I was knocking off these clues without too much trouble but did think more than once that they were quite convoluted. It took 20 Min – only about ½ pint – drinking slowly – I’d already had a couple while failing to finish that Saturday’s Indy. So that’s obviously a good warm up routine. I got off to a flying start with the long answer 14/17/21 where I thought of it from the definition and enumeration, then wordplay confirmed. But what’s with all the %age clues? 20% here 40% there 66% of the other, all using essentially the same wordplay method. Am I missing a theme?
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 3 | SLIMEBALLS (MILES)* AInd: swinging, BALLS (testicles) |
| 10 | GODDAMNED (GNONE ADDED – E)* AInd: Deranged. Def: What Sarah Palin says instead of “awful” |
| 11 | OWNER [BR]OWN ER |
| 12 | CHEDDAR (DEC HARD)* AInd: Stormy |
| 13 | TIDDLES DDL (500 500 50) inside TIES (guys – as in ropes) Def. Pussy – tiddles is the archetypical name for a cat |
| 14/17/21 | THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN THE PEOPLE (tabloid) HAVE (has to own) (SOP)* AInd: disgraceful; KEN (Clarke) |
| 19/1 | BULLSHIT BULL’S HIT (Archer’s struck Gold) Penultimate answer entered – and the one that delayed me most. I was misled into thinking Gold = AU or OR, and, of course, was thinking of our Jeff as the Archer. Reminds me of Clive Anderson’s line to him: ‘Is there no beginning to your talents?’ |
| 20 | TUMBLE-DRY TUMBLE (A posh shag) DRY (boozeless) Is “tumble” particularly posh? |
| 22 | PLAYFUL PLAY (Luvvie’s thing) FUL[l] (stuffed almost) |
| 24 | ACROBAT AC (Bill) (O BRA)* AInd: possibly. T[emperature] |
| 26 | KRILL [todge]R inside KILL (top) |
| 27 | NEGOTIATE (TOE-EATING)* AInd: kinky. Def. Pull off. Not sure about this definition, “pull off” implies success, whereas negotiations may fail |
| 28 | NO NONSENSE DD |
| 29/6 | BLUE BLOOD CD |
| Down | |
| 1 | SAGACITY SAGA CITY (super large holiday resort for oldies) ha ha |
| 2 | INDIE IN (accepted) DIE (decline) Def. Newspaper’s familiar. Last in. Couldn’t see this at all till the initial crossing I appeared then it was obvious. |
| 4 | LONER ONE (Brenda self-referentially) inside L R (political extremes) |
| 5 | MIDSTREAM (TRIMS MADE)* AInd: Creative. Creative anagrind indeed. |
| 7 | LONG-LIVED L[abour] [gord]ON (66% down) G[ood] LIVE (to be) D[ead] Def: Enduring. Bitty wordplay |
| 8 | STRESS S[emen] (20% of) TRESS (hair) |
| 9 | HARD SELL H[ours] (ED BALLS R – B)* AInd: snapped. More convoluted clueing |
| 15 | EDUCATION CD Ref Blair’s memorable priority list “Education, education, education” |
| 16 | PETULANCE (ULNA C)* AInd: dislocated, inside PETE (Doherty) |
| 17 | HILARITY IT (sex) inside HIL[l]ARY |
| 18 | EYE TO EYE T[ime] O (love) inside EYE EYE (this organ cloned) |
| 23 | FELON FE (Iron) L[ady] ON (having taken the stage) |
| 24 | AEGIS A (one) EG (say) [pen]IS (40%) Def. Protection. The shield used by Zeus |
| 25 | BRAWL BROWN AWL (boring thing) OWN (have) removed (to quit). |
Conductor: Is there anything you would like the orchestra to play?
George Bernard Shaw: Dominoes.
I’ve always thought the %age thing was a [not very good] device to shoehorn a word into a clue. Bit lacklustre.
There must have been something else going on with the %, not that I can see it.
27a Brief word for the defence. Negotiate as in “negotiate a tricky bend” sits ok with “pull off”.
re: 1dn. Sagacity
I don’t get the joke here as indicated by beermagnets’s “ha ha.”
Please let me in on it.
The definition is clear, but not the word play: super large holiday resort for oldies?
Barbara
Barbara, Saga is (at least, they would like to think) a well known company specialising in holidays for the over 50s, while a city is a lot bigger than, for instance, a (holiday) village.
Thanks, Beermagnet. I’m not sure if any of us here in the US knows about ‘Saga’ as a vacation package company.