Very enjoyable, as always. Thank you Arachne.
This puzzle was published on the 100th Aniversary of the birth of Francis Albert Sinatra. Start spreading the news…
Update: we have Frank Sinatra’s famous song MY WAY written down the right-hand side of the grid.
| Across | ||
| 7 | SINATRA |
Performing great act of wickedness, one is expelled from halls (7)
SIN (act of wickedness) and ATRiA (halls) missing I (one) – one of the great performers of the 20th century |
| 8 | LEGROOM |
Nancy’s the marriage partner and source of comfort when travelling (7)
LE (the, French, as written in Nancy) with GROOM (marriage partner). Nacy was the name of Sinatra’s first wife and his first child. |
| 9 | FADO |
Loud commotion and blue air in Lisbon? (4)
F (forte, loud) and ADO (commotion) – a Portuguese musical tradition of melancholy songs |
| 10 | MOVIE STAR |
Farah competes with sailor to be 7? (5,4)
MO (Mo Farah) VIES (competes) with TAR (sailor) – Frank Sinatra appeared in over 50 movies |
| 12 | BERIO |
Italian barman slipping drug into spirit (5)
E (ecstacy, drug) inside BRIO (spirit) |
| 13 | BIRTHDAY |
Cultivating hybrid at present time (8)
(HYBRID AT)* anagram=cultivating. Frank Sinatra was born on 12th December 1915. |
| 15 | TITS |
Let it snow, blanketing little birds (4)
found inside (blanketing) leT IT Snow. Let it Snow was recorded by Frank Sinatra in 1944 and again in 1950. |
| 16 | MIAUL |
Catty utterance of 20 down, extremely ungraceful (5)
MIA (Mia Farrow) and UngracefuL (extreme letters of). Frank Sinatra married Mia Farrow in 1966, the marriage ending in divorce two years later. |
| 17 | STEW |
Retired wimps fret (4)
WETS (wimps) reversed (retired) |
| 18 | GRIMALDI |
Grace Kelly after marriage forbidding and discounting Germans (8)
GRIM (forbidding) and ALDI (German discount supermarket chain) – Grace Kelly married Rainier Grimaldi, Prince of Monaco, and became Mrs Grimaldi. Frank Sinatra starred alongside Grace Kelly in the 1956 film High Society. |
| 20 | FRANK |
Plain-speaking 7 (5)
double definition |
| 21 | MONSIGNOR |
Unexpectedly sing Moon River for somebody in church (9)
anagram (unexpectedly) of MOON SING and R (river). Moon River was recorded by Frank Sinatra in 1964. |
| 22 | LAVA |
Miss Gardner, going on 50, is hot stuff! (4)
AVA (Miss Ava Gardner) following (going on) L (50, Roman numerals). Frank Sinatra married Ava Grdner in 1951, separated in 1953 and the couple finally divorced in 1957. |
| 24 | ARTISAN |
She’s skilled at working 17 across of 7 (7)
anagram (stew) of SINATRA |
| 25 | BOLONEY |
Expression of excitement about single 7’s sausage (7)
BOY (expression of excitement) containing (about) LONE (single) – an Italian-American (for Sinatra) sausage |
| Down | ||
| 1 | TINA |
Girl, a 7, can answer (4)
TIN (can) and A (answer). Tina Sinatra is Frank’s second daughter with Nacy Sinatra. |
| 2 | CAMORRAS |
Mafiosi ram Oscar in unusual places (8)
(RAM OSCAR) anagram=in unusual places. A nod to Frank Sinatra’s Mafia connections. |
| 3 | CRAMBO |
Rhyming “game” and “jam” with “hum”? (6)
CRAM (jam) with BO (body odour, hum) |
| 4 | CEREBRAL |
Perhaps rye drinking leads to blindness and rotting of the brain (8)
CEREAL (perhaps rye) containing (drinking) first letters (leads to) Blindness and Rotting |
| 5 | CRUTCH |
Tedious routine in cold church is something that sustains one (6)
RUT (tedious routine) in C (cold) CH (church) |
| 6 | POOR |
Lead in Pal Joey perhaps turning up in Sorry! (4)
Pal (first letter of, lead in) then ROO (joey perhaps, a kangaroo) reversed (turning up). Frank Sinatra starred in the 1957 film Pal Joey. |
| 11 | VIBRATION |
Bishop and Rat Pack 7 with touching resonance (9)
