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Filbert appears weekly these days.I find. his puzzles are quite challenging, but they are always satisfying to complete.
There is rarely a theme in an Independent cryptic on a Wednesday. We just get served good crosswords.
BLATHERSKITE is a wonderful word which Filbert has clued in a way that helped me deduce the component parts, and hence, the complete entry, from all the crossing letters.
I think the word ‘title’ in the clue to MRS DALLOWAY is doing double duty as part of the definition and part of MRS WOOLF, but I might be wrong.
I can’t quite relate CON in 17 down to ‘studies’.. I can link it to ‘study’ but I would expect CONS for ‘studies’.
ORCHESTRA is a common word in crosswords, so it was good to see Filbert construct a wordplay that I haven’t come across before.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Picture biscuits just out of the oven (8)
SNAPSHOT (photograph taken quickly and informally, with simple equipment; picture) SNAPS (biscuits) + HOT (temperature of something just out of the oven) SNAPS HOT |
| 5 | Memory returned when back in girls’ bog (6)
MORASS (an area of soft, wet ground; bog) ROM (Read Only Memory) reversed (returned) + AS (when) + S (final letter of [back in] GIRL’S) MOR< AS S |
| 10 | Stretcher for cyclist involved in ugly crash (5)
LYCRA (fabric made from a lightweight, synthetic, elastomeric [stretchy] fibre. often worn by cyclists; stretcher for cyclist) LYCRA (hidden word in [involved in] UGLY CRASH) LYCRA |
| 11 | Even in prison, Donald’s heading for president (9)
CLEVELAND (reference Grover CLEVELAND [1837 – 1908], the 22nd and 24th President of the United States being the only President to serve non-consecutive terms) (LEVEL [even] contained in [in] CAN [slang term for ‘prison’]) + D (first letter of [heading] DONALD) C (LEVEL) AN D |
| 12 | Sweet seeing wrinkle on old model (7)
TRUFFLE (rich confection made with chocolate, butter, etc, usually shaped into balls; sweet) T (reference the old Model T Ford car) + RUFFLE (wrinkle) T RUFFLE |
| 13 | Sam lies about having nothing to do (7)
AIMLESS (without a fixed purpose; having nothing to do) Anagram of (about) SAM LIES AIMLESS* |
| 15 | Windbag spreads froth over king during light meal (12)
BLATHERSKITE (someone who talks garrulous nonsense; windbag) (LATHERS [spreads froth over] + K [king]) all contained in (during) BITE (a light meal) B (LATHERS K) ITE |
| 19 | Wild animals great area of concern for MP (8,4)
MARGINAL SEAT (a constituency SEAT or ward held with a small majority; one that does not look to be a safe SEAT for the sitting MP, therefore an area of great concern for him / her.) Anagram of (wild) ANIMALS GREAT MARGINAL SEAT* |
| 22 | Drunk nurses working later (7)
TONIGHT (a time later in the day) TIGHT (drunk) containing (nurses) ON (working) T (ON) IGHT |
| 24 | Belgian legislation overturned by twit (7)
WALLOON (French-speaking people living chiefly in southern Belgium; Belgian) LAW (legislation) reversed (overturned) + LOON (simple-minded or eccentric person; twit) WAL< LOON |
| 25 | Customers given right box on fourth of March (9)
CLIENTELE (customers) C (fourth letter of MARCH) + LIEN (legal right to retain possession of another’s property until the owner pays a debt or fulfils a contract) + TELE (TELEvision; box) C LIEN TELE |
| 27 | Wide orifice, gross (5)
WHOLE (in financial terminology, all-inclusive or gross) W (wide) + HOLE (orifice) W HOLE |
| 28 | Deny old prison contains no women (6)
NEGATE (deny) NEWGATE (reference the old NEWGATE prison in London which operated between 1769 and 1902) excluding (contains no) W (women) NEGATE |
| 29 | OK if each spring starts late (4,4)
