Independent 11628 / Filbert

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Wednesday is usually a theme free day in the Independent cryptic series where we get excellent crosswords focused on the clues and the entries.

 

 

 

Filbert continues the Wednesday tradition with a challenging puzzle today.  I like Filbert’s definitions as they make you think and the wordplay is clever.  Also Filbert tests the solver’s general knowledge.

I thought the clue for DOZEN at 22 down was well-formed and I had to think quite hard to parse it.  I also liked the clue for GRASSHOPPER with the French city Nice fairly well disguised.

The anagram for STRAIGHTJACKET was interesting and conjured up a picture of Houdini escaping from burning clothing.

The general knowledge this time covered musicals (ANNIE), geography (ERITREA), tools (TRYING PLANE), sport (GOALPOST, REAL TENNIS and OVERS), legislation (RIOT ACT), and information technology (BYTE)

EXOGAMY and TRYING PLANE were new words for me, but the crossing letters and the wordplay were helpful.

No Detail
Across  
1 Nice fat person looking to buy a small jumper (11) 

GRASSHOPPER (name for various herbivorous jumping insects of the order Orthoptera; small jumper)

GRAS (reference FOIE GRAS [fattened liver (of goose) made into pate de foie GRAS [French {Nice} word for fat) + SHOPPER (person looking to buy something)

GRAS SHOPPER
9 Gold and diamonds outside empty shop a promising sign (7) 

AUSPICE (an omen [sign], especially a good one; a promising sign)

(AU [chemical symbol for gold] + ICE [diamonds]) containing (outside) SP (special)

AU (SP) ICE
10 Divorcee may go elsewhere, marrying a foreigner (7) 

EXOGAMY (the practice of marrying only outside of one’s own group; marrying a foreigner)

EX (divorcee) + an anagram of (elsewhere) MAY GO

EX OGAMY*
11 Heavenly secretary spoke about the end of faxes (9) 

PARADISAL (resembling paradise; heavenly) – PARADISAL is listed in Collins Dictionary

PA (Personal Assistant; secretary) + (RADIAL [a spoke is a RADIAL bar emanating from the centre of a wheel] containing [about] S [last letter of {end of} FAXES)

PA RADI (S) AL
13 Tomorrow’s show kept rewound by drive-in, naturally (5) 

ANNIE (Tomorrow is a show tune from the musical ANNIE)

ANNIE (reversed [rewound] hidden word [kept … in] DRIVE-IN NATURALLY)

ANNIE
14 Pesky kid torments politician for a joke (6,3,5) 

SHAGGY DOG STORY (a whimsically long-drawn-out story humorous because of its length and the inconsequence of its ending; joke)

SHAGGY (reference SHAGGY Rogers, an irritating 17 year old character in the Scooby Doo cartoon series; pesky kid) + DOGS (worries; plagues; torments) + TORY (Conservative politician)

SHAGGY DOG S TORY
17 Part of Houdini’s act involved hat trick with gas jet (14) 

STRAIGHTJACKET (Harry Houdini [1874 – 1926], Hungarian-American escape artist whose act often involved the use of a STRAIGHTJACKET)

Anagram of (involved … with) HAT TRICK and [with] GAS JET

STRAIGHTJACKET*
20 Joke books about getting to 100 (3-2) 

TON-UP (a speed of 100 miles per hour; getting to a 100)

(PUN [joke] + OT [Old Testament; books of the bible]) all reversed (about)

(TO N UP)<
21 Bad behaviour once I’d mixed spirits (9) 

INDECORUM (bad behaviour)

Anagram of (mixed) ONCE I’D + RUM (spirits)

INDECO* RUM
23 Country‘s flag reflected on side of arena (7) 

ERITREA (country in Africa)

TIRE (become exhausted; flag) reversed (reflected) + RE (with reference to; on) + A (first letter, or last letter of [side of] ARENA)

ERIT< RE A
24 Fly with Irish airline, finally one offering exciting descent (7) 

ZIPWIRE (mechanism for travelling above ground by holding a pulley that slides down a taut angled rope; one offering exciting descent)

ZIP (move quickly; fly) + W (with) + IR (Irish) + E (last letter of [finally] AIRLINE)

ZIP W IR E
26 Working as a test pilot’s a big leveller (6,5) 

TRYING PLANE  (long plane for smoothing [levelling] the surface of long boards; a big leveller)

TRYING PLANE (a test pilot would be TRYING out a PLANE)

TRYING PLANE
Down  
1 Try job that involves most of all woodwork (8) 

GOALPOST (the GOALPOSTs of a football net are often referred to as the woodwork, as in ‘the shot hit the woodwork and bounced away’)

GO (try) + ALL excluding the final letter (most of) L + POST (job)

GO AL POST
2 Nana married to leave service (3) 

ASS (idiot; nana)

MASS (religious service) excluding (to leave) M (married)

ASS
3 Do laborious Hindi grammatical cases (7) 

SHINDIG (lively celebration or party; do)

SHINDIG (hidden word in [cases] LABORIOUS HINDI GRAMMATICAL)

SHINDIG
4 First column of figures higher than second (5) 

OVERS (in the bowling statistics of a cricket match the first column of figures will indicate how many OVERS an individual has bowled)

OVER (higher than) + S (second)

OVER S
5 Match official in trouble before leaving the ground (9) 

