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Filbert makes one of his regular midweek appearances.
As usual for this setter, we have a few slightly devious definitions (19a, 27a and 4d), but they make some sort of sense when you see them. I laughed at the “naughty” surface of 22a and the “potassium deficiency” in 10a. Favourites are the extended definitions in 25a and 1d. Thanks Filbert as always.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | DISHWASHER |
Belle used to be that woman’s cleaner (10)
|
| DISH (belle = attractive woman) + WAS (used to be) + HER (that woman). | ||
| 6 | PIPS |
Narrowly defeat second seeds (4)
|
| PIP (as a verb = narrowly beat, as in “pipped at the post” = overtaken right at the end of a race) + S (abbreviation for second). | ||
| 8 | CLERICAL |
American boards heaving Circle Line for the office (8)
|
| Anagram (heaving) of CIRCLE + L (abbreviation for line), with A (abbreviation for American) inserted into it (boards = gets into a vehicle). | ||
| 9 | CURARE |
Poison not often seen by copper (6)
|
| RARE (not often seen) next to CU (Cu = chemical symbol for copper, from Latin cuprum).
Plant-derived toxin, traditionally used on poison arrows. |
||
| 10 | THIN |
Gaunt muse with potassium deficiency (4)
|
| THIN[k] (muse, as a verb) without the K (chemical symbol for potassium, from its alternative name kalium). | ||
| 11 | ON OCCASION |
Sometimes showing working detains Charlie with calculator (2,8)
|
| ON (showing, as in “that film is on at the cinema this week”) + ON (working, as in “the light is on”), containing (detains . . .) C (Charlie in the radio alphabet) + CASIO (brand name for calculators). | ||
| 12 | LIFE PEERS |
Lords briefly raise swords around king (4,5)
|
| LIF[t] (raise) without its last letter (briefly) + EPEES (swords used in fencing), around R (abbreviation for king, as in Charles R, from Latin Rex). | ||
| 14 | HOUSE |
Group of boarders posh in stockings (5)
|
| U (upper-class, as in “U and non-U” = posh) in HOSE (old word for stockings).
A residential building at a boarding school, or the group of pupils who live in it. |
||
| 17 | NACRE |
Silver candlestick from the east inlaid with mother-of-pearl (5)
|
| Hidden answer (. . . inlaid with), reversed (from the east = reading right to left), in [silv]ER CAN[dlestick]. | ||
| 19 | ESTATE CAR |
Big wheels, say, in spinning competition (6,3)
|
| STATE (say), in RACE (competition) reversed (spinning).
Wheels = slang for a motor car; estate car = a large type of car. |
||
| 22 | BADEN-BADEN |
Naughty nurse invited back for afternoon spa (5-5)
|
| BAD (naughty) + EN (abbreviation for Enrolled Nurse) + BADE (past tense of bid = invite) + last letter (back) of [afternoo]N.
German spa town. |
||
| 23 | VISA |
Permission to enter when returning after six (4)
|
| AS (when) reversed (returning), after VI (six in Roman numerals). | ||
| 24 | JOSTLE |
Jack stole bananas for shake (6)
|
| J (abbreviation for jack, in playing cards) + anagram (bananas = crazy) of STOLE. | ||
| 25 | NOAH’S ARK |
Ship alone on the sea? Wrong, I see a small island (5,3)
|
| NO (wrong = said as a disagreement with someone else’s statement) + AH (I see = expression meaning “I understand”) + SARK (small island, one of the Channel Islands). | ||
| 26 | RELY |
Bank, see, by river (4)
|
| ELY (see = the area for which a particular bishop is responsible) next to R (abbreviation for river).
Bank on = rely on = put one’s trust in. |
||
| 27 | LEE-ENFIELD |
Distorting life, needle in Tommy’s arm (3-7)
|
| Anagram (distorting) of LIFE NEEDLE.
