Chalmie provides this morning’s challenge.
And “challenge” is an appropriate word. This was no walkover, with a couple of obscure answers and a couple of quibbles, but I got there in the end. I spotted the theme after a couple of movie titles revealed themselves to me, but I can’t see a specific link beyond “movie titles” (not a specific actor, director, genre, era, for example).
I have highlighted the film titles I could see in the grid (THE PIANO, CUBE, THELMA & LOUISE, BUDAPEST, MEAN STREETS, PULP FICTION, GRAND HOTEL, RIDICULE, LAYOVER, BLUE COLLAR and TAXI DRIVER). There is also a film called W (about George W Bush), but not DOUBLE-U, and there are probably minor films called things like YES, SOCIAL and GENDARME, but I have stuck to ones I have actually heard of.
(Thanks, Chalmie for commenting below to let me know which films were relevant to the theme.)
The restrictions placed on the setter by including so many theme entries inevitably led to some obscure crossers (HUNDREDERS and JANSCH, for example) and DE LILLO is not a household name, certainly not as a playwright. His novels are pretty well known, but I don’t think his plays are, so I think “novelist” would have been a fairer definition.
I also had a problem with the grammar and/or enumeration of the clue for LAYOVER.
All in all, this was a tough crossword to solve and to parse, and were I not blogging it, I may not have persevered, but I’d be interested in what other solvers thought of it.
Thanks, Chalmie.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | BYPASS |
Avoid times to die (6)
|
| BY (“times”, as in 4 by 2) + PASS (“to die”) | ||
| 4 | TRIBUNAL |
Hairstyle to test out in court (8)
|
| BUN (“hairstyle”) with TRIAL (“to test”) out(side) | ||
| 10 | DE LILLO |
Playwright drunk inspires a couple of lines on the way back (2,5)
|
| <=(OILED (“drunk”) inspired LL (“a couple of lines”)) [on the way back]
Refers to Don Delillo, an American author much more famous for his novels (such as Americana, White Noise and Underworld) than for his plays (he has only written five plays but has published 18 novels). |
||
| 11 | DOUBLE-U |
Former president’s party joined by confused university Blue (6-1)
|
| DO (“party”) joined by *(u blue) [anag:confused]
I assume this refers to George W Bush, but I think it’s a stretch as he was known as W. I appreciate that W and Double U are synonymous, but Bush was definitely W. |
||
| 12 | PUFF |
Dragon breath (4)
|
| Double definition, the first referring to “Puff the Magic Dragon”, a song by Peter, Paul and Mary.
|
||
| 13 | PEACE CAMPS |
Vacating place service affected small demonstrations (5,5)
|
| [vacating] P(eat)E + ACE (“service”) + CAMP (“affected”) + S (small) | ||
| 16 | SOCIAL |
Spies infiltrate very liberal party (6)
|
| CIA (“spies”) infiltrate SO (“very”) + L (liberal) | ||
| 17 | FLYLEAF |
Fatefully compromised trade union leaves blank sheet (7)
|
| *(faeflly) [anag:compromised] where FAEFLLY is FA(t)EF(u)LLY with TU (trade union) leaving | ||
| 20 | LIMITED |
Small child wearing hat in short supply (7)
|
| MITE (“small child”) wearing LID (“hat”) | ||
| 21 | JANSCH |
First month at school for folk guitarist (6)
|
| JAN (“first month”) at SCH (school)
Refers to Bert Jansch (1943-2011), a Scottish folk guitarist, hardly a household name, but guessable from the wordplay. |
||
| 24 | HUNDREDERS |
Medieval local officials who scored centuries? (10)
|
| HUNDREDERS were local officials who held jurisdiction over hundreds in medieval England. A hundred (roughly 1200 acres) would typically have 100 households. | ||
| 25 | GRIP |
German almost ready to eat bag (4)
|
| G (German) + [almost] RIP(e) (“ready to eat”) | ||
| 27 | LAYOVER |
Pause journey, very excited initially to be in Return of the King (7)
