Quite looking forward to this puzzle from Nudd.
Preamble: Clues are normal but answers in every second row must be entered jumbled. The opening lines from a piece of work appear in the final grid together with their narrator. Solvers must enter the name of the work in the space below the grid and highlight the name of its creator.
Non-symmetric grid, jumbled answers – maybe not so easy. And a lot of clues. Made a fairly good start on the (normal) down clues, enough to tackle the acrosses in the top half, at least those in odd-numbered rows. They were proving quite amenable, so maybe not so bad after all.
I ventured a look at some of the other across clues and suddenly GRAND PIANO appeared in row 2, followed by an emergent GLOCKENSPIEL in row 6 – clearly I was onto something.
I worked my way down the grid with no serious hold-ups and there I met MIKE OLDFIELD, across row 12 – of course, we were talking Tubular Bells here, all his own work. Now who was it that intoned the list of all those instruments?
I needed a reminder (courtesy of Google & Wikipedia): the unmistakable voice of VIV STANSHALL (best known for the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band), and the full list is: grand piano, reed and pipe organ, glockenspiel, bass guitar, double speed guitar, two slightly distorted guitars, mandolin, Spanish guitar, and introducing acoustic guitar, plus (of course), tubular bells. (This starts 20:18 into side 1 of the record and finishes at 23:24, in case you don’t care to listen to the whole thing.)
Marvellous at how Nudd could fit all those instruments in order plus the narrator and composer so slickly in the grid. Thanks, quite easy as it turned out, but good fun – first entry in my POTY list for 2024.
| No. | Clue | Answer | Wordplay |
| Across | |||
| 1 | Italy lost point, overcome by man resembling Pope’s fire chief? (10) | IGNIPOTENT | I(taly) [POINT]* in GENT (man) |
| 11 | Showing commercial breaks reducing in extent (8) | PARADING | AD (commercial) in PARING (reducing in extent) |
| 12 | Gutter for crofter’s cottage is immense – half sent back (4) | RONE | ENOR(mous)< (immense) |
| 13 | Lost group of birds eagerly entering headland (7) | RASORES | SORE (eagerly) in RAS (headland) |
| 14 | Repeated finale of Luther a long time before noon (5) | RERAN | (Luthe)R ERA (a long time) N(oon) |
| 15 | Slapped about and made a mess (7) | PANDIED | AND in PIED (made a mess) |
| 17 | Feel around top of grocer’s string of onions (5) | GROPE | G(rocer’s) ROPE (string of onions) |
| 18 | Nothing on earth can produce African flower (4) | NILE | NIL (nothing) E(arth) |
| 20 | He wrote about music (5) | CAMUS | CA (about) MUS(ic) |
| 21 | Government secure synchronization device (7) | GENLOCK | G(overnment) ENLOCK (secure) |
| 25 | Fish species to harvest (4) | SPIN | SP(ecies) IN (harvest) |
| 27 | Plan to explain silver buried in Tajik capital (7) | DIAGRAM | AG (silver) in DIRAM (Tajik monetary unit) |
| 29 | Society member’s issue with mother (5) | MASON | MA (mother) SON (issue) |
| 31 | Member avoiding culpability – Cameron’s livid (4) | BLAE | BLAME (culpability) ¬ M(ember) |
| 32 | “It’s sugar” – wrong! It’s snowy ridges (8) | SASTRUGI | [IT’S SUGAR]* |
| 35 | Diviners use erstwhile shelters (5) | SEERS | (u)SE ERS(twhile) |
| 38 | Greek to conceal local housing loan to St. Andrews (7) | HELLENE | HELE (conceal, dialect) around LEN’ (loan, Scot) |
| 39 | Expressions of approval from half a dozen vessels (6) | VIVATS | VI (6, half a dozen) VATS (vessels) |
| 40 | Chambers on each side in High School (5) | HALLS | ALL (on each side) in HS (High School) |
