The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27799.
An excellent puzzle, if harder than would have been ideal on an evening I was in the choir at the Maundy Thursday service. Among a host of envelopes, there is a theme, both in the clues and the answers, of comedy films and comedians. Among these, I would point out two Charlie Chaplin films (The Great Dictator and Limelight; his best known persona is the Little Tramp (25D). The impresario Fred Karno (16A) employed a stable of comedians (Fred Karno’s Army), including Charlie Chaplin and Arthur Jefferson, better known under his stage name of Stan Laurel (partner Ollie appears in 6D). Hal Roach was the producer for Laurel and Hardy, and also the Our Gang series, with the Little Rascals (12A). Fatty Arbuckle (29A) mentored Chaplin (and discovered Buster Keaton and Bob Hope). And so it goes on – you can add to the list yourselves.
| Across | ||
| 1 | FASCIST | Hand over a scene describing The Great Dictator? (7) |
| An envelope (‘over’) of ‘a’ plus SC (‘scene’ – and abbreviation not in Chambers) in FIST (‘hand’). | ||
| 5 | BOYCOTT | Black bishop rings Times about Young Conservatives (7) |
| An envelope (‘about’) of YC (‘Young Conservatives’) in B (‘bishop’) plus OO (‘rings’) plus TT (‘times’). | ||
| 10 | FILM | Record first of fifty-one starters for Le Mans (4) |
| A charade of F (‘first of Fifty-‘) plus I (“-one’) plus LM (‘starters for Le Mans). | ||
| 11 | ONE-REELERS | A single rock’s hiding top lady’s shorts (3-7) |
| An envelope (‘hiding’) of [h]ER (‘lady’s’) minus the first letter (‘top’ in the sense of remove the top from) in ONE (‘a single’) plus REELS (‘rock’s’ – the apostrophe is to mislead, I think). | ||
| 12 | RASCAL | Rogue gunmen’s state (6) |
| A charade of RA’S (Royal Artillery, ‘gunmen’s) plus CAL (California, ‘state’). | ||
| 13 | FOLDAWAY | Community on holiday like beds in caravans (8) |
| A charade of FOLD (‘community’) plus AWAY (‘on holiday’). | ||
| 14 | SLAPSTICK | Friend’s about to tolerate knockabout antics (9) |
| A charade of SLAP, a reversal (‘about’) of PAL’S (‘friend’s’) plus STICK (‘tolerate’). | ||
| 16 | KARNO | Exponent of 14 fell defending a service (5) |
| An envelope (‘defending’) of ‘a’ plus RN (Royal Navy, ‘service’) in KO (knock out, ‘fell’). For the definition, see Wikipedia. | ||
| 17 | OFFER | Tender chest after scrubbing front (5) |
| A subtraction: [c]OFFER (‘chest’) minus the first letter (‘after scrubbing front’). | ||
| 19 | LIMELIGHT | Writer’s Spanish article pricks faint public interest (9) |
| An envelope (‘pricks’) of I’M (I am, the writer is, ‘writer’s’) plus EL (‘Spanish article’) in LIGHT (‘faint’). | ||
| 23 | COMEDIAN | Wag papers etc during trick (8) |
| An envelope (‘during’) of MEDIA (‘papers etc’) in CON (‘trick’). | ||
| 24 | POTBOY | Cup-and-ball in past helping child in tavern (6) |
| A charade of POT (‘cup’) plus BOY, an envelope (‘in’) of O (‘ball’) in BY (‘past’). | ||
| 26 | WAITRESSES | They clean tables with excellent mops (10) |
| A charade of W (‘with’) plus AI (A1, ‘excellent’) plus TRESSES (‘mops’ of hair). | ||
| 27 | AVER | State‘s mean, cutting time (4) |
| A subtraction: AVER[age] (‘mean’) minus AGE (‘cutting time’). | ||
| 28 | REWRITE | Improved script about western ceremony (7) |
| A charade of RE (‘about’) plus W (‘western’) plus RITE (‘ceremony’). | ||
| 29 | ADIPOSE | Fatty Arbuckle, initially poised, cracks up (7) |
| A charade of A (‘Arbuckle initially’) plus DIPOSE, a anagram (‘cracks up’) of ‘poised’. | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | ABIGAIL | Joe’s over in a small sports bar serving woman (7) |
| An envelope (‘in’) of IG, a reversal (‘over’) of GI (‘Joe’) in ‘a’ plus BAIL (‘small sports bar’, cricket). | ||
| 3 | COMIC | Dandy perhaps stuffs old note in volume (5) |
