A fun solve…
…with some help from a theme around jazz musicians, including FATS DOMINO, Max ROACH, [s]-MILES DAVIS [Cup], Duke [w]-ELLINGTON, Thelonious MONK; BIRD for Charlie Parker; Billie HOLIDAY-[s], Nat King COLE; Nina SIMONE; ELLA Fitzgerald; BUD Powell; and a reference to Charles Mingus in 19dn. Edit thanks to Auriga: and Louis [h]-ARM STRONG-[suit]
My favourites were 24ac, 26ac, and 8dn. Thanks to Brendan for the puzzle
| ACROSS | ||
| 9 | AIMLESSLY |
Sly e-mails recycled without end (9)
|
| for the definition: “end” as in a goal or aim
anagram/”recycled” of (Sly e-mails)* |
||
| 10 | A GOGO |
Excited by ring to great extent (1,4)
|
| AGOG=”Excited” + O=”ring” shape | ||
| 11 | SALAL |
Sign of inexperienced driver, unfortunately reversing into shrub (5)
|
| definition: a type of evergreen shrub
L (Learner “Sign” for an inexperienced driver) + ALAS=”unfortunately”; all reversed |
||
| 12 | DREAMLIKE |
Doctor armed with positive response, as in a trance (9)
|
| anagram/”Doctor” of (armed)*; plus LIKE=”positive response” e.g. on social media
to indicate the anagram, “Doctor” as a verb meaning to falsify or to tamper with |
||
| 13 | RISINGS |
Is breaking up cartel’s revolting behaviour (7)
|
| for definition, ‘revolt’ as in uprising
IS (from surface) entering into (“breaking up”) RING’S=”cartel’s” |
||
| 14 | INSTANT |
Minimal time, correspondingly reduced for businessperson’s date (7)
|
| in business correspondence, the reduced or shortened form ‘inst.’ is used to indicate a date in the current month | ||
| 17 | AUDIT |
Check out books from car ahead of time (5)
|
| AUDI=make of “car” + T (time) | ||
| 19 | BUD |
New growth in bulb you planted last of all (3)
|
| last letters from [bul]-B [yo]-U [plante]-D | ||
| 20 | RASTA |
One emperor backing follower of another (5)
|
| definition: a RASTA may be a follower of the Emperor Haile Selassie
A=”One” + TSAR=”emperor”; all reversed/”backing” |
||
| 21 | HAVANAS |
Around front area, enjoys capital cigars (7)
|
| definition: cigars from the Cuban capital Havana
edit thanks to gwd80: HAS=”enjoys” around: VAN (vanguard, “front”) + A (area) |
||
| 22 | DINES IN |
Doesn’t go to restaurant having too much noise and drug crime (5,2)
|
| DIN=”too much noise” + E (ecstasy, “drug”) + SIN=”crime” | ||
| 24 | MASOCHISM |
Morbid gratification thus found in endless male posturing (9)
|
| SO=”thus” in MACHISM-[o]=”endless male posturing” | ||
| 26 | SOMME |
Large number of Romans in unspecified battlefield (5)
|
| M=a thousand in Roman numerals=”Large number of Romans”; inside SOME=”unspecified” | ||
| 28 | NAURU |
A run rearranged, you said, in island country (5)
|
| anagram/”rearranged” of (A run)*; plus U=sounds like “you” said aloud | ||
| 29 | TENSIONAL |
Last one in – that could be stress-related (9)
|
| anagram/”that could be” of (Last one in)* | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | FATS |
Refrain from eating, with final twist, such unhealthy foods (4)
|
| FAST=”Refrain from eating”, with a “final twist” with the last two letters changing places | ||
| 2 | SMILES |
First in school by a long way, is visibly pleased (6)
|
| first letter in S-[chool] + MILES=”a long way” | ||
| 3 | WELLINGTON |
Duke is thoroughly acquainted with good style (10)
|
| WELL IN=”thoroughly acquainted” + G (good) + TON=”style” (e.g. French ‘bon ton’) | ||
| 4 | ASIDES |
Parts of records – they’re not supposed to be heard by other players (6)
|
| definition refers to “other players” as in other actors on stage
a music record might have an A-side and a B-side, so A SIDES=”Parts of records” |
||
| 5 | LYREBIRD |
Rely, oddly, on saxophonist as singer (8)
|
| anagram/”oddly” of (Rely) + BIRD=nickname for Charlie Parker=jazz “saxophonist” | ||
| 6 | HARM |
In spelling performance, initially omit ‘c’ in ‘mischief’ (4)
|
| c-HARM=”spelling performance” as in a magic spell or charm; omitting the initial ‘c’ | ||
| 7 | HOLIDAYS |
