Independent 11,984 / Phi

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Phi has provided today’s puzzle for our entertainment, and he has used a less common grid that accommodates as many as four 15-letter entries.

I found this to be a thoroughly enjoyable, medium-difficulty crossword, which I think that I have solved and parsed to my satisfaction – please correct me if I have got the wrong end of the stick anywhere.

My favourite clues today were two of the longer entries, at 1A and 1D, both for ingenuity and humour; 7, for smoothness of surface; 9, for sheer flair; and the & lit. at 10, even though I did not know the voice actor.

*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues

Across    
     
01 THE GIFT OF THE GAB Ability to milk yak?

Cryptic definition: the “milk” means to exploit, make good use of, and “yak” refers to talking
     
09 PHILANDER Flirt’s colloquial view of recent royal couple?

Colloquially, “Phil and ER” would refer to Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip!
     
10 BLANC One originating Bugs, Leghorn and numerous characters?

B<ugs> L<eghorn> A<nd> N<umerous> C<haracters>; “one originating” indicates first letters only; the reference is to Mel Blanc, the US voice actor (1908-89), who provided the voices for numerous cartoon characters; & lit.
     
11 FASHION Youngster penning greeting following soccer players’ style

FA (=soccer players, i.e. Football Association) + [HI (=greeting) in SON (=youngster)]
     
12 DISRUPT Energy always failing in upset, dire, dire upset

*(UPS<e>T DIR<e>); “energy (=E) always failing” means letter “e” is dropped throughout
     
14 HUBCAP Expression of encouragement about Bishop heading for church with a protection for nave

[B (=bishop, in chess) + C<hurch> (“heading for” means first letter only) + A] in HUP (=expression of encouragement); a nave is the hub part of a wheel, hence “hubcap” is a protection for it
     
16 EMERITUS English term is freely used around university for “retired”

E (=English) + [U (=university) in *(TERM IS)]; “freely used” is anagram indicator
     
18 IDOLISED I arrange German song, involving soprano that’s greatly admired

I + DO (=arrange, devise, in Chambers) + [S (=soprano) + LIED (=German song)]
     
19 LANDAU Characters in US city heading for unoccupied carriage

L AND A (=characters in US city, i.e. LA=Los Angeles) + U<noccupied> (“heading for” means first letter only)
     
21 ESSENCE German city centre losing core nature

ESSEN (=German city) + C<entr>E (“losing core” means all middle letters are dropped)
     
22 ALL OVER Extremely attentive towards a student partner

A + L (=student, i.e. learner) + LOVER (=partner); cf. He was all over her during dinner
     
24 ERATO Writer at once infused by Muse

Hidden (“infused by”) in “writER AT Once”
     
26 ANDANTINO No real haste in this movement with nation in turmoil

AND (=with) + *(NATION); “in turmoil” is anagram indicator
     
27 GOLDEN HANDSHAKE Retirement benefit: former workers getting hour tucking into a keg, drunk

[OLDEN (=former) + HANDS (=workers) + H (=hour)] in *(A KEG); “drunk” is anagram indicator
     
Down    
     
01 TIP OF THE ICEBERG “Do not sail near me,” for a start

Cryptically, saying “do not sail near me” is a tip (=recommendation) of (=from) the iceberg!!
     
02 EDITS Faction upset about source of these amendments

T<hese> (“source of” means first letter only) in SIDE (=faction); “upset” indicates vertical reversal
     
03 IMAGINATION Thinking I’m with a good independent country

I’M + A + G (=good) + I (=independent) + NATION (=country)
     
04 TIDING Moving with the sea, row in a touch

DIN (=row, racket) in TIG (=touch, twitch)
     
05 FIREDAMP Prepared to play guitar in poor atmosphere?

Cryptically, someone who fired (up the) amp(lifier) prepared to play their guitar! Firedamp is a combustible gas given off by coal, hence “poor atmosphere”
     
06 HOB Rustic // feature of kitchen?

Double definition: a hob is a rustic, a peasant AND a hob is a cooking surface in a kitcher
     
07 GRADUATED Urged data to be represented using a scale

*(URGED DATA); “to be represented” is anagram indicator
     
08 BACK TO SQUARE ONE Starting afresh, defender to reconcile over end of game

BACK (=defender, e.g. in football) + TO + SQUARE (=reconcile, bring into accord) + ON (=over, regarding) + <gam>E (“end of” means last letter only)
     
13 STREAMLINES Brings efficiency to runs in former railways?

R (=runs, in cricket) in STEAM LINES (=former railways)
     
