Phi’s first Independent puzzle of 2026 appears on his usual publication day of Friday, so all’s well with the world.
It looks like there is something linking a couple of entries with some words appearing in the unchecked letters. We have STARRY at 5 down and SEA BAT at 23 down, plus BATFISH in the unchecked letters in the bottom row, PIZZA down the first column and MINI across row 7. A bit of research tells me that there are a STARRY SEA BAT and a MINIPIZZA BATFISH somewhere in the oceans. I can’t find any more connections, but someone with better knowledge of marine life may be able to identify additional thematic material.
BRINDISI as a drinking song is a new word to me. It appears in Chambers, but not in Collins or the Oxford English Dictionary.
The crossword is a pangram with at least one occurrence of every letter of the alphabet in the grid.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 8 | Shakespearean legal expert left one amazed at the outset (6)
PORTIA (character in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice who disguises herself as a male lawyer and presents legal arguments against Shylock’s claim for a pound of flesh; Shakespearean legal expert) PORT (left) + I (Roman numeral for one) + A (first letter of [at the outset] Amazed) PORT I A |
| 9 | A measure of power depicted by the water of the French painter (7)
WATTEAU (reference Jean-Antoine WATTEAU [1684 – 1721], French painter) WATT (a unit [measure] of power) + EAU (French word for ‘water’; water of the French) WATT EAU |
| 10 | Very taken by entirely overlooking duplication (4)
INTO (informal term meaning interested or enthusiastic about; very taken by) IN TOto (completely) excluding the second occurrence [duplication] of TO IN TO |
| 11 | Not here, circling planet, taking everything in? (9)
ABSORBENT (taking everything in) ABSENT (not here) containing (circling) ORB (celestial body such as a planet) ABS (ORB) ENT |
| 12 | Uncountable numbers backing Elizabeth to lead rugby team (8)
ZILLIONS (extremely large but unspecified numbers; uncountable numbers) LIZ (Elizabeth) reversed (backing) + LIONS (reference the British LIONS Rugby Union team) ZIL< LIONS |
| 14 | Concern about a regressive plant (6)
YARROW (strong-scented plant) (WORRY [concern] containing [about] A) all reversed (regressive) (Y (A) RROW)< |
| 15 | Philosopher recalled core of puzzle? Not half! (4)
ZENO (reference ZENO of Elea [490 – 420 BCE], Greek philosopher) ONE Z (the central letters [core] of puZZle are ZZ. The clue tells us to exclude one of the two [not half) thus leaving ONE Z) reversed (recalled) (Z ENO)< |
| 17 | US nerd, dumb, heartless, taking the piss? (5)
DWEEB (US derogatory slang for a nerd) DumB excluding the central letters um (heartless) containing (taking) WEE (urine; the piss) D (WEE) B |
| 19 | Copper following, bringing restraint (4)
CUFF (a handCUFF; a restraint) CU (chemical symbol for copper) + FF (following [pages, lines etc]) CU FF |
| 21 | Lots of people initially ignored special measure (6)
ASSESS (estimate; evaluate; measure) mASSES (lots of people) excluding the first letter (initially ignored) M + S (special) ASSES S |
| 24 | Storage for blades US fort deployed around start of month (5-3)
KNIFE-BOX (storage BOX for KNIVES [blades]) KNOX (reference the American Fort KNOX, name of a military base and the location of US Bullion Depository) containing (deployed around) I FEB [1st February, start of month) KN (I FE B] OX |
| 26 | Quiet minister felt bad but took control (9)
PREVAILED (gained mastery; took control) P (piano; quiet) + REV (REVerend; minister) + AILED (felt bad) P REV AILED |
| 28 | Former King stabbing Old English monster (4)
OGRE (monster) GR (Georgius Rex; King George; former King) contained in (stabbing) OE (Old English) O (GR) E |
