Guardian Cryptic 28,353 by Qaos

109 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28,353 by Qaos”

1. I was happy enough to get Captain Beefheart Magic Band and Trout Mask Replica. I have the vinyl but never play it. It serves as a warning to anyone who might upset me. I even got an arty mate to do a Trump Mask Replica.
   Thanks Q and Peter.

2. I didn’t start looking for the theme until I was 3/4 of the way through, when it fairly jumped out at me, and made finishing a breeze. Too bad there was no room for Big Eyed Beans from Venus.

3. Did not see theme but found it via google. Never heard of Captain Beefheart, but I have heard of Frank Zappa.

   Favourites: ALONE, REPLICA, SOFT SPOT, DATABASES.
   Needed some help from google for the GK.
   New: Strictly Commercial album by Frank Zappa (thanks, google); ROLL-UPS (cigarettes); Elton, Cambridgeshire (thanks, google).
   How to parse HERB? Ugh, it is a bit weird/sexist?

   I see that I parsed 13ac incorrectly as I had thought it was the initial letters of LEA[ds] in CR (king Charles)

   Thanks, Qaos and Peter

4. The theme passed well over my head (Brahms is more my thing) but an enjoyable solve nonetheless. Rather enjoyed the Cambs clue when I got it. ‘John who lives’, indeed.

5. Couple of mates did have Beefheart vinyls but I don’t even remember their sound, so no thematic resonance. Think there’s still a Zappa vinyl in the storeroom, it’s given me an unfortunate earworm (What’s the ugliest part of your body… I think it’s your mind). Erk. Fun enough puzzle though, bottom half first, then slower for the top. Loi databases, a lego clue, my least favourite. Thanks P & Q.

6. Once again, despite looking hard, didn’t spot the theme – I didn’t know the albums, but I had heard of Captain BH.

   ELTON is a vanishingly small village, so perhaps a tad unfair?

   Thanks for the explanation of HERB, PeterO. And thanks to QAOS for an enjoyable crossword – perhaps a theme I know next time, please?

7. As usual the theme was unknown to me but that did not diminish my enjoyment. CAPTAIN, HERB, and RUBBISH TIP (great anagram), among others, were fun. I could not parse EXECUTIVE or STRICTLY — thanks PeterO for explaining as well as the super early blog. Thanks Qaos.

8. Despite not knowing his music, I got the theme and then googled for album titles. Failed to oarse HERB nor sad to say CLEAR (making the same mistake as michelle@3, despite it not being a good fit for the clue). Needed google for ELTON and also to see why STRICTLY was correct. ALCHEMIST was my fav clue.
   Thanks to Qaos and PeterO

9. The theme went so far over my head that I was trying to think of other meanings of the word ‘zappa’ as the musical one seemed too obscure – eg is a TV remote control also called a zapper?

   Nonetheless an enjoyable solve, and thanks to Peter O and Qaos.

10. I too am in the HERB failure club — the HIM,A -> HER,B thing hasn’t really registered with me yet. I had it parsed as HE,RB with RB being partner somehow (R&B music?)

11. I really enjoyed this one and though I didn’t know the Captain Beefheart oevre at least I had heard of the band. I was also chufffed that I remembered the title of the Frank Zappa album to derive “STRICTLY Commercial” at 19d. Agreeing with Tony S@7 about the anagram, 6d RUBBISH TIP was my favourite clue of the day. Many thanks to Vlad and PeterO.
    [Today I am very happy to post early and avoid the kind of negativity that descended on yesterday’s Vlad blog. As I only solved half of that puzzle very late in the evening Australian time, I didn’t add a post, but when I read the blog today just to see where I had missed the mark with my DNF, I was quite shocked at what had transpired. I have been very reluctant to engage with 15² again after a break of some time, having become disenchanted with the tenor of the site late last year. Yesterday, yet again, really upset me.]

12. OEUVRE – typo

13. Did not see the theme although I used to listen to Zappa a lot back in the day. but am glad to have the crosswords back! And this was really fun. Many thanks to PeterO and to Qaos.

14. Seeing TROUT and REPLICA so close to each other alerted me to the theme pretty early, but got a little distracted looking for Safe as Milk, Mirror Man etc. Not a personal favourite but I have dabbled a little. Fast and bulbous!

15. As is usual with Qaos, if you get the theme early you can look for answers. Like beery hiker I saw TROUT and REPLICA, so then it was a case of looking for where MASK, CAPTAIN, HEART (I already had BEEF), and MAGIC (as I had BAND) would fit. Nice to see his childhood friend Zappa make an appearance as well. Agreed ELTON was a bit obscure and HERB was unparsed.

