Solving proceeded at a pace …
Several answers entered on first reading, thus I had more than half the grid filled at “first pass” (all clues attempted). Another pass left me with just a few to go in the bottom right hand corner till “The Public” appeared from 22’s anagram to provide much needed crossing letters for the final few.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 7 | ROOTS OUT | Gets rid of crap tutors full of balls (5,3) OO (balls) inside TUTORS* AInd: crap First read. First answered |
| 8 | BORING | Mayor getting end away – “no good, dull” (6) BORI[s] N[o] G[ood] |
| 11 | CURIO | Arsehole, one fitted with ring, is a collectable? (5) CUR (arsehole) I (one) O (ring) Classically dreadful Eye-style surface reading to that clue |
| 12 | TRICKSTER | Skirt etc has to be removed right for Richard Nixon? (9) (SKIRT ETC)* AInd: removed, R[ight] I know the ex-Pres as Tricky Dicky but I haven’t heard him referred to as the Trickster |
| 13 | SIDETRACK | Party trail to act as a diversion (9) SIDE (party) TRACK (trail) |
| 16 | DIRGE | Bloody awful being interrupted by Genesis’s no.1 song (5) G[enesis] inside DIRE (bloody awful) |
| 17/4 | A FART IN A SPACE SUIT | Which is as useless as Richard Branson kitted up for a flight in his Virgin Galactic craft? (1,4,2,1,5,4) Cryptic Def referring to one of Billy Connolly’s jokes if memory serves – ah yes. Here it is |
| 21 | ADMIN | Bureaucrats: “terrible leader, Miliband ultimately, on the inside” (5) [miliban]D inside AMIN (terrible leader) |
| 22 | THE PUBLIC | “Rinsed blue” pitch, which thankfully, is not always entirely taken in by politicians? (3,6) (BLUE PITCH)* AInd: rinsed One of the last few answered, hampered by the lengthy cryptic def. which I presume references the famous quote apocryphally attributed to Abraham Lincoln (apparently with no actual evidence I find when I checked) “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time” |
| 24 | BOTTOMS UP | Arse, on getting drink, is ‘toast‘ (7,2) BOTTOM (arse) SUP (drink) |
| 26 | PSALM | Maybe that of David’s seconds should be taken in hand (5) S[econds] inside PALM (hand) Second last answered. Misled to thinking of Star of David |
| 28 | GARLIC | Cigar wafted round Lewinsky’s ‘entrance’ makes your eyes water? (6) L[ewinsky] inside CIGAR* AInd: wafted (round) round doing double-duty? For those of you who don’t think there’s any garlic that could make your eyes water I invite you to go to the Garlic Farm on the Isle of Wight and try their samples – stayed with me for the rest of the holiday (and unfortunately I cannot recommend the garlic beer either) |
| 29 | ESOTERIC | Secret piss artist takes drug in Morecambe? (8) SOT (piss artist) E (drug) inside ERIC (Morecambe) |
| Down | ||
| 1 | PROCESS | Series of events: corpses everywhere (7) CORPSES* AInd: everywhere |
| 3 | ESCORT | Call-girl an old banger (6) Double Def |
| 5 | COCKED UP | Were failures, so member and party leader possibly elevated (6,2) COCK (member) ED (party leader, possibly) UP (elevated) |
| 6 | HISTORICAL | Hello, one has plastic scrotal covering which is hardly new (10) HI (Hello) then I (one) inside SCROTAL* AInd: plastic |
| 9 | GIRDER | Beam, as one who gets loins going? (6) Def. and Cryptic Def. as in “to gird one’s loins” |
| 10 | NICKNAME | Clegg handle “Brenda”? (8) NICK (Clegg) NAME (handle) Brenda is an example of a nickname |
| 14 | DEFAMATORY | Fade out before state politician becomes libellous (10) FADE* AInd: out, MA (state – Maine), TORY (politician) |
| 15 | ACID TEST | Edits out entry in legislation which offers indisputable proof (4,4) EDITS* AInd: out, inside ACT (legislation) |
| 18 | RUN FOR IT | Advice given to Hillary about the presidency: “Get the hell out!” (3,3,2) Double Def |
| 19 | RATBAG | Arse gives rise to waffle and viscous mixture (6) GAB (waffle) TAR (viscous mixture) all reversed |
| 20 | SCHMUCK | Objectionable type‘s school crap (7) SCH[ool] MUCK (crap) Last in. After ESOTERIC gave the penultimate C, I got stuck thinking it ended in SCH like kitsch or similar |
| 23 | UPPITY | Self-important, on drugs – shame (6) UP (on drugs) PITY (shame) |
| 25/2 | PISS POOR | Nos. 1 and 2: right bloody useless (4-4) PISS (No. 1) POO (No. 2) R[ight] |
| 27 | AIRY | Bush-like, not hot, unsubstantial (4) [h]AIRY Not that Bush this time |
World Cup round up:
Just after they arrived in Brazil the England team visited an orphanage
“It’s heartbreaking to see their sad little faces with no hope” said Jose, aged 6
Ronnie Biggs stayed in Brazil for 31 years. England leave after 2 weeks. This generation doesn’t have the gritty resolve of yesteryear.
The Australian team are also out at the earliest opportunity. What you didn’t see was the team in the tunnel having their bats & pads forcibly removed by the officials.
(from @MitchBenn)
Big choice for Hodgson now. Aisle or window seat.
(@NickFerrariLBC)
England are to get a new captain next week, his name is Roger Smith he’s the pilot on the flight home.
The real reason for England’s poor performance has been identified by Keith Flett: The absence of cheese footballs
Thanks for the info on teary garlic. I’d been wondering too.
And never mind cheese footballs. Lidl have excellent Costa Rican pineapples for only 65p. So Costa Rica get my vote if this footbally thing is still on.
The clue for 17/4 should say “welcome” rather than “useless” according to every version I’ve heard, including the one in your link.
I rather took it that Cyclops was following the Eye editorial line (to which I happily subscribe) that while the good Sir Richard might sometimes be useful (if there’s a gap needing filling under the door ,perhaps) he’d never be welcome so the spacesuit would be redundant.