Guardian Saturday Prize Crossword 29,051 by Brockwell (22 April 2023)

by

A stunning debut from Brockwell this week…and straight into the Saturday prize slot!

With a preamble as well: ‘To mark a 50th anniversary‘

It took a while for the penny to drop, as this became a game of four quarters – with the top left and bottom right quadrants filling up in good order, and the other two proving a little chewier. I noticed blithely that there was a nice Bob Marley reference at 3D – don’t see him in cryptics much…then, oh look, Peter Tosh as well! I knew that Bob Marley died in the early 1980s, so it couldn’t be the 50th anniversary of that.

But, apart from 3D RASTA, I couldn’t see any obvious other thematic material in the grid…until the little Marley/Tosh bell jangling in my head was finally triggered by ‘kinky reggae’ and ‘midnight ravers’ in the clues for 25A and 27A…both tracks off the album ‘catch a fire’, which makes an appearance at 23D.

So, the anniversary is 50 years since the album was released, in April 1973, and the album and track names have all been interwoven into the clues (with a slight liberty taken with track 5!):

Catch A Fire (23D)

Side one

  • 1. Concrete Jungle (11D)
  • 2. Slave Driver (14A)
  • 3. 400 Years (5A)
  • 4. Stop That Train (1D)
  • 5. Baby We’ve Got a Date (Rock It Baby) (22D)

Side two

  • 6. Stir It Up (21A)
  • 7. Kinky Reggae (25A)
  • 8. No More Trouble (2D)
  • 9. Midnight Ravers (27A)

 

 

Quite a setting achievement, especially for a debut! I learned from a couple of Twitter threads that Brockwell is a graduate of the Boatman ‘masterclass’ process…and he(?) is also an Exeter City fan – as they make an appearance at 8D.

And the beauty of it is that, without that indication of a theme/anniversary, it could be entirely solved (and submitted) as a straight cryptic – and indeed many solvers without in depth knowledge of reggae/Bob Marley – or no interest in themes/Ninas – may well have done just that. The interweaving is pretty seamless – none of the thematic clues seem too clunky for having to work around their track titles.

Lots of nice touches – I think my favourite must be the ‘tricky dogleg’ in 21D TOGGLED, closely followed by the ‘rear shower’ for 2D MOONER – not to mention the succinctness of 21A ‘Brazilians stir it up’, evoking a Rio carnival snaking its way down the street.

(NB. I’ve checked in my vinyl collection, and this is a gap in my BM collection, although I do have several of the tracks on various Live and compilation albums…playing a selection as I write the blog!…)

At one point, with the J of JETE and a K, a W and an X in the top left corner, I did wonder whether it was going to be a pangram as well, but it fell a Q, F and Z short of that…must try harder next time, Brockwell (;+>)

When writing up the blog, I realised that I had mis-transcribed 13A to STONE, not SCORE, when copying from my iPad to the printed PDF for fax submission. I had put in STONE initially on the iPad, and must have subconsciously remembered that when writing it out. So not in the prize hat this week! This also happened with the last Prize puzzle I blogged, 29,027, when I mis-transcribed CHORDS as CHORES. Must be some synapses mis-firing somewhere between brain and fingers!

Anyway, I hope all is clear below, and roll on the next Brockwell puzzle…

 

Across
Clue No Solution Clue (definition underlined, album/track titles in bold)

Logic/parsing
1A TAMARISK River Island stock emptied in plant (8)

TAMAR (river, on Devon/Cornwall border) + I (island) + SK (StocK, emptied)
5A DECADE Kiki maybe grasping answer in 400 years (6)

DE_E (Kiki Dee, singer) around (grasping) CAD (A – answer – in CD – Roman numerals, 400)
9A WOODSMAN Club’s getting 50% from Norman Hunter (8)

WOOD (golf club) + S (contracted ‘s) + MAN (50% of norMAN)
10A AVOCET High octave for bird (6)

anag, i.e. high, of OCTAVE
12A RE-EXAMINE Maxine Peake’s back performing after concerning review (2-7)

