As always, a pleasure to see Arachne. The special instructions “To mark a 200th anniversary: ’28, 26 down 9 17 15…” describe the theme…
…around the Peterloo Massacre of August 16 1819 [wiki] – where cavalry charged a crowd gathered to demand parliamentary reform – and also referring to Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem written after the event, The Masque of Anarchy [wiki]
The title of the poem appears in the solutions for 4dn/22ac; SHELLEY in 25ac; and “28, 26 down 9 17 15” is RISE LIKE LIONS AFTER SLUMBER, a line from the poem. Also appearing both in the poem and solutions are HEROES in 5dn and LOOM in 8dn. The surface of 8dn also directly refers to the Peterloo Massacre, and “Weaver” could refer both to local weavers involved in the protests or to Arachne herself putting together the theme.
The surface of 5dn includes another part of the poem “Shake your chains to earth [like dew]”; and 18ac/29dn both refer to the line: “Ye are many – they are few!”. There are also mentions of “cavalry” in 20ac and of the nearby part of Manchester “Eccles” in 24dn.
All woven together into a lovely puzzle – my favourites were 25ac, 27ac, 30ac, 5dn, 21dn, the self-referential 8dn, the pair 18ac/29dn, and especially 2dn. Thanks to Arachne for a very fine crossword.
| Across | ||
| 9 | LIONS | Pride perhaps lacking in many soldiers (5) |
| e.g.=”perhaps”, lacking in L[eg]IONS=”many soldiers” | ||
| 10 | AMERICANO | On camera, I ground coffee (9) |
| (On camera I)* | ||
| 11 | STATUS QUO | Group that’s favoured by conservatives (6,3) |
| double definition, the first being “Group” as in the English rock band | ||
| 12 | HAREM | Wives here married after career (5) |
| M (married) after HARE=move in a rush=”career” | ||
| 13 | PRESSIE | Journalists oddly shunning nice gift (7) |
| PRESS=”Journalists” + [n]I[c]E with the odd letters removed/shunned | ||
| 15 | SLUMBER | Where the poor live and suffer, without a chance to dream (7) |
| SLUM=”Where the poor live” + BE[a]R=”suffer” without a | ||
| 17 | AFTER | Subsequently cut both ends off beams (5) |
| [r]AFTER[s]=”beams” with both ends cut off | ||
| 18 | FEW | You and I loudly rejected what ‘they’ are in 25’s 4 22 (3) |
| a repeated line of The Masque of Anarchy is: ‘Ye are many – they are FEW!’ WE=”You and I” + F (Forte)=”loudly”, reversed/”rejected” |
||
| 20 | TWILL | Half-cut idiot, hardly cavalry material (5) |
| Cavalry TWILL is a strong woollen material TW[it]=”Half-cut idiot” + ILL=with difficulty=”hardly”Ye are many—they are few |
||
| 22 | ANARCHY | See 4 |
| 25 | SHELLEY | Place of horror described by fine revolutionary poet (7) |
| HELL=”Place of horror” inside YES=”fine”, reversed/”revolutionary” | ||
| 26 | LADEN | Left Asian port carrying cargo (5) |
| L (Left) + ADEN=”Asian port” in Yemen | ||
| 27 | SOLAR FARM | Nonconformist morals curbing distant source of power (5,4) |
| (morals)* around FAR=”distant” | ||
| 30 | KING’S PAWN | Family and offspring following good man (5,4) |
| “man”=chess piece=KING’S PAWN KIN=”Family”; plus SPAWN=”offspring” after G (good) |
||
| 31 | SHEEN | Slick Blair seen on TV (5) |
| double definition: a SHEEN can mean a thin “Slick” of oil on water; the second def refers to Michael Sheen, who played Tony Blair on TV in The Deal [wiki] | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | ALAS | Sadly disheartened George Orwell, for one (4) |
| George Orwell is one example of an AL[i]AS, with the middle letter/heart removed | ||
| 2 | COVALENT | Bonding by sharing tiny things: love can flourish over time (8) |
| =a type of chemical bonding involving shared electrons (love can)* + T (time) |
||
| 3 | ESAU | Hairy chap partaking of the sauce (4) |
| Esau in the Bible was noted for his hairiness Hidden in [th]E SAU[ce] |