B (bishop) and RAT inside (pack) VII (7, Roman numerals) with ON (touching). The Rat Pack was the name given in the 1960s to a group of actors centred around Humphry Bogart of which Frank Sinatra was a member. Later the term was applied in musical performance to the Rat Pack trio of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. |
| 12 | BRIAR |
Pipeline between Britain and Arabia (5)
I (line) between BR (Britain) and AR (Arabia). Pipeline has to be split into pipe + line for the definition to emerge. I’m not convined about I=line. It is not an abbreviation and I only looks like a line in uppercase and only in certain fonts. Perhaps there is another explanation. |
| 14 | ALECK |
Smart guy downing cake regularly after beer (5)
CaKe (regular selection from, some letters downed) following ALE (beer) |
| 16 | MULLIGAN |
17 across for 7 in mug, all 17 across-ed (8)
(MUG IN ALL)* anagram=stewed – an American (for Sinatra) stew from the depression era. Mulligan Stew features in the lyrics of The Lady is a Tramp, but I don’t think Sinatra ever sang that verse. |
| 17 | STALLION |
Male with parts in High Society going ahead with one leg (8)
TALL (high) with S (society) in front (going ahead) with I (one, Roman numerals) and ON (leg side, cricket) – a well endowed male. Apparently Frank Sinatra was something of a stallion himself. Surprising what one learns while blogging cryptic crosswords. |
| 19 | MANTIS |
Married people opposed to prayer? (6)
M (married) and ANTIS (people oppsed to something) – a praying mantis perhaps |
| 20 | FARROW |
Have multiple offspring to argue greatly over (6)
ROW (to argue) following (with…over) FAR (greatly). Frank Sinatra was married to Mia Farrow (see 16 across). |
| 21 | MARX |
Capital fellow is hurt and cross (4)
MAR (hurt) and X (a cross) – Karl Marx writer of Capital:Critique of Political Economy aka Das Kapital. Frank Sinatra’s fourth wife was Barbara Marx, they were married for 22 years. |
| 23 | VEEP |
Gerry, Chester or Humphrey? (4)
Elbrige Gerry (1813-14), Chester A Arthur (1881) and Hubert Humphry (1965-69) all Vice Presidents of the USA. This is an odd clue: Firstly this clue is not really cryptic in a conventional sense, just a list of examples. Secondly the incumbents are not exactly famous. Veeps from living memory fair enough, but names from the 1800s? Thirdly the list is not consistent, two examples are surnames, one is a given name. Perhaps I have got the solution wrong or there is another explanation. |
definitions are underlined
Well I’ve never heard a cat say miaul
Thanks PeeDee and Arachne. Great prize crossword, although I don’t understand 23dn either. I’ve just noticed there’s a Nina.
Thanks to Arachne and PeeDee. This was a tough puzzle but enjoyable nonetheless.
Didn’t understand 23D; maybe there is another explanation. Never heard a cat say
miaul either but apparently Chamber’s has.
Cheers…
Thanks PeeDee. The good clueing (VEEP excepted) mean that novelties like FADO, BERIO and CRAMBO were readily gettable. The theme came halfway through, after FRANK. A nice Hollywood romp.
The “Special Instructions” caused some concern as the fact that this day would have been Sinatra’s birthday had been broadcast three times in my hearing. (Even on Radio 3 and Strictly Come Dancing!).
Was this to be a “Frank fest? I hoped not as my knowledge of this gangster is pretty patchy. However, only about 2 or 3 of the clues actually referred to the man while other references him used him as a synonym for American!
Some nice clues and the level of difficulty was high enough for a weekend. I’m still not sure about Camorras as a plural and I thought the three vice-presidents was a little unfair having two surnames and one christian name.
Other than that this was enjoyable with some nice misdrection. However this was not as much fun as Arachne puzzles of old!
Thanks to PeeDee and Arachne.