RE (concerning) + EXAMINE (anag, i.e. performing, of MAXINE + E (last letter, or back, of peakE)
13A SCORE See 27 (5)

see 27A
14A DEVA Some held captive by slave-driver rejected God (4)

reversed hidden word, i.e. ‘held captive by’ and ‘rejected’, in ‘slAVE Driver’
16A EARNEST Sincere pledge (7)

double defn. – EARNEST, as an adjective, can mean sincere; and as a noun, an EARNEST is a pledge
19A PROTEST Demo upset Peter Tosh — he’s leaving! (7)

subtractive anag, i.e. upset, of PET(E)R TOS(H), losing HE – he’s leaving!
21A TUPI Brazilians stir it up (4)

anag, i.e. stir, of IT UP
24A ONSET Inception on TV (5)

ON + SET (TV)
25A AGGREGATE Total giant oddly into kinky reggae (9)

AGGRE_E (anag, i.e. kinky, of REGGAE) around GAT (odd letters of GiAnT)
27A TWELVE (SCORE) & 13 240 midnight ravers at last getting substance (6,5)

TWELVE (midnight) + S (last letter of raverS) + CORE (substance)
28A ALPHABET Characters in mountain hospital getting aid wrongly (8)

ALP (mountain) + H (hospital) + ABET (aid, usually in a criminal sense, so wrongly!)
29A DISUSE Inspectors exercise neglect (6)

DIS (Detective Inspectors) + USE (exercise)
30A EDUCATOR Wacky redcoat entertaining posh teacher (8)

ED_CATOR (anag, i.e. wacky, of REDCOAT) around (entertaining) U (posh, i.e. not non-U!)
Down
Clue No Solution Clue (definition underlined, album/track titles in bold)

Logic/parsing
1D THWART Stop that train, primarily about hard struggle (6)

T_T (That Train, initially, or primarily) around H (hard) + WAR (struggle)
2D MOONER No more trouble for rear shower (6)

anag, i.e. trouble, of NO MORE
3D RASTA Bob Marley perhaps managed star touring America (5)

R_STA (anag, i.e. managed, of STAR) around (touring) A (America)
4D STAMINA Endurance of Anita Harris finally cracked over mile (7)

STA_INA (anag, i.e. cracked, of ANITA + S – final letter of harriS) around (over) M (mile)
6D EAVESDROP Earwig left out of shed in autumn? (9)

in the autumn, LEAVES DROP – removing the L (left) gives EAVESDROP!
7D ANCHORED Secured a new job with degree (8)

A + N (new) + CHORE (job) + D (degree)
8D ENTREATY Head of Exeter City in America welcoming minister to appeal (8)

E (head, or first letter, of Exeter) + N_Y (city in America) around TREAT (minister, attend to)
11D JETE Jump about in concrete jungle (4)

reversed hidden word, i.e. about in, in concrETE Jungle
15D ELECTIVES Particular society falling down completely for the chosen ones (9)

(S)ELECTIVE (particular) with S (society) falling to the bottom (in a Down clue) = ELECTIVES

[an ELECTIVE being a subject chosen in a course of study, for example]
17D SPROUTED Vegetable seeds occasionally grew (8)

SPROUT (vegetable) + ED (occasional letters of ‘sEeDs’)
18D DOSSIERS Bums around India in briefs (8)

DOSS_ERS (bums, layabouts) around I (India)
20D TEAR Jack without energy to run fast (4)

T_AR (sailor, or Jack) around (without, or outwith, as the Scots say!) E (energy)
21D TOGGLED Switched tee on tricky dogleg (7)

T (tee, phonetic for T) + OGGLED (anag, i.e. tricky, of DOGLEG)
22D RABBIT Bunny wailer’s ultimate ‘rock it baby’ cut short (6)

R (ultimate letter of waileR) + ABBIT (anag, i.e. rock, of IT BAB(Y) – cut short)
23D HEATER Fiddler missing introduction to catch a fire? (6)

(C)HEATER – fiddler, missing C (first letter of, or introduction to, Catch)
26D ETHIC Nationalist abandons cultural belief (5)

ETH(N)IC – cultural, abandoning N – nationalist)

49 comments on “Guardian Saturday Prize Crossword 29,051 by Brockwell (22 April 2023)”

  1. Apart from RASTA, the theme was entirely within the clues here, which made it relatively easy to figure out. I agree with mc_rapper67 that the integration of all the track names into the clues without making them forced was a tour de force(!). Most enjoyable. Thanks, Brockwell and mc_rapper67.

