The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26484.
Quite a shock for a Monday puzzle, with a pervasive theme of pop music mostly of the ’60s and 70s, which is definitely not my forte. Moreover, the clues often required coming up with the first name given the last, or vice versa, which is asking a lot when the people are not too well known (howls from the fans). Still, I managed to dig out the names which were not familiar to me.
| Across | ||
| 8 | SPORTIVE |
Buddy in Oz with Burl, mostly frolicsome (8)
A charade of SPORT (‘buddy in Oz’) plus IVE[s] (‘Burl’) minus the last letter (‘mostly’).
|
| 9 | HOUSE |
Dance music dynasty (5)
Double definition (or triple, as “house dance” and “house music” are recognised phrases, albeit connected).
|
| 10 | BERG |
Short bird backing composer (4)
A reversal (‘backing’) of GREB[e] (‘bird’) without its last letter (‘short’) for the 20th century composer Alban Berg (or possibly others less well known).
|
| 11 | POINSETTIA |
Tiptoe in as going to pot plant (10)
An anagram (‘going to pot’) of ‘tiptoe in as’.
|
| 12 | TIMBRE |
Rice gets British capital for Evita — or The Sound of Music (6)
A charade of TIM (‘Rice’, whose credits include the lyrics for Evita) plus BR (‘British’) plus E (‘capital for Evita’).
|
| 14 | RIBALDRY |
Coarse jests preceding Long John Silver’s last one (8)
A charade of R (‘SilveR‘s last’) plus I (‘one’) plus BALDRY (‘Long John‘), with ‘preceding’ indicating the order of the particles.
|
| 15 | RECORDS |
Vinyl binders seen after Queen retrospective (7)
A charade of RE, a reversal (‘retrospective’) of ER (‘Queen’) plus CORDS (‘binders’).
|
| 17 | DEANERY |
Martin nearly missing odd characters in clergyman’s house (7)
A charade of DEAN (‘Martin’) plus ERY (‘nEaRlY missing odd characters’).
|
| 20 | SAN DIEGO |
Shaw’s good old city (3,5)
A charade of SANDIE (‘Shaw‘) plus G (‘good’) plus O (‘old’).
|
| 22 | MOHAIR |
Madonna’s first love — musical material (6)
A charade of M (‘Madonna’s first’) plus O (‘love’) plus HAIR (‘musical’). The surface reference to “Material Girl” is a little later than most of the other musical references in this puzzle.
|
| 23 | KITTIWAKES |
Eartha and Orlando trail small birds (10)
A charade of KITT (‘Eartha’) plus I (‘Orlando’) plus WAKE (‘trail’) plus S (‘small’).
|
| 24 | AIDA |
Funding a musical that may be fascinating? (4)
A charade of AID (‘funding’) plus ‘a’.
|
| 25 | TWILL |
Prince shortly goes after bit of tartan fabric (5)
A charade of T (‘bit of Tartan’) plus WILL (& Kate, ‘Prince shortly’).
|
| 26 | LOOKER-ON |
Spectator playing no role, OK? (6-2)
An anagram (‘playing’) of ‘no role OK’.
|
| Down | ||
| 1 | APPETITE |
Just taking starters, André Previn has little desire for food (8)
A charade of AP (‘just taking starters André Previn’) plus PETITE (‘little’).
|
| 2 | CRAG |
Cliff or Charlie taking Joplin piece, but Douglas rejecting one (4)
This seems to be a definition and two wordplays. A charade of C (‘Charlie’ phonetic alphabet) plus RAG (‘Joplin piece’); and a subtraction: CRA[i]G (‘Douglas’. There are several people called Douglas Craig , but given the theme of the puzzle, this is most likely a reference to Craig Douglas) minus the I (‘rejecting one’).
|
| 3 | SIMPLE |
Miles turning round intro for Paul Simon’s predecessor? (6)
An envelope (’round’) of P (‘intro for Paul’) in SIMLE, an anagram (‘turning’) of ‘miles’.
|
| 4 | DEVILRY |
Sympathy for finishers was flipping wickedness (7)
A reversal (‘flipping’) of YR (‘sympathY foR finishers’) plus LIVED (‘was’).
|
| 5 | CHASUBLE |
Dave’s partner remixed blue cover for priest (8)
A charade of CHAS (‘Dave’s partner’ in the group Chas & Dave) plus UBLE, an anagram (‘remixed’) of ‘blue’.
|
| 6 | OUT TO LUNCH |
Crackers in a restaurant? (3,2,5)
Double definition.
|
| 7 | SENIOR |
As an older person, poor Ronnie’s disheartened (6)
An anagram (‘poor’) of ‘ron[n]ies’ without its middle letter (‘disheartened’).