Thanks to Arachne and PeeDee. I was slowed down by putting in “miaow” rather than MIAUL (so that CEREBRAL was my last in after much travail). I got GRIMALDI eventually though only afterwards found the Aldi chain via Google. I did not know BERIO the composer or the game CRAMBO but the clues were sufficient. Eventually I interpreted “prayer” as “pray-er” (on that prays) to justify MANTIS and I still don’t get the “i” in BRIAR. All in all, a very difficult solve for me but worth the effort.
Thanks PeeDee. I have the same reservations about 23 as others but can see no other explanation. I’m sure someone like Paul could have come up with a more imaginative – and borderline – clue.
The handwritten way I entered BRIAR in my printout has the I as a vertical line so it seemed OK to me.
Thanks Arachne and PeeDee
Wonderful crossword – very clever and very entertaining (a feat not always accomplished). Lots of great clues, with LEGROOM and BIRTHDAY being exceptional.
I wonder why Arachne simply didn’t pick Arthur instead of Chester? Simple oversight, perhaps?
I note that you didn’t flag up 2dn as a Sinatra-connected clue, PeeDee! Under legal advice?
Goo spot of the Nina, DuncT.
21D Sinatra’s fourth wife was (Barbara) Marx
Thanks PeeDee. For once, I didn’t finish this. Lacking any real motivation or interest, I ground to a halt in the SE corner. Oh well, let’s see if this week’s Prize is more inspiring.
“Extremely ungrateful” did point to MIAUL rather than MIAOW, even so I delayed writing it in as I couldn’t quite believe it was a word. But cats do say that !
Thanks for the parsing of STALLION – we hadn’t figured that out.
Re BRIAR, and pipe = I: I’m sure this isn’t the first time I’ve seen this device, so I thought this fair enough.
25a held us up a bit – I always thought it was BALONEY, but it seems one is the sausage and the other is rubbish…. very educational, this crossword lark!
Mr Beaver @11
BOLONEY makes a bit more sense, as it is a corruption of “Bologna sausage”. However BALONEY (and POLONY) are also found – see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bologna_sausage
Thanks, PeeDee, for the blog and Arachne for another brilliant puzzle.
Terrific clues throughout – my own top favourites were LEGROOM [clever use of the ‘Nancy’ device], GRIMALDI [I laughed out loud at the discounting Germans] and the wonderfully &littish CEREBRAL.
I had no problem with ‘line’ in BRIAR: I don’t know anyone who fills in crosswords in lower case and I’ve seen this kind of device used by Paul [and Tramp, I think].
I neither know much about nor greatly care for FS, but still enjoyed this. “Tina” was the one answer which perhaps required more than superficial general knowledge but was fair enough.
On 23d we wrote in “veep” with no understanding of why that was right. Errr, yes, part names of VPs.
So that would mean “Harold, Heath or Maggie (5,7)” is a valid clue.
Hmmm
Thanks to Arachne & PeeDee, I came up short on 8A (LEGROOM) and 4D (CEREBRAL), but feel I’ve been bested by some tough but fair clues. No hard feelings, unlike with The British Isles puzzle of a few weeks back. This felt like a really great use of an easy-to-get theme – with lots of subtle allusions to the great singer, rather than any obvious list to tick off. I presume the ‘NINA’ referred to by @DuncT is the MY WAY spelt out on the E perimeter ? I missed that (it might have helped with with 8A!) What is the origin of this term please ?
Eoin @15
A Nina is a hidden message. See the FAQs on this site.
A good one from Arachne.
I agree with other posts concerning 23D: it looks like a simple mistake, and Arthur was meant instead of Chester. But, as noted, the clue still lacks a cryptic element.
I always miss ninas – I forget to look for them, and I never spot them. This site has its uses! Thanks PeeDee, and to Arachne for the enjoyable puzzle.
Thanks Arachne; great puzzle as ever.
Thanks PeeDee; for once I did actually see the NINA that was staring at me.
Lots of great clues. I ticked GRIMALDI, CRAMBO, VIBRATION & STALLION. Uncharacteristically weak clue for VEEP though, I thought.
