It’s been seven weeks exactly since Brendan’s last appearance, so it’s a treat to see him rounding off the week.
I love solving Brendan’s puzzles but, when blogging, there’s always the frisson of knowing that there’s a theme lurking (and, often, an extra layer) waiting to be found. I completed the solve in the early hours and parsed the answers to my satisfaction and, apart from a couple of Australian state capitals at 22ac and 22dn, there wasn’t a glimmer of a theme, so I decided to draft a blog, snatch some sleep and hope that light would dawn, in more than one sense, later on.
I had been aware of several less than common words and an unusual spelling at 22ac and, as I stared at that row and then the one above it – the middle (key) row – the penny dropped: in all of the pairs of across clues, there’s a reversal of at least part of the answer to the first in the second – or, more elegantly (thanks, Valentine @68), in all of the pairs the shorter one is reversed (in its entirety) in the longer. (I think that, subconsciously, the device used in Picaroon’s puzzle yesterday may have helped in the recognition.)
One day, I will get someone to teach me how to download the grid and highlight the relevant bits but I will have to leave you to work it out for yourself. This is another remarkable feat of grid-filling from Brendan.
Apart from the theme, there were, as usual, plenty of excellent clues, with interesting constructions and witty surfaces. My favourites were 1ac EXOGAMIC, 9ac IMAGO, 23ac ABSTRACTOR, 26ac CLIMATIC, 5dn MISERERE, 6dn PALESTRINA, 13dn TRIPLE TIME, 19dn RESTOCK and 21dn DEBATE.
Many thanks to Brendan for a most enjoyable puzzle.
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
8 Test one conservative holding back effort diversifying unions (8)
EXOGAMIC
EXAM (test) + I (one) C (Conservative) round a reversal (holding back) of GO (effort)
9 Shakespearean villain trapping maiden for mature monarch, say (5)
IMAGO
IAGO (villain in Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’) round M (maiden – cricket) for the mature stage of a monarch butterfly, for instance (say)
10 Isolated high point providing some satisfaction, but only some (4)
MESA
Contained in soME SAtisfaction
11 A low place for bargaining is producing indignities (10)
ABASEMENTS
A BASEMENT (place for bargaining – ‘bargain basement’) + (‘)S (is)
12 Rubbish that queen may have to bear (6)
LITTER
Double definition
14 Run in without importance in attractive fashion (8)
PRETTILY
R (run) in PETTILY (without importance)
15 Condemned left-winger embracing what’s wrong (7)
REVILED
RED (left -winger) round VILE (wrong)
Or, rather, RED round EVIL: my original reading, overlooked when writing the blog – thanks Cat’s Whiskers and Tim C
17 Take to house from food store very shortly (7)
DELIVER
DELI(catessen) (food store) + VER[y]
20 Guided a returning assistant in state capital (8)
ADELAIDE
A reversal (returning) of LED A (guided a) + AIDE (assistant)
22 Made call that’s failed without a line (6)
DIALED
DIED (failed) round A L (a line) – I winced at the spelling then realised, later, that it was essential for the theme
23 Person whose job is summarising a short book or penning small treatise (10)
ABSTRACTOR
A B(short book) + OR, from the clue, round S (small) TRACT (treatise)
24 Creative efforts are raising the stakes, first of all (4)
ARTS
Initial letters (first of all) of Are Raising The Stakes
25 Perhaps Indian Mutiny’s leader imprisoned in end (5)
TAMIL
M[utiny] in TAIL (end) – a neat ‘lift and separate’
26 Reaching crescendo without middle C, like Four Seasons’ variations (8)
CLIMATIC
CLIMA[c]TIC (reaching crescendo – I foresee the usual objections but this definition is in both Collins and Chambers)
Down
1 Push through deep exit frenetically (8)
EXPEDITE
An anagram (frenetically) of DEEP EXIT
2 Site of mausoleum consumed in conflagration (4)
AGRA
Contained in conflAGRAtion – reference to the Taj Mahal, the mausoleum built for his wife by Shah Jahan
3 Damage politician in one broadcast (6)
IMPAIR
