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.