| An envelope (“stuffs ”’ in’) of O (‘old’) plus MI (‘note’ of the sol-fa) in CC (cubic centimetres, ‘volume’).The DANDY was a British kid’s comic. | ||
| 4 | SPOTLIT | Notice books in the 19? (7) |
| A charade of SPOT (‘notice’) plus LIT (literature, ‘books’). | ||
| 6 | O’NEILL | Ollie nervously hosts northern playwright (6) |
| An envelope (‘hosts’) of N (‘northern’) in OEILL, an anagram (‘nervously’) of ‘Ollie’. | ||
| 7 | CALL A TAXI | In the Channel Islands everyone has a duty to arrange transport (4,1,4) |
| An envelope (‘in’) of ALL (‘everyone’) plus ‘a’ plus TAX (‘duty’) in CI (‘Channel Islands’). | ||
| 8 | TERRAIN | Ruler found in school ground (7) |
| An envelope (‘found in’) of ER (the Queen, ‘ruler’) in TRAIN (‘school’). | ||
| 9 | PERFECTIONIST | He wants things just so ropes etc fit in buggy (13) |
| An anagram (‘buggy’) of ‘ropes etc fit in’. | ||
| 15 | PRESENTER | MC occasionally bears gift after promotion (9) |
| I think this must be a charade of PRESENT (‘gift’) plus ER ( ‘occasionally bEaRs’), with ‘after promotion’ indicating the order of the particles. | ||
| 18 | FOOTAGE | Pay for a, say, revolting series of frames (7) |
| A charade of FOOT (‘pay for’) plus ‘a’ plus GE, a reversal (‘revolting’) of EG (‘say’). | ||
| 20 | EXPOSED | Shed light on old school straddling state borders (7) |
| An envelope (‘straddling’) of SE (‘StatE borders’) in EX (‘old’) plus POD (‘school’ eg. of whales). | ||
| 21 | HOOVERS | Cleans feet crossing river (7) |
| An envelope (‘crossing’) of R (‘river’) in HOOVES (‘feet’). | ||
| 22 | SILENT | Like early 10s, one’s rising fast (6) |
| A charade of SI, a reversal (‘rising’ in a down light) of I’S (‘one’s’) plus LENT (‘fast’). | ||
| 25 | TRAMP | Stump male in role reversal (5) |
| An envelope (‘in’) of M (‘male’) in TRAP, a ‘reversal’ of PART (‘role’). | ||
And Oona O’Neill, the playwright’s daughter, was Chaplin’s fourth wife.
Thanks Peter and Crucible. I enjoyed the theme, but took a while to get going.
I needed some help from google re Karno.
I was unsure how to parse the BOY bit of POTBOY – that is very clever! (I was wondering why BOY = ball, so of course I could not parse it)
Lovely set of clues, much enjoyed.
A couple of “anti-theme” clues also, in that clues following theme gave rise to answers not in the theme: See 1a and 29a. Ta for insight into rascal. Is 2d, Abigail, also part of the party?
Gripe re 2d, small sports bar=bail, is really too remote without other context. Not as bad as ‘do’=x, recalling recent commentary, but up there.
But thanks Crucible & Peter.
Thanks Crucible and PeterO
Even I saw this theme! Favourites were FILM for the misdirection, CALL A TAXI, and, particularly, BOYCOTT – I had no idea where this was going, but just followed te instructions and there it was!
In 11a I took “top lady” as ER – i.e. the Queen.
A misspelling of ‘Karno’ for me: I knew the reference but thought that the name began with ‘C’. No wonder I couldn’t parse the clue. I should have pondered longer.
Excellent puzzle and a good start to the Holiday weekend. Happy Easter everyone.
Very fine themed pzzle but i have to confess throwing in the towel on 16-only needed 2 letters that mean fell. I really thought it might be someone Id heard of like a missing Marx brother.
Thanks Peter and Crucible
I usually miss themes, but not this one, although after getting 5a early I thought we were in for a cricket theme, and in fact we do have stump and bail making appearances.
Like Muffin I took ER in “top lady’s” to be the Queen, with ‘s linking to the definition, but on reflection as it intersects with another ER=Queen, the stylistically preferred explanation is as Peter gave it. Interesting that a short phrase like that gives the same result in two completely different ways. It could almost be an &lit. clue in itself, if 2-letter abbreviations were allowed as answers.