  2. Well yes quite an achievement but a bit too straightforward even though I don’t know much about Marley and co.
    Can’t see why it was in prize slot.
    Thanks both

  3. Enjoyed this. Was sure the theme was something to do with Bob Marley but didn’t know what.

    Favourites included: ALPHABET, EAVESDROP, THWART, RABBIT – and MOONER made me smile.

    Thanks Brockwell and mc_rapper67

  4. 1 Across also had “Island” in, which most probably was no coincidence, as Catch a Fire was Marley’s first recording with Island Records. I have the original album with the limited edition, hinged flip top opening, like a zippo cigarette lighter, very cool!

    I actually found it easy to start, but with a tricky to finish lower left corner, and 6 Down being a stand-out clue.

  5. I loved the Bob Marley and the Wailers theme and went down several rabbitholes online once I’d finished, thereby uncovering more and more to like. Like Ant@4,I thought the inclusion of “Island” in 1a was clever. I also found out a lot about Bunny Wailer and his partner Maxine, as referenced in 22d and 12a respectively. Some great non-themed clues too – agree with Fiona Anne@3 re THWART at 1d and EAVESDROP at 6d. Thanks for a terrifically enjoyable puzzle to our new setter Brockwell, and for a fascinating blog recording our setter mc_rapper67’s response and process.
    [Subsequent earworms all week – the wonderful “No Woman, No Cry”, as well as Peter Tosh’s “Legalise It” and “Biko”, which made me remember lots of the 1d “struggle” and 19a PROTEST songs associated with the Wailers. I count myself very lucky to have seen Ziggy Marley reprise some of them at Bluesfest here in Australia.]

  6. [P.S. Just looked up Kiki Dee (5a) and her biopic begins: “Singing Bob Marley in the bath, Kiki Dee’s career began in her native Bradford in the early 1960s …”]

  7. Thanks, mc_rapper67, and thanks, Brockwell, for what turned out to be a stunning piece of clueing. But it took me a long time to get properly into this. For far too long I felt there was something going on here, but I couldn’t work out what, and some of the clues seemed odd in some ill-defined way. Not that I could fault them, just a feeling that there must be a reason some were clued with what seemed to be a rather unusual choice of words. In retrospect, I didn’t help my self by (unforgivably!) confusing Peter Tosh with Peter Tork, which led me down quite the wrong musical path. Finally, I realised the reggae theme, googled Bob Marley’s recording history, and suddenly it all became clear and I could appreciate just what Rockwell had done. (Catch A Fire never got into my record collection, either, although Bob Marley is there – particularly the Rainbow 1977 live album). Let’s hope we see more of Rockwell.

  9. I was completely baffled by the theme, even looking up what happened in April 1973 but to no avail. So I am pleased to have it clarified at last. I thought it might be to do with music, as Kiki Dee, Bob Marley and Anita Harris were all involved, but I could get no further – Peter Tosh rang no bells.
    Thanks indeed to Brockwell for the entertainment, as all have said. In fact, I DNF, as TUPI evaded me. It’s dead easy in fact, but if I ever knew the word, I had forgotten it. I look forward to future Brockwell puzzles.
    Thanks, mc_rapper, for all the clarification (at 8d, you have entered TREAD when you meant TREAT).

  10. Thanks for a great blog, brilliant puzzle , I do not usually like themes in the clues but I will make an exception for this .
    Agree with Ant @ 3 for ISLAND in the theme, Chris Blackwell financed the whole project. I also have the Zippo cover with the rivet , passed on by my parents. The album is by The Wailers , the Bob Marley and…. came later for re-issues and I do not approve.
    Bunny Wailer is hiding in plain sight for 22D , do not think he has been mentioned , perhaps too obvious for people to note.
    For clues I will pick the non-theme EAVESDROP and DOSSIERS both simple and very effective.

