A typical fun XELA offering, on Friday the Thirteenth.
FF: 9 DD: 7
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | TACIT |
Animal that may prowl around — it is silent (5)
|
| TAC ( reverse of CAT, animal that may prowl ) IT | ||
| 4 | PORTFOLIO |
Case of wine with fine mixture (9)
|
| PORT ( wine ) F ( fine ) OLIO ( mixture ) | ||
| 9 | AUSTRIA |
Country song featuring American artist at the end (7)
|
| ARIA ( song ) containing [ US ( american ) T ( artisT, last letter ) ] | ||
| 10 | ATTACHE |
Diplomat is endlessly offensive and extremely hostile (7)
|
| ATTACk ( offensive, without last letter ) HE ( HostilE, end letters of ) | ||
| 11 | HOI POLLOI |
One opinion survey in Ohio trashed ordinary citizens (3,6)
|
| [ I ( one ) POLL ( survey ) ] in [ OHIO ]* | ||
| 12 | LIANA |
Pin back a climbing plant (5)
|
| LIAN ( reverse of NAIL , pin ) A | ||
| 13 | LARGO |
Slow movement of large, mythical ship (5)
|
| L ( large ) ARGO ( mythical ship ) | ||
| 15 | TREASURED |
Cherished gift, almost certainly diamonds (9)
|
| TREAt ( gift, almost i.e. without last letter ) SURE ( certainly ) D ( diamonds ) | ||
| 17 | ENDEAVOUR |
Go tumbling over a dune (9)
|
| [ OVER A DUNE ]* | ||
| 20 | SYLPH |
Spirit ultimately dominates every local pub (5)
|
| S ( “..dominateS everY locaL..”, last letters of ) PH ( pub, public house ) | ||
| 21 | FALSE |
Not so free-spirited, and less socially exuberant to begin with (5)
|
| starting letters of “..Free-spirited And Less Socially Exuberant..” | ||
| 23 | SIDELIGHT |
Fish visible in small window (9)
|
| IDE ( fish ) in SLIGHT ( small ) | ||
| 25 | COMPARE |
Be as good as guy friend with no daughter (7)
|
| COMPAdRE ( guy friend, without D – daughter ) | ||
| 26 | LINCTUS |
Medicine reportedly associated with our group (7)
|
| sounds liked LINKED ( associated with ) US ( our group ) | ||
| 28 | STONE-DEAD |
Completely lifeless toad needs shifting (5-4)
|
| [ TOAD NEEDS ]* | ||
| 29 | RIDGE |
Journey taking in good Costa? (5)
|
| G ( good ) in RIDE ( journey ) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | TEA |
The first items of toiletries everybody always leaves in a bag? (3)
|
| starting letters of “..Toiletries Everbody Always..” | ||
| 2 | CASHIERED |
Dishonourably discharged head cries out (9)
|
| [ HEAD CRIES ]* | ||
| 3 | TORSO |
Trunk fastens in the middle… ish (5)
|
| T ( fasTens, middle letter ) OR SO ( …ish ) | ||
| 4 | PHABLET |
Tech device having enough power to block potentially harmful Trojans at the outset (7)
|
| ABLE ( having enough power ) in PHT ( starting letters of “..Potentially Harmful Trojans..” ) | ||
| 5 | REALISE |
Understand each line involved in ascent (7)
|
| [ EA ( each ) L ( line ) ] in RISE ( ascent ) | ||
| 6 | FATALISTS |
Rich groups of elite celebs — ones who believe in destiny (9)
|
| FAT ( rich ) A-LISTS ( group of elite celebs ) | ||
| 7 | LYCRA |
Piece of really crackly material (5)
|
| hidden in “..realLY CRAckly..” | ||
| 8 | OPEN AND SHUT |
Obvious thing laptops do (4-3-4)
|
| cryptic def | ||
| 11 | HALO EFFECTS |
Potential outcomes from certain cognitive biases could be off the scale (4,7)
|
| [ OFF THE SCALE ]* | ||
| 14 | ON AVERAGE |
After taking place, openly declare how old you are, typically (2,7)
|
| ON ( taking place ) AVER ( openly declare ) AGE ( how old you are ) | ||
| 16 | RELEGATED |
Banished supporter had admitted to tending to vote Republican (9)
|
| [ LEG ( supporter ) ATE ( had ) ] in RED ( tending to vote republican ) | ||
| 18 | OBSCENE |
Disgusting old book connected with chaotic spectacle (7)
