Independent 11,377 by Filbert

by

An enjoyable challenge from Filbert.

I thought a couple of things were a bit obscure (18a and the definition in 17d), but the wordplay was clear enough to guess-and-check. 3d was one of the best clues I’ve seen in a while (though sadly topical), and the sleeping bats in 24d made me laugh. Thanks Filbert for the fun.

Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.

ACROSS
1 CAROUSEL
Good opening song for Broadway show (8)
USE (good, as in “what’s the good of . . .?”) inserted into (opening) CAROL (song).
5 ABOARD
On date with a hairy pig (6)
D (abbreviation for date) added to A BOAR (a hairy pig).
10 AESOP
Moralist has bagels regularly before work (5)
Alternate letters (regularly) of [b]A[g]E[l]S, then OP (op = short for opus = a work in music or literature).

The ancient Greek writer of moral fables.
11 APPOINTEE
Answer number one bags mark for successful candidate (9)
A (abbreviation for answer) + PEE (number one = slang for urination), containing (bagging) POINT (mark).
12 EAR
Part of tortoise arguably shell-like (3)
Hidden answer (part of . . .) in [tortois]E AR[guably].

As in the phrase “a word in your shell-like” = your shell-like ear.
13 ROLLICKING
Very enjoyable sandwich tasting, sharing one left (10)
ROLL (filled bread roll = sandwich) + LICKING (tasting), but with the second L overlapping between the two words.
15 BOOKIES
Derby traders perhaps smell cool pies after power cut (7)
BO (slang abbreviation for body odour = smell) + OK (cool = slang term of approval) + [p]IES without the P (abbreviation for power).

Bookies = bookmakers, who take bets on horse races such as the Derby.
16 GLAMOUR
Beauty exposed ugly affair (7)
[u]GL[y] (exposed = outer letters stripped off) + AMOUR (a love affair).
18 LORIMER
Metalworker putting gold in fruit recipe (7)
OR (heraldic term for the colour gold) in LIME (fruit) + R (abbreviation for recipe, in old-fashioned medical prescriptions).

I’d vaguely heard of this as a surname but never knew what it meant: someone who makes the metal components of harnesses for horses. You learn something new every crossword.
20 DODGEMS
Strange cycling, stones giving bumpy ride (7)
ODD with the letters “cycling” round to put the O in the middle, then GEMS (stones).

Fairground ride with electrically-powered cars; it seems the original idea was to avoid the other cars, hence the name, but users quickly decided it was more fun to bump into them deliberately.
21 GRAND PIANO
Heavy furniture silly men drop again, just missing me (5,5)
Anagram (silly) of [me]N DROP AGAIN without the ME.

I’m not sure those who play or write music for it would like to hear it dismissed as “furniture”, but it usually takes a few people to shift one.
23 HOT
Stop time with it (3)
HO (ho! = a command to a horse to stop, similar to “whoa!”) + T (abbreviation for time).

Hot = with it = slang for fashionable.
25 TENTATIVE
Figure drip in gallery is experimental (9)
TEN (figure = number), then IV (abbreviation for intravenous drip) in TATE (art gallery).
26 TONIC
Consult on Iceland bagging pepper up (5)
Hidden answer (. . . bagging = holding) in [consul]T ON IC[eland].

Tonic = something that “peps up” = pepper-up, though I think I’d write it with a hyphen.
27 BYE-BYE
Extra repeated line when exiting (3-3)
BYE (in cricket scoring, a run scored from a ball that doesn’t hit the bat; this and other non-standard scores are called “extras”), repeated.

Colloquial form of “goodbye”, a line spoken when exiting.
28 NEUROSES
Scratching Costner’s back, Rene Russo treated psychological problems (8)
Anagram (treated) of [r]ENE RUSSO, deleting (scratching) one R which is the back letter of [costne]R. The surface suggests the film Tin Cup, in which Kevin Costner played a golfer and Rene Russo played a psychologist.
DOWN
1 CRANESBILL
What Frasier must pay for a geranium? (10)
Reference to the character Frasier Crane, from the US TV sitcoms Cheers and Frasier: what he has to pay = CRANE’S BILL.

Another name for geranium, based on the shape of its fruit capsule which resembles a bird’s head and beak.
2 RESERVOIR
Tank on banks of Seine river to see in Paris (9)
RE (on = on the subject of) + outer letters (banks) of S[ein]E + R (abbreviation for river) + VOIR (“to see” in French, therefore in Paris).
3 UNPARLIAMENTARY
Turmoil for Putin, a man rarely wrong politically (15)
Anagram (turmoil) of PUTIN A MAN RARELY, with a tongue-in-cheek surface that would probably get you arrested in Russia these days.

As in “unparliamentary language” = things one isn’t allowed to say in the debating chamber.
4 ENABLES
Old England manager has lost five licences (7)
[v]ENABLES (Terry Venables, England football manager in the mid-90s) without the V (Roman numeral for five).
6 BRICKS AND MORTAR
Helpful person’s reorganised random sailor’s property (6,3,6)
BRICK (rather old-fashioned slang for a supportive friend = helpful person: “You’re a brick”) + anagram (reorganised) of RANDOM, then TAR (slang for sailor).

