A relatively easy puzzle for a Saturday.
None the worse for that of course, with plenty to enjoy throughout the solid clues.
There is a “Last Night of the Proms” theme with “Rule Britannia”, “Royal Albert Hall” and other musical references in both the answers and the clues
I spotted the theme early on, indeed 22d Prom was the first one in and Royal Albert Hall soon after, so solving went like a dream. Only half a dozen unsolved after the first pass. Last one in was Schubert which is odd given I was on the look out for thematic matter but I could not see this till the last crossing letter U appeared
Thanks Radian.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 9 | NAY SAYERS | They oppose any crazy crime writer (9) (ANY)* AInd: crazy, [Dorothy L] SAYERS (crime writer) |
| 10 | CORNU | Horn, gold with new copper coating (5) OR (gold) N[ew] all inside CU (Copper). A cornu is an ancient musical instrument |
| 11 | EMPEROR | Theatre in his city backed Nero for one (7) REP (theatre) in ROME (his city) all reversed (backed) |
| 12 | ADULATE | Notice Unionist who’s left us flatter (7) Charade of A D (A D Notice) U[nionist] LATE (who’s left us) |
| 13 | WOODY | Part-time clarinettist loves to go in with dry lips (5) OO (loves) inside W[ith] D[r]Y. The definition refers to the fact that Woody Allen plays the clarinet and his New Orleans Jazz Band have been playing each Monday evening at the Carlyle Hotel in Manhattan for many years <Wiki> |
| 14 | MOP-HEADED | Mozart’s first work made for Shaggy? (3-6) M[ozart] OP (work) HEADED (made for, proceeded towards) |
| 16 | ROYAL ALBERT HALL | Three men and a woman left large auditorium (5,6,4) ROY AL AL (Three men) BERTHA (a woman) L[eft] L[arge] |
| 19 | DINNER SET | Service originally designed by clique? (6,3) D[esigned] INNER SET (clique) |
| 21 | ALTOS | They come into a cathedral to sing (5) Hidden in cathedrAL TO Sing, and &Lit |
| 22 | PICCOLO | High wind still cool everywhere (7) PIC (still, picture) (COOL)* AInd: everywhere |
| 23 | AMOROSO | Tender part of basso so romantic in retrospect (7) Hidden reversed in bassO SO ROMAntic |
| 24 | ORANG | Primate called after Beethoven’s Sixth (5) [beeth]O[ven] RANG (called) |
| 25 | BRITANNIA | Brian and I arranged to import brown sort of metal (9) TAN (brown) inside (BRIAN I)* AInd: arranged. Among the many meanings of Britannia it is a type of metal: <Wiki> |
| Down | ||
| 1 | UNDERWORLD | Pit foreign articles against vast number (10) UN DER ([a couple of] foreign articles) WORLD (vast number). I wondered about vast number for world – I suppose when used in exaggeration: “It cost the world” |
| 2 | SYMPHONY | Variable rate of progress cutting music company’s work (8) Y, MPH (a variable, a rate of progress) inside SONY (music company) |
| 3 | FAIRLY | Pretty smart penning melody (6) AIR (melody) inside FLY (smart) |
| 4 | HEAR | Catch woman’s aria finally coming in (4) [ari]A inside HER (woman’s) |
| 5 | ESCARPMENT | Carmen’s pet distressed Cliff (10) (CARMEN’S PET)* AInd: distressed. Cliff as in Dover, not Richard |
| 6 | SCHUBERT | One of his works lied (8) Cryptic Def. using the fact that lied in German is a song and Schubert wrote lots of them. Last one in |
| 7 | ERRAND | Make mistake with delivery perhaps (6) ERR (mistake) AND (with) |
| 8 | RULE | Regret bringing in Latin canon (4) L[atin] inside RUE (regret) |
| 14 | MILLS BOMBS | Flutes flop, then son’s hurled missiles (5,5) MILLS (flutes, as in grinds out a flute shape, grooves) BOMB (flop) S[on] |
| 15 | DELUSIONAL | Having bizarre ideas, fried andouilles (10) (ANDOUILLES)* AInd: bizarre. I did not know what an andouille was: It is a sausage <Wiki> |
| 17 | LIE DOGGO | Don’t move doctor I googled (3,5) (I GOOGLED)* AInd: doctor |
| 18 | ALTHORNS | Nearly all old characters produce wind (8) AL[l] THORNS (the rune þ) <Wiki> |
| 20 | NECTAR | Plant food court close to boxes (6) CT (court) inside (boxed by) NEAR (close) |
| 21 | ATONAL | Like Schoenberg, obsessive about limits of tempo (6) T[emp]O inside ANAL (obsessive) |
| 22 | PROM | Run out during afternoon dance in US school (4) RO (run out) inside PM (afternoon) |
| 23 | AVID | Eager to help, introducing Verdi overture (4) V[erdi] inside AID (aid) |
Thanks Radian and beermagnet
In 12, I think AD per se is ‘notice’, as in giving notice of (eg) an event.
And ‘world’ in 1, cf also ‘a world of a dfference’.
I was thrown at 13A by the part-time reference, as I thought this referred to Woody Herman, also a clarinettist but definitely not part-time. I didn’t know W.Allen played clarinet. Otherwise clear and good fun, though I did need to consult a word list for one, but I’m too embarrassed to say which one! Thanks Radian and Beermagnet.
Thanks, Radian and beermagnet.
A nice mix of thematic material in the clues as well as the answers. We spotted ROYAL ALBERT HALL at once and were well away after that.
Like Tatrasman we too though WOODY referred to Woody Herman, and assumed ‘part-time’ referred to the fact that he also played alto sax and was a vocalist as well.
A couple of grumbles, though. In 14ac ‘headed’ needs to be followed by ‘to’ or ‘towards’ to mean ‘made for’; one might make for an exit, for example, but not head an exit. And in 6dn ‘Lied’, as a German noun needs to have a capital L; yes, we know that might give the game away but the clue could possibly have been rephrased – how about ‘Lied? – one of his songs? (8)’ for example?
Embarrassingly, SCHUBERT was my LOI, after a word search, and I’m a great fan. But surely “lied” has now been adopted into English and no longer needs a capital later. Would you capitalised “schadenfreude”?