Guardian Prize 26,675 / Crucible

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[If you’re attending York S&B please see comments 32&33] - here

A real sense of déjà vu – twice over, for me. Crucible gave us a similarly-themed puzzle this time last year – and I was lucky enough to blog that one, too.

I don’t think we really needed the ‘special instructions’, did we? I wrote the majority of this blog while listening to the first part of the LAST NIGHT OF THE PROMS, which, last year, Crucible clued with the stunning &lit, ‘Gosh, isn’t the platform busy tonight!’.

A real joy from start to finish – but I have to repeat what I said last time: over too quickly for me – but then I say that about all puzzles that I really enjoy. I think it’s a quite remarkable feat to have produced another classy puzzle on the same theme: every clue has a musical reference. I confess that, this time, I haven’t followed all of them up but I suspect, from the wording of the special instructions, that they may all have featured during the season: last year, all the references were, I think, specifically to the last night. I suppose it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea but I think we have enough pop music-themed puzzles to provide some balance, don’t we?

Lots of witty clues, rousing chuckles along the way – notably 8 and 10ac – and, as expected, lovely surfaces throughout, including, for instance, the clever use of ‘scorer’ in 3dn and ‘barman’ [22dn].

Many thanks, as ever, to Crucible, for a most enjoyable puzzle.

Across

1 Composer‘s been nursing tenor at seaside town (9)
BEETHOVEN
BEEN round [nursing] T [tenor] HOVE [seaside town]

6 What cellists do on radio in The Boy Friend? (4)
BEAU
Sounds like [on radio] bow [what cellists do] – reference to this musical

8 Is Elgar distracted by love in rooms for wags? (8)
SERAGLIO
Anagram [distracted] of IS ELGAR + O [love]
I thought I’d seen the best possible clues using this word in the last two or three months:
Goliath in the FT: ALGIERS: Seraglio almost built here? (7);
Rorschach in the Indy: SERAGLIO: How’s your father’s place in ruins of old Algiers? (8)
but this one had me laughing out loud, especially at the definition of wives and concubines as ‘wags’ – brilliant!
[And, of course, ‘Il Seraglio’ is a Mozart opera – the icing on the cake]

9 Refrain in Switzerland or America (6)
CHORUS
CH [Switzerland – IVR] + OR + US [America]

10 Group in the other marquee forget note (6)
SEXTET
With the crossers, the ‘group’ could have been either SEPTET or SEXTET and it took only a minute or two – with a giggle – to tumble to SEX = the other + TE[n]T [marquee minus n – note]

11 Subtle hint: tune in regularly during pub function (8)
INNUENDO
[t]U[n]E in INN [pub] DO [function] – Edit: tUnE iN regularly ‘during’ (in) INN DO – thanks to Simon S @15

12 Pole’s covering segment of Berenice capriccio  (6)
ICECAP
Hidden in berenICE CAPriccio

15 Variable speed acceptable in extremely showy work (8)
SYMPHONY
Y [variable] + MPH [speed] + ON [acceptable] in S[how]Y

16,17 Beecham choir can randomly test sound here (8,7)
ANECHOIC CHAMBER
Clever anagram [randomly] of BEECHAM CHOIR CAN

19 The way to tackle long instrument (6)
SPINET
ST [way] round [to tackle] PINE [long]

21 Drink firms suppress Consumers’ Association note (4-4)
COCA-COLA
CO + CO [firms] round [suppress] CA [Consumers’ Association] + LA [note]

22 Disconcert maestro (6)
RATTLE
Double definition – Sir Simon, conductor

24 Note describes topless dance in big city (6)
MUMBAI
MI [note] round [ describes] [r]UMBA [topless dance]

25 Intervals silence soprano, saving contest (8)
SEVENTHS
SH [Silence!] + S [soprano] round [saving] EVENT [contest]

26 Catch debut of Hammond organ (4)
HEAR
H[ammond] + EAR [organ]

27 He sings melodies using vowels, so clavier must be tuned (9)
VOCALISER
Anagram [must be tuned] of SO CLAVIER

Down

1 Note: Brahms overture always turns up (5)
BREVE
B[rahms] + a reversal [turns up] of EVER [always]

2 Sort of band that’s sensitive to changes in income (7)
ELASTIC
I got this from ‘sort of band’ but it needed a bit of research to find that ‘in economics, elasticity refers to the degree to which individuals (consumers/producers) change their demand/amount supplied in response to price or income changes’ – but I expect you knew that: double / cryptic  definition

3 Hearts lost injured scorer (5)
HOLST
H [hearts] + an anagram [injured] of LOST

4 5–10 strings, excluding E strings (7)
VIOLINS
V [five] + IO [ten] + LIN[e]S [strings minus e]

5 Steal Handel’s so-called familiar titles (9)
NICKNAMES
NICK [steal] + NAME [handle – sounds like {so-called} Handel]

6 The CBI managed to secure Ring for GM work, say (7)
BIOTECH
Anagram [managed] of THE CBI round [to secure] O [Ring]

7 Host a bishop and, according to Bach, a new church (9)
ABUNDANCE
A B [a bishop] + UND [German ‘and’ – ‘according to Bach’] + A N [new] + CE [Church of England] – if you’re worried about the definition, Wordsworth’s ‘host of golden daffodils’ sprang to my mind

