Magus has woven some hellraising magic for us
But heck, I did find this tough for a Monday morning, not quite having twigged that today is a bank holiday so something out of the ordinary could be expected. I needed several strong infusions of caffeine to see me through, but what a thoroughly rewarding puzzle this turned out to be.
There is, of course, an OLIVER REED theme at play. Aside from the man himself, there are references to several films he appeared in and roles he played (CASTAWAY, the Who’s rock opera TOMMY, WOMEN in love, if that isn’t too much of a stretch[edit: as Matthew Newell points out @4, WOMEN is situated the grid between angLO and VEt, so literally WOMEN in LOVE – brilliant!], the JOKERS, GLADIATOR and ATHOS). His one-time drinking buddy, the great Richard Harris, is also referenced in the clue for HELLRAISER. Apologies if I’ve missed other references. I note that on the right-hand side of the grid we have NATIONAL and TREASUREd. This can’t be coincidence, though I’m not sure whether it will be universally agreed that Reed merits national treasure status…
Thematics aside, there are some really skilful constructions here, a few of which took a good deal of effort to untangle (and I’m still not sure about 6dn), coupled with some super-smooth surfaces (I especially admired the three elliptically linked clues for ANTWERP, THWARTS and OTTAWA). Top ticks also for the nifty anagram for CHAMPIONED and the baize-smooth surface for MARX.
I think I’ve had the pleasure of solving a Magus puzzle only once or twice before. But after solving this one I understood that he is perhaps as great a master of disguise as the fabled Count of Monte Cristo, and I now realise we have met many, many times before, both here and elsewhere. Thank you to Magus for a spellbinding performance.
Moh’s slightly befuddled cruciverbal hardness scale rating: Quartz
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | ANGLO |
O’Reilly’s header follows short corner from England (5)
|
| ANGL[e] (short corner) + first letter (header) of Oreilly | ||
| 4 | WOMEN |
Just over half of US adults currently back shelling Middle East (5)
|
| Reversal (back) of NOW (currently) around (shelling – forming a shell for, perhaps) ME. Why US adults, I wonder? Women are the majority in most countries in the west | ||
| 7 | VET |
One out of Vietnam, retired soldier no longer attached? (3)
|
| V[i]ET[nam] minus I (one out) and reversal of MAN (retired soldier) removed (no longer attached). &lit | ||
| 9 | GLADIATOR |
Giro d’Italia surprisingly drops all but one international combatant (9)
|
| Anagram (surprisingly) of G[I]RO D[I]TALIA minus all but one I (drops all but one international) | ||
| 10 | THEME |
Melody‘s unprotected sex with other folk (5)
|
| [s]E[x] (unprotected sex) after THEM (other folk) | ||
| 11 | TOILETRY |
Modernist who wrote revolutionary score for soap? (8)
|
| Reversal (revolutionary) of ELIOT (modernist who wrote, namely the poet TS Eliot, as opposed, say, to a modernist who painted or wrote music) + TRY (score) | ||
| 12 | JOKERS |
Rod’s making Penny jack in Michael McIntrye and co? (6)
|
| [p]OKERS (rods) with the P (penny) changed to a J (jack). I assume “McIntrye” is a typo for the comedian | ||
| 14 | REED |
Hard-living thespian told to give up booze; … (4)
|
| RE[port]ED (told) without port (to give up booze). My last one to be parsed, because I had to trawl through many words, real and invented – related, regaled, realed, revodkaed – before eventually realising that the missing booze was ‘port’… | ||
| 15 | HELLRAISER |
… wild feller with no boundaries, Harris? (10)
|
| Anagram (wild) of [f]ELLE[r] (..with no boundaries) HARRIS. Def referring to Richard Harris, who as younger viewers may not recall was an actor notorious for his hard-drinking lifestyle in the 60s and 70s, quite often in the company of OLIVER REED. PS Younger viewers will however remember his appearance as Dumbledore in the first Harry Potter film. I much preferred Michael Gambon myself. PPS This has nothing whatsoever to do with the Hellraiser horror film franchise, which featured neither actor | ||
| 17 | CHAMPIONED |
Did advocate impeach Don “incorrectly”? (10)
|
| Anagram (incorrectly) of IMPEACH DON | ||
| 19 | STUD |
Romeo and Posh featured in Standard (4)
|
| U (posh, as in U and non-U) inside (featured in) STD. On looking back over the completed puzzle, I briefly felt sure Oliver Reed must have been in The Stud with Joan Collins. He wasn’t, of course, it was Oliver Tobias. | ||
| 22 | PATHOS |
Stirring quality of playwright’s first swashbuckling role for 3 14A (6)
|
| P (playwright’s first) + ATHOS (3 14ac – Oliver Reed – played Athos in The Three Musketeers, and in The Four Musketeers. Oh, and in Return of the Musketeers) | ||
| 23 | CASTAWAY |
Movie actors on vacation (8)
|
