Independent 10,571 by Hob

by

This one kept me wondering for some time about what was going on.

I assumed it was one theme for most of the time, then thought it was another, but it wasn’t until I got the last clue I realised what, and indeed who, it was all about.
This was due to my own [lack of] knowledge of the subject.

Before attempting anything I noticed that “9” and “1 9” appeared in many clues, so I thought better start with them, and solved 9 immediately.
At that point I thought there might be a bird theme – feathered variety.  I tried a few others and got to 14: “Study of 9” had to be Ornithology  – quite tricky wordplay which, when understood, gave something away about 11 – so that had to be Duck.  Bird theme was definite I thought.  Well.  It was true, Jim, but not as I knew it.

Then, sometime later I realised in a “should have got it earlier” moment, that 1 was Yard – Aha! I thought, there’s a subordinate theme about the Yardbirds, the band from the 60s, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton etc.  But there was none.  Little did I know – they had chosen that name for a reason.

I got the grid about half filled then it seemed to get tougher.   I got very confused by 25’s use of “1 9” – when I finally got it, I thought it was a very sneaky trick using 1 as I this time.
The final unsolved entry was 8 for which I had P-R-E-   Porter maybe?  …
… Then I remembered Dorothy Parker …
… Then I looked at the completed grid and saw Charlie Parker plain as day along the top – I knew the name – some old jazz man …

I did not know much about “Yardbird” – I have put that right – thanks, as usual, to Wikipedia <Main Charlier Parker page link> and links from there.
If you are like me, then I suggest you do the same and have a listen to some of his music, particularly recommended 15 Across “Ornithology” link below, I can scarcely believe this was created 75 years ago, it still sounds like music from the future.

From my research I spotted some of his record labels among the clues and answers – Savoy, Dial, Verve – besides Alto at 24.  I expect there are other things I have missed.

So, thanks to Hob for a misleading puzzle with a great resolve at the end, and for prompting me to improve my musical education.

I wonder if a Charlie Parker fan found this crossword easier?

Across
6 CHARLIE Daily pork pie? Fool! (7)
CHAR (Daily – charlady) LIE (Pork pie/lie in CRS)
8 PARKER Butler and chauffeur for American writer (6)
Double Def. Ref. Lady Penelope’s butler (Thunderbirds) and  Dorothy.  Last One In
9 BIRD Offer around right time (4)
R[ight] inside BID (offer)  Definition refers to doing time in prison
10 VERVE Get-up-and-go extremely depleted finally? Yes, then doubly so (5)
extremely = very, used once “depleted, finally”  VER[y] then “doubly so”  VE[ry]
One of Charlie Parker’s record labels
11 DUCK Type of 9 to avoid (4)
Double Def.  bird/dodge
12 TITFER 9 with two articles stolen from feather hat (6)
TIT (9, bird) FE[a the]R
14 INVEIGLE Seduce bandmate ultimately, by wild living (with injected drug) (8)
(LIVING + E (drug) )* AInd: wild, then [bandmat]E
15 ORNITHOLOGY Study of 9s involved only two 11s? Right! (11)
(ONLY O O RIGHT)*  AInd: involved,  the two Os from “two 11s” = Ducks
One of Charlie Parker’s most iconic tracks – have a listen <YouTube Link>
18 WHATEVER Never mind wife always clutching 12 (8)
W[ife] EVER (always) around 12 = Titfer = HAT
20 BEYOND Outside the range of female singer, with two final notes replaced by one in between (6)
BEYONCE/D  (Female singer with the final two letters, which can be notes, CE swapped for “the one in between” D.
Favourite clue for the wordplay – There was a clue involving Beyoncé somewhere else a few weeks ago but I don’t remember it using this C-D-E idea.
21 DIAL Lad is drunk after Savoy’s first quit for another label (the mug!) (4)
(LAD IS – S[avoy])* AInd: drunk,  I got this from the mug=face=dial in slang, but I notice Savoy and Dial were two other Charlie Parker record labels
22 THROB Beat time unevenly, her combo following (5)
T[ime],  H[e]R [c]O[m]B[o]
24 ALTO Type of sax is key, by end of solo (4)
ALT (key, as on keyboard), [sol]O.  Guess who played the alto sax
25 HEROIN Horse 1 9’s straddling (6)
HERON (9, Bird) around (straddling) I (1).   I took “1 9” as “yard bird” and got very misled.  Heroin was Charlie Parker’s tipple, like many jazz musicians of the time.
26 REPLIED Backing for each song that’s made a comeback (7)
PER< (for each, backing) LIED (song)
Down
1 YARD Period of time without energy? Heading for detox unit (4)
Y[e]AR (period of time, year, minus E[nergy]), then D[etox].
2 GEAR Tackle illegal drugs equipment 1 9 used? (4)
Double Def.  First e.g. fishing equipment; Second Drugs such as Charlie Parker was well-known to have used … actually “gear” referred to the drugs themselves rather than any related equipment needed – so probably “equipment yardbird used” refers to the musical and other equipment a performer like him used.  So really a Triple Def.
3 UPHEAVAL Raising of part of the earth’s crust alters a pH value (8)
(A PH VALUE)* AInd: alters.  I was surprised to find this was a specific definition.  Upheaval is more commonly used metaphorically to mean any disturbance in personal or public life
4 GRUDGINGLY With resentful reluctance, king finally ordered drink in unpleasant setting (10)
GR (king) [ordere]D, GIN (drink) inside UGLY (unpleasant)  {Not [kin]G }
5 MESCAL Essential feature of theme’s called for an intoxicant (6)
Hidden in “theME’S CALled”
6 CRISIS Difficult time crossing river in Scotland inspired saxophonist originally (6)
First letters (originally) : C[rossing] R[iver] I[n] S[cotland] I[nspired] S[axophonist]
7 LIVER As it happens, rear part of bar is what gets damaged after too much drink is taken (5)
LIVE (as it happens) [ba]R
13 FIRST FLOOR Premier beat Trump’s story (5,5)
FIRST (premier) FLOOR (beat, knock down) Trump is mentioned because the clue’s definition has the US spelling of storey.
14 ICHOR German setter with yellow fluid in veins, as myth has it (5)
ICH (I in German) OR (yellow)
16 INVITING Invigorating no-go area, in parts even attractive (8)
INVI [ go [a]R[e]A ] TING
17 UNITED In concert, playing duet with flipping hot content (6)
(DUET)*  AInd: playing, with IN< inside, for which IN must be derived from HOT
19 HEIFER Piece from the i: “Fertility’s a little lower” (6)
Hidden in “tHE I: FERtility”
20 BEBOP Vacuously bizarre dance music, jazz style (5)
B[izarr]E BOP (dance)
23/24 RARA AVIS A 6’s taken after two artists, becoming an unusually exceptional 9 (4,4)
RA RA (two artists), A “Charlie” = a “bird” = avis  in latin.  I have a feeling there is some more going on here I cannot quite fathom.