One introduced to maintain, say, disrupted festivals (8)
|
| I=”One” inside HOLD=”maintain”; plus anagram/”disrupted” of (say)* | ||
| 8 | COLE |
So-called King of jazz, or another one accompanied by string trio (4)
|
| definition: “King” as in Nat King Cole the jazz musician
wordplay refers to the nursery rhyme of ‘Old King Cole’ who called for his ‘fiddlers three’ i.e. a “string trio” |
||
| 13 | ROACH |
After removing head, open up fish (5)
|
| [b]-ROACH=”open up”, with its first/head letter removed | ||
| 15 | STRONG SUIT |
Executive supporting firm is major asset (6,4)
|
| SUIT=”Executive” after STRONG=”firm” | ||
| 16 | TRAIN |
Form of transport, i.e. coach (5)
|
| double definition, and “coach” can mean to TRAIN e.g. a sports team | ||
| 18 | DAVIS CUP |
Frenzied divas caught up in international court event (5,3)
|
| for the definition, “court” as in tennis courts
anagram/”Frenzied” of (divas)*; plus C (caught, cricket abbreviation) + UP (from surface) |
||
| 19 | BASSISTS |
Bandleader helps Mingus and others (8)
|
| for definition, Charles Mingus was a jazz bassist
first letter/”…leader” of B-[and…]; plus ASSISTS=”helps” |
||
| 22 | DOMINO |
Piece to play that’s part of falling sequence, in theory (6)
|
| definition: a piece played in the game of dominoes
wordplay or second definition refers to ‘domino theory’ or the ‘domino effect’ which describes a sequence where each event sets off the next |
||
| 23 | SIMONE |
Name of girl making second statement on first birthday (6)
|
| S (second, unit of time); plus I’M ONE=I am one years old=”statement on first birthday” | ||
| 24 | MONK |
Order member out of symposium on knowledge (4)
|
| hidden inside [symposiu]-M ON K-[nowledge] | ||
| 25 | CLUB |
Baton that may be used for musical performances (4)
|
| double definition – the second may refer to e.g. music performed in jazz clubs | ||
| 27 | ELLA |
She can be spotted going back and forth in parallel lanes (4)
|
| found going back in [par]-ALLE-[l lanes] and also forwards in [parall]-EL LA-[nes] |
Another day, another theme spotted and it even helped with DOMINO
shame there was no Nina for SIMONE 🙂
Cheers B& M
I take no credit for spotting this – it was mentioned on the Guardian site – but 8d/16d read together quite well
Also a nod to Coletrane – COLE + TRAIN in the rightmost column.
And hARMSTRONGsuit
There was a King Cole Trio, too.
Thanks manehi and Brendan
bodycheetah at 1 there was no Nina – indeed, there was no NINA, perhaps that is the point!
Wonderful! This has been a good week for us addicts… another puzzle where only a minority of clues are not well tickable
bodycheetah@1 – I enjoyed your wit
Many thanks to Brendan and blogger
21a – minor typo in the explanation. “VAN” is just “front” and “area” is “A”, otherwise you end up with HA-VAN-S instead of HAVANAS
I failed to solve 8d and I could not parse 14ac.
New for me: SALAL plant; A GOGO = to great extent.
I noticed COLE TRAIN and also that the first six letters of MACHISMO are an anagram of SACHMO. to complement Auriga’s spot @4. I also thought CLUB HAVANA might be linked in some way. Another masterful themed puzzle from the best.
Ta Brendan & manehi.
Great stuff to end a week that has been all over the place in terms of difficulty. Jazz is not my strongest subject but it didn’t really hinder me apart from not having the GK to fully parse COLE.
Favourites DREAMLIKE, DAVIS CUP and SOMME.
Thanks Brendan and manehi
Oops, I meant MASOCHISM @10.
I don’t think I’ve seen a more themed puzzle!
FATS DOMINO, ELLA Fitzgerald, Charles Mingus (BASSIST), Thelonius MONK, Nat King COLE, cole+train sounds like COLTRANE, CLUB HAVANA, Nina SIMONE, (Charlie Parker) BIRD, AGOGO jazz trio, BUD Powell, Duke (W)ELLINGTON, (S)MILES DAVIS (Cup), Max ROACH, Billy HOLIDAY(S), (h)ARMSTRONG(suit), maybe even Martial SOLAL (salal)
TENSIONAL is also a term used to describe some jazz chord progressions, and AIMLESSLY could describe some jazz improvisations!
