An excellent puzzle with some great surface definitions.
It was hard going at times but worthwhile. The definitions were often quite elaborate, meaning it was hard to separate them from the fodder. However, everything made sense and there was a feeling of satisfaction at having worked your way through it. On this evidence, Filbert is very much a rising star of the crossword world.
| Across | ||
| 1 | DISEMBARK | Nuts make birds land (9) |
| (Make birds)* | ||
| 6 | COMET | Streaker‘s business to be pursued by police (5) |
| Co(=company) followed by met(=metropolitan police) | ||
| 9 | MODICUM | A bit of poetry treasured by mother (7) |
| Odic (=of poetry) in mum | ||
| 10 | PROGRAM | List of instructions for school run pocketed (7) |
| Pro(=for) = gam(=school as a collective noun for e.g. whales) around r(un) | ||
| 11 | BALTI | Food that might be hot or cold from the sea (5) |
| Balti[c] | ||
| 12 | ORCHESTRA | Band of gold painter applied to furniture (9) |
| Or + RA after chest | ||
| 14 | VOW | Swear Polo has nothing in the middle? (3) |
| VW (=Volkswagon, makers of the Polo car) around O | ||
| 15 | LIFE OF RILEY | Oil, if freely flowing, makes everything very easy (4,2,5) |
| (Oil if freely)* | ||
| 17 | SPRING CLEAN | May’s purge requiring cabinet shuffling? Well, quite (6,5) |
| Spring(=well) + quite(=clean?). I think the second part is from phrases like “clean forgotten” = “quite forgotten”. | ||
| 19 | MAR | Reversing memory damage (3) |
| RAM< | ||
| 20 | CAFETERIA | A fair demeanour returns after cold nosh here (9) |
| (A fete(=fair) + Air<(=demeanour)) after c(old) | ||
| 22 | RIDER | Condition of faller at Becher’s Brook, say (5) |
| DD | ||
| 24 | ONGOING | Running just after I admitted to clanger? (7) |
| On(=just after) + I in gong | ||
| 26 | IN UTERO | Where tiny person is guarded by minute Rottweiler (2,5) |
| Hidden in mINUTE ROttweiler | ||
| 27 | YIELD | Give last bits of rubbery scampi one final prod (5) |
| Final letters of “rubbery scampi one final prod” | ||
| 28 | OKEY DOKEY | Consent essential following Love Island party (4-5) |
| Key after (O Key do) (Key as in Florida Keys) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | DEMOB | 2nd March release for 4D? (5) |
| Demo B might be the second march. | ||
| 2 | SODS LAW | Pessimistic prediction of failure of grass salad (4,3) |
| Sod(=grass) + slaw(=type of salad, as in coleslaw). | ||
| 3 | MACMILLAN | Coming from Eton, all I’m campaigning about is old boy making it as PM (9) |
| Hidden, reversed in etoN ALL IM CAMpaigning | ||
| 4 | ARMY OFFICER | Liberal mercy of fair leader of men (4,7) |
| (Mercy of fair)* | ||
| 5 | KOP | Parking not bad up a terrace (3) |
| (P(arking) + OK)<. The Kop usually refers to the famous terrace at Liverpool FC but has also been used for similar structures at other football grounds. It derives from Spion Kop, the site of a battle. | ||
| 6 | CLOVE | Part of bulb broke in two (5) |
| DD | ||
| 7 | MARITAL | Educated woman unwrapped small packages for husband and wife (7) |
| Rita (from Educating Rita, the play by Willy Russell) packaged by [s]mal[l] | ||
| 8 | TOM SAWYER | Adventurous boy ate worms wriggling around yard (3,6) |
| (Ate worms)* around y(ard) | ||
| 13 | COOPERATIVE | Helpful chap making container for beer, perhaps worried about drip (11) |
| Cooper + ate around IV. Coopers may make barrels for other things, which explains the perhaps. | ||
| 14 | VASECTOMY | Final bit of surgery ma covets after labour? (9) |
| &lit = ([surger]y ma covets)* | ||
| 16 | RUNAROUND | Car good for short journeys, no good for beach (9) |
| Run a[g]round | ||
| 18 | REFUGEE | One escaping English stuffiness cuts free, going topless (7) |
| (E(nglish) + fug) in [f]ree | ||
| 19 | MIDWEEK | Wednesday turning somewhat dark, women scream (7) |
| Dim< + w(omen) + eek | ||
| 21 | TRIAD | One in jazz group, with two more (5) |
| I in trad. Sort of semi &lit since I’m not sure “with two more” on its own is enough as a def. | ||
| 23 | ROOMY | Why more said to be upset with large capacity? (5) |
| Hom (why more = y moor) reversed | ||
| 25 | GOO | Sentimentality of last character abandoning Mediterranean island (3) |
| Go[z]o | ||
*anagram
brilliant puzzle.
