This will be a normal Friday for Independent crossword solvers, as we have a puzzle from Phi to enjoy.
There was one new word for me this week. COSMORAMAS is not a word I have come across before. I expect the only place I will come across it again will be in a crossword.
I struggled a bit with the parsing of BACKTRACK and am still not sure whether I have the right idea or not. I look forward to other solvers offering a better interpretation than mine.
I’m a sucker for wordplay with lots of component parts, so ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM was one of my favourites this week with six components.
There are a couple of references to Oxford and three items of food and drink, but there doesn’t seem to be a dominant theme.
The grid seemed to be heading for a pangram, but there isn’t an X.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Recap finding uranium in reservoir (3,2)
SUM UP (summarise or recap the main points of a meeting or evidence, for example) U (chemical symbol for uranium) contained in (in) SUMP (a reservoir for liquid) SUM (U) P |
| 4 | Take another look: it’s not exactly Air on a G String? (9)
BACKTRACK (go back, perhaps to take another look to decide whether your original opinion was correct) BACKTRACK – I’m not sure what is going on with the wordplay here. If I consider TRACK as a piece of music [air?] on an album, I suppose a BACK TRACK relates to music about the rear of the torso [BACK] rather than to anything near a G-string, a skimpy piece of clothing. BACK TRACK |
| 9 | Causes male to abandon slippers, leaving nothing in them? (9)
OCCASIONS (reasons or causes to do or be something) mOCCASINS (slippers) excluding (to abandon) the M (male) and containing (leaving in) O (character representing zero or nothing) OCCASI (O) NS |
| 10 | Old man turned and concealed garden pest (5)
APHID (a garden pest which sucks juice from plants) PA (father; old man) reversed (turned) + HID (concealed) AP< HID |
| 11 | Item for bathroom and toilet getting fine expression of approval (6)
LOOFAH (the fibrous network of a tropical plant, used as a hard, rough sponge. Item for the bathroom) LOO (toilet) + F (fine) + AH (an expression of pleasure or approval) LOO F AH |
| 12 | Operate election involving the Church? That’s where things will come home to roost (8)
DOVECOTE (a small building or structure in which pigeons breed or come home to roost) DO (operate [?]) + (VOTE [election] containing [involving] EC [Established Church]) DO V (EC) OTE |
| 14 | Place brewing the café-au-lait – or something stronger? (7,6)
CHATEAU LAFITE (upmarket red wine from a vineyard [place] of the same name; something strong than cafe-au-lait) Anagram of (brewing) THE CAFE AU-LAIT CHATEAU LAFITE* |
| 17 | Turned my back in shame, wearing briefs – they’re rather short (13)
UNDERPAYMENT (payments that are less than [short] of the correct value) (MY reversed [turned] + E (last letter of [back in] shamE) contained in (wearing) UNDERPANTS (briefs) UNDERPA (YM< E) NTS |
| 19 | Not out there and not empty – that’s only natural (8)
INHERENT (intrinsic; natural) IN HERE (notg out there) + NT (letters remaining in NoT when the central letter O is removed [empty]) IN HERE NT |
| 20 | Expensive car: BMW s agreed with British newspaper (not half) (6)
JAGUAR (expensive car) JA (German [BMW] word for yes or agreed) + GUARdian (British newspaper) excluding (not) the second 4 of 8 [half] letters) JA GUAR |
| 23 | A lot of team having the same set of beliefs (5)
CREDO (set of beliefs) CREw (team) excluding the final letter (a lot of) + DO (ditto; the same) CRE DO |
| 24 | Steps in, shaken, to limit new English incompetence (9)
INEPTNESS (incompetence) Anagram of (shaken) STEPS IN containing (to limit) (N [new] + E [English]) I (N E) PTNESS* |
| 25 | Hypocritical, I note, following religious education (9)
INSINCERE (hypocritical) I + N (note) + SINCE (after; following) + RE (Religious Education) I N SINCE RE |
| 26 | Acted the part of Oscar in small role (5)
CAMEO (a small role in a play or film) CAME (‘acted the part’ as in ‘he came to the fancy dress party as a ghost’; he acted the part of a ghost) + O (Oscar is the international radio communication codeword for the letter O) CAME O |
| Down | |
| 1 | Spike pursuing that woman carrying old Oxford tie? (8)
SHOELACE (an Oxford is a low-heeled SHOE, so a SHOELACE serves to make it tight on the foot) (SHE [that woman] containing [carrying] O [old]) + LACE (to spike food or drink with alcohol or drugs) SH (O) E LACE |
| 2 | Chances of hummus being dished up? About the same (4,2,1,8)
MUCH OF A MUCHNESS (very similar; about the same) Anagram of (being dished up) CHANCES OF HUMMUS MUCH OF A MUCHNESS* |
| 3 | Italian ingredient: former essential component of meals (5)
PASTA (an ingredient of many Italian meals PAST (former) + A (middle letter of [essential component] meAls) PAST A |
| 4 | Openings for blackmail one’s agreed record of gambling (4)
BOOK (a record of the bets made on a horse race or other event) BO (first letters of [openings for] each of Blackmail and One) + OK (okay; agreed) B O OK |
| 5 | Views of the world military bosses and soldiers cracking dams? (10)
COSMORAMAS (a view, or a series of views, of different parts of the world, using mirrors) COS (Commanding Officers; military bosses) + (OR [other ranks; soldiers] contained in [cracking] MAMAS [mothers; dams]) COS M (OR) AMAS |
| 6 | Figure corporation should receive a prize for corruption (9)
TRAPEZIUM (four-sided geometric figure with two parallel sides of unequal lengths) TUM (stomach; corporation) containing (should receive) an anagram of (for corruption) A PRIZE T (RAPEZI*) UM |