||
| 4, 22 | MASQUE OF ANARCHY | Irregular forces abruptly quash many a 25’s response to Peterloo (6,2,7) |
| (force[s] quash many a)*; where “abruptly” indicates the shortening of “force[s]” | ||
| 5 | HEROES | Stirring at last: ‘Shake your chains to earth’ like champions! (6) |
| Anagram/”Stirring” of the “last” letters of: [Shak]E [you]R [chain]S [t]O [eart]H [lik]E | ||
| 6 | SILHOUETTE | House of Lords is backing contents of your letter in outline (10) |
| HL (House of Lords) + IS, reversed/”backing”; plus the inside letters/”contents’ of [y]OU[r] [l]ETTE[r]masque of anarchy | ||
| 7 | ZAGREB | Change of direction regarding Britain in EU capital (6) |
| =Croatian capital ZAG=”Change of direction” + RE=”regarding” + B (Britain) |
||
| 8 | LOOM | Weaver caught in Peterloo massacre (4) |
| hidden in [Perter]LOO M[assacre] | ||
| 13 | PLAZA | Endless fun with Izzard once on American square (5) |
| =a public square PLA[y]=”Endless fun” plus “Izzard”, an archaic term which “once” meant the letter Z; plus A (American) |
||
| 14 | STRICTNESS | Austerity of centrists distorted society (10) |
| (centrists)* + S (society) | ||
| 16 | RALLY | Run to join forces and gain strength (5) |
| triple definition: as a verb meaning organise/”Run”, or assemble/”join forces”, or recover/”gain strength” | ||
| 19 | WASHLAND | Fens used to be drained, Hull also (8) |
| WAS=”used to be” + H[ul]L drained of inside letters + AND=”also” | ||
| 21 | ILL-FATED | Undernourished bears attack, lacking food and destined to fail (3-5) |
| ILL-FED=”Undernourished” around AT[tack] lacking tack=”food” | ||
| 23 | ARDENT | Passionate bard sent to unseat leaders (6) |
| [b]ARD [s]ENT without their leading letters | ||
| 24 | YES-MAN | Minion of 29, cycling round outskirts of Eccles (3-3) |
| MANY=29dn, cycling its last letter to the front; around the outer letters of E[ccle]S | ||
| 26 | LIKE | Fancy corresponding? (4) |
| double definition: as a verb, to be attracted to someone or “Fancy” them; and as an adjective, to be similar or “corresponding” to something | ||
| 28 | RISE | Get high in train shed on a regular basis (4) |
| regular letters from [t]R[a]I[n] S[h]E[d] | ||
| 29 | MANY | We ultimately embody what ‘ye’ are in 25’s 4 22 (4) |
| Again referring to the line ‘Ye are MANY – they are few!’ I think this is: MAN=humankind=”We” + ultimate letter of [embod]Y |
||
I usually glance at the crossword before going to bed,
but after having read two or three clues I knew this
was something special. This was a beautifully crafted
masterpiece based around another and clearly came from the heart.
Thank you Manehi.
Many thanks Arachne – I couldn’t put this down.
I’m sorry, and I’m probably going to find I’m alone in this sentiment, but I didn’t like this one at all. Once I’d figured out the theme, which was as unmissable as a bright red flashing neon sign, and filled in all the associated clues, which again were served up on a platter, there were enough crossers that all the remaining entries went in directly. That is not to say there weren’t some good clues, but the whole experience left me disappointed, very unusual for an Arachne puzzle.
Thanks.
Well, now, post-solve, I’ve read the poem for the first time so, unlike Dr. Wh, enjoyment of the puzzle was enhanced by my ignorance during, and now more so in retrospect. An event well worth both mourning and celebrating for its contribution to parliamentary democracy (still to be won in so much of the world). It was no doddle, the bottom going in steadily, including yes reversed around hell, the top taking a bit longer, the poem emerging from crossers and fodder. Well worth the effort, thanks Arachne for the education and Manehi for the blog.
