Independent 10,528 by Phi

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It’s the end of another week and once again it’s Phi-Day.

It’s always a pleasure to blog a Phi puzzle as even when you think you have finished you are still looking for something else. First of all we were looking for other poems by Edward Thomas (28ac & 1d) but it wasn’t until the blog was complete and we were about to publish it that Joyce noticed THOMAS CROMWELL. Hilary MANTEL’s three books or ‘PIECES’ centred on Thomas Cromwell also feature in the grid – WOLF HALL, BRING UP THE BODIES and the most recent one THE MIRROR AND THE LIGHT. We were lucky enough to see the stage version of the first two at Stratford.

Bert who does not read as much as Joyce has read the first two in the series but Joyce has not quite finished Wolf Hall after three attempts.

We hope all is well in New Zealand Phi.

image of grid

ACROSS
1  Concedes after victory in bike races in comparable places (4,5)
TWIN TOWNS

OWNS (concedes) after WIN (victory) in TT (bike races)

6  Just accepting lecturer in faculty (5)
FLAIR

FAIR (just) around or ‘accepting’ L (lecturer)

9  Charged ion later releasing energy after moving (2,5)
ON TRIAL

An anagram of ION LATeR without or ‘releasing’ e (energy) – anagrind is ‘after moving”

10  Mention criminal group in bar, after reflection (5,2)
BRING UP

RING (criminal group) in PUB (bar) reversed or ‘after reflection’

11  Agree expert can go round church by day (6)
ACCEDE

ACE (expert) round CE (church) and D (day)

12  Cross-country event I held in British and Irish territory getting curtailed (8)
BIATHLON

I inside or ‘held in’ B (British) ATHLONe (Irish territory) missing last letter or ‘curtailed’

14  Items of decor, nice set, and ample for redecoration (12)
MANTELPIECES

An anagram of NICE SET AMPLE – anagrind is ‘for redecoration’

18  Military installations startle foreigners in France – see second run away (6,6)
ROCKET RANGES

ROCK (startle) ETRANGErS (foreigners in French) missing second R or ‘with second run away’

21  No good blocking second astrological symbol as personal emblem (8)
MONOGRAM

NO G (good) inside MO (second) RAM (astrological symbol – Aries)

23  Predicts providing restriction for current organisations (6)
BODIES

BODES (predicts) around or ‘providing restriction for’ I (current)

25  Preparing data, having located it in Google (though only some) (7)
EDITING

Hidden (‘only some’) in locatED IT IN Google

26  Calm and collected when American returned blushing (7)
ASSURED

AS (when) US (American – reversed or ‘returning’) RED (blushing)

27  Easily worked land (5)
LIGHT

Double definition

28  Vaguely stop and read line in poem (9)
ADLESTROP

An anagram of STOP, READ and L (line) – anagrind is ‘vaguely – a poem written by Edward THOMAS (1d) (who we have never come across before)

DOWN
1  Author of 28, after brief time, has to receive high honour (6)
THOMAS

T (time) HAS around or ‘receiving’ OM (high honour as in Order of Merit)

2  International legislation is not impaired (6)
INTACT

INT (International) ACT (legislation)

3  Tense expression of annoyance when restricted by employee of poor quality (5-4)
THIRD-RATE

T (tense) + DRAT (expression of annoyance) inside or ‘restricted by’ HIRE (employee – an Americanism)

4  First of letters penned by women concerning seducer (4)
WOLF

L (first letter of letters) inside or ‘penned by’ W (women) OF (concerning)

5  Working on film, but it needs translation? Shy about that (10)
SUBTITLING

An anagram of BUT IT – anagrind is ‘needs translation’ with SLING (shy) outside or ‘about that’

6  Fine fluffy stuff becoming very hard (5)
FLINT

F (fine) LINT (fluffy stuff)

7  Cake decoration set in an art institute (8)
ANGELICA

GEL (set) inside AN ICA (Institute of Contemporary Arts). When he was very young, Bert’s Mum used angelica on birthday cakes which always featured a clock face. The hands were made of angelica and pointed to the age that year – the roman numerals round the clock face were also made of angelica.

