Sunday finds Filbert’s weekly slot
Mostly straightforward by Filbert’s standards, thanks Filbert. Happy 60th birthday to Mrs Flashling and 11th to Jenny the pup.
ACROSS
1. Live cheaply, putting millions into unfinished screenplay (6)
SCRIMP
M(illions) inside SCRIP(t)
5. Scratch and doodle? (8)
WITHDRAW
WITH – and & DRAW – doodle
9. Avengers shot invisible weapon (5,3)
NERVE GAS
10. German city first in alphabet, with long name (6)
AACHEN
A(lphabet) & ACHE – long & N(ame)
11. More and more at home managed care alone (12)
INCREASINGLY
IN – at home & CARE* managed & SINGLY – alone
13. Chimney went overhead, you’d say (4)
FLUE
14. Before long, insect bites hotel resident (10)
INHABITANT
IN A BIT – before long & ANT with H(otel) inserted
16. Amazing biro, say, pocketed by academic without one (10)
STUPENDOUS
PEN inside STUD(i)OUS – academic – with I removed
19. Restrain dog beginning to bark (4)
CURB
CUR – dog & start of B(ite)
20. Repair faulty item quickly near destination (4,4,4)
MAKE GOOD TIME
MAKE GOOD – repair & a faulty ITEM*
23. Find humour when swapping sides in bed (4,2)
COME BY
COMEDY with B instead of D
24. Crossing island, stop car unexpectedly for fruit (8)
APRICOTS
I(sland) inside [STOP CAR]* unexpectedly
25. Old man under arrest became hysterical (8)
PANICKED
PA – old man & NICKED – arrested
26. Cold northern state has nothing on California (6)
CANADA
CA(lifornia) & NADA – nothing
DOWN
2. Charlie lists recent record that’s perfect (5,5)
CLEAN SLATE
C(harlie) & LEANS – lists & LATE – recent
3. Written with feet upside down (7)
INVERSE
Poetry which is written IN VERSE
4. Play African country in pongy ground (9)
PYGMALION
MALI – country in a ground PONGY*
5. Critical wife, seeing wee in your cups? (7)
WASPISH
W(ife) & AS – seeing, since & a drunk sounding PISH
6. Couple in Glasgow starts to notice ghastly local intonation (5)
TWANG
TWA – two in Scottish & N(otice) G(hastly)
7. Make sense of cold, recently-emptied department stores (7)
DECRYPT
C(old) & emptied R(ecentl)Y stored in DEPT – department
8. Top copy that’s wrong (4)
APEX
APE- copy & X – marked wrong
12. Spontaneous date started with pre-nup Tom prepared (10)
UNPROMPTED
[PRE NUP TOM]* prepared & D(ate)
15. See one retail outlet in short block (9)
BISHOPRIC
I – one & SHOP all in a short BRIC(k) – block
17. E.g. John Paul I and II taking mass in Italian city (7)
POMPEII
M(ass) inside POPE – John Paul I say & II from the clue
18. Keeping watch, running aground (2,5)
ON GUARD
19. 3D image of queen, say, on throne (3,4)
CAT SCAN
CAT’S – of the queen say & CAN – toilet, throne
21. A boat you can capsize? (5)
KAYAK
It’s a palindrome so capsizing – reversing – leaves it unchanged
22. Water area covered by turf (4)
SODA
Birthday congrats all round. And a nice Filbert for breakfast. I’d agree, this was towards the setter’s more approachable end but the trademark lovely surfaces were still very much in evidence. As always, plenty I could tick as favourites: paring that list down somewhat leaves me with WITHDRAW, INCREASINGLY, STUPENDOUS, COME BY, PANICKED, CANADA, IMPROMPTU and POMPEII.
Thanks Filbert and flashling
What PostMark said. Struggled a bit in the NE but all completed in the end.
I am a Filbert fan, but found this puzzle strangely uninspiring. Too many anagrams and charades, maybe?
Can’t put my finger on it. Some deft touches, and absolutely no quibbles on the wordplays, it just felt a bit like “painting by numbers”.
I liked WASPISH….but then, I almost thought I’d found an emerging Nina including SNIFFS and DIARRHEA, so that says more about me than Filbert!
POMPEII gave me some trouble, because I couldn’t spell the darned place…despite having been there.
Top faves: WITHDRAW, MAKE GOOD TIME, WASPISH, POMPEII and KAYAK.
Thanks Filbert and flashling.
I did like this, mainly because it was the first Indy xword I’ve very nearly completed in years!! Spoilt by bunging in UNPROMPTED instead of IMPROMPTU without checking the anagram properly. That’ll teach me. Thanks to Filbert and flashling.
Ele ?? UNPROMPTED is correct and IMPROMPTU only has 9 letters.
I must have misread the blog – I did wonder how I’d put in the wrong thing and it fitted. Doh. Thanks
Thanks both. Mostly straightforward, though was held up by the lower-case device in COME BY. Doubtless I am missing something relatively obvious, but I don’t follow the ‘your cups’ part of WASPISH.
TFO@8 To be “in your cups” is to be drunk, when you might say piss (wee) as pish.
As a Scot I was also thrown by “in your cups” as “pish” is synonymous with “piss” here, so the clue worked perfectly without the last three words.
Thanks to Filbert and flashling.
Thanks Filbert for some pleasant Sunday fare. My top picks included SCRIMP, NERVE GAS (great anagram), INCREASINGLY, INHABITANT, COME BY (nice surface), BISHOPIC, and ON GUARD. I couldn’t parse WASPISH. Thanks & best wishes to flashling & crew.
Wasn’t sure about 17D… John Paul I and II would be III???