Winter is coming.
Wordplay in all but one down clue contains an extra letter that must be removed to enable solving; these letters spell a name and a location associated with an occurrence of the theme. Answers in six rows and the way they must be entered are also associated with the theme. Solvers must highlight the theme in the completed grid and a possible reason for the occurrence.
Which can mean only one thing – the extravaganza of sequins and sparkle which is Strictly. At least, I assume that is what Serpent had in mind this week. CHOREOMANIA, which is Dancing Mania to you and me, made famous by the Dancing Plague in STRASBOURG back in ye olde days. And no, that’s not the name of an obscure punk band. Apparently FRAU TROFFEA was the first unfortunate victim. Who knew? Well, Wikipedia and presumably Serpent.
As is my wont too, we’re stepping pretty badly out of line, with instances of BARN, SLAM, HULA, ROPE, CLOG and LINE dancing all over the place, some would say due to a veritable FRENZY, HYSTERIA, DISORDER, INSANITY, or even because the dancers were RAVING, almost as if they were suffering from some sort of DEMENTIA. Yep, those are the ones we had to mix up. Going large.
ERGOTISM apparently used to be a favourite suspected cause of the above madness, ERGOT being somewhat akin to LSD in ways I profess to having not spent too long studying, but is now a little out of favour. Nevertheless it’s there in the grid, and nobody seems to have a better suggestion.
Anyway, Strictly. The wonderful Amy Dowden is back this year, local to this area. Pre-pandemic when my youngest danced at her old studio she used to come back occasionally to do free lessons for the kids, photos, autographs, that sort of thing. Whoever she’s dancing with tends to get our vote. But this year we also have extra Welsh interest courtesy of Wynne Evans, so two votes may be in order. Oh, and there’s Chris McCausland too to enjoy and wonder at. Bring on the spangle.
It’s like it’s catching, isn’t it?
| Clue | Answer | Extra Letter | Wordplay | |
| Across | ||||
| 1 | Crop’s field is replaced by new farm building (4) | BARN | BARley replacing ley with N | |
| 4 | Depression primarily is about suppressing one’s cognitive decline (8) | DEMENTIA | DENT I A about ME (one) | |
| 11 | Unusual mental cases to do with one hormone (9) | MELATONIN | An anagram of “mental” about ON I | |
| 12 | Transport Cook round Eastern New Zealand (6) | FRENZY | FR(E NZ)Y | |
| 13 | Criticise contract leaving nothing for competitors (4) | SLAM | A double definition I’m led to believe – See comments below: “The second part seems to refer to a SLAM in the game of bridge. |
|
| 14 | Who are not parvenus or nobles? (8, 2 words) | OLD MONEY | Cryptic Def. – they’re not new or necessarily noble | |
| 15 | Moves in one state drag America to the right (4) | HULA | HAUL shifting A to the right | |
| 17 | Unstable state may be dismantled this year (8) | HYSTERIA | An anagram of “this year” | |
| 20 | What leads to our ribald gaiety on vacation? (4) | ORGY | First letters from Our Ribald + GaietY on vacation for the sort of event you always seem to read about but never get invited to | |
| 21 | Take off attempt to hide theatrical behaviour? (6) | DECAMP | Cryptic Def. | |
| 24 | Boring Labour candidate’s first man to eclipse Tory’s limitations (5) | CHORE | C H(OR)E | |
| 25 | Foreigner within European country’s borders (5) | OMANI | rOMANIa | |
| 27 | Punishment can silence guards (6) | GATING | GA(TIN)G – a new one to me | |
| 29 | What mixed with edgy air makes angry tirade? (4) | RANT | An anagram of RANT with “edgy air” would give you “angry tirade” | |
| 31 | Confusion is dividing revolutionary Labour staff (8) | DISORDER | IS dividing a reversal of RED ROD | |
| 33 | Hitchcock film’s great twist? (4) | ROPE | A double definition of sorts, with the latter more than a little cryptic. | |
| 34 | Republican consumed by narcissism poisoned state (8) | ERGOTISM | E(R)GOTISM | |
| 37 | Clubs record anything that gets in the way (4) | CLOG | C LOG | |
| 38 | Newspaper accepts very popular writing with great enthusiasm (6) | RAVING | RA(V IN)G | |
| 39 | Implement hosting academic publisher’s page, without delay (9) | SOUPSPOON | S(OUP’S P)OON – in this neck of the woods we just have big spoons and tea spoons. | |
| 40 | This is very stupid whether it’s succeeded or not (8) | INSANITY | Both INANITY and INSANITY are pretty damn stupid | |
| 41 | Policy to strengthen juvenile punishment mainly (4) | LINE | LINEs | |
| Down | ||||
| 1 | Leave unoriginal broadcast, if ignored completely (8, 2 words) | RUN ALONG | F | An anagram of “unoriginal” without the I’s |
| 2 | Arab argued about South Africa in marketplace (6) | BAZAAR | R | An anagram (agued) of “arab” about ZA |
| 3 | Radical may empty aerosol cans (4) | AMYL | A | A(MY)L – think Amyl and the Sniffers |
| 4 | Worse off suffer, caused by never losing heart (7) | NEEDIER | U | DIE cased by NEvER |
| 5 | Steward’s tact encapsulated by great moment (9) | MAJOR-DOMO | T | MAJOR DO (act) MO |
