As we were told that ‘all the across clues lack a thematic definition’ it seemed logical to start with the downs and the first pass through these gave enough entries for me to be able to determine the theme from 1ac and 11ac.
The theme was artists, some well-known, some less so (to me at least) though gettable from the wordplay. My only real hold-up was 21dn, where I can see the definition but do not understand the rest of the clue, and 12ac where the answer went in quickly from the first part of the clue but I was left wondering about the second half and the ellipses linking with 13ac. I still (several hours later) cannot come up with a satisfactory explanation for these two clues. Edit: 21dn now resolved – thanks Prantles.
Across
1 Caught by a hollow and called out (6)
CADELL – C (caught) A DELL (hollow) and anagram (out) of CALLED – Francis Cadell
4 Railway organisation redesigned huge elevated railroad (8)
BREUGHEL – BR (railway organisation) anagram (redesigned) of HUGE EL (elevated railroad) – take your pick from Pieter Brueghel the Elder, Pieter Brueghel the Younger, Jan Brueghel the Elder or Jan Brueghel the Younger
10 Former chancellor by ebbing sea in Nice (9)
REMBRANDT – MER (sea in Nice) reversed (ebbing) {Willy} BRANDT (former chancellor) – Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn
11 Doctor accepts remedy – caught out (5)
DURER – DR (doctor) around (accepts) [c]URE (remedy – caught out) – Albrecht Durer
12 Chase during March? Untrue (4) (After heartless saint goes missing) . . . . (4)
HUNT – hidden in (during) ‘marcH UNTrue’ – Michael John Hunt, William Henry Hunt, William Holman Hunt or William Morris Hunt – this clue/clues baffles me as the first half has a definition (chase) or else two sets of wordplay and I cannot make any sense of the second half. Why is the enumeration given twice and why the ellipses here and in 13ac?
13 . . . . held at US navy review (10)
SUTHERLAND – anagram (review) of HELD AT US RN – Graham Sutherland (possibly others?)
15 Feeling worse before taking first tablet (7)
SICKERT – SICKER (feeling worse) T[ablet] – Oswald Sickert or Walter Sickert
16 Colossus I framed (6)
TITIAN – TITAN (colossus) around (framed) I – Tiziano Vecelli
19 Some startling results (6)
INGRES – hidden in (some) ‘startlING RESults’ – Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
21 Wooster’s greeting to Jeeves is heard (7)
WATTEAU – homophone (is heard) of ‘what ho’ (Wooster’s greeting to Jeeves) – Jean-Antoine Watteau
23 Naturalist finally very keen on backing swimmer (10)
TINTORETTO – [naturalis]T INTO (very keen on) OTTER (swimmer) reversed (backing) – Jacopo Comin
25 Murdoch’s capital for press that’s not new (4)
MIRO – M[urdoch] (Murdoch’s capital) IRO[n] (press that’s not new) – Joan Miro
27 Pinta returned to table-top (5)
KLIMT – MILK (pinta) reversed (returned) T[able] (table-top) – Gustav Klimt
28 A grand for repair (9)
FRAGONARD – anagram (repair) of A GRAND FOR – Alexandre-Évariste Fragonard or Jean-Honoré Fragonard
29 Explorer with new title lost pounds (8)
ROSSETTI – ROSS (explorer) anagram (new) of TIT[l]E (title lost pounds) – Dante Gabriel Rossetti
30 Touches of red and emerald and black in Chartres (6)
RENOIR – R[ed] E[merald] NOIR (black in Chartres) – Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Down
1 Company shrunk, ordering covering for maize (8)
CORNHUSK – CO (company) anagram (ordering) of SHRUNK
2 Friar at party receives tiny tinnie (9)
DOMINICAN – DO (party) MINI (tiny) CAN (tinnie)
3 Singer’s frolic (4)
LARK – double def.
5 But it didn’t prevent the cart overturning (7)
RATCHET – anagram (overturning) of THE CART – a pawl/ratchet-wheel can stop something from rotating (turning) but a cart doesn’t have one so this isn’t an &lit therefore where is the definition?
