Wow!! Where to start?
Nimrod threw everything at us in this puzzle – thematic entries, linked clues, some rather tenuous synonyms and some original and inventive wordplay.
It was an extraordinary choice for the ghost theme (2d) – a very strange (in our view!) song written in 1940 which for some unfathomable reason made it to no.1 in the charts in 1975, when performed by Windsor Davies and Don Estelle from ‘It Ain’t Half Hot Mum’ – a sitcom the popularity of which we still have difficulty understanding.
Apart from finding the two otherwise undefined extracts from the lyrics (7d and 9d), we needed electronic help for 24ac (which we’re still not 100% sure about).
Whilst the clues to 7d and 9d refer to some of the lyrics of 2d (at 22d, 11ac, 21d, 7d, 13d and 4d) all of which were clued normally, 3d also appears in the lyrics, albeit without hyphens.
For afficianados of the Indy crossword, there were references to two other indy compilers, and by-the-by, it’s a pangram!!
| Across | ||
| 6 | Part of campsite where change may be had for Spooner’s capital?… | |
| TASHKENT | A Spoonerism of CASH TENT (part of campsite where change may be had) | |
| 8 | …another turning heads in business circles – JR? | |
| OILMAN | LIMA (another capital city – referring back to the previous clue via the….) with the first two letters, or ‘heads’ reversed or ‘turning’ in, or ‘circled by’ ON (in business, as in ‘you’re on’). Although we never watched the long-running soap ‘Dallas’ it was hard to avoid references to JR Ewing – the ruthless oilman at the heart of the series played by Larry Hagman | |
| 10 | Uncomfortable cox settled for what’s literally restrictive | |
| CLOSED TEXT | An anagram of COX SETTLED – anagrind is ‘uncomfortable’ | |
| 11 | Box not quite fitting order | |
| TELL | TELL |
|
| 12 | Honour new path taken from behind summerhouse | |
| GAZEBO | OBE (honour) + ZAG (new path) all reversed or ‘taken from behind’ | |
| 13 | Quixote, for example, admits a little compilation’s hastily attached… | |
| TACKED-ON | TAKE DON (Quixote, for example) round or ‘admitting’ C (first letter or ‘a little’ of Compilation) | |
| 15 | …22 my colleague’s reported method of transmission | |
| WI-FI | Sounds like (‘reported’) WHY (22d) PHI (one of Nimrod’s fellow setters) | |
| 16 | Eccentricity suppressed by particular relation | |
| NIECE | E (eccentricity) in or ‘suppressed by’ NICE (particular) | |
| 17 | Activity of rogue flier? | |
| LARK | Double definition | |
| 18 | Numbers worn by past women | |
| TEA GOWNS | Cryptic definition – TENS (numbers) round or ‘worn by’ AGO (past) W (women) – women apparently once wore dresses called Tea gowns | |
| 19 | Loose holy woman losing head wants God back briefly | |
| UNTIED | ||
| 20 | Finally, murder charge revoked – Queen famously surviving | |
| PARR | R (last or ‘final’ letter of murder) + RAP (charge) reversed or ‘revoked’ – Catherine Parr being famous for surviving Henry VIII | |
| 21 | We’ll go around with tricorns barking | |
| TOWN CRIERS | Cryptic definition – an anagram of WE and TRICORNS – anagrind could be ‘go around’ or ‘barking’ – Town criers always seem to be portrayed wearing tricorn hats while ‘barking’ the news in the days before Levison became necessary | |
| 23 | I’ll get cuddled by Judge, being a pansy | |
| JESSIE | I in, or ‘cuddled by’ J (judge) ESSE (being) | |
| 24 | Make delivery on circuit where there’s a RAM reserve | |
| YORK GATE | This was a stinker!! We’re still not sure, but we think it must be: YORK (make delivery, as in bowling a Yorker in cricket) + GATE (circuit, as in an electronic circuit). A google search reveals that the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) has a museum (‘reserve’?) in York Gate at the entrance to Regent’s Park in London | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | I run important circuit the wrong way round, finishing-line providing some comfort | |
| PALLIATIVE CARE | I with RACE (run) VITAL (important) LAP (circuit) reversed or ‘the wrong way’ around + E (last letter or ‘finishing’ of line) | |
| 2 | Buzz Ira Gershwin’s GP’s number | |
| WHISPERING GRASS | An anagram of IRA GERSHWIN’S GP’S – anagrind is ‘buzz’. Amazingly this weird song is the theme of the puzzle! | |
| 3 | Only supplying basic facts in touring week on… | |
| NEED-TO-KNOW | More tricky parsing due to linked clues – an anagram of WEEK ON and DON’T (the answer to the next clue) – anagrind is ‘touring’. The phrase (without the hyphens) features, with several other entries, in the lyrics of 2D | |
| 4 | …this stop in Stratford on travels! | |
| DON’T | Hidden in StratforD ON Travels | |
| 5 | Everything he related about nights abroad: 22 11 21D to 7 13D? | |
| ALL THE OLD THINGS | ALL (everything) + HE inside TOLD (related) + an anagram of NIGHTS (anagrind is ‘abroad’.) More lyrics from 2D – (‘why tell them to the trees’) but not exactly a definition! | |
| 7 | Different men clearing perimeter? It’s definite | |
| THE | ||
| 9 | Soaks tracking friend on path, head down: 4 11 21D to 7 13D? | |
| ALL YOUR SECRETS | RETS (soaks) after or ‘tracking’ ALLY (friend) + COURSE (path) with the first letter moved to the end, or ‘head down’. Yet more lyrics from 2D (‘don’t tell them to the trees’) | |
| 13 | My colleague’s outside right for Forest? | |
| TREES | TEES (another of Nimrod’s fellow setters) round R (right) | |
| 14 | Guarantee draughtsman’s tip has been snatched by scoundrel | |
| CHEQUE CARD | This foxed us for a day or two! Then the penny dropped – it’s CHEQUER (‘draughtsman’ – as in the board game) with the last letter or ‘tip’ in or ‘snatched by’ CAD (scoundrel) | |
| 21 | Opposition to US ambassador staying in Turkmenistan | |
| THEM | HE (his or her excellency – ambassador) in TM (Turkmenistan) | |
| 22 | The reason a letter is read aloud | |
| WHY | Sounds like (‘read aloud’) the letter Y | |
Wow indeed! I couldn’t believe my eyes as the ghost theme unrolled itself. Wonderful puzzle, and my heartfelt congratulations on the blog, B&J. A chef d’oeuvre worthy of Nimrod’s effort.
