It’s Tuesday. We have a Knut crossword to solve and blog. We’re looking forward to this!
It’s Tuesday and Knut is known for his themed puzzles. We had CREAM at one point and BAKER at one point but were confused that we also had BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY by Queen. So, it was unlikely that we would have ERIC, CLAPTON, JACK or BRUCE in the final grid.
It wasn’t until near the end when we realised we had hit songs from our era with 2 word titles:
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY by Queen (1975)
WATERLOO SUNSET by The Kinks (1967)
EVERYBODY DANCE by Chic (1977)
BAKER STREET by Gerry Rafferty (1978)
KARMA CHAMELEON by Culture Club (1983)
As expected, we did enjoy this so thanks to Knut – it brought back some great memories.
B (bishop) TE (as in T E Lawrence) around or ‘taking’ ERA (long time)
CREAM (elite) TEAm (side) missing last letter or ‘failing to finish’
HEAR (try) To LAND (set down aircraft) missing O (oxygen)
Hidden (’embodied by’) in RagnaröK/ARMAgeddon
MY (Knut’s) around or ‘covering’ IST (first)
CHA (tea) MELON (fruit) around or ‘fed’ E (earl)
AUDI (German car) and first letters or ‘starts’ from Berlin Loud Exhaust
MOOD (atmosphere) reversed or ‘on reflection’
cONCErt (gig) without CRT (cathode ray tube – TV) around or ‘covering’
A (ace) T (tenor) inside SATIE (French composer)
An anagram (‘bucks’) of BRING HER A
Double definition with Ginger referring to Ginger Baker, the drummer in Cream. As a side note, we got engaged after the last Cream concert in the Royal Albert Hall back in 1968. We saw them again at the Albert Hall when they reunited in 2005.
j D vANCE (US Vice President) missing or ‘putting out’ J (judge) and V (very)
Hidden (‘invited to’) and reversed or ‘retired’ in birthdaY DO BY REVErend
An anagram (‘sorted’) of LATER in WOO (court)
SUN (newspaper) SET (ready for printing)
An anagram (‘throw’) of HIM A BONE
An anagram (‘played’) of HARPS plus lOuDlY (alternate letters only or ‘periodically’)
Double definition with neep referring to neeps and tatties
RED (embarrassed) CARD (comedian)
An anagram (‘modelling’) of LOOK AT BEN
TURnKEY (old jailer) with N (north) ‘leaving’
nAVAl jUNTa missing first and last letters or ‘taking sides’
GAUCHo (cowboy) missing last letter or ‘endless’ plus E (energy)
An anagram (‘fomenting’) of UNI BOVVER
TOP (best) inside or ‘stored in’ TANKS (armoured vehicles)
P (first letter or ‘head’ of Prince) plus an anagram (‘lolling’) of REGENT around or ‘bored by’ Y (last or ‘final’ letter of Mussorgsky)
E (English) CO (company) under or ‘supporting’ ELGaR (English composer) without or ‘firing’ ‘a’
S (small) TREE (oak possibly) on T (first or ‘principal’ letter of Taunton)
AD (commercial) inside or ‘put in’ SHOW (appearance)
BRAND (as in Russell Brand) and T (last letter of court) – former German chancellor Willy Brandt
First letters or ‘leaders’ of Birmingham Alabama Yearly Open Up
Very smoothly done – a nice collection to make the theme and super cluing throughout. Not a duff clue to be seen and it’s really hard to pick individual clues to highlight. But it’s a cop-out to name no names so I shall tag HEARTLAND – lovely surface image; CHAMELEON – funny; HARBINGER – great use of Bucks and the newspaper does exist; DANCE for the JV spot; BOHEMIAN – brilliant anagram; AVAUNT – again for the laugh; and PEER GYNT for such a credible surface. But I could easily go on. Splendid puzzle.
Thanks Knut and B&J
COTD: KARMA. Brilliant surface.
Other faves: HEARTLAND, CHAMELEON, HARBINGER and STREET.
Thanks Knut and B&J.
A lovely Tuesday treat
Thanks very much to Knut and B&J
‘What crypticsue said.’ 😉
Tricky in places.. Willy Brandt not top of my list of famous figures, and I could have spent a long time before seeing CRT for TV.. all the rest were witty n pretty fair, and the (unseen) theme wasn’t required for the solve, phew!
Thanks Knut and Bertandjoyce
Lovely puzzle, thanks Knut.
[And a lovely Cream story, BandJ. That year, my then girlfriend and I first heard their eponymous album, on our scratchy portable. We went our separate ways but, for our final years, we are now housemates again. I will dig out the vinyl!]
A very accomplished puzzle, in which I found a lot of clever stuff.
But whilst everyone else is billing and cooing, I found it bit niche, and a bit naff, in places.
” Famous figure Willy”, 23(ac), combined with Russell Brand, to get BRANDT. OK. I am of an age, to recall the German politician, but it’s a poor wordplay to get to a poor solution.
Ditto, Ginger Baker and Cream. Johnny Mathis.
Then a theme of random songs ( two-words?). Yes, I know them all, and it’s all very nostalgic, but I don’t see any connectivity.
Were they all top of the charts on 24th June?
Are they the Knut’s favourites to dance to ?
Do the songs include “Misty”, “Waterloo”, “Heartland”, and “Harbinger of Doom”?
Plus, I very much dislike the totally unnecessary ” b*gger off”, for AVAUNT in 8(d). What does this bring to the surface reading? B*gger all. Many, many better and craftier options.
Is: Ragnaro[K/ ARMA]geddon , a cunning hidden word play, for the definition FATE? 11(ac).
It’s a crossword which most will applaud, but I’m booing and killing. Knut for me.
Sorry, but thanks to K and Bert&Joyce
Shadow by The Lurkers, Once by Pearl Jam and Heartland by The Sisters Of Mercy? Maybe not…
Good fun, thx Knut and B&J.
An excellent crossword with some brilliant memories arising from the slightly oddball theme (which for once I spotted).
Many thanks to Knut for the fun and B&J for the review.
I can imagine that the Bucks Herald is often a harbinger of doom ( can you have a harbinger of anything else these days?) so that was my favourite. I couldn’t help wondering if anything else linked the songs?
Thanks for the blog, dear B&J, and thanks to those who have left a comment.
That’s a nice story about you two lovebirds at a Cream gig!
Best wishes to all, Rob/Knut
I’m more of the @1 than the @7 camp here. Lovely crossword, and a fun theme. Two-word megahits seems enough of a connection. Thanks to Knut and B&J, who I hope enjoyed their walk down memory lane.
Thank you Knut for the entertainment – good fun, even if a majority of the theme songs were definitely not on my desert island selection. I now have a head full of competing earworms.
Thank you also B&J for explaining ONCE, which I totally failed to parse.
Thanks Knut for an enjoyable crossword with excellent clues & memorable pop tunes as an extra attraction. My top picks were BAKER, the nicely hidden EVERYBODY, WATERLOO, BOHEMIAN, and PEER GYNT, the latter for its surface imagery. Thanks B&J for the blog.
Well, as usual, all those pop references meant little to me. The reference to Erik Satie, and all the ads recently for Radio 3 Satie-day did make me think at first there might be a theme more suited to me. (It’s the centenary of Satie’s death next week.)
Thanks both. The theme was right up my (BAKER) STREET although I don’t readily recognise EVERYBODY DANCE as much of the others – it created as small problem as TURKEY might have led to ‘cold’, BAYOU might have accompanied blue, and we have harbinger and doom as already referenced, but frankly give me those kind of issues any day.