Another excellent Sunday outing with Filbert.
As expected, we have super surfaces, precise and economical cluing and some sly humour. I especially enjoyed the Greens’ peace agreement, the rubbish love poem, the doomed chat room date and the unfortunate scene in the toilet at 3dn. But my favourite clue this time round is probably the PM thanking the Tories, for the cunning implication that you’re looking for a British PM rather than the Irish one.
I found this tricky going in parts, and especially so towards the south, with DOHYO my last one in – which provided me with a very satisfying “Doh!” moment when I finally twigged what was going on. Thanks, as ever, to Filbert.
Moh’s really quite specious cruciverbial hardness scale rating: Apatite
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SMALL FORTUNE |
Sergeant major really in favour of cough sweet gets mint (5,7)
|
| SM (sergeant major) + ALL FOR (really in favour) + TUNE (Tunes, formerly a brand of cough sweet) | ||
| 9 | DINGO |
Dog performing with duck coming last? (5)
|
| DOING (performing) with the O (duck) moved to the end | ||
| 10 | SAFETY PIN |
Fixing device you can’t see the point of? (6,3)
|
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 11 | POSTERIOR |
Is trooper on manoeuvres bringing up the rear? (9)
|
| Anagram (on manoeuvres) of IS TROOPER – def being an adjective, not a noun | ||
| 12 | RERUN |
Programme you might have seen about sport, endless one (5)
|
| RE (about) + RU (rugby union, so sport) + [o]N[e] (endless one) | ||
| 13 | EBBING |
Missouri town at the cinema, going out (6)
|
| Double definition, the first referring to the fictional town in the movie Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri | ||
| 15 | LETTUCES |
Greens sanctioned peace agreements, putting Republican out (8)
|
| LET (sanctioned) + T[r]UCES (peace agreements minus R) | ||
| 18 | GOOD SHOW |
Congratulations are expected at event, according to Spooner (4,4)
|
| Spoonerism of “should go” (are expected at event) | ||
| 19 | ROLL-UP |
Come and see this smoke (4-2)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 21 | NOTED |
Roger rather than Edward (5)
|
| NOT ED. Or I suppose it could be NO TED for ‘rather than Edward’ | ||
| 23 | OVERSTATE |
Exaggerate love with poem full of rubbish (9)
|
| O + VERSE around (full of) TAT | ||
| 25 | EARTHFALL |
Father lost everything in landslide (9)
|
| Anagram (lost) of FATHER + ALL | ||
| 26 | ALIAS |
Fake ID unfortunately getting one imprisoned (5)
|
| ALAS around I (getting one imprisoned) | ||
| 27 | DOOM-MERCHANT |
Date weird chat room men? I say it’ll end badly (4-8)
|
| D (date) + anagram (weird) of CHAT ROOM MEN | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | MINUS |
Without good weather one’s upset (5)
|
| Reversal (upset) of SUN + I’M | ||
| 3 | LOOSE ENDS |
Untidy business spotted in toilet, diapers emptied out? (5,4)
|
| SEEN (spotted) in LOO D[iaper]S | ||
| 4 | FOSSIL |
Thin metal ship has cracked, being rock-bound (6)
|
| Insertion (has cracked) of SS inside FOIL. For the def, I take “being” to be a noun | ||
| 5 | REFORMER |
Change advocate dealing with ex (8)
|
| RE + FORMER | ||
| 6 | UTTER |
Perfect golf club short of parking (5)
|
| [p]UTTER (putter minus p, short of parking) | ||
| 7 | EMPIRICAL |
April ice melting around start of month, going by experience (9)
|
| Anagram (melting) of APRIL ICE M[onth] | ||
| 8 | ON ONES UPPERS |
Short of cash, after a single drink for each son (2,4,6)
|
| ON ONE (after a single) + SUP (drink) PER (for each) S (son) | ||
| 9 | DOPPELGANGER |
Two pegs Ronald fashioned in identical spirit (12)
|
| Anagram (fashioned) of PEG PEG (two pegs) RONALD | ||
| 14 | BLOOTERED |
Distribute beer to old Glaswegian drunk (9)
|
| Anagram (distribute) of BEER TO OLD, for one of Scotland’s many words for ‘drunk’ | ||
| 16 | TAOISEACH |
PM thanks Tories regularly, every single one (9)
|
| TA (thanks) + [t]O[r]I[e]S (tories regularly) + EACH | ||
| 17 | COCO PALM |
Tree by the beach still sheltering old policeman (4,4)
|
| CALM (still) around (sheltering) O COP | ||
| 20 | PEDLAR |
Travelling salesman set up rural department stores (6)
|
| Hidden reversal (set up… stores) in ruRAL DEPartment | ||
| 22 | DOHYO |
Homeric quote you cut short in ring with heavyweights (5)
|
| DOH (quote from Homer Simpson) + YO[u], for the name of the area in which sumo bouts take place | ||
| 24 | ALIEN |
Strange story that article covers (5)
|
| Envelope (that… covers) of LIE inside AN |
Top faves:
GOOD SHOW, ON ONE’S UPPERS and DOPPLEGANGER.
POSTERIOR
moh! Is it possible that the intended def is ‘the rear’
(and ‘bringing up’ functions as a link)?
Thanks Filbert and moh.
Hi KVa – yes, that’s certainly possible, and that was in fact my initial thought, but knowing that link words aren’t really Filbert’s thing, I felt it more likely to be adjectival. But I could be wrong!
moh!
On second thoughts, your parsing makes more sense. Thanks.
Splendid puzzle. Such smooth constructions/surfaces. All very economically done. SMALL FORTUNE, POSTERIOR, RERUN, LETTUCES, ALIAS, FOSSIL, REFORMER, EMPIRICAL, BLOOTERED and PEDLAR is my best attempt at pruning the list of favourites.
And POSTERIOR is the adjectival sense for me.
Thanks both