OK, one more then! Especially for the event, Alchemi (Independent/FT) wrote a celebratory crossword titled ‘Happy Birthday’. The PDF can be found here: Alchemi @ Cambridge . It is also possible to solve this puzzle interactively by clicking here. Which is, by the way, a good excuse for visiting Alchemi’s excellent Alchemiland website!
No less than twelve solutions were surnames of more or less well-known people. That is, apart from Fish (26d) whose real name is Derek William Dick.
They were all born on the 25th of April (as was Renee Zellweger but she’s not one of the twelve).
Their names are highlighted in the blog below.
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | CALLOW |
Inexperienced about everything that hurts (6)
C (about) + ALL (everything) + OW (that hurts) |
| 4 | CROMWELL |
Civil War general‘s battery keeping Maryland’s capital in line (8)
CELL (battery) around {M[aryland] inside ROW (line)} Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) |
| 10 | ULVAEUS |
Member of Abba poor value, essentially disgusting (7)
(VALUE)* + [disg]US[ting] [* = poor] Bjorn Ulvaeus (b. 1945) |
| 11 | BRISTOW |
Corrupt payments half put away by darts player (7)
BRI[bes] (corrupt payments, half) + STOW (put away) Eric Bristow (b. 1957) |
| 12 | FITZGERALD |
Dead singer‘s glitz fared badly (10)
(GLITZ FARED)* [* = badly] Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996) |
| 13 | UNDO |
In the end, you again had to back out (4)
Last letters (‘in the end’) of: [yo]U [agai]N [ha]D [t]O |
| 15 | SKIERS |
Captains not quiet at all as they go downhill (6)
SKIPPERS (captains) with no P (quiet) at all |
| 16 | AMASSED |
Collected a fool in the sea (7)
A + {ASS (fool) inside MED (the sea)} |
| 19 | PANESAR |
England cricketer‘s glass sheets are cut (7)
PANES (glass sheets) + AR[e] Monty Panesar (b. 1982) |
| 21 | MURROW |
Dead US journalist rebuffing strange argument (6)
MUR (reversal (‘rebuffing’) of RUM (strange)) + ROW (argument) Edward R. Murrow (1908-1965) |
| 23 | EMMY |
Gracious after setter returns award (4)
MY (gracious!) coming after EM (reversal (‘returns’) of ME (setter)) |
| 25 | OPHTHALMIA |
Procedure that cheaply (if only occasionally) reaches target: reversing conjunctivitis (10)
OP (procedure) + ‘occasional’ choice of: [t]H[a]T [c]H[e]A[p]L[y] + MIA (reversal (‘reversing’) of AIM (target)) |
| 27 | DESKILL |
Office furniture this person will make less demanding (7)
DESK (office furniture) + I’LL (this person will) |
| 28 | MARCONI |
Return stuff about India’s dead Nobel laureate (7)
MARC (reversal (‘return’) of CRAM (stuff)) + ON (about) + I (India, think: NATO alphabet) Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937) |
| 29 | DEATH BED |
The last place you would expect to find someone who headed BT badly (8)
(HEADED BT)* [* = badly] |
| 30 | UDERZO |
Australian wine posh? The reverse, according to Asterix’s creator (6)
Reversal (‘the reverse’) of: OZ (Australian) + RED (wine) + U (posh) Albert Uderzo (b. 1927) |
| Down | ||
| 1 | CRUYFF |
See bird swallowing unknown ex-footballer (6)
C (see, the letter) + {RUFF (bird) around Y (unknown)} Johan Cruijff (b. 1947) |
| 2 | LOVE-TOKEN |
Look at ban on Livingstone, say, as an earnest of intent (4-5)
LO (look) + VETO (ban) + KEN (Livingstone, say) |
| 3 | OVER-GREASY |
Having too much fat – method of cooking eggs in the US contains grammes (4-6)
OVER EASY (method of cooking eggs, in the US) around GR (grammes) |
| 5 | RUBELLA |
Polish 12 has a complaint (7)
RUB (polish) + ELLA (12, i.e. 12ac = Fitzgerald) |
| 6 |
Armour which gets delivered most days (4)
Double definition |
|
| 7 | EATEN |
Geordie cheers up after last of ale is consumed (5)
ATEN (reversal (‘up’) of NE (Geordie) + TA (cheers)) coming after [al]E |
| 8 | LAW LORDS |
Senior judges heard everyone in cricket ground (3,5)
AWL (homophone (‘heard’) of ALL (everyone)) inside LORDS (cricket ground) |
| 9 | OSIRIS |
God therefore put up flag (6)
OS (reversal (‘put up’) of SO (therefore)) + IRIS (flag) |
| 14 | FAIR-HAIRED |
Blonde tortoise opponent did, according to Spooner (4-6)
Spoonerism of: HARE (tortoise opponent) FARED (did) |
| 17 | STORM DOOR |
Southerly heading for Marines’ party essentially more protection against bad weather (5,4)
S (southerly) + TO (heading for) + RM (Marines, the Royal ones) + DO (party) + [m]OR[e] |
| 18 | SPLENDID |
Magnificent organ missed first note, then was satisfactory (8)
{SPLEEN (organ) minus the first E (note)} + DID (was satisfactory) |
| 20 | REPULSE |
Be disgusting about Bean (7)
RE (about) + BEAN (pulse) |
| 21 | ME TIME |
Private self-indulgence for actor in silent film? The opposite! (2,4)
ET (film) inside MIME (silent actor), instead of the other way around |
| 22 | PACINO |
Harmonica player captivates rising actor (6)
Hidden solution (‘captivates’): [harm]ONICA P[layer], then reversed (‘climbing’) Al Pacino (b. 1940) |
| 24 | MASSA |
Car racer masters when to climb (5)
MAS (masters, plural of MA) + SA (reversal (‘to climb’) of AS (when)) Felipe Massa (b. 1981) |
| 26 | FISH |
Singer one between loud and silent (4)
I (one) between F (loud) and SH (silent) Fish, ex-Marillion (b. 1958) |