Howsat! by Skylark

Puzzle explanation

The puzzle marked the 60th anniversary of Miles Davis’s influential jazz album Kind of Blue. The extra letters in wordplay spelt out “Evans, Chambers, Adderley, Coltrane, Cobb, Kelly disc”, giving all of the other performers. The title was an anagram of So What, the first track on the album. Many (parts of) entries were blue colours or objects, meant “depressed”, or formed compounds with “blue”.

Clue explanations

Conventions: * = anagram, < = reversal

No Answer (association) Explanation [extra letter]
Across
1 FORGET-ME-NOTS (blue flowers) MEN in (FORGE + TOT[E]S)
9 LOW-DOWN (low, down) [V]OWEL * − E + DOWN
11 GENUA LANGU[A]GE * − L − G
12 ASTARE (blue star) (ARE[N]’T AS) *
13 O’GILL (bluegill) [S]O + G + ILL; ref. Darby O’Gill and the Little People
15 ONSETS ON + SE[C]TS
17 NILE (Nile blue, Blue Nile) NIL + [H]E
18 DOG D[A]G around O
19 EHS H(i)S(s) after [M]E
21 SOKAHS SO[B] + K + HAS *
22 NESH NÉ +SH[E]
24 WEDS W + [R]EDS
26 SELKIE SKIE[S] around EL
29 ROT (blue-rot) ROT[A]
31 VAE VA[D]E
32 FILM (blue film) F + LI[D] < + M
33 TRISTE (triste) S(mil)[E] in TRITE
34 SLATE (slate-blue) E[R] after SLAT
35 CHEESE (blue cheese) [L]EECHES *
37 STEEL (steel-blue) S[E]T + EEL
38 POINTER (blue pointer) POINT + [Y]E + R
39 HARVEST BELLS (harvestbells, blue flower) (’LL + BAT[C]H VERSES) *; ref. Betjeman poems
Down
1 FLAG DOWN (blue flag, down) [O]F + LAG + DOWN
2 OOS [L]OOS
3 GDANSK G(oo)D + [T]ANK around S
4 TWEED (blueweed) ((smar)T + WE) in [R]ED
5 EGGSHELLS EG + SHE in G[A]LLS
6 ONLINE (blue line) ON + LINE[N]
7 TULLE (ELL + UT[E]) <
8 SAXE (Saxe blue) S[C] + AXE
10 NOTES (blue note) (SE + TO[O]N) <
14 NOSE (bluenose) [B]ONES *
16 SEABOTTLE (sea-blue, bluebottle) AB[B]OT in SET(t)LE
20 WHEELERS (blue heeler) (HEEL + ER[K]S) after W
23 SEAS (sea-blue) SE[E] + ÅS
25 DULLER (dull) D + [L]ULLER
26 STREP STEP around R[L]
27 KETENE KE[Y] + TEE around N
28 VISTA VIS + TA[D]
30 PICOT (POLIT[I]C(s) − L) *
32 FISH (bluefish) F(l)I(p)S + [S]H
36 SEL S + [C]EL
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