Filbert’s puzzle falls on a Wednesday this week.
I thought this puzzle was slightly towards the easier end of Filbert’s spectrum, but that is just a personal opinion and other solvers may disagree.
I wonder if I was the only solver to misspell RUMPELSTILTSKIN originally and struggle with 11 across for a while as a result?
I liked the definition for RUNNERS-UP, ‘all too slow in race’ as well as the whole clue for LAKE BED.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| Across | 1 Film involving cocaine bust Billy helps cover (7,5,3)
BEVERLY HILLS COP (1984 film starring Eddie Murphy where cocaine is an important part of the plot) Anagram of (bust) BILLY HELPS COVER BEVERLY HILLS COP* |
| 9 | Spinning top, novel problem (7)
DILEMMA (problem) LID (top) reversed (spinning) + EMMA (novel by Jane Austen [1775 – 1817] DIL< EMMA |
| 10 | Superior’s bottom is a huge one (4,3)
LAKE BED (The bed of Lake Superior is huge, given that Superior is the biggest of the Great Lake and one the largest lakes in the world by surface area) LAKE (Superior is a Lake) + BED (bottom) – &Lit clue LAKE BED |
| 11 | Flying carpets all too slow in race (7-2)
RUNNERS UP (all the competitors who failed to win the race; all too slow in race) RUNNERS (long narrow strips of carpet used for passages and staircases) + UP (in the air; flying) RUNNERS UP |
| 12 | Dance beat with energy (5)
TANGO (a dance) TAN (beat) + GO (energy) TAN GO |
| 13 | Tickle pals regularly to relax (6)
PLEASE (delight; tickle) PL (letters 1 and 3 [regularly] of PALS) + EASE (relax) PL EASE |
| 14 | Nurse and doctor left during date in concert (8)
ENSEMBLE (performance of a group of musicians playing together; concert) EN (Enrolled Nurse) + ([MB {Bachelor of Medicine; doctor} + L {left}] contained in [during] SEE [to date somebody]) EN SE (MB L) E |
| 17 | Semester at Yale for Victoria, say (8)
TERMINUS (Victoria in London is the site of both a coach and rail TERMINUS) TERM (semester [academic term in America]) IN US (in the United States, home of Yale University) TERM IN US |
| 18 | Toilet mostly clear after fellow flushed (6)
FLORID (red-faced; flushed) F (fellow) + LOO (toilet) excluding the final letter (mostly) O + RID (cleared) F LO RID |
| 20 | Engineers attack change from original design (5)
REFIT (change from original design) RE (Royal Engineers) + FIT (attack of illness) RE FIT |
| 22 | Batty as her poem signals (9)
SEMAPHORE (signalling system using arms and/ or flags) Anagram of (batty) AS HER POEM SEMAPHORE* |
| 24 | Sadly Harry now living abroad – less English, American (7)
ALASKAN (Alaska is one of the United States of America; an American) ALAS (sadly) + KANE (reference Harry KANE [born 1993], English footballer, currently playing for Bayern Munch, so living abroad, excluding (less) E (English) ALAS KAN |
| 25 | Info about film editor put in reviews (7)
CREDITS (information about the people involved in all aspects of a film) ED (editor) contained in (put in) CRITS (criticisms; reviews) CR (ED) ITS |
| 26 | Delivery option that might make Don’s cap cost less (6-5,4)
SECOND CLASS POST (a delivery option offered by Royal Mail) Anagram of (might make) DON’S CAP COST LESS SECOND CLASS POST* |
| Down | |
| 1 |
Flipping radio switch is nightmare for user (3,4) BAD TRIP (An episode of terrifying hallucinations and physical discomfort resulting from taking a drug, especially LSD; nightmare for a drug user) DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting, a form of radio transmission ) reversed (flipping) + TRIP (a type of switch, that, for example, acts as a cut out if electrical trouble is detected) BAD TRIP |
| 2 |
Offer nut lover nuts, full of energy (9) VOLUNTEER (offer one’s services) Anagram of (nuts) NUT LOVER containing (full of) E (energy) VOLUNT (E) ER* – either E could be the one contained |
| 3 | Spinner reported creases on pitch surface (15)
