This was again harder than most Eye crosswords with a few very tough clues.
I had trouble in the bottom half – and particular trouble with number 2.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | LAMB CHOP LAMB (meek sort) C (note) H[ernia] OP[eration] |
| 6 | CAPONE (A PONCE)* AInd: fancy Al getting used as an answer for a change rather than just an element of a charade for “AL” |
| 9 | ODIOUS (DO)< IOUS (records of borrowing) |
| 10 | CLEAR OFF CL[ose] EAR (organ) OFF (having bad smell) |
| 11 | BEADY EYE BEADY (like cheap necklace) EYE (organ) |
| 12 | BONDI BON (good in Martinique) DI (girl) |
| 13 | LOO [bul]L OO (pair of balls) |
| 15 | BLUEBELL BLUE (like porn) BELL (ring producer) |
| 18 | TEETOTAL TO[ny] in (ATTLEE)* AInd: fiasco |
| 19 | GEL (LEG)< |
| 21 | BOWIE BOW (archer’s thing) I [anticipat]E Ref. Jim Bowie the pioneer and one of the several heroes of the Alamo (not the more modern David who could probably be said to have pioneered something, but only sang about Heroes) |
| 23 | IMPAIRED IMP (troublemaker) AIRED (broadcast) why “wants”? Full clue: Troublemaker wants broadcast undermined (8) |
| 25/26 | ULTERIOR MOTIVE (LIMIT EURO-VOTER)* AInd: movement |
| 27 | PSALMS S[alman] inside PALMS (handily obscures). Very hard but nice concise clue: Book handily obscures Salman’s opening inside (6) |
| 28 | SINECURE IN (fashionable) inside SECURE (fast) |
| Down | |
| 2 | ANDREW AN (one) DREW (took out) Last to go in. I found this very difficult and was completely stuck till I eventually thought of the “Queen’s English” version of “One”. Full clue: One took out “one’s offspring”? (6) |
| 3 | BLOOD CLOT BLOOD (Gore) CLOT (twat) |
| 4 | HESSE “E”S inside (SHE)* AInd: screwed Ref author of Steppenwolf, Siddhartha, Glass Bead Game etc. Herman Hesse. I read most of his work as a student and really enjoyed them – recommended – thus that blog title – err – it doesn’t work, does it… |
| 5 | POCKET BILLIARDS CD This phrase refers to those men who seem to think that just because their hand is in their pocket you can’t see what they’re doing |
| 6 | CHERBOURG Hidden in thatCHER, BO, URGed Surface reading doesn’t make any sense to me – what is “BO”? |
| 7 | PERON (PRONE)* AInd: blown |
| 8 | NO FRILLS “Vulgarly said” homophone “Thrills” I liked the definition: “knickers, say, being unadorned” |
| 14 | ON THE PISS (ONE’S HIP S[econd] T[ime])* AInd: put out |
| 16 | BALLISTIC BALL (testicle) and TIC (twitch) with IS inside |
| 17 | NEW BALLS Def. and CD |
| 20 | BEAVER DD |
| 22 | WHEEL W[ife], HEEL (arse) |
| 24 | PR MAN P[layed] R (king) MA (mother) N[ature] |
2 down was a play on Brenda’s penchant for referring to herself as “one” – so [Prince] Andrew is “one’s offspring”.
I’m surprised you had problems with this – I thought it was one of the most starightforward one Cyclops has thrown at us in a while. Took me about an hour, all told, which is pretty good for me.
Not a bad one. I didn’t get Hesse though, I put ‘haste’ instead. ‘E’ is not an amphetamine, as any fule kno.
Horses for courses. I usually take about 2 hours on and off but I was inside 90 mins which means it wasn’t as tough as some.2d was also my last in.
There was a BBC4 documentary about Tom Driberg last week who was the first to set the crossword in the Eye as Tiresias, and set the standard that has been so nobly followed since.
Here’s the “Watch again” page but this will timeout after a few days I think :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00j8cpp/Tom_Driberg_and_Me_A_Personal_Portrait_by_William_G_Stewart/
Mention of crossword compiling is after about 45mins of the hour.