This is my first Phi-day puzzle as blogger of 2016.
Instinctively, I am always rather fearful of grids that do not accommodate any longer, multi-word entries, and indeed today’s grid houses words no longer than nine letters. Perhaps this was the reason why I made only steady progress through this one?
In the end, I was left with three intersecting entries in the SW quadrant that I was unable to solve – 14, 19 and 26 – and inevitably, when I solved one of the three, the other two fell into place soon after. That said, the “trainer” at 26 was new to me and needed to be confirmed on Wikipedia. I had clearly had something of a mental block over 14, where I had been sure that the word would end “-ions” and had thus been blind to any alternatives.
Incidentally, I have not spotted any ghost theme, although there is bound to be one somewhere. I can’t help thinking it might have something to do with the proper nouns at 18, 19, 26 and 27, but I may be mistaken – any ideas, my fellow solvers?
My favourites today were 15, for sheer concision; (eventually!) 26, for maintaining the horse-racing theme through the entire clue; and 27, for making me smile.
(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | REMIT | Run issue – that’s what you’re supposed to do
R (=run, in cricket) + EMIT (=issue, as verb) |
| 04 | CREATURES | Dependants right to consume during treatments
[R (=right) + EAT (=to consume)] in CURES (=treatments); creatures are dependants in the sense of instruments, puppets |
| 09 | ILL HEALTH | Poor state shown by a loch surrounded by the hill (rocky)
[A + L (=loch)] in *(THE HILL); “rocky” is anagram indicator |
| 10 | GREAT | Substantial curtailment of philosophy exam
GREAT<s> (=philosophy exam, i.e. at Oxford University); “curtailment” means last letter dropped |
| 11 | BRIGHT | Smart ship heads for home territory
BRIG (=ship) + H<ome> T<erritory> (“heads for” means first letters only) |
| 12 | CLOTHIER | Fashion expert one duped in Paris yesterday
CLOT (=one duped, fool) + HIER (=in Paris yesterday, i.e. the French word for yesterday) |
| 13 | WONDERFUL | Flounder about chasing women, being wicked
W (=women) + *(FLOUNDER); “about” is anagram indicator |
| 16 | NAHUM | Contented response, getting stuck into one OT book or another
AH (=contented response) in NUM (=OT book, i.e. Numbers); the Book of Nahum is one of the Books of Prophets in the OT |
| 18 | DEFOE | Excellent Old English writer
DEF (=excellent, originally from hip-hop culture) + OE (=Old English); the reference is to English writer Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) |
| 20 | BEAUTIFUL | Historic airline, following requirements, dismissing head – that’s striking
BEA (=historic airline, i.e. the defunct British European Airways) + <d>UTIFUL (=following requirements; “dismissing head” means first letter dropped) |
| 22 | PLANTAIN | Banana produced by worker in open country
ANT (=worker) in PLAIN (=open country) |
| 23 | PSEUDO | Fake work, pocketing payments, should be rejected
DUES (=payments) in OP (=work, i.e. opus); “should be rejected” indicates (here full) reversal |
| 26 | CECIL | Trainer caught backing position about colt
C (=caught, in cricket) + ECIL (C (=colt) in LIE (=position): “backing” indicates reversal); the reference is to British racehorse trainer Sir Henry Cecil (1943-2013) |
| 27 | ALEXANDER | Famous leader, a classic lover snatching a kiss
X (=kiss, e.g. in card) in [A + LEANDER (=classical lover)]; the reference is to the Greek leader Alexander the Great |
| 28 | DUST SHEET | Coverage displacing the impact of painting in the studies I abandoned, possible
*(THE STUD<i>ES); “I abandoned” means letter “i” is dropped from anagram, indicated by “possibly” |
| 29 | LARGE | Left are controlling government on a big scale
L (=left) + [G (=government) in ARE] |
| Down | ||
| 01 | RAINBOWED | Mistaken idea brown is amongst such colours?