MP (politician) in I (one) AIR (broadcast)
4 Disorganised nonsense in note (7)
SCRAPPY
CRAP (nonsense) in SPY (note)
5 Is interrupting the speaker about repeated plea for mercy (8)
MISERERE
IS in ME (the speaker) + RE RE (about, repeated) – Latin for ‘have mercy’, repeated often in the liturgy; it’s a lovely word to say or sing, as my choir will be doing often in our ‘Gloria’-themed concert next month
6 Piano then fiddle I learnt as composer (10)
PALESTRINA
P (piano) + an anagram (fiddle) of I LEARNT AS – another lovely music reference
7 Accommodation that subsumes second accommodation (6)
HOSTEL
HOTEL (accommodation) round S (second)
13 Blue Danube is in this outing – hired Brendan in two cases (6,4)
TRIPLE TIME
TRIP (outing) + LET (hired) + I (Brendan in the nominative case) + ME (Brendan in the accusative case); no ‘lift and separate’ here – but more music
16 Twice daily event for island set up, open to change (8)
EDITABLE
A reversal (set up, in a down clue) of TIDE (twice daily event) + ELBA (island)
Edit: or better, as KVa @3 suggests, ‘Twice daily event for island’ = ELBA TIDE
18 Kind of blue, counterpart of shocking pink? (8)
ELECTRIC
Cryptic definition
19 Supply again includes assorted parts for rockets (7)
RESTOCK
An anagram (includes assorted parts) of ROCKETS
21 Be upset when trapped by girlfriend in argument (6)
DEBATE
A reversal (upset) of BE in DATE (girlfriend)
22 Scrambled draw at home – he considered selection, naturally (6)
DARWIN
An anagram (scrambled) of DRAW + IN (at home) – referring to Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection
24 It’s said to accompany a will from home (4)
AWAY
A WAY (as in ‘Where there’s a will, there’s a way’)
What a wonderful feat of mental dexterity, but I just couldn’t help feeling that I was somehow cheating by knowing some or all of the letters in the across clues’ ‘counterpart’. I got EXOGAMIC and IMAGO early despite nhho either and by chance noticed the similarity of the letters. PALESTRINA was worked out from the crossers. Brendan is a marvel.
Ta Brian & Eileen.
Doubt this could be called an earworm but a beautiful piece.
https://youtu.be/H3v9unphfi0
Thanks, Brendan and Eileen!
Loved the theme. Spotted it only after almost finishing the grid.
Top faves: MISERERE and TRIPLE TIME.
EDITABLE
A suggestion:
Would it be better to read the ‘Twice daily event for island’ as ELBA TIDE as
it has to be set up/reversed as one block?
Yes, I disliked the American spelling of DIALED, and wondered if there was a reason. I didn’t see the theme, but I must admit, I didn’t look for one. I should be more adventurous! Now that it’s pointed out, it’s quite clever.
EXOGAMIC was the only word with which I was unfamiliar.
A very enjoyable puzzle, thanks Brendan, and Eileen for the blog.
Thank you, AlanC @2!
I very nearly gave that link: it accompanied my writing of the blog.
KVa @3: very good suggestion. Eileen, can you explain TRIPLE TIME as I don’t get the reference? Ta.
Finished this without spotting the theme, but absolutely amazed by the virtuosity once it was pointed out.
Thanks Brendan and Eileen.
AlanC, waltzes have three beats to a bar, ie. triple time.
I spotted the reversals too late for them to be useful. Brendan always has that extra dimension.
Hats off to him and my thanks to Eileen.
Thanks GDU, I presumed it was musical but not my forte 🙂
I struggled a bit with a few clues, although when I struck MISERERE at 5d (my COTD) it immediately brought to mind one of my favourite songs from The Cat Empire which always brings me to tears (as good music should (or some other emotion)). It may, Eileen, give you a bit of a twist on the liturgy, which is not always a bad thing. 🙂 Hope you enjoy my ‘special’ this weekend.
I didn’t spot the theme; 15 and 17 should have made it obvious.
I use the crossword to try and wake up, and today it showed. There were several I guessed correctly but couldn’t parse and couldn’t see a clear definition either, so I didn’t pencil them in. Also, I invented “exogamal” from the definition and didn’t see that it nearly parsed.
