I have had a couple of weeks of utterly manic work and have been meaning to do this blog for ages, but here we are, late Sunday and it’s not started and I’m still in the office pushing bits and bytes through computers. So this will have to be a quick one …
… which is probably what I’ll have when I get out of here, plus maybe a glass of red wine with a curry, and maybe a Glenmorangie when I get home. That’s it. All the major food groups: beers, wines and spirits.
Enough musing, back to the blog:
I was filling this in very nicely and had most of it done in the “first pass” but in flash of madness for 18D wrote in “Unstable” instead of “oddballs” which delayed getting 17A and 23A till the end. When I realised and looked at what was there I did a double take – however did that happen? Blame the pencil.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 7 | UNEARNED | Like the automatic bonus of an under performing grasping “head of Equity”? (8) (AN UNDER + E[quity])* AInd: performing |
| 8 | TROUPE | Luvvies collectively said to be bunch of monkeys? (6) Homophone: Troop (collective noun for monkeys) First answer entered |
| 10 | BERET | Frenchman’s “topping” frothy beer – shit, ultimately? (5) (BEER [shi]T)* AInd: frothy |
| 11 | RAINMAKER | One claiming to cause downfall of Ian – ‘e messed with Mark Thatcher’s butt (9) (IAN E MARK [thatche]R)* AInd: messed |
| 12 | INHERIT | Come by getting female in hot sex (7) HER (female) inside IN (in?) IT (sex). “In” must be doing double duty here |
| 15 | TALIBAN | “Bloody fundamentalists” match reported by Boycott (7) Homophone: Tally (match, reported) BAN (boycott) |
| 17 | FUNNY OLD WORLD | Rich? Not America, as we call our oddball collection (5,3,5) FUNNY (rich) OLD WORLD (not America). Private Eye’s “Strange but True” column. One of the last I got – I didn’t spot the significance of “our” in the clue |
| 21 | PEEPING | Taking a gander to piss, stick with pig’s backside (7) PEE (piss) PIN (stick) [pi]G |
| 23 | GIDDY-UP | Move your arse, getting light-headed member aroused (5-2) GIDDY (light headed) UP (member aroused) |
| 24 | COMMITTEE | Select lot of MPs orgasm, taking time (about time!), bursting with energy? (9) (TIME + T[ime])* AInd: Bursting, inside COME (orgasm), then E[nergy] |
| 29 | RECALL | Evoke raunchy leather tops embedded with kinky lace (6) (LACE)* AInd: kinky, inside R and L (from R[aunchy] [L]eather) |
| 30 | IDOLATRY | Getting laid, Tory erupted “extreme reverence!” (8) (LAID TORY)* AInd: erupted |
| Down | ||
| 1 | PEER | Look of a piss-artist? (4) PEE-ER – Last clue to go in – is it correct? |
| 2 | BRETHREN | Monks right there unfortunately collared by gutless Brown (8) (R[ight] THERE)* AInd: unfortunately, inside B and N (from B[row]N) |
| 3/16 | BEER BELLY | Corporation that’s mostly piss and wind? (4,5) BEER (piss – again, sigh) BELLY (wind) – does this work, or is it just a Second Cryptic Def.? |
| 4 | PRIMAL | “Original” liar PM condemned (6) (LIAR PM)* AInd: condemned. |
| 5/27 | MUCK ABOUT | Be a prat and act like a stable boy round a sailor? (4,5) ABOUT AB (sailor) inside MUCK OUT |
| 6 | HEARING | Covering organ with hot gin sadly leads to trial (7) EAR (organ) inside H[ot] (GIN)* AInd: sadly |
| 7 | UMBRIA | Er, Labour’s first to go when Blair moves holiday home region (6) UM (er – a hesitation) (BLAIR – L[abour])* AInd: moves |
| 9 | DIRTY DOG | “Lecher” smear by Springer? (5,3) DIRTY (smear) DOG (springer). Can Springer spaniels be shortened to just Springer? |
| 13/25 | HOUSE MICE | Parliamentary wets – often trapped creatures? (5,4) Double Def. |
| 14 | THOUGHTS | Considerations nevertheless taken by vacant Tories (8) THOUGH (nevertheless), T[orie]S |
| 18 | ODDBALLS | Nuts, non-corresponding nuts (8) Double Def. (one sideways – ouch) |
| 19 | SPECTRE | Shadow cabinet primarily constrained by Peter’s dithering (7) (C[abinet] PETER’S)* AInd: dithering. Which Peter does this refer to? |
| 20 | SPOTTY | Like a callow youth taking second place for infantile shit? (6) S[econd], POTTY |
| 22 | ICICLE | Cyclops gets tip of cock lice-infested – it dangles precariously (6) I (Cyclops) C[ock] (LICE)* AInd: infested. Suitable AInd – works for me. |
| 26 | ENDS | Miliband’s coveting Cameron’s exit (climaxes) (4) (camero]N inside ED’S |
| 28 | OATS | Get them to shag (4) Cryptic Def. ref. “Getting ones oats” |
What! No Joke?
Oh all right. A really dreadful old one from the back of the stack: An Inn joke…..
Innkeeper: The room is £15 a night or it’s £5 if you’ll make your own bed.
Guest: I’ll make my own bed.
Innkeeper: Good. I’ll get you some nails and wood.
Putting it on record…
Many thanks to Beermagnet for doing a couple of blogs that should have been my turn, during a rather difficult and stressful time for me. From mid-week onwards, life should return to what laughably passes for “normal” here.
In 12a I think the IN comes from hot (i.e. trendy).
If you take the final E of 24a as coming from E(nergy) there seems to be a letter too many. I thought that the anagram indicator had to be ‘bursting with energy’ for the clue to work, though it’s not very good.
Cyclops (well, my inferior alter ego, Brummie) has written a new blog. It includes an account of how one of my clues led to the cancellation of an Eye reader’s subscription.
You can read it here.
Gazza, you’re right about 14 across.
As to 24 across: COM… E is the main container, leaving MITTE, which is indicated by T(ime) inside TIME anag. I hope, anyway!
18 – ODD (non-corresponding) BALLS (nuts)