8  Seen unhappily in tears, a complete state (8)
RIPENESS

An anagram of SEEN (anagrind is ‘unhappily’) in RIPS (tears)

13  Chest pain could give you a real sting (10)
STERNALGIA

An anagram of A REAL STING – anagrind is ‘could give you’

15  Chillers – that is, encompassing cold and not entirely warm purposes (3,6)
ICE HOUSES

IE (that is) around or ‘encompassing’ C (cold) + HOt (warm) missing last letter or ‘not entirely’ + USES (purposes)

16  English leader’s memory given weight in political group (8)
CROMWELL

ROM (memory) and W (weight) in CELL (political group)

17  Scientist’s beginning work to preserve observation (8)
SCANNING

S (first letter or ‘beginning’ to Scientist) CANNING (work to preserve)

19  “I’m upset over nothing in basic education,” one reflects (6)
MIRROR

I’M reversed or ‘upset’ above or ‘over’ O (nothing) in RRR (basic education as in the three Rs)

20  Our supporters, leading English and Irish party, finished (4-2)
USED-UP

US (our supporters) E (English) DUP (Irish party)

22  Goon’s initial cover, without question, doing for criminal attribute (5)
GUILT

G (first or ‘initial’ letter of Goon) qUILT (cover) – missing Q (question)

24  Henry left college (4)
HALL

HAL (Henry) L (left)

 

14 comments on “Independent 10,528 by Phi”

  1. Thanks, both, for the timely and helpful blog.

    A puzzle that fell out nicely in the end, and which was – as always – entertaining.  ADLESTROP was new to me too, and could be said to be a GK step too far; but I suppose it’s an obvious anagram.  STERNALGIA was another word I wouldn’t really claim to ‘know’, but the two elements were gettable from previous knowledge, so fair enough.

    Some folk like to go hunting for the theme post-solve, which is an added element of the entertainment.  I usually have a brief scan, but seldom see anything, even the obvious ghost theme today.  And I don’t think Joyce is the only human being on the planet to have struggled to finish Wolf Hall.

    Thanks to the setter too, and good weekend to all.

  2. Damn-I missed the theme-I’ve only read the Wolf Hall and  immediately  became a Mark Rylance after watching the adaptation.

    so thanks B&J and Phi.

  3. Most of this went in fairly easily but we struggled in the SW corner and with BODIES which was our LOI after ages trying to think of a synonym for ‘predicts’ (our thesaurus doesn’t give ‘bode’ for ‘predict’, although it does give ‘predict’ for ‘bode’).  But we got ADLESTROP at once – helped by the reference to it in 1dn.  STERNALGIA was a new word for us but easily worked out and then confirmed in Chambers.  Failed to spot the theme, though – we didn’t really look for one after finally finishing.

    We liked SUBTITLING and MIRROR, but favourite was the above-mentioned ADLESTROP.

    Thanks, Phi and B&J

  4. I struggled with this and needed far too much word list consultation, so didn’t really enjoy it. Sternalgia not in any of my dictionaries and only got it with an online word search of various possibilities.  I misspelled 14A as ‘mantlepiece’, which is how I’ve always spelled it and is an acceptable alternative, so that didn’t help.  Missed the theme.  But thanks anyway to Phi and B&J.

  5. Hilary Mantel’s forthcoming book of essays will be called Mantel Pieces. This alerted me to the theme, but I still found the puzzle harder than Phi normally is. Enjoyed it, and the blog.

  6. Thanks Jen for the info on Hilary Mantel’s book of essays.

    After blogging this puzzle, I really must finish Wolf Hall. Watching the rerun again on the TV recently with Mark Rylance inspired me to pick the book up again. It’s not that I wasn’t enjoying it before but I seem to only manage so many pages at a time.

  7. Did this after dinner while waiting for Vera to start on the TV. Never heard of Adlestrop or Hilary Mantel.
    Hence I could never have spotted the theme. But I did parse everything and completed the puzzle with a bit of googling.

  8. I was pleased to get everything in without too much obscurity. When I was younger Adlestrop seemed to be everywhere with parodies also common – perhaps it was on a syllabus?

    If you haven’t finished Wolf Hall then you would find Bring Up the Bodies more of the same style. Mirror and Light I thought still very good (particularly, as some have noted, the ability to maintain narrative tension even though you know he’s going to die at the end) but it does seem to have acquired a touch of bloat.

  10. Yes, I remember Adlestrop, the poem.  Read it at school all those years ago and it has stuck in my memory.  I recall a piece, maybe in The Indie more recently where a writer actually went looking for Adlestrop station.  It was closed by Beeching  but I think the remains are still there.

    But I must admit, getting 1dn first I was thinking of Dylan, not Edward, when thinking poems.

    STERNALGIA is in Chambers, at least the e-version I have on my computer.

    But I needed a word search to get 12ac and16dn, and 22dn escaped me entirely.  And I haven’t read Mantel, but I do have a biography of Thomas Cromwell on my to be read pile.

  11. A really tough Phi for me. Complete blow out on four clues and most of the parsings missed. GK to blame, no idea of poem, nor any Hilary Mantel works, and the anagrams largely defeated me, even with anagrinds and fodder spotted. Ho hum. Thanks Phi and bertandjoyce

  12. Tatrasman and Dormouse: STERNALGIA is also in the dead tree 13th edition of Chambers – as a subheading under STERNUM.

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