Some neat cluing and nice surfaces…
…with a theme I know little about, horse racing COURSEs – I had to check a few and reveal the last letter of 25ac. Favourites were 28ac, 4dn, and 23dn. Thanks to Imogen.
| Across | ||
| 7 | CATTERICK | 6 pet, a strain to listen to (9) |
| sounds like ‘cat, a rick’=”pet, a strain” | ||
| 8 | ASCOT | 6, a small humble dwelling (5) |
| A Small COTtage | ||
| 9 | SOUTHWELL | 6 breaks the law, not a person around (9) |
| (the law)*, but not a; and with SOUL=”person” around it | ||
| 10 | METRO | Sort of sexual underground? (5) |
| ‘metro-sexual’ is a term for a man with traditionally feminine interests and habits | ||
| 12 | STOLID | Almost nicked, I had to be emotionless (6) |
| STOLe=”Almost nicked”, plus I’D=”I had” | ||
| 13 | PARALLEL | English used in a few lines and a few more for comparison (8) |
| English in PARAgraph=”a few lines” and Line, Line, Line=”a few more [lines]” | ||
| 16 | CARTMEL | Temperature in Holy Land mountain: 6 (7) |
| Temperature, inside Mount CARMEL in Israel | ||
| 19 | SCREWED | Firmly fixed wicket into cement base (7) |
| Wicket in SCREED=a base layer of cement | ||
| 22 | RADAR GUN | Equipment for police officer, finally and disastrously, closes endless dispute (5,3) |
| =used to measure the speed of vehicles final letter from officeR, plus (and)* around ARGUe=”endless dispute” |
||
| 25 | THIRSK | 6, strong desire to change the ending (6) |
| THIRSt=”strong desire” with the last letter changed | ||
| 27 | EPSOM | Record a certain amount but not all 6 (5) |
| EP=music “Record”; plus not all of SOMe=”a certain amount” | ||
| 28 | TOWCESTER | 6 sounds browner (9) |
| pronounced like ‘toaster’=”browner” of bread | ||
| 29 | PERTH | Cheeky husband in 8s 6 (5) |
| Edit thanks to TheZed: “8s 6” gives ASCOTs COURSE=>’a Scots course’, and Perth is a race course in Scotland there is an ASCOT COURSE in PERTH [Australia] PERT=”Cheeky” plus Husband |
||
| 30 | NEWMARKET | Amphibian all but stressed within 6 (9) |
| NEWT=”Amphibian”; with “all but”/’not quite all of’ MARKEd=”stressed” inside | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | WAY OUT | Highly unusual station sign (3,3) |
| double definition: WAY OUT of the ordinary; or WAY OUT as in exit | ||
| 2 | STATELET | Announce holiday cottage available in Andorra for one (8) |
| STATE LET=”Announce holiday cottage available” | ||
| 3 | CREWED | Served on board, sounding vulgar (6) |
| sounds like ‘crude’=”vulgar’ | ||
| 4 | SCHLEPP | PC helps re-organise difficult journey (7) |
| =Yiddish slang for a difficult task or journey (PC helps)* |
||
| 5 | AS WELL | Too sensible at first to enter a lift shaft (2,4) |
| first letter of Sensible entering into A WELL=”a lift shaft” | ||
| 6 | COURSE | An opportunity to learn of this, naturally (6) |
| ‘of COURSE‘ means ‘naturally’; therefore “of this, naturally” | ||
| 11 | CROC | Beast, decrepit one, losing tail (4) |
| CROCk=”decrepit one”, losing the tail or final letter | ||
| 14 | See 15 | |
| 15, 14 | LUDLOW | 6 pounds would get wasted (6) |
| L[ibra]=”pounds”, plus (would)* | ||
| 16 | See 17 | |
| 17, 16 | REDCAR | 6 is back, touring Washington (6) |
| REAR=”back” around [Washington] DC | ||
| 18 | EDGE | Advantage in battle, if on top of hill (4) |
| if EDGE is put on top of ‘hill’, we get [the Battle of] Edgehill in the English Civil War | ||
| 20 | EMISSARY | Bad year in which to lose an agent (8) |
| (year)* around MISS=”lose” | ||
| 21 | ENDOWED | Provided for fencing not at first joined together (7) |
| kENDO=martial art with swords=”fencing” without its first letter; plus WED=”joined together” | ||
| 23 | APPLET | Place to hack into a favourite piece of software (6) |
| PLace inside A PET=”a favourite” | ||
| 24 | ABORTS | Fails to mature topside of beef — roast ruined (6) |
| the top letter of Beef, put into an anagram with (B roast)* | ||
| 25 | TO COME | Book about killer not yet ready (2,4) |
| TOME=”book” around CO=carbon monoxide=”killer” | ||
| 26 | SKEWER | Pin prick finally punctures needlewoman (6) |
| the final letter of pricK inside SEWER=”needlewoman” | ||
Thanks both. Too much Googling needed for me to enjoy this much.