I parsed VEEP as in the blog and it seemed fair enough to me and didn’t detract from an excellent puzzle. When I first encountered Arachne I found her puzzles very difficult but she has become one of my favourite setters. Too many favourites to list here but it was nice to see BERIO, one of my favourite composers, getting a name check. I recommend “Visage” featuring his ex wife Cathy Berberian.
Didn’t know Barbara Marx though.
Thanks Arachne.o
Thanks Arachne and PeeDee.
Many fun moments, in particular MANTIS, I should think married people would be opposed to this, the wife often eats the husband, a real femme fatale! I also liked GRIMALDI, LEGROOM, CEREBRAL, VIBRATION and FARROW. Last chuckle was for the silence on 2d!
More or less what Eileen said.
Thanks to Arachne.
I didn’t find this all that easy, even with the theme for guidance. It turned out that I knew more about Sinatra than I thought I did, but I did have google for some of the answers (like the sausage recipe mentioned below).
Sinatra references not mentioned so far:
11a Joey Bishop was a Rat Pack member.
25a Sinatra’s Spicy Sausage & Sweet Peppers is apparently a famous recipe he gave to celebrity cookbook compilers.
16d A MULLIGAN is also a golf shot, and Sinatra was a keen golfer, though not a good one. The Frank Sinatra Celebrity Invitational tournament is dedicated to his memory.
Thanks to Arachne and PeeDee.
[A mulligan is a very special golf shot. If you hit a bad one off the first tee, you claim that the round hadn’t started and play it again. This is called “taking a Mulligan”. Frowned on in some (most?) circles.]
Legend has it that Sinatra had GRIMALDI’s pies flown from New York to him in Las Vegas.
http://content.time.com/time/travel/cityguide/article/0,31489,1843404_1843415_1845540,00.html
[muffin @23
Sorry, “golf shot” was a lazy definition. I’ve never played ‘real life’ golf, but DH and I used to play the Links computer golf game and that had the option of allowing mulligans. The unofficial ‘rules’ for mulligans (when allowed) seem to vary greatly at different events or courses, anything from the “first tee only” version you mention through to “any shot but only once per hole”.]
I forgot to say earlier that as well as enjoying this, I greatly admire the amazing number of Sinatra references that Arachne managed to include without (as so often happens with themed crosswords) making the whole thing feel clumsy. Thanks again, Arachne!
[jennyk @25
Yes, there are variants to the Mulligan rule. None of them are entirely within the laws of golf, though!]
This counts as a failure for me, as I put in an unparsed BOLOGNA for the sausage which made VEEP impossible – don’t think I’d have seen that even with the crosser. Arachne is always a pleasure so no complaints
More Sinatra references: Of course, no one has dared to mention with regards to STALLION, that Sinatra was famously well-endowed. He had to have his undergarments specially made, a fact of which he was actually a bit embarrassed. Also on that clue, Sinatara starred in the film High Society.
As for the VEEP clue…well, Elbridge Gerry was the guy who gave us the word gerrymander (he drew an electoral district shaped like a salamander, for which he was mocked), so he’s not exactly un-famous. Chester Arthur eventually became President, and Hubert Humphrey is at least in living memory. So it’d almost be a fair clue on this side of the pond…if it were actually cryptic in any way.
–M.
Humphrey used Sinatra in an ad to raise funds for his presidential campaign, if you click on the photo you can hear what he said
https://campaignrhetoric.wordpress.com/2011/05/01/1968-sinatra-ad-gavin-mcguire/
How about the following for a cryptic clue to 23D?
Go back under against Arthur or Humphrey? (4)
or, somewhat easier using the same basic idea,
Go up after Victor, Arthur or Humphrey, perhaps (4)
where ‘?’ and ‘perhaps’ are interchangeable, indicating examples.
(I actually like to have ‘easier’ clues for 4-letter words, where, as is always the case in practice, the word has two unchecked letters. Except in prize puzzles, perhaps.)
By the way, I enjoyed the discussion around MULLIGAN, which was new to me until I looked it up in order to solve the clue at 16D. I don’t play golf, but I’m happy to learn more about that and most other topics, although not about FS.
Alan Browne @31, I gave the link because I thought it might be the reason for Arachne including VEEP – there are other V-E- words she could have clued – and if anyone bothers to read the article they might be interested in what Sinatra was told to say.
