The usual enjoyable crossword from Phi today. It is, one would think, on the easy side for him because so many of the answers can be parsed simply, but I didn’t find it all that easy and failed completely on 2dn.
In a Phi crossword there are seldom clues that really hit you between the eyes, but everything is very pleasant and efficient and it all seems to be sound.
Nina? I can see nothing, which even in normal cases wouldn’t mean much, but with Phi … well there probably is something there, but no chance for me: I usually can’t see them even after they have been pointed out.
Definitions underlined.
| Across | ||
| 1 | GO-CARTS |
Reversing engine component requiring skills in basic vehicles (2-5)
(cog)rev. arts |
| 5 | SHAR-PEI |
Dog inflicting wound, say, that is dragged back (4-3)
sharp (ie)rev. |
| 9 | RHEUMATIC |
Sadly irate with much of joint pain (9)
(irate much)* |
| 10 | BROOK |
Tolerate two chessmen (5)
b rook — bishop and rook |
| 11 | ESSAYERS |
They try bridge opponents and crime writer (8)
ES Sayers — East and South, and Dorothy L. Sayers |
| 12 | BOLETI |
Mushrooms: quickly eat one around end of course (6)
bol({cours}e)t 1 |
| 14 | SPATIALISING |
Creating room for second arrangement of initial gaps (12)
s (initial gaps)* — not a word that I use every day, but easily enough clued, as indeed should be the case with such a word |
| 18 | TERRITORIALS |
Rioter’s trial involved soldiers (12)
(rioter’s trial)* |
| 21 | ODDITY |
Strange thing recalled party song (though not repeated element) (6)
(do)rev. dit{t}y |
| 22 | TINPLATE |
Suggestion overdue about new form of treated metal (8)
ti(n)p late |
| 25 | HATCH |
Come out from access point? (5)
2 defs |
| 26 | CATCALLED |
Conservative not initially irritated after Whip jeered (9)
cat C {g}alled |
| 27 | CESSPIT |
Rubbish heaps dry after sending back wet waste? (7)
(tips sec)rev. |
| 28 | NUMERAL |
Figure left behind when mines were union-dominated? (7)
NUM-era l — one might say that the mines were union-dominated in the NUM era |
| Down | ||
| 1 | GARDEN |
Information about a heartless left-wing plot (6)
g(a r{e}d)en |
| 2 | CHEESE |
Comment attributed to one getting shot? (6)
I never got this, but I often fail on these dreaded CDs — you say “cheese” when you are having your photograph taken — it seemed to be cueist since a cueist is playing a shot at snooker, but of course couldn’t make it work |
| 3 | RUMMY |
Card game in a poor state with no Clubs (5)
(c)rummy |
| 4 | SATURATION |
Complete coverage put in place for opening day of time required (10)
Sat[urday] {d}uration — in this clue ‘required’ means ‘missing’, but in 1ac ‘requiring’ means ‘is next to’ [I think scchua@1 has it better: ‘Sat’ replacing the initial ‘d’ in ‘duration’] |
| 5 | SOCK |
As usual, lacking time to make footwear (4)
s{t}ock |
| 6 | AMBROSIAL |
Delectable doctor embraced by a sailor at sea (9)
MB in (a sailor)* |
| 7 | PHONETIC |
Mannerism during call regarding the way speech sounds (8)
phone-tic — if you have a phone-tic you have a mannerism during the phone call — at least I think that’s it |
| 8 | INKLINGS |
Sounds of bells initially ignored in Oxford literary group (8)
(t)inklings — Tolkien and Lewis and all that |
| 13 | TAJIKISTAN |
High jinks and at it when going round a region of Asia (10)
(jinks at it)* round a — the anagram indicated by ‘high’ |
| 15 | PRINT SHOP |
Support includes this, working to secure new book producer? (5,4)
pr(i(n)t sh)op — the letters around n are an anagram of ‘this’ |
| 16 | STROPHIC |
Wine’s raised before sign of drunkenness in song (8)
(port’s)rev. hic! |
| 17 | CRUDITÉS |
Hors d’oeuvres? Some rubbish I fixed up (8)
crud I (set)rev. |
| 19 | TAILOR |
Follow soldiers to design uniform? (6)
tail OR |
| 20 | KENDAL |
75% of Lakeland trips … come here? (6)
({La}keland)* — Phi doesn’t say which 75% |
| 23 | PSALM |
Entry from Sachs in Prize Song (5)
p(s{achs})alm — to call a psalm a song always seems a bit of a stretch to me, but Collins calls it a sacred song, so it’s OK I suppose |
| 24 | SCOT |
Author having no time finally for his compatriot (4)
Scot{t} — Sir Walter Scott was, as you might expect, a Scot |
Thanks John and Phi.
I took 4d as SAT(put in place) replacing “d”(opening day) of “duration”(time required).
Yes scchua I think you’re right. Have amended the blog.
Garden, Brook Tailor, Odd(it)y
Nina alert ….
Thanks Phi and John
Geebs@3: Well spotted: add C(h)[L]EESE, HATCH, and KENDAL(l).
And Garden!
… and to prove it the unches in the central column read ISIRTA.
These are my people. I was writing (roughly) similar stuff while at my university, at the same time as them. They are all my age, and Bill Oddie and I were at the same school.
How wonderful to have Phi as a fellow fan.
Thanks Phi and John.
Well done those who spotted the theme, it certainly sounds a fun programme. Interested to see Bill Oddie in another rôle to that of a ‘twitcher’. Would love to have heard them but was in places like Uganda at the time. When I was young it was The Goon Show that was popular.
I was led up the garden path by Dorothy Sayers and the Inklings, she was considered an ‘honorary member’ by some, but did not attend meetings at the various pubs.
I have been working through recordings of ISIRTA for some time to accompany my walks to and from the local station, though I also remember listening to the original broadcasts of their very last series clandestinely (since I was considered a bit young for them). It suddenly struck me that the surnames were close to “dictionary-ready”, especially as the original Cleese family name was Cheese.
No room for Angus Prune, alas.
“No room for Angus Prune, alas” – nor for Lady Constance and Grimbling. Those were the days.
Thanks, Phi and John
I found this exceedingly tough. Finally got the top right corner done before going out to La Boheme and struggled to do the rest when I got home. SPATIALISING doesn’t even seem to be in Chambers.
Totally failed to spot the theme even though I was a big fan back in the sixties. Who could ever forget Professor Prune and the Electric Time Trousers?