| CAST (actors) + AWAY (on vacation) | ||
| 26 | PEEVE |
Upset water swamps Tesla? (5)
|
| PEE (water) around (swamps) EV (electric vehicle, so “Tesla?”) | ||
| 27 | CHIVALRIC |
Bold cycling competitor breaks hip (9)
|
| IVALR (rival with the R cycling to the back, so cycling competitor) inserted into (breaks) CHIC (hip) | ||
| 28 | RIP |
Ready to shed one’s last tear (3)
|
| RIP[e] (ready, without the last letter of onE) | ||
| 29 | TOMMY |
Private corporation with love for United (5)
|
| T[u]MMY (corporation) with the U (united) replaced by O (love) | ||
| 30 | ASSET |
Holding dog off its lead (5)
|
| [b]ASSET (dog off its lead, without its first letter) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | ARGOT |
Republican wearing preposterous clobber in Senate for speech (5)
|
| R (republican) inside (wearing) reversal (preposterous) of TOGA (clobber in [the Roman] senate). At first I thought preposterous was an odd reversal indicator, but it does literally mean back to front or reversed | ||
| 2 | GRANITE |
Hurried to visit holiday home in Rock (7)
|
| RAN (hurried) inside (to visit) GITE | ||
| 3 | OLIVER |
Superior cakes start to leave one lad desperate for more (6)
|
| OVER (superior) around (cakes, covers, smothers) LI (initial letter of leave + I, one), def referring to Oliver Twist. One of Oliver Reed’s best-known film performances was as Bill Sikes in the film version of the musical Oliver! (directed, I had forgotten, by his uncle, Carol Reed, perhaps best known for The Third Man) | ||
| 4 | WATERMELON |
Session band inspired by White and Plant (10)
|
| TERM (session) + ELO (Electric Light Orchestra, so band) inside (inspired by) WAN (white). Nothing to do with Jack White or Robert Plant | ||
| 5 | MARX |
Strike with backspin and kiss a red (4)
|
| Reversal (backspin) of RAM (strike) + X (kiss). A very nice snookery/billiardy surface | ||
| 6 | NATIONAL |
Number going topless to support Newton’s newspaper (8)
|
| Aside from N for Newton, I’m uncertain how this parses, unless it’s rATIONAL without the R, ie topless, but “rational” by itself for “number” as a noun doesn’t seem quite right, unless the mathematicians among you know better? Over to you… | ||
| 7 | VIEWERS |
People generally into Rivals? (7)
|
| I think this is WE (people generally) inside VIERS (those who vie, ie rivals). I’ve haven’t seen any of the recent televisual adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s Rutshire-based novel, but people generally assure me that it’s most entertaining… | ||
| 8 | TREASURED |
Much-loved walk around historic city in Kent? (9)
|
| TREAD around UR (the most famous historic city in crosswordland) inside SE (south-east, so “in Kent?” | ||
| 13 | ILLEGALITY |
To Meloni, the Left say: Reformation of Italy is wrong (10)
|
| IL (Italian for ‘the’, so “to Meloni, the”) + L + EG (say) + anagram (reformation) of ITALY | ||
| 14 | RICE PAPER |
Fix up mushroom skewers in Asian wrap? (4,5)
|
| Insertion (skewers) of CEP inside a reversal (up) of REPAIR | ||
| 16 | OPPONENT |
Quiet writer tense about working under old adversary (8)
|
| P (quiet) + PEN (writer) + T (tense) around ON (working), all beneath O (under old) | ||
| 18 | ANTWERP |
American buffoon claiming Greenland’s core port … (7)
|
| A (American) + TWERP (buffoon) around (claiming) greeNland (Greenland’s core). Until I had more crossers, I went down a bit of a rabbit hole with this one, after discovering that there’s a port in Greenland called Aasiaat, located in the wonderfully named Disko Bay) | ||
| 20 | THWARTS |
… opposes leaders in the hostile West after rebuking Trump so … (7)
|
| First letters (leaders in…) The Hostile West After Rebuking Trump So | ||
| 21 | OTTAWA |
… “a twat essentially with too much capital” (6)
|
| A + [t]WA[t] (a twat essentially) after OTT (over the top, too much) | ||
| 24 | YACHT |
Island trips on hotel launch for Tom Cruise? (5)
|
| Reversal (trips, or trips up) of CAY (another spelling of ‘key’, island) + H (hotel) + first letter (launch) of Tom | ||
| 25 | SCAM |
Fiddle with computers on the counter (4)
|
| Reversal (on the counter) of MACS |
As a retired mathematician, I can confirm that we often say ‘rational’ and ‘irrational’ in reference to numbers. Dictionaries tend to say it has to be ‘rational number’ but I would disagree.
Phew! I found this very tough but I really enjoyed the challenge. I particularly struggled with the parsing of 14a but the penny finally dropped. Full marks to the setter for composing a themed puzzle in which all the surface readings are silky smooth.
Two minor niggles: repetition of the use of “with” to mean “after” in 10a and 21d; and shame about the typo in 12a.
Everything else was impeccable with ANGLO, WOMEN, TOILETRY, HELLRAISER, CASTAWAY, ARGOT, WATERMELON, VIEWERS and ILLEGALITY my many top picks.
