An enjoyably eclectic mix of ancient and modern, domestic and foreign.
Bit of a crime thing gong on, with not one but two New York crime series and an archvillain trying to get rid of trace evidence at 13D. I often wonder if very-much-alive authors such as 6d's Sarah Waters get excited about making it into the TLS and Google it like crazy. In case they do ... Hello, Sarah!
Bit of a crime thing gong on, with not one but two New York crime series and an archvillain trying to get rid of trace evidence at 13D. I often wonder if very-much-alive authors such as 6d's Sarah Waters get excited about making it into the TLS and Google it like crazy. In case they do ... Hello, Sarah!
   | Across 1 BUTLIN(s). Ron Butlin was for a few years the Edinburgh 'Makar', or laureate 4 TEASDALE is TEAS and ALE opened by D(uke) Sarah Teasdale, who died by her own hand in 1933, might be best known for giving Ray Bradbury the title and idea for his unforgettable short story There Will Come Soft Rains 10 ON THE ROAD Kerouac, for reasons best known to himself and his dealer, typed the original on a continuous roll of tracing paper known as "the scroll" which he then had to cut into pages. Bonkers but brilliant. 14 ODE is hidden and reversed in "PiecE DOnne .." 15 S(P)ENDER Sir Stephen Spender's self-reflecting novel was The Temple 21 MAESTRO Anagram of "Some art" 23 ARP'head ' of PAR (normal) moved to the right to give Jean Arp, who also called himself Hans Arp if he happened to be speaking German. Bonkers but brilliant again. 27 THE READER Anagram of "deer heart" for Bernhard Schlink's 1995 novel 29 MISCHIEF The 45th of Ed McBain's 55 87th Precinct crime novels sounds like 'Miss' plus chief (principal) Down 3 ICE is vice minus the versus 6 SARAH WATERS Anagram of "has .. a Satre" 7 AMY DORRIT was the Little Dorrit herself in Dickens' tale of systemic societal injustice. Thank heavens we don't have that any more 8 EXETER Sounds like 'exiter' 13 Anagram of "hated by calm" to give LADY MACBETH. As Gil Grissom would say, you can't get rid of trace 16 EURIPIDES Anagram of "I preside" + U (summit or head of Ugandan) 18 DOGBERRY Head-spinning clue. It's fruit+to follow ordered differently, ie DOG(to follow) + BERRY (fruit) 20 DRAFTEE is D(note)+RAF(service)+TEE Time O'Brien was best known for his short stories about the Vietnam War, into which he was drafted in '68 21 MILLER, Henry was effectively the narrator and a character in T of C 22 HARLEM is L inside HAREM. Coffin Ed was a character in Chester Himes' Harlem Detective novels. Himes was a terrific writer who should be read, as should his often shocking life story (which ended with happiness found in France and Spain) 25 Lonne ELDER III takes the W(ife) out of welder |