I had LESSON (less on = naturally?!) for 8d before I got EPSOM and it all clicked (except for METRO – I had LEERY, best I could do). Hadn’t heard of half the courses, but they were all well clued. Favourites were STOLID and APPLET. CATTERICK homophone seemed a bit iffy to me. Many thanks to I and m.
Only solvable with a googled list of UK Racecourses to refer to, once I got the key clue at 6d. So not very enjoyable, though not the fault of Imogen. I thought it was clever of him to incorporate so many references. The parsing of many eluded me, so thanks to manehi for the blog. Thanks also to Imogen.
We crossed, Shirl and drofle, or I would have acknowledged your posts.
Not having the GK to know there is an Ascot racecourse in Perth (Australia), or the wit to google it, I read 29ac as “a Scot’s course” for the other Perth, north of the border (from where I sit at least).
Thanks Imogen and manehi
I had only three solved (SCHLEPP first one in, despite not knowing its meaning) after going twice through the clues, so thought this was going to be impossible. However, returning an hour later yielded EPSOM and then 6, and the rest followed.
Incorrectly entered DONCASTER (Don sounds like dun = brown?) for TOWCESTER.
I also got Epsom before 6 down and took a stab at it being racecourses, with Ascot following before I got to the theme clue!
TheZed @5, I think that’s a nicer parsing for 29ac [I just googled ‘Ascot course Perth’] – have edited the blog
Thoroughly confused at first, with aspen in for 8 across, and then degree for the key word in 6 down. Thought I was looking for universities before the penny dropped. Plain sailing after that as I like my horse racing!
Thanks Imogen, Manehi
Excellent tough clues throughout. I spent much of the puzzle looking for Doncaster, the only races I’ve been to.
If 29a refers to Perth in Australia, I don’t see how it makes sense. Ascot’s course (assuming there is supposed to be an apostrophe) is not Perth – Perth’s course is Ascot. Perth is a course in the UK, like all the others, and thus gettable from general familiarity with UK place names. I’m sure TheZed @5 has it right.
SCHLEPP – most unlikely anagram ever?
Oh yes, Scots not Scot’s, sorry
Just about all the courses were new to me and I was only able to “solve” this with help from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_racecourses – I looked for a course that fitted the bill, then attempted to parse the clue. I don’t really enjoy doing crosswords this way.
I needed help to parse or fully parse 21d, 28a (did not know how to pronounce TOWCESTER!), 13a and I failed to solve 2d (only got as got as far as TELET)18d, 3d, 1d, 10a. I think I just ran out of steam and/or interest.
Thanks blogger and setter.
*I thought that Imogen is a name for a female, but the setter is a he?
I’m not a fan of ‘solve a clue, then solve all the other linked ones) but like TheZed @7 I got Epsom and then worked out what 6 had to be. I never knew until this morning how many 6d names I actually new.
Thanks to Imogen for the brain exercise and Manehi for the explanations
manehi – Re 8 ac: COT is in itself an archaic/literary term for a humble dwelling – so there is no need for ‘small’ to do double duty by indicating a shortening of ‘cottage’ as (I think) you suggest in your excellent blog.
Hard work this, but quite satisfying. The only course I didn’t know was Cartmel, and I was interested to read of its history and its rather lovely setting.
I first solved 3dn as COURSE – board=table, vulgar=coarse, which caused no end of confusion as that seemed that 6dn had to be something else, and so perhaps all the references to 6 would mean VI had to be used in the solution. Eventually 12ac showed me my error.
Had to use a list for some of the 6ds but that didn’t take away from the enjoyment. 27a was my way in. Couldn’t solve 21d, had to reveal it. Thanks to setter and blogger ….
