The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/30013.
A delightful puzzle with Brockwell’s signature creative use of proper names. The crossword is built around 1D FISH, itself a part of the remarkable long anagram, which I was lucky enough to get very early through 8D PEEL .In addition to the references ‘1’, there are various fish scattered around the grid – IDE (9A), COD (10A), LING (15A), RUDD (16D), BLUEfish (3D), SAILfish (6D), COHO salmon (23D) and SMELT (4D) pop out – and 12A SHOAL and 5D TRAWLS are thematic also.
| ACROSS | ||
| 9 | IDEAL |
Perfect 1-wood (5)
|
| A charae of I (Roman numeral, ‘1’) plus DEAL (‘wood’). | ||
| 10 | MORSE CODE |
Communication system is common kind for Spooner (5,4)
|
| A Spoonerism of COARSE (‘common’) MODE (‘kind’). | ||
| 11 | HOOKE’S LAW |
Wales played by captain’s physical principle (6,3)
|
| A charade of HOOK (‘captain’, Peter Pan) plus ESLAW, an anagram (‘played’) of ‘Wales’. | ||
| 12 | SHOAL |
Hotel entertained by country backing group (5)
|
| An envelope (‘entertained by’) of H (‘hotel’) in SOAL, a reversal (‘backing’) of LAOS (‘country’). | ||
| 13 | CRUMBLE |
Sweet Caroline’s opening fight in Madison Square Garden (7)
|
| A charade of C (‘Caroline’s opening’) plus RUMBLE (‘fight’; the New York venue Madison Square Garden is mentioned to indicate that the gang fight meaning is primarily US). Sweet Caroline is a song title. | ||
| 15 | SLINGER |
Heather in Shropshire borders close to the heart of Percy Thrower (7)
|
| A charade of SLINGE, an envelope (‘in’) of LING (‘heather’) in SE (‘ShropshirE borders’); plus (‘close to’) R (‘the heart of PeRcy’). Percy Thrower was a gardener and television personality. | ||
| 17 | AMEER |
Agree Machiavelli partly reflected The Prince (5)
|
| A hidden (‘partly’) reversed (‘reflected’) answer in ‘agREE MAchiavelli’. The ‘The’ is there to give the (translated) title of Machiavelli’s best known work. | ||
| 18, 26 | SEAWIFE |
1 main partner (7)
|
| A charade of SEA (‘main’) plus WIFE (‘partner’). The SEAWIFE is a wrasse (‘1’, 1D FISH). | ||
| 20 | LIPID |
Fat detective wearing hat (5)
|
| An envelope (‘wearing’) of PI (Private Investigator, ‘detective’) in LID (‘hat’). | ||
| 22 | MICHAEL |
Harry Lime drinking tea for 1? (7)
|
| An envelope (‘drinking’) of CHA (‘tea’) in MIEL, an anagram (‘harry’) of ‘lime’. Michael Fish (‘1’, 1D FISH), now retired, was a weather forecaster for the BBC. For the surface, Harry Lime was the character played by Orson Welles in the film The Third Man. | ||
| 25 | RESPRAY |
Shivering après-skier may finally put new coat on (7)
|
| An anagram (‘shivering’) of ‘apres’- plus RY (-‘skieR maY finally’). I considered and dismissed using ‘new coat’ as the definiition with ‘put … on’ indicating an envelope; the word order is too tortuous. | ||
| 26 | WAHOO |
Ashe regularly missed out in Court No.1 (5)
|
| An envelope (‘in’) of AH (‘AsHe regularly missed out’) in WOO (‘court’). ‘No.’ is there for the surface, with Arthur Ashe as the tennis player, and the definition leads to 1D FISH. | ||
| 27 |
See 7 Down
|
|
| 30 |
See 7 Down
|
|
| 31 | SKATE |
Flat 1 has entrance in Shepherd’s Bush? (5)
|
| A charade of S (‘entrance to Shepherd’) plus KATE (Kate ‘Bush’ is a singer). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 |
See 7
|
|
| 2 | RESOLUTE |
Determined 1 cycling is overtaken by true rogue (8)
|
| An envelope (‘is overtaken by’) of ESOL, which is SOLE (‘1’) ‘cycling’, in RUTE, an anagram (‘rogue’) of ‘true’. | ||
| 3 | BLUE |
