Quite a thorny/inventive puzzle from Gaff, evidently thematic, as it bears the epigraph: “A 40th anniversary puzzle” . . .
. . . referring to the October 8, 1985 première of the English-language version of the musical Les Misérables at the Barbican Centre in London. I admit that I am really not a fan, but I have attempted to mark the thematic ninas that I do know, including COSETTE going around the corner. (If you squint, ENJOLRAS is kind of jumbled up around ROSA toward the middle.) Please let me know if there are more that I missed.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | PRISONER |
One held leaves at the end of term (8)
|
| I think this is: Cryptic definition. I do see that ONE is “held” inside [PRIS]ONE[R], but I cannot make out anything further from there. | ||
| 5 | EROTIC |
Romantic hero ticks boxes (6)
|
| Hidden in (boxes) [H]ERO TIC[KS] | ||
| 9 | UNFOLDED |
Missing a meal eats medieval spread (8)
|
| UNFED (missing a meal) around (eats) OLD (medieval) | ||
| 10 | ATONAL |
Harsh treatment for an alto (6)
|
| Anagram of (treatment for) AN ALTO | ||
| 12 | GENUS ROSA |
Dozens of lovers saw generous arrangement we left (5,4)
|
| Anagram of (arrangement) {SA[W] G[E]NEROUS minus (left) WE}, the definition cryptically referring to the bouquet of a dozen roses typically bestowed by lovers | ||
| 13 | IDIOM |
Saying Gaff would rock in the Irish Sea (5)
|
| I’D (Gaff would) + IOM (rock in the Irish Sea, i.e., the Isle of Man) | ||
| 14 | SMUG |
Satisfied with small cup (4)
|
| S (small) + MUG (cup) | ||
| 16 | ADVISER |
Erratically drives a coach (7)
|
| Anagram of (erratically) DRIVES A | ||
| 19 | AMNESIA |
Incontinent men suffering blackout (7)
|
| Anagram of (suffering) MEN inside (in) ASIA (continent), with a spacing misdirection, i.e., IN CONTINENT | ||
| 21 | VALE |
Farewell to depression (4)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 24 | AIRER |
Stand for clothes, but more beautiful topless (5)
|
| [F]AIRER (more beautiful) minus first letter (topless) | ||
| 25 | MARY JANES |
Women’s shoes (4,5)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 27 | CRABBY |
Taxi driver has right to be cross (6)
|
| CABBY (taxi driver) around (has) R (right) | ||
| 28 | DISASTER |
Calamity to be little plant (8)
|
| DIS (to belittle, with a spacing misdirection) + ASTER (plant) | ||
| 29 | SETTER |
Gaff’s dog (6)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 30 | CONSIDER |
Think the right place to be is in credit (8)
|
| ONSIDE (the right place to be) inside (in) CR. (credit) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | PLUNGE |
Source of breath in exercise taken by diver (6)
|
| LUNG (source of breath) inside (in) PE (exercise) | ||
| 2 | INFANT |
Starts to indicate need for a new table being under one, maybe (6)
|
| First letters of (starts to) I[NDICATE] N[EED] F[OR] A N[EW] T[ABLE], the definition referring to age | ||
| 3 | OGLES |
Eyeballs turn up at Leeds, oddly (5)
|
| GO (turn) inverted (up) + odd letters of (oddly) L[E]E[D]S | ||
| 4 | ERELONG |
Green log cut and carved soon (7)
|
| Anagram of (carved) {GREEN + LO[G] minus last letter (cut)} | ||
| 6 | RETRIEVAL |
Leaf maybe found in new suit’s recovery (9)
|
| EV ([Nissan] Leaf maybe) inside (found in) RETRIAL (new suit) | ||
| 7 | TANGIEST |
Most biting gnats it seems at heart are problematic (8)
|
| Anagram of (are problematic) {GNATS + IT + middle letter of (at heart) [SE]E[MS]} | ||
| 8 | CALAMARI |
Seafood around mid-May is shellfish and fresh air (8)
|
| CLAM (shellfish) around middle letter of (mid-) [M]A[Y] + anagram of (fresh) AIR | ||
