A Bank Holiday special today.
Deja vu strikes again, I seem to be getting all the memorial tributes recently, David Bowie, Ronnie Corbett and now Victoria Wood. I guess Prince will have to wait for my next one.
Rather enjoyed this, video links are included for your viewing pleasure I hope.
Across
1 Boy in academy starts to court daughter, 14 (8,4)
VICTORIA WOOD
VICTOR (a boy) & starts of I(n) A(cademy) & WOO (court) & D(aughter). 14 = COMEDIENNE
10 College worker spotted without son in cafeteria (7)
CANTEEN
C(ollege) & ANT (worker) & S(on) removed from (s)EEN (spotted). Linked to 28A
11 Sort of small tiara worn by northern empress (7)
TSARINA
[S(mall) TIARA]* sorted with N(orthern) inserted (worn by)
12 Managed, for example, to return kitchen appliance (5)
RANGE
RAN (managed) & E.G. reversed
13 Theatrical end arguably has hidden agenda (8)
CALENDAR
Hidden answer
15 Working in jumping event following horse show (2,4,2,2)
AS SEEN ON TV
V.W. show. ON (working in EVENT* jumping folllowing ASS (horse, hmm maybe not totally convinced by that) A Victoria Wood TV show.
16 Maybe second opinion given before answer (4)
BETA
BET = OPINION (my bet is, my opinion is) & A(nswer). Last one in by a way.
18 Right turn used now and again (4)
TRUE
Alternate letters of (now and again) TuRn UsEd
20 Indirectly, Mo Farah’s last – so what? (6-4)
SECOND-HAND
Mo = SECCOND & last letter of (fara)H & AND = “so what” Linked to 8D
22 Impractical to abandon mostly toxic rubbish (8)
QUIXOTIC
QUI(t) mostly & a rubbish TOXIC*
24 Savour old party game making a comeback (5)
ODOUR
Defn is in Chambers but not one I’d readily use. O(ld) & DO (party) & R(ugby) U(nion) reversed
26 Lie about issue over current omission (7)
ELISION
LIE* about I = current in SON (issue, child)
27 Marked negative temperature in document (7)
DENOTED
NO (negative) & T(emperature) both in DEED (document)
28 Sitcom director’s secret ideals misplaced (12)
DINNERLADIES
Down
2 Knock fashionable name in German society (7)
INNINGS
Sadly 62 was not a great knock for Victoria. IN (fashionable) & N(ame) & IN & G(erman) & S(ociety)
3 Women omitted from message before democrat wavered (8)
TEETERED
W(omen) removed from T(w)EET & ERE (before) & D(emocrat)
4 Arena psychiatrist leaves quietly! (4)
RINK
SH (quiet!) removed from (sh)RINK
5 Draw drivers in amateur races into error (10)
ATTRACTION
R.A.C. (drivers) in A(mateur) TT (races) & INTO* in error
6 Apparently there’s no charge to make speech (5)
ORATE
0 (zero) RATE (charge)
7 Woodwind lessons somewhat in decline (7)
DWINDLE
Another hidden answer
8 Musical article featuring my old pieces (5,8)
ACORN ANTIQUES
COR (my!) in AN (article) & ANTIQUES (old pieces). A Victoria Wood TV programme.
9 Band fared badly with randy couple in song (5,3,5)
BARRY AND FREDA
BAR (band) & [FARED RANDY]* badly. Let’s do it tonight…
14 Approach finish in anger, regularly showing female wit (10)
COMEDIENNE
COME (approach) & DIE (finish) & alternate letters of iN aNgEr
17 Touching on idea originally blocked by part of suit? (8)
ADJOINED
D.J. in [ON IDEA]* originally
19 As one, peacekeepers provided international education (7)
UNIFIED
U(nited) N(ations) & IF (provided) & I(nternational) & ED(ucation)
21 Way a European embraces preacher (7)
APOSTLE
ST(reet, way) in A POLE (European)
23 One getting battered in ring? (5)
ONION
I guess this is just a cryptic defn but it looks like there was an attempt at wordplay with ON(e) IN & RING (O) appearing. Was Onion one of the Two Soups?
25 Principal characters in Let’s Do It welcoming love over god (4)
IDOL
O (love) in leading leters of L(et’s) D(o) I(t) reversed. See 9 Down.
Very nice tribute which took me twice as long as those familiar with the themed answers- but that goes to show that the clues were fair.Many thanks Lohengrin and flashling
A game of two halves. I was very slow out of the traps, only a couple or three on the first pass. Then I got the theme and, bish-bosh, the grid was practically a write in.Some good stuff in there, though. ‘Hidden agenda’ was clever and INNINGS was a great clue: def nicely oblique and 5-part wordplay, classic stuff. Thanks to Lohengrin & to Flashling for his typically classy blog.
very enjoyable puzzle and a most imaginatively embellished blog!
Thanks Lohengrin and flashling
Congratulations on a marvellous obituary puzzle!
A good well-crafted puzzle, but personally I didn’t enjoy it because I never found VW very funny (I know, there’s no accounting for taste) so I didn’t know the references. I only managed to complete it because I had the tribute in Radio Times to hand.
But thanks, Lohengrin and flashling.
Thanks flashling – my way in to the theme was through BARRY AND FREDA (of course only Freda was randy, but that’s not part of the definition, so the clue is sound), after which the other long answers came easily.
To be picky, ACORN ANTIQUES isn’t exactly a TV programme, as you say in the blog, but it is a musical, as the clue tells us. I was musical director of an amateur production of it a few years ago: Victoria Wood was going to come to it herself, but she had to cancel at short notice because she’d been booked to do a voice-over for an advert for Dyson vacuum cleaners. Now, sadly, I’ll never get to meet her.
@Andrew
that sucks.
@Andrew thanks for correcting my memory, I thought it was both. @baer 🙂
Thanks for the blog, flashling and you all for the comments.
Thanks Lohengrin for a fitting tribute. ACORN ANTIQUES was our way into the theme although we didn’t know it was a musical. Even when you knew the theme, it was still a tricky solve in places.
Thanks flashling for the blog.
Fine puzzle, fine comedienne (and musician, and actress, and writer). I’ve never been able to look at a hostess trolley in the same way since I heard that song.
Thanks to S&B.