16. We think 17A might be a bit cryptic than it first appears. There is also an Eaton in Cambridgeshire and a number of noted John Eatons (composer, pirate, divine – take your (Wicki)pick). All of them dead, unlike the rocket man, who lives…

17. Oh my, oh my! Great fun when you know the theme. Favourite clue was CAPTAIN. The Cambridgeshire village could have been a
    Derbyshire village.

    Julie in Australia @11 Sorry to hear that you were upset by yesterday’s shenanigans. I’m pleased that it didn’t stop you from appearing today.

    I agree with Dr. WhatsOn @2 that the Big Eyed Beans from Venus should put in an appearance.

    Thanks to Qaos for an entertaining puzzle and to PeterO for the colourful blog.

18. [Yes there are several Eltons, and to those of us who remember names of small rail stations the Nottinghamshire one is the most familiar]

19. Thanks Qaos and PeterO
    No theme for me. I do have a couple of Zappa albums, but not the one referenced here, so that was a DNK. I also tried to parse HERB as ILAN CARON.
    Several rather dodgy definitions. PeterO has pointed out that no alchemist made gold, and GEYSER is loose; a junkyard is different from a RUBBISH TIP, as the former usually has re-usable items. There is much confusion about the meaning of LIGHTS in a crossword context, but it’s mostly used to mean the white squares where the answers are written, rather than the answers themselves.
    DATABASES was my favourite today.

20. [My comment was meant to say thanks to Qaos and not Vlad, but I had a lot on my mind when I posted.]

21. Dave @6 – “Vanishingly small”?! According to Wikipedia Elton, Cambs, has a population of no less than 679!! (writes Inhabitant of Norfolk Village with 267 – and a 5-line entry in Wiki that manages to cram in two errors).
    Of course, we wouldn’t have had that issue if it had been Paul cluing “John”…
    While I was aware of Frank Zappa I didn’t know the answer to 19dn but wordplay + crossers meant that I could be sure of the answer and of the fact that after visiting here I would be much better informed [The barrister F E Smith was (in)famous for his barbed comments to judges. One particularly bovine specimen was rash enough to say “Mr Smith, I’ve been listening to you for over an hour, and I’m no wiser.” Without missing a beat, Smith retorted “Maybe not, Your Honour. But much better informed.”]
    A lot of enjoyable stuff, with the wonderfully groan-inducing HER B to finish.
    Thanks to Qaos and to PeterO. And welcome back to JulieinA @11. Like you, I was early on yesterday’s blog, but was prompted to look at the later contributions. Yes, things did get a bit heated, which was a pity, ‘cos there were sensible things being said on both sides if you dug down below the froth.

22. I’m a regular visitor who has never posted but stumbling today across a theme which involved two of my musical heroes I had to share my delight. I enjoyed re-igniting old musical ‘debates’ with university friends when Zappa finally got his dues some years back and was included in a Proms concert programme. Delighted to have another excuse to bring Z and CB back into the conversation!
    And a satisfying crossword too – not too easy, not too hard.

23. muffin @19: I’m with you in querying the direct equivalence of junk yard and RUBBISH TIP (though I agree with Tony S that it’s a great anagram) and for the same reason. Although I can imagine a loose synonym: “his garden is a ….” My only other minor BEEF is the rather disappointing gallery=TATE which comes up a bit too often. (Dare I say like ‘criminal’ as an anagram indicator???)

    I owned TROUT MASK REPLICA and quite a lot of Zappa (though I’ve not encountered STRICTLY Commercial which I see is a compilation out together after his death. Which made 19d and 18ac rather tricky. I loved DATABASES and needed PeterO’s help for HERB so I’m with the crowd. Zappa’s City of Tiny Lights my earworm for today.

    [Julie @11: please don’t be disenchanted. You are such a welcome voice here. I loathe the spats about sensitivities (far less concerned by those about wordplay or whether elks are insects). I’m not saying we shouldn’t be sensitive but, as I tried to say in my very late comment yesterday, I really cannot imagine any crossword compiler (not just the Guardian setters) deliberately working in a racist clue. I’m not being cliquey or elitist; I am delighted when we get new posters arrive to add their voices to those of the regulars. However, we also get folk who jump into this blog, sometimes having not been able to express themselves fully on the Guardian’s own site, and let rip about their feelings. I think both individuals who dropped in yesterday to vent their spleen were new names to the blog and I doubt we shall see them again until the next time there is similar controversial potential. Some other spats over the last year have arisen in similar fashion. So JinA, I don’t think yesterday was representative of either the normal topics nor the normal tone of interaction here. ]

    Thanks Qaos and PeterO

24. Thanks PeterO, I needed your clear-as-ever explanations for LES, LIGHTS (I had it as “In the beginning there was light” but couldn’t see what the end had to do with it) and of course HERB where I am at least in good company. Like beery hiker and Channel swimmer I did spot TROUT and REPLICA which led me to identify other obvious themed items but not all, and I only dabble in Zappa so needed google to get that one. Nearly fell into the EATON trap but as I remembered it as Eaton Socon I resorted to google et voila. Thanks Qaos, I think REPLICA just pips ALONE to the post for me but liked plenty of these.

