Filbert fills the Thursday spot in the Indy today – we think this is probably our 700th crossword blog on 225!
We have to admire the originality in many of his clues. However, sometimes, we feel that Filbert stretches definitions a little too far for comfort for the sake of a good surface, or just to bamboozle us a bit more.
Having said that, overall, we enjoyed the puzzle and were initially baffled by the incomplete nina in the outside columns – it can’t be a coincidence. Then we tumbled – the lawn has been cut at the end of ‘no-mow May’!
F (foot) in an anagram (‘new’) of NIKES
IT (horror film) after CHEESE (a word to the cameraman) – it’s a long time since we heard this phrase!
A clue-as-definition – ‘when’ is SAID when there’s ENOUGH in your glass
A reversal (‘returned’) of TOG (dress) + H (husband)
PIPE (something to smoke) in E N (first and last letters or ‘case’ of Englishman)
EU (‘Brussels’ – HQ of the European Union) + a reversal (‘flipped’) of YR (your) + DICE (chop)
An anagram (‘fresh’) of BUN and PATE + UTTER (say)
CAR (wheels) D (daughter) CRYING (sobbing) round AbattoiR without the middle letters or ‘on vacation’
An anagram (‘relocating’) of NICE TO DC
BAR (estaminet) with I SO (like) in front or to the ‘west’ – being pedantic, an isobar is a line of equal air pressure – on a weather map, isobars cross fronts – the line of a front is not an isobar
FOR (towards) K (middle letter or ‘centre’ of Dunkirk)
VI (six in Roman numerals) ERRATA (mistakes) round or ‘limiting’ A F (fellow)
FLAN (patisserie) ERIE (lake) – a new word for us
Cryptic definition – ‘these’ two lift a sedan chair by gripping the poles
NO (a lack of) + a reversal (‘raised’) of PUN (wordplay) + LET (obstacle – in tennis)
F (fine) RUMP (steak)
A clue-as-definition – an anagram (‘digested’) of CHIPS aREN’T, missing the ‘a’
TEA in or ‘cupped by’ CHAUd (hot in French) missing the last letter or ‘not quite’
A reversal (‘rolls’) of RE (on) after EID (feast)
The definition is ‘cheese’ from 5 across – the wordplay is SA (sex appeal, ‘it’ from 5 across) + an anagram (‘confused’) of GREEDY and B (first letter or ‘head’ of Benenden)
IN (popular) TACT (delicacy)
A reversal (‘after turning’) of ON (immediately) + CHICKEN (yellow)
Hidden (‘group aboard’) in EurosTAR DINES Slowly
NUN ‘cycling’ (first letter moved to the end) round FATE (lot) round or ‘pregnant with’ S (son)
C (Charlie) OT (Old Testament – ‘books’) TAG (ticket) E (last letter or ‘back’ of France)
CH (Switzerland) in or ‘passing through’ a reversal (‘on the climb’) of LOOS (bogs)
L (learner) with EVER (always) outside or ‘made en croute’
A (American) in or ‘opening’ O (ordinary) RED (wine)
Thanks, Filbert and B&J!
Liked CHEESE IT, FORK, NONUPLET, CHATEAU, SAGER DERBY, INTACT and UNFASTEN.
NO CHICKEN
I had ‘ON’ to stand for ‘immediately after’.
ON turning.
ISOBAR
BAR, ISO that is west of…
The def could be ‘the front line’ (somewhat odd-already the def is a bit loose) or ‘the’ seems redundant.
I feel I am missing something here.
I missed the very opening line of the blog. Heartiest congratulations on your 700th blog! Several hundred more to come!!!
Well done to B&J for your 700th blog – a mighty effort.
I was beaten good and proper by this one, having no hope in the NE corner with CHEESE IT (never heard of), GOTH, SAGE DERBY and INTACT. Maybe I should have seen GOTH and INTACT, but not today. FLANERIE for ‘Strolling aimlessly’ was new to me too, as was VIA FERRATA. Saw the Nina, but missed the subtlety, thinking GRAS referred to “fat”. I agree with your parsing of ISOBAR, though the meteorological distinction went over my head.
Favourite was the ‘”When”?’ cryptic def for ENOUGH SAID; just the sort of clue for a newbie to cryptics who would probably solve it in less time than it took me!
Thanks to Filbert from a vanquished solver and thanks and congrats again to B&J
ISOBAR
‘like that’=SO. Right?
BAR-ISO is west (of).
Doesn’t make much of a difference.
Has Filbert been taking lessons from Enigmatist? This was tough but lots of fun.
Thanks, Filbert and B&J, and congrats on the blogging landmark!
I’ve only ever heard the phrase as NO SPRING CHICKEN but, as usual, a check in Chambers shows the alternative. I felt that something extra was going on with SEDANS (with NS being poles) but couldn’t see anything. VIA FERRATA was new to me. I did know FLANEUR, so FLANERIE wasn’t too hard to guess. Lovely stuff, as always.
I needed a lot of help to finish this, but really enjoyed it. Congratulations on the 700!
Congratulations Bertandjoyce, on your septicentennial! Wow! That’s some body of work!
I see your first was Independent 7,890 by Phi (Saturday Prize Puzzle 28/01/12) and you’re still solving his themes 11+ years later. I’m expecting one tomorrow.
This puzzle was a very slow solve for me, made even harder by not spotting the nina, or the ‘no-mow May’ schtick.
I loved it. Pdms everywhere, from my foi EURYDICE to my loi NONUPLET.
CHEESE IT rang a vague bell. Wiktionary cites Wodehouse.
SAGE DERBY, using both CHEESE for the def and “it”=SA for the wordplay – brilliantly convoluted!
VIA FERRATA a jorum.
