Another great puzzle by one of my favourite setters
There are many, many things to admire here, as ever with Filbert – in a hazelnutshell, concise, precise cluing with excellent surfaces. And just a couple of minor potential quiblets (as discussed below), which, far from detracting from the enjoyment, are, to my mind, a positive enhancement. I hope you’ll feel free to weigh in with your own take on them.
I was interested to read somewhere recently that Filbert is a great admirer of the Guardian setter Paul, as it seems to me that their setting styles are such a long way apart. But there are perhaps hints of Paul’s distinctive kind of humour here, with the girl clinging to the last bit of toilet paper or the husband smashing the brand new WC in a DIY disaster. I guess what I admire most about Filbert’s cluing is the ability to weave a surreally plausible surface scenario around a tightly disciplined cryptic construction. Aside from those already noted, I had ticks this week for ANTIMONARCHIST, the sadly familiar tale of the archbishop and the perverts, the grisly body parts jammed inside a trunk and the beanie-confiscating lesbian parents. Thanks, as ever, to Filbert for a thoroughly delightful puzzle.
Moh’s frankly presumptuous cruciverbial hardness-scale rating: Calcite
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | TIPTOP |
A few coins left for parking? Excellent (6)
|
| TIP (a few coins left, if you’re a rather miserly customer) + TO (for) + P | ||
| 5 | TENT CITY |
Refugee camp‘s perseverance with area becoming tense (4,4)
|
| TEN[a]CITY (perseverance) with the A changed into a T (area becoming tense) | ||
| 9 | ANTIMONARCHIST |
Opponent of UK institution possibly giving nation its charm? (14)
|
| Anagram (possibly giving) of NATION ITS CHARM. We could perhaps read the whole clue as an &lit, given that supporters of the monarchy probably do regard it as giving the nation a distinctive charm | ||
| 10 | BATHERS |
Bondi Beach swimming costume that woman wears out to lunch (7)
|
| Envelope (wears) of BATS (out to lunch) around HER (that woman). Am I right in thinking ‘bathers’ is primarily an Australian term for what we Brits might call a cossie, hence the reference to Bondi Beach? | ||
| 11 | ANSELM |
Saintly Archbishop of Canterbury laments perverts avoiding time (6)
|
| Anagram (perverts) of LAMEN[t]S (avoiding time). St Anselm was archbishop from 1093-1109 | ||
| 12 | SELL |
Betray clandestine group in report (4)
|
| Soundalike (in report) of ‘cell’ (clandestine group) | ||
| 13 | BROADSWORD |
Promise from Pitt, say, involving old military equipment (10)
|
| BRAD’S WORD (promise from Pitt, say) around O (involving old) | ||
| 15 | DOWNSTREAM |
Daughter holds last bit of toilet paper as the water runs (10)
|
| D (daughter) + OWNS (holds) + T (last bit of toileT) + REAM (paper) | ||
| 19 | ROPY |
Unsatisfactory seats 16 back in the audience (4)
|
| Soundalike (in the audience) of ‘Row P’, which would be 16 seats back from the stage | ||
| 21 | ESTEEM |
Favour endless semester for revising (6)
|
| Anagram (for revising) of [s]EMESTE[r] (endless semester) | ||
| 23 | INHABIT |
People soon bored by hospital (7)
|
| IN A BIT (soon) around (bored by) H, def is ‘people’ as a verb | ||
| 24 | ACHILLES TENDON |
Body part wrongly put in a trunk lengthways (8,6)
|
| Insertion (put in) of ILL (wrongly) inside A CHEST (a trunk) + END-ON (lengthways) | ||
| 25 | EYESIGHT |
Ability to spy certainly limited by double-0 following Bond? (8)
|
| Envelope (limited by) of YES (certainly) inside EIGHT (if Bond is 007, the one following him is 008) | ||
| 26 | ASH-KEY |
Seed for tree that’s dying back remains important (3-3)
|
| ASH (remains) + KEY (important) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | IGNOBLE |
Common large cracks worried Boeing (7)
|
| Insertion (cracks) of L inside anagram (worried) of BOEING. Ignoble/common in the sense of lower-class, not a member of the nobility | ||
| 3 | TRIATHLON |
Sound of ‘Go’, then lake with hat for cycling and running around it? (9)
|
| TRI (soundalike of ‘try’ or ‘Go’) + ATH (hat cycling) + ON (running) around L (lake), clue as extended definition | ||
| 4 | PROVERB |
Bishop alongside demonstrator, moral in a line (7)
|
| PROVER (demonstrator) + B (bishop), the definition being a one-line moral sentiment | ||
| 5 | THATS MORE LIKE IT |
Now we’re making progress which means computers are increasingly popular (5,4,4,2)
|
| THAT IS (ie, which means) + MORE LIKE I.T. (computers are increasingly popular) | ||
| 6 | NICE AND |
Butcher can dine pleasantly … (4,3)
|
| Anagram (butcher) of CAN DINE. Am I alone in finding the abbreviated solution a bit odd? I don’t think I’ve ever come across “nice and…” used without an extra modifier (easy, warm, friendly, etc), but I see it is in Chambers: “(used almost adverbially) commendably, pleasantly”. (As grantinfreo @2 points out, Eileen identified this very construction, a few days ago, on her blog of an Imogen prize puzzle in the Guardian) | ||