I didn’t spot the theme until nearly the end of this Friday treat
Thanks to Brendan and Lucky Eileen
Brilliant puzzle as ever from Brendan – chapeau! And many thanks to Eileen for the blog.
I managed to complete this without a single hint of a theme. Now Eileen has pointed it out, I can see just how clever it is. 4dn was my favourite but largely because it made me think of Paul!
Thanks to Brendan and Eileen.
TRIPLE TIME was my favourite among a number of great clues. I wondered if there was a connection between the musical references and the reversals, but I don’t know enough about music to decide.
For once the theme helped, though only at the last minute. I’d only got the first i and a of 26a, when gazing idly at the crossword I suddenly spotted prettily and litter, wrote in TAMIL backwards, the answer became obvious, and the rest of the corner fell into place. Thank you, Brendan!
KVa @3
Belated thanks – I’ve amended the blog.
Thanks Brendan and Eileen
No theme for me, of course. Favourite EDITABLE.
Isn’t there a mismatch between letter and lessee in LET=hired?
DIALED is a valid spelling – in the US! Thet seem not to like double Ls. A US indication might have been fairer.
AlanC@2 – lovely earworm – I found a karaoke version we can all sing along to in Latin – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bfn8blU3vQc
So thrilled to have Brendan’s name at the top of my puzzle today. Several ticks as it unfolded (e.g. for 26a CLIMATIC, the already lauded 13d TRIPLE TIME and 24d AWAY) and new learnings as usual (like PALESTRINA at 6d). As part of my religious upbringing, I learned the MISERERE (5d) by heart, so while I always found it a depressing prayer, I still liked the recognition moment today!
Loved loved loved those mirror images in the across clues when I spotted them after I completed the puzzle (too late of course to be of use in the solving, but a delight nevertheless)!!!
Then it was a real bonus when I had the coincidence of my favourite blogger being on deck when I came to fifteensquared, which made today a very good day indeed. Thanks in abundance to Brendan (Brian) and Eileen.
[There is a story – probably true – that Allegri’s Miserere was jealously guarded for performance only in the Sistine Chapel; the score was never released. Mozart heard a performance in the chapel and was later able to write down the score note for note, thus releasing the piece into the wild!]
[P.S. Parochial I know, but having 20a ADELAIDE and 23a DARWIN in there pleased this Aussie solver.]
muffin@19
TRIPLE TIME
let out=hired out
Does it give the equivalence of LET and hired?
Lots for the mind’s ear here, Palestrina, various Misereres, then Strauss (and 2001). Reversed bits …?, meh. Ta both.
JinA @21: I felt the same way when I saw Brendan’s name.
[muffin@22 – yes I recall something about a Pope ruling that there would be excommunication for anyone who transcribed the Miserere?]
Thanks Brenda’s and Eileen.
I parsed 15A slightly differently as RED around EVIL (wrong).
Drat spell check. Brendan, not Brenda’s
The theme became obvious – even to me – about half way through completing this. What an original idea, and how well executed! EXOGAMIC was the only unfamiliar word here. The two state capitals were among my first entries, and I therefore suspected an external theme rather than the surprising ‘technical’ one that revealed itself.
There were many neat and clever clues. The phrase ‘reaching a crescendo’ jarred, but I can’t argue against what that de facto authority Chambers calls a figurative use of the word crescendo.
I did not find this puzzle easy, but I enjoyed it very much.
Thanks to Brendan, and to Eileen for an excellent blog.
FrankieG @20: not sure how well it would go down in my Irish local but I’m game if you are 🙂
[AlanC@26 and others, I am not a big believer in the way social media works, to be honest, but many times I wish there was a “like” button I could press to say how I appreciate affirming comments on these blogs. I guess we are getting more and more used to shorthand versions of our opinions.]
[Yes, muffin @22, it’s a great story which one wants to be true … totally feasible of course given WAM’s genius]
[Ditto Alan B for your comment @30]
Cat’s Whiskers, I parsed REVILED the same as you.
