GAFF kicks off the week with a centenary puzzle…
Themed on the birthday of the wonderful Kenneth Williams a century ago yesterday. As a fan of Round the Horne I loved this puzzle, despite some of the slightly obscure words. I’ve highlighted the references that I found obvious, though there are perhaps a few others that I could argue for.
POLARI, WILLIAMS, RAMBLER (Rambling Syd Rumpo), GRUNTFUTTOCK, INFAMIES (they’ve all got it in for me), CARRY ON JACK, ROUND THE HORNE, STOP MESSING ABOUT, Julian and SANDY
Thanks GAFF!
POLARI[s] (star, endless)
Double (cryptic) definition
Referring to Pharrell Williams probably
Double definition
F (load) + [b]UTTOCK (behind, B (bravo) from)
A + JAR (container)
NO MINOR (instruction to ban child) admitting (A + T (temperature))
(ID EVEN)* (*chop)
MESSI (footballer, Lionel Messi) + (OUT (dismissed) after (N (new) + GAB (gossip)))
Quadruple definition
([h]AIR UNA[dvisedly] (bit of))< (<retired)
(EACH PANEL)* (*assembled)
Double definition
(SHORTEN)* (*performance)
DOTING (too caring) to take T (time)
“eyes” = I’s (“soundly) – dotting the “i”s and crossing the “t”s
[p]OUND (buffet, start off) during REST (break)
A + PP (couple of pages) + END (conclusion)
(NEAT PARK)* (*runs wild)
LO (see) + MBA (graduate) + R (right) + (AID)< (help, <upcoming)
[mac]RO LE[ns] (in)
IN FAMI[li]IES (how people live, losing LI[fe] (half of))
(SIGNAL IT IN)* (*distress)
S[h]AKERS (US sect, H[unt] (start to) missing)
G[et] R[ather] U[ncertain] N[aming] T[heir] (leaders)
O (old) + (VERSE (poem) contains PR (publicity)) + AD (nowadays)
(TARR[y] (delay, endless))< (<turned) into NAIVE (innocent)
MOLES (spies) hold ASS (back side)
AGED (old) under PACK (dogs)
THE, [ban]NER (bottom half of) outside
Double definition
(FOUR C[ountries] (start))* (*manoeuvring)
(POST)* (*dismantled)
Kenneth split between 1d and 22d
Sorry, but I think you’ve highlighted the wrong bit of NETHER. Shouldn’t it be the KEN in PARTAKEN and the NETH in NETHER to make…… KENNETH ?
I don’t think I would have completed this without the theme. A guilty pleasure. I had Will.I.Am as the rapper.
I loved the theme, although for me he was all about the carry on films. I was also expecting something around Hancock’s half hour, or did I miss it? think the rapper may be Will.Iam which makes the ‘s work but would need one of the kids to confirm that rap is the right classification of his oeuvre. Liked stop which I now recognise as a fission. Thanks both.
4A: The first definition is referring to WILL.I.AM’S, of the Black Eyed Peas.
I found the right half of this puzzle quite challenging.
I am passingly familiar with the Carry On films, and I googled Kenneth Williams, but that is about it as deep as my knowledge of the theme went.
BTW almost any of the words in the grid would sound lewd if Kenneth Williams said them, but I don’t think that’s enough to claim them for the theme.
Cineraria #5. Another vote for WILL.I.AM’S at 4ac
Yes, loved all his oeuvre, especially Rumpo a-dangling of his nadgers etc (and credit to writers, Marty Feldman et al). What a wonderfully rich pageant British comedy is, all the way back to jesters and mummers and beyond …
Thanks Gaff, and Teacow, for the tribute.
Thanks for the blog and the grid , there was a large feature article in the Guardian this weekend so POLARI alerted me straight away . The theme led to a few obscurities in other answers but the clues were fair .
Two fission clues for PACKAGED and STOP and the rarer fusion for MOLASSES .
I am beginning to fear major anniversaries in case another Gozo puzzle appears.
AJAR was a neat clue, but I saw it somewhere else recently. I also liked GRUNT, OVERSPREAD, JACK, HORNETS, and DOTTING.
I too only know Kenneth Williams in Carry On movies, which I have not watched since I was an early teenager. Like Cineraria@5, I found parts of this challenging.
Thanks Gozo, but this did not do much for me. Thanks Teacow for the blog
I gave up on this. I was really not enjoying it at all.
Self-indulgent nostalgia for septuagenarians.
Martyn @ 10
The setter is Gaff, not Gozo.
Apart from “Carry On” most of the Kenneth Williams material was a bit before my time so the theme was not as evident but it did not stop the puzzle being completed.
I had a few queries about some clues e.g.
“four countries start…” – surely this lacks an apostrophe for the word play?
“I’d even chop…” – how does “chop” work as an anagrind here? If it preceded the grist it could be an imperative.
“signal it in distress” – again I cannot see how “distress” alone can be an instruction to make an anagram.
Maybe I am being a bit of a stickler for cryptic grammar but these niggled in the context of many other ingenious clues such as “infamies” and the very concise double definitions which drew effectively from quite separate meanings of the words.
I stumbled to a halt early so today’s blog has been delightful as well as enlightening. James P #4, I believe “Stop Messing About” started life in Hancock’s Half Hour, and was later much used in other comic roles such as those in Round the Horne.
Thanks Simon S@12 – indeed I used the wrong setter’s name – quite a gaff.
Apologies to both Gaff and Gozo, and thanks to Gaff for the puzzle
Karen @ 11
“nostalgia for septuagenarians” – very late septuagenarians perhaps. I remember my dad (b 1920) roaring at Round the Horne but at 5ish all I noticed were funny voices. Curious how such a sad guy made so many people laugh. This wasn’t my cuppa either, Karen, I lost interest with the whole NE uncompleted. I did like 27D, 21A and 29A.
We found it FABULOSO!
Listened as kids and loved Round the Horne…Our 30 ish offspring all big fans of Round the Horne growing up, from an mp3 of the complete (several) series. Still listen to them when driving to keep us entertained, even though we almost know them by heart. Direct descendants of music hall comedy as ginf notes.
Thanks to Gaff and Teacow