Independent 11,278 by Filbert

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Another excellent puzzle from Filbert with some excellent surfaces.

7D was obviously very topical and 18A had a great surface – amazing how so grand a word can be broken down into very mundane components. 13A was my LOI. It took me a while to work out that this wasn't one reversed word inside another word but a single word with part of it reversed.

ACROSS
1 STRATA
Axe A levels (6)

Strat(=a type of Stratocaster guitar or a general abbrev for any Stratocaster) + A
4 ICE CREAM
Reserve first class fare that’s frozen (3,5)

Ice(=reserve) + cream(=first class)
9 MODISH
Absurdly hot second course (6)

Mo(=moment) + dish(=course)
10 DRILL BIT
Practice was gripping – it’s often boring (5,3)

Drill(=practice) + bit(=was gripping)
12 DORMOUSE
Sleepy creature that might make us do more? (8)

(Us do more)*
13 CARVE
Artist suffering setback in desire to make sculpture (5)

Crave(=desire) with the RA(=Royal Academician) part reversed
15 ISLET
A little detached property has tenants (5)

DD – is let.
16 MILK FLOAT
Electric vehicle kind fellow left in ditch (4,5)

(Ilk(=kind) + f{ellow} + l{eft}) in moat
18 PARTHENON
Greek ruins some chicken by cooking (9)

Part hen(=some chicken) next to "on"(=cooking, as in the "oven is on").
20 AD LIB
Flipping gerbil damaged cages at will (2,3)

Hidden(=cages), reversed(=flipping) in "gerbil damaged"
22 NIGEL
Name of posh lass from Belfast? (5)

NI gel(=Northern Irish gel, which is an upper-crust way of saying "girl")
24 BAHAMIAN
Sight whaler returning north from Caribbean islands (8)

(Aim(=sight) + Ahab)< + N{orth}. Ahab was the Captain in Moby Dick.
26 AVENGERS
Superheroes never cooking with gas (8)

(Never gas)*
27 IBIDEM
One’s hosts stay in the same place (6)

I'm(=one's) around(=hosts) bide(=stay)
28 YOKELISH
Rustic ploughing frame is gripped by left hand (8)

Yoke(=ploughing frame) + (is in l{eft} h{and})
29 REGRET
Heron on river wishing fish hadn’t escaped, perhaps (6)

Egret on r{iver}
DOWN
1 SEMI
Type of building putting Mies in a tizz (4)

Mies*
2 REDPOLL
Communist election flier (7)

Red(=communist) + poll(=election)
3 TEST MATCH
Check for bad light in cricket, perhaps (4,5)

DD
5 CARTE BLANCHE
Cold clean bather swimming in complete freedom (5,7)

C{old} + (clean bather)*
6 COLIC
Officer wanting seconds of vindaloo accepted bowel trouble (5)

Col{onel} + second letters of vindaloo accepted
7 EMBARGO
Where to drink after Emirate’s leaders operate ban? (7)

(Bar(=where to drink) after Em[irates]) + go(=operate)
8 MOTHER TO BE
Lady expecting driving test bore the manoeuvring (6-2-2)

MOT + (bore the)*
11 HUMMINGBIRDS
Funky jazz saxophonist’s tiny colourful family (12)

Humming(=funky) + Bird's(=nickname of jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker)
14 DISPENSARY
Son writes in journal where to get drugs (10)

(S{on} pens) in diary
17 FLAMMABLE
Easily catching fellow on escape from the cops shifted blame (9)

F{ellow} + lam(=escape) + blame*
19 RAG WEEK
Time for charity as kid sounded vulnerable (3,4)

Rag(=kid, with the meaning of to make fun of someone) + hom of weak
21 LEANDER
Crawling lover, thin and oddly dreary (7)

Lean(=thin) + odd letters of dreary. The def refers to the character of Leander in the story of Hero and Leander. Leander would swim every night to be with Hero, hence crawling = swimming, although I'm not sure if the story records exactly which stroke he used.
23 LEGAL
On Bali removing clothing is allowed (5)

On(=leg, side in cricket) + [B]al[i]
25 SMUT
Black spot that’s faintly blue (4)

DD. A smut is a small black mark and also a term for soft porn.

18 comments on “Independent 11,278 by Filbert”

  1. I had the same thought about Leander’s choice of stroke. Great crossword. I really liked the deceptively simple 1a.

  2. Quite gentle for Filbert, though it took me too long to parse some clues, which were actually quite obvious. At 9A ‘absurdly’ seemed superfluous, but on reflection some of the rubbish worn by celebrities is absurd. Thanks Filbert and Neal.

  4. Good fun but more than enough to keep the solver challenged at the same time. I missed the CARVE trick too and jazz not being a strong point, I couldn’t parse HUMMINGBIRDS either. As per Tatrasman @2’s comment, is someone or something who is MODISH ‘Absurdly hot’? Not quite the same thing for me, but maybe there’s a sense l’m not thinking of.

    Even if Filbert was making assumptions, the ‘Crawling lover’ was still my favourite.

    Thanks to Filbert and NealH

  6. Thanks both. I wondered whether SMUT had a second meaning unknown to me, and also needed to look up the crossing IBIDEM for which I was far more tempted to use an English word. Delighted to learn there is a word specifically for running from the police!

  8. As WordPlodder says, good fun but more than enough to keep the solver challenged at the same time. A few answers went in from definition and crossers, with the parsing suddenly dawning on us a few minutes later – such as STRATA, our LOI. Lots to like, including DORMOUSE, REGRET and our favourite (whichever stroke he used), LEANDER.
    Thanks, Filbert and NealH.

  9. PARTHENON, STRATA and LEANDER were all excellent, I thought. As I mentally ran through a very short list of herons I knew, I wondered about a bitter BITTERN, but there was no river. Thanks both.

  10. 1a – axe means guitar? Never heard this, though I knew the meaning of STRAT. The definition for HUMMINGBIRDS seems a bit vague. Otherwise enjoyed this.

    Thanks Filbert and NealH

  11. Didn’t know ‘lam’ = ‘flight from the police’ and couldn’t parse CARVE, but I really enjoyed the challenge and the brilliance of clues like 1ac and the clever misdirection of, e.g., 22ac.
    Thanks Filbert (not Gilbert) and NealH.

  12. Well I thought this was super-duper so much kudos to the setter, some of the wordplay was brilliant.
    Failed to parse BAHAMIAN and HUMMINGBIRDS.
    Loved STRATA, EMBARGO, MILK FLOAT and CARVED in particular.
    Many thanks indeed to Filbert and NealH

  13. Some of these clues are simply brilliant (PARTHENON, REGRET, CARVE, COLIC, LEGAL…). Many thanks to Filbert and NealH.

  15. Thanks Filbert for another gem. I truly liked STRATA, CARVE, ISLET, and COLIC (what a surface!). I didn’t know funky = humming so I failed with 11d. NIGEL was a mystery and RAG WEEK was new to me. Thanks NealH for explaining it all.

  16. Carelessly put inlet instead of ISLET but an otherwise correct grid fill though one or two unparsed. Just too many good ‘uns to pick favourites out. Top notch puzzle.
    Thanks to Filbert & Neal for the explanations

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