I didn’t know when solving this puzzle that I was going to be blogging it otherwise I would have made some notes at the time. I only found out several days later that the scheduled blogger was on holiday with no Internet access and so would be unable to post.
For once I started at the beginning with 1ac. This referred me to 22dn which in turn referenced 24ac, my first entry. 22dn had already indicated the way the theme was likely to develop and as I know very little about the works of the said author, and have even less interest in them, I immediately brought up the relevant Wikipedia page and scrolled down to the list of works.
This then enabled me to fill in 22dn,1ac and 3,23,9 primarily from the enumeration. With a significant portion of the grid now filled it didn’t take me long to add the remaining solutions. 16ac was made easier because I had seen a reference to both the character and the prison during my perusal of the Wikipedia page. I don’t know enough about the author in question to say whether there are any other thematically related entries besides 16ac, though 6ac and 19ac are obviously relevant.
I think my favourite clue has to be 1dn because it could also be a clue for the answer at 24ac!
Across
1 See 22 down
6 Bird / magazine (4)
TIME – double def. – bird and time both refer to a spell in prison
8 Robin redbreast’s opening wings to accelerate, furiously flying (8)
AIRBORNE – an anagram (furiously) of ROBIN R[edbreast] (redbreast’s opening) A[ccelerat]E (wings to accelerate)
9 See 3
10 Old publisher picks up on leader in Times (6)
HEARST – HEARS (picks up) T[imes] (leader in Times) – this old publisher
11 Stone after May, the new birthstone for February (8)
AMETHYST – ST (stone) after an anagram (new) of MAY THE
12 Flower power, hugging resistance (6)
STREAM – STEAM (power) around (hugging) R (resistance)
15 Star in girl here, you bet! (3,5)
LAS VEGAS – VEGA (star) in LASS (girl)
16 Prison bog aligned with one of 24’s characters, initially lacking (8)
BELMARSH – [a]BEL (one of 24’s characters, initially lacking) MARSH (bog)
19 Lib-Dem and Labour leaders arrested (6)
NICKED – NICK [Clegg] ED [Miliband] (Lib-Dem and Labour leaders)
21 One’s bowled over by girl, a maiden in Madrid (8)
SENORITA – ONE’S reversed (bowled over) RITA (girl)
22 Backplate for armadillo, perhaps? (6)
ANIMAL – LAMINA (plate) reversed (back)
24 Author who’s more devious? (6)
ARCHER – double def. – some might describe this clue as an &lit (allegedly) – Jeffrey Archer
25 Straightening muscle enters ox with a bit jiggling (8)
EXTENSOR – an anagram (with a bit of jiggling) of ENTERS OX
26 It is so amazing making egg noodles for starters (4)
AMEN – initial letters (for starters) of A[mazing] M[aking] E[gg] N[oodles]
27 Wet and naked, display rear in defiance and something on one’s finger (9)
SHOWERING – SHOW (display) [defianc]E (rear in defiance) RING (something on one’s finger)
Down
1 Conservative potentate up for perjury, perhaps (5)
CRIME – C (Conservative) EMIR (potentate) reversed (up)
2 Tory / author (7)
OSBORNE – double def. – George and Duffield or John or Mary Pope or Stephen (John is probably the most well-known but he is a playwright rather than an author so perhaps Paul was thinking about Mary Pope Osborne)
3,23,9 24’s e-book? (5,5,6)
FIRST AMONG EQUALS – cryptic def. – e is the first letter of equals hence the ‘e-book’
4 I ask to safeguard leaders in expedition, frozen in glacial collapse (7)
ICEFALL – I CALL (I ask) around (to safeguard) E[xpedition] F[rozen] (leaders in expedition, frozen)
5 Some egoist, even so, notorious author (9)
STEVENSON – hidden in (some) ‘egoiST EVEN SO Notorious’ – this author
6 Difficult problem for gangster (7)
TOUGHIE – double def.
7 Drink uses fish (9)
MILKSHAKE – MILKS (uses) HAKE (fish)
13 Whistler constrained by impossible mother, leaving that place (9)
THEREFROM – REF (whistler) in (constrained by) an anagram (impossible) of MOTHER
14 Planet going around like the sun, day approaching fast (5,4)
MARDI GRAS – MARS (planet) around (going around) DIG (like) RA (the sun) – the festival that takes place the day before Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent – see here
17 Bird — tailless bird in daydream (7)
MOORHEN – RHE[a] (tailless bird) in MOON (daydream)
18 Chuck contents of shoe, for the boot (5-2)
HEAVE-HO – HEAVE (chuck) [s]HO[e] (contents of shoe)
20 Drink, one in tune with Italy (7)
CHIANTI – I (one) in CHANT (tune) I (Italy)
22,1across 24’s going straight? (2,3,4,5)
AS THE CROW FLIES – cryptic def.
23 See 3
Thanks Gaufrid. I followed the same sequence as you.
Thanks Gaufrid. No fan of the author either but bookstalls do shriek: ergo no need for Wiki for the two titles. Didn’t know the prison in 16A but I googled ‘redmarsh’ and hey presto. Quite a lot of nice clues, including the tasty 27A.
Thanks Gaufrid and Paul
I was sitting out in the sun doing this one, so when I solved ARCHER I threw the paper aside in disgust. I did pick it up again later when I had Internet access to look up his ouevre, when it became an easy finish.