25. I’m pleased to say that I’m too young to remember the music (just) but not the name, so I got the theme about halfway through. I resisted googling the albums, as I thought most of these were write-ins, without ‘sorta’ cheating. A nice theme though. I thought there may also be ELTON albums with CAPTAIN hovering above but this was just FANTASTIC(al). I liked BRIEF and ALCHEMIST. ILAN CARON’s parsing @10 of HERB is more appealing. Ta PeterO & Qaos

26. Not a theme I know much about: it might have helped to spot it early, but not doing so wasn’t a problem. However, not knowing 19d was.

    Thanks for parsing the Lego clues DATABASES and SATIRICAL (too much like hard work for me: I prefer the lateral thinking needed to identify the third person for CAPTAIN).

    Maybe “John who lives” was a way of avoiding the trouble blady@16 had with EATON – I’ll take Qaos’s word for it that the Cambridgeshire village exists.

27. Not one of my favourite puzzles by this setter. The theme was completely unknown to me and the solution to 19d had to go in on definition alone as the wordplay was no help without knowledge of the theme, – and, even then, it appears that the connection is somewhat tenuous.
    Nonetheless, the puzzle was worth every penny it cost me.

28. If you rotate the crossword clockwise through 30 degrees there is a representation of Schutzstaffel insignia right at its heart, as signposted by 31ac. It took a lot of searching and some imagination to spot it, but I am now outraged and demand an apology from all the closet fascists at 225 and the Guardian and the head of Qaos on a platter. Thanks both.

29. Like Aqualung @22 Beefheart and Zappa are two of my musical heroes, particularly the former. A friend of mine locally took the famous/infamous photo of Zappa on the toilet, and gave a talk about it here in Totnes a couple of years ago. Apparently Zappa agreed to it but then changed his mind and it all got very unpleasant.

    Meanwhile . . . great puzzle. Because I’m so slow to recognise themes it took the mention of Zappa, STRICTLY and PERSONAL before the penny dropped. Many thanks to Qaos and PeterO.

30. NeilH @21: I have always loved that FE Smith anecdote and have to confess to regularly plagiarising it! Although I nearly always attribute afterwards.

    Aqualung @22: welcome to the blog and how nice to land on a favourite artist. Your moniker and enjoyment of the theme would suggest you’re another whose musical tastes include the 70’s. Zappa was a finer artist than he is occasionally credited with being and his excursions into jazz and ‘serious’ music were applauded by informed critics. Hard to escape, though, from his more risque reputation.

    [A Zappa anecdote: he was once interviewed on TV whilst smoking a cigarette. An audience member asked, “Given you don’t drink and you are strongly anti-drug, how come you’re comfortable to sit there smoking a cigarette?”. Zappa regarded his cigarette for a moment and responded, “Man, for me this is food!”.]

31. Wiggers @28 – Pity this site doesn’t allow

32. Wiggers @28 – Pity this site doesn’t allow “laugh out loud emoji”
    Another thing it doesn’t allow is any text surrounded by pointed brackets. Gloomy emoji.
    Keep smiling, all.

33. PostMark @30 – Another county court judge is said to have been unwise enough to ask “Why do you think I’m on the Bench, Mr Smith?” Which received the retort it deserved – with immaculately feigned courtesy, “Your Honour, it is not for me to attempt to fathom the inscrutable workings of Providence.”

34. [Aqualung @22 Welcome. This Was the day you decided to Stand Up and give us thd Benefit of your musical knowledge. You’re clearly not Thick As A Brick.]

35. PostMark @ 23: My blood was boiling yesterday, so I reluctantly returned to yesterday’s blog and applaud your comment about the contributions from TAFFY, surely a pejorative term, discuss 🙂

36. Penfold @ 34: My God, what a Wind Up.

37. [AlanC @35: it did strike me it was fortuitous he/she didn’t dip in when we were all debating ‘welch’ a while ago!]

38. Another example of a crossword where total ignorance of the theme didn’t detract from the enjoyment.

    My favourites today were ALONE, EXECUTIVE, BRIEF, and RUBBISH TIP, despite the query about the definition.

