vinyl1 tells me that 14ac was his personal undoing, not realising that it is just the American word for ARCHIE BUNKER. Who in turn is just a modern Josh Billings, maybe? Josh Billings gets second billing as a josher to Mark Twain, ironically enough.
Cryptically I found this a teensy bit bland with a preponderance of clues that are just “put x inside y”, in one direction or another, and Cryptic Jumbo style just-about-serviceable surface stories. Credit where it’s due though to 25dn which managed to fox me into failing to lift and separate “nil by mouth” for a very long time, and I did also like 8dn for its namedropping of a quality band. (5dn? Never heard of ‘im!)
Definitions underlined, (ABC)* indicating anagram of ABC, {} deletions and [] other indicators.
Across
1 King had this made specially for crossing river (5)
DREAM – (MADE*) “crossing” R. That’s Martin Luther King, who Had A Dream.
4 Craft should go round Scottish lake to find border (9)
GUILLOCHE – GUILE should go round LOCH
9 Small Liverpudlian singer inspiring in tango? Just a little (9)
SCINTILLA – S CILLA “inspiring” IN T
10 Tribute nicely written about saint (5)
TOAST – TO A T, “about” S
11 Complete religious work in Ireland (6)
ENTIRE – N.T. in EIRE
12 Check when coming aboard earlier vessel (8)
SCHOONER – CH “coming aboard” SOONER
14 Reactionary TV character bringing stone into converted flat (3,7)
ALF GARNETT – GARNET “brought into” (FLAT*)
16 Portuguese saint imports good grain for pudding (4)
SAGO – SAO [as in Paolo] “imports” G
19 Sort of red polish unknown (4)
RUBY – RUB Y
20 Nonchalant during escape, one ought to be strung up (5,5)
FAIRY LIGHT – AIRY “during” FLIGHT
22 Game in which Josh Billings initially behind bars? (8)
CRIBBAGE – RIB B{illings} given the reverse cryptic treatment: behind bars = in CAGE
23 Understated, it should be expunged from screen translation (6)
SUBTLE – SUBT{it}LE
26 Spiritual icon I see at last in Nebraskan city (5)
OMAHA – OM [spiritual icon] + AHA! [I see at least]. Not quite sure how om is an “icon”
27 Act to defend author penning nasty piece of work (9)
BARRICADE – BARRIE “penning” CAD
28 Reported truce spread by degrees (9)
PIECEMEAL – homophone + PEACE + MEAL [= spread, as in a lovely spread]
29 Horse cooked in casserole wife chucked out (5)
STEED – STE{w}ED
Down
1 Disastrous couple keeping son in poor state (9)
DISREPAIR – DIRE PAIR “keeping in” S
2 Clubs in correct order (5)
EDICT – C in EDIT
3 Like woman raising issue or unusually alert man (8)
MATERNAL – (ALERT MAN*)
4 Bird with raucous call not quite making channel (4)
GULL – GULL{y}
5 US violinist sectarians upset (5,5)
ISAAC STERN – (SECTARIANS*)
6 No calcium needed for spot cream (6)
LOTION – LO{ca}TION
7 Labour Party not likely to split? (5,4)
CHAIN GANG – cryptic def: hard to split up when you’re shackled together, as has been the plot of many a movie featuring chain gang workers
8 Metallica finally exits festival compound (5)
ESTER – E{a}STER
13 Elusive Iberian leaders snarled up outside (10)
INTANGIBLE – IB{erian} “inside” IN TANGLE [snarled up]
15 Make note about time in cheese-producing region (9)
FABRICATE – FA [note] + CA T [about time] in BRIE. Never really knew that BRIE was the region as well as its famous cheese, but it makes a lotta cheesy sense
17 New idea put into Bond, leaving book, getting better (2,3,4)
ON THE MEND – N THEME “put into” {b}OND
18 Worst thing is to accept twin returning commendations (8)
PLAUDITS – PITS “accepting” reversed DUAL
21 Burning a jacket king’s taken off (6)
ABLAZE – A BLAZE{r}
22 Problem breathing arises where coating on pills removed (5)
CROUP – CRO{ps} UP
24 One article written about another Macbeth for example (5)
THANE – THE “written about” AN
25 Artist having lamb to start with after nil by mouth (4)
ORAL – R.A. having L{amb} after 0
We get Omaha once every three or four weeks, and every time it pops up I’m surprised that a not very large or important (apologies to Warren Buffett) city is well enough known to past editorial muster.
Edited at 2022-01-14 04:35 am (UTC)
“And I’m gonna ride into Omaha on a horse
Out to the country club and the golf course
Carry the New York Times, shoot a few holes, blow their minds.”
I hitchhiked thru that town once in the middle of the night…
COD dream.
What has it got to do with what the King had?
Please explain.
As i say, i may be wrong.
Adrian M
This week Bob Saget died! Who! America’s Dad! Really!? Never heard of him! I checked him out — not what passes for humour over in Britain. Archie Bunker neither.
FOI 7dn CHAIN GANG
LOI 15dn FABRICATE
COD 22ac CRIBBAGE — streets ahead
WOD ALF GARNETT
Unlike Lord Verlaine I warmed to this rather quickly, for a Friday.
My time happily 37 minutes!
Edited at 2022-01-14 06:28 am (UTC)
After 30 mins pre-brekker I assumed Guilloche was a border of some sort and invented Isaac Stern. He was one where the remaining letters just had to go where they went.
