What – no Phi on Phi-day? There must be reason.
Well that was fun! It wasn’t until we solved 16d as we filled in the grid – top to bottom – that we realised that there was a reason for the particular numbers that we had noticed in the grid.
The 14th of March (03.14) as it is written in some countries with the month first followed by the day – is known as PI-DAY. Read from top to bottom Methuselah has given us the first 14 numbers in the mathematical irrational number.
There are a couple of clues that we weren’t that sure about. The use of ‘TRIP” in 31ac is a bit strange and 26d feels as if some of the words are in an odd order. Overall though it was such a fun crossword to solve as we realised what was going on. We certainly didn’t know the specific order of the numbers after 3.141…..
A ‘play’ on the fact that NAN and SON use tiles with a score of 1 in Scrabble – unless of course any of them are placed on a double or triple letter square
PA (secretary) DRONE (a bee – ‘buzzer’ – that doesn’t work)
cOURIER (delivery person) with a different initial letter or ‘wrong entrance’ – should there have been some indication that it is an F that replaces the ‘c’?
AT ONE (in agreement) with D (date)
A play on the fact that if the track needed FIVE TAKES then it certainly wasn’t the original recording. TAKE FIVE was a jazz hit by Dave Brubeck released in 1959.
nECk (middle letters only or ‘content’) with H (hot) O (love)
An anagram (‘ordered’) of PENNE in NICE (European resort)
An anagram (‘terribly’) of SAD ON in TWIX (bar – the chocolate variety)
F (female) I’VE (setter has) – 5 is a factor of 10 (X)
An anagram (‘blend’) of WHEAT and RYE
A reversal (‘around’) of IF + VERSe (poems) missing the last letter or ‘unfinished’
HEIGHTS (lofty settings) with the first H (heroin) ‘shifted’
Double definition – the second referring to a pride of lions
A cryptic definition – the ‘caretakers’ being the PARENTS taking trips to the school
TAP (hit on) WAiTER (server) missing or ‘wanting’ I (one)
RHO (Greek character) around or ‘keeping’ ADIOS (so long in Spain) followed by W (with)
E (base as used in Mathematics) + a homophone (‘reportedly’) of RHODES (a Greek island)
An anagram (‘possibly’) of DONE MP IN
Hidden (‘some’) and reversed (‘overturning’) in plutocrAT FANcied – North American Free Trade Agreement, instigated in 1994 – according to Trump “the single worst trade deal ever approved in the US”
An anagram (‘somehow’) of NEAT DUET
fReE kIcKs (alternate or ‘regular’ letters) by I (Methuselah is the setter)
SH (quiet) + a reversal (‘sent up’) of KEIR (PM Keir Starmer)
EC (city) around or ‘welcoming’ PI (the number being celebrated today – and theme of the puzzle). It wasn’t until we had solved this clue that we realised the significance of all the numbers in the grid.
IT (horror film released in 2017) inside or ‘skewering’ an anagram (‘novel’) of CORNIER
DAGEnham and STANmore each reduced by 50%
Hidden (‘a bunch of’) in baRE ASSES Shocked
SToRE (set aside) ‘losing’ ‘o’ (Oscar in the phonetic alphabet) + EP (record)
DI (detective) and a homophone (‘in hearing’) of SEWN (stitched up`)
E (last or ‘ultimate’ letter in babe) inside or ‘covered by’ pairs of letters (‘couples’) at the start of (‘fronting’) ROck GRoups
lAPSES (mistakes) without or ‘concealing’ ‘l’ (large) – though we’re not sure that the word order works
S (son) on LAV (throne – informal word for toilet)
Just wanted to come on quickly to say that was brilliant! Took a while to get started, and even longer to realise what was happening with the numbers, but it was tremendously satisfying to recognise the numbers in the answers and then match them to the digits of pi.
Thanks Methuselah and BnJ
I thought it was a tremendous feat to fit all those digits into the solutions without them seeming forced.
Don’t know what Fourier did apart from analysis of sounds, but pi goes back to the ancients doesn’t it? Anyway it all went over dim ginf’s head even though 16d makes it explicit. Enjoyed it ntl, ta both.
Brilliant, penny dropped about half-way through. Lovely clues, too.
Saw 31a as playing on the usual meaning of school trips: outings from the school, with the teachers as caretakers. — [Our two kids went to New York on one.]
{“It’s π day… It’s 21a to 21a… And it’s Crackerjack! (1955-1984)” — I’m expecting a theme this year.}
This deserves more plaudits than the current five posts would indicate. A real stretch although I was ultimately defeated by ROGER. Of course the theme/nina passed me by. Thoroughly enjoyable. Thank you to B&J and Methuselah.
Fabulous grid fill – completely agree with Simon S @2. Congratulations to Methuselah.
Great puzzle. EPIC was last one in and then the penny dropped. What day is it, of course March 14th (although it’s only really Pi Day in America).
I thought there were a lot of numbers and was thinking there was some currency theme. Not sure how helpful it would have been if I spotted the theme before completion.
Favs today: THREE-POINT TURN, FIVE and FOURIER.
Thanks B&J and Methusula
EPIC indeed. Thanks both.
Absolutely brilliant celebration of π-day, which I saw right at the end, realised there were numbers in all but one across clues, looked properly and saw the significance.
I didn’t have a problem with FOURIER – first mathematician I thought of and a write in. He’s famous for wave analysis as the Fourier transform.
Thank you to Methuselah and Bertandjoyce.
[Monk did double π day in Indy 11454, on 06/28, back in 2023. — (We could have approximate π day in the UK on 22 July).]