I had the sheet music for this song, back in 1942, and can remember my attempts to render in on the piano, Of course my inspiration was not Don Estelle, but the Ink Spots.
(Tell that to young people today, and they wouldn’t believe you. 🙁 )
24 is a clue that requires the esoteric knowledge of the London cabby to solve. I am feeling too charitable to make further comment on the puzzle as a whole.
Sidey, sorry I don’t see where cabbies come into it. ‘Big soft jessie’ is a common enough insult.
I’d heard of the song but couldn’t say I knew it, but that was enough to get 2dn. And somehow, somewhere in my memory I realised the linked clues were lines from the song and googled the lyrics, which gave me the answers.
24ac I didn’t know and I guessed YARD GATE, working on “Make delivery on circuit” was “dray” backwards, but beyond that I was lost.
Trivia alert.
The spoken recitative by Windsor Davies in the Don Estelle version has its precedent in Much Binding in the Marsh, where Richard Murdoch took the high tenor, and Kenneth Horne, in his ordinary voice, did the interlude. They announced themselves as The Stink Pots.
24 is York Gate Conrad, a spectacularly obscure reference that a London cabby might get.
Sorry Sidey.
Yeesh! I managed to complete it correctly without recourse to aids but it took me over an hour and I didn’t understand the “RAM reserve” definition of YORK GATE, my LOI. The WHISPERING GRASS theme went way over my head and I had to rely on the wordplay for several of the related answers. I found the LHS much easier than the RHS for obvious reasons. I know this was a prize puzzle so the difficulty level shouldn’t have been a surprise, but it honestly wasn’t a lot of fun, for me at least. Well blogged, B&J.
I really enjoyed solving this although I could have done without singing the song in my head for several hours after I’d finished the crossword! Lots of fun as is the review so thanks to Nimrod and the dynamic duo.
Having now looked on the map, I realise I must have passed York Gate on the way to concerts at the RAM, but the main entrance is in Marylebone Road.
23ac, I think I parsed as Jesse around I, where in the bible Jesse is the father of David and I guessed one of the biblical judges. But B&J’s parsing makes more sense.
I only got this puzzle on line this morning and have sat and puzzled my way through to the end. It was a really enjoyable exercise. It took me well over an hour to complete and like Andy B I had the LHS done long before the RHS which was difficult. I got YORK GATE from the clue but as there is a garden of that name in Yorkshire I thought they must have a flock of sheep to keep the grass down!!!
Excellent puzzle and blog. Thx
Wow. Just when I suspected that my brain cells were dying at a faster rate than previously, I manage to compete an Enigmatist and a Nimrod in the same week. Mind you, I have never before completed a crossword with so little understanding of the wordplay. Several answers: Oilman, Tacked On, went in on definition. York Gate went in as the only possibility. Fortunately I knew all the words of Whispering Grass so, after singing it through a few times I managed to get a lot more answers. I can’t find Closed Text in any dictionary. It appears to be a term used in semiotics, not my strongest subject. I liked the cash tent, that was more my level.
Very hard work. Andy B@8 and almw3@11, I wouldn’t worry about “(well) over an hour”, I took much, much longer. In fact that’s about when I had my first correct answer! Finally all completed correctly, but a bit of a hollow “victory” as I couldn’t parse many of the clues and missed out on the theme.
Quite apart from the puzzle itself, the blog was a real tour de force. Well done and thanks.
I guess I must have heard the song when I was knee-high to a grasshopper and too young to remember, but otherwise the theme was a complete mystery so I was baffled by the cross-references. Loads of electronic help required. But of the ‘normal’ clues I thought TOWN CRIERS was brilliant!
Never heard, nor heard of, this song. Thus, much satisfaction eluded me. (Nice to feel too young for a change!) Now I have to get up and search for a couple of titfers. For Bert and Joyce have earned more than a mere metaphorical “hats off”!
Thanks to Nimrod.