Independent 11,170 by Filbert

by

I found this a fairly challenging puzzle with a few clues that needed quite a lot of crossing letters before I could solve them.

There is a mini-theme of sportsmen who favour their weaker hand. Rafael Nadal plays tennis left-handed but was born right-handed. Likewise, Mike Tyson claims to be left-handed but always adopted an orthodox style usually favoured by right-handed boxers.

ACROSS
1 CLAPTRAP
Put your hands together to catch balls (8)

Clap + trap
5 MISSUS
Wife an American beauty queen? (6)

Miss US, possible title for an American beauty queen
10 ORRIS
Minor manufacturer failing to open plant (5)

[M]orris (Morris Minor was a car brand and orris is a type of iris)
11 PINSTRIPE
Pattern for suit cut around pants (9)

Snip< + tripe(=pants in a slang sense)
12 SECOND READING
Tory from London area fearing parliamentary scrutiny (6,7)

S{outh} E{ast} Con{servative} + dreading
14 ANTHILL
American books hotel, bad army accommodation (7)

A{merican} + NT(=New Testament) + h{otel} + ill
16 EVIDENT
Jeans cut on both sides, hole obvious (7)

[L]evi[s] + dent(=hole)
17 COCKPIT
Seat on plane, mine next to a knob (7)

Pit(=mine in excavation sense) next to cock(=knob, both being words for you-know-what).
20 PUNCH UP
Horse-riding brawl (5-2)

(Suffolk) Punch(=horse) + up(=riding)
22 PARAPHERNALIA
Baggage misplaced by a Lapp in Harare (13)

(A lapp in harare)*
25 ENCHILADA
English boy in China cooked hot snack (9)

E{nglish} + (lad in China*)
26 DRIVE
Urge one has next to empty dragster? (5)

I've next to d[ragste]r
27 SADDLE
Unhappy waiting around, I dropped hamper (6)

Sad + [i]dle. Def used in the sense of "to saddle someone with something".
28 RED LIGHT
Bloody easy one holding you up? (3,5)

Red(=bloody) + light(=easy, as in a light task)
DOWN
1 CROSSHATCH
Ford Fiesta, perhaps, in shade (10)

I think this is cross(=ford, as in ford a river) + hatch{back}
2 APRICOT
Orange left out of tropical cocktail (7)

(Tropica[l])*. I don't think an apricot is a type of orange, so the def must refer to the apricot colour, which resembles orange.
3 TYSON
Right-hander who smashed mugs in Liberty’s once (5)

Hidden in liberty's once. I assume the def refers to Mike Tyson and not Tyson Fury. The latter appears to mix styles, sometimes using southpaw and sometimes orthodox.
4 APPAREL
Clothes dismay hosts right before start of event (7)

Appal around(=hosts) (r{ight} + e[vent])
6 INTUITION
Home schooling automatically produced knowledge (9)

In(=home) + tuition
7 SHINGLE
English rocks, lots of tiny ones? (7)

English*
8 SEED
Children the result of two dates (4)

Two dates – see(=date, as in “I’m seeing someone”) + d{ate}
9 INTAKE
New pupils confusing tea with ink (6)

(Tea ink)*
13 STEP PARENT
New mother perhaps arranged Peter Pan’s clothes back to front (4-6)

(Peter Pan's)* around(=clothes) [fron]t
15 IMPARTIAL
Just one Roman poet investing Pliny’s capital (9)

I(=one) + Martial around(=investing in a siege sense) P[liny] (capital letter). Martial was a Roman poet, full name Marcus Valerius Martialis.
18 CAPE COD
Better green salad in the east part of Massachusetts (4,3)

Cap + eco + [sala]d (=the eastern i.e. right-most letter). Cape Cod is in the east of Massachusetts, so that helps with the misdirection.
19 TOP HAT
Best tile perfectly cut by local (3,3)

PH(=public house i.e. local) in (To a T). Tile is an old-fashioned slang term for a hat, so the "best tile" might be the "top hat", although that's obviously a slightly different meaning of top hat to the usual one. A good clue, nonetheless.
20 PEERAGE
A servant around always is what a lord has (7)

Page around e'er
21 HELPING
A measured amount of assistance (7)

DD (as in a helping of something)
23 NADAL
Left-hander who smashes nothing with that hand (5)

Nada(=nothing) + l{eft}.
24 BEDS
Part of England where flowers grow (4)

DD (Beds = Bedfordshire)

13 comments on “Independent 11,170 by Filbert”

  1. I thought this was Filbert in a reasonably friendly mood, possibly toning the level of difficulty down for the Monday puzzle spot. Still, I missed the subtleties of the handedness of TYSON and NADAL, though still enjoyed working out the answers, especially seeing the appropriate Spanish version of ‘nothing’.

    Lots of other good bits, eg the automotive-related ‘Minor manufacturer’ and ‘Ford Fiesta’ wordplay, the ‘army accommodation’ def and the excellent clue for TOP HAT.

    Thanks to Filbert and NealH

  2. Thanks Filbert and NealH. I enjoyed this very much – difficulty level pitched just right for my solving abilities, and with plenty of wit and imagination running through the clues. Hard to pick favourites but I agree that TOP HAT is excellent.

  3. I too found this quite gentle for Filbert, whose puzzles I have often failed to finish, so thanks for that and Neal of course for the blog. STEP-PARENT was excellent, though rarely encountered in real life.

  4. Thanks both. My only unknown was ORRIS, but that didn’t prevent a lengthy struggle until I gathered momentum. I believe I am typically male when it comes to colours, so also found the orange/APRICOT match-up very surprising

  5. Agreed that this was at the easier end of Filbert’s spectrum, but still a satisfying solve. Favourite was PARAPHERNALIA (a word we’ve not encountered very much recently) for the surface suggesting yet another case (sorry!) of someting being lost by an airline.
    Thanks, Filbert and NealH.

  6. Saw the name Filbert and assumed the worst as I scanned it whilst brushing my teeth. But it was a pleasure. Top hat top clue, but so much to enjoy. Too few comments!

  7. A nice surprise to see Filbert back again relatively soon. I thought this was great. 1a, 22a, 25a, 2d and 13d in particular.

    Thanks Filbert and NealH

  8. Excellent. Stumped me, especially the top left corner – ‘apricot’ is the new orange – but that’s not hard to do. Likes for ORRIS, SHINGLE, and MISSUS. For me, the enjoyment of this puzzle has been in my own review and understanding and also in the blog which was a great read with ‘learnings’ as they say in sport. My favourite here was SE for London area. This was in a clue last week but one forgets so easily. Also, the intricacy of CAPE COD is a reminder of the need to analyse clues multi-laterally. Is that a word? Thanks Filbert and NealH.

  9. Thanks Filbert, I’ve been a fan since your Brian Wilson crossword. Clues like ORRIS, ANTHILL, and TOP HAT will keep me interested in more of your work. Thanks NealH for the blog; I couldn’t parse CAPE COD to save my life.

  10. Adding a comment because I enjoyed this so much. Many non-obvious constructions. Loved CAPE COD and TOP HAT!

  11. Thanks Filbert and NealH.
    Thoroughly enjoyed this one, with Top Hat and Step Parent as top 2 favs.

  13. Hesitated to attempt this as can’t usually get very far with Filbert’s puzzles, but I’m glad I did as I finished it, which is a first. Could even parse everything, though had to assume the horse breed was right.

    I note that this was a relatively easy one, mind.

Comments are closed.