RISINGS are also a musical term (rising thirds or fourths for example).
And of course, all of these musicians produced DREAMLIKE A-SIDES for us all to AUDIT.
Either these themes are getting easier to spot or I’m getting better at them. I think we all know the answer to that. For example, I was completely taken in by the misdirection in DREAMLIKE and couldn’t explain why EAM might mean ‘armed’. Excellent crossword and blog, thanks all round.
An obvious theme, but I still managed to miss it. Themes are wasted on me. Enjoyed it nevertheless.
The LYREBIRD answer made me go hunting for an old David Attenborough BBC Wildlife piece on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjE0Kdfos4Y
Fabulous!
Thanks so much for that masterful and fun crossword Brendan and thanks for the comprehensive blog, manehi
And “Take the A TRAIN” was Ellington’s signature tune.
Those of us with a certain niche enjoyment might object to our healthy fun being described as ‘morbid’.
NAURU has just changed its official name to Naoero, as a point of information. Loved the jazz theme – the four corners each occupied by a four letter jazz musician, then columns in from either side have an enclosed musician (sMILES DAVIS cup/hARM STRONG suit) – as others have pointed out, but not mentioned the symmetry. Lovely. Thanks, Brendan and manehi.
bodycheetah @1 It was only on 31st August that SIMONE was in fact a Nina across the middle of Anto’s crossword. Not a trick to be pulled off twice in less than three weeks.
Thank you to Brendan for a thoroughly entertaining and clever puzzle. I loved all the references to Jazz musicians and then I discovered even more thematic references I hadn’t spotted before coming here. Favourites were just about everything but I particularly liked the similar word plays for 20a RASTA and 8d COLE (Emperors and Kings) as well as the lovely 4d ASIDES. Appreciation to manehi for the blog as well.
I spotted the theme for once, though far from all the references (well done to those who did). New to me were SALAL and TON=”style”, so 3d was not fully parsed. Despite that, a thoroughly enjoyable puzzle.
Thanks manehi and Brendan.
I don’t really consider Fats Domino to be jazz. Fats Waller maybe.
As Tassie Tim says @19, NAURU is the island’s former name now. As with Bodycheetah @1 and others, I spotted the theme again. It’s a weird week for that. It helped me to get HARM, STRONG SUIT, HOLIDAYS, COLE and TRAIN (I agree with Paul D @3 about COLE TRAIN – it helped me anyway) in a late flurry.
I’m not suffering imposter syndrome on the cruciverbal front, but I must admit I know very little about jazz. Some of these solutions (not all, I’m not a monster!) are just names to me; although I did once go to Ronnie Scott’s and have a pleasant time.
Thanks Brendan and manehi.
Pleasant puzzle, got most of it last night or this morning. Didn’t spot the jazz theme until manehi told me. But you didn’t need it to solve the clues.
Does anybody use inst, ult and prox these days? I’ve only met it in books.
And does anybody use “tensional”? Is it even a word? It’s assembled from recognizable bits, but still …
Thanks, Brendan and manehi.
I thought the sitter did well to make all the answers (19d apart perhaps) gettable with no specialist knowledge. I’m with AD@23. Fats Domino wasn’t jazz musician. I thought the clue referred to Fats Navarro or Waller. Also, Ms Simone didn’t confine herself exclusively to jazz.
I didn’t think of Old King Cole, as Nat’s trio was himself on piano plus bass and guitar – all stringed instruments.
Billie’s inclusion made me hope to see her confrere Lester Young make an appearance.
He was described in the Graun not long ago as one of jazz’s four great innovators. The other three Louis, Bird and Trane are here, but Pres gets forgotten again. Actually, not forgotten – not known in the first place.
Valentine@25. I saw ‘inst’ and ‘ult’ a few times in memos from my elders and betters when I started work 50-odd years ago.
Thanks for the blog , very good clues , MASOCHISM very neat and the double ELLA , many more .
DOMINO a clever clue and there is another layer . The DOMINO theory part of US foreign policy in Asia once , if one nation falls to communism then others follow in sequence . Hence the Vietnam War .
AlanC@12 , perhaps the clue is a reference to KPR .
I have to agree with Benchillian@27 and Valentine@25, re ‘inst’ – have not seen it in 40+ years of working.