15 BOOKSTALL Theatre operation gives agreement to substantial source of reading material

BO (=theatre operation, i.e. box office) + OKs (=gives agreement to) + TALL (=substantial, great)
     
17 TELEPATH Set route for exponent of ESP

TELE (=set, i.e. television set) + PATH (=route)
     
20 WARDEN College head has study tracking conflict

WAR (=conflict) + DEN (=study)
     
23 VOILÀ Take fuel on board in Virginia and here you are in Paris

OIL (=fuel) in VA (=Virginia, i.e. US state)
     
25 ODE Poem showing monks ignoring every opening for religion

O<r>DE<r> (=monks; “ignoring every opening (=first letter) for religion” means each letter “r” is dropped)
     
     

 

13 comments on “Independent 11,984 / Phi”

  2. F3i – (First 3 in) – 1a, 8d, 27a. Then 1d was looking like another Irishism TOP OF THE MORNING to go with 1a, but it wouldn’t parse.
    Mel Blanc certainly had THE GIFT OF THE GAB. Bugs Bunny and Foghorn Leghorn were just the TIP OF THE ICEBERG.
    [No italics in 20d WARDEN, RR: “College head“]

  4. I did not know the theatre operation = BO nor the nave = part of wheel so thanks to RR for those. If I have heard of Mel BLANC, I have forgotten him but the clue idea is neat. EMERITUS is almost &lit: depends whether one views the word as Latin or as English. It was my favourite clue. I cannot believe Phi has trotted out PHIL AND ER, though; it seems too early in the year for chestnuts 😉

    Thanks Phi and RR

  5. [Had the definition in 1d as “for a start“, as in “Bugs & Foghorn were just the TIP OF THE ICEBERG, but they’ll do, for a start.”]

  6. Great puzzle! THE GIFT OF THE GAB, VOILÀ and DISRUPT form my podium, and I also rated LANDAU and PHILANDER – the latter not least because our setter resisted the temptation to make it self-referential, which actually made me doubt the answer for a moment! TILT was nave for hub. I failed to parse the BO for theatre operation… another initialism to tuck away for future.

    Like FrankieG I spent a while wanting T O T ICEBERG to be “top of the morning” somehow, and was actually a bit disappointed when the I came along 😀

    Thanks both for the fun

  7. Couldn’t parse a couple today, so Phi beat me, but I still had such fun with this, right from the laugh out loud 1a. Thanks to Ratkojariku for the blog, and especially explaining BO and nave. PHILANDER was more gem than chestnut for me.

  9. Enjoyed it a lot, thought I was racing through it but the last few slowed me down to my usual hour. Got all the answers but missed the parsing for a couple: didn’t figure out BO for “box office”, and missed the Rs reference for ORDER/ODE. Hindsight always makes me kick myself 🙁
    Learned a couple of new words too:)

    Today’s puzzle from Phi was thankfully universal for us online international readers (Aussie here); we didn’t have to do any extra sleuthing to get all the local UK references (towns, rivers, London tube stations, TV personalities, politicians etc) that are so often included – danke schön, merci beaucoup, muchas gracias, cheers mate:)

  10. I wondered if there was going to be a Trollope theme. Was the Warden forced to retire with a Golden Handshake? Apparently not.

  11. A very clever puzzle, something for everyone.
    My last 3 or 4 answers were slow to dawn on me.
    HUBCAP the chief culprit, and thanks to Ratkoja for the derivation of NAVE, it’s a new one on me.
    BO (15 down) also defeated me: ” personal problem ” or suchlike , is the oft-used device, I think.
    The 3-letter solutions also confounded me, though the crossers did it.
    In fact, I seem to have completed this puzzle, more by luck than skill!
    I enjoyed it though, and all the previous posts resonate.

    Good stuff, Phi & Ratkoja

  12. Thanks both. Issues for me in parsing, not solving. Thought FIREDAMP was evasively cryptic, as an amp is no necessity for the guitar, and whether it is ever ‘fired’ is debatable. I had not known that meaning of nave in HUBCAP nor have I ever said or heard ‘hup’ which steadfastly fails a spellcheck, but I am confident the FA in FASHION are not players at all, but the governing body.

  13. I’m another for whom “nave” is always the part of a cruciform church where the unwashed masses sit (or in medieval times, stood). So HUBCAP was my lone failure here.

    Great to see Mel BLANC, the man of a thousand voices. It was he, almost more than the animators, who made those Looney Toons shorts such classics.

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