Regular solvers of the Indy puzzles will know that there is a definite structure to the week: easyish Monday, themed Tuesday, Eccles (usually) on Wednesday, toughish Thursday and then Phiday. This was as always a carefully crafted and entertaining puzzle from Filbert, but for this solver at least, would have been more appropriate for that tricky Thursday slot.
I fell down on general knowledge, essentially: I had not heard of the ten-pin bowling term, the Agatha Christie character or the crossword in the competitor paper. But there was plenty else to enjoy.
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 Northerner missing the cold, being in Perugia?
UMBRIAN
[C]UMBRIAN
5 Theologian I see on a Scottish island
MULLAH
A charade of MULL and AH!
10 Part of Dutch crop that’s left I fed to sheep
TULIP
An insertion of L and I in TUP.
11 First parts I should have mentioned in legal statements
PLEADINGS
An insertion of LEADING in PS for post scriptum. The insertion indicator is ‘parts’.
12 Itchy feet turned red when covered with ground walnuts
WANDERLUST
An insertion of RED reversed in (WALNUTS)* The insertion indicator is ‘covered with’ and the anagrind is ‘ground’.
13 What made Limburger sandwiches?
DELI
Hidden in maDE LImburger and a cad. Smelly. Very smelly.
15 Ageing band got in scuffles on coach
CARBON DATING
A charade of CAR and (BAND GOT IN)* with ‘scuffles’ as the anagrind. CAR and ‘coach’ are certainly synonymous in the railway industry.
19 Single dish in kitchen? Get spares here
BOWLING ALLEY
A charade of BOWL IN GALLEY. A ‘spare’ is when you fail to knock down all ten pins at your first attempt in a single frame, but manage to clear the remaining pins at your second attempt. I did not know that.
22 I appreciate that time is short for director
TATI
A charade of TA and TI[ME]. Jacques TATI, the French director, whom I remember best for Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot, where he played the lead role as well as directing.
23 Young genius‘s wife insufficiently loving
WUNDERKIND
A charade of W, UNDER and KIND gives you the German word that we have adopted into English.
26 Nigel regularly wears red to blend in
COMMINGLE
An insertion of NGL for the odd letters of ‘Nigel’ in COMMIE. The insertion indicator is ‘wears’.
27 Weariness leads to early night; nobody’s up before one
ENNUI
A charade of the initial letters of the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh words of the clue, followed by I.
28 Jack‘s death curtailed by Leo, perhaps
ENSIGN
A charade of EN[D] and SIGN. Think the Zodiac.
29 Duets orchestrated always in common time
TUESDAY
A charade of (DUETS)* and AY. The anagrind is ‘orchestrated’. Good surface but rather vague definition, I would aver.
Down
1 Until women evacuated, residential area of New York?
UPTOWN
A charade of UP TO and W[OME]N.
2 Match to last for a while
BELONG
A dd cum cd.
3 One is ‘Mr Opera’, possibly
IMPRESARIO
(ONE IS MR OPERA)* and a cad.
4 Where China is attached to North East?
NEPAL
A charade of NE and PAL, and a cad.
6 Filling for huntsman’s canine is loose
UNDO
[G]UNDO[G]
7 Kit meant to lure fish on lake
LINGERIE
A charade of LING and ERIE.
8 Captain Christie created coat for Henrietta Burns
HASTINGS
A charade of H[ENRIETT]A and STINGS. Captain HASTINGS is a character created by Agatha Christie. I did not know that.
9 Private papers on allocating houses
PERSONAL
Hidden in paPERS ON ALlocating.
14 Fixed income scheme with advancing years is liberating, they say
WAGE FREEZE
A charade of W, AGE and a homophone of FREES. A rather vague definition, I would aver.
16 Envy B_, for example Barnaby?
BEGRUDGE
A charade of B, EG and RUDGE, the Dickensian character. I don’t really get the underscore in the surface.
17 Maybe dam Russian river, dry banks beginning to crack
OBSTACLE
A charade of OB and C for the initial letter of ‘crack’ in STALE. The insertion indicator is ‘banks’.
18 Cheats on a concise crossword, swapping words
TWO TIMES
A reversal of TIMES TWO (or more accurately, TIMES 2) which is a crossword in another paper. I did not know that.
20 Trashed hotel, breaking furniture
BINNED
An insertion of INN in BED. The insertion indicator is ‘breaking’.
21 Fancy toy did something unusual
ODDITY
(TOY DID)*
24 Lived daily in Germany, i.e. away
DWELT
D[IE] WELT. Viele deutsche Wörter heute – we’ve had WANDERLUST and WUNDERKIND already. Die Welt (‘The World’) is a German national daily broadsheet.
25 Chant along with say, greed is good
SING
A charade of SIN – of which ‘greed’ is an example of a deadly one – and G for ‘good’.
Many thanks to Filbert for this morning’s puzzle.
Needed help to get the NE completed. I also didn’t know of Captain Hastings nor did I know Die Welt or Times 2. In 22a, I took T for ‘time’ and I for ‘is short’, I.e. missing last letter.
Meant to add that I thought I was missing something with the definition for TUESDAY but was ok with the one for WAGE FREEZE.
