Thursday tends to be the hardest day and I expected a stinker from Wiglaf, but this was hardly above medium difficulty so far as I could see. More importantly, it was very good. Plenty of nice clues and nothing really that I have anything to grumble about.
Definitions in maroon, underlined. Anagram indicators in italics.
With all those unches round the sides and the four answers with <50% checking I suspected a Nina. No doubt there is one, but goodness knows.
| Across | ||
| 6/27 | VERA LYNN | A clergyman returns to Norfolk town briefly to see singing dame (4,4) |
| (a rev.)rev. Lynn [King’s Lynn] | ||
| 8 | UNLETTERED | Landlord engrossed by Dune novel is not familiar with classical works? (10) |
| un(letter)ed, the uned being (Dune)* | ||
| 10 | SEARCH ME | A Roman Catholic monarch is hiding in diocese? I have no 14 (6,2) |
| 14 is IDEA, which makes the definition clear — se(a RC HM)e | ||
| 11 | MERKIN | Hairpiece exhibited by maiden in front of Queen and King? Not quite (6) |
| M ER kin{g} — a bit rude, this | ||
| 12 | ESTRAGON | Doctor Strangelove with split character waiting with Vladimir on the stage (8) |
| Strangelove with split is Strange love, or Strange 0, so it’s *(Strange 0) — Estragon was the character who, with Vladimir, waited for Godot in Samuel Becket’s play | ||
| 14 | IDEA | Every so often kiddies will get a brainwave? (4) |
| {k}i{d}d{i)e{s} a | ||
| 15 | UKRAINE | Instrument for collecting water in the country (7) |
| uk(rain)e | ||
| 17 | OBESITY | Follow instructions when tackling model’s weight problem (7) |
| obe(sit)y, tackling an inclusion indicator | ||
| 20 | ONCE | Former resident in prison cell (4) |
| Hidden in prisON CEll | ||
| 21 | GOLD DUST | German louts merrily downing Double Diamonds? This is very rare (4,4) |
| G ol(D D)ust, the olust being (louts)* | ||
| 23 | OKSANA | Woman from 15 gives thumbs up to Nazi terrorist militia backed by North America (6) |
| 15 being UKRAINE, this is a woman from Ukraine — a common girl’s name in Ukraine — OK SA N A — SA stands for Sturmabteilung, the Nazi terrorist militia | ||
| 24 | MANDRAKE | Turgidson finally slices bananas with tool for scraping plant (8) |
| ma({Turgidso}n)d rake — Turgidson was the General in Dr Strangelove, but I can’t link this to any theme in the crossword | ||
| 26 | UNBECOMING | A French commander getting involved in wild binge is inappropriate (10) |
| un [= ‘a’ in French] be(com.)ing, the being being *(binge) — but only the other day we had the distinction com. = commodore, cdr. = commander; however, Collins gives com. = both of them, so Wiglaf gets away with it. | ||
| 27 | See 6 | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | PAIR | Couple gave money to Republican instead of Democrat (4) |
| paid with the D replaced by R | ||
| 2 | LUTHERAN | Maybe Bach read French at the Royal Academy of Arts? Not initially (8) |
| lu [‘read’ in French] the RA N{ot} | ||
| 3 | ALLERGY | Art museum delaying its opening provokes an abnormal reaction (7) |
| gallery with its first letter ‘delayed’, ie moved to later in the word | ||
| 4 | NEAR MISSES | Lucky escapes from tight-fisted young women (4,6) |
| near [= tight-fisted] Misses | ||
| 5 | RETICENT | Reserved return call curbed by result of Ripper’s action? (8) |
| (cite)rev. in rent [a tear, a possible result of a ripper’s actions] | ||
| 7 | EVEN | Backing group of Suzanne Vega quits (4) |
| Hidden reversed in SuzanNE VEga | ||
| 9 | TIMON | Athenian drama has American university in a spin (5) |
| no [Japanese drama] MIT [Massachusetts Institute of Technology; in the past I’ve seen various grumbles about this from people who say that it isn’t a university: whether or not they are right, in the widest sense of the word (university of life, etc) it’s surely OK] — ref. Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens | ||
