A bonus blog for me – covering for Bert & Joyce, who are no doubt on some well-earned R&R… An interesting and enjoyable challenge from Punk this week.
No obvious theme or Nina that I could see, but a definite Eighties feel to this one to me – with references to OMD, Madonna (OK – she is Nineties and Noughties, ad nauseam as well), and the first time, I think, that I have seen FORTRAN in a cryptic puzzle, which raised a wry smile from this former Eighties COBOL programmer!
Stretching the musical theme I could see ‘TANGO in the night’ (Fleetwood Mac) at 2D, ‘PUBLIC Image Ltd’ at 16A, and SPRUCE Springsteen (?!) at 1D – but maybe those associations say more about my music collection than I should be revealing here. And there was also GRAND PIANO, ORWELL and TENNYSON to lend a bit of classical/literary weight.
A couple of laugh out loud moments – ‘wiry down there’ in 16A, Tony Blair ‘lacking leadership’ at 28A, and the ‘wee doubt’ planted in our minds at 26A. SKIERS at 6D went straight in from the definition, but took a while to explain when writing the blog.
The long entry ‘Orchestral Manouevres in the Dark’ didn’t actually twig for me until quite late on – although thinking back I am sure I have seen CLARE SHORT as an anagram for ‘orchestral’ , on its own, somewhere before. Once that went in, it helped with a lot of crossing letters elsewhere.
I briefly expected a pangram, with J, K, G, V and Y all making appearances, but no X or Z – at least in my submitted version!
One new word for me – JAGGERY – which I guessed from the word play, but had to look up to be sure, to be sure…wonderful surface reading there as well.
So, maybe overall a little ‘light and frothy(?)’ for a Saturday prize puzzle, but I for one certainly enjoyed a little trip down my own private musical and computer-programme-atical memory lane – thank-you to Punk.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
| 7A | PRIMA DONNA | Diva seen before another diva heard? (5,5) | Diva / &lit-ish homophone – PRIMA DONNA sounds like PRE (before) MADONNA (another diva) |
| 9A | DARK | See 22 (4) | See 22 / See 22 |
| 11A | UPTIGHT | Tense, happy, then mean (7) | Tense / UP (happy) + TIGHT (mean) |
| 12A | TREADLE | Pedal lad manipulated in plant (7) | Pedal / TREE (plant) around ADL (anag, i.e. manipulated, of LAD) |
| 13A | EYES | /23. Certainly having to perform among new balls, prepare to play bingo (4,4) | prepare to play bingo! / E WN (anag, i.e. balls, of NEW) around YES (certainly) + DO (perform) |
| 14A | MANOEUVRES | See 22 (10) | See 22 / See 22 |
| 16A | PUBLIC | Down below, wiry boxes left open (6) | Open / PUBIC (wiry, down below!) around (boxing) L (left) |
| 18A | PLANET | Nimrod perhaps requiring bullet in the end for massive revolver (6) | massive revolver (on its axis) / PLANE (Nimrod, type or RAF plane) + T (last letter of bullet) |
| 22A | ORCHESTRAL | /14/8/9. Group of which Clare Short, it’s suggested, ignorant (10,10,2,3,4) | (80s/90s pop) Group / ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES (anag, i.e. manoeuvres, of CLARE SHORT) + IN THE DARK (ignorant) |
| 23A | DOWN | See 13 (4) | See 13 / See 13 |
| 26A | WEED OUT | Eradicate minor suspicion that’s pronounced (4,3) | Eradicate / homophone – WEED OUT sounds like WEE (minor) + DOUBT (suspicion) |
| 27A | JAGGERY | Brown Sugar like its singer, might you say? (7) | Brown sugar / Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones – and thus singer of the track ‘Brown Sugar’ – might be described as ‘jaggery’ |
| 28A | LAIR | PM lacking leadership in office? (4) | Office / (B)LAIR – Prime Minister, without leading letter |
| 29A | GRAND PIANO | One’s three-legged relative paid off on falling over (5,5) | one’s three-legged / GRAN (relative) + DPIA (anag, i.e. off, of PAID) + NO (on, falling over) |
| Down | |||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
| 1D | SPRUCE UP | English mongrel among young dogs on hind legs for groom (6,2) | groom / PUPS (young dogs) around E (English) + CUR (mongrel) – all lifted up ‘on hind legs’ |