| 7 | CHIPS |
Tweets showing no Republican means to gamble (5)
|
| CHI[r]PS (tweets) without the R (showing no Republican) | ||
| 8 | TATTLER |
Murphy coming round starts on the latest gossip (7)
|
| Envelope (coming round) of TATER (spud, Murphy) round TL (starts on The Latest) | ||
| 14 | WORKBENCH |
New WC broken by husband making table (9)
|
| Anagram (new) of WC BROKEN + H, a workbench being a table for making things on, hence a ‘making table’ | ||
| 16 | OSSUARY |
Vault with bones broken in your ass (7)
|
| Anagram (broken in) of YOUR ASS | ||
| 17 | TIME LAG |
Maybe hours of delay wind university up (4,3)
|
| Reversal (up, in a down clue) of GALE + MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) | ||
| 18 | MAHATMA |
Sage beanie, say, pocketed by lesbian parents? (7)
|
| HAT (beanie, say) inside (pocketed by) MA + MA (lesbian parents) | ||
| 20 | POTHOLE |
Danger for cyclists even if coming through icy zone (7)
|
| Insertion (coming through) of THO (even if) in POLE (icy zone). I’m expecting grumbles about THO, but hey, IIC, with an apostrophe at the end: “US or poetic, same as though” | ||
| 22 | ETHOS |
Spirit‘s teeth 16D contains (5)
|
| Hidden by (contains) teETH OSsuary (solution to 16 down) |
I had a ? written against 6d having not heard that as an expression. ASH-KEY was new to me as well. No grumbles from me on POTHOLE.
Filbert beat me with ROPY. Nice clue but I just couldn’t see it thinking the 16 referred to OSSUARY.
Wasn’t there a recent discussion about the technical name for “nice and …” phrases, or something similar… ?
Anyway, good puzzle, ta Filbert and moh.
ginf @2 – thank you, yes! I’d totally forgotten Eileen’s mention of hendiadys, which I’d never heard of, on her blog of this recent puzzle by Imogen, re 12ac. Having learned the word, I then promptly forgot it again…
Regarding the quibbles, at the time of solving, I thought ‘and’ in 6d referred to the ellipsis although I can’t really justify that very well now, and I found ‘tho’ in POTHOLE in an online synonym search for ‘even if’ and thought it would be in Chambers. I’d be surprised if it’s not but I can’t afford to look. I’m not a pedantic crossophile but I respect those who are so others may demur. Elsewhere, another beauty from Filbert. The thing I admire most about his puzzles apart from the cleverness and the humour is the perfect surface he gives all his clues. I know there are a lot of very good setters but I think, and this puzzles illustrates my point, that the surfaces of his clues are exemplary. I’m not surprised about his admiration for Paul. They have a similar effortless way of going about their art. I think Filbert is a better comic and more accessible to a solver like me. I really enjoyed the EIGHT in EYESIGHT (and the spy/Bond link in the surface) and END ON in the body part. Made me laugh. That’s what I’m looking for. I could go on but enough said. Thanks MOH and Filbert.
sofamore @4, re THO: yes, IIC – It’s In Chambers!
Thanks MOH@5. Wondered what that meant.
One of the things I most admire about Filbert is the ability to make an amusing surface out of quite complex wordplay, so ACHILLES TENDON was my favourite today.
Simply classy. Faves were BATHERS, BROADSWORD (Filbert had me thinking about the Williams for too long, as I’m sure he intended), ACHILLES TENDON (I love that kind of thing even when it’s a case of using the checkers and then back-parsing), and EYESIGHT. Nho ASH-KEY but in it went.
No such luck with the nho ANSELM though, nor ROPY (which I spell ropey); I was playing around with “row” and spotted that “16” didn’t refer to OSSUARY because another clue already did that and used “16D” instead; but I didn’t find the trick and had to reveal it (which at least allowed me to then get POTHOLE).
I also enjoyed NICE AND and didn’t take issue with it; with the ellipsis being part of the def, it’s a fine match to “pleasantly …”.
A terminology aside:
I’d say ANTIMONARCHIST is an extended definition (stand-alone def plus separate wordplay in which the surface of the wordplay can be read as an additional part of the same def), which is a special case of what I call – for want of a better term – a “hinted definition” in which the wordplay contributes tangentially to the def (and gets our minds thinking along the right lines) but can’t really be regarded as part of it.
On the other hand, the glorious TRIATHLON is a textbook &lit: both the def and the wordplay occupy the whole surface.
Thanks both!
Agree with the praise for the setter. Spent a bit too long thinking about Prime Ministerial Pitts before the penny dropped. I thought ANTIMONARCHIST a superb COTD and am glad to have the EIGHT in EYESIGHT explained.
Thanks both