Help! Well Quixote did say yesterday to expect a harder thematic soon. As per usual there’s 1 I can’t really parse so help would be appreciated.
So here we are with Scorpion and a full themed Beatles crossword. Can’t see any Ninas as such.
I’ve tried to add Beatles links but suspect I’ve missed quite a few. There’s a lot of reversed in the wordplay reflecting on the use of it in later recording perhaps.
Across
| 6 | STRAWBERRY (fields forever) | Warts rev + Hom of Bury. 4000 holes perhaps with Blackburn |
| 9 | JOHN (Lennon) | Double definition |
| 11 | APPLE (Beatles record company) | (w)ALE(s) around P(arish) P(riest) |
| 12 | (yellow) SUBMARINE | B(read) in SUM + (in ear)* [Edit quite right KD should proof read really!] |
| 13 | (day) TRIPPER | T(hailand) + RIPPER (Australian for great) |
| 14 | EARFLAPS | A+R +ALF reversed in EP |
| 16 | OCTOPUS (‘s garden) | C in Old Testament + Opus |
| 18 | EASTMAN (Linda’s maiden name) | EAST + ‘NAM reversed |
| 20 | HAMBURG (early gigs there) | HAM + GRUB reversed |
| 23 | RAPIDLY | D in APRIL* + Y(ogi) |
| 25 | PORTICOED | R + TIC in POO (number 2) + Editor |
| 26 | RINGO (Starr) | GROIN* replaced Pete Best |
| 28 | USER (well they did a lot of drugs!) | Hidden reversed in flaRES Unlikely |
| 29 | EGG CUSTARD | EG + (drug acts)* |
| Down | ||
| 1 | ASIA | A1 (fab) + S(ong) A(rrangement) reversed |
| 2 | DESSERTS | Stressed reversed |
| 3 | TREBLE | (Eng)elbert reversed [edit minor typo fixed] |
| 4 | SOCIAL | Not sure here, 1 + CO reversed in SAL. Can’t really see SAL/LAS being Scouse group. A bad pun on liverpudlian speak for CELL? |
| 5 | ANTE | (serg)EANT* |
| 7 | REPAINT | R(evolver) +IN in TAPE reversed |
| 8 | WHELP | (che)W + HELP! |
| 10 | (I am the) WALRUS | URL in SAW all reversed |
| 13 | TROTH | H(igh) in TROT |
| 15 | PENNY (lane) | PEN (fold) + N(ew) Y(ork) |
| 17 | PLUG IN | LP reversed + U + GIN |
| 18 | EURYDICE | E(nters) U(sing) + DRY ICE with D moved a bit |
| 19 | (lady) MADONNA | MAD + ON + AN reversed |
| 21 | MERSEY | YES and REM reversed |
| 22 | GEORGE (Harrison) | ROE in EGG reversed |
| 24 | PARIS | PAIRS with I moving. Michelle ma Belle |
| 25 | PAUL (Mccartney) | U in PAL. World cup predicting Octopus. |
| 27 | ODDS | Starting prices and odd letters in PrIcE = PIE |
4d http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_La%27s it would seem
Thanks flashling
Google came to my rescue for 4dn. Apparently there was a Liverpool rock group in the ’80s called The La’s.
I’m afraid that I don’t understand your “4000 holes perhaps with Blackburn” comment in 6dn. I would not say that Bury is ‘somewhere near Blackburn’. The clue should have had Bolton, Manchester or even Rochdale.
Thanks for The La’s, it was lost on me. The 4000 holes comes from “Day in the Life” by the Beatles. http://www.guardian.co.uk/notesandqueries/query/0,,-82706,00.html
Thanks, flashling.
This was tough, I thought, and even though I’d twigged the theme, I was about to throw in the towel when I got OCTOPUS and SUBMARINE. So I finally finished, and enjoyed it. I like themes like this one, where solutions are related but aren’t just a list of novels, authors, or Man Utd players.
I think at 3dn we need an anagrind: it’s ENGLEBERT less ENG, and (LEBERT)*. And SUBMARINE is B in SUM (tot) and an anagram of (IN EAR)*, I fancy. But I certainly needed your blog to explain three or four others, which I stuck in without the slightest idea of the parsing.
Nice theme, good puzzle.
What fun! Thanks to Scorpion and to flashling for the blog. I think they’re in all of them, aren’t they, either in the clue or the answer?
K’s Dad-
EngELbert, not Englebert (German spelling, nicked from German composer)! (I think you must have seen it before flashling’s correction.) So no anagrind needed. Possibly my favourite clue in fact.
You’re quite right, Thomas99. My mistake – I took ‘upset’ to be an anagrind when in fact it was just indicating a reversal. Meant to say earlier that PORTICOED was my favourite today – I was trying to fit in the four-letter word for POO for a long time before the penny dropped.
Great fun. Thanks to Scorpion and Flashling. I do like a crossword where you can relive your youth and sing along as you solve!
Excellent puzzle, great fun to solve. But I didn’ realise how pervasive the theme was and under time pressure used the cheat button to finish off. Pity, it was very doable.
Yes, impressive to fit so much in. Seeing the theme (after quite a while) helped me finish. Some of the wordplay v tortuous (in the best sense of the word) in the way I associate with Scorpion. And I’d say, Gaufrid, that for most us Bury and Blackburn are near enough to have caused no problem. Hard and enjoyable puzzle – thanks, Scorpion, and flashling for the blog.
Thanks flashling and Scorpion. Am glad I went on to this after finishing my FT blog. Something right up my street! Very enjoyable indeed!
Great many references. Would I be stretching the theme a bit if I said that EGG and CUSTARD in 29A are from the lyrics of “I am the Walrus” – “…I am the eggman…” and “…yellow mother custard dripping from a dead dog’s eye…”.
Particularly liked 25A PORTICOED, having learned what was No.2 since doing the Indy, 3D TREBLE, and 18D EURYDICE.
PS. Now, I’m not sure if it’s “…yellow matter custard…” or “…yellow mother custard…”.
Like many themed puzzles, of which I am not a fan, I found the clues in this too contrived. You couldn’t have finished this, I suspect, if you knew nothing about The Beatles (though I admit there are not such many people!)