Filbert, a compiler whose work I have little experience of, has provided us with today’s cruciverbal challenge.
I found this to be quite a tough crossword, both to complete and to parse to my satisfaction. In the end, Filbert had the last laugh, since I needed to search Chambers to find 14 and 29, neither of which I knew. I also needed to Chambers to parse the reference to abseiling in the wordplay at 1D.
My favourite clues today were 12, for its fruity theme; 8, for overall construction; 11 and 25, both for surface reading; and 27, for a clever and concise & lit.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | FOREHAND | Chinese group departs after warning shot
FORE (=warning, in golf) + HAN (=(native) Chinese group) + D (=departs, on train timetable) |
| 05 | TIPTOP | Excellent suggestion might finally work
TIP (=suggestion) + <migh>T (“finally” means last letter only) + OP (=work, i.e. opus) |
| 09 | AMP | It helps you hear note played relatively quietly
A (=note, in music) + MP (=played relatively quietly, i.e. mezzo-piano); “amp” is an abbreviation for amplifier |
| 10 | METALWORKER | Harry wrote “Markle, I’m no different from Smith”
*(WROTE MARKLE); “harry” is anagram indicator; the reference is to e.g. a goldsmith, a silversmith |
| 12 | PALM SUNDAY | Feast always started with bananas and plums
*(AND PLUMS) + AY (=always); “bananas (=mad)” is anagram indicator |
| 13 | COLA | Low point for every drink
COL (=low point, i.e. a pass between mountains) + A (=for every, per) |
| 15 | TECHNO | Maybe Pavarotti right away gets to grips with church music
CH (=church) in TENO<r> (=maybe Pavarotti; “right (=R) away” means letter “r” is dropped) |
| 16 | NEEDFUL | New feud brewing among the Spanish poor
N (=new) + [*(FEUD) in EL (=the Spanish, i.e. a Spanish word for the)] |
| 18 | ADMIRER | On edge, lawyer rejected potential suitor
RE (=on, concerning) + RIM (=edge) + DA (=lawyer, i.e. District Attorney); “rejected” is anagram indicator |
| 20 | NUMPTY | A Scottish idiot set my punt adrift
*(MY PUNT); “set adrift” is anagram indicator |
| 23 | FLAT | Boring // with no relief
Double definition: a party be flat, boring AND a painting, sculpture can be flat, with no relief |
| 24 | DISCONCERT | Bother, the candlestick’s covered in grime
SCONCE (=candlestick) in DIRT (=grime) |
| 26 | DOWN TO EARTH | Unlikely to be silly, because of dodgy heart
DOWN TO (=because of, due to) + *(HEART); “dodgy” is anagram indicator |
| 27 | TEA | It’s made by boiling water, endlessly
<s>TEA<m> (=boiling water); “endlessly” means first and last letters are dropped; & lit. |
| 28 | LADIES | Occasionally, lines entering gents; more often, here
<l>I<n>E<s> (“occasionally” indicates alternate letters only) in LADS (=gents); & lit. |
| 29 | HELPMEET | Headgear protects several bits of PE assistant
P and E (“several bits of PE”, i.e. letters appearing separately) in HELMET (=headgear); “helpmeet” is used to mean helper, assistant in the Bible (Genesis 2.18) |
| Down | ||
| 01 | FRAPPÉ | Fellow abseiling loses footing on ice
F (=fellow) + RAPPE<l> (=abseiling; “loses footing” means last letter is dropped) |
| 02 | REPULSE | Dish out pleasure, not a kick in the teeth
*(PLE<a>SURE); “dish out” is anagram indicator |
| 03 | HEMISPHERE | Half the world is into cannabis, I say
[IS in HEMP (=cannabis)] + HERE (=I say, as interjection) |
| 04 | NOT ON YOUR LIFE | There’s no chance of solvers entering unacceptable term
YOU (=solvers) in [NOT ON (=unacceptable) + LIFE (=term, i.e. of imprisonment)] |
| 06 | IDOL | Billy‘s head down in the swimming pool
LIDO (=swimming pool); “head down” means the first letter moves to the end of the word; the reference is to the English musician Billy Idol (1955-) |
| 07 | TAKE OFF | Split receipts on holiday
TAKE (=receipts, earnings) + OFF (=on holiday); to “split”, scarper is to take off, run away |
| 08 | PORTABLE | After being overthrown, Napoleon’s exile too easy to bear
ELBA (=Napoleon’s exile) + TROP (=too, in French); “after being overthrown” indicates vertical reversal |
| 11 | LEARNING CURVE | Smear top of nasty verruca in gel – it’ll show improvement
*(N<asty> (“top of” means first letter only) + VERRUCA IN GEL); “smear” is anagram indicator |
| 14 | PENMANSHIP | Prevent wandering of his cool hand
PEN MAN (=prevent wandering of, i.e. lock him up) + HIP (=cool, trendy); “by someone’s hand” means written/penned/authored by someone |
| 17 | DAFFODIL | Narcissus slid off a diving-board, absorbed by reflection
Hidden (“absorbed by”) and reversed (“reflection”) in “sLID OFF A Diving-board” |
| 19 | MIAOWED | Accepting ring, end up married – as did the pussycat?
