As the laws of probability dictate, it sometimes happens that it falls to me, the most inappropriate person, to blog this sort of crossword. Hob has given us a crossword based on the 20 and some of the clues refer to the 20 taken literally. Thank goodness for Google, which told me practically all I needed to know about the two types of group.
A good crossword from Hob; I’m bewildered by a couple but suspect a deeper knowledge of the 20 than I have is called for. Perhaps not: am I simply being stupid?
Definitions underlined.
Across
9 Perhaps one who saw Tommy Cooper (firm outing with one leaving) (9)
OPERAGOER
{Co}oper a goer — Tommy the rock opera
10 It’s hard to manage after retirement age (5)
EPOCH
(h cope)rev.
11 Fled in case bats flew, just missing head (7)
ESCAPED
(case)* {s}ped — ‘bats’ is the anagram indicator
12 Expert now capable of delivering encryption requirement tips? (7)
ENCODER
First letters, &lit.
13 Unconscious state, lacking heart (4)
COMA
co{m}ma — I was ready to throw this upon the public, not being able to understand it, but at the last minute realised that it was one of those very occasional clues where the punctuation mark is part of the clue: the comma in this case
14 Old women having left Crown & Thistle, drunk in ditch (4,6)
SLIT TRENCH
(Cr{ow}n Thistle)*
16 Large female eating a mixture of oil and fat (7)
LANOLIN
l An(oil)*n
17 Betrayal of side in lost cause (7)
TREASON
{los}t reason — ‘side in lost’ is one of the sides of ‘lost’
19 Glenn Frey, twice having stripped off, keeps cycling round beach to find something to eat (6,4)
FRENCH BEAN
I’m not really comfortable here: OK Glenn Frey was one of the members of The 20, and in the middle you have ‘beach’ with the bea moved to the end [cycled round], and this is kept by ‘Frenn’, which comes somehow from {Gl}enn Fr{ey} — perhaps what’s happening is that ‘beach’ doesn’t cycle but is anagrammed, indicated by ’round’ (but then how do we get the containment?) and ‘Glenn Frey’ is twice stripped off to become ‘ennFr’ and then keeps cycling, i.e. it becomes ‘rennF’ and then ‘Frenn’ Thanks Muffyword @1, yes I’d missed that ‘off’ is the anagram indicator of ennFr
22 Even total failure returned boxes (4)
FLAT
Reverse hidden in toTAL Failure
24 Paper girl’s toy cat (7)
RAGDOLL
rag [= paper] doll [=girl] — but is it really a toy cat? I was unaware that a ragdoll is a type of cat, so there are two defs, toy and cat — thanks several***(second time) as has been pointed out by more than one, it seems to be rag = paper, doll = girl’s toy, def cat — although what I suggest is possible, the latest attempt to parse the clue is probably the correct one
25 New business leading sheep (5-2)
START-UP
star [= leading] tup [= sheep]
26 Not moving, as semi is rent-free (5)
INERT
i{s} (rent)* I think
27 Europe’s upset about Times and Sun revelations (9)
EXPOSURES
(Europe’s)* containing at various points x [= times] and s — or, equally possibly, ((Europe)* containing x) s
Down
1 Number of 20 briefly seen in South Carolina (5,10)
HOTEL CALIFORNIA
This was certainly one of the 20’s songs but the parsing is beyond me — it looks as if somehow there is an anagram of ‘Carolina’, but how this is indicated I can’t see, nor how the other letters appear — is this some reference to the song itself? As several point out, it’s either HC or HCa hidden in South Carolina. But thin perhaps, and is there more?
2 Faithful follower writes article supporting Henley & Schmit pieces (8)
HENCHMAN
an [article] below Hen{ley} {S}chm{it}, H and S being two of the members of the 20
3 Like a stringed instrument? That’s one of the 20 for you (5)
HARPY
2 defs, this time referring to the bird and one of them being whimsical: like a harp
4 Singer sadly left boy band (3,5)
BOB DYLAN
(l boy band)*
5 Chap with time to follow the 20 (6)
ERNEST
ernes t, an erne being another name for an eagle
6 Ferrari? Darling, that’s what VIPs get (3,6)
RED CARPET
Red car, pet
7 Like one of the 20, longed to play? (6)
GOLDEN
(longed)* — referring to the Golden Eagle
8 Don H & Patty S T-shirt, shortly to be modelled by stenographer (9,6)
SHORTHAND TYPIST
(Don H Patty S T-shir{t})* — but I’m not sure about ‘by’: is it a link-word?
