Independent 11,520 by Filbert

We’re blogging another Filbert!

Bert’s blog this time. Another puzzle that seemed slightly more straightforward than his previous offerings – are we getting into his wavelength, or is he easing off a bit? Still a very enjoyable solve with the expected smooth surfaces and one or two ingenious definitions.

 picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Copying an older style of rap (7)
REPROOF

REPRO (copying an older style) OF

5. Sentimental drunken kiss on the mouth (7)
MAWKISH

KISH (how someone who is drunk might say ‘kiss’) after or ‘on’ MAW (mouth)

9. The sky beginning to fall meant Mir tumbled (9)
FIRMAMENT

F (first letter or ‘beginning’ of ‘fall’) + an anagram (‘tumbled’) of MEANT MIR

10. Flip a cat over, dead (2,3)
GO MAD

A reversal (‘over’) of A MOG (cat) + D (dead)

11. Shoot group in anger management (4)
GERM

Hidden (‘group’ – of letters) in anGER Management

12. Cow police officers catch with net thrown over (10)
DISHEARTEN

DIS (Detective Inspectors – ‘police officers’) HEAR (catch) + a reversal (‘over’) of NET

14. Christian converted by pope in Calais (12)
EPISCOPALIAN

An anagram (‘converted’) of POPE IN CALAIS

18. Pub fed band uncut sandwiches (8,4)
WATERING HOLE

ATE (fed) RING (band) in or ‘sandwiched’ by WHOLE (uncut)

21. Dispute reduction in disease (7-3)
FALLING-OUT

FALL (reduction) IN GOUT (disease)

23. You mustn’t put on TV before five (4)
DONT

DON (put on) Tv (missing the ‘v’ – five in Roman numerals)

25. Giant flaps helping pilot in sharp turns (4-1)
ANTI-G

An anagram (‘flaps’) of GIANT

26. Answer with two affirmatives, one back to officer? (3,3,3)
AYE AYE SIR

A clue-as-definition: A (answer) YEA YES (two affirmatives) I (one) R (last letter or ‘back’ of officer)

27. Resistance occupies each French city before long (5,2)
EARLY ON

R (resistance) in or ‘occupying’ EA (each) LYON (French city)

28. US singer takes Yankee Doodle allegro, skipping odd bits (7)
YODELER

Y (Yankee in the phonetic alphabet) + plus alternate letters (‘skipping odd bits’) of dOoDlE aLlEgRo – a US singer because American English omits one of the ‘l’s in ‘yodeller’ – how it should be spelt!

DOWN
1. Travellers on international flight (8)
REFUGEES

Cryptic definition

2. Picture landing place on island covered with grass (8)
PORTRAIT

PORT (landing place) + I (island) in or ‘covered by’ RAT (grass – as in informer)

3. Gem shown by friend with ring on (4)
OPAL

PAL (friend) after or ‘on’ O (ring)

4. See file with PM’s fancy full title (3,6)
FEE SIMPLE

An anagram (‘fancy’) of SEE FILE and PM

5. Suit and tie (5)
MATCH

Double definition

6. Comedian crazy about girlfriend in Australian city (5,5)
WAGGA WAGGA

WAG (comedian) GAGA (crazy) round WAG (girlfriend)

7. Prisoner misbehaving anytime having to scrub yard (6)
INMATE

An anagram (‘misbehaving’) of ANyTIME missing or ‘scrubbing’ the ‘y’ (yard)

8. Corporal punishment where it can’t be seen (6)
HIDING

Double definition

13. Waste year boxing in Britain, barely covering expenses (8,2)
SCRAPING BY

SCRAP (waste) Y (year) round or ‘boxing’ IN GB (Britain)

15. Flowers round your neck bound to be relaxing (9)
LEISURELY

LEI (‘flowers round your neck’ – a garland in Hawaii) SURELY (bound to be)

16. Massive failure to cut carbon (8)
COLOSSAL

LOSS (failure) in or ‘cutting’ COAL (carbon)

17. Clare regularly detains new cute RE teacher (8)
LECTURER

cLaRe (alternate or ‘regular’ letters) round or ‘detaining’ an anagram (‘new’) of CUTE RE

19. Remove curse associated with blind pilot (6)
EFFACE

EFF (‘curse associated with blind – as in in ‘effing and blinding’) ACE (pilot)

20. Somewhat useful sterling area that’s partly in the EU (6)
ULSTER

Hidden (‘somewhat’) in usefUL STERling

22. Start to gather wet crop (5)
GRAIN

G (first letter or ‘start’ of gather) RAIN (wet)

24. 17’s gone an unnatural colour (4)
DYED

A homophone (‘lecturer’s’ – 17d’s) of DIED (gone)

 

5 comments on “Independent 11,520 by Filbert”

  1. Slightly more straightforward. I agree. REFUGEE is a CD. Thanks for that. Good clue. I went on a wild goose chase with ‘fugue’ from the Latin fuga, meaning “flight.” If you’re in a fugue state, you’re fleeing from your own identity. Apparently. Couldn’t parse EFFACE either having only a vague recollection of ‘effing and blinding’ possibly from TV in the late sixties. My favourites are FEE SIMPLE (because it sounds cool) and WAGGA WAGGA on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River. Thanks.

  2. “in FEE SIMPLE” – knew the phrase but not the precise meaning:
    ‘(law) – The private ownership of property (real estate) in which the owner has the right to control, use, and transfer the property at will.’
    “…If Marx were living today | He’d be rolling around in his grave…” – Randy Newman – The World Isn’t Fair

  3. 25A had to be ANTI-G but I struggled to parse it as all the online references seemed at first to relate to an antibody found in blood; then a long way down came references to the one experienced by pilots (and paragliders apparently). Very nice, so thanks Filbert and B&J.

  4. Late to this today but a typically ingenious puzzle from Filbert. I didn’t get EFFACE but it’s entirely my bad. FIRMAMENT, GERM, DISHEARTEN, AYE AYE SIR and COLOSSAL were my favourites, along with MATCH which I think I have seen before.

    Thanks Filbert and B&J

Comments are closed.