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For once I do have something to say about an Everyman cryptic other than the usual comments about smooth surfaces etc.
I was rather surprised by the definition in 9ac when there are other possibilities that could have been used (I wasn’t aware of that LP until today, though I had heard of the singer). It seemed a little unusual for this setter.
Across
1 Agree with piece about unfinished theory (8)
COINCIDE – COIN (piece) C (about) IDE[a] (unfinished theory)
5 Conflict followed by retreat of revolutionary guard (6)
WARDER – WAR (conflict) RED (revolutionary) reversed (retreat of)
9 Records? Seek album by Carole King (8)
TAPESTRY – TAPES (records) TRY (seek)
10 Hurried south-east in country (6)
CHASED – SE (south-east) in CHAD (country)
12 Recipient in middle of appeal securing positive vote (5)
PAYEE – [ap]PE[al] (middle of appeal) around (securing) AYE (positive vote)
13 Angle in market economy ultimately without regard for others (9)
SELFISHLY – FISH (angle) in SELL (market) [econom]Y (economy ultimately)
14 Perfume advert, we learn, all over the place (8,5)
LAVENDER WATER – an anagram (all over the place) of ADVERT WE LEARN
17 Check evidence for restoration (13)
REINSTATEMENT – REIN (check) STATEMENT (evidence)
21 Relaxed criminal needs to admit deficiency (9)
SLACKENED – an anagram (criminal) of NEEDS around (to admit) LACK (deficiency)
22 Drone having half of that drink (5)
THRUM – TH[at] (half of that) RUM (drink)
24 Extract from novel I cite (6)
ELICIT – contained in (from) ‘novEL I CITe’
25 Barrier protecting most of noble Italian city (8)
FLORENCE – FENCE (barrier) around (protecting) LOR[d] (most of noble)
26 Security in place beside border (6)
PLEDGE – PL (place) EDGE (border)
27 One couple in trouble missing old luxury (8)
OPULENCE – an anagram (in trouble) of ONE C[o]UPLE (one couple … missing old)
Down
1 Launch religious group, receiving a knock (8)
CATAPULT – CULT (religious group) around (receiving) A TAP (a knock)
2 Just ignoring small hint (5)
IMPLY – [s]IMPLY (just ignoring small)
3 In command up ahead of rear in tank (7)
CISTERN – IC (in command) reversed (up) STERN (rear)
4 Novelist in party, not so much in revolt (5,7)
DORIS LESSING – DO (party) plus LESS (not so much) in RISING (revolt)
6 Article in middle part lacking weight for non-believer (7)
ATHEIST – THE (article) in [w]AIST (middle part lacking weight)
7 Free / performance (9)
DISCHARGE – double def.
8 Unwanted effect in photo from overnight flight (3-3)
RED-EYE – double def.
11 Sign of impatience from audience had clowns blundering on stage (4,8)
SLOW HANDCLAP – an anagram (blundering) of HAD CLOWNS followed by LAP (stage)
15 Revision of a list, ever flexible (9)
VERSATILE – an anagram of (revision of) A LIST EVER
16 Charge in printed English (8)
STAMPEDE – STAMPED (printed) E (English)
18 Popular monarch harbouring large suspicion (7)
INKLING – IN (popular) plus KING (monarch) around (harbouring) L (large)
19 Delight in umpteenth rally (7)
ENTHRAL – contained in (in) ‘umpteENTH RALly’
20 Numb when on strip going north (6)
ASLEEP – AS (when) PEEL (strip) reversed (going north)
23 Fight knight amid devastation (3-2)
RUN-IN – N (knight) in (amid) RUIN (devastation)
Good morning Gaufrid, thanks for the blog.
Re 9a: To all the solvers (like me) who spent their student years listening to this, and other albums of the genre, the answer would have been a write-in. A bit like clueing ‘Stairway to Heaven’ as a Led Zeppelin song. However I agree it was an odd choice for an Everyman puzzle. What I hadn’t realized until just now (thanks Google) is that it is one of the biggest selling albums ever (over 25 million copies.)
All in all, another fine puzzle. Thanks Everyman.
I’ll now, no doubt, spend much of the day taking a nostalgic wander down musical memory lane (sigh!)
Cheers.
Thanks both. Usual fine puzzle from Everyman
Re 9a: I am very much a classical music person, but of the right age to have heard of this LP. On inspection, I see that many of the tracks have famous cover versions. So I had no problem with this clue.
Thank you Everyman and Gaufrid.
I failed to solve the clue for TAPESTRY, and those for CATAPULT and CISTERN; having spent the 60s and 70s in Africa I missed out on popular music, fortunately we had many classical music records – I could have googled, but am spending less time on crosswords at the moment having started to play chess again.
TAPESTRY was my first clue in as it seemed so obvious. Probably one of the most famous albums ever and most people with a passing interest in pop music and especially singer-songwriters, would have got it immediately. Funny though, I did find the clue rather out of place.
An entertaining puzzle as always and I liked OPULENCE particularly.
Many thanks to Gaufrid and Everyman.
I found the NE corner as a whole quite difficult, so was less than enamoured with 9ac. A horribly obscure answer, with TRY for seek the very last thing that sprang to mind.
NW rather….
Jon @ 5
One of the biggest-selling albums of the 1970s “horribly obscure”? Pull the other one! Next you’ll be telling us you haven’t heard of Rumours or Hotel California.
In my defence I was very young in the 70’s. I hadn’t heard of the singer either… I have though heard of the two albums you mentioned. 🙂
In my defence I was very young in the 70’s.
And that’s what is probably one of the ‘problems’ here.
For ‘us’ who were somewhere between 15 and 30 years old in the early Seventies, this album was a real Sign o’ the Times.
Not my favourite Carole King album, though – that was Thoroughbred.
But if you were born in the Seventies then you probably might have missed it (just like the couple of seminal albums Simon S mentioned).
The other ‘problem’ is perhaps that pop music references are often ‘obscure’ because they seem to be considered as a lesser art form than classical music.
I like both very much and do not have an issue.
Why is ‘Beethoven symphony’ for EROICA more acceptable than what Everyman did at 9ac?
I do remember Everyman (a long time ago) including CROWDED HOUSE as an answer which I then – just like TAPESTRY – got straightaway.
We’re all different, aren’t we?
And we all like different things.
Thanks Gaufrid & Everyman.
My, my, I think Everyman would have been quite surprised at the to-do he’s unwittingly caused here. Put me down among those who got it on the first read, but then I grew up in the era of James Taylor and Carole King.
Elsewhere not much to comment on. Slow Handclap was nicely clued, Coincide was LOI.
Thanks Everyman and Gaufrid. Go download a copy of Tapestry and enjoy.
Oh yes, did anyone else get Warden initially for 5A, the Den being Ned (Kelly) in retreat?
Well, I did. So convinced it was right it stuffed me up for ages.
Found this so straightforward that I was expecting to see everyone saying it was easy. No problems.
Another straight forward crossie. That’s a few in a row I’ve got out pretty easily. 9ac was last in though I’d never heard of the album or singer. Didn’t really like TRY for SEEK but guessed it in the end.
Hopefully next week is tougher.
The only problem with 9ac was that it was so trivially easy. I cannot imagine anyone not having heard of Tapestry by Carole King. It practically defines the word “iconic”. This was my first one in — a write-in.
I struggled with most of the rest of the puzzle; could not parse 1ac (LOI) although it was obvious from the cross-letters and the literal definition.
@14
I just read your comment and decided to listen to Tapestry on YouTube. I thought it might have been a song I’d heard before but can honestly say I hadn’t.