TLS 835 (June 4th)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Other Crosswords
I found this very tough, getting maybe half of it before resorting to the books, the half I did get being more guesswork than certain knowledge. Still, I managed to finish it eventually, although I had a few doubts at one stage.

Across
1 ROBERT JORDAN – bestselling fantasy writer who unfortunately died in 2007 before completing his epic Wheel of Time series. Also the name of the main character in Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls, who is an explosives expert.
9 SPARTACUS – CU inside SPARTA’S. Howard Fast wrote the novel in 1951, which inspired the famous 1960 film of the same name by Stanley Kubrick.
10 GRAVE – French accent like this (à) above an a, also a line from Andrew Marvell’s poem To His Coy Mistress:

The grave’s a fine and private place,
But none I think do there embrace.
11 ENDING – “Amis put up with it, finally” is the clue. My answer is a guess.
12 LESSWAYS – LESS WAYS. Hilda Lessways (1911) is the second book in Arnold Bennett’s Clayhanger series, and the character appears in all four books.
13 LEAD-IN – (denial)*
15 STRABISM – J. B. Morton’s (alias Beachcomber) Daily Express column “By the Way” featured many strange characters over the years, one of whom was Dr. Strabismus (whom God preserve) of Utrecht, an eccentric scientist and inventor.
18 PHILEMON – two people: an Athenian playwright and the recipient of one of Paul’s epistles in the New Testament.
19 DANAUS – In Greek mythology, Danaus built the first ever ship and sailed it to Argos (6D) with his 50 daughters, eventually becoming king.
21 DUTCHMAN – Der fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman) is an opera by Richard Wagner. I assume the association with 14D is fragile as it’s not that sort of flying!
23 PARADE – double def, a ballet by Jean Cocteau.
26 IVORY – Merchant Ivory films include A Room with a View (1985), Maurice (1987) and Howards End (1992), all based on E. M. Forster novels.
27 SHAMANISM – SHAM + (man is)*
28 ENCHEIRIDION – (I end in heroic)*. Literally “The Handbook”, a compilation of the ideas of the Greek philosopher Epictetus.

Down
1 RUSSELL – Lady Russell, a character in Persuasion by Jane Austen.
2 BLAND – The Tale of Pigling Bland is a story by Beatrix Potter.
3 RETENTIVE – One of Johnson’s Dictionary definitions.
4 JACK – Jack Tier: or, The Florida Reefs, 1848 novel by James Fenimore Cooper.
5 ROSSETTI – (riot)* around TESS reversed. Christina Rossetti (1830-1894).
6 ARGOS – ARGOS(y). Depending on which Greek myth you read, Agamemnon is king of either Argos or Mycenae.
7 CATALINA – 1948 novel by W. Somerset Maugham, also a type of Flying Boat in service in the 1930’s, hence the association with 14.
8 PENSUM – two definitions. Chambers entry reads “a task; a school imposition (US).”
14 AVIATION – Captain W. E. Johns wrote the Biggles books, John James Audubon wrote and illustrated Birds of America, so the common ground is flight. Pretty unsatisfactory, but what else can it be?
16 AMARAVATI – (avatar aim)*. Actually an Indian town which is the site of an ancient Buddhist monument, rather than the monument itself.
17 ROMANSCH – A Swiss language similar to Ladin (“heard lad in”), a northern Italian language.
18 PIDGIN – “pigeon”.
20 SHERMAN – Liddell Hart wrote a biography of General Sherman.
22 HAYDN – one for the musical mafia, but there have been enough thematic crosswords on the subject for me to spot the composer of the London and Surprise symphonies without too much trouble! To be exact, Symphony no. 94 in G major (1791) was the Surprise, and Symphony no. 104 in D major (1795) was the London.
24 ALIBI – The Alibi Man, 2007 novel by Tami Hoag.
25 MANI – hidden in “her MAN Is also”, nothing to do with the clue above despite the dots. Mani – Travels in the Southern Peloponnese, 1958 book by Patrick Leigh Fermor.

One comment on “TLS 835 (June 4th)”

  1. I found this very tough too, and at the end of 30 minutes had 2 wrong and 5 missing. Almost immediately afterwards, I thought of JACK and ROBERT JORDAN, but I’d made a rash stab with CADMUS for DANAUS and had the R and T of AMARAVATI transposed. The other ones I missed were CATALINA, PENSUM and MANI, though I’m annoyed that I didn’t spot that the last of these was a hidden word.

    You’re right about ENDING for 11A – Kingsley Amis wrote Ending up (1974).

    3D (RETENTIVE) is another citation from the OED, which reveals that it comes from The Idler rather than Johnson’s Dictionary.

    I note that by opting for Beatrix Potter rather than (say) Ibsen at 2D the setter missed the chance of a Nina 🙂

    Thank goodness next week’s puzzle is easier – though I used up the full 30 minutes making sure I really had it right!

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