VERY WELL (a term indicating compliance or assent; OK) (EVERY [each] + WELL [spring]) excluding the first letter (starting late) E VERY WELL |
| Down | |
| 1 | Fried sandwiches left in homage (6)
SALUTE (tribute; homage) L (left) contained in (in) SAUTÉ (fried lightly and quickly) SA (L) UTE |
| 2 | A group of sailors called out to be added (6)
ACCRUE (come as an addition to; be added) A + CCRUE (sounds like [called out] CREW [group of sailors]) A CCRUE |
| 3 | Poles employed by builder, a couple of fellows to put in carpeting (11)
SCAFFOLDING (poles used in construction; poles employed by builder) (A + F [fellow] + F [fellow] giving a couple of fellows) contained in (put in) SCOLDING (carpeting) SC (A F F) OLDING |
| 4 | Chore for management getting new star players (9)
ORCHESTRA (musicians; players) Anagram of (for management) CHORE + an anagram of (new) STAR ORCHE* STRA* |
| 6 | Drink‘s on me, not Mike (3)
ONE (drink, as in the phrase "I’ll have a quick ONE") ON ME excluding (not) M (Mike is the international radio communication code word for the letter M) ONE |
| 7 | University life a roué loved over at the Sorbonne (8)
ACADEMIA (the world of university life) A + CAD (roué) + AIMÉ (masculine French word for ‘loved’) reversed (over) A CAD EMIA< |
| 8 | Avoid swimming despite having sun overhead (8)
SIDESTEP (avoid) S (sun) + an anagram of (swimming) DESPITE – as this is a down entry the S is placed over the letters of the anagram S IDESTEP* |
| 9 | Cycling no different for steep hill (4)
MESA (flat-topped hill with steep sides, especially in the southwestern United States) SAME (no different) with the two component parts SA and ME changing places [cycling] to form MESA MESA |
| 14 | Woolf’s title, everything over with inside 24 hours (3,8)
MRS DALLOWAY (title of a novel by Virginia Woolf [1882 – 1941]) MRS (Virginia was married to Leonard Woolf for 30 years) + ([ALL {everything} + O {over} + W {with}] contained in [inside] DAY [24 hours]) – ‘title’ seems to be doing double duty in the definition and the word play. MRS D (ALL O W) AY |
| 16 | Last to realise university lecturer’s attire is absent (9)
ELSEWHERE (absent) E (final letter of [last to] REALISE) + LSE (London School of Economics; university) + WHERE (sounds like [lecturer’s speaking] WEAR [attire]) E LSE WHERE |
| 17 | Smiley perhaps one studies after English test (8)
EMOTICON (a smiley is a combination of characters used to express a personal feeling, such as pleasure in e-mail, etc.) E (English) + MOT (reference the Ministry of Transport test for vehicles to certify roadworthiness) + I (Roman numeral for one) + CON (study; studies[?]) E MOT I CON |
| 18 | Obsequious Conservative on the phone (8)
CRINGING (obsequious) C (Conservative) + RINGING [on the phone) C RINGING |
| 20 | Evasive characters in motel could be US hunters (6)
COYOTE (prairie wolves; American hunting animals) COY (evasive) + OTE (the three characters forming the centre of [in] MOTEL) COY OTE |
| 21 | Amazing lunar shot includes Earth (6)
UNREAL (amazing) Anagram of (shot) LUNAR containing (includes) E (earth) UNR (E) AL* |
| 23 | Top number is one less than twenty (4)
TEEN (a child aged between thirteen and nineteen; one less than twenty years old) – Children under 13 are also less than twenty, but not TEENs. Perhaps ‘one less’ means that we should just consider 19 year olds. TEE (TEE shirt; top) + N (number) TEE N |
| 26 | Hair gripper made by twisting metal (3)
NIT (the egg of a louse or similar insect that can be laid in one’s hair; hair gripper) TIN (metal) reversed (made by twisting) NIT< |
I toyed with your theory about Mrs. for a while too but eventually decided the definition was just Woolf’s.