Wot Julie said, except that I didn’t spot the theme, almost never can, but remain in awe at the ingenuity. Thanks again
Cat’s Whiskers @ 28 and Tim C @35 – yes, I think that’s the way I originally read it: either works, of course.
Very enjoyable. I had not noticed the theme while solving nor after I completed the puzzle. Wow, that is wonderful!
Favourite: EDITABLE, CLIMATIC, AWAY (loi).
Thanks, both.
Eileen@37
I considered VILE as you did but after looking at the other option (EVIL as mentioned by Cat’s Whiskers@28 and Tm C@35), I feel EVIL works better.
what’s wrong=EVIL (to fit in VILE, we have to leave out the what’s)
RED embracing EVIL reads more complete.
Very clever theme and only spotted when I was looking at the last couple of down clues – TRIPLE TIME and EDITABLE – my last ones in.
I was wondering about a music theme after getting PALESTRINA and MISERERE early, and recognising the Blue Danube and The Four Seasons as musical references. I spent a while trying to think of alternatives to Waltz time before realising it was TRIPLE TIME. Even went down the rabbit hole of reading about PALESTRINA and Vivaldi.
Thank you to Eileen and Brendan.
As AlanC@1 I noticed the trick quite early and wish I hadn’t, because getting either of the paired clues made the other too obvious.
TAMIL, for instance – “a neat ‘lift and separate’” – but it felt like I’d hit the “Reveal this” button by mistake.
And in the case of REVILED & DELIVER, it spoiled both. I just had to get them “in the right order”.
Knowing Brendan’s fondness for all kinds of technical trickery, I was on the lookout for a theme. I’m not sure now which of the mirror pairs gave the game away – I had three at the time – but it certainly helped to solve TAMIL/CLIMATIC and ARTS/ABSTRACTOR.
Favourite clues IMAGO for the monarch and LITTER for the queen. And AWAY.
Not heard of MESA, EXOGAMIC, MISERERE which held me up a bit in the top half but after I had completed the top half I ground to a halt. At which point I spotted the theme which was very helpful in completing the bottom half once I had got a few to start me off.
Thanks Brendan and Eileen
Yes, I agree with those who say that the theme was cleverly done, but it made some clues a bit of a write in.
[This is my favourite Palestrina recording:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-UZKRSA-C0&t=1867s
The Amen an the end of the Credo is terrific (start at about 32’40”).]
Given the presence of PALESTRINA, MISERERE, and the Blue Danube, I assume the Four Seasons he had in mind at 26a was Vivaldi, not Valli. But I had this in my head while solving anyway. Didn’t remember to look for a theme until Eileen mentioned it; I quickly scurried back to look before I read far enough into the blog for the reveal. Thanks for the reminder. Eileen.
Oh, and it goes without saying that I saw nothing wrong, or even unusual, about DIALED; the existence of the British spelling didn’t even cross my mind.
Clever puzzle from Brendan, with the many musical references perhaps intended to distract the solver from the real theme. IMAGO was my FOI (‘monarch’ was inspired), followed by MESA and LITTER. Then, as is my wont, I looked at the crossing down clues. From them EXOGAMIC popped out quite early and I saw the theme, so the rest fell out quite easily.
The Websterism of DIALED held me up briefly and raised an eyebrow but I wouldn’t go to the barricades over it.
Favourites as Eileen’s list.
Many thanks to Brendan and Eileen
A really clever puzzle, and some enjoyable solves. A little stuck with an unknown composer, but otherwise very pleased with ourselves…
There’s always something going on in a Brendan puzzle. I managed to spot it about three quarters of the way through and it really helped finish the bottom right corner. Brilliant.
Many thanks both.
That theme is a remarkably clever bit of compiling, which I had completely missed. Thanks to Eileen for the elucidation, and to Brendan for what I, in my obliviousness, thought was one of his more straightforward offerings.
Thanks Eileen and Brendan. A thing of beauty.
I’m generally unimpressed by themes but liked this one, which of course I didn’t spot until coming here. Other than that, a fun crossword. I assumed the spelling of DIALED was mentioned in Chambers or elsewhere as a variant. Actually the puzzle was a dnf as being a musical ignoramus I’d never heard of PALESTRINA and there were several credible arrangements of the anagram even with the initial P and the crossers.
