Independent on Sunday 1,841/Filbert

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Filbert is most often to be seen these days in the Independent on Sunday slot. I found this an enjoyable challenge which took a while to tease out, but fell nicely once I had a bit of a foothold in the grid. Some delightful surfaces as always from this setter.

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 Slender girl shapely after remodelling but needing A&E
SYLPH
(SH[A]P[E]LY)* with ‘after remodelling’ as the anagrind.

4 Rather inflexible suits returned by swimmer
STIFFISH
A charade of FITS reversed and FISH.

8 Orchestra playing Elgar holds back in symphony, mostly
BY AND LARGE
An insertion of Y for the last letter of ‘symphony’ in BAND and (ELGAR)*. The insertion indicator is ‘holds’ and the anagrind is ‘playing’. Great surface.

9 Study woodwind instrument’s sound
READ
Aural wordplay (‘sound’) for REED.

10 Motorway blocked by a vehicle dealing with bent tubes
MACARONI
An insertion of A CAR and ON in MI, for M1, the London-Leeds motorway. The insertion indicator is ‘blocked by’.

11 University on Florida island benefitting from fortune
FLUKEY
A charade of FL, U and KEY.

12 Act rated poorly Shakespeare’s? Nothing in that
TREAD THE BOARDS
A charade of (RATED)* and an insertion of O in THE BARDS. The insertion indicator is ‘in that’ and the anagrind is ‘poorly’.

15 Metro, sirens and riots in part of Paris
ARRONDISSEMENT
(METRO SIRENS AND)* with ‘riots’ as the anagrind. An administrative district of the city of Paris: there are 20 of them, arranged in a clockwise spiral rather like a snail shell. Some are considered chic, some are not; but all Paris is there.

18 Particularly afraid of supernatural creature in photo
PHOBIC
An insertion of HOB in PIC. The insertion indicator is ‘in’.

20 Park warden trailing round yard where fruit trees grow
ORANGERY
A charade of O, RANGER and Y.

22 Soldiers with egg on uniform
UNIT
A charade of U for the phonetic alphabet ‘uniform’ and NIT.

23 Put underground cafes all over the place as meeting points
INTERFACES
A charade of INTER and (CAFES)* with ‘all over the place’ as the anagrind.

24 Call to approve two presents over the phone
HEAR HEAR
Aural wordplay (‘over the phone’) of HERE, HERE.

25 Mark from lash on deckhand’s back remained
DWELT
A charade of D for the final letter of ‘deckhand’ and WELT.

Down

1 Magnus Pym, a stereotype keeping control in Le Carré?
SPYMASTER
Hidden in MagnuS PYM A STEReotype. Magnus Pym is the protagonist in Le Carré’s novel A Perfect Spy, so the clue is a cleverly-constructed cad.

2 Couple enjoy collecting new silver separately
LINKAGE
Two separate insertions: of N and AG in LIKE. The insertion indicator is ‘collecting … separately’.

3 Introductory line that chap will love
HELLO
A charade of HE’LL for ‘that chap will’ and O.

4 Honest fellow with spots on nose taking portrait back?
STRAIGHT SHOOTER
An insertion of ART reversed in SIGHTS HOOTER.

5 Fine cycling legend beyond description
INEFFABLE
A charade of INEF, which is FINE with the first letter ‘cycling’ to the rear, and FABLE.

6 Set of instructions to make Chinese Disney film incomplete
FORMULA
A charade of FORM and [M]ULA[N].

7 Can it copy fashion?
SHAPE
A kind of cd, I think.

Edit: Thanks to Hovis for the parsing.  It’s a charade of SH! (‘Can it!’) and APE.

13 European editor in the ascendancy taking on Channel 4 using logic
DEDUCTIVE
An insertion of DUCT IV in E ED reversed. The insertion indicator is ‘taking on’.

14 Finish, say that Negrete demonstrated partly doing a flip
DETERGENT
Hidden reversed in thaT NEGRETE Demonstrated. Finish is a brand name for dishwasher detergent. No men were discouraged in the writing of this clue.

16 Yellow mosquito, for instance, that flies round and round
ORBITER
A charade of OR and BITER. OR for ‘yellow’ comes from heraldry; it can also be found in crosswords as ‘gold’.

