I found this quite a slog. It had some very tough clues and occasionally quite obscure references.
There seems to be a Patti Smith theme. Apart from the two which directly reference her, I think Gloria and Land are also references to her work. There are probably others but she's not an artist I know much about.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SCRIBE |
Writer in bed overwhelmed by endless lovemaking (6)
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Crib(=bed) in se[x](=lovemaking) |
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| 4 | SALLOWER |
Everything screened by broadcaster is more jaundiced (8)
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All in sower(=broadcaster of seeds) |
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| 10 | OFF BREAKS |
Deliveries cancelled before holidays (3,6)
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Off(=cancelled) + breaks(=holidays). An off-break is a spin delivery in cricket. |
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| 11 |
See 15
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| 12 | LAND |
Secure country (4)
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DD. The first def would be in the sense of "I've secured/landed a prize". |
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| 13 | REINSTATES |
Gallery on board after controller returns to former position (10)
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(Tate(=gallery in London and other cities) in SS(=onboard i.e. inside a steamship)) after rein(=controller in the sense of the rein used for a horse) |
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| 15/11 | REDONDO BEACH |
Bum echoed Brando somewhere close to Los Angeles (7,5)
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(Echoed Brando)* |
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| 16 | HORSES |
Animals record released 50 years ago (6)
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DD referring to the Patti Smith album Horses, which was released on the 10th November 1975. |
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| 19 | GLORIA |
Tissue-wrapped gold halo (6)
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Glia(=tissue, a type of cell in the brain and spinal cord also called neuroglia) around or(=golden in heraldic usage) |
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| 21 | CLOSE TO |
Secret love is nearby (5,2)
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Closet(=secret, as in "her closet admirer") + o(=love) |
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| 23 | PATTI SMITH |
Singer and model coming back with German opening track (5,5)
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(Sit<(=model) + mit(=German for "with")) in(=opening) path(=track) |
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| 25 | KITE |
3 characters reflected in strange TikToks (4)
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Hidden, reversed in strange tiktoks |
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| 27 | IBIZA |
Cabaret singer loses face covering AC/DC in rave venue (5)
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[L]iza(=Minelli, who appeared in the film version of Cabaret) around bi(=AC/DC as a slang term for bisexual) |
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| 28 | REFORMISM |
Political doctrine on the subject of class is principle of Marxism (9)
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Re(=on subject of) + form(=class when used in things like "fourth form") + is + M[arxism] |
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| 29/7 | KIMBERLY WYATT |
Mike Batt wryly remixed Pussycat Doll (8,5)
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(Mike Batt wryly)*. Kimberley Wyatt was a member of the girl group The Pussycat Dolls, |
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| 30 | REAGAN |
Royal daughter hosting a president (6)
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Regan(=one of the daughters of King Lear) around a |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SPOILERS |
They try to stop drag queen stuffing booty (8)
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ER(=late queen) in spoils(=booty, as in "spoils of war") |
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| 2 | RAFA NADAL |
Racketeer pilots a new car in reverse (4,5)
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RAF(=pilots, although this is questionable since the RAF has ground crew, engineers etc as well) + a n{ew} + Lada<(=make of car). The definition is a somewhat whimsical reference to Nadal using a racket while playing tennis. |
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| 3 | BIRD |
Amount offered to kidnap right-winger (4)
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Bid(=amount offered at an auction) around r{ight} |
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| 5 | ABSINTH |
Ban this awful drink (7)
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(Ban this)*. The word is normally spelt with an E at the end but this seems to be an acceptable alternative. |
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| 6 | LOBSTER POT |
Behold Harry Potter crushing rubbish basket (7,3)
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(Lo(=behold) + potter*)(harry used as the anagram indicator) around b{ull} s{h*t}(=rubbish) |
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| 7 |
See 29 Across
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| 8 | REHASH |
Soldiers’ mess showing The Magnificent Seven perhaps (6)
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RE(=Royal Engineers) + hash(=mess). The Magnificent Seven was a rehash of the Japanese film Seven Samurai. |
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| 9 | GAZEBO |
Happy Monday afternoon coming up in wee outhouse (6)
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(Bez(=Happy Mondays band member) + a{fternoon})< in go(=wee as in urinate) |
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| 14 | INORDINATE |
Excessive noise worried uninitiated child at first (10)
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(Din(=noise) + ate(=worried)) after [m]inor |
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| 17 | ELEGISING |
Nigel in Reform welcomes unusual form of protection delivering sorrowful lines (9)
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Nigel* around egis, which is an unusual spelling of the word aegis(=protection). |
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| 18 | MONEYMAN |
Financier contracted Brazilian footballer within a day (8)
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Neyma{r} in Mon{day} |
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| 20 | ADMIRAL |
One commanding batsman going up over mid-off (7)
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Lara<(=Brian Lara, West Indian batsman) around mid* |
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| 21 | CUT OFF |
Stop cat spending month inside box (3,3)
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Seems to be to{m} in cuff(=box). Spending is used as the removal indicator to take m{onth} from tom. I think box is used as a synonym for cuff in the sense of a light blow (cuff someone/box their ears). |
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| 22 | UPTICK |
Happy over credit increase (6)
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Up(=happy) + tick(=credit, as in "on tick") |
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| 24 | TUISM |
Apostrophe is dividing corporation (5)
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Is in tum(=corporation). I'd never heard of tuism before but it is in Chambers as a synonym for apostrophe. |
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| 26 | FREE |
Independent bank promoting Head of Finance (4)
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Reef with F[inance] "promoted" to the front. |
Thanks Grecian and NealH
This year sees the 50th anniversary of Patti Smith’s landmark album Horses.
