Slightly tricky from Phi today. He’s usually here on Fridays, so there must be something going on . . .
. . . and indeed there is: not Phiday (Friday) but Themesday (Tuesday). I got about half-way through before the theme became obvious, and then it helped to confirm a few of the remaining entries. We’re talking about stage musicals: CABARET, CAMELOT, CAROUSEL, CATS, CHESS, COMPANY, (and then just to prove they don’t all start with C) EVITA, FOLLIES, GREASE, OKLAHOMA and RENT. Many of these have subsequently been made into films, but they all started off on the stage. As usual with a ghost theme, it’s possible to solve the puzzle without spotting any of these references.
I said “slightly tricky” because there are a few awkward or complicated constructions, a few obscure-ish definitions, a homophone of a dubious phrase (20d, unless I’ve misunderstood it), and an obscure bit of legal language (21d). So a bit tougher than your average Tuesday, but an enjoyable challenge. I liked the apparent contradiction in 10a, Phi’s self-congratulation in 11a, the penny-drop moment when I finally saw how 3d worked, the pun in 8d, and the apposite anagram indicator in 14d. Thanks Phi – usual time next week?
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | ERELONG |
Soon lore will be translated into English (7)
|
| Anagram (translated) of LORE, put into ENG (short for English).
Archaic or poetic word for “before long” = soon; it can also be written as two words. |
||
| 5 | CABARET |
Concern about sailor: source of trouble in nightclub (7)
|
| CARE (concern) around AB (able-bodied seaman = sailor), then the first letter (source) of T[rouble]. | ||
| 9 | GRILL ROOM |
Possibly fell over after question in restaurant area (5,4)
|
| MOOR (possibly fell: a moor is an area of open rough grassland, and a fell is a regional word for the same thing but more likely to be on high ground), reversed (over), after GRILL (interrogate = question). | ||
| 10 | COWER |
Appear frightened to have debt while in credit (5)
|
| OWE (to be in debt), inserted into CR (abbreviation for credit). | ||
| 11 | GRAPHIC |
Very clear this writer taps into a lot of elegance (7)
|
| PHI (this writer = the setter of this crossword), inserted into GRAC[e] (elegance; a lot of = all but the last letter).
Graphic = very clear, as in “this news report contains graphic images”. |
||
| 12 | ABUSIVE |
Abandon barring women boarding vehicle? On the contrary, becoming insulting (7)
|
| [w]AIVE (agree not to require, for example to exempt someone from paying a fee, though I’m not sure that’s quite the same as “abandon”), without the W (women), and BUS (a vehicle). “On the contrary” means that the BUS is inserted into (boarding = getting into) the AIVE, not the other way round. | ||
| 13 | SOLEMNITY |
Novel not with Smiley is serious stuff (9)
|
| Anagram (novel = new) of NOT with SMILEY. The surface suggests John le Carré’s novels about the intelligence officer George Smiley. | ||
| 16 | RENT |
Opening race not without content (4)
|
| R[ac]E N[o]T (without content = inner letters removed).
Rent = tear = a hole (opening) torn in fabric. |
||
| 18 | CATS |
Jazz fans getting half of performers rejected (4)
|
| ACTS (performers, in the sense of individuals or groups appearing one after the other in a variety show), with the first half (AC) reversed (rejected).
Slang for jazz fans or jazz performers: perhaps originally US slang (certainly according to Collins), but probably now common enough not to need the qualifier. |
||
| 19 | FRICASSEE |
Meat dish I scarf rudely – look (9)
|
| Anagram (rudely) of I SCARF, then SEE (which isn’t always quite the same as “look”; but as a command “see!” = “look!”). The surface makes more sense when you realise that “scarf” is US slang for “eat greedily”: it may be a variant of “scoff”. | ||
| 23 | MINERAL |
Drink in time involving small amount of liquid? Just the reverse (7)
|
| IN ERA (in time), and ML (millilitre = small amount of liquid). “Just the reverse” here is the same as “On the contrary” in 12a: it tells us to reverse the effect of “involving”, so IN ERA goes inside ML instead of the other way round.
Mineral = a drink consisting of carbonated water with flavourings, perhaps a “mixer” such as tonic water. |
||
| 24 | GROUCHO |
Complaint linked to old arty club (7)
|
| GROUCH (a grumble = complaint) + O (old).
