At first glance rather daunting with so many literary allusions. However, the word play was very simple in most cases, and kind Google came to my aid with details. Alan seemed to be a favourite name!
ACROSS
1. BRASSERIE – (brass – erie )
6. MAMET (- Mame-t.[ Musical ‘Mame’] – David Mamet, American playwright sometimes likened to
Pinter or Beckett. Screen writing includes ‘The Postman Always Rings Twice’)
9. AMADEUS – ( A-made-us – well-loved film about Mozart, adapted from Peter Shaffer play.
10. ORLANDO – ( o- *rosalind without ‘is’. Orlando and Rosalind were characters in ‘As you Like It.’)
11. RUDGE – (rud-g-e. Barnaby Rudge)
12. ON THE ROAD – ( hero in *Donat. Jack Kerouac novel, later a cult film).
14. INN -(hidden in cron -IN N-ovel)
15. SHAKESPEARE – ( shake-spear-e)
17. HELEN MIRREN – ( British actress , now called actor of course, *merlin here -n ORTH)
19. GEM – (comic book, much collected , as is ‘The Magnet’, by aficianados of the genre)
20. RASTIGNAC – (R-*against-C – a recurring character in the Comedie Humaine novels by Balzac)
22. ELIOT – (<toile – from the French word meaning cloth or web. T S Eliot)
24. OLEANNA – (o-le-anna – novel by Mamet)
26. BENNETT- ( Ben-net-t . Presumably Alan Bennett, but could be Arnold as he did write plays too.
27. DORIS – (hidden clue)
28. BLEASDALE – ( *bales -dale. Another Alan – first noticed for his ‘Boys from the Black Stuff.’
DOWN
1. BLAIR – (b-lair. Orwell’s real name – Eric Arthur Blair)
2. ALADDIN – ( a -ladd-in. Alan (!) Ladd, film actor best known in forties and fifties.)
3. STEVENSON – ( steven’s – oWn – Robert Louis Stevenson)
4. RESTORATION – (rest-oration. Name of film by M.Hoffman)
5. ECO – (ec-o – Umberto Eco of ‘Name of the Rose’ fame.)
6. MILNE – ( Mi-l-ne – A A Milne)
7. MENDOZA – ( – *a dozen m – Brigand in ‘Man and Superman’, by G Bernard Shaw)
8. TRONDHEIM -( *modern hit)
13. THE CRUCIBLE – dd. Play by Arthur Miller about the Salem Witch trials,
and the Sheffield theatre known to many as the venue for World Championship Snooker)
14. ISHERWOOD – (i-sherwood. Christopher Isherwood, friend of Auden and perhaps popularly
known for his Berlin diaries which led to Van Druten’s ‘I am a camera’ and
the film ‘Cabaret’)
16. PENDENNIS – (pen-dennis – Dennis Wheatley . Novel by Thackeray )
18. LE SUEUR -( le- sue-ur. First and last of ‘likeable’- sue – ur, the cruciverbally ubiquitous old city. Painter , one of founders of French Academy )
19. GUIMERA – (* argue around ‘im’ – Angel Guimera, dramatist. ‘Mar y cel’ was his first success)
21. INNES – (inn-Y-es – Hammond Innes, successful novelist, many of whose books were
filmed – e.g ‘Campbell’s Kingdom’)
23. TITLE – ( ti-<lt-e – Game as in Cup Tie)
25. ALB – (a-lb. – long white robe reaching the ankles, worn by priests.).
Octofem has left me nothing to comment about today so here is some trivia:
‘Doris Bleasdale’ (the bottom row of the grid) is the name of an RNLI Mersey class lifeboat which is located at Clogher Head in the Republic of Ireland.
Geoff, I certainly didn’t know that. I also must get into the habit of looking at the grid after it is complete, to spot such gems!
Like me, you should have better things to do with your time! 🙂