Usually I enjoy Arachne’s puzzles a lot more than I did this one. Firstly, I needed to google poets who wrote about Peterloo, and that got me started but it is not my favourite way to solve a puzzle.
I solved but could not parse 5d, 21d, 13d, 9a, 20a, 1d.
New words were WASHLAND, COVALENT.
I liked KING’S PAWN.
Thanks Arachne and manehi.
NOTE: Yesterday I heard an excellent radio programme about the Peterloo Massacre
Besides not knowing Shelley’s opus, also had never heard of izzard for zed (aka zee).
Thanks Arachne and manehi
When I read the special instructions, I immediately thought “”I’ll just find where to write in THE PETERLOO MASSACRE and that will give me s good start”. I should have known better!
It wasn’t all that a satisfactory solve for me either, rather like Dr. WhatSon. I knew of the Shelley poem, so looked it up and filled in the relevant answers, some without parsing. Other parses that escaped me were TWILL, SHEEN (Blair has been portrayed on TV, then?), PLAZA, and ILL-FATED.
PRESSIE was an answer recently, and most of us agreed that we had only seen “prezzie”.
Right up my street. My only real hold-up was 31a where I was not sure about the equivalence of ‘sheen’ and ‘slick’, and I never watched the television programme so was unfamiliar with the name of the actor playing the part of Tony Blair.
I do love Arachne’s puzzles.
Dr whatson @1 – peterloo was clearly signalled as you say, but not quite so obvious if it hadn’t been mentioned in the news recently. The theme was actually shelley’s poem. Fair enough, if you know that it may have been on the easy side. Perhaps I should have known the quotation at least but even that would have needed two or three of the solutions to get me started.
As far as I’m concerned this was fabulous! I am in awe of Arachne’s cleverness in setting such a puzzle that, for a lover of history, politics and literature, was sheer delight to untangle. The Blair clue (SHEEN at 31a) was a guess as it was unfamiliar to me. Otherwise all good.
Alas, ALAS at 1d was my last one in, but when the penny dropped it was one of my favourites.
Many thanks to Arachne and also to manehi for a fine blog.
I am a great admirer of Arachne so pleased to see that some others really enjoyed this, because it was wasted on me. Didn’t know the central poem and associated events and that was compounded by several other clues which required GK I don’t have e.g., Washland, Izzard, Sheen=Blair on TV, Pressie for present. But I enjoyed solving the ones for which I had the requisite knowledge. Thanks to manehi for the rest and to Arachne of course.
Always terrific fare from Arachne. Little hyperbole from Dr What@2, but took a some more digging to learn of the poetical work wr itten in the aftermath of the outrage.
Missed 19d, putting in westland (it fit, in Hull and fountain in Boston fen), and 31a. Suspected sheen for slick, but ignorant of Mr Sheen’s role in playing the Blair (which still could have been the other). Sadly it seems that GK these days still requires goggle-boxing, but which I’m pleased to miss when there are such good x-words to grapple with.
Thanks manehi for some parses, and Arachne for the call to arms!!
Brilliant!
Didn’t know the poem, so struggled. Now rectified: what a work, still apposite! Looking forward hopefully to “Then they will return with shame, To the place from which they came”
I had a fourth (!) parsing for RALLY: R for Run + ALLY for “join forces”.
Yes, the Manchester Guardian could not let this anniversary go unmarked!
Some delightful stuff – 4, 22; 5dn paricular favourites. Some neat comments in the clues – 9ac, 15ac, 20ac, 27ac, 21dn, perhaps 14dn as well.
But there was a feeling that 13ac was a “desperately trying to find a word to complete the grid” job, as, probably, was 19dn, and I don’t really like clues such as 31ac which require familiarity with the casting of TV programmes.
As soon as I saw the instructions, I knew which anniversary we were looking for and I did remember the poem so that helped.
