Not that one would usually associate Punk and Radio 4 but that’s the theme for today’s crossword.
Radio (21d) is used for several homophones and Radio 4, and I trust not many people scoured the web for
listings for Radio Persia (sorry, Radio Teesside it would have been – thanks Bannsider), clued Today, the Archers, Woman’s Hour and, piece de resistance, I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue (together with Ivan the Terrible).
I wonder if Punk was tempted to miss the clue altogether for 12/14/8. Very enjoyable, the theme was fairly easy to get from the homophones at 22d and 24d but included some very funny clues and nothing too strained. Oddly I found RADIO istelf one of the hardest to justify, I wrote it in early but it was last but one for the wordplay.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 9 | THEREUNTO – THE R(E)UNT + O, definition “to that” |
| 11 | STAIR – STARE on the radio |
| 12 | I’M SORRY I HAVEN’T A CLUE – Punk is repentant but there’s no clue (so on strike) |
| 16 | IVAN THE TERRIBLE – A clue where the answer forms a possible clue for the clue itself. “I HAVEN’T” is a possible clue for IVAN THE TERRIBLE as terrible is an anagram indicator and IVAN THE is an anagram of I HAVEN’T. Far more elegant than this tortured explanation would suggest! Is there an common term for this type of clue? |
| 21 | RED DEER – did the crossword on the train and decided, with all checking letters in place, that there would have to be a river or mountain range in Canada called Red Deer. It was the river. |
| 23 | OGDEN NASH – (AND HE SONG)* |
| 25 | SAN ANGELO – SAN(AN)G + ELO |
| 26 | SHEER – sheer is total as in “sheer madness”. Sounds like shear |
| Down | |
| 1 | LAW-ABIDING – LA + WING around A BID |
| 2 | FLEA – flee on radio |
| 3 | DEMOCRAT – DRAT around COME <=. Substitute come up for rise and treat the up as an instruction… |
| 4 | TEESSIDE – TEES + SIDE. I felt this could have been better phrased but I’m not going to try it myself |
| 9 | TODAY |
| 13 | SMALL PRINT – S(MALL) PRINT. Last time I saw shopping centre for MALL I spent ages trying to work with PP or OPPI, this time I tried mall first. |
| 15 | THE ARCHERS – TS around HEAR CHER |
| 17 | EARLOBES – E + ARES around LOB |
| 18 | RUDENESS – (ENDURES)* + final letter of outrageous |
| 20 | WOMAN’S HOUR – W(OMAN’S) HO + UR |
| 21 | RADIO – RADI(US) + O Although it looks like there has to be a homophone in the clue with broadcasting and spoke the spoke is a radius, cipher is zero |
| 24 | ABEL – sounds like ABLE |
Not Radio Persia, but Radio Teeside, surely! And I fell for what I’m sure was a deliberate red herring, I’m ashamed to say.
14 ac was very clever and I daresay was the inspiration for the puzzle. It’s a rare example of a clue referring to another clue number which actually reads really well when the answer is substituted for the number. In fact it’s so good it’s almost a pity it wasn’t used in its final form somewhere else.
I found this tough to break into, but very satisfying to solve.
I thought the middle word of 16 had to be THE and when I got the G in LAW-ABIDING, the -ing suggested a starting I. This gave me the answer. I agree something seemed wrong with the Middlesbrough clue, maybe a word missing – it was still among the first I solved tho’. Thanks for RED DEER – that was the one I did not understand.
I was fooled by Radio Teesside for a while (for goodness sake, do they run repeates of The Archers and Woman’s Hour?). I even briefly tried to work out whether a Teesside accent would make any of the homonyms sound different!
Does Punk get strike pay or should we take a whip-round for him?
A great puzzle for reactionary and avant gardiste alike.