The puzzle is available to solve online or download here.
Hello everybody. If, as looks likely, the Indy will not survive past Halloween, this will be my final blog of a Sunday Filbert. I can’t believe it … still keeping paws crossed.
As usual, a very enjoyable puzzle with inventive definitions and wordplay. Not the hardest I have encountered from this setter, but I did have to check a couple of details and learned that to peach means to blab. As a cat-botherer, I’m always going to be tickled by clues such as 19d (FELINE), but in addition to the deft &lit in 12a, my highlight is Spooner’s bedtime tipple in 16a. Cheers 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 | Popeye Doyle, say, first on your printout? (4,4) |
| HARD COPY — HARD COP (Popeye Doyle, say) + the initial letter of (first on) Your | |
| 5a | Embroidered CV also shows singing on album (6) |
| VOCALS — An anagram of (embroidered) CV ALSO | |
| 10a | American’s stupid slander about singer (4-3) |
| DUMB-ASS — MUD (slander) reversed (about) + BASS (singer) | |
| 11a | Excellent art-house film in projector (7) |
| ACETATE — ACE (excellent) + TATE (art-house) | |
| 12a | Blabbing about religion primarily (9) |
| PREACHING — PEACHING (blabbing) around (about) Religion primarily | |
| 13a | Money auditor’s transferred by post (4) |
| CENT — Sounds like (auditor’s) SENT (transferred by post) | |
| 15a | Half escaping Muslim edicts lived (3) |
| WAS — Half removed from (half escaping) fatWAS (Muslim edicts) | |
| 16a | Small guy having a box of Spooner’s Chardonnay at bedtime? (11) |
| LIGHTWEIGHT — A spoonerism of WHITE LATE (Chardonnay at bedtime?) | |
| 17a | Fletcher’s protégé bored by different 12 20 (3-8) |
| GOD-BOTHERER — GODBER (Fletcher’s protégé, in Porridge) with insertion of (bored by) OTHER (different). 12a 20a = PREACHING SORT | |
| 19a | Camilla’s back in the king’s coach (3) |
| CAR — CamillA’s last letter (back) in CR (the king) | |
| 20a | Arrange fun activity with no pressure (4) |
| SORT — S[p]ORT (fun activity) with no P (pressure) | |
| 21a | Love cute lass scattering kisses (9) |
| OSCULATES — O (love) + CUTE LASS anagrammed (scattering) | |
| 24a | New racket, blocking prisoner’s route between cells? (7) |
| LANDING — N (new) and DIN (racket) inside (blocking) LAG (prisoner) | |
| 25a | Quite miserable clothing catalogue (7) |
| ITEMISE — QuITE MISErable is holding (clothing) the answer | |
| 26a | Rather small-minded Republican is in (6) |
| PRETTY — PETTY (small-minded), which R (Republican) is in | |
| 27a | Tie strangled Popeye Doyle? (4,4) |
| DEAD HEAT — DEAD HEAT could refer to a killed member of the police in the US | |
| Down | |
| 1d | Originator of hateful poster on the wall prosecuted (3,2) |
| HAD UP — The first letter of (originator of) Hateful + AD (poster) + UP (on the wall) | |
| 2d | Tiny onesie, memory for each son (7) |
| ROMPERS — A charade of ROM (memory), PER (for each) and S (son) | |
| 3d | Random list of electors brought round for minister (10) |
| CHANCELLOR — CHANCE (random) + ROLL (list of electors) reversed (brought round) | |
| 4d | Declining to answer husband in ditch, there briefly on journey (7,7) |
| PASSING THROUGH — PASSING (declining to answer) + H (husband) in TROUGH (ditch) | |
| 6d | Old American prison allowing inmates to come and go (4) |
| OPEN — O (old) + PEN (American prison) | |
| 7d | Sorry lot offered at auction, endless baggy trousers (1,3,3) |
| A BAD EGG — BADE (offered at auction), which an endless bAGGy takes in (trousers) | |
| 8d | Perish by eating mushrooms, upsetting someone looking on (9) |
| SPECTATOR — ROT (perish), AT (by) and CEPS (eating mushrooms), all reversing (upsetting) | |
| 9d | Silly carpenter, having used the other end for nailing attic, aiming drill (6,8) |
| TARGET PRACTICE — With G replacing N (having used the other end for NailinG), an anagram of (silly) CARPE[n]TER with ATTIC | |
| 14d | Line he’s taken through favourite road enthused driver (10) |
| PETROLHEAD — L (line) and HE is put into (taken through) PET (favourite) and ROAD | |
| 15d | Evidence of earnings putting comedienne on edge? (5,4) |
| WAGES SLIP — WAGESS (comedienne…?) on LIP (edge) | |
| 18d | Send crazy expedition’s leader into deserted mountains (7) |
| DERANGE — Expedition’s first letter (leader) goes into D (deserted) plus RANGE (mountains) | |
| 19d | Tickle a stray feline (7) |
| CATLIKE — An anagram of (… stray) TICKLE A | |
| 22d | Recycled waste which astronauts eventually drink (5) |
| SWEAT — An anagram of (recycled) WASTE | |
| 23d | E.g. jerk not filling bottles up (4) |
| LIFT — In reverse (… up), noT FILling contains (bottles) the answer | |
My first guess for 20a was (p)RANK but I wasn’t too keen on ‘prank’ being a ‘fun activity’ so I wisely waited until I had a crosser or two.
After tackling this, I got around to doing his FT crossword from yesterday (under his Guy pseudonym) which I highly recommend.
I’d agree with our blogger – either not Filbert at his trickiest or I was on the wavelength. I had long forgotten (if I ever knew it) the French Connection character and started off looking for a homophone of Pop Idol! Fortunately a double check on Google set me aright – though it couldn’t help me with DEAD HEAT which I never saw. Everything else solved and parsed satisfactorily and I learned a new word in OSCULATES. Weird to encounter these perfectly accurate but rarely used alternatives for common words; ‘nictate’ for wink is another.
Thanks both