I’ve kept my old violin, but gave Yehudi me new un.
Thanks setter and V.
This is the third time we’ve had CHAIN GANG recently. The first occasion was in a Sunday cryptic when Dean Mayer clued it as “Joined Labour Party”. Something of a coincidence with today’s clue.
FOI: SCHOONER
LOI: GUILLOCHE/LOTION
No real candidate for COD. DREAM was the nearest to a COD.
Edited at 2022-01-14 07:17 am (UTC)
“a kitten named Pixel, of indeterminate existence, and as such, can turn up in places that are specifically sealed to outside access. When this ability is questioned, the answer is “He’s Schrödinger’s cat,” leading to the response, “Then Schrödinger had better come to get him.”
I just thought it was slightly unusual to see two dead people in the same puzzle; it gave me a creepy “Sixth Sense” feeling!
I can’t remember if ALF GARNETT was mentioned by name but I had an exchange with someone here about the series Till Death Us Do Part within the past two or three weeks. I tried to find it in case it was relevant but without success and I’m wondering if the Google search facility on LJ is working properly or is there another new glitch.
…and duly figured out OMAHA after finally decoding the “I see” device that’s tripped me up several times over recent months. This left C-O-P which I alpha-trawled endlessly, also looking for a word meaning “pills” fitting -C-O-PS, because I misinterpreted the cryptic. After about 9 minutes of that, I threw in the towel. Somewhat surprised that CROUP hasn’t been fingered as a NHO word by other commenters – maybe it’s one of those commonly known to medics and veteran crossword-solvers only.
Thanks V and setter
Edited at 2022-01-14 08:46 am (UTC)
It’s MLK Day Monday, of course.
Edited at 2022-01-14 09:42 am (UTC)
Enjoyable enough otherwise – DREAM was a nice clue.
I put in ISAAC for STERN thinking “surely that’s Itzhak?”. But that’s either Perlman or the accountant to Oscar Schindler.
I also thought OM was a sacred syllable rather than an icon, but careful research shows it’s both, the latter looking like 30 with a couple of squiggles. It’s even an emoji. OMAHA itself, of course, is famous for not being the capital of Nebraska and Lady Fanny.
GULL my last in, having been gulled into thinking I was looking for a short bird that made a channel.
On V’s interpretation the “written nicely” bit makes sense of TO A (S) T but I had it as a rather poor TO A ST, some sort of Burnsian ode, where nicely was incidental.
No chance for me with nho GUILLOCHE and ISAAC STERN.
Never did get on with ALF GARNETT, sorry horryd.
Thanks verlaine and setter.
The NW corner went in lickety split but I was then becalmed for a while. I have a pair of Art Deco earrings I never wear that have enamel GUILLOCHE but I didn’t know it as a border. I think Faberge used it for his eggs. The obits for Sidney Poitier brought CHAIN GANG to mind readily. He had co-star billing with Tony Curtis in The Defiant Ones – a movie I’ve never seen. But I did remember Lady Fanny of OMAHA, as Z mentions, from Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. 20.46
Unknown words like GUILLOCHE and ISAAC STERN didn’t help, and neither did fairly generic wordplay (e.g. GULL could easily have been a bird minus a letter to get a channel), but I have no real excuse for spending so long on the likes of FABRICATE, PLAUDITS, PIECEMEAL… not my day.
Not convinced ‘in tangle’ is a phrase, though.
Edited at 2022-01-14 02:17 pm (UTC)
FOI DREAM
LOI CROUP
COD FAIRY LIGHT
TIME 12:10
Edited at 2022-01-14 12:09 pm (UTC)
NHO GUILLOCHE but I did know of Mr Stern. I also had a biffed PIETA for a while until FABRICATE corrected me.
COD cribbage anyone? Good week for me , new PB and all completed correctly . Yippee.
Thx setter and blogger.
For me this was a real mixture of some simple answers, DREAM (for me) SCHOONER, ON THE MEND, ALF GARNETT (went straight in vis recent remarks about same series) RUBY, ORAL (odd vis V’s comments) and THANE and then completely troublesome ones, CROUP, UNTANGIBLE, OMAHA.
Altogether a great crossie, shame I couldn’t finish it..
Thanks V and setter
Was there a blog for last December’s Monthly Club Special? I don’t seem to be able to find one. Verlaine normally does an excellent job of it.
COD — a popular food fish, becoming increasingly unsustainable
DREAM — anag of MADE and insert R — the MLK reference completely washed over me
GUILLOCHE — wouldn’t have known what this was, but followed the cryptic
CRIBBAGE — only spotted this having entered CROUP at 22d, was thinking JAILBIRD (behind bars)
ISAAC STERN — never heard of him
Guilloche 🙁
Thanks, v.
As per my reply to dyste, om is indeed an icon, purple ones being very common on acid tabs in the early 90s. Apparently.
🕉
No children were injured during the two day shoot in a Paddington studio – you can’t see the matresses either side of the conveyor belt. Mike Seresin directed with aplomb.
We had the Clarks account for several years and a trip to Somerset was always a pleasure.
For the’Rugger Buggers’ – The Mayor of Bayswater’ and his lovely daughter come to mind at 20ac, my COD & WOD Fairy Light.
4a was the big problem where I had NESS as the Scottish lake and was then looking for a word for Craft. That stymied 6d where I rejected LOTION. SWEAT BAND at 7d seemed unlikely, but nothing better emerged.
Some good clues. I particularly liked DREAM and ENTIRE.
David