This week’s set of puzzles comes to a normal end with Phi’s latest offering.
I found this one to be towards the top end of the difficulty spectrum for Phi in the Indy. I think that I have got there in the end, but not without a fair amount of head-scratching. The less usual entry at 1A didn’t help, given the large number of crossing entries, while 18 was completely new to me, I think.
My favourite clues today, essentially for smoothness of surface reading, were 8, 10, 13, 14, 29 and 30. 5 deserves a special mention for sheer flair, I feel.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | PALIMPSEST | Quick look initially forgotten, probing historic rewritten document
<g>LIMPSE (=quick look; “initially forgotten” means first letter is dropped) in PAST (=historic); a palimpsest is a manuscript in which old writing has been rubbed out to make room for new |
| 06 | HOLY | Sacred and hitherto largely seen in extreme instances
H<ithert>O L<argel>Y; “seen in extreme instances” means first and last letters only are used |
| 10 | LUTON | English town turned out to be within borders of London
*(OUT) in L<ondo>N (“borders of” means first and last letters only); “turned” is anagram indicator |
| 11 | ARMISTICE | Live broadcast of cities accepting King’s truce
R (=king, i.e. rex) in [AM (= (I) live, exist) + *(CITIES)]; “broadcast of” is anagram indicator |
| 12 | TRICEPS | Instant addition to communication shows muscles
TRICE (=instant, moment) + PS (=addition to communication, i.e. postscript) |
| 13 | PLACARD | Notice vehicle impounded by LAPD at work
CAR (=vehicle) in *(LAPD); “at work” is anagram indicator |
| 14 | BLEEDING | Book, topping charts in audio format, full of compassion
B (=book) + homophone (“in audio format”) of “leading (=topping charts)”; e.g. a bleeding heart is full of compassion |
| 16 | MOVING | Poignant moment: victory in fighting at last
MO (=moment, as in a mo) + V (=victory, as in VJ Day this week) + IN + <fightin>G (“at last” means last letters only) |
| 19 | EAT OUT | Each and every Parisian gets to visit a restaurant
EA (=each) + TOUT (=every Parisian, i.e. the French word for every, all) |
| 21 | LOVELIES | Delightful examples: nothing is false here
LOVE (=nothing, i.e. zero score in tennis) + LIES (=is false, speaks untruthfully) |
| 23 | TOYSHOP | Nonsense about variable work – here’s a source of play
[Y (=variable, in algebra) in TOSH (=nonsense, drivel)] + OP. (=work, of music, opus) |
| 25 | DIVORCE | Very nasty creature brought in to finish legal separation
[V (=very) + ORC (=nasty creature)] in DIE (finish, come to an end) |
| 27 | OUTGROWTH | Extra bit of plant mutated in Trough Two
*(TROUGH TWO); “mutated” is anagram indicator |
| 28 | INPUT | Feed information to one crackpot seizing power
P (=power, in physics) in [I (=one) + NUT (=crackpot, crank)] |
| 29 | LONG | Some wood, including Northern pine
N (=Northern) in LOG (=some wood); to pine is to long for, yearn |
| 30 | BROWN-NOSER | Sycophant interrupting toasts with no hesitation
[NO in BROWNS (=toasts, e.g. bread, as verb here)] + ER (=hesitation) |
| Down | ||
| 01 | PALATABLE | Friend with a selection of food? It’s very tasty
PAL (=friend) + A + TABLE (=selection of food) |
| 02 | LATTICE | Network behind schedule receiving reduced credit
TIC<k> (=credit; “reduced” means last letter is dropped) in LATE (=behind schedule) |
| 03 | MANSE | Mother joining three for bridge in rectory?
MA (=mother) + N S E (=three for bridge, i.e. three of the four players, with only W missing) |
| 04 | SWANSONG | Pale young man in G&S upset – last performance?
[WAN (=pale) + SON (=young man)] in SG (G(&)S; “upset” indicates vertical reversal) |
| 05 | SUM UP | Recap more than half of music?
