next day there was a letter to the editor saying that they should employ crossword setters who could spell.
And the day after that there was a letter from something like the British Psychological Society pointing out that EXTRAVERT was the correct spelling.
Dictionaries closed please: now give me another English word beginning EXTRO- (not, I need hardly say, a derivative)
I will defer to a linguist! No idea, myself.
Totally failed to spot the theme.
Read a few of Banks’s books. The Wasp Factory is very weird. Met him a few times at SF conventions. I heard that when he was first becoming known as an author, he got invited to a convention. His publishers, it is said, sent a minder along to protect the poor innocent fans. The minder took one look at the fans and realised he wasn’t needed.