Independent 11,966 by Phi

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It’s Phi-day again!

Another great puzzle from our regular Friday setter, with the usual mix of clue types, smooth surfaces, a few write-ins and some brain-teasers.

And – for once – we think we’ve spotted the theme – all the four-letter entries except 1ac can follow HEART. Being a Phi puzzle we wonder whether HEARTLAMP is a word (to complete the set) – but it’s not in Chambers. We’ve googled ‘Heartlamp’ and find that there are some heart-shaped lamps out there for sale, but it’s not really an accepted combination – unless anyone knows otherwise? We did notice two other potentially thematic words within 13d and 26ac (highlighted in a different colour), but we suspect that these may be coincidences – unless we have completely the wrong end of the stick!

Maybe the theme is Phi’s nod to Valentine’s Day.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Millions invested in circuit illumination (4)
LAMP

M (millions) in LAP (circuit)

3. US magazine circulation about constant for periods (10)
TIMESCALES

TIME (US magazine) SALES (circulation) round C (constant)

9. Spy tied up heartlessly (4)
BOND

BOuND (tied up) missing the middle letter or ‘heartless’

10. ‘Radical men’ misrepresenting description of many councils (10)
ALDERMANIC

An anagram (‘misrepresenting’) of RADICAL MEN – a new word for us

12. Mistimed run for start of spring? It’s ludicrous (12)
UNREASONABLE

We think this is: an anagram (‘mistimed’) of RUN replacing ‘s’ (first letter or ‘start’ of spring) in sEASONABLE (‘start of spring?’) but ‘start of spring’ is doing double duty – any other thoughts out there?

15. Billiards shot rebounded on one fellow repeatedly (2-3)
IN-OFF

A reversal (‘rebounded’) of ON I (one) + F F (‘fellow repeatedly’)

16. Top woman’s court case cut short, beset by demonstration? (9)
MATRIARCH

TRIAl (court case) missing the last letter or ‘cut short’ in or ‘beset by’ MARCH (demonstration)

18. More severe in pursuit of each person appearing out of the sunrise (9)
EASTERNER

STERNER (more severe) after EA (each)

19. A cry resounding in lane (5)
ALLEY

A + a reversal (resounding) of YELL (cry)

20. Island to retain beans after intervention by university? Not likely (1,6,5)
I SHOULD COCOA

IS (island) HOLD (retain) COCOA (beans) round or ‘after intervention by’ U (university)

24. Unearthing a van with exotic wheels (10)
EXCAVATION

An angram (‘wheels’) of A VAN and EXOTIC

25. Club without openers for opening day (4)
WOOD

WO (without) O D (first letters or ‘openers’ of opening day)

26. Resolution to limit tidal feature (10)
TIEBREAKER

TIE (limit) BREAKER (wave – ‘tidal feature’)

27. Attend course (4)
BEAT

BE AT (attend) – we had to check ‘course’ = ‘beat’ – it’s as in a policeman’s beat (when they used to be on the streets)

DOWN
1. Suitable for retraining, not following left-wingers (10)
LABOURITES

An anagram (‘retraining’) of SUITABLE fOR without the ‘f’ (following)

2. Timid character circling a point where temperature’s dropped in large building (5-5)
MANOR-HOUSE

MOUSE (timid character) round or ‘circling’ A NORtH (point) missing or ‘dropping’ ‘t’ (temperature)

4. Small area of land in flames, destroyed, with nothing retained (4,2,3)
ISLE OF MAN

An anagram (‘destroyed’) of IN FLAMES round or ‘retaining’ O (nothing)

5. Some article demarcated American affliction (5)
EDEMA

Hidden (‘some’) in articlE DEMArcated – the American spelling

6. Policeman curtailed case in error, trying to please (12)
COMPLAISANCE

An anagram (‘in error’) of POLICEMAN and CASe missing the last letter or ‘curtailed’

7. Country network died (4)
LAND

LAN (Network – ‘local area network) D (died)

8. Bad spillage, litres to be removed (4)
SICK

SlICK (spillage – of oil at sea) missing the ‘l’ (litres)

11. Have shilling for ales, getting drunk, getting drunk (4-4-4)
HALF-SEAS-OVER

An anagram (‘getting drunk’) of HAVE S (shilling) FOR ALES – a new phrase for us

13. No source of stomach upsets in Somerset town? That’ll make you merry (10)
FROLICSOME

cOLICS (stomach upsets) missing the first letter or ‘source’ in FROME (Somerset town)

