A tougher than usual challenge this week, on a theme which was unfamiliar to me.
There were four references to 27 25 (including, puzzlingly, one at 27 down itself); it was only after the puzzle had been solved that I realised that it should be read as the 27 Club (and not the Kurt Club). Although I had of course heard of all four musicians, I was unaware that they had all died at the same age. Coincidentally, Amy Winehouse was in the news this month because a statue to her was unveiled in Camden.
After finding two clues ending in X, I thought at first of Asterix and Obelix, and then it occurred to me that the puzzle might be a pangram, but I was wrong on both counts. There was a wide variety of clue types, and some lovely surfaces, (although 27, 23 may upset some solvers). The outrageous homophone at 18 down was my particular favourite.
| Across | ||
| 9 | IRON CROSS | Press angry with decoration (4,5) |
| A simple charade, but for some reason (having the O from 4 down) I got fixated with OBE as the decoration, which led to PROBE, but ultimately nowhere. | ||
| 10,2 | JANIS JOPLIN | Member of the 27 25 makes love again in pyjamas returned after the New Year (5,6) |
| NIL, 0 (love again) in PJS after JAN 1. I had J*N from early on, well before I got the theme, but Janis was not one of the words that occurred to me. | ||
| 11 | ELLIS | New York island where musician stripped (5) |
| (c)ELLIS(t). This is the island next to Liberty Island where the Statue of Liberty stands and was the United States’ first federal immigration station; the clue may therefore be said to have an & lit character, although Wikipedia reveals that most of the island has recently been ruled to be in New Jersey. | ||
| 12 | CALYX TUBE | A bit of a bloomer, but almost exactly restored (5,4) |
| *(BU(t) EXACTLY). I had heard of the word, but not the phrase, which I had to google to confirm. | ||
| 13 | See 24 down | |
| 14 | OEUVRES | Taken regularly, home run very easy and works (7) |
| Alternate even (regular) letters of “hOmE rUn VeRy EaSy”. I didn’t see this for a long time, because I foolishly supposed that it couldn’t possibly be a word beginning “oe”. | ||
| 17,16 | ULTRASOUND | Our last lousy Hamburger and it gets picked up by dogs (10) |
| * (OUR LAST) UND (German for “and”). The capital H fairly indicates that we are not referring to a meat product here. I wasted time looking for a word to do with scent, rather than hearing. | ||
| 19,1,13down | AMY WINEHOUSE | A drink at mine for member of the 27 25 (3,9) |
| A WINE in MY HOUSE. The first of the themed clues to fall into place for me, although I still didn’t fully understand the theme. | ||
| 20 | SADHU | Holy man had us abused (5) |
| *(HAD US). | ||
| 21 | ELEMENT | One’s happy in one’s earth, perhaps (7) |
| Cryptic definition. Earth is one of the four elements in ancient mythology. | ||
| 22 | SPLICED | Put together the beginnings of scientific programme designed to capture parasites (7) |
| LICE in S(cientific) P(roramme) D(esigned). | ||
| 24 | JUDICIOUS | Prudent to cross street with the Spanish: that would be just delicious (9) |
| JU(ST) D(EL)ICIOUS. In form, this is a bit like a compound anagram, but without the need to rearrange the letters. You take the answer, “cross” it with St(reet) and the Spanish word for “the”, and the result is “just delicious”. | ||
| 26 | RUBIK | Cut short regret and cycle to reach maker of puzzle (5) |
| RU(e) BIK(e). | ||
| 28 | MACAU | Dilemma caused partly by Las Vegas rival (5) |
| Hidden in “Dilemma caused”. | ||
| 29 | SOMMELIER | From whom 1 left, drowning in sad memories (9) |
| L in *MEMORIES. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | See 19 across | |
| 2 | See 10 | |
| 3 | ICY SURFACE | 17 cool champion wave rider can be slippery (3,7) |
| SURF (“wave”) in ICY (“ultra cool”) ACE (“champion”). |
||
| 4 | COCCYX | Heard one crowing after the 5th bone? (6) |
| Sounds like “cock six”. | ||
| 5 | PSALMODY | Singing note, perhaps madly in love? On the contrary (8) |
| PS, 0 in *MADLY. Misleading surface, as “madly” is usually the anagram indicator, rather than the fodder. | ||
| 6 | AJAX | Greek campaigner gets a German agreement, sealed with a kiss (4) |
| A JA X. | ||
| 7 | ENQUIRED | Asked for paper in conclusion (8) |
| QUIRE in END. | ||
| 8 | ISLE | Said compiler’s going to Skye? (4) |
| Sounds like “I’ll” (i.e. “I’m going to…”). | ||
| 13 | See 19 across | |
| 15 | UNSALARIED | Broke, alas, and ruined with no money (10) |
| *(ALAS RUINED). Arguably, this clue would work as an & lit if you omitted the last three words, with the wordplay supplying the definition. | ||
| 16 | See 17 | |
| 18 | THEODICY | Homer’s work reported how the divine is justified (8) |
| Sounds like “The Odyssey”. | ||
| 19 | ART HOUSE | A room to have often uniquely screened European premieres (3,5) |
| First letters, and again a clue with an & lit character. Chambers gives “arthouse” as one word. | ||
| 22 | SESAME | Finally, smile is included in English service in return for the magic word (6) |
| E in E MASS (rev). | ||
| 23 | See 27 | |
| 24,13across | JIMI HENDRIX | Member of the 27 25 sees chicken cross one road back onto the first motorway junction? (4,7) |
| J1 M1, HEN 1 RD (rev) X. The parsing is a little tricky, but the answer is clear. | ||
| 25 | CLUB | Staff card (4) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 27,23 | KURT COBAIN | Weekend incubator prepared for member of the 27 25 (4,6) |
| K(“weekend”) *INCUBATOR. I don’t know if “weekend” is what Eileen would call a “lift-and-separate” type of clue: if so, it would incur the wrath of Don Manley, as expressed recently in a thread on this discussion board (look for “A REAL MOAN”). I spotted it straight away, but couldn’t work out the rest of the answer for a long time, mainly because I was looking for real words (not proper names). | ||
*anagram
I’d never heard of the “club” although later in the week it featured on an old QI. I suppose we have to accept that themes will require the internet more often than not, ho hum.
