Medium difficulty for the Eye. About half in at the first pass and the other half filled-in without too much difficulty.
So this is a great crossword to recommend to anyone starting out solving cryptics:
A good mix of well constructed clues that can be easily explained. No abstruse general knowledge, or cryptic techniques or wacky definitions, except for a little bit of “in-crowd” terminology (you are expected to know Ian Hislop is editor).
With the added bonus of a little bit of humour.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 8 | SPORRANS | Scottish moneybags constructing bridges to carry old posh car (8) O[ld] RR (Rolls-Royce) inside SPANS (bridges) |
| 11 | AUDIT | Scrutinize gold stuck on former royal toilet top (5) AU (gold) DI (former royal) T[oilet] |
| 12 | TSETSE FLY | Some sucker, distraught, left – “Tess Daly’s back!” (6,3) (LEFT TESS [dal]Y)* AInd: distraught |
| 13/9/24 | I SHOULD GET OUT MORE | Rueful thought of Cyclops during lockdown, as confessed in Pedantry Corner? (1,6,3,3,4) Double Definition. Ref. the oft used phrase from letters to Pendant’s (or is it Pedants’ ) corner |
| 15 | BUFFOON | Brown needs balls and new plonker (7) BUFF (brown) OO (balls) N[ew] |
| 17 | NATIONAL GUARD | Boiling tar oil and a gun that Trump would use against BLM protestors? (8,5) (TAR OIL AND A GUN)* AInd: boiling |
| 21 | EXTINCT | Old Tory leader in court – wiped out (7) EX (old) T[ory] IN CT (court) |
| 22 | COLLECT | Conservative and overtly leftist Labour sources, etc, surprisingly converge (7) C[onservative] O[vertly] L[eftist] L[abour] (ETC)* AInd: surprisingly |
| 23 | DECAMERON | Classic tales of Ian Hislop backing Tory PM (9) ED< (Ian Hislop, editor, backing) CAMERON (Tory PM) Ten “classic” Tales (wiki) |
| 25 | THREE | Trump’s inauguration here – fake number! (5) T[rump] (HERE)* AInd: fake |
| 27 | FURORE | Four bollocks – about to make a big fuss (6) (FOUR)* AInd: bollocks, RE (about) First one in (after looking at 19D and realising it ended in OFF) |
| 28 | LIFELESS | Like a nerd, you might say, left snapping selfies? (8) L[eft] (SELFIES)* AInd: swapping. Not sure I agree with that definition (as a self-confessed nerd) |
| Down | ||
| 1 | ASIATIC | CIA scrambling to cover up as it’s out of the continent (7) (CIA)* AInd: Scrambling around (AS IT)* AInd: out |
| 3 | PROTRUSION | On tour, rips out knob? (10) (ON TOUR RIPS)* AInd: out |
| 4 | UNITED | One tabloid’s topless sex hack (6) [s]UN (tabloid, topless) IT (sex) ED (hack, journalist) |
| 5 | BESS | Old queen‘s live sex show debuts (4) BE (live) S[ex] S[how] |
| 6 | GOLF COURSE | Where Trump likes to retreat, being beat up over race (4,6) FLOG< (beat up, over) COURSE (race) |
| 7 | STAYING | Initial coronavirus lockdown advice, with government initially holding out (7) STAY IN (my continuing advice till there’s a vaccine) G[overnment] |
| 10 | GERBIL | Good to be on top of wishy-washy liberal, having ditched presidential candidate, pet? (6) G[ood] (LIBERAL – AL)* AInd: wishy-washy. Presidential candidate is Al Gore as usual |
| 14 | HEALTHCARE | Constitution has race problem? That’s Matt Hancock’s province (10) HEALTH (constitution) (RACE)* AInd: problem. |
| 16/2 | FOUR-LETTER WORD | An oath, e.g. “Fake!” (4-6,4) Double Definition. The enumeration was the most revealing part of the clue |
| 18 | NATURE | Reckless Trumpean dismissing PM’s constitution (6) (TRUMPEN -PM)* AInd: reckless. |
| 19 | FEND OFF | Go away, rather coarsely protecting rear, to repel an attack (4,3) END (rear) in F-OFF (go away) |
| 20 | ATHEIST | Dissolute, ‘at it’, he’s no monk (7) (AT IT HE’S)* AInd: dissolute. |
| 22 | CANDID | Prison made for Frank (6) CAN (prison) DID (made) |
| 26 | REEL | Look like a dirty old man up wind (4) LEER< (as a dirty old man might look, up) Last one in – not because it was tricky, just because I didn’t get it on the first pass then next time I tackled it, it was the last to go! |
A thread that has been keeping me mightily amused for the last few weeks has recently come to a conclusion.
Highly recommended.
It started here:
Just had conversation with a British couple who have a holiday home near us. They voted for Brexit and have made no arrangements whatsoever for what happens on Jan 1. They have now discovered the reality of their situation.
The blame apparently is with "Brussels".
— RS Archer (@archer_rs) June 29, 2020
After an unexpected and unwanted gap restarted here:
Coming soon.
The story continues – how did the Idiot Son make it to the Dordogne, what did the Mayor think of him, how is that dog bite, where are his shoes?
All will be revealed.
— RS Archer (@archer_rs) July 7, 2020
I think this takes it its conclusion
New Thread:
Over the last few days the father, since reunited with Idiot Son (he may or may not be happy about that) has been pursuing a tactic of trying to persuade various institutions to allow him an exemption from Brexit. He started with the EU and felt I should know.
— RS Archer (@archer_rs) July 10, 2020
On a personal note. After about 2 years planning, my grown-up son his French partner and the kids have gone – emigrated to Canada.
Currently in 2 weeks quarantine – they are very strict about it there – mustn’t break quarantine – talk of being sent to the Yukon with a spear and a map (big thousand dollar fines anyway).
Thanks beermagnet. Agree that this is relatively light on PE-lore so a good one for newcomers. Especially enjoyed the clues for GERBIL and FEND OFF, plus four-letter word which took a while to click. My own entry for Pedant’s (Pedants’ or Pedants?) Corner is that the definition of ASIATIC is just “of the continent” – the “out” is indicating that the letters of ASIT have to be rearranged before being covered up by scrambled letters of CIA. I should get out more but I foolishly printed the Qaos GENIUS puzzle in the Guardian and am now well out of my depth and likely to remain so.
You are correct Gazzh – the wordplay and def. for 1D isn’t described correctly, I will fix it.
That thread was hilarious, thanks Beermagnet!
Thanks beermagnet and Cyclops. For some reason I found it difficult to get started on this one. I liked 16/2. Re 28a Lifeless = Nerd, I admit to thinking that all of us attempting this clue could be classified as nerds. If one objects, the obvious response is ‘get a life’ and therefore one is deemed to be lifeless. Hey-ho, I still enjoy this crossword and site.
Good people….some help if I may for 683……..not breaking the rules, I hope!!!! The AcrossLite version has 23 down associated with 9 ac but 11 ac also refers to it. Can someone confirm that 9 Ac stands alone and that 23 ac ties in with 11 ac? My hard copy has not arrived yet so I am a bit stuck!!!!
Windsor – you’re correct about 683.
23dn is associated with 11ac, and 9ac stands alone.
It’s shown correctly on the Private Eye website, and of course in the mag inself.
@Pajodr…thank you, kindly!!!!