Down-and-dirty (4)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 4 | SMELTERS |
Metal producers manufactured steel frames occasionally (8)
|
| An anagram (‘manufactured’) pf ‘steel’ plus RMS (‘fRaMeS occasionally’). | ||
| 5 | TRAWLS |
Thoroughly investigates tips from The Repair Shop to cover boring item (6)
|
| An envelope (‘to cover’) of AWL (‘boring iteem’) in TRS (‘tips from The Repair Shop’). | ||
| 6 | VERSAILLES |
Words in song embracing trouble ending for Crystal Palace (10)
|
| An envelope (’embracing’) of AIL (‘trouble’) plus L (‘ending for CrystaL‘) in VERSES (‘words in song’). | ||
| 7, 27, 30, 1 | SO LONG AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH |
Flash Gordon in on the talks with Flash Liquid to produce a novel quote (2,4,3,6,3,3,3,4)
|
| An anagram (‘liquid’) of ‘Flash Gordon in on the talks’ plus ‘flash’. The quote is from the fourth book in Tht Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series, by Doug Adams. | ||
| 8 | PEEL |
Strip from page 1 (4)
|
| A charade of P (‘page’) plus EEL (‘1’ – 1D FISH). | ||
| 13 | CHARM |
Allure of 1 million (5)
|
| A CHARade of CHAR (‘1’ – 1D FISH) plus M (‘million’). | ||
| 14 | BARCAROLLE |
Spanish players delivered part of song (10)
|
| A charade of BARCA (FC Barcelona, ‘Spanish players’) plus ROLLE[d] (‘delivered’ – a bit of a stretch, I think) minus its last letter (‘part of’). The answer may be spelled with one L, which would be a better fit to the wordplay, but not to the light. | ||
| 16 | RUDDY |
Amber perhaps originally yellowish-red (5)
|
| A charade of RUDD (‘Amber perhaps’ – Amber Rudd is a British former politician) plus Y (‘originally Yellowish’-). | ||
| 19 | ABRIDGED |
Potted game eaten by Bill (8)
|
| An envelope (‘eaten by’) of BRIDGE (card ‘game’) in AD (advertisement, ‘bill’). | ||
| 21 | PIRANHAS |
1 brief period gripping nation (8)
|
| An envelope (‘gripping’) of IRAN (‘nation’) in PHAS[e] (‘period’) minus its last letter (‘brief’). Again, ‘1’ is 1D FISH; note that ‘fish’ can be plural. | ||
| 23 | COHORT |
Group of hot men in bed (6)
|
| An envelope (‘in’) of H (‘hot’) plus OR (soldiers, ‘men’) in COT (‘bed’). | ||
| 24 | LEAN-TO |
Shed Seven essentially leaving the Eastern Mediterranean with nothing (4-2)
|
| A charade of LE[v]ANT (‘Eastern Mediterranean’) minus the V (‘seVen essentially leaving’); plus O (‘nothing’). Shed Seven is a rock band. | ||
| 26 |
See 18 Across
|
|
| 28 | HUSS |
Pikachu’s sandwich contains dog meat (4)
|
| A hidden answer (‘contains’) in ‘PikacHUS Sandwich’. The HUSS is the dogfish, which is I suppose close enough to ‘dog meat’. Perhaps Brockwell felt that ‘1’ would not fit the surface as well as in other clues. | ||
| 29 | SEER |
Clairvoyant brought up on drugs (4)
|
| A reversal (‘brought up’ in a down light) of RE (‘on’) plus ES (‘drugs’). |
Thanks PeterO. The only one where I differ is BARCAROLLE, where I have “delivered part” = homophone of “role”. Wonderful offering from Brockwell.
Well that was a bit of fun! It was Mr Hooke’s H that made the long quote jump out and I went Oh no, bleeping fish! But the only total nho was Mr Fish himself, so Michael was a bung and shrug. Thanks Brockwell and PeterO, think I’ll celebrate with a pre-prandial snifter.
After scratching around a bit, the EEL in PEEL gave me the fish and then I was off. I didn’t bother with the anagram.
Shall I be the first to say I went with SEA LIFE until it proved impossible?
A good challenge throughout. I liked SLINGER, MICHAEL and ABRIDGED
Who will be @42 today…?
