Thank goodness there were a few days over the festive period to devote to a massive puzzle or two. This one took me quite a while, not only from the sheer size of it, but also from the distraction of searching through the back numbers for the source material for the lengthy quotation in the shaded squares, which inevitably led to reading far too much enjoyable old rubbish. I initially wondered if I had all the necessary back numbers for the year remembering how I had tidied up the area not long ago. Turns out “not long” is over 2 years ago, so that relatively small stack of old Eyes in the corner of the home-office was quite sufficient.
The details: This puzzle had a preamble:
Preamble: Running clockwise around the shaded squares, starting top left, is an extract from a Diary ‘as told to Craig Brown’. There are minor changes and a hyphen, a dash and two full stops are lacking. The name of the diary’s ‘author’ is the answer to a definition-less clue.
Letters of the quote not intersecting with normal clue answers are:
AAAAAA C EEEE F G HHH II L MMM NNN OOOOOO PPP RRRRRRR SSSS TT U WWWW
Shaded squares in the perimeter :
AS FAR AS I AM CONCERNED, MY OBITUARIES WERE ONLY SO-SO. NO MORE THAN ONE OR TWO PAGES IN EACH OF THE NEWSPAPERS – A POOR SHOW.
This is from “Craig Brown’s Diary” written as (if by) Michael Winner (see 53/29) which appeared in Eye 1333 (8-Feb 2013), not long after his really quite unexpected death. (How could a man who liked food, wine, life, insurance, food, wine, and directed Death Wish 1, 2 & 3 , and liked food and wine so much die so young.) Cyclops has paraphrased a little to get it to fit the grid – the actual paragraph says:
“As far as I’m concerned, my obituaries were only so-so. No more than two of three pages in each of the newspapers. Very poor show.”
I had to tick off the supplied letters carefully to ensure, for instance, the final part was “a poor show” rather than “V POOR SHOW”.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 12 | COITUS | Company suit goes off ‘bang‘ (6) CO[mpany] SUIT* AInd: goes off. |
| 13 | LORDS | Way to break Sun-backed political body (5) RD (way – road: rd) inside SOL< |
| 14 | ANNUL | Royal getting end away: “Fabulous in the middle!” “Reverse” (5) ANN[e] (Princess Royal, Anne is the royal in question here) [fab]UL[ous] |
| 15 | PUBLICAN | Drinks provider in the groin area holds large one (8) L[arge] inside PUBIC (the groin area), AN (one) |
| 16 | SADOMASOCHIST | Who gets satisfaction from practising “do unto others as you would have done to you”? (13) CD and the first answer entered. I thought I’d look at the longer lights first and this Cryptic Def somehow seemed very obvious to me, not that … |
| 17 | TRANSYLVANIA | TV salary in an immoderate land of bloodsuckers? (12) (TV SALARY IN AN)* AInd: immoderate. The anagram fooled me on the first pass, though the def. seems a bit obvious in retrospect – therefore: Good clue! |
| 18 | CONTINENT | America unlikely to be source of unwitting leak? (9) Double Def. One of the last answers I got – what makes that clue so misleading? |
| 20 | EGOTISM | Say Mo’s worried about perverse shagging and self-love (7) E.G. (say), then letter of MO’S anagrammed around IT< (perverse shagging). For several minutes I was trying to make ONANISM work (if you see what I mean …) |
| 22 | THICKIES | Tense love bites forming clots (8) T[ense] HICKIES (love bites) I looked for the derivation of “Hicky” and found it is surprisingly obscure. |
| 26 | OPEN SEASON | Well outside the harbour, lad, so now you can kill the wildlife? (4,6) OPEN SEA (well outside the harbour) SON (lad) |
| 27 | OUNCE | Catty thing not now keeping you texted (5) U (you – texted) inside ONCE (not now). It’s that cat again. |
| 28/46 | PEG OUT | “Margaret must go/depart!” (3,3) PEG (Margaret) OUT (must go) The name Margaret is Peg because it was common in the middle ages to exchange Ps for Ms thus Meg is transformed into Peg |
| 30 | ASHDOWN | Ex-party leader, one demonstrated to welcome Miliband’s extreme right (7) [miliban]D inside A SHOWN (one demonstrated) Ref: Jeremy John Durham Ashdown, Baron Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon, GCMG KBE PC. Seemed like a nice chap when he was running a little club masquerading as potential government material. Would’ve been interesting having PM who could kill the Leader of the Opp. with his bare hands if need be. But what has happened to his party since the Cleggster has ascended: Given the first sniff of partial power they dispense of any principles and promises so will be wiped from the face of the country at the gloroious revolution, or the next general election in 2015, whichever is the sooner |
