A themed puzzle again this week. Thank you Gozo.
I enjoyed this but found it surprisingly tricky despite being familiar with the themed entries.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | CARMEN | Operatic MOT mechanics (6) |
| cryptic definition – the MOT is a compulsory safety test for UK vehicles | ||
| 4 | GLORIANA | Unending radiance and a melody about a Britten opera (8) |
| GLORy (radiance, unending) then AIR (a melody) contains AN (a, one of something) – or better: GLOw (radiance) then AN AIR reversed (about) | ||
| 9 | ALMIRA | Strangely familiar if taken by Handel opera (6) |
| anagram (strangely) of fAMiLIAR missing (with…taken) IF – Handel’s first opera, composed at the age of 19 | ||
| 10 | SURPRISE | Heard knight got award for a Haydn symphony (8) |
| sounds like (heard) “sir” (knight) with “prize” (award) | ||
| 12 | CARNIVAL | Dvorak overture showing family vehicle in perpetual snow (8) |
| CAR (family vehicle) then NIVAL (in perpetual snow) | ||
| 13 | RIENZI | Senior citizen with tattered notices removed for Wagner opera (6) |
| anagram (implicit, not indicated?) of SENIOR CITIZEN missing the disordered letters of NOTICES (with tattered…removed) | ||
| 15 | LINZ | Nothing about unknown Mozart symphony (4) |
| NIL (nothing) reversed (about) Z (an unknown) – Mozart Symphony No. 36 | ||
| 16 | LA TRAVIATA | Opera showing artist in Baltic land army (2,8) |
| RA (Royal Academician) inside LATVIA (Baltic land) then A (army) | ||
| 19 | PATHETIQUE | Father’s article about quiet Beethoven piano sonata (10) |
| PA (father) THE (definite article) then anagram (about) of QUIET | ||
| 20 | AIDA | An Indian, oddly, appearing in opera (4) |
| every other letter (oddly appearing) of An InDiAn | ||
| 23 | TRAGIC | Heart-rending overture by Brahms at end of concert – smoke around! (6) |
| concerT (end of) then CIGAR (a smoke) reversed (around) – the Tragic Overture by Brahms, op 81 | ||
| 25 | TURANDOT | Poor tutor embracing joiner in Puccini opera (8) |
| anagram (poor) of TUTOR contains (embracing) AND (a joiner) | ||
| 27 | IOLANTHE | Adult hotline may reveal Savoy operetta (8) |
| anagram (may reveal) of A (adult) and HOTLINE | ||
| 28 | SALOME | Transaction involves award for Richard Strauss opera (6) |
| SALE (transaction) contains (involves) OM (Order of Merit, award) | ||
| 29 | TANCREDI | Ant and Dec start rehearsing one new Rossini opera (8) |
| anagram (new) of ANT and DEC with Rehearsing (first letter) and I (one) | ||
| 30 | NELSON | Admiral at Mass by Haydn in NZ city (6) |
| triple definition | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | CHANCEL | Area in church where Monopoly card gets left (7) |
| CHANCE (card in Monopoly) with L (left) | ||
| 2 | REMBRANDT | Note to Frenchman, former German chancellor and artist (9) |
| RE (note, music) with M (monsieur, a Frenchman) then BRANDT (Willy Brandt, former German chancellor) | ||
| 3 | EARWIG | Crawler with hearing aid and false hair (6) |
| EAR (an aid to hearing) and WIG (false hair) | ||
| 5 | LOUT | Yobbo making fifty, getting dismissed (4) |
| L (fifty) and OUT (dismissed) | ||
| 6 | REPRIEVE | Delay execution of agent, always up about one (8) |
| REP (agent) then EVER (always) reversed (up) contains (about) I (one) | ||
| 7 | ALIEN | Neil Armstrong, first to return from another world? (5) |
| a reversal (to return) of NEIL Armstrong (first letter of) – what a great clue! | ||
| 8 | AMERICA | Drivers pinching German car to tour island nation (7) |
| AA (Automobile Association, drivers) contains (pinching) MERC (Mercedes, a German car) contains (to tour, go around) I (island) | ||
| 11 | TAMARIN | Monkey chewed end off fruit (7) |
| TAMARINd (a fruit) missing last letter (with end chewed off) | ||
| 14 | ARDUOUS | Tough couple in Arkanas, America (7) |
| DUO (couple) inside AR (Arkansas) US (America) | ||
| 17 | ACID DROPS | Relief reduces, when eating cold sweets (4,5) |
| AID (relief) DROPS (reduces) contains (when eating) C (cold) | ||
| 18 | DESIGNER | Is gender affecting his plans? (8) |
| anagram (affecting) of IS GENDER – read the definition as Is gender affecting (an architect’s) plans? | ||
| 19 | PATRIOT | Country-lover is a soft touch about 3 (7) |
| PAT (soft touch) contains (about ) TRIO (3 of something) | ||
| 21 | ACTAEON | Hunter who became a stag will perform for a long time (7) |
| ACT (perform) for an AEON (a long time) | ||
| 22 | FACADE | A bounder in iron in Entertainment by Walton (6) |
| A CAD (bounder) in FE (Fe, iron) – another themed definition | ||
| 24 | ALL IN | Everyone’s entered for the wrestling match (3,2) |
| double definition | ||
| 26 | SHED | Starts to study hard, exercising daily in the man’s cave? (4) |
| first letters (starts to) of Study Hard Exercising Daily | ||
Thanks PeeDee and Gozo for an entertaining crossword plus explanations. I needed PeeDee’s help in parsing 8d and Nelson in New Zealand was new to me. I particularly liked 1d and took a while to realise that the last four letters in Patriot had nothing to do with earwig – the distraction of ‘3’ by the setter.
