This one took me longer than most recent Eye puzzles, but in retrospect it doesn’t look that much harder than usual.
Despite a flying start with the long light, I only got 8 answers on the first pass and ended up solving it over at least 3 sessions. Picking away at it bit by bit. I found these clues difficult to cold-solve and needed crossing letters to get a handle on what the answers might be. The four-word phrase starting at 27 needed most of the crossing mettrs before it fell.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | OBVIOUS | Glaring Barack suffering cuts with volume debts (7) OB[ama] V[olume] IOUS (debts) |
| 5 | SHEATHS | Members’ cover-ups (ex-PM on board) (7) HEATH (ex-PM) inside SS (on board – a ship) |
| 11 | SHADOW PLAY | Opposition-style caper for “entertaining image projection”? (6,4) SHADOW (Opposition-style) PLAY (caper) |
| 12 | OMELETTE | Dish making love with Cyclops and Kathy? (8) O (love) ME (Cyclops) LETTE (Ref. Kathy Lette, author ) Om-nom-nom-lette as my teenage son calls them |
| 13 | EXCESS | Surplus – so no more old tax? (6) EX (no more) CESS (old tax) Last in as I was unsure if it was EXCESS (from def. Surplus) or EXCISE (from def. Tax) I couldn’t see the wordplay till I checked and confirmed that CESS was an old tax (wiki) new one for me. |
| 16 | FAIL SAFE | Idiot-proof – but Nigel’s nos. 1 and 2 getting one trapped in loose flies (4-4) FA[rage] (Nigel F’s first two letters), then A (one) inside FLIES* AInd: loose |
| 19 | GO-GETTER | Don’t come on receiver – he’s pushy (2-6) GO (Don’t come) GETTER (receiver) |
| 22 | UNWRAP | Expose the present “peacekeepers” with western clout? (6) UN (peacekeepers) W[estern] RAP (clout) |
| 24 | RELIEVED | Orgasm accomplished, went through it once more taking drug (8) E (drug) inside RE-LIVED (went through it once more) |
| 26 | LOSS LEADER | “No-win” Cameron’s ploy to encourage more spending? (4,6) LOSS (no-win) LEADER (Cameron) |
| 27/20/ 14/10 | MAKE GOOD ONES WORD | Balls, entering work demand, goes berserk – act quite unlike electioneering politician once in power (4,4,4,4) ( |
| 28 | STARCHY | Support containing resistance chain gets you stiff (7) R[esistance] CH[ain] inside STAY (support) |
| 29 | BHANGRA | What suspenders do in underwear – pop! (7) HANG (suspenders) inside BRA (underwear) Bhangra beat is pop music originating from the Indian community. Last clue answered. |
| Down | ||
| 2 | BLOW ME | It’s hard to believe that such a demand was apparently made of Lewinsky? (4,2) Double Def. Cyclops will never let us forget Bill Clinton’s indiscretions |
| 3 | INDOLENCE | Couch potato’s thing is stimulated once and lined (9) (ONCE LINED)* AInd: stimulated |
| 4 | UPSET | Arse-over-tip, drug-affected trendy group (5) UP (drug-affected) SET (trendy group) |
| 6 | HOOVERING | Ex-president taking on gin-swilling House clean-up operation? (9) HOOVER (Ex-president) GIN* AInd: swilling |
| 7 | ASPIC | No bosom pal of Cleo at first, Charles I turned to jelly (5) ASP (No bosom pal of Cleo) (C[harles] I)< |
| 8 | HEADS OFF | Sex act’s banned: not a good ending for certain detached queens (5,3) HEAD (Sex act) ‘S OFF (banned) |
| 9 | TAKEN FOR A RIDE | As long-suffering, fare-paying rail commuters have been? Yes and no (5,3,1,4) CD and first answered when the clue caught my eye on first glance as was commuting on a train at the time. |
| 15 | SET SPEECH | Piss during traditional school conference address by party leader? (3,6) PEE (Piss) inside SET (traditional) SCH[ool] |
| 17 | SPOKESMAN | Not being politically correct, delegate from South stuffs guy (9) S[outh] POKES (stuffs) MAN (guy) |
| 18 | SOUND OUT | Outdo Sun’s shenanigans – test opinion on what you can get away with? (5,3) (OUTDO SUN)* AInd: shenanigans |
| 21 | PECKER | Dick‘s rather desultory kisser? (6) Double Def. |
| 23 | RISER | Seen on the stair, one getting erect (5) Double Def. |
| 25 | LURCH | Blur chose to exhibit a piss-artist swagger? (5) Hidden within bLUR CHose |
Let’s be careful out there
Image lovingly nicked from Squiffy’s House of Fun: http://laugh4ms.blogspot.co.uk/ WARNING Do not visit if you are allergic to dreadful groaners!
Thanks to beermagnet for the blog, and Cyclops for the puzzle.
Like you, struggled with EXCESS vs. EXCISE for 13a, and had to look up BHANGRA to confirm 29a. Also, I had never heard of Kathy Lette or Nigel Farage, so thanks for parsing those.
[FYI, if you click on my name, you’ll find a blog where I posted a themed crossword (“License to Fill”) whose style is inspired by the cheekiness of Cyclops.]
Keeper, if you have hitherto remained unaware of Nigel Farage, you are lucky!
Thanks, bm. I thought this was very tricky indeed. But a good struggle!
I suspect that in 27/etc Balls is, unusually, two round things – OO. Otherwise the anagram won’t work…
JohnR: You’re right! I remember now – I had to work out the armagna to solve the clue, found myself two Os short and realised it was OO Balls rather than Ed Balls – didn’t make a note – completely forgot when I came to right up the blog. It seems it would be best to write the blog while solving – I wonder if I will ever manage that …
BHANGRA was one of the first ones I got – I feel incredibly hip!
Bhangra – if I had made the pop reference I may have solved it. Didn’t so thanks for the solution
Quick reminder. Avoid Late-submission Gloom: make sure your entry is in by tomorrow. (They get looked at some time on Tuesday 17th.)