It’s another Friday, and another Phi-day. We found the last two entries quite tricky and had to use a word search as time was pressing on. We’d never heard of 17d before although it was easy to sort out the word play.
Needless to say we looked for a theme but after a few hurried google searches using random words we could not come up with anything. No doubt someone out there will have noticed something.
Joyce was really pleased to see 21d. After studying maths she had great fun with her primary school classes exploring the Möbius strip. If you want to have a go, take a strip of paper and give it a half twist before joining the ends with tape. If you run your finger along the surface you will see it has only one side. Now cut it in half along the length.
A mathematician confided
That a Möbius strip is one-sided.
You’ll get quite a laugh
If you cut it in half.
For it stays in one piece when divided.
| Across | ||
| 1 | Rabble-rouser encouraged to consume health food (9) | |
| FIREBRAND | FIRED (encouraged) around or ‘consuming’ BRAN (health food) | |
| 6 | A little difficulty? Not quite (5) | |
| SCRAP | SCRAP |
|
| 9 | Body part‘s injury (not head) (3) | |
| ARM | ||
| 10 | What about confectionery warning signal? It’s a sound arrangement (4,7) | |
| ECHO CHAMBER | EH (what) around CHOC (confectionery item) AMBER (warning signal) | |
| 11 | Subject of crack beginning to belabour individual (4) | |
| BONE | B (beginning letter of belabour) ONE (individual) | |
| 12 | Police caught lad misbehaving – a minor fault (10) | |
| PECCADILLO | An anagram of POLICE C (caught) LAD (anagrind is ‘misbehaving’) | |
| 14 | Dead item – dead before being eaten by a lion on the rampage (8) | |
| DOORNAIL | D (dead) + OR (before – archaic) inside an anagram of A LION (anagrind is ‘on the rampage’). This was our LOI and we had to resort to a wordsearch as time was running short. We kicked ourselves when we realised what the answer was but we couldn’t work out what ‘OR’ was until we checked Chambers. A new one on us. | |
| 15 | Sponsors requiring slight change to opinions (6) | |
| ANGELS | ANGLES (opinions) with a slight change of letters | |
| 18 | Cat article omitted from main collection (6) | |
| OCELOT | OCE |
|
| 19 | Indigenous movement fronted by cheats receiving money (8 | |
| DOMESTIC | TIC (movement) after or being ‘fronted by’ DOES (cheats) around M (money) | |
| 22 | Energetic person who’s working with Europe (10) | |
| POWERHOUSE | An anagram of WHO’S and EUROPE (anagrind is ‘working’). We enjoyed this clue, perhaps we ought to send it to Nigel Farage. | |
| 24 | Moroccan tree, Arabic twice over (4) | |
| ARAR | AR (Arab) repeated or ‘twice over’ | |
| 26 | Over a large amount – product of eleven and sixty, perhaps (11) | |
| EXTENSIVELY | An anagram of ELEVEN and SIXTY (anagrind is ‘perhaps’) | |
| 27 | New Zealander heading off Maori group (3) | |
| IWI | ||
| 28 | Fibre is twisted, one extracted from canvas (5) | |
| SISAL | IS (reversed or ‘twisted’) SA |
|
| 29 | Adolescent’s birthday – partying for it, then sex (9) | |
| SIXTEENTH | An anagram of IT THEN SEX (anagrind is ‘partying’) | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | Puncture on curve? (Not new lorry) (7) | |
| FLATBED | FLAT (puncture) BE |
|
| 2 | What’s chap never poked into flower? Probably not this! (5,4) | |
| ROMAN NOSE | NO MAN (chap never) inside or ‘poking into’ ROSE (flower) | |
| 3 | Raised money when one’s short (4) | |
| BRED | BRE |
|
| 4 | A substantial cut limiting grant affecting sporting activities? (8) | |
| ATHLETIC | A THIC |
|
| 5 | Boil half-lanced? Sitting upright month later (6) | |
| DECOCT | CED (half of lanced) reversed or ‘sitting upright’ OCT (month) | |
| 6 | Rock fan involved in scandal with REM (4,6) | |
| SLAM DANCER | An anagram of SCANDAL and REM (anagrind is involved’) | |
| 7 | Defiant, unpleasant expression raised about book (5) | |
| REBEL | LEER (unpleasant expression) reversed or ‘raised’ about B (book) | |
| 8 | Queen latterly shunning drawing-rooms considered high-risk (7) | |
| PARLOUS | PARLOU |
|
| 13 | Drain once demolished over litre of hormonal material (10) | |
| ENDOCRINAL | An anagram of DRAIN ONCE (anagrind is ‘demolished’) + L (litre) | |
| 16 | Effort expending one bit of energy while holding to force (9) | |
