Independent 9,017 by Raich

by

The usual very nice workout from Raich; not really demanding, but enough to cause someone like me to stop and think from time to time. I had no quibbles with any of the clues: they all seemed to be sound and some of them, like (and here I look through the clues to find ones to quote and nothing really stands out either positively or negatively, but perhaps) 6dn and 7dn were good.

For once I got the theme, or at any rate a large part of it. 1ac is a song recorded by the 9ac 12ac, and 28ac is a line from it. There are no doubt other thematic references, but the good thing about it all is that the crossword can all be solved without one’s needing to know anything about this. Furthermore, Raich has managed to include the thematic material without either using some unnatural words or having less than 50% checking anywhere.

Across
1 UNCHAINED MELODY
Hound dame nicely performing this? (9,6)

(Hound dame nicely)* — but is there some sort of an &lit. aspect to this that has escaped me?
9 RIGHTEOUS
Morally justifiable trick? Strange ethos – round the bend! (9)

rig (ethos)* round U
10 ARIEL
Marie loves hugging gazelle (5)

Hidden in MARIE Loves
11 SHRUGS
Quiet sport gets empty gestures (6)

Sh RU g{esture}s
12 BROTHERS
Fusses about Royal relatives (8)

b(R)others
13 RAGLAN
Daily with short country coat (6)

rag lan{d}
15 TEASPOON
New – a one-stop sugar supplier? (8)

(a one-stop)*
18 HEIGHTEN
Become more intense, hard – this clue has letter missing? (8)

h eighte{e}n — this clue, being 18ac, is eighteen — but why the question mark?
19 ROBSON
Mugs possible England boss? (6)

robs on — this had to refer to football, since I know Raich’s likings and also the word ‘boss’ leads one (me, at any rate) in that direction — ref Bobby Robson, the England football manager in the 80s and 90s
21 YOGHOURT
Roy ought to change milk-based food (8)

(Roy ought)*
23 JEROME
Man from Paris I brought to Italian city (6)

je [from Paris I, in other words the French for ‘I’] Rome
26 NUALA
Irish girl back in Kampala unexpectedly (5)

Hidden reversed in KampALA UNexpectedly
27 DOORFRAME
Cross about blemish returning in metal entrance feature (9)

(rood)rev. (mar)rev. in Fe
28 ARE YOU STILL MINE
Question about relationship put another way – same routine, Lily? (3,3,5,4)

(same routine Lily)* — OK not really an expression that you will find in the dictionaries, but acceptable since it is part of the theme, and in any case not a major problem once a few checkers are there
Down
1 UPRISER
Some sure sir, pushy, climbing? (7)

Hidden reversed in suRE SIR PUshy — an &lit. which doesn’t fully convince, since it reads so unnaturally, but I think that’s what it’s meant to be
2 CIGAR
Smoke in vehicle – serviceman upset (5)

(GI)rev. in car — smoke as a noun
3 AUTOGRAPH
Tough para’s unusual signature (9)

(Tough para)*
4 NOON
12 either way (4)

‘either way’ indicates that it is a palindrome and 12 is 12.00 or noon, not 12ac
5 DISCREET
Tactful individual, we hear (8)

“discrete”
6 EXACT
Precise European times performance (5)

E x [= multiplied by, times] act
7 ODIFEROUS
Exotic rose I found (with no name) having fragrant scent (9)

(rose I found – n)*
8 YELTSIN
New style home – Russian (7)

(style)* in — ref Boris Yeltsin
14 GOING RATE
One refusing to give thanks after energy comes to current price (5,4)

go [= energy] ingrate [= one refusing to give thanks]
16 SHOVELFUL
Some coal maybe in Southern shack – fuel lacking effectiveness originally (9)

S hovel fu{e}l, the e coming from e{ffectiveness}
17 HEBRIDES
Hot English women tying the knot somewhere in Scotland? (8)

h E brides
18 HRYVNIA
Initially hearing reservations, your view now is accepted – money needed in Kiev (7)

First letters — the Ukrainian currency, which I had to look up since I’d never heard of it
20 NYERERE
African leader in New York before queen turns up (7)

NY ere (ER)rev. — ref Julius Nyerere — (lots of links to people in this crossword)
22 OTAGO
Regularly visited port (Rangoon) and NZ region (5)

{p}o{r}t {(R}a{n}g{o)o{n)}
24 OMANI
Arab shortly rising (5)

(in a mo)rev.
25 FOCI
Some info cited centres of attention (4)

Hidden in inFO CIted
*anagram

14 comments on “Independent 9,017 by Raich”

  1. Regarding Unchanged Melody, in 1995 the actors Robson Greene and Jerome Flynn sang this in an episode of the ITV drama Soldier, Soldier. They subsequently released a record of the song, using the name Robson and Jerome, who appear at 19 across and 23 across.

  2. Thanks for blogging, John.

    I’m even more theme-blind than you, but I did spot RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS and guessed that the top and bottom rows were songs of theirs. But as you say, you didn’t need to know that to solve the puzzle. Well done to Christopher for spotting the other connections.

    Fine puzzle from Raich with the usual football reference. Thank you to him too.

  4. I was beaten by 19 and 20, not having even the vaguest inkling of the names. I enjoyed everything prior to that crashing halt though. Thanks, Raich and John.

  5. I wondered about Robson & Jerome but thought Unchained Melody was a much older song and wouldn’t have anything to do with them. I always thought the name was strange, but apparently it started as the theme for a film called Unchained.

  9. John is a big boy and can point this out for himself, but he did explicitly say in the preamble that 28ac is a line from 1ac.

  11. Many thanks, John, for the excellent blog and also to all who commented. Yes, Jimmy Young had a huge hit with this in 1955, but I could not quite fit him into the grid with its other requirements. Re #10, how the blogger has explained ROBSON is what was intended.

    While the song on its own has been enduringly famous, I think the original idea and the title of the song was on the subject of a prisoner having been released wanting to see if his girlfriend was still interested. This influenced the anagram fodder for 1A and 28A.

  12. This theme totally passed me by. Last time Unchained Melody turned up in an Indie crossword I said I knew the name but had never heard the song. I was pointed to a performance on Youtube and it did sound vaguely familiar, but I now can’t remember it at all.

    In the end I screwed up badly in the bottom right corner and it was only when I got here I noticed I’d not even got an answer to 12ac.

  13. Enjoyed this, watched Ghost for the first time in many years a few days ago as well. 8d needs more love! As do 17 and 24d, imo.

    A few unknown words for me though.

  14. I’m shocked no-one mentioned that 28ac is a line from 1ac….! Do some commenters neither read the (in this case excellent) blog nor others’ remarks? I call it discourteous – this is a conversation after all.
    More pertinently, I ticked HEIGHTEN – my favourite.
    A very pleasant offering from Herr RaichMeister.
    Many thanks.

Comments are closed.