Tuesday is one of the days in the Independent where you never know who the setter will be. This week it is one of the most prolific setters, Tees
However, one consistent element of Tuesday’s puzzles is a theme of some kind. This week we have a theme celebrating the life of JEFF BECK [1944 – 10th January 2023], a world renowned guitarist ,in his own right, and as a member of a few groups, principally The Yardbirds.
In addition to the name JEFF (24d) BECK [6d], there are the titles of four albums featuring BECK in the grid. We have WIRED (9a), BLOW BY BLOW (22a), THERE AND BACK [part of 16/12/26] and the eponymous JEFF [already mentioned at 24 down.]
I know very little about BECK but it was interesting to read about his life whilst doing some research on Wikipedia to see if I could associate any more entries in the grid with him.
I liked the surfaces of a number of clues, especially the ones for DEBATES, DAIRYMAID [miss working on farm], TELL A LIE, STRIKING and LIGHT YEARS.
The word BY-BLOW as a term for an illegitimate child was new to me.
There are a couple of regular Indy bloggers unavailable over the next 10 days, so you’ll be faced with a couple of blogs from me both this week and next.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 |
Figure Greek character right to interrupt repast (7) NUMERAL (a figure, used to express a number) NU (character of the Greek alphabet) + (R [right] contained in [interrupting] MEAL [repast]) NU ME (R) AL |
| 5 |
One daughter leaving bedstead for repairs causes arguments (7) DEBATES (arguments) Anagram of (for repairs) BEDSTEAD excluding (leaving) one of the Ds [daughter) DEBATES* |
| 9 |
Irish in Unite feverishly excited (5) WIRED (excited; nervous or tense) IR (Irish) contained in (in) WED (unite) W (IR) ED |
| 10 |
Railway selective providing diversion for some? (9) FUNICULAR (reference a FUNICULAR railway on which the carriages are pulled along a cable) PARTICULAR (selective) with FUN (diversion) replacing (providing … for) PART (some) to form FUNICULAR FUN ICULAR |
| 11 |
Guts displayed by reserves guarding Lebanese port (5,5) SPARE TYRES (rolls of fat around the midriff; GUTS is a slang term for the same thing) SPARES (reserves) containing (guarding) TYRE (Lebanese port city, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world) SPARE (TYRE) S |
| 12 |
See 16 Down [THERE AND] BACK [AGAIN] |
| 14 |
Military organiser is doused in oil, acting strangely (11) LOGISTICIAN (person skilled in the art of movement and supply of troops; military organiser) IS contained in (doused in) an anagram of (strangely) OIL ACTING LOG (IS) TICIAN* |
| 18 |
House extension the final stage? (4,7) HOME STRETCH (the final stage of anything) HOME (house) + STRETCH (extension) HOME STRETCH |
| 21 |
Complete defeat imposter at last exposed (4) ROUT (utter or complete defeat) R (final letter of [at last]) IMPOSTER + OUT (exposed) R OUT |
| 22 |
Describing every detail, expose illegitimate child (4-2-4) BLOW-BY-BLOW (very detailed) BLOW (inform on; expose) + BY-BLOW (illegitimate child) BLOW BY-BLOW |
| 25 |
Find solar diagrams, having a drink with mum in M&S (9) ANALEMMAS (diagrams showing the daily declination of the sun, in the shape of a figure 8) AN (indefinite article; a) + ALE (drink) + (MA [mum] contained in [in] M & S) AN ALE M (MA) S |
| 26 |
See 16 Down [THERE AND BACK] AGAIN |
| 27 |
How one might cook sea fish small ones? (4-3) DEEP FRY (method of cooking) DEEP (sea) + FRY (young, especially fish just spawned) DEEP FRY |
| 28 |
Revolutionary veteran sneakily hiding trap (7) ENSNARE (trap) ENSNARE (reversed [revolutionary] hidden word [hiding] in VETERAN SNEAKILY) ENSNARE< |
| Down | |
| 1 |
Most fresh lamb producers conservationists will embrace (6) NEWEST (most fresh) NT (National Trust; conservationists) containing (will embrace) EWES (female sheep; lamb producers) N (EWES) T |
| 2 |
Many miss working on farm, denied help, upset (6) MYRIAD (any immense number; many) DAIRYMAID (a female [miss] working on a farm) excluding (denied) AID (help) and reversed (upset) MYRIAD< |
| 3 |
Red led USSR astray, having lost control (10) RUDDERLESS (having lost control) Anagram of (astray) RED LED USSR RUDDERLESS* |
| 4 |
Haughty Trot perhaps with love for the East (5) LOFTY (haughty) LEFTY (one supporting LEFT wing politics, such as a TROTskyist) with O (zero; love score at tennis) replacing (for) E (East) to form LOFTY LOFTY |