Thanks Brockwell and PeterO
I agree with Coloradan @1 on BARCAROLLE. A very amusing and, surprisingly, doable (with dictionary and some guesses re: names) puzzle. My favourites PIRANHAS, VERSAILLES and COHORT. Thanks Brockwell and PeterO!
To add to 15a, Percy Thrower also came from Shropshire: there’s a garden and statue of him in one of the parks in Shrewsbury (and various geocaches celebrating him).
I got the long quote from seeing SO LONG from the crossers, and seeing enough of the anagram to not bother making sure it worked. It’s a long time since I read it.
Thank you to PeterO and Brockwell.
I think the quote actually comes from the first book, but was used as the title for the fourth.
Also with Coloradan@1 on parsing although I have always spelt it with one L (Chambers has both ways listed).
Got FISH early which helped a lot but was slow to get the full quote despite it being on my podium of best novels and having used it in an email of goodbye to my old workplace.
As a huge boxing fan CRUMBLE gets the honours of favourite clue today.
Friendlier on the vocab than Brockwell can sometimes be.
Thanks Brockwell and PeterO
Another who twigged the theme from PEEL and left the long quote until I had completed my first pass through the grid. Delightfully done and, yes, there are one heckuva lot of fish in the sea for a theme like this.
I was lucky enough to catch, purely by chance, the very first broadcast of the very first episode on the radio in 1979 and became hooked. One tiny tweak to PeterO’s comments in the blog: whilst Douglas Adams subsequently wrote more books, the fourth of which was indeed given the theme sentence as its title in 1984, the first time we encountered the phrase was in the very first book. [I see Crispy and I are once again aligned!]
Thanks both
Wonderful puzzle with so many clues that brought a smile. Loved the theme, which caught the solver Hooke, ling and slinger (well almost). Thanks PeterO and Brockwell
[Postmark @8 – I was at university for the radio broadcast, wasn’t it 1978? so there were quite a few of us hooked – we had several of the actors and producers as guest speakers to various dinners.]
Turned out to be much more accessible than it first appeared to be. Hadn’t realised I knew so many fish names, just WAHOO added to my vocabulary!
And always pleased to be reminded of Douglas Adam’s.
A great puzzle
Thanks to PeterO and Brockwell
[Shanne @10: yes – you are right. The book, of course, followed the radio series and was published in ’79. Having done my research now (according to Wiki), the first radio broadcast was at 10:30 pm on Wednesday, 8 March 1978. And it is noted in the article that there was very little publicity so it was pure chance that I caught it. Another, minor, snippet: I learn it was the first comedy series to be produced in stereo!]
Good fun and accessible after seeing the long quote early on. Nho SEAWIFE or WAHOO so had to resort to word finder assistance for them. Also couldn’t bring BARCAROLLE to mind and the clue was a bit weak to help.
Kicked myself for looking up a fish called Michael until I twigged.
Is it time to retire the use of OR for men? Definitely crossword speak only.
Thanks Brockwell and PeterO
Just as almost anything may be a band or a typeface, almost anything can turn out to be the name of a fish: SEAWIFE and WAHOO were the ones I hadn’t met today.
Like PostMark@8, I heard the first episode of the radio series by chance and was HOOKEd – the books are good, but the original series was better. It was CHARM that suggested FISH, and the rest of the quote followed: I didn’t sort out the whole fodder for the anagram. I also parsed SMELTERS eventually but not RESPRAY, both of which work on similar principles.
I suppose “dog meat” is OK for the meat of a dog fish (what used to be sold as “rock salmon” in British chip shops) but HUSS = meat puzzled me for a while.
Some of the British names may be unfamiliar: I took time to think of Amber Rudd, and Percy Thrower is fairly ancient history by now (though I like his clue). Thanks Brockwell and PeterO.
[I’m currently reading”The Twyford Code” by Janice Hallett. About an hour after doing this crossword, I reached a part of the book where the topic of HHGTTG comes up! Spooky …]
I also listened to the original radio series of THGTTG. Showing our age!
[Over 45 years ago I worked on the TV version of THGTTG and met the author. I feel so old!]
One of the two Hitchhiker’s Guide quotes which stay very much in my mind, the other one, and very much my favourite at the moment, being the Incomparable Marvin intoning “Life, don’t talk to me about life. Loathe it or ignore it, you can’t like it”.
But this excellent crossword made life tolerable for an hour; with the added delight (sorry, PeterO) of being able to feel slightly smug about spotting the role/rolle homophone in BARCAROLLE.
