Phi continues to produce nice Friday crosswords. He is always a bit tricky to get started on, then once one is going it all falls into place fairly quickly. The sign of good clue-writing.
My only slight doubt in this crossword is with his attempts at &lits. They don’t always seem to work properly. No doubt someone will enlighten me.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | SOP/HIS/TIC/ATE — so far as I can see there is nothing special about these words apart from the fact that the twelve-letter word can be split into four three-letter words — Phi in SOS, tic [= reaction] ate [= worried] |
| 3 | PUSH THROUGH — Pusht{o} h rough — Pushto is an official language of Afghanistan |
| 9 | ASTIR — stair with the a moved to the front |
| 10 | {g}REEN TRIES |
| 11 | EMERITI — (I tire me)rev. |
| 12 | AIRS HIP |
| 14 | ANIMAL HUSBANDRY — (ruins a handy lamb)* — just about an &lit. although the word ‘handy’ doesn’t seem to have much to do with animal husbandry |
| 16 | ANGEL OF THE NORTH — an gel often around H{ammerfest} (Thor)* — another one that comes close to being an &lit. |
| 19 | ELECTOR — I’m not absolutely sure here, but I think it’s (rote around cel{luloid})rev. |
| 21 | S ERR(1)ED |
| 22 | ASSOCIATE — (co’s)rev. in Asia t{alented} E |
| 23 | ARIEL — (Lei(r)a)rev. — Princess Leia, and The Little Mermaid of 1989 |
| 24 | EMERALD ISLE — (Eire lads l{iking} me)* — although beyond this I really can’t see what’s going on: it seems the definition may be simply Eire, which is known as the Emerald Isle, but the clue looks as if it’s an &lit., and I can see no connection to lads and liking etc |
| Down | |
| 1 | ST AGE(MAN)AGE — st for quiet is something I associate more with Azed crosswords, but it’s there in Chambers |
| 2 | P {m}ATTERING |
| 3 | PART (IT) A |
| 4 | STRAIGHTFORWARD — (art)rev in ‘sight for ward’, a fanciful description of hospital observation |
| 5 | THE CAT’S WHISKERS — 2 defs |
| 6 | ROTORUA — (au rotor)rev. |
| 7 | URIAH — U{nitarian} (hair)rev. |
| 13 | PSYCHEDELIC — (Phi’s cycled)* round E |
| 15 | DAR(WIN IS)T |
| 17 | LETICIA — {nam}e in (italic)* |
| 18 | streET ARRANgement — hidden rev., a good one because it was one of my last in |
| 20 | ENSU{{retaile}r}E |
I enjoyed this puzzle once I got into it.
I actually thought the anagrams at 14ac and 24ac were clever.
Andy I had no complaint with the anagrams, which were, I agree, very nice. It just seemed that the clues were trying to be &lits but I couldn’t quite see how this worked.
Thanks, John. I think the definition in 24A is just ‘me’ with the whole clue having an &lit touch.
John, I agree with your parsing of 24ac but the clue is a little odd in that ‘Eire’ is both the definition and part of the anagram fodder. Call it &lit-ish, maybe.
5dn brought back memories of dabbling in radio as a youngster (longer ago than I care to admit). I did eventually manage to pick up just one station with a crystal radio.
An enjoyable crossword despite minor quibbles. Thanks, Phi and John
Am I the only one who wondered if there was another type of music called PARTA, THE CATS WHISKERS took quite a while to tune into.
Thanks John and Phi
I too wondered if there was more to SOPHISTICATE than meets the eye – maybe it’s just one of the few 12-letter words that can be broken down into four components.
Enjoyable puzzle from Phi as always. Thanks to John for blogging.
Thanks Phi for an enjoyable puzzle and John for the blog. My take on the “& lit”s:
14ac I would call a complete “& lit”. All of “This, if misapplied” can be the anagram lead and the rest the anagram fodder, and every word is relevant to the definition, with a bit of licence in the case of “handy”. Interesting that the anagram is completely different from the one used by Loroso/Anax in the FT yesterday.
16ac I would not call “& lit” at all. The word “Statue” forms no part of the wordplay and is a sufficient definition. Not much of the rest of the wordplay is relevant to the definition either.
24ac again I would call a complete “& lit”. There is no doubt that every word is essential to the wordplay, and the whole clue can also be taken as a definition, with “me” representing the answer (as noted by nms @3). However, it is perhaps a blemish that “Eire” would also work as a definition (as noted by others).
Further to 7 re 24ac: On reflection, “Eire” does not work as a definition, because it refers to only part of the Emerald Isle, so in my book this is an unblemished complete “& lit”.
While I am back in, I should point out that 18dn is the type of hidden reversal where a vertical reversal indicator is appropriate in a down clue, as compared to others on which I have commented at various times. As always, I have no quarrel with those who are note bothered by such niceties of cluing.
Re#8, Éire means Ireland in the Gaelic (Irish) language, so it would be the Emerald Isle all right. Its usage for a period (esp from about 1938) to describe the country which started out as the Irish Free State, and is now more commonly referred to as the Republic of Ireland, muddies the waters a bit. Don’t see inclusion of Éire as a weakness in the clue TBH.
This was great fun, so thanks, Phi, and to John for the blog.
It’s odd, John, that 18dn was my first in. Saw it immediately.
19ac, I took it as “cel” meaning a piece of transparent film, but that’s just an abbreviation of celluloid, so the same thing, I suppose.
It’s all Mac Murchada’s fault, I expect.