Independent 11,659 by Filbert

by

The more we solve puzzles by Filbert, the more we appreciate his style. There were some lovely surfaces today and a few smiley moments.

Thanks Filbert – keep them coming.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Small work by American in MoMA fenced off (2,4,3,3)
OF MICE AND MEN

An anagram (‘off’) of IN MOMA FENCED. Of Mice and Men is classed as a novella – hence the inclusion of ‘small’.

10. Dirty EastEnder headbutts, in return getting floored (7)
STUNNED

DEN (as in Dirty Den on Eastenders) NUTS (headbutts) all reversed or ‘in return’

11. Sadly, none live to collect paintball’s ultimate honour (7)
ENNOBLE

An anagram (‘sadly’) of NONE + BE (live) around or ‘collecting’ L (last or ‘ultimate’ letter in paintball)

12. If you believe account, my racket got smashed (9,2)
ACCORDING TO

AC (account) COR (my) DIN (racket) and an anagram (‘smashed’) of GOT

13. Young lady heads for gents, avoiding lines (3)
GAL

First letters or ‘heads’ of Gents Avoiding Lines

14. Drag bed from unsightly spot over by lake (5)
TRAWL

WART (unsightly spot) reversed or ‘over’ by L (lake)

15. Power feeding alarm warning light went off quickly (9)
SCARPERED

P (power) inside or ‘feeding’ SCARE (alarm) RED (warning light)

17. Philosopher with unusually deep pockets I bug (9)
MILLIPEDE

MILL (John Stuart Mill – Philosopher) + an anagram (‘unusually’) of DEEP round or ‘pocketing’ I. Joyce spent too long wondering whether there was a philosopher called Cent.

18. Indian beggar had us at sixes and sevens (5)
SADHU

An anagram (‘at sixes and sevens’) of HAD US

20. Alternative way out of tunnel (3)
SUB

SUBway (tunnel) missing or ‘out of’ ‘way’

22. Riders in Hackney tend to cycle for approval (11)
ENDORSEMENT

‘ORSEMEN (‘riders’ missing the ‘h’, as it might be said in Hackney) TEND ‘cycling’ – the last three letters moving to the front. Many people drop their aitches in spoken English, not just those in London – but some studies have shown that 58% of old speakers in Hackney do.

24. Letter P among terrible tiles at end of Scrabble (7)
EPISTLE

P inside or ‘among’ an anagram (‘terrible’) of TILES and E (last letter or ‘end’ of Scrabble)

25. Learner behind Beetle with Danish parts (7)
JUTLAND

L (learner) behind JUT (beetle) + AND (with). We had to check that ‘jut’ = ‘beetle’. It’s in Chambers under ‘intransitive verb’ – first found in Shakespeare

26. Tree expert died meaning to eat last Rolo (12)
DENDROLOGIST

D (died) GIST (meaning) around or ‘eating’ END (last) ROLO

DOWN
2. Professional running service at a loss? (7,8)
FUNERAL DIRECTOR

Cryptic definition

3. Primate kept up by weird nightmare (5)
INDRI

Hidden (‘kept’) in a reversal (‘up’) weIRD NIghtmare

4. Swamp English boy cutting grass at the side of the road (9)
EVERGLADE

E (English) + LAD (boy) inside or ‘cutting’ VERGE (grass at the side of the road)

5. NCO positive soldiers sit around without good reason (3,6,6)
NON COMPOS MENTIS

NON COM (NCO) POS (positive) MEN (soldiers) and a reversal (‘around’) of SIT

6. Crime boss from Britain taken up in Putin’s jet (2,3)
MR BIG

BR (Britain) reversed or ‘up’ inside MIG (Russian aircraft – ‘Putin’s jet’)

7. Liberal bores want journalist bugged (7)
NEEDLED

L (liberal) inside or ‘boring’ NEED (want) and ED (journalist)

8. Famous lion tamer’s head at an angle (6)
ASLANT

ASLAN (famous lion in the Chronicles of Narnia series) and T (first letter or ‘head’ of tamer)

9. Patronise all the locals, turning up to fight outside clubs (3-5)
PUB-CRAWL

A reversal  (‘turned’) of UP + BRAWL (fight) outside C (clubs)

15. Veronica‘s son was good on the potty? (9)
SPEEDWELL

S (son) PEED WELL (was good on the potty) – brought a smile to Bert’s face when he solved this one. Veronica/speedwell appeared in the Eccles puzzle yesterday – quite a coincidence.