14. In the beginning, half of them watch French star, not British (3,4,3)
THE YEAR DOT

THem (half only) EYE (watch) bARDOT (Brigitte Bardot – ‘French star’) missing ‘b’ (British)

17. Free toilets: go first, before end of game (4,5)
TURN LOOSE

LOOS (toilets) after TURN (go) before E (last letter or ‘end’ of game)

21. Old islands turning up in port area of Rome (5)
OSTIA

O (old) + a reversal (‘turning up’) of AITS (islands)

22. Borders of fine, light fabric (4)
FELT

First and last letters or ‘borders’ of FinE LighT

23. Pain expert accepting husband (4)
ACHE

ACE (expert) round or ‘accepting’ H (husband)

 

16 comments on “Independent 11,966 by Phi”

  2. Happy PhiDay

    Thanks Phi and BertAndJoyce

    I agree on unreasonable – a bit clunky for Phi. I expected a clue for ABLE after spring and It’s cannot fulfill that requirement

    Not sure about theme yet

    Edit. I think kVA is correct on unreasonable

  3. KVa – we think you are correct. In fact, Joyce vaguely remembers that this was how she parsed it when solving the clue. Bert wrote the blog and by then, Joyce had forgotten it when she came to check things.

  4. Watched a lot of Brit stuff, all genres, many decades, but nho I should cocoa. Hey ho. Found this quite tough, needed 8% help. Thanks Phi and BandJ.

  5. Nice stuff from Phi. I got extraordinarily breezeblocked on TIEBREAKER at the end – a super clue, with at least three possible wordplay options (~T+’tidal’, ‘resolution’ going around ‘tidal’, or the actual ‘to limit+tidal feature’).

    I only knew I SHOULD COCO from a Supergrass album, but the alternative spelling was clear from the wordplay.

    Thanks both.

  8. Another who knew I SHOULD COCO rather than COCOA and HALF SEAS OVER is decidedly nho. The theme is interesting – I wonder why Phi included LAMP. As our bloggers say, plenty of heart shaped lamps and, when entering the phrase into Google, getting to HEARTL… throws up HEART LAMP as the most likely term but surely there would have been combos available that could have resulted in another more obvious themer. Interesting to spot a similarity with Solomon’s FT puzzle today but I shall say no more to avoid spoilers! I parsed UNREASONABLE as did KVa.

    Thanks Phi and B&J

  10. I was beaten by BEAT! No way is the Isle of Man a ‘small area of land’ – as anyone who has walked its 100-mile coastal path will testify! Otherwise well up to high standard, so thanks Phi and B&J.

  11. Thanks both. Agree with Tatrasman above – I was going to use the ‘you wouldn’t want to put the hoover round it’ analogy. If the theme is as identified, it’s quite disappointing in my view, with just a handful of references, some of which are obscure, but I don’t look for Phi’s themes until the end, as I don’t recall if I’ve ever successfully identified one.

  12. I decided after making a list that HEART**** had plenty of options to make all the four-letter entries thematic. HEART-LAMP was a bit of a cop-out if you were relying on the usual dictionaries. But the Catholic devotional item is certainly a thing.
    I’ve only ever seen it as I SHOULD COCOA; if it’s rhyming slang, then the spelling would be the same way as the drink, surely? And down here, with Oz over the horizon as an exemplar, the IOM is a small area of land.

  13. Back in the day, post-war , in the Liverpool area, “I should cocoa”, meant ” I couldn’t give a xxxx”.
    As for “half-seas-over”, has anyone… be honest…ever heard of it?
    Too many bizarros (aldermanic…..really? ).
    Not for me.

  14. Thanks B&J and Phi

    Phi @12, I’ve seen reference to “I should coffee and cocoa”, which seems plausible cf. apples and pears etc., so you’d be right!

  15. Made a mess of 12ac, trying to fit in UPROAROUSLY which didn’t work.

    END&@13: HALF SEAS OVER was a phrase that rang a bell, but I can’t say when I ever heard it. Let’s face it, English has a lot of euphemisms for being drunk.

  16. Found this citation for 11d: “1947 If a man knows he must stop drinking at ten-thirty, then he takes good care to be half-seas-over at ten. Irish Times 14 April 5/9

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