I don’t time myself when solving crosswords. I know I’m not very fast compared to most other people on this blog, and frankly it’s a bit late to start doing that now. However I can normally assess a crossword’s difficulty by the number of pints it takes (and whether or not I need a little lie-down before finishing it).
This one was a 1 pint crossword – a fast solve for those of us familiar with the style.
But unfortunately mistakes creep in when I slap in answers in willy-nilly (see 9 Down).
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | CRUDITY – CRUD-IT-Y Y is our “unknown quantity” Despite getting this quickly on first sight I’m giving this one my favourite clue award for its excellent surface reading. Full clue: Filth, sex and unknown quantity of vulgarity (7) |
| 5 | HAND JOB – “Worker” “Duty” |
| 10/7/18 | ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER – This was one of those answers that became clear after a few crossing letters and I admit I didn’t check the anagram until writing this blog (AIR CONDITIONERS FITTED D T E)* Anyway, surely it’s ADHD now (got to get Hyperactivity in there y’know) |
| 11 | FAFF – FA(lsta)FF |
| 12 | STANSTED – (DNA TESTS)* |
| 13 | UNCOOL – U-(COLON)* |
| 14 | STRESS – (TOSSERS)* without the O |
| 17 | ERECTION – An erection in an answer rather than a clue! ELECTION becomes ERECTION after “changing political bias” from Left to Right |
| 21 | MANURE – MAN-URE : “Crew” ; “Midge” Ure http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midge_Ure |
| 23 | CONDOM – CON-(MOD<) |
| 24 | TUMESCES – TUM-(SEES C)* |
| 27 | STYE – Hidden in “buSTY Eve” |
| 28 | SMACK-HEAD – “Swipe” “loaf” The last I filled in. I found the hyphenation misleading. Now I’ve checked I find smack-head is at least as common as smackhead |
| 29 | UPGRADE – UP-GRADE Ref Michael Grade “The most popular Media Mogul in Britain” (That’s what is says here: http://www.transdiffusion.org/emc/tvheroes/michael_grade.php ) |
| 30 | ORATORY – O-R-A TORY O from “Sod all” i.e. Nothing |
| Down | |
| 2 | REACT – (ER<)-ACT |
| 3 | DETENTE – TENT inside DEE for “comedian” Ref Jack Dee http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Dee |
| 4 | TENET – TEN-ET Seems to me E.T. is being increasingly used as “film” in clues |
| 6 | AD NAUSEAM – (SAUNA MADE)* Cyclops could have made reference to the longstanding Private Eye feature of that name |
| 8 | OFF COLOUR – Not so much a Double-Definition as a “1 and 2 halves” Definition as “Blue” could define OFF and COLOUR separately. Full clue is just: Blue sick (3,6) |
| 9 | PIDDLE – P for Parking; FIDDLE for scam; Fellow goes so lose the F. I can see that now as I come back to blog it, but I find I originally wrote in FIDDLE. What was I thinking of? Full clue: Parking scam fellow goes for a piss (6) I think in my haste I saw “Parking scam” as the definition and “fellow goes for a piss” as somehow PIDDLE with F instead of P |
| 15 | THIN ON TOP – (HINT NO)* TOP (Chest) One of those nice definitions: “much less of a shock” |
| 16 | SODOMISED – CD – That kind of stern |
| 19 | OLD DEAR – (DILDO)* minus the I then EAR |
| 20 | RATBAG – RAT-(GAB<) Rabbit as in talk |
| 22 | NO SWEAT – “Objection” “Labour” |
| 25 | MAKER – MA(r)KER |
| 26 | ELDER – (w)ELDER |