RUMPELSTILTSKIN (reference the fairy tale of the same name by the Brothers Grimm about an imp who spins straw into gold in exchange for a woman’s firstborn child; spinner) RUMPELS (sounds like [reported] RUMPLES [creases]) + TILT (lean over; pitch) + SKIN (surface) RUMPELS TILT SKIN |
| 4 | Poet agreed terms without hesitation (5)
YEATS (reference the Irish poet W B YEATS [1865 – 1939]) YEA (yes; agreed) + TS (letters remaining in TERMS when the central letters ERM [indication of hesitation in speech] are excluded [without]) YEA TS |
| 5 | Pressure-lowering tablets hospital department wasted (3- 5)
ILL-SPENT (wasted) PILLS (tablets) with P (pressure) lowered within this down entry to form ILLSP + ENT (Ear, Nose & Throat department of a hospital) ILLSP ENT |
| 6 | Fancy each son catching gonorrhoea so quickly (4,3,8)
LIKE THE CLAPPERS (at top speed; so quickly) (LIKE [fancy] + PER [each] + S [son]) containing (catching) THE CLAP (slang phrase for gonorrhoea) LIKE (THE CLAP) PER S |
| 7 | More or less trash house (5)
CABIN (simple house) CA (circa; about; more or less) + BIN (throw into a waste bin; to trash) CA BIN |
| 8 | Italian inn-keeper‘s lying about bill (7)
PADRONE (innkeeper, word from Italian) PRONE (lying or laid flat) containing (about) AD (ADvertisement; bill) P (AD) RONE |
| 15 | Make flooring under counter red (9)
BARDOLINO (Italian dry red wine) BAR (counter) + DO (make) + LINO (type of flooring)_ BAR DO LINO |
| 16 | Bench on one Concorde’s left wing? Not so fast (8)
SUBSONIC (descriptive of a speed less than one that breaks the sound barrier as achieved by the Concorde aircraft) SUBS (in football, the SUBS [substitutes] sit on the bench before being called to play) + ON + I (Roman numeral for one] + C {leftmost [left wing] of the letters in CONCORDE) SUBS ON I C |
| 17 | Henry wears tramp’s clothing (7)
THREADS (clothing) H (abbreviation for henry, the derived SI unit of inductance) contained in (wears) TREADS (tramps) T (H) READS |
| 19 | Profound songs for gig, not at all poppy? (4-3)
DEEP-SET (long established and profound) DEEP (profound) + SET (songs selected by a singer or band to perform at a gig), together implying that there no light pop-songs (not poppy) included DEEP-SET |
| 21 | Old money flowed into football club (5)
FRANC (reference the former [old] French currency [money] now replaced by the euro. There are still countries though that have a FRANC as their currency, e.g. Switzerland and most of Francophone Africa) RAN (flowed) contained in (into) FC (football club) F (RAN) C |
| 23 | Number one cricket club? Answer, Lord’s, for cricketers (5)
MECCA (for many cricketers, Lords cricket ground is a MECCA [place heavily visited by, or with a special attraction for, a particular person or group]) ME (reference, ‘looking after number one’ [ME]) + CC (cricket club) + A (answer) ME CC A |
I didn’t misspell RUMPELSTILTSKIN, in large part because it appeared quite recently in another puzzle in either the Independent or Guardian.
Someone recently described an analysis proving that the likelihood of the same solution appearing in consecutive puzzles is surprisingly high, but I am still amazed by the frequency of highly unusual words appearing as solutions in different publications close in time, often the same day. Yet I know this can be random, as I have observed the phenomenon even between puzzles I have done on the same day from a current newspaper and a book published years ago. Weird but fun.
Thanks to setter and blogger.
Yes. On the easier end of the spectrum. Had to wordsearch BARDOLINO but otherwise no issues. Enjoyable and fun. Liked the long entries and tops are BAD TRIP, erm YEATS, and LAKE BED. Thanks duncan and Filbert.
Ian SW3@1: believe it or not, this is the fifth time RUMPELSTILTSKIN has appeared in the last two months! Once in the G, once in the FT and three times in the Indy! He gets about a bit.