| 5 |
China at last discovered secret group (6,3) DINNER SET (china for use at the dining table) D (final letter of [at last] DISCOVERED) + INNER (secret) + SET (group) D INNER SET |
| 6 |
Sign to approach runner in the countryside? (4) BECK (sign with the finger or head indicating that one should approach) BECK (stream; runner in the countryside) double definition BECK |
| 7 |
All elite to be butchered? Washington couldn’t do this (4,1,3) TELL A LIE (‘I cannot TELL A LIE‘ is a phrase attributed to George Washington [1732 – 1799], first President of the United States, after damaging his father’s prized cherry tree with a hatchet) Anagram of (to be butchered) ALL ELITE TELL A LIE* |
| 8 |
Out to get better pay? That’s impressive (8) STRIKING (withdrawing labour with the aim of forcing an employer to improve rates of pay) STRIKING (impressive) double definition STRIKING |
| 13 |
Storytellers crossing the Galaxy’s boundaries, moving huge distance? (5,5) LIGHT YEARS (the distance light travels in several year [about 6,000,000,000,000 miles per annum]) LIARS (story tellers) containing (crossing) an anagram of (moving) THE and GY (outer letters of [boundaries] GALAXY) LI (GHT YE*) ARS |
| 15 |
Familiar Russian leader once engaging racketeer? Cripes! (9) GORBLIMEY (word expressing surprise or annoyance; CRIPES is a word expressing a similar sentiment) GORBY (familiar term for Mikhail GORBachev [1931 – 2022], former [once] Russian leader) containing (engaging) LIME (reference Harry LIME, black-market racketeer portrayed in the film ‘The Third Man’ [1949]) GORB (LIME) Y |
| 16/12/26 |
Article on champion gathered in with a net in The Hobbit? (5,3,4,5) THERE AND [BACK AGAIN] (subtitle for The Hobbit, a book by J R R Tolkien [1892 – 1973]) THE (definite article) + RE (with reference to; on) + (BACK [support or champion] contained in [in] [AND {with} + A + GAIN {score; win; net}]) THE RE (AND (BACK) A GAIN) |
| 17 |
Remove member from team up at ground (8) AMPUTATE (remove limb [member] from) Anagram of (ground) TEAM UP AT AMPUTATE* |
| 19 |
Animal, better left in two areas, sent north (6) ALPACA (domesticated animal related to the llama) (CAP [outdo; better] + L [left]) contained in (on) (A [area] + A [area] giving two areas) then all reversed (sent north; down entry) (A (L PAC) A)< |
| 20 |
Colour slightly concealing wife’s bad conscience? (6) TWINGE (sharp emotional pang; bad conscience?) TINGE (impart a slight colour) containing (concealing) W (wife) T (W) INGE |
| 23 |
We must secure a street there’s murder (5) WASTE (slang for kill or murder) WE containing (must secure) (A + ST [street]) W (A ST) E |
| 24 |
Man in Paris, I should appear with fine female (4) JEFF (man’s name) JE (French for ‘I’) + F (fine) + F (female) JE F F |
Thanks for the parsing of BLOW-BY-BLOW. Also didnāt know whom LIME was. Your definition for a light year in 13d has gone a bit astray. How āseveralā and āper annumā crept in, I canāt hazard to guess.
Oh I get it now. Forgot the answer was a plural.
Easy enough to solve, I thought. Needed word finder for the solar diagram and the blogger’s help to parse B-b-B and THERE AND etc. Favourite would be MYRIAD for which I needed help as well. SPARE TYRES was fun when spotted. Thanks Tees and Duncan.
Several unparsed today, mainly due to lack of GK: LIME and BY-BLOW were dnk and ANALEMMAS nho (which is the same thing!) I had all the crossers for the latter and still didn’t get it: it’s thrown me before where the clue includes ‘a’ (‘drink’ in this case) signalling ‘AN’ (‘ALE’) although that is no complaint. I looked for the theme and did suspect JEFF which is an otherwise random name. Although I know of JEFF BECK, he’s not one I ever followed so no chance of spotting the albums. LIGHT YEARS was my favourite today.
Thanks Tees and duncan
Liked FUNICULAR and MYRIAD.
Thanks, Tees and duncanshiell
I suppose I should have realised that on a Tuesday in the Indy there would be a theme. I did not, so solved this in bliss, if that is ignorance, until I came here.
The usual enjoyable crossword from Tees, even if I didn’t know a lot about the theme
Many thanks to him and Duncan
Another one reminiscent of Guardian’s glory days, IMO. That’s two from this compiler in a row!
