Whether we’ll ever see No 2 in this TLS style Jumbo remains to be seen, but it was fun to do, with some stuff I knew well enough and obviously some not part of my literary canon. It’s worth paying attention to the rubric, because some of the clues have direct reference to the event, and many of the participants are evidenced in the clues and answers. Where I’ve spotted them, I’ve highlighted them in green, just for fun. David McLean is to be congratulated for this splendid tribute to Richard Rogan, replete with lots of well worked anagrams to help us find some of the more recondite answers. I don’t know how many would be able to run through without brother Google to hand (I certainly didn’t!), but there’s great satisfaction to be had in completing it and pretending that your literary knowledge is encyclopaedic.
Definitions underlined in italics, [these] are excluded letters, and everything else should be decipherable.
| Across | |
| 1 | Take care in Toledo partying with Philip Pirrip (6-3) |
| TOODLE-PIP – An anagram (partying) of TOLEDO plus PIP, the hero of Great Expectations whose infant lips could only make Pip out of his full name. | |
| 6 | Match Helen organized in festival town (10) |
| CHELTENHAM – Check the rubric and (re) organise MATCH HELEN | |
| 12 | Prior to time, give gratuity to favourite barman (7) |
| TIPPETT – Michael, composer of the oratorio Child of Our Time. Give gratuity to: TIP, favourite: PET and T[ime] | |
| 13 | I’m told TV range’s something Dr. Arroway might’ve looked into (9) |
| TELESCOPE – Eleanor Arroway is the astronomer in Carl Sagan’s “Contact”. Her telescope was the immense radio one at Arecibo, Puerto Rico. Good film, by the way, especially for SETI fans. | |
| 14 | Characters found in Snow helping a young child (5) |
| WHELP – Hidden in SnoW HELPing. Dan Snow, perhaps, though there are many novels. | |
| 16 | Hungarian creator of Zeta? A dozy nagger, I suspect! (4,8) |
| GEZA GARDONYI – Author of Slave of the Huns, in which Zeta is the narrator and main protagonist. An anagram (suspect) of A DOZY NAGGER I. Who’d’ve thought it? | |
| 17 | Box given to Queen by curt Blair, the man behind Brown? (10) |
| CHESTERTON – Author of the Father Brown mysteries. Box: CHEST, Queen:ER, curt Blair: TON |
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| 19 | Make move on royal with crush on Charley Fortnum? (8,6) |
| HONORARY CONSUL – Novel by Graham Greene with Charles Fortnum in the title role. Anagram (make move) of ON ROYAL ON CRUSH. | |
| 22 | City the Swarts lived near before Rocky Hill, Iowa (8) |
| PRETORIA – Before: PRE, Rocky Hill: TOR, I[OW]A. Reference: The Promise by Damon Galgut. | |
| 24 | Trevor McDonald’s confrères put out small folk like Lewis Eliot (3,3) |
| NEW MEN – Trevor MacDonald is an (as yet unsullied) NEWS MAN with ITN. Pluralise and remove the S[mall]. Lewis Eliot narrates in CP Snow’s novel The New Men, part of the Strangers and Brothers series. | |
| 25 | Author who wrote about loss in area kids ran amok (5,5) |
| KIRAN DESAI – Author of Booker Prize-winning The Inheritance of Loss. Anagram (amok) of IN A[rea] KIDS RAN. | |
| 26 | Gatsby was one in flipping pickle over RTA primarily (5) |
| MAJOR – Jay (The Great) Gatsby reached that rank in WWI. Reverse JAM (pickle/fix and add the first letters of Over RTA (Road Traffic Accident?) | |
| 29 | Polemic playwright bound to be heard by some on radio (4) |
| SHAW – George Bernard, of course, more or less a homophone of SURE, bound to be. | |
| 30 | Runner pursuing mate is womanising Post Office ‘worker’ (8) |
| CHINASKI – Henry, the creation and alter ego of Charles Bukovsky, succinctly described. SKI for runner after CHINA for mate. (CRS). | |
| 32 | A large fish actor gives the producer of Campion (9) |
| ALLINGHAM – A plus L[arge] plus LING (fish) plus HAM (actor). Margery Allingham created the gentleman sleuth Albert Campion. | |
| 34 | Carver sculpted this work in bustling Thrace with lad (9) |
| CATHEDRAL – By US writer and poet Raymond Carver. An anagram (bustling) of THRACE and LAD. | |
| 35 | Having gone travelling, saw bat on Precious Ramotswe’s land (8) |
| BOTSWANA – The setting of irrepressible heroine of The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, by Alexander McCall Smith, and an anagram (having gone travelling) of SAW BAT ON. | |
| 36 | River Oskar Matzerath crossed in old cherry-hued wheels (4) |
| ODER – Oskar is the “hero” of The Tin Drum by Gunther Grass. The river Oder emerges from O[ld] plus RED (cherry hued) reversed (wheels). but I can’t find a specific crossing. | |
| 39 | American gathers most of Serb people like William Burroughs (5) |
| USERS – US collects SER |
