An abundance of opportunities for me to add a link this week …
… due to the many pseudonyms (or 15s or 17s) included in the grid, along with some real names in both the grid and the clues. I hope I have got them all correct.
It was good to be reminded of the great setter at 9ac, where even the definition seems appropriate to his output. Elsewhere though there were a couple of pseudonyms of which I’d never heard (10 & 14) and for which I needed online assistance. I can’t say I was familiar with the poet at 23 nor the entry at 3 either. Apart from these I found the solve to be reasonably straightforward.
Across
9 Odd aura about song, evergreen (9)
ARAUCARIA – an anagram (odd) of AURA plus C (about) ARIA (song) – John Galbraith Graham
10 Romantic novelist, the writer embraced by a couple, contrarily (5)
OUIDA – I (the writer) in (embraced by) A DUO (a couple) reversed (contrarily) – Maria Louise Ramé
11 Movie director‘s challenge, after initial and final cuts (5)
ALLEN – [ch]ALLEN[ge] (challenge, after initial and final cuts) – Allan Stewart Konigsberg
12 Respond to warning, perhaps, for member of literary trio (5,4)
ACTON BELL – ACT ON (respond to) BELL (warning, perhaps) – Anne Brontë
14 American author from a city in US returned foreign currency (3,4)
AYN RAND – A NY (city in US) reversed (returned) RAND (foreign currency) – Alice O’Connor
17 A voyage back as result of making a name for oneself (5)
ALIAS – A SAIL (voyage) reversed (back)
19 MI6 man sounded signal (3)
CUE – sounds like ‘Q’ (MI6 man)
20 15 muddles men up with this poser (5)
MODEL – nom de plume (15) is an anagram (muddles) of men up model
21 Lacking leaders in war, it lists talented people like David and 6 (7)
ARTISTS – [w]AR [i]T [l]ISTS (lacking leaders in war, it lists) – David & John
22 I tear into outlaw (7)
BRENDAN – REND (tear) in BAN (outlaw) – Brian Greer
24 American author or two added to religious book (4,5)
MARK TWAIN – MARK (religious book) TWAIN (two) – Samuel Langhorne Clemens
26 Real name, last but not first, of Oxford don (5)
LEWIS – a reference, I think, to C. S. Lewis (real name) and Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson)
28 Present and original name for Hugh, but not Cary (5)
GRANT – a reference to Hugh Grant (original name) and Cary Grant (Archibald Alec Leach)
29 Free from material constraints, doctor sided with boy hiding spy (9)
DISEMBODY – an anagram (doctor) of SIDED BOY around (hiding) M (spy)
Down
1 Crazy as singing lady a joke upset (4)
GAGA – A GAG (a joke) reversed (upset) – Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta
2 Like Voltaire, for instance, showing annoyance over one chapter (6)
GALLIC – GALL (annoyance) I (one) C (chapter)
3 Including name actress is changing for movie writers (10)
SCENARISTS – an anagram (changing) of ACTRESS IS around (including) N (name)
4 Author using 15, finally, in case (6)
CREATE – [nom de plum]E (15, finally) in CRATE (case)
5 Endure English fellow turning over something inherited from father (4,4)
LAST NAME – LAST (endure) plus E (English) MAN (fellow) reversed (turning over)
6,13 across This was frequently used by secret agent for cover (4,2,5)
JOHN LE CARRÉ – cryptic/extended def. referring to the author’s name on a book cover, see: David John Moore Cornwell
7 It’s generally associated with appellation in ad, very oddly (8)
VINEYARD – an anagram (oddly) of IN AD VERY
8 Name assumed by religious leader — less frequently following 6 (4)
PAUL – referring to the Popes called Paul and John Paul
13 In so-called City of Angels owns capital (5)
LHASA – HAS (owns) in LA (so-called City of Angels) – the capital of Tibet
15 Molière, for example, in his own language (3,2,5)
NOM DE PLUME – Jean-Baptiste Poquelin was French
16 First name of composer of verses used by another for 5 (5)
DYLAN – A reference to Dylan Thomas and Bob Dylan