Could someone please explain what all this stuff (I nearly wrote ‘boloney’) concerning a nina is about?
Epeolater @33
A nina is an unclued ‘message’ hidden in the uncrossed squares of the grid, usually around the perimeter or in one or more rows or columns, though I have seen a crossword in which the nina included the diagonals. For more about them, see here.
Thanks jennyk. What was the nina in this puzzle, pray?
Epeolater @35
As Eoin said @15, the “My Way” down the left edge of the puzzle. It fits the theme but the squares are uncrossed and it wasn’t clued.
Thanks PeeDee and Arachne.
Enjoyable romp through the world of old Blue Eyes.
Enjoyed LEGROOM, GRIMALDI and VIBRATION.
Share your issues with VEEP – but with no feasible alternatives……
Jennyk @34 – thanks for that NINA link, interesting article, well-written. Fascinating to peer inside the head of a setter in this way !
Reference the MULLIGAN, as an occasional (about once a year at present !) player, I know of this. However it just about never features in actual play (of course it is strictly verboten in the arcane Laws of Golf as curated by the Royal & Ancient …), since most players feel it erodes the competitive element, without which golf really would be just a good walk spoiled (as Mark Twain may once have said). However it feels exactly right for Frank Sinatra and his rat-pack buddies – in fact I found this reference to Sinatra’s golf playing : http://www.golf.com/courses-and-travel/palm-springs-golf-sinatras-way which contains the following telling quote :
“Dean would leave a party early and get up at five or six so he could play. Sammy and Frank, if they hit their ball in the rough, wouldn’t look for it. Just drop another ball and play on. Frank could hit it pretty well off the tee, but that was about it. He would hack it around, having fun, you know?”
By the way, something I never heard in over 20 years of golfing, is the opposite of a mulligan, which is called a gilligan : http://www.golftoday.co.uk/golf_a_z/articles/glossary.html#gilligan
Regarding the various comments on ‘veep’ – I had guessed it might be that, based on the TV show of the same name. Hadn’t bothered looking further, surprised to find it is actually a real word (at least, that it is in Chambers!)
Hamish @37, VIED, VEER, VEES would all fit the grid. I suspect Arachne may have been trying to smuggle in yet one more Sinatra allusion (which really get more impressive the more one looks – thanks to those who pointed them out in @22, @29,@30).
Defeated by VEEP but no complaints — a tough puzzle and very enjoyable.
I read -line as a ‘line’ of pipes, as in say corncobs or meerschaums so spotted the Bri- and Ar- quite quickly. If ‘line’ actually was supposed to indicate ‘I’ I think that was a pretty thin. A quibble though. Thanks to Arachne, who always seems to start easy and finish hard!
Thanks all
I liked 8 ,10 ,18ac and 20 down.
I got Tina but without understanding.
Thanks Arachne and PeeDee
Finally got this one finished – found it very hard. Started it prior to Christmas and it lingered for a while until VEEP presented. Remembered that Hubert Humphrey was one and then got a list of US Vice Presidents on Wiki to tick off the other two.
Was stuck for much longer on the CAMORRAS / FADO crossers for most of this year – would pull the puzzle out of the pile from time to time, still get nowhere and put it back. Finally yesterday CAMORRAS came up on a One Across search – saw that it was actually an anagram … and went doh !!! Had not heard of the word previously. FADO, another new term, quickly followed … and then it was finished !!
A well-crafted and fitting tribute to the 100th anniversary of FRANK SINATRA’s birthday – in how she was able to weave the theme into the surface reading of the clue, the implied knowledge within a clue and the occasional actual answer of the clue. Really clever stuff!
Very satisfying to finally finish it with no errors …
Bit late to the party…
Regarding 23D, could it also be a reference to early members of the rat pack? Humphrey Bogart, Chester Babcock and Gerry (Jerry) Lewis. It would explain why Arachne didn’t use “Arthur”.
JohnnyH @42 – yes, you definitely have something there. It was an odd choice for a clue and since Arachne is clearly not stupid there must have been some compelling reason for her to have presented it they way it was. Well spotted!