I usually leave a gateway clue until I have a few crossers. EPSOM triggered it for me which made it easier but not easy.
Not being a punter myself I wasnt put off at all by the theme .SOUTHWOLD also has a track I think but it didnt parse and I prefer to remember that place for other things..
I really like Imogen’s puzzles and this was no exception.
Thanks manehi and Imogen.
I’m not aware of Southwold having a (horse) racing course, and can’t find any reference to it on a brief search.
Rog@18 Southwell not southwold.
Gillian@17 – thanks, but I was replying to copmus @ 17 (‘SOUTHWOLD also has a track I think’). Sorry – should have made it clear. I’m very well aware of the course at Southwell, as my mother lives there (in the town, not on the course).
Thanks to Imogen and manehi. Phew well I got there in the end even though I knew the courses. After 20 minutes or so I only had a couple of clues in and like others got in through Epsom. That said I found some of the parsing tricky and had to come here to parse a couple (metro and endowed). The latter being last in and I did like Towcester and parallel. Thanks again to Imogen and manehi.
Rog @14 Cartmel is indeed a beautiful racecourse (been there a few times) and to my knowledge the only one that has a figure of eight course.
Thanks manehi. I’m always amazed at the huge variations in what is considered general knowledge. I have absolutely zero interest in horse racing, yet I knew all of the themed names. It’s probably the fact that I’m so old; I guess one just picks up such facts over the decades and, in this case, they are actual places as well as race courses.
I know equally little about similar, and arguably more obscure, subjects which are constantly referenced by setters – such as bridge and cricket. What general knowledge I do have about them I have learned from crosswords – another point in their favour!
Thank you, Imogen, I enjoyed this one.
The actual course at Southwold is a tour of the Adnams pubs.
Thank you Imogen and manehi.
I have never been to the races, but enjoyed the puzzle even though I had to google. Like Dave Ellison @6 I entered DONCASTER at 28a. I failed to fully parse ENDOWS.
Just remembered, I have been to the races in Khartoum of all places and on a Friday to boot
Wot! No Aintree!
Thanks both, very enjoyable.
copmus @23 – aha! My favourite sort of course. When in Southwold I usually like to start that sort of day with a tour of the brewery and/or distillery before moving on to the pubs.
As a novice my heart always sinks when I see loads of clues linked to one clue. After I try to get that one and fail, I then become disheartened (not helped by one of the crossers to that clue referencing it). Would appreciate any techniques for solving this, is it possible to backsolve by looking at the referring clues (I have vaguely tried this but without success previously).
Anyway in summary I am a fan of horse racing and have heard of all the answers but i didn’t get to that part of the puzzle so wasn’t able to enjoy it.
My problem not the setters, but my heart sinks when I see these puzzles, I find them very ‘all or nothing’
A struggle all the way and failed on CARTMEL, which I’d never heard of (lovely looking place though), and TOWCESTER – another who guessed ‘Doncaster’. My way in was via REDCAR after I initially had ‘lesson’ for the gateway clue for the same reason as drofle @2.
Your Aintree was my Cheltenham, Hammer @25.
Thanks to Imogen and manehi.
For me, the going was heavy (soft in places?). Personally, I don’t object to a ‘one clue to rule them all’ puzzle but it can be frustrating if that clue takes a while to reveal itself (as 6d did for me) as it means staring at a bunch of other clues without definition for a long time. Even after getting COURSE the light-bulb didn’t immediately come on, as it’s a word with many meanings.
Still, thanks for the thorough workout Imogen and for the enlightenment manehi. I’m off down the bookies.
Enjoyed this one a lot, despite the subject being one I thought I knew nothing about – they are listed so often that all of them were familiar. Took me quite a while to crack the theme – had five disconnected non-themers before seeing EPSOM, after which the rest was pretty straightforward until ENDOWED, which was last in and took ages.
A fine crossword and an entertaining challenge.
Thanks to Imogen and manehi
Oh that was tough! Schlepp came immediately (I use the word a lot) but then I ground to a halt. Like Stuart @27, the ‘one ring’ format sure makes it hard for a learner. Did finally finish it; 2d was last in but what a good clue! Needed some help from the blog for some of the parsing.