| 13 | SHAMEFACED | Sheepish fake journalist’s drinking mug (10) |
| sham (face) ed — mug = face, drinking the inclusion indicator — I’m not entirely comfortable with the equivalence of sheepish and shamefaced, although no doubt there is quite an overlap of meaning | ||
| 16 | KING KONG | Greek NGO failed to support family movie (4,4) |
| Gk (NGO)* supporting/under kin | ||
| 18 | BADINAGE | Amusing repartee is second-rate these days and in decline (8) |
| B AD in age | ||
| 19 | OLYMPIA | Oily crooked politician entering a state capital (7) |
| (Oily)* with MP entering this, a — capital city of Washington | ||
| 21 | GUANO | Starting late, China’s ready to cut energy waste (5) |
| g({y}uan)o — China’s ready is China’s money | ||
| 22 | SKIN | Anger, say, about Kubrick’s last film (4) |
| s({Kubric}k)in — this film | ||
| 25 | ROLE | Job Watch sees ten laid off (4) |
| Role(X) — I hope the watchmaker is paying for the advertising | ||
*anagram
Thanks John
You are right that the unches etc might indicate a theme or Nina. There is a theme, some of the entries (6/27ac, 11ac, 24ac, 16dn & 21dn) and also within several clues (12ac, 24ac, 5dn & 22dn).
Thanks to John and Wiglaf
The parsing of 12a eluded me – I thought that perhaps there was a character “lev” in an obscure alphabet which had to be split from Strangelove, but you have enlightened me.
Still having fun finding thematic elements “Plan R” etc.
Must watch again soon.
TILT “unches”, does it means unchecked squares?
Finished but had to come here for some of the parsing. Didn’t know “lu” was French for “read”. Wondered if that was where Lou Reed got his name but now realise “read” is past tense here.
Also confused by the Nazi terrorist militia. Thought the ‘backed’ in the clue meant it was reversed. Theme is lost on me.
Thanks to Wiglaf and John.
Only thanks to Gaufrid spotting it and with the aid of Mr. Google, I now see what the theme is. Fitting in ‘precious bodily fluids’ and ‘mine shaft gap’ would have made it even better. Yes, worth another look some time.
Apart from not getting the theme, pretty gentle for a Wiglaf. I didn’t know the slightly naughty 11a, but nothing else too obscure.
Thanks to Wiglaf for an enjoyable crossword and to John.
Count us among those who missed the theme but solved the puzzle anyway, only needing to confirm the hairpiece in Chambers and the Ukrainian lady via Google, although we couldn’t parse TIMON, having forgotten the Japanese drama. One of us saw Dr Strangelove many years ago but failed to recognise ‘Turgidson’ – in fact we double-checked the clue to make sure it wasn’t ‘turgid son’.
A satisfying solve, nevertheless. Favourites were ESTRAGON, MANDRAKE, LUTHERAN and ROLE.
Thanks, Wiglaf and John.
I liked this but was nervous about looking up Ukrainian girls names what with the state of the internet.
Enjoyed most of this even though blissfully unaware of the theme.
Was slightly unhappy about the redundant FOR in 15ac but not so much as to spoil anything.
Thanks to John and Wiglaf
Re theme: Dr Strangelove, General Turgidson, and Veral Lynn sang at the end.
Sorry, Vera – thick fingers.
Dansar@3, yes – “unches” are unchecked letters.
Was oblivious of the theme, and found it pretty close to par for a Thursday. Thanks to John and Wiglaf.
Well, I spotted the theme, but had difficulty completing the puzzle without some word searches at the end. When I saw VERA LYNN and Kubrick in 22dn I immediately thought of the film, even before I spotted the clue to 12ac.
Paul A@11
Thank you, there were also more blank/black squares than I have seen before and I thought it might refer to them.