A London private members’ club, mostly for people from the media and arts industries. |
||
| 26 | LASSA |
Revolutionary attack knocking out one African town (5)
|
| ASSA[i]L (attack), knocking out the I (one in Roman numerals), reversed (revolutionary).
Town in Nigeria, perhaps (unfortunately) best known for having a nasty viral fever named after it. |
||
| 27 | INSISTENT |
Time in playing tennis is demanding (9)
|
| T (time) inserted into an anagram (playing) of TENNIS IS. | ||
| 28 | TASSELS |
Temperature rating cut by half around large decorations (7)
|
| T (temperature) + ASSES[sment] (rating, cut by half) around L (large). | ||
| 29 | SILESIA |
Article is recalled about French bits of land in part of Central Europe (7)
|
| A IS (the indefinite article is), reversed (recalled), around ILES (Îles = French for islands = bits of land, although “Île-de-France” is not an island but the region around Paris).
Historical region of Central Europe, now mostly in Poland. |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | ENGAGES |
Books, say, about new times (7)
|
| EG (for example = say) around N (new), then AGES (times).
Book = engage = make a contract with someone to provide a service at a specific time. |
||
| 2 | EVITA |
South American figure turned up at four after end of debate (5)
|
| AT + IV (Roman numeral for four), all reversed (turned up = upwards in a down clue), after the end letter of [debat]E.
Nickname of María Eva Duarte de Perón, former First Lady of Argentina. |
||
| 3 | OKLAHOMA |
Agreed: US city’s mostly in American state (8)
|
| OK (agreed) + LA (Los Angeles = US city) + HOM[e] (in = at home; mostly = all but the last letter) + A (American). The answer was straightforward enough from the definition and crossers, but the parsing beyond OK and LA took a long time after I’d finished the rest of the puzzle. | ||
| 4 | GNOCCHI |
No good getting upset over church in central Italy initially providing Italian cuisine (7)
|
| NG (short for “no good”), reversed (getting upset = upwards in a down clue), then O (over, in cricket scoring), then CH (church) inserted into the initial letters of C[entral] I[taly].
Small Italian dumplings, eaten in similar ways to pasta: as a first course with a sauce or dressing, as a side dish, or in soups. |
||
| 5 | COMPANY |
Free ticket offered by a US city theater group (7)
|
| COMP (short for complimentary = a free ticket to a performance, offered to a reviewer or special guest) by A NY (New York = US city).
Phi has used the US spelling of what we’d call “theatre”, perhaps because of the US context in the surface. |
||
| 6 | BACK-UP |
Support? It’s got when expressing annoyance (4-2)
|
| Definition and cryptic definition. As in “call for back-up” (support = additional people to help); or from the expression “to get someone’s back up” = to annoy them. (Derived from a cat’s habit of arching its back when threatened, I think.) | ||
| 7 | ROWDINESS |
Excessive speechifying has characters switching places – indication of riot? (9)
|
| WORDINESS (excessive speechifying = talking for too long), with the characters W and R switching places. Some might complain that Phi hasn’t told us which characters are to switch places, but it’s not too hard to work out. | ||
| 8 | TORRENT |
Increased current cost of Glastonbury venue? (7)
|
| Cryptic / punning definition. Glastonbury Tor is a hill near the town of Glastonbury in Somerset; if one could hire it as a venue, the cost might be considered the TOR RENT.
Torrent = a lot of water flowing, especially when more than usual = increased current. |
||
| 14 | LUTENISTS |
Programmes to include tune arranged for string players (9)
|
| LISTS (programmes), including an anagram (arranged) of TUNE.
Lutenist (also lutanist or lutist) = a lute player. |
||
| 15 | TAR |
Sailor accounting for most of ship’s weight (3)
|
| TAR[e] (the unladen weight of a ship or other vehicle; most of = all but the last letter).
Tar = slang for a sailor. |
||
| 17 | CAROUSEL |
US state about to encourage fairground attraction (8)
|
| CAL (abbreviation for the US state of California) around ROUSE (to encourage). | ||
| 18 | CAMELOT |
Legendary castle attended by fate (7)
|
| CAME (attended) + LOT (fate). | ||
| 19 | FOLLIES |
Goes overseas often to take in a lot of historic and curious buildings (7)
|
| FLIES (goes overseas often: I suppose “often” because going overseas doesn’t always require flying, nor vice versa), taking in OL[d] (historic; a lot of = all but the last letter).