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| 40 | Perhaps open a book in choppy sea as ill (10) |
| ASSAILABLE – A B[ook] inside and anagram (choppy) of SEA AS ILL. I guess this is open as at Harfleur once the breach had been attacked one more time. “Enter our gates; dispose of us and ours; For we no longer are defensible.” |
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| 42 | Trap set on boozer, something Sweeney Todd likely had a hand in? (6) |
| BARNET – Fair, hair, CRS. Trap: NET on boozer: BAR. Sweeney Todd is the demon barber of Fleet Street. | |
| 44 | Special event established by drip in FA at April’s end (8) |
| FESTIVAL – (see rubric). This took a while to parse. FA and the L of ApriL embrace EST[ablished] and I[ntra]V[enous] drip. | |
| 46 | Children’s cakes upset one who addressed societal ills (7,7) |
| CHARLES DICKENS – Yup, you know this one. Anagram (upset) of CHILDENS CAKES. | |
| 48 | European countries importing foremost of Maya Angelou’s releases? (10) |
| EMANATIONS – E[uropean] NATIONS with M[aya] A[ngelou] introduced. | |
| 49 | Hefty TV fines spoilt festival’s anniversary (7-5) |
| SEVENTY-FIFTH – 2024 marks the 75th serving of the Cheltenham Literarature Festival (and of Orwell’s 1984). Here, an anagram (spoilt) of HEFTY TV FINES. | |
| 53 | Heads of department offend Ukrainian author in French city (5) |
| DOUAI – First letters of Department Offend Ukrainian Author In. Douai lends its name to a Catholic translation of the Bible into English published between 1583 and 1610 | |
| 54 | Novel about thief nipped by half-cut Theban ferret (3,6) |
| THE HOBBIT – Nipped: BIT placed by THE |
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| 55 | Old invalid Absurdistan’s leader left like Humpty Dumpty? (7) |
| OVOIDAL – You don’t need to know anything about Absurdistan other than its first letter. Add O[ld] VOID (invalid) before and L[eft] after. | |
| 56 | Dramatic work by arty group that starred F. Benjamin (10) |
| PLAYSCHOOL – Baroness, no less, Floella Benjamin was a comely presenter of BBC children’s programme Playschool, indicated by dramatic work PLAY and arty group SCHOOL, but I think the clue works as an &lit. | |
| 57 | Helen Dunmore novel with singular photographs (9) |
| EXPOSURES – The Dunmore book is EXPOSURE. Add the S[ingular]. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Upcoming books by Mexican poet or Leon Uris novel (5) |
| TOPAZ – O[ld] T[estament] book reversed (upcoming) plus Octavio PAZ, poet and diplomat of Mexico. The Uris novel is of cold war spies. | |
| 2 | Augustus Gloop likely does this above deep ravines (10) |
| OVERGORGES – The fat kid in the Chocolate Factory indeed does this. Above: OVER, ravines: GORGES. | |
| 3 | It rarely changes like the canon of classics (8) |
| LITERARY – Anagram (changes) of IT RARELY. | |
| 4 | Perhaps Barker and I will find love in a courtyard (5) |
| PATIO – PAT Barker is a novelist, creator of the Regeneration Trilogy. ADD I and O (zero, love) | |
| 5 | Children’s book by Porter, poet Denny and children’s writer James? (9) |
| POLLYANNA – Actually a series of books by Eleanor Porter. POLLY Denny, sometime poet in residence at Cheltenham festivals and guest at this one, as is ANNA James, author of the Pages and Co series of children’s books. | |
| 6 | Hacker from Chiba seen in court action (4) |
| CASE – From William Gibson’s Neuromancer, Henry Dorsett Case is a low-level hustler in Chiba city Japan and sometime computer hacker. | |
| 7 | Hot and cold work reviewed by European and Sunday Times (6) |
| EPOCHS – Another that took some sorting. After E[uropean],H[ot], C[old], and OP for work are reversed (reviewed) and S[unday] is added. | |
| 8 | In which you see Captain Flint rest under a sail at sea (8,6) |
| TREASURE ISLAND – An anagram (at sea) of REST UNDER A SAIL. | |
| 9 | Holy work or novel? Try The Last Word and bit of Thackeray (3,9) |
| NEW TESTAMENT – Novel: NEW, try: TEST, the last word: AMEN and the first letter of T[hackeray] | |
| 10 | One who assists a person such as Phileas Fogg? (7) |
| ABETTER – Getting Around the World in 80 Days was the subject of a bet for Fogg. | |
| 11 | They set the scene, performing G and S with haste (10) |
| STAGEHANDS – An anagram (performing) of G AND S with HASTE | |
| 15 | Writer turning gun on righteous Anglican minister at first sign of Crowley? (9) |
| PENTAGRAM – Writer: PEN, gun: GAT (reversed) and the first letters of Righteous Anglican Minister. Aleister Crowley was an occultist who invented his own religion known as Thelema. | |
| 18 | Salty Billy has history with committed Siddhartha fan (8) |
| BUDDHIST – Siddhartha Gautama is the name of the Buddha. Salty Billy is Billy BUDD from the Melville novella and Britten opera. Add HIST[ory] | |