| 29 | Speed round reversing vehicle in competitive situation (3,4)
RAT RACE (continual round of hectic and futile activity; the scramble to get on in the world by fair means or foul; competitive situation) RATE (speed) containing (round) CAR (vehicle) reversed (reversing) RAT (RAC<) E |
| 30 | Put down fruit drink (6)
SQUASH (suppress; put down) SQUASH (fruit drink) double definition SQUASH |
| Down | |
| 1 | Blue magazine from US for when there’s no work doable (8)
DOWNTIME (a period when work is halted, due to equipment failure, lack of materials, bad weather, etc; when there’s no work doable) DOWN (sad; blue) + TIME (US news magazine) DOWN TIME |
| 2 | Stone to fail to gather moss – even at this pace? (6)
STROLL (a leisurely pace) ST (stone) + ROLL (reference the phrase ‘a rolling stone gathers no moss’) ST ROLL |
| 3 | Extremely anxious Pastor hurried over, brought in help (8)
PARANOID (exhibiting undue suspicion; extremely anxious) P (pastor) + (AID [help] containing [brought in] [RAN {hurried} + O {over}]) P A (RAN O) ID |
| 4 | Sheep initially led away from Sussex town (4)
EWES (female sheep) LEWES (Sussex town) excluding the first letter L (initially led away) EWES |
| 5 | Wait to follow soprano with lots of celebrities (6)
STARRY (with lots of stars [celebrities]) S (soprano) + TARRY (wait) S TARRY |
| 6 | Turned up source of cod roe eaten by couple in a flash? (8)
METEORIC (like a METEOR in brilliance, speed or transience; in a flash) (C [first letter of {source of} Cod] + [ROE contained in {eaten by} ITEM {a couple}]) all reversed (turned up; down entry) (MET (EOR) I C)< |
| 7 | Description of classic children’s stories is exactly right (4,2)
JUST SO (exactly right) JUST SO (reference the JUST SO Stories [a 1902 collection of origin stories by the British author Rudyard Kipling {1865 – 1936}]) double definition JUST SO |
| 13 | Underhand, dodgy character promoting energy (5)
SNEAK ([an] underhand[person]) SNAKE (deceitful or treacherous person [dodgy character]) with the E [energy] moved two characters up [promoting] this down entry to form SNEAK) SNEAK |
| 16 | Love bold cheers around English work by Gilbert and Sullivan? (8)
OPERETTA (a type of work often written by Gilbert and Sullivan) O (character representing zero [love score in tennis]) + (PERT [forward or impudent; bold] containing [around] E [English]) + TA (thank you; cheers) O PER (E) T TA |
| 18 | Drunken bird is enthralling in drinking song (8)
BRINDISI (drinking song – definition in Chambers) Anagram of (drunken) BIRD IS containing (enthralling) IN BR (IN) DISI* |
| 20 | Rather like meal’s splendour (8)
FLOURISH (showy splendour) FLOUR (meal) + –ISH (suffix indicating ‘[rather] like or similar to’) FLOUR ISH |
| 22 | Magnificent bird released from US sporting event (6)
SUPERB (magnificent) SUPERBowl (sporting event at the end of the American football season) excluding (released from) OWL (a bird) SUPERB |
| 23 | Fish with fins sailor placed in chair (3,3)
SEA BAT (a name for various fish with long or outspread fins) AB (Able Seaman) contained in (placed in) SEAT (chair) SE (A B) AT |
| 25 | Kinky sex with duo? A large number leaving (6)
EXODUS (reference the departure of the Israelites from Egypt; a large number leaving) Anagram of (kinky) SEX and DUO EXODUS* |
| 27 | Fine to follow story willingly (though less so these days) (4)
LIEF (an archaic word for [though less so these days] ‘willing’) LIE (fiction; story) + F (follow) LIE F |
To be honest, once you’ve seen this (https://www.tonywublog.com/journal/mini-pizza-batfish-halieutaea-stellata) could you resist giving it a spot in a crossword?
Batfish, handfish, seabat: all seem more or less the same thing.
An amazing fish! And a lovely way to start the Phi year.