A very special thank you to Phi for this puzzle! We have been blogging now for almost 2 years and this is our 178th post. It will however be one that we will never forget.
Joyce solved the gateway clue to the theme very quickly while she was looking at the puzzle on her own. As we always solve the Indy together, she did not write the answer in but had to sit around for a while until Bert twigged what it was – it’s often pressure in the other direction so Joyce really enjoyed the wait!
The theme gave us the excuse to provide the link to this song - one of our favourites from Monty Python despite only two of the philosophers being represented in the grid!
There were a couple of unfamiliar words and names. We did not know Spinoza’s first name but guessed it from the word play and 2d was only solved when we had all the crossing letters. We had to check 4d although we were fairly sure that we had seen it in other crosswords.
| Across | ||
| 1/9 | Slanderer blurts out name of 13 | |
| BERTRAND RUSSELL | An anagram of SLANDERER BLURTS (anagrind is ‘out’) | |
| 5 | Writer giving great pleasure to church? | |
| JOYCE | JOY (great pleasure) + CE (church) | |
| 9 | See 1ac | |
| 10 | Girl repulsed a hot devil | |
| NATASHA | A + H (hot) + SATAN (devil) all reversed or ‘repulsed’ | |
| 11 | Multiple thefts? Desire to seal off one stable area (mostly) | |
| CRIME WAVE | CRAVE (desire) around or ‘sealing off’ I (one) + MEW |
|
| 12 | King’s area in church reveals villain | |
| KNAVE | K (King) + NAVE (area in church) | |
| 13 | I think or I help out with shop | |
| PHILOSOPHER | An anagram of OR I HELP and SHOP (anagrind is ‘out’) | |
| 17 | 13 (with famous grandson) no less perturbed about Henry after remedy | |
| MENDELSSOHN | An anagram of NO LESS about H (Henry) anagrind is ‘perturbed’, after MEND (remedy) | |
| 21 | Welsh name over wagon | |
| OWAIN | O (over) + WAIN (wagon) | |
| 22 | Group hurried back to welcome singular 13 | |
| DESCARTES | SET (group) + RACED (hurried) all reversed or ‘back’ around or ‘welcoming’ S (singular) | |
| 25 | Exposes chance sources of light | |
| BETRAYS | BET (chance) + RAYS (sources of light) | |
| 26 | See 1d | |
| 27 | Page ready to restrain ambassador | |
| SHEET | SET (ready) around or ‘restraining’ HE (ambassador) | |
| 28 | Accommodating one faction, foundation split | |
| BISECTED | BED (foundation) around or ‘accommodating’ I (one) + SECT (faction) | |
| Down | ||
| 1/26 | 13 pairs up with a bunch around Australia | |
| BARUCH SPINOZA | An anagram of PAIRS and A BUNCH (anagrind is ‘up’) around OZ (Australia) | |
| 2 | Composer lost his grip around end of score | |
| RESPIGHI | An anagram of HIS GRIP (anagrind is ‘lost’) around E (end of scorE) | |
| 3 | Magistrate always turning up around rear of courthouse | |
| REEVE | EVER (always) reversed or ‘turning up’ around E (end or ‘rear’ of courthousE) | |
| 4 | Indian waterway that’s filled in all areas | |
| NALLA | Hidden within the clue iN ALL Areas | |
| 5 | Black region of clouds around river doing for sports fans | |
| JET-SKIERS | JET (black) SKIES (region of clouds) around R (river) | |
| 6 | The old kinky sex with an obedient follower | |
| YES-MAN | YE (old way of writing ‘the’) + SM (kinky sex) + AN | |
| 7 | Hair done up with the Spanish covering | |
| ENAMEL | MANE (hair) reversed or ‘done up’ + EL (Spanish for ‘the’) | |
| 8 | One trip abroad – end for criminal – nabbed by us? | |
| INTERPOL | An anagram of ONE TRIP (anagrind is ‘abroad’) + L (end of criminaL) | |
| 14 | Sleep on island, circumventing Welsh ambush …. | |
| LIE IN WAIT | LIE IN (sleep on) + AIT (island) around or ‘circumventing’ W (Welsh) | |
| 15 | …. I had to see off Welsh from some Scandinavian course | |
| SIDE DISH | S |
|
| 16 | Conceal text identifying winter hazard | |
| WHITEOUT | Almost a double definition except that WHITE OUT in Chambers is ‘conceal text’ and WHITEOUT is the winter hazard | |
| 18 | 13’s pastimes, I ignored | |
| HOBBES | HOBB |
|
| 19 | 13 right amidst revolutionary times | |
| SARTRE | RT (right) inside or ‘amidst’ ERAS (times) reversed or ‘revolutionary’ | |
| 20 | One crawls heavenwards, finding heaven | |
| ASGARD | A + DRAGS (crawls) reversed or ‘heavenwards’ | |
| 23 | Vessel almost filled with American fishy stuff | |
| SUSHI | SHI |
|
| 24 | Moving smoothly, I participated in a part-song, finishing early | |
| AGILE | I inside or ‘participating in’ A GLE |
|
Thanks Phi and B&J
24dn: You seem to have AGLE(e) as one word. I have the clue as reading “a part-song” which gives A GLE(e) as the container for the I.
How lovely to have your own personal crossword!
And a very enjoyable one it was too.
Thanks to Bertrand, Joyce and Phi.
Fame and recognition at last you two! Felicitations to you and respects to Phi.
The Philosopher’s Song in essence had an earlier outing in I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again.
Nice one, Phi! And thanks, B&J
Thought at first that 24dn was going to be ‘glide’ then realised that the clue would have to read “… I had participated”. That of course was before DESCARTES appeared. Cue for a joke:
Barman: Your usual, M Descartes?
Descartes: I think not.
Barman (to nobody in particular): Where’s he disappeared to?
I’ll get my coat.
Nice puzzle; so glad I’d visited Baruch Spinoza’s house in Amsterdam!
Once I got the gateway clue I thought I was in for a struggle so I was surprised I was able to finish in a reasonable time without recourse to aids. For that I have to tip my hat to Phi for some clear cluing, especially for the BARUCH element of SPINOZA.
Thanks Pelham@1 – You are correct – we missed out a space. We’ll correct the blog when we are home this evening.
Well, what greater honour can a blogger/bloggers have than to be recognised in a puzzle? Of course the rest of the Indy team will be expecting the same, although RatkojaRiku might have to wait a while.
I loved this puzzle. Just right for a daily cryptic: accessible gateway clue; themed answers that would be within most people’s knowledge; clear and varied clueing; some laughs along the way. What’s not to like?
Thank you to our esteemed bloggers and to Phi.
Allan’s Descartes joke is rubbish (but quite funny). Good weekend to all.
My name has appeared in a few S&B puzzles but never in a ‘grown up’ one so well done B&J.
Thanks to Phi for another perfect Friday puzzle.
Congrats to Bert and Joyce. Phi offers an error-free and uncontentious, yet good puzzle.
Sue@9
I remember John Henderson’s
Cryptic Sue is a Victorian (6)
Conrad @11 – yes – the Derby S&B puzzle.
And my alter ego had one too in November 2011: Wild oxen run into crypticsue (4).
I admit, bit of a strange surface 🙂 .
As to this excellent puzzle, I completely missed Phi’s lovely touch.
13ac was my first one in and with so many proper nouns around, my head became full of thinkers. Also, I didn’t connect your initials B&J specifically to Phi.
How wrong that was – 178, phew.
Thanks Phi & B&J. I remember Anax in Indy 7588 putting in the real names of all of us Indy bloggers, but never quite such an overt name check.