    When I saw the clue for 17ac – John who lives in a Cambridgeshire village – I immediately thought of Araucaria.

    [I really only came here today to reply to Julie @11 and say that I agree with PostMark’s observations @23. A footnote to the perverse and provocative ‘alternative parsing’: as well as ‘criminal’ being a very common anagram indicator, the last time AFRO appeared, in December, the clue was ‘Shock obtained from reversing extractor fans’.]

    Thanks to Qaos and PeterO.

39. Hot Rats was one of my favourite albums as a student in ’69, but I still didn’t spot the larger Frank Zappa scheme of things, even though he is clearly revealed by name at 19 down. Thought this a much gentler solve than usual for a Qaos puzzle, and with a friendly grid as well. Held up at the end by the Cambridgeshire village, trying to wish nearby-to-me Coton in there for a while and therefore CLEAR became the last one in. And the oft used River Cam at 26ac too, to provide perhaps a very tiny Cambs mini theme…

40. So pleased to see the late lamented Captain (and his Magic Band) celebrated in a Qaos cryptic! I’m still listening to Clear Spot, Trout Mask Replica and yes, even the more commercial (contractually-required?) Strictly Personal which included his ‘take’ on the British music scene of the time in ‘Beatle Bones and Smoking Stones’. The Captain (real name Don Van Vliet) later made quite a name for himself with his expressionist paintings.

41. Not one of Qaos’s best, in my view – I didn’t spot the theme (but wouldn’t have expected to) but even armed with that knowledge 19d is a poor clue, and it’s not the only one to fall below the setter’s usual standards. I did love the British pub anagram, though. (The second apposite anagram in two days, following yesterday’s “Mrs Thatcher – as if!”.) On a point of detail, I didn’t like “very loud” in 2d: if I sang very loudly every time I saw a forte sign I would be slung out of the choir. “Very loud” is fortissimo – ff. A pity, because “very” wasn’t required by the surface.

42. The theme was totally inaccessible to me, so like a few others here, I just biffed STRICTLY with a shrug. But there was enough in there to make it an enjoyable solve anyway. I really liked the clues for ALCHEMIST, ALONE and CAPTAIN — nicely contrived and maintaining good surfaces. I agree, however, that TATE down at the bottom right really looked like a “Pah! That’ll do.” moment.
    With my thanks to Qaos and PeterO.

43. Secondbass@41: It’s the SO = ‘very’ followed by F = ‘loud’.

44. A fun solve today even if I didn’t spot the theme. Really annoyed I didn’t get Elton quicker as I had a drink in the Black Horse there before getting married at the nearby church in Haddon!!
    (Fortunately I didn’t visit 225 yesterday as I simply couldn’t get into the Vlad. This site is generally free of insult throwing which is the curse of so many online discussions. I hope we can keep it that way.)

45. Great crossword apart from the blatant heteronormative bias displayed in HERB
    Trout Mask Replica remains my favourite album title of albums I’ve never listened to

46. Yahoo, spotted a Qaos theme before finishing! (Actually only 2 left but it still counts).

    “British pub rebuilt” yelled ‘anagram!’ but I still thought, “surely not”. Beauty.

    HIM A…HER B is wicked but great fun.

    Takes great skill to compile a theme-based crossword which is still accessible to the theme-blind.

    Many thanks, Qaos.

47. JerryG @44: Hear-hear. The folk that come here seem to be more interested in discussion rather than conflict. Long may it continue.

48. Webcore! Webcore!

49. [bodycheetah @45: 😀

    ‘Trout Mask Replica remains my favourite album title of albums I’ve never listened to’ – sometimes one can wish one hadn’t explored something with an ‘out there’ title, though you’d probably have been OK with TRM. I once purchased – from the LP racks at WH Smith, believe it or not – Zoogz Rift and his Amazing S***heads – I was a teenager OK? And it lived up to at least part of its title.]

50. Sorry, Webcor!Webcor!

51. bodycheetah @45: While not sharing your gender binary concerns, I must applaud the word itself! Belter.

52. Although I know that Qaos always has a theme, and I am familiar with the squid eating dough in a polyethylene bag (that’s right the Mascara Snake, aka beery hiker @14), I was solving the clues too rapidly to sit back and look for it.

    RUBBISH TIP is a great anagram, despite the slightly iffy definition.

    Fun puzzle – easier than usual for Qaos?

53. Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa are now a misty haze in my mind, as they were at the time for different reasons. Is Cain for third person a crossword chestnut? It’s the first time I’ve come across it. RUBBISH TIP was too good an anagram to be picky about the definition, I thought. I had BOURN for the Cambridgeshire village which uses the “lives” and there must have been a John Bourn(e) at some point.