|
| 13 | BLOODSTAIN |
Disturbed soil — not bad clue for Holmes, perhaps (10)
An anagram (‘disturbed’) of ‘soil not bad’.
|
| 16 | DOES WELL |
Female mount is successful (4,4)
A charade of DOE (‘female’) plus SWELL (‘mount’).
|
| 18 | RAINDROP |
Something falling from artist in ditch (8)
A charade of RA (‘artist’) plus ‘in’ plus DROP (‘ditch’ as a verb).
|
| 19 | ROCKALL |
Music from start to finish for small island (7)
A charade of ROCK (‘music’) plus ALL (‘from start to finish’).
|
| 21 | ARISTO |
Noble is tense, saving nothing for later (6)
I was held up for long enough by thinking that ‘tense’ indicated T; but it is AORIST (‘tense‘) with the O moved to the end (‘saving nothing for later’).
|
| 22 | MOSCOW |
Midnight odyssey starts on boat in capital (6)
A charade of MO (‘Midnight Odyssey starts’) plus SCOW (‘boat’).
|
| 24 | ACER |
King leaves Bilk in tree (4)
A subtraction: AC[k]ER (‘Bilk‘) without the K (“king leaves’), for a tree of the maple genus.
|
I would say that this has just as much of the music of the 50s. Burl Ives, Eartha Kitt, Dean Martin, and Craig Douglas were all active then.
Despite knowing (most) of the answers to the musical quiz, I still found this a bit tough in places. I put in ‘kittiwakes’ without understanding it, then I looked at the top and realized Orlando was the setter – so that’s where the ‘I’ came from! At least I was able to put in ‘records’ without any hesitation.
“Rockall” was my last one in – I just didn’t know it, but it seemed likely enough.
This was a very enjoyable puzzle, and quite a surprise for a Monday, where dreary double definitions are usually the rule.
Lovely surprise for a Monday – currently on holiday in RSA in the sun!! Had same struggle with Kittiwakes as vinyl1 above, but most seemed to kick the old memory synapses fairly quickly. Many thanks to both.
What an unexpected treat for a Monday – thank you, Orlando and PeterO.
As a fan of the three musical comediennes, can I make explicit the reference in 24 across to Fascinating Aida? YouTube has lots of clips of their songs, many hilarious and others deeply moving.
Thanks, PeterO.
Arachne, Brendan and now Orlando back in the cryptic slot after months away – as Roger says, what a lovely surprise to warm a cold morning!
I loved this from beginning to end, being rather more of Orlando’s vintage than PeterO. I actually knew [of] all the musicians and I had many ‘aha’ moments along the way, with such clever cluing [loved Long John Silver, for instance and the picture of Orlando trailing birds with the old-fashioned girl]. Too many other favourite clues to mention – ticks all over the place.
ROCKALL, of course, is part of the litany of the shipping forecast, with which I am very familiar, as it regular sends me off to sleep at night and / or wakes me up in the morning.
[I’d just like to endorse Roger’s comment on 24ac, which is really a dd.]
Huge thanks to Orlando for the fun – and a huge welcome back!
Loved this; it brought back many happy memories – especially of the Long John of 14 ac, a particular favourite of mine!
Thank you to Orlando for another excellent puzzle & to PeterO for the blog.
What a pleasure to see a decent puzzle on a Monday, and hopefully a nice taster for Mondays-only types as to what a decent themed crossword might be. The downside, alas, is that hand on heart it was a bit dated. I loved it, because it was all the people I grew up with, and via YouTube and Spotify I have recently become reacquainted with Long John @14ac, so was particularly pleased to see him (in a very good clue). But it may have turned off some younger solvers (I’m convinced that the Youth of Today neither know nor care about what happened before they were born, their birth date being, in effect, the start of the universe). Having said that, a lot of references to Plan B, 50 Cent and Kia – sorry, Rita Ora may well have left most solvers struggling!
Didn’t really notice the theme! But great fun anyway. New aorist from my one year of Greek at grammar school.
22d midnight in Moscow was by Kenny ball and acker bilk
Wasn’t Midnight in Moscow just Kenny Ball (and, of course, his Jazzmen), Acker busy with Strangers on various Shores? Raindrops, of course, famously fell on BJ Thomas’ and Sacha Distel’s heads. This is reaching, of course. You could probably attach most solutions to popular songs:
In our Mountain Deanery…This Twill Be our Last Song Together…Rita Petite…
A real wow for a Monday. I agree with everybody (and that’s a first). LOL after LOL.
Anyone wanting a sample of Fascinating Aida should start with ‘Cheap Flights’.
Thanks Orlando and PeterO,
The musical crossword must be good, it brought Conrad Cork out of his shell.
I liked SPORTIVE, BERG, DEANERY, KITTIWAKES and RAINDROP among others. AORIST was a new word.