 

19 comments on “Independent 10,571 by Hob”

  1. Didn’t see the theme and didn’t get PARKER but put in an unparsed PORTER. Drat!

    Pleased to get HEROIN and, my loi, INVITING. Couldn’t see where the I came from in HEIFER. I see from the blog that the clue must have been changed. My printout does not have “i” before the colon.

    Thanks to S&B.

  2. Thanks beermagnet. Great crossword but I must admit to missing the theme. RARA AVIS – a similar device to HEROIN: ignore the clue 6ac – it’s just the Latin numeral VI!

  4. I know very little about Charlie Parker – not my kind of music – but spotted the reference early on.  I then spent far too long solving the rest but failed on 13D – couldn’t see it at all and put First Blood in desperation.  Like Beermagnet managed to find other themed entries on Wikipedia.  I also happened to hear on BBC Radio 3 this morning (yes, they do play jazz there occasionally) that CP was born 100 years ago today.  So great stuff Hob, thanks, and to Beermagnet for an excellent blog.

     

  5. Thanks Hob and beermagnet

    It’s not just a Charlie Parker themed puzzle: today is the centenary of his birth.

    While not knowing a lot about his music I know a reasonable amount about jazz in general, so when my first five solutions were BIRD, YARD, ORNITHOLOGY, DIAL and ALTO the theme leapt our and, yes, it did make the solve easier.

    I’m not convinced that 1 = I in 25. I simply saw it as ‘Yardbird’ being on/astride heroin/horse. But that may just be because the solve was flowing so smoothly I didn’t look for anything more complex.

  6. @Hovis #1 – I do the crossword on the Independent’s iPad app where the clue for Heifer was rendered oddly, revealing some html code around the letter ‘I’ that obviously wasn’t supposed to be there. So I assume it was some technical error that meant that character was overlooked by some devices or what have you. I know from experience that I’ve had to change a clue recently because it incorporated a special character that couldn’t be supported everywhere.

    I loved this. Thanks Hob. I particularly like the way the 1,9 in 25across quite naturally leads one to assume yardbird before the penny drops re Heron and I.

