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 | ROXANA – Roxana: 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 | RACHEL – The 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 | TRUTH – The 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 SIGNS – Rose 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 | ICEMAN – The 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 | ICEHOUSE – The 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 | THINGS – Things As They Are, a 1794 novel by William Godwin, or a 1964 novel by Paul Horgan. |
22 | OCEAN – The Golden Ocean (1956), an early novel by Patrick O’Brian which predates his famous Jack Aubrey series by over a decade. |
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.