O (=ring, pictorially) in [MIA (AIM=end; “up” indicates vertical reversal) + WED (=married)] |
| 21 | THEATRE | Show nipple pierced by husband; sore, but not very
[H (=husband) in TEAT (=nipple)] + <so>RE (“not very (=so)” means letters “so” are dropped) |
| 22 | STUART | Royal house opening for everyone to see inside
U (=for everyone to see, of film classification) in START (=opening); the House of Stuart was a royal house in various European countries, ending in England with the death of Queen Anne in 1714 |
| 25 | STYE | Sore losers forget they were ever in last place
<loser>S <forge>T <the>Y <wer>E; “ever in last place” means last letters only are used |
There seems to be something of a music theme going on. There is METAL in 10a, TECHNO, DISCO in 24a, RAP in 1d and we have “grime” and “house” appearing in the clues for 24a and 22d. Sure there must be a lot more.
There are other words more loosely connected like AMP, (Billy) IDOL, (music) THEATRE, FLAT (note).
Enjoyed the workout so thanks to Filbert and RatkojaRiku.
Quite a challenge this one
14d I had Pen (prevent wandering) + mans (of his, less apostrophe) + hip
Thought there might be a theme running but never really ran with it.
Thanks Filbert and RatkojaRiku.
Interesting to see you have a different, but perfectly acceptable, parsing for TEA. I parsed it as an anagram (boiling) of wATEr (water endlessly).
I didn’t care for 4d. You parsing omits the R in “your”. It seems we have to equate solvers = your. There are cases where we ignore punctuation, so solver’s (or solvers’), but not keen on this. Maybe somebody has a better explanation.
This was a curate’s egg of a puzzle for me. There was certainly a lot to like with many very clever clues in evidence. However I found a few clues almost impenetrably tough needing some electronic assistance to finish. 1a, 1d, 14d & 29a were my last ones in.
29a & 25d appear to contain unnecessary surface padding (“several” and “ever” respectively). I really struggled with the parsing of 8d. Surely “Elba” is Napoleon’s PLACE OF exile and I think that “Napoleon’s … too” to clue a French word is a step too far. I also don’t believe that the very unpleasant imagery of 21d has any place in crosswords like this.
On a positive note, most of the rest were very fine clues with 28a & 14d vying for the title of my favourite.
Many thanks to Filbert and to RR.
I found this the most enjoyable puzzle of the many that I did this week.
Yes, there seems to be a music theme (which I did not notice!) – well spotted, Hovis.
In your blog, RR (and many thanks for that), there is an S missing in 14dn.
I parsed it as: PEN (prevent wandering of) + MAN’S (his) + HIP (cool).
Sorry Doofs @2, we crossed.
Hovis @3: Why not ‘of solvers’ for YOUR?
Rabbit Dave @4: Funny enough, I find ‘several’ and ‘ever’ adding to the precision of both 29ac and 25dn.
As the blog says, the former tells us to enter P and E separately. And in 25dn Filbert makes clear that we should take the last letters of both ‘they’ and ‘were’ [although many other setters won’t do this].
SvdH @7. I thought that “bits” would be sufficient on its own to take the P & E separately. I take your point in 25d (it’s actually the last letter of four words). I’m not fully convinced that “ever” = “all”, but I suppose it’s just about OK.
Excellent. Couldnt decide between COLA and SODA,.
I loved the simplicity of TEA
Thanks Fil and RR.
Certainly struggled to parse a few of these – most notably 8d – and wasn’t at all keen on 21d.
Not sure why Filbert chose to put a hyphen in 17a when the major dictionaries show diving board as two separate words.
I really enjoyed 18 & 26a plus 19d – the latter having given me an earworm for the rest of the day!
Thanks to Filbert and to RR for the blog.
Sil@7. Of course you are right about 4d. No problem with it at all now.
Very enjoyable, FRAPPE last one in, though couldn’t get PENMANSHIP Thought 10A very good, several others, 28A, 29A, 19D, 8D, see no problem with Napoleon’s “too”. Random French names or French speakers are used in the construction of such clues.
In the blog, “anagram” needs to be changed to “reversal” at 18A.
Great stuff from Filbert and thanks to RatkojaRiku for the blog.
I found this tough but entertaining.
I’m not sure about the ‘ever’ in 25; it seems to me that the clue reads OK without it … but Sil seems to like it, so maybe it’s OK.
I did like the occasional lines for the LADIES – reminds me of a recent visit to the Royal Albert Hall.
Thanks Filbert and RR.
Hello, thanks all for the comments, and Ratkojariku for the nice blog
@Sil, I appreciate the thumbs up for the several and the ever. Ever’s no.1 definition in my dictionary is always, so ‘always in last place’ seemed ok to me.
Since coming out to my family as a crossword setter (a nervous moment, to be sure) I do throw away a lot more clues that I think might be off, and usually mentally run any iffy ones past my mum. She didn’t bat a perforated eyelid at 21d, but I note the comments.
James