Quite a tough crossword from Filbert today I thought — especially so for the usually quite gentle Wednesday — but well worth it. A mass of excellent clues and nothing that struck me as particularly questionable, apart from 15ac and 11dn, which are in any case only slight carps.
Definitions underlined in maroon. Anagram indicators in italics.
Nothing special that I can see. But why does such a good setter need to have anything extra? the quality of the clues is surely special enough.
| Across | ||
| 1 | AGITPROP | Terrible prig at work attempts to influence the workers (8) |
| *(prig at) op. | ||
| 6 | NANTES | Put grandmère back where she might belong (6) |
| (set Nan)rev. — the Frenchness indicated by the word ‘grandmère’ | ||
| 9 | SHADOW CABINET | Opposition has suspicion I can’t be beaten (6,7) |
| shadow [suspicion] (I can’t be)* — not sure about ‘has’ | ||
| 10 | MARQUE | Make no attempt to finish fancy woodwork (6) |
| marque(try) | ||
| 12 | I DARE SAY | Botched areas? DIY, probably (1,4,3) |
| *(areas? DIY) | ||
| 13 | NOW AND THEN | Occasionally pale daughter tucked into anything but chicken (3,3,4) |
| (wan d) in (not hen) | ||
| 15 | ULNA | Stubbs captures left part of horse’s forelimb (4) |
| U(l)na — Una Stubbs, of Till Death Us Do Part and Sherlock fame — why is the ulna specifically part of the horse’s forelimb? So far as I can see it’s part of the forelimb, full stop — I suppose the surface was helped by the horse reference, but I don’t like it unless I’m missing something | ||
| 16 | HAIR | Hot flavour that’s sometimes found in a bun (4) |
| h air — the bun hairstyle | ||
| 18 | MODERATION | Subduing maiden with just enough poetry? (10) |
| M ‘ode ration’, a fanciful but clever and fair idea | ||
| 21 | STEP ON IT | ‘Go faster’ drug taken by cyclist wearing mirrored shades (4,2,2) |
| EPO in (tints)rev. — erythropoietin | ||
| 22 | PIRATE | Counterfeit singer joining 24 blackbirds? (6) |
| rat [singer, person who sings, tells tales on] in pie — ‘Four and twenty blackbirds, baked in a pie’ | ||
| 23 | QUEENS COUNSEL | Lawyer‘s eloquence stuns criminal avoiding time (6,7) |
| (eloquence s{t}uns)* | ||
| 25 | LESSEE | Renting party boat with drug shelter outside (6) |
| le(SS E)e — party in the quasi-legal sense of the person or persons doing the action | ||
| 26 | SIDEWAYS | Fish-wife always fills empty shells as crabs go (8) |
| (ide w ay) in s{hell}s | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | GESTAPO | Doctored tapes buried by good old police (7) |
| *(tapes) in (g o) | ||
| 3 | TWA | Glaswegian couple endlessly at war (3) |
| {a}t wa{r} | ||
| 4 | RHONE | Horse heard on Avignon’s bridge – see it run by (5) |
| “roan” — the Rhone runs by the bridge at Avignon | ||
| 5 | PECKISH | Fancying a little something, like a kiss? (7) |
| A sort of CD so far as I can see, using the fact that a peck is a type of kiss | ||
| 6 | NO-BRAINER | ‘Bust down reason’: dead short, easy clue? (2-7) |
| no bra [reason for the bust being down] iner{t} — maybe a reference to the clue for BRAINWASH as ‘bust down reason’, a clue that has been chosen by a large number of setters as their favourite | ||
| 7 | NON SEQUITUR | Hurry up framing silly question’s silly reply (3,8) |
| *(question) in (run)rev. | ||
| 8 | ENTRAIN | No inclination to listen to school board (7) |
| {list}en train [school] | ||
| 11 | QUADRUPLETS | After only one term, four boys expelled? (11) |
| CD — but I’m not comfortable with the details: why is it only one term? And why is it boys? | ||
| 14 | DOMINANCE | Sway and reel about at home after yogic chant (9) |
| d(om in)ance | ||
| 17 | ANTIQUE | Early C18 garden furniture, you might say (7) |
| “Anne teak” — my inclination at first was for ‘Early’ to be the definition, but then C18 doesn’t quite work for ‘Anne’, so I think the whole thing is the definition and it’s an &lit. | ||
| 19 | DETECTS | When temperature in Fahrenheit dropped, blemishes becoming spots (7) |
| defects [blemishes] with t replacing F — temperature is in, Fahrenheit is dropped | ||
| 20 | OUTPLAY | Best theatre currently showing (7) |
| out play — the play is out, ie it’s currently showing | ||
| 22 | POUND | Italian banker and German currency (5) |
| Po [Italian banker] und [‘and’ in German] | ||
| 24 | SAW | Did twig thus bring tree down? (3) |
| You use a saw to bring the tree down | ||
*anagram
Marvellous! Failed to parse ANTIQUE and still don’t understand the “garden” bit.
