Another Filbert pushing the boundaries and making us think.
We have warmed to Filbert as a setter and have often laughed at some of his devious definitions. However, there were a few here (23ac , 7d and 3d) that we didn’t think worked very well. It will be interesting to see if we are the only ones. The rest were very enjoyable.
We have organised a trip to Lincoln by train today for about 40 people so may not be able to respond to any comments or errors.
SO (therefore) RELY (count)
BALM (ointment) ORAL (for your mouth)
BANG FOR ONE (sex alone perhaps?) S (small) BUCK (rabbit)
A homophone (‘when told’) of IDLE (doing nothing)
HEN DO (party for women) and M (maiden) with HEAT (fire) at the start
GEN (information) inside or ‘put through’ EXIT (door)
OR (yellow) CHARD (‘edible leaves’)
AVE (greeting) R (Republican) TED (one of the Kennedy clan)
L (length) inside or ‘cutting’ an anagram (‘new’) of CARPET
OPEN (unprotected) inside or ‘during’ CHANGE (shift) with the N (north) moving ‘east’ to the end. We had to search for possible solutions to this one once we had some crossing letters.
A cryptic definition which in our opinion is rather weak. Although a PROM can be a dance for a year group at school, it doesn’t have to be as far as we can see.
An anagram (‘built’) of ON GARRICK’S IMAGE
DI’S (detective’s) KETTlE (boiler) without or ‘pulling’ the ‘l’ (line)
A separate toilet or WC you use when camping could fancifully be called a PO TENT
If you leave a car under a lime tree ( SUB LIME) it could well end up becoming sticky. Common limes often have heavy aphid infestations which drip sticky honeydew.
R (Queen) and an anagram (‘ordered’) of ONE MAID’S
A cryptic defintion. Filbert has built up a reputation of some devious definitions but we both feel that this one doesn’t work. For a start, we would never refer to a lift as a ‘box’ and neither of us would think of ‘packing’ a lift with people. The idea obviously that if you use a lift, you wouldn’t be using a ‘flight’ of stairs.
Hidden (‘not all’) and reversed (‘turning’) in gOT TAN NAturally
MIST (film) EACH (for everyone) and last letters or ‘ends’ in threesomE synopsiS
A ROUND of golf could be described as a’ collection of holes’ and if you use a drill, you would make round holes.
A reversal (‘pulled up’) of DAME (actor in drag – in a pantomime) and KILt (skirt) missing last letter or ‘short’
OT (collection of books – Old Testament) around or ‘including’ RIEN (nothing – as spoken by Proust who was French)
NEXT (clothes store) IN (popular) LINE (range)
ALl (every) missing last letter or ‘almost’ TERN (seabird) ATE (fed)
ACCUrSED (doomed) missing or ‘wanting’ the ‘r’ (first letter or ‘introduction’ to Rumpole)
DRAT (bother) around or ‘drinking’ UGH (‘that’s disgusting’)
PA (father) Y (yards) ‘behind’ P (Penny) RE (on)
ARREST (cop) around or ‘collecting’ M (millions)
In a rugby scrum, the two PROPS support the hooker. We had to check the definition here – PROPS is apparently a slang term for ‘respect’
BIO (life) around or ‘squashing’ R (last letter in your)
Too tough for me today. More reveals than I recall ever resorting to in the past. LIFT, PROPS, PREPAY, SUBLIME, SORELY, COPENHAGEN, SMOKING CARRIAGE all needed help. I should have got the last of those – it’s a clever anagram – but I had rather run out of steam by then. I’m not sure when they phased them out but I don’t recall encountering them (though I do remember smoking being allowed at the rear of aeroplanes). It was not a solution I equated with the def though it works in hindsight. I agree PROM is rather weak but at least I got it.
Filbert certainly does come up with some original and rather testing cryptic defs; when they are combined with particularly roundabout cluing, I can be left adrift as I was today. Ho hum. On the plus side, I liked ORCHARD, AVERTED, PLECTRA, POTENT, ORIENT, NEXT-IN-LINE and ALTERNATE with BANG FOR ONE’S BUCK being a nicely constructed COTD.
