The puzzle is available to solve online or download here.
Hi everyone. Filbert has made me think a bit, and it’s too hot! But I can’t complain for a second when the surfaces – and wordplay – are this good and there are some lovely humorous moments. Similarly, it’s a bit hot for chocolate, but we are treated to two competing brands today. One of these provided my favourite clue, 21a. How quickly it goes, indeed! My other comments are below. Thanks Filbert.
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, most quoted indicators are in italics, specified [deletions] are in square brackets, and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER. For clarity, I omit most link words and some juxtaposition indicators.
| Across | |
| 1a | Rank Keith last in project, without further ado (4,4,4) |
| JUST LIKE THAT — An anagram of (rank) KEITH LAST in JUT (project) | |
| 9a | Nougat confection cooked with sweet wine (7) |
| MARSALA — MARS (Mars bar: nougat confection) + À LA (cooked with). | |
| Nougat didn’t immediately bring Mars bars to mind, but of course it’s the bit they replace with ice cream in the version that I prefer to eat (but not very often as they are so sweet) | |
| 10a | Catch sight of naughty kid cutting legs off (7) |
| GLIMPSE — IMP (naughty kid) inserted into (cutting) an anagram of (… off) LEGS | |
| 11a | Popular figure out with conservationists on the rocks (9) |
| INSOLVENT — IN (popular) + SOLVE (figure out) + NT (National Trust: conservationists) | |
| 13a | Wind noodle around middle of chopstick (5) |
| TWIST — TWIT (noodle) around the middle of chopStick | |
| 14a | Doubtfully lift pipe down by carpet (5) |
| SHRUG — SH (pipe down) by RUG (carpet) | |
| 16a | Water bus manoeuvring at stop-over loses seconds (9) |
| VAPORETTO — An anagram of (manoeuvring) AT [s]TOP–OVER loses S (seconds). | |
| Not sure I knew this one, but once I eventually got the letters in the right place I didn’t doubt it | |
| 17a | Seaside town bluer than any other, frequently (9) |
| LOWESTOFT — LOWEST (bluer than any other) + OFT (frequently) | |
| 18a | Missile part thinned with file (5) |
| ARROW — pARt with its edges trimmed (thinned) + ROW (file). | |
| I misparsed this when solving: I had [n]ARROW in my head and it seemed to make sense at the time, but my thoughts clarified on a second look | |
| 20a | Learner in Saab bumped tree (5) |
| BALSA — L (learner) in SAAB anagrammed (bumped) | |
| 21a | Heavens, how quickly a chocolate bar goes (9) |
| AEROSPACE — AERO’S PACE (how quickly a chocolate bar goes!) | |
| 24a | I wear myself out in retirement, like some professors perhaps (7) |
| EMERITI — Reversal of (… in retirement) I TIRE ME (I wear myself out) | |
| 25a | In a deep depression, covered with baby’s saliva (7) |
| ABYSSAL — The answer is found in (covered with) bABY’S SALiva | |
| 27a | Simple penniless fellow returned, with money in pockets? Certainly (3,2,7) |
| AND NO MISTAKE — SIMON (simple penniless fellow) reversed (returned), which AND (with) TAKE (money in) surrounds (pockets) | |
| Down | |
| 1d | Night-time suits block by modernist architect (7) |
| JAMMIES — JAM (block) by MIES (modernist architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe) | |
| 2d | Species of small tortoise seen in odd places to the north (5) |
| SORTS — S (small) and ToRtOiSe taking odd letters (seen in odd places) all going upwards in the grid (to the north) | |
| 3d | Field sets off with half dropping out (3) |
| LEA — LEAves (sets off) losing half (with half dropping out) | |
| 4d | Picture card Welshman turned up after king (5) |
| KNAVE — EVAN (Welshman) reversed (turned up, in a down entry) after K (king) | |
| 5d | Scrape lady’s underwear with Marmite? (5,4) |
| TIGHT SPOT — TIGHTS (lady’s underwear) with POT (Marmite?). | |
| I mean, ewww!, but very nicely done. I don’t know why this took me so long: though I knew it, I just didn’t think of the cooking pot which gives its name to the spread, nor the required kind of underwear | |
| 6d | American colourist upset East European periodically (2,9) |
| AT INTERVALS — A (American) + TINTER (colourist) + reversed (upset) SLAV (East European) | |
| 7d | E.g. Christie’s produce etchings, lithographs, etc in series (8) |
| SPRINTER — PRINT (produce etchings, lithographs, etc) in SER. (series) | |
| 8d | Eggs sat on by considerate male penguin (6) |
| GENTOO — O O (eggs) underneath (sat on by) GENT (considerate male). | |
| This clue is particularly pleasing as you will indeed find two eggs in a Gentoo nest, and on alternate days they will be incubated by the male | |
| 12d | Act is fool’s last during diplomatic mission (11) |
| LEGISLATION — IS plus FooL’s last letter in (during) LEGATION (diplomatic mission) | |
| 15d | Bruce Willis film that’s bagged an Oscar released (8) |
| REWILDED — RED (Bruce Willis film) that has taken in (that’s bagged) WILDE (an Oscar). | |
| This went in from definition, doubtfully as I think of rewilding as being something you do to an area not an animal. (Chambers puts the “released into the wild” definition first, however.) I was living under a rock or something in 2010 so this film passed me by. I also got fixated on Oscar being O which meant that even when I thought of the answer I didn’t immediately see the obvious. I could blame the heat, but I’m perfectly capable of being stupid in cool weather too | |
| 16d | Fiddle turned into crime (9) |
| VIOLATION — VIOLA (fiddle) + an anagram of (turned) INTO | |
| 17d | Klutz left masseur without top (6) |
| LUBBER — L (left) + rUBBER (masseur) minus its first letter (without top) | |
| 19d | How exhilarating to go flat out for stunt (7) |
| WHEELIE — WHEE (how exhilarating) + LIE (to go flat out) | |
| 22d | Department concerned with charitable donations, mostly (5) |
| REALM — RE (concerned with) + ALMs (charitable donations), mostly | |
| 23d | Bewildered when temperature rises in a constituency (2,3) |
| AT SEA — We find the answer when T moves upwards in (when temperature rises in) A SEAT (a constituency) | |
| 26d | Extras denied lead part, I suppose (3) |
| YES — bYES (extras) without the first letter (denied lead part) | |
Excellent puzzle. Superb blog.