Many thanks, both.
Thanks Brockwell and PeterO
I found the long one slightly unsatisfactory, as I got it from the enumeration and a few crossers, and there was a substantial proportion of the puzzle done!
I don’t see what “close” contributes to 15a. Interesting that he was a Shropshire man, though.
I’ve only seen “barcarole”, but it seems either spelling is acceptable.
The “rumble” that springs to mind was in the jungle, rather than Madison Square Garden!
Favourite MICHAEL. Michael Fish was most famous for announcing that there wasn’t an imminent hurricane the night before the devastating storm of 1987.
I thought of STOKES LAW first for 11a (Ben Stokes is the England cricket captain) but there would be an extra S – Stokes’s Law would work, but not fit!
I always struggle with fish references and this was no different. There are just too many of them that I have never heard of outside crossword land.
I got the long anagram from suspecting a fishy theme, guessing “so long” from a couple of letters, then spotting the quote fitted the enumeration, and finally observing that all the letters seemed to be there. Like several others I didn’t think it worth pinning down the exact fodder.
Good to see Douglas Adams featured, but I was hoping for one or two other references to his works among all the fish. Working Babel in somewhere would have been a nice touch.
Me @20
No it wouldn’t – extra E as well.
I think deal is that rubbish softwood sold by the major DIY stores, and starts to rot in your car before you get home. I presume it’s pine of some sort.
William @23
Deal is a generic term for softwood from a conifer, species unspecified.
Tricky with a lot of online help needed for all of the GK. I learnt a lot of trivia today but can’t really say it was “fun”, or at least not the same type of fun that I experience when readings books for new knowledge 😉
New for me: the long quote at 7/27 etc – I was helped by getting 13d CHARM and finally worked out the anagram of the long quote, also helped by the fact that I vaguely remembered this setter is a big fan of the book(s) – none of which I have read.
Also new for me: HUSS; WAHOO fish; SEA WIFE fish; weather forecaster MICHAEL Fish (wow, that is very niche GK); and HOOKE’S LAW – the description of this law made my head spin 😉
Favourites: LAOS, COHORT.
I could not parse 24d, 28d – which I saw was a hidden answer and wondered if it referred to dogfish.
13ac – I thought it was a ref to the 1974 fight known as Rumble in the Jungle and I guessed it was held at MSG, New York but I see now that fight venue was in Kinshasa.
That was fun, and a real tour de force, so thanks Brockwell, and PeterO for the insights. Of all the laws of physics that Google threw up for me, HOOKE’S did not appear. I’m sure there must be a law stating that an internet search will provide every possible answer to any given query, except the one you want. If not, maybe Douglas Adams could have coined one.
William#23
My great-uncle was a fencing contractor down in deepest Sussex and I remember his contempt for any furniture made of deal, and years later I was amused when “stripped pine”, as deal was then called, became the height of fashion!
Well, I spent so long savouring my delight at finding another super Brockwell puzzle this morning – and yes, I did spend time teasing out the anagram in the long clue, which added so much to the enjoyment – that all my comments have now effectively been dealt with. I’d just like to underline PeterO’s observation that, as well as the signposted references to the theme, there’s always more going on in a Brockwell puzzle and I usually find that I’ve managed to miss one or two or more of them – but I am getting better: I did spot all those that Peter mentioned today.
My top favourite was MICHAEL, which made me laugh. I’m not sure how far these stories travel but, for those who may not be familiar with it, here’s some more background:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Fish#:~:text=24%20December%202021.-,Hurricane%20controversy,there%20isn't!%22.
Many thanks to Brockwell, as ever, for a delightful puzzle and to lucky PeterO for a fine blog.
[For those who don’t know the quote, it was the last message from the dolphins before they left Earth, prior to it being destroyed by the Vogons.]
Although I realised that 1d just had to be FISH, from all the clues that were referenced to it, I am perhaps one of the very few people who have never been anywhere near The Hitchhikers Guide, so had no inkling what the long quote might be. Even with the mighty anagram offered up. Therefore a dnf and a Reveal for me today. But did enjoy the ingenuity of so many of the clues today…
Didn’t even clock the epic clue was an anagram – but got it from SHOAL and SLINGER and we were off to the races. I actually got a quite a few that didn’t reference 1 before that. “delivered” as a homophone indicator is new for me, but I got BARCAROLLE without it once the Spanish Players element clicked.