54. [Incidentally, the setter known here as Pasquale uses several other ‘Don’ pseudonyms in different publications, but has never to my knowledge used Van Vliet]

55. An amazing display of Beefheartian knowledge in the comments. I never realised how well-known he is among 225 aficionados!

56. Did not get the theme – don’t remember any of the music. Found it quite difficult – more than yesterday’s – and needed help parsing several.

    Still don’t really get HERB and I think that SATIRICAL is a bit contrived – can’t hold all these bits in my head and put them together.

    Liked CLEAR (I remembered Lear), ALCHEMIST, ALONE, ROLL-UPS

    Thanks to Qaos and PeterO

57. [bodycheeth @45: “Great crossword apart from the blatant heteronormative bias displayed in HERB” – I’ll have you know I’m a very friendly lion called Parsley but I have no idea what I’d be called if I was a lioness. I think I may have finally lost it today… ]

    Missed the theme entirely and that style of music is not my thang at all (and I’m just slightly too young for it to have been something I was aware of).

    RUBBISH TIP was an superb clue causing me to snortle slightly leading to MasterBela (who did not banish me to the mythical kennel after epic CH fail) to walk in and declare that I should have been able to get that easily given the state of what used to be my study and now appears to be a multi-dimensional filing system.

    Will quite happily ignore yesterday’s childish shenanigans and simply pass much thanks to Qaos for a gorgeous puzzle, PeterO for a delectable blog and Royal Mail for delivering a new theromstatic radiator valve which I am now going to hit with a large hammer…

58. [I now have Aqualung buzzing around in my head – haven’t heard it in years and am amazed I can remember so many of the words. I remember going to see Jethro Tull. They were great.]

59. MidenBartok @57: Hit or fit?

60. [William @57: Doesn’t one beget the other? That’s what I did in woodworking at school…

    Reminds me of the rhyme which I presume must be of ecclesiastical origins:

    “If your mitres do not fit, pack them out with glue and ….”]

61. I looked for the Qaos theme but didn’t see it – no matter, you didn’t need to know it to enjoy the crossword. I took surprisingly long to get LES. [Zappa apparently had a Les Paul guitar, although I think CB used a Fender.]

    I particularly liked SATIRICAL, SOFT SPOT (not soft soap) and HERB.

    Thanks Qaos and PeterO.

62. I didn’t grok quite a lot of the GK here, which is odd because usually I don’t mind a bit of a pub-quizzy crossword. Anyway, it made Qaos a bit crunchier than recently which was good.

    ALCHEMIST and DATABASE were my favourites. Thanks to Qaos and Peter.

63. Nice puzzle today, thanks Qaos and PeterO

    Robi @ 61: The good Captain didn’t play guitar, though he did play a sax from time to time.

64. I struggled so thanks to PeterO for helping me parse HERB and LES and STRICTLY; I wasn’t a fan of Beefheart or Zappa. Loved REPLICA and DATABASES and SATIRICAL and RUBBISH TIP. Thanks Qaos.

65. Thanks to those who welcomed this newbie to the site on Monday. Yesterday’s left me pretty despondent so no post. Today, however, despite missing the theme completely (more ELP/Yes), I managed to solve many more with only a few reveals. My ability to find the answers despite not being able to parse continues to amaze!! For those who like tenuous anatomical links, after revealing “lights” I still could not parse and had a vague feeling it might relate to inner body parts that go from start to finish as it were (not sure they do technically but it was all I could think of). Hope this last raises a smile for some.

66. This post might have been a couple of hours earlier if I hadn’t been held up by the LES / STRICTLY pairing, then found other things to do for a while. In my defence I did think the def part of 19d was a bit specialist. Despite the delay, much preferred to yesterday, even with, or perhaps because of, the exotic device to get HERB.

    Got the theme, or more honestly got CAPTAIN BEEFHEART, for all I knew the albums were MAGIC ALCHEMIST and RUBBISH TIP EXTRA. C’mon, they’re worth a Google!

67. Furious that my wife got the theme first – she hated him, I have all the albums. The Captain and Zappa went to the same school I believe, stayed friends and collaborated regularly. Including on the fantastic album Hot Rats.

68. Agree with muffin @19 re LIGHTS. Surprised no-one else has picked up on it.

    [Went to Cpt BH gig in Liverpool but don’t remember much about it apart from being slightly deaf when I came out. Nice to see so many here are aficionados,]

69. I did this puzzle last night and posted early (me@2), wondering whether the posters here as a whole would find the theme too “niche”. I haven’t added up the posts, nor done likewise to other Qaos puzzle commentaries, but I get the impression that the number of people who are/are not familiar with the theme, or got it/didn’t, isn’t too different from the usual case. Pleasantly surprised, I might say. Keep ’em coming, Qaos.