| 11 | RAJA |
Part for a jazz king (4)
|
| Hidden in (part) [FO]R A JA[ZZ] | ||
| 15 | MISERABLE |
Sad note in Italy will be blue without you, it’s said (9)
|
| MI (note) + SERA (will be, in Italy, i.e., in Italian) + BL[U]E minus (without) U homophone of (it’s said) YOU | ||
| 17 | TABASCOS |
Sauces start becoming amazingly spicy filling for wraps (8)
|
| {First letters of (start) B[ECOMING] A[MAZINGLY] S[PICY]} inside (filling for) TACOS (wraps), with a bit of an &lit flair overall | ||
| 18 | INERRANT |
Flawless top restaurant gets complaint (8)
|
| [D]INER (restaurant) minus first letter (top) + RANT (complaint) | ||
| 20 | ARMY |
Force commando into agreement (4)
|
| RM (commando, i.e., Royal Marine[s]) inside (into) AY (agreement) | ||
| 21 | VERTIGO |
Arranging duck v tiger is feeling unbalanced (7)
|
| Anagram of (arranging) {O (duck) + V + TIGER} | ||
| 22 | UNITED |
Combined club (6)
|
| Double definition, the latter presumably referring generically to a football club | ||
| 23 | USURER |
Dealer’s turn to be more certain (6)
|
| U- ([type of] turn) + SURER (to be more certain). A usurer lends money at interest, but I suppose “dealer” is broadly synonymous. | ||
| 26 | JEANS |
Norma’s trousers? (5)
|
| Or JEAN’S, double definition, presumably an oblique reference to Norma Jean[e] Mortenson aka Marilyn Monroe |
Very enjoyable puzzle. Thanks Gaff.
Excellent blog. Thanks Cineraria.
PRISONER
Can’t think of anything better. ONE ‘held’ in the solution looks coincidental.
CONSIDER
A query: ‘the right side to be’ is nounal, whereas ‘ONSIDE’ is adj or adv.
(I think the onside on a cricket field doesn’t fit here). Am I missing
something?
Liked GENUS ROSA, AMNESIA and TABASCOS.
Tricky, especially as I have never seen or read Les mis and was looking out for the miners’ strike or Heysel disaster references.
Good blog!
Consider – I think onside as in football, as being offside results in conceding a free kick.
Nope, noticed nothing. [Like Cineraria, not really fans, but we saw Les Mis in ’90, along with, yes, Phantom, and Mousetrap. Just summat you did, like the pic sitting on a Landseer lion].
A dnf today, needed to guess-and-check a couple of squares to finish Tabasco, genus rosa, and the nho Mary Janes. A couple of hmm?s along the way, like romantic =? erotic, and inerrant (erk) for flawless, but otherwise a pretty neat set of clues, thanks Gaff and Cineraria.
James P@3
CONSIDER
I think my previous post was somewhat ambiguous. I took ONSIDE as the football term,
which is used as an adj or adv not as a noun. The cricket term is used as a noun as well,
but it doesn’t fit the context.
I took ONSIDE as a football term too but take KVa’s point.
Well, I’ve read a lot of French literature in my time but I failed to spot the Les Mis theme though it’s fairly jumping out at me now!
I’m not a fan of such musicals but the theme is cleverly done. What I did like was a properly chewy challenge with some interesting devices. In particular, I liked the women’s attire ((25, 26), those crafty spaces (or lack thereof) in AMNESIA and DISASTER, the neat ADVISER and SMUG (I was certainly satisfied with my piccolo consumed while solving this!).
Had absolutely no idea about the Nissan Leaf but got this from the definition alone.
Thanks Gaff for a great challenge and a similarly great blog from Cineraria.
5A I agree with grantinfreo about equating Erotic with Romantic; confusing lust with love.
It reminds me of a Warren Buffett dictum,
‘To describe a day-trader as an investor is like saying someone who engages in one-night stands is a romantic’!