|
| V(ery) E(xcited) [initially] to be in [return] <=ROYAL (“of the king”)
Pause journey is “lay over”, so this clue is not grammatically correct in my opinion. It should be “pause IN journey”, or the enumeration should be (3,4) |
||
| 29 | NOUMENA |
One of us oddly missing that people are things in themselves according to Kant (7)
|
| (o)N(e) O(f) U(s) [oddly missing] + MEN (“people”) + A (are, as in the land measure) | ||
| 30 | ABSORBED |
Engrossed by choice between muscles and a teaching qualification (8)
|
| ABS OR BED (“a choice between ABS (“muscles”) OR BED (Bachelor of Education, so “teaching qualification”)) | ||
| 31 | LETS GO |
We should start releases (4,2)
|
| LET’S GO (“we should start”) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | BUDAPEST |
City bankrupt as lawyer exercises intervention (8)
|
| BUST (“bankrupt”) with DA (“lawyer”) + PE (physical “exercises”) intervening | ||
| 2 | PULP FICTION |
Cheap books to destroy if pupil not about (4,7)
|
| *(if pupil not c) [anag:to destroy] where C = about | ||
| 3 | SILK |
Second kind of lawyer (4)
|
| S (second) + ILK (“kind”) | ||
| 5 | RIDICULE |
Anger about director on hospital department’s mockery (8)
|
| RILE (“anger”) about D (director) on ICU (intensive care unit, so “hospital department”) | ||
| 6 | BLUE-COLLAR |
Sad to arrest worker (4-6)
|
| BLUE (“sad”) + COLLAR (“to arrest”) | ||
| 7 | NIL |
African runner loses footing and gets nothing (3)
|
| NIL(e) (“African runner”, i.e. river) loses footing (i.e. last letter) | ||
| 8 | LOUISE |
Despicable creep imprisons independent woman (6)
|
| LOUSE (“despicable creep”) imprisons I (independent) | ||
| 9 | HOTEL |
Place to stay after golf (5)
|
| HOTEL comes “after golf” in the phonetic alphabet | ||
| 14 | MEAN STREETS |
Implies boxes possibly restrict temperature in rough city area (4,7)
|
| MEANS (“implies”) + TREES (“boxes, possibly”) restricting T (temperature) | ||
| 15 | TAXI DRIVER |
He’ll transport one down to the Thames, perhaps under stress (4,6)
|
| I (one) + D (down) to RIVER (“the Thames, perhaps”) under TAX (“stress”) | ||
| 18 | GENDARME |
German detective gutted, upsetting French cop (8)
|
| *(german de) where DE is D(etectiv)E [gutted] | ||
| 19 | THE PIANO |
What to play in hot pea soup (3,5)
|
| *(in hot pea) [anag:soup] | ||
| 22 | THELMA |
Woman covering her head with strange metal (6)
|
| H(er) [head] covered with *(metal) [anag:strange] | ||
| 23 | GRAND |
Imposing, with old king on top (5)
|
| AND (“with”) with GR (George Rex, so “old king”) on top | ||
| 26 | CUBE |
Book in prompt 27? (4)
|
| B (book) in CLUE (“prompt”)
27 is the cube of 3 |
||
| 28 | YES |
Sure your electric Skoda starts? (3)
|
| Y(our) E(lectric) S(koda) [starts] |
A nicely constructed theme, I thought. Never heard of JANSCH or HUNDREDERS (which, according to Chambers, could equally be HUNDREDORS). Had forgotten NOUMENA but this has appeared before. Fortunately, all were clued in a way that made them gettable. However, I didn’t know and failed to get DE LILLO. Should have thought of “oiled” but didn’t.
Hard work for me too and this was by far the hardest of today’s crop. NOUMENA, my last in, joins the depressingly long list of words I’ve encountered before but was unable to remember. Never heard of HUNDREDERS, JANSCH – as you say not too difficult from wordplay – or DE LILLO, which took some working out. Thanks for explaining the ‘boxes possibly’ part of the wordplay for MEAN STREETS which I missed. The enumeration for LAYOVER passed me by, but I take your point and I agree DOUBLE-U was a bit iffy.
I could identify at least some of the films, but will leave it to a film buff to point out any link between them. CUBE fooled me for a while and was my favourite.