For FLANERIE Wiktionary insists it has to have a “^” over the “A”, even when used as an English word. I wouldn’t know how to generate that on this keyboard.
Thanks F & B&J
WordPlodder@5 – maybe it is GRAS = fat. There’s a knife and fork and various fattening foods – cheeses, butter, flan…
Trickier the usual from Fil so particular thanks to B&J
FrankieG@11 (your posts will probably make me sensitive to themes one of these days-or years!)
Till I learn that trick…
Some birds PEN, PEA (fowl or whatever!), EIDER, CHICKEN…
We have an ELVER. Just above that a SCHOOL.
CHA & TEA side by side. RUM is a little above. And a BAR elsewhere.
Then there is an option to DINE in 15 or to FAST in 16.
Late to join the chorus of congrats to B&J. 700 is some number. And every one I have read has been a delight!
As was this puzzle, if a tough one. Quite a few new words though I was beaten by ISOBAR, revealing which gave me UNFASTEN as LOI. KNIFES, ENOUGH SAID, EPIPEN (quite Hoskinesque), PEANUT BUTTER, EIDER, TARDINESS, COTTAGE and SCHOOL is my longlist. I didn’t parse SAGE DERBY – the carry-over of ‘it’ = SA is very crafty. Neither did I parse SEDANS and I can’t work out whether that’s crafty or not as I still don’t fully understand it.
Thanks Filbert and B&J
Well, we got there in the end, thanks to the nina, but we don’t really understand 27ac – presumably SEDANS here means the people who carry sedan chairs, but that meaning’s not in Chambers or Collins. Plenty to enjoy, though; favourite was ENOUGH SAID.
Thanks, Filbert and thanks and congratulations to B&J – see you at the Embankment!
Thanks both. Struggled hugely but got there in the end, hampered mostly as my English clearly isn’t great, so other languages are harder still e.g VIA FERRATA FLANERIE (I thought patisserie was the shop) along with gite and estaminet in the clues. Previously assumed net was the obstacle in tennis, and ‘let’ the consequence of hitting it, which didn’t help with NONUPLET. Just when I was feeling really thick, I yet again see the word ‘Jorum’ in the comments here, which I thought was a bowl….
TFO @16: I always read the comments but I do not have a great memory for who has said what to whom in the past. So I honestly do not know if you are genuinely querying the use of ‘jorum’ in the comment from FrankieG@10 or not. In case you have not come across it, it’s very much a 225 thing and from the Guardian page where a regular and longstanding blogger, Eileen, once followed precisely the cluing instructions to arrive at a word that appeared to be JORUM which was an nho – and it turned out to be the answer. It has entered the folklore of the site and is regularly used in such circumstances on the G page and, thus, occasionally elsewhere. If you knew that already, apologies. I used jorum once in conversation away from 225 – and confused everyone.
allan_c@15
SEDANS
I assumed as you did. This was after I looked for a wordplay like Hovis@8 did (with NS standing for poles). Nothing was gripping the poles. Why not two S poles? Tried that too. No success. Then I took the route taken by B&J.
B&J said in their blog: ‘these’ two lift a sedan chair by gripping the poles.
These: sedans/sedan chairs. Two (people) lift a sedan chair (each one of these sedans) by gripping the poles (on which the sedan chair is mounted).
This is my understanding.
Thanks PostMark@17 It really was something I kept meaning to ask, and I love an in-joke, so another piece of learning if the overheating grey box can cope with it
allan_c @15 – it’s not in the OED either.
KVa @18 – I think it’s just slightly tricksy/unnatural word order – “these” [sedans] are things that are lifted by two [people] gripping poles on a chair. The definition applies to the chairs not the people carrying them. Could be clearer.
TFO@16
Eileen: ‘What more can/must I say to disclaim responsibility / credit for coining ‘jorum’ for a particular kind of clue?? I have tried on a number of occasions…’
Lord Jim: ‘Eileen: it’s no use protesting. “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”” (The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance)
It’s all here in black and white in the Sydney Morning Herald:
https://www.smh.com.au/culture/books/do-you-know-what-jorum-is-i-ll-give-you-a-clue-20230328-p5cvwm.html
Widdersbel@20
SEDANS
@18 I mentioned:
‘These: sedans/sedan chairs.’
I took SEDANS as sedan chairs (not as the chairmen!!!)
Tricky but great fun from Filbert. SAGE DERBY was brilliant. Wouldn’t have got close to completion without spotting the nina late on.
Spent an alarmingly good chunk of time at the end trying to parse SEDANS (or think of something else), before putting it in with a wince.
Thanks Filbert & thanks and congratulations B&J
KVa @22 – Yes, on re-reading your comment, I see what you mean. I think that means we agree!
Kva/Widdersbel – Thanks for the clarification. Changing the word order and inserting some implied words can often make sense of a tricky clue; we just didn’t see it this time.
I know I’m being thick but why is the s missing from the Nina?
Thanks Filbert for the stimulation. I revealed a few letters to solve FLANERIE and FORK but generally I was able to get “on the wavelength” today. I liked PEANUT BUTTER, SCHOOL, SAGE DERBY, and VIA FERRATA among others. Congrats B&J on the milestone.
Ericw@26 Per B&J’s initial comments, my understanding is as there was a ‘no-mow in May’ campaign, and we are now in June, the ‘grass’ has now (literally) been cut
I thought I wasn’t going to get anything in this. Finally got a couple of answers and many hours later, I completed the bottom half. That’s me done for the day.
Yes, very hard work today, but educational.
Congrats to B&J and thanks to Filbert
At SAGE DERBY I parsed using. 5A as SA – not sure if that’s allowed in crosswordland but at least it got the desired result.