Cryptic-schmyptic - the answers

Earlier this month, I posted a music crossword: 75 clues of varying difficulty - some cryptic, some anagrams, some straightforward. I hoped it might be a fun test, albeit a test that would be easier if you knew my taste in music and/or were a regular reader of the blog.

Anyway, a week is quite long enough to mull over a crossword, so here's the solution. There are no prizes but hey, by all means have a kudos point for every answer you got right.

The clue		The answer
ACROSS
1	Purveyors of dead air space (9)	Dead Air Space is the current title of Radiohead's website.
4	Pentito (10)	Pentito is Italian for someone who is repentant and is commonly used to describe criminals who help the judiciary, much like a Supergrass.
5	Covered 41A's feast day (7)	41A is Billy Bragg, who sang about St Swithin's Day. Dubstar did a lovely cover of this.
7	...but neither Jane Fonda nor Donald Sutherland (1,2,5)	Jane and Donald co-starred in the movie I Am Klute, from which I Am Kloot took their name.
9	Panacea, they dropped the 'easy' (3,4)	A panacea is a cure-all. Robert Smith's band were originally called The Easy Cure - they dropped the 'Easy' and became The Cure.
11	A hand reached down to him (5,5)	The lyrics to Oh You Pretty Things by the late David Bowie describe "A crack in the sky and a hand reaching down to me".
13	Over experienced (4,7)	His breakthrough band was The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
14	Oh Susanna! Plus three. (3,7)	The gorgeous Susanna Hoffs was lead vocalist with The Bangles.
16	The beginning of all bands (7)	Genesis, Chapter 1, Verse 1: In the beginning...
21	She stopped wearing cardigans (4,7)	The sublime Nina Persson was singer with The Cardigans before going solo.
23	Dancers of the leggy mambo (3)	Leggy Mambo was the second album from Cud.
24	Bickle boys (6)	Travis Bickle was the protagonist in Taxi Driver, and gave the band their name.
25	Time for Sleep for these indie also-rans (6)	Time and Sleep were minor hits for forgotten indie nearly-men Marion.
27	Insistent insect (4,3)	Insistent could be adamant, an insect could be an ant, hence Adam Ant.
28	Allowed the country to quiver (1,1,6)	Let England Shake was an album by P J Harvey.
30	Shoegazing was easy (4)	Easy might imply an easy ride, hence Oxford shoegazers Ride.
31	They bore a rose banner (4)	Rose banner = Pink Flag, an album by Wire.
32	Rearrange Mancunians (3,5)	Not an anagram but if you arranged those Mancunians you might put them in a New Order.
34	Locus of deoxyribonucleic acid (4)	Deoxyribonucleic acid being DNA, this is one definition of a Gene.
37	Sad aviation (4,10)	Sad = blue, aviation = aeroplanes: Blue Aeroplanes.
40	They reflected in the en-suite (3,4)	Mirror In The Bathroom was a big hit for The Beat.
41	Still suitable for miners (5,5)	Note, miners, not minors. Who's more suitable for miners than Billy Bragg?
42	Gift chosen from a list (3,7,7)	Wedding gifts are often chosen from a list, hence The Wedding Present.
45	Goes well with Streetband hit (3,3)	Streetband had a hit with Toast, and what goes well with toast? The Jam, of course (Marmalade wouldn't fit).
46	Gave 41A an extra verse (6,7)	41A being Billy Bragg, the late Kirsty MacColl added an extra verse to her cover of Bill's A New England, which he subsequently adopted in tribute to her.
48	After-hours training for the philharmonic (1,1,1)	After hours implies in the Dark. Training implies Manoeuvres. Philharmonic implies Orchestral. So, O.M.D.
49	The Office Block Persecution Affinity (3,5)	One of a number of groups The Kinks identified with in The Village Green Preservation Society.
50	Gave Val Kilmer his finest hour (3,8)	Val played Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone's Doors biopic.
52	Not as hard as stainless steel (4)	Sheffield is indelibly associated with stainless steel, as are the much softer sounding Pulp.
55	Their sophtware did not sell well (9)	The Sophtware Slump was an album by Grandaddy.
57	They always sounded so happy (1,1,1)	Ecstatic even, or in a state of X.T.C. perhaps?
58	Multiple stationers (3,6)	More than one branch of W H Smith would surely be The Smiths?
61	Scouse anglers? (4)	Fishermen Cast their line.
62	Change for vending machine (6,4)	Forgive the playground joke, but this is Johnny Cash.
64	Kubrick's favourite band? (11)	Probably not Stanley's favourite band, but Strangelove were excellent, as is Kubrick's film Dr Strangelove.
