I enjoyed this. A pleasant and gentle (?) workout from one of the Indy’s top setters. Perhaps one could criticise the fact that there are rather a lot of single letters clued by things like ‘ultimately’ and ‘initially’, but it is done so smoothly that this is hardly a blemish.
Definitions in maroon, underlined. Anagram indicators in italics.
Since 4/6 is LIGHTNING CONDUCTOR there are several references to conductors, all but one of whom feature in this list. There will no doubt be some who abhor the choice of subject material, but I think it shows that the Indy is keen on getting balance and doesn’t want to be thought of as just football and rock music. None of the references is I think all that obscure.
| Across | ||
| 1 | STREAMLET | Lesser runner, a male regularly getting in the way (9) |
| stre(a m{a}l{e})et | ||
| 6 | CASTS | Queens, say, adopting small sheds (5) |
| ca(s)ts — queen cats as opposed to tom cats | ||
| 9 | DAVIS | 6 Down, his supporter welcoming Beethoven’s Seventh (5) |
| Colin Davis: da({Beetho}v{en})is | ||
| 10 | GAS ENGINE | Wheel engages in fuel-driven machine (3,6) |
| (engages in)* | ||
| 11 | THUMP | Time to carry blow (5) |
| t hump | ||
| 12 | TEACUPFUL | Fix faucet up, having leaked originally about 5 fluid ounces (9) |
| (faucet up)* l{eaked} | ||
| 13 | SOLTI | Three consecutive notes lacking a 6 Down (5) |
| Georg Solti: so l{a} ti | ||
| 15 | SATANIC | An act is horribly evil (7) |
| (An act is)* | ||
| 16 | RIPPING | Splendid having a slash? (7) |
| If you are literally having a slash you are ripping something | ||
| 18 | AIRER | Drier river taking last of water (5) |
| Aire {wate}r | ||
| 21 | CLAIMABLE | Message about redirected mail can be taken (9) |
| c(laim)able, the laim being (mail)* | ||
| 23 | STEIN | 6 Down abandoning European capital, the mug! (5) |
| Leonard Bernstein: {Bern}stein | ||
| 24 | PETIT JURY | Panel shaken up and jittery (5,4) |
| (up jittery)* — I had a strong suspicion that it was this, but had to check the term since it was new to me | ||
| 25 | BEECH | Wood – 6 Down leaving in the morning (5) |
| Beech{a.m.}: Thomas Beecham | ||
| 26 | SHELF | Supporter starts to show honest spirit (5) |
| s{how} h{onest} elf | ||
| 27 | THEREFROM | The judge ruling on misdemeanour initially coming out of that place (9) |
| the ref r{uling} o{n} m{isdemeanour} | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | SEDATE | Daughter occupying position on first of ensembles composed (6) |
| se(d)at e{nsembles} | ||
| 2 | RAVE-UPS | Parties ending in clover pause to recollect outstanding victory (4-3) |
| {clove}r, then v in (pause)* — the parsing defeated me at first because I didn’t understand the significance of ‘outstanding’, thinking that ‘outstanding victory’ was VE as in VE-day, and ‘to recollect’ seemed to be doing double duty as both an anagram indicator and an inclusion indicator, but it’s simply the former; the inclusion I think is indicated by ‘outstanding’ in the sense ‘standing outside’, although it seems a bit strained to me, so perhaps my parsing is wrong. | ||
| 3 | ALSOP | 6 Down in musicals, optional (5) |
| Marin Alsop: hidden in musicALS, OPtional — this is the only conductor not to feature in the list of those considered by Gramophone to be the 50 Greatest Conductors | ||
| 4/6 | LIGHTNING CONDUCTOR | Current controller, one quick to check your ticket? (9,9) |
| a whimsical CD | ||
| 5 | TOSCA | 6 Down more than half way through opera (5) |
| Tosca{nini}: ref Arturo Toscanini and the opera Tosca by Puccini | ||
| 6 | See 4 | |
| 7 | STIFFEN | Difference between three points is set (7) |
| S (tiff) E N | ||
| 8 | SHELLAC | Female put on ring turned over in varnish (7) |
| she (call)rev. | ||
| 14 | LEITMOTIF | Male in mobile toilet providing theme (9) |
| m in (toilet)* if | ||
| 15 | SPARE TYRE | Extra fat needed after a blowout? (5,4) |
| If you have a blowout when driving you will need a spare tyre | ||
| 16 | RECIPES | Chefs’ instructions to serve up classic cuisine, ultimately, in empty restaurants (7) |
| (epic {cuisin}e)rev. in r{estaurant}s | ||
| 17 | PRATTLE | Go on piano with 6 Down (7) |
| p Rattle: ref Simon Rattle | ||
| 19 | ROE DEER | Girls’ school dismissing an Elizabeth, elegant beast (3,4) |
| Roede{an} ER | ||
| 20 | ANTHEM | 6 Down stands to embrace new song (6) |
| n in (Mehta)rev.: ref Zubin Mehta | ||
| 22 | BOULT | Reported 4 6 (5) |
| “bolt” — I tentatively had FLASH here, thinking it might be a reference to Sir Malcolm Sargent, who was known as ‘Flash’: ref Adrian Boult | ||
| 23 | SABRE | Blade turned up in wastepaper basket (5) |
| Hidden rev. in wastepapER BASket | ||
*anagram
I enjoyed this too – it never fails to amaze me that there is ‘stuff’ you don’t realise you know until the subject turns up in a cryptic crossword
Thanks to Punk and John
Well this was right up our street, once we spotted ALSOP hidden in 3dn and twigged what 4/6 had to be. An appropriate theme for the last week of the Proms – and even their original conductor made an appearance in the clue to 25ac. The only one we thought might be a bit obscure was Mehta, referenced in 20dn.
We hadn’t encountered PETIT JURY before, but it was clear from the wordplay and checking letters, and quickly confirmed in Chambers
CoD has to be 22dn for the clever use of the homophone and the mental image ‘lightning’ suggests of Boult as a flamboyant showman à la Bernstein; he was rather the opposite, and there’s a lovely Hoffnung cartoon depicting him with the hand holding his baton handcuffed to the podium.
Thanks, Punk and John.
Further evidence, if needed, that I really don’t like themed crosswords.
ALSOP was the only one of these I didn’t know, though I was stuck on Arthur Rubinstein, who was a pianist and not a conductor, rather than the much more obvious Leonard Bernstein, for 23a.
Maybe not in the top 50, but DAVIS could also refer to Sir Andrew Davis, who is currently (but not for much longer) the chief conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
PETIT JURY also new to me and I was interested to read how it differs from the ‘Grand’ version.
Mea culpa – bunged in RAVE-UPS unparsed, so we’ll done for working it out.
Thanks to Punk and John.
Didn’t know any of the conductors but finished the crossword, except for BOULT (many thanks John). It took me a while to get 4/6, I started off looking for inspectors, not that I know any more of them. Some clever clueing, I thought – TEACUPFUL, GAS ENGINE, THEREFROM, RECIPES
many thanks punk
WordPlodder@4: Actually, we thought of Andrew rather than Colin for DAVIS – probably because he’s conducting the Last Night of the Proms this year.