Like Balise@13, I too had R + ALLY for join forces, so definitely four parsings
Thanks to Arachne for the crossword (come back again soon please) and to manehi for the blog
I’m a great fan of Arachne’s puzzles, but this was a bit of a mixed bag for me. I admired the way the theme was worked in, and there were some wonderful clues, but I didn’t feel her usual brilliance was quite so evident. Nonetheless, I loved KINGS PAWN, SILHOUETTE and SLUMBER. Many thanks to A & m.
I could have just looked up the date in wiki to get the theme and the poem, but that would have spoilt the enjoyment. I knew of the event, but hadn’t heard of the literary work. Failed to parse a couple, so thanks to Manehi for the enlightenment.
Another dimension to this inspired crossword is that The Manchester Guardian was founded in the wake of the massacre and not perhaps on the side you’d expect!
After nearly a week away not solving crosswords, it was a joy to come back to an Arachne. I had heard an item on ‘Today’ about the two hundredth anniversary, just before opening my paper and It was no surprise to see that Arachne had bagged this slot – and she did it full justice in her inimitable style. Bravissima, Arachne! – and many thanks to manehi for a fine blog which did full justice to a brilliant puzzle.
I remember the profound effect this incident had on me when I studied it in O Level History. We were encouraged to read Howard Spring’s ‘Fame is the spur’, which was mentioned in today’s programme. I would warmly recommend Mike Leigh’s film.
Excellent and Educational as far as I’m concerned.
Couldn’t parse the contrived 6d though.
[Eileen @19
My O level History was British (and some European) 1815-1914, so I had studied Peterloo as well. I vaguely remember reading a book called “Waterloo to Peterloo” about this precise period.]
Very succinctly put Pedro, I totally agree. Excellent and educational, but the star for me today is the beautifully poetic 15 which sets the tone for the whole event.
From the unnecessary ‘special instructions’ (which were neither) to the repeated ’25’s 4 22′ device (which I often find jarring) I found this surprisingly unenjoyable for an Arachne.
I was in the ‘r ally’ camp, didn’t know ‘izzard’, thought 31 was weak, had no issues with 6d, liked pretty much everything else but still found it a bit ‘meh’, shame really as it seems it’s me missing out.
Thanks to Arachne and manehi.
I had only a vague familiarity of the subject matter – perhaps through Harvey Kershaw’s folk ballad rather than Shelley. Certainly “rise like lions after slumber” and “Ye are many – they are few” rang faint bells, allowing some inroads. Definitely a crossword of mixed feelings for me as I felt the theme ended up with a few forced clues and words. “washland” was new but guessable (and, therefore, educational) and “izzard” was neat, but “Sheen” was just dull GK for me and was LOI. “pressies” has come up before, and recently, with many commenting that “prezzies” is their more natural spelling. A good theme, cleverly done, especially with the inclusion of some of the poetry, but not quite the perfection we’ve come to expect of Arachne. Is that an unfair criticism? Like complaining about Steve Smith only scoring 50 maybe!
Many thanks Manehi – I’d not parsed “alas” or “lions” (got held up with “battalions”) so thank you for those, and thank you Arachne for taking us back to a dark day in our history. Certainly reading Shelley’s poem made me think of the current political situation. I can well imagine that Boris Johnson looks in the mirror each morning and says to his reflection “Thou art God, and Law, and King”. Oxford comma and all, appropriately as both Shelley and Johnson were Oxford men (until Univ sent Shelley down for atheism).
I read the preamble to the crossword just before I prepared breakfast – I knew I had heard there was a 200th anniversary coming up, but couldn’t remember what, so I decided to think about it for a while. Like Eileen @19, I then heard the radio 4 item ( and jotted down John Edward Taylor, Peterloo, Fame is the Spur… just in case), but needn’t have bothered as the anniversary was clearly signalled in the clues.
I didn’t know the poet or title of the poem, so I googled that; but the quotation I derived from the clues and a vague memory of it.