13 Roll up to study very old instrument (9)
CONVOLUTE
CON [study] + V [very] + O [old] + LUTE [instrument]

14 Evidence I’ve translated about Köchel for composer (9)
PROKOFIEV
If  you’ve already got V as the last letter, there aren’t many composers to fit but it’s still a neat bit of wordplay:
PROOF [evidence] plus an anagram [translated] of I’VE round K [ Köchel]

18 Hundreds miss one cracking established work (7)
CLASSIC
LASS [miss] + I [one] in [cracking] CC [hundreds] – we need to take ‘miss one cracking’ as being in brackets, as it were – otherwise, the clue appears to be the wrong way round

20 Boringly recites how basic scales progress (7)
INTONES
IN TONES

22 Barman left after party (5)
RAVEL
L [left] after RAVE [party]

23 Subtle harmonies more than sufficient for composer (5)
LEHÁR
Hidden in subtLE HARmonies

21 comments on “Guardian Prize 26,675 / Crucible”

  2. Thanks to Crucible and Eileen. I’m no expert on classical music, but I found this puzzle (with the exception of ANECHOIC) perhaps the easiest of the week. I did have much fun working with it, so that’s not a complaint.

  3. Thanks Crucible and Eileen
    (Taking advantage of the opportunity to post early!)
    I enjoyed this, but it was really far too easy for a Prize – the quickest Prize solve I can remember. Would have been a lovely Monday puzzle.

  4. Thanks Eileen. I agree, not very difficult but topical and enjoyable. Thank you for the explanation of ELASTIC, I didn’t come to terms with that. I’m a bit mystified by your reference to the ablative absolute, it’s been a long time since I sat in Latin classes but I can’t see how MISS ONE CRACKING squares away with what I was taught then.

  5. Thanks Eileen. My heart sinks when I see musically themed puzzles, being an ignoramus, but as often happens no special knowledge was required and it was doable over lunch. As with you, the 8A wags gave me pause, then earned a grin. Ditto the other in 10A.

  6. Hi Biggles @4

    I’m sorry about the confusion: I was trying to forestall comments that the clue was the wrong way round and I’ve used that explanation in the past. This time, it wasn’t even accurate, so I’ve amended it.

  7. Is it standard to use Kochel for K etc? This happened a couple of times.
    Got most of it but missed 10a and 6a
    Thanks for some of the explanations.

  9. Thanks all
    As said above the theme clue was not necessary.
    Enjoyable last two were abundance and spinet.
    I liked sextet.

  10. It’s hard to find the words for this!

    First of all to associate this with the Proms is almost certainly grounds for a legal challenge and the grounds of “dumbing down” the image of a great institution.

    I suspect this was written for “The Beano” or some other similar publication.

    Thanks to Eileen and Crucible.

  11. Brenda at 10 is absolutely right. I recently cancelled my subscription to The Beano because of the constant references to seraglio, Prokofiev and especially anechoic.

    I really enjoyed this puzzle from Crucible and while it may have been on the easy side, it was still very enjoyable. I do crosswords a bit at a time and got the last clue on Tuesday. I was so convinced that 1a ended in HAVEN that I wrote it in but finally saw the correct answer.

    I liked BEAU for its simplicity, VIOLINS and ABUNDANCE.

    Many thanks to Eileen and Crucible

  12. Yes, rather easy,especially for musos, but rather enjoyable. I rather agree with Davy @11
    Not much else to say.
    Thanks Crucible.

  13. Thanks Crucible and Eileen.

    Most enjoyable. We heard the Proms many evenings on France Musique, so lucky. Thanks for the explanation of ELASTIC, Eileen.

  14. A very nice puzzle. I didn’t get the second definition for ELASTIC. I don’t much like “barman” as the definition of RAVEL, but other than that niggle I’ve no complaints. Favourites were INNUENDO, ANECHOIC CHAMBER, VIOLINS and BIOTECH.

    Thanks to Crucible and Eileen.

  15. Thanks Crucible and Eileen

    May I suggest that 11 is tUnE iN regularly ‘during’ (in) INN DO, otherwise there’s an N missing, and either ‘in’ or ‘during’ in the clue is superfluous.

    I remembered that there had been a similarly-themed puzzle this time last year, but had forgotten that it was Crucible. I think that to create two puzzles on the same theme, and with the usual excellent surfaces, deserves a round of applause.

  18. Thanks Crucible and Eileen

    Found this an easier than the normal offering from this setter also – none the worse for it though. SERAGLIO would have to be one of the most humorous clues of the year – a great sense of mixing time zones. The only unknown for me was the ANECHOIC CHAMBER.

    Notice that the blog doesn’t account for the ON in 15a – assume that it is a synonym of ‘acceptable’ but couldn’t find it.

    Finished in the SE with RATTLE and SPINET the last couple in.

  19. Did this on the train up to Scotland last weekend, and don’t remember any difficulties.

    Thanks to Eileen and Crucible

  20. Hi brucew@aus

    Re the ON in 15ac: thanks for that – I’m amazed that no one else spotted it! [More carelessness – just for the record, I’ll amend it.] ‘It’s not on’ [acceptable] is a common expression here – and it’s in Chambers.

  21. Thanks Eileen and Crucible.

    Started at 1ac and finished at 27ac doing all the crossers in between and only failed ICECAP, CONVOLUTE, and CLASSIC on the first pass – and they fell quickly once I had a couple of crossers.

    So simpler than a Monday Rufus, BUT:

    Thoroughly enjoyable!

    8, 10 and 11 worth a special mention for their surfaces and creativity.

    Who says a prize puzzle has to be difficult anyway?

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