| EXTORTION | EX |
|
| 17 | Greek character embracing love and weird sex with us in bubbly style (8) | |
| MOUSSEUX | MU (Greek character) around or ‘embracing’ O (love) + an anagram of SEX and US (anagrind is ‘weird’) | |
| 18 | Superhero, without hesitation, represented as Classical figure (7) | |
| ORPHEUS | An anagram of SUP |
|
| 20 | Grain is hot in description of Riviera (7) | |
| CORNISH | CORN (grain) IS H (hot) | |
| 21 | Second vehicle carrying one German mathematician (6) | |
| MOBIUS | MO (second) BUS (vehicle) around or ‘carrying’ I (one) | |
| 23 | Victorian painter’s power (5) | |
| WATTS | Double definition. The National Portrait Gallery describe the painter, George Frederick Watts as a “Victorian Michelangelo” | |
| 25 | Historic stringed instrument: some forgery likely to turn up (4) | |
| LYRE | Hidden (‘some’) and reversed or ‘turning up’ within ‘forgERY Likely’ | |
Thanks Phi and B&J, I really enjoyed this one. It thought it was a nice range of material, with the anagrams providing several ways in. The theme escapes me too, so I’m waiting with interest.
There is no theme (he said, unconfidently).
Good puzzle, with plenty to get you going, but tough to complete. Some new words, and definitions, but I don’t mind that. I was another who got stuck with DOORNAIL.
Möbius strips are extremely cool. If you have access to a seven year old (in the nicest possible way of course) do the cutting trick that Joyce has described. Always impresses.
Thanks all three and good weekend to all.
Ah, yes, we hear a lot of the iwi here. I even have a powhiri (with several waiata) to attend on Monday morning.
If it helps, WATTS was the closest I could get to WHAT’S.
None the wiser Phi. Nice puzzle though.
Thanks Phi and Bertandjoyce;
Most enjoyable. I have spotted the theme, did not need the hint, but will keep quiet so as not to spoil the fun for others.
I liked ECHO CHAMBER, DECOCT and DOORNAIL with its reference to the past, ‘of OR’.
Thanks Phi and Bertandjoyce, a pleasant solve, even if I didnt get arar!
Can also cut a Mobius strip one third the way in, to give two linked rings.
Please help me to understand how rebel is a synonym of defiant. I would have thought that would be rebellious.
Chambers allows ‘rebel’ as an adjective meaning – you’ve guessed it – rebellious.
Phi @3, I don’t think “what’s” helps really, “What’s become of Waring” comes to mind.
allan_c @8 unwittingly gives a hint, REBEL is used as an adjective in one of the parts of the theme…
Thanks Cookie @9, that gave me just enough to guess which words to Google. I would have been stuck here all day otherwise.
Got it! Think trilogies, Phi’s happy hunting ground for themes.
I told you there wasn’t a theme, but you wouldn’t listen.
I think I am wrong @5, I probably meant ‘of yore’, I have never met ‘or’ meaning ‘before’.
Got it, ‘or’ meaning ‘before’ is in my old COED of 1964, but not in my 1995 edition. Thanks again Bertandjoyce.
Allan_c seems to have it, having worked his way on from Deptford a few weeks ago.
… and I’ve been very remiss in not thanking setter and bloggers, so:
Thanks, Phi and B&J. Better late then never.
I saw 26ac slightly differently. Phi is an Azed solver and Azed doesn’t like ‘perhaps’ as an anagram indicator. Perhaps they agree. I thought that ‘product of eleven and sixty’ was saying that you take the two words and jumble them up together and the outcome [= product] of the two is ‘extensively’. The ‘perhaps’ is there because this is a rather odd way to indicate an anagram.
There is indeed a theme. It’s another of Phi’s Robertson Davies puzles, this time based on the Cornish Trilogy – The Rebel Angels, What’s Bred in the Bone, and The Lyre of Orpheus.
I’m amazed that the theme spotters missed this, after recent Phi offerings!
Meic @ 18, of course we spotted it, we just did not spell it out fully yesterday so that others could enjoy having a go, read the comments above.
cookie@19 – Well said. It’s most annoying when contributors clearly haven’t bothered to read earlier comments properly. Isn’t it?
A very pleasant solve. I’ve already added Robertson Davies to my list of authors to explore; can’t keep adding him each time our Phi brings him up – the others might consider it favoritism!
Many thanks to setter and bloggers.