An anniversary puzzle found here and one which fans of Fawlty Towers may appreciate more than I did…
The anniversary in question is the one-year anniversary of the death of Andrew Sachs, ehose most famous role was that of Manuel in Fawlty Towers, a role referred to by BARCELONA, UNO DOS TRES, BASIL(ar) and in the clue to HAMSTER (Mrs Fawlty), and possibly by NITWIT (which Basil may have used to address the hapless Manuel). Apologies if I have missed any others.
Edit – John H below has filled in many gaps due to his encyclopaedic knowledge of Fawlty Towers. I originally thought that the setter could have done more with the theme as the aforementioned clues were the only ones I was able to link to the theme. I now have a completely different view of the puzzle and hats off to Gaff for getting in so many references.
However, it is still true to say that I didn’t particularly enjoy the process of solving the crossword, as, in my opinion, some of the wordplay was a bit of a push. I couldn’t find TARE VETCH in the dictionary. RED CRAB held me up for while until I realised I was looking for a two word answer (3,4 instead of 7), and I didn’t like the YON = “far from” in 6dn.
On the other hand, I did like MASON and UNMARRIED.
Thanks, Gaff
| Across | ||
| 1 | ATOM BOMB | Crowd round in a crypt for Little Boy, maybe (4,4) |
| <=MOB (“crowd” round) in A TOMB (“a crypt”)
Little Boy was the code name of the bomb dropped by the Americans on Hiroshima in 1945. |
||
| 6 | NITWIT | Idiot Trump initiative world leaders can reverse (6) |
| <= T I W NIT (Trump Initiative World leaders + TIN (“can”)) | ||
| 9 | CRISIS | Extremely clear river emergency (6) |
| C(lea)R + ISIS (“river”, theThames at Oxford) | ||
| 10 | SIBERIAN | Small Spaniard may be husky (8) |
| S(mall) + IBERIAN (“Spaniard may be”) | ||
| 11 | EVENTUALLY | In the end flat, count out of turn (10) |
| EVEN (“flat”) + TALLY (“count”) out(side) of U(-turn) | ||
| 12, 21 | OVERHEAR | Unintentionally discover where GI’s were reported to be (8) |
| Homophone of OVER HERE | ||
| 13 | ATTUNE | Adjust section of Gatt unethically (6) |
| Hidden in “GATT UNEthically” | ||
| 15 | RED CRAB | Roman Catholic bread broken for population all over Christmas (7) |
| *(RC bread)
Christmas Island red crab is a species of crab found unsurprisingly on Christmas Island. |
||
| 18 | HAMSTER | Pet hate – Mrs “Fawlty” (7) |
| *(hate mrs) | ||
| 20 | ASPIRE | Hope rage pursues poisoner (6) |
| IRE (“rage”) pursues ASP (“poisoner”) | ||
| 21 | See 12 | |
| 23 | UNO DOS TRES | Count of 17? (3,3,4) |
| “One, two, three” in Spanish, the language of Barcelona (17dn) | ||
| 25 | FILIGREE | Spooner’s hunting assistant escaped delicate work (8) |
| Spoonerism of GILLIE FREE (“hunting assistant escaped”) | ||
| 26 | FARROW | A good way scrap may produce litter (6) |
| FAR (“a good way”) + ROW (“scrap”) | ||
| 27 | SEA DOG | Salt with main to follow (3,3) |
| SEA (“main”) + DOG (“follow”) | ||
| 28 | SOYA BEAN | Old sound back in Irishman’s pulse (4,4) |
| O(ld) + <=BAY (“sound” back) in SEAN (“Irishman”) | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | TARE VETCH | Volunteers vicar to cut sileage crop (4,5) |
| TA (Territorial Army, so “volunteers”) + REV (“vicar”) + ETCH (“cut”)
Not sure about this, as I can’t find the phrase “tare vetch” in any dictionary online or in my Chambers, which is the 2003 edition. |
||
| 3 | MASON | Lodger’s degree an issue (5) |
| M.A. (“degree”) + SON (“issue”)
Think “masonic lodge” |
||
| 4 | OBSCUREST | Most cryptic rebus Scot solved (9) |
| *(rebus scot) | ||
| 5 | BASILAR | Herb farm essentially about support (7) |
| BASIL (“herb”) + (f)AR(m) | ||