16. Turn say, northwards below clear path on hill (8)
RIDGEWAY

A reversal (‘northwards’) of YAW (turn) EG (say) after (‘below’ in a down clue) RID (clear)

17. Bad behaviour did seem wrong (7)
MISDEED

An anagram (‘wrong’) of DID SEEM

19. Messy university cleared out pens books and papers (6)
UNTIDY

UniversitY (first and last letters only or ‘cleared out’) around or ‘penning’ NT (New Testament – ‘books’) ID (papers)

21. Young Scot from Rhode Island brought up during Prohibition (5)
BAIRN

A reversal (‘brought up’) of RI (Rhode Island) in or ‘during’ BAN (prohibition)

23. Engineers take steps to put in new arrangement (5)
REJIG

RE (engineers) JIG (steps – dance)

 

19 comments on “Independent 11,659 by Filbert”

  1. I agree with what the blog says in the introduction and thank them for their help parsing ACCORDING TO. My top clues include DENDROLOGIST for the way if fell into place as the parsing intended and SPEEDWELL because it was in another puzzle yesterday. UNTIDY is also very good and again the blog came to the rescue for its parsing. I must remember ‘pens’ is often an indicator. I liked YAW for turn and the ‘orsemen’ too. Thanks both and thanks Filbert.

  2. My faves today:
    TRAWL, SUB, FUNERAL DIRECTOR, PUB-CRAWL, SPEEDWELL and UNTIDY.
    A super puzzle form Filbert! A high-quality blog from B&J!
    Thanks both!

  3. How many times have commenters wondered how Filbert can keep the standard so high with such regular output. Quite remarkable. Another splendid puzzle and I am also in agreement with our bloggers’ introduction. Again, really too many good clues to pick favourites – but, if I must: STUNNED, GAL, EPISTLE, DENDROLOGIST, INDRI, EVERGLADE, PUB-CRAWL, RIDGEWAY and UNTIDY is my pared down list!

    Thanks Filbert and B&J (Joyce – you were clearly thinking of the cheap philosopher, Immanuel Cent)

  5. Remembering ‘beetle-browed’ confirmed ‘jut’ for me. Never heard ‘beetle’ as a verb in that sense, though.

  6. I fully agree with the aforesaid about the consistently high standard of puzzles by this setter. I appreciate that it may be more generally understandable as a clue, but could I please remind everyone that it isn’t only some of us Londoners who drop their aitches! Jus’ sayin’. Thanks Filbert and B&J.

  7. Filbert: “Veronica‘s son was good on the potty? (9)” — Eccles: “Veronica’s peed off? Great! (5)” — They’re both taking the SPEEDWELL
    For Joyce & PostMark@3, a Word Ladder (my new toy): MILL, CILL, CELL, CELT, CENT, CANT, KANT

  9. [FrankieG @7: great toy, indeed. I tried it on half a dozen unlikely pairings and was astounded at the efficacy with which it transformed them.]

  10. Fun puzzle. Of Mice and Men used to be a GCSE text often used with the lower sets, until Gove’s reforms, when he decided it was too easy and should not be used.

    FrankieG @7 – I can do that in fewer rungs:
    MILL, MILT, MINT, PINT, PANT, KANT – these word ladders turn up in quiz books, and I usually find I can make fewer changes than suggested.

  11. Thanks Filbert. I needed a few letter reveals and more than a few lucky guesses to get through this but I find Filbert’s worth the extra effort. Favourites included UNTIDY, ACCORDING TO, and EPISTLE. Thanks B&J for the blog.

  12. Too late to add anything but more praise. I’d been saving this up to do after a busy day and it didn’t disappoint.

  14. Nicely constructed with a perfect balance of difficulty. Not much to say that isn’t already above.

    Thanks Setter and Blogger

  16. Shanne@11 – https://ceptimus.co.uk/wordladder.php?w1=MILL&w2=KANT&d=CSW actually returns MILL, HILL, HILT, HINT, HANT, KANT – 5 steps, like yours.
    [Or it did when I first ran it. Refresh, and it gives you more options – very neat]
    But I thought that was a bit meh – 😐 – and I HA(D’)NT heard of HA(U)NT or HA(I)NT, so I made one up myself, that includes the Winslow CILL from Monday’s Brummie, a CELT (i’m one), and Joyce & Postmark’s Immanuel CENT. All for only one step more.

  17. “Your comment is awaiting moderation”. I’ve fallen foul of the maximum 2 links per comment rule again, so here’s @17 again, in 3 steps, in case it never appears.
    Shanne@11 – Word Ladder Solver actually returns MILL, HILL, HILT, HINT, HANT, KANT – 5 steps, like yours. (Or, at least it did the first time I ran it. Hit refresh and it gives further options – very neat!)…

  19. the Winslow CILL from Monday’s Brummie in The Guardian, a CELT (!’m one), and Joyce & Postmark’s Immanuel CENT. All for only one step more.

Comments are closed.