Hello all,
Not sure if it was just me, but I struggled a bit with this one - the usual recipe of straightforward constructions with a bit of general knowledge was out of balance for me this time, with several bits of trivia that were arcane to
A clear theme, which is a bit unusual. Music features in almost every clue. Looking back, I think the urge to crowbar musical references (sometimes tenuous) into nearly every clue is what makes it a bit tortuous at times.
PS: good luck to the kiwi solvers who pop up on these blogs a few weeks later – firstly, with the UK-specific references in the puzzle, secondly with the CWC final tonight (at time of going to press).
Across
1 Spirit shown by quartet in Dvorák intermezzo (4)
RAKI – hidden answer
WORDSWORTH (lyrics, quality)
10 Retired teacher drinking at college dance (3,1,3)
CUT A RUG
= GURU (teacher) around (drinking) AT, C (college), all backwards (retired).
11 Slim country and western singer with hired killer (7)
WHITMAN
Fell down here: had never heard of the singer in question , and the strange formulation of the definition meant I was looking for words that meant skinny for a long time. The crossers made it obvious eventually. W(with) HITMAN (hired killer)
12 Gay song in the new musical (8,4)
ANYTHING GOES
anag (new) of gaysonginthe
15 Polish bandleader, Joe, after opening in Gdansk (5)
GLOSS
G (opening in….) , LOSS (something else I had to look up – this fellow
16 Tenor spots headphones in bins (5,4)
TRASH CANS
= T(enor) RASH (spots) CANS (headphones)
17 Rose, for example, can, cutting track (9)
EGLANTINE
EG (for example) TIN (can) in (cutting) LANE (track). Clunky surface
18 Opening bars of anthem – take it away! (5)
INTRO
….unlike this one: great surface. Reference to introit, the church anthem, with ‘it’ taken away.
19 Upset client, artist, a musician (12)
CLARINETTIST
anagram of clientartist
23 Composer, extremely diverse, occupied penning most original of songs (7)
DEBUSSY
= DE (extremely diverse) BUSY (occupied) around (penning) S (most original of songs).
24 Man, leader of choir, reportedly pleased (7)
CHAPPIE
= C (leader of choir) HAPPIE sounds like (reportedly) happy (pleased). Not sure if I’ve seen a ‘sounds like’ element used as part of the wordplay, for a nonexistent word before. Not sure if I like it.
25 Troupe of musicians, male, in street playing lyres (10)
MINSTRELSY
M (male) IN ST anag (playing) of lyres
26 Part of a Gibson, say, about to be wrapped in pink paper (4)
FRET
part of a guitar (eg: a Gibson)
RE (about) wrapped in FT (pink paper)
————————————————————————————————
Down
1 Figures great-uncles lost heart performing (10)
RECTANGLES
Anag (performing) of greatuncles without the U (lost heart – it’s in the middle)
2 Film of Ginger Rogers in pool with wartime detective (5,5)
KITTY FOYLE
A film (apparently – another gap in my general knowledge). kitty = pool. Foyle = wartime detective (this one). Foyle also seems a bit obscure to me.
4 Ear, perhaps, for a musical instrument (5)
ORGAN
Double definition
5 Sell short sad standard (9)
DOWNGRADE
down=sad, grade=standard
6 Released with Cream hits, second song (5,9)
WHITE CHRISTMAS
anag (released) of withcreamhits, then S (second)
7 Peculiar piano seat (4)
RUMP
rum=peculiar, p=piano
8 Solo, last from Band Aid? (4)
HAND
HAN = solo (at a stretch – presumably that’s why we have a question mark) D = last from Band
9 Canned music producers? (6,3,5)
BRAHMS AND LISZT
Double definition: B&L is cockney rhyming slang for ‘pissed’ (ie: canned, although I’d never heard of that euphemism).
13 Tidy rapper adapted Beatles record (3,7)
DAY TRIPPER
Anag (adapted) of tidyrapper
14 Medley master’s not arranged (10)
ASSORTMENT
Another anagram (arranged) of mastersnot
16 Verse form in short hymn I later changed about (4,5)
TAIL RHYME
hym (short hymn) in anag (changed about) of ilater
20 Takes US singer “Stevie” (5)
NICKS
double def – with reference to the Fleetwood Mac singer and cocaine enthusiast
21 Faith, for example, shown by a mother (4)
ADAM
another surname-definition-by-example, referencing this singer.
dam is an old term for mother
22 Old pop group docked in small Scottish port (4)
OBAN
Thanks, Matt.
