The songs of Cole Porter and the market-square slang of Victorian Britain are all put to the service of crosswording
Gaff’s most recent puzzle in the Financial Times was headed “A birthday tribute”. When he dropped in here, Gaff told us of his propensity for topical and anniversary cryptics; this time, the anniversary was a 125th: the birth of Cole Porter.
13ac Understood True Love (6)
[ synonym for ‘true’ + value of ‘love’ in tennis ]
[ RIGHT + O ]
7d So In Love? On the contrary with spiritual leader of many (9)
[ value of ‘love’ in tennis, inside synonym for ‘so’ + synonym for ‘with’ + first letter (‘leader’) of SPIRITUAL ]
[ O in THUS + AND + S ]
14ac Yob, for one, supports Fritz (4,5)
[ synonym for ‘supports’ + film-maker Fritz ]
[ BACKS + LANG ]
Coined around the same time as was rhyming slang, and confined mainly to market-traders, it was created to be deliberately confusing.
12ac Urge to lift top, like a terribly round fellow (11)
[ anagram (‘terribly’) of TOPLIKEA surrounding (‘round’) synonym for ‘fellow’ ]
[ KLEPTOIA surrounding MAN ]