It’s very sad to think this will be the last Filbert I get to blog.
But assuming there’s no change of heart at the Indy, that’s how it is. And I’m particularly annoyed with myself, because I’ve been defeated by one of the clues – 9a – for which I will have to apologise and beg your assistance.
Otherwise, I found this a tricky challenge, as you’d expect from one of our finest setters, with well-disguised definitions, some intricate wordplay, concise cluing and delightful surfaces. Of which I must especially mention the ancient poet with his old keyboard, the poor chap who broke the lift by dying in it and the Greens turning Pip into a cyclist. I’m not picking out a favourite as this was lovely stuff all round. Thanks as ever to Filbert, and I dearly hope we’ll be able to meet again somewhere else in future.
moh’s grief-stricken cruciverbal hardness scale rating: Fluorite
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | PAINS |
Great care home keeping father and son apart (5)
|
| IN (home) between (keeping… apart) PA and S | ||
| 4 | SPIT IT OUT |
Current advice in recession, sell? Don’t be dumb (4,2,3)
|
| Reversal (in recession) of I (current) TIPS (advice) + TOUT (sell) | ||
| 9 | TOP BANANA |
Act given star billing, for best performance by a theatrical dog (3,6)
|
| Calling for help with this one. I can see A (from surface) + NANA (name of the Darling family’s dog in Peter Pan, so “a theatrical dog”) but unclear about how we get TOP B, aside from “top” meaning “best”; or perhaps it’s TO + PB (personal best). But frankly, I’m unconvinced. Any better ideas? | ||
| 10 | PADRE |
One that might leave fingerprint on priest (5)
|
| PAD (one that might leave fingerprint) + RE (on). My first thought, when I only had the P, was that it must be PINKY (P for priest + INKY, with the clue being almost, sort of ,an &lit). No, I know it doesn’t really work, but I’m still fond of it | ||
| 11 | NET CORD |
Wimbledon etc ordinarily entertaining tennis supporter (3,4)
|
| Hidden in (entertaining) wimbledoN ETC ORDinarily | ||
| 13 | CULPRIT |
Criminal shifted strip club’s entire contents (7)
|
| Anagram (shifted) of [s]TRIP CLU[b], “entire” here telling us that we need to treat the two words together as a single unit | ||
| 14 | REMUNERATIVE |
Profitable forging Vermeer at uni (12)
|
| Anagram (forging) of VERMEER AT UNI | ||
| 18 | INSTALLATION |
Art exhibit popular with everybody, maybe Paddington bears? (12)
|
| IN (popular) + STATION (maybe Paddington) around (bears) ALL | ||
| 21 | GREASED |
Since feeding insatiable hunger, ready to swim the Channel? (7)
|
| Insertion (feeding) of AS (since) into GREED | ||
| 23 | NON-ZERO |
Half in boozer breaking taboo of some magnitude (3-4)
|
| [boo]ZER inside (breaking) NO–NO | ||
| 24 | NOISE |
Interference from snoop gathering a bit of intelligence (5)
|
| NOSE (snoop) around (gathering) I (a bit of intelligence) | ||
| 25 | TURNIP TOP |
Greens convert Pip to cycling (6,3)
|
| TURN (convert) + PIP TO with the first P cycling to the end | ||
| 27 | LIKE A SHOT |
Quickly heart someone’s Instagram post (4,1,4)
|
| LIKE (heart, as in the emoji) + A SHOT (Instagram posts being photo-based) | ||
| 28 | GORED |
Run through green light then stop sign (5)
|
| GO (green light) + RED (stop sign) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | PATENT |
Nut’s top religious books showing proof of Creator? (6)
|
| PATE (top of the nut/head) + NT | ||
| 2 | IMPUTE |
Attribute wrinkled up with time (6)
|
| Anagram (wrinkled) of UP and TIME | ||
| 3 | SOAP OPERA |
Potentially never-ending series then, each set of years (4,5)
|
| SO (then) + A POP (each) + ERA (set of years) | ||
| 4 | SEA |
Wave from spot in the auditorium (3)
|
| Soundalike (in the auditorium) of “see”. Am I entirely happy with the definition? No, not really, but I don’t want to quibble with my final Filbert | ||
| 5 | ISAAC NEWTON |
Conservative cracking nuts was Etonian genius (5,6)
|
| C (conservative) inside (cracking) anagram (nuts) of WAS ETONIAN | ||
| 6 | IMPEL |
Press claim to be the greatest footballer, nearly? (5)
|
| I’M PEL[é] – I’m sure there will be plenty of Messi fans wanting to argue with this | ||
| 7 | OLD FRUIT |
Dear fellow died in our lift, putting that out of order (3,5)
|
| D (died) inside anagram (putting that out of order) of OUR LIFT | ||
| 8 | TWENTIES |
Blooming years passed wearing shackles (8)
|
| Insertion (wearing) of WENT (passed) inside TIES (shackles) | ||
| 12 | DOUBLE DUTCH |
Greek bigamist’s requirement? (6,5)
|
| Double def, the second somewhat whimsically referring to the Cockney rhyming slang for “wife” | ||
| 15 | ABOUNDING |
Skip wearing silver trousers all over the place (9)
|
| AG (silver) around (trousers) BOUND (skip) IN (wearing) | ||
| 16 | VIRGINAL |
Ancient poet stuck with an unusually old keyboard (8)
|
| VIRGIL (ancient poet) around (stuck with) an anagram (unusually) of AN | ||
| 17 | ASTERISK |
Star put in jeopardy beneath a wobbly set (8)
|
| RISK beneath |
||
| 19 | HECTOR |
Harry, fellow Charles admits to? (6)
|
| HE (fellow) + CR (King Charles) around TO (admits to) | ||
| 20 | TORPID |
Very slow climbing lower down from peak (6)
|
| Reversal (climbing, in a down clue) of DIP (lower) below (down from, again in a down clue) TOR | ||
| 22 | SIENA |
Wrong answer, with Epsom initially entered for ‘horse-racing town‘ (5)
|
| SIN (wrong) A (answer) around E[psom] | ||
| 26 | ROT |
I don’t believe that story about scrapping borders! (3)
|
| Reversal (about) of [s]TOR[y] |
Although I couldn’t parse TOP BANANA, I think your parsing works, i.e. TO (for) PB ( best performance) + A + NANA (I didn’t know NANA). Guessed SIENA purely from wordplay. Being pernickety, 17d should be RISK below A + anagram of SET.