18 Two names I later falsified, under cover? (8)
INTERNAL – an anagram (falsified) of NN I LATER
19 Eg Astaire and Rogers often consuming last of tinned fruit (8)
COSTARDS – CO-STARS (Eg Astaire and Rogers often) around (consuming) [tinne]D (last of tinned)
22 Relies on unknown artist who wants to remain unknown (6)
BANKSY – BANKS (relies on) Y (unknown) – Banksy
23 Name of poet thus shown in this kind of clue (6)
DOWSON – SO (thus) in DOWN (this kind of clue) – Ernest Dowson
24 Huge upset for one of the Stones? (4)
MEGA – A GEM (one of the Stones) reversed (upset)
25 It’s up to old European statesman (4)
TITO – IT reversed (‘s up) TO – Josip Broz Tito
27 Eg Brendan finishes off tricky puzzle that’s irritating to face (4)
STYE – ST (eg Brendan) [trick]Y [puzzl]E (finishes off tricky puzzle)
Thanks Gaufrid. An enjoyable interlude which had me testing the depths of my literary knowledge. Two or three of the clues seemed to me to be more suited to a general knowledge rather than a cryptic puzzle. With some crossing letters 6, 13 was obvious enough but I spent some time trying to read more into it than was actually there. I think the only exception to the 15, 17 theme is 23d (Gone with the Wind).
Well, blimey. I got all but five of these, and I put Ann Hood at 14, which didn’t help, but it was an effort. A lot of (to me) very obscure references. Not my usual experience with Brendan, I must say. Still, thank you Brendan and thank you Gaufrid.
Thanks Gaufrid. The trio in 12A rang an early BELL and the theme was confirmed by the Moliere clue. All very deft and decent. Last in was the nicely distracting author=CREATE. Thanks Brendan.
An enjoyable challenge, thanks Gaufrid and Brendan. Only LEWIS had me uncertain in the end, lots to learn.
I enjoyed this. The theme certainly helped, although I didn’t know AYN RAND was an alias, nor Molière till I looked it up to verify. So I’m impressed that Brendan constructed a puzzle about facts you might not know about people you did, but in such a way that the lack of knowledge did not impede solving but instead taught you something. Thanks also to Gaufrid for elaborating the birth names.
Enjoyed the theme of names and aliases.
SW corner was hardest for me with COSTARDS and CUE the last two in.
Favourites: MODEL, ACTON BELL, ARAUCARIA, BANKSY, DISEMBODY, STYE.
New: the pet Dowson, Ernest (23d); OUIDA (10d); COSTARD apple (19d).
Thanks, both.
* I agree that 26ac refers to Lewis Carroll (not his real first name) and C.S. Lewis (his real last name)
Unknown to me were OUIDA, ACTON BELL, COSTARDS, BANKSY, and DOWSON but I was able to derive all of them from Brendan’s exceptional cluing. I found the surface for STYE amusing and “Brendan” being a saint might be a bit of self-awareness of his position in the cryptic world and its blogosphere. Thanks to both.
Read one of Ayn Rand’s about six decades ago, the one about the blue-eyed chisel-jawed steel magnate … enough already. A couple of dnks here, Ouida and Dodson, and had to scratch to remember about the Bells and costard, but all fairly clued. Enjoyed this puzzle, thanks Brendan and Gaufrid.
… Dowson not Dodson … (beware the autosaboteur)
Thank you for a thorough and interesting blog, Gaufrid. I loved this puzzle and want to thank Brendan very much for the enjoyment, not least of which came from the inclusion of my surname ALLEN at 11a and the setter’s self-referential clue for his pseudonymous first name BRENDAN at 22a. (Though mine is not a pseudonym).
I agree with Gaufrid about 9a: I found it very endearing that the first clue was a little tribute to dear Rev. Graham, ARAUCARIA, who influenced my passion for cryptics quite profoundly. Subsequently, I relished all the plays on the names of writers (and artists and actors) who have taken on 15d NOM DE PLUMEs or 17a ALIASes.
