Our ever-reliable Phiday setter is here again.
A good range of clues with only a few obscurities, mostly guessable: I’m sure I’ve heard of 5d although I wouldn’t be able to say what it was, and the wording of 24a suggests that it might be a legal term (which indeed it is). I’ve seen “Cambridge University” in crosswords enough times that I really ought to remember it’s more likely to be MIT than (from my own experience) CU. Lots of good clues here but I think my favourite is 13d for the surface image.
Those of us with a classical music background could probably spot today’s theme fairly quickly: the first two across solutions rang a bell for me, and a couple more entries confirmed it. Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, written in 1936 for narrator and orchestra, tells a Russian story for children in which the characters are represented by themes played on specific instruments: the young boy PETER = STRINGS, his GRANDFATHER = BASSOON, a CAT = CLARINET, and a DUCK = OBOE. There’s also a wolf (obviously), a bird and some hunters, who don’t appear here; the BAGPIPER seems to be a red herring, but allows the setter to mislead us into thinking we’re just looking for wind instruments and their players. Thanks Phi for the fun.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | CAT |
Whip Australian into court (3)
|
| A (abbreviation for Australian) inserted into CT (abbreviation for court, especially on streetmaps).
Short for “cat o’ nine tails” = a whip formerly used for punishments in the Royal Navy. |
||
| 3 | GRANDFATHER |
Old man to understand about rupees and francs (11)
|
| GATHER (to understand from information provided, as in “I gather you’re not well”), around R (abbreviation for rupees) + AND (from clue text) + F (abbreviation for francs). | ||
| 9 | MAIZE |
A choice of ways forward when bringing in one crop (5)
|
| MAZE (puzzle providing multiple routes = a choice of ways forward), containing I (one in Roman numerals). | ||
| 10 | MISGUIDED |
Ill-advised mug died horribly, touring island (9)
|
| Anagram (horribly) of MUG DIED, around IS (abbreviation for island). | ||
| 11 | DUCK |
Have nothing to do with love (4)
|
| Double definition. To avoid, as in “to duck the question”; or a score of zero (which is called a duck in cricket, or love in tennis). | ||
| 12 | STRIPTEASE |
Burlesque act – parties set to be enlivened (10)
|
| Anagram (enlivened) of PARTIES SET. | ||
| 14 | CLIP-ON |
Against fastening on edge, like some earrings? (4-2)
|
| CON (against, as in “pros and cons” = arguments for and against), containing (fastening on) LIP (the edge of a container). | ||
| 15 | CLARINET |
Wind-player popular when in drink (8)
|
| IN (slang for fashionable = popular) inserted into CLARET (Bordeaux wine = a drink).
In musical terminology, either the wind instrument or the person who plays it. |
||
| 17 | BAGPIPER |
Good quantity of wine in pub for wind-player (8)
|
| G (abbreviation for good) + PIPE (a large wine-cask or the quantity of liquid it contains), inserted into BAR (pub = drinking establishment). | ||
| 19 | JUICES |
Drinks almost all of pitcher and gets cold (6)
|
| JU[g] (pitcher) without the last letter (almost all of . . .), then ICES (as a verb, freezes = gets cold). | ||
| 22 | SEPULCHRAL |
Gloomy cellar – push for redecoration (10)
|
| Anagram (for redecoration) of CELLAR PUSH. | ||
| 24 | USER |
University series providing enjoyment of right (4)
|
| U (abbreviation for university) + SER (abbreviation for series).
Legal term for the continuing right to benefit from something, especially property. |
||
| 26 | OSTRACISE |
Cut off very large signal? Is blocking that (9)
|
| OS (abbreviation for outsize = very large) + TRACE (a signal, for example one picked up by radar), with IS (from clue text) inserted (blocking). | ||
| 27 | BRAIN |
Most of border invaded by American intelligence (5)
|
| BRIN[k] (border) without the last letter (most of . . .), containing A (abbreviation for American). | ||
| 28 | NURSING HOME |
Carol’s husband among our men treated in hospice (7,4)
|
| SING (carol, as a verb) + H (abbreviation for husband), inserted into (among) an anagram (treated) of OUR MEN. | ||
| 29 | YES |
Detectives heading off? Agreed (3)
|
| [e]YES (as in private eyes = detectives), without the first letter (heading). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | COMEDIC |
Funny to arrive and risk missing end of game (7)
|
| COME (to arrive) + DIC[e] (as a verb, as in “to dice with death” = to take a risk), without the final E which is the end letter of [gam]E. | ||
| 2 | TWITCHING |
Tense description of midnight activity of bird-watchers (9)
|
| T (abbreviation for tense) + WITCHING (as in “the witching hour” = midnight).