| 42 | Musteline animal – some eat okra (4) | ATOK | (a)AT OK(ra) |
| 43 | Security money left by international magistrate in Paris (6) | BAILLI | BAIL (security money) L(eft) I(nternational) |
| 45 | In Malaysian capital locate old English cuckoo (4) | KOEL | KL (Malaysian capital) around O(ld) E(nglish) |
| 46 | I’d fled after wrecking violin (6) | FIDDLE | [I’D FLED]* |
| 47 | Snoop around suede supply for falseness (8) | PSEUDERY | PRY (snoop) around [SUEDE]* |
| 48 | Singular trough in pigpen, unusually (4) | STYE | S(ingular) TYE (trough) |
| Down | |||
| 2 | Tiered seating’s excellent when overcome by drink (6) | GRADIN | RAD (excellent) in GIN (drink) |
| 3 | Organisers of space program line part of helmet (5) | NASAL | NASA (organisers of space program) L(ine) |
| 4 | Kept familiar with thin fabric when going topless (4, 2 words) | IN ON | NINON (thin fabric) ¬ first letter |
| 5 | Eastern fleshy fruit turned up in W African tree (5) | OPEPE | E(astern) PEPO (fleshy fruit) both< |
| 6 | Temperature beginning to irritate ailing Pandarus’s cough (6) | TISICK | T(emperature) I(rritate) SICK (ailing) |
| 7 | Gunslinger shot pear (4) | EARP | [PEAR]* |
| 8 | Bulging hills surrounding Oxford University (6) | TOROUS | TORS (hills) around OU (Oxford University) |
| 9 | Sounds like Bishops’ representatives might be suppliers of resin (5) | ARARS | homophone RRs (Right Reverend, abbrev) |
| 10 | Open Guinness bottling plant in the Caribbean (7) | PENGUIN | (o)PEN GUIN(ness) |
| 11 | Such items might be thrown in disagreements (8) | GRENADES | [DISAGREEMENTS]* ¬ [ITEMS]* &lit |
| 12 | North-eastern space is source of oil (4) | NEEM | NE (north-eastern) EM (space) |
| 16 | Cross over square entrances (5) | DOORS | ROOD< (cross) S(quare) |
| 19 | Enigmatist perhaps condemned lager (5) | ELGAR | [LAGER]* {something of an in-clue?} |
| 22 | Quantity caught up in mouth (3) | GAB | BAG< (quantity) |
| 23 | Cocaine dust’s strong enough and can be exchanged for money (8) | CASHABLE | C(ocaine) ASH (dust) ABLE (strong enough) |
| 24 | My fuel is stirred to form liquid suspension (8) | EMULSIFY | [MY FUEL IS]* |
| 25 | This tack aboard steamship results in sluggish people (4) | NAIL | SNAILS (sluggish people) ¬ SS (steamship) |
| 26 | Senior citizen cycling in meadow grass (3) | POA | OAP (senior citizen) with letters cycled |
| 28 | Maybe trivialise rav suffering with this (7) | ILEITIS | [TRIVIALISE]* ¬ [RAV]* |
| 30 | Handle for some to lift with energy (6) | STEALE | STEAL (lift) E(nergy) |
| 33 | Green man oddly exposed cheek (4) | GENA | G(r)E(e)N (m)A(n) |
| 34 | Old penman’s assembled cover in yard for nowt (6) | RELIDE | LID (cover) in REE (yard for cattle, nowt) |
| 36 | Draw out frenzied cry when pierced by tip of knife (5) | EVOKE | EVOE (frenzied cry) around (knif)E |
| 37 | Quietly rising, Scottish dove remained upright (5) | STOOD | ST (quietly) DOO< (dove, Scot) |
| 39 | See amplifier generate unrefined improvisations (4) | VAMP | V (see) AMP(lifier) |
| 41 | Supply the missing flower (4) | LILY | LITHELY (supply) ¬ THE |
| 44 | Ellipse regularly represents heraldic bloom (3) | LIS | (e)L(l)I(p)S(e) |
It was great fun fitting in the jumbled answers to half of the Across clues. GUITAR revealed itself early on, but nothing clicked until much later when KEOLDFIELD and GRANDPIA were revealed. I knew enough of the subject to make the rest of this quite easy, although the narrator’s name was new to me. The design around the anagrammed Across lights was impressive. I liked the GRANDPIA and SSGUITAR anagrams especially.
