I think this is Tack’s second Independent crossword after a Sunday puzzle in May this year.
After the gentle music of Ronald Binge yesterday, we have a completely different genre of music as the theme today.
A lot of clues made references to individual musicians, bands, gigs, drugs, music industry terms and shouts of approval, so it was no surprise to see the names of many bands in the grid.
The grid below shows all the bands I could detect. The ones in Yellow are listed as Britpop bands by Wikipedia and others. The rest are not listed as Britpop, but seem to be bands that have released a few albums or are otherwise listed on the internet. One or two them seem quite obscure (to me) so they may not be part of the theme.
The following bands or singers are mentioned in the clues – New Order [English synth-pop band formed 1980], Blondie [American rock band formed in 1974], Eddie Rabbitt [1941 – 1998], American singer songwriter, Gene Vincent [1935 – 1971], American rock and roll singer, and Gene Vincent [born 1949], American musician, former vocalist and bassist with the Kiss and Arctic Monkeys [English rock band formed in 2002])
The Britpop bands in the grids are
Pulp (English, formed 1974), Elastica (English, 1992), Ash (Northern Irish, 1992), Blur (English, 1988) and Gene (British, 1993).
The other bands I can see in the grid are Borehole (Dutch, stoner rock, pre-2007), Wire (English, rock, 1976), Pixies (American, alternative rock, 1986), Wedding Present (English, rock 1985), Laser (Italian, rock, late 1960s), Libertines (English, rock, 1997), Falcon (American, rock, 2000), Primal Scream (Scottish, rock, 1982), Models (Australian, rock, 1978), Madness (English, ska and pop, 1986) and Lustra (American, rock, 1996).
There are four others Scream (Australian), Getaway (German), Blacklist (could be any of English, American, Australian and South African) and Lew Jetton & 61 South who have internet listings but I’m not sure how valid they are in terms of the theme.
Finally there is a album called APOLOGIA by the band We are Space Horses, there is a Canadian band called Nurture Nurture and an American band named [Mindless Self] Indulgence. However, I reckon you could make a band link to almost any word these days, so perhaps Tack might drop in and indicate the full extent of the theme.
I am not usually a fan of clues that reference other Independent setters (WIRE at 10 across), because I don’t see how irregular or new solvers would know the names, but there was another definition and a wordplay in the clue, so I was happy with this one. Serpent (mentioned in the clue at 17 across) is also an Independent setter, but the clue didn’t reference that fact.
APOLOGIA was an impressive piece of alternate 9 letter wordplay using words relevant to the theme.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 8 | Shaft British champion from behind with shout of approval (8)
BOREHOLE (a well-like excavation or shaft made in the earth’s crust for geological investigation or for water, oil, etc) B (British) + HERO (champion) reversed (from behind) + OLÉ (exclamation of approval, support or encouragement) B OREH< OLE |
| 9 | Crushed Yank chopped ecstasy in Palladium (6)
PULPED (crushed) PULL (yank) excluding the final letter (chopped) L + (E [ecstasy tablet] contained in [in] PD [chemical symbol for palladium]) PUL P (E) D |
| 10 | Send message to jam makers about excellent setter (4)
WIRE (send message to by telegraph) WI (Women’s Institute; organisation whose members are often known for making jam]) + RE (with reference to [about]) WIRE (pseudonym of a fairly regular setter of Independent cryptic crosswords since September 2018) – an additional definition WI RE |
| 11 | Make stretchy laces tie at dances (10)
ELASTICATE (make stretchy) Anagram of (dances) LACES TIE AT ELASTICATE* |
| 12 | Brownies bring food items about eleven (6)
PIXIES (small fairies; ‘brownies’ are similar but are defined as benevolent creatures who may secretly help with domestic work) PIES (food items) containing (about) XI (Roman numerals for eleven) PI (XI) ES |
| 14 | Band that is excluded previously has gone platinum (3-5)
ASH-BLOND (descriptive of a pale, silvery blond colour; having hair of this colour. Also known as platinum-blond) Anagram of (gone) HAS + BLONDIE (pop group; band) excluding (excluded) IE (id est) – the word ‘previously’ indicates that the anagram comes before BLOND) ASH* BLOND |