Thanks Eileen and Brendan.
Having solved EXOGAMIC early on, I thought ‘allo ‘allo, what’s an unusual word doing as the first Across entry? Followed by IMAGO, I saw the theme early on, which helped a lot with some of the crossers.
I liked the definition and wordplay of EXOGAMIC, the wordplays in PRETTILY, ABSTRACTOR, CLIMATIC, TRIPLE TIME and EDITABLE. The slightly unexpected anagram for RESTOCK produced a smile. I thought at the beginning that 24 might have been afar but I couldn’t connect a ‘far’ with a will, not surprisingly. Thanks GDU @8 for an explanation of TRIPLE TIME, which seemed to be the right answer but I couldn’t explain.
Thanks to Brendan for the clever idea and to Eileen for a super blog, as always.
Another one that took two sittings, but definitely worth persevering. No idea of the theme as ever; thanks Eileen for pointing it out. I got AWAY as parsed, but am still a bit confused about the definition ‘from home’, which suggests to me something that I have taken somewhere from my home (e.g. to a ‘show and tell’ or to make an office/ hotel room/ rented accomodation seem more homely). I can’t think of a way that the definition works except to use the answer in the clue i.e. ‘away from home’. No doubt someone can enlighten me. Thanks Eileen for the wonderful blog and thanks Brendan for an enjoyable end to the week.
2dn. Interesting how many “Indian” restaurants in the UK memorialise the Taj Mahal and Mumtaz but not so many Shah Jahan?
I only know of one in London…
I think there are more in Europe; there’s one in Amsterdam and one in Paris I think.
So my experience with this today was that once I had wrestled an unfamiliar EXOGAMIC to the ground and then put in SCRAPPY with a slight shrug I found the grid very user friendly, and my solutions cascaded into place as I worked downwards. Held up for a while as I’d inserted Erasable instead of EDITABLE, and last in was ELECTRIC, rather reminding me of a film seen a while ago, Electra Glides In Blue, was it called? Enjoyed the journey…
…Electra Glide In Blue it was, 1973…
I was co-solving this with a friend who miraculously managed to spot the theme after we had the first two acrosses in the grid so I suspect we found the rest of the puzzle considerably easier that most people as a result!
Thanks both,
Just the thought that, being in the Mediterranean, Elba doesn’t have much by way of tides.
[ronald @58
I have an untreasured memory of acting out that in a game of Charades…]
There’s nothing inelegant in here, but my favourites were PALESTRINA for the lovely surface and ABSTRACTOR for the precision and neatness. Great puzzle and blog.
Thanks to Brendan for a remarkable puzzle. I completed it without noticing the theme and thought it was full of excellent clues, wit and diversion; but when I finally saw the theme I realised what a huge achievenent it was. He is a genius.
Favourites:
5d MISERERE
7d HOSTEL
13d TRIPLETIME,
22a DIALED,
25a TAMIL,
Thanks to Eileen for the blog.
Didn’t spot the reflections. I guess I concentrate on the blank areas and don’t see the bigger picture. I do force myself to check the earlier answers for a theme but that didn’t help.
All too clever for me but thanks both.
Thank you Brendan and Eileen. I’ve been living in America too long, I didn’t even notice the spelling of DIALED.
We have definitely been in the presence today. Thanks Brendan – a remarkable achievement. The puzzle alone was so enjoyable in its own right; then to realise the theme of reflected words was mind bending. Absolutely wonderful. Thanks to Eileen for the blog.
[Me @46: turns out that song was released as solo Frankie Valli, not the Four Seasons, but his bandmates were nevertheless involved, so it sort of counts. Anyway, it makes sense with that clue, since it does have that memorable crescendo.]
I completely missed the theme, as I almost always do.
Oh! It’s a litter of kittens! I was picturing a queen being borne by a litter, and wondered why the clue was the wrong way around.
