It is Phi-day once again, bringing this latest set of mid-week puzzles to an end.
I found this to be an enjoyable, medium-difficulty puzzle through which I made fairly swift progress.
I would appreciate some confirmation from fellow solvers of my parsing of the wordplay at 1, and of the definition at 22, where I wouldn’t necessarily see “in sum” as a synonym for “finally”, even though a repetition of the key points is often the final part of e.g. a speech.
My favourite clues today were 4 and 15D, both for smoothness of surface. The aperitif at 9 was new to me. I haven’t spotted a theme today, but perhaps there is one in the completed grid somewhere?
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | WORD GAME | Promise leads to halting puzzle
WORD (=promise, as in to give someone one’s word) + GAME (=halting, lame) |
| 06 | JERSEY | Japanese language requires year on island
J (=Japanese) + ERSE (=language) + Y (=year) |
| 09 | DUBONNET | Catch linked to name on aperitif
DUB (=name, call) + ON + NET (=catch, trap); Dubonnet is a type of sweet red wine flavoured with quinine, drunk as an apéritif |
| 10 | NINTH | Element of tradition in this anniversary marked with pottery
Hidden (“element of”) in “traditioN IN THis”; a ninth wedding anniversary is marked with gifts of pottery |
| 11 | ODDS | Chances putting daughters in older school initially
DD (2 x D=daughter) in [O<lder> + S<chool> (“initially” means first letters only)] |
| 12 | REPEATEDLY | Peter out with delay over and over again
*(PETER + DELAY); “out” is anagram indicator |
| 13 | MIDDLE | Millions without work around Democratic heartland
M (=millions) + [D (=democratic) in IDLE (=without work)]; the heartland is an area of country that is centrally located and/or vitally important, hence “middle” |
| 15 | LAY ASIDE | Discard song, one planned as a hit?
LAY (=song) + A-SIDE (=one planned as a hit, of single on record) |
| 16 | ABERRANT | Deviant sailor, and soldier imprisoning Queen and King
[ER (=Queen, i.e. Elizabeth Regina) + R (=King, i.e. Rex)] in [AB (=sailor, i.e. able-bodied seaman) + ANT (=soldier)] |
| 19 | EMPIRE | Problematic situation involving power following European sovereignty
E (=European) + [P (=power) in MIRE (=problematic situation)] |
| 21 | MINIMALIST | Note provided by pre-eminent modern composer
MINIM (=note, in music) + A-LIST (=pre-eminent, of celebrities) |
| 23 | CITY | Conservative compassion after leader deposed in urban area
C (=conservative) + <p>ITY (=compassion; “after leader deposed” means first letter is dropped) |
| 24 | ARGUE | Fever limiting start of reasoned debate
R<easoned> (“start of” means first letter is dropped) in AGUE (=fever) |
| 25 | STRIP OUT | Remove blemish in beer
RIP (=blemish, flaw) in STOUT (=beer) |
| 26 | MEMORY | Setter’s going round European capital repressed in recollection
EMOR (ROME=European capital; “repressed” indicates reversal) in MY (=setter’s, i.e. Phi’s) |
| 27 | MIDNIGHT | I had number displayed in strength – 12?
[I’D (=I had) + N (=number)] in MIGHT (=strength); 12 o’clock can be either midday or midnight |
| Down | ||
| 02 | OPUS DEI | Vaguely pious restraining of French religious group
DE (=of French, i.e. the French word for of) in *(PIOUS); “vaguely” is anagram indicator |
| 03 | DOORS | Charitable people overlooking new openings
DO<n>ORS (=charitable people); “overlooking new (=N)” means letter “n” is dropped |
| 04 | AINTREE | Sporting venue, live, hosting international before end of game
[INT (=international) in ARE (=live, exist)] + <gam>E (“end of” means last letter only)] |
| 05 | EAT UP | Consume Evian water around end of night, then pee
[<nigh>T (“end of” means last letter only) in EAU (=Evian water, i.e. the French word for water)] + P (=pee, i.e. letter of alphabet) |
| 06 | JANUARY | Articles variously blocking examiners for about four weeks
[AN + A (=articles, in grammar) in JURY (=examiners); “variously” means added at different places in the word |
| 07 | RUNNERS-UP | Table decoration put over drink for the unsuccessful?
RUNNER (=table decoration) + SUP (=drink) |
| 08 | EXHALED | Each guided round by husband? Showed sign of relief, perhaps?
[X (=by, as in 2m by 3m) + H (=husband)] in [EA (=each) + LED (=guided)] |
| 14 | DERRING-DO | Peculiar upset involving wayward act of heroism
ERRING (=wayward) in DDO (ODD=peculiar; “upset” indicates vertical reversal) |
| 15 | LOT | Money, nothing less – fortune?