Favourite for this Brontëphile was 12a ACTON BELL, which took me straight back to an overnight stay in Haworth in 2010, one of the best pilgrimages of my life, in the days when Aussies could travel overseas freely! Sigh!
[I concur particularly with Dr. WhatsOn’s comment@5: So I’m impressed that Brendan constructed a puzzle about facts you might not know about people you did, but in such a way that the lack of knowledge did not impede solving but instead taught you something.]
[I agree with your canonisation suggestion, Tony S@7]
[And I’m with you GiF@8 in my dislike of Ayn Rand’s characters and “philosophy”].
Great puzzle and blog.Thanks
Just to join the general appreciation for both puzzle and blog. I thought it was a delightful puzzle as I worked through it – thank you, Brendan – and the blog showed me al number of subtleties I’d missed – thank you Gaufrid. Ouida was new to me, ditto Dowson, but the clues were clear, and it was good to see Araucaria in there.
I agree with DrWhatson@6 – enjoyable and educational. I was held up on 12a by fixating on the 3 bears for a while! I’m happy to do a bit of googling to check things like OUIDA exist. My favourite clue was Mark Twain which came to me lying in bed on Saturday night. Thanks Gaufrid for the thorough blog and good links.
Great fun, thanks Brendan.
Gaufrid, Voltaire (Francois-Marie Arouet) is also part of the theme and I suspect the director in 11a is Woody Allen. Thanks for the blog as it is always helpful.
Thanks for the blog, I did not know OUIDA os DOWSON so it was nice to see very precise and clear word play for an obscure entry, there have been a few good examples of this during the week.
AYN RAND is very popular with many of the clowns in the cabinet including the Health Secretary of all people. ” Anyone who is taken in by it deserves a stern lecture on paper rationing ” sorry I cannot remember the source of this book review.
Spot on, Dr WhatsOn @5! I loved this. Perfect weekend entertainment with a good challenge but all gettable from fluent clueing and some new things learned (Ouida, Ayn Rand, Dowson we’re all jorums, Eileen).
I also thought 11a referred to Woody Allen.
I think Brendan is my new favourite setter. Thanks to Gaufrid for a great blog too.
11Ac Konigsberg IS Woody Allen, he was used once in a Listener crossword about the Konigsberg bridges problem.
My ‘solving experience’ was pretty much identical with Molongo @3, and echo the favourable sentiment above.
On the blog, 8D, I’d assumed the reference was to St Paul who was baptised Saul but assumed the name Paul after his ‘Damascene’ conversion.
Thanks for comprehensive blog Gaufrid, I agree on your Lewises and others as mentioned above, well done Dr Whatson for succinct expression of the considerable merits of this puzzle, I also like the way small minithemes (Bond characters, setters) are woven in. I like the GK aspects and felt no shame in looking up Bronte pseudonyms and OUIDA, but did have to grit my teeth to write in Ayn Rand! Thanks Brendan.
Many thanks Gaufrid … and Brendan. This was a real struggle but very enjoyable. Yes, great clueing though I’m still a bit unclear about LEWIS. Misconstrued PAUL. Was confused: first by Saul and then by Lennon + McCartney. LOI … after switching light off last night … was the superbly defined CREATE. Had the answer all the time! [Maybe the editor was pre-compensating with the easy prize puzzle last week? Swings and roundabouts.]
Choldunk@20, CS Lewis was the real name of an Oxford don who wrote, and Lewis Carroll the pseudonym of another Oxford don who did so. Very clever of Brendan to link the two, as with the actual and pseudonymous Dylans.
I agree the clue for John le Carré was less cryptic than one might wish, but generally many cheers to Brendan for working all this out.
An enjoyable puzzle, and thanks to Gaufrid for the analysis.
What a tour de force from Brendan. I think we may have our first quibble free day that I can remember (there surely must have been one before?)
DrWhatsOn@5 sums it up perfectly for me too.