Thanks Arachne for another fine crossword and manehi for the blog
[ Could any one confirm there was a production of Fame is the Spur on BBC radio in about 1966/67? I remember that was when I first encountered the book, but can’t find any trace of the radio production]
Forgot to say-thanks for the great blog, manehi and for the heads up on the Mike Leigh film, Eileen.
Started slowly with just a few disconnected short ones, but once SHELLEY made the links clear, the rest fell surprisingly quickly. A brilliant puzzle, and a theme that is all too relevant now!
Thanks to Arachne and manehi
Two points about the Blair clue at 31a, the last across one. I was looking for something Orwell-related, to ‘rhyme’ neatly with the first down clue, adjacent in the layout, since it was of course Eric Blair who took Orwell as his alias. And: Michael Sheen also played Tony Blair in the film ‘The Queen’, which was shown much more widely than TV’s The Deal (both directed by Stephen Frears). ‘On film’ would have worked just as well as ‘on TV’ and would have pre-empted some of the reasonable objections. On the subject of Peterloo, the 1947 film version of Fame is the Spur (see Eileen @19) has a wonderful short flashback rendering of the massacre, near the start. Very creative crossword inspiring a great range of response: thanks to Arachne and Aichemi, and to others.
sorry: manehi, not Alchemi
An excellent, clever and timely crossword. As well as the obvious theme answers, of course many of the surfaces are to a greater or lesser extent related to the theme – “Pride perhaps lacking in many soldiers”, “Half-cut idiot, hardly cavalry material”, “Nonconformist morals curbing distant source of power”, “Where the poor live and suffer, without a chance to dream”… and others.
Many thanks Arachne and manehi.
David Ellison @25 – I don’t remember the radio programme but googling throws up a Radio 4 Extra production https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0121293 ‘no longer available’, which would be a repeat of a [much] earlier programme. I remember seeing the 1947 film, starring Michael Redgrave as Hamer Radshaw [the surname was changed from Shawcross because Hartley Shawcross was prominent by then]. The character is said to be based on Ramsay MacDonald. The connection to Peterloo is that his inspiration was a sabre, used by the cavalry, passed down by his grandfather.
Wikipedia says there was a TV series in the ’80s but I don’t remember seeing that.
Hi quenbarrow @28 – I spent too much time researching, so there’s a slight overlap with your comment.
And hello Eileen @32. The 1947 film, made by the Boulting Brothers, is on YouTube. This link may work, but otherwise just google the title.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZiCNWj_90o
The Peterloo flashback, along with the sabre handed down from it, resonates all the way through to the death of Redgrave-Radshaw-MacDonald in the 1930s, reminding us how he has gradually compromised with the Establishment. A poignant document of its postwar moment.
What a treat, I feel sorry for those who did not enjoy this. How long I wonder did Arachne work on this? Perhaps she will pop in and tell us. Eileen you are spot on in recommending the Mike Leigh film, so deeply moving. And the Shelly poem is an example of how powerful poetry can be. I enjoyed all the clues mentioned in the blog. So just remains for me to emphasise my thanks to Arachne for a great crossword and to Manehi for the perfect blog.
I abiolutely loved this one. Arachne’s best so far, and that’s saying something! I guessed the anniversary on sight, solved RISE and LIKE, and immediately knew we were in the territory of what I have regarded for over 40 years as the finest political poem in our language.
Muffin@21 – I have an old LP (on Topic if I remember rightly) called Waterloo to Peterloo, of related folksongs of the period.
No-one else seems to have spotted that Arachne is also Anarche of the FT, a possible instance of nominative determinism?
I agree wholeheartedly with Lord Jim@30 – I can only suppose that those who disliked the puzzle are so inured to ignoring the surface of clues that they completely missed the point of Arachne’s skilled commemoration.
Hi again, quenbarrow @33 – yes, thanks, I spotted the film on my travels through Google and am saving it for later!
I agree wholeheartedly with LordJim and PeterM if the surfaces of the clues in this crossword did not get your juices flowing, then there is no hope for you.
SPanza, Lord Jim and PeterM – hurrah!
