Independent 8,810 by Phi

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Phi’s crosswords are almost like Dac’s: there is really very little to say, because all the clues are straightforward and have a nice surface. One can talk about the Nina, but in Phi’s case either — and this is quite often — he doesn’t have one, or it hardly cries out to me and I lazily prefer to let others find it.

Definitions underlined.

Across

1 Earth? Earth infiltrating what grows there (6)
PLANET
plan(E)t — a plant grows on the planet
4 A cut, very good from the back, involving one in loss of hair (8)
ALOPECIA
a lop (a(1)ce)rev.
9 Fellow tucking into liquor coming in to take a leak – the smell! (7)
PERFUME
pe(r(f)um)e
11 We had ring – or two to exchange here? (7)
WEDDING
we’d ding
12 Fool women about recording with promotion (6-4)
SHEEPS-HEAD
she(EP)she ad — not a word for fool that I’d ever heard and I had to find this electronically — I thought it had to be sleepy-head, which fitted the definition but of course didn’t like the wordplay
13 Possibly hammer head’s not caught (4)
BONE
bon(c)e — my last one in, with there being so many possibilities for _o_e, and the definition — a bone in the ear — not all that helpful
15 Pioneer in radiation (not green, sadly) (8)
ROENTGEN
(not green)* — Wilhelm Röntgen
16 Notices foremost of cats with mane (6)
CLOCKS
c(ats) locks
19 One’s happy abandoning company to reach objective (6)
INTENT
1 {co}ntent
20 Former politician, deceptive type, one dismissed after embracing English model (8)
EXEMPLAR
ex-(E)MP l{i}ar
22 Occupying venues as house band (4)
SASH
Hidden in venueS AS House
24 Surprised cry held back by girls too excited to see person behind grandfather (10)
HOROLOGIST
(oh!)rev. (girls too)* — no inclusion here, despite appearances — grandfather refers to grandfather clock
27 Recalled unusual velocity in second bowler’s approach? (7)
OVERARM
(m(rare v)o)rev. — I can’t quite see how overarm is the bowler’s approach: it’s his method perhaps, but his approach?
28 Party finishing early – last few hanging around will be hard work (7)
TRAVAIL
t(rav{e})ail
29 Move aimlessly round nasty hole, a blemish on lawn (8)
MOLEHILL
(hole)* in mill
30 Isolated capital half replaced with another city (6)
LONELY
London with its second half replaced by Ely

Down

1 Diarist with energy agreed to lose energy (5)
PEPYS
pep y{e}s
2 A welcome bringing fellows in to deliver treaty (9)
AGREEMENT
a gree(men)t
3 Having same power supply, one’s opening feature for campsite (10)
EQUIPOTENT
equip o{ne} tent
5 Women in pub describing Diet Coke? (3-3)
LOW-CAL
lo(w)cal
6 Father, daughter and son finding apartments (4)
PADS
Pa d s
7 Swatch in orange features strong cloth (5)
CHINO
Hidden in swatCH IN Orange
8 One attacks most of grass and gorse violently (9)
AGGRESSOR
(gras{s} gorse)*
10 Things reminiscent of City gardens (6)
ECHOES
EC hoes
14 Fruit choice (also involves seaweed) (4,6)
PLUM TOMATO
plum to(mat)o — two reasons why I found this a bit tricky to parse: I wanted plump = choice, and tomato as a fruit never comes to mind at once
15 Inspiration not considering black cats and dogs? (9)
RAINSTORM
{b}rainstorm
17 (Become the) acme until forced to change? (9)
CULMINATE
(acme until)* — although I’m not sure how to account for the ‘the’
18 Cooling, perhaps, about Rector’s urge (6)
EXHORT
exho(R)t — if something is ex-hot, it may be cooling down
21 Describing menswear, mostly, such as dress suits? (6)
FORMAL
for mal{e} or for mal{es}, each of which is marginally unsatisfactory, the first because ‘for male’ is hardly a two-word term, the second because ‘mostly’ usually implies a single letter missing — so I don’t know what Phi intended
23 To correctly sort letters takes an amount of time (5)
SPELL
2 defs — I was waylaid by the fact that the first is a split infinitive, which I thought Phi was teasing us with
25 Broadcast medium to have influence on the head of youth (5)
TELLY
tell y{outh}
26 Runs from overbearing party (4)
BASH
b{r}ash — I’d never really thought that brash = overbearing, but they are close enough perhaps
*anagram

11 comments on “Independent 8,810 by Phi”

  1. Thanks John and Phi. Agree closely with your comments, especially re 13a, which I did not get. Otherwise an enjoyable, mostly straightforward puzzle.

  2. I thought 24 needed a question mark to be fully justified, as a horologist may not have anything to do with grandfather clocks, but a nice clue nonetheless. I started this one very quickly and thought it was going to be a doddle, but ended but being held up by most of the SE corner plus 13 and 3, which took a lot of working out.

  5. The solution contains the title of David Mitchell’s latest novel. I know Phi is a fan because I recall a previous crossword of his themed on Mitchell’s novels.

    Anyway, that’s the only way I managed to get Bone, my last one in. Strangely, I can find only one other reference to the book amongst the answers. I imagine there are more.

  6. Found this at the easier end of Phi’s spectrum and had no problem with BONE. Formally named malleus but the clue did hint at the more colloquial name for it.

    The references to David Mitchell, splendid as he is, predictably went over my head but a good puzzle and blog, for which many thanks.

  7. We can only find one other reference to the theme. We didn’t find 13ac as much of a problem as others, in fact for some reason or other we breezes through it quite quickly unlike Tuesday’s puzzle this week. We had to check 12ac after we had given up on SLEEPY HEAD although we did eventually get it from the wordplay and not a word search.

    We would have totally missed the theme though. We’ve read Cloud Atlas but not Bone Clocks. Looking at the reviews perhaps we ought to give it a go.

    Thanks Phi and John.

  8. A bit of a toughie for a sheep’s head who also thought it must somehow be sleepy head. I thought 13A was bonce with the c missing, with the result being a slang term, as is hammer, for a robust physical exchange. Shows what a cesspit my mind is I suppose. The ear one seems much more appropriate for a family newspaper.

  9. Thanks, John.

    I did get BONE straight away, once I’d got the crossers. Just popped into my head when I saw ‘hammer’.

    Good puzzle; blog the same. Thanks to both.

    Did I see the theme? Don’t be silly.

  10. All six sections of The Bone Clocks are referenced – the last of them in full (it’s entitled SHEEP’S-HEAD, as it happens…). Very astute of you to note my fanboy afflictions – that may serve you well cinematically in due course!

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