I found this a real toughie from Filbert this morning, and there is one I can’t parse.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Bums bared, pretty Italian nurses run for cover
UMBRELLA
A charade of [B]UM[S] and R inserted into BELLA. The insertion indicator is ‘nurses’.
5 Product stolen by courier
UPSHOT
A charade of UPS and HOT.
10 12d or so a boy kept handy
ABOUT ONE’S PERSON
12d old money would be a shilling, or ONE S. Insert that into ABOUT for ‘or so’ and PER SON for ‘a boy’ and you have your answer. The insertion indicator is ‘kept’. The PER and ‘a’ equivalence is in something like ‘two shillings a/per pound’.
11 Occupant of dirty kennel?
TYKE
Hidden in dirTY KEnnel and a cad.
12 Playing field correctly positioned for football, right? Think again
RECONSIDER
A charade of REC, ONSIDE and R.
15 Loud section of hymn repeated by Spooner
RAUCOUS
A Spoonerism of CHORUS.
16 Satirist primarily turns out parodies
SENDS UP
A charade of S for the initial letter of ‘satirist’ and ENDS UP.
18 Stored information somewhat frowned at, as ethnocentric
DATASET
Hidden in frowneD AT AS EThnocentric.
20 Step-brothers turned back having dropped penny sweets
SORBETS
A reversal of STE[P] BROS.
21 Vessel NATO designed to carry second missile
NARROWBOAT
An insertion of ARROW B, whimsically a ‘second missile’ in (NATO)* The insertion indicator is ‘to carry’ and the anagrind is ‘designed’.
22 I agree with you, I see
YEAH
A charade of YE and AH!
24 Drunk given watered shot felt hurt and quit, perhaps
PAST PARTICIPLES
All the verbs listed are shown as their PAST PARTICIPLES.
26 Heat on, producing glow
LUSTRE
A charade of LUST and RE.
27 Spoon fairly close to a bit of pasta
CANOODLE
A charade of CA for circa and NOODLE.
Down
1 After having work done, elder aunt’s no different
UNALTERED
(ELDER AUNT)* with ‘after having work done’ as the anagrind.
2 Very popular bar more insolvent?
BLOCKBUSTER
A charade of BLOCK and BUSTER, which ungrammatically is ‘more insolvent’.
3 Pigs in the middle fear empty troughs
EATS
A charade of [F]EA[R] and T[ROUGH]S.
4 Monarch given reception by county’s cavalry
LANCERS
An insertion of ER in LANCS. The insertion indicator is ‘given reception by’.
6 Sally keeps minimal shortening in larder
PLEASANTRY
An insertion of LEAS[T] in PANTRY. The insertion indicator is ‘keeps’.
7 Hard like 3d
HAS
A charade of H and AS. ‘She has/eats toast for breakfast.’
8 Note you hear someone singing
TENOR
A homophone of TENNER.
9 Bars east of Nice start to shut after work
ESTOPS
A charade of EST for the French word for ‘east’, OP and S for the initial letter of ‘shut’.
13 Scruffy beauty was merry after shaving head
DISHEVELLED
A charade of DISH and [R]EVELLED.
14 Try on bishop’s hat, a job for a sucker
GOBSTOPPER
A charade of GO, BS and TOPPER.
17 Quickly showing Spice Girl’s back in style
POSTHASTE
This looks like it’s a reference to Posh Spice, but I can’t quite parse it, I’m afraid.
19 Bill and Will to share black jacket
TABARD
TAB and BARD sharing the same B for ‘black’.
20 Endurance adds dynamism to flips when energy’s gone
STAMINA
A reversal of ANIMAT[E]S.
21 Alpen possibly a name that evokes mountains
NEPAL
(ALPEN)*
23 African ruler acted lead in Othello
DIDO
A charade of DID and O for the initial letter of ‘Othello’.
25 Relative security for the UK
SIS
A dd. SIS is the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service, also known as MI6.
Many thanks to Filbert for this morning’s puzzle.
posh & taste with the h moved +1
her back – h – moved into taste (=style)
Agree with FrankieG. To try a different wording for the explanation: POSH has back (letter H) in TASTE (style) with ‘has’ given by the apostrophe S.
PAST PARTICIPLES is a terrific clue.
ABOUT ONE’S PERSON is very good, too – the 12d made me think we were getting another April Fool crossword.
Liked SENDS UP and the 2 at 20: STAMINA & SORBETS.
Thanks Filbert & Pierre.
Remembered PAST PARTICIPLES from a Rodriguez in January. Excellent clues a plenty. Liked POSTHASTE. Succinct, multi-layered – reversal, container, charade – just like Filbert does, and TABARD (simple/adept) and the Spoonerism for once, this one perfect. RAUCOUS applause (and for the blog, naturally).
not reversal, of course
Filbert with the now customary tough start to the week. I had to do a CTRL-ALT-DEL brain reset courtesy of a good night’s sleep before I could finally get POSTHASTE; I don’t remember seeing the device of putting the last letter of the preceding word into the following one by using the apostrophe and ‘back in’ before.
I parsed YEAH as an ‘I agree with you’ and ‘I see’ double def but your parsing is better. I couldn’t see the wood for the trees and missed some of the PAST PARTICIPLES in the v. good 24a.
Thanks to Pierre and Filbert
Either I’m getting used to Filbert’s mechanisms, or he’s being kind to us as he is appearing more often now. Well under an hour which is quicker than average for me.
At 22a I thought “with” ought to be underlined as part of the definition as it still works as a clue I think and also removes the use of a link work to make the clue make sense otherwise.
Thanks for the fun today Filbert, and to Pierre for his efforts on the blog.
I disagree, rocket. YEAH can be replaced with ‘I agree’. It can’t be replaced with ‘I agree with’. ‘With’ is there as a link word, and the clue works fine with it fulfilling that function.
Challenging, but we got it all without help, although we gave up trying to parse POSTHASTE. Favourite was PAST PARTICIPLES.
Thanks, Filbert and Pierre.
Hard but entertaining. Got hung up trying to fit sherbet into 20a. Couldn’t get it out of my head.
Thanks Filbert and Pierre
I thought this a terrific puzzle, full of wit and inventive clueing.
I couldn’t parse 25d but had the rest I’m pleased to say.
The courier company is becoming almost as ubiquitous as the brown vans but UPSHOT really appealed, as did SENDS UP, CANOODLE and POSTHASTE.
Many thanks Filbert and also Pierre for a top blog.
This one totally flummoxed me. 11:00 p.m. and I’ve only got half a dozen answers.
Thanks Filbert. The beauty of this crossword slowly unfolded in bits and pieces throughout the day. GOBSTOPPER, a new word for me, was my only failure. My top choices were UPSHOT, CANOODLE, PLEASANTRY, DISHEVELLED, TABARD, and STAMINA.Thanks Pierre for filling in my parsing gaps.