An Orlando puzzle is always a pleasure, though I’m less pleased to see word-for-word recycling of his old clues – namely BLOODSTAIN here:
http://www.fifteensquared.net/2013/08/12/guardian-quiptic-717-orlando/
A fine clue, admittedly.
Thanks Orlando for a fun puzzle, although some of the references (like Chas ‘n Dave) might mystify overseas solvers.
Thanks PeterO, I spent ages trying to parse ARISTO using ‘is t’ – AORIST is a new word for me.
According to Wiki: ‘Out to Lunch! was Eric Dolphy’s only recording for Blue Note Records as a leader and was originally issued as BLP 4163 and BST 84163. Today it is generally considered one of the finest albums in the label’s history, as well as one of the high points in 1960s jazz avant garde and in Dolphy’s discography.’ So, now you know! 🙂 You can also find The Kittiwakes here.
Thank you PeterO.
Fine puzzle, thank you Orlando.
I suppose ARISTO was sufficiently guessable but I felt a little piqued to see the AORIST parse. I bit obscure I’d have thought.
WritingHawk above, my – what fine spotting!
Nice week all.
Lovely to see Orlando back. I enjoyed this a lot, although some of the musical allusions passed me by. AORIST new to me too, so well done Peter for working that one out.
I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle and echo the positive sentiments of the other contributors. Although I’m not a fan of a lot of the artists there wasn’t one I wasn’t aware of. Even though it wasn’t part of the wordplay I thought of “Sympathy for the Devil” as I was trying to solve 4dn, it helped get me on the right track, and after DEVILRY RIBALDRY was my LOI.
Robi@12
Footnote. Dolphy inspired me to take up alto, flute and bass clarinet, and I named my third son after him.
Thanks Orlando and PeterO. Odd, but not unpleasantly so, to see Orlando on a Monday.
I completed, but not without some guesswork thanks to being unfamiliar with some of the thematic names. RIBALDRY, SPORTIVE and ACER to name some. But the definitions of those clues were precise enough.
Thanks Orlando and PeterO
Well, so much for easy Monday – I found this pretty tough going – from subject matter (older pop music) knowledge, some tough parsing (14a, 23a, 24a and 24d) and a couple of obscure words (AORIST and ROCKALL).
Having said that, I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge with heavier reliance on reference than normal and still needing help from here for some of the parsing.
The two shorties at 24 were my last couple in.
Welcome back Orlando and well done Peter with the early blog of a pretty tough assignment !
Brilliant crossword – thanks Orlando. Although I was born in the 60s all the musical references were familiar and for me – as a beginner – I found it immensely enjoyable from start to finish.
I agree with Eileen and others – what a lovely treat for a Monday morning.
Kittiwakes are among my favourite birds, with an evocative cry which brings back memories of holidays in the Hebrides. They nest on any available 2dn, though not on 19dn where they visit but do not stay, apparently.
As is fairly usual, my comments would be the same as Eileen’s @4
It’s a splendid puzzle. So nice to be entertained by truly able compilers.
So much fun; and so much more fun than is usual on Mondays. Some lovely misdirections, eg ‘Vinyl binders’ being nothing to do with the first and last letters of ‘vinyl’. But why was it, in a crossword full of popular music references, that on seeing ‘Shaw’ in 20a I started going down the GBS route?
I enjoyed this very much; it is my era. I am not sure whether I should admit this but I was thrown for a while putting chastity in 5d – it nearly fits, ……blue, priest.
My LOI was 21, which I decided must be ARISTO but parsed as Ar(gon) + IS + T(ense) + O. Complete cobblers that required Noble to be doing double duty (tenuously) and an unnecessarily complex clue to the final ‘O’ that didn’t need to be saved for later. Ho hum.
A welcome return for the much-missed Orlando. I found this pretty straightforward (as I’d expect on a Monday), since all of the names were familiar, even the ’50s ones. Last in was DEVILRY. Liked that one and SIMPLE.
Thanks to Orlando and PeterO
PS thanks for the parsing of ARISTO – AORIST was new to me
@Robi – Out to Lunch! must have been one of the last original Blue Notes before the label was sold to Liberty. Good copies of BL 4163 seem to be in the $300-500 range.
OK, so much for record collecting, now back to crosswords….
I think house in 9 ac refers to a dynasty such as Windsor, or perhaps that was implied in the blog. My first post. I enjoyed this especially as I completed it, fairly unusual for me.
“ROCKALL, of course, is part of the litany of the shipping forecast, with which I am very familiar, as it regular sends me off to sleep at night and / or wakes me up in the morning.”
For me it’s the same program, but at different times, to whit those annoying interruptions to TMS.
Didn’t get “Joplin piece”, though I got the rest of the clue, largely because, even though I love the works of Scot, I almost always think of Janis instead.
