Independent 12,040 by Filbert

14 comments on “Independent 12,040 by Filbert”

1. The solutions all look accessible enough now but it took me a long while to arrive at them. Worth it though. Agree with MOH’s blog and his favourites but would add MOONLIGHT (classy spoonerism), the LULU/LOSE link, and the def for MOTHEATEN, all of which made me laugh. Filbert gets better and better. Thanks both.

2. LOSE
   Chambers
   To cease to hear, see or understand.
   No longer see

   LULU my COTD
   UNCHARITABLE, MOTHEATEN and ALABAMA were other faves.
   Great puzzle. Excellent blog.

   Thanks Filbert and MOH.

3. I’m with MOH on LOSE. It may well be intended as KVa@2 suggests, but I had it as lose sight of, as in ‘where is that thing?’ Very Phi-like clue.

4. I’d agree with KVA’s COTD nomination – very sweet. Beaten by the Gulf State at the very end having exhausted my knowledge of the Middle East. Just as was intended by the setter. Very devious. I also failed to parse TRAINERS: I can see what the setter intended with ‘Start at the end of’ though I clearly could not interpret that when solving. MOONLIGHT, PLATELAYER, ALWAYS, MOROCCAN, UNCHARITABLE, GIANTESS and CRACKPOT were my other big ticks.

   I had a slightly different parse for ROWAN: Seats = Row; on the front (initial letter) And; back of (final letter) gardeN; tree = def. I think MOH’s parse is more elegant though ‘seats at the front’ would seem a slightly more fitting synonym for ROW A than ‘seats on the front’.

   Thanks Filbert and MOH

5. I’m sure agnate has appeared before, but the bell was faint so some time ago. Otoh, ‘tighten one’s belt’ ive seen somewhere recently. Completely forgot about the sieve/strainer meaning of riddle, d’oh, so trainers went in with a shrug. And platelayer for fettler was new. Lots to enjoy, thanks, and agree, MOH, about a 6 on the scale, so relatively soft (I looked it up).

6. I’m not sure if Filbert is getting better and better, as sofamore says@1, (always excellent setting), but I do think that he/she may be getting tougher.
   Quite a few here gave me a struggle, AGNATE and ALABAMA, to name but two.
   LULU and TUK TUK was a fiendish pairing, until one opened the other up. And I got my COWLICK and KISS CURL mixed up in my head.
   The usual clever and entertaining setting, not very good solving by me.
   Thanks, Fil & MOH

7. Usual good stuff… altho was searching for an R to add to CHA, the most usual tea in crossword land, but there wasn’t any alternative… I took the “possibly” in 7d to direct us, not to holes in the cupboard which would have been WORM-eaten, but to holes in things in the cupboard… still waited for crossers to confirm… AGNATE was new to me but parsed well…
   Thanks Filbert n moh

8. Always reliable but never predictable, Filbert delivers again. Too many good clues to pick a favourite. AGNATE is an example of a not quite Jorum, a word you only vaguely remember after arriving at it through the wordplay.

9. Quite a treat — thanks Filbert and MOH. My only quandary: why the QM in 4? Looks like a straightforward charade to me.

10. … or maybe, rather than a charade, 4 is actually a DD, where the QM is accountable to the fact that the entry per the 2nd defn would be two words?

11. Thanks Coloradan @9, interesting question, to which I don’t have an answer, but I guess you’re right that it’s the two-word/one-word thing that must account for it. The clue would work perfectly well without it.

12. Coloradan – I think it’s that there isn’t actually such a word as a PORT-RAY, so it’s a slightly whimsical double definition. You’re being asked to create a noun that doesn’t exist. It’s not quite a charade as in a down clue the instructions would give you RAYPORT.

13. Amoeba, that’s a very good point – I always take “on” as just a kind of generic charade indicator, but of course in a down clue it really has to indicate “on top of”, which as you say wouldn’t work here. So yes, I think you’ve cracked it, thank you!

14. Thanks Amoeba @12. Quandary resolved!

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