| 6 | NOBLY | Far from carrying weight, retired with honour (5) |
| <=Y (LB) ON where YON = “far from” and LB = pound, so “weight”
Don’t like YON = “far from” |
||
| 7 | TURBOPROP | Engine driver has support (9) |
| TURBO (“driver”) + PROP (“support”) | ||
| 8 | IRATE | Cross island at speed (5) |
| I(sland) + RATE (“speed”) | ||
| 14 | UNMARRIED | Single mistake in a murder (9) |
| *(in a murder) | ||
| 16 | DRAGONFLY | Pull just holding head of fragile insect (9) |
| DRAG (“pull”) + ONLY (“just”) holding F(ragile) | ||
| 17 | BARCELONA | Lizard and grouse raised in city (9) |
| <=ANOLE (“lizard) CRAB (“grouse”) | ||
| 19 | RIOTERS | Violent mob in city short cut (7) |
| RIO (“city”) + TERS(e) (“short” cut) | ||
| 22 | ELITE | Select from crime literature (5) |
| Hidden in “crimE LITErature” | ||
| 23 | UNRIG | Remove sheets, ruing mistake (5) |
| *(ruing) | ||
| 24 | THROB | Thieves for starters steal pound (5) |
| TH(ieves) + ROB (“steal”) | ||
*anagram
From memory (yes I know it’s sad…)
“He Filigree Siberian hamster” “It’s a RAT, Manuel”
“There is too much butter on those trays” “No, no…Uno, Dos, Tres”
“What is Witnit?” “You’re the nitwit”
“I forget e-ven-tu-all-y” “No, forget NOW”
“Dragonfly – lovely little filly running at Exeter this afternoon…”
“He’s from Barcelona”
John
Jon H @1
Thanks for filling in the gaps. I was very unfair to Gaff in my original summing-up. He has done brilliantly to get so many references intot he grid, although I still think some of the clues could have been better.
Despite having watched every episode of Fawlty Towers at least twice, I still couldn’t see the theme. My Chambers gives TARE as a type of VETCH, so I guess 2d is ok. I can’t think of an instance where ‘far from’ can be replaced by ‘yon’ but it is close enough for me not to worry overmuch. The only anagram I could come up with for 15a was REDCRAB, so I eventually googled it to find the RED CRAB answer. The numeration does seem to be wrong. Enjoyable stuff except for the seeming gaffe (with an E) at 15a and, in my opinion, a weak clue for TURBOPROP.
“There’s enough here for an entire conference”-apparently the actor who played the psychiatrist was a Basil someone.
Thanks Gaff and loonapic-and JC and Connie etc.
And, Raymond Mason played Mr Zebedee in the “kipper” episode
Given the ongoing Catalonia crisis, it may be a bit controversial to refer to Spanish as “the language of Barcelona”.
10 across describes Manuel, I think.
Thanks Gaff and loonapick
Even telegraphed with the rubric and googling random words from the grid after I’d finished , couldn’t get the theme – wasn’t a real “Fawlty Towers” watcher, I’m afraid. Still it didn’t get in the way of actually solving the puzzle.
It did take longer than normal to do with answers like TARE VETCH and REDCRAB (as a single word) slowing down the process a bit.
Finished in the NE corner with BASILAR (a new word for me), SIBERIAN and NOBLY the last few in
Only came to this today, on Alan Connor’s mentioning a Fawlty Towers theme (not quite, Alan), and was disappointed to find apparently very few references — until I later read John H’s (and others’) helpful reminders, for which thanks, if you ever happen back here.
I echo Coby’s point – something I recently remarked on elsewhere in respect of another clue mentioning Barcelona (not long before the issue blew up, presciently).
Didn’t find Anole in Chambers, but guessed it anyway. Also entered REDCRAB solely on wordplay and never parsed NOBLY fully (did look for NOY as maybe dialect for far). Found vetch mentioned under tare, as others. Failed to get FARROW, unfortunately– very deceptive wordplay.