Cryptically, “sum” is more than half of the letters of “MUS<ic>, with “up” indicating a vertical reversal |
| 07 | ORIGAMI | Handicraft engaging a million in the beginning? Not entirely
[A + M (=million)] in ORIGI<n> (=beginning; “not entirely” means last letter is dropped) |
| 08 | YIELD | Produce that is left in yard
[I.E. (=that is, id est) + L (=left)] in YD (=yard, in addresses) |
| 09 | ESCALOPE | Thin meat? Reduced quantity served during flight
LO<t> (=quantity, batch; “reduced” means last letter is dropped) in ESCAPE (=flight, fleeing) |
| 15 | DRUTHERS | Dead routine for a woman? That’s the American preference
D (=dead) + RUT (=routine, as in to be in a rut) + HERS (=for a woman); “druthers” is a colloquial US word for choice, preference |
| 17 | GAS HEATER | Consumer pursuing opening to get contribution to housewarming?
GASH (=opening, as in flesh) + EATER (=consumer); the “housewarming” of the definition refers not to parties but to heating properties! |
| 18 | ROADSHOW | Staff’s methodology to secure area for promotional tour
A (=area) in [ROD (=staff, stick) + HOW (=methodology, as in to understand the how and why of …)] |
| 20 | TRY IT ON | Dressmaker’s encouragement to be audacious?
Cryptically, a dressmaker would encourage the customer to try it (=the dress) on! |
| 22 | IRRUPTS | Republican, beset by aggrieved purist, breaks in
R (=Republican) in *(PURIST); “aggrieved” is anagram indicator |
| 23 | TROLL | Amount to pay to get around river goblin
R (=river) in TOLL (=amount to pay) |
| 24 | POWER | Explosive with no d______ strength
(gun)POW<d>ER (=explosive; “with no d” means letter “d” is dropped) |
| 26 | V-SIGN | Very bad act gathering good indication of approval?
V (=very) + [G (=good) in SIN (=bad act, transgression)] |
I had a vague memory of PALIMPSEST from studying Baudelaire in my youth. I constructed DRUTHERS from the wordplay and was pleasantly surprIsed to see it was a real word. Great puzzle.
PeterT @1: “If I had my DRUTHERS” is the full phrase, derived from “I’d rather.” It’s sort of rustic and a bit dated, but yes, you still hear it.
Did nobody else notice the quotation “love lies bleeding” (Wordsworth and Swinburne) at 21 across and 14 across?
Not me. Well spotted Michael.
I hope all is well with my favourite setter, the theme being echoed in clues 4, 5 and 25
Stewart @5 – we had a positive 39th crossword from Pangakupu, Phi’s Guardian nom-de guerre, yesterday. I know love-lies-bleeding as a flower, not just a film and line from a poem.
Thank you to Phi and RatkojaRiku
Druthers seems beyond obscure, but all the rest ok. I assume there is a theme I don’t know or care about….
Isn’t it odd how one person’s never heard off is another’s doesn’t everyone know that. I’ve long known PALIMPSEST and I remember being at a science fiction award ceremony where two items up for awards had the word in their titles. Unfortunately, the MC didn’t know how to pronounce it. Whereas, it took me ages to get LOVELIES.
[I find it interesting that there’s a technical linguistic term to explain the origin of words like DRUTHERS: “metanalysis” — the mistaken (aural) apprehension of the boundary between words. “ewt” was the original term for the amphibian, so “an ewt” became “newt”. Likewise the Fool’s term of endearment for Lear: “Nuncle” from “mine uncle”.]
If you move into the field of crime writing you get some gloomier vocab. No one seems to have noticed the toyshop…
Ah, books by the English crime writer Edmund Crispin:
HOLY Disorders
The MOVING TOYSHOP
SWAN SONG
LOVE LIES BLEEDING
The LONG DIVORCE
The (G)[PA]LIMPSES[T] of the Moon
Maybe others?
To be fair, I hadn’t thought of g(limpses)! I just like the word PALIMPSEST.
Edmund Crispin was aka Bruce Montgomery whose Carry On film music popped up a few weeks ago.