I’d like to echo what grantinfreo @3 said: my ignorance of the poem (and the event) added a dimension, as I got to learn about them. I vaguely remember the word Peterloo from a brief mention in my high school European History textbook years ago, but that’s about all, and here in the US the anniversary has gotten no play whatsoever, sadly. This made the theme quite difficult, but I don’t mind a little googling in a good cause (I figured out the poem’s title from the anagram, but it seemed so odd as a title that I didn’t have the confidence to enter it until I had almost all the crossers). Thanks to Arachne, and to manheim for explaining 31, which I just figured had to be another one of those UK things I’d never heard of.
Apologies if this was already what Manehi meant in his comment about the setter being like a weaver as she was putting together the puzzle, but the Arachne of Greek myth was also a weaver who used a loom (as mentioned by ‘our’ Arachne in her Meet the Setter chat), which makes 8d a real gem in this excellent puzzle.
Thanks to Manehi and Arachne
To clarify, I wasn’t criticising the brilliant setting or surfaces. The unsatisfying nature for me was that so many answers could simply be read off from the poem.
A different kettle of fish if you didn’t know about the poem, though!
Brilliant puzzle and some equally inspiring and heartfelt contributions that I can only endorse. We watched the film a couple of weeks ago (it’s on Amazon Prime) and learnt a lot. (Did anyone see Who Do You Think You Are with Michael and Jack Whitelaw where they came across the Chartists Newport Rising where 22 people were killed – I’d never heard of it at all.) I didn’t know the poem but Mrs W had studied it at school and some of the lines are vaguely familiar to me now. How apposite for our times.
As for the puzzle there were several I didn’t parse and am grateful to manehi for explaining them. For me this was the pinnacle of crossword setting – thanks Arachne.
Sorry to bang on but do you bloggers get together around Christmas time to elect a crossword of the year? If you do please bear this one in mind!!
I thought this was a brilliant themed crossword. I got my first whiff of the theme with SHELLEY, and ANARCHY and FEW soon followed. I needed help with the parsing of ALAS, SHEEN and ZAGREB, but I was confident of those answers anyway.
I partiularly liked STATUS QUO, KING’S PAWN and YES-MAN. The solving experience was over a bit too soon, but it was a satisfying and rewarding experience nevertheless.
I didn’t know the poem, but I have a chance to read it now, being lucky enough to have a book at home, an heirloom, entitled “The Poems of Percy Bysshe Shelley”, in which the poems are interleaved with editorial notes. It was published (by the OUP) in 1912, and about a third of the way through (starting on page 335!) is the poem “The Mask of Anarchy”, followed by a “Note on The Mask of Anarchy, by Mrs. Shelley”.
An absolute joy. Thank-you you, Arachne,for leading me back to this poem, its themes as pertinent now as they were back then. Stirring stuff on every level. And beautifully explained Manehi. 2 down made me smile and the parsing of slumber is brilliant. Yeh!
I meant to add (to my comment @45) my thanks to manehi for the clear blog (and for help with parsing a few clues) and to Arachne for a fine crossword.
Thanks both.
[I’m a bit confused by Auriga @ 18 saying “Another dimension to this inspired crossword is that The Manchester Guardian was founded in the wake of the massacre and not perhaps on the side you’d expect!”. It was founded to print the truth and be “left-leaning” (in the modern parlance) which still continues]
Thanks to Arachne and manehi. Almost all been said about this. I guessed at sheen but put me firmly in the camp of “likes”. Interestingly there are a number of articles in today’s Guardian on Peterloo. There are are articles on pages 18 and 19 and a piece in the journal. All are really interesting, and thanks again to Arachne and manehi.
SPanza @ 38 If you can give a compelling reason as to why the surfaces of 18 & 29 should get my juices flowing then I might agree with you.
As a ‘meh’ rather than a ‘dislike’ can I say it’s precisely because of Arachne’s impeccable standard of setting that the perceived shortfalls have the power to disappoint (which is obviously my problem not hers).
