PeeDee is away today so I am standing in for him and have the pleasure of covering this offering from Chalmie. I’m not sure that solving/blogging this puzzle in the early hours of the morning after an evening spent imbibing some (read a lot of) amber nectar (as usual) is a good idea but it’s too late now to change my mind.
A themed puzzle today centred around 2dn, on the centenary of his birth, but no mention of “The War of the Worlds” or “Citizen Kane”. Instead we have three of his lesser known works (at least to me), apart from perhaps 14dn. I enjoyed solving this puzzle, as I usually do with Chalmie/Alchemi, but do I have a slight quibble about 6dn.
Across
1 Force can clear out rabbits’ bottoms (6)
FLOORS – F (force) LOO (can) R[abbit]S (clear out rabbits)
4 Film’s large Greek character receiving scripture lessons to begin with (3,5)
THE TRIAL – THETA (Greek character) around (receiving) RI (scripture lessons) plus L (large)
10 How to shoot dangerous criminal hosting rebellion (2,5)
ON SIGHT – an anagram (rebellion) of HOSTING
11 Stewed artist is in bed (7)
BRAISED – RA (artist) IS in BED
12 Sherry some quaff in Oxford (4)
FINO – hidden in (some) ‘quafF IN Oxford’
13 Turkey mashed up with a couple of limes – mm! (10)
MILLIMETRE – an anagram (mashed up) of TR (Turkey) LIME LIME (a couple of limes)
16 Knight has space to carry back mature footballer (6)
KEEGAN – K (knight) EN (space) around (to carry) AGE (mature) reversed (back)
17 What to get when rudely addressed by King Edward swallowing excessively (7)
KNOTTED – K (king) NED (Edward) around (swallowing) OTT (excessively)
20 Following winding alley, beginning to find page (7)
FLYLEAF – F (following) plus an anagram (winding) of ALLEY plus F[ind] (beginning to find)
21 Complaint when cheers drown Her Majesty (6)
ASTHMA – AS (when) TA (cheers) around (drown) HM (Her Majesty)
24 American ice-cream is sour: I analyse extract (10)
MISSOURIAN – hidden in (extract) ‘ice-creaM IS SOUR I ANalyse’
25 Boasted about replacing farm animal’s heart (4)
CREW – RE (about) replacing the middle letter (heart) of CoW (farm animal)
27 Flyer showing business computers hold the key (4,3)
COAL TIT – CO (business) IT (computers) around (hold) ALT (the key)
29 Fish possibly exchanges weight for length to get thinner (7)
SLIMMER – SwIMMER (fish possibly) with L (length) replacing (exchanges) w (weight)
30 Hears victims and gives help (8)
SUCCOURS – a homophone (hears) of ‘suckers’ (victims)
31 Corporation putting a little apricot into fruit drink (6)
PAUNCH – A[pricot] (a little apricot) in (putting … into) PUNCH (fruit drink)
Down
1 Top honours received by very loud fish film (1,3,4)
F FOR FAKE – A K (top honours {ace king}) in (received by) FF (very loud) ORFE (fish)
2 Colossus of the performing arts sore and swollen after beating (5,6)
ORSON WELLES – an anagram (after beating) of SORE SWOLLEN
3 Perhaps antibiotics get rid of last trace of fitted carpets (4)
RUGS – [d]RUGS (perhaps antibiotics get rid of last trace of fitted)
5 Somewhere to heat jewellery which isn’t moving freely (8)
HOBBLING – HOB (somewhere to heat) BLING (jewellery)
6 Team is disturbed after universal pictures put up are very shocking (10)
TRAUMATISE – U (universal) ART (pictures) reversed (put up) plus an anagram (disturbed) of TEAM IS – I’m having difficulty in equating the definition with the solution. The parts of speech don’t seem to line up, the definition would surely lead to ‘traumatic’.
7 Object’s attacks fail to start (3)
ITS – [h]ITS (attacks fail to start)
8 Boy on top of the German squash club ranking? (6)
LADDER – LAD (boy) DER (the German)
9 Glass piano-maker? No way! (5)
STEIN – STEIN[way] (piano-maker? No way!)
