This crossword must be on the easy side of average for an Eye crossword because I completed it at one sitting with only 8 left to go after the “all clues read” first pass. The last few took a bit more effort and I had to look up the artist to be sure.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 8 | TOO RIGHT | Unacceptably more conservative than the Conservatives? Most certainly (3,5) CD and Def |
| 9 | GUARDI | Artist‘s screen placed in front of Hirst’s ‘Number Two’ (6) GUARD (screen) [h]I[rst] Not a artist I knew: Wiki |
| 11 | PILES | Pain in the arse top bankers make them (5) DD |
| 12 | TOUGH LUCK | Hardy gets to shag with new leader – feel bad about that (5,4) TOUGH (Hardy) F/LUCK (to shag – with new leader) |
| 13 | DETROIT | City backing for Heath before switch of central characters in revolt (7) TED< (Heath, backing) RIOT with IO swapped |
| 15 | PERTURB | Jaunty bust rub alarm (7) Pert (JAUNTY) RUB* AInd: bust |
| 17 | SURVEILLANCE LAW | Dodgy, insecure lav wall – a great opportunity for prying by the authorities! (12,3) (insecure lav wall)* AInd Dodgy |
| 19 | RELAPSE | Return of disease about genital area (amphetamines rejected) (7) RE (about) LAP (genital area) Es< (amphetamines rejected) |
| 21 | KERATIN | Some arselicker at Interpol, horny thing (7) Hidden in arselicKER AT INterpol |
| 23 | WHITEWASH | With sock he was tossed (which might cover the entire wall?) (9) (WITH)* AInd: sock, then (HE WAS)* AInd: tossed. |
| 26 | PURGE | Act like a tyrannical Russian leader, putting pressure on press (5) P[ressure] URGE (press). Looks like Russian was only included to fool solvers into putting in Putin |
| 27 | OBLIGE | Obama easily starts accepting glib rubbish – bind (6) GLIB* AInd: Rubbish, inside O[bama] E[asily] |
| 28 | PUB CRAWL | Local outing for those on benders? (3,5) CD. I expect those who live in improvised tents also go dawn the pub |
| Down | ||
| 1 | STUPID | Nuts stimulated, it’s up and finally inserted (6) (IT’S UP)* AInd: stimulated, then [inserte]D First clue attempted but last answer entered after getting Piles (if you see what I mean). Misled thinking it was an anagram of “Nuts” and def. “inserted” – espec. after getting final D. |
| 2 | COLLATERAL | Civilians cynically taken out (claret drunk with Lola) (10) (CLARET + LOLA)* AInd: Drunk |
| 3 | BIG SCORE | “Quite a knock, to live without corgis, somehow” (3,5) CORGIS* AInd: somehow, inside BE (to live) |
| 5 | GUSHER | Eye clutched by Clegg’s ultimate female enthusiast (6) US (Eye) inside [cleg]G and HER (female) |
| 6 | URDU | Hurd, upbraided, holding tongue (4) Hidden in hURD Upbraided |
| 7 | DICKY BOW | Penis Boy’s fancy white top formal wear (5,3) DICK (penis) BOY* AInd: fancy, W[hite] |
| 10 | HUMPBACK | Shag retreat, a large marine presence (8) HUMP (shag) BACK (retreat) |
| 14 | TALKED AT | Kate endlessly dealt with manipulation, being addressed pompously (6,2) (KATE + DEAL[t])* AInd: with manipulation Edit: (KAT[e] + DEALT) |
| 16 | UGLY THREAT | Scary utterance: “Hague, try blending with Left” – Tory leader (4,6) (HAGUE TRY L[eft] T[ory])* AInd: blending |
| 17 | SCREW TOP | “Sod Jersey!” sort of bottle? (5-3) SCREW (Sod) TOP (Jersey) |
| 18 | CARAPACE | Hard exterior of Conservative authority taking a criminal charge (8) A RAP (a criminal charge) inside C[onservative] ACE (authority?) Not sure how authority is ACE |
| 20 | PLEDGE | What sticks out after politician’s initial promise (6) P[olitician] LEDGE (What sticks out) |
| 22 | NEEDLE | Require foreign article for prick (6) NEED (require) LE (foreign article) |
| 24/4 | IDLE CHAT | “Python gets the bird” rumour (4,4) IDLE (Python) CHAT (bird) |
| 25 | HAUL | A drag, the old monarch, round university (4) U[niversity] inside HAL (the old monarch) |
By the time this blog appears I’ll be off on the annual seaside holiday with the kids.
Getting that beach body is easy: You just have to know where to dig.
Plug: A friend of mine has recorded an album called ‘Obsessed With Sex’. Look it up. It’s only got one track, mind.
Paulissimo
Can you get this free on line?
Yes, http://www.private-eye.co.uk/pictures/crossword/download/ You will need Across Lite http://www.litsoft.com/across/alite/download/ installed.
I think the implicit reference to Stalin provided by the “Russian” in 26ac is needed, for it to be a good clue.
28 across. The bender reference is not to a makeshift tent but “going on a bender”, I.e. pub crawl.
Local is also a pub and the outing to a local is a pub crawl.
18 down. A person who is an authority on a subject is an ace.
Thanks.
@sidey. Brilliant! Thanks
14. (KATE + DEAL[t])* should be (KAT[e] + DEALT)*
I stopped doing Cyclops’ puzzles a few years ago – I’d had a bellyful of knob and arse clues, but today I had some time to kill having read the issue itself (a good one, particularly the “50 Shades of May” spoof) and had nothing better to do.
Someone can be nuts without being stupid, and vice versa, and “screw” and “sod” do NOT mean the same thing.
It really is time Hislop took Brummie/Cyclops round the back of the woodshed
If you’re an ACE at something, you’re also an authority. That was a bit lateral.
Back for the largely cold rainy seaside to find some activity on the blog.
#3 sidey. Ta for being here when I wasn’t
#4 lemming. Yes, on reflection I agree. Purges are peculiarly Russian, not just Stalin but earlier Tsars kept power by inciting purges.
#5 stuart. Yes. I thought it a bit too obvious thus attempted (obviously weak) joke, instead of delineating the wordplay
I simply didn’t see the Ace/Authority thing: #9 Rob explains it clearly enough even for me
#7 Will. Spotted. Blog will be fixed.
#8 baerchen. You may not get much agreement around here. Blimey, I still laugh at knob gags – so the fornightly fix of febrile fun is fulfilling. (You see what I did there – lots of F-ing about – Ha ha!). Besides which, it’s easy enough to find cases where nuts/stupid and screw/sod are synonymous: Exclamations like “That’s stupid!/that’s nuts!”; “Screw it”/”Sod it”. I’m sure Hugh Stephenson and his “koala bears” would say the same
Keep smiling everybody!
@beermagnet10
you’re quite right; I unreservedly withdraw my miserable git post