Shirl@48 That was the significance of my citing John Edward Taylor earlier. I wasn’t aware that he founded the Guardian till I heard the Today item on Radio 4
Superb crossword. Many thanks. Along with Blaise, I also parsed 16d as R (run) + ALLY (join forces)
Robert your two examples are not the smoothest surfaces I agree, but bear in mind that you have to read through the poem quote. But in any case 2 out of 33 is not bad.
SPanza Agreed, 2 out of 33 is not bad. But add in the 5 that some people (including me) entered from the preamble spoiler after a cursory reading of 28 and the 3 that likewise followed on from direct reference in the clues and it’s not looking quite so rosy.
Fame is the Spur was first broadcast in 1979 starring Ian McKellon
https://audiodrama.fandom.com/wiki/Fame_is_the_Spur
It was broadcast ob BBC4 Extra in 2018
Top notch as ever from the spider lady. Very clever setting to get so many references in both the grid and clues.
I didn’t know the Shelley poem, so that added extra spice to the puzzle when consulted afterwards.
Thanks Arachne, manehi and several posters who added further background material.
As I see it, there are two thoughts that maybe most can agree on: (1) the crossword itself is very good, (2) the hints were too much of a giveaway. Imo drop the preamble, or rephrase in a more obscure way, and you’d have the classic that people are suggesting it is.
I’m sorry Dr WhatsOn, @2 you were saying “I didn’t like this at all” now @57 “The crossword itself is very good”. Come on man which is it to be?
As a fully paid up lefty I know the poem and the history very well so quite a lot of this went in very quickly. I also kn that Michael Sheen played Tony Blair in ‘ The Deal’ although I’d forgotten ‘The Queen’. ALAS took awhile to see and, while I’ve heard of COVALENT, I had to look up what it meant.
I’ve been hors de crossword for the last couple of days owing to a rather unpleasant bug and it was nice to return to the fray with a puzzle as entertaining as this.
Thanks Arachne.
Sorry Muffin I didn’t see your post yesterday..The Fair is still at Seven Brethren although I think it’s days are numbered on that site because there is more development planned for that area. Whether said development does take place remains to be seen. We have been told this before several times. Watch this space!
[Thanks for that, Peter. Do you live in North Devon, then?]
Dr. What’s on @57 …I’m not sure why, but for some reason I did not see the special instructions until I had finished, my LOI being HEROES! Must need new glasses. So I did find the puzzle very very good, and I had to wonder why that preamble was there at all – I agree with you it wasn’t really needed.
What a marvellous poem. Seeing it for the first time and amazingly I had never heard of Peterloo (a new portmanteau to me)….teaching of history in the UK of the 60’s apparently left it out.
Chinoz @11 …totally agree. Can’t tell you when I last watched TV, really dislike all the doom and gloom and prefer a good book or a puzzle like this one (except for pressie 🙂 )
Thanks to Arachne and bloggers.
Muffin @ 62. Still in lovely Bishops Tawton and I expect we’ll stay here!
Peter Aspinwall. As a youngster spent many a happy holiday in Snapper at the Darche’s Farm B&B. Hours in the sea at Saunton Sands. Very special part of the country. Had my first half pint at a pub in Bradford. Aah. Happy days!!
Oh dear that should have been Brayford!!
What an interesting and extremely important subject! It’s always exciting for me to learn about events like this. I never had a proper European history class so my knowledge when I was younger was limited to essentially “French Revolution, then Napoleon, then Queen Victoria and the Industrial Revolution, then on to WWI”. It’s always nice when I can fill in some of the gaps.
As for the puzzle, this was an odd one for me. Most of answers fell easily into place with obvious parsings, but the ones I couldn’t parse, I REALLY couldn’t parse – TWILL, LIONS (couldn’t figure how “batta” equaled “perhaps”), PLAZA among a few others. As for PRESSIE/PREZZIE, that word exceeds my TTL – twee tolerance limit – and I declare it to be anathema.