I wonder if someone could explain why “han” = “solo” in 8d? Thanks.
Matt, it seems to be urban slang, ‘han’ to go somewhere or do something alone, i.e. solo.
I am going to give this crossword another try now with the help of the check button since I did not get very far with it last Saturday.
That was meant to be addressed to crosser, not a good start to the morning, sorry.
I can tell you, Matt, that you definitely weren’t the only one to struggle with this. The music references made it a very tricky solve.
I had to look up KITTY FOYLE, and CUT A RUG was a dance I’d never heard of.
CHAPPIE works just on the basis of C plus homophone of HAPPY; well, it works for me, anyway.
The HAN in 8dn is referring to HAN SOLO, the Star Wars character portrayed by Harrison Ford. We know that Everyman likes his films …
A very unusual offering from this setter, but thanks to him.
Thanks to Cookie and Kathryn’s Dad. Star Wars is outside my culture zone!
Well, this Kiwi solver was pretty lost. The only WHITMAN I know is Walt and I tie the name STEVIE with Wonder … I had to google a lot.
See that CUT A RUG is to dance well, especially one of the dance styles of the early 20th century in a vigorous manner.
In the end I enjoyed the puzzle, thanks Everyman, and thanks Matt for a very helpful blog.
I bet I wasn’t the only one who had to look up KITTY FOYLE, and Joe (g)LOSS, ADAM Faith and Slim WHITMAN presuppose a solver of a certain age.
Kathryn’s Dad, CUT A RUG is a verb, not a noun – not A dance but TO dance, in (1920’s?) slang. I haven’t met MINSTRELSY meaning a group of musicians, rather than what they do, before.
This was more fun than most Everymans – BRAHMS AND LISZT raised a smile.
Failed on
10a -never heard of
25a didn’t think that could be a word
2d -pointless clue -if you know it or google it, job done, otherwise no chance
8d Come on -han solo? How many could reasonably get that ?
So-called ‘General Knowledge’ is always a minefield. One person’s utter obscurity is another’s ‘Surely everyone knows that’ and with a different fact it can be the other way round.
Mind you, I still think the benchmark for obscurity is one I remember from the Express GK crossword – ‘Third longest river in Costa Rica’
Thanks Everyman, quite difficult, I had to Google KITTY FOYLE.
Thanks Matt, I thought everyone in the world would know Han Solo, but apparently not. I knew most of the other references, being of ‘a certain age.’ OBAN is, of course, O/BAN(d). Happie is apparently an obsolete way of spelling happy, according to Wiktionary. Whether it is intended, I’m not sure, but RAKI is a quarter (quartet?) of Dvorak intermezzo.
I didn’t know MINSTRELSY, which looks like it shouldn’t be a proper word (but is!) I did enjoy BRAHMS AND LISZT, very funny, and WHITE CHRISTMAS.
I found this considerably trickier than most Everyman puzzles, and I needed aids at the end to get KITTY FOYLE. The first word of the answer was obvious enough from “pool” but I couldn’t think of a wartime detective that fitted ?O?L?. In retrospect I should have got it without resorting to aids because I’m aware of the ITV Foyle series and know it is set in WW2 even though I’ve never watched it. Count me as another who thought Han Solo was relatively well-known.
Yes, I failed on this (but all correct today). KITTY FOYLE was an unknown. Too much show biz for me.
A failure here (all correct today). Too much show biz!
I was quite excited by the themed element here – been doing Everyman for probably 9 years* or so and I can’t remember seeing one like that before. I too was unaware of Kitty Foyle, but Han Solo is very much my era. Also, I knew ‘cut a rug’ straight away, thanks mainly to The Bluetones: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cut_Some_Rug/Castle_Rock
Cheers Everyman and Matt.
* and this week saw my second prize 🙂
Re Hand Solo= Han Solo from Star Wars
Well!
Like others I had to make extensive use of Mr Google today, but got there in the end. Not sure if it was just our version but 3a was wrongly labelled 6a which led to momentary confusion.
