Independent 8781 / Phi

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Another Phiday! We found this a bit trickier than usual, but none the worse for that. As usual, great clueing and a good mix of clue types.

1ac had us puzzled as we had never heard of the phrase – we would say that we were sleeping like a log not a top. When we had a look on the internet it appears that you have to imagine a top spinning so fast that it looks as if it is not moving. When you are asleep you may seem still but there’s a lot going on to keep you alive! Or, it could be a mistranslation from the Italian ‘topo’ meaning mouse. Take your pick.

We can’t see a theme or a nina, but that definitely doesn’t mean there isn’t one!

Across
1   Take a spin when going out?
SLEEP LIKE A TOP Cryptic definition – ‘going out’ meaning ‘sleeping’
8   Fool curtailed meal, coming round when it’s eaten?
LUNATIC LUNCh (meal) with the last letter omitted or ‘curtailed’ round AT 1 (when lunch tends to be eaten)
9   Foremost of two-timers or rat, I fancy
TRAITOR Another cryptic definition – an anagram of T (first letter or ‘foremost’ of Two-timers) and OR RAT I – anagrind is ‘fancy’
11   Father to have a threatening look
FROWN FR (father) + OWN (have)
12   Unresolved, central character taking lead, becoming more intense
DEEPENING It took us a while to tumble to this one, but we think it is: PENDING (unresolved) with the D (central character) expanded to DEE and moved to the front, or ‘taking the lead’. We’re not really convinced about substituting DEE for ‘D’ without any further indication of the change – any thoughts out there?
14   Story about spirited Liberal abandoning one sort of behaviour
LIFESTYLE LIE (story) around FEiSTY (spirited, with the ‘i’ (one) omitted or ‘abandoned’) L (Liberal)
15   Energy escape is something attracting attention
EVENT E (energy) + VENT (escape)
16   UK territory’s mistake about Queen? Nonsense
GIBBERISH GIB (Gibraltar – UK territory) + BISH (mistake) round ER (Queen)
19   End of sonnet material
LINEN A sonnet has 14 fourteen lines, so if the first is Line A, the last will be LINE N
21   Song that’s penned about horse?
AIRER AIR (song) around or ‘penning’ RE (about)
22   Barber’s a great many over to test getting trimmed on top
TONSORIAL TONS (a great many) + O (over) + tRIAL (test) without the first letter, or ‘trimmed on top’
23   United in glamour, reflecting no end of mystic charm
ENAMOUR U (united) in ROMANcE (glamour) reversed or ‘reflecting’ and without the ‘c’ – last letter (’no end of’) of ‘mystic’
24   Fighter’s promise to involve a couple of sides
WARLORD WORD (promise) round or ‘involving’ A R and L (left and right – sides)
25   Useful resource? Preserves copy once it’s blocked by old money
BOTTOMLESS PIT BOTTLES (preserves) + SPIT (copy) round or ‘blocked by’ O (old) M (money). ‘Once’ seems to be there for the surface reading rather than an indication of an archaic usage of the word ‘spit’.
Down
2   Fielder to die of frustration, primarily
LONG-OFF LONG (die – as in yearn for) OF F (first or ‘prime’ letter of Frustration)
3   Each accent getting cut: all of the French pine away
EAT ONES HEART OUT EA (each) + TONE (accent) + SHEAR (cut) + TOUT (French for ‘all’)
4   Clearly in a fortunate way, bagging 500 (not 1000)
LUCIDLY LUCkILY (in a fortunate way) round or ’bagging’ D (500) but omitting ‘k’ (1000)
5   Equipment left to fall out of Scottish garb
KIT KIlT (Scottish garb) with the ‘l’ (left) omitted or fallen out’
6   Some warfare melded with tall tale by an American
A FAREWELL TO ARMS An anagram of SOME WARFARE and TALL – anagrind is ‘melded’
7   Describe a switch in positions for rugby throw
OUTLINE LINE-OUT (rugby throw) with the two component words switched in position
8   One ear getting good with time? Such cases aren’t seen about
LEFT LUGGAGE LEFT LUG (one ear) + G (good) + AGE (time) – we liked this one!!
10   Danger light flickered, showing abrupt change of direction
RIGHT-ANGLED An anagram of DANGER LIGHT – anagrind is ‘flickered’
13   Rising foreign drama existed in Utopian state
EREWHON NOH (foreign drama) + WERE (existed) reversed or ‘rising’
17   Italian city work unit taking a month to shore up left side of bank
BERGAMO ERG (work unit) + A + MO (month) after, or ‘shoring up’ B (first letter or ‘left side’ of Bank)
18   One’s enthralled by popular epithet for now
INTERIM I (one) in or ‘enthralled by’ IN (popular) TERM (epithet)
20   African city atmosphere constrained by no sexual orientation
NAIROBI AIR (atmosphere) in or ‘constrained by’ NO BI (sexual orientation)
24   Sadness revived after King deposed
WOE WOkE (revived) with the ‘k’ (King) omitted or ‘deposed’