Great crossword from Brendan and I even spotted the theme which helped in a few
places. Thanks to manehi for the blog.
Nice puzzle, but I found it harder than a typical Brendan, despite the obvious theme. I needed to “Check Word” a number of times, but luckily I was right every time (or else I would have considered it a dnf).
Liked COLE, SOMME, DAVIS CUP.
Good, well clued puzzle. Might I suggest that ARM-STRONG and MILES DAVIS, as they are not linked clues, are the missing Ninas to go with SIMONE?
Thanks to Brendan and manehi
Thanks Brendan, that was fun. I spotted most of the themers and I liked the clues in general including RASTA, SOMME, ASIDES, DAVIS CUP, BASSISTS, SIMONE, and MONK. I failed to parse SALAL and INSTANT. Thanks manehi for the blog.
Fun solve. Fell for the old spelling double meaning trick which meant I needed help with the parsing. Thanks.
Ended up a dnf, failing on the top right. I spotted the theme early which helped a bit.
Old King Cole and his fiddlers three passed over my head, and I’ve never thought of A GOGO as a stand-alone phrase.
Some lovely clues. All mentioned already. I have no esoteric jazz knowledge to add.
Thanks Brendan and manehi.
Got there in the end, apart from AGOGO and COLE. A quick Google told me the so-called ‘King of Jazz’ was 1920s American bandleader Paul Whiteman, which didn’t help me in the slightest, so thanks manehi for the explanation!
..and didn’t we have Nina (Simone) as a Nina nina a little while ago?
Einstein A GOGO definitely not part of the jazz theme – You better watch out …..
Aah – inst, ultimo and proximo remind me of my (too) long years in the law but rarely used now thank goodness. Nice puzzle, all fitted in neatly.
I would have equally enjoyed 1d without the twist in either the clue or answer, just as a straightforward but wry DD. The marketing powers-that-be did a great job of getting too many of us sheeple to use ‘fast’ rather than ‘junk’.
inSTANt Getz maybe.
Slowed down by an incorrect ‘a-hoop’ at 10.
Just in time .
WS@40
I don’t understand your reference to a DD. Can you please explain?
Alan C @10: the first six letters of MACHISMO are MACHIS which can’t be made into an anagram of SACHMO. In any case one of Louis Armstrong’s nicknames was SATCHMO, short for “Satchelmouth”.
David Mansell @44: if you’d bothered to read my comment @12, I corrected myself. Google SACHMO and see what you find.
Thanks to Manehi and to all those who found thematic elements of which I was totally unaware.
To Zoot@26, there’s a scene in “Page Eight” (available online and totally recommended) in which Bill Nighy is explaining to Rachel Weiss how Billie Holiday loved Lester Young.
After constructing the puzzle, I came across the book by Georges Perec (amongst so many other things a constructor of, and writer about, crosswords) called “Wishes”, homophonic exercises in English. There’s a section on jazz people. One of them goes something like this:
• description of the scene: Freud and Jung are relaxing with martinis. Sigmund reminds Carl that he likes his stirred, not shaken. but Carl is overdoing it.
• punch line: “Less stir, Jung”.
Long time lurker/learner/enjoyer of this blog…really enjoyed today’s puzzle and commentary. Theme spotted quickly and helped a bit. Don’t know if I’m overreaching on the Nina search, but doesnt the reverse “Louis” in the SE count, especially crossing below hARMSTRONG SUIT?
Thanks to manehi, and to Brendan for the challenge, which was beautifully themed (on special order by Zoot?). I searched for a tune combining as many of the jazz greats as possible and came up with this 1947 recording of Donna Lee featuring BIRD, MILES, BUD, and ROACH.
TassieTim@19 and Martin@24: NAURU is a typical piece of elastic for a gridfill, needed to get my favourite MONK in. If I’d thought of it, I’d have tweaked to clue to reflect the name change in August.
Andy Doyle@23, Zoot@26: Fats Domino’s origins were in jazz and he remained closely connected with jazz.
Brian Greer@ 46. I owe you an apology, at least for my last sentence. Lester’s influence on the music is so underrated and he is so often dismissed by those who do know of him. It’s no understatement to say he changed my life. He should be much better known.
I saw Page Eight when it was first broadcast. I loved the Freud/Jung story. I’ll look for the book.
Coloradan@48 Try any track from the1953 Massey Hall concert – Bird, Dizzy, Bud, Max and Mingus.