Nice puzzle and blog, thanks both.
Thank you Crucible and PeterO,
Great fun with so many little references.
HOOVER, his persecutor, is in there and Chaplin’s later films were certainly BOYCOTTed.
for 11a, I also had assumed that “top lady” was ER – i.e. the Queen.
Surprised to find I’d never heard of Dandy comics, given what an institution they apparently were. Anyway, late start, ran out of time before the footy started, failed to get boycott, d’oh, and Karno…another dnk. Hey ho. Enjoyed the rest, and the theme for once. Ticks for 11, 23 and 24 across. Thanks Crucible and PeterO.
… and yes I took ER to be ‘er maj, as per muffin.
… and, re Dandy etc, Desperate Dan does ring a bell.
Really enjoyed this even without getting the full theme – just thinking films.
Like Muffin @4 followed the instructions for several RASCAL BOYCOTT and ABILGAIL which was very satisfying.
Thanks Crucible and PeterO.
A tough but enjoyable challenge.
Thanks to Crucible and PeterO
I suppose you either see it or you don’t – I missed the theme.
I’ve never heard of ONE-REELERS or SPOTLIT and didn’t write them in. However, I did enjoy WAITRESSES and SLAPSTICK.
Thanks to Crucible and PeterO.
Very late starting this puzzle and found it quite challenging. But can’t find anything much to moan about – on the contrary, lots of well written clues.
Didn’t know KARNO so googled it. And I only got ABIGAIL from the crossers. My parsing of PRESENTER was a little dodgy too. TRAMP couldn’t be anything else really, but I was unsure about the definition as ‘stump’.
So many good clues I couldn’t mention them all. Perhaps ABIGAIL my favourite.
Thanks Crucible and PeterO.
Done in (again) by my lack of familiarity with things uniquely British. That’s not a complaint, as I enjoy climbing the learning curve. I didn’t know KARNO and banged in an unparsed Hardy, and was also unfamiliar with POTBOY, the wordplay for which sailed over my head. On the bright side, I did get BOYCOTT in spite of not knowing that meaning of “black”, and ABIGAIL, even managing to parse “bail.” A lot of fun overall. Thanks to Crucible and PeterO.
We finished, but the NW corner was a struggle. struggle. We looked up Karno, with just a vague memory of the name. Fascist was the last one in. We saw some of the theme, but it didn’t seem to help us solve. But enjoyable. Thanks crucible and petero
“Fred Karno’s army” could well describe the current British political scene – http://www.ww1photos.com/FredKarnosArmy.html
Helpful and accurate blog, thanks – like many others the parsing of several clues went over my head – eg. boy, sigh. Thanks.
Defeated by KARNO because I misrembered as Carny and was only partially parsed..I did see the theme although I thought it was old films until I got LIMELIGHT rather late in the proceedings. Nice to see the Dandy mentioned. I used to read this as a rather unpleasant small boy. I’ve stopped now that I’ve become an unpleasant old man!
Nice puzzle which I did in between bouts in the garden.
Happy Easter everyone.
Thanks Crucible.
This Kenyan failed to get five clues. Remember Dandy which l loved to read in the 70s with characters such as DESPERATE DAN, CORKY THE CAT, BULLY BEEF & CHIPS, WINKER WATSON etc.
This Barbadian had never heard of KARNO. I was tempted to put CARNY as in Art Carney but then that is spelt with and E. A fair clue nevertheless.Thanks to the setter and blogger for the diversion.
George Clements @5: perhaps you had wires crossed with Carnot, the noted cyclist.
Defeated by Karno myself, thanks Crucible for the education and PeterO for the blog.
Thanks Peter and Crucible; I thought I might not finish this at one stage. I’m impressed by those who got ABIGAIL at 2 down from the wordplay. Not something I’d have worked out in a million years – I had to guess from the definition and even then had to look it up to check.
Sheer quality! Some nicely tricky clueing – and remained thoroughly absorbing from start to finish. My kind of crossword….many thanks, Crucible!
And a terrific blog from PeterO too (I also had thoughtlessly assumed ‘top lady’ was HM rather than ‘top “lady’s”‘ being ‘[H]ER’ but reckon Peter has it right).
[BTW – Anyone wishing to reminisce further on the Dandy could do worse than revisit Araucaria’s delightful tribute – 25777 (Oct ’12).]