This edition covers:

1. A review of the August 2022 crossword
2. Vale Peter Cargill
3. A reminder of upcoming deadlines

Clues and Grid by Sirius

Theme: Marilyn Monroe, Princess Diana

The winner of the August puzzle is Bobbie Stainthorp of Keswick.

When beginning to solve Sirius's August puzzle, I had no idea what the subject was. In my book, that's a win for the setter before you start. The picture suggested astronomy, though why a lot of peanuts should be floating around the Earth's South Pole I had no idea. I was assuming the background showed a supernova; what was in the NW corner was, and remains, a mystery. I am torn between a wedding cake and a piece of electronic engineering. So, although I managed to solve the puzzle in a couple of sessions and realised that we were dealing with the death of stars, some unknown factors remain.

What I am not propounding is a conspiracy. Sirius is quite freewheeling enough, without the involvement of Special Forces (either side of the Atlantic) or extra-terrestrials to populate his grids and complicate matters.

In case anyone didn't work out who it was about, it was two of those figures for whom there is instant popular recognition just on hearing a first name: Marilyn and Diana.

My first answer was LURGI, beautifully clued by both Eric Westbrook (Sirius) and Frank Paul. It is a typical Sirius stroke to use 'languidly' to indicate the absence of E – energy. No-one else would dare. We wouldn't and shouldn't dare… to complain. After all, it's Sirius's ball: he made it (blasphemy is not intended here) and he can take it home.

What else did I really like? TOOK OFF is one of those phrasal verbs which give foreign learners of English such grief, but which are rich in idiomatic meaning: Sirius seized the opportunity perfectly. The clue for CANDLE features just what you can do with letters for numbers if you are clever (Sirius is) and what sort of allusions you can throw around if you don't feel absolutely bound by the half-century-old 'rules' of setting (Sirius, one is inclined to feel at times, doesn't). We can be given a tour of old craftsmen before the days of sail-lofts, corn and Friends; we can remember Raymond C's unique prose and perhaps even catch a glimpse of Wee Willie Winkie's whisked gown.

YOUK was very nicely composed to combine the Scottishness and one of the films; ALIKE suggested one of the stories I do know; the NERVES and NEVER-NEVER were splendidly worked. Above all, CRED conjured up a famous picture, while the double meaning of standing on street was a beautiful touch which made this my favourite clue: similarly getting off barbs, though like so much here, tinged with the sadness of a double example of waste.

I enjoyed looking up, for the purpose of checking, the nugget of knowledge we were given on Day 19: Chambers confirms. (How I wish present-day shoelaces were made with practicality in mind rather than the dictates of fashion.)

And there you are, you see: being a perpetual fogy I was never going to be the one to catch all the allusions in this puzzle. I remember Jane from the Tarzan films, but not the song the clue refers to: all I know of Kansas City is that it's not where you might imagine, that everything is up-to-date there, and that if you needed someone to run after your missed train, Tyreek Hill would be your man.

So I can't comment sagely on the WINK, JANE, WHOOT and probably other things which most people knew about and I didn't even notice. Not quite my scene or enthusiasm, though I do love Some Like it Hot, and had great respect for the late princess's humanitarian work, especially in war zones. August 1962 and 1997 will be remembered with great sadness over loss; but in the first case I was, like Taupin and John, too young to know about it, and in the second I was faintly bewildered by some aspects of the public displays of mourning.

What I did do, in 1974, was buy Candle in the Wind, first time round. Not the record, which by the way I think only reached about number 18 in the charts: but the sheet music. And I was horrified when I found it was (?) in E flat, which is a sore trial for a mediocre guitarist who doesn't like the capodastro. On which score (h'm) it was a shame there was no room for Bernie Taupin in the puzzle. At least I now realise that the peanuts were in fact rose petals, from the song's second incarnation.

What did I like less? I may be shot down here, but though I love the appearance of the sphere format, it has its weaknesses. On the Arctic/Antarctic Circle levels, you either have to have a lot of short words, or abbreviations, or no words at all. (Maybe that doesn't matter?) And we only got up to one clue a day because of a sort of calendarised Easter Egg. Anyone going through the fantastic archives available online may well spot some earlier puzzles with cylinders and even combination lock barrels. What are we waiting for, setters? I think that as grids those may be even more attractive than the globe.

One thing I was interested to see was the entry for Day 24: BB. That venerable French animal rights campaigner, earlier 'sex kitten' (?) and most recently a controversial figure with extreme Right links, has also been partly responsible for something which might have saved some famous lives, including possibly at least one of those depicted here. Publish a story in France revealing any unauthorised private details, and the law will see you in serious trouble. The French press therefore does not hound its own entertainment stars as some elements of ours do: to occasionally horrific effect.

AGC

Grid Solution

Entries for the September puzzle by Imogen and Patch are due by September 30.

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