Bricks and mortar = slang for buildings, especially as an investment = property.
7 ACT ON
Respond to current fashion (3,2)
AC (abbreviation for alternating current = electrical supply) + TON (French-derived word for fashion).
8 DUEL
Fight expected close to school (4)
DUE (expected, as in “due diligence”) + last letter (close) of [schoo]L.
9 SPRING
Short run then good jump (6)
SPRIN[t] (run) without the last letter (short), then G (abbreviation for good).
14 BRASS TACKS
Fundaments with piles under underwear (5,5)
STACKS (piles) after (under, in a down clue) BRAS (underwear).

As in “getting down to brass tacks” = concentrating on the essentials.
17 OVERHANGS
Development of horns gave beetles … (9)
Anagram (development) of HORNS GAVE. The ellipsis doesn’t add anything to the clue, but it links the surface with the following clue to make a properly-constructed sentence.

Beetle, as a verb = to jut out or overhang, perhaps as in “beetle-browed” = scowling or with prominent eyebrows. Chambers tells me that this usage goes as far back as Shakespeare, but I don’t think I’ve seen it much.
19 REPAIR
… a rearing appearance, an improvement (6)
PER (a, in the sense of “once a day”) reversed (rearing = upwards in a down clue), then AIR (appearance).
20 DEADEYE
US marksman‘s bang I heard (7)
DEAD (bang, as in dead on = bang on = exact) + EYE as a homophone (heard) of “I”.

Deadeye = US slang for someone who can shoot accurately = marksman.
22 RINSE
Get up around noon to wash (5)
RISE (get up) around N (abbreviation for noon).
24 STAB
Impale vampires as they sleep? (4)
BATS (for example vampire bats), reversed (bats generally sleep hanging by their feet, hence “as they sleep” = upside-down in a down clue).

15 comments on “Independent 11,377 by Filbert”

  1. Couldn’t parse CAROUSEL or REPAIR so thanks for that. Great crossowrd as usual. Liked the new words. Tops in a star cast for me would be GRAND PIANO and BOOKIES. Thanks.

  2. Like today’s setter I found several on the obscure side (1A, 15A, 23A and 19D for me) and needed said setter’s explanations, for which many thanks, and of course to Filbert for another great puzzle. I too thought 3D outstanding.

  4. I thought BATS, UNPARLIAMENTARY and BRASS TACKS were all very good. I got hung up on Sven as the England manager.
    Thanks both.

  6. Filbert at about medium level difficulty, which meant there were bound to be a few I’d be unsure of. I didn’t know CRANESBILL or LORIMER and wasn’t confident about DEAD for ‘bang’ at 20d. I did manage to remember ‘beetles’ for OVERHANGS.

    With CAROUSEL and DODGEMS I wondered if we might be in for a fairground theme but apparently not. I liked the surface for UNPARLIAMENTARY and the ‘as they sleep?’ device for BATS but my pick today was the amusing surface for ABOARD.

    Thanks to Filbert and Quirister

  7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNPARLIAMENTARY_language
    ‘In 2021, Labour MP Dawn Butler was ejected from the Commons for accusing Boris Johnson of lying repeatedly to the House. When asked by the deputy speaker to “reflect on her words” after the first statement, Butler replied “It’s funny that we get in trouble in this place for calling out the lie, rather than the person lying” whereupon she was ordered to withdraw from the House.’
    But ‘In 2019…SNP leader Ian Blackford…accused Johnson of being a liar (“has made a career out of lying“). No request was made by the speaker to withdraw this statement.’
    Also liked ROLLICKING and the short ones EAR, HOT and especially STAB.
    Thanks F&Q

  10. A Failure for me because I had HIT at 23a. My thinking was

    Stop (definition – e.g. His plans were hit / stopped) H (Time – hour) with IT

    1a was unparsed, but as always when it’s pointed out it’s bloomin’ obvious. Speaking of which I’d never heard of CRANESBILL even though I’m currently growing them from seed for this years baskets!

    I am slowly getting to grips with Filbert who I haven’t ever really been on the same wavelength as. Either that or he is making his puzzles easier to decipher.

    Thanks to blogger and setter for the aumsement today.

  11. Thanks both. Evidently after everyone else has gone to bed, I will add that I also failed on HOT as dnk ‘ho’ and struggled to justify REPAIR as an improvement, which I guess it is compared to a state of disrepair. No chance with CRANESBILL as both geraniums and American TV are very low down my list

  13. Nobody has commented yet on the spelling of ‘licences’ in the clue at 5d. That spelling fits the surface of the clue, but ENABLES would surely require the definition ‘licenses’.

    Yes and no! Collins supports my point, but Chambers (the recognised authority here) lists ‘license (also licence)’ as the verb. Both sources, incidentally, show ‘license’ as the US spelling of the noun ‘licence’, as expected.

  14. Very enjoyable cryptic puzzle which challenged me and made me smile.
    Thank you Filbert and to Quirister for explaining the more devious constructions
    Like
    Deadeye

  15. Thanks Filbert for the challenge. Of course I couldn’t finish but I got clise this time — CRANESBILL and TENTATIVE defeated me — but it was worth the effort due to clues like STAB, CAROUSEL, ABOARD, and BOOKIES. LORIMER was new but logically deduced from the wordplay. Thanks Quirister for the blog.

Comments are closed.