The clue is in the title, “Up, up and away” …in my beautiful balloon. A song probably known to many of my contemporaries as the music from the Nimble advert. Nimble was a brand of bread aimed at those hoping to lose weight. The cunning trick was to get more air in and then make the slices smaller and thinner than standard loaves. You really were eating less.
Anyway, where was I? Yes, balloons. I knew it had to have something to do with balloons. After getting a couple of the extra middle letters in the wordplay I guessed BALLOON would be part of the 14 letter creation. Then I got the final IC of the 14 letter title and BALLOONATIC seemed an obvious crosswordy word. A quick Google revealed that THE BALLOONATIC was a Buster Keaton short. I’ve seen a fair amount of Keaton but this one didn’t ring a bell. Not one of his best apparently. Maybe Phi thinks otherwise.
BUSTER KEATON nicely gave me the six pairs of extra letters and let me quickly complete the puzzle. I hadn’t got any of the answers to be inflated before I got Keaton’s name so I’m not sure how I would have found this without the help of the Internet.
I was left wondering whether there was anything more signficant in the puzzle that I was missing or maybe Phi, like me, just liked the term Balloonatic?
The first entry is the grid entry at that number. The second is the clue solution at hat clue number. Green = extra middle letters, red = inserted pairs of letters, blue = number at which inflated answer appear in he grid.
* = anagram
< = reversal
dd = double definition
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | COM AT OSE | N in TRIAL 30 | I had to look this up but Antoine Trial was a comic tenor. He gave his name to a thin nasal operatic voice. |
| 7 | PUDU | PU T +DU | |
| 10 | ODDS | OD+DS | two heartless words. |
| 11 | IRIDAL | IR+I+D+AL(l) | |
| 12 | MESSRS | MES H + R in SS | I had ???SRS for a while and was convinced that one of the intersecting answers must be wrong. |
| 14 | TURN | RUT< + N | |
| 15 | MAR ON IAN | MON+ERA 18 | |
| 19 | TOORIE | TOO+ E RIE | a Scottish word for a small heap, ‘pile’ is nicely deceptive giving the impression of a small castle somewhere in Ayrshire. |
| 21 | TON-UP | NOT< | ‘…not suited for a down answer?’ Groan. |
| 22 | SWANNY | WAN in SNY | great adjective! a SNY is a Canadian side-channel, apparently. |
| 23 | END-ALL | EN+DALL(y) | ens and ems are print units. |
| 26 | MODEM | MODE M | M is letter 13! |
| 27 | SERAPH | SER B +AP+H(ear) | |
| 30 | TRI BU NAL | CAT< in INT 38 | excellent clue with the break hidden in ‘Un-neutered tom’. |
| 33 | PERI | PE A R+I | |
| 34 | SIESTA | E L S in IT in SA | Ernie ELS is a crossword staple. |
| 35 | BRUNEI | BR+UNE+I | |
| 36 | EROS | othER L OSer | |
| 37 | YANG | N in GAY< | ref. Yin and YANG. |
| 38 | INT ER ACT | DARNED dd 8 | |
| Down | |||
| 1 | COMMUTER | COMM+ O UTER | |
| 2 | ODEA | (A+EDO)< | EDO was an old name for Tokyo. |
| 3 | ASSOT | ASS+(cl)OT | |
| 4 | TERNE PLATE | T(hat) in PLANETREE* | |
| 5 | ON-SITE | londONS O ITEventuates | |
| 6 | SIVA | SI N +V+A | |
| 7 | PITARA | I+TAR in PA | |
| 8 | DAR KE NED | C+O + SOME* 1ac | |
| 9 | ULNA | U+L+NA | |
| 13 | SNOW-MOBILE | S+NOW+MO+BILE | excellent clue. |
| 16 | RANDEM | R AND EM | ref the band R.E.M. |
| 17 | LINDEN | L+IN+ A DEN | |
| 18 | MON ST ERA | ARI(a) in MAN 15 | a MARIAN is an English Roamn Catholic from the time of Queen Mary. |
| 20 | SYMPLAST | SY+MP+LAST | |
| 24 | ARMING | FARMING – F | |
| 25 | WHISHT | WHI T ‘S H(o)T | WHIT, short for Whitsuntide, was a regular holiday slot for many. WHISHT is a Scots word asking for quiet. |
| 28 | QUEER | QUEEN with R for N | |
| 29 | UPBY | UP+ I BY | |
| 31 | REIN | NI C ER< | |
| 32 | ATOC | A TO C | I got this early on and had to wonder whether the encyclopedia was many-volumed, ATOC, or just two-volumed, ATOK. The former seemed more likely. |
Hi Colin
An informative, in-depth review thanks. Just a small point about “Up Up and Away” – this was not from the Nimble advert (“I Can’t Let Maggie Go” by Honeybus, if memory serves) but a top 10 hit for Fifth Dimension. I’ll get me anorak …
Interesting clarification Chris. I remember “I Can’t Let Maggie Go” but I also remember “Up Up and Away”. At least one source claims the first tune for their 1970 campaign and the second for their 1974 campaign. Another source claims that the second was never a Nimble theme. 1974 fits better into my television memory but it may be a false memory. No need for the anorak.
Attacked this quite differently from CB. From intersections with Across answers, soon realised that only DARKENED would fit in 8d, which had nothing to do with the clue there, but DARNED had everything to do with the clue at 38a. So the ‘specials’ were likely to be 6+2 letters each, the clue at 8d was a ‘special’ whose answer had to be fitted elsewhere, and the answer at 38a had to come from somewhere else. And the dominoes started falling …