| 2D | TANGO | Steps taken to put shade on green light (5) | steps / TAN (shade) + GO (green light) |
| 3D | FORTRAN | Army post managed programming language (7) | programming language / FORT (army post) + RAN (managed) |
| 4D | UNCTION | Grace gets work going topless (7) | Grace / (F)UNCTION – work, losing top letter |
| 5D | MANDARIN | Tongue that’s orange (8) | double def’n / Mandarin (with capital) is a language, with small ‘m’ can be a type of orange |
| 6D | SKIERS | Heart in mouth going to the extremes for those at Val D’Isère (6) | those at Val D’Isère / KISSER (mouth) with heart (middle letters, SS) going to the outside = SKIERS! |
| 8D | IN THE | See 22 (2, 3) | See 22 / See 22 |
| 10D | MEDULLA | Punk lacking intelligence, requiring a bit of brain (7) | bit of brain / ME (Punk, the setter) + DULL (lacking intelligence) + A |
| 15D | AILERON | Flap on a wing, or a line that’s crooked (7) | Flap on a wing / anag (i.e. crooked) of OR A LINE |
| 17D | BACTERIA | Possible cause of disease returned, more upset, we hear? (8) | Possible cause of disease / homophone – BACTERIA could sound like BACK (returned) + TEARIER (more upset) |
| 19D | TENNYSON | Joiner welcoming state subsidy’s beginning to become a poet (8) | poet / TENON (joint, joiner, in wood) around NY (New York, state) + S (first letter of subsidy) |
| 20D | STATURE | Certain to hide rubbish level of achievement (7) | level of achievement / SURE (certain) around (hiding) TAT (rubbish) |
| 21D | MAH-JONG | Upset amateur player needs to run to catch new game in China (3-4) | game in China / MAH (ham, or amateur player/actor, upset) + JOG (run) around (catching) N (new) |
| 22D | ORWELL | Either sick __ writer? (6) | writer (George) / &lit-ish – finish the sentence: you can be either sick OR WELL |
| 24D | OMEGA | Conclusion: it’s nothing big (5) | Conclusion, as in ‘alpha and omega’) / O (nothing) + MEGA (big) |
| 25D | AGAPE | Turkish leader taking exercise with mouth wide open (5) | with mouth wide open / AGA (Turkish leader) + PE (exercise) |
Thanks mc_rapper. Couldn’t parse SKIERS but almost all of this went in from the blindingly obvious definitions. I suspect many would echo the sentiment expressed in the top row.
Thanks mc_rapper for standing in for us. We would have liked to blog this one as it turned out but we have only just returned from our R & R. We decided to do the puzzle this morning after having finished the Phi from yesterday. We only need to finish the devilish Inquisitor from last week and we are up-to-date!
This was good fun, Punk at his best with 16ac being a real classic!
We also needed to check 27ac which was our last ine in despite the fact that Brown Sugar is probably our number one dance track!
Thanks Punk, we finished this quicker than usual for a Saturday prize but no less enjoyable.
Sidey@1 – can you explain more about the top row? We can only see STFUMS. What are we missing?
The first four letters are a rather rude way of saying ‘be quiet’ and MS are the provider of many computer operating systems.
Thanks! It’s always amazing what you find out when solving crosswords – we live such a sheltered life!
B&J @4: Not so sheltered that you didn’t appreciate 16ac!
Very enjoyable if over a little quickly for a Saturday puzzle. Having said that, it took me three attempts to spell manoeuvres correctly ……………..
Thanks mc_rapper. Couldn’t get going on Saturday. Too many interruptions. However, I went fishing on Monday and took the crossword with me. Disturbed by neither people nor fish, I finished it fairly quickly. So many thanks Punk for a very entertaining puzzle.
I recently vented my spleen here about the unsuitability of a bunch of David Bowie references in a crossword, but at least I’d heard his name before. Today’s otherwise enjoyable fare was rather spoiled by having to resort to googling “orchestral … in the dark” to find the answer to 22/14/8/9 is an improbable and unguessable name of a pop music group from the distant past. I don’t object to obscure material in prize puzzles, but for goodness’ sake, at least make the obscure material interesting or useful.