The crossword that dared to cross Beelzebub with Ann Widdecombe …
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 8 | CLARA CLAR[e] A That clue felt a bit cheeky. It spells out the wordplay so clearly that it misleads. I couldn’t get it until most crossing letters were in place. Full clue: Short, Clare: a different name (5) |
| 10 | OVERHEARD OVER (“finished”) HEARD Homophone Hurd Ref. Douglas Hurd, ex- Hom. Sec. and For. Sec. |
| 11 | RANGOON RAN, GO ON |
| 12 | Y-FRONTS CD |
| 13 | IN THE KNOW IN=”latest” THE=”article” KNOW=”Ken” |
| 16/25 | BRIDE-TO-BE BR[own] (TIDE)* OBE Anagrind “turning” |
| 17 | FUNNY OLD WORLD Ref. Victor Lewis-Smith’s unmissable regular Eye feature (see Page 15) (Previously Christopher Logue’s True Stories) |
| 21 | REBUS Hidden in cultuRE BUSh |
| 23 | THE MIRROR CD Ref. the tabloid |
| 24 | BECKETT BECK from “Brook” then initial letters of “excoriate Tory Thatcher”. Tricky. I got this from the “(Margaret)” reference (Ref. Margaret Beckett) and only parsed the clue while writing this blog. Full clue: Brook starts to excoriate Tory Thatcher (Margaret) (7) |
| 26 | OPUS DEI (PSEUDO)* then I (“Cyclops”) Anagrind “rubbished” |
| 28 | BEELZEBUB (BUBBLE E E Z)* Anagrind “burst” The two “E”s are from “a couple of uppers” and Z is from [snoo]Z[e] |
| 29 | RIGHT [b]RIGHT |
| Down | |
| 1 | SCORPIO (CRIP[e]S O O)* Anagrind “changes” The two “O”s from second letters of both bOris and jOhnson. First clue I looked at but last to go in. Annoying as I had the method early on but didn’t spot the anagram then, not till getting the “sign” answer from the crossing letters and back-parsing. It shows that anagram clues are sometimes misleading. Also, the clue’s surface reading is highly appropriate given the news this week about the resignation of Boris’s “second” Ray Lewis – I wonder if that was coincidence or if Cyclops managed to get a late clue change in place. Full clue: Cripes! Boris Johnson seconds changes – ‘e’s out for a sign! (7) |
| 2 | JACOBEAN JAC[k] OBE AN Cyclops has an extra OBE this week, presumably nicked them from the Birthday Honours list |
| 3 | DOWN AND OUT DOWN (“unhappy”) OUT |
| 4 | LEVY V[ery] inside LEY Ref. Lord Levy who seems to be becoming a regular Cyclops target |
| 5 | CHERUB CHER[ie] UB Unemployment Benefit |
| 6 | PAINKILLER PAIN (“trial”) KILLER |
| 7 | ODYSSEY (YES SOD)* then Y[ear] Anagrind “off” |
| 9/15 | ANN WIDDECOMBE Ref Princess Anne and Widecombe Fair. But the outspoken Princess is Anne with an “E” and the folksong only has one “D”, is this fair? |
| 14 | THUMBSCREW Ref. Tom Thumb and then Roger=screw |
| 18 | OBITUARY (A TORY U)* around BI[-sexual] Anagrind “outed” Tough clue: Notice a Tory outed along with university’s principal – guards not entirely straight (8) |
| 19 | CRYBABY (CABBY)* around R[o]Y Anagrind “windy” |
| 20 | FRAILTY Ref the Shakespeare (“Bill”) quote from and by Hamlet: “Frailty, thy name is woman”. I’ll give this the best clue award because I was so pleased to get it and recognise the reference (Hamlet is my favourite of the handful of WS plays I’ve actually read, studied or seen). Full clue: Weakness Bill dramatically named as “woman” (7) |
| 22 | SLEAZE Hidden in hasSLE A ZEalot |
| 27 | DOG (GORDON without R ON)* Anagrind “messed up” Clearly only “up” is required – this will work as a subtractive reversal, so “messed” is not necessary but it makes for a better surface |