| 15 | Did new opener to gig, with New Order’s Ceremony? (7)
WEDDING (example of a ceremony) Anagram of (with new order) DID NEW and G (first letter of [opener to] GIG WEDDING* |
| 17 | Serpent’s fantastic here! (7)
PRESENT (here) Anagram of (fantastic) SERPENT PRESENT* |
| 20 | Justification of lay people on guitar periodically (8)
APOLOGIA (written defence or vindication; justification) APOLOGIA (letters 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16 [periodically] of LAY PEOPLE ON GUITAR) APOLOGIA |
| 22 | Amplifiers lifted acoustic sound Eddie Rabbitt supplied principally (6)
LASERS (devices which amplify an input of light, producing extremely narrow and intense monochromatic beams; amplifiers) LASERS (first letters [principally] of each of LIFTED ACOUSTIC SOUND EDDIE RABBITT SUPPLIED) LASERS |
| 23 | Swingers perhaps broadcast Ben Stiller’s lover initially swapping with Tack (10)
LIBERTINES (people who lead licentious lives; rakes or debauchees; swingers perhaps) Anagram of (broadcast) BEN STILLER with an L (first letter of [initially] LOVER) being replaced by (swapping with ) I (Tack is the setter of this puzzle) LIBERTINES* |
| 24 | Obscure celeb luring crowds (4)
BLUR (obscure) BLUR (hidden word in [crowds] CELEB LURING) BLUR |
| 25 | One hunts criminal by river in Cornwall (6)
FALCON (a bird that hunts) FAL (river in Cornwall) + CON (a criminal) FAL CON |
| 26 | "Go away to grasp English!" editor shrieked (8)
SCREAMED (shrieked) (SCRAM [go away!] containing [to grasp] E [English]) + ED (editor) SCR (E) AM ED |
| Down | |
| 1 | Way of working AC/DC stories we hear into rally (8)
MOBILISE (assemble; rally) MO (modus operandi; way of working) + BI (bisexual; AC/DC is a descriptive term for bisexual person) + LISE (sounds like [we hear] LIES [stories]) MO BI LISE |
| 2 | Vincent Simmons‘s strand of DNA (4)
GENE (GENE Vincent and GENE Simmons, mentioned in the blog introduction. are examples of people named GENE) GENE (a specific sequence or parts of a sequence of DNA) double definition GENE |
| 3 | Fashion line presenters ultimately? (6)
MODELS (people who wear clothes to display them to fashion buyers; fashion line presenters) MODE (fashion) + L (line) + S (last letter of [ultimately] PRESENTERS) MODE L S |
| 4 | Flight that can’t have happened (7)
GETAWAY (an escape; a flight) GET AWAY (an expression meaning ‘I don’t believe you’ or ‘that can’t have happened’) GETAWAY |
| 5 | Second player on baseball field done for (8)
SPITCHER (doomed; done for) S (second) + PITCHER (player on baseball field) S PITCHER |
| 6 | Bars want lean baloney sandwiches (10)
BLACKLISTS (excludes; bars) BS (bullshit; baloney) containing (shelters) (LACK [wanting] + LIST [lean]) B (LACK LIST) S |
| 7 | Black knight captures to counter (6)
JETTON (counter) (JET [black] + N [knight, in chess notation]) containing (captures) TO JET (TO) N |
| 13 | Collapsed Lung dine on hollow chocolate treat (10)
INDULGENCE (a treat) Anagram of (collapsed) LUNG DINE + CE (letters remaining in CHOCOLATE when the central letters HOCALAT are removed [hollow]) INDULGEN* CE |
| 16 | Wiping out born batsman once focus goes (8)
NEGATING (wiping out) NÉ (of a man, born) + GATTING (reference Mike GATTING [born 1957], English cricketer [batsman] who captained the English Test team between 1986 and 1988) excluding the central letter (once the focus goes) T NE GATING |
| 18 | Brought up terribly, turn out rude (8)
NURTURED (brought up) Anagram of (terribly) TURN + an anagram of (out) RUDE NURT* URED* |
| 19 | Specials end up supporting Arctic Monkeys primarily? Flipping nonsense! (7)
MADNESS (idiocy; nonsense) ([S {special} + S {special} giving specials] + END + AM [first letters of {primarily} each of ARCTIC and MONKEYS]) all reversed (flipping) (MA DNE S S)< |
| 21 | Gangster pursues demure chief (6)
PRIMAL (chief) PRIM (demure) + AL (reference AL Capone [1899 – 1947], American gangster) PRIM AL |
| 22 | Some Zulus travel for five year periods (6)
LUSTRA (period of five years) LUSTRA (hidden word [some] in ZULUS TRAVEL) LUSTRA |
| 24 | Witness eclipse (4)
BEAT (defeat; eclipse) BE AT (attend; see; witness) BE AT |
nho 5d – “It’s in Chambers”, but oed.com has it as SPITCHERED: ‘slang (originally Nautical). 1920– Rendered inoperative, ruined. < Maltese spicca finished, ended’.