15 Need to get in matches for power cuts (9)
BLACKOUTS
b(lack)outs
17 Section of Church Times covering vicar’s bottom one month (8)
TRANSEPT
t({vica}r an Sep)t
18 Rabid royalist, like some of the 20 (8)
SOLITARY
(royalist)* — ref the Solitary Eagle
20 Group dogs apart from bitches, initially (6)
EAGLES
{b}eagles
21 More like one of the 20 found in top of beech tree (6)
BALDER
b{eech} alder — ref the Bald Eagle
23 Period of renewal’s heaven for the 20’s Joe (5)
WALSH
Hidden in reneWAL’S Heaven — a member of the 20
*anagram
Thanks John and Hob,
I think FRENCH BEAN is ((gl)enn fr(ey))* – twice having stripped (remove outer letters twice) + “off” as anagrind – keeps (surrounds) cycling round (cycled) beach. This would mean it is a coincidence that FRENN is also cycled.
HOTEL CALIFORNIA has its initials hidden in SoutH Carolina.
A great puzzle and blog.
24 – A doll is a girl’s toy, if we allow casual sexism. Ragdoll is a breed of cat.
A very enjoyable puzzle that was right up my street. EPOCH was my LOI after SHORTHAND TYPIST, neither of which should have taken as long as they did.
Apologies in advance if my thoughts below have crossed with those of someone else.
I parsed 19ac as an anagram of (gl)ENN FR(ey)and BEACH, with “twice having stripped off” telling us to take away the outside letters of Glenn Frey twice.
I parsed 1dn as soutH CArolina, with the H CA shorthand for HOTEL and CALIFORNIA.
I parsed 24ac as RAG (paper) plus DOLL (girl’s toy) with CAT as the definition. A RAGDOLL is a breed of cat.
There was plenty to enjoy in this crossword with its double theme, and I was also almost expecting a reference to the golf term, ‘eagle’. I found it slightly easier to solve than to parse: I needed help to parse 1d, 13a, 9a, 12a, 17a.
My favourites were 25a, 10a, 8d, 27a, 26a, 17d, 6d.
New words for me were HARPY eagle and SLIT TRENCH.
Thanks Hob and John
Actually easier than I expected, I saw the Eagles early on and feared more knowledge of the group would be required.
Cheers for some of the parsings where I was too lazy to work them out 🙂
Music themed puzzles aren’t generally to my taste, but I found this quite enjoyable. Knowledge of flying eagles was actually more useful than knowledge of the group and I was helped by having heard of bald eagles, golden eagles and ernes. I hadn’t heard of ragdoll as a species of cat (aren’t the owners tempted to throw them around?)
Well, the theme went above my head at first. Finally got 20dn by realising there were several types of eagle appearing. Later on, I remembered HOTEL CALIFORNIA was associated with a group called The Eagles (as was the theme tune to Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy). In the end, I had two to get, 5dn, 23dn, so I looked up The Eagles on Wikipedia and discovered several of the names in the puzzle were members of the group. Needed a word search to get 5dn, but kicked myself when I saw it.
Thanks to all who explained 1dn, that had foxed me, as had 17ac.
Hob is cooking on gas!
I adored this puzzle. Perfectly clued and the theme(s) accessed beautifully – setting artistry.
(And, as a surprise bonus for the puerile amongst us – in need of a ‘cheeky’ clue – I just loved 17!)
Acknowledgments to John and another thank you to Hob.
We were late starting this one and had to leave 3 clues which we completed this morning. RAGDOLL was the LOI and we came here to check the parsing rather than look in Chambers! So thanks John.
Thanks Hob for the amusement!
John, re: 24ac, there are not two definitions. The only definition is CAT. The DOLL element of the answer comes from “girl’s toy”, not “girl”. The toy that you think is the second definition is a “rag doll” and in any dictionary I’ve looked at it is always two words.
Did this late last night. Took a while to get going but enjoyed some good clues. The 20 birds were no problem but had to look up the 20 people.
Thx