Tuesday fun from Crosophile.
We have a fairly obvious theme today, mostly linked by references to 17a ROAD, though not all the themed entries are explicitly identified. It’s songs about roads and road users:
- The LONG and WINDING ROAD (Beatles)
- ROAD to NOWHERE (Talking Heads)
- TELEGRAPH ROAD (Dire Straits)
- AUTOBAHN (Kraftwerk)
- LITTLE DEUCE COUPE (Beach Boys)
- BICYCLE RACE (Queen)
- The PASSENGER (Iggy Pop)
There’s also a reference in 17a to the song Route 66 – I was surprised to find this goes back to 1946. I enjoyed picking all of these out, and the musical memories, particularly 31a and 4d. Thanks Crosophile for an enjoyable puzzle.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | PASSENGER |
One in the car to overtake on changing green (9)
|
| PASS (overtake) + anagram (changing) of GREEN. | ||
| 6 |
See 23 Down
|
|
| 10 | STEELWORKS |
Wading birds digesting fish with a plant (10)
|
| STORKS (wading birds), containing (digesting) EEL (fish) + W (abbreviation for with).
Plant = a factory or industrial facility. |
||
| 11 | EARL |
He’s a peer, not entirely before time (4)
|
| EARL[y] (before time) without the last letter (not entirely). | ||
| 12 | ABETTER |
One helps criminals – arsonist initially improved (7)
|
| Initial letter of A[rsonist] + BETTER (improved).
As in the old legal phrase “aiding and abetting” = helping someone in the commission of a crime. |
||
| 13 | WINDING |
Wined and dined, get last couples out wandering around (7)
|
| WIN[ed] + DIN[ed] + G[et] with the last two letters (couple) dropped from each word. | ||
| 15 | CHEERERS |
It’s cold in this place with restricted energy and disheartened refugees – these console (8)
|
| C (abbreviation for cold, as in H and C on water taps) + HERE (in this place), containing (with . . . restricted) E (abbreviation for energy), then R[efugee]S without the inner letters (dis-heartened).
Cheer, as a verb = console = make someone feel better. |
||
| 17 | ROAD |
While listening, travelled Route 66 perhaps? (Is it 19 and 13?) (4)
|
| Homophone (while listening) of RODE (travelled on a vehicle).
Route 66 is a road across the southern United States, and could fairly be described as long and winding (19a and 13a). |
||
| 19 | LONG |
Have yen, half the capital and $1000 in a single letter (4)
|
| LON[don] (half the UK capital) + G (abbreviation for grand, slang for $1000 or £1000, so $1000 in a single letter).
To have a yen for something is to long for it. |
||
| 21 | DEBUNKED |
Dug out of bed? – shown to be false (8)
|
| Someone forcibly removed from a bunk bed could be said to be DE-BUNKED, perhaps. | ||
| 24 | CITIZEN |
He’s in a state: “I twitch over Eastern philosophy” (7)
|
| I + TIC (an involuntary twitch), reversed (over), then ZEN (Eastern philosophy).
Someone who belongs to a particular nation state. |
||
| 25 | SCARIFY |
A part of this car if you can make series of scratches (7)
|
| Hidden answer (a part of . . .) in [thi]S CAR IF Y[ou]. | ||
| 28 | STAT |
This little fact is pretentious stuff (4)
|
| ‘S (contracted form of “is”) + TAT (something not as good as it purports to be = pretentious stuff).
Short for statistic = a fact. |
||
| 29 | SCARCITIES |
Wants special places like Motown (10)
|
| S (abbreviation for special) + CAR CITIES (places like Motown, a nickname for the US city of Detroit, from its history of motor car manufacturing).
Want, as a noun = shortage = scarcity. |
||
| 30 |
See 23 Down
|
|
| 31 | TELEGRAPH |
TV plot with 17 in song (9)
|
| TELE (or telly = TV = abbreviation for television) + GRAPH (plot = data displayed as an image).
Reference (with 17a ROAD) to the Dire Straits song Telegraph Road. |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | AUTOBAHN |
Motorway stopped – hang about in snarl-up (8)
|
| Anagram (snarl-up) of HAN[g] (stopped = without the last letter) + ABOUT.
German word for a motorway. |
||
| 3 | SCENT |
This track would get us rising with a start (5)
|
| With A at the start, SCENT becomes ASCENT (rising).
Track = scent = traces of the smell of an animal, used to follow its path. |
||
| 4 | NOWHERE |
Destination of 17 in song of this time and place (7)
|
| NOW (this time) + HERE (this place).
