Phi is in his usual Friday slot this week
It wasn’t until I nearly finished the blog and was writing up GROUCH when I realised that there were nearly five Marx Brothers in the grid. I say nearly as they are lacking the final O.
We have CHIC at 12 across, HARP at 18 across, GUMM at the end of 7 down, ZEPP hidden in 8 down and GROUCH at 19 down.
Overall, I thought this was towards the easier end of Phi’s spectrum with only FRANCES GUMM being completely new to me. The wordplay for that entry though was very clear. I have come across SOLIPSISM and SEALPOINT before, but admittedly not very often. I wonder if it was LED ZEPPELIN or Judy Garland’s birth name that generated the idea for the theme, as ZEPP and GUMM would be the most difficult to get into the grid. GUMM could go into variants of thingummyjig or gummed, but ZEPP is restricted to some form of ZEPPelin.
It makes a change to see DISRAELI clued as an author rather than as a former Prime Minister
| No | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| Across | |||
| 1 | Have influence on game: it should give greater opening for current moves (5,6) |
SWING (have influence on) + BRIDGE (card game) SWING BRIDGE |
SWING BRIDGE (when open, a SWING BRIDGE, gives greater space for movement of boats on rivers [current]) |
| 7 | Entirely welcoming a few in obsequious style (9) |
FULLY (entirely) containing (welcoming) SOME (a few) FUL (SOME) LY |
FULSOMELY (in obsequious style) |
| 8 | Second selection leads to row (5) |
S (second) + CULL (selection) S CULL |
SCULL (row with light-bladed oars)) |
| 10 | Fruit mostly employed after I departed (5) |
APPL APPLE |
APPLE (fruit) |
| 11 | Number attempted to dislodge king of octopoda |
TEN (a number) + TAC TEN TACLED |
TENTACLED (descriptive of a member of the genus Octopoda which is itself a cephalopod [usually large, exclusively marine animals [including cuttlefish, squid, octopus, etc], with the foot modified into arms or TENTACLEs surrounding the mouth) |
| 12 | Smart greeting adopted by Conservatives (4) |
HI (greeting) contained in (adopted by) (C [Conservative] + C [Conservative], giving Conservatives) C (HI) C |
CHIC (smart) |
| 13 | Catholic formerly touring valleys to get healthier (10) |
C (Catholic])+ (ONCE [formerly])containing [touring] VALES [valleys]) C ON (VALES) CE |
CONVALESCE (regain healthy) |
| 17 | Whole exploit receiving tense thanks in high level meeting (6,4) |
SUM (whole) + (MILK [exploit] containing [receiving] [T {tense} + TA {thankyou; thanks}]) SUM MI (T TA) LK |
SUMMIT TALK (high level meeting) |
| 18 | Regular payments to secure Arab stringed instrument (4) |
HP (hire-purchase; an arrangement where the purchaser makes a series of regular payments whilst using, but before owning the goods outright) containing (to secure) AR (Arab) H (AR) P |
HARP (stringed instrument) |
| 20 | Single one brought in without blemish (9) |
I (Roman numeral for one) contained in (brought in) UNMARRED (without blemish) UNMARR (I) ED |
UNMARRIED (single) |
| 23 | Cancel legislation banning a revolt (5) |
REPE REPEL |
REPEL (produce a feeling of aversion or distaste in; disgust; revolt) |
| 24 | Confusing arrangement surrounding one crop (5) |
MAZE (confusing system or arrangement) containing (surrounding) I (Roman numeral for one) MA (I) ZE |
MAIZE (tall cereal grass; crop) |
| 25 | Stumbling into ruins – trespass? |
Anagram of (stumbling) INTO RUINS INTRUSION* |
INTRUSION (a trespass [as a noun]) |
| 26 | Various things trimmed slender ornate hatstand (4,3,4) |
THI THI S AND THAT* |
THIS AND THAT (various minor unspecified objects) |
| Down | |||
| 1 | Error about love upset miss having egotistical attitude (9) |
(SLIP [error] containing [about] O [zero; love score in tennis]) + an anagram of (upset) MISS S (O) LIP SISM* |
SOLIPSISM (The extreme form of scepticism which denies the possibility of any knowledge other than of one’s own existence; egotistical attitude) |
| 2 | Shakespearean heroine I think will get information (6) |
IMO (in my opinion; I think) + GEN (information) IMO GEN |
IMOGEN (heroine of Shakespeare’s play Cymbeline) |
| 3 | Heavy garment and other things wrapping one in a little bit (9) |
(ETC [et cetera; and other things] containing [wrapping] A [one]) all contained in (in) GROAT (coin worth very little; a little bit [coin]) GR (E (A) TC) OAT |
GREATCOAT (heavy garment) |
| 4 | Source of colour initially absent in artificial silk (5) |
RAYON |
RAYON (artificial silk fabric made from cellulose) |
| 5 | Unambitious in home improvements, sadly (8) |
SMALL (insignificant; unambitious) contained in (in) DIY (do-it-yourself; home improvements) DI (SMALL) Y |
DISMALLY (sadly) |
