Independent 10,178 /Wiglaf

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Wiglaf has set this week’s Tuesday challenge, whose theme quickly emerges from a first quick perusal of the clues.

There is a general music theme today, as can be identified from many of the clues and/or solutions. Sometimes a clue suggests music but leads to a non-musical solution, such as at 17 and 27, while another clue may not suggest music but actually does lead to a musical answer, such as at 9.

My lack of musical knowledge may mean that my parsing in places is a little approximate in nature (such as at 19 and 26), for which I apologise. I can amend the blog if required afterwards, should fellow solvers highlight any inaccuracies of mine in their comments. Perhaps because of not feeling terribly comfortable with the subject, I felt that this puzzle was definitely at the hard end of the Indy spectrum.

My favourite clues today were 4 and 7, both for their misleading references to the opera Carmen; and 3, for luring me into racking my brain – and Google – for a hit by The Who.

*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues

Across  
   
06 MEDDLE Vocal award for Pink Floyd album

Homophone of “medal (=award)”; Meddle was a 1971 album by Pink Floyd
   
08 SCHUBERT Crackpot butchers barman

*(BUTCHERS); “crackpot” is anagram indicator; the reference is to the Austrian composer Franz Schubert (1797-1823), who could cryptically be described as a “(musical) bar-man”
   
09 CODA A dwarf’s back passage

A + DOC (=dwarf, one of the seven); “back” indicates vertical initiative
   
10 SIMULATES Copies a lot of music that’s free, at least abroad

*(MUSI<c>) + *(LEAST); “a lot of” means last letter is dropped; “that’s free” and “abroad” are both anagram indicator
   
11 ACCORDION Free-reed aerophone Diana squeezed in Rocky Raccoon

DI (=Diana) in *(RACCOON); “rocky” is an anagram indicator
   
12 BURNS Scottish lyricist changes direction giving up time for book

TURNS (=changes direction); “giving up time (=T) for book (=B)” means letter “t” is replaced by “b”; the reference is to the Scottish poet and lyricist Robert Burns (1759-96)
   
14 FONTEYN Ballerina stripped off before performing back in the USSR? Certainly not!

<o>F<f> (“stripped off” means outer letters are dropped) + ON (=performing, i.e. on stage) + TEYN (NYET=in the USSR? Certainly  not!, i.e. the Russian word for “no”)
   
17 EN MASSE Composition of Messiaen spurned by one in concert

*(MESS<i>AEN); “spurned by one (I)” means letter “i” is dropped from anagram, indicated by “composition of”
   
19 B FLAT A sharp (or maybe not so sharp) British pedestrian

B (=British) + FLAT (=pedestrian, boring); in musical notation, A sharp and B flat denote essentially the same note
   
20 ESTRANGED Disaffected buck sergeant deserted

*(SERGEANT + D (=deserted)); “buck” is anagram indicator
   
24 NASHVILLE Remains very sick in North-East country home

[ASH (=remains) + V (=very) + ILL (=sick)] in NE (North-East); Nashville is the home of country music
   
25 BATS Hits using four voices

B (=bass) + A (=alto) + T (=tenor) + S (=soprano) (=using four voices)
   
26 SEMITONE Monetise slips for 100 cents

*(MONETISE); “slips” is anagram indicator; in music, a semitone is an equally tempered span of 100 cents
   
27 ISABEL Miss Adalgisa? Bellini part

Hidden (“part”) in “adalgISA BELlini”; incidentally, Analgisa is a character in Bellini’s opera Norma
   
Down  
   
01 HEROIC Epic piece finally tackled by mixed choir

<piec>E (“finally” means last letter only) in *(CHOIR); “mixed” is anagram indicator
   
02 FEAST DAYS Fairy skirts bearing diamonds at special occasions

{[EAST (=bearing, of compass) + D (=diamonds, in cards)] in FAY (=fairy)} + S (=special)
   
03 WHELP Who’s first classic hit: I’m a boy!

W<ho> (“first” means first letter only) + HELP (=classic hit, i.e. by Beatles in 1965)
   
04 A BATTUTA During Carmen, vacuous tit stops tuba playing in strict time

[T<i>T (“vacuous” means middle letter is dropped) in *(TUBA)] in AA (=car-men, i.e. the Automobile Association)
   
05 ART SONGS Sets organ works, not English lyric works

*(S<e>TS ORGAN); “not English (=E)” means letter “e” is dropped from the anagram, indicated by “works”; art songs are songs whose words and music are the product of conscious art
   
07 DRACO Party to welcome Carmen stars

RAC (=car-men, i.e. Royal Automobile Club) in DO (=party); Draco is a constellation in the far northern sky
   
08 SYMBOL It signifies a kitchen item, so to speak

Homophone (“so to speak”) of “cymbal (=a kitchen item, i.e. a percussion instrument)”
   