Thanks to Imogen and manehi
Thanks both,
A bit of a struggle but enjoyable nonetheless. Not helped by having ‘course’ as a tentative solution to 3d. A course is served at table (on board) and sounds like ‘coarse’. That made 6d seem a bit unlikely. Finally defeated by 21d which I couldn’t parse even when I’d got the answer after several ‘check’.
Thanks to Imogen and manehi. Very tough going for me. I’m another who rarely gets the key term at the start and has to work backwards – and my knowledge of UK race courses is minimal. I started by parsing PERTH (and thought that the puzzle would have an Australian theme) but then got REDCAR (dredged up from a previous puzzle) that led me to racecourses (though I still did not have COURSE). Like others I then resorted to a list on Google. On non-thematic items, I did not know the battle of Edgehill or SCREED as a layer of cement and had not before come across par-paragraph as a few lines.
Stuart Drysdale @27: I’d say that my way in to crosswords like this is more often than not the ‘back solve’ you mention. It usually relies on having one or two crossers for a themed clue and using them and a bit of inspiration to solve the cryptic part. It looks as if a few others got there that way with this crossword, judging by comments above. My way in was via EPSOM.
Thanks to Imogen and manehi
Didn’t find this great fun – needed a lot of help with parsing – but am surprised that I know so many racecourses since, like many other contributors, I don’t really have an interest in gambling (although I’m sure many attend race meetings purely for the spectacle)(ahem). Matters weren’t helped when I confidently entered Sidcup instead of REDCAR; it parses quite well but it turns out there isn’t a Sidcup racecourse. Favourites were SCHLEPP (not a word I’ve encountered, but it had to be) and METRO.
Stuart Drysdale@27: I know what you mean about all or nothing – my modus operandi is to stare and stare at the linked clues until something clicks; it generally works.
ACD@33: it’s “para” for paragraph, quite acceptable I’d propose. I had similar Edgehill/screed problems.
This crossword was rather too dependent on the theme for my taste, but I enjoyed most of it, even though I had to go against my preferred practice (this year) of not using any reference sources – in this case I resorted to using an online list of British racecourses.
I thought TOWCESTER was pronounced with OW as in ‘now’, and I was relieved to get this one without difficulty in spite of that. In a similar vein, I have not heard CATTERICK pronounced as ‘cat a rick’ – I always thought it was ‘cat rick’.
I liked SCREWED, NEWMARKET, SCHLEPP,
EDGE, EMISSARY and APPLET, but I didn’t like PARALLEL, THIRSK, COURSE and METRO.
Thanks to Imogen and Manehi.
2dThis puzzle required more of the Check button than usual, usually used cautiously and letter by letter.
Why a holiday cottage? A house, a mansion or a room in a rooming house can be let.
Totally missed “kendo.” Had KNITTED for 21d for a while — N in KITTED, “provided”. SCHLEPP is a very familiar word to me, as a lot of Yiddish is to Northeastern Americans, but I’ve never seen it with two Ps.
With a beginning of CAT for pet and a taste of the check button, I got enough letters of CATTERICK to fill it in and then wondered why I’d ever heard of it, whatever it was. The word was familiar, but only vaguely. Google showed a village in Yorkshire — can’t be that — and a BBC comedy series. British TV is my weak point, or one of them, but I duly tried SERIES and SITCOM with the check button — no go. Went a bit farther down the Google page and aha! a racecourse! I’ve never been to the races even in the US, much less in the UK, but I have read the entire oeuvre of Dick Francis and recognize a fair number of race course names. Thereupon filled in EPSOM, ASCOT and NEWMARKET. And then stuck. A trip to google revealed some courses I’d never heard of and a few (thanks to Mr Francis) that I had, and then the rest bit by bit.
I loved this puzzle, but surely it would have been better placed as a prize. What about last week, to coincide with Derby Day?.
I’m another who used EPSOM as the gateway to the theme. I was familiar with most, but not SOUTHWELL or CARTMEL. Some really great and imaginative cluing, I thought.
Thanks to TheZed for completing the PERTH parse and to manehi for the explanation of PARA in PARALLEL (and for the whole blog, of 6). Thanks also to Imogen. Lots of fun.
@Valentine 37
re your comment about SCHLEPP, this is why Yiddish words are gold-dust to setters; Chambers has 3 spellings – same for SHLEMIEL etc.