Eileen, thanks for parsing DIALED, ABSTRACTOR, TRIPLE TIME and AWAY. Also, you say, “in all of the pairs of across clues, there’s a reversal of at least part of the answer to the first in the second,” but I think it would be tidier to say that in all of the pairs the shorter one is reversed (in its entirety) in the longer.” With of course REVILED and DELIVER with neither one longer.
Delightful puzzle. I needed check and even reveal shamefully often, but that’s about me, not Brendan. Thanks to him and to Eileen for her usual wonderful accompaniment.
Valentine @68
I had the reverse problem a couple of days ago, when I thought that “Persian queen” was a cat!
Valentine @68
Of course, that’s it – and it has taken until now for someone to put it ‘more tidily’! Many thanks. 😉
(I’ll amend the blog accordingly, for the benefit of any possible late arrivals.)
[The REVILED/DELIVER row has been ringing an insistent bell all day from a previous blog of mine but I didn’t know quite how to search for it.
I’ve just managed to find it – in Boatman’s Wimbledon-themed puzzle of three years ago. I hope you’ll find it quite interesting:
“Spenser’s miscalled on return of serve (7)
REVILED
A reversal (on return of) of DELIVER (serve)
This is really clever: a miscall in tennis is a wrong call but the archaic (Spenserian) meaning is ‘to abuse or revile verbally’ (Chambers)
‘Spenser’s miscalled’ immediately suggested to me ‘Spenser’s version of miscalled’ i.e. REVILED, which is the wrong way round for the clue but, of course, it can be taken – as it must be – as ‘Spenser’s miscalled’ = (to others) REVILED.”]
I am surprised no one has commented that Brendan’s grid here is almost identical to yesterday’s by Picaroon, the only difference being that two squares are here blacked out in position 14 in the LH column and position 2 in the RH column, creating 5-letter across solutions in the adjacent lights rather than 6s. Yesterday too there was a cryptic link between the pairs of across solutions. I found this very striking, but perhaps I am alone.
We always come to the crossword (and 225), when the hurly burly’s done, so late to the party.
However….
Allegri Miserere – Mozart did indeed transcribe it from memory after one hearing, as a child.
The Miserere we hear has evolved considerably from the one he heard, which would have been much simpler, without the soaring high notes. There was a Radio 3 programme on it some years which played the different versions in order. Fascinating.
Oops…
Should have checked my homework.
Mr Wikipedia says that by 1760 (before) Mozart is said to have transcribed it) it was a well-known and frequently performed piece.
And the main aspect of secrecy earlier on related to the ornamentation.
Sorry. Blush.
I would love to know how Brendan manages to so consistently compile such brilliant crosswords. How would they even start with this? I have the Crossword Compiler program (I’m *very* amateur) and can see how they may be able to do decent gridfillage, but this is end-of-all-the-levels, end of level boss shit. Excellent work.
What an absolute corker, Brendan at his most Brendanic. Strangely I spotted the likely theme from the first two clues: though IMAGO was relatively obscure to me, and EXOGAMIC was assembled from the parsing and a guess at the definition, I was lucky enough to spot the reversed letters.
I may have been on the lookout for something like this seeing it was Brendan, and following Picaroon’s superb and not dissimilar puzzle yesterday.
Loads of fun, with everything fair and entertaining. The theme did provide a short cut to solving a couple of the across clues, but wasn’t really needed as everything was fairly clued, even the composer I had never heard of before!
[There is an argument (though not without nay-sayers) that Palestrina was extremely important in Renaissance music. The Council of Trent was considering banning polyphonic music as the words were unintelligible. Palestrina composed the MIssa Papae Marcelli to disprove this. See here.]
Spotted the device at the mid-way point, mainly because of the comments, then proceeded to use it as a checker mostly. I had assumed up to then the “theme” would consist of musically related items, and had been looking forward to winkling them out. I suppose there were a few, in the end. Amazed myself yet again by spending way too long on “ELECTRIC”. Did anybody else immediately start singing Bowie at the eureka moment?
The thing that gets me about Brendan is that the incredibly imaginative grid-fills never get in the way of brilliant clue writing. This was a fine example of his genius.
I would say, with Shanne@40, that there are enough music references to make that at least a secondary theme. Shanne lists most of them, but she missed 18d ELECTRIC, that in the clue had the title of Miles Davis’s greatest (some say, including me) album, Kind of Blue.