Arm = weapon; the Lee-Enfield rifle was standard issue for British soldiers (Tommies) in the first half of the twentieth century. The name comes partly from the former arms factory in Enfield where the design was refined – a few miles from where I’m writing this. |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | DECATHLON |
Event in which Paul’s last, he can’t do jumps (9)
|
| Anagram (. . . jumps = moves around) of the last letter of [pau]L + HE CANT DO.
Athletics event, with an extended definition: the ten disciplines include long jump, high jump and pole vault, so if you can’t do these you won’t do very well in it. |
||
| 2 | SHERIFF |
Quiet European repeated phrase for judge (7)
|
| SH (sh! = quiet! = a command to be quiet) + E (European) + RIFF (repeated musical phrase).
Sheriff = government official; the word has varying definitions in different regions, but for example in Scotland it means a judge. |
||
| 3 | ANCHORED |
Tied to the bed, housework with shackles (8)
|
| AND (with) containing (. . . shackles) CHORE (housework or a similarly tedious task).
Anchored = attached to the seabed. |
||
| 4 | HALL OF RESIDENCE |
Fresh roll and if cheese, fresher block (4,2,9)
|
| Anagram (fresh = renewed) of ROLL AND IF CHEESE.
An accommodation block at a university, occupied by “freshers” = newly arrived students. |
||
| 5 | ROCOCO |
Elaborate golden flip-flops on clown (6)
|
| OR (French-derived heraldic term for the colour gold) reversed (flip-flops), before (above, in a down clue = on) COCO (Coco the Clown, stage persona of Nicolai Poliakoff and later of his son Michael). | ||
| 6 | PERISCOPE |
Tube occasionally seen on the surface, but never underground (9)
|
| Cryptic definition: viewing device used in a submarine to look above the surface of the water, but perhaps less likely to be used below the surface on land. It’s barely cryptic except for the suggestion of “Tube” as a nickname for the London Underground railway (which does in fact appear above ground in a few places). | ||
| 7 | PARDONS |
Average teacher son tolerates (7)
|
| PAR (average, as in a par score in golf) + DON (university teacher) + S (abbreviation for son).
Pardon and tolerate aren’t quite the same thing, but they can both be used in the sense of “it’s not really right but I won’t make a fuss about it”. |
||
| 13 | EARNESTLY |
Before long home cracks seriously (9)
|
| NEST (home) inserted into (cracking) EARLY (before long). | ||
| 15 | EARMARKED |
Set aside each exam result ringed with red (9)
|
| EA (abbreviation for each, though I’m not sure it’s used very often), then MARK (exam result) contained in (ringed with) RED.
Set aside in the sense of “reserved for a specific purpose”. |
||
| 16 | MAINTAIN |
Thanks accepted by parent at home for support (8)
|
| TA (slang for thanks) + IN (accepted, as in “the in crowd”), after MA (familiar form of mother = parent) + IN (at home). It took me a long time to see “accepted” as providing the second IN rather than an insertion indicator.
Support as a verb = maintain. |
||
| 18 | ABALONE |
Shellfish bachelor tucks into on his own (7)
|
| BA (abbreviation for someone with a Bachelor of Arts degree, though strictly it’s an abbreviation for the Latin version of the degree title) tucked into ALONE (on his own).
A shellfish with a rather pretty shell lining. I’m told they’re edible, for those whose digestive systems can deal with them (unlike mine). |
||
| 20 | CHICANE |
Walking stick supporting Greek character bends (7)
|
| CANE (walking stick) after (below, in a down clue = supporting) CHI (the Greek letter corresponding to CH.
An S-shaped double bend (hence the plural bends) in a motor racing circuit, or the equivalent on public roads, designed to force traffic to slow down. |
||
| 21 | ABSEIL |
Sailor on voyage told to come down a rope (6)
|
| AB (abbreviation for able-bodied seaman = sailor), then a homophone (told) of SAIL (voyage, as a verb). |
Liked PERISCOPE and ANCHORED and the long anagram. Challenging for me with some of the GK. Needed a reveal or two. Learning curve. Thanks Quirister for your help and bravo to Filbert.