6 Don’t over-emphasise the nation’s subjugation? (10)
UNDERSTATE – UNDER (subjugation) STATE (nation)
7 Charger with tail docked by a Germanic invader (5)
HORSA – HORS[e] (charger with tail docked) A
8 Crippling ordeal in US city (6)
LAREDO – anagram (crippling) of ORDEAL
9 Affront Sinbad last month (6)
INSULT – anagram (bad) of SIN ULT (last month)
14 Treble to be served out of this? (4,6)
BEER BOTTLE – anagram (served out) of TREBLE TO BE – spirits might be served as a ‘triple’ (or treble?) but not from a beer bottle!
17 A sheep consumes half the Camp Coffee (9)
AMERICANO – A MERINO (a sheep) around (consumes) CA[mp] (half the Camp)
18 Small group from Russia’s boundary (8)
SUBORDER – SU (Russia {Soviet Union}) BORDER (boundary)
20 Thinks appropriate arranging its fees (4,3)
SEES FIT – anagram (arranging) of ITS FEES
21 Where this means “besides” (6)
WITHAL – withal=besides is in Chambers but as for the rest of the clue, I’ve no idea! Edit: ‘means’ = ‘wherewithal’ so ‘where this (ie the answer)’ gives [where]WITHAL. Thanks Prantles. If this clue had been written by Azed the ‘this’ would have been italicised.
22 Boilerman from Potteries town. Right! (6)
STOKER – STOKE{-on-Trent} (Potteries town) R (right)
24 Tacks on maniples regularly (5)
NAILS – [o]N [m]A[n]I[p]L[e]S
26 Francis Alexander works in gym (4)
POPE – OP (works) in PE (gym) – Francis, the current Pope, and a reference to Alexander Pope
Re 21d. Could it be wherewithal being means?
Re 21d. ‘means’ could be wherewithal?
Oooops!
Nice puzzle and thanks for the blog Gaufrid.
Flew through this for the most part – the theme fell early and many (not all) of the artists were an easy guess. Took a good while to finish the SE corner though.
12a – I think it’s like a clue which would have been a triple had it had a def. Take away the normal def and you have a non-answer def (ie like the other half of a DD) and an embed wordplay. The real def – the artist (as a former Mancunian I only thought of Holman Hunt) is unstated.
The bracketed stuff (and the extra enumeration) I can’t fathom either – surely it’s a typo or a versioning problem.
5d I actually liked rather a lot. There’s no clear def but it just sort of floats out and makes sense once you’ve got it from the wordplay.
On past form the setter will now wade in and say – sorry 5a’s a typo too and explain the regular clue that was originally intended. I don’t care – I still say I like it.
Oops – 5d not 5a near the end there.
Thanks Gaufrid for the blog, and to Prantles for the parsing of 21d.
The second part of 12ac gives Holman via ‘heartless saint’ = Hol[y] man.
Isn’t there a problem with the spelling at 4ac though? Surely it’s BRUEGHEL (as per Gaufrid’s examples) not BREUGHEL.
Hi Pandean
Thanks for the insight regarding 12ac. As for 4ac, Collins gives Breughel as a variant spelling of Brueghel (along with Bruegel); see:
http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/breughel
I must admit that I didn’t notice the discrepancy whilst solving, nor later when I was writing the blog (there again it was rather early in the day).
@pandean – re Holman Hunt – brilliant
“After” – and “goes missing” I think I can work into that – but why the extra enumeration and is there a special reason for the 4-dot ellipses?
Re Breughel/Brueghel – it seems that dictionaries give both spellings as alternatives – you can even drop the H. That’s from googling – I must admit that I was unsure myself and happy to get rid of the necessary letters when the crossers became available.
Gaufrid @7 – Thanks. I initially entered BREUGHEL myself which was confirmed by UNDERSTATE, but then I could only find decent references for the Brueghel spelling. One to remember for the future.
Jolly @8 – Maybe the second enumeration in 12ac is to show that he is referring to two different painters – Hunt and Holman Hunt? And the ellipses could just be for the surface reading on into the clue for 13ac?
Great pozzle, but that HOLMAN thing ius a bit confusedd I think, as is the FRANCIS ALEXANDER, I say you don”t need these things!
Rowly.
Thanks gaufrid theme was obvious just from solving some of the across stuff knowing no definition. 21 d had me beat for word play. I have no love of artists but even I’d heard of this lot. Ta setter, good train home diversion.
Many thanks Gaufrid & Gozo
This was VERY ENJOYABLE even though I failed with 21d WITHAL