Whenever Filbert appears on a Monday, the difficulty level ramps up a bit and this was no exception. In the end TWO TIMES was the only one I bunged in with a shrug, despite subscribing to the “competitor paper”. I agree the def for TUESDAY wasn’t great, but this was more than compensated by NEPAL, UNDO and the ‘Captain Christie created’ for good old loyal Captain HASTINGS.
Just a v. minor correction – I (‘One’) should be part of the anagram fodder for IMPRESARIO at 3d, which makes it an &lit for me.
Thanks to Pierre and Filbert
Thanks for the correction to IMPRESARIO, WordPlodder. I have amended the blog.
Fortunately the allusions that escaped our blogger, for once, are part of my GK: Captain Hastings was Poirot’s Dr Watson – a capable and reliable sidekick yet one whose role was often to cast the hero in a positive light. I’d agree with WP above regarding the excellent &lit IMPRESARIO.
So much to like in a, yes, more challenging than usual Monday puzzle. Lots of creative thinking and some fun surfaces. Favourites included UMBRIAN, WANDERLUST, BOWLING ALLEY, TATI, WUNDERKIND, NEPAL, LINGERIE, HASTINGS, PERSONAL and WAGE FREEZE where the def worked for me as a cd.
Thanks Filbert and Pierre.
Hard nut to crack. One or two went in quickly then it became ‘tricky’ as Pierre suggests. One or two definitions were difficult but I guess that’s what they should be. On the other hand, having had access to the blog, and from a host of superb clues, I select PLEADINGS, DWELT and LINGERIE where I had stopped reading the definition at ‘kit’ and couldn’t see how ‘lingerie’ was ‘gear’. Thanks Filbert and particularly Pierre for a very, very helpful blog.
Thanks both. Struggled like others in the NE corner, and share the misgivings on the definition for TUESDAY but wonder if we’re missing something. In the new format which does not display the setter name unless prompted, I only check if needed, so no surprise when I eventually found out. I noted the German leaning – I first encountered WANDERLUST in Death in Venice; an example of where there is no preferable English translation
My experience has been that Filbert is a very welcome contributor every other Monday seemingly.
I remember slagging this setter on first outing(probably a bit harsh but I had probably run out of something-meds?beer? sleep? who knows)
but since then i have enjoyed these puzzles. mea Culpa
Quite tricky in places as others have said. The NE corner held us up for ages till we saw that the lake could be Erie and also remembered Capt H. Lots to enjoy, though including WANDERLUST, NEPAL and particularly IMPRESARIO. But we thought 18dn was a tad unfair – we only knew of that crossword from occasionally finding a copy of the ‘competitor paper’.
Thanks, though, to Filbert and Pierre.
Filbert, whose puzzles I have always thoroughly enjoyed (unlike Copmus at 8, from the very first onwards) used to make quite infrequent appearances but of late has become a Monday regular. I for one would be thrilled if he became a permanent fixture to brighten the start of each week.
Tricky for a Monday, as others have said, and some lovely wordplay – e.g. for PLEADINGS and HASTINGS. After WANDERLUST and WUNDERKIND I thought their might be a German theme, so was on the lookout for the likes of POLTERGEIST and GESUNDHEIT, but it wasn’t to be.
I don’t keep track of what days different setters appear but no matter – I’m happy to see Filbert on any day of the week. I thought this was marvellous – so much clever, inventive, witty wordplay. LINGERIE, IMPRESARIO, NEPAL, WUNDERKIND, HASTINGS, ENNUI…
Aside from the two long Ws, there are a few other borrowings from other languages – IMPRESARIO, LINGERIE, ENNUI, DELI – which made me wonder it was a broader theme than just German words. But with a magpie language like English, where do you draw the line between what is and isn’t borrowed?
Grand job on the blog, Pierre – it’s a tough break if the setter picks on your GK blind spots but you seem to have got through ok! I didn’t get the TIMES 2 reference (but got it from the def and crossers) and I’m sure we’re all still missing something on the TUESDAY front, but otherwise this was, as the kids say, in my wheelhouse.
I enjoyed deducing that there is a River Ob and a Times 2 concise crossword and I agree with Widdersbel.
Thanks Filbert. In my opinion Filbert is a true craftsman of crossword setting so I keep coming back even though I’m seldom able to finish. Favourites included COMMINGLE, ENSIGN, and LINGERIE. I got stuck in the NE and revealed MULLAH which got me unstuck. Never did get OBSTACLE. Thanks Pierre for the blog.
I remember the River Ob from Araucaria (I think). It has the world’s longest estuary apparently, so I suppose we should know about it (although I had to check – thanks, Wikipedia!). I always enjoy Filbert, although I failed on BOWLING ALLEY. Never heard of that (and never been to a bowling alley either, probably fortunately for the other bowlers).
Defeated by the NE corner, fair and square. Revealed three or four and kicked myself for not having got them. HASTINGS was particularly nicely done, Filbert.
Really good puzzle – thanks setter and blogger.
Pierre, you haven’t paid attention when ‘correcting’ the parsing for IMPRESARIO