This took me ages, although I have no real excuse. Everything was sound so far as I could see; it was simply very hard. It seems that with Scorpion’s crosswords much of the difficulty lies in the fact that there are so many possibilities at each stage.
Definitions underlined and in maroon.
You’d think that with 15ac placed as it is, it would provide the theme. Perhaps it does, but if so I’m the wrong person to elucidate it. The members of the band don’t seem to be in the crossword, nor do the names of their songs. There is quite a leaning in favour of sports and TV personalities and geographical placenames, but no connection between them that I can see.
| Across | ||
| 7/26 | DICKIE DAVIES | Old sports presenter sounding ill? TV channel’s getting one to stand in (6,6) |
| “dicky” Dav(1)e’s — the Freeview channel Dave, extraordinary name and I’ve never known why it’s called that | ||
| 8 | ROD HULL | Entertainer with bird having a port at the bar (3,4) |
| rod [= bar] Hull [a port] — Rod Hull and Emu — because the bird was part of his act he thought he could do what he liked, as witness this appalling thing | ||
| 10 | WIRRAL | Institute rules, and calm unconfined area of N. England (6) |
| WI [Women’s Institute] r r {c}al{m} — r = Rule (law) is given in Chambers but not apparently in Collins | ||
| 11 | ARMCHAIR | Furniture branch the head of company locks (8) |
| arm c{ompany} hair | ||
| 12 | BRIDGWATER | When racing, GB rider entertains wife at West Country town (10) |
| (w at) in (GB rider)* | ||
| 14/23 | FRED TITMUS | Ex-England bowler unleashed heartless flyer towards tot, retreating (4,6) |
| fr{e}ed tit (sum)rev. — the only (?) county cricketer to have played in five successive decades | ||
| 15 | JOY DIVISION | Delight shown by little woman seeing Northern band (3,8) |
| joy [= delight] Di vision — the little woman isn’t Jo, despite appearances | ||
| 18 | BONO | I don’t like that stifling new rock singer (4) |
| Bo(n)o! | ||
| 19 | OVEN GLOVES | Perhaps kitchen assistant‘s gone to work around five with relishes (4,6) |
| V in (gone)* loves | ||
| 21 | TRUMPTON | Donald Duck seen in Tennessee for kids’ TV programme once (8) |
| Trump [= Donald] T(0)n — this programme | ||
| 23 | See 14 | |
| 25 | ACHTUNG | Beware using current container coated in mercury (7) |
| AC H(tun)g — mercury is Hg, since it was formerly named hydrargyrum (no I didn’t know that until I looked it up!) | ||
| 26 | See 7 | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | EDGIER | One inside skimmed account book, increasingly irritable (6) |
| {l}edg(1)er | ||
| 2 | SCAR | Mark coaches, with son having priority (4) |
| s car — I’d never known quite how a car is the same thing as coaches, but I now see from Google that a car is another name for a piece of railway stock carrying passengers | ||
| 3 | BILLOWED | William, third in sports day, is puffed out (8) |
| Bill {sp}o{rts} Wed | ||
| 4 | ROOMER | American lodger’s gossip heard (6) |
| “rumour”, although is it a short u or a long one? | ||
| 5 | UH-UH | Principally unfaithful husband repeated denial (2-2) |
| (u{nfaithful} h) (u{nfaithful} h) | ||
| 6 | PLAITED | During party in Wales, note semi-cropped style of hair (7) |
| Plai(te)d — apparently Plaid Cymru is sometimes called just Plaid, although I never knew that, which made the answer rather hard to get | ||
| 9 | HAUTE-VIENNE | Even auntie relocated after visiting hot area of central France (5-6) |
| h (even auntie)* | ||
| 13 | DUOMO | Brace secures centre of Rome cathedral (5) |
| du(om)o, the om being {R}om{e} | ||
| 14 | FLO-JO | Short female sprinter‘s defeat, exhausting run, absorbs judge (3-2) |
| flo(J)o{r} — Florence Griffith Joyner —the correct spelling according to the main article on Wikipedia | ||
| 16 | SIGHTSAW | What’s altered after retired soldiers explored leisurely? (8) |
| (GIs)rev. (what’s)* | ||
| 17 | CORRECT | Punish boy, audibly drunk (7) |
| cor! “wrecked” | ||
| 19 | OCTANT | Measuring device‘s function discovered in time (6) |
| Oc(tan)t — less well-known perhaps than the sextant, but still a measuring device | ||
| 20 | EVULSE | Forcibly remove regulars in Bull and Stag’s Head in evening (6) |
| ev({B}u{l}l S{tag})e — not a word with which I was familiar | ||
| 22 | MUTT | Let me see about drying out dog (4) |
| (um…)rev. TT | ||
| 24 | TRIM | Clean-cut pair of trunks creator’s joining (4) |
| tr{unks} I’m | ||
*anagram
I loved this. A real workout with fancy footwork.I was getting excited when ESB emerged in the top corner only to be denied by TTT in the bottom.