I had my first pub drink at Bishop’s Tawton, in fact – at the Chichester Arms. I had walked there with my mother (from South Street, where we lived at the time), and she bought me a half of cider, saying “Well, you’re nearly 16, aren’t you?” I didn’t correct her misapprehension!
What a delight! Sent us both off to read the poem – first time for me, Ozymandias being the extent of my Shelley knowledge – and, as observed variously above, still sadly timely. Peterloo, for those of us growing up around Manchester in MG reading families, was local, unforgotten and personal.
And a decent, fair puzzle too, ALAS my favourite, with the odd parsing issue sorted by manehi. Thanks spider!
PS didn’t muffin’s mother know how old he was?
Good point, Irishman. She probably did, though she certainly didn’t know what the legal drinking age was!
I don’t normally comment on Guardian puzzles but this was so wonderful. I thought it took crossword puzzles to a different level. A superb tribute to those valiant people who fought for values we now take for granted.
SPanza @58. I don’t see the contradiction here that you seem to. The crossword as a crossword was very good – by that I mean the clue construction for almost all of the clues. The solving experience (for me) wasn’t good at all – it was ruined by the preamble, and to some extent by the internal cross-references, that just gave the game away too quickly. Two separate things.
As one who has neither read nor heard of the poem and has almost no knowledge of Peterloo, I found this one of the most enjoyable crosswords of recent weeks on so many levels. I finished unaided and learned a little in the process. Arachne rocks as always.
Once I looked up Peterloo, then referenced the Shelley poem, this fell pretty much straight out.
A crossword for the many, not the few. Thanks to setter, bloggers and solvers!
As usual we are a day late with this puzzle but enjoyed it so much we had to come and show our appreciation. Fantastic example of the compilers art.
Thank you Arachne and manehi.
Sorry, completely off the theme, but… Stuck on 2 down, but having all the crossers, I used a crossword solver app to find ‘covalent’, which was then obvious. However, among the other possible solutions was ‘coparent’, and I was intrigued by how well it fits the surface of the clue: “Bonding by sharing tiny things: love can flourish over time”.
Thanks to Arachne (and Manehi) for a challenging and illuminating crossword!
SPanza@65 – The Poltimore Arms? One of the best pubs in the country!
I’m another one who loved this puzzle, despite — or perhaps because of — my complete ignorance of the Shelley poem and only slight familiarity with the Peterloo massacre. (I happened to have read a review of the Mike Leigh movie recently, or else my ignorance of it would have been complete. In my partial defense, I am not British. Still, it’s important enough that I should have known about it.)
I managed to work out the puzzle without looking anything up, which made it fairly difficult for me, but how satisfying when it finally all fell into place. Arachne’s skill is unmatched.
Particular favorites: 15a for the beautiful surface, and 5d for incorporating the quotation (which of course I didn’t realize until after I completed the puzzle and looked up the poem).
Oh, and I also had Blaise @13’s parsing of RALLY.
thanks Manehi for the informative blog and help with parsing of a couple – I didn’t work out lions, nor know re martin sheen’s playing of Blair. I am also another who parse 16d the fourth way.
I did not know either re Peterloo massacre nor the Shelley poem, so am firmly in the camp of enjoying this puzzle, esp as I refrained from looking anything up till I had finished.
Thanks to Arachne for another treat
Arachne is also a weaver!
Too late for anyone to be reading, I suppose, as I came to this on Alan Connor’s recommendation.
I thought it was brilliant. I’m surprised that almost nobody commented on the find of 5d with the last letters in that (part-)line being an anagram of another significant word in the poem.
Although I didn’t know the poem by name, the relevant lines were lodged somewhere at the back of my mind but needed help to come forward. I ended up googling “ye are many, they are few” to get the title and the poem itself.
Regarding the question of whether the Special Instructions were a spoiler, I think they were not so much instructions for the puzzle as general instructions to ‘we many’.
…belatedly, I didn’t know poem or poet but guessed Peterloo from date. Great fun working out the quotes etc from the clues unlike some of the early solvers who posted early. Can’t see the point of googling it!
Thanks Arachne and Manehi