I intended to post this blog yesterday, before I went to Lord’s for the afternoon, but the broadband service went on the blink. And somehow it didn’t get done when I arrived home, later than intended… So apologies for lateness, but blame Virgin Media.
Anyway, I haven’t really got much to say about this Cyclops puzzle — a pretty straightforward offering, good but unexceptional. Clue of the fortnight for me is definitely 15a.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | SPOONFED | Given the dumbing down treatment, old-style court favoured initially by Miliband? SPOON = old-fashioned word meaning ‘court‘ (as a verb); F = favoured initially; ED = Miliband |
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| 8 | STROLL | Way to have a shag the old-fashioned way — it’s a breeze ST = way (street); ROLL = have a shag the old-fashioned way, as in ‘roll in the hay’ |
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| 10 | PANEL SHOW | Start to plug middle of chef Lawson’s kinky TV genre? Anagram (indicated by ‘kinky’) of: P = start to plug; HE = middle of chef; Lawson’s. Definition: TV genre |
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| 11/1 | ELTON JOHN | Singer Jack’s a fair way through “No hotel to be trashed before noon” J = Jack; in *(no hotel); N = noon |
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| 12 | LOBSTER | Chuck has rest disturbed — pot victim? LOB = chuck; *(rest). Lobsters are caught in pots. |
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| 14 | PAPYRUS | Pulp fiction? Yours is crap, nothing omitted, coming in scrolls? PAP = pulp fiction; *(yurs), i.e. ‘yours’ without O = nothing Documents written on papyrus are often in the form of scrolls. |
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| 15 | VLADIMIR PUTIN | Rival, mid-revolution, introduced as a tough guy leader *(rival mid), with ‘revolution’ as the anagram indicator; PUT IN = introduced I have used this link before in a blog, but it’s always worth repeating: Vlad’s Facebook movie |
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| 20 | UNMOVED | Stony-hearted international body relocated UN = international body; MOVED = relocated |
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| 22 | BIZARRE | Weird casual business associated with left half of bust BIZ = casual way of saying ‘business’; ARRE = left half of ‘arrested’ |
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| 23 | THROW | Spin worth a toss? *(worth), with ‘spin’ as the anagram indicator |
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| 24 | OFFSPRING | Sick? Well, it’s the sprogs OFF = sick; SPRING = well. ‘Sprogs’ means ‘children’. |
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| 26 | IDEALS | They can’t be any better when vibrating ladies *(ladies) |
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| 27 | GENE POOL | Info, e-shit and fifty collective attributes of a sexually-active group GEN = info; E; Poo = shit; L = fifty Gene pool |
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| Down | |||
| 2 | INFLATED | Like a blow-up doll accepted by boring bloke IN = accepted; FLAT= boring; ED = bloke |
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| 3 | LECHER | Act shocked about collaring church sexual predator REEL = act shocked, reversed; containing CH = church |
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| 4 | STREEP | Drip wrapping up right movie star STEEP = drip — except it actually means ‘to soak; to wet thoroughly; to saturate; to imbue’, which I don’t think is the same; containing R = right. Alternatively, RT reversed (‘up’) in SEEP — thanks, Gazza. Meryl Streep |
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| 5 | FOX TERRIER | Breed of fixer — retro bastard *(fixer retro), with ‘bastard’ as the anagram indicator Fox terrier |
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| 6 | ILLNESS | Dicky feeling Nell’s tits, twice taking time out for refreshment *(nells is) — removing both Ts from ‘tits’ before anagramming. Definition: dicky feeling |
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| 7 | SUPPLY | Give me what I want, gymnastic fashion! Double definition — give me what I want; in supple fashion |
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| 9 | SWIPER | Nick, you’re one southern wanker, initially ripe for replacement SW = southern wanker, initially; *(ripe). If you nick something, this is what you are. |
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| 13 | BULL MARKET | Balls, spot the alien confident state of investors! BULL[shit] = balls; MARK = spot; ET = the alien Bull market |
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| 16 | MAD DOG | Rabid beast’s bloody U-turn? GODDAM = bloody, reversed |
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| 17 | UNZIPPED | Member possibly exposed and deprived of get up and go? Double definition |
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| 19 | BENGAL | Boris’s first to measure young female’s expansive region B = Boris’s first; EN = measure (the width of a lower-case n, in typography; GAL = young female Bengal |
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| 21 | VOWELS | IOU, say, which takes guts when leader’s replaced [B]OWELS = guts, with a different first letter |
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| 22 | BUFFER | Fan Brenda — boring old fart BUFF = fan; ER = Brenda (the Queen, in Private Eye-speak |
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| 25/18 | IRON CURTAIN | Press screen reinstated by 15? IRON = press; CURTAIN = screen. Vladimir Putin (15a) has taken Russia back to more separatist policies. |
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white
white
Being a bit short on jokes this week, I shall scrape the barrel and leave you with some images from the Viz Facebook page:
4d I think that drip is SEEP rather than STEEP, with RT reversed inside it.
Good thought, Gazza, and you may well be right — the ‘up’ may be a reversal indicator rather than part of the compound verb. Chambers defines ‘seep’ as ‘to ooze, percolate’, so that’s a bit closer to ‘drip’.
Although I got all the answers there were a few I was a bit hazy on the reasoning i.e. 22 ac (ARRE). Thanks for the explanations! It’s probably obvious to everyone but Re 10 across I believe you have missed off ‘H’ i.e middle of chef = HE
Thanks, Franko — that was a typo. I will correct it.
Unlike Franko, I’m still foggy about 22a. Wouldn’t arrested = busted?
Jon88, ‘bust’ can be the past participle (‘they were bust’). I don’t like the clue very much, and wouldn’t go too far to defend it, but I think it is just about acceptable. It took me a while to parse it, though.
Clearly, there’s dictionary shopping going on here. Random House Unabridged and Chambers don’t support this usage (Chambers allows bust as “exceeded the required score” but not “arrested”; RHUD recognizes no irregular past participle), but COED and Webster’s Third leave wiggle room. I grudgingly accept the possibility. Thanks, jetdoc.
I have to admit 22 ac. was not a good clue. ‘Busted’ would invariably be used as the past tense in this particular sense.
It’s one I changed just before submission – I leapt on ‘bust’ (so to speak) for ARRE(st) and when ARRE(sted)suggested itself, I grabbed it with both hands (again, so to speak) without thinking the clue through.
Thanks, Cyclops!
But hark, here comes the casuistic cavalry …
“he had been bust by the police for smoking pot” Penny Junor (1985), Burton: the man behind the myth, p143, which might also be supported by
“bust, adj. Chiefly colloq. and slang. That has been busted (in various senses); = busted adj.2” OED
OED, btw, also has “drip” (see 4dn) within “seep”: “To ooze, drip, trickle”, though I don’t find the citations there all that persuasive.