It’s Phi-day again!
This was an unexpectedly straightforward Phi puzzle today. We’ve hunted for a theme, but, unsurprisingly, can’t find one. We can’t help thinking that something must be going on by the inclusion of the Ecuadorean city at 20d, which we have never heard of. We did wonder whether Phi was trying to fill the grid with words with at least one ‘t’ in them – but there are four answers (including 20d) without a ‘t’ – so that’s a non-starter. Any thoughts out there?
PIN (security code) POINT (give directions)
T E (first and last letters or ‘start and end’ of time) in INN (pub) T (time)
An anagram (‘wavering’) of HESITANT US
A S (southern) + a reversal (‘recalled’) of IT (Italian)
STILE (‘steps’) round or ‘restraining’ F (France)
FLEE (get away) TIN (money) G (grand -$1000)
T (last letter or ‘term’ of student) HORNY (wanting sex)
AS (when) in A TEE (casual shirt)
An anagram (‘cocktail’) of GIN + RAINS (quantities of water)
I N (note) + a reversal (‘revolution’) of LATS (muscles)
TALLy (count) missing the last letter or ‘falling short’
ALL (everything) + dEVIATES (takes a new direction) missing or ‘ditching’ the first letter
SETTER (Phi) with the first three letters reversed or ‘half backed’
TERN (seabird) round RAP (strike) I (one)
T (tense) after NN (news) in LIE (story)
First letters or ‘starts’ of Occupy Pacific After Hurricane
ST (street – ‘way’) in or ‘blocking’ EIN EIN (articles in German – Schrödinger’s language)
R (river) in STAFFS (Staffordshire)
Fancifully, if you were to TIP TO E (east) you would ’tilt to from west’ Thanks Hovis
An anagram (‘reconstructing’) of PAST MASTER
N (number) in dISTANCE (mileage) missing or ‘ignoring’ the first or ‘initial’ letter
FLOOR (baffle) CLOTH (clergy)
TINT (shade) A GEL (hair application)
THE (article) round I (one) VERY (actual)
An anagram (‘fancy’) of TO SEAL I
I BAR (prevent) RA (artist) – we had to check this one!
A reversal (‘upset’) of CIA (spies) round or ‘snatching’ TEC (private eye)
AW (expression of sympathy) A Y (year)
Look at the ends and beginnings of the across answers…
So, is it International Repetition of Three Letters Day?
🙂
Thanks Andrew. We thought there must be something going on.
Spotted the repetitions. I assumed the ‘Formerly’ in 4d meant it’s an obsolete spelling of ‘strafe’ but Chambers just gives it as an alternative spelling.
B&J. You’ve put ‘tilt to west’ in 5d, the opposite of what is meant.
Phi is always a delight to attempt, even though I often have to reveal the last few. Loved TIPTOE and the great repetition device (not spotted of course – I hurried here to find out how to parse some of them), Thanks Phi and B&J
Thanks both. Not unduly difficult, although I made a meal of ENTHUSIAST having determined it could only begin with U or I. No amount of checking the apparently obvious STRAFFS confirmed it as an English word, however my German and Norwegian (from a low base) vocabulary has now improved.
I’m obviously being dense; please would someone spell out the nina/device for me?
Didn’t know STRAFFS or the Ecuadorian city. THORNY was my favourite, and also retrospectively TIPTOE which alas I failed to parse.
Thanks both
Oh I see it now. The final three letters of each across solution which starts in the first column are also the first three letters of each across solution which ends on the final column.
Had a slight query over the superfluous ‘in’ in 3D and of course didn’t see the 3-letter thing but that didn’t spoil enjoyment of a nice puzzle.
Thanks to Phi & BandJ
Good fun as usual for Phi; and I agree that this was on the gentler end of his spectrum. Both the town in Cornwall and the city in Ecuador were so clearly clued that I didn’t need aids for either geographic obscurity. I did Google a list of rivers in Staffordshire early on, before I saw what was going on with that one; I admit that I have never seen it spelled STRAFFS.
The PAST MASTER / STEAM TRAPS anagram was a nice spot.
I never spot Nina-type devices unless they’ve been signposted explicitly by the setter–probably because I never take a step back to look at the whole grid. (And at least on my phone, the Independent’s user interface makes seeing the whole grid impossible anyway…) Anyway, will try harder in future.
Relatively gentle for phi. As always didn’t spot the thing with the three letter repetition. Spelling of instal caught me, I assumed it was a horrible Americanism but seems like it’s a British variant!