PREFLIGHT (before take-off; before leaving the ground)

REF (REFeree [match official]) contained in (in) PLIGHT (difficult or dangerous situation; trouble)

P (REF) LIGHT
6 Brazilian diplomacy which prevents violence (4,3) 

RIOT ACT (statute designed to prevent riotous assemblies; a form of words read as a warning to rioters to disperse; a piece of legislation designed to prevent violence)

RIO (descriptor indication Brazilian; reference RIO de Janiero, a major Brazilian city) + TACT (diplomacy)

RIO T ACT
7 Man beginning to retail sandwiches without bread, shopkeeper not giving full value? (10) 

PAWNBROKER (shopkeeper who lends money [below market value] against an item lodged with him)

(PAWN [man in a game of chess] + R [first letter of {beginning to}] RETAIL) contains (sandwiches) BROKE (without money ; without bread [slang term for money])

PAWN (BROKE) R
8 Eight bits are gripping to listen to (4) 

BYTE (a set of usually eight binary digits [bits] considered as a unit)

BYTE (sounds like [to listen to] BITE [are gripping])

BYTE 
12 Number during criminal trial seen making unusual use of court (4,6) 

REAL TENNIS (the original form of the game, as opposed to lawn tennis; a game not played very often, so can be seen as an unusual use of a tennis court)

N (number) contained in (during) an anagram of (criminal) TRIAL SEEN

REAL TEN (N) IS* – either N could be the one contained
15 Good egg chops log for VIP (9) 

DIGNITARY (someone in a high position or rank; Very Important Person [VIP})

(G [good] + NIT [egg of a louse or similar insect]) contained in (chops) DIARY (log)

DI (G NIT) ARY
16 Officially approved scheme ultimately run by mob (8) 

STAMPEDE (sudden mass rush of a panic-stricken herd or crowd [mob])

STAMPED (officially approved) + E (last letter of [ultimately] SCHEME)

STAMPED E
18 Communist machinery applying short shock to traitor (7) 

APPARAT (political machine of a Communist party)

APPAL (shock) excluding the final letter (short) L + RAT (traitor)

APPA RAT
19 Cool app tailored product to young person’s taste? (7) 

ALCOPOP (commercially sold drink containing alcohol but packaged and tasting like a soft drink; product to young person’s taste)

Anagram of (tailored) COOL APP

ALCOPOP*
20 Depth falling in say, flood level (4) 

TIED (equal; level)

TIDE (flood, as a noun in Chambers Thesaurus) with the D (depth) falling to the end of this down entry to form TIED

TIED
22 Drop off new deliveries of 2×4? (5) 

DOZEN (a set of twelve; 2×4 in this crossword can be expanded to 2 x OVERS [entry at 4 down] – there are 6 balls in a cricket OVER so, 2 OVERS will have 12 [DOZEN] balls)

DOZE (drop off and  sleep lightly) + N (new)

DOZE N
25 Credit card company that hasn’t opened bank account (3) 

ISA (Individual Savings Account; type of bank account)

VISA (credit card company) excluding the first letter (hasn’t opened) V

ISA

 

14 comments on “Independent 11628 / Filbert”

  2. Superb. Needed help. Tops for me RIOT ACT, ZIPWIRE and lovely to see words like INDECORUM and AUSPICE in a crossword. Thanks.

  4. IanSW3 @ 3

    Both Chambers and Collins dictionaries ave straightjacket as a headword, and indicate it to have the same meaning as straitjacket. The Oxford Dictionary of English just has straitjacket as a headword with ‘also straightjacket‘ in brackets.

  6. Was a slow burner today. I perservered and almost got there.

    Spent FAR too long not getting BYTE for some reason before the penny dropped.

    Hadn’t heard the word EXOGAMY or indeed TRYING PLANE even though I have dabbled in hand tool woodworking and own a number of different hand planes. Fortunately they both went in through the word play.

    Somehow couldn’t parse PAWNBROKER or GRASHOPPER fully. And didn’t spot the trick with DOZEN although I did do the sum several times to make sure I wasn’t going mad.

    In the end I failed with an unparsed ZIPLINE.

    Thanks to Filbert for a good work out and duncanshiell for the explanations in the blog.

  7. Thanks both. Really enjoyable, with my only uncertainty in INDECORUM that rum is clued as spirits where I would have expected the singular. SHAGGY DOG STORY was an instant favourite, as I so often refer to ‘pesky kids’ in relatively ordinary conversation – I do wonder what became of the ghost hunters as they all got older, but I haven’t got a scooby.

  8. Nobody else surprised by the spelling of straitjacket? I didn’t realise it was a legitimate alternative.

  9. Great stuff as usual from Filbert. SHAGGY DOG STORY and ALCOPOP just two of many excellent clues. (Aer) Lingus and exciting descent had my mind going in totally the wrong direction.

  11. TFO @7
    I also found Rum for SpiritS to be jarring. There may be justification for it, but it feels unnatural.

    The puzzle as a whole was very good, I thought, if tough – after an initial sweep, I was starting to doubt I’d ever get a sensible foothold. But it yielded bit by bit, with an appropriate number of tea trays. Some details eluded me completely (ANNIE relied on knowledge of the musical which I don’t have), but there was always just enough to deduce the answer from other details.

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