  11. The crossword itself was straightforward, and, fortunately, knowledge of the theme wasn’t required. Having come here to find out what the theme was, I feel somewhat deflated. Personally, I think if a theme is specifically stated, it should be a little less obscure.

  12. Obscurity is in the eye of the beholder, Crispy @11. This theme – there on the surface of the clues, rather than in the answers – was far from obscure for me. Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer and Island Records all explicitly there up front, sticking out like a sore thumb. From there, it was just a matter of sorting out what exactly to do with the Wailers the anniversary was.

  13. I liked this a lot. I recall finding it in the more accessible end of the Prize difficulty scale. The theme I half-got — I knew it was Bob Marley & The Wailers and recognised a couple of song titles but hadn’t realised it was a full album’s track listing. A very impressive achievement with lots of smart clues. Hope to see more from Brockwell.

    Thanks both!

  14. I too felt it was quite an easy puzzle, and a bit heavy on anagrams.
    Some unsatisfactory surfaces, such as 23d.
    I didn’t know anything about the theme.
    A very well written blog, though.
    Thanks Brockwell and mc_rapper67.

  15. I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle despite knowing so little about the theme. (In fact I didn’t even know what the theme was until after I finished the puzzle, despite the fact that RASTA was clued using Bob Marley as a definition by example). A friend subsquently told me of all the connections that she found, and I then appreciated this puzzle even more, as the solving of it was in no way dependent on one’s knowing anything about the subject or the event.

    Thanks to Brockwell and mc_rapper67.

  16. Super puzzle. Like Rob T @13, I look forward to more Brockwell.
    Had an inkling about the theme but not the knowledge to pick out the titles. However, that did not dampen my enjoyment.
    Excellent blog.
    Thanks to both.

  17. TassieTim @12. Failed to chart in UK, no 171 in Billboard chart. I’d call that obscure. If no theme had been mentioned beforehand, and people had spotted it, then great – horses for courses. For a pre-announced theme, I still reckon it’s obscure.

  18. Thanks, all. A neat and impressive debut. I particularly enjoyed the numerical content in THREE SCORE and DECADE.

    Didn’t spot the theme at all. Way too obscure for me. But worth it for JiA @6’s reminder about Kiki Dee: a name I’ve always known but had quite forgotten why (a West Riding lass who “made it” big … a great voice and a simply brilliant stage-name).

  19. Nice idea to let the clues do the talking. A good debut puzzle.

    I liked the rear shower in MOONER, the earwig in EAVESDROP, and the surface of DOSSIERS. I guess there must be 50th anniversaries of different albums on virtually every day of the year, but it’s whatever appeals to the setter, I suppose.

    Thanks Brockwell and mcr.

  21. So much GK but so varied, and even then you didn’t really need to know it, unless you wanted to get the theme/anniversary. Doable without it, but loved the discovery.
    I wondered about Brockwell/Blackwell (who I am now so much better informed about). Great story.

  22. Quite tough but this was a very enjoyable puzzle from a setter with whom I am not familiar. I look forward to more of Brockwell’s puzzles in the future.

    New for me: EARNEST = pledge.

    Favourites: RE-EXAMINE, MOONER, EAVESDROP, DECADE, ENTREATY. TWELCE SCORE.

    Thanks, both.

    I did not know while solving what the theme was but guessed it was to do with reggae. Google confirmed it for me with listing of tracks for the Bob Marley and the Wailers Catch a Fire 1973 album.

  23. PS, I found this on the web: Catch A Fire
    The 50th Anniversary of Island Records deserves more than a single birthday posting … Catch A Fire changed the world of music forever.

  24. I’m another who was able to thoroughly enjoy this solve with very little knowledge of the theme. I guessed it was something to do with Bob Marley and reggae but, whilst it was certainly a backdrop to my childhood, it was never my thing so the specifics passed me by. That said, I recognise the exceedingly clever construction and this was a surface theme that did not intrude in the slightest. Lots of fun and I look forward to seeing Brockwell here again.