It was handy that the names VIV STANSHALL and MIKE OLDFIELD have the same number of letters (12). (TUBULAR BELLS also has 12 letters, as it happens.)
Thanks to Nudd for an excellent puzzle, and to HolyGhost for the blog, and for reminding me of the complete list of instruments. I too noted the ‘in-clue’ to Elgar – explained or justified (possibly) by the fact that those two names (in @enigmatistelgar) can be seen on the puzzle page every week.
Alas poor Viv
I knew him well!
He was well known and Mike wasn’t -when Beardy opened The Manor studio and a luck would have it, a track got used for The Exorcist
nice puzzle and blog-thanks
Yes, AB @1, great fun. My route in was quite different from HG’s. I spotted most of Viv S emerging and at once thought of Bonzo Dog whom I had seen in the 60s, long before the ‘Bells. Then GUITAR and GRAND PIANO and it clicked … and there was most of the creator staring me in the face on line 11! How did I not spot it sooner?
I thought the trick for squeezing thematic words into half of the cells was very neat, very ingenious and, I imagine, quite a task to produce.
So, many thanks to Nudd for an an entertaining puzzle and to HG for the thorough analysis.
The instruments were so well hidden but we were relieved to sort out the theme before the end as we were struggling on the last few clues.
We were not aware that Viv Stanshall was the ‘voice’. We actually saw the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band – quite a bizarre experience – we remember his imaginary juggling. One of life’s great performers.
Thanks Nudd – we really enjoyed the puzzle. We still own a Tubular Bells LP.
Thanks HolyGhost for the blog.
The one downside in a very enjoyable puzzle was that anagram clues in the jumbled rows could be left unsolved, since the letters immediately needed to be jumbled again and the actual clue solution was no help with that. So while I did get 32A (Fiddle), I successfully filled in the puzzle without ever solving 26A (Sastrugi); it was enough to recognise that it had to be an anagram and looking for checkers. It’s a minor criticism, but I think that this should not have been possible.
A fun puzzle although I found Tubular Bells to be less good than I remembered from my youth.
Only minor disappointment was that ‘Tubular Bells’ was not hidden in the puzzle somewhere given that it also has 12 letters (as has been pointed out). An easy way might have been for wordplay to generate an extra letter in one clue per column, to be written above each column.
Fun indeed. Another niftily constructed grid. My thanks to Nudd and HolyGhost.
Nothing to add really, except that this entirely unmusical solver had to Google the list of instruments (though the title Tubular Bells was distantly familiar from long ago). And I was another one who never got SASTRUGI but found the anagram letters fitted [BA]SSGUITAR.
What a feat by Nudd to get so much thematic material into the grid. I had to use Wikipedia to understand some of the context here, not being familiar with the musical work. Another good un !
Not too taxing to complete this week but much to admire.
Thanks HolyGhost and Nudd
Is 19d really an ‘in-clue’ and not just a reference to Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations?
It’s both Matthew @9
Many thanks to HolyGhost for the fine analysis, and to all for your comments / feedback. This has long been a favourite classic of mine. As copster @2 suggests, the big international boost for the album came from that film – but hats off to Whispering Bob Harris who was playing excerpts on The OGWT way before Friedkin grabbed the theme for his movie. I heard it playing as I walked past a music shop in Guernsey, recognized it from OGWT stepped inside and bought it. That was late June 1973 and I still have that precious slab of vinyl (the first record issued by Virgin).
Funnily enough, Oldfield’s second album was Hergest Ridge, a landmark I see every morning just across the valley from my morning dog walk.
Hope to be back again someday, meanwhile regards to all.
Nudd – love your assumption that everyone will recognise OGWT = Old Grey Whistle Test. Also really liked your puzzle: Tubular Bells was one of the four of five albums my family shared in common, so no internet search needed at my end.