Thank you Julius for another fine puzzle to solve and blog. A couple of bits I don’t fully understand but no doubt they will be explained in due course.
In the grid we have some of the LYRICs of A Whiter Shade of Pale by Procol Harum.
We skipped a light FANDANGO
TURNED CARTWHEELS ‘cross the floor
I was feeling kinda seasick
The crowd called out for more
The room was humming harder
As the ceiling flew away
When we called out for another drink
The WAITER brought a tray
And so it was that later
As the miller told his tale
That her face, at first just ghostly
TURNED a WHITER SHADE of PALE
She said, “There is no reason
And the truth is plain to see”
But I wandered through my playing cards
And would not let her be
One of sixteen VESTAL VIRGINS
Who were leaving for the COAST
And although my eyes were open
They might just as well have been closed
And so it was that later
As the miller told his tale
That her face, at first just ghostly
TURNED a WHITER SHADE of PALE
UPDATE: after reading the comment from Julius @7 I think one might include ROCK STAR as a themed entry too.

Across | ||
1 | FORMAT | Keep mum in shape (6) |
FORT (keep) contains (with…in) MA (mum) | ||
4 | OSTRACOD | East German army medic sent back crustacean (8) |
OST (east, German) RA (army?) then DOC (medic) reversed (sent back). RA is royal Artillery, but this on its own doesn’t mean “army”. RA DOC as “army medic” reversed would be CODAR not RACOD. Any other ideas? | ||
10 | NEFERTITI | Fine sculpture featuring Queen with bird; she has a magnificent bust (9) |
anagram (sculptured) of FINE containing (featuring) ER (queen) and TIT (bird) – see the bust of Nefertiti | ||
11 | SHADE | Narrowly defeat Daesh rebels (5) |
anagram (rebels) of DAESH | ||
12 | AGRA | Silver god’s mausoleum site (4) |
AG (silver) and RA (Egyptian god) | ||
13 | PEEPING TOM | Rewrite item on Pep Guardiola’s first undercover scout (7,3) |
anagram (rewrite) of ITEM ON PEP and Guardiola (first letter of) – a cryptic definition for a man who tried to look at women under their clothes (covers) | ||
15 | GRIMACE | Smirk, dishing dirt about a Conservative (7) |
GRIME (dirt) containing (dishing about) A C (Conservative) | ||
16 | DETACH | Separate bidet (a chamberpot included) (6) |
found inside (included) biDET A CHamberpot | ||
19 | WHITER | More innocent, you and I run nursing strike (6) |
WE (you and I ) R (run) containing (nursing) HIT (strike) | ||
21 | VIRGINS | He abandoned worried, shivering maidens (7) |
anagram (worried) of ShIVeRING missing (abandoned by) HE | ||
23 | ALL THE BEST | Farewell Greatest Hits album? (3,3,4) |
double/cryptic definition | ||
25 | PALE | Sickly-looking, call out for bucket (4) |
sounds like (called out for) “pail” (bucket) | ||
27 | THROE | Such a pain to get knight out of king’s seat (5) |
THROnE (king’s seat) missing N (knight, chess) | ||
28 | COACHLOAD | Train left Poland, regularly dropping off those on board (9) |
COACH (train) L (left) then pOlAnD (every other letter, regularly dropping off) | ||
29 | ROCK STAR | Sting possibly shocks sailor (4,4) |
ROCKS (shocks) TAR (sailor) | ||
30 | TURNED | Googled successfully “Dexter holds The Ashes” (6) |
TED (Ted Dexter perhaps) contains (holds) URN (the ashes) – |
||
Down | ||
1 | FANDANGO | Measure supporter for ruptured gonad (8) |
FAN (supporter for) then anagram (ruptured) of GONAD | ||
2 | REFURBISH | Make good match official’s original blunder (9) |
REF (match official) has UR (original, a prefix) BISH (blunder) | ||
3 | ACRE | What’s buried in holy plot? (4) |
found inside sACREd (holy) – a plot of land | ||
5 | SKIPPED | Avoided science first thing; had a nap (7) |
Science (first letter of, first thing) then KIPPED (had a nap) | ||
6 | RESONATORS | Instrument parts used to create sound in Good Vibrations? (10) |
cryptic definition maybe? | ||
7 | COAST | Since bed-ridden, take it easy (5) |
AS (since) inside COT (bed-ridden) | ||
8 | DREAMY | Looking lovely, Miss West turned up wrapped in towel (6) |
MAE (Miss West, actress) reversed (turned up) inside DRY (to towel) | ||
9 | RIBEYE | Bribe Yemeni to smuggle item for carnivore (6) |
found inside (smuggled by) bRIBE YEmeni | ||
14 | CARTWHEELS | Were they vitally important to the agricultural revolution? (10) |
cryptic definition – cartwheels revolve, so are in revolution | ||
17 | CHINATOWN | Nowt wrong supporting mate from London in the immigrant community (9) |
anagram (wrong) of NOWT underneath (supporting) CHINA (mate, Cockney rhyming slang) | ||
18 | ASCENDED | A daughter garlanded by fragrant, timeless rose (8) |
A then D (daughter) inside (garlanded by) SCENtED missing T (timeless) | ||
20 | REBECCA | Cyberspace spy killed off in novel (7) |
anagram (off) of CyBERspACE mising (killed off) SPY | ||
21 | VESTAL | Underwear model’s bottom is round; a goddess-like quality! (6) |
VEST (underwear) modeL (bottom letter of) contains (is round) A | ||
22 | WAITER | In conflict, I note he takes orders (6) |
WAR (conflict) contains (in…) I TE (note, music) | ||
24 | LYRIC | Players itch every second to perform here (5) |
every other letter (every second) of pLaYeRs ItCh – the Lyric Theatre in London | ||
26 | THOU | You, once, one in a thousand (4) |
found inside (one in a) THOUsand |
definitions are underlined
I write these posts to help people get started with cryptic crosswords. If there is something here you do not understand ask a question; there are probably others wondering the same thing.
