As custom dictates, it falls to Phi to round off this week’s series of mid-week puzzles.
I found this a more straightforward puzzle than the average Phi, on an unusual grid with a higher than normal proportion of longer entries. Indeed, it was the longer entries that kept me guessing longest until I had a considerable number of crossing entries filled in.
My last ones in were 3, which was unfamiliar to me, and 11, which filled itself in once I had solved 3. Incidentally, I am not sure of the surface reading of the clue at 3. Similarly, I feel that I may have missed something in my parsing of 1. My favourites today were 7, for surface, and 5, for its & lit. content.
And, as for any ghost theme, it has escaped my notice once again, although it is doubtless there to be found. Any suggestions?
(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 04 | BATHE | Take to water, about to abandon attempt to take in air
B<re>ATHE (=(to) attempt to take in air); “about (=re) to abandon” means letters “re” are dropped |
| 06 | DIORAMA | A girl returning to claim gold in miniature scene
OR (=gold) in DIAMA (A + MAID (=girl); “returning” indicates reversal); a diorama is a miniature three-dimensional scene with figures |
| 08 | TILT AT WINDMILLS | Knight ultimately the giddy limit – will stand and charge down imaginary foes
<knigh>T (“ultimately” means last letter only) + *(LIMIT WILL STAND); “the giddy” is anagram indicator |
| 09 | ELEVENSES | Still tucking into other special snack
EVEN (=still, yet) in [ELSE (=other) + S (=special)] |
| 11 | AIRY | Risky losing leader without thinking things through
<h>AIRY (=risky); “without leader” means first letter dropped |
| 12 | LEFT-HAND DRIVE | Port worker’s energy, describing American car?
LEFT (=port, i.e. on board ship) + HAND (=worker) + DRIVE (=energy) |
| 13 | BALI | Book African country shunning foremost holiday island
B (=book) + <m>ALI (=African country; “shunning foremost” means first letter dropped) |
| 14 | TIDELANDS | Soldiers to abandon exhausted antelopes in coastal areas
TI<re>D (=abandoned; “soldiers (=RE, i.e. Royal Engineers) to abandon” means letters “re” are dropped) + ELANDS (=antelopes); tidelands are lands that are submerged at high tide (N Am) |
| 16 | ANTENATAL CLINIC | Venue where there’s an air of expectancy?
Cryptic definition: “expectancy” suggests pregnant, expecting women |
| 18 | DITTIES | Finishes including it with latest of hit songs
[IT + <hi>T (“latest of” means last letter only)] in DIES (=finishes) |
| 19 | SAHEL | Meadows retreating around hot semi-arid region
H (=hot) in SAEL (LEAS=meadows; “retreating” indicates reversal) |
| Down | ||
| 01 | STATUE OF LIBERTY | Harbour overseer expecting masses of people to arrive
Cryptic definition: the Statue of Liberty looks down (“overseer”) on those (immigrants) arriving in New York harbour |
| 02 | LOAD | Swain embraces love a lot
O (=love) in LAD (=swain, young man) |
| 03 | NAVIGATION LIGHT | Attachment to ship violating a night at sea
*(VIOLATING A NIGHT); “at sea” is anagram indicator; a navigation light is one of a set of lights shown by a ship or aircraft, indicating the direction of travel |
| 04 | BRIBE | A lot of legal information about British criminal activity
B (=British) in BRIE<f> (=legal information; “a lot of” means all but last letter is needed) |
| 05 | ENTRECHAT | The dancer, losing head, botched this at first!
*(THE <d>ANCER) + T<his>; “losing head” means first letter dropped; “at first” means first letter only |
| 06 | DRIBS AND DRABS | Dishes, emptied, to be filled with bone powder (dull-coloured) in small amounts
[RIB (=bone) + SAND (=powder) + DRAB (=dull-coloured)] in D<ishe>S (“emptied” means all but first and last letters are dropped) |
| 07 | AT LARGE | Roaming US city – what could be great about that?
LA (=US city) in *(GREAT); “what could be” is anagram indicator |
| 10 | SIDELOCKS | Team confronted with rugby player’s facial hair
SIDE (=team) + LOCK’S (=rugby player’s) |
| 12 | LEARNED | Student got educated
L (=student) + EARNED (=got) |
| 15 | SPIEL | Framers of speech upset about representative’s latest prepared comments
<representativ>E (“latest” means last letter only) in SPIL (LIPS=framers of speech, i.e. anatomically; “upset” indicates vertical reversal) |
| 17 | ARID | Assistance bringing in river – will address such a state
R (=river) in AID (=assistance) |
A fairly simple puzzle which took longer than it should because I didn’t immediately twig 1dn and 8ac, and also got fixated on “still” = “yet” in 9ac. The unusual grid makes me suspect a theme or nina but I can’t see anything. Liked DIORAMA (my first in) and SAHEL.
Thanks, Phi and RatkojaRiku
1d is a reference to a quote on the base of the statue “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” http://www.howtallisthestatueofliberty.org/what-is-the-quote-on-the-statue-of-liberty/
An odd puzzle for Phi, unusually I found the definitions rather obvious and parsed much after getting the answers.
One slight quibble, SIDELOCKS aren’t facial hair but the hair on the temples grown long or the equivalent on a wig.
Thanks Phi and RatkojaRiku
Thanks, RR.
I was a bit arsey about Phi’s April Fool’s Day puzzle earlier this month, so I will just drop in to say that I enjoyed this one. Failed on TIDELANDS; I put in TIDELINES because I couldn’t parse it and couldn’t see ELAND and get GNU out of my head. But otherwise TILT AT WINDMILLS and STATUE OF LIBERTY were very good clues, and I did know the reference to which sidey has pointed us.
There just has to be a nina (unless it’s a Phi double-bluff) but you’re looking at the wrong person to tell you what it is.
Good weekend to all.
Thank you Phi and RatkojaRiku.
This was an enjoyable solve. Until 1902 the STATUE OF LIBERTY was used as a NAVIGATION LIGHT – public access to the balcony surrounding the torch has been banned since 1916 for safety reasons, hardly a significant anniversary, or theme, even though the statue was constructed in DRIBS AND DRABS on TIDELANDS.
P.S. there is a typo in 12a, LEFT = port.
Well, Ninas come in various forms and this one is sort of the grid itself. I was solving a Saturday puzzle by Monk earlier this year and my eye wandered down one entry, hit a right-angle bend, followed that entry, nit another right-angle…and I wondered how far you could take that idea of a path meandering through the grid.
And the answer seems to be something like this – two effectively infinite paths in a sort of Celtic knot. It clearly also works better in a 13×13 grid, which I think has something to do with 0.5*(n-1) being even for n = 13 and odd for n = 15, but I haven’t really followed that through.
Of course, as Ninas go, this doesn’t meet my criterion for helping me start to fill a blank grid, but it made a change.
Thanks for pointing out the typo, Cookie, which has been duly corrected.
And thank you for the explanation of this rather unusual Nina, Phi!!
Sorry we are a bit late but we’ve only just finished the puzzle. It took us a lot longer than normal – but don’t worry, we’ve completed the IQ in the meantime!
We thought there must be a nina so were pleased that Phi had dropped in with an explanation.
Thanks Phi and RR.