Also a very detailed blog, that saved much typing into Google/Wikipedia. Thanks Gaufrid.
Lastly I am forced to eat my words here
Chapeau Brendan!
Aah – thank you Roz@17. Stupid of me!
trish @22 I would never have known if I had not seen it before, such an unusual name that it stuck.
Many thanks sjshart@22. Penny has finally dropped. What amazingly economical clueing to use “Oxford don” in the singular!
An excellent theme, expertly woven into a set of solutions – a great mix as Dr W @5 says and we mostly agree – subsequently neatly filled into a grid. Clues meticulously composed by Brendan. Crossword enthusiastically solved by many, learning along the way. A fine blog written by Gaufrid to document all the intricacies. Nice little coincidence noted by JinA@10 🙂 . Appreciation all round, a goldilocks prize puzzle I would say. Three cheers.
A very clever puzzle. PAUL is, of course also a Guardian setter’s pseudonym. I had the strange experience of considering ACT ON as a possible solution for 11ac (despite the enumeration!) Before realising that it fitted better in 12ac. Well done Gaufrid for checking all the names. I gave up on that one.
Let’s not forget the mini theme of Guardian setters – Araucaria, Paul and Brendan himself. As is often the case with Brendan I love how multi-layered the theme turns out to be.
It’s all been comprehensively covered by others, as is usual on a Saturday. Nothing to add other than yet more praise for this puzzle which just delivered and delivered.
I don’t think it’s been explicitly mentioned anywhere yet but TITO is another adopted name – he was born Josip Broz and only started using the name TITO in his 40’s.
Thanks Brendan and Gaufrid.
What a smashing puzzle – Dr W @5 says it all for me as well. And, to add to the many “guises” Bob Dylan is Robert Allen Zimmerman.
Thanks to Brendan and Gaufrid.
Clever puzzle. I enjoyed the ones I got, but ultimately some of the references were too obscure for me and I wasn’t up for trawling the internet. I only got ALLEN by trawling a list of directors, and there it was staring me in the face!
I kept thinking LEWIS was a reference to Morse’s sidekick, what with the Oxford link.
[ … wonder if Mr Konigsberg likes Kant, who lived there … sorry, just mentally doodling …]
A brilliant puzzle. Naturally, it’s all been said already, but I’ll just say that I particularly liked the inclusion of the two LEWIS’s, the two DYLANs and ARAUCARIA. Great clues throughout – I got stuck only on AYN RAND, and it seems I have not missed much in my life by not having remembered (or even encountered) that name.
Thanks to Brendan and Gaufrid.
All been said already about how brilliant this was. Unfortunately I had SEE instead of CUE, so failed to finish along with OUIDA. As sjshart @21 points out, LEWIS and DYLAN were clever.
Ta Brendan & Gaufrid
{I seem to remember ARAUCARIA setting a Prize puzzle, probably around 25 years ago, which used an extremely unorthodox grid and was themed around the three Bronte noms-de-plume, Ellis, Currer and ACTON BELL. Perhaps another contributor with a long and adhesive memory can confirm this?]
[ There was a theme AlanC @34 and it was not bands or albums , though I am sure you can conjure one up even from this ]
Roz @36: I know I’m a bit of a pest but thanks for the mention 🙂
Very nice and an impressive theme (which helped once I saw it). CREATE held out to the bitter end because I was looking for an actual author, and I forgot about Saul/Paul, getting it (eventually, it was one of the last) from the Pope and the setter. I vaguely remembered OUIDA and DOWSON, and am glad to say I have never tried AYN RAND. You can add GRANT to the real/fake pairs.
I love the definition of ARAUCARIA as “evergreen”.
And Astaire was a stage name.
[Not a pest at all AlanC , I always look forward to your music themes, even when like yesterday they are a bit of a stretch ]
Brilliant stuff. I also thought 8 dn referred to St. Paul at Damascus.
As others have said, it’s all been said, really but I can’t not add my praise for this super puzzle.
