Filbert in his customary Sunday slot with another carefully-constructed and pleasing puzzle.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Little steam engine in DC somebody uncoupled
DIVORCEE
An insertion of IVOR in D and CEE. The insertion indicator is ‘in’ and the ‘little steam engine’ is the one you can see here.
6 Give away money you put down shaft
BETRAY
A charade of BET and RAY.
9/24 Short pencil delivered at end of term unlikely to bend
STUBBORN
A charade of STUB and BORN. The ‘term’ is the nine-month term of pregnancy.
10 Time mushroom picker retired, in hindsight
RETROSPECT
A reversal of T, CEP and SORTER.
11 So-so hurdler running around yard behind house, not so fast
HOLD YOUR HORSES
A charade of HO and Y inserted into (SO SO HURDLER)* with ‘running’ as the anagrind and ‘around’ as the insertion indicator.
13 Rush from officially authorised drug
STAMPEDE
A charade of STAMPED and E.
14 Say, lie outrageously without anxiety
EASILY
(SAY LIE)* with ‘outrageously’ as the anagrind.
16 Hearing from Londoner, Bordeaux sweltering I suppose?
WHY NOT
Aural wordplay (‘hearing from’) of the cockney pronunciation of WINE HOT.
18 Potty US billionaire stores Tesla upright at the end of the drive?
GATEPOST
An insertion of PO in GATES followed by T for ‘Tesla’, the SI unit of magnetic flux density. The insertion indicator is ‘stores’.
20 Female leader, Tories rampant with her our PM
MOTHER SUPERIOR
(TORIES HER OUR PM)* with ‘rampant’ as the anagrind. The enumeration led me to think briefly That Woman might be the solution, but she is only the allusion in the clue.
22 Dickensian fellow with unopened red and corkscrew cross
EDWIN DROOD
A charade of [R]ED, WIND and ROOD.
25 Puritanical types obscene in writing afterwards
PRUDES
An insertion of RUDE in PS for Post Scriptum.
26 Split second subeditor’s position?
SUNDERED
A charade of S and UNDER ED.
Down
2 Motown changes first two notes for popular opening song
INTROIT
Filbert is inviting you to change the first two letters of DETROIT, which happen to be musical ‘notes’ with IN for ‘popular’.
3 On bedding male friend’s mother, complain to him?
OMBUDSMAN
An insertion of M, BUDS and MA in ON. The insertion indicator is ‘bedding’.
4/23 Well, I never put on security belt
CORDON
A charade of COR and DON.
5 English cuckoo up tree is inspiration for musician
EUTERPES
A charade of E and (UP TREE)* with ‘cuckoo’ as the anagrind. One of the nine muses (of music and lyric poetry). Not as useful as ERATO to setters, but certainly more helpful as a rule than POLYHYMNIA or TERPSICHORE.
6 Unhappy about cutting best work, display temper
BLOW ONE’S TOP
An insertion of LOW and ON in BEST, followed by OP. The insertion indicator is ‘cutting’.
7/21 Decoratively hung ribbons used experimentally
TAPESTRIED
A charade of TAPES and TRIED.
8 Charge if aluminium boxes also sent to America
ACCUSAL
An insertion of CC and USA in AL. The insertion indicator is ‘boxes’. CC is for ‘carbon copy’, which very loosely could be considered ‘also sent to’.
12 Public doshed out more than necessary
OVER THE ODDS
A charade of OVERT and (DOSHED)* with ‘out’ as the anagrind.
15 That might be 26 sheep in odd places on farming land
SEPARABLE
A charade of S[H]E[E]P and ARABLE.
17 American wit keeps papers in damp box
HUMIDOR
An insertion of ID in HUMOR. The insertion indicator is ‘keeps’ and the US spelling is clearly signposted.
18 Some French people gossip about old pair in rubber
GASCONS
A charade of GAS, C for circa or ‘about’, O and NS for the ‘pair’ in a bridge ‘rubber’.
19 Son given bottle, stifling a curse
SCOURGE
A charade of S and COUR[A]GE.
Many thanks to Filbert for another excellent Sunday Independent puzzle.
In 8d, I don’t think CC is “very loosely” considered as ‘also sent to’. I reckon this is exactly what it means (in emails). Also it is USA not US.
Good crossword and blog.
Originally in typed letters and now in emails, CC means ‘carbon copy’ (although there is no carbon paper involved in cyberspace). So I meant that it was not a literal meaning. Ask a Gen Z what ‘cc’ means in emails and see how many know without Googling it.