Thanks John and Scorpion.
Not my cup of tea, I’m afraid. Completed it except for BONO and CORRECT. Lots of proper nouns that will make the puzzle very difficult for the younger solvers. Also some of the people and place names will be unfamiliar to foreign solvers. I didn’t know Fred Titmus or Haute-Vienne but knew the rest. It’s nice to have a variety of different setters so I’m not complaining. Just not for me sadly.
I, too, was unhappy with all the proper nouns. I had never heard of DICKIE DAVIES, FRED TITMUS, or HAUTE-VIENNE (though I admit that French departments are probably fair game), and only vaguely recalled having heard of JOY DIVISION, FLO-JO and TRUMPTON. At least I was familiar with ROD HULL, WIRRAL, BRIDGWATER and BONO, but I think there was too much general knowledge required overall.
a very inventive, fun and tough puzzle; thanks to Scorpion and John.
I’m sure Achtung (Baby)and Bono aren’t there by chance and I expect someone will find what links several of these answers and post the key later.
Or maybe not.
Battered through this and found it most enjoyable (in hindsight). Was clobbered in the SW by 25a having entered HINTING which parses perfectly so shoved in in the, now vain, hope that the definition of ‘beware’ or ‘beware using’ would eventually make sense!
thanks to scorpion and John
Thanks John
It is rare these days for the Tuesday Indy not to have a theme and today is no exception (though I wouldn’t have known what it was without some assistance followed by a trip to Wikipedia).
baerchen @4 has made a start with 25/18. I will add 15/19 and say that four other across solutions are relevant.
@Gaufrid..
magnificent sleuthing, dear sir!
@Scorpion
chortle
We failed in the SW corner – couldn’t see ACHTUNG although we guessed HG for mercury.
Definitely not enjoyable today; too many revenants from the past, for one thing – Dickie Davies, Rod Hull, Trumpton Flo-Jo and Fred Titmus (who under 60 has heard of him? Fortunately one of us had). And some obscurities as well, e.g. EVULSE.
Slight compensation in a couple of nice clues – WIRRAL and PLAITED.
Sorry, Scorpion – but thanks to John.
I found this the hardest of today’s cryptics, although I am of the right ‘era’ to remember the sports presenter, the entertainer, the children’s TV programme and the cricketer. I hardly ever spot themes so well done to Baerchen and Gaufrid for their work in pointing this one out to the rest of us
Thanks to Scorpion and John
Well this is a turn up for the books as (despite what I said on Twitter), I found this one pretty easy and had it almost done, bar the 4 that beat me (17d, 19d, 25a and 14/23a), in 30mins.
Enjoyed it too and had heard of everything save for the cricketer though I missed the theme – my guess was some kind of eighties thing. No particular fave today so honours go to an enjoyable almost solve so thanks to The Stinger for the puzzle and to The John for the blog.