Folly = a building constructed primarily for decoration rather than function, for example a mock classical temple or “ruin” in the grounds of a stately home. |
||
| 20 | INGESTS |
Consumes specifically targeted jokes on the radio (7)
|
| Homophone (on the radio) of IN-JESTS = specifically targeted jokes, in the sense that only a specific group of people will understand them. I think “in-jokes” is the more common term: not sure I’ve heard of in-jests. Perhaps Phi intended IN = specifically targeted, then a homophone of JESTS = jokes, but the first part of this seems a bit of a stretch by itself. | ||
| 21 | E CONTRA |
Economic skill picked up? Just the opposite (1,6)
|
| ECON (abbreviation for economic), then ART (skill) reversed (picked up = upwards in a down clue).
e contra = Latin-derived legal-speak for “on the contrary” = just the opposite. This was a guess-and-look-up, because I’d never heard of it. We’ve already had both “on the contrary” and “just the reverse” meaning “do the opposite of what the wordplay suggests” (in 12a and 23a); this time we need to take “just the opposite” at face value. |
||
| 22 | GREASE |
Calm when covered by gross oily stuff (6)
|
| EASE (calm), with GR (short for gross = twelve dozen = 144) at the start (above it, in a down clue, so “covering” it). | ||
| 25 | CHESS |
Matches on Saturday will show this game (5)
|
| Hidden answer (. . . will show this) in [mat]CHES S[aturday], i.e. what you get when you put MATCHES on (next to) SATURDAY. There are usually arguments about the order of the elements when “on” is used in this sense; the consensus is that “A on B” means AB (A above B) in a down clue, as here, and BA (B added on to A) in an across clue. Or we could just say that it might be either way round. |
nice… didn’t spot the theme but not a fan of musicals at the best of times.. so nothing lost there… 14dn had me trying to fit LUTHIERS in even tho I know fine well they make the stringed things.. also tried to spell TASSELS wrong… appart from that a not rapid solve.. 1ac was a favourite for some ancient language and 20dn which didnt worry me cluewise..
thanks Phi n Quirister
I’m used to obscure themes with Phi so it was a pleasure, for once, to find one that was accessible. But I was defeated by some of the clueing so a dnf. I had an alternative spelling of TASSLES meaning I didn’t get the intersecting GREASE, E CONTRA was a dnk and I had an unparsed VENT instead of RENT.
Thanks Phi and Quirister
When is Gnocchi the musical coming out?
All musicals with one-word titles to be precise.
As a fan of musicals, I’m ashamed of myself for not spotting the theme. – my excuse is that I was in a hurry to get out. Gnocchi the musical indeed, as Copmus says @3, and it wouldn’t surprise me if there have been obscure musicals or films called Grill Room, Graphic, Fricassee, Groucho, Tassels, Silesia, Back-up or Torrent, but I can’t be bothered to check. Very enjoyable, despite missing the theme, so thanks Phi and Quirister.
One of Phi’s accessible themes this time, even if I couldn’t identify all of the musicals. It’s probably looked upon as being very naff these days, but CAMELOT is one of my favourites.
E CONTRA was an unknown term, though solvable from wordplay and the parsing of a few others eg ABUSIVE was a bit tricky as pointed out. Overall, the usual good value puzzle from Phi.
A big thanks to Phi and Quirister
An enjoyable one from Phi although, like Undrell@1 I was also trying to fit in LUTHIERS. Managed to spot the theme early doors which is very unusual for me.
I do like a good musical though.
Thanks Quirister and Phi
Phi on Saturday last week, Tuesday this week – what is the world coming to?
An enjoyable solve, nev ertheless, although we also had an unparsed ‘vent’ for 16ac, so didn’t get the full quota of musicals.
As almost always with us, our favourite was a non-themed entry – LUTENISTS, with GNOCCHI a close second.
Tatrasman@5: we did google to see if GROUCHO or SILESIA might be musicals – apparently not! But we’ll leave it to someone else to research your other suggestions.
Thanks, Phi and Quirister
Great fun. Cabaret my favourite musical (though Camelot comes close). Rowdiness my favourite clue (though lutenists comes close, just because a choir or lutes is a lovely thing). E-contra was a learning point. Thanks to Phi and Quirister.
Also failed to spot the theme, although I am a Sondheim fan.
Incidentally, according to Radio 3 this morning, today is Irving Berlin’s birthday, but none of his musicals here.
As Phi@4 says, one-word. And a search reveals that Irving Berlin wrote no musicals with one-word titles. I wonder why writers have become more pithy over the years.