Today brought me my regular monthly lexical tussle with Phi.
I actually found this one towards the easier end of the Phi spectrum. The grid certainly helped, in that it provided a lot of first letters, thus excluding the possibility of a Nina around the perimeter. If there is, however, some theme or other, or indeed a hidden message, then I haven’t spotted it.
My favourites today were the & lit. at 15 and 23, both for their surface reading, as well as 24, for its “twelve letters” device.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | TECHNOBABBLE | Broadcast chat on Beeb about British Library jargon
BL (=British Library) in *(CHAT ON BEEB); “broadcast” is anagram indicator |
| 09 | MELODRAMA | Mother keeping payment back to drive sob story?
[ELOD (DOLE=payment; “back” indicates reversal) + RAM (=drive)] in MA (=mother); cryptically, a sob story could be a melodrama in that it might involve a lot of sobbing! |
| 10 | SALVO | Gunfire volume filling most of room
V (=volume) in SALO<n> (=room; “most of” means last letter dropped) |
| 11 | EXALTED | Not initially annoyed about computer key placed in high position
ALT (=computer key) in <v>EXED (=annoyed; “not initially” means first letter dropped) |
| 12 | KNEECAP | Was aware endless speed knocked back bone in leg
KNE<w> (=was aware; “endless” means last letter dropped) + ECAP (PACE=speed; “knocked back” indicates reversal) |
| 13 | TARS | Bodies of water spurned by new seamen
TAR<n>S (=bodies of water); “spurned by new (=N)” means letter “n” is dropped |
| 15 | NEGOTIATOR | I go on working with treaty, mostly?
*(I GO ON + TREAT<y>); “mostly” means last letter dropped; “working” is anagram indicator; & lit. |
| 18 | MINI-BUDGET | Economic plan I ditch after reflection being swamped by abuse, see?
[I + NIB (BIN=ditch; “after reflection” indicates reversal)] in [MUD (=abuse, as in mud-slinging) + GET (=see, understand)] |
| 19 | CASE | Hard to avoid manhunt in legal matter
C<h>ASE (=manhunt); “hard (=H) to avoid” means letter “h” is dropped |
| 22 | ROOSTER | List includes duck’s-egg? Not from me
O (=duck, zero score) in ROSTER (=list); a rooster is a male and would thus not produce any eggs |
| 23 | LEOPARD | Cat burglar finally apprehended in flat after a sign
LEO (=sign, of the zodiac) + [<burgla>R (“finally” means last letter only) in PAD (=flat, as in bachelor pad)] |
| 25 | HALAL | Dining area accommodates a way of preparing meat
A in HALL (=dining area) |
| 26 | NEFARIOUS | Sofa besmirched with urine? Nasty
*(SOFA + URINE); “besmirched” is anagram indicator |
| 27 | INTERSTELLAR | Rattles liner at sea covering a great distance
*(RATTLES LINER); “at sea” is anagram indicator |
| Down | ||
| 01 | TEMPEST | Nuisance follows group unleashing a storm
TE<a>M (=group; “unleashing a” means letter “a” dropped) + PEST (=nuisance) |
| 02 | CELIA | Girl left one in middle of Atlantic, say
[L (=left) + I (=one)] in <o>CEA<n> (=Atlantic, say; “middle of” means all butfirst and last letters are dropped) |
| 03 | NUDITY | French article turned up lewd heartless content of strip-club?
NU (UN=French article, i.e. the French for a) + DI<r>TY (=lewd; “heartless” means middle letter dropped) |
| 04 | BRAND | Group securing right promotional concept
R (=right) in BAND (=group) |
| 05 | BLACK HOLE | Want hearts engraved in trunk (an attractive feature)?
[LACK (=want) + H (=hearts, in cards)] in BOLE (=trunk, of tree); cryptically, a black hole is an “attractive” feature in space in that it exerts a strong gravitational pull |
| 06 | LISTERIA | Realist moved to contain one disease
I (=one) in *(REALIST); “moved” is anagram indicator |
| 07 | BLACK TEA | AB, upset about dodgy tackle, leaves
*(TACKLE) in BA (AB; “upset” indicates reversal); “dodgy” is anagram indicator |
| 08 | COOPER | Surprised comment over a barrel-maker
COO (=surprised comment) + PER (=a, each) |
| 14 | RANDOMLY | Lord many perceived thus?
*(LORD MANY); “randomly” (=thus) is both the answer to the clue and its anagram indicator |
| 16 | ENDURANCE | Close river incorporating an opening for competitor’s stamina
END (=close) + [AN + C<ompetitor> in URE (=river)]; “opening for” means first letter only |
| 17 | ABUTILON | Feel bad about objection over working plant
[BUT (=objection) in AIL (=feel bad)] + ON (=working); an abutilon is a showy plant of the mallow family |
| 18 | MURPHY | Unknown stink about price rises for potato
Y (=unknown, in algebra) + [PR (=price) in HUM (=stink)]; “rises” indicates (here) full vertical reversal |
| 20 | END USER | Consumer continues picking up last three
ENDU-RES (=continues); “picking up last three” means that the last three letters, i.e. –RES, are vertically reversed |
| 21 | SOURCE | Turned chill, suppressing one supplier of information
SOUR (=turned, off; of milk) + <i>CE (=chill; “suppressing one (=I)” means letter “i” is dropped) |
| 23 | LIFTS | Takes up line, getting chasms after river falls
L (=line) + <r>IFTS (=chasms; “after river (=R) falls” means letter “r” is dropped) |
| 24 | ATOLL | Twelve letters left for island
A to L (=twelve letters) + L (=left) |
TGI?!
Somehow I doubt that learning there is a plant called an “abutilon” will improve my chances of recognising it when I trip over it. Or of keeping it alive. But at least now I know it exists.
Very nice puzzle, thank you. I was stuck on 21D, despite realising that “turned” might mean “gone off”.
Thanks Phi and RatkojaRiku, I came for some elegant clues and got plenty of them.
In 2d, I would parse CEA as the middle letters in CEA.
For 8d I confidently entered HOOPER, parsed as HO! + O (=over) + PER, and couldn’t spot where I’d got one wrong.
Oops, I see we have to escape angle brackets. That was supposed to be “the middle letters of <o>CEA<n>”.
Ah, but it has to be COOPER…
Even with a hint, I’ve got nothing! I’ll wait impatiently for some Only Connect experts to arrive…
Another cinematic theme.
The film Interstellar has characters called Cooper, Brand and Murph. There’s probably other connections too.
Ah .. And a spaceship called ENDURANCE. Heading towards a BLACK HOLE. With robots called CASE and TARS.
I didn’t spot the theme but I did think that this week’s Phi was more straight-forward than usual. I did enjoy myself so thank you to him and RR
Another Phi theme I failed to spot. I was solving this post-lunch and was nodding off towards the end, so I’ll use that as my excuse for why it seemed to take an absolute age to see SOURCE. I’ve come across ABUTILON before, and I’m assuming it was somewhere else in crosswordland.
Following your post, Cyborg, I have correctly understood the parsing of 2 – thank you!
Another unspotted Phi theme to add to an already long list ….