This was GREAT, wasn’t it? Has really set me up for a gentle working descent into the weekend 🙂
Thanks for the blog , very good set of clues and many nice touches . I actually got the fish from solving MICHAEL from the wordplay confirmed by RESOLUTE , my quark also gets a mention .
cRUMBLE I think just comes from the boxing announcer at MSG .
Two minor grumbles , no Babel fish in the grid , OR=men is very demeanlng , use soldiers or troops .
Hats off to those who wrestled with the anagram. I spotted the reference quite quickly and just bunged it in (“Life? All right if you like that sort of thing, which quite personally I don’t” – Marvin again)
Chambers says a RUMBLE is a quarrel or gang fight, and in boxing terms the Rumble In The Jungle was not in Madison SG so I didn’t much like that one.
I think ‘dog meat’ for ‘dogfish’ is poor. I can’t imagine it ever being meant this way in real life. I suppose now someone will pop up to say “I heard my uncle Fred say this in Clacton-on-Sea in 1957” but I’m not persuaded it’s legit.
I’m yet another one who listened to THHGTTG when it was first broadcast. I loved the way it poked fun at anything & everything. If you listen to it now, you have to put it in the context of when it was written – for instance, one of the things the narrator includes as misguided is that people thought digital watches were a pretty neat idea, but at the time they had LED displays so you had to press a button with your other hand to read it. (LEDs would run the battery down rapidly if they were on all the time.)
Lots to like in this. COHORT especially made me chuckle.
Thanks Brockwell & PeterO.
Madison Square Garden is known as the home of WWE wresting and their events are often billed as rumbles, so no problem with that clue.
Thanks B and P
What an excellent puzzle! Very clever. Thanks Brockwell and PeterO.
Additional note on 13: ‘Sweet Caroline’ is ritually sung at UK boxing matches.
From Wikipedia:
In the United Kingdom, the song has become a prominent pre‑fight anthem at boxing events, particularly those promoted by Matchroom Boxing, Queensberry Promotions and Boxxer. Its regular use is widely attributed to promoter Eddie Hearn, who incorporated the song into his events as a crowd-pleasing singalong, typically played just before the main event and fighter ring walks.[46] Although the song has no direct historical connection to boxing, its catchy chorus and communal appeal made it ideal for energising crowds, and it became a staple feature of British boxing atmospheres during the 2010s.[47] Over time, the tradition has evolved into an expected ritual before headline bouts, helping create the loud, singalong atmosphere that fans have come to expect on a big fight night in the UK.[48]
These days, of course, the OR may just as easily be women.
My way in to the quotation was through CHARM, already having the I and H. The thing I really like about Brockwell is his use of real names as PeterO points out initially. Harry Lime for the anagram was delicious and enjoyed SKATE for mentioning the location of my beloved KPR. I agree with Roz @32, that cRUMBLE refers to MICHAEL Buffer (Puffer would have fitted the theme), who introduced the phrase ‘Let’s get ready to rumble’ at MSG in 1984. A sheer delight from start to finish. If you care Peter, you’re missing a d in your third man and a typo in The Hitchiker’s…
Ta Brockwell & PeterO.
I got lucky with this one. SO LONG looked likely from the crossers, and then the enumeration was enough to give me the whole quote, including FISH at 1down. So, without having to work out the long anagram, and without having to spot that there might be a fish theme, I was off and running. As I say, I got lucky.
My favourite answer was MICHAEL, which brought a big smile. Though it’s a shame he’s mainly remembered for the hurricane. He was a good weatherman.
Thanks to Brockwell, to PeterO and to other commenters.
Too much googling of fish names for me to really call this fun. NHO BARCAROLLE in either spelling, and the alternate spelling of AMEER was new to me but clear from the wordplay.
Favorite was 11A HOOKE’S LAW which took me back to second form physics (“ut tensio sic uis”, IIRC).
I assumed rumble referred to Royal Rumble wrestling in MSG.
I only needed two crossers to guess the quote (sO lonG) so the anagram was wasted on me. As others have said, there are too many types of fish but at least I knew early on what 1D was.
All clever stuff. Thanks both.
Oh it’s #42!
