Hob provides the Independent puzzle challenge today.
This puzzle is a celebration of the 75th birthday today of JOHN RUTTER, a composer whose works focus on pieces for choirs (SINGERS) and other choral groups. Many of his own works (he wrote or arranged many CAROLs, GLORIA, REQUIEM, MAGNIFICAT and TE DEUM) are featured in the grid and there are too many musical references to list, throughout the clues. RUTTER read music, and was a member of the choir at CLARE COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE He went on to become Director of Music at CLARE from 1975 and 1979 and he later founded the CAMBRIDGE SINGERS. I doubt if he wrote any RAG though or wrote anything for R.E.M.
Often when solving themed Independent puzzles, it is not necessary to know anything about the theme, but I think for this one it would be useful to know a bit about RUTTER and choral music.
There were a lot of linked clues, but they were all fair and well constructed. I’m not entirely sure where the definition for COLLEGE begins and ends in the clue at 16 down, so I have just gone with Kings, but I recognise that a lecturer may well live in COLLEGE.
Overall, a good tribute to JOHN RUTTER with a lot of thematic material being evident.
| No | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| Across | |||
| 3 | "Odd choice of choirs", said chap in outlying region of France (7) |
CORSICA (letters 1, 3 , 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13 [odd choice] of CHOIRS SAID CHAP) CORSICA |
CORSICA (island in the Mediterranean Sea and politically a Department of France; outlying region of France) |
| 6 | Wrong football team has managed to lose? Rats! (7) |
SIN (wrong) + RANGERS (reference Glasgow RANGERS [football club] excluding (has to lose) RAN (managed) SIN GERS |
SINGERS (informers; rats) |
| 9 | Bass about soprano: "Flipping stuck-up sort" (4) |
(B [bass] + ON [about]) + S [soprano]) all reversed (flipping) (S NO B)< |
SNOB (person who sets too much value on social standing; stuck-up sort) |
| 10 | Being resigned to doing without a mushroom (9) |
ACTING (doing) containing (without; outside) CEP (type of edible mushroom) AC (CEP) TING |
ACCEPTING (being resigned to) |
| 12 | Kind of anthem: Timelessly fresh and intrinsically universal (6) |
Anagram of (fresh) AN H (U) MANE* |
HUMANE (kind) |
| 13 | Lowest note? Second in sung Mass (7) |
MINIM (musical note) + U (second letter of [second in] SUNG) + M (mass) MINIM U M |
MINIMUM (lowest value) |
| 15 | Edit choral piece that’s really long? (4) |
ITCH (hidden word in [piece] EDIT CHORAL) ITCH |
ITCH (have a constant teasing desire; really long) |
| 16 | Happily sing choral composition that’s not hard (5) |
Anagram of (composition) C CAROL* |
CAROL (praise or celebrate in song; happily sing) |
| 17 | Choir’s foremost mature composer (4) |
C (first letter of [foremost] CHOIR) + AGE (mature) C AGE |
CAGE (reference John CAGE [1912 – 1992], American avant garde composer,best known for his three movement piece 4’33" [of silence]) |
| 18 | Unnerved conductor with loud ending (7) |
RATTLE (reference Sir Simon RATTLE [born 1955], British conductor) + D (last letter of [ending] LOUD) RATTLE D |
RATTLED (unnerved) |
| 20 | Ring a girl about Van Morrison song (6) |
Anagram of (about) O [ring-shaped character] and A and GIRL GLORIA* |
GLORIA (song recorded by Van Morrison) |
| 21 | Essentially free thinkers, those like Christ (9) |
RE (central letters of [essentially] FREE) + DEEMERS (thinkers) RE DEEMERS |
REDEEMERS (reference Christ the REDEEMER; people like Christ) |
| 22 | Fine piece from 1 I clued (4) |
ERIC (hidden word in JOHN RUTTER I CLUED where JOHN RUTTER is the entry at 1 down) ERIC |
ERIC (blood-fine paid by a murderer to his victim’s family in old Irish law) |
| 23 | Piece of music by rock band, with short piano introduction (7) |
REM (reference R.E.M, American rock band) containing (with … introduction) QUIE RE (QUIE) M |
REQUIEM (a mass for the rest of the soul of the dead; music for it; any music of similar character) |
| 24 | Escaped from one-time capital in Germany after vacation (3,4) |
OT G (OT AWA) Y |
GOT AWAY (escaped) |
| Down | |||
| 1 | As one who’s often scored, ex-Chelsea star’s dropped a line about period of sexual activity (4,6) |
JOHN TER JOHN (RUT) TER |
JOHN RUTTER (English composer, born 24th September 1945) |
| 2 | Selfishness shown by online reordering of 20D (6) |
E (electronic, a common prefix to indicate business transacted online) + GOISM (anagram of [reordering of] GISMO [entry at 20 down]) E GOISM* |
EGOISM (self-centredness; selfishness) |
| 4 | This is the day to rest choir’s 6, tenor having gone to spa (7) |
SA SAB BATH |
SABBATH (day of rest) |
| 5 | 16D girl? Possibly 16A, taking English for a gas (5) |
Anagram of (possibly) CAR CLARE* |