70. Claret @ 67

    Their friendship blew distinctly hot and cold (read icy) over the years.

71. Found the right side to be a lot more straightforward than the left.
    No wonder I didn’t get the theme, even after finishing the grid and knowing – this being Qaos – that there would be one.
    I didn’t bother trying with 10a until I’d got 4d. Let that be a lesson to me.

72. Enjoyable crossword although I didn’t get the theme. Not too difficult at all I found. Are the crosswords getting a little easier? Or maybe I’m getting more familiar with indicators etc. Like JinAus, after yesterday I decided to call it a day, but actually, reading the comments today, there is so much to enjoy on this site that it would be criminal to let some people spoil it. So I’m hanging on in …

73. Hang on in there trish @72. We don’t want to lose any of our existing friends and to Anne Clements @65 and other newbies, we say:
    Welcome back, my friends
    To the show that never ends
    We’re so glad you could attend
    Come inside! Come inside!
    (Emerson, Lake & Palmer reference for Alphalpha’s comment explanation blog).

74. trishincharente @72: much though it always hurts to say ‘I’m with Penfold’ (it does no good to my reputation!), I fully support his encouragement to you and others to remain with us. Such events as yesterday are reasonably rare thank goodness and most disagreements handled with a degree of tact and mutual respect. I agree the good far outweighs the bad (unless we’re talking about the punning efforts!)

75. trish @72 – the difficulty of the crosswords has always fluctuated a lot, and is generally not predictable, though certain setters, Vlad and the all too rarely seen Enigmatist to name but two, are usually at the harder end of the scale. This was by no means the easiest Qaos I have seen, but difficulty is quite a subjective thing.

76. Gervase @52
    ‘squid eating dough in a polyethylene bag (that’s right the Mascara Snake’
    I briefly tried to work out this apparently cryptic clue. Fortunately I quickly gave up and googled it instead.
    Needless to say, I did not get the theme!

77. Oh Lord, yes! I’d forgotten about the punning! Maybe I’ll go after all … ?

78. [Julie in Australia @11: Despite the episodic spate of bad manners, I find Fifteen Squared one of the more civilized blogs on the internet. I’ve always liked the international aspect — people from various countries discussing the intricate depth of the English language. Malcontents come and go but the core of this community seems quite decent to me.]

79. Simon S @63; I was referring to the group – I think they used Fenders.

80. PostMark @74. Perhaps you can help? I am strugging to see the tact and mutual respect in the post at 28. It is plainly intended to be critical of the snowflakes amongst us. Presumaby the expression of insensitivity on this day of all days is intended to be part of the satire.

81. Although I’d heard of Frank Z & Capt B, I know very little about their music – so the theme sailed way over my head. Consequently STRICTLY was a bit of a guess (LIGHTS was too, come to that) and I’m grateful to PeterO for the explanations. AIKIDO and ALONE made me grin.
    Thanks to Qaos for the brain-teasing.
    [JulieInA at 11: I’d just like to echo PostMark at 23 – and, indeed, all the others. When I checked back into yesterday’s blog much later in the day, I was saddened at the immature insistence on finding offence in a deliberate misreading of a straightforward clue – though I was mollified somewhat by the general response to the attempt at troublemaking.
    And let’s be honest, such spurts of aggro are decidedly out-of-character for this site.
    For me, other than the vital post-solve info, the chief charm of FS is when folk get all worked up about wordplay or syntax or homophones or the minutiae of myriad crossword rules – or whether a species can be classed as an elk.
    And the puns.
    So please, Julie, don’t let yesterday’s childish spat weigh on your mind. Wiggers at 28 has exactly the right response to it!!]

82. VW @80: I agree; no tact at all. Wiggers clearly has access to technology that enables him to view his screen in ways the rest of us cannot and it would have been kinder not to have drawn that to our attention.

83. [While there is no doubt that what Wiggers wrote @28 was intended as humour and aimed at those who, it is generally agreed, see inappropriate messages in the wording of what we consider to be innocent crossword clues, it is perhaps unfortunate that he used the particular image of SS insignia to make his point on this day of all days: Holocaust Memorial Day.

    I find the idea of the deliberate enslavement, torture and annihilation of millions of human beings abhorrant enough at the best of times, but having watched Holocaust: Night Will Fall, featuring images filmed during the liberation of Belsen and other camps, on More 4 as recently as last Saturday, I am feeling particularly sick when I consider the lighthearted way this subject is being dealt with by people in our online community who I have come to know and like.]