I needed the blog for the ‘pair in rubber’ = NS. The anagram for MOTHER SUPERIOR was very nice and the use of ‘cuckoo’ as anagrind in EUTERPES makes for a lovely surface but OMBUDSMAN is my out and out COTD. Brilliant choice of insertion indicator with a glorious surface resulting. Chapeau.
Thanks Filbert and Pierre
Pierre @2. Fair point. I’m not sure how many Gen Z even use email. Even back when I was a lecturer, we used to inform students of various things via an email set up for all students on any given module and they rarely read them. Back then SMS was the way they expected to be informed of things.
Lovely puzzle, with a blog to match – thanks Filbert & Pierre
Another superb puzzle from Filbert, every one’s a winner, apart from OMBUDSMAN.
On which, I see that ARSE is in the middle row, which accurately sums me up today.
In RETROSPECT, HOLD YOUR HORSES, STAMPEDE, OVER THE ODDS, and EASILY, then BLOW ONES TOP, would have been the perfect solutions, yesterday, before the Eclipse Stakes.
It’s not Filbert’s theme, but he must have psychic powers.
28 sequences, but only 25 clues, so it’s a stingy compilation from Filbert, with three solutions being divided up into two different sequences: it’s not a device that I like, but it’s done well, here.
Sixty years using “CC”, and I never knew that it means “carbon copy”! I presumed it was some sort of Latin phrase, reduced to abbreviation. In my early days, the carbon copy was the file copy, to record what had been sent to the client, off the typewriter. Ah! Typewriters. Carbon paper. Putting it in the wrong way round. Trying to get three layers of copies.
It’s a brave new world. Or…..is it?
A perfect crossword from Filbert, beautifully put together, surfaces/ misdirections / and wit. Potty = PO!
My hat is in the air, and my cap is doffed, cheers, Filbert & Pierre.
Thanks both. Position normal for me, in that I suspected early on we were facing Filbert, and so it was, I felt hopelessly lost for a while, but knew to keep going. GASCONS was a guess with a vague memory of the region, and it was one of a few parsings to at least partially evade me, including the already much discussed ACCUSAL; frankly, too clever for me, but quite happy to be defeated by something admirable.Not entirely sure, Motown and Detroit (Motor City/Town) are interchangeable, and I didn’t know the word INTROIT, but the clue still got me there.
What a great puzzle! As often with Filbert, I had to do some reveals to keep making progress, this time due to a couple of NHOs and the heavy use of the answer-splitting device which – in contrast with E.N.Boll&@6 – I usually don’t mind but disliked here; I found TAPESTRIES very hard to “see”. [Edit to say that also blinked at Motown=Detroit as per TFO above.]
Faves were BETRAY (misdirected me for too long!), OMBUDSMAN, STUBBORN, HOLD YOUR HORSES, GASCONS, the CC bit of ACCUSAL, and CORDON.
Classy effort, this one. Thanks Filbert, and Pierre for the blog.
Such a brilliant puzzle, laugh-out-loud surfaces. HOLD YOUR HORSES, GATEPOST, OMBUDSMAN, EUTERPE…
Ivor the engine was a nho, and introit something of a jorum. Like ENB @6, have used the cc includer ever since email began, but never twigged, despite having of course used carbon paper too. But yes, super neat puzzle, thx Filbert and Pierre.
Thanks Filbert. My top picks were OMBUDSMAN, BLOW ONES TOP, and HUMIDOR. I missed GASCONS & and had no hope of parsing WHY NOT. Thanks Pierre for the blog.
First class entertainment, as already said. Thanks both.
Must give special credit for the nicely referenced old joke at 15d ‘twenty sick sheep and one died ….’ Brilliantly contrived
I’m catching up on crosswords after a very full holiday weekend, so no one will see this. But I am just old enough to remember receiving a blind carbon copy (bcc) of a typed letter. I was a young whippersnapper of a law clerk who had done the research on a project, and the big-cheese lawyer wanted to send me a copy of the advice letter that resulted without alerting the client to the fact that he hadn’t done the grunt work himself. The secretary made a separate page with the bcc list (just me) after a literal carbon copy of the letter. This was 1997. I think by 1999 it would have all been computerized.
Someone who also existed in the days of CCs and BCCs will indeed see your comment, mrpenney. If you were producing them, sooty hands were a consequence, I seem to remember. CCs in cyberspace are a lot cleaner (but probably consume more energy than is ideal).