66	Handy for nurdling, if Gallic (5)	A nurdle (think of the Aquafresh logo) would be easy to draw with a French curve. Or just Curve, if Gallic.
67	Not the high street soap pedlars (4)	As well as the soap company, Lush were also shoegazers signed to 4AD.
68	Kept in a creel? (4)	Sylvia Plath's poem You're memorably compared a baby to a creel of Eels.
69	Oh, duo screwed (7,5)	Confusingly not a duo, just an anagram of Crowded House.
71	Not Screaming Lord Sutch's backing band (7)	Sutch's band were The Savages. So not them, just Savages without the The.
DOWN
2	Essential French duo (3)	Air is pretty essential, I find.
3	New York childminders (5)	Nanny In Manhattan was the jeans-ad-powered one-hit wonder for Lilys.
4	Velveteen trash (5)	Velveteen is an adjective that might be applied to Suede who had quite a hit with Trash.
6	Bald, bony? (3,5)	A straight anagram of the bony but still hirsute Bob Dylan.
8	Suicidal Swedes (3,9)	The Wannadies were from Sweden.
9	Liverpudlians who always had one eye on the cover (3,3)	The La's eponymous debut album had a close-up of an eye on the sleeve.
10	Symbol's mother (5)	For a while, Prince went by the name of an unpronounceable symbol. Who's a prince's mother? A Queen, of course!
12	Neither acoustic nor heavy but philharmonic (1,1,1)	Not acoustic implies Electric. Not heavy implies Light. Philharmonic implies Orchestra. So, E.L.O.
14	A modest, dizzy bunch (3,6,5)	(Im)modest sounding The Wonder Stuff helped Vic Reeves with his hit cover of Dizzy.
15	Spanish archer (5)	El bow... Elbow. Geddit?
17	Tight fit (but not Tight Fit) (7)	A tight fit is, literally, a Squeeze.
18	Kopavagur's finest (8,7)	Kopavagur is a little town in Iceland, home to singer-songwriter Emiliana Torrini.
19	When Bob was sweet, not mouldy (5)	Bob Mould's other band, Sugar.
20	Sounds like they should be Alan's favourite band (1,2)	Knowing me, Alan Partridge, knowing you, New Amusements... A-Ha!
22	Shy poets bop (3,4,4)	A straight anagram of Pet Shop Boys.
25	Ann Coates (9)	Credited with backing vocals on Bigmouth, Ann Coates was actually a pitch-shifted Morrissey.
26	Quite good (3,12)	In their early days, this band had badges proclaiming "The Housemartins are quite good".
29	He plays guitar (6,4)	The lyrics of John Kettley Is A Weatherman by A Tribe of Toffs include the line "Johnny Marr, he plays guitar."
32	They saw off the fear (5)	There Goes The Fear was, in my view, Doves' finest moment.
35	The decline of ... (7,3,5)	...British Sea Power is an excellent album by, unsurprisingly, British Sea Power!
36	Alternate heroes' stetson (3,5,5)	A straight anagram of The Stone Roses.
38	No longer an attraction (5,8)	Since Steve Nieve doesn't fit, another ex-Attraction would be Elvis Costello.
39	Changing man (4,6)	A descriptive reference to a mid-90s release from Paul Weller.
43	Not Middleton, not burning (4,4)	Not Middleton, so another Kate. Not burning, so another bush. Kate Bush.
44	Gaussian smudge (4)	A Gaussian Blur is a common image processing effect used in many graphics software packages.
47	Is Georgia the dream state? (3)	Rapid Eye Movement is what you do when you're dreaming and Athens, Georgia, was home to R.E.M.
51	(W)hole lot of water (5)	A waterhole might be an Oasis.
53	Fallen in French farce (7)	The farce in question, 'Allo 'Allo, featured a painting entitled "Ze Fallen Madonna With Ze Big Boobies". Yes, really.
54	Diminutive Cornish or Devonians (6)	Those mythical little fellas would be Pixies, of course.
56	Pre-Banksy stencillers, Essex anarcho-punks (5)	I remember the stencilled art and logos more than the music. This was Crass.
59	Gudmund's daughter, once sweet and die-shaped (5)	Ex-Sugarcube, Bjork Gudmundsdottir.
60	Left the opera Scott-free (5)	She left her soap opera husband Scott behind and went on to become so big she could dispense with her surname. She is Kylie.
63	Grunge Yoko and co (4)	Grunge Yoko was a label thrown at Courtney Love, who had her own band, Hole.
65	White Van men (4)	Van Morrison first found fame as the singer in Them.
70	Entwistle (2)	Who bassist and archetypal quiet man John Entwistle's nickname was Ox.

So that's it. How did you do? And don't worry, I doubt very much that I'll be doing this again - okay, it generated quite a lot of interaction in the comments (no cross words though, ho ho), but it was disproportionately hard work for all concerned!