Thanks, Filbert and Duncan.
Agree with IanSW3@1 re Mrs as title and Woolf’s as the def. Filbertian. Couldn’t parse 15 and didn’t try too hard, and didn’t cotton on to ‘starting late’ in 29, so thanks to duncan. I also questioned CON being ‘studies’ (plural) but it’s a verb here. EMOTICON, SIDESTEP and SNAPSHOT my tops. Liked ‘nurses’ as an indicator. Thanks Filbert.
14d is a brilliant &lit – the action of the novel takes place within one day. Superb clue!
In 17d, “one studies” = “I con”
Lovely puzzle. Also very much enjoyed BLATHERSKITE – what a great word!
Thanks, Filbert and Duncan
Thanks Filbert and Duncan!
Yet another lovely puzzle from Filbert and an impressive blog from Duncan!
EMOTICON
Agree with Sofamore@2. One studies=I CON
MRS DALLOWAY
Agree with IanSW3 (This was my earlier understanding-looks flawed now)
Widdersbel@3 has the appropriate explanation. Thanks.
Widdersbel@3
EMOTICON
I didn’t notice that you had already mentioned I CON. Sorry for repeating it.
My bad. The danger of the edit function – I added it to my original comment as an afterthought. Thought that would be preferable to posting a new comment…
Widdersbel@6
Getting my parsing validated by you is satisfying.
TEEN
If we take it as any number between 13 and 19 (rather than as age or as a teenager), the clue reads well as a CAD.
Some may call it semi &lit?
I was bamboozled by singular v plural at 17D and 20D but understand now. Thanks Filbert, Duncan and Widdersbel.
11a “Even in prison, Donald’s heading for president” – Heaven forfend – Grover CLEVELAND ‘… the only President to serve non-consecutive terms’ – thus far.
Thanks F&DS
I came to the same conclusion as Widdersbel wrt MRS DALLOWAY, though I didn’t actually know the plot. And I also parsed ‘one studies’ as a phrase rather than two individual words. I was beaten by BLATHERSKITE: I have encountered the word before but it did not come to mind and I didn’t spot the parsing, even with all the crossers. Favourites today are MORASS (though not sure it needed to be ‘girls’ bog), MARGINAL SEAT, CLIENTELE, WHOLE, SCAFFOLDING, CRINGING, SIDESTEP and, for an original way of cluing a chestnutty word, ORCHESTRA.
Thanks Filbert and duncan
I thought MRS DALLOWAY was a clue as definition, thus avoiding the double duty problem. I, too, was defeated by BLATHERSKITE. Let’s hope Biden isn’t. Brilliant puzzle. Thanks.
Hooray for Filbert! MRS DALLOWAY is magnificent, as is the surface for CLEVELAND.
Thanks both.
I’ve often got stuck on Filbert’s puzzles, but this went fairly quick.
All good fun.. just 17ac, if u’d not had the word in ur vocab, pretty tricky parsing with multiple words for foam, R and K for King, several words for “light meal”.. even with all the crossers, ends up as a guess.. on the other hand loved EMOTICON.. n spent a good length of time refreshing my memory of Virginia Woolf!
Thanks Filbert n duncansheill
I enjoyed getting Blatherskite as it wasn’t a word I have come across before.
Scaffolding and Cleveland were my favourites
Thanks Filbert for a most satisfying crossword with SNAPSHOT, CLEVELAND, TONIGHT, SALUTE, SIDESTEP, ELSEWHERE (liked ‘lecture’s attire’), and UNREAL as my top picks. I failed with CRINGING. Thanks Duncan for the blog.
Could not get bottom right corner finished for so long. Took as much time as rest of crossword.
Loved the cluing even (especially) the ones I had a mental block over
Thanks Filbert and Duncan