LO<o>T (=money); “nothing (=0) less” means letter “o” is dropped |
| 17 | BRIGADE | Group of soldiers commanded to collect equipment
RIG (=equipment, kit) in BADE (=commanded) |
| 18 | ACADEMY | Study centre – expert securing a degree – gosh!
{[A + D (=degree)] in ACE (=expert)} + MY (=gosh, as exclamation) |
| 19 | ENTERED | Recorded limits to the range in conclusion
[T<h>E R<ang>E] in END (=conclusion); “limits to“ means first and last letters only; to enter something in a register is to record it |
| 20 | RETOUCH | Amend the colour, obscuring old line?
*(THE C<ol>OUR); “obscuring old (=O) line (=L)” means letters “o” and “l” are dropped from the anagram, indicated by “amend”, which is doing double duty in this semi- & lit. clue |
| 22 | IN SUM | Finally picking up note amidst a lot of notes
N (=note) in MUSI<c> (notes; “a lot of” means last letter only is dropped); “picking up” indicates vertical reversal |
| 23 | CAPRI | Cold month with early closing in holiday island
C (=cold) + APRI<l> (=month; “with early closing” means last letter is dropped) |
I needed a lot of time to get this out, not helped by initially putting ‘repetitive’ at 12a which stymied me for the NE corner. I couldn’t parse the GAME bit of 1a, but your explanation seems correct, and I didn’t know a RUNNER as a table decoration. IN SUM had me scratching my head too, but I ended up parsing it as you did, with the ‘Finally’ def as in the example you’ve given.
I liked AINTREE and my favourite MINIMALIST, though there must be at least one ‘modern composer’ to whom the term can’t be applied!
Thanks to Phi and RR
A straightfoeward solve with no real problems, although we got NINTH from the pottery reference and took ages to see it was a hidden. We parsed 1ac in the same way, taking ‘game’ = ‘lame’ as in ‘a game leg’ but thought it a bit indirect to equate ‘game’ with ‘halting’ We saw IN SUM as equivalent to ‘to sum up’ and therefore ‘finally’, but agree that it doesn’t necessarily mean that; maybe the clue should have had a question mark. And we originally had ‘repetetive’ (peter* + evite<) for 12ac until we got crossing letters from 7dn and 8dn and realised that the word is ‘repetitive’ so it wouldn’t fit the clue anyway. We couldn’t parse RETOUCH
We knew the aperitif in 9ac. Showing our age, does anyone remember the adverts in the Paris Metro “Dubo, Dubon, Dubonnet”?
MINIMALIST took some teasing out as we thought we might be looking for an actual name.
We liked JERSEY, LAY ASIDE and DERRING-DO.
Thanks, Phi and RatkojaRiku
There’s a rather obscure theme today, though Dormouse might spot it. The Hugo SF and Fantasy Awards are being announced today. There was going to be a big dinner here in Wellington but it’s now all being done via Zoom and Twitch and so on. (I hadn’t heard of Twitch before.). The other half has been helping out with the social media side of things, and is now a Zoom room host.
Anyway today’s answers include references to the titles of the six books on the shortlist for best novel.
Thanks to RatkojaRiku and Phi
I thought “blemish” = “rip” was a bit iffy.
20d All elements in the clue take part in the wordplay so I think this qualifies as an &lit, with the “?” indicating a DBE.
Damn, I should have spotted that. I finished A Memory of Empire just last night. (The voting ended last week, but I never finished it before the deadline.)
I was supposed to be there this week, really looking forward to visiting New Zealand. (My sister has been a couple of times and recommended it.) Instead, I’m going to stay up till after midnight to see at least the start of the ceremony online. I’ve only missed two World Science Fiction conventions since 1979. There’s been a lot of events online this week.
My vote went to Middlegame.
I was actually the award administrator back in 2005 when the convention was in Glasgow. Even got my own rocket ship award for doing that. There’s not usually a dinner these days, hasn’t been since the eighties, it’s usually done just like the Oscars, a number of presenters on stage, recipients coming up from the audience. It’s not going to be the same this year.
Utterly impenetrable for me today, both in answer and parsing. Six in and lights out Eileen. It’s all wavelengths and moods, I guess.
Thanks Phi and RatkojaRiku
Well, as it happened, my vote went to Arkady Martine, so I got one result right. Middlegame was second on the list.
I liked the Martine, but it didn’t quite do it for me. I’ve been reading McGuire for years and I thought Middlegame was totally different to her earlier work. Just been looking at the voting statistics on the CoNZealand website. The other book I got round to reading was Gideon the Ninth, and it seemed to be about an abusive lesbian relationship which was well done, but didn’t really appeal to me.
In the end, I only saw the first half hour or so before I really needed to get some sleep.