Thanks to loonapick and Chalmie
I guessed at HUNDREDMEN before crossers. Had to Google ‘De Lillo’ to confirm but Bert Jansch played on 5 of the first 10 albums I ever bought, so very much a name in this household. Hadn’t heard of some of the films loonapick lists, but saw the theme (late, so unhelpful to me).
Still, enjoyed it v much. A satisfying one to get out with little outside help. Last In was CUBE, excellent sneak misdirection.
Thanks to both.
Thanks, loonapick, but you’ve spotted too many.
THELMA & LOUISE, TAXI DRIVER, BLUE COLLAR, PULP FICTION, MEAN STREETS, THE PIANO and GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL are all films featuring Harvey Keitel. The rest are there because they fit, and serve only to prove that there are probably film and song titles lurking in just about every puzzle ever published if you look hard enough.
I don’t remember what prompted me to use his films as a theme, but it was quite fun working out how to clue the longer titles without defining them as “film”.
Thanks to Chalmie for dropping by. Always a frisson when the setter joins in. But I think you cheated a bit on THE PIANO, which only really works as a film rather than an instrument and was what gave the theme away to me.
A big thanks to Chalmie for referencing the works of a favourite actor of mine (but sadly not SMOKE or BLUE IN THE FACE).
I was about to hazard a guess at them all being oscar-winners but wasn’t sure. And yes, Loonapick, [Le] GENDARME and SILK are movies too but it’s the GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL starring Mr Keitel.
Oh, and the puzzle was entertaining too (!) though I made a few slips at 24, 29 and 26.
Thanks both.
The intersecting 8 and 11 involved some patient unravelling too, not helped by being fixated on ‘low’, ‘lousy’ and ‘dubya’.
I thought the ghost theme forced the setter into a corner-De Lillo is gettable from the wordplay but who the heck has heard of him/her?
Wasnt bonkers about the cluing but you get spoilt and fussy after Picaroon/Rodriguez
Sorry to be a grump.
Typo : in 23d you mean AND in bold, instead of OLD
Bert Jansch obscure? Well well.
One of folk music’s top artists, co-founder of Pentangle.
He’s got two (!) Lifetime Achievement Awards at the BBC Folk Awards (in 2001 and 2007).
More here.
It’s a bit like someone saying ‘never heard of Robbie Williams’ (which happened at this place a while ago).
Good crossword, nice theme, with a couple of things I didn’t like very much (eg 1dn).
The film or the clue, Sil?
Diane @11, I assume you asking me what I didn’t like about 1dn?
Well, er, both.
Years ago I saw Grand Budapest Hotel on an open-air screen in Grantchester Meadows with one hand at the picnic basket and the other holding a glass of wine.
Really nice atmosphere but the film I found only so-so.
What I didn’t like in the clue is the insertion indicator: “as ….. intervention”.
In his blog, Loonapick actually says: “with ….. intervening”, which is much better.
Of course, Chalmie couldn’t use that here because of ‘exercises’ being a form of the verb in the surface.
I see what our setter meant and had no problem finding the answer to this clue.
In the end it’s just me, someone who, in general, dislikes nounal indicators.
Not a big issue in an otherwise very enjoyable crossword.
[Sil@10: I have certainly heard of Robbie Williams. Indeed I once stayed in the same hotel as him for a few nights. He was playing for Leicestershire at the time and I was watching the match as a neutral spectator. He never really made it as a county cricketer. Or are you thinking of someone else?]
[Definitely!]
Thanks Chalmie and loonapick
Enjoyed chipping away at this one, but it did slip into the second day – so obviously found it tough! Knowing that there is nearly always a theme, was too puffed out to look and not savvy enough with films of particular actors to have twigged anyway.
Had the same list of unknowns as a number of others and was glad that they could be worked out from the word play. Conversely, having solved MEAN STREETS, was unable to fully parse it, missing out on the box trees bit. CUBE was a pleasant penny drop moment.
Finished with the tricky FLYLEAF, that unknown DELILLO and SILK (which looks so easy in hindsight, but stayed vacant until the L went in.