6a could have been “chat” which is both a bird and a magazine. This threw me for a time.
My God, a Jeffrey Archer themed puzzle.
Paul was obviously asked to supply a low-brow easy prize.
This was most unsatisfactory and if it hadn’t had Paul as the setter I would never have guessed him as author. In fact I still don’t believe it to be his work! Very poor! Done and dusted in 25 minutes! No humour and no fun!
Thanks to Gaufrid and “Paul”
Thanks all
Would it not be a very brave poster who claimed great enjoyment here and a love of the theme?
Well it’s not me….I can be amazingly snobbish without having read any of his books. Mind a perjurist and liar should be enough!
I thought 27 ac was excellent.
I thought it was enjoyable puzzle even though I despise the man. I hadn’t read the books in question but was able to work them out from the wordplay, and I’m surprised that nobody has mentioned so far that BELMARSH was where he was incarcerated. Methinks some people should get down off their collective high horses.
Hi Andyb
“… and I’m surprised that nobody has mentioned so far that BELMARSH was where he was incarcerated.”
I did, indirectly, in my preamble (para 3). 😉
Thanks, Gaufrid – and Paul.
I know a theme shouldn’t put one off a puzzle but I’m afraid this one did. I’ve not read any of the books, either, but, as molonglo says, the titles are pretty pervasive, so no googling necessary.
All that can be said for the theme, as far as I’m concerned, is that it gives an opportunity to cite, for the sake of newer solvers, who may not have seen it, Araucaria’s wonderful classic anagram of THE OLD VICARAGE, GRANTCHESTER: ‘Poetical scene has surprisingly chaste Lord Archer vegetating’.
I did smile at the reference to this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistler%27s_Mother in 13dn.
I didn’t think any further than John Osborne for the author. I hadn’t heard of any of the others – and surely a playwright is an author? [It had to be ‘author’ in the clue for the sake of the theme.]
Hi Eileen
“I hadn’t heard of any of the others …”
Neither had I until I visited Wikipedia to see if there was an alternative to John.
Gaufrid@8 – apologies, indeed you did, although I felt a more direct reminder was necessary. Like I said, I despise the man.
Thanks Paul & Gaufrid.
I too have never read any of Archer’s tomes but apparently thousands/millions have. As with Gaufrid, Wiki provided the answers.
I had too much to do last Saturday to spend time investigoogling the works of an author I’ve never read so, sorry Paul, but I gave up very early on.
How did the man make so much money if we are representative of this country’s loathing for this man. I was given a new 17 audio cassette version of one of his works (cost over£30) which went straight on ebay at £2.99 (unopened obviously) and not one sniff of a purchaser after weeks of languishing there.
Any takers on here???
Enjoyed the crossword per se, though.
Thx
almw3 @14
Dare I say it? No, I dare not.
Well, I’m no fan of Jeffrey Archer and have never read any of his books. I have heard of a couple though and the clue for 22/1 was clear enough such that I managed to complete the puzzle without recourse to wikipedia. The puzzle was hardly a paean to Archer though. “Conservative potentate up for perjury, perhaps”, CRIME, NICKED, BELMARSH, TIME? Well, it made me laugh.
Not my favourite Paul puzzle perhaps, but it did raise a smile or two. Thanks to Paul & Gaufrid for the blog.
Muffin@15
I’ll give you a few days to think about it!!!
Is this blog about Jeffrey Archer or Paul’s Saturday Prize Crossword? 🙂
I do understand the various opinions (oops, there can only be one opinion 🙂 ) on the man but he has done his time for his nasty and/or naughty behaviour.
Yes, he made millions by exploiting it – he’s a bit of a rogue, isn’t he? However, not in the same category as real destroyers like Thatcher and Berlusconi, to name two.
I cannot see why Paul can’t write a crossword around Mr Archer as some of the above posts more or less suggest.
I think the crossword is once more not the hardest Paul ever but well written – and that’s what we here for.
By the way, Jeffrey Archer still lives in Grantchester, just a couple of miles around the corner from where I live. Every now and then he opens his doors for locals to share some wine tasting or charity events. I’ve bumped into him a couple of times here in Cambridge but he didn’t bump into me. Of course not! These things don’t impress me anyway – ever had Stephen Hawking blocking your way? I had.
It’s Cambridge after all.
Jeffrey Archer seems to be very ill at the moment.
I am not defending Mr Archer’s walks of life but as an import-Brit I don’t feel the same emotions as those in the first few posts.
And the crossword?
I liked SHOWERING (27ac), STREAM (12ac) and the tongue-in-cheek of 1d, 2d and the crucial 24ac.
Thanks, Gaufrid.
Thanks Paul and Gaufrid
Afraid I don’t share the same emotions as a lot of earlier posters. All I experienced was a clever crossword with a theme – both directly about Mr Archer and his works in the answers at 24a, 22d-1a, 16a and 3d-23d-9a as well as indirectly about his misdemeanours in the clues (16a, 19a, 24a, 1d, 2d, 5d, 17d and 22d-1a).
Together with the neat and humorous clueing style of Paul, made for an enjoyable solve. I actually did read a couple of his books many years ago and did know of both titles used in the puzzle without having read them.
Have to say that I agree with all of the adverse comments about the subject matter, but Paul didn’t require us to know very much, so it was quite straightforward to finish on a train without references, despite not having heard of one of the “books”, and fairly entertaining too.
Thanks to Gaufrid and Paul.