In 3d, if you take “wave rider” you get “surf ace”, no problem with a possible plural then.
Thanks bridgesong. Like you I wasted some time unsuccessfully researching KURT CLUB before I stumbled on the Club of 27. Very clever I thought.
I’ve now learned how to pronounce 4.
I had never heard of the 27 club either but found it interesting. I managed to finish the puzzle after getting sidetracked into reading about it. Find it quite amazing really. I well remember Brian Jones drowning.
Thanks both.
Thanks bridgesong, especially for explaining the club: I was mystified throughout, but finished all right, without aids.
Enjoyed this immensely despite the slightly macabre theme. Well it seemed more that way when, like others, I was hammering away at “Kurt Club” – a bit less so when the penny dropped. Amazing how many members there are.
17a 16d – that capital H gives the game away in the cryptic reading and ruins the surface reading. Guardian solvers (esp on a prizer) are surely expected to “see through” capitalisation and punctuation. What a fine and curly clue it would have been without that.
+ Tx for the blog BS.
Thanks Philistine and bridgesong
I do like the style of this setter … and as has been said, a wide variety of clueing devices used here – thought that ART HOUSE was brilliant … and beautifully crafted into the surface of the clue to camouflage it so well.
Agree with JS that it was a morbid theme … but it is an interesting phenomenon when you read up on it. My way in was with Kurt Cobain but didn’t really click until I had Janis Joplin and tried googling her in the Kurt club :)) … and fell into the 27 club. Anyway, it was interesting!
Failed by going with ICE SURFACE and last in was the very clever, and previously unknown, THEODICY.
Thanks for all the comments so far. Sidey @1, I now see that 3 down should be parsed “champion wave rider” = “surf ace”, so my comment was mistaken.
I visited Ellis island as a child and it left a great impression on me, so I guessed 11 ac straightaway but never spotted the parsing despite being a cellist myself! Oh well. (The Statue of Liberty is on Liberty Island, by the way).
Found this tough going but rewarding – thanks Philistine and bridgesong
I parsed 24,13across slightly differently:
HEN in (“cross”) I DR (“one road back”), and then all of that inside (“onto”) JI (“the first”) MI (“motorway”) X (“junction”)
If this is what you meant, bridgesong, then I apologize 🙂
Thanks to bridgesong for the blog. There were quite a few cases where I thought “the answer has to be xxx but why” and you explained them.
On 26 I had the initial R then spotted RU(e) and jumped immediately to RUFUS who is a well known maker of (crossword) puzzles. Eventually I saw the light 🙁
I am another who thought “Kurt club”?? I found the answer finally by use of google.
I’d never heard of the 27 Club but I knew of all the musicians in question so it was an easier solve than it might otherwise have been. I then found when I came here that I’d put ICE rather than ICY at the start of 3dn for no good reason that I can see now. Ho hum.
Thanks all
When this compiler burst onto the scene it was with a series of quite difficult but clever puzzles.
He then seemed to drift to the easier end of h spectrum. This returns him to his very best with a bang. I think my dislike of themes is known but if we must have one let it be as weirdly obscure and delightfully misdirected (Kurt club) as this one. I was fairly familiar with the 27 phenomenon but was still completely misled until Amy W.appeared.
My favourite was ‘art house’.
Is the fact that (I think) nobody has mentioned the double ocurrence of ‘house’ at 13 and 19 down a measure of the skillful construction.
I put ‘theodacy’ for 18d as there was no indication as to whether it should be an ‘a’ or an ‘i’ (or an ‘o’ or a ‘u’ or an ‘e’)
Thanks for the blog, Bridgesong.