No issue (no pun intended) with QUADRUPLETS (I admit to cheating to get this) as “term” refers to pregnancy period. The question mark indicates that 4 boys is just an example.
Lots of sneaky definitions, e.g. “make” in 10a, “board” in 8d (possibly my favourite) etc
Many thanks to Filbert and John.
I’ve got to like Filbert’s puzzles. This was no exception. Thanks
Well, I took far too long to finish it, over an extended breakfast, but did so despite not being able to fully parse half a dozen or so. And now I’ve seen the blog I can’t understand why, so thanks John and Filbert. I’ve been doing the Indie cryptics for some 15 years or so now and still don’t understand ‘&lit’ – could somebody enlighten me please?
Tatrasman @3: I think it stands for something like ‘and literally’, so the whole clue can be read in two ways, as a definition of the answer and also as wordplay that leads you there. But then there are things like ‘semi-&lits’, where the wordplay gives a nudge towards the answer but there are superfluous words that are there in the wordplay which stop it from being a complete definition, and the waters become rather murky. Generally I take the view that ‘there is some &-littery going on’ and leave it at that.
I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle. Perhaps this is what Filbert had in mind for the clue you were unhappy with.
5A. There are two Stubbs: Una and George, the famous painter of horses, and maybe the inclusion of “horse” in the clue was Filbert enjoying himself.
Thank you both.
I found this hard work, especially to finish it off. NO-BRAINER seemed an obvious answer but I couldn’t parse it until finally the ‘Bust down reason’ (which I hadn’t come across before) made sense – very good. QUADRUPLETS also held me up at the end, partially because of the ‘boys’ reference which I couldn’t understand either, but it was a difficult enough clue anyway. Thanks for explaining ANTIQUE.
As usual with Filbert, a hard-earned solve, but lots to like in the attempt.
Thanks to John and Filbert.
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Thanks to John and Filbert
V V good, one or two things I might question on another day, but today I only have one: 17d. I’ve tried to make it work every which way but I’ve failed.
Wonderful crossword. I’ll have a stab at 17D.
It is an &lit; Queen Anne’s name is used to describe some architecture and furniture and her reign was during the 18thC. Garden, as in outdoor, furniture because teak would be eminently suitable for that purpose, given its hardiness and water resistance – it was a popular wood for ships back in the day. Perhaps Filbert could drop in and let us know.
Thanks to Filbert for a great puzzle and to John for the blog.
Several clues were different in the version I got in my newspaper in Delhi:
1. Support for a terrible terrible person’s post-truth rabble rousing
9. Powerless protestors display entertaining poster: I CAN’T BE BOTHERED
10. Try not to finish fancy woodworking model
16. Hospital expose growing on skin
Wondering whether I got the revised or unrevised version
Oh dear, got my dates muddled and missed that I was on yesterday.
Thanks to John for the nice blog and everyone who commented.
@h.eckler That was the unedited version. I changed a few I didn’t like, having written the puzzle quite a while ago (apart from having to correct a few errors (such as in 16a (can you spot it (I couldn’t)?)))
@gwep Thanks for your explanation of 17d, which is what I meant. The editorial opinion of that clue was generally that of dansar@7, i.e. a lemon. But hey, this puzzle also contains one of the best clues of all time.