Loved this puzzle
Congrats to Bonnie@42 ! Loved this and like AlanC@38, I got 1d via charm as I don’t think I would have ever worked out the anagram. Thanks to P&B.
15a – the definition is “thrower” ie a slinger. cricket abuse for someone with a funny bowling action. rest of the proposed solution is correct. 🙂
Entertaining puzzle. I’ve not a lot to add. Like gladys I got FISH from CHARM and the long solution leapt out immediately from the enumeration (of course I didn’t bother to check the parsing!). Great use of proper names throughout. Favourites: SLINGER, MICHAEL, RESPRAY.
muffin passim: Like you, I have never come across that spelling of BARCAROLLE (and I agree that DEAL is low quality softwood, but FWIW ‘softwood from a conifer’ is tautologous: ‘softwood’ is technically the wood of a conifer – yew is a ‘softwood’ , just as balsa is a ‘hardwood’).
Thanks to Brockwell and PeterO
My children enjoyed the books, but when I tried to introduce them to the radio series all they registered was a lot of posh Englishmen shouting and couldn’t get beyond that. Times have changed.
Thanks Brockwell and PeterO
Gladys@37 I just do not like the phrases – officers and men , officers and other ranks – so discriminatory .
[AlanC@38 , I thought you had switched to Arsenal ? I am also informed that Brentford are doing very well . I received a new crystal ball for my birthday and can confidently predict that KPR are amidst a 15 week unbeaten run . ]
Not having read the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy I didn’t have a clue what the answer would be.
However, as I’ve noticed many times, we, the solvers are expected to know about every obscure non interesting item thought up by the setters.
I really don’t give a monkeys about these obscure facts
[WAHOO was a NHO for me, but gettable from the wordplay. Regrettably, it put me n mind o/f ‘Chief WAHOO’, the former and unlamented (at least by me) mascot of the Cleveland Indians in Major League Baseball. Rightly considered extremely demeaning to Native Americans, Cleveland retired it in 2018 so that it no longer appeared on players’ uniforms or on official club merchandise. Some diehard fans nonetheless adhered to it until the club changed its name to the Guardians in 2021.]
Ed@48 I am sure you must have an interest, hobby, or job that has ‘jargon’ someone outside that sphere would not know. For example, I’m often unaware of cricket terms – a favourite of many setters – but I try to remember them for next time they are brought up. I never seem to recall OR though!
Is it Hitchhikers or fish that you deem ‘non interesting’ or ‘obscure’?
Where would cryptic crosswords be, if all general knowledge of the world we live in were banned, Ed@48? Sometimes I am amazed at what other solvers have never heard of, and at others I am equally amazed at what I have not had a hope of knowing. That’s all part of the joy of cryptics, surely? HHGTTG is hardly all that obscure. I was happy with this crossword, even though there were a number of fish of which I had no idea (HUSS???). Thanks, Brockwell and PeterO.
Huge fun! Got the long anagram from RESOLUTE. Ultimately defeated by WAHOO.
Not remembering WAHOO as a fish. I assumed that it was slang for No. 1 as in “I’m just popping for a wahoo, watch my drink”.
Largely on the thinking that pretty much any word in English can be slang for either sex or urination.
Coloradan @1
Thanks. I was looking in the right area, but missed ‘delivered’ indicating the sound alike – not helped because I pronounce the answer with a short o.
AlanC @38
The missing d is now in place; I wrote the blog on a knockabout Chromebook, and the d key is getting flaky. Do you have any justification for the misspelling of Hitchhiker?
That was fun. I did half of it before getting the quote, which made finishing pretty easy.
The fish theme made me consider COLESLAW before the far more appropriate HOOKES LAW (perhaps subconsciously thinking about “partners” to “sea[food] mains”?). Peel was clue for me too that broke the anagram wide open. Thanks Brockewell and PeterO!
No-one has mentioned that in 9a a “1-wood” is another name for a driver in golf.
The quote predates any of the H2G2 books: the line appears in the third episode of the original radio series.
Also nobody has mentioned the two black eels wriggling up the middle of the grid.
I got the long entry fairly early (immediately after solving 1d FISH, which I got via 13d CHARM), which blew the puzzle wide open. The last two 19d ABRIDGED and 6d VERSAILLES took a long time, though, and required a pause for some subconscious mulling. I think we had a FISH theme fairly recently?