Thanks Filbert and Kitty.
Top faves: J L THAT, ARROW, GENTOO, REWILDED and WHEELIE.
I don’t know if Filbert is a geezer or not, but if so, his strap-line would be “old reliable”.
100% super surfaces, wit, misdirections, variety, and very fair wordplays. 1(d) is a good example….I’m not familiar with Mr. Mies, the architect, but the whimsical definition got me there.
15(d), the Oscar led me up the garden path, even ‘though RED (the movie) is one I know, and enjoyed. ( stands for, “Retired, Extremely Dangerous”; or in my case, “Retired, Extremely Dopey”. )
Excellent puzzle, excellent blog. I JUST LIKED THAT, AND NO MISTAKE. Bravo, Fil & Kitty
Was on Filbert’s wavelength today and finished it off relatively quickly, apart from the unknown-to-me 15d, which I cheated on.
There’s a minor error in the blog for 12d (missing the IS from the clue).
Brilliant as ever from Filbert, thanks to him/her/them, and to Kitty for the impeccable parsings.
Well, moh@4, less peccable now than they were! Omission flagged by Hovis@3 now corrected – thanks.
Think I learnt marmite from Elizabeth David quoting a French novelist who raved about a particular cassoulet. (But yes, eeww, like what went into Mrs Murphy’s chowder 🙂 ). Fun puzzle, ta Fil n Kitty.
Thanks both. Far from my favourite by this setter – too many unknowns and troublesome parsings. Only beaten in the end by MARSALA; I don’t recall the wine, and would never recognise Mars as anything other than chocolate, or see ‘a la’ as ‘cooked with’, and REWILDED where I never considered anything apart from where to stick the unwanted ‘O’. After yesterday’s equally uneven struggle, I’d liken the setters to the England cricket team – on the attack without any apparent consideration of the fragile emotions of the audience.
Kitty @5 , haha, that totally passed me by too!
Kitty@5, you tickled my fancy , with “peccable”!
Surely a front-runner for a setter to use, sometime soon.
Kissworthy we hear- and prone to sin (8)
( obviously it’ll be better than that!).
I found this challenging in places, as I usually do with Filbert. Lots of good stuff here, with INSOLVENT, AND NO MISTAKE and GENTOO my favourites. I did get held up by a few things though, some already mentioned by others: nougat in a Mars bar – who knew?, REWILDED for animals rather than places plus the missing O (clever!), WHEELIE (not sure if it’s quite enough to be considered a stunt, and a hint towards bikes would have been welcome), JAMMIES for night-time suits, where the levels for formality didn’t quite match for me… I was on to pijamas but there are lots colloquial terms for them even if one has the J.
But I’m pleased enough with my effort. Thanks both!
Very slow to start, even by my standards… eventually got started in SE with YES, followed by ABYSSAL, having stared at it for quite a while before spotting the inclusion, altho not convinced I’ve ever encountered the word in actual usage… Then slooowly moved forward… was hoping the water bus was indeed VAPORETTO, as its one of the very best bits about Venice, and finally spotted the anagram… definitely worth the effort, as Filbert usually is..
Thanks Filbert n Kitty..
Thanks Filbert. This was difficult at times but I got there in the end except for REWILDED and a few blanks in my parsing. Overall I thought this reflected the high calibre crossword I expect from Filbert. My top picks were GLIMPSE, INSOLVENT, EMERITI, AND NO MISTAKE, and AT INTERVALS. Thanks Kitty for the blog.
Super puzzle. Again.
Filbert is really so consistent, not just from one puzzle to the next but across the clues for a particular puzzle too. Enviable talent, and tremendous fun to solve.