*(IDEA BROWN); “mistaken” is anagram indicator; of course, there is no brown among the colours of the rainbow |
| 02 | MULLION | Part of Scotland, one operating support for transparency
MULL (=part of Scotland, i.e. of Kintyre) + I (=one) + ON (=operating); a mullion is an upright division between the panes of a window, hence “support for transparency’, cryptically |
| 03 | TEETH | Hard to support doctrine without a bit of notional effectiveness
TE<n>ET (=doctrine; “without a bit of n-otional” means the letter “n” is dropped) + H (=hard); e.g. a law is said to have teeth if it is effective |
| 04 | COLD | Pass degree leaves you indifferent
COL (=pass, in mountain range) + D (=degree) |
| 05 | ECHOLALIA | Repetition of sounds from a local hive (not very buzzy)
*(A LOCAL HI<v>E); “not very (=V)” means letter “v” is dropped from anagram, indicated by “buzzy”; echolalia is the senseless or compulsive repetition of words heard, occurring in forms of mental illness |
| 06 | TIGHT-KNIT | Drunken fool audibly close
TIGHT (=drunken) + homophone (“audibly”) of “nit” (=fool) |
| 07 | RHENISH | River woman is hot – like Lorelei?
R (=river) + HEN (=woman) + IS + H (=hot); in German legend, Lorelei was a siren who lured sailors to their death on the Rhine, hence “Rhenish” |
| 08 | SATYR | Lecher showing some perverted amatory tastes
Reversed (“perverted”) and hidden (“some”) in “amatoRY TAStes” |
| 14 | EYESTALKS | First of experts certainly speaks about features of crabs
E<xperts> (“first of” means first letter only) + YES (=certainly) + TALKS (=speaks of) |
| 15 | FABRICATE | Make excellent at packing grain
FAB (=excellent, i.e. fabulous) + [AT in RICE (=grain)] |
| 17 | MELBOURNE | Former PM – variety of rum English noble
*(RUM + E (=English) + NOBLE); “variety of” is anagram indicator; the reference is to Lord Melbourne, British PM in 1834 and 1835-41 |
| 19 | FRANCES | Girl is keen on embracing King after one moves away
R (=king, i.e. rex) in FANC<i>ES (=is keen on, attracted to; “one (=I) moves away” means letter “i” is dropped) |
| 21 | FOUNDER | Establishment figure to get into difficulties
Cryptically, a founder is an “establishment figure”, i.e. the person who founds something |
| 22 | PACED | Showed agitation, left out of set
P<l>ACED (=set, positioned); “left (=L) out of” means letter ‘”l” is dropped; people pace the floor in agitation |
| 24 | SMALL | Little mammals shaking off one American when climbing
LLAM<a>S (=mammals); “shaking off one American (=A)” means one letter “a” is dropped; “when climbing” indicates (here full) vertical reversal |
| 25 | GENT | See about new chap
N (=new) in GET (=see, understand) |
Mrs Cecil Frances Alexander (wife of an Irish bishop) wrote the hymn All Things Bright and Beautiful. Many references to words in it. (And a couple of yoof expressions thrown in for good measure.)
Fantastic stuff.
Phi is a consummate craftsman, who wears his expertise so lightly. He is the rich man in his castle and I am the poor man at his gate.
A serious tip of the hat (or maybe tug of the forelock?) to Phi. And thanks RatkojaRiku -I hope you enjoyed solving it as much as I did.
Thanks Phi and RR.
This was fun, but I needed help with some of the parsing.
The theme is very clear I think, three ‘nouns’ go together to confirm it.
I got the theme quite early which in fact helped with the solving. But a splendid puzzle even without it: MULLION is lovely. Thanks to Phi & RatkoJariku for another elegant waste of time!