14 Film that her mind processed (3,5,3)
THE THIRD MAN – an anagram (processed) of THAT HER MIND
15 Fidel takes odd bits of gold and iron for C18 occultist (10)
CAGLIOSTRO – CASTRO (Fidel) around (takes) G[o]L[d] I[r]O[n] (odd bits of gold and iron)
18 Director finally managed to get up and overturn schedule for 2’s most frequent film role (8)
NARRATOR – [directo]R (director finally) RAN (managed) reversed (to get up) plus ROTA (schedule) reversed (overturn)
22 Shifts mass through hose (6)
SMOCKS – M (mass) in (through) SOCKS (hose)
23 Swamp planet with heroin (5)
MARSH – MARS (planet) H (heroin)
26, 19 Once married to 2, film star was oddly hairy? What rot! (4,8)
RITA HAYWORTH – an anagram (was oddly) of HAIRY WHAT ROT
28 Upside-down shellfish releasing black discharge (3)
ARC – CRA[b] (shellfish releasing black) reversed (upside-down)
Thanks Gaufrid and Alchemi,
I thought this was really good. My favourites were Cagliostro and F For Fake.
The definition for TRAUMATISE (6d) seems fine to me: These horrible pictures are very shocking./These horrible pictures traumatise.
Is amber nectar lager or whisky in this case? Whichever, it seems to caused you to miss something elliptical in the grid.
Thanks Muffyword, I withdraw my quibble about 6dn.
It was whisky but that wasn’t the cause of my missing something, nor was it the fact that I started solving the puzzle at 3:30am. Even in the cold light of day I cannot see that to which you are referring.
Row 4 nina – something to do with Citizen Kane.
Thanks again Muffyword.
There are two reasons why I missed the Nina. Firstly, I know absolutely nothing about the film apart from its title and, secondly, for some inexplicable reason (apart from the time of day) I had put an E on my hardcopy instead of the O!
Thanks for the blog, o mighty Gaufrid. And to Muffyword for pointing out the Nina.
In “Citizen Kane”, “rosebud” is a leitmotiv whose significance is only revealed at the end of the movie, so it was my conceit to imitate that effect by making it a nina. That way, I was doing Kane without having to make it a write-in answer. I’d also intended to make various references in the clues to Martians coming to simulate the WOTW radio play, but I forgot that I’m hopeless at trying to make clues include prescribed ingredients, so that didn’t happen.
To add to the entries Gaufrid pointed out, Welles was for many years the voice of Domecq sherry (FINO), he had a PAUNCH and ASTHMA, and CAGLIOSTRO was the part he played in the 1949 film “Black Magic”.
Hi Chalmie
Thanks for dropping by and for providing the additional thematic material. Unfortunately you picked a theme about which I know virtually nothing. Films, and their associated activities/persona, are not within my sphere of expertise. I have only been to the cinema once during the last 50+ years and have watched very few of the ones that have been televised.
Thank you Chalmie for a very nostalgic crossword, and Gaufrid for the blog.
I, too, have not been to the cinema or watched television for a very long time, but I do remember seeing ORSON WELLES in THE THIRD MAN, and later when living in Vienna going down the sewers on a day when they were exceptionally opened. Also spent my 60th birthday in El Jadida and visited the Water Cistern where parts of Othello were filmed.
Thanks Geoff for covering for me. I was sorry to miss a chance to blog a Chalmie puzzle. I did this on the train and enjoyed it very much. I missed the Nina, but as usual I forgot look. I should have guessed there would be one. I wondered about TRAUMATISE at first too but hen some to the same conclusion as muffy. Well disguised I thought.
Fits will do as well for “attacks” (7d).
Thank Chalmie and Gaufrid
Very enjoyable puzzle done on a dreary day whilst trying to do stage one of moving house yesterday.
Saw the theme and as it turns out only half of the thematic answers … and even if I spotted the nina (which I didn’t) I wouldn’t have known how that would have linked back into the theme
Finished off in the NE corner with THE TRIAL, KNOTTED, HOBBLING and BRAISED as the last few in. Wasn’t helped by having written OAF it at 7d – thinking that it was an &lit with the starting letters of the first three words. I thought that both CREW and ARC were very clever after I got them.
Nice stuff …