CLARE (COLLEGE [16 down] at Cambridge University) |
| 7 | Put on list for jury service, Hob’s getting off plane (7) |
I’M (Hob’s – the setter is Hob) + an anagram of (off) PLANE IM PANEL |
IMPANEL (enter the names of a prospective jury on a list) |
| 8 | Piece of music from 1 (a 20A) (3) |
RAG (hidden word in [from] JOHN RUTTER A GLORIA, where JOHN RUTTER is the entry at 1 down and GLORIA is the entry at 20 across) RAG |
RAG (piece of RAGtime music) |
| 11 | River crossing 5 16D’s city (9) |
CAM (name of a river [that flows through Cambridge]) + BRIDGE (crossing) CAM BRIDGE |
CAMBRIDGE (location of CLARE [5 down] COLLEGE [16 down]) |
| 14 | Hymn needing organ briefly? Arranged without one, in fact (10) |
MAG (magazine [a means of communicating information; an organ of the press]) + an anagram of (arranged] IN FACT containing (without; outside) I (Roman numeral for one) MAG NIF (I) CAT* |
MAGNIFICAT (song of praise or thanksgiving; hymn) |
| 16 | Old King’s lecturer, say resident in it? (7) |
(L [lecturer] + EG [for example; say]) contained in (resident in) COLE (reference Old King COLE from the nursery rhyme) COL (L EG) E |
COLLEGE (a lecturer maybe resident in a COLLEGE) |
| 17 | Rearranged 16A? He gets a complaint (7) |
Anagram of (rearranged) CAROL (16 across) and HE CHOLERA* |
CHOLERA (disease; complaint) |
| 19 | Muted trombone’s finale playing hymn (2,4) |
Anagram of (playing) MUTED and E (last letter of [finale] TROMBONE) TE DEUM* |
TE DEUM (musical setting of a famous Latin hymn of the Western Church expressing praise and thanksgiving) |
| 20 | Gadget item somehow messing with our heads? (5) |
GISMO (first letters of [heads of] GADGET, ITEM, SOMEHOW, MESSING and OUR) GISMO |
GISMO (gadget) |
| 21 | Fishballs? (3) |
ROE (mass of fish eggs; fish) ROE |
ROE (testes [balls] of male fish) sort of double definition |
Thanks for blogging, Duncan.
Well done, Hob, for the tribute puzzle. Such an unusual grid that there had to be something going on, and I’ve listened casually over the years to much of Rutter’s work, so the theme revealed itself reasonably early and was a help with finishing.
SINGERS raised a smile when I worked it out, and I learned a new meaning of ERIC (which I shall no doubt immediately forget).
I’ve heard of Jane Rutter but not John. But the clue is good.And I liked the church music.
Thanks Hob & duncanshiell
Sheer delight! This couldn’t be more up my street. Over a good few years, I’ve sung many of Rutter’s works in both my church choir and my choral society and have many favourites. This is a really fine tribute – Many Happy Returns!
I couldn’t possibly list all my favourites, so must just give huge thanks to Hob for a super puzzle and Duncan for an equally super blog.
PS: like Kathryn’s Dad, I must try to remember that ERIC needn’t always be Morecambe. 😉
Excellent! The theme gradually unravelled and the puzzle provided just enough struggling with the setter to last a full breakfast time. I didn’t know Eric in this sense and only got it by analogy with the wordplay at 8D. Thanks Hob and Duncan.
Kathryn’s Dad @1, Eileen @3 and Tatrasman @5
ERIC in the sense of blood-fine is found frequently in the entries for barred crosswords, so it’s bit of a write-in for me now if I see the word fine in the clue and the entry is 4 letters and one of E, R, I or C appear in the crossing letters in the right place.
The clue to 1dn caught our eye at once and having been reminded on Radio 3 this morning that today is JOHN RUTTER’s birthday we realised that this was the theme for the puzzle and it was right up our street. Not that we didn’t struggle in places and having put ’empanel’ (which just about parsed) for 7dn all we could get to fit for 6ac, our LOI, was ‘ledgers’ on the basis that a ledger can be a register and singers’ voice ranges (SATB as hinted in 4dn) can also be described as registers. Apart from that, everything was fine.
Thanks, Hob and Duncan.
Eric in that sense is new to me as well, we shall have to see if it sticks though. This took me (a long long) way back to being a choirboy, when coincidentally I sang with Rutter’s son.
Thanks Hob and Duncan.
Thanks Hob, Duncan
Is the left column merely a coincidental collection of letters?
I have no knowledge of Rutter (or of church music, generally) so there was lots new here for me. Which is good – I’m equally happy having my mind expanded as I am enjoying things in my particular sweet spot. I wasn’t able to parse choir = Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass but the solution was still very gettable with the crossers. Eric was a new word for me also.
I was familiar with Eric as a crossword fine, but 1d was my LOI, not having heard of him. It didn’t detract from a very clever puzzle as I at least got the musical gist and the clues and references were clear. Thanks to S&B