84. [hatter @83: hmmm. If that was a sideswipe at me at 82, I’m not trying to take a lighthearted approach to the Holocaust but I was trying to take a lighthearted approach to deflecting Van Winkle’s comment @80. I’ve been consistently trying to argue for the past 24 hours that this is a pleasant forum frequented by nice people who, on the whole, get along despite their differences and occasional mistakes. And trying to encourage both new and established contributors to remain part of the fold. Including VW 😀 . I’ve always been willing to put my hand up if I’ve made a mistake but I don’t think I have to justify the comments of others.]

85. [Mark: I certainly included you and your “lighthearted approach to deflecting Van Winkle’s comment” when I mentioned how sick I was feeling about #28 and recent references to same. I think VW’s @80 deserved a better answer – but perhaps his reference to “this day of all days” went over your head?

    I don’t agree with everything VW has posted, but in this instance I think he may have a point when he juxtaposes your reference in #74 to “most disagreements [being] handled with a degree of tact and mutual respect” with what he calls the “inten[tion] to be critical of the snowflakes amongst us” in #28. There are no doubt some people who will persist in seeing offence where none was intended and where most of us can’t imagine feeling offended, but you are right when you imply the correct way to handle this is with respect and tactfulness. Making deliberately offensive jibes, however funny they might appear to be, is not the way to do it. You are not being asked to justify what Wiggers wrote, merely to acknowledge that it is not a model of tact and respect.

    Sorry to go on at you about this. It is certainly not personal, as I have always felt that we had a mutually respectful and appreciative online relationship, but you are the only one to have put their head above the parapet.]

86. Fair enough. In which case, having said I’ll put my hand up, that’s what I’ll do. If any out there, including VW, have been offended by my comments of today or yesterday, I unreservedly apologise. I have tried, somewhat clumsily, to pour some oil on troubled waters and have ended up pouring petroleum on the fire. And, no, for my sins I did not know the designation of the day and assumed ‘today’ was significant in that it’s following on from the spat of yesterday.

87. Loved this crossword & the theme. Didn’t twig les immediately & only then got 19d. Among many fine clues thought databases superb. Many thanks Qaos & for the review

88. Sorry, PostMark, I picked on your general comment about mutual respect as it was closer to the bottom of the comments list, when I should have referenced those who have been patting Wiggers on the back.
    I would find it totally acceptable for someone to have expressed regret that the Guardian published a crossword with something resembling Nazi insignia in it on Holocaust Memorial Day, without making any suggestion that this it is anything other than an accident? But they would have found themselves the subject of ridicule here.

89. I enjoyed this but found it harder than usual for Qaos. Theme not something I’m aware of, so missed it.
    My one head scratcher is CLEAR defined by “without difficulty”, which looks to be two different parts of speech to me. Anyone able to give an example of the equivalence in a sentence?
    Liked ALCHEMIST very much despite the overlapping definition and wordplay.
    Thanks, Q&PO

90. Sheffield Hatter at 83: sorry, I genuinely had no idea today is Holocaust Memorial Day.
    I’ve clearly wandered, unawares, into a minefield. Won’t make the same mistake again.

91. Thanks Peter. A near miss today. Absolutely no idea on the theme, even though the said theme was of my era. I was a bit more of a Yes, ELP, Genesis man.
    I can’t see how LIGHTS = Crossword Solutions, but then as I am rarely able to finish the crossword in the Guardian, I am probably just a bit dim.

92. As almost always entertaining and informative. As usual I missed the theme but Mozart and rowdy Russians are more my style. Thanks for the work Qaos. This is really just to note that yesterday was GEYSER day with it being two answers. Thanks for the elucidation PeterO.

93. [Wellbeck: Yes, it’s fairly low key and easy to miss. BBC 4 is serialising the Diary of Anne Frank (7pm daily) and tomorrow they’re showing the 2008 film The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, and a drama about the trial of Eichmann (both Thursday), while More 4 had the documentary I mentioned @83 last Saturday plus at 9 tonight Auschwitz Untold: In Colour. I’m not at all fixated on this, I just happened to notice a couple of these while browsing through the Guardian’s TV guide on Saturday.

    Sorry you feel you’ve wandered into a minefield, but it could have happened to any of us.]