| 31 | BAR COUNCIL | Blair con, involved with conservative, initially unscrupulous bunch of lawyers (3,7) (BLAIR CON + C + U)* AInd: involved (with) C from Conservative, U from unscrupulous, Hmmm seem to go together. Anyway the Bar Council is the professional association for Barristers and lawyers |
| 32 | BEE-EATER | Bird, slapper taking drugs (3-5) EE (drugs) inside BEATER (slapper). This bird seems to be a favourite in crosswords |
| 35 | AERONAUTICS | Branson’s thing is like squeezing Cointreau cocktail? (11) COINTREAU* AInd: cocktail inside (squeezed by) AS (like). What a lovely clue – nice image – Cointreau inside Aeronautics. It’s Branson’s thing alright – Virgin Galactic will get there, if not the galaxy at least the outer reaches of the atmosphere and maybe enable some useful science. As soon as the airline was a goer he said he wanted to fly more than anything – running a bit of the railway is only a money maker for what he really wants to do. |
| 36 | SCHOOLGOING | Fishy group pissing off – “attending lessons” (11) SCHOOL (Fishy group) GOING (pissing off) |
| 40 | PAWN SHOP | Dupes bound for money-lending establishment (4,4) PAWNS (Dupes) HOP (bound) |
| 41 | RELATING TO | Concerned with telling on Blair’s principal half? (8,2) RELATING (telling on) TO[ny] (Blair’s first i.e. principle half) |
| 42 | ANTONYM | Eden: hard going, masculine? The opposite (7) ANTHONY – H[ard] (Ref. A. Eden – PM 1955-57) M[asculine] Not knowing much about him, I somehow got side tracked and read more about him than intended, and now feel history has so far judged him harshly. |
| 44 | USURER | Financial exploiter certain to get City’s protection (6) SURE (certain) inside UR (city) |
| 47 | CRASH | Cable primarily linked to foolhardy financial disaster (5) C[able] RASH (foolhardy) |
| 48 | ONE-MAN SHOW | Mounted by a solitary player from United, player who’s knackered (3-3,4) ONE MAN (United, player) (WHO’s)* AInd:knackered. |
| 49 | ENSHRINE | She’s vibrating with inner guard (8) (SHE + INNER)* AInd: vibrating. |
| 51 | CRUNCHY | Apple-like launch of computer: “Sexy but not ace” (7) C[omputer] R[a]UNCHY. I liked this clue. |
| 52 | LORD BYRON | Lordy, Boris is off – moved by new romantic poet (4,5) (LORDY BORIS – IS)* AInd: off, then N[ew]. On the other hand, this clue was clunky. |
| 55 | NECROPHILIAC | Who’s only turned on when partner is stiff? (12) Cryptic Def. – of the sort found in the Eye. (Could you get away with this in any of the big 5?) |
| 57 | LET YOURSELF GO | Abandon inhibition and become a slut? (3,8,2) Double Def. – ditto |
| 59 | UTTER ROT | Balls wants Express or otherwise Telegraph leader (5,3) UTTER (express) OR< T[elegraph] |
| 60 | HERON | Flighty thing gives smack if one enters (5) HERO[i]N |
| 61 | ELBOW | In Acapulco, the nod for a bender (5) EL (‘The’ the definite article in Spanish – as in Acapulco) BOW (nod) |
| 62 | LOLLOP | Move clumsily, inserting length twice into Hank (6) L L (length twice) inside LOOP (hank) |
| Down | ||
| 1 | OFSTED | Regulator dubiously soft on Sun chief? (6) SOFT* AInd: dubiously, then ED[itor] (Sun chief? – for example) |
| 2 | BRASS MONKEY WEATHER | Balls could say goodbye to a solid figure in such a freeze? (5,6,7) CD referencing the saying “Weather to freeze the balls off a brass monkey”. I have never encountered this phrase before – quite hard to get especially as a CD. |
| 3 | USELESSNESS | Futile state to cut back on employment – Tyneside’s first to suffer (11) USE LESS (to cut back on employment) NE’S (Tyneside’s) S[uffer] |
| 4 | BARRACK | Obama needs to ‘internalise’ Republican jeer (7) R[epublican] inside BARACK (Obama) |
| 5 | INTACT | Virgin bust, a nit to appear before court (6) (A NIT)* AInd: bust, then CT (court) |
| 6 | KEYNOTE SPEECH | Leader’s opportunity to win over the Conference, say, is one sketchy mess full of piss (7,6) PEE (piss) inside (ONE SKETCHY)* AInd: mess. |
| 7 | UNCLEAR | Dim little one gets chlorine on organ (7) ‘UN (little one) CL (Chlorine) EAR (organ) |
| 8 | ADOPTS | Takes on party mired in dodgy past (6) DO (party) inside PAST* AInd: dodgy |
| 9 | SYMBOLIC | Drug-dropping Miley twerking with CBSO representative (8) (MIL[e]Y CBSO)* AInd: twerking. I liked the drug-dropping loss of E from Miley. Twerking as an anagram indicator? Better then the alternative maybe. Clue references the over-exposed ex-clean-living-Disney-kid, but I don’t think Mr Thicke has much to do with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra |
| 10 | OBLIGATION | ‘Love Bishop’ with sexless suit is a liability (10) O (love) B[ishop] L[it]IGATION (suit – without IT i.e. sex – thus sexless) |
| 11 | CASTING COUCH | On which young hopefuls would be had for a film role (7,5) Cryptic Def. |
| 19 | TONED DOWN | Made more bland, in familiar Blair fashion? (5,4) CD/DD Second def. referring to Blair as “Tone” |