| 6 | Telegraph officer probes some weakness (5) | ATONY | R | A(TO – Telegraph office)NY |
| 7 | Book in honour of court servants (4) | TOME | O | TO MEn |
| 8 | Crown desperately fending off tabloid media (6) | DIADEM | F | An anagram of D (ending off tabloid) + “media” |
| 9 | Admit having left at the back entrance (5) | INLET | F | IN + LET |
| 10 | Dream anything at all when times are hard (7) | DROUGHT | E | D (dram) OUGHT |
| 16 | You almost concealed pains relating to bone (5) | HYOID | A | HID pins YOu |
| 18 | Has being excluded from rough passage affected years in school? (9, 2 words) | AGE GROUPS | An anagram of “rough passage” without the letters from HAS. Ah yes, Autumn, that dreaded back to school feeling. | |
| 19 | Fights lowering resistance and protective inclination (5) | SCARP | S | SCRAP (singular) moving the R |
| 22 | Cases closest in current base turned sickly (7) | ANAEMIC | T | CA (cases) closes in I + MEAN all reversed |
| 23 | Ran over to charge police providing support (8) | PATRONAL | R | AN reversed inside PATROL |
| 26 | Club lifted rule curbing aid linked to institute (7) | MIDIRON | A | ID (aID) + I inside a reversal of NORM (rule) |
| 28 | Voice arguments against mechanism to control the atmosphere (6) | AIRCON | S | AIR CON (singular) |
| 30 | Busby going ultimately on head (6) | NOGGIN | B | An anagram (busy) of “going” + N |
| 31 | Some singers also attempt to dance (5) | SALSA | O | Hidden inside singersS ALS Attempt. Careful readers will note the missing O. |
| 32 | Evacuate guest after start of epidemic (5) | EGEST | U | E GuEST, which was very generous of Serpent, I thought. |
| 35 | Substandard work stops trips on railway (4) | ROPY | R | OP stops tips on RailwaY |
| 36 | Grounded people like not having money for themselves (4) | SANE | G | A reversal (rounded) of MEN AS without the M for money. Definition is “for themselves” – rounded people. |
SLAM
The second part seems to refer to a SLAM in the game of bridge.
(a contract in which you win all tricks and leave nothing to the competitors)
OLD MONEY
Found this online:
The noble was a gold coin introduced by King Edward III in 1351 that was worth six shillings and eight pence, or one-third of a pound.
nobles? =OLD MONEY (I guess)
not ‘new MONEY’ (parvenus)
DECAMP
Is it one def+one CD
Def 1: Take off
CD
theatrical behaviour=CAMP
attempt to hide CAMP=DE-CAMP?
As usual, an interesting theme, a PDM and high quality clueing. Very enjoyable.
Agree with KVa about SLAM and NOBLE, though it’s only a grand slam that denies any tricks to the opposition; in a small slam they can win one (of a total of thirteen). Not sure about SANE as a definition of rounded people; it feels more appropriate for grounded people, but we’ve lost the G…….Anyway, a straightforward solve once Strasbourg started to emerge at the bottom, so that Wikipedia could be deployed. But I never made the link with the reappearance of modern Choreomania, and am impressed at Jon’s knowledge. Thanks to him and Serpent.
Sagittarius@4
SANE
I think you are right about the def. The ‘themselves’ refer to the ‘grounded people’ but the ‘grounded’ becomes ’rounded’ only for the WP.
Nice puzzle made easier by a Google punt of “FRAU T” leadig me directly to the Theme.
Though surely not actually a true story? It did read like something that a mischievous Wikipedia contributor might have made up, in the hope that one day it would get picked up more widely…
Much enjoyed here. All thanks to Serpent and Jon_S. Before getting 25A I guessed CHORE would be part of some kind of CHOREA and what do you know — Googling on FRAU CHOREA got me there. I should get a newer Chambers: mine doesn’t have CHOREOMANIA, which slowed me a bit.
@4, @5 — I ended up up with that reasoning too, but with a nagging sense that I might be missing something.
@7 I’m not sure Choreomania is in any Chambers, but it was hiding in the most obvious place so didn’t take too long to spot (although I checked the diagonals for DANCING CRAZE / MANIA first…)
Ergotism has frequently been posited as the cause of the behaviour that ultimately led to the Salem witch trials. I recall watching a documentary years ago which rather powerfully noted the correlation between areas in Europe and the US producing rye bread and outbreaks of weird behaviour. Unproven of course but an interesting theory.
Arnold@6 – the Dancing Plague does indeed sound incredible, but references to it begin centuries before Wikipedia. I haven’t checked the original source material, but reputable historians quote sober contemporary records from all over Europe; it was a known phenomenon that wasn’t confined to Strasbourg but crops up fairly regularly between 1300 and 1700, though the Strasbourg outbreak was the biggest.
He/She’s not feeling him/herself is the same as they’re not feeling themselves. As Chambers gives sane as a meaning of him/herself, it can also be used for themselves.
The X Man@11
SANE
Your parsing seems apt. My earlier reading was wrong.