Inquisitor 1308

[boreas]

Finished the grid etc, but still baffled by the title . . ."27X".
Be very glad of a nudge.

[Neveracrossword]

At 27 (Down) we have.. .

and just above that, once you've treated things as per the preamble, you have ... X

Is this any help?
19 D is giving me problems.
Duck worried by confusion herein? (6) o?i??e

Any advice welcome!
For those without the crossword, there is a misprint or an extra letter in the clue.

[boreas]

Thanks Never,

Still not sure about the significance of that . . . but brain not working yet.

In 19D the last word in the clue is the definition - and should have an 'O' in it.

[Neveracrossword]

Boreas, thanks - that helped (I'd been trying to change a different letter).

Sorry my explanation wasn't great!

[boreas]

I wondered if the title meant
" (27d) Times"
as in some sort of fanzine, but haven't found anything online.

[Gregsdad]

Boreas

Trying not to give too much away but think it might be no. 27 work - there's a connection to the thematic information

[boreas]

Thanks Gregsdad, but I still can't see.
Can you give away a little more please?

[Gregsdad]

Hi Boreas,

Check the day the 27th work refers to against the birthday of the subject of the puzzle.

[boreas]

You will think I am incredibly stupid - and you will be right.

But the work at 27 refers to May Day and I can't see any connection with subject's birthday.

[Gregsdad]

Hi Boreas

No, it's my fault for not being plainer- Op. 27 refers to Sr. Cecilia's Day, Nov. 22nd

[boreas]

Thank you very much!
I knew he was born on St Celia's day, but didn't make that connection.

What about the X?

[Gregsdad]

Just guessing but think that it's just an anonymous reference to the Op. 27 title.M ay be wrong on that (and the rest of this !) as you'd think there'd be a colon or something of that ilk after 27 ?

[boreas]

Maybe a 'kiss', as you might put on a birthday card.

[Gregsdad]

Could be !
Whatever, what a great puzzle....tough, but fair, as all politicians like to say of ttheir policies, with lots of red 27Ds !
A wonderful tribute.

[boreas]

Yes I agree. And it's actually prompted me to look/listen to some of BB's work.

I am still puzzled by the parsing of two clues - 6A and 12D.

If you get a mo I wouldn't mind some help.
Many thanks.

[Gregsdad]

Hi Boreas

6A: if you mix A (American) and AR (BAR -B, the extra letter) with "this", the answer, you get"a Tia Maria".
12D: Flo (Florence briefly) + Rio (a Wen, or large city)

[boreas]

Thanks Gregsdad.

6A very tortuous, very clever!

12D I was aware of the great 'wen' as description of London, but not that it could also apply to any enormous congested city - as Chambers now tells me.
And which I was too lazy to look up. So serves me right.

Thanks again.