I realy enjoyed this puzzle and thought Imogen went to a great deal of trouble to provide “fair” wordplay – with the exception of TOWCESTER which no-one is ever going to get who hasn’t heard it pronounced – which gave a chance to solvers who don’t rub themselves down with the Racing Post
Thanks to S&B
PetHay@21
Fontwell Park in W.Sussex is figure of 8; allows punters to be nearer fences to confirm where your stake went.
Thanks to all for continued interesting comments.
Michelle @12 Imogen is the pseudonym for Richard Browne. Follow the Imogen link in Setters on this blog.
Michelle @12 Imogen is the pseudonym for Richard Browne. Follow the Imogen link in Setters on this blog.
Sorry all. Didn’t mean to post above twice. In fact not sure how it happened.
Re Ludlow, I thought each part of a split solution had to form a word. So what’s a “lud?
According to my Chambers it’s a form of “lord”, as used when addressing a judge i.e. M’Lud.
I’m another who bunged in Doncaster for 28a, never having heard of Towcester. I justified it (feebly!) as a homophone of downcaster = more downcast = more browned (off).
‘I’ve Got a Horse Right Here; His Name Is Paul Revere.’
Crossbar @45. Thanks for that.It had occurred to me but I don’t recall ever seeing it without the M’.
Stuart D @27: if I can’t get the “key” answer straight away (and it’s rarely that I can) I try to get as many non-themers as possible first. Then the crossers should help to work out a couple of the themed answers from their wordplay, even though you don’t have the definition. Then you can (maybe) spot what those have in common, and get to the theme that way. It works sometimes!
Thanks to Manehi and Imogen ! Like others I needed to resort to Wikipedia’s list of British racecourses but oddly I never mind doing that with GK-related themes – it’s often an absolute must for “Bank Holiday Specials”, for example. I couldn’t parse them all so thanks again to Manehi for the explanations. Unlike many of us I had actually heard of Lactodorum or rather TOWCESTER as we now call it; living ten miles or so away from it helped enormously !
We had Worcester for 28 across – where there is a race course – and can use the sauce as a “browner” for gravy etc
Very enjoyable. Despite a strict non-gambling background, I knew all the courses – years of listening to sports results on the radio. Indeed, Cartmel, which is probably the most obscure of them, was my way in to the theme.
Alas, I fell at Towcester, though unlike others I went for Worcester, which also has a course, with the tenuous justification that Worcester sauce can be used as a ‘browner’.
Silly, as I know Towcester (and its pronunciation) perfectly well. Indeed, it’s the course I’ve come closest to entering, as I once gave a friend a lift to the car park there.
Thanks to Imogen and manehi.
JenA@51
Great minds think alike – and simultaneously, it seems!
Stambridge @40 did not know that. Been past it on the train from (I think) from either Lewis or Brighton to Victoria, but never actually been to a meeting. That said Brighton one of my favourite racecourses.
Not my favourite sort of puzzle and I only persevered out of bloody mindedness. I got a tentative ASCOT and then COURSE but I’m not very well up on racing and I’ve never heard of some of these- CARTMEL, SOUTHWELL and even TADCASTER spring to mind. I did like CREWED and METRO but I thought this a bit heavy for midweek.
Thanks Imogen.
Thanks Imogen and manehi
Didn’t enjoy it – par for the course (sorry!) with Imogen. FOI was REDCAR, but it still took ages to see the (tedious) theme – I was considering steel towns, though there aren’t that many.
How is ER in CATTERICK equivalent to “a”?
I did know CARTMEL, as there is a great garden festival there (at Holker Hall), some great pubs and restaurants, and some great sticky toffee puddings.
STATELET was favourite.
I’m another who failed on CARTMEL, and BIFD DONCASTER. Ah well…
If you’re not into horse racing this was clearly a bridge too far at places. Also, but that’s my opinion, Imogen could have done a bit more with the gateway clue (COURSE, 6d) as there are different kind of courses.
We didn’t get TOWCESTER (28ac), even though we considered the answer to be a homophone of ‘toaster’. Yes, just like for some others above Doncaster, Worcester and even Leicester came along. That we didn’t get this particular racecourse was also because we entered ‘knitted’ at 21d [for the same reasons Valentine @37 mentions].
We were confident about SOUTHWELL (although we thought of Southwold first but couldn’t make it work) and slightly less about CATTERICK (but we guessed it right, for the right reasons).