5d MISERERE and 6d PALESTRINA made me think of a concert I heard years ago in Bermuda with the Tallis Scholars singing a program of Palestrina, with the Allegri Miserere thrown in for good measure – never to be forgotten. Alan@2 and Eileen@5, thanks for the references link.
And thanks, TimC, for the Cat Empire link. Did anyone else hear echos of Leonard Cohen in that song? It was beautifully performed, only slightly marred by the audience drowning out the quiet bits at the end.
Eileen, here is your predictable hemi-demi-semi-objection to “crescendo”. It may by acceptable as a synonym of “climax” if used in a figurative, metaphorical, and therefore non-music context. But if a musician treated a “crescendo” as a climax, they would be doing the composer a disservice.
Balfour @72
I mentioned the linked pairs connection with Picaroon’s puzzle in my preamble and 1961Blanchflower @76 has made a similar comment, so you’re not alone. 😉
I am not sure I have understood the explanations of the theme. I thought there were the following words: MAGIC, ABASE, PRET, DELIVERED, DIALED, TRACTOR, CLAIM. Some exterior letters are ignored in each line, otherwise the remainder of the letters are pairs of “anagrams” of each word in each line, making use of the middle letter in each case.
So GAMICIMAG has two anagram fodders for MAGIC.
ABASE is an anagram of ESAAB
TERPRET
AMILCLIMA
LAIDEDDIALED (though DELAID DIALED would be neater)
TRACTORART
Thank you, cellomaniac @79, especially for your first sentence – an excellent summary.
Our upcoming choir concert includes Vivaldi Gloria and Puccini Messa di Gloria (+ Haydn Te Deum) but my first thoughts this morning flew to the Allegri, which we memorably (for me) sang several years ago in our cathedral and I was so pleased to see that AlanC had the same thought and supplied the link. Thanks to other contributors for thoughts on this.
I was also very grateful for Tim C’s Cat Empire link.
Dave Ellison @81 – I’ve only just noticed that your comment crept in while I was typing mine and I’m sorry but I just can’t understand it.
I can only refer you to Valentine @68, who expressed it rather better than I did.
Having failed on most of the across clues on a first run through I only had the T when I came to 18d and DIANTHUS (horticultural name for the flower pink) sprang to mind. Not surprisingly, it wouldn’t parse.
Thanks to Brendan and Eileen
Eileen, yes I noticed that you had alluded to the linked pairs, but before that, it was the nearly-identical grid that had struck me. I most frequently solve in the small hours (here between 12.20 and 1.00) and to try to conjure myself back to sleep I will put the puzzle aside and see how much of the grid I can refill from memory. This is sometimes a sad chastisement of my fading mental powers, but last night I had constantly to stop myself refilling the lights with the remembered equivalent solutions from the night before,
I presume the slight quibble about crescendo is that, musically, it isn’t something which is reached but the whole run of notes.
I only previously looked for a theme from Qaos so must add Brendan. It was nice of Eileen to hint at a theme giving me a chance to go back and find it for myself.
Thanks Brendan and Eileen
We worked out EXOGAMIC and IMAGO and I spent a little while staring at the pair of unusual words thinking there was something going on; then spotted it and it certainly helped with the rest of the grid. Loved how neither the “queen” nor the “monarch” were human! Neither of us had heard of PA.E.T.I.A and it’s got far too many plausible anagrams to Google all the possibilities, so oh well. And once we spotted what REVILED and DELIVER had to be, I was hoping that the breakup would be parallel as well: one cluing EVIL going into RED, the other cluing LIVE going into DER… But sadly not. Still a superb puzzle with loads of fun – thanks!
I enjoyed exploring this amazing crossword! Managed about 2/3 before needing some extra clues from the checkers – it took me all day – and like most of you, didn’t spot the theme but once I saw it here found it quite brilliant!
Lovely puzzle. Baffled on the first pass; got all but 4 of them on the second pass; those 4 seemed easy when I came back a day later.
Spotted the theme (for the first time!) too late for it to do me any good in the solving. Some day…