Thanks Filbert and B&J
Thanks Filbert and B&J
Agree with the comments on PROM and LIFT.
ROUND appealed to me-the def as well as the WP.
Top clues for me: BANG F O B, SUBLIME and COPENHAGEN.
Also liked POTENT (The clue leads to a TENT PO? A whimsie after all. Liked it anyway!) and PREPAY.
BANG F O B
My take (not sure it’s at variance with what is said in the blog)
sex=BANG (as a noun), alone=FOR ONE (I FOR ONE don’t agree with what was said by X).
22d PROPS – short for “propers” – as featured in Aretha Franklin’s 1967 US No. 1 hit version of Otis Redding’s Respect (1965)
‘I’m about to give you all of my money | And all I’m askin’ in return, honey | Is to give me my propers when you get home’
1967 would be “MCMLXVII”. 1000AD would be just “M”. So 23a “for a year” could be PRO+M.
Thanks F & B&J
Played a bit of rugger as a lad, so should have twigged loi props despite not knowing its slang meaning.. Agree, PM @1, it was tough, took ages and quite a bit of check button. Plectra was pretty sly, needed all the crossers even with the clear instruction. Good workout, ta Filbert and B&J.
Yesterday I ate/fed off roast chicken. Can fed work without its preposition?
Just looked up PROPS on oed.com: ‘slang (originally in African American usage). 1990– Due respect; approval, compliments, esteem.
1990 I was one of the first female rappers, but I’ve always gotten my props. Chicago Tribune 29 July 2/4.
Etymology – Formed within English, by clipping or shortening. Etymon: proper n. – Shortened < the plural of proper n. (see sense B.4 at that entry).'…
…and here’s the aforesaid B.4 entry: ‘
1967– slang (originally and chiefly in African American usage). In plural. Chiefly with possessive adjective. Due respect, acknowledgement, or esteem; = props n.
1967 I’m out to give you all of my money, And all I’m askin’ in return, Honey, Is to give me my propers when you get home. A. Franklin, Respect (transcribed from song)’
Unfortunately they’ve mistranscribed the lyrics. I’ll have to send them an email.
grantinfreo@5
ALTERNATE
…fed on/off every other: would have worked?
Never mind it makes the surface sound unkind.
I had a feeling this would be tricky when my first entry was PLECTRA, which as an occasional guitarist I’m aware of. I’m not actually sure when I last took so long to successfully complete a puzzle that wasn’t constructed by John Henderson, but as I enjoy and trust Filbert, I battled through despite the ominous disconnected bare patches in the bottom right corner and across the top.
Of those that held me up, only ACCUSED really shouldn’t have – the rest were devious in various ways. Although I didn’t help myself by mis-spelling the unknown TANATTO, which proved to be the key to sorting out the top half.
Thanks both.
Thanks both. Like PostMark@1 this felt like a record number of letter-reveals to get a foothold with quite a number of clues. PROM and LIFT were among them if that answers the question posed in the blog, and ROUND went in uncertainly – even from the golf perspective describing a ‘collection’ rather than a number of holes feels strange, but it was far from my greatest concern. Didn’t know either meaning of PROPS which is a shame as the surface is amusing.
Too tough for me. Got about ten answers. As I like to do a printed puzzle, no reveal option for me.
Brilliant. Difficult but in a good way – great fun to whittle away at. Took me even longer to finish than yesterdays Enigmatist. Very satisfying. Agree that he’s pushing his luck with the clever but slightly tortured definition of LIFT though.
I parsed PROM the same as FrankieG @3.
Thanks, F&B&J
Widdersbel: When I spend an hour and only get a handful of answers, I don’t think the puzzle is brilliant, I just get frustrated and do something else.
Dormouse – I can see why you would be frustrated to spend so long on a puzzle for so little reward – my attempts to solve Azed puzzles usually end the same way. But I’m more in tune with Filbert’s style than Azed’s so this one took me somewhat less than an hour to complete.
Whereas I can often complete an Azed in about an hour 🙂