17 Chase group inside 19 partying with drugs
ENGRAVE
A charade of ENG for the group of letters at the centre of hENGe, the solution to 19dn, and RAVE. ‘Chase’ for ENGRAVE I hadn’t seen before, but it’s in all the dictionaries.

19 Ancient earthwork has hedgerow in the middle with bird laying eggs on it
HENGE
A charade of HEN and GE for the middle letters of hedGErow.

21 Cold dry sandwiches unpleasant to smell and taste
ACRID
An insertion of C in ARID. The insertion indicator is ‘sandwiches’.

Many thanks to Filbert for this Sunday’s puzzle.

19 comments on “Independent on Sunday 1,841/Filbert”

  1. 7d is SH (can it) + APE (copy). In 12a, you are missing the S in BARD’S. I think you must be right with 6d but I don’t like that use of ‘incomplete’.

  2. Dreadful effort – by me, not the setter. I’ve run out of superlatives for Filbert’s setting, and this puzzle follows the pattern. The surfaces and originality are first-class.
    As for me, I confused Magnus Pym with the amazing Magnus Pyke in 1(d)*; I convinced myself that 7(d) was SLAVE, not SHAPE: I stupidly bunged in ” on the whole”, instead of BY AND LARGE (8ac); and I took umpteen goes at spelling ARRONDISSEMENT,* (15ac).
    As Craig Revel Horwood would say….”dis-arster, dahling”.
    *re: 1(d), what a splendid hidden word play; matched by the anagram in 15(ac).
    As ever, I agree with Hovis@1, FORMULA seems a bit awry?
    Sort of felt, “essentially” rather than incomplete, or some such.
    Anyway, my thumbs and cap are in the air.
    Great stuff , Fil and Pierre

  4. FORMULA
    Can we read it like this?
    to make MULAN incomplete—>FOR MULA
    (I do it for money—>I do it to make money—A stretch?)

    Excellent puzzle and great blog.
    Thanks Filbert and Pierre.

  5. I parsed 6d as KVa@4, but I’m now wondering if the intended construction could have been FOR(m) MULA(n)?

    Thanks to Filbert and Pierre.

  6. FORMULA….may be “to make” – FOR[M] / + MULA[N], both words being incomplete?
    Or am I getting desperate?

  10. To make = FOR. KVa’s example of ‘for money’/‘to make money’ is a good one.

    You only need to remove the last letter of the Disney film to make it incomplete.

    I’m fairly certain this is the intended parsing. Occam’s razor, innit.

    Edit to add: cross-posted… but good to have confirmation from the setter.

    Fine puzzle, as ever. Very enjoyable

  11. Filbert@9 England fans can only dream of ever seeing football like that. Unless it’s by our opponents. I switched off last night after 60 minutes. God help us in the World Cup.
    Anyhoo…..what a stonking clue, 14(d) is. Hidden depth, as they say. I would hate to set a clue like that, and have the ball go over everyone’s head.
    6(d) “to make” = “for”……I’m too dumb for that one. Unless, it’s along the lines [ Add 3 and 3 to make 6] [ Add 3 and 3 for 6 ].

  13. Didn’t understand SHAPE, so thank you Pierre and Hovis for that.

    I’m happier with FORM=make and [m]ULA[n] = the incomplete film myself.

    I am a bit unconvinced by ‘RAVE’ = ‘partyING with drugs’ for 17d – looks like a grammatical mismatch to me.

  14. (apologies, had not seen Filbert’s post @9 so I’d better take back my comment about FORMULA! Maybe let’s just say it works either way.)

  15. I liked FLUKEY in particular because the most notable Florida islands are the Florida Keys (of which the best known are Key West, Key Largo, and Key Biscayne), so the clue gives you a little nudge in the right direction.

  16. Great fun, Filbert is certainly amongst my favourite setters. Failed on ENGRAVE though. A new definition for me.

    Liked BY AND LARGE and MACARONI.

    Thanks Pierre and Filbert.

  17. Thanks Filbert for a master class in clue writing. I solved this over two sittings – – – after a break what seemed out of reach suddenly came into view. Top picks included BY AND LARGE, ARRONDISSEMENT, DWELT, LINKAGE, HELLO, and SHAPE. Thanks Pierre for the blog.

  18. Thanks Filbert for yet another excellent puzzle.

    jvector@14: partying with drugs = (a) rave. A bit like “fighting with swords = (a) duel”? Any grammar experts out there to confirm?

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