The thematics include tracks from the album: Gloria, Land & BirdLand, Kimberly, Redondo Beach, Free Money & Elegie.
Thanks Simon S for explaining what Kimberly Wyatt is doing there. It seemed super random for the third most famous Pussycat Doll to pop up alongside heavyweight muso favourite Patti Smith.
Some good clues here, and it was tricky but I wouldn’t say a slog. I don’t mind a bit of general knowledge and ADMIRAL, MONEYMAN and IBIZA were all very good clues. The very elegant OFF BREAKS was my favourite.
Today is clearly my fail-to-spot-a-musical-theme day. This is the second of the day to have passed me by. I know of Patti Smith but she’s not someone I followed. As Digger says, it does explain the otherwise mystifying appearance of both KIMBERLY W and the beach. I enjoyed the puzzle but would agree it had some tough elements and my GK was found wanting on several occasions – glia, Bez, TUISM, the unusual spellings of both egis and ABSINTH as well as the two mentioned earlier.
Thanks both
I appreciated seeing Neymar rather than the expected Pele. I needed a lot of help to finish, though.
Liked OFF BREAKS, REINSTATES, CLOSE TO, REFORMISM, RAFA NADAL and MONEYMAN.
Thanks Grecian and NealH.
I think slog was the right word for me. Didn’t occur to me there might be a theme (it’s not Tuesday!) so I got slightly miffed at the proper names, and also had the same gaps in my knowledge as Postmark @3. Still, got there in the end, and the blog was very helpful, so thanks to Grecian and NealH. Favourite was the LOBSTER POT
Many thanks to NealH for the “slog blog” 😉 and to everyone else for commenting. It is somewhat unfortunate that most artists don’t consider crossword setters, when coming up with song titles. The remaining track from the album is BREAK IT UP, which is hidden across 10, 25 and 22. This was undoubtedly a groundbreaking and hugely influential album. All the best, G
I thought this was very solid, and enjoyed it, although I got a bit mixed up about the music theme… I assumed Animals was a reference to the Pink Floyd album (as I assume Grecian hoped for), and what with that and the Pussycat Dolls, well – .
Faves were SCRIBE, SPOILERS and GAZEBO. Last ones in were GLORIA and finally that darned RAFA NADAL! Racketeer… very good.
TUISM (and glia) were unknowns of course, and IBIZA was another which I filed under “well it has to be”, assuming AC/DC = current = i and hence failing to spot the cleverly-clued singer. I also spent quite a while at the start looking for a soft toy (a something kitty) instead of KIMBERLY WYATT.
Setters must have cracked open the bubbly when Nige decided to name his party Reform… soo much scope! Certainly, he’s cropped up a lot more these past couple of years than he used to.
Thanks both.
@Simon S #1 – to be exact, the album was released on this day 10th November 1975, so it’s exactly 50 years.
Full track listing here
Weird isn’t it? I’ve found most puzzles over the last few weeks almost impenetrable, yet no comments from anyone else agreeing with me. This one, for me, was approachable, achievable and enjoyable, yet most others struggled! Mind you, sport and music are definitely my domains, so that helped. A ‘very good’ from me, anyways.
Thanks both. I’ll concur with ‘slog’. to such an extent I contemplated quitting, although not unhappy to have persisted. I was hit and miss on the GK as I didn’t know the fictional in REAGAN, but I recognised Bez in his GAZEBO, whilst perhaps subconsciously feeling KIMBERLY WYATT may exist once I’d eliminated other plausible first names, and whilst RAFA N was acceptable whimsically as a ‘racketeer’ I wondered if a question mark might have been added. I solved PATTI SMITH only after researching whose 1975 album was called HORSES….influential etc. it may be (I have to take the word of others as Lego was more me that long ago), however I note it peaked at number 47 in the UK chart.
I saw the PATTI SMITH theme, because I do know of HORSES, and her version of GLORIA is remarkable–give it a spin. It’s not so much a cover of the Van Morrison number as a reimagining and repurposing of it. I’ve never heard the album all the way through, though, so the other titles passed me by.
I dredged up KIMBERLY WYATT from some corner of my memory, but I have no idea who Bez is. Also not up on my names of specific cricketers. I know of REDONDO BEACH, but I was surprised Britons were expected to.