Because I too rarely stop to see the forest instead of the trees, I missed the brilliant theme, even though it was explicitly spelled out. I did think it odd that we had both FIVE and FIVERS, which should have clued me in that something was up.
STREEP is lovely because of the allusion to her (probably unbreakable at this point) record of most Oscar nominations for any actor, 21, though that netted just three wins (Katharine Hepburn got four). Also enjoyed the cover version of I Got You Babe and the THREE-POINT TURNS. It’s funny that today Methuselah gave us an allusion to poorly played Scrabble while Vlad gave us poorly played golf (not a spoiler, if you haven’t done that one yet, since it’s right there in the clue). I guess a thre-point play is excusable at the end of the game when the bag is empty and you need to get rid of your tiles wherever they’ll fit.
FrankieG @11: given that many computer programs only sort dates correctly if you write them as YYYY-MM-DD (which was not the pre-digital standard in any country), I’d be surprised if pi day won’t soon be a thing in the UK too.
Thanks both. In agreement with all here that this was some work of genius, whilst having an opposite view to a couple of points, namely that FOURIER for me was ultra niche with the replacement letter unidentified, made harder by the crossing NAFTA being another unknown, so I’d say I thought it was a little forced, but understandably by necessity. My knowledge of Pi is limited to the number of letters in the phrase ‘How I wish I could calculate Pi’
[Me @12: But playing specifically SON for 3, at any point in the game, is a titanic waste of an S. And if the S was already there, even on the last play of the game you can surely find a place to put your O and N–they’re friendly letters that both form many two-letter words–to get more than just three points out of them!]
As a maths nerd and fellow setter I thought this was absolutely fabulous. One of the best this year.
Skinny
Just wanted to add my admiration for this puzzle
[mrpenny@14: as a late move it could be that the ‘s’ is used to make a plural of another word, gaining the points from it? Even better if it goes on to a double word score]
[JOFT@16: but then it would be a lot more than a THREE-POINT TURN, which is the issue.]
Great fun puzzle! With TAKE FIVE, FIVE and FIVERS down the right hand side it was clear something funny was going on… and then I got to 16d and the penny dropped with a chortle. Very nicely done indeed, Methuselah.
Thanks to B&J for the comprehensive blog. I agree the syntax of 26a isn’t ideal, as it requires you to mentally insert a comma. I did consider doing something with Celsius and Fahrenheit for [C/F]OURIER, but decided I was happy to make that early clue a bit tougher, because I didn’t want to give the game away too soon.
I’m glad people enjoyed it. I only spotted late on that 6d coincidentally starts with TAU, which is the name some mathematicians use for 2π, i.e. 6.28318… My original plan was to write this in Pilish, but in the end I decided to spare my sanity.
Until next time…🥧
There was a Phi-day in 2012: https://www.fifteensquared.net/2012/09/07/independent-8081-phi/
Blowing own trumpet mainly to see if I have an avatar icon thingy now…
No, I don’t.
Just wanted to add my appreciation to this, loved it! Got EPIC fairly early on and have been used to hearing about Pi day – for anyone that might be interested, there’s a “stand up mathematician” called Matt Parker who has a YouTube channel where he finds new ways to calculate Pi every year on Pi day.
It wasn’t until I got 1ac that it all came together, though as others above, only helped me for the first 6 decimal places… Thanks Methuselah and B&J
I’m fairly new to the Indy crossword, I’ve been a Guardian regular for decades, and would like to echo the praise for this one. A really impressive grid, keeping excellent surfaces and fun clues while managing the numerical solutions was brilliant.
Brilliant!
I have been busy with other things today and woke up late, too, so I did not tackle the indy first thing. I have seen a few comments about it though so knew it was one I need to find time for and have just completed it. The praise is richly deserved. I spotted the numbers appearing and, at first, thought it was going to be (an impressive enough) grid fill with the first ten numbers. Then the repetitions began to appear and then I solved the key EPIC clue. At which point the magnificence of the treatment was clear to see. Apologies for not listing favourite clues on this occasion – it’s late anyway so few will see this. The cluing was as good as always with this setter but, on this occasion, the grid is the star of the show. What an idea to have and what an execution. And very, very few odd words in the Downs forced by the theme – NAFTA, REIKI and APSES perhaps – but none of those are outrageous. Chapeau!
Thanks Methuselah and B&J
I’m arriving at the party after half the folks have gone home, but I had to chip in to say what a super piece of work this was. I was fortunate enough to see what was going on in the top half of the puzzle which was a fantastic penny-drop moment, and got quite excited spotting the digits in the second half. Sheer joy – thanks Methuselah and also B&J for the fine blog.
Incredible puzzle. Thank you
“pi” site:www.fifteensquared.net/*/03/14:
It’s surprising how often PI has appeared in puzzles on PI day over the years, including yesterday’s FT by Solomon. — [Admittedly some are pious private eyes.]…
…[There’s even a mention of approximate π day (22/7) in yesterday’s G.]
Well, both 22/7 and 3.14 are approximations. (My birthday is 22nd July,)
Also late to the party, alerted by Methuselah’s comment on 225, just completed this and want to add to the plaudits- a real tour de force!
Enjoyed immensely
Thanks for the blog , extremely late but did not get a copy of the puzzle until yesterday , just wanted to praise the setter for a brilliant idea . The clues seemed very natural and the Down entries were not greatly obscure because of the Across theme .
22/7 is too late , the Dedekind cut occurs very late in the day of July 21st .