    Thanks both

  25. Thought it was a bit odd. Saw the anniversary hint in print edition, but then forgot all about it when solving. Missed the fun. Dohh!

  26. JinA and Roz have said it all for me. Brilliant debut indeed and a super blog.

    Ta Brockwell & mc_rapper67

  27. I enjoyed this, found it neither too difficult nor too easy, and was completely oblivious to the theme. So its cleverness was lost on me! Thanks Brockwell.

  29. ALSO, I should have mentioned earlier, but I’m really happy that quite a few here feel this is more obscure, and would love to see more crosswords like this, the art of cluing cryptics is to reveal a word / phrases in a hidden / obscure but methodical fashion, the content and references should be interesting and varied, to be honest I’m a bit bored of the endless Shakespeare, Ring Cycle type themes, lets have more low brow / odd ball themes like this one please!

  30. What a great debut. And celebrating the anniversary of a significant event – on the release of that album suddenly reggae seemed to be the coolest thing on the planet.

    Plenty of ticks for non-themers as well, my favourite being ALPHABET for the brilliantly misleading surface.

    Many thanks to Brockwell, and to mc_rapper67 for an excellent blog as usual.

  31. This puzzle seems to me to be in large part at least close to Ximenean, if not squarely that, which term is not one I would have expected to be applying to the puzzle of someone mentored by the occasionally erratic, and very idiosyncratic, Boatman. Indeed the only similarity I can find is that the theme lies not in the grid but in the clues, which is something we have seen in the latter’s work.

    I suppose a theme involving a 50-year-old record is as good a subject as any, but unfortunately I found the whole thing rather tame. I look forward to this writer’s next piece, however, especially where the attention to detail in the cluing is maintained.

  32. Thanks, Brockwell and MC. Concur with everyone else that this was a wonderful debut – and since I twigged the theme very quickly, I dug the album out to listen to while solving, further enhancing my enjoyment of the solve. Great stuff, look forward to seeing more Brockwell in the Guardian.

    It’s not the very first public outing for this setter though – he’s known elsewhere as Grecian. The Exeter City reference is almost enough of a giveaway to this, but he also outed himself on Twitter.

  34. As an Ipswich supporter I am afraid I can’t wish Brockwell’s team the best for today. Loved the crossword and great theme.

  35. Lord Jim a(n) honourable mention in The Guardian puzzle today , not a spoiler just in the clue, and the same yesterday in the FT puzzle. Everyman tomorrow for the hat-trick ?
    [AlanC@26 , I awarded you a bonus point yesterday for IGBO POP , 18-9 , against overwhelming odds I managed to reach Number 1 in the Cyclops today, 19-9 ]

  36. 9a Norman “Bites your legs” Hunter was a leading member of the Leeds United side that was successful about 50 years ago but no theme, alas.
    I’m afraid that I can’t share the general enthusiasm. I liked 6d and 18d but the rest seemed prettty pedestrian to me.

  37. Many thanks to mc_rapper67 for the wonderful blog and to all you solvers for the great feedback. This was a labour of love for me, as Catch A Fire has a special place in my heart. It was a truly groundbreaking album and still sounds incredible 50 years on. Very proud to make my Guardian debut with this theme.
    Hope to be here again soon.
    Brockwell aka Grecian

  39. When I first glanced at this I asked my wife whose 50th anniversary was celebrated recently, and the only thing we could come up with was Dark Side of the Moon. However mentions of Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer in the clues soon made our obvious when the actual theme lay, and a swift Google soon confirmed the 50 years since Catch a Fire. I must admit I didn’t notice all the a
    song titles worked into the clues until I read the blog, but then I didn’t get into Bob Marley until about 1975 and my first album was Natty Dread – I’ve never even heard Catch a Fire let alone owned a copy myself..

