Filbert provides our Thursday challenge.
A couple of slightly obscure entries here: I hadn’t come across 17d before, and 22d was a rather vague definition in a very wide field of possibilities. Both were eventually guessable from the crossers, though. I liked the image of the spoiled child in 2d, the neatness of 26a (though I’ll pass on this particular example of French cuisine), the ostensibly self-referential 4d with a neat hidden answer, and the tabloid-style term for a “French aristocrat” in 6d. The solution is also a pangram, for those who like to note these things. Thanks Filbert for the fun.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | MIXED DOUBLES |
Description of lob used for tennis (5,7)
|
| Reverse wordplay: LOB USED is an anagram (MIXED) of DOUBLES.
A tennis game in which a man and a woman play as partners. |
||
| 9 | ADJUSTED |
Bill and Ted entertain us on Japanese set (8)
|
| AD (short for advertisement = bill = handbill) + TED, containing (entertaining) US after J (abbreviation for Japanese). | ||
| 10 | TARZAN |
Sailor meets short goofy swinger (6)
|
| TAR (sailor) + ZAN[y] (goofy) without its last letter (short).
Fictional character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, known for swinging from vines in the jungle. |
||
| 11 | ELAPSE |
Pass drinks, contents of beer bottle (6)
|
| LAPS (as a verb = drinks like a cat), contained in (bottled by) the inner letters (contents) of [b]EE[r]. | ||
| 12 | REFORMED |
Grass cut by schoolchildren unlikely to go back inside (8)
|
| REED (a tall wetland grass) containing (cut by) FORM (a class of schoolchildren, as in “first form”).
A reformed criminal is one who’s given up crime and therefore hopes not to be sent back to prison. |
||
| 13 | ON-SCREEN |
Censor changed endings for The Omen as filmed (2-6)
|
| Anagram (changed) of CENSOR, then end letters of [th]E [ome]N.
On-screen (for example an on-screen romance between two characters) = something that happens in the action of a film rather than in real life. |
||
| 15 | SUBS |
Payment to join navy’s divers (4)
|
| Double definition. Short for subscription = payment to join an organisation; or short for submarines = military vessels that dive below the sea surface. | ||
| 18 | MYNA |
Bird that parrots accompany mainly keeps heading west (4)
|
| Hidden answer (. . . keeps), reversed (heading west), in [accomp]ANY M[ainly].
Also spelled mynah; a group of birds, some species of which imitate human speech (parrot, as a verb). |
||
| 19 | EXPOSURE |
Fair guaranteed publicity (8)
|
| EXPO (short for exposition = a fair showing off goods and services) + SURE (guaranteed). | ||
| 21 | SHOPLIFT |
Nick‘s hours at work stretched by work left (8)
|
| SHIFT (a period of several hours at work) containing (stretched by) OP (abbreviation for Latin opus = a work of music or literature) + L (abbreviation for left).
Nick, as a verb = slang for steal; shoplift = steal from a shop. |
||
| 23 | RECOIL |
Cringe seeing nasty spill on playground (6)
|
| OIL (a nasty thing to spill because it’s difficult to clean up?) added to REC (short for recreation ground = playground). | ||
| 25 | ALMOST |
Virtually nothing collected by charity that’s closing (6)
|
| O (zero = nothing) contained in (collected by) ALMS (charity) + end (closing) letter of [tha]T. | ||
| 26 | ESCARGOT |
Key lingo for French food (8)
|
| ESC (the Escape key on a computer keyboard) + ARGOT (lingo = a private language used by a particular group of people).
Edible snail: a feature of French cuisine, if you like that sort of thing. |
||
| 27 | NONE THE WISER |
Score for nine is accepted by Countdown host: UNWITTING (4,3,5)
|
| NONET (a piece of music written for nine players = a score for nine), then IS contained in (accepted by) HEWER (Nick Hewer, former host of the Channel 4 game show Countdown). For the surface, part of the game involves making the longest possible valid word from a selection of nine letters. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | INDOLENCY |
Daughter wears only nice pants, sitting on her arse (9)
|
| D (abbreviation for daughter) inserted into (wearing) an anagram (pants = rubbish) of ONLY NICE.
Indolency = laziness. |
||
| 3 | EQUIP |
Supply Ecstasy and crack (5)
|
| E (abbreviation for the drug Ecstasy) + QUIP (crack = a joke or witty remark).
Supply, as a verb = equip = provide the necessary resources to a person or organisation. |
||
| 4 | DITHERER |
I might change answer – some solved it here recently (8)
|
| Hidden answer (some . . .) in [solve]D IT HERE R[ecently].
Ditherer = someone who can’t make up their mind. |
||
| 5 | UNDERINVESTMENT |
Lack of cash concealed by trendy clothing (15)
|
| UNDER (concealed by) + IN (trendy = fashionable) + VESTMENT (clothing, especially clerical robes). | ||
| 6 | LET OFF |
The French aristocrat spared the guillotine, perhaps (3,3)
|
| LE (a form of “the” in French) + TOFF (slang for aristocrat).
