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A stiff Sunday workout from Filbert
Perhaps it’s just me not having had the best night’s sleep of my life, but my word, I found this very tough going in places, with several clues needing a good deal of working out even after the solution had become clear. No quibbles from me, though – all’s fair in love and crosswords, after all – and I certainly found plenty to admire in retrospect, with some cunningly disguised definitions combined with Filbert’s trademark economical precision and some lovely surfaces.
My favourites this time out include the loudmouth going on vacation with some dodgy photos, SEX PISTOLS for the strangely appropriate surface, SOFT SOAP, SAUSAGE ROLL and, my top favourite. EALING COMEDY for the reminder of a much-loved film. Thanks to Filbert.
Moh’s slightly sleep-deprived hardness scale rating: Quartz
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | THE SPECTATOR |
Actor caught in wheel turned weekly to the right (3,9)
|
| THESP (actor) + insertion of C inside reversal (turned) of ROTATE (wheel) | ||
| 9 | FUMING |
Cross from a certain Manchu dynasty (6)
|
| FU (as in Fu Manchu, the fictional Chinese supervillain, so “a certain Manchu”) + MING (the Chinese dynasty which was ethnically Han, rather than Manchu) | ||
| 10 | BRAGGART |
Loudmouth going on vacation packs lingerie pictures (8)
|
| GG (GoinG on vacation) inside (packs) BRA ART (lingerie pictures) | ||
| 11 | SEX PISTOLS |
Band son speaks highly of full of dicks (3,7)
|
| S (son) EXTOLS around (full of) PIS (private investigators, dicks) | ||
| 13 | ABUT |
Touch horn when reversing (4)
|
| Anagram (when reversing) of TUBA | ||
| 14 | GET ROUND |
Persuade alien to visit Earth (3,5)
|
| ET (that alien again) inside (to visit) GROUND | ||
| 16 | OBTAIN |
Old book you shouldn’t have belonging to cop (6)
|
| O + B + TA (you shouldn’t have) + IN (belonging to, as in being in/belonging to a particular group) | ||
| 17 | KERALA |
Group in general are keen about Indian Ocean destination (6)
|
| Hidden (group in) reversal (about) in generAL ARE Keen | ||
| 19 | SANITARY |
Maybe using bleach turned air nasty (8)
|
| Anagram (turned) of AIR NASTY | ||
| 21 | STOP |
Second best place for lighting (4)
|
| S + TOP (best), with “lighting” here being synonymous with “alighting” | ||
| 22 | EVENTUALLY |
Tied score entered by university in due course (10)
|
| EVEN (tied) + TALLY around (entered by) U | ||
| 24 | SOFT-SOAP |
Staff officer rolled pats of butter up (4-4)
|
| SO (staff officer) + anagram (rolled) of PATS OF | ||
| 25 | SCORCH |
Speyside business making side of that river dry up (6)
|
| I think this is SCO[t]CH (Speyside business) with the T (side of That) changed to R (river) | ||
| 26 | EALING COMEDY |
Bungling men go and ice lady, in The Ladykillers? (6,6)
|
| Anagram (bungling) of MEN GO ICE LADY, with a nicely relevant surface, though in the original film, of course, the lady is the only survivor as the bungling men end up icing each other | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | HOUSE |
MPs collectively stop benefit (5)
|
| HO (stop, a somewhat archaic version of “whoa”) + USE (benefit) | ||
| 3 | SKIPPER |
Sailor who tries to avoid looping rope (7)
|
| Double definition, for the captain of a ship and someone exercising with a skipping rope | ||
| 4 | EGG |
Good parts possibly which the curate had? (3)
|
| Insertion of G (good) inside (parts) EG (e.g., possibly) with an extended def referring to the curate’s egg being good in parts | ||