| 6 | Just one not accepted by European shrink (5) |
E (European) + QUA E QUAL |
EQUAL (fair; just) |
| 7 | Frenchman supporting sticker in Paris identifying actress’s original name (7,4) |
(FRANCE’S [in Paris] + GUM [adhesive; sticker]) + M (Monsieur [address for a French man]) As this is a down clue, the final M is supporting FRANCE’S GUM FRANCES GUM M |
FRANCES GUMM (original name of Judy Garland [1922 – 1969], American actress, singer and dancer) |
| 9 | Group offering some light on airship (3,8) |
LED (light-emitting diode; type of light) + ZEPPELIN (cigar-shaped airship of the type designed by the German aviation pioneer Count ZEPPELIN) LED ZEPPELIN |
LED ZEPPELIN (English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group consisted of |
| 14 | See a line I saw confirmed (9) |
V (Latin – vide; see) + A + L (line) + I + DATED (went out with; saw) V A L I DATED |
VALIDATED (confirmed) |
| 15 | Cat identified from curious plain toes (9) |
Anagram of (curious) PLAIN TOES SEALPOINT* |
SEALPOINT (a variety of Siamese cat, with a dark-brown face, paws and tail) |
| 16 | I’d picked up novel serial from Victorian author (8) |
I’D reversed (picked up; down clue) + an anagram of (novel) SERIAL DI SRAELI* |
DISRAELI (reference Benjamin DISRAELI [1804 – 1881], British politician and author) |
| 19 | Gross expression of pain – not a happy bunny (6) |
GR (gross) + OUCH (expression of pain) GR OUCH |
GROUCH (grumbler; moaner; one who is not a happy bunny) |
| 21 | Watery droplets filled with oxygen (5) |
MIST (droplets) containing (filled with) O (chemical symbol for oxygen) M (O) IST |
MOIST (watery) |
| 22 | Spanish location in Iberia’s foremost business area (5) |
I (first letter of [foremost] IBERIA [Spain and Portugal]) + BIZ (business) + A (area) I BIZ A |
IBIZA (a Balearic island, part of Spain) |
Well done spotting the Marx Brothers. Missed that.
I remember slapping myself once before for not seeing IMO for “in my opinion” and I missed it again. Double drat!
Had to look up FRANCES GUMM.
I’m a cat lover but took ages to get SEALPOINT with THIS AND THAT my loi.
Thanks to Phi and Duncan.
I always enjoy Phi puzzles and this was no exception byt forgot to hunt the theme as I also had the Graun puzzle printed out.
Thanks Phi and dunc
Another to have missed the theme, but enjoyed the solve. I came up against two uses/senses that often trip me up – ‘V’ for see and ‘row’ as in ‘row a boat’, blind spots that cause me a lot of unnecessary grief. 26a also took a while to work out before I twigged it was an anagram and I spent too long trying to fit in ‘odds and sods’ or ‘bits and bobs’.
Vaguely remembered Judy Garland’s name, but didn’t know SEALPOINT or the Shakespearean heroine.
Thanks to Phi and Duncan
We thought the ‘current’ in 1ac had to do with rivers or tides but it wasn’t until we’d got a few crossing letters that we saw SWING BRIDGE. We deduced IMOGEN from the wordplay but had to check our Shakespeare for which play she appears in. FRANCES GUMM we remembered as the real name of an actress although googling was required to remind us of her professional name.
This being a Phi puzzle we looked for a theme, but failed to spot the Marx brothers.
All very enjoyable though – a satisfying solve.
Thanks, Phi and Duncan.
Hmm…seemed a bit obscure by Phi standards to me. I’m glad Duncan thought Frances Gumm was obvious – not to me, even seeing your parsing. Not very keen on IMO – only ever seen IMHO, quail for shrink or groat for bit. Sealpoint new to me. But I suspect I am just grouchy (!) after having to cancel much anticipated walking holiday in Austria today.
Full Marx for spotting the theme, it eluded me.
I didn’t know SEALPOINT but I did know Judy Garland’s real name and it was what I immediately thought of when I read the clue, my FOI. SOLIPSISM is a favourite word for me. Sometimes I think it’s the only logical explanation for the universe.
I couldn’t parse 2dn, not helped by half remembering there is a dispute over the correct spelling of her name. Looking it up, I see it should be Innogen, which doesn’t fit, but I’d remembered it as Inogen.
Couldn’t parse 6dn, either. Thanks for the explanations..
My mum came to visit today for the first time since lockdown™. I sought her help on the SEALPOINT anagram, but it took me to solve it without ever having heard of the word for her to confirm I had the correct answer. It lead to several stories of neighbours (who had 2 siamese cats) and acquaintances from the past which offered a pleasant distraction. And added weight to the saying that the world is a small place.
Thanks Phi and Duncan.
The perfect chance for our theme-spotting blogger to proclaim modestly: “Nothing to it, old chap!”