Independent 11,761 by Filbert

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Our Thursday challenge is provided by Filbert today.

Lots to enjoy here: I liked the surface image of 26a (reminiscent of the ongoing election debates), the priest socialising after the Sunday morning service, the “poor little rich girl” of 11d, and the misdirection of “language at the bar” and “throwing a wobbly”. Thanks Filbert for the fun.

Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.

ACROSS
1 PLAYMATE
Fun fellow quietly put down herbal tea (8)
P (p = piano, from Italian = musical term for quietly) + LAY (put down) + MATE (pronounced maté = South American herbal tea).

Fun fellow = companion when you’re having fun = playmate.
5 ACK-ACK
Fire on plane when phosphorus leaks from unopened backpack (3-3)
[b]ACK[p]ACK, without the first letter (unopened) + without the P (chemical symbol for phosphorus).

Slang for bombardment by anti-aircraft weapons.
9 CACAO
Tropical tree needs roughly twice what we need to breathe (5)
CA (ca = abbreviation for Latin circa = about = roughly) twice, then O (chemical symbol for oxygen = what we need to breathe).

The tree that produces what’s rather confusingly spelt as cocoa.
10 EIDERDOWN
Nasty red wine keeps con warmer at night (9)
Anagram (nasty) of RED WINE, containing (keeping) DO (con = slang for defraud).

Warmer = something that keeps you warm, such as an eiderdown on a bed.
12 LIONESS
International footballer Lionel Messi not entirely removing tree (7)
LION[el m]ESS[i], without the last letter (not entirely) and without ELM (a tree).

Nickname for a player in the England women’s football team.
13 SEMINAR
Class hurried back after cup match (7)
RAN (hurried) reversed (back), after SEMI (short for semi-final match, in a knockout competition such as the FA Cup).
14 DAMP
Discourage crazy reverse parking (4)
MAD (crazy) reversed, then P (symbol for a parking area on maps or road signs).

Damp, as a verb = try to counteract (for example a fire, or someone’s enthusiasm about something) = discourage.
15 BRIDESMAID
Bishop travels on, forced to listen to attendant (10)
B (abbreviation for bishop) + RIDES (travels on, as in “rides a bicycle”) + homophone (to listen to) of MADE (forced, as in “they were made to repay the costs”).
18 TANGENTIAL
Bronze age tin surprisingly left off the main agenda (10)
TAN (bronze, especially as in sun-tan or fake tan) + anagram (surprisingly) of AGE TIN, then L (abbreviation for left).

Tangential = not directly relevant to the subject being discussed.
19 HOLS
Leave house less regularly (4)
HO (abbreviation for house, on maps) + alternate letters (regularly) of L[e]S[s].

Hols = abbreviation for holidays = leave from work.
22 TORNADO
Strong wind ruptured flap (7)
TORN (ruptured) + ADO (flap = fuss, as in “much ado about nothing”).
24 TWITTEN
Local lane close to Bagshot with five couples on it (7)
Last letter (close) of [bagsho]T + W (abbreviation for with), then TEN (5 x 2 = five couples) after IT.

Dialect (local) word for a narrow lane or alleyway.
25 EASTER EGG
Teas organised before horse’s treat after hunt (6,3)
Anagram (organised) of TEAS, then ERE (before) + GG (gee-gee = childish slang for a horse).

A chocolate treat sometimes hidden for children to find.
26 DRIVE
Try to hurry endless idiotic speech (5)
DRIVE[l] (idiotic speech) without the last letter (endless).

As in driving a group of animals along the road.
27 YONDER
Yankee drone crashed over there (6)
Y (Yankee in the radio alphabet) + anagram (crashed) of DRONE.
28 ADAM BEDE
Novel furniture for the boudoir collected by a noblewoman (4,4)
BED (furniture you’d expect to find in a boudoir) contained in (collected by) A DAME (a noblewoman).

Novel by George Eliot.
DOWN
1 PICKLED
The best energy-saving light given longer life (7)
PICK (as in “the pick of the crop” = the best) + LED (abbreviation for light-emiting diode, used in modern low-energy light bulbs).

Of food, preserved using vinegar or salt.
2 ANCHORMAN
Compère party in Cape Town with husband on arm dancing (9)
ANC (African National Congress = political party in South Africa, so in its legislative capital Cape Town) + H (abbreviation for husband) + anagram (dancing) of ON ARM.