    17d was one where I entered it correctly without really having fully parsed it for myself… and only some time after did I see how Hot = In

    Thanks for the blog, beermagnet

  7. Thanks Bluth, that’s interesting. I just had another look and the “i” is missing (at least on Safari) when you first see the crossword. After selecting “play” the “i” now appears on the online version then disappears again when selecting the print option from the menu. Ah, the wonders of technology.

  8. Thought on first sight that the unches round the outside (“buffalo girls go”) might be the thing to watch, but 6a and 9a soon had me looking for Parker, and there it was. Jazz, especially bebop really isn’t my thing but I’m sure having a sax player in the household helped. Didn’t get 13d – had no idea the US spelling is without the e. Good fun to solve and a very excellent blog.

  9. Great crossword; and nice blog – thanks for explaining the Trumpism.

    I wondered if there was a reference to ‘Goodbye Pork Pie Hat (6a, 12a) but that is a classic by Mingus not Parker and they did not, to my knowledge, interact.

    Lovely crossword for a Saturday, thank you Hob.

     

  10. I solved YARD and BIRD more or less straight away, then CHARLIE & PARKER, but I’m not a jazz fan so didn’t bother to research the other thematic material despite knowing it would be there from the non-standard grid and by some quite unusual clueing, presumably written to incorporate theme words. I did notice quite a few finally (twice), ultimately, end of, originally etc. type of single-letter indicators which took a tiny bit of shine off the usual enjoyable challenge from Hob.

    Many thanks to S&B

  11. CHARLIE was our FOI and as we worked through it was obvious that there was some sort of theme but it wasn’t until we got PARKER as almost the LOI that we realised what it was, but we had to google to pick up  some of the thematic references.

    Most enjoyable.  Thanks, Hob and beermagnet.

    PS: btw there’s a celebration of ‘Bird’ on BBC Radio 3 today at 17.00 BST.

  12. 1 and 9 fell quickly, and as soon as I saw Yardbird I thought of Charlie Parker (never heard of the 60s group), and sure enough, there he was.  Happy birthday! The thematic clues then tumbled in easily, not that I’m complaining.

    Growing up, my interest in popular music ended just before Bebop, which just sounded like noise when I first heard it.  In my early twenties, though, I found sheet music of a Thelonius Monk number on a friend’s piano (I think “In Walked Bud”), began poking at it and thenceforth was hooked.

    Thanks, Hob and beermagnet

  14. Thanks to everyone who has commented.

    Kicking myself for not noticing it is Charlie Parker’s 100th anniversary today.

    Also kicking self but not so hard for missing the wordplay at 23/24 – 6 meaning number 6 = Roman numeral VI rather than clue 6. I should have thought of that after the 1=I in HEROIN. So “Ta!” to NeilW for that. It shows it is a great clue.

    It is very tempting that 2 GEAR might be 4 Defs. finishing with “1 9 used” = “one Bird used” = “one Parker used” = a car gear, but I fear it is a step too many.

  15. Spotted the theme early.  I’d head the mention on Radio 3 and new it was his centenary and that came back to me with the references to sax in the clues.  Even so, it took me ages to get 8ac.

    Another one here confused by the missing ‘i’ in 19dn.

  18. 2d Tackle illegal drugs equipment 1 9 used? (4)
    1 9 = yardbird

    There are many different defintions of “gear” in the clue for 2d depending on where you cut it

    Tackle                                  e.g. fishing gear
    illegal drugs                         slang for any drug
    equipment                           straight def.
    illegal drugs equipment         Also slang for syringes etc.
    yardbird used?                     He used heroin
    equipment yardbird used?     and he used musical equipment

    I am happiest with these three:

    Tackle
    illegal drugs
    equipment yardbird used?

    For 13: The definition uses the American spelling of storey meaning floor (i.e. story) and this is indicated by being described as “Trump’s story”

  19. Thanks beermagnet

    In 2d it’s just the “equipment 1 9 used” which was (still is) as mystery to me.

    If it really is “equipment yardbird used”, then it may as well be “equipment anybody ever used for anything”

    I don’t put these forward as serious suggestions, but I considered each briefly:

    G(ood) ear – equipment musicians certainly need and use

    “equipment one bird used” – “landing gear”  (Collins has “gear” as synonymous with “landing gear”, and “bird” is slang for a plane).

    Is “Gear” a make of saxophone?

    In 13d my comment was intended to point out that the def simply gives “floor”, without specifying which.

    The entry is obvious from the wordplay but I would prefer something like:

    “Premier fell for Trump’s base story”

Comments are closed.