TLS 843 (6th August)

This was a real struggle – less than half completed when I had to give up and start Googling. Even then it was no picnic, and I had to come back to it a couple of days later to finish.

Across
1 OEILLADE – a quotation, and probably an OED citation.
5 ROXANARoxana: The Fortunate Mistress is a 1724 novel by
9 WHEATLEY – (Way Ethel)*. I read a lot of Dennis Wheatley novels when I was in my teens, as my dad had the complete set. I didn’t know he was acknowledged as an authority on satanism though, although a lot of the books are about it (particularly the Duc de Richleau series).
10 RACHELThe Rachel Papers was Amis’s first novel, in 1983.
12 LYALL – hidden in “terribly allergic”. This would be Gavin Lyall (never heard of him, I’m afraid).
13 SCHONBERG – “beautiful mountain” is a direct translation of his name into English (although the O should have an umlaut over it).
14 A MAN OF HONOUR – 1903 play by W. Somerset Maugham, or an 1873 novel by US writer George Cary Eggleston (as A Man of Honor).
18 CASINO ROYALE – (Easily croon a)*. The clue doesn’t ask for it, but this was Ian Fleming’s first James Bond novel. There’s also a real Casino Royale in Las Vegas though.
21 HIPPOCOON – (Chopin op. (“0”))*. In Greek mythology, Hippocoön was a Spartan prince who overthrew his brother Tyndareus to become king. Hercules killed him and all his sons, and reinstated his brother.
23 TRUTHThe Truth is one of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels, published in 2000. Émile Zola wrote Vérité (published posthumously in 1903), but I don’t understand the “some of the time” bit.
24 UNITED – quotation from Shakespeare.
25 GIRONDIN – double definition.
26 ESMOND – (Demons)*. The History of Henry Esmond (1852), by Thackeray.
27 INN SIGNSRose and Crown is the 5th volume of Seán O’Casey’s six-volume autobiography, The Green Man (1952) is a novel by Storm Jameson, and The Red Bull (1938) is a Nero Wolfe murder mystery by Rex Stout. They’re all also common pub names (although I don’t think I’ve ever been in one called The Red Bull).

Down
1 OSWALD – from King Lear, Act 4 Scene 6 (just after he’s killed Oswald), Edgar says “I know thee well: a serviceable villain”.
2 ICEMANThe Iceman Cometh, 1939 play by Eugene O’Neill.
3 LITTLE MEN – a sequel to Little Women by Louisa M. Alcott, and a reference to the Lilliputians in Gulliver’s Travels.
4 DRESSING ROOM – DRESSING (decorating) + ROOM (space). Wow, a straight cryptic clue!
6 OWAIN – O + WAIN. Owain Glyndŵr was the last native Welsh Prince of Wales, back in the 14th century.
7 ASHKELON – an ancient city in Israel, which I’d vaguely heard of (enough to check once I had three of the crossing letters). I have no idea what the royal publishing ban has to do with it though.
8 ALLEGORY – ALL + E(ast) + GORY
11 THE FLYING INN – 1914 novel by G. K. Chesterton.
15 OBLATIONS – (to albinos)*. Is “unique” supposed to be an anagram indicator? Sheesh!
16 ICEHOUSEThe Ice House (1992), Minette Walters’ first crime novel. Strange enumeration in the online version – (3.5)(8). Their software has been doing weird things lately though.
17 PSEPHISM – the clue is a paraphrase of Chambers’ definition of the word: “a decree of the Athenian assembly (from their voting with pebbles)”. psephos is Greek for a pebble.
19 SUN DOG – 2002 novel by Monique Roffey, and ref. the Noel Coward song “Mad Dogs And Englishmen Go Out In The Midday Sun”.
20 THINGSThings As They Are, a 1794 novel by William Godwin, or a 1964 novel by Paul Horgan.
22 OCEANThe Golden Ocean (1956), an early novel by Patrick O’Brian which predates his famous Jack Aubrey series by over a decade.

One comment on “TLS 843 (6th August)”

  1. 24:28 (1 wrong). I didn’t find this one too bad, and would have been well under 20 minutes if I’d thought of ICE HOUSE straight away. When I eventually got it, I couldn’t think why on earth it had taken me so long; and once I had the U and E to help me with UNITED and ESMOND the rest of the SW corner came out very quickly … apart, that is, from PSEPHISM, where I was torn between that and PSEPHIUM and eventually opted for the latter.

    I couldn’t come up with a satisfactory explanation for “some of the time” in 23A. A Hugh McLeave wrote A Moment of Truth: The Life of Zola, so perhaps there’s a reference there.

    On the other hand ASHKELON was one of my easy wins. King David’s lament for Saul and Jonathan (2 Samuel 1:17-27) includes the verse (1:20) “Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised exult.”

    PS: Thanks for kindly agreeing to blog this puzzle – it’s easier for my brain to cope if you blog the odd-numbered ones and I blog the even-numbered. I’ll try to remember to blog the next acrostic.

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