 

12 comments on “Independent 8781 / Phi”

  1. Morning B&J

    My live in Nina spotter says the top says top, the left says left……..(you can work out the rest).

    Nice one Phi.

  2. How did we miss it?

    Please pass on our congratulations to your “Live in Nina spotter”. She strikes again!

    Congratulations to Phi as well. We’ll have to try harder next time.

  3. I think I know ‘sleep like a top’ from Enid Blyton’s Famous Five’ or the ‘of Adventure’ series. I’ve been in USA and really missed these puzzles!! Thanks to both, as usual.

  4. It’s been a hard day’s night, I should be sleeping like a log … Top? I don’t think so. Enid Blyton is discredited now, so I don’t know what on earth Phi was thinking about.

    Did I spot the nina? I think you know the answer to that. One of those puzzles where I really struggled to finish it and then looked at it and thought: ‘What was hard about that?’ Answer: nothing really. My muppetry and Phi’s usual excellent craftsmanship.

    Thanks all three, and good weekend to all.

  5. I think SLEEP LIKE A TOP is an awful clue, but I have no qualms about the expression per se. It’s totally fine.

    A good puzzle nonetheless, I feel.

  6. Failed on 1a, never heard of that and couldn’t parse 25a so thanks b&j.
    Found this tough to get into, can’t help with 12 either.
    Thanks phi tho’

  7. SLEEP LIKE A TOP/LOG are both familiar to me, though I concede the absence of checking on the consonants can’t have helped.

    Something isn’t attracting comment…

  8. @7
    Come on bonny lad, I can’t even understand the puzzle never mind hidden gems therein. However, I hope to sleep like a top tonight, even though I don’t find the clue particularly illuminating.
    Tough for a Friday, especially as drink has been taken, celebrating young ‘un landing a new job. Still don’t like 12A, so thanks for the explanation B&J, and indeed for the blog.
    Have a good weekend all.

  9. We are puzzled by your comment Phi. Is it anything to do with the unusual grid? It only has mirror symmetry from top to bottom.

  10. The weird symmetry was the first thing I noticed: Phi has a habit of producing crosswords with unusual symmetry and I tend to spot that, but not his Ninas.

    I checked and in the Beatles song it’s working like a dog/ sleeping like a log, so I reckon my log solution was OK, especially when you think of that strange game people in America play trying to knock each other off floating logs, which spin.

  12. Well, it is the symmetry, of course. Mirror symmetry on the horizontal struck me as not having been tried. So I did it, and then added a little Nina, and ended up with a sort of experiment. What would you notice first, or predominantly?

    The votes are in, of course. I think we can conclude that, as long as the cross-checking is kept at a credible level, then symmetry is not much remarked upon. Which is a bit of a shame, I think.

    I note – from an item on the BBC News site this week – that next week’s puzzle perhaps should have appeared a fortnight earlier.

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