94. I was happy to find captain beef heart and called it a day. I remember listening many moons ago, but i can’t remember the album names. The Zappa clue had me mystified, sadly i could only think of the dancing show.
    Many thanks Qaos and PeterO

95. Hello Sheffield Hatter. I live in rural southwest France, and although a fair amount of british television is accessible from here, I rarely bother with it. For the same reason, I don’t read the online Guardian’s TV listings, I’m afraid.
    Obviously I should have known anyway, but I didn’t. Sorry.

96. [Wellbeck: This thread has got far too heavy – please stop blaming yourself! This is the first time I’ve really been aware of Holocaust Memorial Day, so I’m not at all surprised that it’s passed other people by.]

97. Slow one but finished. Elton and Clear were the last ones in. Didn’t spot there was a theme until I opened up this site. I didn’t realise Qaos always had themes.
    That despite being a child of the 60s, perhaps even 50s. Did look up the Zappa album but still didn’t twig. Did manage to parse Herb., pleased to say.
    Favourites Clear, Databases and Alone.

98. phitonelly @89: good question. ‘Having eliminated Nastase in the 3rd round Borg’s path to the final was clear/without difficulty’ (?)

    PM @86: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers… but they should wear tin hats’ 🙂

    [1946, Walter Lippman – it’s an interesting read if you get the time.]

99. My LoI was LIGHTS which was a ‘bung and hope’ that I could not parse. I was all ready to be aggrieved that EATON was seen as incorrect but thanks to this blog I now see my error was ignoring the ‘who lives’. I’m no expert on Zappa but spotted the theme. 3D was also bung and hope but I saw on Wikipedia that Zappa ‘s business partner was called Herb so guessed it was right even without the parsing!

100. [CanberraGirl @99: having got Herb I was looking for Peaches!]

101. hatter @96: I doubt you’ll be reading the blog this late but you do sometimes glance at the previous day first thing in the morning so may see this. A note for you, if you’d do me the honour, over on GD.

102. Just before the second lockdown I spent a (distanced, don’t worry) weekend with a friend in Fotheringhay [should sound familiar to muffin]. We walked part of the Nene Way and had a nice beer in ELTON.
     Still 17ac was one of my last ones in – considered whether Coton (close to where I live) might be the village.
     Another nice & easy Qaos puzzle in which the 3dn/11ac couple did cause me the most trouble, actually more than the rest taken altogether.
     After solving, I said to my solving partner that probably the theme would be extremely obscure for most solvers at Fifteensquared.
     Ah well, see what happened today.
     I find it quite unbelievable that so many commenters were familiar with Captain Beefheart, and not with Robbie Williams recently or even with the subject of my own ‘latest’ Indy puzzle (Normal People).
     Are people playing chess all day?

103. Thanks to PeterO, and to Qaos for a theme from my era ! I was never a fan of the good captain, but TROUT MASK REPLICA resonated immediately. Glad to see at least one setter with a youth misspent like mine !

104. essexboy @98. Good example for ‘without difficulty’=CLEAR. I couldn’t think of anything that didn’t lead more obviously to CLEARLY instead.

     And excellent advice to Mark about the head wear too! (PM @101: if you come here first, I have posted on GD in response as requested.)

105. essexboy @98, thanks for that. It’s a bit stretched but I think it works. Collins gave me some more ideas of CLEAR as an adverb, e.g. in a phrase such as “having crossed the hazardous waterfall, the route ran clear/without difficulty to the coast”

106. [Sil, re Normal People – I will have to find that one – I don’t have time to do the Indie regularly and often miss tge gems. I have read the book, which was good but nothing special and deserved to lose the Booker to the brilliant Milkman, but couldn’t face the TV version.
     As for Beefheart, when I was young music journalists were always raving about how brilliant TMR is, and inevitably I found it a little disappointing though I did at least remember the Mascara Snake’s phrase which I quoted earlier. Safe as Milk is easier to listen to.]

107. Very much enjoyed this crossword, thanks Qaos.

     As an aside, I had the great pleasure of working with Bill Harkleroad (Zoot Horn Rollo) and Mark Boston (Rockette Morton) during the glorious summer of ’76 after they’d departed the Magic Band and formed Mallard. Spent a couple of months living in Clearwell Castle above the Wye Valley, where they recorded their second album “In A Different Climate”. Also did a few UK concerts.

108. [I’m late getting to this, but I want to echo Tony Santucci @78’s comment: as a general rule, the comments on this site are extremely polite, reasonable, and civilized, certainly in comparison with other sites (although that may be setting the bar too low). I hope that the occasional negative dust-up doesn’t discourage Julie (or others) from continuing to come and participate. Julie in particular is certainly one of the ones whose contributions are overwhelmingly positive and valued.]

109. 13A. The CAIN refers to Herman Cain, an American politician who liked to refer to himself in the 3rd person!

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