    Several favourites in the puzzle, of which MOONER and RASTA come most readily to mind together with TWELVE SCORE. Meanwhile let me say that I concur heartily with Ant@29 – yes please, let’s have a few more themes rooted in modern culture rather than endless repetition of the same bloody things that setters were so very fond of 50 years ago when I started trying to solve cryptics. To be scrupulously fair though, Qaos has broader horizons to name but one.
    Thanks to mc_rapper67 and to Brockwell/Grecian/Charley’s aunt from Brazil !

  40. There was a lot of comment of The Grauniad comments board last week as to getting the theme. I thought that looking at the clues it was obvious but it turns out to me, not knowing the album, that it was more concise than what I saw from the clues alone. One small error was that Bunny’s surname was not capitalised on my FOI 22d…which, as it happened I parsed wrongly by thinking of wailer as a Rabbi – not in any offensive sense but how any religious intoner can sometimes sound – and then the last letter of ‘rock it’.

  41. Thought I ought to put a word in.
    The puzzle was perfectly solvable for one who thinks an “album” is where you keep your photos, “charts” are what navigators use, “Top of the Pops” is Tizer and Frank Sinatra is one of those young chaps!
    Nonetheless it’s a delight that younger folk are joining the fraternity/sorority.

  42. Thanks for all the comments and feedback – much appreciated. as usual…apologies for the late response, but I was out ‘spoiling a good walk’ this morning, and then jet-washing the patio most of the afternoon…bank holiday weekends and to-do lists…

    As expected, a fairly eclectic mix of those who know and love the theme, those who are indifferent/think it was obscure, and those who didn’t notice – but mostly still enjoyed it!

    I missed the ‘Island’ link, and forgot to mention Bunny Wailer as well. As Roz pointed out, the album was just labelled as by the Wailers…the BMW rebrand happened later…so technically not a gap in my Bob Marley collection?!

    sjshart at #9 – good spot, duly amended!

    anna at #14 – I agree that there were maybe more anagrams than usual, but I didn’t mention it as I assumed that it must have met the editorial standards…

    JohnB at #39 – I only got into reggae and BMW in the very early 80s – my parents were posted to Barbados for my father’s work, and I spent many boarding school holidays there – my first (and still treasured) album was Kaya, closely followed by Live at the Lyceum – both transferred to digital with some lovely crackles!

    Lastly – thanks to Grecian for popping in at #37, and for your kind words. Look forward to locking horns with you again!

  43. [Nothing to do with the (excellent) puzzle: we used to live near Brockwell Park, and once tried to take our cat (who otherwise just lived in our flat) for a walk there. Not a success; every dog in the park made straight for us, the cat ran up me and stood on my head, hissing at them!]

  44. JohnB@39
    “The same bloody things that setters were so fond
    of 50 years ago” – you mean things like “Catch a Fire” by The Wailers?

  45. Pino@44 ,

    Pahahaha there’s always one, even on here ! I can assure you that back in 1973 the chances of setters including references to anything that happened in my father’s lifetime, let alone in mine, were vanishingly remote. That was even more true if you sometimes attempted the Times as well as the Guardian !

  46. Really enjoyed this. Not really familiar with the album itself, but recognised some of the track names, perhaps from the compilation Legend which I have. Also recognised the musicians’ names. I agree Wailer should have had a capital and if Catch a Fire had been capitalised the surface of that clue would have made a lot more sense.

    Didn’t realise how thoroughly Brockwell had worked the theme. Chapeau to him and thanks to Mc for elucidating all.

  47. I do not think wailer or “catch a fire ” should be capitilised. They are acting as ordinary words in the clue , it is up to us to make the connection with the theme. Bunny is only a capital because it begins the sentence, wailer is not connected to Bunny in the clue itself.
    All the album tracks are not capitalised for the same reason, it really is impressive setting.

  48. Roz, maybe that’s because you don’t really care if the surface is mumbo-jumbo, as long as the cryptics are correct? Can you paraphrase the surface meaning of those two clues? (I note that Anna@14 complained about the poor surface of 23dn, rightly in my opinion.) The track titles in the clues didn’t need to be capitalized as the surface used the ordinary meaning of the words, as in the brilliant “Brazilians stir it up”.

Comments are closed.