| 21 | TUNE UP | EU mad with Putin (not one to set the right note) (4,2) (EU PUTIN – I)* AInd: mad. Certainly liked this apposite surface reading |
| 23 | HIGHBROW | Pissed on top intellectual (8) HIGH (pissed) BROW (top) |
| 24 | INCARCERATE | Put away Carter’s nuts in a nice shift (11) CARTER* AInd: nuts, inside NICE* AInd: shift. |
| 25 | APPLICATION | Caption Palin almost used as a candidate’s approach? (11) (CAPTION PALI[n])* AInd: Used. Very concise clue. |
| 29 | WHEELING AND DEALING | Political scheming causing revolutions as well as drug-pushing? (8,3,7) WHEELING (revolutions) AND (as well as) DEALING (drug-pushing) |
| 33 | AMOROUSLY | Berlusconi’s capital backing soul movement year, Berlusconi-fashion? (9) ROMA< (Berlusconi’s capital backing) SOUL* AInd: movement) Y[ear] |
| 34 | STEP DOWN | “Stage fluff!” as Brown often said to Blair no doubt (4,4) STEP (stage) DOWN (fluff) Tichy (tongue-in-cheek’y) Def. |
| 37 | ELECTRIC ORGAN | Exciting, having penis that’s wired for sound? (8,5) ELECTRIC (Exciting) ORGAN (penis). I needed several crossing letters before this was apparent |
| 38 | STRAIN | Possibly exert pressure to get motion passed (6) Cryptic Def. in a very low grade Eye style |
| 39 | IN THE HOT SEAT | Having all the responsibility of a lustful feeling during a ‘nite’ out (2,3,3,4) THE HOTS (a lustful feeling) inside (A NITE)* AInd: out |
| 43 | REBORROWING | Concerned with the Mayor knocking off 40%, sticking his oar in and getting in debt again? (11) RE (Concerned with) BOR[is] ROWING (sticking his oar in). I particularly liked this – “sticking his oar in” is one of my old mum’s oft-used phrases for someone offering an opinion. |
| 45 | RESURGENCE | Comeback cures green diarrhoea (10) (CURES GREEN)* AInd: diarrhoea. And you thought “twerking” was near the knuckle as an anagram indicator! |
| 50 | REPARTEE | Peer with tear-jerking chaff (8) (PEER TEAR)* AInd: jerking |
| 53/29 | MICHAEL WINNER | When ‘le car’ tangled with Mini (7,6) (WHEN LE CAR MINI)* AInd: Tangled. The definition-less clue and supposed author of the quote. |
| 54 | BOOB JOB | Bristol’s expansion a stupid mistake, robbery, maybe (4,3) BOOB (a stupid mistake) JOB (robbery, maybe) |
| 56 | IN TRIM | Meanwhile, getting rid of Cable finally is looking good (2,4) INTERIM – [cabl]E |
| 57 | LONDON | New decade initially included in oddball Johnson’s responsibility (6) N[ew] D[ecade] inside LOON (oddball) |
| 58 | FILTHY | Sooty quite unsuitable for show’s target audience (6) Double Def. Last answer here and (surprisingly?) last answer I filled in, though others needed firming-up for the blog. That “Let yourself go no more than filthy lollop” corner was unfilled till the quotation was discovered. |
You will be pleased to know the diary ends happily:
` The self-styled St Peter – how these people love their titles – proves most unreasonable. The man simply doesn’t know his place. I inform him in no uncertain terms that I’m absolutely sick to the back teeth with uppity receptionists.
“That’s enough of the monkey! Let me speak to the organ grinder!” I demand. Another classic Winner put-down.
At last I get prompt service. A red-face man with horns and tail, carrying an over-large fork, rushes over. He beckons me to follow downstairs.
“You misunderstand. I never eat in basements” I respond. “Don’t you know who I am?”
He assures me that a large number of my very dear friends from the movie business are all there waiting to greet me. “Very well” I say “Just this once. But you’d better put on a decent show – or there’ll be hell to pay”
“We’ll be showing all your films, 24/7, on a spool, for the next 2000 years” he replies, as he leads me down.`
Thanks very much, beermagnet – brilliant blog. And thanks Cyclops for the most fun crossword of the Christmas period, for the umpteenth year running.
I don’t tend to keep hold of my old Eye back copies, even though the Christmas Cyclops always seems to refer to something from earlier in the year, but having found M.W. pretty early on there was no trouble filling in the “quote”. Except in the extreme SE. FILTHY and LOLLOP were my last two solutions in – by a distance – so the “no more than” part was last of all to sort out (although it seemed incredibly obvious when I got it).
Thanks for the blog – there was definitely a sense of satisfaction in completing this one! It was the top-right that was the last in for me – HIGHBROW / SCHOOLGOING / BEE-EATER / THICKIES all slowed me down. And I’d never heard OUNCE before, so that’s something new.
18 across – “what makes that clue so misleading?”
I think it’s the double negative.
Loved this! Thanks all!
Thanks. I’d never heard of “hickey/hickie” before, and think it’s an ugly little word. I’m glad it’s only American English.