The Fall Cryptic Crossword #1

 

My mother lives 200 miles away from me, so during the pandemic our contact has been limited to regular Facebook video chats. I don't know which of us came up with it first, but after a couple of weeks we had the bright idea of doing an online crossword together to pass the time. At first, we stuck to the daily puzzle here, which is cryptic but not too challenging; later on, we graduated to The Guardian. 

Back in my 20s, I used to tackle the Guardian puzzle pretty much every day, but the increasing demands of work and raising a family meant I fell out of the habit. However, this online solving with my wife and Mum rekindled my interest, and before long I became increasingly fascinated by the setting process. The end product, inevitably, was a Fall-related cryptic puzzle. 

It's the first cryptic of any description that I've ever created, and whilst I'm generally very pleased with it, I'm aware that some of the clues aren't quite as polished and elegant as I'd like them to be. I've had some useful feedback (especially from Richard Catherall, fellow Fall Online Forum member and guest contributor to Fi5 Radio Show #10) so hopefully the next one will be better!

If you haven't attempted it yet, you can download it here. It's a picture file, so I'm afraid you'll have to print it out and fill it in with a pencil like in the old days!

The Solution

There's a lot of arcane terminology in the cryptic crossword world; there are also some conventions about how you explain solutions. To be honest, I'm still getting my head round some of them, and some you may well be equally unfamiliar with the language, so I'm just going to try and explain the answers as straightforwardly as possible.

ACROSS

1. Crazy Rudy plays bongos during penultimate recording (10)

ANSWER = GROUNDSBOY

Penultimate track on last album; anagram of 'Rudy' & 'bongos'.

7. Robinson's chain worn for first Peel session (7)

ANSWER = WEAKEST

'Mess Of My' contains the line 'You're as strong as your weakest link'; the show was presented by Anne Robinson; chain = link.

Either nobody noticed or they were too polite to point out the obvious error here - 'Mess Of My' was part of the second Peel session.

8. Get weapons in order to have authority over faker (4)

ANSWER = ARMS

Relating to 'Arms Control Poseur': weapons = arms; authority = control; faker = poseur.

10. Town's attitude to life exhibited at the Moulin Rouge in August (4)

ANSWER = ANTI

References line in 'Can Can Summer' ('this town is anti-life'): exhibited at the Moulin Rouge = can can; August = summer.

11. First escape (5-3)

ANSWER = BREAK-OUT

Perhaps the easiest one: Bingo-Master's Break-Out! was the first release; escape = break-out.

13. She composed words that flout authority - initially looked kinda energetic in the conflict (6)

ANSWER = WALKER

Reference to Bec Walker, who wrote the lyric for 'Breaking The Rules' (words that flout authority); initially Looked Kinda Energetic (LKE) inside WAR (conflict) - WALKER.

15. It would be a sin, perhaps, to be a founder (6)

ANSWER = BAINES

Una Baines = founder member; anagram of 'be a sin'.

17. Deals with bankruptcy whilst compiling (8)

ANSWER = RECEIVER

Pretty straightforward I think!

18. Number of overweight flanks (4)

ANSWER = PAIR

Reference to line in 'Wings', 'pair of flabby wings' (overweight = flabby; flanks = wings).

In retrospect a bit of a weak clue, as there's no definition, i.e. no clear reference to which song the lyric is from.

21. A sort of presence in the square, according to old man working evenings in store (4)

ANSWER = OMNI

Old man = senior; evenings = twilight; working in store = stock replacer. Reference to line from the song, 'Big Dave is omnipresent in Trafalgar'. 

22. Waiting for his flight, continental finds pleasure in days of rest (7)

ANSWER = ITALIAN

Reference to line in 'Jetplane', 'Italians certainly like their Sundays'. Song is set in an airport; finds pleasure = like; days of rest = Sundays.

23. Confused inner death with bucketing rain (3,7)

ANSWER = AND THEREIN

Inner death is an anagram of 'And Therein', which contains the line 'outside in the bucketing rain'.

DOWN

1. Hugh? Cary? No, but he did produce a lot (5)

ANSWER = GRANT

Hugh/Cary = Grant; Grant Showbiz produced a lot.

2. Float, losing hydrogen, for half of a seven-year cycle (4)

ANSWER = OVER

Float = hover; losing hydrogen (H) leaves over; half of 'Over! Over!', which includes the line 'A seven-year cycle seems to happen every day'.

3. Urbanite's endless drive to oppose this (6)

ANSWER = NATURE

Urbanite = city dweller; includes the line 'forgetting the endless drive against nature'.

4. Avoid pale antique transport when copying wage slip (4,4)

ANSWER = STAY AWAY

Reference to 'Stay Away (Old White Train)'; avoid = stay away; pale = white; antique = old; transport = train. It's a cover ('copying') of a song by Johnny Paycheck ('wage slip').

5. Lonely closer (2,2,3)

ANSWER = ON MY OWN

Closing track on The Marshall Suite; lonely = on my own.

6. Wowser! Rad, crazy language to be found in Crew Filth, Greenway and Hollow Mind (9)

ANSWER = SWEARWORD

There's swearing in all three songs; anagram of 'wowser rad'.

9. Timeless introduction to Caledonian (3.6)

ANSWER = IT'S SPRING

Caledonian = Edinburgh Man; first line is 'It's springtime'; minus 'time' (timeless).

12. If men sit strangely, my car won't be in the garage during the coldest months (8)

ANSWER = FEMINIST

Coldest months = Winter, which includes the line 'feminist's Austin Maxi parked outside'; won't be in the garage = parked outside; if men sit = anagram of feminist.

14. Guy went crazy, starting in 2003 (4-3)

ANSWER = LOCO-MAN

Guy = man; loco = crazy; first song on RNFLP, 2003.

16. Where the ladies took a gondola (6)

ANSWER = VENICE

19. Counter type in Mailer-Hex connection (5)

ANSWER = ASIAN

'Threw some change on the Asian counter'  (counter type) is a line in 'Deer Park' (from Hex Enduction Hour - also the title of a Norman Mailer novel).

20. Sheeran's offspring found on Abba Best Of (4)

ANSWER = BABE

Sheeran = Ed; offspring = babe; can be found in Abba best of.

I hope that's all clear!

I hope to make another one soon. Meanwhile, you can listen to The Fall in Fives Radio Show here, and all my Fall-related stuff is in the link below.

Fi5 Main Page