I would also like to add my appreciation of Doctor WhatsOn’s appraisal @5 and also John S’s note @28 on the multi-layering of so many of Brendan’s puzzles. There’s almost always just that bit more – and this one was certainly the gift that goes on giving, as illustrated in the comments above.
Huge thanks to both Brendan and Gaufrid.
Lovely puzzle, the first-clue tribute to Araucaria putting me in the right mood from the outset. Though not yet mentioned, Paul, of course, continues the compiler theme. I welcomed the reference to Ernest Dowson, whose most well known poem Cynara, apart from its other qualities, made two contributions to popular culture. It contains the words “gone with the wind”, and served as the inspiration for one of Cole Porter’s finest, funniest and scandalous lyrics, “Always true to you darlin’ in my fashion”. If this relatively obscure clue leads anyone to look again at Dowson’s original poem and its inspired derivative then it will have been amply justified.
What copmus says @11.
[AlanC: if you want a music theme you’ve got Lady GAGA and Lily ALLEN, and DYLAN of course, and New MODEL Army. And there really should be bands called the COSTARDS and the SCENARISTS.]
Someone commented on a recent Brendan puzzle that he was just showing off. I think it was meant as a criticism, but it’s actually one of the things I like most about Brendan. And this one is taking showing off to another level. I loved it. Virtuoso performance.
Also thanks for the thorough and detailed blog, Gaufrid.
What you’ve all said. I’m so happy this brilliant puzzle seems to meet with universal acclaim. As someone (sorry, can’t find the reference now) said earlier, I’d also love to know if this has ever happened before-?
I’m doubly happy as the themes were right in my Goldilocks zone, and it’s also the first time I’ve ever both solved and parsed a Saturday puzzle on the day it was published – so no resorting to that tempting Check button!
Huge thanks to Brendan and Gaufrid.
21a I’m assuming that the artists are Jacques-Louis David and Augustus John. That was probably the first time they have appeared together in the same paragraph and this is probably the last.
PostMark @ 29. Josip Broz Tito is mentioned explicitly by Gaufrid in the blog.
Thanks to Brendan and Gaufrid.
Pino @48. How about Gwen John? “Although she was overshadowed during her lifetime [and in the comments btl on Fifteensquared on the 82nd anniversary of her death] by her brother Augustus John and her lover Auguste Rodin, her reputation has grown steadily since her death.”
AllyGally @47. “I’m so happy this brilliant puzzle seems to meet with universal acclaim.” I didn’t want to say anything for fear of being branded a curmudgeon; also I am a big fan of Brendan’s crosswords. However, I thought there were some clues that simply required general knowledge, with no wordplay element to help put the solver on the right track (LEWIS and GRANT, for example, and DYLAN and NOM DE PLUME).
I couldn’t solve OUIDA as the name was not familiar, and I didn’t see the wordplay DUO for couple – I’d thought of ONE (‘couple, contrarily’ – which would have been clever, I think) and also TWO, but couldn’t get either to work with the ‘writer’ part of the wordplay.
And PAUL was so blindingly obvious that I just couldn’t see it. 🙂
I got stuck on the ‘MI6 man’ being C (=CEE?), rather than Q (=CUE), but I see that either would be correct, despite the fact that Q was revealed in 2017 to have been a woman. Anyway, CEE didn’t work as ‘signal’, no matter how long I looked at it!
Despite the minor grouses I (mostly) enjoyed the crossword, and I thank Brendan for the idea behind the theme and Gaufrid for the very thorough blog.
Sheffield hatter @ 50 I think you should mention your grumbles. The last thing we want is some sort of group think. I may not agree with your quibbles but I do want to read about them and they could give me pause for thought.
All but one so far share my own thoughts, but I also enjoyed the comments of the one. This was clever, amusing, challenging and fun. Needed the blog to explain some of the gaps, so many thanks to both Brendan and Gaufried.
Great stuff.
15d is an odd one: NOM DE PLUME is an English term made from French words (“would-be” French, says Chambers). Molière, in Poquelin’s own language, is a nom de guerre.