With 17a ROAD, the destination of the Talking Heads song Road to Nowhere. |
||
| 5 | EERY |
Be creepy, strange, if not odd as this (4)
|
| Anagram (strange) of [b]E [c]R[e]E[p]Y without the odd-numbered letters.
Extended definition: eery = a variant spelling of eerie = creepy, strange or odd. |
||
| 7 | OVERDRAWN |
Elaborate artwork might be this in the red (9)
|
| Double definition. Elaborate artwork may involve many lines drawn over each other in layers (or perhaps it’s over-drawn in the sense of “drawn too much” = confused by too much detail); or overdrawn = in debt at the bank = in the red. | ||
| 8 | PARENT |
Bring kids up? Every year, a regular payment (6)
|
| PA (abbreviation for Latin per annum = every year) + RENT (a regular payment). | ||
| 9 | ASHIER |
More silver-grey, finally white, hairs, unkempt (6)
|
| Anagram (unkempt = disordered) of the final letter of [whit]E + HAIRS.
Probably not a very useful word, but if you need a comparative form of “ashy” (silver-grey) this would be it. |
||
| 14 | ASIDE |
‘Whispering’, best song on record? (5)
|
| In the days when “record” meant two songs recorded on a disc of black vinyl, the A-SIDE was the promoted song and the B-side was often a lesser song put there to fill the space.
Aside, in theatre terminology = something “whispered” to oneself or to the audience, as though the other characters on stage can’t hear it. |
||
| 16 | EGOTISTIC |
Conceited 11 briefly became cruel, though not sad (9)
|
| E (abbreviation for 11a EARL = Earl briefly) + GOT (became) + [sad]ISTIC (cruel) without SAD.
I’ll let a psychologist decide whether conceited is the same as egotistic, but loosely they both mean “with an excessive sense of one’s own importance”. |
||
| 18 | SELF-HELP |
Personal growth shown by that woman retaining extremely low frequency on record (4-4)
|
| SHE (that woman) around (retaining) ELF (abbreviation for extremely low frequency = sounds at a lower pitch than the normal range of human hearing), then LP (abbreviation for long-playing record). | ||
| 20 | GNEISS |
Pleasant-sounding hard rock? (6)
|
| Homophone (-sounding) of NICE (pleasant); the G is silent and the NEISS is pronounced as in German.
A dense hard stone (rock), formed when layers of other rocks are subjected to very high temperature and pressure. |
||
| 22/27 | BICYCLE RACE |
Song of scrambled circle by one in velodrome event (7,4)
|
| Anagram (scrambled) of CIRCLE BY, then ACE (one, in card games).
The Queen song Bicycle Race; or literally a race on bicycles, which may be held in a velodrome or on the roads. |
||
| 23/30/6 | LITTLE DEUCE COUPE |
Wee devil’s ice cream vehicle song (6,5,5)
|
| LITTLE (wee) + DEUCE (a euphemism for “devil” in expressions such as “what the deuce . . .?”) + COUPE (a glass dish for serving ice cream). UPDATE: As our commenters have pointed out, the correct parsing is probably “ice cream” for COUPE and “vehicle song” for the definition.
Song by the Beach Boys; I’d inferred that it meant a car but had never really looked into it. According to Wikipedia, a “deuce coupe” is a 1932 Ford Model 18, “deuce” referring to the 2 in the registration year. |
||
| 26 | ROTOR |
Turning part runs car beginning to go (5)
|
| R (abbreviation for runs, in cricket scoring) + [m]OTOR (short for motor car) with its beginning letter gone. | ||
| 27 |
See 22
|
|
Thanks, Crosophile and Quirister!
Liked AUTOBAHN, SCENT, GNEISS, EERY and EGOTISTIC.
A lovely theme to go with.
The clue for GNEISS has a nice musical connection (a paradoxical one at that).
EERY
I was trying to make it work as a CAD/extended def but was getting defeated by ‘if not odd’.
After reading the blog, I was sure it would work as an extended def.
Then read the clue again. Be ‘creepy, strange, if not, odd’ as this.
STAT
S+TAT is the correct parsing but an extra layer:
STAT also means ‘photostat’ (which is not original but pretentious stuff).
PASSENGER, ROAD and AUTOBAHN clues are completely on ‘ROAD’ without deviating from the path. Lovely surfaces!
Superb puzzle – it earns my highest praise – “Very GNEISS”! The theme sent me down a fascinating pop music rabbit hole, finding all the STAT_S.
I claim a 60-year anniversary for the Beach Boys’ single – makes a nice change from 50-year-old albums – I may have said that before.