13 ENERGETIC It’s vital to call German and Frenchman over

CITE (=call) + G (=German) + RENÉ (=Frenchman, i.e. a male forename in France); “over” indicates vertical reversal
   
15 OFFENDER The Telecaster’s a lawbreaker

The Fender Telecaster was the first commercially successful solid-body electric guitar, thus “of Fender” equates to “Telecaster’s”
   
16 TRANSMIT Message from spymaster en route?

M (=Spymaster, in Bond movies) in TRANSIT (=en route, where the “en” gives “in” as an indicator of container-and-contents clue)
   
18 ISOLDE Irish princess, one attracted to non-Irish warrior

I (=one) + SOLD<i>E<r> (=warrior, “non-Irish (=IR)” means letters “i” and “r” are dropped; the reference is to Isolde the Fair of Ireland)
   
21 NABLA Del Shannon, a Blackfoot at heart

Hidden (“at heart”) in “shannoN A BLAckfoot”; in mathematics, nabla or del represents the vector operator
   
22 EITHER One’s opening number? One of two

I (=one) in ETHER (=”number”, i.e. anaesthetic)
   
23 AVION A music producer has left Italy flying in French plane

A + VIO<li>N (music producer, i.e. instrument); “left (=L) Italy (=I)” flying” means letters “l” and “i” are dropped
   
   

 

10 comments on “Independent 10,178 /Wiglaf”

  1. Some solvers may feel like being in Heaven when there’s another Shakespearean speech wrapped up in a set of clues, others look in admiration at a wonderfully concealed nina.
    Wiglaf’s offering was one that made my heart beat faster.
    I like clues in which there is music involved, and in particular when no special knowledge is needed.
    Whether the latter was always the case, I don’t think so – see e.g. 6ac.
    When I was at university everyone around me had a copy of Pink Floyd’s Meddle.
    I had too but unlike others I found it a kind of lesser version of the one I cherished most, Atom Heart Mother.

    I enjoyed this crossword tremendously (like I also enjoyed Wiglaf’s previous puzzle which I only solved a few days ago).
    Despite a couple of minor things, so minor that I don’t want to mention them.
    My favourites were 3d (WHELP), although not sure whether the clue needs ! or ?, and 23d (AVION). Some might perhaps object to having a French solution here but it is in the main dictionaries.
    I had no problem finding 26ac (SEMITONE) but didn’t understand and therefore couldn’t parse the last bit of the clue.
    Never heard of ART SONG (the dictionaries have it, though) and I have a feeling I can do without.

    Many thanks to RR for the blog [BTW, the anagrind in 17ac is “composition of”]
    &  to Wiglaf for the challenge.

  3. Like Sil, I prefer Atom Heart Mother to Meddle but I do love the track Echoes from the latter.

    Another Wiglaf and another hard slog with cheats needed to finish. Not complaining though, I learnt a bit. Didn’t even know “kitchen” was a term for the percussion section. Heard of semitone but not “cent” in this regards.

    Didn’t know A Sharp and B Flat were the same. Had to cheat to get FONTEYN and couldn’t parse OFFENDER.

    Fortunately my maths background meant I knew NABLA for DEL (I always used DEL but the typesetting language LaTeX mathematicians use called it NABLA).

    Favourites were TRANSMIT and CODA.

    Thanks to Wiglaf and RatkojaRiku.

  4. Thanks to RatkojaRiku and Wiglaf

    Exceptionally good.

    I wonder if THIS BOY? was considered as the def @ 3d? Not a hit I suppose, but I preferred it to the “A” side.

  5. We fairly romped through this, although some of the musical references weren’t to our kind of music.  We couldn’t parse SEMITONE or OFFENDER and had to check who Adalgisa was (though it didn’t stop us getting ISABEL).

    But what a tour de force from Wiglaf – we could only spot about 3 or 4 entries without a musical reference in either the clue or the answer!

    Thanks, Wiglaf and RatkojaRiku.

  6. Very clever, and quite hard. Very impressed with 3D as The Who have a song ‘ I’m a Boy ( but my Ma won’t admit it) an early story of gender reassignment.
    Thanks to setter and blogger.

  8. Despite being a music fan. I found this hard going.  Couldn’t get 12ac or 3dn (I guessed CHILD but couldn’t parse it).  I did get 8ac from the word play but don’t know much about Pink Floyd.

    Pedantically, a semi-tone has 100 cents only if you are using equal temperament tuning.  If you are using some sort of baroque mean temperament tuning, this won’t be the case.

  9. 8A – Schubert did die young, but you’ve robbed him of five years – he died in 1828.

    Good and tough crossword – had to cheat to finish as went blank on ESTRANGED.

    Thanks to Wiglaf and RatkojaRiku.

  10. Re my own comment @8, I meant 6ac, of course.  No trouble with Schubert, but I’m surprised I’d ever seen that anagram before.

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