This is now the third of Radian’s crosswords in a row that I have had the pleasure of blogging: all very satisfactory, plenty of good clues, nothing controversial, and a Nina, shortly to be exposed, which wasn’t too hard to see.
Definitions in maroon, underlined. Anagram indicators in italics.
As always with Radian nowadays, he uses a well-known speech from Shakespeare and the crossword contains words from it. This device could go on for a while …
He has taken the St Crispin’s Day speech from Henry V:
What’s he that wishes so?
My cousin, Westmorland? No, my fair cousin;
If we are mark’d to die, we are enough
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God’s will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires.
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.
God’s peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more methinks would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmorland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man’s company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call’d the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say “To-morrow is Saint Crispian.”
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say “These wounds I had on Crispin’s day.”
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words—
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester—
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb’red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be rememberèd—
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.
So far as I can see, the following words have been used: Crispin, Gloucester, cousin, stomach, advantages, vile, England, things, hope, fight, condition, feats, vigil, wish. Not complete, I expect, and perhaps you will find more.
Of course 2dn and 30ac are connected to the theme, but don’t appear in the speech.
| Across | ||
| 1 | APATHY | Lack of interest in a course with happy ending (6) |
| a path {happ}y | ||
| 4 | VENGEFUL | Vindictive English earl goes in very nearly drunk (8) |
| v (Eng E) ful{l} | ||
| 10 | CRISPIN | Saintly old shoemaker‘s neat home (7) |
| crisp [neat] in [home] — St. Crispin is the god of various things to do with shoemaking | ||
| 11 | ALLEGES | Everyone tiptoes, ignoring Dutch claims (7) |
| all e{D}ges | ||
| 12 | ROCK | After my turns, knee’s beginning to wobble (4) |
| (cor)rev. k{nee} — cor! = my! | ||
| 13 | GLOUCESTER | City recluse got shifted (10) |
| (recluse got)* | ||
| 15 | COUSIN | Piece about American person once removed? (6) |
| co(US)in | ||
| 16 | STOMACH | Take cat first of all into school (7) |
| s(tom a{ll})ch | ||
| 20 | AT A PUSH | With difficulty, install bug in Austrian hotel (2,1,4) |
| A(tap)us h | ||
| 21 | PAUNCH | Pot, one wrapped in sock (6) |
| p(a)unch | ||
| 24 | ADVANTAGES | Notice Bedford, say, initially takes forever to make profits (10) |
| ad van t{akes} ages | ||
| 26 | VILE | Tours for one avoiding lake that’s foul (4) |
| vil{L}e — Tours is a city in France, a ville | ||
| 28 | ENGLAND | No good entering bovine team in white? (7) |
| e(NG)land — Eng-er-lund | ||
| 29 | TRIVIAL | Hearing about four or six piddling (7) |
| tr(IV)ial or tri(VI)al | ||
| 30 | TILTYARD | Tip cart over where Henry suffered wounds (8) |
| tilt (dray)rev. — Shakespeareans will be able to give the details of this, but no doubt in that play Henry V was wounded in the tiltyard | ||
| 31 | THINGS | Stuff bathing suit, not all of it (6) |
| Hidden in baTHING Suit | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | ACCURACY | Current clerical office’s fidelity (8) |
| ac [alternating current] curacy | ||
| 2 | AGINCOURT | A drink date where Henry met Constable (9) |
| a gin court [date, as in “they were dating”] — at Agincourt the French were commanded by Constable Charles d’Albret | ||
| 3 | HOPE | Spring came, finally producing optimism (4) |
| hop [spring] {cam}e | ||
| 5 | EVALUATE | Leave out a novel nonetheless for judge (8) |
| (Leave {o}ut a)* — I couldn’t see what ‘nonetheless’ was doing, until I realised that the anagram material needs to drop an o and that ‘nonetheless’ is ‘none the less’; some will frown at this | ||