[[Peedee, your underlining has gone rather awry]]
I enjoyed this grid too despite being decidedly unfamiliar with the theme and not finishing.
My heart sank initially but I decided to see how far I could go anyway. 1,20 and 25 posed no problem and it’s fortunate I could draw on film, geography and GK for clues like 16a, 29a and 29a. But I hadn’t a hope of snagging others like LINZ without cheats. Overall, though, it was the sort of fun but challenging solve one expects from Gozo all while learning new things. SURPRISE and EARWIGS were favourite.
Thanks to setter and blogger.
Peedee, your underscores are not just under scores
James – ha! An excellent comment!
I will have a go at fixing that later.
Thanks PeeDee and Gozo. An excellent achievement in fitting in so many themed entries.
Good light entertainment .Most obscure operas(Wagner) and worst (Britten) in general not well known works of famous composers kicked along by decent wordplay.Fun puzzle but i fear none will be added to my play list.Thanks all.
Thanks PeeDee for the blog & Gozo for the puzzle.
I saw 4ac (GLORIANA) as: GLO[w] + a reversal of AN AIR.
Also, I had a slightly different take on 11dn (TAMARIN), although the explanation in the blog works too.
“Chewed end off fruit”: the end of ‘chewed’ (D) taken away from ‘tamarind’.
Carmen, the Surprise Symphony, La Traviata, Aida, Turandot etc “not well known”? What is the world coming to?
My reaction was the same as Diane @3 but I managed all but 9a and 19a. Like Sil @ 8, I used GLOw as the “unending radiance” . Thanks PeeDee and Gozo.
If, like me, you’re not a classical music buff, then this is just a google exercise. So not much fun for me today
The underscores are back in their right places again. Thanks all for your patience.
This must have been our fastest solve ever – the theme was right up our street so most of the acrosses were write-ins. The downs were all accessible too although we took a little while to get the monkey in 11dn. The only downside was that it was all over too quickly
Thanks, Gozo and PeeDee.
PS: There’s a minor error in the blog for LA TRAVIATA – it’s TA for ‘army’ (Territorial Army, now called the Army Reserve)
When I saw that it was a Gozo crossword I thought I’d be in for a slow but satisfying solve. Instead it was half write-in (the operas I knew) and half impossible (the music I didn’t know.) Not my cup of tea. Thanks to both.
Horses for courses. If you are a music fan it was pretty straightforward . If not rather tortuous.
Thanks for the work out Gozo and the excuse to go googling with intent. I too knew little about the theme but was surprised how many I recognised and that is probably all learned from crosswords. Amazing what sticks. I had a huge feeling of satisfaction when I finished it, given my own knowledge base. So thank you for giving me a glow on a wet afternoon. And thanks PeeDee for the explanations, most of which confirmed my suspicions. On a personal note, Peter Garrity@1, I live about two hours drive from Nelson.
Like PeeDee, I found 7d to be my favorite.
I would call 23a a triple definition, however: heart-rending; overture by Brahms; end of concert – smoke around.
Thanks Gozo and PeeDee
Enjoyable themed puzzle and although certainly not my forte, was able to get through it surprisingly quickly only needing pre-solve help with CARNIVAL and TAMARIN, my last couple in. There were a number of the musical works that I was able to construct from the word play but then had to verify on-line, a tribute to the fair clueing of them.
Agree with Ed@17 that 23d is another clever triple definition.
Liked working out the construction of ALMIRA, PATHETIQUE and LA TRAVIATA of the across clues and also the definition for ACTAEON in the down ones.
Thanks, PeeDee and Gozo. Getting back into cryptics after a break so behind the time. Loved this puzzle as I’m a classical singer! NELSON, PATHETIQUE, LA TRAVIATA and TRAGIC all great clues – agree with EdK@17 about triple def.