The puzzle is available to solve online or download here.
Hi all. On a sunny Sunday morning, the arrival of a Filbert puzzle means that for a little while all is right with the world.
I was impressed by the clever &lit clue for GUERNSEY (10a) and amused by 20a, MULLET. The surface of the latter is very slightly at odds with the famous Chambers definition, “A hairstyle that is short at the front, long at the back, and ridiculous all round” – but I’m not quibbling! Thanks Filbert.
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, most quoted indicators are in italics, specified [deletions] are in square brackets, and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER. For clarity, I omit most link words and some juxtaposition indicators.
| Across | |
| 1a | Uniform in East Germany Wessis regularly wear for parties (7,5) |
| EVENING DRESS — EVEN (uniform) + IN + GDR (East Germany) + wEsSiS (regularly) | |
| 9a | Weary having consumed jug of wine (6) |
| FLAGON — FLAG (weary) + ON (having consumed) | |
| 10a | What’s certainly near EU and close to Cherbourg, going west? (8) |
| GUERNSEY — YES (certainly), NR (near), EU and the last letter of (close to) CherbourG reversed (going west, in an across entry) | |
| 11a | Most sober people you see set limits (8) |
| SEDATEST — DATES (people you see), which SET contains (limits) | |
| 12a | Dog rolled over in bed, kind of blue (6) |
| COBALT — LAB (dog) reversed (rolled over) in COT (bed) | |
| 13a | Political aide, one in black suit mostly (4) |
| SPAD — SPADe (one in black suit) short of its last letter (mostly) | |
| 15a | Dancing cured Mungo’s grump (10) |
| CURMUDGEON — An anagram of (dancing) CURED MUNGO | |
| 16a | A fan of 11 is unable to drink, perhaps (10) |
| INTOXICANT — INTO (a fan of) + XI (11) + CAN’T (is unable to) | |
| 19a | Report of grain yield (4) |
| CEDE — A homophone of (report of) SEED (grain) | |
| 20a | Currently popular hairstyle, say, that’s iffy from behind (6) |
| MULLET — TELL (say) and UM (that’s iffy) backwards (from behind) | |
| 21a | Withdrawn advert affected market for cheaper poultry (4,4) |
| DARK MEAT — Reversed (withdrawn) AD (advert) + an anagram of (affected) MARKET | |
| 23a | At a social event maybe wearing a suit’s best (8) |
| OUTSMART — OUT (at a social event maybe) + SMART (maybe wearing a suit). I realise I’ve double-quoted “maybe” here, but think it does apply to both bits | |
| 25a | Cycling finishes in sprint, French kind of race (6) |
| ETHNIC — With letters cycling round, the ends of (finishes in) sprinT, FrencH and NICE (kind) | |
| 26a | Celebrity sprouted arms in different places (12) |
| SUPERSTARDOM — SPROUTED ARMS anagrammed (in different places) | |
| Down | |
| 2d | Playing against Hearts in tears, club get prize (5) |
| VALUE — V (playing against) + central letters of (hearts in) teArs, cLUb gEt | |
| 3d | Silver Spirit on drive upset miser (7) |
| NIGGARD — AG (silver) and GIN (spirit) by (on) DR (drive), all reversed (upset) | |
| 4d | Anonymous text appended to edition of Donne (11) |
| NONDESCRIPT — SCRIPT (text) appended to an anagram of (edition of) DONNE | |
| 5d | 500 traitors shot after revolution as shining example (3,4) |
| DOG STAR — D (500) + reversal of (… after revolution) RATS (traitors) and GO (shot) | |
| 6d | Detective agreed, on the record? (3) |
| EYE — AYE (agreed), soundalike (on the record?) | |
| 7d | Spooner’s crew decline help with water coming in (7) |
| SANDBAG — A spoonerism of BAND (crew) SAG (decline) | |
| 8d | Giving cheer, Scooby-Doo gleefully lifted masks (8) |
| FEELGOOD — Scooby-DOO GLEEFully lifted hides (masks) the answer | |
| 12d | Pirate well-trained behind bar, collecting empties primarily (11) |
| COUNTERFEIT — FIT (well-trained) behind COUNTER (bar) collecting the first letter of (… primarily) Empties. (My first interpretation here was COUNTER FIT = well-trained behind bar, but I reconsidered, thinking it a bit too whimsical to not be indicated as such) | |
| 14d | Purple robes do for upper-class swinger (8) |
| PENDULUM — PLUM (purple) surrounds (robes) END (do for, as in be the death of) and U (upper-class) | |
| 17d | Former Soviet regions love sound of bombing (7) |
| OBLASTS — O (love) + BLASTS (sound of bombing) | |
| 18d | Money expert Ed swaps capital for gold (7) |
| AUDITOR — [e]DITOR (Ed) swaps its first letter (capital) for AU (gold) | |
| 19d | Sleep outside house with right insect repellent (7) |
| CAMPHOR — CAMP (sleep outside) + HO (house) + R (right) | |
| 22d | Friend’s promise to leave in the morning? (5) |
| AMIGO — AM I GO could be a short way of saying I will leave AM (promise to leave in the morning?) | |
| 24d | Height bagged by phenomenal pole-vaulter (3) |
| ALP — The answer is in (bagged by) phenomenAL Pole-vaulter | |
A really splendid crossword – every clue’s a winner. Unlike the setter, I’m lost for words.
Huge thanks, Filbert & Kitty
Was there no solution for Saturday’s Independent?
23a could be the one to read as a single phrase so that the “maybe” applies to the whole thing.
Thanks to Filbert and Kitty
fiatluxia@2 I didn’t notice, but it was a Quince, so it seems it wasn’t blogged. I’ve still got my puzzle on paper, if I can help on it.
For what It’s worth, in the absence of a blog, Quince was great and Filbert was magnificent.
Kitty as always brilliant so a good week all round.
Thanks all.
Thanks both. Very much to the setter’s usual high standards, so an enjoyable tussle, after which I’m only uncertain about ‘on’ for ‘having consumed’ in FLAGON. I also kept checking for the write-up on yesterday’s puzzle, about which I had more reservations than a local hotel.
GUERNSEY Is a gem of a clue, but they all good.