many thanks to Filbert & NealH
What a marvellous cryptic. Just about every clue is a gem. Klingsor then Silvanus and now Filbert – the Indy is spoiling us. Particular favourites include: BALTI, RUNAROUND and my LOI, COOPERATIVE. They don’t get much better than this.
This was particularly welcome on a Monday when there is not a heap of challenging puzzles around.
I agree that this setter just goes from strength to strength. I feel embarrassed that I rubbished his/her debut but I’ve enjoyed all of them since.
Thanks Neal H and Filbert-and to think I used to go to Filbert Street to see who Leicester were playing.
How times have changed.
Plenty to like, with VASECTOMY and the reverse hidden MACMILLAN being my favourites among many other good clues. Yes, harder than other offerings on show today.
I parsed 21d as ‘group, with two more’ (= TRIAD), rather than just ‘with two more’, as the def, and TRAD just referring to ‘jazz’ in the wordplay
Thanks very much to Filbert and to NealH
As above, I thought this was brilliant, with numerous standout and/or amusing clues. Another cluing of ORCHESTRA, LIFE OF RILEY, IN UTERO, OKEY-DOKEY, SODS LAW, VASECTOMY, to name a few. Oddly(?) my LOI was CLOVE.
Virtuoso stuff. Thanks Filbert; and NealH for the timely blog.
Definitely a Goldilocks puzzle. Nothing too easy, only a few causing real head scratching (mainly in the bottom right).
Good stuff, although we had a bit of head-scratching to do. Only one query – in 13dn how does IV = drip?
Medical term. IV = Intravenous drip
Thanks, Dormouse@8. Doh!
Enjoyed immensely after a slow start so thanks to blogger and setter but how does ON=just after?
Is it meant to be as in On hearing the news.. say?
If so I’d always assumed that to mean At the point of rather than just after but I suppose it’s moot.
16D was my favourite for the clever construction and lovely surface.
Thanks NealH & all for the very nice comments; that’s got my week off to a lovely start. Not sure about a positive ending, but here’s hoping.
fwiw, in 21d, I had ‘group, with two more’ as the def. and only jazz for the trad.
me @ 11
redddevil@10 (any reason for the triple d?) I had the same feeling about “on” but decided that saying “on entering the room, I took off my jacket” would have on = just after.
Thanks to NealH and Filbert
Very nice. Not too difficult, largely because the setter has not used tenuous synonyms in an attempt to appear difficult, but instead employs clever wordplay.
What I like most about this level of setting is not having to wonder which words are disposable, or need to be read with a meaning they don’t possess.
For 23d I also saw the def as “group with two more”, as in “I play in a group with two more”. I do realise that this is now a somewhat redundant observation.
14d is a lovely clue but I’m not sure it’s &lit.
Hovis @13 yes I suppose your example is much the same as my thought “on hearing the news she fainted” say.
Can’t actually faint until the news is heard so I guess it is just after as near as makes no difference.
(The 3rd D is for perspective by the way!)
I’m still not convinced about 21. Group with 2 more implies a group with 2 additional members. To make three in total, the original group would have to have just one member, which would be a strange example of a group. I still think you need the one from the first part of the clue to get the sense that it’s one plus 2 to get a triad.
The only other way it would make sense is if there is a jazz group called a triad, in which case it would make sense as a full &lit.
If we substitute “others” for “more” the sense is not changed, but the equivalence is perhaps clearer:
I play in “a group, with two others”
I play in “a trio”