| 20 | Never-seen-before thing Beth Harmon might do in UK city (9) |
| NEWCASTLE – Never-seen-before: NEW. Beth Harmon is the chess playing phenomenon in the Walter Tevis novel The Queen’s Gambit, and no doubt she occasionally CASTLEd. | |
| 21 | How Atticus Finch or Fanny Hill could be in Hard Times! (10) |
| CLIENTLESS – A cryptic definition. Finch is the lawyer in To Kill a Mockingbird, and Fanny Hill the eponymous Woman of Pleasure in John Cleland’s erotic novel of 1748, and as such both would have clients, except perhaps when times were hard. | |
| 23 | Golden gong given to uncultivated English epigrammatist (5,5) |
| OSCAR WILDE – The golden gong is an OSCAR, uncultivated is WILD, add E[nglish]. Oscar Fingal O’Fflahertie Wills Wilde, you might guess, was not English! | |
| 27 | Toilet American arranged to be picked up for linesman (4,5) |
| JOHN DONNE – For linesman read poet: “No man’s an island” etc. JOHN an American loo, arranged gives done, which sounds like DONNE (both “dun“) | |
| 28 | I catch star in LA plays in the style of Tartuffe (14) |
| CHARLATANISTIC – Tartuffe is the hypocritical imposter of Molière’s play. His character is anagrammed (plays) from I CATCH STAR IN LA. I had several shots at this. | |
| 31 | Very specialized part of Nautilus? Hard to get in resort! (8) |
| SUBNICHE – Nautilus is the SUB[marine] in Verne’s 20,000 Leagues under the sea. Add H[ard] in NICE, the Riviera resort. | |
| 33 | Insight agent brought up with southern detective about Amsterdam? (12) |
| PERSPICACITY – Agent is REP, to be reversed. Add S[outhern and P.I. for detective (such as Magnum). About gives C[irc]A and Amsterdam is a representative CITY. Phew. | |
| 34 | I wanted to catch kids trashing dull cafe, I admitted (9) |
| CAULFIELD – Holden, from Catcher in the Rye (Salinger). An anagram (trashing) of DULL CAFE and I. Young Holden fantasised about saving children from falling, misunderstanding Burns’ “Coming through the Rye” | |
| 37 | Flautist given a violin by the father of Portnoy’s boy? (10) |
| ROTHSCHILD – Philip ROTH is the author “father” of Portnoy’s Complaint, add CHILD for his boy. In Anton Chekhov’s short story “Rothschild’s Fiddle”, an elderly antisemitic violinist relents on his deathbed to give his violin to the Jewish flautist Rothschild. Also an Opera. | |
| 38 | Where you might see Anton Du Beke chew on cold fare (5,5) |
| DANCE FLOOR – “Strictly” pro, now judge, still appears on this anagram (chew) of ON COLD FARE. | |
| 41 | Unrestrained glee with a bear like Winnie the Pooh? (9) |
| AGREEABLE – An anagram (unrestrained) of GLEE with A BEAR. I can’t find a precise match between Pooh’s character and agreeable, but he’s usually pleasant. | |
| 43 | Incitements to riot primarily avoided in publications (8) |
| EDITIONS – SEDITIONS from incitements to riot with its first dropped. | |
| 45 | Marine and liberal drag up pseudonym of Russian Nina (7) |
| SEAGULL – Chekhov’s Nina Zarechnaya adopts the soubriquet of the Seagull in his first novel. Marine gives the SEA bit, and L[iberal] LUG (drag) reversed (up) the rest. чайка, as in Tchaikovsky, is Russian for seagull (No charge for extra snippet). | |
| 47 | Perhaps Gabriel will get over teaching Albert? (6) |
| ANGELO – Albert ANGELO is the eponymous hero of B. S. Johnson’s “holey” book, and a substitute teacher. Gabriel here is the (arch) ANGEL, add O[ver] | |
| 50 | Eagerly consume each plonk that’s served up (3,2) |
| EAT UP – EA[ch] plus a reversed PUT for plonk/place. | |
| 51 | Opening parts of Fathers and Sons up-and-coming editor intervenes in and flags (5) |
| FADES – The first letters of F[athers] A[nd] S[ons] with a reversed (up and coming) ED[itor] included. | |
| 52 | Beat poem O. Henry knocked up with introduction from Larkin (4) |
| HOWL – O H[enry] reversed (knocked up) and W[ith] and the first letter of L[arkin]. Here’s Allen Ginsberg’s Howl. | |
71:30
Thanks for the enjoyable blog Z – interesting puzzle which, as you suggest, may not be repeated again for some time. I missed many of the literary references that you have highlighted in green, but that didn’t always hinder solving the clue via the definition. Certainly needed to Google a few references to come up with some of the answers though. I doff my cap to anyone who manages to complete the whole grid without looking something up.
Crikey, this was different, thanks so much for the blog, it helped me understand some that I’d never have got in a month of Sundays. Really enjoyed over three days of googling down rabbit holes. Quite a literary education. Fun.
Thanks! I enjoyed both the puzzle and the blogging thereof – as you say, plenty of rabbit holes to go down, and not an Alice in sight!