I’m always pleased to get through a Filbert. There was a brief hiatus when I wondered if RELY might be VEER but the second crosser put paid to that. PIPS, CLERICAL, THIN, VISA, NOAH’S ARK, DECATHLON, ROCOCO, EARMARKED and CHICANE were favourites – lovely how Filbert was able to define a singular with a plural in the last of those.
Thanks Filbert and Quirister
Filbert is so consistent of late. This was quite user-friendly but still sparkling with wit.
Lovely stuff but over all too quickly.
Liked PERISCOPE – dont think it’s “barely cryptic” – and my last two in CHI CANE & NO AH SARK – great surface.
4d HALL OF RESIDENCE “Fresh roll and if cheese, fresher block” – well you wouldn’t want a stale roll with cheese from a mouldy old block – unless it’s stilton.
RELY was a real throwback. Always nice to see some oldies.
Thanks F&Q
Very enjoyable notwithstanding a few slightly strange surface reads. Some new words in there but all fairly clued and obtainable through wordplay and checkers.
I particularly liked BADEN-BADEN, NOAH’S ARK, ANCHORED, CHICANE (very smart) and ABSEIL.
Many thanks to Filbert and Quirister for a top puzzle and blog.
I don’t know why I haven’t done many Filbert puzzles but I’m certainly glad I lighted on this one, which I really enjoyed.
I agree with Quirister’s NOAH’S ARK and DECATHLON as top favourites but I had many more ticks, notably the well hidden 17ac NACRE (which somehow made me think of Masefield’s ‘Cargoes’), 24ac JOSTLE, 15dn EARMARKED and 18dn ABALONE (just for being an old friend that I learned from crosswords years ago, which I don’t seem to have seen for a while).
Like you, Quirister, I had an initial struggle with the second IN in MAINTAIN – another fine clue. I liked your comment on PARDONS. 😉
Many thanks to Filbert for a most enjoyable puzzle and to Quirister for an equally enjoyable blog.
Thanks both. I might not have known BADEN BADEN had I not been there – I was 12, a good age to be embarrassed by a parent, and my dad took a wrong turning and ended up in a road reserved for horse-drawn vehicles in his mustard Austin Allegro….certainly memorable
I didn’t know BADEN-BADEN but worked it out from the clue. I first met NACRE in a crossword decades ago. It was in a Weekend Stinker (don’t know if anybody remembers these) in a clue “Her mother may be a crane(5)”. Answer, ‘pearl’ of course. Now I can’t get the song “Pearl’s a singer” out of my head.
17a NACRE – I’d only ever read this word – never heard it pronounced – wondered if it might be a homophone of KNACKER – but no, it just rhymes with ACRE.
I knew how to pronounce 18d ABALONE from hearing Paul Newman singing Plastic Jesus and playing the banjo in Cool Hand Luke(1967): Abba Low Knee
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyZvjMb31AE
‘I don’t care if it rains or freezes | Long as I’ve got my plastic Jesus | Sitting on the dashboard of my car
Comes in colors pink and pleasant | Glows in the dark cause it’s iridescent | Take it with you … when you travel far.
Get yourself a sweet Madonna | Dressed in rhinestones sitting on a | Pedestal of ABALONE shell
Going ninety I ain’t scary | Cause I’ve got the Virgin Mary | Assuring me that I won’t go to hell.’
Probably the fastest time this year – not that I make a fetish of such things. Hit the skids bottom right, last corner to complete. Don’t know why I found it so difficult. Perhaps I shouldn’t start these at two in the morning. But yes, I had problems too sorting out the “IN” for 16D. Thanks Quirister for going there before me. Will look forward to more Filbert.
The usual brilliance from Filbert. I couldn’t parse the “afternoon” in BADEN-BADEN because I was reading the clue as naughty nurse (BADEN) invited back (asked to make another appearance), which I thought was quite neat of Filbert, although in fact I had it completely wrong! Thanks to Filbert and to Quirister, whose blogs are always a pleasure to read.