The Indy is my puzzle of choice each morning: it has a variety of difficulty levels, its clueing is usually fair and often inventive, it’s contemporary, and four times out of five I can finish it. Themes? They pass me by a bit, I’m afraid; but usually (and yes, Phi, I’m talking about you) they don’t get in the way of the solve.
This one? What some others have said. It was obvious to me there was something going on, but I had no idea what so it didn’t help me finish it (and I didn’t). GK stuff I don’t mind, but TRUMPTON, FRED TITMUS, ROY HUDD and DICKIE DAVIES all in one puzzle just to provide a nod to a band no-one (for which read ‘I’) had ever heard of? Give me a break.
And the other problem is that you end up with words like EVULSE and SIGHTSAW to allow the setter to complete the grid. Yes, I know the first one is clearly clued but it’s pretty obscure; yes, I know the the second one is in dictionaries as a past tense but I bet no single person has ever said or written: ‘What did we do in Venice? Oh, we sightsaw’.
If you get the impression I didn’t much care for this one, you are right. Thanks anyway to S&B.
Well I really enjoyed it! As John says, there are so many possibilities at every stage and this makes for a really good workout. As always with Scorpion the unusual is always fairly clued and all as usual the parsing is clear. Thanks Scorpion and John ( I didn’t, and still don’t spot the theme).
No idea at all about the theme, but that’s one of the enjoyable things about doing cryptics and I learnt a bit about a topic I would never have come across otherwise. Theme aside, although I can well remember FRED TITMUS, I’d never heard of the Northern band or TV programme. Still the wordplay was clear, and even the unknowns were gettable. Liked FLO-JO and my last in CORRECT, parsed only once I’d gone through every conceivable 3-letter man’s name!
Thanks to Scorpion and a John.
At last a crossword where the theme hit me. Yes, an eighties thing, one of my favourites.
I believe the 4 across clues Gaufrid mentioned are 7/26, 10, 14/23 and 21.
One of their claims to fame was refusing to appear live on The Tube, broadcast live from Newcastle, because a certain footie team from the 10 played on Friday nights.
Thanks to Scorpion for the memory and to Johnson for the blog.
Paul A @14
I didn’t see 14/23 on the relevant Wikipedia page but there was a title that included 12. My other three were the ones you have listed.
Oh dear – the track in question has the immortal title ‘F******g Hell it’s 14/23’, as if he popped up everywhere.
Sadly after lending their complete output (3 discs) from the 80s to a friend and not getting them back for 7 years I failed to notice their recent reappearance bit it seems that they carried on where they left off.
Also belated and posthumous thanks to John Peel who played them all the time.
I don’t remember a track with 12 in but it could involve the Chigley Skins……
Paul A @17
According to Wikipedia, there was a 2000 album called ‘Trouble over Bridgwater’.
Having now researched more deeply, I can confirm that all of the across solutions are thematically related.
Having just listened to a load of HMHB on the youtube, I just wanted to pop back in and say thanks to Scorpion for the musical enlightenment.
In my youth I’d see the green German jacket brigade with the band’s name painted crudely on the back of their green jackets, but never listened to them as American music had me in its thrall at that time (in my defence, I was only a know-nothing youngster). Anyhoo, at least I’ve finally listened now as this band are bloody brilliant! National Shite Day is magnificent and the Nick Cave parody is so laser-guided and hilarious I fear I’ll never be able to listen to NC in his more serious moods again.
Cheers Scorpion and the Independent crossie, you have just enriched my life. 🙂
Gaufrid @18, I only had the earliest stuff as I think they disbanded so that 1 is after my time, but any band with a song titled “99% of gargoyles look like Bob Todd” is worth a go – if you know who Bob Todd was of course.
Can’t say I’m surprised that Harry likes it………
Paul @20 – I shall take that as a compliment. 🙂
Scorpion I find pretty tough, but the clues are well-wrought and correct: it’s good to have the toughies around, for that chewy and long-lasting flavour of cleverness.
Did anybody actually mention the theme explicitly? It’s the band from the Wirral called Half Man Half Biscuit, their songs and albums