A themed puzzle as usual from Gozo.
The theme is characters from Shakespeare’s plays. I knew most of them, a couple were guesses and the remainder I had to dredge up from a long list on Wikipedia. Hats off to anyone who solved this all from memory!
Thank you Gozo.
| Across | ||
| 1 | COBWEB | Novelist Jonathan takes in black and white book (6) |
| COE (Jonathan Coe, novelist) contains (takes in) B and W (black and white) then B (book) – a fairy from A Midsummer Night’s Dream | ||
| 4 | CORDELIA | Lamb, after canapes or dips as starters (8) |
| ELIA (Charles Lamb) follows first letters (as starters) then C OR D (either C or D) the starting letter of Canapes or Dips – heroine of King Lear | ||
| 9 | ALONSO | Working inside, additionally (6) |
| ON (working) inside ALSO (additionally) – The King of Naples in The Tempest | ||
| 10 | PROSPERO | Son seen in genteel circle (8) |
| S (son) inside PROPER (gentleel) then O (a circle) – the exiled Duke of Milan in The Tempest | ||
| 12 | LADY GREY | Tea woman? (4,4) |
| a modern and milder version of Earl Grey tea – she becomes queen in Henry IV part 3 | ||
| 13 | CASSIO | Socials ruined after first of the lights went out (6) |
| anagram (ruined) of SOCIALS missing (went out) L (first letter of lights) – character from Othello | ||
| 15 | EROS | Even parts of bedrooms (4) |
| bEdRoOmS (even parts, every other letter of) – Anthony’s servant in Anthony and Cleopatra | ||
| 16 | FORTINBRAS | A first-born, troubled (10) |
| anagram (troubled) of A FIRST BORN – a minor character in Hamlet | ||
| 19 | CORIOLANUS | Unsocial or distressed (10) |
| anagram (distressed) of UNSOCIAL OR – a rebellious Roman general in the play of the same name |
||
| 20 | FANG | Enthusiast on the spot (4) |
| FAN (enthusiast) on G (the G-spot) – a constable in Henry IV part 2 | ||
| 23 | ORSINO | Some actors in Othello (6) |
| found inside (some of) acOS IN Othello – the lovestruck count from Twelfth Night: “if music be the food of love, play on” | ||
| 25 | BEATRICE | Live for a moment (8) |
| BE (live) A then TRICE (moment) – a feisty lady from Much Ado About Nothing | ||
| 27 | TRINCULO | Contour line lacks one turning (8) |
| anagram (turning) of ConTOUR LINe missing I (one) – the King’s jester from The Tempest. Despite having seen the play more then once I can’t remeber him at all. | ||
| 28 | BRUTUS | Dry wine across the Pond (6) |
| BRUT (dry wine) then US (across the pond) co-conspirator of Cassio in Julius Caesar | ||
| 29 | DOGBERRY | John’s fish swallows tailless grebe, sadly (8) |
| DORY (John Dory, a fish) contains (swallows) anagram (sadly) of GREBe (tailless) – the inept constable from Much Ado About Nothing |
||
| 30 | DORCAS | Sex symbol accepting critical acclaim, for starters (6) |
| DORS (Dianna Dors, sex symbol) contains (accepting) first letters (for starters) of Critical Acclaim – a shepherdess in The Winter’s Tale | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | CHARLIE | Code word for silly fellow taking cocaine (7) |
| triple definition | ||
| 2 | BROADMOOR | Second-class thoroughfare with space around psychiatric hospital (9) |
| B-ROAD (second class thoroughfare) then ROOM (space) revrsed (around) | ||
| 3 | ENSIGN | The standard of children’s ignorance (6) |
| found inside childrEN’S IGNorance – a standard is a flag | ||
| 5 | OKRA | Fine artist makes gumbo (4) |
| OK (fine) then RA (Royal Academician, artist) | ||
| 6 | DISDAINS | Might be said surrounded by rows and sneers (8) |
| anagram (might be) of SAID inside (surrounded by) DINS (rows) | ||
| 7 | LEERS | Bad looks another theme word’s suggested (5) |
| sounds like (suggested) “Lear’s” (another theme word’s) | ||
| 8 | AMOROUS | Loving having a room designed to ourselves (7) |
| A then anagram (designed) of ROOM then US (ourselves) | ||
| 11 | SENORAS | Foreign ladies having different reasons (7) |
| anagram (different) of REASONS | ||
| 14 | STRUDEL | Stan, not half discourteous, left dessert (7) |
| STan (not half) RUDE (discourteous) then L (left) | ||
| 17 | REALISTIC | Forged article is true to life (9) |
| anagram (forged) of ARTICLE IS | ||
| 18 | CORNICHE | Roller seen along the coast road by a cliff face (8) |
| double definition – a Rolls Royce car | ||
| 19 | CLOTTED | Blood congealed on top of cranium – antiseptic disinfectant tipped over beneath it (7) |
| Cranium (top letter of) then DETTOL (disinfectant) reversed (tipped over) | ||
| 21 | GREASES | Bribes from Travolta musical succeeded (7) |
| GREASE (John Travolta musical) then S (succeeded) | ||
| 22 | STEREO | Audio system before entering stone circle (6) |
| ERE (before) inside ST (stone) O (circle) | ||
| 24 | STING | Popstar’s trap to catch criminals (5) |
| double definition | ||
| 26 | BLUR | Confused impression of old car firm city (4) |
| BL (British Leyland, old car firm) the UR (ancient city in Mesopotamia) – “old” refers to both the car firm and the city here | ||
definitions are underlined
I write these posts to help people get started with cryptic crosswords. If there is something here you do not understand ask a question; there are probably others wondering the same thing.