Lots of nice ones, and I liked the way THERE AND BACK was got in as part of the ‘underlying’ theme.
Fantastic blog Duncan.
Lots to like here for MYRIAD reasons. In particular FUNICULAR, BLOW-BY-BLOW, and GORBLIMEY for conjuring up Spitting Image and the Harry Lime Theme.
The Jeff Beck theme, on the other hand, gave me the earworm of Hi Ho Silver Lining, a terrible song, played at every college disco at every college in the early 70s. On the song’s Wikipedia page I was pleased to find that Jeff Beck himself agreed with me: “(like) having a pink toilet seat hung around your neck for the rest of your life”. RIP.
I Didn’t know ANALEMMAS but I Googled it. The sun is very low on the figure-of-eight at this time of year. I’ll remember it next time it comes up.
Re MYRIAD: The Associated Press (AP) Stylebook currently dictates that the word MYRIAD should be not be followed by of.
The Guardian and OED disagree.
The theme went over my head as is often the case with this setter, but I did learn some new things in the shape of BY-BLOW & ANALEMMAS.
Top three here were HOME STRETCH, DEEP FRY & GORBLIMEY which all made me laugh.
Thanks to Tees and to Duncan for the review which certainly helped me out!
@9 Adjective and noun, innit. That’s yer myriad. I try to use the adj wherever possible myself, as the other way seems uneconomical.
Thanks Dunks and all commenters. Jeff Beck is a hero of mine, especially as regards those three albums (the JEFF one I didn’t know, embarrassingly), and so I thought I’d slip him in on the quiet, so as not to frighten anyone with an overt theme. Btw My AN ALE was supposed (by me) to be directly synonymous with ‘a drink’, so that the AN doesn’t necessarily have to equate to A. Wriggle wriggle.
Cheers
Tees
Tees @11: thanks for popping in. It is always appreciated. And for directly addressing my point. As I said, it wasn’t a complaint; I agree with your equation of phrases obviating the need for equation of articles. No bodily contortions required. š As solvers, we are so used to working through word by word; dealing with any combo or phrase has that slight potential for confusion. Not long ago I homophoned ‘adviser’ using the obvious idea of instructions for improving a helmet – ‘add visor’ – and some solvers applied the homophone to ‘add’ to get ‘ad’ but then didn’t apply it to ‘visor’ as well.
Thanks both. Failed to parse the clever MYRIAD despite now realising I have seen something similar before. Entered GORBLIMEY beginning with C initially, and surprised I didnāt know of this variant. Feel JEFF BECK as the theme would still have evaded me even if the words were together in the grid
Very good
I thoroughly recommend Jeff Beck going through his guitars in You Tube
He casually comments on the merits of each one while delivering a blistering example of what they (and he) can do
Avis Rara
I saw him a few times, most recently (and unfortunately IMV) with Johnny Depp, who may or may not be a woman-beater. He sure as hell misuses a guitar. In happier days I saw JB with a range of unbelievably talented musos, including Terry Bozzio sur les tubs, and that gig was very much not to be missed. RIP.
Thanks Duncan for standing in for us. We needed your help in uncovering the parsing to 22ac and needed a word search for 25ac. We hadnāt thought about substituting AN for A in the āa drinkā.
Missed the theme totally but werenāt a fan of Jeff Beck. Although he was of our era we never followed up on any of his music because HHSL was so awful!
Thanks to S&B.
Great fun as ever, thanks, Tees. Loved MYRIAD and GORBLIMEY in particular. When I got LOFTY, I fleetingly wondered if it was going to be Eastenders characters. Neither that or the actual theme are areas of expertise for me. (Like B&J, HHSL put me off ever exploring his work further. My loss, Iām sure.)
Thanks for the blog, Duncan.
For those who gave up on Jeff Beck because of HHSL, you owe to yourselves to/ listen at least once to the first Jeff Beck Group album Truth, featuring earlyish Rod Stewart and a thunderous remake of Shapes Of Things, and the sublime version of Mingusā Goodbye Pork Pie Hat on Wired.
In the 2000s he invited David Gilmour to play with him as an encore guest at a gig: DG said he would do only if they started with HHSL. When they came out, JB said something along the lines of āThis is where my career goes down the panā.
Thaks Tees and DS.
Well, I think I noticed an obituary for JEFF BECK last month, but I’d totally forgotten the name in the interim and failed to notice him in the answers.
As to ANALEMMAS, there was a fascinating SF novel a few years ago called Anathem by Neal Stephenson and it was a recurring theme in the book.