No real favourites to identify, just a generally high level of appreciation and enjoyment, so thank you Brockwell, and PeterO for a great blog
Congratulations Bonnie on snagging the coveted #42 spot
PeterO@54, Touché! Muphry’s Law strikes again
“Tonight we ‘re going to rumble” from West Side Story, 1957, references gang fights, as PeterO says in his superb blog.
Excellent fishy fun, but I do wonder about Amber as a clue for Rudd. Surely she is a forgotten politico now. That was my last one in. Did like Barcarolles. Not sure about Morse Code – corse isn’t a word is it? Nitpickery though. Very entertaining, thank you.
First one in was huss. Down south our local fishermen all sell huss. On sight it’s an ugly looking fish but when cooked it’s delicious: a central spine (bone) with perfect sides to eat! Thought the reference to Micheal Fish was very clever. Again down south we’ll never forget that day/night when we were hit by that storm! Clever crossword. Ta to B and blogger
Mig@60 , try Brummie , April 2nd . No doubt one of the professional complainers will say this is a spoiler .
Viv@62 , Spoonerisms do not have to preserve spelling – You have tasted two whole worms .
I think I first came across the phrase from the puzzle in the Epic of Gilgamesh .
I was a big fan of the Adams books back in the day, so the quote leapt out with a few crossers. I was anal enough to religiously check the fodder after the fact. WAHOO and SEAWIFE were new to me, but strangely, Alewife was familiar and helped finish off the SW corner.
I wasn’t aware that rock salmon is no longer the term for the fish n’ chip shop stuff until checking for dogfish online. I liked it as a kid, but it doesn’t beat my all time fave – saveloy!
I’m another who enjoys Brockwell’s name-dropping in puzzles. Thanks to him and PeterO.
Huge thanks to PeterO, for the excellent blog and to everyone else for solving and commenting on the puzzle. I’m very happy that most of you enjoyed it. My defence of HUSS is that it is not really a fish, rather it is dogfish when used as food. Meat is defined by Chambers as the edible part of anything, so dog meat felt like fair game. This long-winded defence probably justifies the criticism tbf 😂. MSG was simply there as an American indicator and to give a more meaningful surface. I don’t think anybody spotted Rumble Fish, the 1983 Coppola movie. I too was disappointed to not get BABEL into the grid. It was in there at some point, but fell by the wayside…probably to get one more fish in! All the best, B
PeterO @54: it was the the (great band as well).
Thanks PeterO for the blog. Chipped away at this in a big morning and then afternoon session separated by lovely walk at a National Trust property. Sussed out the theme once I’d seen through 7, 27, 30, 1 and it did help. I think this might be the first Brockwell I’ve completed. Lots to like including the breadth of the theme inclusions. Thanks Brockwell.
Like PeterO, I got the long quote early from PEEL. I was living in Benghazi when the World Service first broadcast Hitchhiker’s Guide, and made sure to be home for it, as did I think all the Anglophones there.
I guessed at HUSS from the wordplay and crossers but it’s unknown on this side of the Atlantic; I googled huss dog meat and came up empty so revealed it. I needed the blog to explain it.
Somehow I knew the name Amber Rudd (while having no idea who she is). Not so Michael Fish or Percy Thrower but I didn’t need to.
I was thinking of raising a quibble that the kind of fight that occurs in MSG would not be called a rumble, but then i remembered that the Ali-Foreman fight in Kinshasa was called the Rumble in the Jungle, so fair enough.
A good blast over breakfast, getting SLATFATF early, getting FISH from _I_H crossers in one down and all the “1” references to things there has to be a lot of (so not WISH or PITH etc. ), then finished off this evening apart from BARCAROLLE. For that I had to resort to a “what fits this” website. For me, being utterly uninterested in football, short forms of even famous foreign teams are in in the “minor Uruguayan poet” category of GK; but I am probably in the minority there.
I have some tapes of HHGTTG taped off the radio as they were broadcast for the first time. Does that make them some kind of first edition?
I learnt some new fish – SEAWIFE, WAHOO and HUSS – and was pleased to be reminded of MICHEAL Fish, immortalised in “John Kettley (Is a Weatherman)” by A Tribe of Toffs (Youtube)
Good stuff, even though I failed at the last fence. Thanks both!
Thanks s and b. I thought this was great – a real classic.
Yep 2 lovely crosswords in a row, its been a good week
Roz@64, that’s the 1!