Thanks Roz.
Pino @48: correct and I saw that but it might not be clear that the Tito is an assumed name rather than just a surname. In the case of most of the pseudonyms mentioned, it is a wholly different name that Gaufrid has kindly supplied.
Miche @53 – I actually started writing in NOM DE GUERRE until I realised there weren’t enough letters, so swapped for the franglais.
Thanks to Brendan and (doffs cap, eyes downcast) Gaufrid.
Post-prandial and calm, I find the hosannas of praise for this puzzle, well, puzzling.
The invocation of the holy name of Araucaria seems to provide a cloak of invisibility for the weaknesses which abound:
first off many of the surfaces are clunky (9a, 10a, 14a, 19a, 21a (I’m using the numeration here rather than the solution to point up the clue since we are surface-surfing here and I really don’t want to go on – so springing forward..) 13d…) to say the least (1d??);
PAUL is among the least favourite of papal names which have had any currency (cf John XXIII); “name adopted by religious leader”=Francis? meh… (Benedict I could buy). There were more Clements, Innocents, Gregorys etc than Pauls and I’ll pass over the opportunity to reference Pius X, the patron saint of campers;
the clue for LEWIS, while well divined by Gaufrid, is hardly a crystal-clear cryptic classic?;
DOWSON and OUIDA are beyond obscure, the latter being rescued by at least being a pseudonym.
And so so very easily forth….
But I did enjoy it, don’t get me wrong; it was grand! it was fine – but not (imho) worthy of a Halleluiah chorus. Calm down dears.
Perhaps a hearty three cheers….?
An ace puzzle with bells on. Thanks Brendan and Gaufrid.
I enjoyed this but I do wonder sometimes if the degree of acclaim is related to the high-vs-low browness of the theme? We’ve had Loony Tunes and ABBA themes recently getting a fair bit of stick whereas anything related to the Ring Cycle, literature or classics gets lauded
I think you make a very valid observation here bodycheetah. It has certainly crossed my mind in the past. I still think this was the business tho.
Frederick Austerlitz (“Can’t act, can’t sing, can dance a little”) and Virginia Katherine McMath
A couple of authors new to me. Really enjoyed this one so thanks Brendan.
bodycheetah@59 you make a very interesting point, first of all I did really enjoy this one , far more than the recent Greek letters, but I think you are right in general about the music/literature themes being well received. Recently I loved the Looney Tunes theme but I did criticise a couple of clues that did not work properly.
When will we ever get a science theme ?
To expand your point, I think certain setters on here also receive acclaim regardless of the puzzle .
[ I was wondering if anyone might get my little jokelet @58 – either not, or not worth commenting on. ]
Cellomaniac it is too cryptic for me I am afraid, you need to add some word play.
Roz, ACE with BELLS on – Acton, Currer and Ellis Bell. I’ll get my coat…
That is very good , my brain has woken up now. Be careful though, the capitalisation brigade will not be happy.
bodycheetah @58 – I loved the Looney Tunes one, and I also loved the Spice Girls one that was in the Indy recently.
Conversely, I would hate a Shakespeare theme.
This one was great partly because the cultural references were so diverse. You could hardly call Fred & Ginger or James Bond highbrow.
And the Ring Cycle one I enjoyed for reasons other than the theme (can’t stand Wagner).
Roz@63 : inevitably spoilered somewhat, but see Arachne 25,505.
Thank you Beard , I will try and get someone to print this off for me tomorrow, I will have done it “live” on the day but seems quire a while ago by the number.
Brilliant. Really enjoyed it. Maybe Alphalpha has a point about some of the surfaces. That never occured to me when I was solving and is unusual for Brendan, I think, but maybe more of his considerable brain power went into the grid this time?
I too thought this very clever, and was impressed by the many different kinds of pseudonyms Brendan came up with. On Paul, I too first thought of St Paul but very much liked the allusion to there having been (to date) six popes who took the name Paul but only two who have taken the name John Paul. Very neat. Thanks to Brendan and Gaufrid.