The puzzle is available to solve online or download here.
Hi everyone. I found this one quite challenging in places, starting sluggishly and running aground for a while at the end in the NE corner. The middle part was ok though, and good fun throughout. I enjoy a challenge when the quality is as good as it is here.
The clues on my podium are 10a (CONSPIRE), 19a (JESUS) and 11d (STAGE FRIGHT), an impressive &lit. 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 | Wedding party so nearly having start delayed (3,5) |
| HEN NIGHT — THEN (so) and NIGH (nearly) with the first letter moved to the end (having start delayed) | |
| 6a | Turn odd bits of bomber jacket green (6) |
| BECOME — The odd letters of (odd bits of) BoMbEr surround (jacket) ECO (green) | |
| 9a | 19C novelist amends chapter in Curious case of Oliver Twist (3,6,5) |
| SIR WALTER SCOTT — ALTERS (amends) plus C (chapter) in an anagram of (curious) the outer letters of (case of) OliveR and TWIST | |
| 10a | Short cone and tall cone share an end (8) |
| CONSPIRE — Without the last letter (short) CONe + SPIRE (tall cone) | |
| 12a | Company outing abandoned by Jack with indifference (6) |
| COOLLY — CO (company) + [j]OLLY (outing) without (abandoned by) J (Jack) | |
| 13a | Bumper possibly clipped by old lady (4) |
| MEGA — EG (possibly) contained in (clipped by) MA (old lady) | |
| 14a | Bill wandering into Aldi further (10) |
| ADDITIONAL — AD (bill) + an anagram of (wandering) INTO ALDI | |
| 16a | Enjoy security? Commission bespoke tech (4,2,4) |
| HAVE IT MADE — A literal interpretation of the answer using IT = tech | |
| 19a | Jesus lives forever (1,3) |
| I SAY — IS (lives) + AY (forever) | |
| 21a | Grand, opulent, almost plush? (6) |
| FABRIC — FAB (grand) + RICh (opulent), almost | |
| 23a | Snappy save that stops high shot? (8) |
| CROSSBAR — CROSS (snappy) + BAR (save) | |
 (Click for the YouTube video) |
|
| 24a | Refuse to move bowl containing dead fish from outside (3,4,5,2) |
| DIG ONE’S HEELS IN — DISH (bowl) containing GONE (dead) + EELS (fish) + IN (from outside) | |
| 26a | Punches landed excessively on your ear (3-3) |
| ONE-TWO — Sounds like (… on your ear) WON (landed) TOO (excessively) | |
| 27a | Suspect solitary enemy of Republican (8) |
| ROYALIST — An anagram of (suspect) SOLITARY | |
| Down | |
| 2d | Notable experience swimming so deep around island (7) |
| EPISODE — An anagram of (swimming) SO DEEP around I (island) | |
| 3d | Pig’s head turning 180 degrees unlike before (3) |
| NOW — [s]OW (pig) whose first letter (head) is changed from S to N (turning 180 degrees) | |
| 4d | Four brave nurses go out for a good time (9) |
| GALLIVANT — IV (four), which GALLANT (brave) holds (nurses) | |
| 5d | Did 25 fully pay attention to getting shirt on? (7) |
| TEE-HEED — HEED (fully pay attention to) with TEE (shirt) put on. 25 = 25d, LOL | |
| 6d | No-frills airline defective but let’s go with it (5) |
| BASIC — BA (airline) + SIC (defective but let’s go with it) | |
| 7d | Addicts who frequent bars never weary? (11) |
| CHOCOHOLICS — A cryptic definition: people who might never tire of frequent bars of chocolate | |
| 8d | Original guy bored by literature mounted musical (7) |
| MATILDA — ADAM (original guy) with insertion of (bored by) LIT. (literature) all reversed (mounted, in a down entry) | |
 |
|
| 11d | One put off from playing gig after this? (5,6) |
| STAGE FRIGHT — I (one) removed from (put off from) an anagram of (playing) G[i]G AFTER THIS | |
| 15d | Bum drained extremely hot brew in NY’s skid row (3,6) |
| THE BOWERY — An anagram of (bum) ExtremelY without inner letters (drained …) and HOT BREW. From the 1940s – 1970s, the Bowery in Manhattan was New York City’s “Skid Row” | |
| 17d | Nearly everyone puttin’ on show at Christmas (7) |
| ALADDIN — Nearly ALl (everyone) + ADDIN’ (puttin’ on) | |
| 18d | Copper section in Dell rival’s charger (7) |
| ACCUSER — CU (copper) and S (section) in ACER (Dell rival) | |
| 20d | Spaniard’s so long collecting silver pieces (7) |
| ADAGIOS — ADIOS (Spaniard’s so long) taking in (collecting) AG (silver) | |
| 22d | Eager to help both sides in Congo (3-2) |
| CAN-DO — C AND O – both sides in CongO | |
| 25d | See face of lunatic that slays me (3) |
| LOL — LO (see) + the first letter of (face of) Lunatic | |
The online version has been incorrectly completed (at 7d) by the Independent itself, so anyone who completes it correctly will be told that they have got something wrong.
Yes, I was a bit befuddled to be told that the correct answer to 7d was CHOCOLOHICS. Ah well, these things happen. Another great Filbert puzzle. I was especially impressed by STAGE FRIGHT and GALLIVANT. Thanks to F and Kitty for the excellent blog (c.w. obligatory kitty vid – that is some goalkeeping! Reminded me of the great Chelsea goalie, Peter ‘the Cat’ Bonetti.)
This was rather a struggle, but enjoyable nonetheless. I was defeated by 3D and also baffled by the 7D error, while my favourite was STAGE FRIGHT.
Apologies to those who’ve seen this before, but 9 reminded me of the anagram A NOVEL BY A SCOTTISH WRITER (7,2,3,6,5).
Thanks Filbert and Kitty (hope you enjoyed International Cat Day yesterday).
I SAY! Hard nut to crack, initially. My favourites include BECOME, ‘eg’ for ‘possibly’ in MEGA, HAVE IT MADE, and TEE-HEED. LOL. Another ‘spire’ has popped up in a Filbert puzzle. Thanks to Kitty and the maestro.
Thanks both. Typically excellent, though I gave up trying to decode SIR WALTER and ONE-TWO sounds wholly different to ‘won….’ to my ears. Dire Straits lyrics for Your Latest Trick helped me to get THE BOWERY, and CROSSBAR went in very late, as did England’s 1966 disputed World Cup goal – it didn’t stop that one, did it?