Thanks Hovis, you are, of course, quite right – blog duly amended.
Great puzzle. Super blog.
TO PB A NANA works fine. I don’t see any issue with that.
Thanks Filbert and moh.
I don’t know – TO for FOR seems a bit ho-hum to me, esp from such a precise setter.
I could be a Filbert fan (3)
Very enjoyable as always though I am a bit full of crosswords after a day at the Times Championships yesterday. Thank goodness I wasn’t competing as I didn’t finish any of the set puzzles! Quite a relief to find myself completing this one, albeit unable to parse TOP BANANA to my own satisfaction. DOUBLE DUTCH made me laugh out loud.
Thanks both
Grand Sunday puzzle… needed some time, and the use of zen to fill the grid, my usual technique with Filbert… parsing is often an after event, involving the blog, altho some like HECTOR, SIENA, TORPID and ASTERISK were relatively smooth sailing! Confused by the Hellenic bigamist, I assume the whimsy applies to both parts of the DD? “It’s all Greek, to me..”?
Sad times, if we are counting down the days… could we ask fifteensquared to inform where these most excellent setters puzzles might be available, after the cataclysm has occurred?
Thanks Filbert n moh…
A dnf, forgot that I hadn’t finished the SE, torpid and gored (busy toggling with cricket, Oz v Saffers in Durban, Oz v Bangla women in Brisbane).
But yes, a class setter, Filbert, and among a fine stable of them; damn shame about the Indy cw’s demise. Might they be absorbed elsewhere?
ginf@7 and Undrell@6 – it’s certainly my hope that the Indy’s fine stable of setters will find new quarters elsewhere, but I guess there are only so many newspaper slots to go round. Yes, there are several online sites too, but I’m guessing they don’t pay their setters. No doubt any updates on the situation will be shared on 225 as and when.
And don’t forget that Filbert sets for the FT under the pseudonym Guy.
What are we going to do on Sundays without the likes of the ancient poet and the potentially never-ending series? Thanks to Filbert and moh.
I toyed with DOUBLE ATTIC for the Greek bigamist, envisaging a sort of Jane Eyre kind of situation. Another great puzzle from Filbert.
My first rescrambling of 5d led me to ENIAC WATSON (genius suggesting computers somehow?), which misleadingly matched a few crossers. Who knew that was also an anagram of ISAAC NEWTON?
I found the NE corner of the puzzle particularly tricky. I started with SORT IT OUT before I got ISAAC NEWTON so that cancelled out SORT, then I thought SPIT IT OUT but didn’t think it defined ‘Don’t be dumb’ so I dismissed it which I shouldn’t have done
It also didn’t help that I thought 13 was either CONVICT or began with CON for ‘criminal’, and I couldn’t see how the wordplay worked, so it was only late on when I got the L that the penny dropped
Lastly TWENTIES completely stumped me as I thought the def. was simply ‘blooming’ or ‘wearing shackles’ rather than ‘blooming years’
Despite the tricky corner I enjoyed Filbert’s offering this week as ever and it’s a shame that there’s only 2 more Filbert Sundays after today
Thanks Filbert and MOH
Great stuff from Filbert as usual even if I couldn’t get the unknown VIRGINAL.
Favourites today PATENT and LIKE A SHOT.
Thanks MOH and Filbert. Sad I will soon need to find something else to do on a Sunday.
Well, there’s always Everyman… not remotely the same, of course, but at least it’s something I can blog…
DOUBLE DUTCH, to me, is a jump-rope game in which two girls (it is, for some reason, always girls) swing an extra-long jump-rope, which two other girls jump. You take turns being swingers and jumpers. (While boys do jump-rope, it’s always the solo kind, and for athletic training, not fun. Boys have it rough.) I have never heard the phrase meaning “Greek,” which the Internet tells me is British slang for the same thing that “It’s all Greek to me” is (a phrase we do have). Correct?
I find Filbert fairly difficult–not Enigmatist/Io levels of difficult, but on the tougher end of the spectrum. It’s weird to learn that he’s the same person as Guy, whom I don’t find as difficult. Hmm. Maybe he’s like John Halpern, who sends his toughies to the Guardian as Paul and his easy ones to the FT as Mudd.
[Or maybe it’s just me. I understand the FT crossword editor discourages hyperlocal British general-knowledge as a nod to that paper’s international circulation, so FT puzzles are, on average, friendlier to non-British audiences than the ones in the other broadsheets.]