I found I had only 8 to go after the first pass so I suppose this was easier than usual. That’s enough blather – let’s have a look at the detail:
How do you know when you meet a dyslexic yorkshireman? …
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ACT OF UNION | Formalised shagging is what brought nations together (3,2,5) Double Def. One most usually referring the Act of 1707 that created Great Britain. |
| 7/27 | WEAK SPOT | It’s vulnerable, sex, in the grip of degraded drug (4,4) Def: It’s vulnerable. I thik the wordplay is S[ex] inside WEAK (degraded) POT (drug). This was the last answer I entered alonside 14D, mainly because I didn’t believe Cyclops would leave two SPOTs crossing like that. |
| 9 | PIRANHAS | They’ve quite a bite, Parisian strays – hard for one (8) (PARISIAN -I + H[ard])* AInd: Strays. Def referring to the sharp toothed carniverous South American fish |
| 10 | REMAIN | Carry on Nurse’s middle bit has Cyclops arse over tip, in a spin (6) [nu]R[se] ME< (Cyclops arse over tip) (INA)* AInd: spin. Def. Carry on. One of the more convoluted bits of wordplay here. |
| 11 | OBTAIN | Get over personal problem on receiving head from Archer in can (6) Def. here is just: Get. Wordplay: BO< (over personal problem) A[rcher] inside TIN So very nice misdirection in that clue. |
| 12 | STEALTH | Knock off Tory leader? Hague’s first when it comes to sneakiness (7) STEAL (Knock off) T[ory] H[ague] Def: sneakiness |
| 13/15 | COLONEL GADDAFI | He rules from a compound mixture of dealing – clod, oaf! (7,7) (DEALING CLOD OAF)* AInd: mixture. Apt def. |
| 17 | IN STYLE | Pigs at home here? “Kettle (right flank) smartish!” (2,5) IN STY (Pigs at home here) [kett]LE Interesting use of “right flank” to indicate the rightmost (approx.) third of the subject word. |
| 19 | URINARY | Describes one role of prick from university reorganising Ryanair, having no answer (7) U[niversity] then (RYANAIR – A)* AInd: reorganising. |
| 22 | CHENNAI | Canine screwed, eating hot Madras once (7) (CANINE H)* AInd: screwed. How could we forget Madras is now called Chennai |
| 23 | SHABBY | Keep your mouth shut, baby, being devious, Ken Clarke style? (6) SH (Keep your mouth shut) (BABY)* AInd: Being devious. Def refers to the sartorial elegance of Ken Clarke |
| 25 | BUMPER | Dubya half wants Cameron to turn on Brenda – great! (6) BU[sh] (Dubya half) PM< (Cameron to turn) ER (Brenda) Def: great! |
| 26 | WET DREAM | Climactic reverie of one of Maggie’s despised ministers? (3,5) CD referring to the fact that many of the less right wing senior Tories under Mrs Thatcher were known as “Wets” |
| 28 | NATIONWIDE | Certainly not parochial dancing i.e. to Ann Wid—— (10) (I.E. TO ANN WID —)* AInd: dancing. Felt a bit short changed here because cutting off Widdie’s name meant the 10 letters of anagram fodder (and indicator) were obvious. |
| Down | ||
| 2 | CLIMB DOWN | Tip of clap-ridden member blue? Withdraw! (5,4) C[lap] LIMB (member) DOWN (blue) |
| 3 | OBAMA | Blowjob, amazingly, is too much for a follower of Clinton (5) Hidden in BlowjOB AMAzingly Whole clue yet again referring to last centruy’s Clinton / Lewinsky frenzy (yawn) |
| 4 | UNHINGE | Hiding core of penis in huge rocks to send someone crazy (7) ([pe]N[is] IN HUGE)* AInd: rocks. |
| 5 | INSIST | Sex covers a variety of sins, so be firm (6) (SINS)* AInd: a variety of. inside IT (sex) Def: be firm |
| 6 | NOREIGA | I love Reagan deviously dropping a disgraced leader (7) (I O REAGAN – A)* AInd: deviously. Def: Disgraced leader. This one (one of the few who might end up spending an appropriate spell in the chokey) |
| 7 | WIMBLEDON | Was successful restraining Lib Dem movement (the black hole of British hopes?) (9) (LIB DEM)* AInd: movement. inside WON (Was successful). Def is a CD. (“Come on Tim!”) |
| 8 | APISH | Stupid as a primate (5) Double Def. An odd word that coincidentally appeared in the Indy the same day I tackled this one. |
| 14 | ON THE SPOT | Equal to the occasion? No, vague and waffling, a politician so put! (2,3,4) Double Def. |
| 16 | FIREBRAND | The sort of energetic type to get Russell off the air? (9) Def + Cryptic Def. from FIRE (get … off the air) (Russell) BRAND |
| 18 | LONG RUN | In which, eventually, only half of London Games initially organised (4,3) LON[don] G[ames] RUN (Organised) |
| 20 | RISOTTO | Item on Berlusconi’s plate: bending to pointless Tories? (7) (TO TORIES – E)* AInd: bending. The point of pointless is East in this case. |
| 21 | NITWIT | Doin’ it with accommodating jerk (6) Hidden in doiN’ IT WITh. Hidden indicator: Accommodating |
| 22 | CHUMP | Stink suppressed by Communist Party (the thick end) (5) HUM (stick) inside CP (Communist Party) |
| 24 | ARROW | Shaft Woody’s ex? F-off! (5) [f]ARROW Ref: Mia Farrow – serial adopter and acrimonious ex-wife of Woody Allen |
… he’s got a cat flap on his head
I got a a good 3/4 out quite quickly then after getting soem more out, I got completely stuck on 8d and 10a.
For 8d I had a???h and for 10a r?m??.
Eventually I thought I might as well try apish though I thought apeish would be like a primate.
That left r?m?i? which I was convinced didn’t have anything that fitted.
Gave up and used a solver on the PE crossword for the first time in over three years.
I had a moment with 22a — seems to me that Chennai is Madras *now*. As the clue would not have been affected by the use of that word, it seemed like an unnecessary awkwardness.
Jon88 – I took ‘once’ in 22a to mean answer is what Madras was called once(as in ‘once upon a time’)