I’m probably too late for most commenters, but I have a question regarding INSTANT. I see from the blog that “inst.” Is apparently a shorthand for “this month” (although I’ve never seen it in 30+ years in business), but I haven’t seen any indication of where the “ant” component then comes from.
Can anyone elucidate?
I enjoyed the crossword, despite failing to parse a few, so thanks to Brendan and manehi.
TanTrumPet @52 I was puzzled by that too, unless he means that the archaic use of ‘inst’ is just a short version of instant; if that’s the case, brendan, please save these for the quick.
DNF, but I should’ve. house is full of jazz, but mostly ‘trane & davis. I see they both sort of made an apperaance. holidays with one L though…. hmm….. & then ‘rasta’, rather out of nowhere.
brendan & I don’t see eye to eye. I needed assistance with this in a few places, besides the NHO shrub. I looked for a nina of some sort by taking all the superfluous letters (s-miles, w-ellington & so on).
still, it’s all exercise.
Duncan @53 What’s the problem with Holiday with one L?
TanTrumPet @52,
definition = minimal time. Worplay = correspondingly (i.e. with regard to correspondence) [the answer is] reduced [to give] businessperson’s date. i.e. inst is reduced form of instant in business letters.
Thanks for that Zoot@51. I see that was the first and only performance, as a quintet, of the group you named, and the last recorded session featuring both Bird and Diz.
Pleased to have finished without looking at dictionaries or Google – unlike yesterday’s Pasquale (and I didn’t even finish that). I especially enjoyed some of the shorter clues that I found initially misleading but when solved were obviously correct – such as A GOGO, AUDIT and HARM. This is why Brendan is such a good setter.
Good spot Zed@47 with the reverse LOUIS at line 13 – though it may be just serendipity, of course.
Thanks to Brian and Manehi.
Loved this one. It’s COLE/TRAIN’s centenary on Wednesday, by the way
Valentine@25. Tensional is in Chambers. We thought it was an anagram but didn’t recognise it as a word so checked to be sure.
I’m not a huge fan of themed puzzles but once I spotted the theme it made some of the answers much easier and I’m no fan of jazz. I failed to solve 6 down but an enjoyable hour or so anyway…
Loiner @43 Sorry for not getting back to you last night. Instead of coming back here at any point, food, drink, and football being my combined excuse. In answer to your query, a Double Definition, such as, say-
Pads for defenders? (6) GUARDS
or-
Boozy drink, one a farmer might have (5,3) BROWN COW
All of this of course putting aside and completely irrelevant of the fact that in this particular case it would not work due to the theme.
The end of a rough week. Only one completion (Monday). Only two-thirds today, same as yesterday. Should have done better. Seeing the theme might have helped
My favourite was 9a AIMLESSLY (“without end”)
Thanks both
Winston@61. I think the point was that the clue for FATS was not a conventional double definition because the two definitions lead to answers that differ to the extent of a ‘twist in the tail’. So “fast” or “junk” would not be correct because of the crossers (and the theme), but the twist makes the clue work.
@zoot (53) I stand corrected, & really by now I should be used to the idea that the lady had two Ls in her first name but only one in the surname. I don’t know where, when or how the mistake got etched, but once again I’m blaming my internal infernal librarians, who are complaining about the conditions they work in & when can they retire?
so.
tramp yielded slowly today. I had forgotten about “oil worker”; I used to like that one a lot.
not happy with 5D & I can’t parse 11A, & it took a while to see “kid” as a verb instead of as a noun.
am I still in the right place or is there now a special place for non-spoiler discussion on/of saturdays?
Duncan@64. Discussion of Saturday (prize) crosswords is not allowed until the following Saturday.
Mig@62 , the path of true crossword nirvana does not run smoothly . It took me two years to become “good” at crosswords but very up and down . Sometimes you have a leap forward having assimilated new ideas and techniques but also rough weeks where you think you are getting worse .
Sheff@63 I’m fully aware of all of that, hence my last sentence above. Cheers anyway.
Roz@66 Thanks for the encouragement! Two steps forward…
Zoot@51, the recording of that 1953 concert from Toronto is still one of my favourites. Having twigged to the theme early on, I spent some time looking for DIZ in the puzzle, as the others are all there.
I too took 1d to refer to FATS Waller, but as Mr. Greer says, Fats Domino was a jazz pianist before he “invented” rock and roll.
Very enjoyable and clever crossword! Loved the theme. Thanks Brendan!