The host or presenter of a news / discussion programme on TV.
3 MOOTED
A couple of rounds after mass, Irish priest suggested (6)
M (scientific symbol for mass) + two O (a couple of rounds) + TED (Irish priest in the TV sitcom Father Ted).
4 TREASURE TROVE
Valuable items found no doubt during jolly ramble (8,5)
SURE (no doubt), in TREAT (jolly = an entertainment or excursion, especially one provided free) + ROVE (ramble = wander).
6 CERAMIST
Potter a guaranteed success claims novelist (8)
CERT (as in “dead cert” = a guaranteed success) containing (claiming) AMIS (novelist: either Kingsley Amis or his son Martin Amis).

An artist working in ceramics (pottery); also “ceramicist”.
7 ACORN
Nut is article full of goodness (5)
AN (a form of the indefinite article) containing (full of) COR (goodness! = an expression of surprise).

A nut from an oak tree.
8 KINDRED
Blood type: bloody (7)
KIND (type, as in “I’m not that kind of girl”) + RED (bloody).

Blood = kindred = family.
11 DISADVANTAGED
Princess with blue Aston Martin and diamonds far from privileged (13)
DI (nickname of the late Princess Diana) + SAD (blue = unhappy) + VANTAGE (sports car made by Aston Martin) + D (abbreviation for diamonds, in card games).
16 ABOUT TIME
Clue for cat that’s overdue? (5,4)
Reverse wordplay: CAT could be clued as ABOUT (ca = abbreviation for Latin circa = approximately) + TIME (t = abbreviation for time).

“About time!” = generally said sarcastically when someone or something arrives late.
17 LEGALESE
Pound for one beer starts to see excited language at the bar (8)
L (abbreviation for a pound in UK money, from Latin libra) + EG (e.g. = for example = for one) + ALE (beer) + starting letters of S[ee] E[xcited].

At the bar = working in the legal profession.
18 TOTTERY
Young child crying, throwing a wobbly (7)
TOT (young child) + TE[a]RY (in tears = crying), throwing away the A.
20 SINCERE
True crime podcast’s visionary (7)
SIN (crime) + homophone (podcast’s = from recorded speech) of SEER (visionary).
21 LIB-DEM
Election candidate confused Dimbleby, by withdrawing (3-3)
Anagram (confused) of DIMBLE[by] without the BY. (For those not familiar with these things, David Dimbleby is known for presenting the BBC’s live coverage of general election results.)

Short for Liberal Democrat (a member of the political party).
23 RISEN
Baker’s proved nothing in boulangerie contains sulphur (5)
RIEN (“nothing” in French, so as it would be spoken in a boulangerie = French baker’s shop) containing S (chemical symbol for sulphur).

In baking, dough is left to “prove” = rise = expand as the yeast produces carbon dioxide.

9 comments on “Independent 11,761 by Filbert”

  1. Thanks Filbert and Quirister!
    Lovely puzzle! Neat blog!
    COTD: RISEN (above all else)
    Other faves: LEGALESE (got a real kick) and LIONESS (Take pride in her. Never mind the messi intrusion).

  3. Very nice and quite approachable today. SEMINAR, TANGENTIAL, HOLS, EASTER EGG, ANCHORMAN, CERAMIST, ACORN and RISEN were my big ticks.

    Thanks Filbert & Quirister

  4. Super puzzle as usual. Thanks for the blog Quirister. I needed help parsing 16d and 23d both ‘obvious now’. Big ✅’s for TWITTEN (LOI) and KINDRED but there are many good clues, smooth surfaces and droll definitions i.e. PLAYMATE. Fun, fun, fun. Thanks Filbert.

  5. Hadn’t heard of 24a so looked it up – oed.com has ‘TWITTEN, n. – English regional (chiefly Sussex).’ – so very “Local” indeed. Bagshot is in Surrey, so close enough.
    Especially liked 16d ABOUT TIME.
    Thanks F&Q

  6. As she often does, Quirister has summed up my reaction. I tried to make EMIT work as a synonym for cat (something like vomit?) so thanks for the much better parsing of ABOUT TIME.

  7. Enjoyable with mostly clear cluing, altho TWITTEN was probably going to perplex even the most immersed of Sussex folk? Sounds very Anglo-Saxon… couldn’t work out the tropical tree, I tried to fit 2 Os for COCAO, instead of the 2x CA, so the blog cleared that up… ANCHORMAN for compere had to be checked, seems to reduce news programmes to the level of a game show… well if the cap fits…
    Thanks Filbert n Quirister

  8. TWITTEN a new word to me too. I couldn’t see it until I twigged the five couples device.
    Chortle of the day goes to PICKLED, given longer life. Like many a rock group’s lead guitatist maybe?
    Thanks Filbert and Quirister.

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