I thought I was going to have to [once more] attempt to scotch the myth that I’m responsible for the phrase ‘lift and separate’, then followed your link and found that Mark Goodliffe acknowledges that he was possibly the ‘culprit’, as DM would have it. I came across the term here http://www.crosswordunclued.com/2010/12/lift-and-separate.html , where Shuchi attributes it to Mark.
This was another fine puzzle from Philistine. My favourites were ULTRASOUND and JUDICIOUS – and I laughed out loud at the ‘outrageous’ THEODICY. [In which dictionary did you find THEODACY, michael? And how do you pronounce ‘Odyssey’?]
Many thanks to Philistine.
Thanks for the blog. This was a clever puzzle which I enjoyed a lot. I too thought it was shaping up to be a pangram then, with two Xs two Js and a Q, I thought that Philistine was just going for a high scrabble score… bit disappointed not to see a Z.
I had heard of the 27 club. Statistically it is just a figment of the imagination. I seem to remember an article showing this a a classic example of confirmation bias.
Reading the comments at 14 and 15 reminds me that I was also undecided between THEODICY and “theodacy”. Eileen, I don’t think Michael is saying that he found the latter anywhere, just that it was a valid alternative to the clue as it was written. I didn’t know the word and in certain regional accents the “acy” ending could certainly rhyme with Odyssey.
Thanks bridgesong, I really enjoyed this puzzle and being a muso, I was very familiar with the 27 club.
Even so, the theme still took a bit of cracking but it was great fun to make small strides. Many thanks Philistine.
yes, very enjoyable, although took a while to spot the theme. and i spent an age trying to fit “isay” (a small island off Skye) into 8down.
thanks to all.
I thought this a clever puzzle which I enjoyed very much. I knew the 27 club so once I got JANIS JOPLIN,the best went in quite easily- though I wondered about the KURT club for a while. THEODICY was brilliant
Thanks Philistine
Found this quite an entertaining workout, which I just managed to complete unaided on a train. Must admit that although I thought I understood the theme (which I got quite early haaving seen AMY WINEHOUSE) I didn’t realise the significance of 27, having considered Kurt club as plausible. I think CALYX TUBE was last in and least familiar.
Thanks to bridgesong and Philistine
Thanks bridgesong and Philistine. I liked the clues but had no idea about the theme. I did know the musicians needed so I guessed my way to completing the grid without ever quite knowing why.
Just reading the comments above about THEODICY – I’m another who couldn’t remember how to spell it – I had an S for a while which caused me a few problems with MACAU. The price of travelling without a dictionary or a web device…
Great puzzle, thanks, Philistine.
Just one nit-pick: the pronunciation of the “th” in The Odyssey and theodicy is not the same so they aren’t in fact homophones.
Thank you Philistine and bridgesong
I found this great fun, but had to google Kurt Cobain…there saw the 27 Club mentioned.
Still having a problem parsing JIMI HENDRIX, not sure where J1 comes from. Steve B @10 says “the first”, but the first what? I tried using X (“cross”), J1 (“first” “junction”), but this is not correct.
Could it be like this?
HEN (“chicken”) X 1 RD (“cross one road” back) onto the J1 M1 (“first motorway junction”) JIMI HENDRIX
Having been a Rolling Stones fan from their beginning, I knew about the 27 Club, and once I got Janis Joplin the rest fell in, but it’s a lovely bit of misdirection in the 27/25/23 clueing. Never heard of a calyx tube, and had to look up theodicy to check that it existed. Lots of great clues here (I liked ULTRASOUND, COCCYX and ELEMENT among others). Thanks Philistine and bridgesong.
I enjoyed this puzzle. Unlike some others, I was conversant with the theme. I had never heard of the “Kurt Club,” though after getting “club” and “Kurt Cobain” (my first theme clue), I thought, “Oh, the Brits must have a weird name for all those rock stars who died young.” Amy Winehouse was my last of the four, because after Cobain I went looking for Joplin and Hendrix.
Ellis Island was actually the U.S.’s second immigration station; it was opened after the one at Castle Clinton (at the southern tip of Manhattan) was outgrown.
The New York vs. New Jersey thing is kind of funky. When Ellis and Liberty Islands were originally ceded to New York, it was agreed that the western half of the Hudson River itself was in New Jersey, but the islands in it were in New York. But…since Ellis Island was later more than doubled in size by land-fills, that new land was in NJ, the Supreme Court ruled. So some of the island is in each state; several of the buildings straddle the boundary.
Oh, and I thought the ULTRASOUND clue was a hoot, and that the ARTHOUSE clue was brilliant.
Well, I don’t know what’s happened to that chicken, but at least it wasn’t going to the Birds Eye Factory.
Loved ULTRASOUND and JUDICIOUS. Thanks again to Philistine and Bridgesong.
Loved this puzzle. I had heard of the 27 Club, but didn’t get hold of it until I got Amy Winehouse. On 17,16 I spent ages trying to find an anagram of Hamburger + R [OUR last & lousy hamburger – doesn’t take much to misdirect me). Thanks very much bridgesong – and of course Philistine.