It’s been a while since we last blogged an Alchemi puzzle, and on our first run-through we were a little disappointed by this one, but……
…. the clue at 2d gave us a very strong indication that there is a theme here – one that we hadn’t noticed during solving, other than wondering about the inclusion of some rather unusual words and several reference to dancers (and Wednesday is not usually a ‘theme day’ in the Indy).
There is no reference in Chambers to ‘The Strand’ being a dance, but Bert wondered whether there might be a connection with the 1973 Roxy Music song ‘Do the Strand’, which he recalled seemed to refer to a dance.
Lo and behold, a google search revealed that the (very strange) lyrics include no less than nine of the entries (highlighted in the grid below) The entry count could increase to ten if 7d (highlighted in a lighter colour) is included as an alternative to ‘eskimo’, which appears in the lyrics.
Bryan Ferry ‘invented’ the Strand as a fictitious dance, reflecting the 1960s creation of a lot of new ‘dances’, including the Twist, the Locomotion, the Shake etc. There are however no instructions in the song as to how to ‘do the Strand’, and Bryan Ferry described it as ‘the dance of life’, interpreted by others as ‘whatever turns you on’ – which seems to explain the eclectic references to notable works of art, styles and artists in the lyrics. Apparently the name came from the film noir advertisemenrt for Strand cigarettes – nothing to do with the London Street.
Alchemi has however also included one reference to the street at 10ac – the Royal Courts of Justice are on The Strand.
Across
1 One working with Ruby possibly about to speak (6)
CUTTER
C (about) UTTER (speak)
4 Having difficulty caring about EU backing massacre (8)
GUERNICA
An anagram of CARING (anagrind is ‘having difficulty’) round EU reversed or ‘backing’
9 Simple scratch oddly missing – it makes you sick (6)
IPECAC
Alternate letters (‘oddly missing’) of sImPlE sCrAtCh – a new word for us
10 Where to hear a criminal crawl out (3,5)
LAW COURT
An anagram of CRAWL OUT, the anagrind is ‘criminal’. It’s almost a clue-as-definition, but the anagram fodder is not really necessary to the definition, and the definition should perhaps include ‘a criminal’?
12 Highly-valued French art packed the place (8)
ESTEEMED
ES (French for the second person singular of the verb ‘to be’ or ‘art’ in Old English) TEEMED (‘packed the place’)
13 Most of train returns for one joining (6)
UNITER
A reversal or ‘return’ of RETINUe (train) without the last letter or ‘most of’
15 Dairy product manufactured backwards (4)
EDAM
A reversal (‘backwards’) of MADE (manufactured)
16 18th-century style appropriate after Lesotho accepts French agreement (5,5)
LOUIS SEIZE
SEIZE (appropriate – as a verb) after LS (Lesotho IVR) round or ‘accepting’ OUI (French for ‘yes’ – ‘agreement’)
19 Nearly all German, the staff in charge of civic dignitaries (10)
ALDERMANIC
ALl without the last letter or ‘nearly’ DER (German for ‘the’) MAN (staff) IC (in charge)
20 Sailor holding artist’s horse (4)
ARAB
AB (sailor) round or ‘holding’ RA (artist)
23 Inscrutable character cross after quietly breaking lower leg (6)
SPHINX
X (cross) after P (quiet) in or ‘breaking’ SHIN (lower leg)
25 Dancer I get into New Jersey, apparently flying (8)
NIJINSKY
I in NJ (New Jersey) + IN SKY (‘apparently flying’)
27 Famous can-can dancer‘s delay over extremely unusual utterance (2,6)
LA GOULUE
LAG (delay) O (over) UnusuaL UtterancE (first and last letters or ‘extremes’ of both words) – we’d never heard of this person!
28 Look drunk getting a book (6)
LOLITA
LO (look) LIT (drunk) A – an extraordinarily vague definition!
29 Picture animals needing oxygen supply (4,4)
MONA LISA
An anagram of ANIMALS and O (oxygen) – anagrind is ‘supply’, as ‘in a supple manner’
30 Cold following stiff (6)
FRIGID
F (following) RIGID (stiff)
Down
1 Asian feature ends in the cretaceous age (7)
CHINESE
CHIN (feature) + last letters or ‘ends’ of thE cretaceouS agE
2 Darts, then dancing in London street (familiar to many here) (3,6)
THE STRAND
An anagram of DARTS THEN – anagrind is ‘dancing’. This turned out to be the gateway clue to the theme.