I hope Rufus hasn’t taken umbrage after all the, usually undeserved stick he’s had lately. That said I enjoyed this very much. I found the muso clues pretty easy but generally amusing. Incidentally, Eric Dolphy also recorded “Other Aspects” and ” The Illinois Concert” for BLUE NOTE prior to “Out to Lunch” although the live one wasn’t issued until 1999. So much for trivia.
Thanks Orlando.
The definition of 16d DOES WELL should include “is”. Like many others, failed to parse ARISTO. Thanks PeterO & Orlando.
Peter @31 – one week’s absence is nothing unusual for Rufus – as long as he is back next week there is no cause for alarm. And I don’t think he’s been taking any more or less stick than usual recently.
Derek @30 – you can listen to it uninterrupted on 5 Live Sports Extra, though that has its own irritations (mostly what happens when they haven’t got anything on live).
As for Out to Lunch, that reminded me of Pretty Vacant…
I do not think Rufus cares about getting stick! He is not one to change his ways, I fear.
Glad to know that virtually all of the clues that baffled me included references to (mostly British, and altogether before my time) musicians I hadn’t heard of. Now I know that I’m not dumb, just ignorant.
I knew perhaps half the musicians; most of the rest went in without too much difficulty thanks to easily reverse-engineered clues. That left “Ribaldry,” “Aristo,” and “Acer” for the cheat button to finish.
Otherwise, this was pretty fun.
Thanks PeterO and Orlando
Beautifully clued as ever. I found this quite tough as some of the music refs went past me, but I managed to parse all except 14a where the answer itself was clear enough.
As I was born in the mid 70s in France, these musical references mostly passed me by. Made Monday harder than usual for this challenged cruciverbalist!!!
Loved this offering. Did you know that Elton John took the surname from Long John Baldry? Aorist is a cracking word, familiar to anyone who has tackled Greek.
Where is 26,477?
beardydaly @39
If you are referring to the blog of this puzzle, it is in the list of recent posts in the lefthand sidebar. Alternatively, if you click on Guardian in the Categories list you will find that it is the second entry.
A nice change for a Monday and my era for pop. No-one appears to have picked up the musical reference in 24ac. Fascinating Aida were and still are a female trio cum cabaret act specialising in comic songs
Thanks Orlando & PeterO
Malcolm R @ 41: I think you’ll find that Roger @ 3 & Eileen @4 commented on (sweet) FA and their early observations prevented me mentioning same 😉
And so did Conrad @9, recommending this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAg0lUYHHFc
I used to hear Fascinating Aida on Stop the Week on Radio 4, so got the reference – but Cheap Flights has just made my evening!
Hiker@33. Yes I know Rufus disappears occasionally but I wouldn’t like him to vanish forever. Incidentally thanks for the references to HEBRIDES some days ago. Churlish of me to leave it until now!
Hiker@33. Yes I know Rufus disappears from time to time but I’d hate him to vanish completely. Incidentally, thanks for the references to HEBRIDES from some days ago. Churlish of me not to mention it before.
Out to Lunch is a great record for all those who remain ignorant of it.
Hiker@33 I know Rufus disappears occasionally but I’d hate him to vanish forever. Thanks, by the way, for the references to HEBRIDES. Churlish of me not to make it until now.
I back Peter Asplnwall, infact I missed Rufus today.
Gremlins in my Kindle. Sorry for the multiple posts!
I finished this and parsed all except ARISTO. (by then I was losing the will to live)
Came here to read the posts of outraged solvers at such a travesty of a puzzle.
Obviously I know nothing and also have no taste. (I was almost missing Rufus)
I won’t go into the many things I disliked about this in any detail as I would doubtless be descended upon by hordes of CRAIG DOUGLAS loving cruciverbalists.
The only logical explanation is that the whole thing is a global prearranged hoax that I was not party to.
Thanks to PeterO and Orlando
I’m with my fellow Chicagoan (mrpenney)–the theme was completely lost on me, but the puzzle itself was splendid. Thanks to both.
Returning late in the day, I repeat my comment @32. The definition of DOES WELL should be “is successful”, not just “successful”. A “successful” person is not a “does well” person.
I’m so old I saw Long John Baldry and The Steam Packet – with Rod Stewart – at my local venue in the sixties. Great puzzle, BTW.
Didn’t somebody do a comedy song about sweet Rockall?
Thanks Orlando & all bloggers for so much great musical trivia! Failed with aorist but got most of the rest.
Much though I enjoyed this puzzle, I have always found Rufus a cheering and neatly clever start to the week. Hence it may upset many of your crossword solvers that the comments above imply and occasionally boldly assert criticism of his crosswords. Please remember the older readers.
Felt very much like a quiz which I eventually got into. Personally, not so keen on clues that require matching first to second names. Enjoyable all the same