Another very pleasurable offering from Filbert with some cunning constructions that were a joy to tease apart. I was chuffed to get right the way through. RUNNERS-UP, FLORID, ALASKAN, VOLUNTEER, ILL-SPENT, CABIN, PADRONE, BARDOLINO and MECCA were my favourites. I’m not quite as taken by LAKE BED as our blogger – it didn’t feel particularly cryptic and, rather like TERMINUS with ‘in Yale’, perhaps needs a DBE indicator.
I had a different parse for DEEP-SET: Profound = DEEP, songs for gig = SET with the definition, not at all poppy, referring to deep-set eyes which are the opposite of pop eyes. Pop is in Chambers as (of eyes) to protrude and deep-set as (esp of eyes) set deeply (into the face). Which might also justify the QM.
Thanks Filbert and duncan
I was going to check the previous occurrences of 3d but PostMark saved me the work. Strange!
Also parsed DEEP-SET as PostMark. I parsed LAKE BED as a cryptic definition with a play on “Superior” as a nun.
Pleasingly fun puzzle.
I took 19d to be contrasting deep-set eyes with pop eyes.
I can’t access this crossword online today .
Anybody else having this problem ?
Can anyone advise ?
Thanks, PostMark. I can imagine a setter seeing a juicy word like RUMPELSTILTSKIN, rich with possibilities, and being inspired to have a go, but as puzzles are usually scheduled months in advance, that never explained the same or consecutive day phenomenon. Even two months seems too short to explain it. Just an eerie coincidence, I reckon.
Totally disagree with the opening comments from blogger! Took ages to get any foothold.. FOI was, predictably, an anagram at 22ac. Progress anything but rapid, and had to write every clue out on the back of an envelope to see the parsing.. which is not to say it wasn’t enjoyable, and filled a morning not cold enough for skiing, but too cold for much else.. in the end… shed load of goodies..
Thanks Filbert n Duncansheill
I was going to point out that this was the fourth RUMPELSTILTSKIN in one month plus one day, having pointed out the previous three here
Google must be missing The FT one. Ironic that his name gets revealed so often in crosswords. Serves him right for being “(15)”. Here’s a picture linking him to 26a.
Thanks F&DS
From 1a, I’ve had this 40-year-old (Ruby) earworm all morning.
Judge Reinhold plays Detective BILLY Rosewood in the movie, so the anagram …HELPS COVER is clever, And “cocaine bust” is a neat ‘lift and separate’.
Undrell. You say you ‘totally disagree’ with the opening comments which say ‘others may disagree’. My brain’s about to explode 😉
I thought I’d seen the Spinner recently. I just didn’t realise how often. I was beaten by FLORID. I went down the LAv route instead of LOo. Also took me a while to get going, but very enjoyable once I did. Good luck to anyone picking this out of the archives in few years when footballing Harry is a dim and distant memory.
Thanks both. I do love a multi-coloured blog.
Admin/KenMac – Are we only allowed one link per comment now? [Always nice to see !rish Nobel Laureate W.B. YEATS in a puzzle]
I imagine that 15-letter words are more common in crosswords than in continuous prose and the figure of one who spins gold from straw and challenges people to find a name might resonate with setters, but I still have a picture in my mind of a cabal of setters picking a weird word of the month.
Pete HA 3@12 It grieves me to say it, but Spurs strikers are soon forgotten. (so no one will see the point of this post)
Enjoyable, but thought LAKE BED a bit meh.
Peteert @15: surely you mean Greaves? Oh, I see… You did!
Hovis@11
😀
All Cretans are liars!!!
Bit late to this one. But as the blog for Bluth isn’t up yet…
Duncan, you definitely weren’t the only one to have to revisit the spelling of 3d in order to make sense of 11a. I did exactly that too.
Also it seems that you have got one too many green O’s and 1 too few blue O’s in your SECOND CLASS POST unravelling.
I enjoyed this one as usual and got there in the end. I do enjoy the challenge of a Filbert puzzle.
Thanks to him and to duncan for the blog.