First clue I looked at had ORSINO staring me in the face and I thought this could be fun and it was-like catching up with old friends-even a setter in there.Is Dogberry Shed? cant remember.
But I enjoyed this much more than the Bank Holiday extravaganzas.
Possibly a sub-theme going on with 1d, 18d, 22 ,23 and 24d .My devious mind again.
thanks Gozo and Peedee
Well done, PeeDee. My FOI was 13ac CASSIO, and from then on it was plain sailing. The only one I had to look up on the Wikipedia list was Trinculo, who I shall promptly forget again. Thanks for the feast, Gozo.
Having ‘done’ The Tempest for A (or was it O?) level, I really shouldn’t have had to check up on Trinculo but I did
Thanks to Gozo for an interesting themed crossword and also to PeeDee
Thank you Gozo and PeeDee. FOI was Alonso which gave away the theme. Got them all from memory except Trinculo (totally unmemorable) which I was too lazy to even look up!
Half a dozen (or thereabouts) themesters I’d never heard of before, so I had to Google them. Not my favourite subject at school, but of course we had to do it as part of the English exams. I called him Spokeshave (I liked woodwork).
Thanks, Peedee and Gozo.
A good fun solve which I very much enjoyed. I always worry a bit with undefined puzzles but, as others have said, there were so many well clued entry points this wasn’t a problem here. I’m glad to see I wasn’t alone in having banished Trinuculo to the back and beyond of my memory.
Thanks to Gozo and PeeDee.
Thanks to Gozo and PeeDee. As opposed to the recent Carry On prize puzzle (with which I struggled for days) here I had quick access to the theme (for once my GK was relevant because I’ve taught all these plays multiple times). My only problems came from the down clues with my LOI being CORNICHE.
There’s a small typo in the blog for 12 across. The play is 3 Henry VI, not Henry IV.
I wonder how Gozo was able to get all the Across answers from Shakespeare and yet did not have funny weird words for the Down clues. I salute him for his patience. Thank you PeeDee for the blog.
Thanks Gozo and PeeDee
I enjoyed this more than I enjoy some Gozos, and was agreeably surprised how many characters I could remember before having to construct and check.
I do have a minor quibble with 4, though (and it may well be me). To me “canapes or dips as starters” suggests more C O D (A) or C AND D than the required element. No matter.
Thanks Gozo and PeeDee
A cleverly constructed crossword that I needed help with 8 of the characters whom I didn’t possess in my general knowledge. Clear clueing meant that most of them could be constructed and checked but there were a couple that needed to be found in the Wiki list first. CORNELIA and LADY GREY (who I had to check up on) were the first two themed entries.
Liked the ‘John’s fish’ and the triple definition of CHARLIE.
Finished in the SW (again, a bit of a habit recently) with DOGBERRY (and that fish), TRINCULO (completely unknown and pretty hard to construct) and BLUR (another tricky construction) as the last few in.
Welll done, PeeDee, and thanks for the blog……
Agree on all of your points, Simon S @9.
I actually had three more ‘minor quibbles’.
I know that the surface needs ‘the’ but I would personally try to avoid it in ‘first of the lights’ to indicate L (in 13ac).
If Gozo meant ‘for’ to be an ‘addition indicator’ in 28ac, then I’m off. But if you’ll take ‘live for a moment’ as whole to give ‘be a trice’, then it might work – just about.
Finally, I didn’t understand the use of ‘on’ in 19d. Probably used as a link word here but a rather dubious one, in my opinion.
Add to this my relative hatred towards themes like these, one may expect that I didn’t like this at all.
But no, I actually quite liked the crossword (which was indeed very well constructed).
Many thanks to PeeDee for the blog & Gozo for ‘educating me’.