Slang for the pastime of bird-watching. |
||
| 3 | GLEE |
Wind, Eastern, expressing a sort of air (4)
|
| G[a]LE (a strong wind) + E (abbreviation for eastern), removing (expressing = pushing out) the A. | ||
| 4 | ADMITS |
Takes responsibility for posters put around Cambridge University (6)
|
| ADS (short for advertisements = posters) around MIT (abbreviation for Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which is a university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US). | ||
| 5 | DE STIJL |
Dada-inspired movement of French – this is just loony at the outset (2,5)
|
| DES (a form of the French word for “of”) + initial letters (at the outset) of T[his] I[s] J[ust] L[oony].
Early 20th century Dutch abstract art movement. |
||
| 6 | ADULTEROUS |
Attracted by wife-swapping? Naughtily aroused – and ultimately participating! (10)
|
| Anagram (naughtily) of AROUSED, with ULT (abbreviation for ultimately) contained in it (participating). | ||
| 7 | HYDRA |
Monster – English writer almost entirely upset (5)
|
| The English writer Thomas HARDY, with all but the first letter (almost entirely) reversed (upset = upwards in a down clue).
In Greek mythology, a many-headed serpent. |
||
| 8 | RED HEAT |
Poorly earthed – rather high temperature (3,4)
|
| Anagram (poorly) of EARTHED. | ||
| 13 | MODIGLIANI |
Italian painter floundering amid oil and gin (10)
|
| Anagram (floundering) of AMID OIL + GIN.
Amedeo Modigliani, Italian artist working in Paris in the early 20th century. I’m not sure about gin specifically, but it seems he did have a drink problem. |
||
| 15 | CAR |
Attachment to airship – concern with end dropping off (3)
|
| CAR[e] (concern) without the end letter.
A rather obscure definition: the passenger compartment attached to an airship is otherwise known as a gondola. |
||
| 16 | NECESSARY |
Obligatory rise in desire, receiving moving caress (9)
|
| YEN (desire, as in “having a yen for travel”) reversed (rise in . . . = upwards in a down clue), containing an anagram (moving) of CARESS. | ||
| 17 | BASSOON |
Wind-player’s a fool, opening gift (7)
|
| ASS (a fool), inserted into (opening) BOON (a gift or something beneficial).
In musical terminology, either the wind instrument or the person who plays it. |
||
| 18 | ECHOING |
Resonant house in city in Gabon (7)
|
| HO (abbreviation for house, especially in streetmaps), inserted into EC (postcode of the East Central London area known as “The City”) + IN (from clue text) + G (International Vehicle Registration code for Gabon). | ||
| 20 | STRINGS |
Police operations involving Republican? They’re pulled by those in power (7)
|
| STINGS (police operations to trick criminals into being captured) containing R (abbreviation for Republican).
Pulling the strings = metaphorical expression for controlling events, especially by someone who isn’t an obvious authority figure. |
||
| 21 | GAZEBO |
Garden feature? Regard common garden shrub being trimmed (6)
|
| GAZE (regard = to look steadily at something) + BO[x] (a shrub commonly used for garden hedges) without the last letter (being trimmed).
A pavilion in a garden or park. |
||
| 23 | PETER |
Early religious leader’s time imprisoned by Lord (5)
|
| T (abbreviation for time) contained in PEER (Lord = a member of the aristocracy).
Peter, disciple of Jesus and leader in the early church. |
||
| 25 | OBOE |
Tramps uncovered organ stop (4)
|
| [h]OBOE[s] (plural of hobo = tramp) without the outer letters (uncovered).
An organ stop that attempts to imitate the sound of an oboe. |
Phi always gives me a pleasing start to Friday. My limited knowledge of art includes MODIGLIANI but not DE STIJL, although it was guessable. I wasted time on 6 looking for an anagram of ‘naughtily’ + g (‘ultimately participating’). Another interpretation of 11 is that ‘love’ and ‘duck’ are also both terms of endearment, though I think the sporting link is the one Phi intended. The theme reminds me that I used to have a copy of Peter and the Wolf on green vinyl with narration by David Bowie. Thanks, Phi and Quirister.
My interpretation of love/duck was the opposite of that expressed by Quizzy Bob in that I thought the terms of endearment were Phi’s intention. Although ‘love’ and ‘duck’ both refer to ‘zero’, they are in different sports so I don’t like equating the two.
Interesting that “duck” and “love” are synonyms in two different ways, and for different reasons. For the no-score sense, both are egg-related: duck’s egg, and French l’oeuf (though there is some question about the latter).
I knew DE STIJL only because it’s also the title of a White Stripes album. (An early one, from before they hit the mainstream.)
I missed the Peter and the Wolf thing entirely, thinking all the time that the very obvious wind instrument theme (what you’re left with in that case) was a little too obvious for Phi. In my defense, I last attended a performance of Peter and the Wolf when I was in the target audience, and my school orchestra never played it, so it’s been rather a long time. Ah well. Thanks to Phi for the fun.