This is Dalibor’s contribution to the York S & B this year
As mentioned in the handout, the theme is not specific to the York S & B event. It took us a while to tumble to it – being of a certain age helped! However, once it became apparent, many of the clues fell into place, despite being unfamiliar with three of the thematic entries (12ac, 19ac and 24d/26ac).
Across
1 One producing music online? (6)
RECORD
RE (on) CORD (line)
5 *Vehicle needs petrol (not gas) (8)
CAROLINE
CAR (vehicle) + gasOLINE (petrol) without the ‘gas’
9 *Low part of Ireland (4,4)
DOWN DOWN
DOWN (low) DOWN (part of Ireland)
10 It’s hidden by rodent in hole (6)
CAVITY
IT ‘hidden’ in CAVY (rodent)
11 *Apple ‘n’ pear cocktail (5,5)
PAPER PLANE
An anagram of APPLE’N’PEAR – anagrind is ‘cocktail’
12 *Some extra information needed (4)
RAIN
Hidden (‘some’) in extRA INformation
13 Very nearly likes to embrace the Almighty, filled with love (2,4,2)
AS GOOD AS
AS and AS (‘likes’) round or ’embracing’ GOD (‘the Almighty’) round or ‘filled with’ O (love)
16 Remains where, reportedly, dead souls are carried away (6)
STICKS
A homophone (‘reportedly’) of STYX (in Greek mythology, the river in Hades which carried away the souls of the dead)
17 The Mob taking part in vendetta if family’s rejected (6)
MAFFIA
Hidden (‘taking part in’) and reversed (‘rejected’) in vendettA IF FAMily – we’ve not seen this spelling before
19 *Head of maths constructed triangles with no sides (4,4)
MEAN GIRL
M (first letter or ‘head’ of ‘maths’) + an anagram of tRIANGLEs without the first and last letters or ‘sides’ – anagrind is ‘constructed’
21 Former England striker losing credit – that hurts! (4)
OUCH
crOUCH (Peter Crouch – former England striker) without ‘cr’ (credit)
22 Plaything I suck deliriously wearing condom briefly (6,4)
RUBIK’S CUBE
An anagram of I SUCK (anagrind is ‘deliriously’) in or ‘wearing’ RUBBEr (condom) without the last letter or ‘briefly’
25 … for example, Times? (6)
SQUARE
Double definition – the first referring to the clue number – 25
26 See 24 Down
27 Oh dear! Promise kept by car lobby (8)
CORRIDOR
COR (oh dear!) + I DO (promise) in or ‘kept by’ RR (Rolls Royce – ‘car’)
28 South of France good for everyone? It’s all about getting the numbers right (6)
SUDOKU
SUD (French for ‘south’) OK (good) U (film certificate ‘for everyone’)
Down
2 Return of a tennis stroke source of enormous complaint (5)
EBOLA
A LOB (tennis stroke) E (first letter or ‘source’ of ‘enormous’) all reversed or ‘returned’
3 Man at the door discovered a big cat (5)
OUNCE
bOUNCEr (‘man at the door’) without the first and last letters or ‘dis-covered’
4 Fallen actor finds way to win Oscar, heading for the top (7)
DROPPED
DEPP (Johnny Depp – ‘actor’) RD (road – ‘way’) round or ‘winning’ O (Oscar in the phonetic alphabet) all reversed or ‘heading for the top’
5 Have a close look at oil painting that’s apparently dripping (7)
CANVASS
CANVAS (oil painting) with an extra S or ‘apparently dripping’
6 R-rough Australians, 14? (7)
ROCKERS
R + OCKERS (rough Australians) – a reference to Status Quo (14d), the (thematic) rock group
7 Meat Loaf originally the fourth band touring West after East (9)
LIVERWING
L (first or ‘original’ letter of ‘loaf’) + IV (fourth) + RING (band) round or ‘touring W (west) after E (east)
8 Onset of pain in heart after lifting hip, a critical one (9)
NITPICKER
P (first letter or ‘onset’ of ‘pain’) in TICKER (heart) after IN (hip) reversed or ‘lifted’
14 Very entertaining American music mag’s written about both rubbish and classy pop stars (6,3)
STATUS QUO
SO (very) round or ‘entertaining’ US (American) Q (music mag) separately round or ‘written about’ TAT (rubbish) and U (classy)
15 Change of heart if BBC4 is this at 6pm (3,3,3)
OFF THE AIR
An anagram of OF HEART IF – anagrind is ‘change’
18 Dope and high-quality heroin found in study (7)
AIRHEAD
A1 (high-quality) + H (heroin) in READ (study)
19 Member of 17 has crustacean’s head magnified by a factor of 20 (7)
MOBSTER
lOBSTER (crustacean) with ‘L’ (the first letter or ‘head’, and roman numeral for 50) replaced by M (roman numeral for 1000 – 20 times ‘L’)
20 Soldiers will secure large deer’s put back in chains (7)
ANKLETS
ANTS (soldiers) round ELK (large deer) reversed or ‘put back’
23 Uncertain beginners in Crosswordland usually let Dalibor explain what the solutions are (5)
CLUED
An anagram of the first letters or ‘beginners’ of Crosswordland Usually Let Dalibor Explain – anagrind is ‘uncertain’
24 /26ac *Doctor let Sue Barker out of hospital (5,3,5)
BREAK THE RULES
An anagram of LET SUE BARKER (anagrind is ‘doctor’) round H (hospital)
Of the four crosswords in this set, this was the one that took me the most time to solve, and, trying to do so without any references to hand, I have to report that I came a cropper in the NE corner. Annoyingly, I failed to solve the excellent NITPICKER and had to leave that corner blank except for my guess at RAIN.
I had to guess all the thematic entries, in fact, except of course for the link, Status Quo. I made things difficult for myself by inserting WEBBER at first for 1a RECORD, given just the E, and had to unravel that when OUNCE and DROPPED wouldn’t drop!
Among other very good clues I’d like to highlight 25a SQUARE (I didn’t ‘see’ the ’25’ in plain sight), SUDOKU (a hard clue to compile, I would have thought, but this turned out all right), NITPICKER (as mentioned) and AIRHEAD.
Sorry I didn’t make the event, but thanks to Bertandjoyce for the blog (and all the explanations) and Sil for an enjoyable and satisfying crossword (despite the DNF).
Another one that we finished after getting home. We were in the dark for a while as to the theme, having got RAIN and BREAK THE RULES, and thinking that PAPER PLANE and MEAN GIRL were about the only possible answers to their respective clues. Then ROCKERS led us via SQUARE to STATUS QUO and a quick google confirmed we were on the right track. But RECORD was our LOI as it took us ages to realise we had to lift and separate ‘online’.
Favourites, though, were the non-thematic CAVITY, RUBIK’S CUBE, SQUARE and SUDOKU.
Sorry you didn’t make it to York, B&J, but thanks for the blog – and thanks, of course to Dalibor for the puzzle.
DOWN DOWN and PAPER PLANE were my entry points to the theme, but not all of the theme songs were familiar to me (I was a bit young for them in the early 70s). One or too tricky ones even after the themers were all in, another enjoyable puzzle.
Thanks to Dalibor (hope the injury heals quickly!) and B&J