An impressive gridfill and good to see some more up-to-date references. Interesting to clue an acronym with an acronym (LASER)
(Even more bands: Cream, Hole, Collapsed Lung… and ska bands The Specials, and 24d The BEAT.)
Thanks Tack and duncanshiell!
Good puzzle. Great detailed blog as usual.
Liked the &lit MODELS very much.
Petert@2
LASERS
That’s a nice additional layer you have noted. Didn’t think of it.
An impressively densely themed gridfill. I recognise a few names now they are pointed out though many of the names are not ones I recognise. Some I recognise but could not identify if I saw or heard them. It does explain some of the slightly unusual words appearing in the grid: JETTON and SPITCHER in particular. APOLOGIA is a clear winner of COTD for me. MODELS and BOREHOLE make up the podium.
Thanks Tack and duncan
Thanks Tack and Duncan. The theme completely passed me by and I am not sure I am any the wiser (it’s an age thing I guess). At 2D in desperation I googled Vincent Simmons and found somebody who was cleared of rape after serving 44 of 100 year’s sentence because there was no DNA evidence. I put in LIFE until 8A forced me to rethink. An intentional misdirection?
GrahamS@6 I went down the same rabbit hole for 2d
Thanks Tack and DS
There was also a 70s UK band named Jet.
I knew of two of the bands and both of the Independent setters who got a mention but that’s about the height of it! Learnt a couple of new words in SPITCHER & JETTON and my favourite was FALCON.
Thanks to Tack, sorry your musical knowledge didn’t accord with my own, and thanks to Duncan for the great reveal.
Thanks both. Much more my kind of theme, though I did not know quite all of those highlighted. Still a tough solve for me with ASH BLOND LOI with the Blond(ie) device stumping me until I came here, as I had decided I needed to first find a band previously mentioned in the grid
Collapsed Lung… blimey, there’s a blast from the past. Saw them play at the World’s End in Camden in late May/early June 1996 – I can date it quite precisely because it was just before the start of the Euros and shortly after, their song Eat My Goal got picked up by Coca-Cola for their TV ad campaign. Despite this endorsement, the song was never the hit it deserved to be. I think the band broke up less than a year later.
Thanks for the memories, Tack, as well as the fun puzzle. And Duncan for the blog, of course.
Didnt the tabloid press label Justine of Elastica “Blur Indoors”?
Didnt care much for this puzzle-too much of a shoehorn job.
Sorry
I’m never sure about musical genres but are most of the well-known bands here Indie bands?
Many thanks to Duncan for the excellent blog and all those who’ve tried the puzzle and commented. As you pointed out Duncan, it’s a very broad theme so inevitably you’ve found some stuff I had no idea was there! The intention was for the theme to be indie bands, which seemed appropriate, but others fell out almost by accident. I’ve never heard of Borehole (Hole was the intended band), Laser ((The) Las), Jetton (Jet – Australian noughties) or Blacklists (Black).
We completed the puzzle at lunchtime and have only checked in on the blog this evening. Can only say WOW – completely missed the theme – so many thematic references. Well done Tack and also to Duncan for finding a few more!
Didn’t get on with this at all. Got about half done but the right-hand side defeated me. And pop music is not my thing.