Filbert entertains us today – only three days after his last challenge.
Tuesday is theme day – and what an excellent themed puzzle Filbert has given us. The theme became obvious as we worked through the puzzle and refers to the outrage caused by 4ac and 18ac (’12 11s’) cutting down the iconic tree at 9d. According to the trial they travelled to the site in a 1d 23d and when the public outrage became apparent they resorted to the 14d, each accusing the other of the crime.
As well as the thematic entries, Filbert has referred to the case in the wording of several of the clues (in some cases more obviously than others) – see 1ac, 8ac, 12ac, 15ac, 26ac, 3d, 17d and 20d.
Hidden (‘part of’) and reversed (‘flipped over’) in landscapE SO PERfect
GRAHAM (12/11 – ‘criminal feller’) CRACKER (excellent example)
An anagram (‘horsing around’) of U, E (first and last letters or ‘case’ of unbelievable) and MORONS
ED (editor) in or ‘probing’ FORA (plural of ‘forum’ – social media site)
FELL (‘prominence in Cumbria’) ER (‘that’s doubtful’)
C (caught) + IN (at home) between RIM (border) and a reversal (‘the other way’) of L (lake) A (area)
An anagram (‘misrepresenting’) of A MALE’S BEEN
SH (silence) after NO (denial)
Hidden (‘some’) and reversed (‘retracted’) in criminaL (12ac) LAWyers
CAR (Range Rover – 1d/23 – perhaps) RUT (tyre track) HERS (belonging to them?)
An anagram (‘suspect’) of ABED in or ‘cutting’ HANG (‘string up’)
Hidden (‘trapped by’) in juveniLE PERSonalities
tHAt missing the first and last letters or ‘uncovered’ + WICK (‘illuminating bit of string’ – in a candle)
PUN (joke) I’VE (one has) round IT
EX (former mate) sHORT (brief) missing or ‘wanting’ ‘s’ (second)
SURE (certainly) in UR (middle letters of or ‘what occupies’ jury)
R (first letter or ‘start’ of road) ANGER (rage) OVER (connected with)
A ROLE (part to play) in PE (exercise) – a reference to a criminal (12) who’s out of jail
An anagram (‘sorry’) of ROGUES round or ‘divided by’ C (first letter or ‘start’ of case)
RU (rugby union – ‘sport’) F (fine) + a reversal (‘on the contrary’) of NAIF (innocent)
HAD (enjoyed) + RAIN (wet weather) with the ‘i’ (island) moving forward (‘north’ in a down clue)
ANS (answer) in or ‘breaking’ MERGER (scheme to work together)
A homophone (‘report’) of SICK + a reversal (‘picked up’) of PAGE (leaf) ROMA (travellers) – the location along Hadrian’s wall (6’s 16)
An anagram (‘silly’) of GAMBLE + AM (‘before 12’ – noon) E (last or ‘ultimate’ letter of case)
gLAD (pleased) missing the first letter or ‘after topping’) DISH (beauty)
PLAN (map) in or ‘held by’ PS (police sergeant) with U (uniform in the phonetic alphabet) in front or ‘on’
HIPS (cheers) + an anagram (‘broadcast’) of TREe missing the last letter or ‘cut’
A splendid puzzle – though I have to confess to completing it with an overriding feeling of sadness as I am one of those deeply distressed by the action those oafs took. Our bloggers say that the wording of ‘several’ clues refers to the incident – it is a mark of Filbert’s excellence that pretty much the only surfaces that appear to have no connection at all are for GRAHAM CRACKERS and HADRIAN. A fine piece of work referencing a modern day tragedy.
Thanks Filbert and B&J
An ingenious and painstakingly constructed crossword: in some shape or form, virtually every clue – if not all- referenced Filbert’s chosen theme, and by my reckoning, roughly half of the solutions. ( I’m including the likes of BLAME GAME/ LADDISH/ RUFFIAN / PAROLEE, etc.)
For me, the puzzle was “over-themed”, but it’s certainly an amazing work of thematic cryptic setting….love them or not.
A lot of cross-referencing going on, and perhaps some of the surfaces suffered too.
Not my favourite Filbert, but I admire the skill.
Thanks, F & BJ
I haven’t time to do this puzzle this morning but it’s obviously a fine one.
The felling of the tree also caused damage to HADRIAN’s Wall.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-67015699#:~:text=Damage%20to%20Hadrian%27s%20Wall%20has%20been%20found%20after,lain%20on%20part%20of%20the%2073-mile%20%28118km%29%20wall.
I agree with PostMark a splendid puzzle but a sad case. UPLANDS is DS (police sergeant) holding up Plan with U for uniform on top.
No issues with the intricate and clever flying in general, but 1a doesn’t quite sit well. While REPOSE can be used transitively, I don’t think I’ve seen “lay still” in that sense. “Lie still” would fit better. I think we have a tense mismatch (as the definition would fit “reposed”), or the all too common muddling of the two verbs with overlapping forms.
“… intricate *cluing” — dammed autocorrect!
A current and worthy, albeit painful, focus for setters. I eased through it until held up — by the unknown biscuit and duck, and the illuminating string (clever, should have got that one) — for almost as long as the rest of the puzzle. Well put, Filbert, and thanks BandJ.
Bert will be so annoyed when he realises that he has the wrong parsing for UPLANDS. I couldn’t parse it as I was fixated on PS for Police Sergeant. He put me straight. When I checked the blog, I didn’t notice his mistake.
Apologies to all!
Wot no ThREE DOWN joke? Probably best in this excellent puzzle.
What an amazingly constructed crossword. A round of applause. Even I spotted the theme with this one and I am usually the most theme-blind person on this site.
Sadly a DNF as I couldn’t get CARRUTHERS and was mightly perplexed to not see it in my Chambers. However a quick Google and the penny dropped.
I would pick my favourite clues but this is one that needs to be admired as whole piece. 10/10 cheers Filbert and B&J
Thanks both. Very easy to agree this was impressively theme-rich and must have involved a great amount of work. Also, greatly topical, so much so I was a little surprised pre-sentencing there was comfort to name-check the culprits, one of whose name I saw too early when checking the validity of CARRUTHERS but perhaps trail by public opinion is simply an inevitable part of the modern BLAME GAME.
I had to contemplate ‘lay still’ for REPOSE but I don’t see any tense mismatch partly because I can understand the sense but mainly because Filbert is far too clever to make a grammatical oversight or error. I thought this grid was heartfelt and I wouldn’t say the clueing was ‘painstaking’. I would say it seemed as effortlessly smooth as it always is, ENORMOUS being a perfect example. Loved HEADBANG. Bravo Filbert. Thanks to B&J for the blog. Helpful to me in a couple of places.
I did nor have that faintest as to what this was about-I could see HADRIANS WALLand guess SYCAMORE GAP but for me more obscure than the average Inquisitor.
Superb stuff from Filbert, yet again.
Loved it. As PostMark@1 said, every surface bar two is referencing the theme (and those two, along with so many others, obviously have answers which do), so a full house there. I didn’t quite see the connection in FEDORA until writing this when it struck me that noodle is slang for fool as well as for head/brain.
I didn’t find the puzzle suffered for the theme at all, other than in the existence of cross-references, which seem to be marmite on here. I also waved “lay still” past; I’ve always taken it to be valid dialect.
As an added bonus, with so much themey goodness going on, Filbert still found time for a misdirection (false cross-reference) in the clue for BLAME GAME. The PDM was more like a facepalm.
Ta muchly to our setter and bloggers