Let off = allowed to escape a deserved punishment. |
||
| 7 | SURPRISES |
As you’ll hear, teacher rewards hits for six (9)
|
| Homophones (as you’ll hear) of SIR (a male teacher) + PRIZES (rewards).
Hit for six (as a verb) = slang for greatly surprise [someone] by doing something unexpected. (From the cricket term for striking the ball out of the playing field.) |
||
| 8 | WAKE |
Lacking strength with low energy, revive (4)
|
| WEAK (lacking strength), with the E (abbreviation for energy) moved to the end (lowered, in a down clue). | ||
| 14 | CLAMPDOWN |
Revived bar opening in Cambridge, light blue (9)
|
| First letter (opening) of C[ambridge] + LAMP (light) + DOWN (blue = unhappy). For the surface, “light blue” is the traditional sportswear colour of Cambridge University, as distinct from Oxford’s dark blue.
Clampdown = the re-imposition of restrictions after a period in which they weren’t strictly enforced = revived bar (ban). |
||
| 16 | BARBITONE |
Sedative lawyers munched on, back from rave (9)
|
| BAR (the Bar = lawyers collectively) + BIT ON (munched on = chewed) + last letter (back) of [rav]E.
Also known as barbital or Veronal; an early barbiturate drug used as a sleeping aid. |
||
| 17 | SPIRACLE |
Lips are fixed around cold air hole (8)
|
| Anagram (fixed) of LIPS ARE, around C (abbreviation for cold).
A breathing hole in fish, insects or worms. I didn’t know that, but the anagram was fairly straightforward and Wikipedia did the rest. |
||
| 20 | MINTON |
Porcelain in perfect condition available to order (6)
|
| MINT (in perfect condition) + ON (on the menu = available to order).
Traditional English ceramics company. |
||
| 22 | HELP |
First off the album! (4)
|
| [t]HE (with the first letter taken off) + LP (abbreviation for long-playing record = album).
Clue-as-definition: the Beatles song Help! is the first track on the album of the same name. (Though not the first to be released as a single: that was Ticket to Ride.) |
||
| 24 | CORGI |
Crumbs Joe gives dog (5)
|
| COR (cor! = crumbs! = expressions of surprise) + GI (Joe = American soldier).
A small short-legged dog of Welsh origin, a favourite of the late Queen Elizabeth II. |
I found this one to be quite a tough Filbert and NONE THE WISER left me … none the wiser. NHO Nick Hewer and did not recognise the def. In retrospect, the other where I needed help – the interlinked CLAMPDOWN – I should have got but the ‘Revived’ beat me there – and I did not have the closing N so failed to spot the possibility of DOWN. Ah well.
TARZAN, ON-SCREEN, ESCARGOT, DITHERER, SPIRACLE, HELP and CORGI got my biggest ticks.
Thanks Filbert and Quirister
NONE THE WISER beat me. I liked the clue when I got it. Nonet, of course. Nho Countdown and when I looked on Google I noticed Hewer was a former host but there was also a Riley which worked with the crossers so I entered that as the 5-letter word and got red-lined because I checked. Oh well. Quite tough. Very enjoyable especially for the wordplay in MIXED DOUBLES and SHOPLIFT and the CAD in the laconic HELP. Thanks for the excellent blog Quirister and thanks Filbert for the puzzle.
Enjoyable as ever from Filbert. I had to get NONE THE WISER from the definition and parse backwards, as I didn’t remember Hewer as a host – I could only think of Colin Murray, who hosts it now. That was my pick of the bunch, with the definition for CLAMPDOWN running it a close second.
Thanks Quirister & Filbert.
A splendid puzzle and a pangram to boot!
I didn’t understand 27A either but was pleased with myself for getting 22D. Didn’t spot the pangram, but then I didn’t look for one. Thanks Filbert and Quirister.
No problem with 27a and the pangram actually helped me with WAKE.
16d and 17d both unknown, but fair from the clues.
[Only yesterday I mentioned to a friend that back in 1983 I tried to teach an 18a in Cornwall to shout Thatcher Out. 🤞]
Thanks Filbert and Quirister.
Especially liked 22d HELP! – the clue comes complete with an exclamation mark! Loi 27a NONE THE WISER.
Thanks F&Q
Finished a Filbert without help! (except for confirming that SPIRACLE is a real word).
Thought for a while the _ _I _ S ending in 27a was pointing to Giles (Brandreth) but worked out pretty quickly it wasn’t and got it from nonet…… then parsed back to Mr. Hewer etc…
I clocked the pangram possibility early and checked as I got down to my last few and it actually helped with EQUIP as I hadn’t seen the Q and wasn’t getting anything spring into my tiny mind for crack.
I wasn’t overly enamoured with the clue for 22 down, but I entered it confidently so I suppose there’s not too much for me to grumble about.
Thanks Filbert and Quirister