Solving time: 22:31 – all correct if the answer to 17A is UKULELE and the answer to 18D is LEGRENZI; but maybe 1 or 2 wrong if UKALELE is expected at 17A (see below) and/or 18D is LEGRANDI.
This latter clue is particularly tricky. The wordplay could equally well lead to LEGRANDI (G (= German) + rand (= border) in LEI); however, I haven’t been able to identify an Italian composer with that name. Also the German Grenz without a final “e” appears only in compounds, and the word for “border” on its own is (die) Grenze. If LEGRENZI is right, I think this has to be regarded as a pretty tough clue, and I’ll be pleased to have solved it unaided (I got it from the “German border” and had only the vaguest recollection of the composer, so it’s probably more through good luck than good judgment).
Apart from that, I solved a reasonable spread of clues at a first read-through and after about 12 minutes was missing just four answers: CAMELLIA, GRIFFITH, ANUKET and O’CASEY. CAMELLIA was obvious once I’d thought of it, but the others were educated guesses. So for me this was a lot easier than last week (and next week).
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | TOM BOWLING – TOM is Tom Brown, whose fictional schooldays at Rugby were chronicled by Thomas Hughes in his novel of 1857; Dibdin’s song Tom Bowling should be familiar from its regular appearances at the Last Night of the Proms in Henry Wood’s Fantasia on British Sea Songs (Benjamin Britten also composed an arrangement which has been recorded recently by Gerald Finley accompanied by Julius Drake – very fine) |
| 9 | IMPUGN – I MP + (gun)* (another indirect anagram, but less heinous than some) |
| 10 | CAMELLIA – the fallen woman is Marguerite Gautier, La Dames aux camélias from the novel of that name by Alexandre Dumas, fils |
| 11 | GRIFFITH – Griffith Gaunt, or Jealousy (1866) is a novel by Charles Reade (I agonised long over this clue, wondering if the answer was going to be something like GRIMDICH, but eventually settled on GRIFFITH because it was a known name and because “Griffith Gaunt” sounded plausible – or perhaps even half-familiar?) |
| 12 | AYER – ayer is Spanish for “yesterday”; the philosopher is A. J. (Freddy) Ayer (1910-89) |
| 13 | NON-FICTION – “novel” here is as in “fiction” |
| 15 | STAND-IN – “double” can mean an actor’s substitute (= stand-in) |
| 17 | UKULELE or UKALELE – the latter spelling is the one given in the citation in the (online) OED, but it’s not listed as a regular alternative (there’s also a citation from 1913 by Rupert Brooke in which he uses the spelling “eukaleli”, perhaps imagining a derivation from classical Greek rather than the Hawaiian for “jumping flea” 🙂 |
| 20 | RASSENDYLL – (sells randy)*; Rudolf Rassendyll is the hero of Anthony Hope’s books The Prisoner of Zenda (1894) and Rupert of Hentzau (1898) |
| 21 | GAMY – another citation from the OED |
| 23 | LANGLAND – LANG (German film director Fritz Lang (1890-1976)) + LAND; the early poet is William Langland (c.1332-c.1386), assumed author of Piers Plowman |
| 25 | HIGHNESS – the Australian poet C. J. Dennis worked on the script for the film His Royal Highness (1932) and shares the writing credit with its star, the Australian comedian George Wallace (perhaps this was originally novel or a play, but I haven’t been able to find any evidence of it) |
| 26 | ANUKET – NUKE in A T (as in Ford Model T); an Egyptian goddess of the Nile (not one that I’d heard of, but fortunately she was guessable from the wordplay) |
| 27 | SOMERVILLE – Somerville College, Oxford; the writer is Edith Somerville, probably best known for Some Experiences of an Irish R. M. (1899) which she wrote with her cousin Violet Martin (who styled herself “Martin Ross”) under the names Somerville and Ross |
| Down | |
| 2 | O’CASEY – Red Roses for Me (1943) is a play by Seán O’Casey |
| 3 | BRETHREN – The Brethren (1904) is a novel by Rider Haggard |
| 4 | WALDENSIAN – (In-laws dean)* (I’d assumed that the Waldensians had vanished long ago, but apparently they’re still going strong) |
| 5 | IMAGINE – I imagine the clue refers to Samuel Beckett’s collection of short stories Imagination Dead Imagine (1965), in which case the word “repetition” in the clue seems a little loose |
| 6 | GIGI – GI (twice); Gigi (1944) is Colette’s novella which formed the basis first for a French film (1948), then a stage play (1951), and finally and most famously the musical film (1958) starring Leslie Caron (I think someone had the idea of writing a musical about Dr Livingstone in which the main song was going to be “Ujiji” 🙂 |
| 7 | FUGITIVE – John Galsworthy wrote The Fugitive (1913) … |
| 8 | IN CHANCERY – … and In Chancery (1920) |
| 12 | AUSTRALIAN – I assume “lyrics” here is a cryptic reference to Bruce Chatwin’s book The Songlines (1986) dealing with Australian Aboriginal culture, particularly their songs |
| 14 | INK-SLINGER – inks + linger |
| 16 | ARSENIUS – (insures a)*; the Desert Father is Saint Arsenius (350-c.445) |
| 18 | LEGRENZI – Grenz (German for “border” in compounds, e.g. Grenzwacht meaning “border guard”) in LEI; the Italian composer is Giovanni Legrenzi (1626-90) (see above for further discussion) |
| 19 | WYNDHAM – (why damn)*; the painter-novelist is Wyndham Lewis (1882-1957) |
| 22 | MISSAL – “masses” here refers to the religious service |
| 24 | ACTS – the old book is The Acts of the Apostles from the Bible |
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