|
| O ( old ) B ( book ) SCENE ( chaotic spectacle ) | ||
| 19 | RIDDLED |
Cooked on a hot plate, but not initially peppered (7)
|
| gRIDDLED ( cooked on a hot plate, without first letter ) | ||
| 22 | LIMBO |
Dance at a bar in state of oblivion (5)
|
| double def | ||
| 24 | LONER |
Recluse, single, in Lancaster on vacation (5)
|
| ONE ( single ) in LR ( LancasteR, on vacation i.e. without inner letters ) | ||
| 27 | SUE |
Is sure, from time to time, to make a legal claim (3)
|
| alternate letters of ( from time to time ) “iS sUrE..” |
I liked LYCRA, LONER, FATALISTS
Otherwise, I found it difficult to get on the setter’s wavelength and thought the puzzle a bit underwhelming. At least I now know what to ask for if I am in the UK with a cold.
Thanks Xela and Turbolegs
Tricky, but some good stuff. Liked tea and halo effects among others. Thanks both.
Only a few speed bumps — never heard of olio/mixture nor costa/ridge nor PHABLET (which I couldn’t parse). Otherwise enjoyable and nothing too taxing.
Things get riddled after being peppered, but no great worry. Smooth puzzle, ta both. Nho the hybrid phablet but easy enough to guess.
Thanks Xela and Turbolegs. This grid is at about the maximum of solver-friendliness, with no really isolated corners, and all answers more than 50% cross-checked including first and last letters.
19dn: I think this works best if you think of the past tense of transitive verbs. Chambers 2016 gives us pepper to pelt with shot etc (p 1146) and riddle to make full of holes like a riddle, as with shot (p 1340). It seems to me that the two verbs are describing the same action, just seen from different viewpoints.
I found this an enjoyable solve apart from 4d which I’d never heard of despite working in IT all my life!!!
A steady and enjoyable solve. We’d not heard of a PHABLET (not in Chambers or Collins and from what we read on Google the term is already obsolescent as phone screens get larger). For 11dn all we could think of was ‘Hall effect[s]’ and wondered what gognitive biases had to do with electromagnetism – d’oh! Apart from those, and not being ablr to parse 16dn no problems and we thought 1dn a great clue.
Thanks, Xela and Turbolegs
Same problem as some others (nho PHABLET or HALO EFFECTS) and I was surprised to learn that LIMBO could be a state of oblivion.
4dn: phablet is in (my copy of) Collins 2023 p 1494, and I have also just found it in Collins online, explained as a mixture of phone and tablet. The solver-friendly grid can cause problems for the setter with the grid fill, but PLAYLET would have fitted the space. Perhaps Xela did not think of it.
5dn: I meant to comment earlier on the way that Xela has selected wordplay here which forces the unchecked S in REALISE.
22dn: (Added in edit) According to SOED 2007 p 1603, the meaning of LIMBO as a state of oblivion dates from the 17th century and the dance from the 20th century. The two words appear to be of different origins, which I always think is good for a double definition.
I got most of this, but some by guessing. I have heard of a PHABLET but not for a long long time! For 11 down I jotted in “HALF EFFORTS”! without fully parsing. I guess I was describing myself! Have a great evening. Thank you All.
So PHABLET (4d) was a new word in the early 2010s, became common, then became obsolete by the late 2010s, and I never became acquainted with it. I guess I didn’t miss anything. It used to take a century or two for a word to go through this cycle, but now it takes less than a decade.