| 6 | GOLDEN MEAN | Data base covers outdated middle course (6,4) |
| g(old)en mean [base] — it’s just ‘old’, not the tempting ‘olden’ | ||
| 7 | FIGHT | Escape out of large box (5) |
| f{l}ight | ||
| 8 | LUSTRE | Ulster flounders reflected light (6) |
| (Ulster)* | ||
| 9 | ANGLE | Old invader, possibly obtuse (5) |
| The old invaders of these isles were, amongst others, the Angles; obtuse (or right or acute or …) | ||
| 14 | DISPENSARY | In journal, son writes where to get drugs (10) |
| di(s pens)ary | ||
| 17 | CONDITION | Dodge speech lacking constant shape (9) |
| con di{c}tion — what sort of shape/condition are you in? | ||
| 18 | ISLANDER | First person to insult Orcadian perhaps (8) |
| I slander — an Orcadian is an inhabitant of the Orkney Islands | ||
| 19 | WHEEDLES | West, almost neglectful, uses sweet talk (8) |
| W heedles{s} | ||
| 22 | SAFEST | Most secure small 23 in disorder (6) |
| (s feats)*, 23 being FEATS | ||
| 23 | FEATS | Stunts? Female scoffs (5) |
| f eats | ||
| 25 | VIGIL | Watch old poet, forgetting king (5) |
| Vi{R}gil | ||
| 27 | WISH | Wife lives on Henry’s whim (4) |
| w is H | ||
*anagram
Thanks for a super blog of another super puzzle, John.
This was the obvious follow-on from last month’s ‘Once more unto the breach…’ – as soon as I saw the Saintly old shoemaker at 10 ac I knew where we were going. I didn’t find any more theme words but I smiled to see ‘tip-toe'[s] [line 25] in the clue for 11ac. [And I smiled, rather than frown] at ‘nonetheless’, too, 😉 ]
I could go on all day but I have to rush out now.
Huge thanks to Radian, as ever, for another lovely treat.
Always so grateful for these blogs, often to understand even the answers I got right. Fell into the ‘olden’ trap in 6dn and avoided the simplicity of AUS for Austrian in 20ac as had always taken AUT for Austria (AUS for our antipodean friends) Read aloud the Henry V speech like I was back doing my English Lit A level to console myself for knowing there was a theme but that I was never likely to identify it
Although I am not familiar with Shakespeare’s works, Radian writes clues without any need to know about the ghost theme. Having said that, I had to come here to find the full parsings for AGINCOURT and, to some extent, TILTYARD. A beautiful and challenging crossword – for me, easily the best of today’s GiFT crosswords. Thanks to Radian and John.
Right, we said, Tuesday is theme day, Radian’s the setter, what’s the betting the theme is a Shakespearean speech? Then we got the saintly shoemaker and we were well away. All completed quite quickly, and all the theme words identified. We did have doubts about ‘Austrian’ in 20ac; Chambers only has ‘Australia’ for ‘AUS’ but we see Collins has both ‘Australia(n)’ and ‘Austria(n)’.
No real CoD but we liked TRIVIAL and GOLDEN MEAN among others.
Thanks, Radian and John
I really enjoyed this and had lots of ticks because virtually every clue had something hidden yet was crystal clear and all were gettable from the wordplay with the definition providing the confirmation of the solution. Great setting imho. Thanks to John for the blog – I also fell into the olden trap – and to Radian.
Several I couldn’t parse, and I was convinced 5dn must be EVACUATE. I did wonder at 20ac if .at was the internet suffix for Austria.
I did Henry V for O-level but that was over fifty years ago. I noticed the theme without remembering the speech. But I don’t recall a TILTYARD in the play. However, I remembered (and google confirmed) that Henry VIII did sustain a nasty injury in a joust.
I have been out all day and came late to this. Henry VIII was involved in the Holbein Gate which did have a TILTYARD which also served as a jousting area. Whilst Henry did suffer leg injuries in a jousting match I am not sure they were received in this or any other tiltyard.
There is a reference to a tiltyard in Henry IV Part 2 where Falstaff maligns the Lord Chief Justice’s behaviour in a tiltyard. I do not know of any reference in Henry V.