Given Julius’s love of cricket, I think we can safely assume TURNED is in reference to google as a bowling term. There is a typo in the blog at 15a which should say GRIME. Didn’t know SHADE could mean ‘narrowly defeat’, but it’s in Chambers. Loved the surfaces for DREAMY and VESTAL. Completely missed the theme. Brilliantly done – How did I miss it?!
Thanks PeeDee
I agree with your comment re ‘army’=RA in 4ac.
30ac has nothing whatsoever to do with Google and searching. It is referring to a googly, a type of delivery that, in cricket, a spin bowler might deliver. The ball will (or at least should) turn so the bowler could be said to have googled or TURNED it.
Very impressive grid fill.I think he nailed it!
Thanks for the very clear blog, PeeDee.
What a lovely, lovely puzzle! I loved every minute of it, especially after I’d spotted the theme and did the rest of it to the YouTube accompaniment.
As always with Julius, great clues and witty surfaces throughout: I think top favourites today were VIRGINS, DREAMY and CHINATOWN but I could easily add to that list.
Huge thanks, Julius – you and Brendan have really made my day. 😉
What Eileen said
Another day, another brilliant puzzle from Julius aka Knut – we are being spoiled. I did see the theme but didn’t remember the words well enough to get all of the references, which meant CARTWHEELS and ACRE were the last two in. As inventive and entertaining as yesterday, if a little easier.
Thanks to Julius and PeeDee
many thanks for your blog, PeeDee, and to those who have commented.
About a year ago, I became aware of the real name of a stalwart poster on these threads (and indeed on The Guardian board) and googled him, discovering that he was for many years keyboard player with Procol Harum. This seemed like a nice way to thank dear copmus for all his plugs for my puzzles.
regards to all,
Rob/Julius
Wow, copmus! [Thanks so much for telling us, Rob. 😉 ]
That’s a gorgeous gentlemanly gesture, Julius. Unsurprisingly. Equally unsurprisingly, I ain’t finished yet.
This is brilliant. The song has always been a favourite. Thank you, PeeDee and a big thank you to Rob for letting us know about copmus.
Indeed, a really nice gesture.
And just like yesterday (in the Indy) a top class puzzle.
As others said a great grid fill, even if I hadn’t noticed the theme before I came here this afternoon.
Perhaps, I’ve buried that song somewhere far far away.
Yes, I remember the Summer of Love and how we gushed about this ‘classic’.
People should know, though, that this song was not terribly representative of Procol Harum’s music.
In my first years at university, the Edmonton live record and, even more, Grand Hotel were clear favourites.
Nearly everyone I knew had a copy of those LPs.
Anyway.
A very enjoyable crossword.
The nitpicker in me has two small thingies (re 1d and 20d) but (a) the things Julius did but I wouldn’t do myself are justifiable, and (b) my name’s not Hedgehoggy.
Chapeau!
Thanks Julius and PeeDee
Another entertaining edition from Julius, notwithstanding the inability to spot the ghost theme (in itself quite a feat but made more special with the revealing the source of it!). It is surprising what / who makes up this community !
Particularly enjoyed the compound anagram at 20 as well as very clever ROCK STAR.
Finished in the NW with FANDANGO (tricking drfined), FORMAT, REFURBISH (the second time recently that we’ve seen that UR- combination prefix) and the fiendish ACRE as the last one in.