CITIZENS CAR is a Volkswagen for the AUTOBAHN
CAR CITIES – the route in Route 66
I think there may be a secondary theme given by the central ASIDE
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-side_and_B-side#Double_A-side
Here, after all these years, I finally learned what “B/W” and “C/W” meant on the records I bought for 6s8d with my pocket money pegged to the price of a single.
“Little Deuce Coupe” … the B-side to The Beach Boys’ 1963 single “Surfer Girl” … their highest charting B-side, peaking on September 28, 1963, at No. 15
“The Passenger” … by Iggy Pop on the Lust for Life album in 1977 … B-side of the album’s only single, “Success”. An A-Side in its own right in 1998
with “Lust for Life” and “Nightclubbing” on the B-Side.
Unfortunately, I’ve never heard of the Beach Boys song or the ice-cream dish, so failed on that. I think it’s possible that the definition is ‘vehicle song’ with ‘coupe’ just referring to the ice cream. Could well be wrong on that though.
“Bicycle Race” … by British rock band Queen … on their 1978 album Jazz … double A-side … with … “Fat Bottomed Girls”
Hovis@6 – I agree – ‘vehicle song’ is the def.
“Telegraph Road” is a song on the Dire Straits 1982 album Love over Gold – not a single – it’s over 14 minutes long – but
the two singles: “Private Investigations,” and “Industrial Disease” both have the same B-side “Badges, Posters, Stickers, T-Shirts” What a rip-off.
There was a car manufacturer EARL Motors in 1920s in the USA.
There must be a few singers by the name EARL?
There are a couple of ‘CAR’s hidden in the grid.
Hovis@6
Agree with you on the def (Quirister hasn’t made use of the word ‘vehicle’).
Hovis @6 and others: I was thinking of the glass dish called a “coupe” as a vehicle (carrying vessel) for the ice cream. But I think you’re right, because “coupe” can mean the ice cream itself when served in this way. I’ll update the blog – thanks.
KVa@10 – “There are a couple of ‘CAR’s hidden in the grid.” Yes, I spotted them @3
The leftover IFY of SCARIFY is also the start of the song Route 66:
‘IF You ever plan to [m]OTOR west, Travel my way, take the highway that is best. Get your kicks on route sixty-six…’
There follows a LONG list of CITIES’
“Autobahn” is a 1974 song by … Kraftwerk, being the second and lead single from their … album Autobahn
I’m at a loss as to how a single can be both second and lead at the same time.
B-side “Morgenspaziergang””Kometenmelodie 1”
Kometenmelodie 1 translates to Comets tune 1 – pleasant enough.
Morgenspaziergang is Morning WALK – the alternative to everything else in the theme.
Thanks C&Q
Brilliant puzzle!
EREY needs anagramming “strange” to give EERY
Thanks both. I like my music so this was always going to gain approval, although I only vaguely recall anything about the song TELEGRAPH ROAD which as noted here was not an A-SIDE – nor are many of my all-time favourites
Thanks Quirister and Crosophile.
Another good one. Not a fan of theme, but knowing there is one helped. Got all of them except LITTLE DUECE COUPE.
The clues were tricky. Liked
ASIDE
SCARCITIES
STEELWORKS
CHEERERS
CITIZEN
The singles and B-sides I haven’t mentioned yet:
“(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66” is a … 1946 Nat King Cole… single – B-side: “Everyone Is Sayin’ Hello Again (Why Must We Say Goodbye)”
[“Hello, Goodbye” … by the English rock band the Beatles, written by Paul … credited to Lennon–McCartney. Backed by John’s “I Am the Walrus”
A non-album single … 1967 – Lennon pushed for his song to be the A-side, before reluctantly accepting that Paul’s was the more commercial-sounding of the two]
“The Long and Winding Road” … by English rock band the Beatles from their 1970 album Let It Be – B-side: “For You Blue”
[Notice the Beatles are English whereas Queen@7 are British.]
[Notice also the the rather than The. I helpfully edited one of these typos once. Someone else “reverted” my edit.]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_The
“Road to Nowhere” … 1985 Talking Heads … B-side: “Television Man”
My head is still hurting to see the Indy has published a sixteen letter fill with only five checked letters. 5/16. I cringe and wince when I see amateur setters put 3-letter fills with only one checked and now the Indy has found a way to bring the ratio even lower somehow…
Doubtlessly way too late now, but why did is become s?
23 eluded us, not a song we’d ever heard of and never come across duece for devil or coupé as a dish for ice cream. So we were at quite the disadvantage there 😀