I don’t know about you, but I seldom finish a Filbert crossword these days in one sitting.
Filbert’s offerings are always well-crafted and meticulously clued, but there is a level of intricacy involved which certainly gives me cause for a good bit of pencil chewing. With this one, I had to cheat on a couple at the end, even having recognised that there would be a perimeter nina. That reads TERMINOLOGICAL INEXACTITUDE, which is needed – as far as I can see – for just one clue, 5dn. It identifies a LIAR as someone using terminological inexactitude, and I think is also a nod to the clue itself, RAILROAD, which could be seen as exhibiting the same. I can’t lie, was a bit out of my depth with this one.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
8 Bar in old city, one with a cathedral, charmingly
URBANELY
An insertion of BAN in UR and ELY. The insertion indicator is ‘in’.
9 Fear any injury except for left hand
ALARM
AL[LH]ARM
10 Land on time just the same
TWIN
A charade of T and WIN.
11 Island people taking mostly healthy breath
INHALATION
An insertion of HAL[E] in I and NATION. The insertion indicator is ‘taking’.
12 One’s bored by wait in the same place
IBIDEM
An insertion of BIDE in I’M. The insertion indicator is ‘bored by’. Often shortened to ibid, and used in bibliographies to indicate a reference to a work that has already been cited.
14 Admire search for explanation of atom’s nucleus
LOOK UP TO
A charade of LOOK UP and [A]TO[M].
15 Sets of triplets caught in street playing
TERCETS
An insertion of C in (STREET)* The insertion indicator is ‘in’ and the anagrind is ‘playing’.
17 Sailor bringing Russian crate across border from the east
ADMIRAL
An insertion of RIM in LADA all reversed. The insertion indicator is ‘across’. ‘Crate’ here in its ‘unreliable old car’ sense: LADA was a Russian marque not renowned for its reliability.
Q: Why do Ladas have heated rear windows?
A: To warm your hands when you’re pushing it.
Q: What’s the difference between a Lada and a golf ball?
A: You can drive a golf ball 200 yards.
20 Healing evolved via truce
CURATIVE
(VIA TRUCE)* with ‘evolved’ as the anagrind.
22 Too many dogs around keeping one constantly busy
DYNAMO
Hidden reversed in ToO MANY Dogs.
23 Old-fashioned steward from Rio hates jumping ship
AIR HOSTESS
A charade of (RIO HATES)* and SS. The anagrind is ‘jumping’. AIR HOSTESS is very dated; Cabin Crew is the current, gender-neutral job description.
24 US safe-cracker, Yankee with something to crack?
YEGG
A charade of Y and EGG.
25 Bad feeling having skinned bunnies for cooking
ENNUI
([B]UNNIE[S])* with ‘for cooking’ as the anagrind.
26 City‘s quiet hotel filling again unexpectedly
SHANGHAI
A charade of SH and H inserted into (AGAIN)* The insertion indicator is ‘filling’ and the anagrind is ‘unexpectedly’.
Down
1 Inexperienced sailor shown moving back to front, possibly pulled
DRAWABLE
RAW AB LED, with the final letter moving to the beginning.
2 Win point with superior attention
EARN
A charade of EAR and N. ‘Superior’ works for the placement of the particles because it’s a down clue.
3 Half-way through Spielberg film keeping you up, cause of 25?
TEDIUM
An insertion of U in MID and ET, all reversed. The insertion indicator is ‘keeping’ and the reversal indicator is ‘up’.
4 Orbit I complete when told
EYEHOLE
Aural wordplay (‘when told’) for I WHOLE.
5 American tracks rising lawyer, or ‘user of puzzle’s perimeter’
RAILROAD
A further reversal, of DA for ‘lawyer’, OR and LIAR. The third element is clued by the perimeter nina: TERMINOLOGICAL INEXACTITUDE, a user of which would in everyday language be a LIAR.
6 Mother fifty, so Scot proposing birth control
MALTHUSIAN
A charade of MA, L, THUS and IAN. English economist Thomas Malthus is best known for his hugely influential theories on population growth.
7 Money due to HMRC, money Post Office’s IT has pinched
IMPOST
An insertion of M and POS in IT. IMPOST is an archaic word for tax. I only knew it because the French word is impôt, and an example of the circumflex accent denoting a missing S.
13 Detectives turned up bug to sharpen recording device
DICTAPHONE
A charade of CID reversed, TAP and HONE.
16 Dogs bite back in confusion
TAILSPIN
A charade of TAILS and NIP reversed.
18 Extract from prewar Magna Carta is something Gascon still produces
ARMAGNAC
Hidden in prewAR MAGNA Carta.
19 Flipping board game always limited by wrist pain?
REVERSI
An insertion of EVER in RSI for Repetitive Strain Injury, which often affects the wrist. REVERSI is also known as Othello. The insertion indicator is ‘limited by’.
21 Academic outfits no longer meant to suit everyone
UNISEX
A charade of UNIS and EX.
22 Sergeant major cuts key in dark
DISMAL
An insertion of SM in DIAL. The insertion indicator is ‘cuts’.
24 Spanish painter cycles to the top for exercise
YOGA
Filbert is inviting you to ‘cycle’ GOYA to give you AGOY, and then reverse all that.
Many thanks to Filbert for this Sunday’s puzzle.
Agreed that that was indeed a very fiddly puzzle to parse, though the precision of Filbert’s cluing makes it doable, just about. I wasn’t sure about TWIN and EARN, so thanks Pierre for confirming my vague sense of how they must work – rather you than me this week! And thanks of course to Filbert for a tough workout.
I couldn’t parse ALARM but everything else was okay and the perimeter message was the icing on a very tasty cake. I agree with ‘well-crafted and meticulously clued.’ I liked the hidden reversal for DYNAMO, academic outfits in UNISEX, and RAILROAD which signalled the message and it helped to solve YEGG, which is new to me, and the top-right corner where I was a little stuck. EARN and TWIN are such good clues. For mine, Filbert is the best setter in the known universe so thanks to him and thanks Pierre for the blog. I did the puzzle in one sitting but I sat for a long time.
I felt this was a bit harder than usual for Filbert, though the Nina helped in the end. ADMIRAL was my favourite. Thanks to Filbert for the challenge and Pierre for the blog and jokes.
Thanks both. Forbiddingly tough, to the extent I sought assistance once I had terminological inexact spelt out which did the trick. I had to search quite hard to find anything acknowledging ‘key’ and ‘dial’ as synonyms in DISMAL. There is always a sense of admiration for this setter post solve, even though the unconvincing Scottish Ian and ET (unofficial title only) appeared respectively in the very niche and previously nho MALTHUSIAN and TEDIUM.