I remember my dad taking us to see The Black and White Minstrels (eventually browned and then PC’d out of existence like the golliwogs on Robertson’s jam) but never seen it with a Y. Never heard of the drink or the dance or the movie or the C n W singer, either. Thought Han Solo and Chappie were both fine, not sure why there were tuts of disapproval there. But overall I must side with those who felt the GK was grossly overdone today. And fortunately I own a Gibson (J160 a la John Lennon).
Thanks for the kind thought Matt. We lost the battle but oddly seemed to win the war on moral grounds. I have never before seen a losing captain get a standing ovation after a match at the press conference.
Looking forward the the tests coming up in the UK.
Anybody explain why FT = pink paper?
This was way too difficult for me. Foyle’s War is a great TV series well worth watching set in England during WWII starring Michael Kitchen and Honeysuckle Weeks. Excellent period piece with classic cars and other old vehicles.
Started early today after attending the Dawn Service for Anzac Day. Yes I struggled today too. Got the Cockney one this time though. Should have got Slim Whitman but didn’t. Had to look up Kitty but got Foyle, and like others never heard of Han for solo nor FT for pink paper.
Even though I missed a few though. I still enjoyed it, and spent a long time thinking and solving the ones I did manage to get.
As you will know by now Matt, we lost the CWW but Barrie has put it well.
Thanks Everyman and Matt, and everyone else for their comments.
Peter @ 17 FT is Londonspeak for The Financial Times. It is printed on a sort of pinkish coloured paper – this differentiated it from a similar rag of old, The Financial News. TFN no longer exists. The FT does, and is still pink.
This one was defininitely among the more demanding class. I enjoyed the “entertainment” theme and thought 6d a super clue. Slim whitman had a very distinctive-yodelling- singing style and I was familiar with Adam Faith so I’m clearly a person of that particular vintage! Today was a case of gradually filling in the SE corner and even more gradually working my way up and across.
Thanks Everyman and Matt, and everyone else for their comments-we had Araucaria’s younger brother staying with us earlier in the week and I regret not downloading this one for him to attempt on his return trip to SA-araucaria often set themed crosswords.
Phew, another sweat producing brain workout this morning, where would we be without the interweb? I remember doing these 10 years or so back with a work mate and we would try to finish it by morning tea without outside assistance, most times successful but sometimes not.
Thanks Matt and others for the explanations, like last week a struggle. I think I will go and get 9d!
I think I was still 9 downed-I intended to write 9d (not 6d) as today’s favourite clue!
The word “minstrelsy” is in my New Oxford, but is defined to mean the activity of
a (type of) musicians, not a troupe of such. So I think Everyman got this a bit
wrong. Nonetheless it was a fairly obvious construction so I had no doubt about putting it in.
Never heard of Joe Loss but “gloss” was obvious once the cross letters were in
(and even before; gloss = polish is pretty straightforward).
Don’t know from Slim Whitman really, but the name rang a vague bell, and it had to
be, once the cross letters were in.
“Foyle’s War” is a very popular TV series; I don’t watch TV but even I had
heard of it.
I simply *cannot* imagine anyone who has not been lost in the jungle for the past
50 years not having heard of Han Solo.
9 down took me a while — struggled to remember canned=drunk — but rolled
about on the floor laughing once I did get it.
The traditional meeting place for many of us of both sexes in the UK (and where my parents met) for a considerable time from before WWII and into the sixties was the local dance floor so The Joe Loss orchestra which played strict tempo music was a very familiar and popular name to those of us from that era who enjoyed ballroom dancing. The reverse side of the coin is being lost in the jungle and not being familiar with Han Solo! I did parse hand and was curious why-so thanks Kathryn’s Dad.
That was hard but got all but two which is a triumph for me.
thought minstrelsy just stupid and probably the people on earth who know that word and even better, who actually ever use it…could be counted on one hand. Am sure a better clue could have been thought up.
My favourite was FRET. Brilliant.
Anyway..enjoyed it nonetheless..
I gave it till mid-week to try and finish this but failed. Not having access to the internet at my new job meant I didn’t get the chance to post until the weekend.
Well, what can I say? This was a toughie alright. Too many obscure (UK) references which stumped me. Didn’t get BRAHMS and LISZT, OBAN, FRET and ADAM. Was leaning towards GLEAM or GLOSS but didn’t really pen it in. Fortunately this weekend’s one was much simpler.