I sussed the horrible hymn but thought 26 a bridge too far
Spotted the theme before finishing for once; it helped with 19dn and 26ac. And 19dn helped with 18ac where all I could think of at first was DONNE. ECHOLALIA was new to me but gettable from the anagram fodder once I’d seen ‘buzzy’ as a somewhat obscure (imho) anagrind.
Thanks, Phi and RatkojaRiku.
Thanks Phi and RR
I’m not a Phi regular, so didn’t know he generally has themes, hence I didn’t see it at all. Ah well.
Also didn’t help myself initially by entering TIGHT-ARSE (one who is close, or stingy) for 6D. Parses OK!
CECIL for ‘trainer’? Give me a break; horse racing is even more boring than golf. ECHOLALIA in a daily cryptic? Give me a break. Is RAINBOWED really a word? Clearly it is, since as Conrad says, Phi is an experienced and consummate setter. I gave up, I’m afraid.
Another crossword in the Indy sacrificed on the altar of a theme, and this time a hymn full of religious propaganda. The Lord God certainly did not make them all; check out On the Origin of Species by Mr D.
Mebbes I’m being a bit hard on Phi, whose puzzles I do normally enjoy, but this week in the Indy we’ve had Monday with a Bowie theme, Tuesday with a Star Wars theme; Dac on Wednesday (hurrah); a hidden message in Rorschach’s Thursday offering; and now Phi’s puzzle with another ghost theme. I will always try the Indy puzzle, since it’s been ‘my’ newspaper since issue one; and I know the crosswords have got a reputation for being innovative and inventive; but perhaps just three days out of five we could have a ‘normal’ daily cryptic?
Will endeavour to get out of my grump over the weekend and see what Monday brings. Thanks to S&B.
Well Mr. Grumpy (aka K’sD) I’m not big on themed puzzles, (I didn’t even spot this one though) but it didn’t prevent me having a very enjoyable solve. Yes, ECHOLALIA and RAINBOWED (especially that) are not everyday words for me, but the thing about Phi is that he sets so brilliantly that the clue just takes you there. So for me a big BRAVO to Phi and thanks to RatkojaRiku for his usual impeccable blog.
This puzzle is Crosophile’s fault, since he did his BRIGHTON puzzle, which setme thinking of well-known hymns as sources of words to seed a grid. The fact that the authoress has a curiously male name has always fascinated me.
ECHOLALIA – I actually clued that twice in short order which wasn’t exciting. RAINBOWED – well, any noun can be verbed these days, so just because they used to do it shouldn’t be an impediment. As for CECIL – well, if you’re aware of horse-racing at all, then Cecil should be as familiar as (say, and I can’t imagine why I seize on this example) David Bowie would be to someone who knew only that pop music was a thing. Winners trained and tracks released would be a second-order thing, and I’m not sure I’d go there overtly (though I might use them as a ghost theme of course).
Long time lurker, first time poster… I always look forward to Phi-day, this week online rather than hard copy as I’m stuck in a blizzard in a hotel in Delaware. I spotted the theme about half way through, and I take K’sD’s point about theme-y crosswords, but apart from speeding up a couple of answers this one neither added nor detracted for me. Had trouble with 14 & 19, but it’s hard to see why now that I’ve got them! Really just posting so Phi knows how much his fine work is appreciated 🙂 Thanks to RatkojaRiku too.
Hooray! I spotted the theme for once, though it was easier than most of Phi’s which are usually way beyond me. I well remember Mrs. C. F. Alexander from my days in chapel at school. I’ve just looked her up in Wikipedia. Sounds as though she was a capable and in many ways an admirable woman, but I doubt she would have had much time for Charles Darwin! I’m far from being a creationist but I must confess that I rather like the hymn in question, a bit of a shameful secret, as I suspect most people share the view of copmus @4.
Thanks to Phi and RatkojaRiku.
Re. clue for 14down
Not sure of the function of ‘about’ here. I’d assumed it indicated a reversal, or inclusion, as ‘talks’ does not mean ‘speaks about’ . . .