| 7 | Oxford establishment remains, spy getting a new source of inspiration with little hesitation (9,6)
ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM (located in Oxford, the ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM was the first public museum in Britain) ASH (remains) + MOLE (spy) + A + N (new) + MUSE (source of inspiration) + UM (expression of a little hesitation) ASH MOLE A N MUSE UM |
| 8 | I’d touch of nephritis in vital organ (6)
KIDNEY (an organ of the body) (I’D + N [first letter of {touch of} Nephritis]) contained in (in) KEY (vital) K (ID N) EY |
| 13 | Artist adopted by fashion designer in Spain in state of isolation (10)
QUARANTINE (a state of enforced isolation) (RA [Royal Academician; artist] contained in [adopted by] QUANT [reference Mary QUANT {1930 – 2023}, British fashion designer]) + IN+ E (international vehicle registration for Spain) QUA (RA) NT IN E |
| 15 | Cover that is inverted, turning red and blue (9)
EIDERDOWN (cover for a bed) I.E. (id est; that is) reversed (inverted; down entry) + RED reversed (turning) + DOWN (sad; blue) EI< DER< DOWN |
| 16 | French are to urge end of Americano – in favour of this? (8)
ESPRESSO (another type of coffee drink, one different from an Americano) ES (French for ‘are’) + PRESS (urge) + O (final letter of [end of] americanO) ES PRESS O |
| 18 | Korean cuisine: I’m mostly smart going to capital of Korea (6)
KIMCHI (spicy Korean dish made with a variety of raw vegetables, especially cabbage, radish, cucumber, garlic, ginger, etc.; an example of Korean cuisine) K (first letter of [capital of] Korea) + I‘M + CHIc (smart) excluding the final letter C (mostly) K IM CHI |
| 21 | Airport management keeping it soaring in high-level place (5)
ATTIC (space within the roof of a house; high-level place) ATC (Air Traffic Control; aircraft management) containing (keeping) IT reversed (soaring; down entry) AT (TI<) C |
| 22 | Enthusiastic student’s cry that travels widely? (4)
MEME (an image or video that is spread widely on the internet, often altered by internet users for humorous effect) ME! ME! (the cry of an enthusiastic student to attract the teacher’s attention) ME ME |
“Bach” Track was my best guess
This was a tricky one, as you’d expect from Phi on a Friday. For BACKTRACK, I’m guessing it’s not exactly a Bach track – Bach having written Air on a G String. But I liked your inventive interpretation! Not sure whether there’s something Inspector Morse-y going on, with the Oxford references and JAGUAR, but I’m far from an expert on it, so probably not.
Thanks Phi and duncanshiell.
(Ah, beaten to it by E.N.Boll&!)
Comment #3
Add me to the ‘not exactly Bach track’ camp. Someone on the Guardian’s own site of all places highlighted that there was a Phi clue with over 70 possible answers: I am guessing it was MEME which I ended up revealing. Very tricky – I can certainly envisage the enthusiastic student seeking attention when looking at it in hindsight but I was nowhere near spotting that when solving.
Thanks both
Wonder if moccasin is the only word on earth that is both a shoe and a snake (occasion was the answer in an earlier puzzle, also an Indy I think, in which moccasin was clued as pit viper).
I liked BACKTRACK, ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM and MEME, but needed help with COSMORAMAS, forgetting that meaning of dams and not knowing the word.
moh@2 and duncan: I have a very unfair advantage, I live on a Greek island…so I have a 2 hour head start on everyone else.
I’ll fess up, the Bach element was elusive, (over 10 minutes), because I pronounce it “bark”.
MOH wins in a fair race.
It’s one of Phi’s best puzzles, I think, just about everything you could cram into one crossword.
A bit like a Greek soup.
MEME. loved it. Though I was fixated on “KEEN”, then “Me Sir, Me Sir!”.
Superb from Phi and duncan
Colin Dexter often had a Hitchcock like cameo in Morse.
OMG no! Going daft! It wasn’t from the archive, it was in today’s Guardian …
Gif@9 I was going to say it was a coincidence, but I wanted to avoid a spoiler.
No theme today. Sometimes it’s necessary to change a word or two in a puzzle for various reasons and the clues are already written, and you don’t want to discard them, do you? And sometimes clues just come to mind without an immediate puzzle to use them in. Every so often I just cull a few off those lists to start a grid.
I always get disappointed when a puzzle is almost a pangram (or as I like to call them a ‘pangra’!) but it was still the usual greatness I expect from our regular Friday setter
There were 2 NHOs for me – COSMORAMAS and CHATEAU LAFITE. I worked out the CHATEAU straightaway when I saw ‘place’ but couldn’t get the second word (btw I always think of ‘Allo ‘Allo when I hear the word CHATEAU)
I agree with the other commenters that BACKTRACK is playing on ‘Bach track’
I’d never seen EC as an abbreviation for church but I was fairly confident DOVECOTE was right. I could only think that it was CE reversed but there was no reversal indicator, so I’m glad the blog has cleared that up
Thanks Duncan and Phi
Thanks both. Some inventive clues here, too much so in a couple of cases for me, including BACKTRACK where I should have remembered nearly missing out on a radio phone-in prize having pronounced Bachman Turner Overdrive the English way referenced @7. MEME is clever on reflection but I was never likely to recognise the meagre (no mention of anything cultural) definition – I’d argue a meme spreads more than it travels, a little like myself these days.