Independent 11,266 by Filbert

by

Monday and once more I’ve got Filbert to blog.

Certainly not as tricky as the last Filbert outing which was tough as old boots, can’t see themes or ninas today unless you know better. Thanks Filbert (not Gilbert 🙂 )

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Welsh keep children in the cellar as arranged (7,6)
HARLECH CASTLE

CH(ildren) in an arranged [THE CELLAR AS]*

9. Resentment finally fading many years after failure (7)
DUDGEON

DUD – failure & finally (fadin)G & EON – many years

10. Army caterer admitting Blumenthal’s starter is nicer (7)
SUBTLER

B(lumenthal) in SUTLER a civilian army supplier

11. After initial swap, was first edition kept? (5)
OWNED

WON – was first – with first 2 letters swapped & ED(ition)

12. Leeches in hospital make child sore (7-2)
HANGERS-ON

H(ospital) & ANGER SON

14. Beer glass preferably filled by taps (8)
SCHOONER

Hot & Cold – taps in SOONER for preferably, I’d sooner have that one

16. Potentially shocking railway employees’ uniforms (6)
LIVERY

LIVE – potentially shocking & R(ailwa)Y

18. One might wear stuff made from latex (6)
RUBBER

Double def

19. Scent that completes one’s toilet? (8)
LAVENDER

It could be the LAV – loo – ENDER

22. Old pressman‘s belly starts to grumble, needing beer supply (9)
GUTENBERG

GUT – belly & [G(rumble) N(eeding) BEER]* supply. Inventor of printing press

23. Oddly bare plonker on which you might see a 18A (5)
BRASS

BaRe oddly & ASS – plonker. People have been known to do brass rubbing

24. Sober user ate bananas (7)
AUSTERE

[USER ATE]* bananas

26. Free camping apparently a deterrent (7)
TRIDENT

RID inside TENT or IN TENT – camping

27. Aboard naval vessel, men worried by loud noise threatening mutiny (13)
INSUBORDINATE

IN SUB – aboard navy vessel & OR – men DIN – noise & ATE – worried

DOWN
1. Horrible new order for housemaid, wiping master’s … (7)
HIDEOUS

Take MA – Masters degree from a newly ordered [HOUSE(ma)ID]*

2. Princess wears jewellery, husband some polo kit? (6,5)
RIDING HABIT

DI – late Princess in RING & H(usband) & A BIT – some

3. Part of life men definitely make better (5)
EMEND

Hidden in lifE MEN Definitely

4. Attendants typically feared church being swamped by poultry workers? (8)
HENCHMEN

CH(urch) in HEN MEN poultry workers whimsically

5. Sailor delighted to be off (6)
ABSENT

AB- sailor & SENT for delighted

6. Wasted in Staines when it’s limitless cheap booze (5,4)
TABLE WINE

BLEW – wasted in an unlimited (s)TAINE(s)

7. Fat bit of sole for Eliza’s fish (3)
EEL

The bit of a sole is a HEEL which Eliza (cockney woman in Pygmalion) would drop the H

8. US drugs agent getting increasingly high on New York’s crack (6)
CRANNY

NARC – drug agent reversed & N(ew) Y(ork)

13. Are raincoats covering bottom up deterring flasher? (5,6)
SPEED CAMERA

DEEP – bottom inside ARE MACS all reversed

15. Plants from Earth carried by old lunar modules (9)
OLEANDERS

E(arth) in O(ld) LANDERS – lunar modules maybe

17. Snickers that’s disgusting, subsequently eating it (8)
LAUGHTER

UGH – disgusting – inside LATER – subsequently

18. Keen to repeat the middle section when going over music (6)
REGGAE

EAGER reversed with the G doubled up

20. Old dog chasing its tail gets prize at Crufts, perhaps (7)
ROSETTE

O(ld) SETTER with the tail R moved to the start

21. Echo producer‘s touching part of speech (6)
REVERB

RE – on, touching & VERB

23. Accepted one pound for flipping pancakes (5)
BLINI

IN – accepted & I – one & LB – pound all reversed

25. Go on a run heavily dressed, mostly to get fat off (3)
SKI

Most of SKI(m)

 

18 comments on “Independent 11,266 by Filbert”

  1. I liked HARLECH CASTLE even with its disturbing surface. Spent too long trying to fit EAGLES into OLEANDERS. A nice puzzle. Thanks both.

  3. Yes, not as hard as some of Filbert’s in the past but I still couldn’t parse either of the innocuous looking three letter answers EEL and SKI. In both cases I couldn’t see what ‘fat’ was doing and doubt I would have been able to without our blogger’s help.

    Favourites were the HIDEOUS picture conjured up by the surface for 1d and the non-confectionery SNICKERS.

    Thanks to Filbert and flashling

  4. Most of this went in pretty quickly, particularly the downs, but we couldn’t parse either TABLE WINE or EEL and ‘sutler’ in 10ac was new to us but confirmed in Chambers.
    We frequently see quibbles about unindicated American usage but today we have an example of unindicated Australian usage. We were so sure of a SCHOONER being a glass for sherry, not beer, that we looked it up. Wikipedia says that In the United Kingdom it is the name for a large sherry glass and in Australia it is the name for a particular glass size, used for any type of beer. Chambers indicates the beer glass is also American usage.
    Lots to enjoy; we liked HARLECH CASTLE, LAVENDER and GUTENBERG among others.
    Thanks, Filbert and flashling.

  5. I too think of a schooner as a sheery glass.
    I’ve certainly never had a schooner of beer.
    Not sure what increasingly is adding to 8 but didn’t spoil my enjoyment of a nice crossword.
    Thanks to F&F !

  7. Sorry to be dim, but what is ‘fat’ doing in 7d? The bit of sole is the heel. Eliza drops the h. What else is there? Thanks

  8. Jayjay@7 I assume the thin bit of a sole is at the front and the fat bit at the back (though I thought sole and heel were different things)

  10. Thanks Filbert. I agree that this was gentler than the last Filbert crossword which I abandoned nowhere near its completion. I particularly liked RIDING HABIT and TABLE WINE and, like others, could not parse EEL. Thanks flashling for the blog.

  12. I thought this was terrific throughout.
    Like others I failed to see the parsing of EEL and it took me a while to see TABLE WINE so will nominate that as my favourite. Very much liked SPEED CAMERA, ROSETTE and RIDING HABIT too.
    Many thanks indeed Filbert and flashling.

  13. Superb stuff. 8, 13, 18 and 25 were particularly good. Thanks to Filbert and also to flashling for clearing up TABLE WINE for me.

  14. Almost gave up on this, after having about 4 answers from 2 full passes through. I find the cryptic definitions a real challenge. I often rely on the definitions to fill in answers and then parse the answer afterwards. Filberts exceptionally clever clueining doesn’t often allow that method. I got there in the end (well 99%, after checking one incorrect letter) but it has taken me over 4 hours of brain twisting.

    Perhaps I need to save Filberts for holidays or something.

    Thanks for the great puzzle and the parsings I would never find.

  15. Didn’t have time to do this yesterday so have just completed it. Good fun and not nearly as mind-bending as his last offering which left me so addled that I typed Gilbert instead of Filbert (is that what you referred to flashing?).
    As a young drinker in the North East of England I seem to remembera schooner being a half pint beer glass (as well as a sherry glass).
    Thanks Filbert and flashing.

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