I finally got round to solving this on the train from York to Cornwall, having moved last week to live in York. People in the seats behind us were solving a quick crossword together, reading the clues aloud. I was strongly tempted to start reading the clues to this one, such as 25a, to John. I am now writing this on my laptop, in a hotel bar overlooking the sea.
Perhaps a little more challenging in places than some recent Cyclops puzzles, but nothing here that didn’t fall into place with a bit of thought.
I think I may give the fave-clue award to the said 25a, just because of its deceptively salacious surface reading for an innocuous solution; I rather like 2d, too..
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | DISCORD | A royal no longer managed to have sex without English conflict DI = Diana, Princess of Wales, royal no longer; SCOR[e]D = managed to have sex, without E (English) Initially, having seen ‘English conflict’ (E WAR), I thought this might turn out to be STEWART, though quickly realised I was barking up the wrong tree. |
| 5 | ”Prat-about-time” with Brenda’s web site T = time; in TWIT = prat; ER = Brenda, Private Eye’s name for the Queen |
|
| 10 | PENPUSHER | Prison needs drug supplier who’s tied to a dreary office job? PEN = Prison; PUSHER = drug supplier |
| 11 | MIFF | Cyclops is back at full strength? Piss off! I’M= Cyclops is, reversed; FF = full strength. To be miffed is to be pissed off — Chambers defines the transitive verb as ‘to put in a bad mood, annoy or offend’. |
| 12 | BLUISH | Somewhat suggestive of Independent in show of embarrassment I = Independent; in BLUSH = show of embarrassment. Blue, in the sense of ‘blue movie’. |
| 13 | STERLING | Brenda has live in pop star — ” quite splendid!” ER = Brenda (see above); L = live; in STING (this website is not for the squeamish) |
| 14 | STAG | Dealer who’s in and out with little delay — horny beast! Double definition: a person who applies for shares in order to sell them at once at a profit; a male deer |
| 15 | ILLIBERAL | Reactionary part of Clegg’s party after Bill’s guts LIBERAL = part of Clegg’s party (Liberal Democrats); after IL = Bill’s guts. Definition: reactionary |
| 17 | CONSTABLE | ”Cable’s not for turning” — a fair cop? *(Cables not) |
| 19 | TOFF | Swell, being inside first offender Hidden in ‘first offender’. Both words for a wealthy, well dressed person. |
| 20 | ALTER EGO | Eager to change on the outside, finally Will Self of a different hue *(eager to); containing L = finally (last letter of) Will. Definition: self of a different hue |
| 22 | DEPOSE | Miliband’s rejected model to get rid of Cameron, maybe ED, reversed = Miliband’s rejected; POSE = model. To remove from high office |
| 23 | WOOF | Court female responsible for Rex’s ejaculation? WOO = court; F = female. Rex is a common name for a dog, and this is what he might exclaim. |
| 24 | HIERARCHY | Hello! tarted up Archer and tail end of Tory party structure? HI = Hello! *(archer y) = tarted up Archer and tail end of Tory. Definition: party structure |
| 25 | ISOLATE | Cut off section of penis ring and behind IS = section of penis; O = ring; LATE = behind. So not rude at all. |
| 26 | STALKER | Who’s intent on pursuing sex, going with lecturer? S = sex; talker = lecturer |
| Down | ||
| 2 | IMPOLITIC | Unwise MP’s declaration: ”Hislop must go!” “I’m politician”; minus IAN Hislop |
| 3 | CANNING | PM beating about name CANING = beating; containing N = name. George Canning |
| 4 | ROUGH | Coarse Boris at heart wants love that’s disgusting R = Boris at heart; O = love; UGH = “That’s disgusting!” |
| 6 | WORKER BEE | We’re broke, relocated as a colonial toiler *(Were broke). One who toils in a colony |
| 7 | TUMBLER | Tosser’s drinks holder Double definition |
| 8 | ELFIN | Hardly a description of Eric Pickles’ sad life (butt of Cameron) *(life), with ‘sad’ as the anagram indicator; N = butt (last letter) of Cameron Not quite an appropriate term to describe the physique of Eric Pickles |
| 9 | WHISTLEBLOWER | Referee? Certainly not a team player Double definition. Private Eye has a record of standing up for courageous whistleblowers, and for decrying the kind of empty management-speak that refers to ‘team players’ in a non-sporting context. |
| 15 | IN THE SHIT | Up for a bollocking? Hint: it’s involved with concealed hard drugs *(hint it), with ‘[is] involved’ as the anagram indicator; containing (‘with concealed’) H = hard; ES = drugs (Ecstasy tablets). |
| 16 | LIFESTYLE | Lefty lies about his cosy material surroundings and pursuits? *(lefty lies). In the definition, ‘his cosy’ isn’t really necessary, except to ease the surface reading, I think. |
| 18 | NEEDFUL | Disastrous Eden and fuel fiasco: ”less energy required” Anagram of ‘Eden fuel’ without E (less energy). Definition: required. |
| 19 | TYPICAL | Pity pisspoor Conservative and Labour leaders, the usual sort *(pity), with ‘pisspoor’, the classic Cyclops anagram indicator; CAL = first letters (leaders) of ‘Conservative and Labour’ |
| 21 | LOOKS | Beauty of arse-over-tip travesty of school SKOOL, reversed (as in Back to Skool) |
| 22 | DRAFT | ”Doctor, behind is rough” DR = doctor; AFT = behind. ‘Draft’ as a noun, meaning ‘a preliminary sketch, or version of a piece of writing’ |
What with all the upheaval of recent weeks, the search for jokes and witty links has been a bit beyond me. So I am indebted to some of my quizzing friends, who contributed these ‘shit jokes’ to a recent thread on Facebook:
A pirate walked into a bar and the bartender said, “Hey, I haven’t seen you in a while. What happened? You look terrible.”
“What do you mean?” said the pirate, “I feel fine.”
“What about the wooden leg? You didn’t have that before.”
“Well, we were in a battle and I got hit with a cannon ball, but I’m fine now.”
“Well, OK, but what about that hook? What happened to your hand?”
“We were in another battle. I boarded a ship and got into a sword fight. My hand was cut off. I got fitted with a hook. I’m fine, really.”
“What about that eye patch?”
“Oh, one day we were at sea and a flock of birds flew over. I looked up and one of them shat in my eye.”
”You’re kidding,” said the bartender, “you couldn’t lose an eye just from some bird shit.”
“It was my first day with the hook.”
A man was walking his dog through the graveyard when he saw another man crouching behind a gravestone.
“Morning!” he said.
The other man replies, “No, just having a crap.”
13. Don’t forget the “L” for “live”.
15. You’re missing an “H”. I think it’s *(hint it) with “H” (hard) and “Es” (drugs).
BTW, I like the jokes!
Thanks, Will. I find it very difficult to concentrate on the train when the cursor keeps going walkabout!
15 down: HINT IT’S + H (heroin) & E (ecstasy)= in the shit. Well that’s how I read it 🙂
Re Needful (18dn): I’d always assumed that its use for “needed” was no earlier than C19, possibly an ironic adoption of a sometime misuse. But no: OED has that sense dating from Old English.
Janet, I think I’d still go with Will and jetdoc’s version of 15dn, as I don’t think Ecstasy is generally called a hard drug.