Perhaps, 16ac makes clear why for us this wasn’t the most enjoyable puzzle from Imogen’s oeuvre. It was clear that it was T inside a mountain in Israel. Not knowing either the racecourse or the mountain [I am an atheist, ya know], you don’t get anywhere, do ya?
All in all, OK-ish but today’s real flavour was provided by Knut (aka Julius) at other places.
Thank you, manehi (& Imogen, too, of course … 🙂 )
Great puzle. Very enjoyable.
Jeceris @44
There are things called dictionaries which might help you. 😉
I got the theme through ASCOT and needed the wiki list to get through to the end. [As several people have commented, CARTMEL is indeed a lovely course and is also where the Cartmel Show is held on the first Wednesday in August – we’ll worth a visit.] I’m another whom questioned LUD and would never have got the (k)ENDO part of 21d. I’d got as far as END (not at first) and WED with the O spare.
It’s a well clued puzzle with hindsight but not the most fun to me. Thanks to Imogen for the workout and manehi for sorting everything out.
I was striving to divine how Uttoxeter alluded to browness at 28a because I had KNITTED at 21d – which is a solution yielded by a feasible, alternative parsing to Imogen’s intended.
Thanks to him and Manehi
@47 Michelle
…’and if the weather’s clear, this horse can do, this horse can do…’ Unlike my attempts at recalling racecourses. Mind you, ‘Guys and Dolls’ is a superb musical. Thanks for reminding me.
With themed crosswords often I’m more concerned about fitting a half-stabbed attempt into the lights rather than reading the clue carefully. My impetuous problem.
Thanks to all-
muffin @56
You asked how the ER in Catterick is equivalent to ‘a’.
Although I can’t find an authoritative source on how this name is pronounced, I did find one website that gave a phonetic indication corresponding to ‘cat a rick’, which is what the setter assumed. My difficulty is that people I know who used to work at the Catterick army camp always called it ‘cattrick’.
Setters do need to take care with what they think are ‘sound-alikes’, but I’m not saying that Imogen was at fault here.
Sorry, but no fun. Needlessly “clever” even outside the theme.
Crossbar@45 I don’t buy it. “M’lud” is a phonetic transcription of an expression, not a word on its own. Is Orse a word, just because some people pronounce it that way? Does anyone ever say “He is a lud”?
Arriving here at a ridiculously late hour, like something the cat dragged in. Super busy day at work (and also outside of work) and then poleaxed by the puzzle! Like many others I needed a printed list of UK racecourses from Wikipedia to solve almost all of the 6s (except for the familiar old ASCOT and EPSOM), and even then I put DONCASTER in at 28ac, for the same reason articulated by alliacol @46. And I was unable to parse PARALLEL. Oh well. Sometimes you’re the hammer and sometimes you’re the nail. (Except when you are Hammer @25, in which case I suppose you really are the Hammer.) Still, I had fun trying. I druther be solving a puzzle, to the extent of the clues I manage to solve, than doing umpteen other things that often need doing in a day.
Many thanks to Imogen and manehi and the other commenters.
Valentine @65. I’m not convinced by lud either. But it’s there in Chambers, so who am I to contradict? 🙂
Was late to this and don’t understand 2D. Can anyone explain. To me, if you state something is let then it most definitely isn’t any longer available.
Erci @68 – “let” can also be used as a noun to describe a property available for rent.
Eric @68
I just realized I probably misparsed 2: I had it as a (slightly dodgy) homophone (announce) of STAY TO LET (holiday cottage available).
@ phitonelly, Eric
That’s how I saw it too. Holiday = stay, cottage available = to let.
The phrase “holiday let” is often used by travel agents for a place for rent.
Saved for Saturday morning’s coffee – but could’ve drunk two cups in the time it took to solve (well over the half hour I’m ashamed to admit). CATTERICK my first in (“cat a rick” is exactly as I’ve always pronounced it) which supplied the theme. I did enjoy TOWCESTER (though seen similar before) but otherwise found this a somewhat STOLID solve. ENDOWED, my last, took an age!
Unlike some others, I avoided looking anything up; I know little of race courses – so the clueing must have been exact. Like some others, I agree this might have been better as a prize.
Many thanks, both and all.
I got enough crosses to work out 9ac, and felt no guilt about going to Wikipedia to find out where/what the heck that was. The rest was a somewhat tedious slog through too many clues that seemed to depend on one guessing the answer and solving backwards.