Many thanks to Magus and MOH.
Enjoyed solving the puzzle and loved reading the blog.
Thanks Magus and moh.
Quartz it was.
Hope the surface for WOMEN isn’t true.
Shell
The C book says: to case
—
Shelling could just be ‘casing/covering with a case’
My top faves: VET, HELLRAISER, CASTAWAY, MARX, VIEWERS (people generally will agree with the blogger’s parsing, I think), and the great combo of ANTWERP, THWARTS & OTTAWA.
Wow that was tough
Between Topaz and Corundum.
Now I know the theme I realise, Women in Love
(Ang)LO Women VE(t), is very clever
Oh, thank you Matthew Newell @4 – that is indeed really brilliant! I shall add it to the blog now. My admiration for this puzzle just went up another couple of notches!
Just getting my huge appreciation in ealry (sic!) as I’ve really got to go and swing my pants in the sunshine. SUCH a charming and generous write-up, thank you. Re 12a, I could clearly have used your silky 999 skills #GODBLESSALLSUBS. Sorry about that – my fault entirely, obviously. Ta lots all. Do enjoy the rest of the Bank Holiday. PS … I say a categoric YES to Ollie as a national treasure!
I enjoyed the mental wrestling with this puzzle more than the naked wrestling it reminded me of.
Yes, many thanks to Matthew Newell #4. That is truly sensational. Take a well-deserved bow, Magus.
Well, I loved this, not least because of the theme, the late and very great Ollie Reed, as a big fan.
Damn me, I was going to nit-pick that the movie CAST AWAY, should be (4,4), (Tom Hanks)…..then the penny dropped.
I had a slightly surreal encounter with Mr. Reed, 30 years ago, when I parked up at an hotel in Blackpool, (of all places). He came over to discuss my car, and my number plate. He didn’t say “I’m Oliver Reed”, and I didn’t say “I’m a big fan”. All very English.
He was softly-spoken, and surprisingly shy, so that’s a myth-buster! Jekyll & Hyde, maybe.
National Treasure, definitely.
Back to business: Superb puzzle, outstanding setting, and a blog to match.
Cheers, (seems apt), Magus & MOH
Dear ENBoll& @ #9 – och, you can’t possibly leave us hanging like that! What was the car, what was the plate? They almost certainly don’t make them like that anymore – actors or motors.
Thanks to Magus for stopping by, it’s always appreciated when a setter pops in (and I hope the pants-swinging was all you could have wished for…). Now, as to this national treasure business… I suppose it depends what one means by the term, and I equally suppose I’ve always thought it was reserved for, shall we say, milder characters such as David Attenborough, Judi Dench, Michael Palin and the like. I’ll certainly grant you that at his best, Mr Reed had an unforgettably magnetic screen presence. And at his worst? Well, I still vividly remember watching that notorious edition of After Dark when he attempted to snog Kate Millett. But who knows, perhaps Dame Judi is a right monster when she’s had a skinful?
And yes please, ENBoll&, do enlighten us about your encounter!
Dear MOH, NOOO! I’ve never heard a bad word said about the peerless Dame Judi – go to your room this instant! As for Ollie, he gets my vote, largely, because of his spectacular gift of the gab. Despite its ghastly and dated title, What Makes a Woman Good in Bed, written by the late, great Wendy Leigh when she was just 28, remains the best collection of interviews (as a fellow hack I know you’ll appreciate the skill) of all time. Reed’s entry is beyond priceless – wholly non-woke, of course, utterly on brand and very, very funny. Robert Mitchum’s one-word answer (“proximity”) doesn’t even come close. If you ever stumble across a copy in a second-hand bookshop it will, I promise you, be the best 10p you’ll ever spend! Best and warmest thanks again.
Magus@10
My car was a 200SX, and Mr. Reed told me that he had just bought its (much more pricey) big brother, the 300ZX.
My number plate was DIABL, and I still have it, now on my DIABLO scooter. ( offers are invited!).
We discussed the Nissan engine limiters, and I explained how you could “rally-chip” ( override) the control computer to massively boost the car’s performance.
Totally naughty, but ….hey. It was a long time ago.
I admit, I was star-struck, but, he was a genuinely nice chap. They broke the mould.
Dear ENBoll& @ #13, that’s brilliant! Love that. As for Ollie, he was, apparently, surprisingly polite … if he liked you. If he didn’t, God help you! With your rockstar motor, you clearly rubbed along with him OK. I know Russell Crowe famously loathed him – and I’m sure it was mutual. I know which side I’m on. All best.
What an entertaining crossword, blog and discussion.
My thanks to everyone.
Thanks MoH and Magus. I completed this this morning in the garden but ended up needing some aloe vera and forgot to comment.
As a maths postgrad I didn’t even bat an eyelid at rational as number. Not sure if that makes it acceptable for crosswords though.
Loved the theme, certainly one of my favourite actors.
A bit late to this, but I read 4a as us adults (all of us) rather than US adults.