3 Annabel ate dripping sandwiches in high spirits (6)
ELATED
Hidden or ‘sandwiched’ in AnnabEL ATE Dripping
5 State you visit in the end, I understand (4)
UTAH
Last or ‘end’ letters of yoU visiT + AH (‘I understand’)
6 Indecency has French author requiring bodyguards (8)
RACINESS
RACINE (French author) SS (the Nazi ‘bodyguards’)
7 Language guess (not first time) (5)
INUIT
INtUIT (guess) without the first ‘t’ (time)
8 Answer, beginning with European goddess (7)
ASTARTE
A (answer) START (beginning) E (European)
11 Doctor against stopping genuine purge (7)
REMOVAL
MO (doctor) V (against) in or ‘stopping’ REAL (genuine)
14 Home Guard end up surrounding illuminated island (7)
MILITIA
AIM (end) reversed or ‘up’ round or ‘surrounding’ LIT (illuminated) I (island)
17 As part of game, the French leave stones on the beach, causing invasion (9)
INRUSHING
IN (as part of) RU (Rugby Union – ‘game’) SHINGle (stones on the beach) without ‘le’ (French for ‘the’)
18 Dog keeping new queen calm (8)
TRANQUIL
TRAIL (dog, as in ‘follow’) round or ‘keeping’ N (new) QU (queen)
19 Prince of Israel‘s able-bodied dancer loses footing (7)
ABSALOM
AB (able-bodied) SALOMe (dancer) without or ‘losing’ the last letter or ‘footing’
21 On the banks of Russian river, going up with 1D? (3,4)
BOY BAND
This could be a clue-as-definition: BY OB (‘on the banks of Russian river’ – we had never come across the River Ob before!) + AN (one) D, or maybe a ‘normal clue’ if AND = ‘with’? We initially parsed it as a ‘normal’ clue, but couldn’t work out why 1D = ‘boy band’ as 1d is ‘Chinese’. We eventually realised that this was a very subtle misdirection by Alchemi when we googled it and came up with One Direction, who we had heard of, but did not know was a boy band – much too recent for us oldies to be familiar with!
22 European port has primitive support for life (6)
VIGOUR
VIGO (European port – in NW Spain) UR (a prefix indicating ‘primitive’)
24 Monopolise almost any hut (5)
HOGAN
HOG (monopolise) ANy without the last letter or ‘almost’ – the second time in less than two weeks we’ve come across ‘hogan’ as a hut in crosswords, never having come across it before anywhere!
26 Trees which have teeth (4)
GUMS
Double definition
Found this much harder than his excellent FT crossword today (with a different anagram of Michael). Failed to get BOY BAND and didn’t know the can can dancer. I remember the song but didn’t spot the theme so thanks to Bertandjoyce for the blog and elucidation and thanks to Alchemi for the workout.
Mmm… From Roxy Music to One Direction, an eclectic music journey.
Probably as a result of the theme and consequent obscurities I didn’t enjoy this Alchemi puzzle as much as I usually do, although he has done remarkably not only to compile this but to make it a pangram too.
Unlike the dance, the London street is actually called “Strand” not “The Strand” although it is very commonly referred to as the latter. I wondered if that was why Alchemi appended the comment “familiar to many here”?
Many thanks to Alchemi and to B&J.
I had a go at this before the Chalmie in the FT and like Hovis @1 found it much more difficult. At least I didn’t feel annoyed having missed the theme which I knew nothing about. Ended up guessing the ‘can-can dancer’ incorrectly after punting on an unparsed BOY BAND.
Thanks to Alchemi and a ‘very well spotted’ to B&J.
My thoughts mirrored those of RD although I perhaps wouldn’t have delivered them quite so politely!
Sorry, Alchemi, but I was disappointed by this one, perhaps a bridge too far?
Thanks to B&J for sorting out the theme and putting together an informative blog.
The Strand (as most Londoners call it) “becomes” Fleet Street inside the City of London. Most people working at the Indy will be familiar with Fleet Street.
Unlike some, I did enjoy this, despite completely missing the theme (I got off the Roxy Music bus when Eno left).
LA GOULUE, though, did trigger memories of that fantastic Toulouse-Lautrec poster that was very fashionable in the late 60s/early 70s.
I also suspected and checked that it was a pangram, but unfortunately had all 26 letters about 3/4 through, so the knowledge wasn’t much help!
No actual cheating but we did have to google ‘can-can’ to get 27ac. We also had to look up the names of Russian rivers (and remembered ‘and even then were mystified for ages by the obvious BOY BAND – we couldn’t see any definition until we twigged ‘with’ = ‘and’ and realised 1D had nothing to do with CHINESE.
Actually we found this to be a mixture of the fairly easy and the more taxing. Favourites were SPHINX, MONA LISA and ABSALOM. Needless to say the theme passed over our heads, and we only realised it was a pangram after we finished it.
Thanks, Alchemi and B&J
“… look up the names of Russian rivers (and remembered ‘and even then …” should read “… look up the names of Russian rivers (and remembered ‘Ob’ once we saw it) and even then …”
Well, thanks to those who liked it and apologies to those who didn’t.
I liked it!
Even though I missed the theme. When I entered THE STRAND (and the words added in brackets) I immediately thought of Roxy Music. However, in those days – the early seventies – I was the kind of young non-British guy who wasn’t yet ready for what the lyrics were all about. When I saw Bryan Ferry live a few years ago, it turned out to be nothing had changed …..
Not so sure whether there are a lot of obscurities here. True, I guessed LA GOULUE from the construction but other than that? ABSALOM perhaps. IPECAC was one I remembered from a Philistine puzzle.
Apart from missing the full extension of the theme, I also missed the pangram.
But as ever, for me these things are only a (sometimes) helpful bonus. In the end, it is all about the clueing. In that sense, I didn’t see or feel any differences today when comparing this crossword to today’s Chalmie in the FT.
So, full marks from the solver in me.
Many thanks to Bertandjoyce & Alchemi.