| 5 | TABLOID |
Reform one bad lot appealing to baser instincts (7)
|
| Anagram (reform) of I (one) BAD LOT. The juxtaposition of “Reform” and “appealing to baser instincts” is, I’m sure, entirely coincidental | ||
| 6 | THATS TORN IT |
Shade put up outside milliner’s shop missing base, oops (5,4,2)
|
| Reversal of TINT (shade put up) around (outside) HAT STOR[e] (milliner’s shop missing base) | ||
| 7 | REGNANT |
Drained Tyson Fury got up on the throne (7)
|
| Reversal (got up) of T[yso]N ANGER | ||
| 8 | CROUPIER |
Dealer beating our price (8)
|
| Anagram (beating) of OUR PRICE | ||
| 12 | SAUSAGE ROLL |
Seagull soars off dropping small greasy morsel (7,4)
|
| Anagram (off) of SEAGULL SOAR[s] (dropping small) | ||
| 15 | ELECTION |
Building changes hands, when the 2D gets new occupants (8)
|
| E[r]ECTION (building) with the R changed to an L, def referring to 2d, “House” of Commons | ||
| 18 | AMPUTEE |
Long John Silver maybe hoisted mainsheet up, managing clips (7)
|
| Hidden (clips) reversal (hoisted) in mainshEET UP MAnaging | ||
| 19 | SLEEP IN |
Stay out later? (5,2)
|
| Cryptic def, with “out” meaning “asleep” | ||
| 20 | TEAROOM |
Cafe‘s rent low but rising (3,4)
|
| TEAR (rent, as a noun not a verb) + reversal (rising, in a down clue) of MOO | ||
| 23 | LUCID |
Except for a thousand, fortune I had is all there (5)
|
| LUC[k] (fortune except for a thousand) + I‘D | ||
| 25 | SEC |
Tick whatever’s left of school exams carelessly (3)
|
| First letters (whatever’s left of) of School Exams Carelessly |
My picks: THE SPECTATOR, SEX PISTOLS (full of dicks-nice pun with the solution),
KERALA (Incidentally, I love travelling in this state. I live in a neighbouring state),
SCORCH, THATS TORN IT and SEC.
Thanks Filbert and moh (great blog).
Yep, quartz-ish. Didn’t click thesp, dnk ho <- whoa, and thought amputee was a bung and shrug and only then saw the hidden, d’oh. Enjoyable though, thanks Filbert and moh.
[KVa @1, I feel for Kerala, resisting Modi’s squeeze while also needing to cooperate …]
Another vote for SEX PISTOLS along with AMPUTEE, SAUSAGE ROLL, SKIPPER, EALING COMEDY and FUMING. Filbert as good as ever.
Thanks both
I also loved THE SPECTATOR, SEX PISTOLS, SAUSAGE ROLL and EALING COMEDY. I also missed the reversed hidden word AMPUTEE but then laughed out loud at the great surface!
Thank you both!
Thanks both. Yes, really quite a challenge, but a very well constructed one. I vaguely know of The Ladykillers but not that it is an EALING COMEDY, perhaps as it dates back to 10 years before my birth, however I have twice this weekend discussed the SEX PISTOLS, and it’s scary that the band formed a little over 50 years ago.
grant@2
KERALA
This has been the pattern here for decades (irrespective of who sits at the centre).
Plain politics.
Thanks Filbert. I agree with MOH that this was tough but I disgree with ‘all’s fair in crosswords’ because I’ve seen some dodgy clues before; never once, however, can I recall a Filbert clue being unfair. Lots to like today including SEX PISTOLS (COTD), SCORCH, AMPUTEE, and TEA ROOM. My only reveal was the unfamiliar KERALA and that irritated me because the solution was right there spelled out in the clue. Thanks MOH for the blog.
More Filbert excellence. Hadn’t encountered HO as “whoa” so the blog was much appreciated too in understanding how that one worked.
Great stuff. Bit slower than usual as I was just not on wavelength with the longer answers but they ended up being my favourites. That and AMPUTEE
Thanks MOH and Filbert