SLEUTH kicks off the week with a centenary puzzle…
A very enjoyable puzzle. The centenary, I assume, is the birth of actor Richard Burton. CLEOPATRA, CHURCHILL, SHANNON, BECKET and HAMLET certainly are part of the theme, but I'm sure there are more. Over to the commenters…
Thanks SLEUTH!
ACROSS
9. Completely enthusiastic about short story (2,5)
IN TOTAL
INTO (enthusiastic about) + TAL[e] (story, short)
10. Recall outstanding writer with endless tramp in area for artists? (7)
BOHEMIA
(AI (outstanding) + ME (writer) with HOB[o] (tramp, endless))< (<recall)
11. Thing worn over the shoulders in rickshaw, lately (5)
SHAWL
12. Loan Dane arranged to include pounds for the public? (3,3,3)
ONE AND ALL
(LOAN DANE)* (*arranged) to include L (pounds)
13. Primitive set of dishes covering messy dive (8)
MEDIEVAL
MEAL (set of dishes) covering (DIVE)* (*messy)
14. Where one drinks in sweltering Australian city (6)
HOBART
BAR (where one drinks) in HOT (sweltering)
16. Standard name in Paris to describe Republican (4)
NORM
NOM (name, in Paris) to describe R (republican)
18. Good space for stable employee (5)
GROOM
19. Stick note in bundle (4)
WAND
23. Irish playwright cited martyr (6)
BECKET
Double definition
Samuel and Thomas
24. Part-time journalist resting after recreation around end of summer (8)
STRINGER
(RESTING)* (*after recreation) around [summe]R (end of)
26. Dramatist is mean-spirited type about much of Spanish-speaking country (9)
CHURCHILL
CHURL (mean spirited type) about CHIL[e] (Spanish-speaking country)
Caryl Churchill
28. Views the smallest room with walls in Kansas (5)
LOOKS
LOO (the smallest room) with K[ansa]S (walls in)
29. Like some bathrooms in clubs, say, in three directions (2,5)
EN SUITE
SUIT (clubs, say) in ENE (three directions, East North East)
30. Activate tense person to work on sails (7)
TRIGGER
T (tense) + RIGGER (person to work on sails)
DOWN
1. Leading scholar close to screen for film about space (5,3)
FIRST MAN
FIRST (leading) + MA (scholar) + [scree]N (close to)
2. Leave helpless certain element (6)
STRAND
3. Wooden soprano given a listing? (7)
STILTED
S (soprano) + TILTED (given a listing)
4. Tragic figure caught on sign over sunless Greek city (9)
CLEOPATRA
C (caught) on LEO (sign) over PATRA[s] (Greek city, S (sun) less)
5. Music maker in top boozer on a regular basis (4)
OBOE
[t]O[p] B[o]O[z]E[r] (on a regular basis)
6. Quiet woman at work is Irish banker (7)
SHANNON
SH (quiet) + ANN (woman) + ON (at work)
7. Name a pad that’s prepared Spanish turnover (8)
EMPANADA
(NAME A PAD)* (*that's prepared)
8. Hard metal manufactured in small rural settlement (6)
HAMLET
H (hard) + (METAL)* (*manufactured)
15. What concerns ethicist about origin of this human trait (9)
MORTALITY
MORALITY (what concerns ethicist) about T[his] (origin of)
17. Option concerning Cheltenham, perhaps (8)
RECOURSE
RE (concerning) + COURSE (Cheltenham, perhaps)
20. Absurdly small and unusually sorry side with no end of duds (8)
DERISORY
([s]ORRY SIDE (with no [dud]S (end of)))* (*unusually)
21. Tips for tutee a prominent feature in informal educational meeting (5-2)
TEACH-IN
T[ute]E (tips for) + A + CHIN (prominent feature)
22. Gangster in largely hideous US city ring uncovered (7)
VILLAIN
VIL[e] (hideous, largely) + LA (US city) + [r]IN[g] (uncovered)
23. British selector losing power in quarrel (6)
BICKER
B (British) + [p]ICKER (selector, losing P (power))
25. European entering ravine is pilot on a set course (6)
GEORGE
E (European) entering GORGE (ravine)
Nickname for an autopilot system
27. Pair in lift beam at intervals (4)
ITEM
[l]I[f]T [b]E[a]M (at intervals)
That’s what I thought, Teacow. Very good puzzle overall.
For 23a, however, it’s Samuel Beckett (‘cited’) to give the martyr, Thomas.
Thanks to Sleuth and Teacow.
GEORGE in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
SHANNON in Night of the Iguana.
Liked IN TOTAL, HOBART, CHURCHILL, EN SUITE, MORTALITY and VILLAIN.
Thanks Sleuth and Teacow.
Came up against a brick wall in the SE, I’m afraid, and only had a couple of solves down there. Otherwise I managed it, even though what I know about Richard Burton beyond Elizabeth Taylor would not take up much of anyone’s time. 24a and 20d were Doh! when I saw the answers, but I did not know George. That’s a good one to remember . . . Thanks to Sleuth and to Teacow.
Thought this was going to be easy until it wasn’t.
Completely missed the theme.
Liked medieval, mortality.
The theme (which I noticed for once – very often I go straight into the puzzle, all guns blazing and don’t notice that there’s a heading) eluded me. I thought possibly it might be cricket-based when I saw Hobart, but there were no other answers to back that up. I was also looking for themes that would include Bohemia.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard a river described as a banker before, but there it is in Chambers: “A river full to the top of its banks (Aust and NZ).
Babbler @6: in British cryptics, “banker” is about a thousand times more likely to be a river than a financier, so keep that one in your tool kit for later use. Similarly “flower”, though there the ratio between rivers and plants is only about 3 to 1.
I found this all good fun, but needed to come here for the theme. Thanks to Teacow for that, and to Sleuth for the fun.
As well as Winston CHURCHILL in The Gathering Storm (1974) and BECKET in the film of the same name (1964), he was GEORGE in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) T. Laurance SHANNON in The Night of the Iguana (1964) and FIRST MAN in the 1971 production of Under Milk Wood.
Also starred in the film VILLAIN (1971).
It wasn’t difficult to guess which centenary the puzzle celebrated, but it took us a while to see all the references. CLEOPATRA and HAMLET were obvious but, not being film buffs, we needed help to confirm our other guesses. And like many themed puzzles this could be solved without knowing the theme.
Thanks, Sleuth and Teacow.